Chapter 16: Quidditch Plays and Player Fancies
"This. Is. Impossible." Nearly an hour into our lunch, and we were up to our armpits in archived Prophet papers, dating at least back as far as 1837, to an article discussing a London-based company's production of pumpkin juice. It had seemed, unfortunately, that while the section was mostly organized chronologically, there were entire sections missing 一 including the entire 1860's 一 and some that weren't missing only had a few articles, such as the sports and magical lottery sections.
"Did Professor Binns mention exactly when this incident took place?" Tammy asked, sticking her head over the stack in front of her as best she could. The table we had sat ourselves at, a lovely cherry wood, was completely buried underneath all the old, yellowed news parchment we had scattered about. I shook my head to her, though I didn't know if she saw.
"He just said it was a long time ago," I replied, scanning through a rather dull article about the 1940 release of the Tinderblast broomstick.
"Which, for him, could've been centuries," Max scoffed, tossing a forecast page from 1873 over her shoulder, "Can we even guarantee that the Prophet was even around at the time of the incident?"
"I'm sure it wasn't that long ago," I prompted, sifting carefully through the stacks for the early 1940s.
"It could've been, though," Tammy said. She placed the 1952 editorial on Quidditch Through the Ages back on the table, "I mean, no one knows for sure how long Professor Binns has been teaching here, as he's been a ghost for so long. He could very well have been here for as long as the school's been open!" Max sighed along with her, tossing her own papers back into the pile.
"Let's face it, McIntosh; it was a good idea, but even if something is in here, there's no way we'll find it today." I looked up, startled.
"But we're only just starting!" I said, tearing through the obituary I was reading, "There's got to be something!" They shared a look across from me, then stood up together.
"Sorry, Rosie," Tammy shrugged, "We've been here nearly too long anyway 一 we've only got about 15 minutes to clean up and get to the greenhouses. Double Herbology today, remember?"
That's right, I thought, We're planting valerian sprigs today. Glancing between my friends in front of me, I finally slumped.
"...Okay. Y'all go on ahead, then, I'll clean this up. Best to not leave a mess for Madame Pince." If they gave me a look for saying "y'all", I didn't see it. They gathered their things together and walked out of the library, leaving me surrounded by aged news articles far older than I would ever be. I stared at the haphazard piles, chewing on my lip.
"...But my father did say this: It's been fifty years since the Chamber was opened. He wouldn't tell me who opened it, only that they were expelled…" The voice of the greasy blond boy, so eerily similar to his movie counterpart's, bounced around inside my head. My fists tightened at my sides.
I know it's in here somewhere! I thought, reaching back for another 1942 article, It's in here, I just have to find it!
Nearly 20 minutes of searching, and I still hadn't found anything. Another five, and I had lost points for being late to class. Professor Sprout still smiled at me, but there was a hint of disappointment in her eyes that hurt me to see. I looked away for the rest of the lesson, focusing intently on the sprigs we were planting to make sure I did everything perfectly. It helped to be partnered with Cho Chang, who corrected me quickly whenever I made a mistake. Her dark eyes were kind, and something in me hurt more at the memory of her grieving tears. A problem for another day...
I skipped dinner that night, too, going back to the library to keep searching for the article that I knew had to exist 一 someone didn't just die at Hogwarts without a full Prophet article covering it in its entirety. I searched until Madame Pince told me to leave, well after dark and just barely before curfew, but to no avail; no matter how hard I searched, there was no Chamber-related article to be found.
That night I walked back to my dorm in silence, my mind racing. If I couldn't find any proof about the Chamber, how could I possibly save Willow or Ginny on my own, even with my knowledge?
Entering into the dorm, I wasn't surprised to see only I appeared to be awake; Tammy and Max were both sound asleep, and Willow's bed curtains were almost completely drawn. I shuffled around to my things and changed into my pajamas, crawling quickly under my covers. I lifted Frodo onto the pillow beside me 一 he's really getting too big to sleep there 一 and pulled all but one curtain closed.
As I drifted off into an uneasy sleep, I thought I could almost hear the faint sound of hissing coming from Willow's bed before her last curtain snapped closed.
The rest of the week dragged on, and though my friends and I checked back in the library every day between classes, there was still no sign of any Prophet article related to the Chamber. Even worse, multiple students began having the same idea I had shortly after that first, and the section of the library with the old Prophet articles was hardly visible beyond all the curious students hunting down the information by week's end. By Friday, I had all but given up on ever finding anything, only to have my attention shift once again on Saturday. I woke up bright and early that morning, and was just about to head to breakfast when four arms scooped me up and began dragging me up the staircase.
"You weren't plannin' on missing our game today, right Rosie-Posie?" George snickered in my ear.
"Be a right shame if you weren't there to support us, Rose," Fred added, a big grin spread across his face. I shook my head, a small smile creeping onto my face. They never change, do they?
"No boys, I just decided that perhaps eating might be a bit more important to attend to at this moment," I said, struggling to pull my arms out of their grasp, "If we hurry, you two can eat something before you bludgeon Slytherin to near-death." With a (slightly painful) twist, I dug my heels into the floor a bit, managing to pull the other two along instead of the reverse. We chatted and laughed all the rest of the way to the Great Hall, where we sat down at the first available spot outside of Slytherin's table and quickly began shoving our faces full of various meats and breads; it took a bit to remember to actually chew the food as we went, but we managed to slow ourselves down just enough to not choke on our breakfast before heading on out to the Quidditch Pitch.
"'Bout time you showed!" Max called, pulling me over to where she and Tammy were sitting. Fred and George had headed to the changing rooms as soon as we'd arrived, so I huddled up under a gold and red blanket Tammy had brought with them, Max's arms around both our shoulders as we tried to stay warm.
"Sorry, got held up at breakfast!" I laughed a bit, passing the others each a napkin of bacon and some toast. They ate in silence as I glanced around the pitch. Three-fourths of the stadium was decked out in festive red and gold, with only the Slytherins showing support for their team. Across the field I could see Hagrid begin making his way to Ron and Hermione in the Gryffindor stands. I scanned the rest of the crowd, but didn't see Ginny or Willow anywhere.
Both of them? Where could they be? The whole school's here...
The crowd suddenly erupted into cheers, shaking me from my thoughts as the two teams walked out onto the field. The Gryffindor team looked stern, determined as they faced off against the smug gins of their opponents, sleek new brooms in their hands.
"We're going to have to watch them carefully," Tammy whispered, "Anything we see could help us if we end up facing them." Max and I nodded, and I looked over at one particular Slytherin chaser 一 a tall, older boy with dark hair and gray eyes 一 stared back at me. He smirked, winking, and I felt a strange chill go down my spine. My cheeks suddenly feeling warm, I looked away, sending a smile over to Fred and George as they circled the pitch.
Madame Hooch stood in the center of the field, the open box of balls at her feet as she gestured Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint to shake hands. As they released, the two teams mounted their brooms and flew into position. Madame Hooch released the bludgers and snitch, then grabbed the quaffle in one hand.
"On my whistle," she called out, "Three… Two…" A tweeting sound echoed around as she thrust the quaffle into the air, and the game began. I tried hard to keep an eye out for the snitch, following Harry as he flew high above the field.
If he could just finish this fast, I could get back to researching without much trouble… I thought, taking a moment to glance over at Fred and George as they knocked a bludger away from Alicia Spinnet before aiming it over at the Slytherin chaser from before; he rolled out of the way just in time, but dropped the ball right into Angelina's waiting hands. Angelina then pulled around and started flying towards the other goals, Alicia and Katie packing in closer to her. My eyes drifted up as they passed, and caught sight of Harry higher up; his face was determined, trying to ignore Malfoy's taunts as he searched the air for the snitch.
"ーSCORE! TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!" Lee's voice echoed as the crowd around me cheered. I clapped along with the rest of my house, eyes still scanning the field for the tiny tell-tale golden sparkle of the most important ball in the game. So far, it seemed only two of the four balls were particularly visible from where I stood.
"Has anyone seen the other bludger yet?" Max asked, eyes trained on one of the twins (George, maybe? It was harder to tell from this distance) as they knocked the first bludger away from Oliver Wood's flank. "'s not normally this easy to deal with." I felt my shoulders tense, the thought of yet another forgotten detail shocking me to my core.
Dobby…
As if on cue, the second bludger soared through the air, swinging wildly around the players as it barrelled forward towards where Harry was, Draco sneering not too far off. I leaned forward, gripping the bannister in my fists as I shouted.
"HARRY, LOOK OUT!" The bespectacled boy started at my shout, and just barely managed to dodge the speeding ball, flying swiftly past Malfoy as the bludger continued its pursuit. I saw Draco shriek as he followed behind him, mere inches away, it seemed, from being smashed into from behind.
"What the bloody hell?!" Anthony Rickett shouted from beside Max, pulling out a pair of binoculars and looking closer, "Who hit that thing to send it off course like that?" Max snatched the binoculars from him, taking a look for herself.
"Ain't no one wot hit the damned thing!" she shouted back, "It's been charmed! Bloody thing's flying on its own!" I watched on as Harry and Draco swerved all over the field 一 left and right, up and down, backwards and forwards 一 just barely managing to avoid hitting anyone else with the bludger as well. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the twins nod to each other, as one went up to follow the bludger, the other flying under as if to catch Harry.
"This is worse than last year's match," Tammy muttered, "And it's always Potter; first the broom, now the bludger. What's next, dementors?!" I held down a scoff.
She has no idea… The chain of people and flying balls continued moving, flying slightly too close to the Gryffindor posts right as the one Slytherin chaser from before attempted to score a goal, missing as he dodged. Wood, however, wasn't as lucky, being smashed into from the side and nearly falling off his broom entirely, just barely clinging on at the last second. Fearful cries and shouts echoed from the Gryffindor stands, all eyes on their keeper as he struggled to pull himself up again, costing three goals from Slytherin's chasers. Suddenly一
"GET DOWN!" I felt a hand shoving down on top of my head right before a WOOSH as the rogue bludger zoomed over our heads in the stands, still tailing behind the two teams' seekers. Soon as it passed, I turned around, thanking Anthony for his quick thinking, before going back to hear Madam Hooch's whistle screech out across the pitch. As the teams carefully tried to land in the center of the field, Fred floated nearby for a moment longer.
"You lot alright?" he called, to which I responded with a thumbs up. He smiled.
"Hurry up and win, will ya?" I yelled out to him as he went to join George in batting the rogue bludger away from Harry on the field, "I'd rather not lose my head before we get to kick your asses!" He laughed, flashing me a grin, then turned back to the pitch.
"You're not gonna let him get in the way of winning our match, right McIntosh?" Max teased, jabbing my side with her elbow. I rolled my eyes; I didn't need to prove anything to her, I knew, so I just watched carefully as the teams flew back up into the air and the game resumed once more.
The entire time, the rogue bludger never stopped moving; Fred and George did what they could to keep it away from Harry and the rest of their teammates, but the enchanted ball kept close pursuit, moving even closer as Harry seemed to catch sight of the snitch and rushed over the crowd. It felt as though ages passed, though it couldn't have been more than a few minutes, as the bludger crept closer and closer up behind the two competing seekers. Eventually, something had to give, as it swerved in between the two, throwing Malfoy off balance as he flew off his broom and flipped through the air, landing square on his rear in the middle of the pitch about ten feet below where he had once been. Almost everyone in the stands started laughing.
"You'd think the rich sod could afford to buy some dignity!" Max guffawed, pointing at the blond boy as he started sniveling on the grass. I chuckled, then looked back up at where Harry had been. He was still flying fairly close to the ground now, nearly standing on his broom as he reached his hand out for the snitch. I could feel myself holding my breath, as he had just seemed to snatch it when一
WHAM! The bludger slammed into his arm, knocking his guards off as he fell forward off his broom and crashed onto the ground. Tammy and I pulled forward from the warmth of our huddle, leaning over the railing to try and get a better look.
"C'mon, Potter…" I found myself whispering, worried despite the memory of this scene flashing in the back of my mind, "Get up…" The boy didn't move from where he was, with members of both teams flying closer to see what would happen next.
A beat passed, then an arm 一 bent at the wrong angle 一 raised up slightly, a glint of gold just barely gripped between his fingers. Cheers erupted through the stadium.
"HARRY POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH!" Lee's voice called out, as the red-and-gold-clad team dropped down to surround their injured player, "GRYFFINDOR WINS!"
It took a while to actually leave the stadium after the game ended 一 The bludger wouldn't stop until Hermione nearly exploded it, and then Lockhart and the other professors wouldn't let anyone else down on the field until Harry and his 一 now boneless 一 arm were headed to the hospital wing, the rest of the Gryffindor team not far behind. By then, however, the Slytherin team (aside from Malfoy, who went crying to Madam Pomfrey soon as the whistle had blown) had had time to clean themselves up and change out of their uniforms, and a few decided to wait around for their other friends to exit the stands before making their way up to the castle.
The chaser from before was one of them, leaning up against the yellow-and-black covered tower as my friends and I climbed down to the ground level. He smirked at me, an eyebrow raised as I felt my cheeks heat up again. Max stopped us as we passed him, eyeing him warily.
"Oi," she grunted with a sneer, "What d'ya want, Warrington?" He shrugged, not taking his eyes off me as he straightened up. He jabbed his chin in my direction.
"You the cheeky sprite wot belted Flint two months ago?" I frowned, thinking back to September. Is he talking about when I kicked his friend?, I wondered. I frowned back, standing straighter as I held my chin high.
"Depends," I responded, voice as steely as I could manage, "You one of the asshats that called my friend a slur?" He chuckled 一 a deep, almost dulcet sound, that left a fluttering feeling in my veins 一 before straightening fully and moving to stand before me, his hand held out to shake.
"Cassius," he said, "And no, though I did laugh at Weasley choking down slugs 一 lil' gimp needs to get himself a new wand." I looked down at his hand, then up at him again; one of his dark curls had fallen down in front of his eyes, which were seemingly more shadowed as he towered nearly a head above my short frame. I tried (unsuccessfully) to push the flush from my cheeks, squaring my shoulders as I took his outstretched hand.
"Rosie McIntosh," I replied, letting go after a short shake to begin walking back up the path to the castle. I peeked back over my shoulder, meeting his amused gaze, "Just let that brainless friend of yours know to wear a cup next time he tries to insult me." With that, I looped my arms with Tammy and Max and started pushing through the crowd, refusing to look back even once.
"Well that went well," Tammy said finally, as we pushed past the largest groups of people and I let go of their arms again, "Maybe I'll get some feeling back in my arm now."
"Sorry," I muttered, twirling a strand of hair that had fallen loose from its braid, "That just felt… really awkward."
"I'll say," Max cackled, rubbing her hand harshly on my hat-covered head, "If I didn't know any better, I'd've said ya maybe fancied Warrington, eh McIntosh?" I pulled away from her with a whine, pulling my warm beanie off to straighten my twin braids before shoving it back on harshly.
"I don't 'fancy' anybody!" I huffed. Tammy giggled at my pout, covering her mouth with her hands.
"Oh, of course not!" she tittered, "You Americans don't use that term, do you? What do you call it? Crushing?" I felt heat flush all the way to my neck, and I shoved my shoulders into the two of them as they laughed at me.
"It's not a crush!"
"Then why's your face pinker than your hair, eh?" I groaned back, and they laughed even harder. Max slung her arms over our shoulders again as she winked at me, and I cracked a smile at her again. "You'd best keep it that way, though, or we might never be able to beat them!"
"Weren't you just giving me this lecture less than an hour ago about Fred?" I asked.
"Him too! We need to stay focused, so Hufflepuff can finally with the Quidditch Cup!"
"Oh, Max…" Tammy shook her head, a fond smile on her face, but said nothing more. We continued the rest of the way to the common room with mild chatter, discussing ideas for our match against Ravenclaw in three weeks. As we slid out of the tunnel into the warmth of our common room, I made a beeline for the fireplace, plopping down right in front on the rug with a content sigh.
I'm never going to get used to the cold at this rate… Looking back as Tammy and Max headed to the dorm room, I called, "Hey, do we wanna try and maybe check the library one more time after we warm up a bit? Maybe after I visit Harry in the hospital wing?"
"What, for that article?" Max asked, frowning, "Fat chance o' findin' that thing in that mess. But sure, I need ta work on my Defense paper anyways." Tammy and I both groaned, me falling back against the couch as I did. I hadn't completely forgotten Lockhart's assignment 一 two feet of parchment on why his methods against Banshees worked where others had failed 一 I had simply been avoiding doing it for as long as I could. But with only a week left before it was due, I probably needed to get it done.
"Yeah, I suppose we should do that, too…" I grumbled, and with that, my friends headed into the room to get changed out of their coats and scarves. I waited in front of the fire, trying to remember what else was coming.
Dobby was the one behind that bludger, I recalled, frowning into the flames, And Lockhart's already de-boned Harry like a fish and left him to Madam Pomfrey… I know I'm missing something, still… but what?
As my thoughts drifted, my eyesight focused on something catching in the fireplace. As I looked closer, it seemed like someone had taken an old piece of yellowed parchment and stuffed it halway under one of the fire logs. Taking my gloves off my hands and pushing up my sleeves, I reach carefully past the orange flames to grab onto an unburned corner and shake it loose, a sinking feeling entering my gut.
It was an old newspaper, I noticed, and the edges continued burning slowly towards the center as I flipped it over to see what remained of the headline as it slowly faded to ash. Suddenly, I felt very sick.
STUDENT FOUND KILLED AT HOGWARTS 一
SUSPECTED KILLER EXPELLED!
A/N: Hey everyone! I'm so sorry for taking so long with this chapter, but the past year has been a MASSIVE pain in the ass.
Quick catch-up on me: I spent the past year (July 2018-April 2019) completing my student teaching experience for college, and unfortunately had an AWFUL time of it. My mentor teacher (whose classroom I was placed in for the entire school year) never actually gave me a proper opportunity to teach the students beyond a few exceptions in fall semester, and then basically doomed me to fail in the spring. I only just barely managed to pass my final semester (by pretty much begging my professors to allow me to graduate with a C, instead of the required B or higher), and now I'm working as a para-professional to a disabled student in my home county (bc I wasn't able to earn my certification to teach with my C, especially since my edTPA score I "earned" was 6 points too low and my MT wouldn't let me come back to try again).
Anyways, I've been working my new job since July, and I really like it! My student needs my help with quite a few things, but usually doesn't need me the entire time during the day, leaving more time for me to get some writing done during the day! I'm hoping to get some more work done on this and other fics of mine as the year goes on, and actually keep that promise this time. For now, though, I hope you all are doing well, and will see you next time! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
