Just so you know, updates will probably slow down a bit, because I'm writing both this and another fic at the same time. The other one won't be published until it's done to avoid long hiatuses like this one, so just because I don't look like I'm doing anything doesn't mean jack. But you might be right. Depends, really.

'Nyways, it will come as no surprise that I don't own the characters or world described in the story.

Hey, let's see if we can hit a hundred reviews! Only six more to go! I've never been this close... Please?

Ten: Obligatory Slytherin vs. Gryffindor Quidditch Match

'Nghh...' I rolled over, and mentally prepared myself to face another day.

It had been a week since we'd returned from the terrible camp of which I shall never speak again, and I was still dead tired. Fang and I were getting along better than ever though, and I couldn't help but smile every time thoughts of him invaded my mind.

We hadn't talked about the letter, or rather, scraps of letter, that we had found in the forest, and I knew that even if we did, there was nothing we could do, or should do, about it.

Letters are private affairs, like the letter from Angel that had arrived two nights ago. I wouldn't want anyone reading that, even if it was perfectly innocent.

She had reassured me that all was well, and Jeb had finally found a place that was big enough to fit all of us. We'd been living in several hotel suites before now, just waiting for the right place to come up, and now it had. Even if I didn't trust Jeb, or the source of his money, I trusted the money itself, and if it were sentient, I would've been proud of it as it changed from Jeb's hand into the landlord's.

It looked like everything was going pretty well. There was no news of Brigid or Mr. Chu, and the M-Geeks hadn't said so much a robotic, mispronounced word.

If I wasn't here, in a castle protected by magic somewhere in Scotland, I would've said it was too good to be true.

But since I am in a castle protected by magic somewhere in Scotland, I think... it's still too good to be true, but I'll savour it while I can.

Anyway, I forced myself out of my warm, squishy bed, grabbed my clothes and all but fled back under the covers, huddled in a small, half-dressed ball trying to get warm. It was only October, and it was already getting chilly. Oh, sorry, I mean chillier. I kind of wish Hogwarts was in, say, the Sahara Desert, but you can't have everything, right?

-o-o-o-o-

I was one of the first down for breakfast, surprisingly. There were only a few others in the Great Hall when I entered.

The Gryffindor table was completely empty, but the other three houses had a few early risers.

Rhea, the Hufflepuff from my Muggle Studies class, was simultaneously dripping syrup onto her pancakes, writing hurriedly on a star chart, and talking to one of the Prefects.

Over at the Slytherin table, Evan Rosier had returned (I have yet to determine if that's good or bad...) and was stirring something into his pumpkin juice while holding what looked like an intense conversation with Rabastan Lestrange, who was sitting across from him, parchment surrounding them both. Yes, that's right. I finally learned his name. Yay me!

At last, my gaze drifted to the Ravenclaw table, where Iggy was laughing at something the brunette directly across the table from him said. She turned briefly, hair flying across her face, and spotted me, then turned back around. She must've told Iggy that I was here, because Iggy was beckoning in my general direction. I obliged him and walked over.

'Hey Max,' Iggy said, 'you remember Tess, right? From back in DC?'

Oh. I'd been hoping to never have to remember any of that. Anne, Pruitt, Max II, Ari, Lissa...

'Yeah, of course. Nice to see you again.' I said cheerily.

'You too. I was really excited when I saw Iggy here, you know? I thought I'd never see you guys again.' she replied, smiling widely.

'It's funny how life works out sometimes, isn't it?'

Tess laughed. 'You bet.'

I paused momentarily, stumped. Even after everything I'd been through, which had given me more 'real world experience' than I ever hoped to get, talking to people I didn't know well was sort of disconcerting. How on earth are you supposed keep a conversation going?

In the end, I decided to ditch it before it got too awkward. 'Well, I think I'll go eat. It was great to meet you again.'

'Yeah, same with you. Have a good day.'

I turned away, walking back to the Gryffindor table, where I sat myself down and grabbed some bacon.

'Well, aren't you a charmer?' Sirius laughed at me as I tore into my breakfast.

I tried to reply, but all that came out was 'Mmrph.'

'- and I think we can beat them this time, even though half the team is new. I mean, we have to win sometime, right? And I think today could be our lucky day!' James blabbered energetically to Peter, who nodded and smiled as if he wasn't really paying attention.

Remus was the only one to greet me conventionally. 'Morning Max.' he said, sitting down.

'Morning. What's James blathering about?' I asked.

Remus rolled his eyes. 'It's the first quidditch match of the year today. Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and James is just itching to lose again. Almost every match he's played against them he ended up with his face in the dirt. Figuratively. Except for a couple of times.'

'It just seems like it's not meant to be.' Sirius shrugged. 'The Slytherin team is pretty good. Macnair is the captain this year, and he's crazy. Crazy and brilliant. He's got all the best players on his team, and done them up all nice so now they're twice as good as they were before.' Sirius told me. 'He's a beater, not like that's a surprise. What's really surprising is that he hasn't killed anyone yet, his hits are really vicious. Then they've got Rodolphus Lestrange for the other beater. Not as strong as Macnair, but hey, not many people are. His aim is pretty decent, though.'

'Sure, if by pretty decent you mean 'crazy-accurate'. He's practically a sniper, only with more bludgers and less guns.' James said. 'Sirius is just jealous.'

'I am not!' Sirius huffed.

'Sure, sure...'

'Right. So is that it? Do the beaters make the game?' I asked.

'You've got to be kidding.' James exclaimed. 'It's the chasers! The chasers do all the work!'

'If you hadn't guessed, James is a chaser.' Remus told me.

'My cousin is a chaser.' Sirius mentioned. 'Bellatrix. She made the team. I guess that's good, 'cause now I've got an excuse to break her face.'

'I hear your good friend Rosier is a chaser too.' Fang said in my ear. I glared at him.

'Don't sneak up on me! How long have you been standing there?' I demanded.

'- and bloody Avery, he's a zippy little bastard of a Seeker, and then there's Mulciber...' James ranted, apparently not registering that no one was listening.

-o-o-o-o-

I pushed my way through the crowd, and joined Fang, Remus and Peter in the second row of the Gryffindor stands.

The teams were entering the field, the Slytherins in their majestic green, and the Gryffindors in blazing red. I could see Sirius talking to James, gesturing with his beater's bat while James nodded distractedly, scanning the crowd.

The Gryffindor captain, Max Someone, strode into the centre of the pitch, and shook hands with Macnair, who towered over him, grinning sinisterly.

With a wave of her wand, Madam Hooch released the balls, and threw the quaffle into the air. James lurched for it, but one of the Slytherin chasers, who I recognised as Bellatrix Black, snagged it first.

The announcer, who was a Hufflepuff who's name had yet to make itself known to me, helpfully provided advertisements for the players' brooms. 'Potter tries for the quaffle, but Bellatrix is faster than him on her Emerald Falcon. The Falcon line is one of three lines offered by the world famous broom-artist Anja Dreyer, and -'

He was interrupted by McGonagall clearing her throat tactfully.

'Right, sorry, Professor. Anyway, as I was saying, Black, the Slytherin Black, hell, I'm just going to call her Bellatrix, hope she doesn't mind, because this is getting really confusing...'

'Mr. Davis, if you are incapable of announcing quidditch related items, I shall have to find a replacement.' McGonagall said, the microphone (or whatever wizards called it) catching her voice and broadcasting it to the whole pitch and helpfully telling me the announcer's name.

'Sorry, sorry, won't happen again...' Davis muttered. 'Anyway, Bellatrix has the quaffle, she's quite quick, isn't she? Already halfway down the pitch! Marlene McKinnon doesn't look pleased, she's aiming a bludger at Bellatrix, but it's been intercepted by Rodolphus Lestrange, and Bellatrix has passed the quaffle to Augustus Rookwood already, so that was a little pointless, but whatever, because SLYTHERIN SCORES! First goal to Slytherin, and I'm not surprised, the team's looking pretty strong this year. Can the Gryffindors beat them? With Gideon and Fabian Prewett's graduation, the team had to scramble to find a new chaser and keeper, but they've done pretty well, I reckon, so they might just have a fighting chance...'

The Slytherin stands erupted into cheers. James took the quaffle and swerved between Rookwood and Bellatrix, who both lunged at him as he flew past. Evan Rosier descended on him, making a grab for the quaffle. James ducked, and flew as close to the ground as he could, hoping the Slytherins wouldn't risk it.

I saw him glance behind him to see Rookwood right on his tail, and whip his head back to the front to see Bellatrix and Evan Rosier. He soared as vertically as he could, then hurled the quaffle at Charlotte Laurent, who looked surprised, but caught it and continued towards the three hoops.

A bludger came streaking towards her, but Sirius managed (barely) to deflect it with his bat as she ignored it and kept going.

The Gryffindors roared (no pun intended, really) as Mulciber ducked a bludger and Charlotte took the oppotunity to get the quaffle through the left hoop.

'Ooh, unlucky for Slytherin. Ten all right now, and we've only just started. I hear the house rivalry is going pretty strong, so this could get really vicious...'

He was right, and soon Sirius was yelling verbal abuse at his cousin, who was screaming right back. Bellatrix was holding the quaffle at the time, and I could tell that Sirius was just itching for a bludger to come his way so he could smash it into her face.

Bellatrix passed the quaffle to Evan Rosier, leaving her hands free to make offensive gestures at Sirius, who was still trying to find a bludger to break her face.

I was paying more attention to Sirius and Bellatrix's argument, so when a loud bang resonated through the stadium, I had no idea what was going on.

'And holy sh- I mean, uh, wow. Longbottom's just ducked a bludger from Macnair, but I think it broke the hoop a bit. Hoop's still standing, but it's definitely a bit bent...'

That was... probably not good. No one had ever told me what happened when someone broke the hoop, but I was guessing that was bad for us.

Finally Sirius' wish came true when the bludger that had smashed into the hoop flew his way, and he whacked it in Bellatrix's general direction, only to have her duck beneath it while Rodolphus Lestrange smacked it right back at him.

'Wow, er, this is getting personal between the Black cousins over here, I think Sirius is actively trying to kill Bellatrix, oh, and Gryffindor scores, so now it's 140-130 to Gryffindor! But anyway, Sirius has just - oh look! I think Avery's seen the snitch! Either that or his broom is malfunctioning, which is unlikely since he's riding a Harrier 920, which, by the way, is another brilliant broom by...'

'Mr. Davis!'

It was then Sirius stopped attempting to mutilate his cousin's face, and hit the bludger at Avery, who was rapidly ascending into the clouds. The bludger soared after him, and I was tempted to leap into the air for a better view, but my good sense kept me grounded.

'I think that's the snitch there, that little sparkle, and Alice Prewett's going after it as well now, so it's a race to see who catches it first, the match could go either way at this point, so whoever catches the snitch wins!'

The two seekers had plunged back down into view, and Avery was clearly beating Alice. I didn't need Davis to tell me his broom was a lot faster than hers.

Marlene McKinnon found a bludger and whacked it at Avery, trying not to hit Alice. Macnair, who I thought was on the other side of the pitch, was at Avery's side in an instant, deflecting the bludger away from his seeker.

Everyone was staring at the two seekers now, and I could feel the tension rising. The snitch must have darted upwards, because both Avery and Alice were suddenly ascending, and Avery was stretching out his hand to grasp the snitch.

'Reducto!' Sirius shouted, frustrated and desperate to win.

Avery's pretty little Harrier shattered into thousands of woody splinters, and he started falling.

'Holy mother of...' Davis said. 'Sirius Black just - I don't believe this. I don't fucking believe this. What the hell, man, what the hell? You don't just - GAH!' For once, McGonagall did not chastise him.

The Slytherins and a few of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs started screaming in outrage, and everyone else was just sitting in stunned silence.

My self-preservation was at war with my morals. Should I unleash my wings in front of the whole school, or let Avery splatter his guts all over the field? I knew that the first option was right, but the idea of not using my wings was so ingrained in me I nearly forgot I had wings.

The seconds I had spent arguing with myself were wasted when Macnair made a grab for Avery, and snagged his arm. Avery was clutching something in his other hand, something I recognised as the snitch.

'Uh, is that...? Bloody hell, Avery's got the snitch! Holy shit. Does that count? You know what? Screw the rules. It definitely counts. Hell, if I could, I'd give them double points! Slytherin wins!'

There were no cheers from the Slytherins, only relieved sighs that their seeker wasn't on the ground being dead, and silent rage directed at Sirius.

'SIRIUS!' Bellatrix broke the silence as she jabbed a finger at his chest. 'Just what the hell was that?' she hissed.

McGonagall intervened before it could become a (potentially deadly) fight. 'Mr. Black. Come with me.' she said flatly, and swept in the direction of the castle, Sirius trailing behind her.

I scurried down from the stands, and joined the crowd that had gathered on the pitch.

'Does this normally happen?' I asked Remus.

'No. That's why everyone's surprised and kind of pissed off. There are hundreds of rules, but the one that's probably been broken the least number of times is the one that dictates that you're not supposed to pull your wand on anyone.' he replied, frowning, clearly dissatisfied, most likely with Sirius.

'Hey, where's Sirius?' James ran up to us, looking frantic. 'Max is looking for him. He's really mad, Sirius is in for it now.'

'McGonagall's got him.' Bellatrix declared, overhearing. 'Tell your captain that he'll probably lose a beater.'

'Yeah, I know.' James sighed, not noticing that he was holding a civil conversation with Bellatrix Black. 'If McGonagall doesn't boot him off, well, Max might. He's been discussing it with the rest of the team. He's not all too pleased at having to handle Sirius' mess. And on top of all that, Macnair is out for blood too. If you thought Max was mad...'

'We're all... severely displeased with Sirius.' Bellatrix said. I instantly assumed that 'severely displeased' was a posh way of saying 'will kick his ass at the soonest available timeslot'. From the expression on her face, I was right.

'Hey, Bellatrix!' Rookwood called, and she promptly abandoned us, not bothering to say goodbye.

'Wow.' I said. 'Sirius is going have to deal with a lot, isn't he?'

'He's in deep shit, alright.' James agreed.

'Does this... Do you... You guys said you prank Slytherins.' I said uncertainly. 'Is this like that?'

'Hell no!' Remus protested. 'We don't hurt anyone, we just steal their shoes and change their hair colour.'

'Yeah, this is the first time Sirius has done anything like this.' James said. 'It's crazy, he's always been pissed when we lose, especially to Slytherin, but this is just... over the top.'

'Hey, we were looking for you.' Fang told us, turning up with Peter beside him.

'Hey.' James greeted distractedly, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

'Looks a bit like the beginnings of a riot.' Fang mentioned.

'Nah, not enough burning cars.'