Chapter 29

Fiona called out the names of the Ravenclaw Quidditch players. "Davies, Abercrombie, Chang, Applebalm, Meta, Baggins, Wilson and Sanchez."

All the Ravenclaws cheered.

Fiona then called out to the Gryffindor team. "Pradhan, Weasley, Allan, Rest, Strawberry, Jefferson and Carter."

All the Gryffindors cheered. Danielle and Heather threw their pom-poms in the air.

"Well folks this is a horrible day to play Quidditch." Fiona looked at the rain. "I mean come on what is this! How are the players going to cope with this…well at least its not snowing! Well actually, I wish it was snowing so I could make a snowman…anyways getting off topic here. Will the captains please shake hands."

Nehal and Roger shook hands.

Roger said, "Riley told me about the bet."

"Well duh!" replied Nehal.

"I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into." Roger then flew back towards the Ravenclaws.

Those words seemed to echo throughout Nehal's mind but she couldn't figure out what that was supposed to mean.

Madame Hooch blew the whistle and Nehal caught the Quaffle.

Fiona commented, "Looks like Nehal's caught the Quaffle…oh by the way do you like the new glass windows that Dumbledore put up. Apparently he wants Quidditch to be more like hockey." Fiona then turned off the microphone. "What the hell is that guy thinking?" She turned it on again. "So Nehal takes the quaffle…and scores!"

Because of the bet, the Gryffindors were playing as though they were against Slytherin. Ravenclaw kept foaling Gryffindors, and paying for the penalties.

Nehal called a timeout. All the players were soaked from head to toe.

"Guys, this is not working!" Nehal looked around. "We have to win, not for the bet, but for the Quidditch cup! If we beat Ravenclaw then we have a really great chance of winning the cup!"

"How am I supposed to look for a snitch I can't see?" Jackie said rudely.

"Get goggles then." Nehal said irritated. The rest of the team looked at her. "So Jonathan and Daryl, same V shape routine. Only pass when you're in immediate danger."

"Like?" asked Daryl.

"Bludger! Use your brains Rest!"

Daryl looked surprise at this answer.

Nehal said, "Okay, let's go!" Nehal's speech put pressure on the team, and they played better. They were so into the game, they didn't have to keep up score, and notice Jackie and Cho Chang diving for the snitch. Fiona's commentaries reached their ears.

Fiona said, "Looks like the seekers have finally seen the snitch…watch out! Ouch that must have hurt. Glass and people don't go well together." Hearing this Madame Hooch blew the whistle immediately. It appeared that both Jackie and Cho had both slammed into the glass. They fell about 50 feet until they landed on the ground in pain.

"My leg!" screamed Cho who looked like she had broken it, while Jackie appeared to have gotten a chunk of glass in her stomach. (I got this idea from the Charlie's Angel movie, and my friend thought that you would die if that happened to you, but it turns out that it's happened to tons of people and they have not died from it, since I watch Oprah and other talk shows I have seen victims of this act, anyways on with the story)

"Ow, my stomach." groaned Jackie, as she looked at it disgusted and in pain.

Nehal saw this and could only utter two words. "Oh, shit." She then remembered what Danielle predicted when reading her palm yesterday. "This is not good."

The snitch came down right in between the two girls. Jackie and Cho both looked at each other. They knew they still had one chance to win the game. Jackie crawled on the ground with one arm, while the other was draped around her stomach and Cho was crawling too but dragging her broken leg behind her.

Roger Davies was cheering for Cho. "Yes, come on Cho! Who cares if your fucking leg is broken catch the snitch!"

Madame Hooch blew the whistle again and said, "The match is over! No team wins due to serious injuries."

"Serious injuries?" said Jackie. She then muttered, "I'm scared."

Both Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick came down the pitch to see if their students were alright. The players also came too.

Jackie thought, "I blew it! Nehal's gonna be so mad at me."

Danielle and Heather ran at the speed of light to see if Jackie was okay.

"Oh my gosh Jackie are you alright?" asked Danielle.

"Yeah." added Heather. "That was some hit and fall action you took."

Riley approached Nehal. "So the bet's off."

"Duh!"

"You gotta stop saying that."

"Right…so why did you push me down the stairs?"

"I didn't!" objected Riley. "It was your friend Jackie."

"Why would she do that?"

"I don't know. Ask her."

"You were right behind me!" argued Nehal.

"And she wanted to leave quickly. I'm sure she felt bad."

5 minutes before…

"What does she think she's doing?" Draco whispered to Ian.

"What do you mean?" said Ian, his eyes on Danielle.

"She's heading towards the glass!"

"Who?"

"Jackie you git!" Draco was practically screaming. He watched in horror as Jackie didn't turn, and then BAM! "Why do things always happen to her?" He ran to the pitch.

"This is so embarrassing." thought Jackie as the team and Draco came toward her.

"Jackie! You okay?" asked Nehal.

"I think so…" Why was Nehal being so nice to her? She looked at her stomach. "Nehal there's glass in me."

"Jackie!" yelled Draco.

Nehal, Ian and Draco fell down to Jackie's side, to see the glass poking her stomach.

Draco took off his shirt. This sight made Jackie forget about the pain she was feeling. He ripped the sleeve of his shirt. "Jaxs, I have to take it out okay, it is going to hurt like hell I'm not going to lie to you."

Jackie's eyes widened, when Draco touched her stomach. "Draco…no…bad Draco! Draco stop! Sit Draco, sit!"

Nehal gave Jackie a weird look.

Draco said, "I have to do this."

Jackie bit her lip and nodded her head. She clutched her broom, looked away and squeezed her eyes shut. She screamed loudly as Draco pulled the part of the glass that had dented into Jackie's skin; she continued crying as Draco wrapped his sleeve around her stomach tightly. His hands around her stomach felt so good.

"Here let's go the hospital wing." suggested Draco.

"How?" asked Jackie. In a swift movement Draco picked up Jackie in his arms.

"Déjà vu!" said Nehal. Jackie looked at Nehal confused. "This has happened before! Remember Draco?"

"How could I forget?" Draco replied grinning at Nehal.

"Go get her. Go on! Put your charm to work!" Nehal said to him something softer than a whisper.

"The only charm she's getting is a sleeping charm." Draco smiled, imaging a sleeping Jackie.

"Um…I'm injured!" said Jackie

"And getting heavy." muttered Draco.

Jackie's jaw dropped. "You saying I'm fat!"

Draco didn't respond. He carried to her to the castle, while she kept on shooting dirty looks at him.

"He's a nutcase!" Nehal heard Riley talking to Colt. She walked over.

"Pradhan." Riley said coldly.

"Hi, I have a confession to make!" said Nehal. When she saw Riley giving her, her undivided attention she continued speaking. "I stole your car! Not Jackie, not Danielle, not Heather!" The expression on his face was hilarious and she felt like laughing, but kept her face straight, waiting for the blow.

Instead Riley simply said, "You're the worst driver I've ever seen in my life!" He started laughing.

Colt said, "What were you girls doing in America anyway?"

"We were escaping from Voldie." Nehal said as casually as she would have like she was commenting on the weather.

Colt looked at Nehal in awe, then back at the castle. "She never liked me, did she?" He looked everywhere but Nehal.

Nehal said, "It's not my place to say." Colt looked downcast. "Look! You're a great guy and all…but give it some time okay?"

Colt finally met Nehal's eyes, nodded and then left.

"I'm cold." Nehal said referring to no one in particular.

"Let's head back then." said Riley. "Season will be delayed."

"Yeah! I can't even practice now. Seeker is the most important."

"You two don't seem to talk too much."

"She's keeping something from me." Nehal shrugged. "If I can't value her as a friend, I'll value her for being a good player. And Riley?"

Riley looked at Nehal surprised. Nehal rarely called him by his first name.

"You can have my baby back."

"Thanks but its okay. Take it as a friendship gesture."

"I like that."

"Yeah, well Cho is really no good with that broken leg. You got off easy!"

"You call getting a piece of glass stuck in your stomach easy!"

"Well, if you put it that way. No!"