Title: Glass Hearts
Summary (of chapter): Last Quidditch game of the year, OWLs/NEWTs begin, and a brawl breaks out.
--
It was the last Quidditch game of the year – Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. The game for the Quidditch Cup.
"Good luck," Lily Evans said as the Gryffindor team left breakfast to go down to the pitch.
In the Gryffindor locker room, James gave his team a pep talk, his heart racing. "I know we can win this," he said. "We beat them last time. We won the Cup last year and we'll win it again this year. Sophie, keep your eyes open for the snitch – Williams is a horrible Seeker, I don't know why he even has the position. You, on the other hand, are exceptional."
They left the locker room with their brooms. "Good luck, everyone," James said. He nodded at Sirius, who looked slightly sick, but determined. They walked out to the pitch amidst various cheers, where the Ravenclaw Quidditch team met them.
"Captains, shake hands!" Madam Hooch said.
James and Liam Gertram shook hands, and released quickly. "Mount your brooms!"
The balls were released. The whistle blew. James kicked off of the ground, soaring into the air. The air flew through his hair, blowing it back from his head. Marlene had the Quaffle. He half-turned and started to speed to the goals where Michael Watterson was just now settling. He leaned forward on his broom, looking over his shoulder towards Marlene. She passed the Quaffle to Nathaniel Short as the two of them flew towards the Ravenclaw goalposts. They passed it back and forth, avoiding the Bludgers and Ravenclaw Chasers.
"The Quaffle flies back and forth between Short and McKinnon," Mary announced. "Black shoots a vicious Bludger to Ravenclaw Chaser Shacklebolt – oh! He narrowly misses it – and Potter catches the Quaffle – he shoots it to the goals, but it's caught by the other Watterson! He throws it out to Trudeau – Trudeau is speeding to the goalposts –" James flew away from Watterson to the other side of the pitch.
The Quaffle was passed around for at least thirty minutes, with no scores made. They needed to pick it up...he made a motion to the other Chasers, then looked at Sirius. They locked eyes and nodded.
Marlene had the Quaffle and was flying to the goalposts, averting the Ravenclaw Chasers. She threw the ball to James, who dove to catch it. He threw it to Nathaniel, on the other side of the posts. He caught it, but then threw it back to James. Watterson dove for the ball, but it went over his head to James. James chucked the ball through the nearest goalpost. There was a ding and a roar from the crowd.
"Potter makes the first goal for Gryffindor!" Mary yelled.
James and Nathaniel flew back to the middle of the pitch, high-fiving in mid-air.
After the first score, the game was full-on. Within thirty minutes, the score was forty to fifty, Ravenclaw in the lead. Sophie had seen the snitch once, but it had escaped her when the a bludger had nearly knocked her off of her broom. Williams, the Ravenclaw Seeker, had had two false alarms. Ravenclaw made another score. Madam Hooch threw it back into the pitch.
Nathaniel flew up and caught it in the air. The crowd cheered as he flew towards the goalposts.
"Wait a second – it looks like Sophie might have seen the snitch!" Mary yelled. James glanced over his shoulder as he flew forward.
"Potter, watch out!"
James looked just in time and spun out of the way before a Bludger hit him. He looked at the one who had yelled at him – Kingsley Shacklebolt. "Thanks!" he called over. He spun around on his broom to watch Sophie dive after the snitch. Williams pelted after her.
There was a ding! "Ten points for Gryffindor, a goal made by Short!" Mary announced. "Both Seekers are after the snitch now – Sophie Dillon seems to be extremely close – they're close to the ground now –" The crowd held its breath as both Seekers flew straight for the ground. The snitch flew up, flapping its wings rapidly. Sophie turned up just in time, spinning wildly in the air, but Williams wasn't so lucky. He hit the ground, rolling over a few times. Sophie lurched out and she slowed down, throwing her fist up. The crowd gasped and Madam Hooch blew her whistle.
"YES!" James yelled. He sped over to Sophie. "Sophie!"
The Gryffindor Quidditch Team gathered around their small Seeker, yelling in triumph and joy. "Gryffindor's won the game! Gryffindor's won the Quidditch Cup!" Mary yelled. "Yes! Yes, GO GRYFFINDOR!" Her and McGonagall were hugging and jumping up and down.
The Gryffindors landed on the pitch to be surrounded by other students. Madam Hooch brought out the Quidditch Cup and held it out for James. He took it in his arms triumphantly. He looked at Sirius, grinning. "We won, Sirius!" he yelled.
"We won!" Sirius repeated.
James gave it to Sophie and, in unison, Sirius and James lifted the second year unto their shoulders, chanting. The Ravenclaws gathered around to shake hands gloomily while all the other students and staff crowded around the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Sophie screamed as Sirius handed her over to Paul. Jewel ran up to Sirius, throwing her arms around him, and pulling him into a kiss.
"Must I remind you of the No PDA rules again, Mr. Black?" Professor McGonagall asked, though her grin did nothing for her tone of voice.
"McGonagall!" Sirius squealed. He kissed his Head of House on the cheek, then tackled Remus and Peter down, giving them kisses, as well.
"Gack – get – off!" Remus said, somewhere underneath Sirius.
Sophie was back on her feet and the Gryffindors were moving, as a multitude, off of the pitch. James hooted and hollered, passing the silver cup to his other team members. Through the crowd, she was there, all green eyes and bright cheeks. Her hair flying behind her, Lily hugged him. He suddenly had no idea what to do with his hands and his arms felt too long and her hair was in his mouth and was he dreaming? He thought their first hug would be a fantastic hug; he would pick her up and turn her around and then would be followed by an amazing, breathtaking kiss. Lily pulled away, grinning up at James. "We won, Potter!" she exclaimed, laughing. "We won! Nice job!"
"Thanks," James said breathlessly. God, he was still breathing – air goes in, air goes out, air goes in, air goes out.
They fought their way to the locker room, then made their way to the Gryffindor common room, and Sirius snuck Jewel in, and no one cared in the least bit.
The Gryffindor festivities carried on throughout the day. There was candy and drinks and all kinds of snacks. After a certain hour, the common room was a bit dangerous. Mary and Marlene had loud music on, and they were dancing with everyone in sight. Marlene pulled Remus out of his seat. Mary danced with Paul, causing Katie to vent to her friends in the corner of the room. Lily joined in for fun, but soon started talking to people and playing Exploding Snap and eating too many chocolate frogs.
"I need everyone's attention!" James said. He was standing on top of a couch with a firewhiskey bottle in his hands. "I'd like to make a toast – to Gryffindor!"
The room cheered, drinking down their drinks. "To the Quidditch Cup!" James yelled. "To red and gold! To victory! To Godric! To armchairs!"
"All right, Potter, we get the point," Sirius said, surfacing from Jewel.
"Shove off, you snogging lump!" James said. He slipped off of the couch, and Candace helped him up. He leaned on her, giving her a crooked smile, waggling his eyebrows. She giggled, wrapping an arm around him. Their conflicting opinions about her uncle went away in light of the celebrations.
Even Remus and Peter got a little something from the party, though Sophie was taken by other second years.
--
The week after the last Quidditch match was the last week of classes before final exams. Most of their classes were review. Remus and Peter took copious amounts of notes. James kept his ear open for certain things, writing down things he knew he wouldn't remember or didn't understand fully. Most of it was easy, though, and he passed stupid notes with Sirius and wrote his very own comic called Specs Man.
On Tuesday, Sirius skivved off of Charms after staying up all night with Jewel. He showed up for Herbology, looking much better than he had that morning when James tried to get him to go to breakfast. He took a seat next to Remus, in front of James and Peter.
"Hey," James said, leaning forward over the desk. Sirius leaned back in his chair. "Nice to see you in class, young man."
"Did I miss anything in Charms?" Sirius asked.
"Nah, easy stuff," James shrugged.
"We went over the Summoning Charm," Remus informed Sirius.
"Oh, yeah," Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Sirius," Lily said as she walked to the desk behind Remus and Sirius. She sat down next to James. Was hell freezing over? "I thought you would be in the infirmary. Feeling all right?"
"Feeling just fine, thanks," Sirius replied, smirking at her.
Lily shook her head, taking out her books. James looked surprised and eyed Lily as though she were a poisonous bug. He looked at Sirius, looking thoroughly confused. Sirius just smirked and looked to the front, shaking his head.
During Herbology, they took notes over the year in bulk, a general review for the exam coming up next class. Sirius wrote for the bulk of the class period; wrote notes to Remus, wrote a letter to Andromeda that he would never send, wrote a story about nothing.
James found it extremely odd to sit next to Lily Evans for a double class of Herbology. He took notes for the first half of the class, but then gave up – he knew it all, anyway. He talked with Peter and made paper figures.
After getting bored of throwing paper airplanes at Sirius, James made a flower. He slipped it over to Lily across the desk. "Cute," she said. She pushed it back over to him.
"Oh, come on, take it, you can put it with that necklace," James said, pushing the flower to her.
Lily glared at him. "Why do you even have to mention that?" she asked.
"Mention the gift that you tried to give back?" James asked, smirking.
"Yes," Lily said. She pushed the flower back to him. "No thanks, James."
"Fine, I'll give it to Sirius," James said. He leaned forward, tapping Sirius's shoulder. Sirius turned and saw James's flower.
"You ponce," Sirius said, taking the paper figure.
A few minutes later, Sirius threw it back to James. His former flower was deformed into a vulgar shape. Lily made an annoyed noise and she rolled her eyes. Only Sirius Black. She shook her head, focusing on the Herbology board in the front of the class. James was laughing silently next to her.
"You are so immature," Lily told James.
"You like it," James said.
"Honestly," Lily said, rolling her eyes again.
When the class was over, James handed her the paper folding again, and it was re-folded into a flower. "Here," he said.
Lily took it from him, sighing, and left the room without saying anything else to him.
"James, what did you do with my sculpture?"
"Er . . ."
--
Marlene sat by the fireplace in the common room, studying for Potions. She hated OWLS, she hated exams, she hated everything. She wanted to drop out and die.
Her first OWL was tomorrow, Potions, and then Astronomy at night. There were fifth and seventh years cramming for the next excruciating week. She couldn't believe she had put so much studying off. She couldn't remember the Draught of Peace at all. She started reading through the chapter in her book, and had been diligently concentrating for almost five minutes when Lily's voice distracted her. Across the room, Marlene watched as Lily shooed James and Sirius away from her.
The two of them made their way over to her. Marlene rolled her eyes. "What is it now?" she asked. "I have a lot of studying to do."
"We've got just the thing to help," Sirius said with a grin. "The strongest Wit-Sharpening Potion, only two galleons for a flask."
"Oh, come on," Marlene said. "How stupid do you think I am?"
"I'm sorry, is that a trick question?" James asked.
"Go away!" Marlene said, laughing.
Instead, Sirius sat down next to her. "We've also got Draught of Peace and Memory Potions," he said coyly.
Desperate as she was, Marlene knew not to buy anything from them. "I have to study," she said. "I'm sure Candace will buy some."
"Lily's already warned her," Sirius said.
"We may be able to give you the family discount for some Felix Felicis," James said, leaning closer.
Marlene laughed. "Right," she said. "As your little sister, I demand you to leave me alone."
"We told Alice Hodge that we were related, can you believe she thought we were lying?" Sirius said while shaking his head.
"She knows my brothers," Marlene said.
James rolled his eyes, also sitting down. Marlene sighed; she was never going to get any studying done. Maybe she should go to her room. "We're your new brothers," he said.
"Oh, I forgot," Marlene said. "You guys want to get me the answers for the exams?"
"No, but we will sell you this lovely -"
"I'm not buying anything!" Marlene exclaimed.
She saw the portrait hole swing open. Professor McGonagall came in. As she walked in, the room went silent. She never came unless they were in trouble or. . .there was bad news. With horror, Marlene realized she was walking over to the three of them. She looked at her Head of House, her heart slamming against her ribcage. "What is it?" she asked.
"I need you to come to my office, McKinnon," McGonagall said, a solemn look on her face.
Students nearby watched as Marlene put her book in her bad and stood up. "What happened?" she asked.
"Let's talk in the corridor," McGongall said.
She left her bookbag by her armchair and followed McGongall to the corridor. "Your brother is in St. Mungo's," she said.
"Which one?" Marlene asked.
"Doug," McGongall replied.
"Well, is he okay? What happened?" Marlene asked. She wanted to get out of here right away and see him.
"Your mother is waiting in my office to take you home," McGonagall said. "Would you like to run and get some clothes?"
"No, I've got some at home," Marlene said. "Let's just go."
--
Marlene's brother was mentioned next morning in section B of the Daily Prophet, a new section in the paper set apart solely for the war and related articles.
"He's in St. Mungo's for serious rib damage," Lily told Mary.
"Damn," Mary breathed. "No one's safe."
Lily frowned, knowing the truth of this. Mary's brother had been sentenced to six months in Azkaban for assisting Death Eaters. Mary had been pretty torn up about it, but didn't talk about it much. Lily had read about it in the paper, after which Mary admitted the truth to it. Her brother got out in a few days, as the Daily Prophet had again been so graceful to announce. Students had treated Mary differently, but Mary was a fairly resilient person. Those affected by the war didn't have many choices other than resilience. Talia Deradt's grandparents had been Kissed by stray dementors. The fifth year Hufflepuff Nathan Bole had a brother who had been attacked by a werewolf last month.
Lily was stressed about exams, but much less stressed than many of her classmates. The week passed by, the students highstrung and under stress. She figured she did all right; she only had to pass the class so she would get in seventh year, right?
She sent Marlene a short owl to see how she was. There were rumors flying around about his brother and who was involved in his attack.
A few days later, half of their tests our of the way, Lily and Mary decided to study outside by the lake. It was warming up; the spring slowly turning into summer. They sat by the lake. Lily lay on her stomach, reading Transfiguration. Her and Mary would get distracted and talk, but Lily never took homework time with Mary serious. She couldn't concentrate for longer than ten minutes. James and his friends were about twenty feet away, doing nothing in particular. Lily wished she didn't notice them. She used to be able to ignore them. If only they could go back to fourth year.
"My brother came home yesterday," Mary said while Lily was reading about Human Transfiguration.
Lily looked up from her book. "Really?" she asked. "Is he going to stay there?"
Mary shook her head. "He's getting his own place," she said. "He sent me an OWL."
"What did it say?" Lily asked. Mary didn't open up very often, so Lily tried to be gentle when she decided to.
"Not much," Mary said, watching a group of Slytherins leave the castle. "That he was sorry if he caused me any trouble, and he wouldn't be that stupid again. It was short."
Lily paused, not quite sure what to say for a moment. "Are the two of you close?" she asked.
"Sort of," Mary said. "He's five years older than me, so we're prettyy far apart. But he used to always look after me, you know. I don't know. It's weird."
The Slytherins walked by them, Evan Rosier leading them. Severus was with them, as well as Sirius's brother. "Hey, where's your friend McKinnon?" Rosier called over to Lily.
Lily looked over at him, knowing he already knew. "She went home because her brother was attacked," she said tensely.
Rosier glanced over his shoulder at the other Slytherins. "Why do you think he got attacked?" he asked Lily, a smirk on his face.
"Why don't you tell us?" James called over.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Rosier asked, his demeanor changing from a playful sarcastic expression to one of defense.
"I mean your dad probably told you all about that attack," James said. "He was there, wasn't he?"
A number of wands was drawn. Lily sat up warily. Rosier glared at James. "Why do you think my father was there?" he asked.
"Because he's not an idiot," Sirius snarled.
"Could have fooled me," Avery said from Rosier's left. The boys chuckled.
"That was a good one," James said, nodding solemnly.
Rosier pointed his wand at James. James stood up, pointing his wand back at him. Sirius and Remus were quick to get to their feet, and Peter only hesitated for a moment. Lily glanced around; there were no teachers around. Rosier, Regulus, Remus, and herself were the only prefects around, but they knew the first three had no intention of stopping a duel. Lily was afraid that more than a duel could come out of this; but rather a brawl with all nine boys.
"So, you think my dad had a hand in attacking McKinnon's brother?" Rosier asked.
"Well, you never denied it," James said. "But then again, maybe you're proud to have a bastard father."
Rosier lashed a hex at James, knocking him off of his feet. His hands flew to his face as he yelled out in pain. A flurry of hexes and spells followed. Sirius shot a Body-Bind Curse at Rosier. His arms snapped to his side and he fell back. Wilkes sent Remus flying into the lake. Peter tried to hex Avery, but Avery disarmed him before he got a sound out of his mouth. Peter stood there for a moment, then ran forward and tackled Avery down. When Avery punched him in the face, James stood up, his nose bleeding, and hurled a knee-reversing hex at Avery. Regulus stood there, unsure about what to do, but Severus and Sirius were dueling, the hexes and curses they were hurling hitting and missing, different results out of each of them. Remus came out of the lake, his robes soaking wet.
Mary was about to join the fight, but Lily grabbed her arm. "Mary, don't be stupid," she said.
"Stupid?" Mary repeated. "They're outnumbered!"
Lily looked at the mass of confusion. "Okay, cut it out," she said, but none of them heard her. Remus disarmed Wilkes, panting.
"Give me back my wand," Wilkes said. Without warning, he punched Remus across the face. Lily gasped, grabbing Mary's arm instinctively. Remus punched Avery back, and then the two of them were fist-fighting. Remus pushed Avery back into the tree under which the boys had been sitting and punched him in the stomach.
"All right, stop it!" Lily yelled.
She then noticed that Rosier had gotten out of his Body-Bind Curse somehow, and he and Avery were fighting with James.
Melissa Warbeck ran over to them, and she stared at the situation. "What's going on?" she said shrilly.
"Impedimenta!" Lily said, pointing her wand at Avery. James performed the same spell on Rosier.
"Are you crazy?" Melissa yelled. She separated Sirius and Severus with a Shield Charm. She turned to Avery and Wilkes, who were still moving too slow to do anything. "Lily, will you please take them to McGonagall's office? I'm calling Slughorn here right away."
Lily nodded, picking up her bookbag. "Let's go," she told the four boys.
It was the most fierce she had ever seen Melissa. Melissa tied each Slytherin with ropes, sitting them down underneath the tree. "He didn't really do anything," Sirius called to her when she was charming Regulus.
Melissa ignored him. "Don't try to get away," she told the Slytherins.
The six Gryffindors walked towards the castle. "We are in deep dung," Sirius said.
Remus and James were sporting bloody noses, Peter's left eye was bruising, and Sirius was clutching to his side. Panting, he stopped near the Great Hall. "I think your boyfriend broke my ribs," he groaned.
"He's not my boyfriend," Lily snapped. She paused, looking at the four of them. "Let's go to the infirmary."
As they went up the steps to the first floor, Lily shook her head. "You're all idiots," she said. "You could be expelled, you know."
"They attacked us!" James said. "You saw it!"
"They attacked you, and all four of you attacked back!" Lily exclaimed.
"We were trying to stop it," Remus said.
"Especially Sirius," Lily said, rolling her eyes.
"Have you ever dueled with a Slytherin?" Sirius asked. "If you don't defend yourself, they'll kill you!"
Lily ignored him as they walked into the infirmary. Fortunately, Professor McGonagall was already in there speaking with Madam Pompfrey. The two of them turned. "What's going on?" McGonagall asked.
Lily sighed, motioning to the four Gryffindor boys behind her. Sirius had already helped himself to a bed, crouching in pain. "What happened?" Pompfrey asked.
"Snape hexed me with something," Sirius said.
"All four of you?" McGonagall asked, raising her eyebrows.
"No, that would be Rosier, Avery, and Wilkes," James said.
"Not my brother," Sirius said.
McGonagall stared at them in disbelief. She looked at Lily. "Evans, what happened?" she asked.
"We were talking about Marlene's brother," Lily began to explain. "Rosier hexed James first and . . . well . . ."
"All eight of you were dueling?" McGonagall asked.
"Out by the lake," Lily said. She leapt to defend them. "They tried to stop it - Remus disarmed Wilkes, but Wilkes punched him."
Sirius let out a yell of pain as Madam Pompfrey examined his ribs. "Melissa's down with the Slytherins," Lily said.
McGonagall's eyes widened. "Melissa Warbeck?" she asked.
"She tied them all up," Mary said.
McGonagall put her hands on her temple. "This is horrible for my nerves," she said. "I'm going to find Professor Slughorn." She looked at the four boys with a dark look on her face. "You better hope the damage is not much, or this day could be your last on Hogwarts property."
She swept out of the hospital wing, muttering to herself. Lily turned around. "Episkey," she said, waving her wand at James.
"Thanks," James said, touching his nose gingerly.
Lily performed the same spell on Remus. She looked at him for a moment, still shocked after seeing him fight so violently with Wilkes. "Thanks," he said quietly.
Lily also healed Peter's black eye. She sat down on the bed next to Remus. She sighed. "You four better not get expelled," she said.
"Evans, I'm touched," Sirius said in a constricted voice. "You want us to stay?"
"No, just Remus," Lily said. She gave him a small smile. She could tell this was going to be a long afternoon.
--
All eight of the boys received two weeks of detention, and Regulus, Mary, and Lily also received a detention for not interfering. They also had to sit through a long lecture from Professor McGonagall and much head-shaking from Professor Slughorn.
"I do not care about your varying differences!" McGonagall yelled after James tried to interrupt her. "This is a school, not a battleground. You are here to get an education, not to fight about things about the adult world -"
"The adult world?" Sirius said angrily.
"What about Marlene?" James asked. "She has to deal with the adult world -"
"We all do," Remus said.
"Yes, I know," McGonagall said tensely. "I'm not saying you don't. I'm not saying you have to agree with each other or like each other, either, but dueling is not permitted on school grounds - especially when there are guests on grounds! You are representing the Hogwarts student body! Eight boys dueling and three bystanders doing nothing is not the impression we want to make on these people."
"So, you're saying to just let Potter talk about my dad?" Rosier asked.
"If it means you won't be dueling, yes," McGonagall said. "You can duel as much as you like off of school grounds, although I don't recommend it, but while you are students at this school under our supervision, then don't do it. And all eight of you have history - by gods, if anything like this happens again, I'm sure you'll be expelled! Professor Dumbledore likes all of you, but he cannot have this sort of behavior at Hogwarts!"
It went on for a little while longer, but McGonagall finally ended it. "I will be sending letters to your parents," McGonagall said. She looked at Lily, Mary, and Regulus. "Including yours."
"What are you going to say?" Lily asked.
"That students were in danger and you failed to intervene or get a teacher," McGonagall said.
McGonagall looked at Sirius. "I'll send your letter with James's," she said.
Lily thought of Severus's parents, wondering if they'd care, or if he'd get beaten for it when he went home that summer.
The Slytherins left the hospital wing, angry and still looking for a fight. Sirius would be in the infirmary for a few days. "I can make up my exams, right?" he asked McGonagall.
"That's the first time I've seen you show some real interest in school for quite some time," McGonagall said. "I'm sure you'll be able to take them."
Lily and Mary left the infirmary. Mary smirked. "Glad I didn't join in," she said.
--
Again, thanks for the reviews! =]
Up next.... the last chapter of our crew's sixth year! Marlene returns to school, James and Lily have their first friendly conversation in quite a while, we check back up on Frank & Alice, and everyone says goodbye on Platform 9 3/4.