Theodore Nott continued to be annoying, and was often joined by Pansy Parkinson. Crabbe and Goyle also glared at the Gryffindor quintet, but didn't do anything except to sometimes stand behind Nott and crack their knuckles threateningly. Before and after Care of Magical Creatures Nott would make snide comments or outright try to confront Beth and Alex, and during Potions, he would mutter angrily and glare at the Gryffindor quintet, which Professor Snape either ignored or didn't notice. Ron finally cracked after the fifth time this happened, and threw a handful of slugs at him. Nott looked furious and would retaliated, but Draco poked him hard with a potions stirrer, causing him to stumble and knock over his cauldron.
Professor Snape definitely noticed this, and descended on the trio. Fortunately the contents of the cauldron had only landed on the table, so he simply Vanished the mess and told Nott to start over. Snape then rounded on Draco and Ron. After giving a very pointed lecture on the dangers of messing around while brewing potions, pointing out that the half-completed potion could have splashed on Nott and caused some damage, he handed out punishments. "I don't care what instigated this, but I don't ever want to see this happening again. Both of you have detentions. Malfoy, you will be preparing potion ingredients for me on Saturday. Weasley, you will spend Sunday scrubbing the bedpans in the Hospital Wing, without magic."
"But the Quidditch match is on Saturday!" Draco protested.
"I thought you weren't that eager to play in the match, considering the weather we've been having," Professor Snape said silkily. "Even the Slytherin captain, Mr. Flint, has reservations about playing in this weather. In any case, the detention still stands, and you may bring up the matter with Mr. Flint."
Draco said nothing more, but he glared at Theodore Nott before resuming his work. Ron glared at Nott as well, and scowled at the punishment that Professor Snape had handed out, but reflected that it could be worse.
That evening, at Gryffindor's Quidditch practice, Oliver Wood gave the team some unwelcome news. "We're not playing Slytherin!" he told them, looking very angry. "Flint's just been to see me. We're playing Hufflepuff instead."
"Why?" chorused the older members of the team, Ritchie Coote, and Demelza Robins, while Dean asked, "It's because Malfoy has detention on Saturday, isn't it?"
"Yes it is," Oliver replied, looking surprised. "How do you know?"
"Because we were there in Potions class when Malfoy got the detention," Dean said, gesturing to himself, Ron, Beth, and Alex. "Theodore Nott ticked off Ron, who retaliated by throwing some slugs at him. Nott was going to do something back, but Malfoy poked him and caused him to knock over his cauldron. Professor Snape got mad, and after telling Ron and Malfoy for messing around in class and potentially doing damage, gave them detentions."
"My detention is on Sunday, though," Ron said.
Oliver nodded, then said, "I don't think Slytherin has a reserve Seeker, and anyway, it's obvious that they didn't want to play in this weather in the first place. If Malfoy didn't have detention, I bet Flint would have come up with some excuse for Slytherin to not play in the match."
The rest of the team nodded or murmured in agreement as a distant rumble of thunder sounded. Oliver, looking furious again, said bitterly, "We've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff, and their style's quite different. They've got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory-" Angelina, Alicia, and Katie suddenly giggled, cutting him off.
"What?" demanded Oliver, frowning at this lighthearted behavior.
"He's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" said Angelina.
"Strong and silent," said Katie, and they started to giggle again.
Fred and George rolled their eyes. "He's not that silent," said the former. "We've been fairly good friends with him for ages."
"I wouldn't be too fussed about playing Hufflepuff," added George. "The only time Cedric ever beat Alex to the Snitch when they played before was because he had the faster broom. It was at Alex and Beth's eleventh birthday party, by the way."
"And the last two times we played Hufflepuff, Alex got the Snitch in under fifteen minutes both times," said Fred.
"We were playing in completely different conditions!" Oliver shouted, his eyes bulging slightly. "Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker! I was afraid you'd take it like this! We mustn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us! We must win!"
"Oliver, calm down!" said Fred, looking slightly alarmed. "We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. Seriously."
The day before the match, the winds reached howling point and the rain fell harder than ever. It was so dark inside the corridors and classrooms that extra torches and lanterns were lit. The Slytherin team was looking very smug indeed, and even Malfoy said, "It looks like my being in detention tomorrow is a good thing after all." Ron snarled when he heard this, but as Malfoy hadn't directed the comment at anyone in particular and was in fact pointedly ignoring the Gryffindor quintet, Ron couldn't really do much else without looking bad.
Alex had no room in his head to worry about anything except the match tomorrow. Oliver kept hurrying up to him between classes and giving him tips. The third time this happened, he talked so long that Alex suddenly realized he was ten minutes late for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and set off at a run with Oliver shouting after him, "Diggory's got a very fast swerve, Alex, so you might want to try looping him-"
Alex rolled his eyes as he ran, since he already knew about Cedric's playing style and had ideas on how to counter them. Also, it wasn't likely that Cedric would beat him to the Snitch, unless the older boy got his hands on a Firebolt for the match, an unlucky bludger knocked Alex out, or the Snitch flight path took it right in front of Cedric. The first one wasn't likely to happen at all, and as for the other two, Alex was good at dodging bludgers, so he could most likely keep that from happening, while the Snitch had as much chance as flying in front of him as it did Cedric.
Alex skidded to a halt inside the Defense classroom, pulled the door open, and dashed inside. "Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin, I-"
But it wasn't Professor Lupin who looked up at him from the teacher's desk, it was Sirius. Alex realized that the previous night was a full moon, which meant Remus was recovering, and so Sirius must have decided to or been asked by Professor Dumbledore to fill in for the day.
"I'm not Professor Lupin," said Sirius with a grin. "Unless my hair and eyes suddenly turned brown and I developed a craving for chocolate." There were chuckles from the class and Sirius continued, "Or maybe you need your eyes checked and get new glasses, Alex, if you're mistaking me, Sirius Black, as Remus Lupin."
Alex rolled his eyes at the teasing remarks and said, "You know I was expecting to see Professor Lupin, not you Sirius. Or should I say Professor Black?"
"As I told the rest of the class, Sirius will do. Calling me 'Professor' makes me feel old, and 'Mr. Black' was my father. I'm not used to anyone except the Hogwarts teachers calling me 'mister'. Anyway, Alex, now that you're here, go sit down and we can start the lesson."
Alex sat down and Sirius continued. "Now, before Alex interrupted by coming in late, Hermione was saying that you were all due to learn about hinky-punks. While I am very knowledgeable about Defense, Dark creatures are more of Remus's thing, not mine. So instead, I'm going to teach you the Shield Charm. I want everyone to pair up. Whomever's first name comes first in the alphabet of each pair will practice the Shield Charm while their partner does some minor spell like the Tickling Charm or Knockback Jinx. If you're successful, the spell will be repelled. After twenty minutes, the partners are to switch. If you should be hit by whatever spell your partner does, I will undo it, unless you or your partner knows the counterspell."
He demonstrated the Shield Charm, and then the class paired up. Alex was partnered with Hermione, and as his name was first alphabetically, he attempted to do the Shield Charm while she did the Leg-Locker Curse. The first time he said, "Protego!", nothing happened, and as a result, he was hit with the Leg-Locker Curse. His legs immediately stuck together and he was unable to move them. In fact, he lost his balance when this happened, and toppled over. Hermione helped him up and as Sirius was busy undoing the effects of the Tickling Charm on Dean, she did the counterspell on Alex.
After the sixth attempt, Alex was able create a proper shield. The Leg-Locker Curse bounced off it and hit Hermione. She had been expecting this when she saw the shield manifest, so didn't lose her balance and fall. Alex did the countercurse and then the two continued, with Hermione doing the Tickling Charm and the Freezing Charm for variety. Twenty minutes passed rather quickly and then it was Hermione's turn to practice the Shield Charm while Alex did the same spells she had used. She was able to create a shield on her sixth attempt as well.
When class ended, everyone had been able to successfully do the Shield Charm, though a couple of them were a bit weak. Sirius simply told them that with more practice, their shields would become stronger, He didn't assign any homework, saying that he didn't like doing homework back when he was a student, and anyway, as a substitute, he didn't feel that it was his place to do so. He then dismissed the class, wishing Gryffindor luck in the Quidditch match tomorrow and telling them that he intended to be present at it.
Alex woke up so early the next morning that it was still dark outside. At first he thought it was the sounds of the wind and storm outside that had woken him. Then he felt a cold breeze on the back of his neck and he sat bolt upright-Peeves had been floating next to him, blowing hard in his ear.
"What did you do that for?" demanded Alex furiously, looking around for a sweet or other small object that he could do the Waddiwasi spell on. Before he could find anything, Peeves puffed out his cheeks, blew hard, and zoomed backward out of the room, cackling.
Alex fumbled for his alarm clock and looked at it. It was half past four, and the only times he had ever been up this early was on Christmas, he had needed to use the bathroom, or if a storm outside had awakened him. Cursing Peeves, he rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, but it was very difficult, now that he was awake, to ignore the sounds of the thunder rumbling overhead, the pounding of the wind against the castle walls, and the distant creaking of the trees in the Forbidden forest. In a few hours, he would be out on the Quidditch field, battling through that gale. Finally, he gave up any thought of more sleep, got up, dressed, picked up his Nimbus Two Thousand One (he had been using his own broom and having Ron use the team broom during practices, and preferred to use his own in the first place), and walked quietly out of the dormitory.
On the way down the stairs, he almost tripped over Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, that she had bought in Diagon Alley during their trip for school supplies. According to Aunt Sarah, who was fairly knowledgeable about animals, the cat was part-kneazle, like Beth's cat. Alex privately thought being part-kneazle was the only asset Crookshanks had, since he wouldn't get any recommendations based on his looks (though Hermione thought him gorgeous). In fact, Alex wondered if Hermione had bought Crookshanks partly out of pity, since she had been intending to buy an owl at first and the witch at Magical Menagerie said that the cat had been in the store for ages.
Alex shooed Crookshanks out of the way, mentally cursing. It would just have been his luck to actually trip and injure himself. While Madam Pomfrey could heal any non-magical injury in a few seconds, she could very well insist that he not play in the match in order to make sure he fully healed, necessitating Beth to fill in for him. While she was good as Seeker, she wasn't quite as good as him, and Oliver would be even more upset than he already was.
The noise of the storm was even louder in the common room. Alex knew better than to think the watch would be canceled; Quidditch matches weren't called off for trifles like thunderstorms. It would take a typhoon, hurricane, tornado, or if you lived in a desert location like the Sahara or some places in the Middle East, a sandstorm, before a match would be canceled. Nevertheless, he was starting to feel apprehensive. He knew Cedric Diggory fairly well, and the older boy was in fifth-year and a great deal bigger. Seekers were usually light and speedy, but Cedric's weight would be an advantage in this weather because he was less likely to be blown off course.
After a few minutes of sitting in front of the fireplace, Alex returned to the dormitory, but only long enough to grab a book to read until breakfast. He returned to the common room, clutching his copy of Martin the Warrior, which his cousin Cara had given him for his birthday and was the latest book in the Redwall series, his favorite Muggle book series, by Brian Jacques. Reading it was quite soothing for him, and he was soon lost in the story of Martin, a mouse warrior who had helped found Redwall Abbey and after his death, appeared in spirit form to various good animals to give advice or prophecy. While he had appeared in the book Mossflower, which detailed how he helped the goodbeasts of the titular forest overthrow the evil cat Lady Tsarmina and then went on to help build the Abbey, Martin the Warrior focused on the events of his life prior to that. The framing of the book was having visitors, descendants of some animals Martin had interacted with, telling the current Redwallers the story of the warrior.
Since Alex was a relatively quick reader, he had completely re-read the book by eight o'clock. At that point, he put the book back in his trunk, went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash up, and then went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. A large bowl of porridge finished the soothing that the book had started, and by the time he grabbed some toast and butter, the rest of the team had turned up.
"It's going to be a tough one," said Wood, who wasn't eating anything.
"Stop worrying, Oliver," said Alicia soothingly, "we don't mind a bit of rain."
"And you need to eat something, or you could pass out from lack of food," added Angelina. "Then Ron would have to take your place in the match, and I don't think we'd want his first match to take place in this weather."
Ron paled at the thought. Not only did the weather worry him, but he knew he also got attacks of nerves, causing him to do badly at being Keeper, and it would be just his luck to have one if he were to play in today's match.
Oliver sighed and acknowledging that Angelina was right, he picked up a piece of toast and forced most of it down. After everyone on the team had eaten, they got up and went outside to the changing rooms.
It was considerably more than 'a bit of rain'. Such was the popularity of Quidditch that the whole school (except for Draco, who had detention, and Snape, who was supervising it) turned out to watch the match as usual, but they ran down the lawns toward the Quidditch field, heads bowed against the ferocious wind, umbrellas being whipped out of their hands. Just before he entered the locker room, Alex saw Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle, laughing and pointing at him from under an enormous umbrella on their way to the stadium. He then saw Sirius walk up behind them and give him a thumbs-up, so he chose to ignore the Slytherin trio and instead smiled and waved at Sirius.
The team changed into their scarlet robes and waited for Oliver's usual pre-match pep talk, but it didn't come. He tried to speak several times, made an odd gulping noise, then shook his head hopelessly and beckoned them to follow him.
The wind was so strong that they staggered sideways as they walked out onto the field. If the crowd was cheering, they couldn't hear it over the fresh rolls of thunder. Rain was splattering over Alex's glasses. How in Merlin's name was he going to see the Snitch in this?
The Hufflepuffs were approaching from the opposite side of the field, wearing canary-yellow robes. The Captains walked up to each other and shook hands; Cedric smiled at Oliver but Oliver now looked as though he had lockjaw and merely nodded. Alex saw Madam Hooch's mouth form the word, "Mount your brooms." He pulled his right foot out of the mud with a squelch and swung it over his Nimbus Two Thousand One. Madam Hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a blast that sounded shrill and distant-they were off.
Alex rose fast, but his Nimbus was swerving slightly with the wind. He held it as steady as he could and turned, squinting into the rain. Within five minutes, he was soaked to his skin and frozen, hardly able to see his teammates, let alone the tiny Snitch. Every time he tried to wipe his glasses, the lenses got covered with rain again within a couple of seconds. He flew backward and forward across the field past blurred red and yellow shapes, with no idea of what was happening in the rest of the game. He couldn't hear the commentary over the wind. The crowd was hidden beneath a sea of cloaks and battered umbrellas. Twice Alex came very close to being unseated by a Bludger; his vision was so clouded by the rain on his glasses he hadn't seen them coming.
He lost track of time. It was getting harder and harder to hold his broom straight. The sky was getting darker, as though night had decided to come early. Twice Alex nearly hit another player, without knowing whether it was a teammate or opponent; everyone was now so wet and the rain so thick, he could hardly tell them apart. He, or a part of him, at any rate, began wishing that Beth was playing the match instead of him. While she was just as small as him, she at least didn't have to wear glasses and would be able to see as clearly as the rain and wind allowed.
With the first flash of lightning came the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle; Alex could just make out the outline of Oliver through the thick rain, gesturing him to the ground. The whole team splashed down into the mud. "I called for time-out!" Oliver roared at his team. "Come on, under here-"
They huddled at the edge of the field under a large umbrella; Alex took off his glasses and wiped them hurriedly on his robes. "What's the score?"
"We're fifty points up," said Oliver, "but unless we get the Snitch soon, we'll be playing into the night,"
"I've got no chance with these on," Alex said exasperatedly, waving his glasses. "I wish there was some way they could repel the rain."
At that very moment, Hermione appeared at his shoulder; she was holding her cloak over her head and was, inexplicably, beaming. "Beth said something about the rain on your glasses interfering with your eyesight, and that gave me an idea, Alex. Give me your glasses, quick!"
He handed them to her, and as the team watched in amazement, Hermione tapped them with her wand and said, "Impervius!"
"There!" she said, handing them back to Alex. "They'll repel water!"
Oliver looked as though he could have kissed her. "Brilliant!" he called hoarsely after her as she disappeared into the crow. "Okay team, let's go for it!"
Hermione's spell had done the trick. Alex was still numb and cold, still wetter than he'd ever been in his life, but he could see. Full of fresh determination, he urged his broom through the turbulent air, staring in every direction for the Snitch, avoiding a Bludger, ducking beneath Cedric, who was streaking in the other direction...
There was another clap of thunder, followed immediately bu forked lightning. This was getting more and more dangerous. Alex needed to get the Snitch quickly. He turned, intending to head back toward the middle of the field, but at that moment, another flash of lightning illuminated the stands. To his surprise, he saw his parents, plus Grandmum Lise and Granddad Eli sitting next to Sirius in one of the top rows. While they (along with Granny Ilsa and Granddad Vladek) had shown up for the Quidditch final between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw the previous school year, he certainly hadn't expected to see them at his first match of the school year. He figured they must have wanted to surprise him again, since he hadn't known that they were coming to the final, though in that case, they had surprised him at breakfast.
Alex quickly recovered from his surprise however, and was going to go on his intended way when he heard Oliver's anguished yell from the Gryffindor goalposts. "Alex! Alex, behind you!"
Alex looked wildly around. Cedric was pelting up the field, and a tiny speck of gold was shimmering in the rain-filled air between them-
With a jolt of panic, Alex threw himself flat to the broom-handle and zoomed toward the Snitch. "Come on!" he growled at his Nimbus as the rain whipped his face. "Faster!"
And then a horribly familiar wave of cold swept over him, inside him just as he became aware of something moving on the field below... Before he had time to think, Alex had taken his eyes off the Snitch and looked down.
At least a hundred dementors, their hidden faces pointing up at him, were standing beneath him. It was as though freezing water were rising in his chest, cutting at his insides. And then he heard it again... the voice of his biological mother, Lily Evans Potter, screaming and pleading.
"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"
"Stand aside, you silly girl...stand aside, now..."
"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead-"
Numbing, swirling white mist was filling Alex's brain...While he knew this wasn't actually happening at the moment and that it was just a buried memory that the dementors brought forth, another part of him ignored that and was wondering why he was flying instead of helping the woman.
He was falling, falling through the icy mist. "Not Harry! Please...have mercy...have mercy..." A shrill voice was laughing, the woman was screaming, and Alex knew no more.
When he came to, he heard voices whispering, one of them sounding like Alicia saying something about how his glasses didn't even break. Alex didn't have a clue where he was, or he'd got there, or what he had been doing before he got there. All he knew was that every inch of him was aching as though it had been beaten.
"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life."
Alex's eyes snapped open. He was lying in the Hospital Wing. The Gryffindor Quidditch team, including the reserves, his cousins, friends, parents, paternal grandparents, and Sirius were all gathered around his bed or sitting on the nearby beds. The team, minus the reserves, were spattered with mud from head to toe, while everyone else except Grandmum Lise looked as though they just climbed out of a swimming pool. She was completely dry and was taking a bottle of some sort of potion out of her Healer's Bag.
"Alex!" said Fred, who looked extremely white underneath the mud. "How're you feeling?"
It was as though Alex's memory was on fast forward. The lightning- the Snitch - and the dementors... Before he could say anything, however, Grandmum Lise bustled over to his side. "Drink this," she ordered, helping him sit up and holding a cup to his lips. He drank the contents, recognizing it as a healing potion and wincing at the taste. When he finished, she gave him some water to take out the taste, followed by a bar of chocolate to counter the effects of the dementors. "Eat that, Alex, and try not to say anything. We'll explain what happened."
"You fell off, Alex," said Beth, looking pale.
"It must've been - what- fifty feet?" said Fred.
"We were afraid you'd died," said Ron, shaking. "If your parents hadn't used magic to slow your fall, you might have."
"But the match," said Alex. "What happened? Are we doing a replay?"
"Alexander Jacob Romanov!" exclaimed Ana, her expression of great worry and concern turning to looking aghast. "You almost died, and all you can worry about at the moment is what happened with the match?"
"No Quidditch match is ever more important than your life, Alexander," added Stephan, looking grave and solemn. "If the dementors appearing on the pitch hadn't been merely a fluke, we would ask you to quit the team."
Alex looked horrified. "I'm not giving up Quidditch! I might not have plans to play professionally, but I would still play for fun. Anyway, I know my life is more important, but can't I show some concern over what happened with the match?"
"Yes, you can," said Granddad Eli. "Ana, Stephan, calm down. After life-threatening incidents, people have been known to focus on something less serious so they won't be overwhelmed with just happened to them. Alex's reaction is perfectly normal. Would anyone like to answer his question?"
Since the adults had been too busy with Alex and the dementors to pay attention to the end of the match, it was up to the students to answer. However, none of them said anything, just looking at each other or their feet. The horrible truth sunk into Alex like a stone.
"We didn't - lose?"
"Cedric got the Snitch," said Cara finally, not looking happy at all, despite the fact that it was her team that had won the match. "It was just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. You know how he is. When he beat you to the Snitch at your birthday party, he didn't gloat or anything, but said that you would have won if you had the same broom as him or better. He was pretty much the same today. Wanted a rematch and everything. But we won fair and square...even your Captain, Oliver Wood, admits it."
"Where is Oliver?" asked Alex, suddenly realizing that he wasn't there.
"Still in the showers," said Fred. "We think he's trying to down himself."
Alex put his face to his knees, his hands gripping his hair. "That is enough, Alexander," snapped Grandmum Lise. "No Quidditch match is ever worth your life, and Oliver Wood ought to know that. And it's not as if you haven't been beaten to the Snitch before."
"But those were fun, informal matches!" protested Alex, looking up indignantly. "Not matches that will help determine whether Gryffindor wins the Quidditch Cup or not!"
"It's all right, Alex," said George. "Nobody can get the Snitch all the time. There had to be one time you didn't get it in a school match."
"And look on the bright side, at least we didn't lose to Slytherin," said Neville. "Think of how insufferable the Slytherins, except Ivan, Jonas and his friends, and maybe Daphne and Tracey, would be if that happened."
"True," muttered Alex, and he watched the rest of the team talk about point margins and how the other teams would have to do. After a few minutes, Grandmum Lise suggested that they leave and let Alex rest in peace. They did so, with the three Chasers telling him not to beat himself over it, Dean, Ritchie, and Demelza telling him to get well soon and not to keep brooding, and Fred and George saying that he was still the best Seeker they ever had.
After they left, Granddad Eli and Ana did quick Cleaning and Drying Charms on everyone still in the room. Vera spoke first. "Professor Dumbledore was very angry. I don't think any of us have ever seen him like that before. Aunt Ana and Uncle Stephan ran down to the field and magically slowed your fall, while Dumbledore and Sirius dealt with the dementors. They conjured their Patronuses and the dementors left the field right away. Dumbledore was furious that they'd come onto the grounds. We heard him-"
Ivan was next. "Our grandparents were right behind your parents. Granddad Eli conjured a stretcher and Grandmum Lise Levitated you on it. She did a diagnostic spell on you to see how you were, and then they and your parents walked up to school with you floating in it. Since nobody else saw the results of the diagnostic spell, everyone thought you might have..."
His voice faded, but Alex hardly noticed. He was thinking about what the dementors had done to him...about his mother's screaming voice. He looked up and saw everyone else in the room looking at him so anxiously that he quickly cast around for something matter-of-fact to say. "Did someone get my Nimbus?"
There was an exchange of looks, then Jonas said, in a tiny voice, "Er, when you fell off, it got blown away, Alex."
"And?"
"Well, you remember the joke you made to Sirius about giving him an excuse to buy you a Firebolt?" asked Beth. "It sort of happened."
Alex frowned in confusion, then remembered that day in Diagon Alley when he jokingly said he might purposely crash into the Whomping Willow at a Quidditch practice just so Sirius would have the excuse to buy him a Firebolt. "Oh no, my broom didn't hit the Whomping Willow, did it?" he asked.
There were nods around the room. "And?" he continued, dreading the answer.
"And it looks like I'll be buying you a Firebolt for Christmas after all, Alex," answered Sirius solemnly, for once looking completely serious, no pun intended. "I'm really sorry. Not about the getting you a Firebolt, but about what happened to your Nimbus."
David said, in the same tiny voice as Jonas, "Professor Flitwick brought it back just before you came around. I'm really, really sorry that this happened." Slowly, he reached down for a bag at his feet, turned it upside down, and tipped a dozen bits of splintered wood and twig onto the bed, the only remains of Alex's faithful, finally beaten broomstick.