Chap 4

Dina was agonizing in the shadows. She knew she could not go out there alone, those two would be more than she could take on by herself. But did she really have a choice? She tried, very silently, to back into the shadows so she could send a Patronus to at least three places at the same time.

The first time she tried, silver mist ineffectually whooshed out of her wand with some noise. She froze, listening to see if Snape and Avery had noticed. They hadn't, being more than a little occupied with focusing their aggression on their victim, whoever she was. She always had difficulty with Patronuses. On her next try, three almost formless, flickering silver crows swooped out of her wand.

When the next scream rang out, silenced immediately by Avery, standing guard while Snape tortured the girl, Dina made up her mind. She whispered her Body Bind Curse- it was, after all, her specialty- and Avery thudded to the ground.

Snape whirled around, and before she knew it, there were lights swooshing her way from his direction.

Prewett and Elena shook hands with each other before they kicked off. Dina could hear Toni sighing next to her. "That Prewett really does have a fine head on his shoulders. Doesn't hurt, of course that it's framed by all that magnificent red hair. I think this is going to be a tough one, you know."

The game had begun, though not entirely in earnest. Hofstader was hovering before the hoops, looking relaxed but her eyes not missing a move. The Gryffindors were tossing the Quaffle between themselves, Jen Darbyshire, a particularly tall Gryffindor in sixth year, keeping it mostly in possession. She tossed it to Willa Rickman, who tried to toss it to their third, Penny Williams, but right as she was flying down to catch it-

A Bludger had flown between the two of them, sent on its way by the Ravenclaw Beater, and Chaser Douglas Hitch, working in perfect coordination, had seized the Quaffle, and was speeding towards the hoops on the other end of the pitch, flanked by Holden and Radley, on either side, waiting for him to pass. The formation was very tight, and try as they might, the Gryffindor Beaters couldn't break it. Douglas passed to Radley, and she sped towards the goalposts, and as Dina watched, Prewett tensed up. He looked leonine, his thick hair framing his face as he flew in front of the three hoops, guarding them fiercely as he crouched low and loose on his broom. Radley got close to the hoops, and threw- but she'd been feinting, and passed it to Holden instead, who immediately used the unguarded left hoop to score.

"TEN POINTS TO RAVENCLAW!" Toni was standing next to her on the seats and bellowing, "And what a wonderful bit of play that was, well done, Holden, well done!" Dina giggled; it was unusual to see Toni this excited in public, she rarely even looked unruffled. Now, she seemed to realize that half the players were staring at her bemused, and sat down hastily, smoothing her hair, back to her usual muttering under her breath.

The teams resumed their match, only, it didn't look quite as relaxed as before. The Gryffindor team was now aware that it was up against a team it had severely underestimated, and Potter and Black no longer had their usual supercilious smirks on. Potter's, particularly had slid off his face with a squelch Dina could swear she heard when Holden scored. He was now racing over the pitch, and Prewett was shouting instructions to the rest of the team, the Gryffindors moving in more organized patterns than before, each of them using their more aggressive moves on the Ravenclaw Chasers now. The Quaffle was still in the latter's position, though, and the game got more aggressive as the two brawny Gryffindor Beaters kept swinging their bats at the Bludger, sending it in the direction of the Chasers of the opposing team, but all three of them were fast enough to dodge it while maintaining their tight knit formation. Suddenly, Toni screamed. "LOOK UP, YOU MORONS, LOOK UP!"

All the players followed her finger to where the other drama was unfolding. Ravenclaw Seeker Andy Murray was speeding along, low on his broom, and Sirius was close on his heels, gaining fast. The two competed for a while, almost equally matched, before Sirius crouched lower on his broom and used his legs for extra speed and curved in front of Andy's broom, effectively blocking him before he stretched out his left arm almost nonchalantly, and-

"A HUNDRED AND FIFTY POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR! You idiots, how could you not have seen that coming!" Toni was gesticulating wildly from the stands. Dina thought she saw Sirius turn his broom towards her and a glint of a smirk, before he confirmed her suspicions by elaborately bowing in Toni's direction. He then proceeded to fly down to where the rest of his team had gathered, presumably to get an earful from Prewett for having caught the Snitch so early in the game. Next to her, Dina could hear Toni fuming as she sat down. She turned towards her and put an arm around her shoulder. "It's alright, you know. It wasn't really a match, after all."

"Yes, well, did you see his effing face? He was practically glowing with all the force of his gloating. He knew I thought he wouldn't be up to the job, and he did this deliberately to rile me up. Arrgghhh, I could strangle him."

"Woah, Toni, calm down. Why don't you go to our team and offer them some pointers while you're at it? I thought you didn't like people knowing of your interest in Quidditch."

"You know what? I think I will. If that's what it takes to get one up on that smug bastard and wipe the smirk right off his face. Our team will be mopping the floor with his remains when I'm done with them." With that, she strode off furiously towards Hofstader, leaving Dina to wonder why exactly Sirius Black had got to her quite so much.

James caught up to Sirius as he was strolling back to the Common Room after practice, trailing muddy footprints behind up.

"Hey, mate. Hold up. I need to talk to you."

Sirius stopped and turned, raising one eyebrow at James as he struggled to reach him, already having tripped over a suit of arms in his hurry to reach him. As he fought with his cloak, trying to disentangle it from the chainmail, Sirius looked on, not helping, standing there with his customary smirk. "What is it, James? Why are you in such a hurry? You know I'm always there whenever you need to talk, buddy. Is this something about Evans, now? Or have you found a new redhead to obsess over? Because believe me, that would be a right relief-"

"Shut up. Come help me get off this damn thing." Sirius strode over to him reluctantly and used his wand to sever James' cloak from the chainmail.

"Ok, now, tell me what it is."

"No, I just wanted to ask you for a goddamn reason. Why in the holy hell would you play like that? You know how screwy Fabian gets around this time of the year! He took me right out for recommending you to the team so strongly, saying, what was it, yes 'temperamental idiots like Black have no place on this team, and if you don't buck up, Potter, neither will you!' Do you see? You've put my arse in danger now, and you know how I love this. What made you decide to go after the Snitch right then, while missing a foul by a hair's breadth?"

Sirius ran his hands through his hair and sighed. His normal composure cracked a little; he could never keep it up when he saw James in distress. He put a hand on his shoulder and helped him up. "I'm sorry, Prongs, won't happen again. I'll speak to Fabian about it. It was just that…"

"Just what?"

"Just that Ravenclaw! I don't know why, but the way she sneered at me before the match, it really got to me, you know? It reminded me of- of other things. Other people. And I felt like a little boy, like I had to prove that I was good enough," he broke off and looked away. "Let's get back to the dorm, shall we? I don't quite feel up to dinner tonight. Or you could just ask Moony and Wormtail to get us something from the Hall."

James was standing by now, and in a rare contemplative mood, he accompanied Sirius back to their dorm. He wondered why a Ravenclaw he barely knew had managed to make such an impact on Sirius, and why in the world she had reminded him of his mother.

Once Dina and Toni had finished their dinner, they headed towards their Common Room. Dina had decided to not probe any more with Toni. It was never any use to ask her what the matter was with her when she seemed perturbed, she spoke about things in her own time, and by now Dina had learnt to repress her curiosity for a while; Toni always did eventually tell her what was bothering her. As they walked back in companionable silence after the buzz of the Hall, Dina spoke, a tad hesitantly.

"So, what do you think of the match tomorrow? The team seemed very well prepared to me."

"They are, but you know Slytherin. Their style is always more aggressive than Gryffindor, and not half as obvious. That Captain of theirs, Catherine, she's a right sneaky little one. Looks tiny, perfect build for a Seeker, of course. Keeps her team in place well enough, and remember last term? She got past that rather skilled Seeker from Hufflepuff, what was his name-"

"Brody, I think. Yes, I didn't think she'd be able to best him…"

They walked all the way back to the Common Room discussing the finer points of the practice they'd watched that evening, Dina carefully avoiding too many mentions of Black, and Toni seemed grateful for it. Dina did not really understand Quidditch much; she liked watching the sport, but she wasn't passionate about it the way Toni was, even though she liked talking to Toni about matches. It was a lot of fun to see Toni so excited, and she always learnt a few new things- moves, if not more about Toni, though it was usually the latter. When they reached the Common Room, however, the conversation ground to a halt.

"Lily? What are you doing here? Are you alright? Has something happened?" Toni had rushed to the side of the red haired girl, who looked more than a little flushed. She had clearly been waiting for them for a while; the floor around her sported a rather bright candy wrapper, betraying Lily's tension- she always ate a lot more candy than usual when she was in a tizzy about something.

"Hi, Dina, Toni, I'm sorry for turning up late like this, I know you both must be tired from the first day of school, but I just- just needed to talk to someone, and I didn't want to go to Marl with anything right now, she's been through a lot herself, but I just couldn't not-"

Toni had rushed to the two of them as well. Hastily answering the eagle knocker's question, they ushered Lily into the Common Room. Once they were all sitting in comfortable chairs; or at least, Lily was, Dina as a rule preferred to perch on the floor. Lily was still sniffling, and wiping her nose, she said, "So I tried to contact Petunia again. I wrote to her and told her things about school, and asked her how she was, because she hasn't spoken to me at all since the beginning of term, and when I was at home, she found every excuse to be outside. She's met some unpleasant boys, these big, tough looking bullies, and she keeps hanging out with them. And I was just- just worried about her, so I asked-" she dissolved into sobs again.

There were a few students in the Room who were beginning to look around, so Toni cast a Muffliato charm around them; she knew Lily would clam up in a moment if she realized there were people listening. She didn't like to lose control, and the closest she ever came to doing so was when she had rage fueled outbursts, not when she felt this vulnerable. Dina put a hand on her knee and asked her again. "What happened, Lily? What did you ask her?"

"I- I asked her what she was doing with these bullies, because I'd seen them, I'd seen how they'd treat Sev, just because he was different, and smaller than them. And it wasn't just him, they always pick on boys and girls smaller than them, who come from families that are not as- well, as comfortably off as we are, so these children can never really tell anyone what they do. And I asked Petunia how she could be comfortable with them treating kids this way, and she sent back my letter, shredded, in an envelope, with a note that said, keep out of my business, you- you freak."

Toni held Lily while she sobbed into her shoulder, and looked at Dina. They both knew of Lily's troubled relationship with her sister since she'd first come to school and the four of them had found each other. Lily didn't really like going home very often because even though she missed being close to her sister, Petunia had been treating her very badly since. Dina was sure that there was more to this than just jealousy, but she'd never met Petunia, and neither had Toni- Lily didn't like people visiting her at home because of the tense situation. She was very private that way, and was often embarrassed when her sister came up. Most people were unaware that she had a sister at all. This letter was the last in a long series of efforts Lily had made to reach out to Petunia, but things between them just did not look like they would mend anytime soon.

She still thinks it's her fault, thought Dina. She got up and went to the stairs, silently Summoning some chocolate from her bedstand- she always had a ready supply of it, and in her experience, it never failed to help, if even a little bit.

"Here, Lily. Have some chocolate, you'll feel better." She broke off a large bit and handed it to Lily, then broke off two pieces each for herself and Toni.

Through a mouthful of chocolate, ten minutes later, Toni spoke up. "You know she's only doing it because she wanted to be here, don't you, Lily? Just let it slide off your back; you don't have to keep trying to contact her. Maybe try not talking to her for a change and see how she feels about that."

Lily was looking a little brighter with the chocolate smeared over her hands and face, her nose not as red as it had been when they saw her outside the Tower. "Don't be mean, Toni. I'll talk to her in a while, just can't do it right now. I need something to let the tension out, you know. "

Toni grinned. "Well, I know exactly what do about that. Just give me a minute." She walked over to some seventh years, and whispered furiously with them before returning to them with her grin even wider.

"I swear, if you don't tell me what's going on-"

"Dina, Lily. Follow me." Dina giggled. She knew exactly where Toni was taking them, even though Lily had no idea, and just followed her.

They'd reached what looked like a small broom closet set into the corner of the Common Room. Toni turned to face them with a flourish. "Dina, may I have a drumroll please? Lily Evans, I present to you, one of the greatest marvels of the Ravenclaw Tower. Here you have… the Music Library!"

Lily looked faintly puzzled. All she could see was a broom closet. Dina had joined in now and she walked over to Toni's side. "Walk into my parlour, said the- you know the rest of the spiel, Lily. Just follow us." And the two of them disappeared into the closet. Lily hastened to follow them, and the next minute, she fell back for a second. What had looked like an ordinary broom closet seconds before was now a large spacious room with rows and rows of what looked like-

"Records! We can play music here all night, and dance to it if we like!"

"What on earth is this place? Who came up with this?"

"There was this seventh year when we were in our second year, that's two years ago, who was a fan of this Muggle show called- what was it, Dina?"

"Doctor Who. I like the show too. So basically he got the idea from there- a space that looks small on the outside, but is a lot bigger on the inside. And he worked on the technicalities for a few months before he converted this closet into a music library. And we've all- at least those of us who have access to Muggle records- been adding to the collection ever since. So you'll find a pretty eclectic selection. But I helped catalogue it myself, and the dance music's over there."

Lily grinned widely for the first time that evening. "Let's get on that floor, ladies. We only have all night."

The girls put on some music and started dancing. They only had till the next morning, and then of course, there was the Ravenclaw Slytherin match, and who would want to miss that?