The Quidditch Final
(Book: B3, 301-302 no one can remember a more charged pre-match atmosphere. Things are so bad a Gryffindor 4th year & Slytherin 6th year end up in the Hospital Wing w/leeks growing from their ears. Wood has the whole of Gryffindor House protecting Siria from any attempt the Slytherins may make. On the night before the match, no one can focus and everyone is trying to relax. Hermione & Ron try to convince Siria that she'll be fine)
It came as a relief when Wood suddenly stood up and yelled "Team! Bed!" (B3, 302). Wood had a small army of Gryffindor seventh, sixth, and fifth years escort Siria down to the Hospital Wing. Snuffles was already waiting for her and Madam Pomfrey had the potion for Dreamless Sleep ready as well. "You're going to do great!" Lee Jordan told her. He patted Siria's shoulder. "See you in the morning."
After a deep, calming breath, Siria chugged down the potion. She, Madam Pomfrey, and Snuffles were the only ones in the Hospital Wing that night. It didn't feel eerie. It felt calming. The bit of moonlight that crept in felt like the chandelier from her room. Her eyes fluttered to a close and Siria fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Hermione and Ron were with the battalion of fellow Gryffindors that came to get Siria in the morning. She felt as bright eyed as Astoria Greengrass usually appeared.
(Book: B3, 304-306 The Gryffindor team enters the Great Hall to a roar of applause. They have breakfast & go down to the field early. Flint has changed out some players for size, rather than skill. Madam Hooch has them kick off)
Siria rocketed above the rest of the field. She watched Angelina score their penalty shot for Flint and Malfoy's fake dementor stunt. Malfoy hovered beside her, which made watching him easier. They needed to be at least forty points before she caught the Snitch or Gryffindor would win the match, but lose the Cup.
"Thanks to your little stunt, I've been more popular than ever," Malfoy sneered as they circled the field. She wanted to turn and circle the other way, but needed to block him if he saw the Snitch. "Everyone's hoping to get the one they think you rejected," his voice was full of contempt.
"I'd have thought you'd be happy— Mr. Popular." Siria nodded at the sound of thirty to zero, Gryffindor's lead.
"Who'd want to be popular because of you?" He clicked his tongue. Siria saw the Snitch glittering by the crowd of Slytherin students. She dove, as if she'd spotted it in the middle of the field. Malfoy followed on her tail.
(Book: B3, 308- 309 Siria is nearly hit by a Bludger from Slytherin Beater, Derrick)
She dipped into a deeper dive, missing the second Bludger, sent at her by Bole. They were closing in on her. Siria jerked her broom and flipped herself over to change direction a moment before they closed on her. She swerved herself back up and caught the sight of the two colliding.
Over the magical megaphone, Lee Jordan told the Slytherin Beaters "Too bad, boys! You'll need to get up earlier than that to beat a Firebolt! (B3, 309). She allowed herself a quick smirk and glance to the crowd. In the stands, beside Hermione and Ron were Hagrid and Snuffles. Though she knew he may not see it, Siria waved. Several hands in the stands waved back to her.
Malfoy had taken up flying in small circles around center field. Siria flew up just below him, which made him drop to her height. "Not that I care," Malfoy prefaced, "but why'd you do it?"
"What?" Siria asked as she continued to scan the field.
"Why'd you say that?" He asked. She almost asked "what" again until she realized there was really only one thing he would ask about when no one else could hear. Siria sighed and rolled her eyes. If he didn't care, what did it matter?
"You're at your best when you're strutting around the school like you own it. I'd rather have you be an obnoxious prat than pushed into me trying to keep your head down or pulling petty pranks, like the dementor stunt." She at least hoped that Malfoy wouldn't have tried a stunt like that, if people hadn't been teasing him for saving her. "I thought you were more clever than that."
(Book: B3, 309 it's the dirtiest game of Quidditch she's ever seen. The Slytherin Beaters both attack Wood and there are penalties for it.)
Lee Jordan's voice carried the score of sixty to ten. She could stand to be serious now. Even if Slytherin pulled into the lead, if she caught the Snitch, Gryffindor would have the Quidditch Cup for the first time in seven years. It felt as if all the eyes in the crowd were watching the circling Seekers. She tilted her head up, took her usual deep, swelling breath and felt the confidence and focus fill her.
Her almond, green eyes opened onto the clear, blue sky and Siria saw the glittering, golden orb some feet above them. She yanked the Firebolt's handle and put on a huge burst of speed (B3, 310). The wind was roaring in her ears and she stretched out her hand (B3, 310). Malfoy was on her tail, but not close enough to reach. Siria threw her arm out and swept the Snitch from the air.
(Book: B3, 312-313 They've won the match, won the cup, Wood is practically blinded by his tears, and Siria feels she may have been able to produce the world's best Patronus)
All of Gryffindor House seemed to crowd the common room that night in a party that Percy could not silence. Colin, Fred, and George had gotten a small feast from the kitchens. There was a light smoke that hung around the celebration from all of the Filibuster Fireworks set off. People patted the team members so often that some of them developed a stinging in their shoulders. They continued to eat, laugh, and light fireworks until two in the morning, when Professor McGonagall came to silence them herself.
Morning came all too early after sleep for Siria. Fay pulled the comforter off the bed, with Siria tangled inside it. She thudded to the floor and pulled the comforter over her head. "We've got the study group— Siria," Hermione called. Siria let out a groan in reply. Lavender whacked Siria with a pillow.
"Don't make me read your palm!" Lavender sang at her.
"Come on, Siria" Parvati called while she tugged on the comforter.
"We let you sleep in, but we'll drag you down the stairs like this." said Fay. Though she didn't feel like she had slept in at all, Siria knew Fay would drag her down the stairs. She yanked the comforter from Parvati and Fay, but headed to breakfast with them.
Travers and Warrington were back with the study group and looked after Colin, Astoria, and Astoria's friends. Astoria rushed to pull Siria to them, while the other girls were siphoned off by other friends or, in Hermione's case, people desperate for her help. Colin and Astoria showed Siria their slippers, which had been Transfigured from rabbits. Siria moved them to turning birds into goblets. She had to smile at them because the two were so animated and excited.
No sooner had she finished setting them up, Travers and Warrington sat her down to make sure her potions work was completed. Warrington had kept his old notes and passed them onto Siria. They had every instruction Snape had written on the board from "stir the cauldron three and a half times clockwise then half a stir counterclockwise" to the recommended size she should cut her roots.
"See you, kiddo!" Travers told Siria and ruffled her already untidy hair. Siria could only wave and smile meekly at them as they left. Daphne Greengrass swept into the seat beside Siria. She said nothing, kept her gaze away, but moved her chair closer. "Yes?" Siria asked cautiously.
"I know you like Travers." Daphne told her as flatly as commenting that the weather was fair. An uncontrollable, nervous smile ran across Siria's face.
"That's a good one," she replied, stiffly. Daphne sighed.
"I'm not going to out you, Potter." said Daphne.
Siria scratched the back of her neck and gave a quick glance around the room. Ron's back was to her, Hermione was drowning in people, and Astoria and Colin were busy trying to coax their birds off a shelf. Luna Lovegood was talking with Ginny and everyone else seemed just as evenly distracted. She would have been surprised if anyone even noticed that Daphne had walked across the room to sit beside her.
"So," Siria clicked her tongue and looked to her left, away from Daphne, "if I did like her, and you aren't going to out me, what are you going to do?"
"I just want you to know you aren't alone." Daphne looked to her own right.
"Oh." Siria nodded. "Cool," she continued to nod "cool." Siria cleared her throat and shifted a little. She hunched in her chair and stared at her hands. "Could I ask what gave me away?" She felt the blush pour into her cheeks.
"Would you like everything or just the most obvious?" Daphne asked in the same flat tone. Siria exhaled a quiet groan, as if wincing from soreness. "Very well," Daphne gave a small smile. "You go from being your occasionally awkward, usually a bit charming self to being quiet and painfully awkward. You scratch the back of your neck or your ear. You stare at her from across the Great Hall and blush like an idiot. Also, you write with your left hand."
Siria dropped the pen in her left hand and reflexively held her right elbow. "My arm got broken, so I just do it sometimes." She hadn't even noticed that she still used her left hand. Daphne looked from her right to Siria's arm. "Muggles don't have magic, so it got put in a cast." Siria explained. "It was stuck broken until it healed on its own."
"Can they do that?" Daphne asked.
"Yeah. It took about six months before I had it all healed, though." She sighed. Even once the cast was off, she had kept using her left arm until Marge fed Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia a story about how left handed people only happened when one twin ate the other in the womb. Marge was full of ways to twist anything Siria did into something that contributed to how "rotten" Siria was on the inside.
"That's unfortunate." Daphne told her in a way of being empathetic. She raised her hand to pat Siria's arm, but pulled back. "It looks fine now."
"Yeah." Siria smiled at her. "Wait!" she looked to Daphne, "you're not going to tell anyone, right?"
"Yes." Daphne sighed with a smile.
"Not about the Travers thing, but the Malfoy thing— 'cause it really meant a lot to Astoria that I confessed to him." said Siria.
"I know it did— both your secrets are safe with me. If you tell anyone I'm gay," Daphne slid a finger across her neck "we'll see how well you absorbed Warrington's notes on antidotes." A small, slightly repressed groan escaped Siria's throat.
Finals drew ever closer. Hermione seemed to have glued the "Sorry" note to Siria's trunk. She also seemed to be behind Ron and Siria then gone more often than before. Her bag was always falling apart at the seams, but Professor Lupin patched it up each Defense Against the Dark Arts class. While Hermione seemed to be completing all her assignments and getting a fair amount of sleep, she also seemed to get closer to a break down the closer finals approached. Her hair was steadily growing to almost as untidy as Siria's and she was almost always out of breath.
Ron and Siria had taken to using the Sunday study group as an excuse to actually study. They spent hours on their homework every night and Sundays on practicing. Professor McGonagall gave them Saturday access to her classroom, but they had to move to the History of Magic classroom when almost everyone in Hermione's Ancient Runes and Arithmancy classes showed up. Daphne managed to help them some of the Ancient Runes students and Susan Bones helped with Arithmancy, while Hermione got torn from subject to subject. The older students that joined would only help with specific questions. Even Wood, Fred, and George could be seen studying these days.
Everyone had stopped learning new things to make sure they had the old things down. Hermione was practically certain that Professor Flitwick would test them on Cheering Charms. She was less certain with Professor McGonagall and didn't know if they would be tested on turning a teapot into a tortoise, the Lapifors spell or Draconifors Spell, which resulted in their study group being full of rabbits, small dragons, and partially Transfigured teapots. Snape had suggested their final might consist of him poisoning one of them to test antidotes. Siria was almost certain she would be the one poisoned, if he got his way.
After last year showed just how important mandrakes could be, it sounded like Professor Sprout may be including them in the testing material. Hagrid, who was too transparent for his own good, intended to revisit Hippogriffs. He would only have one Hippogriff for the whole class to approach individually. Professor Lupin managed to keep his intentions for the final a secret.
With all the homework and studying, Siria had gone from seeing Sirius a few times a week to only on Friday evenings, from her last class until lunch. From everything he told her, the rodent problem was growing, but nothing to worry about. She felt that, because her nightmares had finally stopped, he didn't want to give her new ones about the rat infestation that may be taking over the forest. It was difficult to keep it out of her mind on her way back to Gryffindor Tower, but she'd forget the moment she dove into studying.
(Book: B3, 314-315, 317-319 the weather is nice, but finals are upon them and everyone has too much homework and preparation for their finals. Transfiguration: teapot to tortoise; Charms: Cheering Charms; Potions: Confusing Concoction; History of Magic: variety including witch burnings; etc. DADA is an obstacle course and Hermione rightfully freaks out over the boggart in the trunk, which is Professor McGonagall, telling Hermione she failed everything. Cornelius Fudge is in the entrance hall and greets Siria)
"What brings you to Hogwarts?" Siria prompted.
"Oh, yes. I'm here to check on the Pettigrew business. Your godfather should be stopping by, as well." said Fudge. Siria quickly masked her smirk into a smile.
"He'll be adopting me soon," she beamed at him.
"Well, congratulations!" Fudge told her. Siria nodded. Sirius stepped into the entrance hall.
"You're early!" Sirius told Fudge.
"Yes, well…" Fudge looked from Sirius to Siria and back, "we've business to attend to." Sirius ruffled Siria's hair as he past.
"See you later." He whispered. She was relieved Fudge's visit wouldn't interfere with her seeing him.
(Book: B3, 321-323 Divination. She sees them one at a time and Siria is last. Siria sits down before the crystal ball and Professor Trelawney asks what she sees, but the heat is making her a little sick. Ron had just made stuff up, so she decides to do the same)
"There's— er…" Siria groaned at the crystal ball. There was fog. Fog was all there was. "A dark shape…"
"What does it resemble?" whispered Professor Trelawney (B3, 323). Siria wanted to tell her "fog!" but chose not to. The only things she could think of Sirius, Travers, and the boggart, but she didn't want to talk about the first two and the third changed shape.
"A hooded figure?" Siria asked. She was more worried that wasn't something that got seen, but she loosely described the dementors.
"Indeed! My dear, you may well be seeing the outcome of the hunt for Pettigrew. Look closer… what's near it?" Professor Trelawney whispered (B3, 323).
"Another hooded figure."
"Yes. Are they closing around?"
"No." Siria said flatly. She once felt like Peter Pettigrew deserved the Dementor's Kiss; part of Siria still believed that. Now though, after her nightmares and having to hear her parents' last words, she felt he deserved to be haunted by his deeds for the rest of his life. Peter Pettigrew didn't deserve the Dementor's Kiss; he deserved to go back to a more secure Azkaban that would prevent him from ever escaping.
"Are you sure?" Professor Trelawney urged her (B3, 323).
"Yes." Siria repeated. She stared resolutely at Professor Trelawney "They're retreating."
(Book: B3, 323-324 Professor Trelawney is disappointed Siria didn't see more. She then makes the prediction that Voldemort will rise again with the aid of his servant, but claims that she did not and that she and Siria must have dozed off. Siria rushes to Gryffindor Tower)