The Flaming Pixie's Return

Daisy stood in the tunnel at Appleby, listening to the roar of the crowd outside. One by one, her teammates took the field in front of her as their names were called. She stepped up and waited to hear her name, closing her eyes. She started breathing slowly in and out.

Gradually, everything in her head quieted. All the worry, the fear. She concentrated on just the sounds around her. The cheering of the crowd. The smell of the grass. The feel of her broom in her hand and the breeze against her face. She emptied her head until the only thing there was the anticipation of soaring through the air.

"And finally… Arrows seeker Daisy 'Pixie' Wood!" the announcer shouted. The crowd roared. Daisy's eyes flew open as she smiled and took off at a run, smoothly hopping on her broom and soaring up into the air to take her position across from Hardwick. She relished the feel of the autumn wind on her face, her heart soaring as she looked down at the pitch below.

She took a deep breath and gripped her broom, making eye contact with Hardwick. He sneered at her. Daisy smiled in return.

She knew in that moment, she was going to enjoy this.

"How do you think she'll do today?" Alan asked.

"I think she'll do better," Wills declared. "We had a bit of a chat last night and she seemed to take it all in."

"I don't know… she can't seem to get out of her head lately," Remus said.

"Suppose we'll just have to wait and see," Jamie added. The whistle blew and the balls were released as the chasers battled it out for possession. Kelly nimbly snatched the ball and flew off towards the hoops, Wright and Cunningham sticking close to him as the Falcons' chasers attempted to steal.

"Is that James playing?" Wills asked, leaning forward. "Didn't know he was on first string."

"Oh yea, didn't they promote him recently?" Alan said, looking at Jamie.

"Guess they did. Wonder why the git didn't say anything," he replied. Lucy rolled her eyes as Toby chuckled.

"Probably wanted to leave it a surprise, knowing him," she said.

James flew just under the Arrows chasers. One of the Falcons beaters hit a bludger towards the group, knocking onto Kelly's side and causing him to drop the quaffle, which James caught and made a hard right turn. The Falcons had just set up their formation when out of nowhere, Daisy zipped through, causing them to scatter.

All four men sat up in their chairs, grinning.

"They're doing the new plays again," Alan said. "They've been going back to the old ones with Pix staying out of the play lately." Remus looked at the screen, which now had Nilsson's face filling it. At first he looked confused, but then he smiled and nodded.

"I don't think that was the plan," he said. Nilsson started shouting instructions, causing the Arrows to set up in a completely different formation. Daisy zipped passed Hardwick, whose face went from shocked to downright furious as he took off after her, struggling to keep up.

"I don't know if it's too early to call it, but I think that Pixie just might be back," Jamie said, grinning as he watched Daisy fly in and out of the Falcons' formations anytime they got the ball, frustrating the chasers. At the same time, she seemed to be in an intricate cat and mouse with Hardwick. The Falcons beaters couldn't even keep up with her, leaving Kingfisher and Campbell free to take out the other team.

"Of course she's back," Wills said, as though it were ridiculous that she could even be gone in the first place.

"You're going to have to do better than that if you want to keep up, love!" Daisy shouted as she flew passed Hardwick, relishing his growl of frustration. The match had gone on for about four hours at that point and the Arrows were nearly up so much that even if Hardwick did catch the snitch, they'd still win.

But Daisy wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of catching the snitch.

She felt like she was on fire. From the second she dove through the Falcons chasers that first time – earning a shouted expletive from her cousin James – it was as though her instincts had taken over. She barely thought about what she was doing, just let all her training take over as she enjoyed the match.

Nilsson had called a time out about half way through and just stared at her in awe before telling the team to try out some of the newer plays they had been attempting to practice before Daisy had started going down hill. They all glanced at her nervously – except John, who just grinned – before she shouted they were all being babies and to just do them. This led to a collective grin as they flew off and set up.

Every play had gone according to plan, and every time Daisy ventured a glance towards Nilsson, she could have sworn she saw a glistening of tears in his eyes, he was so proud.

Even the commentators didn't know what to make of it, commenting that it seemed a completely different person must have been playing seeker for the Arrows the past few months, because there was no doubt that Pixie was back.

She had just swept underneath the Falcons' chasers again when she caught a glint of gold over the Arrows' goal. She shot off, expecting Hardwick to be on her tail.

"Not this time, Wood!" she heard him shout as he caught up to her. Daisy grinned wickedly.

"You really shouldn't be so predictable, Hardwick love," she shouted back. Suddenly, she dove down, leaving Hardwick alone. He looked confused and then elated, thinking she had abandoned her quest for the snitch. He didn't see the bludger John shot towards him until it knocked him off his broom. By that time, Daisy had already shot back up and easily gained on the snitch, grabbing it and turning back to head mid-field as the crowd roared.

"Folks, I think we can definitely say that Pixie is back!" one of the commentators shouted. Daisy laughed as her team cheered for her. She looked over and saw John flying towards her. As he passed by, she leapt from her broom, landing in front of him, facing towards him.

"I told you you could do it," he said.

"I know," Daisy said before kissing him rather passionately as they flew through the air causing more shouts and cheers from the crowd.

Alan, Remus and Jamie were busy excitedly going over the game and some of Daisy's best moves with Wills in the player box and didn't catch what was going on down on the field until they heard another roar go up.

"She must be feeling better if she's pulling off those stunts again," Lucy said with a laugh. All four turned to the field and saw Daisy and John fly by on his broom. The small ginger tossed her head back and laughed.

"Good to see those two are back on track," Toby said. Jamie glanced over and looked at Wills, noticing his usual mischievous glint was gone as he looked on, a pained expression on his face. He ventured a look into his mind and saw his team captain was conflicted and seemed to be fighting with himself.

"There's nothing between you, so no reason to feel upset… besides, it probably was John she felt. There's no way she could feel anything like that for you," he thought. Jamie looked away, feeling embarrassed to have betrayed Wills' privacy.

"I have a feeling we're going to have quite the after party tonight," Remus said, grinning. "What do you think, Wills?"

The blonde chaser looked over at the three, suddenly his normal grinning self.

"Oh, I suspect nearly everyone is going to want to talk to Pix tonight. But I call first dibs as her future husband," he said. Everyone laughed, though Jamie could sense a just a hint of sadness in his eyes.

Daisy grinned as she pulled her bag over her shoulder. John reached his hand out to her.

"Ready to go?" he asked. Daisy looked towards the door and then back at her boyfriend.

"Let's go the usual way today," she said, grinning. John's eyes widened.

"You ready to face the press?" he asked. She nodded enthusiastically and skipped out of the locker room.

When she stepped out from the team exit, there was a larger crowd than usual.

"There she is!" someone shouted. Daisy grinned as cameras started flashing. She looked over a saw a group of young girls standing in Arrows jerseys with her number, holding posters and wearing hopeful smiles on their faces. Daisy went straight for them, watching their faces light up.

"That was a brilliant match!" one with dark hair shouted.

"You think so?" Daisy asked as she started signing their posters.

"Yea! I never gave up on you! I knew you'd make a comeback!" another missing her two front teeth shouted.

"Thank you," Daisy replied. She leaned down to them, coming at eye level. "You want to know a secret?" They all nodded eagerly. "Today the reason I played so well… it was because of you guys." They all grinned and a few started bouncing on their feet.

"I'm gonna be a seeker just like you!" the smallest one shouted. She held out a broom that she had been carrying with her. "Will you sign my broom? I think it'll go faster if you do." Daisy chuckled as one of her parents put a hand on her shoulder.

"Liza, I don't think it works that way," her mother said. Daisy laughed and held her hand out.

"I don't think it'll make it go faster, but… I think if you practice a lot and work really hard, it just might," she said as the little girl handed her the broom. Daisy signed it and looked down, noticing she had been writing Pixie Wood on everything. She laughed softly and rolled her eyes, knowing her brothers would give her hell once they found out.

She handed the broom back and posed for a few photos with the girls before slowly starting to make her way down the line, signing things and chatting with as many of her fans as she could. Part of her wanted to cry, she was so happy to see them all there. She felt bad she had been avoiding them.

"Daisy! Daisy! What's your secret to coming back!" a reporter shouted. She straightened up and looked around at all the little girls there.

"My fans. They never stopped believing in me," she said, grinning.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm happy to announce that Pixie is back!" someone shouted. Daisy looked over and saw Remus grinning from where he stood with her other brothers and Wills. She laughed as he looked at Alan and the two of them ran over to her.

"Remus! Alan! No!" she shouted, thinking they were going to tackle her. Instead, they grabbed her and hoisted her up on their shoulders.

"All hail the queen of quidditch!" Remus shouted, earning him a smack on the head from Daisy.

"You should have seen the look on Hardwick's face when he saw you with the snitch," Alan replied.

"Alan, shut it!" Daisy said, looking nervously at the press.

"Still got that rivalry going?" one reporter asked.

"No comment," Daisy said, rolling her eyes. "Come on, you nutters. Let's get home."

The party was in full swing once they arrived back at the flat. Daisy expected that most of the league would show up once they heard about the match.

"Blimey, where did that come from?" James asked as he walked up and smothered his cousin in a hug, his wild hair still slightly wet.

"When did you make first string?" she asked, looking up at him. James grinned wickedly.

"Walker suddenly left for the Scandinavian League last week," he said. "Decided the best way to tell you was to let you find out in the match." Daisy rolled her eyes. "But seriously, what happened? Weathers had us going through all these plays based off how you've been playing the past few matches and you took us all by surprise today. Some of the blokes were thinking you bombed the past month or so on purpose."

Daisy shrugged as John walked up, holding a glass out to her.

"Just… needed a bit of a pep talk," she said smiling at John. She looked over and saw her brothers standing with Wills. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go talk to the triplets." She walked over to the group, smiling as she locked eyes with Remus. Before she could reach them, he stepped up and pulled her aside.

"I think I owe you an apology," he said, looking sheepish.

"Oh, really?" Daisy asked, smirking up at him.

"Look, Pix, this would be a lot easier if you didn't look so smug," he said, frowning slightly. Daisy's face softened as she hugged him.

"I'm sorry too," she said. "I wasn't so nice meself."

"It was mostly my fault, though… I guess I just… with you and Jamie getting so much attention lately, my ego got in the way. But… I know it's not been easy for you with everything. And I should have been helping you, not yelling at you," he said. Daisy took a deep breath and nodded.

"It's not been easy. And I've missed you. I've missed having my big brother on my side," she said softly. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Daisy, I'm always gonna be on your side," he said. "Even if I've been acting a git."

"I'm glad to hear it," she replied.

"Let's try and not fight so much," he said, looking down at her. Daisy just looked up at him, her eyebrows raised. "Right, I know. I promise to take it easier on you." Daisy laughed.

"Woods against the world?" she said. Remus nodded.

"Woods against the world," he replied. He then led her to the group.

"Is all right with the Woods again?" Wills asked, grinning. Daisy nodded. She then walked over and hugged him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Wills eyes widened as he blushed slightly. "What was that for?"

"For the pep talk," she said, grinning.

"You see that? Pixie just kissed me!" Wills shouted.

"Don't go getting any ideas," John said as he walked up , sliding a hand around a laughing Daisy's waist. "We're still together."

"For now, anyway," Wills said, winking and causing Daisy to roll her eyes.

"You're never giving up, are you?" she asked.

"Of course not," Wills retorted, causing the group to start laughing. Daisy looked around. Lila and Jamie were no doubt in the middle of some sort of silent conversation, both of them wearing knowing smiles. Alan was grinning at her and Remus. She looked over and watched Laura walk up and give Remus a kiss on the cheek as she cuddled up to his side. She smiled and leaned into John, looking up at him.

"Everything's as it should be," she said, smiling. He laughed and kissed her forehead.

"I suppose it is," he said softly.

At that moment, a red-faced Dominique ran up to the group, Chris and Molly not far behind.

"Dom! I thought you two were in Paris," Daisy said, looking over at her cousin. Dominique just grinned and attacked her in a hug. "What the blazes is going on?"

Dominique stepped back and just grinned.

"Will you just tell her already," Molly said impatiently. Chris grinned. Dominique looked over at Jamie and then back at Daisy.

"We found him," she said breathlessly.

"In Paris?" Daisy asked, eyes wide.

"No. Well, I mean we found out where he was while we were in Paris. But he's not there," she said.

"Blimey, woman, where is he?" Remus asked. Dominique laughed.

"He's in Scotland! He's been there this whole time!" she said, pulling a piece of parchment out of her pocket and holding it out to Daisy. She took it and silently read over it. She then looked up at her cousin, eyes wide.

"He's here. And he wants to meet with us," she said, looking around the group as a smile broke out on her face.

"We found him."

Aw, poor, confused Wills... I have to admit, while I was working on the last two chapters yesterday, I went back and read through Where There's a Wills... and all the Wills scenes in Surviving Hogwarts and Life & Times. I really do love writing Wills...

I can now say that I am officially finished writing this one. I almost can't believe how quickly it came together, but it's there. All 25 chapters. I even sat down at lunch and did some serious planning and plotting on Book 7. Still haven't figured out a name, but I've got a decent amount worked out. I just need to figure out one - slightly super important - part of the story line. And start thinking about the basic plot for Book 8 so I know what I definitely need to include in Book 7.

Wow, guys, we're starting to get to the end of this ride... I scarce believe it... But at least there's still 8 more chapters of this story and 2 more books...

As always, thanks for reading, following and reviewing!