Chapter 41: The Quidditch Final

The werewolf, its body twitching and convulsing, arched back and howled. The sound broke through the lush canopy of the Forbidden Forest, a feral farewell to the moon and her effects for a cycle.

I stood up, my body rising slowly whereas my head was beginning to go at top speeds. My mind was breaking past the haze of the moon, but my body still lingered with her effects. There were sharp little nails clawing at my right arm, and when I looked, it was to find the rat ferociously hanging to the fabric of my sleeve. I hadn't noticed it when I stood from my rest on the soft soil of the Forest, but seeing the fat little thing squirming brought a smile to my face, I could feel it tugging, almost as if someone was pinching my cheeks up for me, but that was just the delirium.

I grabbed the rat before it managed to climb the rest of my arm, I held on to it for a while, watching as the stag rose from the other side of me. I remembered then, that I had been napping on it, like my drunken self normally liked to do on the soft and warm creature. The stag went to the werewolf, as it began to move away. Its detransfomation was beginning, and the stag was following it to the Shrieking Shack.

Of course, it was time for me to go. I didn't need any indication to know it, but that didn't stop the dog. He nudged me with his snout on the back of my leg, and when I turned, he grabbed at the hem of my nightgown. I put the rat down in front of my feet, pushing the dog away while I did it. The rat scurried away to the werewolf, disappearing with it.

It had left so fast, I barely noticed.

I swayed to the opposite direction of the pack, the one I somehow knew by instinct that led to the castle. The cold of the dying night was beginning to chill me, and the ground didn't seem so soft under my feet anymore. Those were clear indications that I was sobering up from the moon, and all I could do was cross my arms. Spring was bringing warm days, but the nights were still nippy.

There was pressure on the side of my leg, and I almost jumped in fright. The dog walked by my side, easily following my stride. I hadn't noticed it had come with me. I supposed the big black dog felt my stare, for it looked up. Its grey eyes looked up with a bored expression, and I only thought that because I knew to whom those eyes belonged to, and the moment fit for him to look at me that way. With a bark, the dog ran off, leaving me behind.

As I kept walking, I watched the dog disappear behind a tree and reemerge as a person. My voice was not quite mine as of yet, but my thoughts were clearly mine alone. "Sirius Black! What are you doing? The Forest is not safe yet."

He shrugged as he waited for me to join him. "Moony's too far to get a whiff of me." He seemed so certain that I didn't have the heart to question him, nor did I have the inclination. I made it to his side and grabbed onto his arm. He was wearing muggle clothing and he seemed to tense up when I got close, but I was grateful he didn't push me away. I needed his warmth.

"Well then, would you walk me to the castle?"

Sirius smiled down at me before looking away. "I was planning on it already." It the blink of an eye his devilishly handsome smirk was on his face and he pushed me with his shoulder. "I'll even tuck you in bed if you want."

A huff escaped me at the absurdity. "The portrait will never let you in."

My logic didn't faze him; I would have been surprised had it gotten close to render him speechless. "James' cloak can fix that."

I pulled at his arm, wanting for us to move and to dismiss his silly words. "I don't think I can handle more rumors of us circling in school."

I felt him shrug at that. "They're winding down, summer break is more important than gossip about us." To that I could only nod. Most conversation these days in my common room were about luncheons in foreign countries and summer homes.

All I could think of was on what Dumbledore told me the last I met with him, on how we had to discuss my summer accommodations. The prospect of being out of Hogwarts excited me greatly, but I wasn't prepared to think of such matter yet, not when I had to pass the term. It was best to change topic. "Peter told me the Quidditch final will be your last game. Is it true?"

Sirius nodded. "I'm tired of playing."

"James must not be happy about it."

"James doesn't know, and I only told Wormtail." He said and the way he did made me think that Peter might get in a bad spot with Sirius because of me. It wasn't that Peter and I told each other every secret, but he did like to overshare on things he found exciting, so it was no surprise he had told me. My mistake was mentioning it, and it mortified me.

"I didn't know it was a secret. I'm sorry he told me," I said, but he waved my apology away, shaking his head like it didn't matter. I stared at him for a couple of silent seconds, as we walked through the Forest, getting close to the edge where the school grounds began. His face was relaxed, and the arm I was holding onto was loose. I held on to him a bit tighter. "Don't worry; I'll always keep your secrets."

That made him smile. "I know, Birdie."

I walked to the Great Hall, my book bag heavy on my shoulder with not just books, as I for some reason, felt compelled to carry around the stack of letters I had received from Dumbledore.

I hadn't sleep in two days.

Keeping up with my classes was hard, even more so when my mind insisted with preoccupying itself with things I shouldn't be thinking of, like the letters I received. I had kept getting some, at least three per day, after Dumbledore had given the little pile to me.

I'll admit it was a delight, having some random owl deliver the letters to me during mail time. I loved it. However that just gave me more letters than I originally had, and I didn't have a clue as to how to answer them. And that was eating at me.

Many of the letters were like introductions. I didn't really understand the gist of them. Most of the letters, if not all of them, were from witches and wizards -more witches than wizards- commending to me about my situation, introducing themselves, wishing me good luck and showering me with invites to social events, house dinners and such. They all started the same way. The writer introduced themselves and their family, and then went on to wish me a full recovery and stuff like that. Some went on tangent explaining what their families specialized in, and there was even one that listed many if not all the worldly connections they had. Many of them also made note to mention how they were related to someone currently in Slytherin House, most of the writers were the ladies of their households, so they would urge me to seek their sons or daughters should I need any assistance or whatever. I found it really fascinating, and also confusing. What could I reply to that? What sort of pleasantries was acceptable to use in the written form? Thank you? I'm most graciously grateful for your thoughtfulness? Even if I did that it would seem rude, to give such a short reply. What could I answer to those people? Worse than figuring what to write was that I intended to answer to all of them, even when they began to pile.

I would have to ask Lily. She was the one who had taught me how to write to correspondence, she would know what to do.

Passing through the doors of the Great Hall, I headed for the Slytherin table. Even if I didn't want to, which wasn't the case, I had to sit there and not with my friends. It was Gryffindor against Slytherin for the Quidditch Cup today. We had the day off in account of it being the Final. Big day in Hogwarts for all Quidditch lovers and a matter of house pride for the competing teams.

My loyalties to Slytherin had to be perfectly obvious to all, especially to a certain Gryffindor captain that had pestered me to oblivion the previous night about how he was going to crush my House team.

May so far, school wise, had been abysmal. There was so much homework and revising and studying to get done, and teachers still found the gall to add more and more each class! I was going to end up mad by the end of the term, in June! There was still a bit over a month left before that, before June.

But, even with the work to be given and be done, there was still time for Quidditch.

I pressed a hand into one of my pockets where I had a couple of the letters crumbled up, along with a bit of parchment with some notes for Transfiguration. My intention with the letters was to do as I did with the class notes, to once in a while, during the day take them out my pocket to read them. I guess my thought was that the more I read them, the more I would know what to reply to them.

The Slytherin Quidditch team was seated to the middle of the great table, and many of my housemates had gravitated to crowd around them. They were hushed in their excitement, much like the rest of the Great Hall, simmering in the tension of the two great house rivals' upcoming match. I went for a seat close to the big doors, and away from the silent commotion, and that left me close to Severus Snape, who huddled over the table, one hand with breakfast and the other turning a page of a text book.

I watched him as I sat away from him, wondering if that's how I looked when I studied by myself in the Great Hall. If I asked Peter, he would probably say yes, minus the grease.

He looked up when I dumped my bag on the table, making it thump. "Ambrosius." Was all he said. He looked around and sneered in a random direction that I didn't care to know of and then went back to his studying.

I said nothing and just sat. Maybe I should try to find a seat among the first years, and keep myself from being so close to Snape. I didn't hate the guy, but he had liked to harshly boss me around when Lorcan Mulciber was in school and now he had barely said anything to me after I came back from the hospital. At least he wasn't being two-face like a score of other Slytherins, however that made me want to stay away from him even more.

Grabbing around, I filled my plate with breakfast, not that I was going to eat that much, but if Madam Pomfrey or any other adult popped about there would be no need to pester me about healthy eating.

"Good morning Faraday."

I tensed instantly, it would be just my luck to be thinking of the school Healer, and have her apparate behind me. But no, thankfully it wasn't her voice. I turned and it was Gertrude the one that spoke, standing a little behind me, coming to the table with the rest of my dorm mates.

"Morning," I said back, I don't know why. To not be rude, surely.

Gertrude seemed at a loss, maybe she didn't expect me to actually speak back to her; these days I ignored all that they said to me. But today, it was a different situation. Today, all Slytherin was coming together as a matter of House pride to cheer on the team. And that included me getting along with my roommates for the sake of it. Maybe that's why Snape talked to me.

Hestia, standing behind Gertrude pushed her to speak, it was subtle but there was no way I wouldn't notice. Gertrude went on. "Are you going to watch the game?"

I stared for a couple of seconds. "Yeah."

"We-" The spoke person for my four roommates, Gertrude caught herself, her full face taking on a pale shade as she corrected herself. "I was wondering if you wanted to watch it with us, possibly?"

I thought of it hard.

What the hell was going through these girls' minds? I had nothing against Gertrude Goyle, she was the nicest of the bunch and what she asked of me didn't seem too out of character of her, but the rest standing silently behind her, especially Hestia and Gemma, I don't know. It didn't seem fishy; had it been before I fell down the stairs maybe it would had been some ploy to discipline me or something, but now it just seemed like genuine face saving. I sighed, looking at each before I decided on anything. I noticed they were wearing their Potter Suck, Black Suck badges, and I had mine in my pocket to put on later. Lily had refused to accept the Potter one, even though she found it hilarious. She resented James but she believed in her Quidditch team and that was respectable.

Gertrude and the other girls waited for my answer, and I left them hanging a little more than I found socially acceptable. It was awkward but enjoyable at the same time, and warranted for they had put me in a strange situation to begin with. They started it.

"Sure," I went on to say, not because it mattered, but because I would probably end up watching the game in close proximity to them anyway, so why not? "Save me a spot."

After I was done with breakfast, I went down to the Quidditch pitch, silently walking behind a very animated group of Ravenclaws to meet up with Lily. It was a beautiful day, getting warmer and warmer by the second, but surely it would only make the game evermore so enjoyable. I found Lily with Mary by the side of the pitch were the Gryffindor team was supposed to enter, they were huddled close to Dorcas, who stood shaking in her Quidditch uniform. I didn't get there in time to learn why she was a mess, though I pieced it together quickly. It was her first Final and Captain James Potter had put her on edge.

"You are the best Quidditch player in this school!" Mary boasted. She looked to a nodding Lily and then me standing next to her. "Tell her Faraday."

I obliged. "Dorcas, don't worry yourself too much. Slytherin is going to win today, anyway. So might as well relax." I said with a shrug.

Mary looked at me, only now realizing her mistake in asking me for help. Lily pushed me with a shoulder and an exasperated sigh. "Obviously, you shouldn't pay attention to her. Dorcas listen to me. You'll play fine, and win us the game."

I couldn't resist speaking up again. It was the Quidditch House rivalry in the air; I guess that drove me into it. That or I was spending too much time with Gryffindors, which was the case. Maybe Gertrude's invitation to watch the game with her wasn't that bad of an idea. "The House Cup is still ours."

"Oi, Ambrosius! Do you want to fight?" Lily turned to me, squaring up with green fire shooting out of her eyes.

I shrugged, smirking, but not meeting up to the physical challenge, that wasn't something I would ever do. Not against her, at least. "Can't handle the truth, Evans?"

James and Sirius chose to arrive them, both carrying their broomsticks over a shoulder and wearing their red and gold Quidditch uniforms. They were a sight to be seen and many walking to the pitch from school beheld them as they went. I was surprised to see that Peter wasn't around, as an avid fan of Captain Potter as he was. Maybe he was with Remus, taking care of him up at the stalls or something. The full moon had been a couple days ago, but Remus was still suffering the aftermath of it, thankfully that wasn't enough to make him miss the final game of the year.

"Hey Lily-flower, how about a good luck kiss?" James said in his usual cheery self, oblivious to the high possibilities of getting hex. But well, that was his charm and he looked good in his chaser uniform so I couldn't say anything.

Lily glared intensely, ignoring him like he didn't exist, clamping her mouth shut. I shared a look with Mary and Dorcas, not bothering to hide a smile, thought the two girls did. They were sorely on Lily's side, while I like to slider in between hers and James.

"Root for me then?" James voice was small when he said that, and I could recognize that his desire for Lily to root for him instead of kissing him came from the right place.

Of course, even if she could tell too, Lily didn't see it that way.

"Break a leg, Potter." Lily grabbed Dorcas and Mary and walked off, leaving me. I stayed there, wondering why she didn't grab me too. Not that I was going to sit with her, but still, she made her escape and left me with them without saying anything. I didn't know if I felt hurt or moved, for she knew I would have chosen to stay.

"Be still my heart." James said to himself loud enough for everyone to hear as I watched him look at Lily go. Suddenly, he turned to me as cheery as he had been when he asked Lily for a good-lucks kiss. "How about you, Faraday?"

I took a step back, tensing up at his petition, unbelieving as I brought my hands up as if to stop him from coming closer. "You want me to kiss you?"

"What- no!" James stuttered, his face changing color at the same time as Sirius began to laugh next to him. "I mean—"

I interrupted him, I was over my surprise the moment Sirius had laughed and the opportunity was too sweet to pass up. Not with that delightful shade of pink James' cheeks had taken. I raised my hands as if to grab his face and took a step forward. "I'll do it. Come here."

"No. Get away!" James pointed at me with his broomstick, using it to protect himself. He bumped into his friend. They stumbled over each other for a bit to keep from falling, but things ended up with James hiding behind Sirius. "Get her away! Pads do something!"

Like the loyal friend he was, Sirius did as told and drew his broomstick from his shoulder to point at me, stopping my approach. "If you kiss Prongs, you'll have to kiss me too."

I side-eyed Sirius. "You say it like it's a threat."

He shrugged. "Take it however you want it."

The notion of kissing two of my friends was strange, even when my intention earlier had been jest only. In my limited life experience, I had only kissed one person, but we were in a romantic relationship back then. Surely though, a kiss on the cheek didn't have many connotations. I remember my first day in Hogwarts at the welcoming feast; I had seen many friends, girls mostly from my table kiss in greeting. No wait, there wasn't actual kissing, they did it to the air. I don't know, I hadn't gotten the inclination to kiss Lily either. But with boys was different, right?

I would have to ask Lily about that too, before I did something stupid and got even more rumors flying around about me.

"We're going up Faraday," James said pulling me out of my mind before anything else could be said. The rest of his team was coming his way. He was in Quidditch Captain mode, and I was an unwanted bystander from the rival House.

"Wish us luck," Sirius said starting to head away, following his captain to join the team.

"No, I hope you lose." I told them, did my best Hestia impression by tilting my nose up at them, and walked away before both could be begin to threaten to hit me with their brooms again.

James had not lost. Gryffindor won.

Great.

My Potter Sucks, and Black Sucks badges rested useless over my chest, as the Gryffindor side of the pitch refused to silence their cheer as they ran off the stalls to join their team in victory down on the grass. Hestia let out a loud grunt of disgust at the sight. Gryffindor had won, and now their celebration began.

I watched them as they continued to congratulate the Gryffindor team with adoration there, my own housemates sneering their way, as they began to leave the stalls. As a friend to three of the Gryffindor team members, I got the thought that maybe I should head down there to congratulate them, but that wasn't me. I wasn't about to celebrate them beating my team. So I opted to walk back to school, and to Slytherin House.

I would congratulate James and Sirius tomorrow. Maybe.

Things were somber back in the Slytherin common room. There was quiet conversation going about, like on a normal school day. Some of the Quidditch team members were still loitering about in their uniform, talking with other students, receiving assurances at having done a great job, and many more affirmations at the Gryffindor team having cheated. I wanted to do the same, give reassurances and all that shit, but I didn't like the Quidditch players, all but one at least. And of course I had to say something to him!

I scanned the common room for Regulus, and found him walking in direction to the boys dorms. I hurried after him.

I hesitated on the entry to the boy dorms, but went on. I knew nothing bad would happen if I went. Not now that my heritage was known, and there wasn't a certain malice incarnate running around. I hurried, and went to the door I saw closing.

I knocked twice. "Regulus? It's Faraday. Can I talk to you?"

The door was opened by some other boy. I knew him to be Robert Higgy, and he had never spoken a word at me, and thankfully that moment was no different. Without a word or meeting my eyes after he opened the door, he gave a small nod as he walked pass to let me in and left. I tentatively took one step inside and scanned the room. The layout was much the same as my dorm room. The four poster beds were lined with green curtains, student's wardrobes to their side and trunks on the end of the bed. The stone floors were covered with soft carpets, a grandfather clock rested in a corner and cool green light entered from the windows. The difference was the absence of floral scents of female perfumes, the witch magazines lying about and the open wardrobes filled with colorful robes, all those things that were normal in my dorm were replaced with boyish equivalents. I spotted Regulus in what must be his bed. He still wore his seeker uniform and he was petting a beautiful dark owl that stood on a stack of books on the bed. I stared at it for a second, transfixed at the beautiful combination of black and white feathers Regulus' owl possessed.

"Yes?"

Tentatively, I went in. It was the first time I had ever gone into a boy's dormitory, and it was a disappointment that it was almost the same as the girls' ones. I brushed that aside, and opted to doing what I had gone there to do in the first place. "I just wanted to say that you played a good game."

"Aren't you glad your friends won?" He didn't look at me as we said it; he was more interested in petting his owl. It was an elegant slim creature, with waves of white feathers between black ones, its large dark eyes turned to me as I came in.

"As my friends, yes, but as members of the Gryffindor team, no." That made him smirk, much the same smile his brother liked to give me whenever I said something that amused him. I neared the bed to finally stand next to where he sat. He had always been nice to me and I felt like I should say something encouraging to him, if only to pay him back a little for the kindness he had showed me in the past. "I wished them luck, but I was rooting for you, because you're the best Quidditch player in the world."

"Thanks Faraday." He was smiling now, a gesture that was all him and only him. The owl moved on the books, it didn't seem too pleased that its master was not giving him the attention it wanted with me present. My eyes were on the owl, but I could see when Regulus looked at me. "This is our family owl, Noctua."

"It's beautiful." I said and took that as an invitation to sit next to Regulus on his bed. "Can I pet it?"

"If he lets you." At that, the owl let out a cautious hoot, its orange beak suddenly looking sharper than it had before when I asked to pet it, but I went for it, tentatively moving a bare finger toward the bird. Its big black eyes followed my movements, but when it came time to colliding against its feathers, Noctua did not bite at me. Its feathers were incredibly soft, like the silk robes my dorm mates wore last year for Slughorn's Christmas party.

Noctua wasn't like all the other owls I had come in contact with in Hogwarts, my experience was limited to the for-hire owls the school provided. Noctua seemed to carry itself like nobility, like it was well aware to which family it belong to. That seemed amazing to me.

"He brought a letter for you today." Regulus said a moment later, reaching to his nightstand where amidst parchment and books he fished a sealed envelope.

He handed me the letter and I took it without thinking anything of it.

I didn't have to read the beautiful cursive to know who had sent it. "Another from your mother? I haven't even answered the first one."

Regulus went back to petting his owl, the bird delighted to have his attention specifically back. Even when it hadn't pecked me, it was clear to see who Noctua favored. "Please do, she wrote to me about it. Mother waits for your reply feverishly."

I moved away from the boy and his pet, sighing and thinking of the bunch of letters I had gotten, all which remained unanswered. "She's not the only one."

"Do it as a favor to me then?" Regulus said his head tilting down, dark grey eyes looking up at me with a devilish smirk.

That made me scoff in disbelief. "I was already planning to; you don't have to charm me Regulus Black." I said after which I gave him a wink, a gesture that would have been completely normal if I had directed at his brother and not him. I had no clue why I did it, but I was momentarily afraid that he wouldn't take it remotely close in stride as Sirius did.

To my surprise, Regulus smiled with a shake of his head.

…

AN: Thanks to everybody that has commented on this fic. Sorry for being away for so long. A year has passed. A YEAR! If this chapter is a mess, I am sorry. I've been writing it for months and my thoughts and feelings have been all over the place. A LOT has happened in my life since my last post. I got a job and went through an intensive four month training that I thought I wouldn't pass, but hey! I did. Now I have a job that I intend to work for the next twenty years. I moved away from home. From my island of Puerto Rico, I am now living by my lonesome in Florida. Yeah. I've been working a lot and I have a lot on my plate, but I've finally found the time to write. Or to re-introduce it to my life. Here's hoping I keep it up!