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Of Earth and Stars
Chapter 9: The Sins of Our Fathers
June 1989
"Finally," Mara declared. "Freedom. That was the worst of all the finals."
"Tell me about it," Suri agreed, sitting with Mara and Nate on a stone bench in the school's courtyard.
"It wasn't that bad," Nate said, loosening the green and silver tie around his neck.
"That's because you like history, Nathaniel," Suri pointed out. She tilted her head upward, letting the sun warm her face. The thought of going back to the Common Room on this unseasonably warm day was dreadful.
Nate stuck his tongue out at Suri and hazel eyes searched his friends' faces. "Can you believe the year is already over? Next week we'll be on the Express again."
"It went by so fast," Mara agreed. "I feel like this is home more than my home now."
Suri remained quiet as she listened to her friends talk about the year, and she felt a tug of sadness. She had grown to enjoy her Common Room and the vintage opulence of the Slytherin Dungeons. Though she missed her grandmother and her friends in Vienna, the thought of saying goodbye for the summer was harder than she realized.
"Suri—are you still with us?" Nate snapped his fingers in front of Suri.
"Of course I'm listening," Suri blinked at Nate's fingers. "We'll miss Hogwarts and we need one last adventure before we go."
"Any ideas?"
Nate, Mara, and Suri fell into a silence. They watched as students passed through the halls, growing more excited as they realized their finals were done. Some older Hufflepuff students had already started the celebration by charming paper airplanes to fly down the length of hallways and courtyard. This gave Suri an idea.
"We should play qudditch."
"Quidditch?" Mara raised a blonde eyebrow. "For our houses?"
"Yes, but we should play today! We'll use the brooms from flying lessons and play a game, just us first years. If anyone stops us, we'll say we wanted to get one last flying lesson in before we leave."
"And the practice gear is kept with the brooms," Nate added.
"So it's settled. After dinner we'll play a quick game. We'll let Carly and Willem know as well!"
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Eager to be in the air, Suri hurried through dinner, changed out of her school uniform and into a casual outfit for the field.
"The brooms aren't even locked up," Mara noticed as she carried brooms for herself, Nate, and Suri while the other two carried a trunk with the quidditch balls out onto the field.
"Less work for us," Suri commented as she and Nate set the trunk in the middle of the field with a heavy thunk. Unlike the broom closet, the quidditch trunk was locked.
"Alohamora." Nate pointed his wand at the lock and it sprung open. He reached for the quaffle and tossed it in the air before catching it.
"What do you think? Should we let the snitch out too?"
"We'll never catch it," Mara protested.
Suri took up one of the brooms Mara had set aside. Straddling it, she kicked off from the ground and rose as high as she dared. The wind whipped her long dark waves around her face and shoulders as she flew high above the quidditch posts. Eventually, Suri brought her broom to a halt, and she hovered in the air with her eyes closed. Up here, Suri thought, the world was almost silent and she felt both weightless and unstoppable.
Suri opened her eyes and squinted against the warm summer sun before she lowered her broom several feet. "Nate," she called, "toss me the quaffle!"
Nate, who flew in tight figure eights with the quaffle tucked under one arm, adjusted his grip on his broom and chucked the quaffle in her direction. He didn't account for the breeze to knock his aim off course.
Quickly, Suri steered to the left and gripped the broom tightly between her legs and stretched out both arms to catch the quaffle.
"That was close!"
The trio turned their heads to see Carly Davis and Willem Throne finally joining them with brooms they had taken from storage.
"How about we play a game of quidditch," Suri suggested lowering her broom to be level with everyone else. She glanced at Mara, who had hardly risen from the ground, picking up on her anxiety.
"I don't know," Mara said looking up dubiously. "Don't we need more than five to play?"
"It won't be a real game, of course," said Carly. "We can just use the quaffle and goal posts."
"Well…"
"If all five of us played then the teams will be uneven," Suri pointed out, she glanced at Mara, hoping to catch her eye. "Maybe one of us should be referee."
"Suri's right," Mara said quickly. "I'll be referee. If I want to play, someone can switch out for me." Mara and Suri shared a quick, knowing glance before Suri turned away.
"Great! With Mara as ref, this means no cheating." She looked pointedly at Nate who gave her a wicked grin.
"It's only cheating if someone's feelings get hurt. Besides, don't give me that look, Rosier-Black! There's a reason I don't play Wizard's Chess with you anymore!"
"Whatever! Let's get started!"
Carly, Willem, Nate, and Suri giggled as they threw the quaffle back and forth while Mara occasionally fouled them from below. Carly was attempting to make it past Nate with the quaffle when movement from below caught Willem's attention.
"What's Gryffindor doing here?"
The group of Slytherins paused their game as the Gryffindors walked onto the field.
"Seems we weren't the only ones who had the same idea," Bradley Price, a first year Gryffindor with blond hair and freckles said by way of greeting.
"It's a nice day," Nate responded, hovering a couple feet above Bradley.
"You didn't find it odd that the brooms were unlocked," asked Jessica Yates, a Gryffindor girl with chin-length brown hair and bright green eyes. "We unlocked it earlier. We were only gone ten minutes before you guys showed up." Jessica said haughtily, her tone suggesting she wanted nothing to do with Slytherin.
"There are still plenty of brooms left in the closet," Suri reminded her. Something about Jessica's tone irritated her. In response, she lifted her chin a little higher and raised an eyebrow. "And the field is big enough for both of us, so I don't see a problem. Do you?"
"Not at all," Bradley said. He looked at his friends and jerked his chin, indicating that they should follow him back to the brooms.
"Is it me, or are they being odd," Carly asked in a low voice. She steered her broom into a small huddle with Suri, Willem, Nate, and Mara.
"They think they're better than us," Willem scowled. "That's just Gryffindor."
"Ignore them," Suri decided, tying her hair into a ponytail. She rolled her eyes irritably. "Even if we were super nice to them, we'd still get blamed for something."
Her words hung in the air. Even as first years, they all knew that Slytherin had a bad reputation among the other houses. No one would ever believe them if they said Gryffindors were the first to be unkind.
Nate and Suri floated higher and passed the quaffle between the two of them, and were shortly joined by Bradley.
"How about a game," he asked, watching the quaffle go back and forth. "Gryffindor against Slytherin?"
Nate caught the quaffle and held it under his arm. "Five on five?"
"I don't know," Suri started, glancing at Mara who sat in the bleachers with her broom beside her. "I don't think Mara's interested in playing."
"I understand," said Brad, steering his broom away. "I guess they're right about Slytherin. More talk than any real nerve."
"Fine," Suri agreed, clearly miffed. She searched for Nate, and he shrugged his shoulders before giving her a nod. "We'll play you with one less person. Just the quaffle and goal posts."
"Let's see what Slytherin's made of," Brad said with a wicked grin, accepting the challenge.
Both Slytherin and Gryffindor got into position, and Suri found herself face to face with Jessica. When their eyes met, Jessica rolled her eyes with disgust.
Suri hoped her expression remained passive as she watched Jessica, unsure of what made the girl dislike her. Without realizing it, Suri had mentally reached out and pulled back the curtains of Jessica's mind.
"—thinks she's better."
Suri had no time to hear anything else before Jessica rushed forward as soon as the game started.
"Ow!" Suri held tightly to her broom, unprepared by Jessica's aggressive tackle.
"If you can't handle it, don't play," Jessica sneered and sped off, catching the quaffle from her housemate.
"Suri, we're one down, there's no time to daydream!" Wilem shouted as he and Nate sped after Jessica.
Furious, Suri got low on her broom and charged forward with the intent to cut Jessica off before she could score. What was meant to be a friendly game of pick-up quidditch became personal.
"They're going to knock each other off!" Mara covered her eyes when Nate slammed into Brad, and for a quick second Brad's arms went out to regain his balance. Peeking through her fingers, Mara bit her lip. As she did so, argumentative voices rose behind her.
"We signed up for the field today! I don't care if the season is over, I won't let my team get rusty before summer. You can't just go to Professor Snape and have him change the schedule!"
"We'll wait to hear what Snape has to say, then. What the—that's where the missing brooms went!"
Mara looked up to see two livid quidditch teams—one in red and gold, and the other in silver and green practice robes.
"What's going on out here?" asked Marcus Flint, a third year Slytherin.
"We were out on the field first but Gryffindor said they were here earlier. Then they challenged us to a game, and now it looks bad."
"Seems like we're first no matter what," Gryffindor's seventh year captain, David Hamblin, said smugly.
Slytherin's captain, Tim Crockett, rolled his eyes. "Get over it, Hamblin."
For a moment, the two teams stopped their arguing and watched their first years fly across the field, not noticing the trunk that still held the quaking bludgers had a faulty lock and had popped open.
"Is that Suri?" Marcus squinted up, shielding his eyes against the bright sun.
"Impressive," said Tim, nodding approvingly. "Oh, that's a bludger going for her and that other girl. Who are their beaters?"
"Bludgers?" Mara paled. "We didn't want to play with those!" She looked at the trunk and noticed the broken lock.
"We should get it," said Oliver Wood. He and reached for his broom, preparing to fly up there.
"Wood, you need a bat," said a Slytherin player, Jason Payne, and he tossed Oliver the bat before he also took the air.
It was almost too late when Suri noticed the bludger when she and Jessica were shoulder to shoulder. "Jessica! Move!" Suri reached out and shoved the girl's shoulder hard, just as the bludger connected with the end of Jessica's broom.
"Watch it!" Oliver and Jason flew between Suri and Jessica.
"I'll hit it to you if you can catch it from below," said Jason, and Oliver nodded, quickly lowering his broom.
Suri had no time to register the appearance of the two boys as she frantically looked for Jessica. She saw the girl quickly lowering her broom to the ground, and Suri dove down to check on her.
"Jessica," Suri jumped off her broom, "are you alright?"
Jessica, paused and turned around. She quickly walked up to Suri and shoved her hard, causing Suri to stagger back.
"What the hell!" Yells erupted from everyone as the remaining students in the air flew to the ground. Oliver helped Jason wrestled the bludger into the trunk and slammed it shut, locking it with a charm.
Suri regained her footing and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "What was that for?! I saved your life!"
"Why? So you could kill me later?"
The arguing immediately ceased, as everyone watched the scene unfold.
"What?" Suri narrowed her eyes at Jessica, ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach. "What are you talking about?!"
Jessica snorted humorlessly. "Don't play dumb with me. You don't think I know who you are, Suri Rosier-Black? Your dad was Sirius Black, the wizard who killed twelve muggles. Turns out one of those muggles was my dad. I'm muggle-born Black," Jessica spat Suri's name like an insult.
"That has nothing to do with me," Suri protested, and she knew her protest sounded weak. Instead, she pushed into Jessica's mind again. She caught her breath at the anger and grief that raged through Jessica.
"I'll hex her the second she opens her mouth."
Suri noticed Jessica's fingers twitched at her side, near her pocket. Suri reached for her wand as well.
"Flipen—"
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Jessica's wand flew out of her grip and floated in the air. Suri flicked her wrist and Jessica's wand floated into Suri's waiting hand.
Jessica's eyes widened.
"I'll give you back your wand, just—"
"You're just like him!" Jessica stormed forward and pushed Suri's shoulder.
"Yates, stop—" David Hamblin started in a warning tone.
"You attacked me!" Suri fired back, her anxiety being replaced with anger. She stood tall, unwilling to bend under Jessica's wrath.
"You think you're better than everyone. You're nothing, Suri."
"You don't even know me!" Suri pushed back at Jessica with both arms and knocked her to the ground.
"Girl fight!"
Jessica rose to her feet, arms out for Suri. Jessica, being taller and with longer limbs, reached out and caught Suri in a headlock, pulling Suri's hair.
"Get off!" Suri stomped on Jessica's foot as hard as she could, grinding her heel into the girl's trainers. She had never been in a fight before, but she had no intention of losing. Suri kicked against Jessica's leg, making Jessica stumble. The girls tumbled to the ground and immediately hands reached for both of them, pulling them apart.
"Suri, calm down! That mudblood isn't worth it," Nate hissed into her ear, gripping her arm tightly.
"Let go of me!" Suri struggled against him as Oliver reached out and restrained her other arm.
"Stop fighting and we will," said Oliver, his voice tight with concern. Suri strained again, and quickly realized that between Nate and Oliver, she wasn't getting anywhere.
"What is going on?"
Nate's and Oliver's hands immediately released Suri and was replaced by a larger hand on her shoulder. Unsure of who it was, Suri roughly pulled away.
"Get off!"
"Miss Rosier-Black, control yourself!"
Suri's body stilled at the sound of Professor Snape's voice as his hand gripped her upper arm. In a matter of seconds, as she turned to face him, she saw beyond his irritation and straight into his mind.
It was only a brief image, but there was a teenage boy with a handsome face with a smirk on his lips telling Snape to go to the Whomping Willow and—
And if she thought Professor Snape was mad a minute ago, his expression was now furious. His hand on her arm sprang off, as though burned by contact.
"Professor—" Suri started.
"It was Jessica that started the fight Suri was just—" Nate interjected.
"Twenty points," Snape snapped, his harsh tone demanding silence from every single student, "from Gryffindor for instigating the fight."
"Twenty!"
"Fifteen points from Slytherin, Rosier-Black, for lack of self-discipline." Snape's dark eyes fixed on Suri, as if attempting to burn her into the ground. "Both you and Miss Yates will follow me to the headmaster's office at once."
Author's Note:
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