Quidditch Pitch. Day. A stitch of lightning as it strikes one of the golden quidditch rings and the clouds bloom with icy blue light.
Far below, in the stands, rain lashes the sea of umbrellas. As one flies free, soaring end over end into the sky, the crowd explodes and two quidditch squads Gryffindor in scarlet, Hufflepuff in canary yellow shoot into the air.
Twin bludgers fire skyward, and the match is on. We cut into Henry Snape, rising like a rocket through the mist, his robes snapping violently in the wind. As he flies, rain falling like needles before him, every dark cloud concealing potential danger.
Beaters criss cross his path. A bludger whizzes past, then a second rockets directly at him SWOOP! Henry ducks, watches the bludger shatter the broom of a Hufflepuff beater. The Beater goes into a wild spiral, vanishes in the mist.
Henry hears Ariana shouting at him to be careful with the bludger ahead. This is Ariana's first quidditch game as a Gryffindor Keeper.
Chasing the quaffle or the golden snitch wasn't a good idea with this weather. In the teacher stands where Snape was, worried about Henry and Ariana's safety match. His hand trembled fighting for the cold rain weather as he watch the games.
Snape doesn't care if he soaked wet, as long his eyes never left upon his children.
At the students stands. Aurora clutching tightly Susannah raincoat. She feels uncomfortable while Aurora is clinging to her like this.
"Aurora, stop it! you are clutching me too tight!"
Susannah squints upward, the players little more than streaking blurs from her vantage. KA-SSSST! A stitch of lightning strikes the tail of Tatiana Johnson's broom.
As it bursts into flames, she plummets to the pitch. Susannah looks disturbed, her eyes back to the games. Searching.
"This is not a good sign to win the match. This is indeed insane!"
In the sky, Henry flies fearlessly, as bludgers pierce the clouds above him.
"HENRY! BACK TO POSITION!"
It was Steve Mann, the Gryffindor Captain and Keeper who shouted from the stands, today he wasn't playing because he wanted to see Ariana potentially becoming a new keeper before he graduates.
Indeed. Ariana Snape was good with it. "HEAR ME OUT! CONTROL THEM!" Ariana's eyes focused until she saw the bludgers chasing over Henry behind.
Ariana muttered a spell under her breath, the bludgers then flew past Henry and it didn't hit him. Ariana sighs relief, thanks to her mother who teaches her a spell she could use for the emergency.
Like this situation.
Suddenly, in the stands opposite, a black umbrella flies from the hand of a Ravenclaw girl.
For a moment, it sails wondrously through the heavy air, a Magritte dream, then abruptly picks up speed, rotating like a hatchet.
Henry ducks, turns, and watches it disappear into a bank of clouds. Then, something glimmers: the Snitch.
Instantly, Henry jets off closing fast on the tiny, glimmering ball, chasing it through one cloud then another and another until one of the bludgers hit him on the back of his head.
The crowd screamed as they saw Henry fall off the broom. Aurora burst to cry hugging Susannah more tightly seeing Henry falling off.
No one could save him.
A figure rises from the crowd. Raises an open hand to the heavens. It was Snape. An explosion more powerful than thunder rocks the air. A flash more fierce than lightning shocks the sky.
And then... a voice spoke... Arresto Momentum.
Hospital Wing. Hogwarts. Day. Henry laid flat on the hospital bed, gently making his finger move as his eyes slowly opened. The first thing he saw was Hermione's face. The mother.
Her face full of fear, he could see her eyes were afraid of losing one of her children. Henry breathed, he wanted to get up but Hermione insisted him to lay flat on bed.
"Oh my boy. No. You cannot move so much. Oh you scared your mother to dead". Hermione patted her chest. "Honestly, do you remember anything?"
Henry shakes his head no. Hermione nods then gives him a glass of water. Henry drained the water and laid flat back on bed again.
Hermione kisses Henry's hand. "Oh Henry".
"How do you get in here mum?"
"By the train. I cannot floo Henry. How heavy I am".
Henry snickering, holding his own pain. "This is dad's fault then. Oh my head! The bludger hit me so hard yesterday. It happened yesterday.
"Henry? you've been unconscious for a week, there is no yesterday. The bludger took your head so hard. Your father sent me a letter after he sent you to the hospital wing. I immediately left my office and took a train for the next day. As I arrived and what I saw was my son was unconscious, your head never stopped bleeding and Madame Pomfrey had to change your bandage every minute".
Hermione looks over her shoulder where she hears footsteps. It was Snape who approached. Snape then stood beside his wife, hand on Hermione's shoulder.
"I'm staying at your dad's quarters for a while until you get better".
"You can't stay mum. What about your work at the Ministry? They need you there".
"They will floo straight to the headmistress' chimney for me. It's just temporarily just like your dad did. Like I was saying before until you alright then I go".
Hermione kissed Henry's forehead, she pushed the chair exactly Madame Pomfrey came for Henry.
"How is my son Madame Pomfrey?"
Madame Pomfrey laid the tray beside the bed, she breathed.
"Well, your son just woke up, Minister. I need to tend to him if he's alright to go or not. It takes time. His head is swollen, bruised and I did work on stitching the back of his head. The cut is so deep it reveals its own flesh because the bludger hit him right through his bone. I do as much as I can, Minister".
"If I send my son to muggle hospital Madame Pomfrey do you want to know what they will do to him?"
Madame Pomfrey liked to hear it, Hermione crossed her arm on chest. She spoke back.
"Which means my son could possibly lose his own memory and he will not remember his family but because we lived in a magical world everything is possible".
Madame Pomfrey nodded in a smile. "Everything I could do for your son, Minister and for the rest of the students. I need to change Mr. Snape's bandage if you excuse us for a moment, Minister".
Snape gently dragged Hermione out from the Hospital Wing, the adult standing facing.
"I'm still mad at you, Severus!"
"My love".
Snape wraps his hand around Hermione's waist, kissing the side of her head.
"I couldn't see the future ahead and I do not know the bludger will hurt Henry so bad. This is part of the Quidditch game that I cannot interfere or change the rules for not releasing the bludgers for the sake of my son's life. This is not how we do Hermione".
Hermione pushes Snape. All of a sudden Snape felt someone grab his waist from the back, he turned to look behind and it was little Aurora.
Susannah, Tobias, Ariana and Tristan show up behind Aurora between Hermione and Snape. Susannah spoke.
"We want to visit Henry".
"Henry is awake now Sue. Madame Pomfrey changing his bandage inside, should five of you be in class right now?" ask Hermione. "Why did you five wander around the castle?"
"Coincidence really. Some of us had free time. I swear our timetable is not like that and we are not lying to you mum, not even trying to change it".
Susannah turns to Snape. "Dad is the one who is supposed to be in potion class right now. His students are waiting for him to come".
Snape looked at his watch, then he rushed through the corridor without glancing back at his wife and children. Hermione shook her head unbelievable, how possible Severus Snape will forget his own timetable.
After visiting Henry. Hermione and all her children went to the lake, she missed feeding the giant squid. When Hermione was a student she used to feed that giant squid including Harry himself.
Hermione threw the last sandwich inside the water, slowly the giant squid tentacles reached the sandwich and brought it deeper inside the water.
Both giant squid and the sandwich are gone. Hermione walked out from the water, drying herself.
"Fifty feet he falls. As a mother I can't believe my son will drop like that. It reminds me of Harry Potter in our third year. He did fall fifty feet while chasing the snitch and in the meantime the castle surrounded by the Dementors. It sucks Harry's happiness that is why he falls off from his broom".
"Why do Dementors surround the castle?" ask Tristan.
"That the Dementors were searching for Sirius Black. Harry's godfather. This is ministry doing, Dumbledore furious and angry because of that. So the Ministry was taken back by Dumbledore himself. I was there when Dementors attacked Harry and Sirius Black".
Hermione's corner eyes saw a silver hair hiding behind the tree. Smirking. Hermione knew who silver hair belong to. It was Scorpius Malfoy.
Scorpius had the same color as his father Draco when he was a student back in their year. How loathe Hermione is towards Draco Malfoy and Lucius.
"Children go. I think it is time for your class. Do not wander around the castle and never let me catch one of you if you did".
Aurora gives a hug to Hermione. Five of them walk back inside the castle. As they gone, Hermione called out.
"Mr. Malfoy!?"