Authors Note: Some Quidditch action here and a little bit of broomstick statistics. We go into the mind of one Sirius Black and find out why Ria is upset with the Marauders (Sirius). If anyone's interested, I've put a line-up of the players.
Hufflepuff:Seeker - Jason Owen. Beaters - Diana Moore & Maxwell Andrews. Chasers - Alison Miles, Nate Watson & Quentin Scott. Keeper - Capt. Amy Hooch.
Gryffindor:Seeker - Harriah Robins. Beaters - Sebastian Wood & Sirius Black. Chasers - Eric O'Neil, Capt. James Potter & Lucas Hale. Keeper - Sophie Jones.
PS: This fic. is not Beta-read, so consider yourselves warned. If you find any mistakes, feel free to inform me and I'll fix it.
Chapter 2 – Bludgers!
In which Sirius shares his thoughts.
After much persuasion, Ria agreed to drink some pumpkin juice and took a slice of toast to the Gryffindor Quidditch locker room. She suppressed a sigh as she looked at her Nimbus 1500.
While accepting some allowance was one thing, – one's pride had to take a backseat when stranded in the past - Ria was adamant about refusing such an expensive broom. Finally, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall had agreed to a compromise with Ria. She would use the Nimbus 1500 only for Gryffindor Quidditch matches and practice. After her N.E.W.T.s it would be left behind at Hogwarts for other Gryffindors and – she was firm about this part – once she earned her keep, she would pay half of its price.
The Nimbus 1500 was the third fastest broom on par with the Comet 220 and only behind Cleansweep 4 – Sirius's broom, good for sudden stops and pauses – and Nimbus 1700 – the one James has; for high speed and control. Still, none of them had anything on her Firebolt or even her trusty Nimbus 2000.
About fifteen minutes later the rest of the Team joined for a few pre-match pep-talks.
Apparently, James also used the same "We will win or else..." speech, but unlike Wood – who only gave empty threats and let the sentence hang at 'or else' – James finished it off by threatening them to be the Marauders' next prank project!
'Definitely a more effective threat.' Ria thought.
The commentator was a girl from Ravenclaw whose name Ria didn't quite catch. The teams were called to the pitch, where the Captains: James and Amy Hooch (yup, the Flying Instructor had a niece a year older than her Dad; who knew) shook hands.
Soon after, the Bludgers and the Golden Snitch was released. The players were on their brooms and then with a whistle...
"The Quaffle has been released. And their off! Quaffle snatched by Hufflepuff Chaser Miles; tailed by Gryffindor's Chasers Hale and Captain Potter. Miles passes to Chaser Watson; passes to...Oh! Watson's pass interrupted by Gryffindor's newest Seeker Robins! Watson's dropped the, wait…
Chaser Hale seized the Quaffle! Passed to Potter who passes to Chaser O'Neil – who is flying like no tomorrow!
Hufflepuff Beater Moore bats the Bludger at O'Neil – but he dives down and is safe – yes! SCORE! A clean shot and Gryffindors earn the first 10 points of the match!"
Ria flew high up and kept track of the game while keeping her eyes peeled for the Snitch. She took a few rounds, scattering and startling the Hufflepuff players. The honey blond Chaser, Nate Watson was her main target as he was rattled easily, even if he never dropped the Quaffle again.
However, the Hufflepuff players weren't dumb and it wasn't long before James told her to stay out because the Beaters – Diana Moore in particular (and if Watson wasn't her boyfriend or in the least her crush, then Ria would eat her hat) – began to target her.
By then, Gryffindor was in the lead 30 to 20, with Hufflepuff currently in possession of the Quaffle and the Snitch was nowhere in sight.
"- Chaser Miles pitches the Quaffle for another sco – unbelievable! Black has knocked the Quaffle off course with a Bludger! Amazing! But Miles recovers possession of the Quaffle – intercepted by O'Neil.
Passes to Potter who takes off to the other end of the pi – Whoa! Seeker Robins has spotted the Snitch! And she's given the audience here quite the shock when she flew past…A regular speed demon, this one…but with the control problems of her Nimbus 1500, let's hope she can handle the speed!
Meanwhile, it looks like Potter's pitched the Quaffle at Hale. Will he score? Or can Hooch guard the goals? Hale has flung the Quaffle and SAVE! Hooch's blocked Quaffle and the Scores are still 30-20 to Gryffindor.
Back to Robins; still after the Snitch and Seeker Owen is right behind her. Up goes the Snitch followed by the two Seek – Potter has dodged the Bludger and he scores! 40-20 to the Lions!
In other news, the Seekers are racing each other to Snitch and it looks like Owen is trying to shove Robins out of the way –"
I had to admit, Ria did have a talent for flying; just like Prongs. But damn, she was such a risky player!
Anyways, I hit the Bludgers a few times and knocked that Quaffle off its path. Quite an idea, if I do say so myself. When I heard Julie announce that Ria saw the Snitch, I turned up to watch her for a bit.
Oops! "Sorry, Captain!" I grinned at James who had to dodge a Bludger since I didn't bat it away. Still, he made that score and Gryffindor now has 40 points. Yeah!
I saw Ria and Jason Owen streak up behind the Snitch, when from the corner of my eye, I noticed Maxwell Andrews – the other Hufflepuff Beater – strike the Bludger right at Ria. That Wood kid was busy keeping the other Bludger off our Chasers and I knew I wouldn't be able to reach them in time – it was probably going to graze her feet at the most. Still, I gripped my Cleansweep 4 tighter as I flew towards the Bludger.
What happened next nearly made my heart leap into my mouth.
Owen – that git's gonna be the Marauders (especially Moony's) next special project – trying to shove her out of the way, pushed her directly into the path of the speeding Bludger!
"RIA! WATCH OUT FOR THE BLUDGER!" I yelled.
I could see the exact moment when Ria realised the situation. Her grip on her broom changed and she sorta crouched tightly against it. Then, she tried to speed up and tilted as much as she could towards Owen, whose hand was outstretched.
SMACK!
THUD!
I wince. The Bludger hit Ria twice; first on her left knee and then it streaked up and clipped below her head and whizzed past her shoulder. "That's gonna hurt in the morning," I murmur to myself, wide-eyed.
Bloody hell! Ria could have pulled out, gone the other way with minimum damage. But no! She just had to bash into Owen. Just so she could stop him from getting the Snitch!
Hell! Even James and I weren't that much into Quidditch!
James called a Time-Out and I landed beside him.
"Merlin's Beard! Moony is going to be so pissed!" he said worriedly.
Understatement!" I muttered scanning the crowd for Remus.
Looking at the expression on his face, I could almost imagine him gold-eyed and growling under his breath. If a serene werewolf could ever manage to look angry, worried and upset all at once, Remus would get an award.
As soon as Ria landed, James rushed to her concerned. "Are you alright? Should I call Madame Pomfrey?" he asked tightly.
Ria shook her head, but before she could say anything I blurted out, furiously, "Bloody hell, Robins! Was that really necessary? I mean, I get that the game is important and all; but it's not exactly 'Do or Die', you know!"
Argh! I can't believe those words actually came from me of all people! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! (Ha! Black – black get it?) I bet James would have probably gawked at me, if he didn't agree with me, 100%.
Uh-oh, Ria was scowling. I guessed she was still upset with us (me, mostly) for the prank.
"I'm with Sirius on this one, Ria," James told her. He was looking pale and shaken. "That stunt was almost suicidal! What the hell were you even thinking? No wait, don't answer that, 'cause it's obvious you were not! What if you had fallen? You were at least a 70 feet high!" he said angrily.
Whoa! I've always known James to be casual, laidback kind of a bloke, well unless Evans is involved. He hardly ever got this upset. But, then again, things like this don't happen every day.
And then there is Harriah Robins herself. What's the big deal about her, you may ask…
Well, somehow, in the two and a half months she's been at Hogwarts, Ria Robins managed to get most of the First and Sixth Year Gryffindors wrapped around her finger and she doesn't even know it! The First Years bonded with her over the fact that they were new students and she was nice and fun to talk to.
Alice and Lily took her under their wing, so to speak and were always fussing over her to eat and sleep properly; probably because like the four of us, they knew that all was not well in Ria-Land. Frank got along with Ria well enough, though he's been mock glaring and scowling at her for some reason.
James has unofficially adopted her as a baby sister/best female friend. Between their black hair, stupid specs and love for Quidditch, it's not that surprising.
She's pretty cool, I'll give her that; not as much as me though – I still have no idea how she didn't swoon over me when I introduced myself after her Sorting.
And I get a feeling that Ria could be scary; not Lily Evans scary or even McGonagall scary. But the kind of scary a person gets when they are hunted and backed against the wall and they figure they've got nothing else to lose. And after being bloodied and running away to the Potters, I somewhat get how a girl, who's lost everything in a Death Eater raid, might be. It's a damn miracle that she can smile at all.
That's why I might be a bit overprotective of her, and why I pranked that slimy Slytherin girl Ria always talks to – first Lily, now Ria! Argh, why can't they understand! It was just our bad luck that Ria ended up pranked too. And now she won't talk to us outside game plans, making Remus feel miserable 'cause that kind of excludes him.
Speaking of Remus, I'll only say this: Ignorance Of Major Crush Alert! All you have to do is look at his face when they talk; he can't take his eyes off her and he does this weird 'gentle brown eyes' thing, as Alice says and whenever Ria smiles or grins at him, he smiles goofily back at her.
As for Peter, he gets scared of Ria sometimes, then again he also thinks she's the next best thing since Cheese, pranks and the Marauders. I worry about that bloke sometimes. Enough said.
So to recap, she's got quite a number of people on her side and James – and myself – being the Captain would get the brunt of their anger if Ria gets injured. Did I mention a certain werewolf who tended to get growly if the people he cared for (ahem: crush) were threatened?
Right, where were we? Ah, yes; James uncharacteristically scolding Ria.
The other players watched us apprehensively. However, Ria – who had lost her scowl somewhere in the middle of James' rant – kept her poker face on and just shrugged her shoulders. I noticed that her eyes squinted a bit in pain at that.
"Really, Captain," she said firmly, "I'm fine, it's no big deal. I simply over-estimated my broom. That won't happen again. Now, if that is all..." And before James could open his mouth to say anything else, she signalled the end of the Time-Out and confirmed that she would continue playing.
She determinedly walked out of our huddle – limping almost unnoticeably – and mounting her Nimbus, she flew high up in the air.
Still stunned, we all did the same after James gave the others some pointers. James and I glanced at each other for a moment and then we took off.
The match continued.
The Snitch was totally lost, so the main game was happening between the Chasers, Keepers and Beaters. The 'Puffs took advantage of our slightly unsettled state and scored a few lucky shots. Fortunately, it didn't happen too often as Ria was still at the top of her game and it wasn't long before we were too.
Even so, I decided to keep an eye form time to time on our injured, yet too proud Seeker.
The score was 60 – 60 by the time the Snitch made its second appearance. Once again, it was Ria who spotted it first.
TBC
Aw! Remus is so cute, don't you think so?
Hope you liked that bit from my other story Sorting Of A Time Traveler.
Thanks ptl4ever419 for your review; glad you liked it! :)
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