The castle seemed unnaturally quiet once the IS had taken power. To cap it all off Momo had returned to Hogwarts one morning early in February with some unwelcome news. She came into the Great Hall and was swamped by several Hufflepuff fourth year boys who had seemed to take a liking to her. After telling them all off, Momo preceded to the Slytherin table where Risa and her team were sitting.
"Momo," Jen called pushing Jake out of the way and making room for the petite lieutenant. "You didn't text me this morning what are you doing here?"
"Due to the nature of his injuries," Momo started looking at all of the members. "Unohana-taichou asked me to return to tell you that Renji will not be able to return as a member of this team for quite a while."
There was a clatter of metal on porcelain and the shattering of glass. Jake had dropped his fork on his dish and Risa had shattered her water glass in her hand.
"Are you kidding me?" Jen said a shocked expression crossing her face. "You're not serious!"
Momo nodded grimly. Shuhei and Marcus set down their silverware for fear of dropping them on the dishes. Jack had set his water glass down. Rukia was whiter than a sheet and Ichigo buried his head in his hands. Jen banged her fist on the table.
"Great," she snapped. "We're man down now, that's a huge slack to pick up!"
"I know," Risa said sharply quelling Jen's surefire rant. The blonde captain had her hand wrapped in a napkin. She had cut it when the glass shattered. "Look, I know we're all pissed off about this but worrying about the slack isn't going to do anything! Replacement is not an option; each of us needs to pick it up."
Without further ado she swung her legs over the bench and marched out of the hall holding her hand close to her chest. Jake and Jack looked at each other.
"What the hell was that?" Marcus asked watching Risa leave the hall. Most of the other students noticed her departure.
Risa leaned against a wall outside of the Great Hall clutching her bleeding hand which was still wrapped in a napkin.
"Risa?" a voice asked. Risa turned her head and saw Jake coming out of the hall closely followed by Ichigo.
"Hey guys," Risa said faking a small smile. Her hand throbbed painfully.
"Don't 'hey guys' me right now," Jake said firmly walking up to her. He took her hand in his and started to unwrap the napkin revealing a decent-sized gash running the length of her palm.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Ichigo asked. Risa shook her head.
"This needs to be looked at," Jake said wrapping her hand in a clean napkin which he had stolen off the table. "Come on let's get you to the hospital wing."
~*~*~*
There was a DA meeting later that night, dedicated to learning spells so Risa sat in a squashy beanbag chair as Harry demonstrated how to perform a patronus, an immensely difficult charm to repel dementors. Most of the class was having a difficult time as suspected and within thirty minutes only Hermione, Jen and Jake had success. After a while Harry asked Risa to go around and help out some of the students having a difficult time.
"Think happy thoughts," she told Neville Longbottom, a round faced highly forgetful boy in Harry's year.
"My parent's torturer is on the loose," Neville huffed trying to force out a silvery animal and only coming out with a faint vapor. "What's the happiness in that?"
Risa thought Neville was making stuff up but then she remembered that a bunch of Voldemort's supporters, dubbed "Deatheaters" had escaped from the Wizard prison back when Renji initially got stabbed. She mentally kicked herself for forgetting that crucial piece of information and slid over to Jake.
"How come no one told me that there were Deatheaters on the loose?" she hissed at him in Japanese.
"About that," he dropped his wand making the silvery lynx disappear into a wisp of smoke. "I'd have thought that you of all people would be on top of that."
"Think happy thoughts and make your patronus come back," Risa advised before rounding on another student.
"What is she PMSing?" Jack hissed at Jake. "Because she seems to have a bigger stick up her ass than normal."
"Or lack thereof," Jake said. "Somebody needs to get laid."
Risa sneezed when she approached Harry and the Emmerson twins had quickly ran into a corner for fear of being pounded by Risa and Ichigo.
"Bless you," Harry said as she came up. "Is something going around?"
"Nah," Risa said lightly. "Dusty in here."
"Harry Potter sir!" a voice squeaked from below them. Risa and Harry looked down to see a brown furry object tugging at Harry's pant leg. It was a house elf.
"Dobby," Harry said bending down to speak to the elf. It looked panicky and edgy. "What's wrong?"
"they're coming," the elf squeaked.
"Who's coming?" Risa barked. That was one phrase that rarely brought good news.
"Her and them," the elf squeaked.
"Umbridge?" Harry asked and the elf nodded. Risa and Harry looked at each other the color draining from both of their faces. By now all of the DA were looking at the two of them.
"I know that look," Shuhei told Jake upon seeing Risa's expression.
"Her classic 'oh shit'?" Jack asked.
"Yeah that one."
"What the hell are you all waiting for?" Risa bellowed. "Get the hell outta here!"
They didn't need telling twice. Almost instantly the room emptied. Leaving Risa, Jen, Jake and Jack behind.
"We need to get outta here," Jen said sprinting toward the door. "We need to take cover in wherever is closest."
"Let's go!" Risa barked leading Shuhei and Ichigo out of the room. At last it was empty. Risa and Jake started barking orders in Japanese and the team scattered in various directions. Jen bolted toward the girls' room and Risa tore toward the library. She was halfway there when the ground bunched under her and she fell on her face, skinning her knee on the rug.
"Trip jinx there Uchimani," an all too familiar voice sneered. Risa pushed herself off of the ground and came face to face with Oliver Wood, the last person she wanted to see right now.
"What the hell do you want?" Risa gasped. She had split her hand open again trying to break her fall. Wood rounded on her.
"I heard that there was something going on and being a senior officer, I was asked to investigate. Never in a million years did I think that you'd be behind it all."
"Never in a million years did I think you'd be the cheating type," Risa spat. "But you proved me wrong why shouldn't I do the same?"
"You're still holding that against me?"
"Well duh," Risa snapped. "not that any of that matters now anyway. Once you've felt real betrayal you seem all too trivial."
"Yeah, like you waltzing over to Flint when you couldn't handle my team isn't betrayal?"
"Not as much as having a captain you admired defect and join a legion of half-spirit beings bent on destroying the world."
Risa and Wood stared at each other for a few seconds.
"What did you do to your hand?" Wood asked.
"Now you care?" Risa spat. "What about: is your back ok? What about your knee, shoulder and elbow? You know everything that I ever injured playing quidditch for you?"
"Every time I asked you said you were fine," Wood shot back.
"Because I didn't want to incur your wrath, at least Marcus cared enough to drag me off the pitch if needed."
"So you left me for that troll?"
"I left you because you were a half-assed quidditch captain who focused more on winning than his own players. I busted my ass for you! Both as your girlfriend and your player!" Risa yelled. It was unavoidable now, the hot angry tears were pouring out of her eyes. Tears that had been shed many times, explaining the story to many people. "You couldn't care less about me as a person; I was a pawn at your disposal. I loved you; I thought I made you happy but apparently I was wrong or was kissing Karli Angelson another one of your quidditch tactics?"
Wood stared at her before he grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the library.
"This isn't the time for this," he snapped. "Umbridge is waiting for you."
"You are the biggest asshole I think I've ever had the misfortune to meet."