Chapter 4:
"Let's win this, team!"
That's what he had proclaimed so confidently just a few minutes ago but it didn't seem likely - the way this match was going.
A lot of the Gryffindor players were new to the team this year, as the last year's players had been mostly 7th years, therefore he hadn't had much time to train the new ones yet.
Although, they had started out alright, scoring a couple of goals and the beaters were doing good keeping the bludgers out of the way and into the paths of those Hufflepuff chasers.
But suddenly it all started going downhill from about the time Macmillan had managed to get one past their keeper.
This seemed to act as a catalyst for the Hufflepuff chasers' moods - judging by the rate they were scoring anyway.
And to top it all off, it had started raining, now it was something he'd never admit out loud - but he really did hate playing in the rain.
A chaser clad in yellow was streaming past on the other side of the field, and out of the corner of his eye he noticed Bell chasing him down, this could be the opening he needed.
He flew out to get behind the other Hufflepuff chaser - who no doubt would be responsible for getting the quaffle through the hoops.
One good thing about this weather was that it reduced visibility and provided him the perfect cover to get the drop on the quaffle in between the two yellow players during the exchange.
Gripping the quaffle under one arm, he raced down the field with Bell right next to him, until they wordlessly split apart, as per the many strategies they'd practiced.
Bludgers were coming for them in all directions.
They'd managed to leave two of the Hufflepuff chasers confused back further down field but there was still one here who hurtled toward him.
Feigning a right he quickly passed it left to Bell who flew it further toward the hoop on the left side, and just as the Hufflepuff chaser gained on him and the Keeper got ready to block, Septimus came up from under everyone and Bell threw him the quaffle which he kicked into the unguarded hoop on the right.
The cheers were delayed but they were loud and the sound made his heart soar. As he flew toward Bell to exchange high fives, he caught the keeper's stunned expression which was followed by a hearty laugh. That was Adam for you - nothing ever got him down for long.
"Nice one, Weasley, don't expect any more favours from me though - you won't get an opening like that again!" Adam shouted as he raced past.
Bell had caught up to him, rolling his eyes, he muttered "as if that was a favour, I've never had to work that hard for one".
As they flew down the pitch together his eyes wandered over across the audience, and he almost slipped off his broom in surprise.
His eyes had locked on to familiar dark ones. There sitting next to a group of cheery second years was none other than Cedrella Black, and he could've sworn he'd seen a hint of a smile on her face before his fingers slipped, causing him to lose eye contact with her.
"You alright, mate?" Bell asked with a look of concern.
"Fine, it's just the damn rain" he grunted fixing his hand position on the broom handle.
"Be careful - I reckon we could still win this with a few more stunts like the last one"
"Hmm" he replied non commitantly, he wondered why Cedrella was here, she never came to quidditch matches - he didn't think she'd ever even seen him play before, and her team wasn't playing today.
He blushed, thinking of how abysmally he'd been playing the past half hour, to think she'd been watching the whole time, as his determination had faded due to some petty rain!
Wait, what was he thinking? Who cares what she saw - what about his team? What they saw mattered most!
It was then that he decided to call for a time out. He shook his head as he landed on the ground, he had to get his priorities straight if he was to win this.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Adam swooping down to the audience - which was met with shrill excitement from the girls and looks of pure jealousy from every boy in the vicinity.
Adam was pretty much the golden boy of the school - blonde wavy hair, good grades, quidditch captain and head boy, the only thing which kept him from being an universal favourite was the fact he was a muggle born. Which although Septimus couldn't care less about, it certainly didn't garner him much favour with the blood purists at school.
As he continued watching Adam interact with the crowd of girls, he noticed Adam lean toward a particular girl and say something to her. He belatedly, realised it was Cedrella, even from here, he could make out the pink tinge on her pale cheeks as he'd singled her out from the crowd. Now all the girls around her were jealous.
She said something that was no doubt scathing, for Adam burst out laughing, which to his disappointment had Cedrella laughing along with him.
Is that why she had come to the game - to watch Adam? They were both heads too, maybe they had gotten closer, after all Cedrella didn't just laugh with anybody.
A hand clapped him on his back, "Alright mate? If looks could kill, Adam would be 6 feet under!"
He turned to see Cootes' amused face, and blushed.
"We need to discuss our strategy going forward" he said, scowling at the knowing look he was getting from Bell.
The team obediently huddled together and they went through the different strategies, Cootes held up the old strategy notebook to reference and everyone debated on the effectiveness of the different strategies, and devised a couple of clever combinations.
When the whistle blew to signal the end of time out, he looked at his drenched to the bone team mates and said in a determined voice "let's win this" and this time he actually believed it.
They then flew out to their positions.
The rain was still pelting down hard, but he was determined not to let it bother him, he kept his focus straight ahead looking at Adam's confident face. He was going to make that guy mad about something for once in his life!
He tried not looking over to the right, where he knew Cedrella was sitting, watching it all - or maybe just watching Adam, who knows, and who cares he told himself determinedly.
The whistle blew, and he forcefully pushed all thoughts other than quidditch out of his mind, racing to the quaffle that had been thrown into the air. His fingers were just touching the rim of the battered brown ball, when suddenly they weren't.
He was now looking at the sky, so grey and heavy the clouds were, rain hitting his face sliding down his cheeks, or were those tears?
On the outer reaches of his already narrowing field of vision he saw the Hufflepuff seeker waving her hand about - the snitch!
He felt it that moment - the pain splitting his head, where did it come from, what was happening?
He heard distant shouts and felt the wind passing him - or rather the air that he was passing through, because yes, he was falling and he felt so tired and defeated.
The last thing he saw as he fell were dark eyes, and a solemn expression, her wand pointed out muttering something.
And then everything went black.
"He's moving!"
"Out of the way!"
"Stop making so much noise!"
Light seared his eyes as he looked around, the pain that had been so excruciating to him, now a dull ache.
"Alright, mate? That was quite the fall". That was Bell.
"And hit!" I'm surprised that bludger didn't take you out!"
"McLaggen!" They all chastised.
"Sorry!" McLaggen exclaimed, not looking sorry in the least, as his vision cleared.
Wasn't that the third time someone had asked him if he was alright in a single day?
He realised he'd said that out loud, as everyone had suddenly become very quiet.
"Mate, you've been out for 3 days" Bell spoke with his hand gently on his shoulder.
"And the match?" He asked, although he already knew.
McLaggen piped up again, "Hufflepuff won 320 to 100 which was totally not fair, I mean we could have won it if it weren't for" -
"No", Septimus sighed, "I saw it, their seeker, she had the snitch just before I fell, there was no way we were winning that match, even if I hadn't been hit".
Everyone was quiet once again, and he closed his eyes, if only he hadn't been so distracted.
Then he remembered Cedrella, what had she been doing pointing out her wand like that?
"Who hit me with the bludger?" It didn't seem like the sort of thing Hufflepuff would do.
"Er, apparently no one - it came out of nowhere, and none of the beaters were even near any bludgers then" Cootes said "They're still investigating the incident".
"It had to have come from somewhere" Septimus muttered, thinking of Cedrella muttering darkly with that serious look on her face, as he was falling in front of her, their eyes locked for a moment as if frozen in time, before exhaustion took over him again and everything was black once more.
When he came to again, it was night and there was no crowd milling about him.
But he felt a weight on the side of the bed, he craned his neck to see, which alerted the person, who immediately stood up, turning around, her dark eyes wide.
"Cedrella?!" he scoffed, "Why am I not surprised?"
"You sounded like you were" she replied not skipping a beat. She fixed her gaze on him.
Suddenly anger flooded over him, where did she get the right to be so judgemental?
"Why the hell would you send that bludger crashing into my head?!" "If you wanted to kill me, you could have done it any other time - did it really have to be during the match, in front of all those people?" he exclaimed.
"Shh, you'll bring the healer around" she said, equally angry, 'is that really all you care about? Quidditch?!"
"Well, I care about my life too, more than you, it seems" he retorted, "here to finish me off? Is that what you've been trying to do all year?".
"Don't be ridiculous" she whispered back furiously, guilt marring her features.
"I saw you pointing your wand at me, when I was falling, you were casting a spell!" he retorted.
She blushed, "you're such an idiot, I don't know why I came here in the first place!"
"You came to finish me off remember?" he said raising his brows in a taunting manner.
The look she gave him, made a small part inside of him actually afraid she was going to kill him, right then and there.
She sighed "just be careful going around the halls in between classes, and for goodness sake, don't wander around at night!" she said crossly.
As she turned to leave, a sliver of moonlight lit up her silhouette, her silky black hair reflecting the light.
"Wait!" he whispered, surprised at how hoarse his voice sounded.
Perhaps, it was the sound of this desperation that made her stop too.
"What were you doing then, when I was falling?" he asked in a more steady and determined voice.
She turned her head to the side, not meeting his eyes, "I would never try to kill you" she whispered so softly he almost didn't hear it, and then she disappeared before he could try to stop her again.
A/N: Hello! Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out! More characters come into the mix and I must say I quite like a few of them. I hope you guys do too! As always let me know what you think 3
Until then,
Smiley108