This chapter is FUN! Broom racing is here! Here's my disclaimer: my
friends Corie and Mallory (Winged Seraphin, on ff.net) invented this form
of broom racing (the illegal kind, hehe), based on drag racing/street
racing. Mallory came up with "Forbidden Lightning," which is basically
what the racers call themselves. Sort of. Some of the broom names in here
are Mallory's, like the Hummingbird and the Dragonfly. The rest are mine
or JKR's. Oh, and Mallory has a cameo in here, so whee! Just thought I'd
mention that. I'll leave you all to guess who she is. Probably won't be
hard...
Now, I know you'll all come to a point in this story where you'll start thinking "oh, groan, a Mary-Sue!" But don't fret, she really isn't! Just don't give up on me yet, and you'll see. I'm trying to keep away from the clichés, I promise.
Oh, one more thing. I realize now that James wasn't a keeper, and I'm sorry for saying that he was. But I really don't feel like changing it, and I like him as a keeper, so I'll leave it as is. Hey, at least I'm not calling him a seeker, right?
Okay, on with the chapter then! This time, let the RACES begin!!!
Chapter Eleven
Forbidden Lightning
Exactly halfway through Winter Break, McGonagall had scheduled a Hogsmeade weekend. Students were forbidden to visit Hogsmeade without permission even during break, though most of them ignored the rule, which was barely enforced. So, usually, the scheduled weekend wouldn't have been very special.
But this weekend was going to be far from the usual.
Mandy Mitchell, the Quidditch player, casually walked around the Great Hall the morning before the Hogsmeade weekend. She had a quill in one pocket, a slip of parchment in the other. Her schoolbag held a paper envelope, already half full of galleons and sickles, and a few knuts. She went from table to table, starting with the Slytherins as they were the nearest to the door. At each table, she would approach every group of students in turn and talk with them briefly. Occasionally, the parchment and quill would come out, to be put away again quickly with a handful of coins. Then Mandy would move on.
By the time she got to the Gryffindor table, the envelope was so full of money that she had to walk slowly to avoid making noise. She meandered towards one end of the table and approached a group of three second-years, who were laughing hysterically as they ate their breakfasts. She grinned at them and sat down across from them, laughing with them as if she'd heard the joke. They looked at her with a mixture of fear and awe. Was there really a sixth year sitting with them? Was she really laughing with them? Was that a quill in her hand, or a wand?
Half-expecting hexes to come their way any second, the twelve-year-olds glanced at each other, and then back at Mandy. She smiled reassuringly and began to speak, gesturing with her quill. When she'd finished, they were all looking much happier-positively ecstatic, in fact. One of them nodded vigorously and dug around in his bag; the other two followed suit. They each handed Mandy a few sickles, grinning widely, and she put them away as she got up to speak to the next group. As she left, the boys immediately began talking excitedly again.
Mandy laughed to herself at how excitable first- and second-years always were. They were still so young, and everything was so new to them. She was very glad the minimum age had been raised from last year...
The next nearest group of students was one Mandy was familiar with. She sat down next to James Potter, a fifth-year and an excellent keeper on their team. He glanced at her, eyebrows raised in question. Sirius Black, who was sitting across from them, noticed her as well.
"What's up?" he asked casually, though he was pretty sure he already knew. It was getting to be that time of year again, and Sirius' thoughts had been filled with only this for the past few days...
"You know what's up," Mandy teased, pulling out the quill and parchment and handing both to Sirius. "You're signing up this year, right? The first race is tomorrow, next one's day after. The other races don't start until next week sometime-we're still trying to work out a way to get half the people out of this school." Sirius took the parchment with a grin. He reached back across the table for the quill, but another hand grabbed it before he could. He looked up angrily into the face of Severus Snape.
"What're you trying to pull this time?" Sirius asked in a low voice. Snape sneered down at him, twirling the quill between two fingers.
"Thought I'd stop you before you signed a binding contract," he said smugly. Sirius rolled his eyes and tried to swipe the quill, but Snape was just a little faster.
"I appreciate your concern, but I don't plan on trying to drop out of the races." Snape sneered again.
"Hard to be in two places at once, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about, Snape? And get out with it-I don't feel like staring at your mug all through breakfast."
"Nor do I wish to look at you, but it seems I don't have that kind of luck. Our next meeting is tomorrow, remember? The ministry person won't be very pleased if you miss it." Sirius' jaw dropped, and he stared at Snape with a mixture of disbelief and hatred.
"Meeting? What meeting?" Mandy demanded, obviously rather upset. Snape turned his gaze on her.
"Mr. Black here has been accused of murder. We're too young for a real wizarding trial, so they've set up little...meetings, as they call them. Basically a trial, but one-on-one, in the Headmaster's office. A little more severe at times...but a fair 'trial' nonetheless." Mandy looked at Sirius, wide-eyed.
"Murder? You?" There was a pause, and then she burst out laughing. "What kind of idiot would accuse you of murder?!" Snape, who'd been looking rather smug, took on a sour expression.
"It doesn't matter what you think of the affair. What matters is that Black can't attend tomorrow's little...get-together. I'd suggest finding a new 'star player.'" With that, he threw the quill down onto the table and stalked away.
"What a creep..." Sirius mumbled, restraining himself from using fouler language because of Lily's ever-sensitive ear.
"Good God, he can't be serious," Mandy groaned, rolling her eyes. "'Get- together'? 'Star player'?" She chuckled softly, then looked up at Sirius. "Well, looks like we'll have to work something else out." His eyes lit up.
"You mean...I can still do it?" he whispered excitedly.
"I should think so! I can't imagine not letting you, of all people, sign up. I'll get you into some of the smaller races-but I can't promise anything on the big one." Sirius grinned.
"That's good enough for me! Hand it over!" Mandy returned the smile and passed him the quill. He quickly signed the parchment and handed it and the quill to Remus, poking his friend in the arm to get his attention. "Moony, you doin' it this year?" Sirius asked when Remus had taken the items from his friend. Remus looked over the parchment, which appeared to be blank, and a slow smile spread across his face.
"Hell yes...I've been waiting for this since January 30th of last year!" Jesse, who was sitting next to Remus and looking over his shoulder curiously, spoke up.
"What happened on January 30th?"
"He fell off his broom twelve feet from the finish line and was disqualified," Sirius explained with a laugh. "Poor guy, almost won, too..." Jesse looked from Sirius to Remus quizzically.
"What?" Remus shook his head.
"I'll explain later..." He didn't feel like reliving the ignominy in front of all his friends, who would be happy to add in little details...
"No, you'll explain now. Otherwise she won't have a chance to sign up!" Sirius said pointedly. Remus scribbled his signature on the parchment and watched it dissolve.
"That's true," he said thoughtfully before turning to Jesse. "Alright, but don't listen to anything they say," he warned her. Jesse laughed and agreed.
"Every year, Knockturn Alley hosts illegal broom racing, sponsored by the company Forbidden Lightning. They're from Germany, I just can't pronounce the real name. Anyways...the races always start around this time, shortly after Christmas, and go through January, sometimes into February. They're set up so that Hogwarts kids can come during their breaks and participate in the races-or at least watch them. Half the money FL makes is from us.
"Last year, the minimum age for participating was twelve, but this year it's thirteen because of some...injuries. It can get pretty dangerous sometimes. Well, Sirius and I have been racing since we were twelve, and Lily raced last year. Peter always works for them, selling stuff or setting up. He gets paid pretty well, and he's usually willing to help us pay for repairs on our brooms. James can't race 'cause he plays Quidditch.
"I never came close to winning except last year, but I fell off my broom in the second-to-last race and was disqualified from the running. So...I'll have to do better this time," he added, gesturing with the parchment. He glanced at Sirius, then looked back at Jesse. "Do you think you want to give it a shot? I can't guarantee anything, since you've never raced before-"
"Wait a sec! Who says I've never raced before?" Jesse cut him off. She was more excited than he'd seen her in a long time. "I can't believe you guys have this here! Though I guess it makes sense, since FL's a European company..."
"What are you babbling about?" Sirius asked, quickly flashing her a grin to show he was joking.
"I used to race all the time in the States! There were races for younger kids there too, so I got a year of practice before I entered the real competition. FL had a few reps at our school, and they'd come around just like Mandy did, and get people to sign up. Oh, I thought I'd never get to dig my chassis lights out again!"
Remus looked from her to Sirius and back, eyes wide. He'd never have imagined this kind of response...it always seemed to him that Jesse would be like Lily had been at first-reluctant, maybe even angry at them for doing something illegal. Not that she was always the goody-goody, but she never really went for anything bad either.
Sirius burst out laughing at the look on Remus' face.
"You don't know her as well as you thought, I guess!" he crowed. Jesse was smiling too.
"Sorry if I've surprised you or something, but it's been four years...a lot can happen in four years." Remus found he didn't like that thought at all, and wondered what else had changed about her, but he merely shrugged and smiled.
"I just didn't expect it, that's all." He scrutinized her for a moment. "So, just how good are you?" Jesse grinned.
"You'll see soon enough, won't you?" she replied as she reached for the parchment and quill.
The next day, to everyone's relief, it wasn't snowing as hard as it had been for the past week. Remus fairly jumped out of bed, surprised at himself for being so alert this early in the morning. But, to his immense surprise, Sirius was already out of bed and dressed. He was sitting impatiently by the door, tapping his foot and running a hand through his hair every few seconds. The black locks were hanging loosely around his face, and looked rather flat from being mussed so often. Remus grinned and quickly got dressed.
"A little nervous, are we?" he asked when he was ready and had joined Sirius by the door.
"No, just waiting for you," Sirius replied testily. Yep, Remus thought to himself. He's nervous.
"Alright, then, let's go, if you're so anxious. Got your broom?" Sirius jumped and ran back across the room to grab his broomstick while Remus shook his head and laughed lightly.
"Don't laugh at me!" Sirius warned as they exited the room, closing the door quietly so as not to wake up James. Peter had long since left to begin setting up. "I'm just excited, that's all."
"Okay then."
"I am!" Sirius objected.
"I know, I agreed with you." Remus smiled to himself; it was fun seeing Sirius, usually so cool and calm, feeling this apprehensive. But Remus knew that by the time they were at the racetrack, Sirius would be back to his usual self. That was all the more reason to tease him while he had the chance...
"We meeting Jesse and Lily here or downstairs?" Sirius asked when they were almost to the portrait hole.
"At the Great Hall. They wanted to get an early start, I think."
"Girls always want an early start," Sirius groaned. "But that's okay, I'd rather be able to eat while we wait..."
They made it downstairs quickly, both masking their brooms with a simple spell Mandy had taught them the day before. The Great Hall was noisy, though not very crowded, as all the racers ate their breakfasts, invisible brooms at their feet. Those working for FL were already gone, Mandy was wandering around and making sure everyone was ready, and the audience members still had another few hours to sleep.
"I can't believe we had to get up at six in the morning!" they heard one girl complain as they passed the Ravenclaw table. She looked incredibly tired and was eating her bacon very slowly.
Remus and Sirius found the girls and sat down across the table from them. Lily was looking rather tired, but excited, and Jesse seemed to match her. Both smiled at the boys as they sat down, but they each had large bags under their eyes.
"Wow, I've never seen perfect Lily looking this bedraggled!" Sirius teased, running a hand through his hair.
"What, and I look just as I always do?" Jesse replied with a hint of indignance.
"You look beautiful," Remus assured her without thinking, quickly grinning and winking to make light of the comment. To his relief, Sirius didn't seem to have noticed, though Lily and Jesse were looking at him rather strangely. He ignored them both and casually took a piece of sausage from the serving dish.
"So, Lily-what's your name this year?" Sirius asked once he'd eaten a bit. She shrugged.
"I'm still thinking about that one," she replied. "I'll probably end up using my name from last year, though I don't like it much."
"What kind of broom do you have?" Jesse asked before taking a sip of pumpkin juice.
"Osprey."
"That's in the same line as the Hummingbird, isn't it?" Lily nodded. "Well," Jesse continued, "I'm using a bird name to go with my broom-you could do the same. It makes it easier for the audience to remember you."
"True...got any ideas?" Lily looked around at her friends hopefully.
"Osprey!" Sirius suggested immediately. Lily rolled her eyes.
"How did I know you'd say that? Anyone got any good ideas?" she asked again.
"Well, don't ask me for help anymore!" Sirius replied, pretending to be affronted.
"How about Firebird?" Remus spoke up. "Because of your red hair, y'know." Lily looked at him, surprised.
"Hey, that's not bad..."
"Don't let her use it, Moony-she'll just stab you in the back next chance she gets!" Sirius warned, gesturing with his fork. A chunk of sausage flew off the end of it, flying and landing on the floor just inches from the hem of someone's robes. Sirius looked up to find, once again, the angry face of Severus Snape sneering down on him.
"Oh, goody, you again, here to brighten my morning," Sirius said dully.
"Up a little early, aren't we?" Snape commented. "The meeting isn't for another few hours."
"Up as early as you are," Sirius replied. "And thanks for reminding me when the meeting was-you only told me twelve times yesterday, but thirteen's a charm!" Snape glowered at him.
"I do hope you're not planning on...missing the meeting?"
"Of course not. Even your face for two hours is better than Azkaban. Though not much..." he added in an undertone. Remus snorted, but he knew there was nothing Sirius feared more than prolonged exposure to Azkaban- which was ironic, due to his knack for getting into trouble.
"I'll see you later, then," Snape said in an almost cordial voice. He turned on his heel and went back to the Slytherin table.
"What a-"
"Creep," Lily cut him off lazily.
"Yeah, that," Sirius said with a grin.
Remus ate slowly, lost in his mixed-up thoughts. As excited as he was about the race, he couldn't focus on the event looming in his future. His thoughts kept reverting to the comment he'd made to Jesse a few minutes ago. It had been a joke, right? A mocking response to her equally mocking indignation? But as much as he tried to convince himself otherwise, he couldn't help but think that it might have been something else.
It had been about a week since that first day of the Fight, when Remus had suddenly seen Jesse differently. He'd thought about her that way more than once since, and it had become increasingly hard to blame his thoughts on the moon and the wolf. But there was no other way to explain it, was there?
Of course there was, and he knew it. But that wasn't possible, it seemed. They'd always been best friends as kids, but only that. It was hard to imagine anything beyond a close friendship.
Sirius stood up suddenly, startling Remus and making him drop his fork.
"What're you so jumpy about?" Remus asked irritably. Sirius was practically skipping in place, he was so excited.
"Mandy just came by, they're ready for us to head outside!" he hissed. Remus rolled his eyes. Was that all?
"Sirius, you know it'll be another hour or more before we get to actually leave the grounds. Calm down!" Sirius ignored him and grabbed both their brooms, unobtrusively handing Remus his. Jesse and Lily were both standing there, ready to go as well, so Remus took a few more pieces of toast and stood to join them. The four left the Great Hall, chatting casually and holding their brooms as naturally as possible, and joined the other racers out in front of the school. Some of them remained inside, knowing how long it would be and how cold it was outside, but most of the racers were outside, playing around in the snow. Sirius picked out a tree with a very low branch sticking out over a snowdrift and set his broom down next to it. When the others had piled theirs on his, he performed a quick charm that turned the snow under them faintly red. They'd be able to find them later, and still be able to keep them invisible for the time being.
"Right, this calls for a mini-Fight!" Sirius announced happily.
"What calls for it?" Lily wanted to know. Sirius paused and pondered her question.
"Er...this wonderful event?" he tried. "I don't know, it just does!"
"Okay then," she said with a laugh. Then, before Sirius could start the fight, Lily grabbed a handful of snow off the nearest branch and dropped it down the front of his robes. Sirius let out a strangled cry and, eyes wide with shock, grabbed a double handful to throw at her. Lily shrieked and ran, just barely dodging the flying snow. Sirius took off after her, and the fight had begun.
Remus wasn't really in the mood for running around; his nerves were finally getting to him, and his stomach was knotted very tightly. He found it helpful to imagine a hollow pinkish rope, rather like an elongated stomach, tied in an intricate knot. In his mind, he slowly and carefully undid the knot. When it was undone, he retied it and began the process all over again.
Jesse watched Sirius chasing Lily around, laughing as each of them got steadily wetter. She noticed eventually that Remus seemed to be staring off into space, not paying attention to anything at all, and decided to take advantage of the situation. As unobtrusively as possible, she took a small handful of snow from a branch near her head and approached Remus with it. She managed to get just a few inches from his back without him noticing, but decided not to push her luck. She reached her hand forward to tip the slowly melting snow down his robes, but accidentally brushed his neck with her cold, wet gloves. He flinched and turned quickly, before she could react. She suddenly found herself standing in front of him, her face inches from his. She could actually feel his warm breath on her cheek. Thinking he'd be angry with her for trying to ambush him, she smiled sheepishly and lowered her hand slowly. But as she opened her mouth to apologize, he did something she never would have expected. He caught her hand in his and leaned forward slightly, eyes half closed. She gasped softly, and he stopped moments too soon, pulling back and turning away, his ears reddening.
For a split second, Jesse wondered what had just happened. Then, before her mind could grasp the situation, her body took control. She grabbed Remus' elbow as he turned away and pulled him back around. Before either of them could think, she planted an awkward kiss on his lips.
Now it was Jesse's turn to pull away, rather embarrassed. She looked at Remus expectantly, waiting for his reaction. He stared at her blankly for a moment, then smiled slowly and returned the kiss. It was much more natural the second time around.
Sirius and Lily had long since gotten tired and decided to head back to see what the other two were doing. When they were nearly there, Sirius realized with a start just what was happening under that tree. He stopped short and stared at them in shock, and then a grin spread across his face. Lily, who was also looking rather surprised, noted his grin and shook her head at him.
"Oh, no you don't, Sirius!" she warned in a low voice. "You leave them alone!"
"And why would I do that?" he replied before running for the tree. When he neared it, he slowed his pace considerably and began to walk very quietly toward the couple. He got to within arm's reach of Remus and tapped his friend firmly on the shoulder. Remus whipped his head around quickly and got very red, very fast. Sirius grinned and wagged his finger at them.
"Now, now, this kind of lightning is most definitely forbidden on school grounds!" Jesse laughed lightly and chucked a pinecone at him, but Remus glared at him and got even redder.
"Alright, enough torment," Lily said from next to Sirius. She grinned knowingly at Jesse and winked so that Remus couldn't see her; he was looking very upset at being caught. "I think it's time we get in a group for going to Knockturn Alley." Remus nodded quickly and they all walked to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where Mandy was standing with her little cluster of Portkeys. When they got there, she looked up and smiled.
"Oh, good, I was wondering when you'd all show up. I have a Portkey leaving in like, thirty seconds-grab onto this branch quick." They each found a place to touch the branch she'd indicated, which was already being held up by three other racers. They got situated just in time; almost as soon as they were settled, the Portkey took off in the direction of London.
The group landed in a dark corner of Knockturn Alley moments later, still clutching their invisible brooms. Sirius undid the masking charms on all the brooms and they all headed for the racetrack, which was easily found due to the bright blue fireworks bursting above it. The stands were nearly set up, but of course no one was in them yet. Jesse looked around excitedly-it was so different from the racetrack in the States. She was about to comment on this when she felt someone jerk her arm. She looked around and saw Lily, smiling mischievously, grasping her sleeve.
"What're you doing?" she asked, trying to free her arm.
"Talking to you. Come over here," Lily replied, pulling Jesse away from Sirius and Remus, who were discussing the race and hadn't noticed a thing. Lily led Jesse under a set of bleachers that was entirely set up and completely deserted. They sat down beneath the steps, their brooms at their sides.
"So," Lily said shortly. Jesse blinked her eyes innocently.
"Yes?"
"You know what I dragged you over here for. Now spill!" Lily ordered, laughing.
"What do you want to know?" Jesse asked, leaning back on her elbows and stretching her legs out in front of her.
"Everything, of course! C'mon, you have to tell-that's what girlfriends are for!" Jesse laughed.
"Alright then..." For the next fifteen or so minutes, strange giggles emanated from the seemingly empty bleachers.
Sirius and Remus found their starting places and set their brooms down, then wandered off to explore the racetrack. It was about the same as last year, a simple loop with bleachers ringing it, inside and out. Only half the bleachers were completely set up, and of course they were all empty-the track wasn't open to the public for another hour or two.
But that didn't mean there weren't any people milling around. All the racers save a few from Hogwarts had long since arrived and were wandering around, checking out the track and talking to each other. Sirius greeted many racers that Remus didn't recognize and flirted with various pretty girls, all of whom were now immune to his charms and only laughed him off. Finally, Remus saw someone he recognized: Reggie Scott. She'd been racing, though not always professionally, for about eight years, and always came back from her private school in France for the FL races. She'd been the one to show Remus and Sirius the ropes when they'd first tried racing in second year. Remus hailed her, and the fifteen-year-old came over, smiling and waving.
"I knew I'd see you guys here!" she said when she was closer. "Racing again, I see...planning on finishing this time, Remus?" Remus rolled his eyes.
"Har, har. If I recall, you didn't do very well last year either," he reminded her. It didn't really bother him when Reggie teased him about his mistakes-she was a very good racer, and had the "authority" to bug him about stuff like that. Unlike Sirius, who had only been racing as long as Remus and made nearly as many mistakes-when he wasn't wowing the audience with his daring tricks and stupid stunts.
"If you can consider second in the country 'not very well,'" Sirius commented. Remus couldn't help but smile; Sirius revered Reggie as a championship racer and looked up to her as his sort of mentor. When he wasn't flirting with her, that is.
"I only got that rank because of how well I did in the timed races. I really botched the finals in the relays." Sirius shrugged.
"The point is, you got second. Way more than I could manage!"
"Oh, but Sirius-you're the star player!" Remus reminded him, laughing. Sirius chuckled along with him, explaining to Reggie what Snape had called him. As if suddenly reminded of something, he frowned and looked around the track.
"Does anyone know what time it is?" he asked, looking around for some sort of clock. Reggie checked a Muggle wristwatch she was wearing.
"Just after seven," she told him. "Why?"
"I've got to be back at the school by eight. That means I'll miss the first races! Oh well-at least I can sign in and hang around a while." Sirius sighed and started walking toward the registration desk.
"Why do you have to go so early?" Reggie asked, astonished.
"Trial...Snape just being stupid again..." he muttered as he approached the desk, Remus and Reggie right behind him. Remus quickly explained about Snape's accusations while Sirius looked at the times for the races and signed up for the ones he'd be able to attend.
"When will you be back?"
"I'm guessing about noon, but I'm not signing up for anything earlier than one, just to be safe," Sirius replied, signing his name by a six o'clock race, the last one of the day. "Snape better not do this next time..." he growled, looking at all the races-not counting the main championship race- he'd be missing. "I can't believe I don't get to try for the cup this year." Reggie snorted.
"I never liked that Snape kid...one of the reasons I'm glad my parents moved me to France. I get to study racing all the time, and I don't have to deal with all the prats at our school."
The three of them walked around the track, talking about past races and Reggie's foreign schooling, until it was time for Sirius to go. He parted with them reluctantly, heading for the nearest store. Since he didn't have to take his broom back with him and there wouldn't be any traffic anymore, he'd be able to use Floo powder and go straight to the Gryffindor common room.
The nearest shop sold rather disgusting slimy things, mostly for use in potions. He avoided looking at any of them-most of which had a strange likeness to the shopkeeper himself-and went straight to the back of the room, where the fireplace stood between two shelves sporting jars of strange animals, floating around in preserving fluids. He put two knuts in a little box and was rewarded with a packet of Floo powder. He threw it into the fire and watched it turn green.
"Gryffindor common room," he said loudly, stepping into the flames. He had just enough time to tuck in his elbows before the spinning began. In moments he was stepping out of the flames in the common room, to the surprise of a few first years sitting in armchairs by the fire.
"Sorry about that," he said with a smile, brushing himself off and walking away. They gawked at each other, then began whispering excitedly. Sirius chuckled to himself and left the common room.
He was only slightly sooty when he arrived at Dumbledore's office. Snape was already there, even though Sirius was five minutes early. They glared at each other and waited for the Ministry person to arrive.
At exactly eight o'clock, the Ministry official arrived. She was a short, wide woman with a rather stretched-out looking face: her mouth was wide and flat, her nose rather squashed, and her eyelids half-shut. She looked distinctly toad-like.
She smiled happily when she saw them both there. The smile did nothing to reduce the toady-ness of her face, but it did unnerve Sirius a bit; she seemed almost too sweet. Rather saccharine.
"Good morning!" she said in a rather high voice. "If you'll just follow me..." She spoke the password, cherry gumdrops, and led them past the gargoyle onto the revolving staircase. To Sirius' surprise, it carried them past Dumbledore's office and to a room some distance beyond that. The door was painted all white, with a silver handle. The woman opened the door and gestured for them to enter ahead of her; they did, rather hesitantly.
The room was very large, and very empty. The walls were a very pale gray, just a shade lighter than the floor and ceiling. There were no windows and the door, when snapped shut behind them, was the same color as the walls. The only furnishings in the room were three wooden chairs, sitting in a little triangle in the center of the room. They looked terribly small in the vast expanse of grayish-white.
Sirius took a seat and looked around, feeling very disconcerted. There weren't even any lights in the room to break up the uniformity of it; the brightness seemed to emanate from the walls themselves. Whenever he moved, coughed, or spoke, each sound echoed infinitely in the giant chamber.
"Well, now that we're all settled!" the woman said brightly. "My name is Miss Umbridge, and I'll be your judge, jury, and lawyer for the remainder of the trials. Mr. Hollenbach had to abandon this duty as he was called away for some more important matters, and I was appointed this job." She beamed at them in turn, waiting for a response. When there was none, her smile did not fade; in fact, it seemed to grow wider.
"Alright," she said happily, staring at them with her flat, blank, bespectacled eyes. Sirius met them and immediately looked away; they were magnified strangely by her thick glasses, and seemed to pop out at him while still disappearing in her fleshy face. He shuddered and stared at the floor.
"Shall we begin? I have all of the notes from your previous trials, so we won't have to repeat any of that. We should be able to start right in." Her voice echoed eerily in the room, seeming to grow louder each time it bounced back to Sirius' ears. He had the strong urge to block it out, but kept his hands firmly at his sides.
"It seems you left off with Mr. Snape telling Mr. Hollenbach of the possible motives Mr. Black might have had. Mr. Hollenbach did not take extensive notes here, so if you'd please to repeat these ideas?" She beamed expectantly at Snape, and Sirius almost felt sorry for him, having her gaze trained on him like that-but then he remembered what he was missing for this stupid trial, and decided Snape deserved it.
Snape managed to keep his cool under the frightening gaze, and repeated to Miss Umbridge all the things he'd told Mr. Hollenbach. The woman made no sign of comprehending, or even listening-she only stared until he had stopped talking. There was a rather tense, expectant silence during which Snape and Sirius waited for Miss Umbridge to reply, but she said nothing and did not move. Sirius shifted uncomfortably; it was as if the woman had fallen asleep.
Then, quite suddenly, she sat back in her chair and spoke.
"Thank you, Mr. Snape. Mr. Black, please explain to me why these motives do not apply." Sirius was shocked; she'd worded the request as if he was presumed guilty, and had to prove himself innocent.
"Er...well, the first one, about my hating Alyssa..." he began, but then he made the mistake of meeting Miss Umbridge's eyes. They were flat, blank, ever-staring, and unblinking. No expression showed there, no sign of life even. He felt lost in that sickening gaze, and could not find his thoughts.
Instead of commenting on his lack of explanation, Miss Umbridge did nothing. As she had with Snape, she merely sat there and stared at him. He blinked a few times and tried to remember what they were talking about.
"That is...I mean...it isn't true. I don't hate her-didn't, I mean. I mean, yes, I did sort of at first, but only because of what she'd done to Remus, and I didn't hate her enough to hurt her, certainly not to kill her. And then we talked and stuff and I didn't hate her at all then, so I certainly wouldn't have killed her, I didn't kill her!" Sirius stopped his bumbling defense and put his hands over his face, trying to collect his wits. He'd never been so nervous and unprepared in all his life.
"You don't make a very strong defense," Umbridge said sweetly. Sirius stared at her in surprise. What was he supposed to say to that? He chose to remain silent.
"And the second possible motive? Why do you claim that one is untrue?" Again, as if he were guilty from the start. Sirius made sure to remain calm this time and carefully explained why Snape's second reason made no sense. Things went on like this, until Umbridge abruptly changed topics.
"Wonderful. Now, Mr. Snape, please explain how Mr. Black killed Mr. and Ms. Mant."
"Now wait a second!" Sirius said suddenly, unable to take this any longer. Umbridge stared at him as though he were insane. He managed to keep himself calm and said, "You're saying this as though I really did kill the Mants! There's no proof of that, and you're supposed to presume me-"
"Mr. Snape, please explain how Mr. Black killed Mr. and Ms. Mant," Umbridge repeated, ignoring Sirius and turning back towards Snape, who was looking astonished but rather pleased.
"Well, he was last seen in the hospital wing with Mr. Lupin, but long before the time of the murders. He could easily have followed Alyssa from the wing-he left shortly after she did, as I understand it-and killed her and her brother in the hall outside the Ravenclaw common room. Jason's being there was completely unconnected-he just happened to be in the right place at the right time, from the viewpoint of the murderer."
The trial continued like this, Umbridge having Snape explain how Sirius had done it, then making Sirius defend himself and prove Snape wrong. As it wasn't like a real trial, the witnesses could not be called in right then- Umbridge would be interviewing them individually.
Sirius found the whole process to be unnerving and unjust. He did his best to keep up a strong defense, but he knew that he'd be talking to Dumbledore about it first chance he got.
Lily and Jesse emerged from the bleachers only when the people working at the races discovered them and asked them to leave, for safety reasons. The bleachers next door were being set up, so the girls nodded and left, searching the crowded track for Remus, Sirius, and anyone else they might recognize.
When Remus and Sirius proved unable to be found, Jesse suggested getting their brooms ready for the first race, which was due to start in an hour. Lily agreed, though more out of curiosity than necessity-her own broom had very few additions to it, but she wanted to know what Jesse had acquired over the years.
Jesse handled her Hummingbird lovingly; it was a wonderful broom, originally with a mahogany handle and light-colored twigs. Once she lifted certain masking spells from it, it revealed its "true" identity-the one she'd given it. The broom was now dark red with a black design along one side. The twigs were black and shiny, and some of them showed red when held at a certain angle. Jesse did another charm that lit up her chassis lights; they were red as well. Lily had never handled a broom with chassis lights before, and she was curious to see how they were mounted. She was surprised to see that the lights were actually built into the handle-some sort of magic enabled them to fit in the slim handle without cracking the wood. They couldn't stick out, Jesse explained, or they'd decrease the aerodynamics of the broom.
Other than that, Jesse's broom seemed normal-so far. She assured Lily that there were some surprises in store once the race started. But for now, she turned off the chassis lights and left her broom safely in its starting position.
Lily had lifted a few masking spells, as well, and her broom was now bright emerald green. There seemed to be little rhinestones in a pattern along the handle, glinting in the sun. The twigs were a dark, pretty shade of yellow-green and coordinated very well with the handle. They were carefully trimmed and placed for the best aerodynamics. Jesse nodded in approval and set the broom down.
She and Lily took to wandering the track again. Lifting the rather complicated spells had taken some time; the stands were now filling with people. Jesse felt her heart race as time continued to move forward, bringing her ever closer to her first race in England. She hoped she didn't terribly embarrass herself in front of everyone; first impressions really were everything in some situations.
Lily ducked into the restroom before the race, and Jesse said she'd meet her at the starting line-she still hadn't turned in her nickname, and the lines were getting long. Lily agreed and the two girls parted ways.
Jesse only had to stand in line for a few minutes before she was at the front. The young man looked up at her with a smile.
"Name?" he asked pleasantly.
"Jessica Philbin."
"Yes, here you are," he said after a moment of searching through a card box. "You've signed up for your races already, you've paid your fees, and you've registered your broom. All that's left is to pick a name and number."
"Number? That's new... Okay, well, my name is Flicker," she said hesitantly, knowing it was her last chance to change it. But it seemed good enough, so she kept it. The young man wrote it down in carefully neat handwriting. "Number...just any number?"
"Keep it simple, if you please," he requested with a smile. "The announcer generally uses it to keep track of where you are, so he'll be saying it a lot."
"Okay. Um...forty-two?" The man wrote it down and waited. It burned green.
"You're in the clear, no one else has chosen it." He smiled again and handed her a strip of cloth. "Tie this around your waist with the knot in front. The number will appear on the back when the race begins. Good luck, Flicker!" Jesse smiled back, took the cloth, and turned to head back to the starting line.
Before she'd gone five feet, she heard someone calling her name. She looked back over her shoulder, and her face broke into a wide grin when she recognized Remus coming through the crowd by the desks. He met up with her presently and returned the smile.
"Thought I'd never find you!" he said when they started walking again. "These crowds are incredible."
"We looked for you guys earlier, but even then there were just too many people. I was beginning to think I wouldn't see you again except on the racetrack." There was a moment of rather awkward silence.
"Listen, about earlier-"
"Please don't apologize," Jesse interrupted quickly. "I don't want you to apologize, there's no reason to." Remus smiled, looking rather relieved.
"I wasn't going to...I actually wanted you to know that I meant it. That may not make much sense, but-"
"It makes perfect sense," Jesse cut him off again. She stopped, grabbing his hand so he'd stop too, and turned him to face her. She kissed him slowly, ignoring the jostling crowd around them. When they broke the kiss, both were blushing slightly.
"I'm glad," he said quietly with a small smile. Jesse grinned back and moved forward to kiss him again, but they were interrupted by an announcement booming over the crowd.
"ALL RACERS PLEASE REPORT TO THE STARTING LINE! THE REGISTRATION DESK IS NOW CLOSED, AND IF YOU HAVE NOT SUPPLIED ALL THE REQUIRED INFORMATION YOU WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FIRST RACE. PLEASE SIGN UP DIRECTLY AFTERWARD. I REPEAT, ALL RACERS TO THE STARTING LINE!"
Jesse gave Remus a rueful smile, which he returned.
"To be continued, then," he said with a wink. Jesse couldn't help but giggle; this was a side of Remus she doubted many people saw.
Jesse joined Lily at the starting line, holding her broom carefully and looking up and down the line of racers. Remus was at the far end of the line, staring determinedly forward. He seemed to be collecting himself. Lily followed Jesse's gaze and smiled.
"Aw, isn't he cute when he's concentrating?" she teased. Jesse gave her a sneaky grin.
"Hell yes..." They burst into giggles, but stopped quickly when the announcer's voice was heard again.
"AUDIENCE, PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS, THE RACE WILL BEGIN SHORTLY!"
Jesse rolled her shoulders a few times and took a deep breath. She held it, released it, and took another one. The sounds of the crowd seemed to become muffled as she focused all her concentration on the track, and the race ahead. At a signal from the announcer, she mounted her broom. There was a long, loud whistle, and when it stopped, she kicked off from the ground, nearly in unison with the other racers. They all leaned forward over their brooms together as well, and the line sped forward along the track.
Once in the air, Jesse found she was much less nervous. All thoughts and emotions, even the strong ones, were blown away in her slipstream. She grinned into the wind and leaned even further down on her broom.
She quickly learned that the British races were similar to, but not the same as, American ones. The British tended to be more aggressive, but somehow in a more orderly way. She found it hard to get past the larger males; they were using their bulk as a bulwark, blocking the safe paths. Once she dropped under a clump of racers, skimming the ground, and came up again five feet ahead of them.
Another difference was that in America, each racer was supplied with an earpiece that relayed the announcer's comments directly into their ears. Here, she had to actually listen above the crowd for information on other racers, or use her own observations. It made things harder, but in an exciting sort of way.
It was rather annoying, though, when she found herself practically isolated at the front of a large group of racers. There was one other girl at about the same level as she, but Jesse had no idea if they were anywhere near the front of the race-the others could be around the next bend already, out of her sight. She strained her ears for some news on who the winners were, but the crowd was cheering too loudly for the announcements to be discerned.
Jesse nearly fell off her broom as she rounded the next bend; two racers seemed to have crashed here, and were heaped on the ground, surrounded by medi-witches. Jesse had just done another ducking maneuver to avoid someone gaining on her, and nearly crashed into the mess of people on the ground. She did a quick barrel roll to avoid hitting someone, but this combined with the turn threw her off balance, and she went spinning off to the edge of the track. She was lucky to be able to gain control again before hitting the fences surrounding the track, protecting the audience from just such happenings, but her mistake had cost her dearly in time and stance; she had to struggle to keep up from then on.
The end of the race came suddenly to her. In the top right hand corner of her sunglasses made especially for the race, the lap number changed to the word FINAL, which glowed green. Jesse rounded the last turn and lay flat on her broom for the home stretch.
When she passed the finish line, the word FINAL turned bright red and started to blink. A tiny "congratulations" burned beneath it. Jesse grinned and took off her glasses, making a smooth landing next to the other finished racers. They were all talking excitedly and looking up at the scoreboard, which could be easily seen from their little pit. Jesse turned to find her number and check her placing and score. She was vaguely surprised-in a pleasant way-to see that she'd ranked twenty-seventh out of sixty-two racers in placing. Her score was eighty-six, but that meant nothing until the other racers had finished. So far, she was in twentieth place overall.
Beaming, she turned to see who else had finished. She didn't recognize most of the racers, although a few were seventh-years at her school. One of them was in Gryffindor, the others in Hufflepuff. She was shocked to notice that number ten, who'd placed first and had a score of one thousand sixty-three, was a Hufflepuff. Then she felt bad for being surprised; Hufflepuffs always got a bad rap for being the "armpit" of the school. She hoped they'd prove everyone wrong by doing well in this area, at least.
Jesse watched all the others as the finished the race: Lily finished thirty- seventh, but looked rather pleased for having finished at all. She stood with Jesse, also watching for racers she might recognize, and both were shocked and concerned when the final racer crossed the finish line, and Remus still had not been seen.
"D'you think he was in that accident on the first bend?" Jesse asked breathlessly; it had looked rather serious. Lily shook her head, suddenly laughing.
"Look!" she exclaimed, pointing at the scoreboard. "Remus is number twelve, like last year-he finished seventh!" Jesse looked up at the board, disbelieving. She looked back to Lily.
"I though he said he wasn't that great!"
"I guess he's been practicing..." Lily mused. "Wonder where he is?" Chatting excitedly, the two walked through the racers' pit to the area reserved for racers needing medical attention. Nearly all the early placers were here, as they were the most aggressive. Jesse scanned the faces of those nearby, and quickly spotted Remus to their left.
"C'mon, he's over there," she said quickly, pulling Lily along with her to where he was seated. He didn't look up as they approached; he was inspecting a long gash on his left bicep. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but Jesse found herself starting to worry despite herself. She kneeled next to him, announcing her presence with a quiet "hello." Lily stood next to her, leaning on Remus' chair.
He smiled a greeting and turned his attention back to his cut. He inspected it closely, then tugged at something Jesse couldn't see. After a moment, his hand came free, a two-inch-long splinter between his fingers.
Jesse gasped and Lily gave a little cry. Remus looked at them quizzically.
"What? It's just a splinter," he said, slightly amused. Jesse carefully took it from him.
"That's a damn long splinter, Remus," she commented, inspecting it. It was bloody except for a small bit at the top, where Jesse was holding it. "How did it get in so far? And how on earth did you see it?!" Remus merely shrugged and held out a trash can for her to put it in. She dropped the splinter in with a shudder and gently took his arm in her hands, pulling it closer for examination. There was a very small hole in his arm, which was bleeding just the slightest bit. That was the only evidence of the splinter.
"Weird-you'd hardly know it was there...but I suppose your muscle was torn a bit?" Remus nodded.
"I suppose, but no more than a needle would tear it, really. It'll heal just fine on its own." He tried to crane his neck around to see his cut more closely, but Jesse was holding his arm at too odd an angle. "See anything else?" She looked at it for a while, occasionally opening it a bit with her fingers for a clearer view, but found nothing.
"Nope." She paused, pulling at the edges of the cut. There was no resistance. "How deep is this, anyway?" she asked curiously.
"About as deep as the splinter, I should say," Remus replied casually. Jesse gasped.
"But-your muscle! It must be torn to shreds-doesn't it hurt?!" Remus laughed and shook his head.
"No, of course not. I've been given a pain reliever and the cut is on its way toward healing. It should be fine by the next race." Jesse nodded; sometimes she forgot the wonders of magical healing, as medi-witches were never present at the races in America-the races were too illegal there to publicize this way.
"How did this happen, anyway?" Jesse asked, finally releasing his arm. Remus took one last look at it and turned back to her.
"I was passing some guy, headed for second place, when the girl next to him lost control and they crashed. His broom splintered, and a bit of it cut into my arm as I passed. I was going fast enough that some of it broke off, which explains the splinter." He sighed dejectedly. "That was on the home stretch! If I hadn't been slowed down that fraction of a second, I could've placed second instead of seventh." Jesse took his hand in hers and smiled at him proudly.
"I'd say seventh is good enough for most anyone here," she said reassuringly, "especially for the first race of the season. You have plenty of time to catch up." She looked over her shoulder for Lily to back her up, but the red-head had disappeared.
"Off to find James, I expect," Remus explained with a grin. "To comfort him that he couldn't be in the races..."
"Speaking of which-I noticed Sirius wasn't listed for this race. Didn't he want to be in it?"
"Yeah, but he had that meeting, remember? I wonder how that's going for him..." Jesse shrugged, hoping he'd be back in time for the next race, and stood up.
"The next race isn't for another hour-what are we expected to do until then?" she asked as Remus stood up with her.
"Mingle," he replied with a grin. "Or waste money. There's concession stands at the far end, but they're terribly overpriced. I'd suggest waiting for lunchtime at least." Jesse nodded and they left the racers' pit, feeling like getting some fresh air. But the crowd was so thick on the track, too, that they didn't feel much better.
"Ugh, let's find a less crowded place," Jesse muttered, feeling stifled. Remus nodded fervently and led the way, cutting a path through the crowd in the direction of the edge of the track.
"If we're lucky, they'll have a gate open or something," he explained. Sure enough, when they broke through to the edge of the racetrack, the protective fence was wide open, leading into the streets of Knockturn Alley.
"We can always get lunch here or in Diagon Alley if there's time," Remus suggested.
"I vote Diagon Alley..." Jesse muttered, looking around at the frightening Knockturn Alley shops with some fear and disgust. "I don't fancy eating my lunch with a view of the pickled frogs across the street." Remus laughed.
"Depending on where you go for food, you could possibly be eating those frogs..." Jesse wrinkled her nose in disgust and laughed at the thought.
They walked as far as they dared without risking not being able to hear the announcer and found a bench to sit down on. It was right outside a potions shop, but as their backs were to the window, they didn't have to look at the preserved creatures floating on display.
Knockturn Alley was even better than its sister alley for people watching, as the shoppers were so much more interesting and strange here. Remus and Jesse had great fun making quiet comments about the shoppers-until an old woman in a cloak overheard them from across the street and threatened to give them a beating. They took that as a sign to stop their cruel jokes and walked back to the racetrack.
The audience was starting to settle into their seats again, so the track was nearly clear when Remus and Jesse approached it. Neither Jesse nor Lily had been accepted into this race-it was for a mini-championship and was only for racers who'd placed above tenth in the previous race. Jesse bade Remus a quick good luck before she was swept up into the bleachers by the fast-moving crowd. Lily took her to where James was sitting, and the two settled down next to him to watch the race.
Jesse felt as if she were still down on the racetrack as the signal was given to mount up. She felt that familiar dull fear, mixed with a huge rush of adrenaline, and she clenched her fists excitedly as the whistle was blown. The sound stopped, and the racers kicked off.
Remus strayed behind at first, though Jesse couldn't understand why; his broom was much faster than those of many of his opponents, at least when accelerating, and he should be near the front by now. But after worrying briefly that something was wrong, she decided that he must have some kind of plan in mind.
Indeed, he did. As they began the first bend, Remus put on a burst of speed and took advantage of his Meteor 360's excellent steering to hug the inside of the track. In no time, he'd left the others behind and was speeding at the front of the pack, neck-and-neck with the boy in first place. Jesse found his number: fifty-two. She borrowed James' program and looked up the number to read more about the racer.
Number fifty-two's nickname was Silverbolt; his broom was the famed Silver Arrow, one of the most expensive and accurate brooms available. It had excellent speed when going straight, but lost a lot of momentum in the curves. It's acceleration was unbeatable, and in America was called the "ten-second broom" as a reference to drag-racing cars. According to the description, Silverbolt's broom had actual silver in the handle and twigs. It made for a stronger, if somewhat heavier, broom.
Jesse looked up to see how the race was going. Remus was dropping behind Silverbolt just a bit, but Jesse saw that he'd easily be able to make up for that at the next turn. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get far enough ahead to counter the effects of the next straightaway-in no time, Silverbolt was slightly ahead again.
Remus seemed to be tiring of this-for good reason, as there was only one lap left in the race. He leaned forward and urged all the speed he could get out of his broom. He was gaining, steadily but oh-so-slowly he was gaining.
Then something happened that Jesse hadn't expected. In an effort to keep Remus behind him, Silverbolt fishtailed a tiny bit. His twigs brushed Remus in the face, just for a moment. Instead of ignoring the distraction or avoiding it, Remus turned his head away abruptly, accidentally jerking his broom sharply to the right. The sudden change of direction was too much for even the Meteor 360, and it spun a full circle. It smacked into Silverbolt's broom as it did so, throwing him off course as well. Remus quickly corrected his broom's spin, only to find himself facing a wildly fishtailing Silver Arrow directly in front of him. He ducked to avoid being hit by the broom, and put on a burst of speed, streaking under the Silver Arrow and rounding the last bend. It was the home stretch, and Remus was ahead!
But Silverbolt had his broom under control again, and he was gaining on Remus impossibly fast. He tried to pass his opponent on the right, but they were a bit too close to the fence; he moved left a bit, his broom barely bumping into Remus'. The Silver Arrow pulled forward just a bit. . .they were almost at the finish line. . .the brooms bumped again, very lightly, and Remus jerked sharply to the left, seemingly to avoid the other broom. The Silver Arrow quickly pulled ahead while Remus corrected his error, leaning forward even further in an attempt to catch up. . .
But it was too late. Silverbolt had crossed the finish line, to much loud cheering from the audience, and Remus followed him across at a very close second.
Jesse let out a long breath; she hadn't noticed that she'd been tense throughout the whole race. Lily glanced at her, amused, and turned to say something to James. He smiled, too, and Jesse rolled her eyes; she knew what this was about, and didn't feel like giving them their fun. Instead, she went straight for the racers' pit to see Remus.
But, since she hadn't raced this time, she wasn't allowed inside the pit. She waited just outside the fence, watching the scoreboard and waiting for Remus to appear. After half an hour, nearly all the racers had come back out, but he remained within the pit. The guard at the entrance merely shrugged when she asked again if she could go find him; now that the pit was nearly empty, it didn't matter so much. Jesse was allowed in.
She went straight for the medi-center, and sure enough, Remus was in the same seat, this time trying to dress a wound on his hand using the other one and his teeth. Jesse kneeled in front of him again and gently took the gauze from his hand.
"You've done this all wrong," she said teasingly. Remus rolled his eyes and grinned.
"And I suppose you're the expert?"
"Better than you are," Jesse retorted as she undid his sloppy bandages. He stopped her before she reached the end.
"That's far enough," he said firmly. Jesse looked up at him, surprised.
"What, don't want me to see your battle scars?" she teased with a grin, pulling at the bandage. But Remus kept his hand firmly over the gauze that covered his knuckles.
"Actually, that's about right," he said quietly. Jesse met his eyes again, concerned now.
"Why not? Are they that bad?"
"No, just ugly." Jesse laughed.
"You think I care?" She carefully pried his hand away and removed the gauze.
Despite Remus' warning, Jesse was shocked to see the damage done to his hand. The knuckles were raw to the bone in some places, the skin jagged and torn. The bleeding had been stopped, but the wound was still raw and open. Something glinted on his middle knuckle, and Jesse used a tweezers to carefully extract what looked like a metal splinter.
"What happened to you?" she breathed, holding up the splinter. Remus eyed it nervously.
"Silver," he said simply. Jesse's eyes widened; she'd completely forgotten about that when reading about Silverbolt's special broom. She threw the silver shard into the trash can, set the tweezers down, and looked at his knuckles again.
"Do the medi-witches know? They have to treat you specially for that, I heard my uncle talking about it," she said quickly, looking around for the nearest nurse. But Remus shook his head.
"No, don't tell them-they can't know. . .about me. I'd be kicked out of the race." Jesse stared at him in shock. "Yeah. . .that's why I've kept it a secret as best I can. I'll get Pomfrey to look at this when we get back."
"But-how will you explain how it happened? The races are illegal, remember?"
"Don't worry about that," Remus said with a laugh. "Pomfrey gets so many injured kids on racing days, she's learned to just ignore the sudden influx and treat the patients as usual." Jesse nodded, somewhat reassured.
"Well, at least we can wrap this up until then," she said practically, taking the gauze in hand again. "Hold your hand steady so I don't hurt you," she told him. He did so as best he could while she carefully wrapped the gauze around his knuckles and charmed it in place. Remus thanked her and inspected his face in the mirror.
"I think his twigs got me too," he said quietly, indicating a few scratches on his cheek and forehead. Jesse looked at them and shrugged.
"Nothing visible, but Pomfrey should still have a look." Remus nodded. Jesse thought back to the race, and the odd jerks he'd made nearing the end. "So that's why you pulled away whenever he hit you," she said, thinking out loud. He nodded again, this time looking disgusted.
"Yeah, and that's what cost me first place. I should've had it, if not for- " He stopped short; a medi-witch was walking by. "Let's get out of here. Where're James and Lily?"
"Up in the stands still, I think. There's a two-hour break before any of us race again, for the personal races-bets and such. It's nearly eleven. D'you think we should get lunch now, so we don't have to worry about it later?" Remus nodded, and they went off to find James and Lily and get something to eat.
Now, I know you'll all come to a point in this story where you'll start thinking "oh, groan, a Mary-Sue!" But don't fret, she really isn't! Just don't give up on me yet, and you'll see. I'm trying to keep away from the clichés, I promise.
Oh, one more thing. I realize now that James wasn't a keeper, and I'm sorry for saying that he was. But I really don't feel like changing it, and I like him as a keeper, so I'll leave it as is. Hey, at least I'm not calling him a seeker, right?
Okay, on with the chapter then! This time, let the RACES begin!!!
Chapter Eleven
Forbidden Lightning
Exactly halfway through Winter Break, McGonagall had scheduled a Hogsmeade weekend. Students were forbidden to visit Hogsmeade without permission even during break, though most of them ignored the rule, which was barely enforced. So, usually, the scheduled weekend wouldn't have been very special.
But this weekend was going to be far from the usual.
Mandy Mitchell, the Quidditch player, casually walked around the Great Hall the morning before the Hogsmeade weekend. She had a quill in one pocket, a slip of parchment in the other. Her schoolbag held a paper envelope, already half full of galleons and sickles, and a few knuts. She went from table to table, starting with the Slytherins as they were the nearest to the door. At each table, she would approach every group of students in turn and talk with them briefly. Occasionally, the parchment and quill would come out, to be put away again quickly with a handful of coins. Then Mandy would move on.
By the time she got to the Gryffindor table, the envelope was so full of money that she had to walk slowly to avoid making noise. She meandered towards one end of the table and approached a group of three second-years, who were laughing hysterically as they ate their breakfasts. She grinned at them and sat down across from them, laughing with them as if she'd heard the joke. They looked at her with a mixture of fear and awe. Was there really a sixth year sitting with them? Was she really laughing with them? Was that a quill in her hand, or a wand?
Half-expecting hexes to come their way any second, the twelve-year-olds glanced at each other, and then back at Mandy. She smiled reassuringly and began to speak, gesturing with her quill. When she'd finished, they were all looking much happier-positively ecstatic, in fact. One of them nodded vigorously and dug around in his bag; the other two followed suit. They each handed Mandy a few sickles, grinning widely, and she put them away as she got up to speak to the next group. As she left, the boys immediately began talking excitedly again.
Mandy laughed to herself at how excitable first- and second-years always were. They were still so young, and everything was so new to them. She was very glad the minimum age had been raised from last year...
The next nearest group of students was one Mandy was familiar with. She sat down next to James Potter, a fifth-year and an excellent keeper on their team. He glanced at her, eyebrows raised in question. Sirius Black, who was sitting across from them, noticed her as well.
"What's up?" he asked casually, though he was pretty sure he already knew. It was getting to be that time of year again, and Sirius' thoughts had been filled with only this for the past few days...
"You know what's up," Mandy teased, pulling out the quill and parchment and handing both to Sirius. "You're signing up this year, right? The first race is tomorrow, next one's day after. The other races don't start until next week sometime-we're still trying to work out a way to get half the people out of this school." Sirius took the parchment with a grin. He reached back across the table for the quill, but another hand grabbed it before he could. He looked up angrily into the face of Severus Snape.
"What're you trying to pull this time?" Sirius asked in a low voice. Snape sneered down at him, twirling the quill between two fingers.
"Thought I'd stop you before you signed a binding contract," he said smugly. Sirius rolled his eyes and tried to swipe the quill, but Snape was just a little faster.
"I appreciate your concern, but I don't plan on trying to drop out of the races." Snape sneered again.
"Hard to be in two places at once, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about, Snape? And get out with it-I don't feel like staring at your mug all through breakfast."
"Nor do I wish to look at you, but it seems I don't have that kind of luck. Our next meeting is tomorrow, remember? The ministry person won't be very pleased if you miss it." Sirius' jaw dropped, and he stared at Snape with a mixture of disbelief and hatred.
"Meeting? What meeting?" Mandy demanded, obviously rather upset. Snape turned his gaze on her.
"Mr. Black here has been accused of murder. We're too young for a real wizarding trial, so they've set up little...meetings, as they call them. Basically a trial, but one-on-one, in the Headmaster's office. A little more severe at times...but a fair 'trial' nonetheless." Mandy looked at Sirius, wide-eyed.
"Murder? You?" There was a pause, and then she burst out laughing. "What kind of idiot would accuse you of murder?!" Snape, who'd been looking rather smug, took on a sour expression.
"It doesn't matter what you think of the affair. What matters is that Black can't attend tomorrow's little...get-together. I'd suggest finding a new 'star player.'" With that, he threw the quill down onto the table and stalked away.
"What a creep..." Sirius mumbled, restraining himself from using fouler language because of Lily's ever-sensitive ear.
"Good God, he can't be serious," Mandy groaned, rolling her eyes. "'Get- together'? 'Star player'?" She chuckled softly, then looked up at Sirius. "Well, looks like we'll have to work something else out." His eyes lit up.
"You mean...I can still do it?" he whispered excitedly.
"I should think so! I can't imagine not letting you, of all people, sign up. I'll get you into some of the smaller races-but I can't promise anything on the big one." Sirius grinned.
"That's good enough for me! Hand it over!" Mandy returned the smile and passed him the quill. He quickly signed the parchment and handed it and the quill to Remus, poking his friend in the arm to get his attention. "Moony, you doin' it this year?" Sirius asked when Remus had taken the items from his friend. Remus looked over the parchment, which appeared to be blank, and a slow smile spread across his face.
"Hell yes...I've been waiting for this since January 30th of last year!" Jesse, who was sitting next to Remus and looking over his shoulder curiously, spoke up.
"What happened on January 30th?"
"He fell off his broom twelve feet from the finish line and was disqualified," Sirius explained with a laugh. "Poor guy, almost won, too..." Jesse looked from Sirius to Remus quizzically.
"What?" Remus shook his head.
"I'll explain later..." He didn't feel like reliving the ignominy in front of all his friends, who would be happy to add in little details...
"No, you'll explain now. Otherwise she won't have a chance to sign up!" Sirius said pointedly. Remus scribbled his signature on the parchment and watched it dissolve.
"That's true," he said thoughtfully before turning to Jesse. "Alright, but don't listen to anything they say," he warned her. Jesse laughed and agreed.
"Every year, Knockturn Alley hosts illegal broom racing, sponsored by the company Forbidden Lightning. They're from Germany, I just can't pronounce the real name. Anyways...the races always start around this time, shortly after Christmas, and go through January, sometimes into February. They're set up so that Hogwarts kids can come during their breaks and participate in the races-or at least watch them. Half the money FL makes is from us.
"Last year, the minimum age for participating was twelve, but this year it's thirteen because of some...injuries. It can get pretty dangerous sometimes. Well, Sirius and I have been racing since we were twelve, and Lily raced last year. Peter always works for them, selling stuff or setting up. He gets paid pretty well, and he's usually willing to help us pay for repairs on our brooms. James can't race 'cause he plays Quidditch.
"I never came close to winning except last year, but I fell off my broom in the second-to-last race and was disqualified from the running. So...I'll have to do better this time," he added, gesturing with the parchment. He glanced at Sirius, then looked back at Jesse. "Do you think you want to give it a shot? I can't guarantee anything, since you've never raced before-"
"Wait a sec! Who says I've never raced before?" Jesse cut him off. She was more excited than he'd seen her in a long time. "I can't believe you guys have this here! Though I guess it makes sense, since FL's a European company..."
"What are you babbling about?" Sirius asked, quickly flashing her a grin to show he was joking.
"I used to race all the time in the States! There were races for younger kids there too, so I got a year of practice before I entered the real competition. FL had a few reps at our school, and they'd come around just like Mandy did, and get people to sign up. Oh, I thought I'd never get to dig my chassis lights out again!"
Remus looked from her to Sirius and back, eyes wide. He'd never have imagined this kind of response...it always seemed to him that Jesse would be like Lily had been at first-reluctant, maybe even angry at them for doing something illegal. Not that she was always the goody-goody, but she never really went for anything bad either.
Sirius burst out laughing at the look on Remus' face.
"You don't know her as well as you thought, I guess!" he crowed. Jesse was smiling too.
"Sorry if I've surprised you or something, but it's been four years...a lot can happen in four years." Remus found he didn't like that thought at all, and wondered what else had changed about her, but he merely shrugged and smiled.
"I just didn't expect it, that's all." He scrutinized her for a moment. "So, just how good are you?" Jesse grinned.
"You'll see soon enough, won't you?" she replied as she reached for the parchment and quill.
The next day, to everyone's relief, it wasn't snowing as hard as it had been for the past week. Remus fairly jumped out of bed, surprised at himself for being so alert this early in the morning. But, to his immense surprise, Sirius was already out of bed and dressed. He was sitting impatiently by the door, tapping his foot and running a hand through his hair every few seconds. The black locks were hanging loosely around his face, and looked rather flat from being mussed so often. Remus grinned and quickly got dressed.
"A little nervous, are we?" he asked when he was ready and had joined Sirius by the door.
"No, just waiting for you," Sirius replied testily. Yep, Remus thought to himself. He's nervous.
"Alright, then, let's go, if you're so anxious. Got your broom?" Sirius jumped and ran back across the room to grab his broomstick while Remus shook his head and laughed lightly.
"Don't laugh at me!" Sirius warned as they exited the room, closing the door quietly so as not to wake up James. Peter had long since left to begin setting up. "I'm just excited, that's all."
"Okay then."
"I am!" Sirius objected.
"I know, I agreed with you." Remus smiled to himself; it was fun seeing Sirius, usually so cool and calm, feeling this apprehensive. But Remus knew that by the time they were at the racetrack, Sirius would be back to his usual self. That was all the more reason to tease him while he had the chance...
"We meeting Jesse and Lily here or downstairs?" Sirius asked when they were almost to the portrait hole.
"At the Great Hall. They wanted to get an early start, I think."
"Girls always want an early start," Sirius groaned. "But that's okay, I'd rather be able to eat while we wait..."
They made it downstairs quickly, both masking their brooms with a simple spell Mandy had taught them the day before. The Great Hall was noisy, though not very crowded, as all the racers ate their breakfasts, invisible brooms at their feet. Those working for FL were already gone, Mandy was wandering around and making sure everyone was ready, and the audience members still had another few hours to sleep.
"I can't believe we had to get up at six in the morning!" they heard one girl complain as they passed the Ravenclaw table. She looked incredibly tired and was eating her bacon very slowly.
Remus and Sirius found the girls and sat down across the table from them. Lily was looking rather tired, but excited, and Jesse seemed to match her. Both smiled at the boys as they sat down, but they each had large bags under their eyes.
"Wow, I've never seen perfect Lily looking this bedraggled!" Sirius teased, running a hand through his hair.
"What, and I look just as I always do?" Jesse replied with a hint of indignance.
"You look beautiful," Remus assured her without thinking, quickly grinning and winking to make light of the comment. To his relief, Sirius didn't seem to have noticed, though Lily and Jesse were looking at him rather strangely. He ignored them both and casually took a piece of sausage from the serving dish.
"So, Lily-what's your name this year?" Sirius asked once he'd eaten a bit. She shrugged.
"I'm still thinking about that one," she replied. "I'll probably end up using my name from last year, though I don't like it much."
"What kind of broom do you have?" Jesse asked before taking a sip of pumpkin juice.
"Osprey."
"That's in the same line as the Hummingbird, isn't it?" Lily nodded. "Well," Jesse continued, "I'm using a bird name to go with my broom-you could do the same. It makes it easier for the audience to remember you."
"True...got any ideas?" Lily looked around at her friends hopefully.
"Osprey!" Sirius suggested immediately. Lily rolled her eyes.
"How did I know you'd say that? Anyone got any good ideas?" she asked again.
"Well, don't ask me for help anymore!" Sirius replied, pretending to be affronted.
"How about Firebird?" Remus spoke up. "Because of your red hair, y'know." Lily looked at him, surprised.
"Hey, that's not bad..."
"Don't let her use it, Moony-she'll just stab you in the back next chance she gets!" Sirius warned, gesturing with his fork. A chunk of sausage flew off the end of it, flying and landing on the floor just inches from the hem of someone's robes. Sirius looked up to find, once again, the angry face of Severus Snape sneering down on him.
"Oh, goody, you again, here to brighten my morning," Sirius said dully.
"Up a little early, aren't we?" Snape commented. "The meeting isn't for another few hours."
"Up as early as you are," Sirius replied. "And thanks for reminding me when the meeting was-you only told me twelve times yesterday, but thirteen's a charm!" Snape glowered at him.
"I do hope you're not planning on...missing the meeting?"
"Of course not. Even your face for two hours is better than Azkaban. Though not much..." he added in an undertone. Remus snorted, but he knew there was nothing Sirius feared more than prolonged exposure to Azkaban- which was ironic, due to his knack for getting into trouble.
"I'll see you later, then," Snape said in an almost cordial voice. He turned on his heel and went back to the Slytherin table.
"What a-"
"Creep," Lily cut him off lazily.
"Yeah, that," Sirius said with a grin.
Remus ate slowly, lost in his mixed-up thoughts. As excited as he was about the race, he couldn't focus on the event looming in his future. His thoughts kept reverting to the comment he'd made to Jesse a few minutes ago. It had been a joke, right? A mocking response to her equally mocking indignation? But as much as he tried to convince himself otherwise, he couldn't help but think that it might have been something else.
It had been about a week since that first day of the Fight, when Remus had suddenly seen Jesse differently. He'd thought about her that way more than once since, and it had become increasingly hard to blame his thoughts on the moon and the wolf. But there was no other way to explain it, was there?
Of course there was, and he knew it. But that wasn't possible, it seemed. They'd always been best friends as kids, but only that. It was hard to imagine anything beyond a close friendship.
Sirius stood up suddenly, startling Remus and making him drop his fork.
"What're you so jumpy about?" Remus asked irritably. Sirius was practically skipping in place, he was so excited.
"Mandy just came by, they're ready for us to head outside!" he hissed. Remus rolled his eyes. Was that all?
"Sirius, you know it'll be another hour or more before we get to actually leave the grounds. Calm down!" Sirius ignored him and grabbed both their brooms, unobtrusively handing Remus his. Jesse and Lily were both standing there, ready to go as well, so Remus took a few more pieces of toast and stood to join them. The four left the Great Hall, chatting casually and holding their brooms as naturally as possible, and joined the other racers out in front of the school. Some of them remained inside, knowing how long it would be and how cold it was outside, but most of the racers were outside, playing around in the snow. Sirius picked out a tree with a very low branch sticking out over a snowdrift and set his broom down next to it. When the others had piled theirs on his, he performed a quick charm that turned the snow under them faintly red. They'd be able to find them later, and still be able to keep them invisible for the time being.
"Right, this calls for a mini-Fight!" Sirius announced happily.
"What calls for it?" Lily wanted to know. Sirius paused and pondered her question.
"Er...this wonderful event?" he tried. "I don't know, it just does!"
"Okay then," she said with a laugh. Then, before Sirius could start the fight, Lily grabbed a handful of snow off the nearest branch and dropped it down the front of his robes. Sirius let out a strangled cry and, eyes wide with shock, grabbed a double handful to throw at her. Lily shrieked and ran, just barely dodging the flying snow. Sirius took off after her, and the fight had begun.
Remus wasn't really in the mood for running around; his nerves were finally getting to him, and his stomach was knotted very tightly. He found it helpful to imagine a hollow pinkish rope, rather like an elongated stomach, tied in an intricate knot. In his mind, he slowly and carefully undid the knot. When it was undone, he retied it and began the process all over again.
Jesse watched Sirius chasing Lily around, laughing as each of them got steadily wetter. She noticed eventually that Remus seemed to be staring off into space, not paying attention to anything at all, and decided to take advantage of the situation. As unobtrusively as possible, she took a small handful of snow from a branch near her head and approached Remus with it. She managed to get just a few inches from his back without him noticing, but decided not to push her luck. She reached her hand forward to tip the slowly melting snow down his robes, but accidentally brushed his neck with her cold, wet gloves. He flinched and turned quickly, before she could react. She suddenly found herself standing in front of him, her face inches from his. She could actually feel his warm breath on her cheek. Thinking he'd be angry with her for trying to ambush him, she smiled sheepishly and lowered her hand slowly. But as she opened her mouth to apologize, he did something she never would have expected. He caught her hand in his and leaned forward slightly, eyes half closed. She gasped softly, and he stopped moments too soon, pulling back and turning away, his ears reddening.
For a split second, Jesse wondered what had just happened. Then, before her mind could grasp the situation, her body took control. She grabbed Remus' elbow as he turned away and pulled him back around. Before either of them could think, she planted an awkward kiss on his lips.
Now it was Jesse's turn to pull away, rather embarrassed. She looked at Remus expectantly, waiting for his reaction. He stared at her blankly for a moment, then smiled slowly and returned the kiss. It was much more natural the second time around.
Sirius and Lily had long since gotten tired and decided to head back to see what the other two were doing. When they were nearly there, Sirius realized with a start just what was happening under that tree. He stopped short and stared at them in shock, and then a grin spread across his face. Lily, who was also looking rather surprised, noted his grin and shook her head at him.
"Oh, no you don't, Sirius!" she warned in a low voice. "You leave them alone!"
"And why would I do that?" he replied before running for the tree. When he neared it, he slowed his pace considerably and began to walk very quietly toward the couple. He got to within arm's reach of Remus and tapped his friend firmly on the shoulder. Remus whipped his head around quickly and got very red, very fast. Sirius grinned and wagged his finger at them.
"Now, now, this kind of lightning is most definitely forbidden on school grounds!" Jesse laughed lightly and chucked a pinecone at him, but Remus glared at him and got even redder.
"Alright, enough torment," Lily said from next to Sirius. She grinned knowingly at Jesse and winked so that Remus couldn't see her; he was looking very upset at being caught. "I think it's time we get in a group for going to Knockturn Alley." Remus nodded quickly and they all walked to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where Mandy was standing with her little cluster of Portkeys. When they got there, she looked up and smiled.
"Oh, good, I was wondering when you'd all show up. I have a Portkey leaving in like, thirty seconds-grab onto this branch quick." They each found a place to touch the branch she'd indicated, which was already being held up by three other racers. They got situated just in time; almost as soon as they were settled, the Portkey took off in the direction of London.
The group landed in a dark corner of Knockturn Alley moments later, still clutching their invisible brooms. Sirius undid the masking charms on all the brooms and they all headed for the racetrack, which was easily found due to the bright blue fireworks bursting above it. The stands were nearly set up, but of course no one was in them yet. Jesse looked around excitedly-it was so different from the racetrack in the States. She was about to comment on this when she felt someone jerk her arm. She looked around and saw Lily, smiling mischievously, grasping her sleeve.
"What're you doing?" she asked, trying to free her arm.
"Talking to you. Come over here," Lily replied, pulling Jesse away from Sirius and Remus, who were discussing the race and hadn't noticed a thing. Lily led Jesse under a set of bleachers that was entirely set up and completely deserted. They sat down beneath the steps, their brooms at their sides.
"So," Lily said shortly. Jesse blinked her eyes innocently.
"Yes?"
"You know what I dragged you over here for. Now spill!" Lily ordered, laughing.
"What do you want to know?" Jesse asked, leaning back on her elbows and stretching her legs out in front of her.
"Everything, of course! C'mon, you have to tell-that's what girlfriends are for!" Jesse laughed.
"Alright then..." For the next fifteen or so minutes, strange giggles emanated from the seemingly empty bleachers.
Sirius and Remus found their starting places and set their brooms down, then wandered off to explore the racetrack. It was about the same as last year, a simple loop with bleachers ringing it, inside and out. Only half the bleachers were completely set up, and of course they were all empty-the track wasn't open to the public for another hour or two.
But that didn't mean there weren't any people milling around. All the racers save a few from Hogwarts had long since arrived and were wandering around, checking out the track and talking to each other. Sirius greeted many racers that Remus didn't recognize and flirted with various pretty girls, all of whom were now immune to his charms and only laughed him off. Finally, Remus saw someone he recognized: Reggie Scott. She'd been racing, though not always professionally, for about eight years, and always came back from her private school in France for the FL races. She'd been the one to show Remus and Sirius the ropes when they'd first tried racing in second year. Remus hailed her, and the fifteen-year-old came over, smiling and waving.
"I knew I'd see you guys here!" she said when she was closer. "Racing again, I see...planning on finishing this time, Remus?" Remus rolled his eyes.
"Har, har. If I recall, you didn't do very well last year either," he reminded her. It didn't really bother him when Reggie teased him about his mistakes-she was a very good racer, and had the "authority" to bug him about stuff like that. Unlike Sirius, who had only been racing as long as Remus and made nearly as many mistakes-when he wasn't wowing the audience with his daring tricks and stupid stunts.
"If you can consider second in the country 'not very well,'" Sirius commented. Remus couldn't help but smile; Sirius revered Reggie as a championship racer and looked up to her as his sort of mentor. When he wasn't flirting with her, that is.
"I only got that rank because of how well I did in the timed races. I really botched the finals in the relays." Sirius shrugged.
"The point is, you got second. Way more than I could manage!"
"Oh, but Sirius-you're the star player!" Remus reminded him, laughing. Sirius chuckled along with him, explaining to Reggie what Snape had called him. As if suddenly reminded of something, he frowned and looked around the track.
"Does anyone know what time it is?" he asked, looking around for some sort of clock. Reggie checked a Muggle wristwatch she was wearing.
"Just after seven," she told him. "Why?"
"I've got to be back at the school by eight. That means I'll miss the first races! Oh well-at least I can sign in and hang around a while." Sirius sighed and started walking toward the registration desk.
"Why do you have to go so early?" Reggie asked, astonished.
"Trial...Snape just being stupid again..." he muttered as he approached the desk, Remus and Reggie right behind him. Remus quickly explained about Snape's accusations while Sirius looked at the times for the races and signed up for the ones he'd be able to attend.
"When will you be back?"
"I'm guessing about noon, but I'm not signing up for anything earlier than one, just to be safe," Sirius replied, signing his name by a six o'clock race, the last one of the day. "Snape better not do this next time..." he growled, looking at all the races-not counting the main championship race- he'd be missing. "I can't believe I don't get to try for the cup this year." Reggie snorted.
"I never liked that Snape kid...one of the reasons I'm glad my parents moved me to France. I get to study racing all the time, and I don't have to deal with all the prats at our school."
The three of them walked around the track, talking about past races and Reggie's foreign schooling, until it was time for Sirius to go. He parted with them reluctantly, heading for the nearest store. Since he didn't have to take his broom back with him and there wouldn't be any traffic anymore, he'd be able to use Floo powder and go straight to the Gryffindor common room.
The nearest shop sold rather disgusting slimy things, mostly for use in potions. He avoided looking at any of them-most of which had a strange likeness to the shopkeeper himself-and went straight to the back of the room, where the fireplace stood between two shelves sporting jars of strange animals, floating around in preserving fluids. He put two knuts in a little box and was rewarded with a packet of Floo powder. He threw it into the fire and watched it turn green.
"Gryffindor common room," he said loudly, stepping into the flames. He had just enough time to tuck in his elbows before the spinning began. In moments he was stepping out of the flames in the common room, to the surprise of a few first years sitting in armchairs by the fire.
"Sorry about that," he said with a smile, brushing himself off and walking away. They gawked at each other, then began whispering excitedly. Sirius chuckled to himself and left the common room.
He was only slightly sooty when he arrived at Dumbledore's office. Snape was already there, even though Sirius was five minutes early. They glared at each other and waited for the Ministry person to arrive.
At exactly eight o'clock, the Ministry official arrived. She was a short, wide woman with a rather stretched-out looking face: her mouth was wide and flat, her nose rather squashed, and her eyelids half-shut. She looked distinctly toad-like.
She smiled happily when she saw them both there. The smile did nothing to reduce the toady-ness of her face, but it did unnerve Sirius a bit; she seemed almost too sweet. Rather saccharine.
"Good morning!" she said in a rather high voice. "If you'll just follow me..." She spoke the password, cherry gumdrops, and led them past the gargoyle onto the revolving staircase. To Sirius' surprise, it carried them past Dumbledore's office and to a room some distance beyond that. The door was painted all white, with a silver handle. The woman opened the door and gestured for them to enter ahead of her; they did, rather hesitantly.
The room was very large, and very empty. The walls were a very pale gray, just a shade lighter than the floor and ceiling. There were no windows and the door, when snapped shut behind them, was the same color as the walls. The only furnishings in the room were three wooden chairs, sitting in a little triangle in the center of the room. They looked terribly small in the vast expanse of grayish-white.
Sirius took a seat and looked around, feeling very disconcerted. There weren't even any lights in the room to break up the uniformity of it; the brightness seemed to emanate from the walls themselves. Whenever he moved, coughed, or spoke, each sound echoed infinitely in the giant chamber.
"Well, now that we're all settled!" the woman said brightly. "My name is Miss Umbridge, and I'll be your judge, jury, and lawyer for the remainder of the trials. Mr. Hollenbach had to abandon this duty as he was called away for some more important matters, and I was appointed this job." She beamed at them in turn, waiting for a response. When there was none, her smile did not fade; in fact, it seemed to grow wider.
"Alright," she said happily, staring at them with her flat, blank, bespectacled eyes. Sirius met them and immediately looked away; they were magnified strangely by her thick glasses, and seemed to pop out at him while still disappearing in her fleshy face. He shuddered and stared at the floor.
"Shall we begin? I have all of the notes from your previous trials, so we won't have to repeat any of that. We should be able to start right in." Her voice echoed eerily in the room, seeming to grow louder each time it bounced back to Sirius' ears. He had the strong urge to block it out, but kept his hands firmly at his sides.
"It seems you left off with Mr. Snape telling Mr. Hollenbach of the possible motives Mr. Black might have had. Mr. Hollenbach did not take extensive notes here, so if you'd please to repeat these ideas?" She beamed expectantly at Snape, and Sirius almost felt sorry for him, having her gaze trained on him like that-but then he remembered what he was missing for this stupid trial, and decided Snape deserved it.
Snape managed to keep his cool under the frightening gaze, and repeated to Miss Umbridge all the things he'd told Mr. Hollenbach. The woman made no sign of comprehending, or even listening-she only stared until he had stopped talking. There was a rather tense, expectant silence during which Snape and Sirius waited for Miss Umbridge to reply, but she said nothing and did not move. Sirius shifted uncomfortably; it was as if the woman had fallen asleep.
Then, quite suddenly, she sat back in her chair and spoke.
"Thank you, Mr. Snape. Mr. Black, please explain to me why these motives do not apply." Sirius was shocked; she'd worded the request as if he was presumed guilty, and had to prove himself innocent.
"Er...well, the first one, about my hating Alyssa..." he began, but then he made the mistake of meeting Miss Umbridge's eyes. They were flat, blank, ever-staring, and unblinking. No expression showed there, no sign of life even. He felt lost in that sickening gaze, and could not find his thoughts.
Instead of commenting on his lack of explanation, Miss Umbridge did nothing. As she had with Snape, she merely sat there and stared at him. He blinked a few times and tried to remember what they were talking about.
"That is...I mean...it isn't true. I don't hate her-didn't, I mean. I mean, yes, I did sort of at first, but only because of what she'd done to Remus, and I didn't hate her enough to hurt her, certainly not to kill her. And then we talked and stuff and I didn't hate her at all then, so I certainly wouldn't have killed her, I didn't kill her!" Sirius stopped his bumbling defense and put his hands over his face, trying to collect his wits. He'd never been so nervous and unprepared in all his life.
"You don't make a very strong defense," Umbridge said sweetly. Sirius stared at her in surprise. What was he supposed to say to that? He chose to remain silent.
"And the second possible motive? Why do you claim that one is untrue?" Again, as if he were guilty from the start. Sirius made sure to remain calm this time and carefully explained why Snape's second reason made no sense. Things went on like this, until Umbridge abruptly changed topics.
"Wonderful. Now, Mr. Snape, please explain how Mr. Black killed Mr. and Ms. Mant."
"Now wait a second!" Sirius said suddenly, unable to take this any longer. Umbridge stared at him as though he were insane. He managed to keep himself calm and said, "You're saying this as though I really did kill the Mants! There's no proof of that, and you're supposed to presume me-"
"Mr. Snape, please explain how Mr. Black killed Mr. and Ms. Mant," Umbridge repeated, ignoring Sirius and turning back towards Snape, who was looking astonished but rather pleased.
"Well, he was last seen in the hospital wing with Mr. Lupin, but long before the time of the murders. He could easily have followed Alyssa from the wing-he left shortly after she did, as I understand it-and killed her and her brother in the hall outside the Ravenclaw common room. Jason's being there was completely unconnected-he just happened to be in the right place at the right time, from the viewpoint of the murderer."
The trial continued like this, Umbridge having Snape explain how Sirius had done it, then making Sirius defend himself and prove Snape wrong. As it wasn't like a real trial, the witnesses could not be called in right then- Umbridge would be interviewing them individually.
Sirius found the whole process to be unnerving and unjust. He did his best to keep up a strong defense, but he knew that he'd be talking to Dumbledore about it first chance he got.
Lily and Jesse emerged from the bleachers only when the people working at the races discovered them and asked them to leave, for safety reasons. The bleachers next door were being set up, so the girls nodded and left, searching the crowded track for Remus, Sirius, and anyone else they might recognize.
When Remus and Sirius proved unable to be found, Jesse suggested getting their brooms ready for the first race, which was due to start in an hour. Lily agreed, though more out of curiosity than necessity-her own broom had very few additions to it, but she wanted to know what Jesse had acquired over the years.
Jesse handled her Hummingbird lovingly; it was a wonderful broom, originally with a mahogany handle and light-colored twigs. Once she lifted certain masking spells from it, it revealed its "true" identity-the one she'd given it. The broom was now dark red with a black design along one side. The twigs were black and shiny, and some of them showed red when held at a certain angle. Jesse did another charm that lit up her chassis lights; they were red as well. Lily had never handled a broom with chassis lights before, and she was curious to see how they were mounted. She was surprised to see that the lights were actually built into the handle-some sort of magic enabled them to fit in the slim handle without cracking the wood. They couldn't stick out, Jesse explained, or they'd decrease the aerodynamics of the broom.
Other than that, Jesse's broom seemed normal-so far. She assured Lily that there were some surprises in store once the race started. But for now, she turned off the chassis lights and left her broom safely in its starting position.
Lily had lifted a few masking spells, as well, and her broom was now bright emerald green. There seemed to be little rhinestones in a pattern along the handle, glinting in the sun. The twigs were a dark, pretty shade of yellow-green and coordinated very well with the handle. They were carefully trimmed and placed for the best aerodynamics. Jesse nodded in approval and set the broom down.
She and Lily took to wandering the track again. Lifting the rather complicated spells had taken some time; the stands were now filling with people. Jesse felt her heart race as time continued to move forward, bringing her ever closer to her first race in England. She hoped she didn't terribly embarrass herself in front of everyone; first impressions really were everything in some situations.
Lily ducked into the restroom before the race, and Jesse said she'd meet her at the starting line-she still hadn't turned in her nickname, and the lines were getting long. Lily agreed and the two girls parted ways.
Jesse only had to stand in line for a few minutes before she was at the front. The young man looked up at her with a smile.
"Name?" he asked pleasantly.
"Jessica Philbin."
"Yes, here you are," he said after a moment of searching through a card box. "You've signed up for your races already, you've paid your fees, and you've registered your broom. All that's left is to pick a name and number."
"Number? That's new... Okay, well, my name is Flicker," she said hesitantly, knowing it was her last chance to change it. But it seemed good enough, so she kept it. The young man wrote it down in carefully neat handwriting. "Number...just any number?"
"Keep it simple, if you please," he requested with a smile. "The announcer generally uses it to keep track of where you are, so he'll be saying it a lot."
"Okay. Um...forty-two?" The man wrote it down and waited. It burned green.
"You're in the clear, no one else has chosen it." He smiled again and handed her a strip of cloth. "Tie this around your waist with the knot in front. The number will appear on the back when the race begins. Good luck, Flicker!" Jesse smiled back, took the cloth, and turned to head back to the starting line.
Before she'd gone five feet, she heard someone calling her name. She looked back over her shoulder, and her face broke into a wide grin when she recognized Remus coming through the crowd by the desks. He met up with her presently and returned the smile.
"Thought I'd never find you!" he said when they started walking again. "These crowds are incredible."
"We looked for you guys earlier, but even then there were just too many people. I was beginning to think I wouldn't see you again except on the racetrack." There was a moment of rather awkward silence.
"Listen, about earlier-"
"Please don't apologize," Jesse interrupted quickly. "I don't want you to apologize, there's no reason to." Remus smiled, looking rather relieved.
"I wasn't going to...I actually wanted you to know that I meant it. That may not make much sense, but-"
"It makes perfect sense," Jesse cut him off again. She stopped, grabbing his hand so he'd stop too, and turned him to face her. She kissed him slowly, ignoring the jostling crowd around them. When they broke the kiss, both were blushing slightly.
"I'm glad," he said quietly with a small smile. Jesse grinned back and moved forward to kiss him again, but they were interrupted by an announcement booming over the crowd.
"ALL RACERS PLEASE REPORT TO THE STARTING LINE! THE REGISTRATION DESK IS NOW CLOSED, AND IF YOU HAVE NOT SUPPLIED ALL THE REQUIRED INFORMATION YOU WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FIRST RACE. PLEASE SIGN UP DIRECTLY AFTERWARD. I REPEAT, ALL RACERS TO THE STARTING LINE!"
Jesse gave Remus a rueful smile, which he returned.
"To be continued, then," he said with a wink. Jesse couldn't help but giggle; this was a side of Remus she doubted many people saw.
Jesse joined Lily at the starting line, holding her broom carefully and looking up and down the line of racers. Remus was at the far end of the line, staring determinedly forward. He seemed to be collecting himself. Lily followed Jesse's gaze and smiled.
"Aw, isn't he cute when he's concentrating?" she teased. Jesse gave her a sneaky grin.
"Hell yes..." They burst into giggles, but stopped quickly when the announcer's voice was heard again.
"AUDIENCE, PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS, THE RACE WILL BEGIN SHORTLY!"
Jesse rolled her shoulders a few times and took a deep breath. She held it, released it, and took another one. The sounds of the crowd seemed to become muffled as she focused all her concentration on the track, and the race ahead. At a signal from the announcer, she mounted her broom. There was a long, loud whistle, and when it stopped, she kicked off from the ground, nearly in unison with the other racers. They all leaned forward over their brooms together as well, and the line sped forward along the track.
Once in the air, Jesse found she was much less nervous. All thoughts and emotions, even the strong ones, were blown away in her slipstream. She grinned into the wind and leaned even further down on her broom.
She quickly learned that the British races were similar to, but not the same as, American ones. The British tended to be more aggressive, but somehow in a more orderly way. She found it hard to get past the larger males; they were using their bulk as a bulwark, blocking the safe paths. Once she dropped under a clump of racers, skimming the ground, and came up again five feet ahead of them.
Another difference was that in America, each racer was supplied with an earpiece that relayed the announcer's comments directly into their ears. Here, she had to actually listen above the crowd for information on other racers, or use her own observations. It made things harder, but in an exciting sort of way.
It was rather annoying, though, when she found herself practically isolated at the front of a large group of racers. There was one other girl at about the same level as she, but Jesse had no idea if they were anywhere near the front of the race-the others could be around the next bend already, out of her sight. She strained her ears for some news on who the winners were, but the crowd was cheering too loudly for the announcements to be discerned.
Jesse nearly fell off her broom as she rounded the next bend; two racers seemed to have crashed here, and were heaped on the ground, surrounded by medi-witches. Jesse had just done another ducking maneuver to avoid someone gaining on her, and nearly crashed into the mess of people on the ground. She did a quick barrel roll to avoid hitting someone, but this combined with the turn threw her off balance, and she went spinning off to the edge of the track. She was lucky to be able to gain control again before hitting the fences surrounding the track, protecting the audience from just such happenings, but her mistake had cost her dearly in time and stance; she had to struggle to keep up from then on.
The end of the race came suddenly to her. In the top right hand corner of her sunglasses made especially for the race, the lap number changed to the word FINAL, which glowed green. Jesse rounded the last turn and lay flat on her broom for the home stretch.
When she passed the finish line, the word FINAL turned bright red and started to blink. A tiny "congratulations" burned beneath it. Jesse grinned and took off her glasses, making a smooth landing next to the other finished racers. They were all talking excitedly and looking up at the scoreboard, which could be easily seen from their little pit. Jesse turned to find her number and check her placing and score. She was vaguely surprised-in a pleasant way-to see that she'd ranked twenty-seventh out of sixty-two racers in placing. Her score was eighty-six, but that meant nothing until the other racers had finished. So far, she was in twentieth place overall.
Beaming, she turned to see who else had finished. She didn't recognize most of the racers, although a few were seventh-years at her school. One of them was in Gryffindor, the others in Hufflepuff. She was shocked to notice that number ten, who'd placed first and had a score of one thousand sixty-three, was a Hufflepuff. Then she felt bad for being surprised; Hufflepuffs always got a bad rap for being the "armpit" of the school. She hoped they'd prove everyone wrong by doing well in this area, at least.
Jesse watched all the others as the finished the race: Lily finished thirty- seventh, but looked rather pleased for having finished at all. She stood with Jesse, also watching for racers she might recognize, and both were shocked and concerned when the final racer crossed the finish line, and Remus still had not been seen.
"D'you think he was in that accident on the first bend?" Jesse asked breathlessly; it had looked rather serious. Lily shook her head, suddenly laughing.
"Look!" she exclaimed, pointing at the scoreboard. "Remus is number twelve, like last year-he finished seventh!" Jesse looked up at the board, disbelieving. She looked back to Lily.
"I though he said he wasn't that great!"
"I guess he's been practicing..." Lily mused. "Wonder where he is?" Chatting excitedly, the two walked through the racers' pit to the area reserved for racers needing medical attention. Nearly all the early placers were here, as they were the most aggressive. Jesse scanned the faces of those nearby, and quickly spotted Remus to their left.
"C'mon, he's over there," she said quickly, pulling Lily along with her to where he was seated. He didn't look up as they approached; he was inspecting a long gash on his left bicep. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but Jesse found herself starting to worry despite herself. She kneeled next to him, announcing her presence with a quiet "hello." Lily stood next to her, leaning on Remus' chair.
He smiled a greeting and turned his attention back to his cut. He inspected it closely, then tugged at something Jesse couldn't see. After a moment, his hand came free, a two-inch-long splinter between his fingers.
Jesse gasped and Lily gave a little cry. Remus looked at them quizzically.
"What? It's just a splinter," he said, slightly amused. Jesse carefully took it from him.
"That's a damn long splinter, Remus," she commented, inspecting it. It was bloody except for a small bit at the top, where Jesse was holding it. "How did it get in so far? And how on earth did you see it?!" Remus merely shrugged and held out a trash can for her to put it in. She dropped the splinter in with a shudder and gently took his arm in her hands, pulling it closer for examination. There was a very small hole in his arm, which was bleeding just the slightest bit. That was the only evidence of the splinter.
"Weird-you'd hardly know it was there...but I suppose your muscle was torn a bit?" Remus nodded.
"I suppose, but no more than a needle would tear it, really. It'll heal just fine on its own." He tried to crane his neck around to see his cut more closely, but Jesse was holding his arm at too odd an angle. "See anything else?" She looked at it for a while, occasionally opening it a bit with her fingers for a clearer view, but found nothing.
"Nope." She paused, pulling at the edges of the cut. There was no resistance. "How deep is this, anyway?" she asked curiously.
"About as deep as the splinter, I should say," Remus replied casually. Jesse gasped.
"But-your muscle! It must be torn to shreds-doesn't it hurt?!" Remus laughed and shook his head.
"No, of course not. I've been given a pain reliever and the cut is on its way toward healing. It should be fine by the next race." Jesse nodded; sometimes she forgot the wonders of magical healing, as medi-witches were never present at the races in America-the races were too illegal there to publicize this way.
"How did this happen, anyway?" Jesse asked, finally releasing his arm. Remus took one last look at it and turned back to her.
"I was passing some guy, headed for second place, when the girl next to him lost control and they crashed. His broom splintered, and a bit of it cut into my arm as I passed. I was going fast enough that some of it broke off, which explains the splinter." He sighed dejectedly. "That was on the home stretch! If I hadn't been slowed down that fraction of a second, I could've placed second instead of seventh." Jesse took his hand in hers and smiled at him proudly.
"I'd say seventh is good enough for most anyone here," she said reassuringly, "especially for the first race of the season. You have plenty of time to catch up." She looked over her shoulder for Lily to back her up, but the red-head had disappeared.
"Off to find James, I expect," Remus explained with a grin. "To comfort him that he couldn't be in the races..."
"Speaking of which-I noticed Sirius wasn't listed for this race. Didn't he want to be in it?"
"Yeah, but he had that meeting, remember? I wonder how that's going for him..." Jesse shrugged, hoping he'd be back in time for the next race, and stood up.
"The next race isn't for another hour-what are we expected to do until then?" she asked as Remus stood up with her.
"Mingle," he replied with a grin. "Or waste money. There's concession stands at the far end, but they're terribly overpriced. I'd suggest waiting for lunchtime at least." Jesse nodded and they left the racers' pit, feeling like getting some fresh air. But the crowd was so thick on the track, too, that they didn't feel much better.
"Ugh, let's find a less crowded place," Jesse muttered, feeling stifled. Remus nodded fervently and led the way, cutting a path through the crowd in the direction of the edge of the track.
"If we're lucky, they'll have a gate open or something," he explained. Sure enough, when they broke through to the edge of the racetrack, the protective fence was wide open, leading into the streets of Knockturn Alley.
"We can always get lunch here or in Diagon Alley if there's time," Remus suggested.
"I vote Diagon Alley..." Jesse muttered, looking around at the frightening Knockturn Alley shops with some fear and disgust. "I don't fancy eating my lunch with a view of the pickled frogs across the street." Remus laughed.
"Depending on where you go for food, you could possibly be eating those frogs..." Jesse wrinkled her nose in disgust and laughed at the thought.
They walked as far as they dared without risking not being able to hear the announcer and found a bench to sit down on. It was right outside a potions shop, but as their backs were to the window, they didn't have to look at the preserved creatures floating on display.
Knockturn Alley was even better than its sister alley for people watching, as the shoppers were so much more interesting and strange here. Remus and Jesse had great fun making quiet comments about the shoppers-until an old woman in a cloak overheard them from across the street and threatened to give them a beating. They took that as a sign to stop their cruel jokes and walked back to the racetrack.
The audience was starting to settle into their seats again, so the track was nearly clear when Remus and Jesse approached it. Neither Jesse nor Lily had been accepted into this race-it was for a mini-championship and was only for racers who'd placed above tenth in the previous race. Jesse bade Remus a quick good luck before she was swept up into the bleachers by the fast-moving crowd. Lily took her to where James was sitting, and the two settled down next to him to watch the race.
Jesse felt as if she were still down on the racetrack as the signal was given to mount up. She felt that familiar dull fear, mixed with a huge rush of adrenaline, and she clenched her fists excitedly as the whistle was blown. The sound stopped, and the racers kicked off.
Remus strayed behind at first, though Jesse couldn't understand why; his broom was much faster than those of many of his opponents, at least when accelerating, and he should be near the front by now. But after worrying briefly that something was wrong, she decided that he must have some kind of plan in mind.
Indeed, he did. As they began the first bend, Remus put on a burst of speed and took advantage of his Meteor 360's excellent steering to hug the inside of the track. In no time, he'd left the others behind and was speeding at the front of the pack, neck-and-neck with the boy in first place. Jesse found his number: fifty-two. She borrowed James' program and looked up the number to read more about the racer.
Number fifty-two's nickname was Silverbolt; his broom was the famed Silver Arrow, one of the most expensive and accurate brooms available. It had excellent speed when going straight, but lost a lot of momentum in the curves. It's acceleration was unbeatable, and in America was called the "ten-second broom" as a reference to drag-racing cars. According to the description, Silverbolt's broom had actual silver in the handle and twigs. It made for a stronger, if somewhat heavier, broom.
Jesse looked up to see how the race was going. Remus was dropping behind Silverbolt just a bit, but Jesse saw that he'd easily be able to make up for that at the next turn. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get far enough ahead to counter the effects of the next straightaway-in no time, Silverbolt was slightly ahead again.
Remus seemed to be tiring of this-for good reason, as there was only one lap left in the race. He leaned forward and urged all the speed he could get out of his broom. He was gaining, steadily but oh-so-slowly he was gaining.
Then something happened that Jesse hadn't expected. In an effort to keep Remus behind him, Silverbolt fishtailed a tiny bit. His twigs brushed Remus in the face, just for a moment. Instead of ignoring the distraction or avoiding it, Remus turned his head away abruptly, accidentally jerking his broom sharply to the right. The sudden change of direction was too much for even the Meteor 360, and it spun a full circle. It smacked into Silverbolt's broom as it did so, throwing him off course as well. Remus quickly corrected his broom's spin, only to find himself facing a wildly fishtailing Silver Arrow directly in front of him. He ducked to avoid being hit by the broom, and put on a burst of speed, streaking under the Silver Arrow and rounding the last bend. It was the home stretch, and Remus was ahead!
But Silverbolt had his broom under control again, and he was gaining on Remus impossibly fast. He tried to pass his opponent on the right, but they were a bit too close to the fence; he moved left a bit, his broom barely bumping into Remus'. The Silver Arrow pulled forward just a bit. . .they were almost at the finish line. . .the brooms bumped again, very lightly, and Remus jerked sharply to the left, seemingly to avoid the other broom. The Silver Arrow quickly pulled ahead while Remus corrected his error, leaning forward even further in an attempt to catch up. . .
But it was too late. Silverbolt had crossed the finish line, to much loud cheering from the audience, and Remus followed him across at a very close second.
Jesse let out a long breath; she hadn't noticed that she'd been tense throughout the whole race. Lily glanced at her, amused, and turned to say something to James. He smiled, too, and Jesse rolled her eyes; she knew what this was about, and didn't feel like giving them their fun. Instead, she went straight for the racers' pit to see Remus.
But, since she hadn't raced this time, she wasn't allowed inside the pit. She waited just outside the fence, watching the scoreboard and waiting for Remus to appear. After half an hour, nearly all the racers had come back out, but he remained within the pit. The guard at the entrance merely shrugged when she asked again if she could go find him; now that the pit was nearly empty, it didn't matter so much. Jesse was allowed in.
She went straight for the medi-center, and sure enough, Remus was in the same seat, this time trying to dress a wound on his hand using the other one and his teeth. Jesse kneeled in front of him again and gently took the gauze from his hand.
"You've done this all wrong," she said teasingly. Remus rolled his eyes and grinned.
"And I suppose you're the expert?"
"Better than you are," Jesse retorted as she undid his sloppy bandages. He stopped her before she reached the end.
"That's far enough," he said firmly. Jesse looked up at him, surprised.
"What, don't want me to see your battle scars?" she teased with a grin, pulling at the bandage. But Remus kept his hand firmly over the gauze that covered his knuckles.
"Actually, that's about right," he said quietly. Jesse met his eyes again, concerned now.
"Why not? Are they that bad?"
"No, just ugly." Jesse laughed.
"You think I care?" She carefully pried his hand away and removed the gauze.
Despite Remus' warning, Jesse was shocked to see the damage done to his hand. The knuckles were raw to the bone in some places, the skin jagged and torn. The bleeding had been stopped, but the wound was still raw and open. Something glinted on his middle knuckle, and Jesse used a tweezers to carefully extract what looked like a metal splinter.
"What happened to you?" she breathed, holding up the splinter. Remus eyed it nervously.
"Silver," he said simply. Jesse's eyes widened; she'd completely forgotten about that when reading about Silverbolt's special broom. She threw the silver shard into the trash can, set the tweezers down, and looked at his knuckles again.
"Do the medi-witches know? They have to treat you specially for that, I heard my uncle talking about it," she said quickly, looking around for the nearest nurse. But Remus shook his head.
"No, don't tell them-they can't know. . .about me. I'd be kicked out of the race." Jesse stared at him in shock. "Yeah. . .that's why I've kept it a secret as best I can. I'll get Pomfrey to look at this when we get back."
"But-how will you explain how it happened? The races are illegal, remember?"
"Don't worry about that," Remus said with a laugh. "Pomfrey gets so many injured kids on racing days, she's learned to just ignore the sudden influx and treat the patients as usual." Jesse nodded, somewhat reassured.
"Well, at least we can wrap this up until then," she said practically, taking the gauze in hand again. "Hold your hand steady so I don't hurt you," she told him. He did so as best he could while she carefully wrapped the gauze around his knuckles and charmed it in place. Remus thanked her and inspected his face in the mirror.
"I think his twigs got me too," he said quietly, indicating a few scratches on his cheek and forehead. Jesse looked at them and shrugged.
"Nothing visible, but Pomfrey should still have a look." Remus nodded. Jesse thought back to the race, and the odd jerks he'd made nearing the end. "So that's why you pulled away whenever he hit you," she said, thinking out loud. He nodded again, this time looking disgusted.
"Yeah, and that's what cost me first place. I should've had it, if not for- " He stopped short; a medi-witch was walking by. "Let's get out of here. Where're James and Lily?"
"Up in the stands still, I think. There's a two-hour break before any of us race again, for the personal races-bets and such. It's nearly eleven. D'you think we should get lunch now, so we don't have to worry about it later?" Remus nodded, and they went off to find James and Lily and get something to eat.
