"AND POTTER SCORES!" Tracy Gallagher shouted. Our team broke into applause.

The game, which was the last one of the year, and therefore my Hogwarts quidditch career, was going exceedingly well. We were up by 60 points, the score being 100 to 20. Sally was doing great today. I winked at her as I did a lazy lap around the pitch. She smiled briefly, but returned her attention to the game quickly.

I sighed stretched, not seeing the snitch anywhere. My eyes tracked the Slytherin seeker closely. Geoffrey Avery was known to play dirty, and frequently did. He, however, seemed as stumped as I was. I sighed and did another lap around the pitch.

Today was not the day for something like this to happen. There were scouts from what seemed like every team in the league in the stands, and I couldn't bank on my performance in the previous game to push me forward into a quidditch career.

"OI! WATCH OUT, SALLY!" Jack screamed.

I flipped around, and watched in horror as Sally took a bludger to the head. She immediately went limp, and I, being the closest to her, flew towards her at an alarming speed, nipping her out of the air, so she wouldn't take the 50 foot drop. I cradled her in my arms as the whistle was blown to signal a time-out. Her head was bleeding profusely, and I could see the imprint the Bludger had made when it hit her in the head.

I clutched her closer and flew to the ground, where Headmistress McGonagall was waiting with Professor Longbottom and Master Gerard. I stumbled off my broom and carried her to them, depositing her in Longbottom's arms. "It- it doesn't look good, Professor," I admitted quietly.

He rushed her to the castle. Unfortunately, the game had to go on, seeing as quidditch games practically only stopped for death, and she was still alive. Barely, but still alive. I hopped back on my broom, the rest of the team looking at me strangely. I looked down. There was Sally's blood all over the front of my robes. I shuddered.

"Who did it?" I looked at Jack. "Sally could've dodged that, no problem. Who jinxed her?"

He pointed with fury at chaser Barnaby Mulciber. The Slytherin sixth year was chuckling as he listened to one of the beaters, Donna Carter, recount something. By the looks of her hand gestures, it was probably Sally's injury.

I snarled, and turned to Jack. "What are we going to do? We have 10 seconds left for our time out."

"We're going to kill them." His broom started inching forward.

"No!" I pushed him back. "We can't mess this game up, Jack. That's what they want." I sighed, and eyed everyone else. "Okay, look, we're 60 ahead. Can you guys get 10 more shots in within the next half hour?"

James was looking at me suspiciously. "What do you have planned, Lin?"

"I'll play Keeper."

Jack protested this the most loudly of the whole group. "We need you to catch the snitch!"

"The snitch hasn't shown itself in the past 3 hours we've been playing. The odds of it appearing now are astronomical!" I took in a deep breath. "Look, if I see it, I'll get it, but I'm not going to keep flying around uselessly while we're getting scored on!"

Jack bit his lip, thinking it over. The whistle blew. "Fine," he shouted as we took off. "Fine! But I don't like it!"

I fisted my hands in my hair as I positioned myself in front of the hoops. I sighed. I would sacrifice my future quidditch career if it meant we would win this game. For Sally.

There was nothing against a Seeker staying motionless, but I had to be careful to not catch the Quaffle, because that was an illegal move. I sighed and gripped my broom tightly. You're about to become a human shield, Caroline.

I know.

I learned I was an okay Keeper. I got winded a couple of times from having the Quaffle sock me in the stomach, but I was okay. And since I was light and used to being fast, I had no problem dodging the bludgers sent my way.

At first no one had any idea what I was doing. The other team figured it out first, but the spectators had no idea until I head-butted a quaffle.

"MERLIN! Caroline Benedetto is acting as a Keeper for her teammate Sally McLaggen! She does realize that she's a Seeker, right?" Tracy shouted.

I chuckled as I watched for the snitch, now that the quaffle was safely on the other side of the court. I still hadn't seen it anywhere, and neither had Geoffrey. He was quite useless, in my opinion. I sighed and began to drift lazily between the hoops.

"LIN!" James shouted.

I turned my head and saw the three Slytherin chasers charging at me, Barnaby in lead with the quaffle. I groaned. But then I caught a glint of gold out of the corner of my eye. Crap. What do I DO?

WING IT!

Barnaby threw the ball just as I stood on top of my broom. I pivoted and whacked the quaffle back to him. I learned later that it had ended up smacking him in the face and breaking his nose, but I was now broom-surfing, looping under and over the chasers and beaters. I jumped over Jack and landed on my broom as it flew under him. I could hear the crowd gasping.

This doesn't happen in real life, Lin!

By this time Geoffrey had seen it, too, and was inching closer and closer to it. I threw my weight forward. But I had misjudged the balancing act I was performing, and tumbled off my broom. I might have managed to keep a hold on it, though suddenly I was hit in the side and back with something hard. I squeezed my eyes tight and opened my mouth to scream, but started gagging instead as something hit the back of my throat. I was sure it was a bug, and it was making it hard to breathe. I was choking.

I waited for the impact of the ground, but instead was caught deftly. My eyes flew open. James was looking down at me in panic as he flew me to the ground. I started seeing spots.

We landed on the ground in a crash. I started trying to vomit, hoping to get whatever it was that was stuck in the back of my throat out. The whistle was blown, and the Slytherins began cheering. Tears formed in my eyes, and my vision started going black. I was going to pass out.

Someone suddenly stuck their wand at my throat and tapped. I leaned over and heaved, everything I had eaten that morning coming out and onto the ground in front of me. Whatever had been in my throat was gone, and I started hyperventilating, my vision still a little gray.

James's arms had never left me, and I gripped onto him. I couldn't hear anything, and my head felt like it was collapsing in on itself. Is this supposed to happen when you black out? James patted my back and rocked me as I tried to keep a hold on my consciousness.

Someone tapped their wand to my forehead and I could suddenly see clearly again. McGonagall looked down at me. "Ms. Benedetto? Nod your head if you can understand me."

I nodded once, and tried to slow my breathing. Everything came into focus much more quickly, and soon I was breathing much more normally. "Water," I croaked.

I was handed some, and I sipped at it, wincing as it hit my throat. My throat felt like it was on fire. I was shaking, and pain was radiating throughout my entire body. "What happened?" I asked as I looked around, realizing I was now in the quidditch locker rooms.

A whistle was blown, and I became confused. "I thought the game already ended."

McGonagall looked at me seriously, though there was a softness about them. "Yes, it has, though there is some confusion about what the ending really is." She sat down on a bench across from James and me. "Would you like some clarification?"

I nodded, wincing as the action brought more pain. "Please, Professor."

"You have done a remarkable job, Ms. Benedetto. You showed levelheadedness in a time of great emotional distress, you managed to pull your team together, you sacrificed your position for the good of the team, and you happened to pull off some of the greatest flying skills I have ever seen. You almost managed to pull it all off without severe injury, too."

McGonagall took in a deep breath. "Unfortunately, Mr. Mulciber, Ms. Carter, and Mr. Rowle saw this, and decided to try and stop you by any means possible. Messers Mulciber and Rowle hexed you with rather violent spells." James's arms tightened around me, and I winced. "This would account for the tightening of your lungs, hearing loss, pain, and the intense amount of pressure in your head you were feeling."

Two tears fell from my eyes from the amount of pain I was in, but I willed her to go on. She sighed. "Ms. Carter hit you directly with her bat after sending a bludger at you. You took both to roughly the same place. I will have Madam Pomfrey examine you as soon as the mess outside is cleared up."

"Professor." James's voice sounded strangled. "Look."

I tried to turn and see, but found I could not. The pain suddenly shot up, and I screamed.

They rushed me towards the Hospital Wing. I felt like I was being torn to pieces by a hot metal poker. Mercifully, they had silenced me, and I was grateful. James's face was white, and his tears began to mingle with my own as he laid me down on a cot and kept his face to mine. I could hear Madam Pomfrey and McGonagall talking quickly with Master Gerry, Professor Longbottom, and Professor Hodgkins.

The pain got worse and my eyes rolled up into the back of my head. I reached out blindly for James and clutched at his arms.

"Professor!" he hollered. "It's getting worse!"

Madam Pomfrey rushed over and removed the Silencing Spell from me. My screams echoed through-out the hall. She started tapping different spots on my body, sparks flying from the tip of her wand. She stopped after a moment and silenced me again. "Sorry, dear," she murmured. She turned to the rest of the teachers, who were shocked at the intensity of my screams.

She murmured something to them, but I stopped paying attention. I was trying to focus on James. He gripped my hand between both of his and kissed it. "Lin, please, Lin, just hang on. Madam Pomfrey can fix anything, I promise."

The woman in question came flying out of her office. "Minerva!"

The headmistress pushed James aside as she and Madam Pomfrey gathered close to me. The nurse handed a goblet to the headmistress. "Hold that and stir it three times counter-clockwise with your wand," she ordered as she herself shook up a bottle. She turned to me. "Now, dear, you're going to have to drink that goblet. It's going to taste horrible, but you must finish it if you do not wish for any lasting damage. When you've finished, you need to drink the contents of this bottle immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

I cried as I nodded. McGonagall finished stirring and handed the goblet to Madam Pomfrey. "Neville! Come here!"

Professor Longbottom peered down at me, his face ashen. "What should I do?"

"Hold her down," Madam Pomfrey ordered as she tipped my head forward. "This is not going to pleasant, but you must drink it."

I opened my mouth obediently. She pinched my nose, seeing as Professor Longbottom was holding my arms down. The potion went down my throat. I tried not to taste it and to just chug it, but it was awful. It tasted like charcoal, and was very thick and slimy.

After an eternity, I finished the goblet. I started heaving, my body rejecting the foul-tasting potion inside of it. "Oh, no, you don't," she cried as she brought the bottle to my lips and poured. This potion didn't taste like anything, so it didn't affect the taste of the first one at all. I stopped heaving though.

"Where's Jonathon?" Pomfrey asked McGonagall.

"I'm here!" Professor Hodgkins came running towards me with a goblet in one hand and a can in the other. He thrust the can at McGonagall and brought the goblet to my lips. "It'll taste fine, Benedetto. Just finish it."

I drank it in two gulps. It tasted like bubblegum. Madam Pomfrey brought a shot glass to my lips next. "Last one, I promise."

I downed it and shuddered. It was icy cold. But, the pain was gone. I closed my eyes as a few tears trickled out in relief.

"Okay, Neville, you can release and unsilence her." The nurse began drawing the curtains around me. Professor Hodgkins stepped outside of them and allowed me some privacy.

I was released and promptly unsilenced. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

McGonagall fixed me with a grim stare. "You may not be so thankful in the next few minutes, Ms. Benedetto."

I inhaled sharply. "What's going on?"

"We'll explain after," she answered. "Longbottom, Potter, leave us."

"Not James," I cried. "Please."

McGonagall eyed me wearily. "Let him stay, Minerva," Pomfrey said as she began preparing things on a tray next to where I lay. "He may keep her calm."

She nodded warily as the two women turned me over so I was lying on my stomach. James knelt at the head of the bed so we were face to face. Pomfrey clucked her tongue. "This is going to hurt, Mr. Potter. You should silence her."

"Do it." I closed my eyes and gripped his hands.

After the spell had been performed, the two witches removed my quidditch robes so that my back was bare. They gasped, and James's face turned green. "Oh my," Madame Pomfrey gasped, "she's worse than I thought. How many spells hit her?"

"No less than three."

"It looks more like it was five or six." Her voice hardened. "This is going to hurt."

And it did. I felt like I was being whipped with razor edges and having each individual cut rinsed out with firewhiskey. I screamed silently, gripping James's hands so tightly they turned red. He stroked my hair as he fought to stay calm. "Lin, it'll be over soon, okay? It'll be over and we'll have exams and then school'll be over and we'll be playing for Puddlemere and Ary'll get married and then we'll have our whole lives ahead of us, okay? You and me and Jane and Carly and Lily and Albus and Rose and everyone else you love."

My face was turning red, so he switched tactics. "We'll go anywhere you want between seasons, okay? We can move to the States or France or Italy. Anywhere you want. Hell, we don't even have to play quidditch if you don't want to. We'll figure something out, okay?"

I nodded, but my vision was fading to black again. "Lin?"

"Keep her awake!" Pomfrey ordered.

James nodded and nudged me with one of our intertwined hands. "Lin? You have to stay awake, okay? You can't pass out. Only prats and wankers would pass out now, you hear? You're neither. You're so much stronger than that."

I started breathing heavily and bit my tongue, tasting blood. The new pain sharpened my senses. "Oh God, Lin. Oh God and Merlin. It's almost over, okay? It's almost over, I promise."

I nodded, squeezing his hands even tighter. I began panting. "Is it almost over? I don't think she can last much longer."

"And… we're done now. Here, give her this." I let go of his hands, and James was handed another shot glass of the icy potion, this time with a straw. He offered it to me. I sipped the potion, and soon my body was numb again. I pointed to my throat and he unsilenced me. I sighed and let my head drop to the pillow. "I'm so tired, James."

He stroked my hair. "I know, sweetheart."

I sighed, sleep starting to overtake me. "Will you stay?"

"Yes," he whispered thickly. "Yes, I'll stay."

I shut my eyes and used my hands as a pillow. "Thank you."

"I love you, Lin," James chocked out.

I heard him, but I was asleep before I could respond.