Chapter Thirty-one

The Snake Girl

When I finally came to, I felt very disoriented. The good thing was the pain I remembered from earlier wasn't present.

Thank Merlin for that.

I was about to go back to sleep when I heard voices.

"Are you sure she's gonna be fine?" James asked.

"Yeah. Ashton and I did everything we could," Sirius replied.

"That woman is one good Healer," Remus said.

"Thank the gods for magic," Lily said. "I don't see how she would've survived this healing the Muggle way."

"Actually," Sirius said, "she is."

"What d'you mean?" Tonks asked.

"I mean, for some reason, magical healing doesn't work on her. Ashton said that every time she's come in with an injury, magic has no effect on her body. She stopped the bleeding with magic, and thankfully it worked, but everything else had to be done the Muggle way, and her body has to heal on its own."

"Good thing Ashton's Muggle-born," James muttered. Just then the door opened.

"The Quidditch match starts in twenty minutes!" Peter squeaked.

"Thanks Wormtail," James told him.

"I can't go," Sirius said. "I promised her I'd stay until she left." He chuckled softly. "Not like I'd be able to focus anyways."

"Sirius Black!" Lily exclaimed. "That's about the sweetest thing that I've ever heard come out of your mouth!"

"S'okay Padfoot. I was gonna forfeit anyways. We won't play without Nik, and I'm sure we, too, wouldn't be able to concentrate."

My eyes popped open and I saw James heading towards the door.

"James Potter don't you dare take one more step!" Six startled glances met my glare.

"Nike!" Lily squealed.

"You're alive!" Tonks yelled.

"'Course I'm alive," I said. "I'm not dying anytime soon."

"How do you feel?" Remus asked.

"Great. Just great."

"Umm…is that sarcasm?" Peter asked attentively.

"Of course not."

"Good to see you're already back to normal," James said, grinning.

"Now all I have to do is give you a couple more days before we can leave and I can go kick Farr's ass," Sirius said from beside me.

"Well, I'm leaving now," I said, meeting his gaze evenly. "But wait for a couple hours to kick his ass."

"Why?" Sirius asked, his grayish-blackish eyes showing anger.

"Because we have a Quidditch match to win."

"Are you sure you're okay to play?" Sirius asked for the thousandth time.

"Yes Sirius! I'm fine," I answered, sighing. If I were him, I'd be questioning the replacement for Derek for the next month. The poor boy looked out of his wits if you asked me.

"C'mon Black. Leave the poor girl alone," Jean said.

"'Cause no matter what you say or how she feels, you know she'll play anyways, despite what's good for her health," Amata agreed.

"I mean, even if you are her boyfriend, I don't think Nike listens when she doesn't want to," Jean said, smirking.

"No, he's not my boyfriend," I protested.

"Uh-huh. Well, that's not what everyone else is saying that they heard," Amata said, rolling her eyes at me.

"No! Umm…well Sirius did say that, although he was just fooling around," I said. "He didn't mean it; he was just trying to…help…me?" Even to my ears that story sounded fake.

"Honestly Nike," Jean said, sighing. "Probably the hottest guy in the whole entire school says you're his girlfriend, which means he obviously really likes you, and you're in denial? I really don't get you girl."

"If I were you, I'd be living it up," Jean agreed. "I even heard that you two—"

"Okaaayyy, then. I'm done talking about this if you don't mind. And the guy in question is right beside me, so…" I looked over at Sirius, silently telling him to agree that he didn't want to hear it either.

"Actually," Sirius said instead. "I'm quite interested in this topic. Tell me more." Amata and Jean laughed while I groaned.

"Really?" I asked him. "You couldn't be more helpful."

"I'm just sayin', Nike. Not everyone's as lucky as you," Amata said.

"I don't think even the other girls he's been with have held his interest as much as you," Jean said, shrugging.

"Really? We're still talking about this in front of him?" I asked, appalled. "If we must, can't we discuss this later? And, if I was his girlfriend, why the hell would you mention his past girlfriends to me?"

"'Cause you're cool like that. You aren't the jealous type," Jean said while she and Amata snickered.

"Hey! Listen up!" James yelled.

"Jaaames," Sirius whined. "We all know your speech by heart now. So can you just get to the point so we can get on with this match?"

"Please?" I added so Sirius wouldn't seem like a total brat.
James sighed. "Fine. Good luck and—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is Ravenclaw, the smartest team out there, so actually use your head," Sirius grumbled while James glared at him.

"I was going to say—"

"Bring pride to Gryffindor; don't get the Slytherins' hopes up—"

"Sirius!" James yelled. "Shut-up!" Sirius, for once, shut his mouth, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Be careful out there Nik," James said. "I don't want you hurt anymore." His eyes were full of that brotherly protectiveness that I'd grown used to him having for me.

"Thanks James. I'll take your wishes into consideration." James rolled his eyes and smiled at me.

"I expected nothing more," he replied, and our team walked out to the roaring crowd. Like with the Hufflepuffs, both Houses were torn between the two sides. However, as you could've guessed, the Slytherins were all for Ravenclaw, or anyone that was going against their life/death enemies. As you could probably tell, this was something the Ravenclaws undoubtedly hated.

The Ravenclaw team was made up of some muscular players, both male and female (some of who were almost if not as muscular as I was). I had seen them training once or twice, and I had to admit, they were good. So good that James was actually concerned with our chances. Peter wasn't even sure if we had the game in Merlin's Purse. So sad, I know. But that didn't daunt me. We'd beat them before even though it had been a close and intense game. But, like every other team, they had yet to score on me. With that in mind, I knew we still had pretty good chances.

As we stood in that circle I could feel all eyes on me from both teams and about 99.99% of the population in the stands. To say the least, I was feeling very uncomfortable.

"You're letting her play?" Gary, who was Ravenclaw's team captain and the best Chaser in whole school, asked finally, peering at James with a look I couldn't place.

"Yeah. Sad now? Thought you'd dominate with me out of the way?" I asked, narrowing my eyes and gazing into his intense hazel ones.

He smiled slightly. "No, but I'm glad you're here. You must not be hurt too badly if Potter's letting you play. He can be smart when he wants to." Remus chuckled softly from behind me.

"Umm…thanks. But you're still not gonna score on me," I said, smirking at Sirius' obvious displeasure over our conversation.

"Ha! We'll see about that," Gary said, eyes glowing in anticipation for the challenge.

Just then Adda walked on to the field, blowing her whistle merrily. I smiled at the sight of her. She was odd, yes, but that's what made her so lovable by the whole school.

"I know I don't even have to tell you to behave. You're all smart enough to know by now that cheating and uncalled for violence is not permitted on this field. And with that being said, good luck, be careful," Here she looked at me, "and may the best team win."

She released the balls, and then everyone took off.

Everything started out perfectly. Our team got the Quaffle first, Sirius and Remus had already launched the Bludgers at enemy targets, and James' eyes were peeled for the Golden Snitch, which every now and then would glint in the bright sunlight, sending him and Ravenclaw's Seeker off on a race that they both would lose because the Snitch had already disappeared.

But that was only five minutes into the game, and I couldn't shake the thought that something was going to go wrong.

It wasn't the fact that our teams were so evenly matched. Nor was it the fact that Gary kept intercepting our team's passes. It wasn't even a fact. It was a feeling. A feeling that something that wasn't quite right was going to happen. It was a dark foreshadowing of what was to come.

I caught Gary coming towards me out of the corner of my eye.

Center, his actions read. I moved to get ready, and I locked eyes with him. He grinned, released the ball and then everything disappeared.

Black light flooded my vision, and out of the darkness jumped a lean figure with pale, glowing skin, and unfathomable black eyes. Her short, curly, dark brown hair framed her cruel yet beautiful face. Her gaze met mine and a high-pitched hissing noise escaped her lips. And that hissing formed words.

"Six months and twenty-one days…"

Everything flashed back into focus so suddenly that I almost fell to the ground. I lifted my head just in time to see the Quaffle soar right through the goal behind me. There were gasps and everyone on both the field and in the stands were frozen in shock. Gary looked at me startled, like he couldn't believe that really happened. All along the whole thing with him trying to score on me and me always catching had been like a game that we would play, not actually trying to gain anything by it.

But I still couldn't think. My brain was fuzzy, and I could still hear that echoing hiss and dread filled me.

I felt a sharp stab in my back and it felt like someone had just kicked me in the chest. It was getting harder and harder to breathe.

Something's coming… I kept thinking over and over again.

"She needs help!" Gary shouted. "Something's wrong!" In seconds he was at my side, but once again I lost sight of that bright sunny day and was sucked into the never-ending blackness.

"I'm getting closer…"

I glimpsed the girl again, and then her features twisted and in her stead, a huge snake was coiled in front of me, baring its huge, poisonous fangs and swaying back and forth in a fluid motion in an unknown rhythm. It locked its sickly yellow eyes on mine, and, without warning, it lept forward with unimaginable speed and locked its teeth around my neck. It closed its mouth and the pressure forced the air out of my lungs, making it impossible to breathe.

Don't let it get much of your blood, cautioned a powerful male voice inside my head. But my fogged up brain could barely form a coherent thought. So it was a surprise when a thought coursed through my being. One single thought that held more power than I could have thought; fire.

My skin started to glow and steam. It turned even darker, and then without warning, flames engulfed my skin, raising far above my head, doing a beautiful, blood-thirsty dance.

The snake and the girl, along with other voices that I couldn't place, let out a blood-curdling scream and disappeared, as did my consciousness. Again. Merlin, how many times in a row was this going to happen?

A/N: Only one review? Wow, I'm extremely disappointed! C'mon guys, there's basically TWO chapters left! Give me full support please so we can move on to the next one! We're getting closer to what this whole series is going to be about, and I can't wait to begin! Because really, all throughout this book, nothing of any consequence has happened yet, aside from building friendships and making enemies.

Well, anyways, my thank-you:

Eclipse Sundown: Eh…punching is fun! But only if I get to punch you back! Thanks for your review! Hope you liked this one!

Alrighty, guys, so R&R please!

Nike