Chapter 3-5 POV Cas
There's a charge in the air, but not the good kind. It's like tension. I'm afraid to bump into anyone, thinking there'll be a shock. That's not working out, and I'm getting pushed and poked and prodded left and right. I'm trying to climb up the stadium- trying to get to Lee in his commentator's box. I promised I'd sit with him- don't really have anyone else today. Slytherin is playing Gryffindor in Quidditch, so Fred, Jo, and George are all gone. I asked Ruby if she wanted to sit together, but she turned me down flat out. Said as much as she'd like to be with me, she owed it to her House to sit with them. As shocked as I was, in hindsight I can't really blame her. Well- of course I can, and I do, and I'll do something about it, but the point is: it isn't entirely her fault.
There's this thing going on between the Houses this year. It all started after sorting, and me and some others think it's because of Harry Potter. There's always been House loyalty, but it's gone up a few notches. People between Houses aren't hanging out anymore. Roo totally broke off our friendship, and I'm not seeing as much of Jo and George anymore. It's a real shame too- I was just started to not completely hate George.
I keep trying to push my way through the crowd, and I curse my unfortunate height impediment. I'm relatively short, not exactly well built, and even my voice, which can be intimidating when I try, isn't loud enough to be heard over the chatter and shouting of the masses. I'm going as fast as I can when someone bumps into me from the side and I nearly go down. Luckily someone catches me by the arm- I look up and nearly thank Jo, who usually is in charge of keeping my clumsiness in check, but it's a different face that meets my gaze.
She's tall, long wavy hair that's got a golden look to it in the sunlight, and a warm smile. I get my balance again and thank her. I see her yellow scarf and realize she's Hufflepuff like Roo.
"Cas?" I hear my name from a few rows up, and in an instant Lee is hopping down by my side.
"Charlie! Well aren't you looking spectacular today. Good reflexes- Cas is harder to catch than a snitch, and twice as destructive as a bludger," Lee says to the girl. My face flushes as he takes my hand and guides me up to the commentator's box and sits me down.
"Who was that?" I ask him. He smiles and shakes his head laughing, a if I made a joke.
"Jealous of the attention I gave her, Cas? Don't worry, you're my best girl outside of Gryffindor." I roll my eyes and he laughs again.
"It was Charlie- Charlotte. She's a new addition to the Hufflepuff Quidditch team- chaser. Very good, I hear. Nice girl. Nice ass," he smirks, prompting me to hit him. Then he jumps up and starts shouting into his mic- the players are taking the pitch. Gryffindor is debuting their new Seeker- Harry Potter. Jo was pissed about that, made it very clear to me and anyone else dumb enough to say they'll listen. I'm not sure I see her point- I mean, I get that he's a first year and all, but if he's as good as they say, why shouldn't he be on the team?
I don't have the opportunity to ask Lee, because the match is starting. He's shouting out names and positions and giving a general play by play of what's happening. I try my best to follow- I lock in on Fred's blur of orange and green and follow it around. He's playing heavy on protecting the Slytherin chasers, but the other beater is a little more aggressive- trying to mess up the Gryffindor's offensive plays. Our seeker is looking good I guess; I never really figured out how to recognize when a seeker is doing their job right. All I can say is that our seeker looks better than Potter- the kids just kinda hovering above the fray looking confused. He starts moving around a bit- saw the snitch, maybe?- but nothing is really coming of it. Slytherin is winning so far, racking up a fair amount of points pretty quickly.
So the match is regular for awhile. Lee screaming into the mic with his usual excitement, McGonigal chastising him once in awhile to no avail. Fred and Jo and George all looking good out there. But then something happens- there's kind of a quiet that sets in, everyone can feel it, something's wrong. I hear whispers at first, and start trying to look around and find out what's wrong, then the shouting begins: everyone's calling Harry's name. I look around frantically and finally see him- he's going berserk. He has no control over his broom, it's like the thing is trying to throw him. Lee picks up on it and starts shouting, bringing Harry to the attention of Jo and George.
I'm obviously too far away to hear them, but I can see they're communicating. They leave what they were doing before and go to Harry's aide. There's not much they can do but hover around him and prepare to catch him if he gets thrown. Everyone's eyes are glued on Harry until I feel a shove from next to me- someone jumped back into me from their seat. I try to look around them, but I smell it before I see it- smoke.
Snape is standing up from his seat stomping on the corner of his robes, which caught on fire. People are panicking around him, between Harry's broom going crazy and random fires popping up, no one is sure what's going on. A bunch of other teachers are jumping up, probably going to cast a spell to help him or something, but it was a small fire and Snape gets it out on his own, only to sit down as composed as ever, although his face gives away some annoyance. He returns his attention promptly to the match. I was sort of surprised- he never struck me as a Quidditch fan. I keep looking over at him when I see it- a little movement from beneath the stands right under us. There's someone down there. A flash of brown- a brunette. Brunette, a fire, magic. I think I know what's going on, and I'm furious.
I'm about to get up and go when I realize the match is back to normal, but with a lot more tension. At some point while I was distracted by the fire, Harry regained control of his broom. He's now whipping around, obviously he has a plan or sees the snitch or something. Our seeker is right on his tail, and everyone's shouting. They're neck and neck, and I see our seeker shoving Harry. I know basically absolutely nothing about quidditch- but even I can tell it might be more than a little illegal. Maybe not though, Quidditch is a rough sport. I stop thinking about it when I see our seeker falling back.
Harry gets an edge, but he's getting pretty low to the ground. I see him reaching, the snitch just centimeters away, but he can't grab it. Everyone in front of me is standing up and I get on my tip toes to see, just as Harry does something so incredibly stupid I wouldn't even have expected it from Jo or George. The kid gets on his feet- standing on his broom while he rides it closer to the snitch. That idiot! But after a second without him falling, everyone is screaming with excitement or holding their breath. Maybe he can do it.
There's a collective gasp when the twiggy little Seeker loses his footing and goes flying forward, rolling for a meter or two along the ground. It's a miracle he flew as low as he was, or he'd have probably broken his next. He's just sitting there, and everyone but Lee is quiet. Lee is narrating the whole thing with a little too much enthusiasm, and if I weren't so focussed on Harry I'd most likely hit him. But Harry gets up and I think he's okay- but no, he's clutching his stomach. He's going to be sick, as Lee puts it over the microphone. I'm leaning forward as far as I can to see, and then Harry makes this heaving motion and I turn away and shut my eyes.
There's screaming all around me. I open my eyes expecting the worst- a blood bath or Harry dead or something, but no- he's standing there upright. His hand is lifted, and I see the faint shimmer of the snitch in his hand. How?!
Lee is ballistic. Screaming and shouting Harry's and Gryffindor's praises. I'm floored. The kid did it- outdid anything I'd ever seen before. I hate Quidditch, but even I have this rush of excitement. Lee announces the final score, and it turns out that by catching the snitch, Gryffindor won.
"What! What? We were miles ahead, Lee- you did the math wrong!" I shout at him. He picks me up in a hug, puts me back down and pats my head.
"Oh, you a sore loser, Cas? Thought you didn't care about Quidditch," he mocks, giddy with excitement.
"I- I don't! It's a stupid sport- just-just- ugh!" I groan, not knowing what else to do. Lee just laughs again and starts shouting into the mic. The Gryffindor side of the stadium is going wild. My Housemates aren't so enthusiastic. I'm just plain frustrated, and I know exactly how to deal with it, given my friends aren't around to stop me.
Everyone is exiting the stadium, and I make my way to where the Gryffindors are. It takes me a while, but then I see it- that crazy brown frizzball sticking out of the crowd. The Granger girl. I shove my way to get behind her, and as soon as we pass a little entrance to a garden, I grab her by the robes and pull her back into it. I push her against a wall and she makes a little shriek, but the noise is lost among the celebrations passing by us through the grounds.
"I know what you did, you little rat," I growl. She looks up at me with wide, frightened eyes.
"I-I-" she stutters, but I'm not in the mood to hear her side of the story.
"'Improper and violent use of magic' my ass," I spit at her, "you lit Professor Snape on fire today. Thought you could get away with it. I'm no snitch- I deal with matters myself. You made me a promise, Granger, and you broke it- now you're gonna pay," I threaten, pulling out my wand. She goes to reach for hers, but I'm faster. I disarm her, and she drops herself to the ground, back against the wall. I see tears in her eyes.
I could do it- do anything. Give her what she deserves for crossing me. My wand is raised, and I'm aware of the lack of anyone trying to stop me. No Fred or Jo yelling or grabbing me. I could really do it. The wand is so heavy in my hand, the anger boiling just under the surface of my skin. But my arm drops to my side, wand lowered.
"Scared, aren't you? Good. Next time, I won't stop. Now get up," I tell her, offering my arm. I pull her up.
"Why'd you do it?" I ask her. She looks up at me quite seriously.
"For Harry- he didn't just lose control of his broom. Snape did it. I stopped him."
"You're wrong," I tell her gravely, "Snape would never do that."
"I did what I thought was right." I pause, then give her a little nod and a nudge out the door so she can run and catch up with her friends. I take a second to just breathe. I refuse to believe Snape was involved, but when I think about it, it's difficult. Harry's supposed to be a brilliant flyer, and his losing control was weird. Suspicious. And then he got control again right after Granger set Snape on fire. It's plausible...but no. He wouldn't do that.
I tuck my wand away and turn to exist the garden. I turn out to find the crowd when I hear a voice from behind me.
"What the hell was that?" Lee whispers. I whip around and see him just staring at me. I feel myself trying to speak, but I can't get any words out. My face is flushing again and my hand twitches for my wand. I don't know what to do- how to fix this.
"Cas?" He asks me. He doesn't sound angry...I don't thinks I at least. I can't get a read on him.
"Lee..." Is all I can get out. He takes a few steps closer, but I step back. I contemplate running, but that won't solve anything. I lost Roo, is Lee gonna leave me now? Hate me? He can't. He just can't.
"Lee, please..." He puts a hand up.
"Dammit, Cas," he says slowly and softly, taking another step towards me. I don't back away this time.
"I- I-" I sound like Hermione now. Say something, you idiot!
"She-" I begin.
"No, Cas. It's...it's..." It's over, I know it. I feel everything building up inside me- anxiety, frustration, fear. I wasn't even that close with Lee, but I can't stand to think he'll hate me now.
"It's okay, Cas. It's okay." I look up at him, shocked.
"It is?"
"Yeah, Cas. You're not a bad person- that's not you. You had a reason. Tell me you had a reason, when you're ready. Okay?" I nod quietly. It shouldn't be okay. Even I know what I just did wasn't okay. Fred and George and Jo would have stopped me. But Lee says it's okay. He likes me in spite of...this. It's okay.
I don't explain myself yet. There'll be time for that. We walk in silence back to the castle, side by side. I decided not to tell any of the other three what happened, but I don't dare ask Lee not to. I'm not gonna ask anything of him. He said it's okay. I'd rather die than do anything to risk losing that. I'm ashamed...but it's more than that. I'm- I feel exhilarated. For once I had the power. Me. And Lee says that to okay, it's good. I like this feeling.