Chapter Ten
The world stood still for at least five seconds. Those off the field soon realized that Noemie was falling, and screams erupted from the stands. The next people to notice were Sirius and Peter, and Sirius started shouting into the microphone to get the players to look up. "Someone catch her! Poole is falling! James!"
This, of course, prompted James to twist around, along with most of the other players. When they turned, they could see Noemie's unconscious body hurtling toward the ground.
Everyone dove, flying at high speeds toward the falling player, but they also realized that they wouldn't get to her before she hit the ground.
James whipped out his wand and shouted a spell, which slowed Noemie's fall just enough that she had the ground slower than she'd been falling.
Her teammates crashed into the ground themselves, rolling into the soft grass at the base of the pitch before standing up and sprinting to close the distance. The Ravenclaw players stayed back, giving the Gryffindor team space. Some of the crowd was still screaming, and more than a few students had run off the get professors.
The first thing James did was check that she was still breathing. Her chest still rose and fell, though unsteadily. Other than that, he didn't dare touch her, and barked at the rest of the team not to touch her either. With more care than most thought him possible of, James whispered a spell to levitate her and began bringing her to the hospital wing. Noemie was unaware of all of this, still unconscious but now floating in the air.
Professor McGonagall met him outside the castle, out of breath and red in the face. "How stupid could you have been to hold a match without any professors present!" She barked, taking over the duty of levitating Noemie.
"Professor—"
"You'll have her father to answer to when he hears of this," she replied.
"P-Professor!" An out-of-breath Lily Evans appeared at James's side. "Professor, be reasonable, the teams have always—"
"Be reasonable? Be reasonable?"
Professor McGonagall stormed away, Noemie's body bobbing behind her as she rushed off to the hospital wing.
"James," Lily said. He was standing frozen, watching Noemie disappear. "James!" James looked over at her. His eyes were filled with tears, uncharacteristic for him. Lily pulled him into a tight hug. "It's not your fault."
Before James could reply, Remus came running in with Frank and Alice not far behind him. He very nearly ran over James, and paused only because he realized James was standing in the entry instead of walking to the hospital wing. "Where is she?" He panted.
"Why are we standing here?" Alice asked, taking heaving breaths as she rested her hands on her knees, bent double.
"Professor McGonagall got her," Lily informed them.
"What is—you can't just say that, Lily!" Remus chided. "Is she okay?"
"Clearly we don't know, Remus!" Lily snapped.
Remus glared at her in response and took off running again. He had every path to the hospital wing memorized at this point, but to his utter frustration, he was prevented from going inside by none other than Professor Dumbledore. "Mr. Lupin," Dumbledore said calmly, standing outside the doors. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Remus was panting, his forehead leaking sweat. He thought the answer was pretty clear, but he had to catch his breath before he could fully explain that. He took a few seconds to breathe, regretting every second he wasn't at Noemie's side. Finally though, he said, "Noemie—Poole—fell during—quidditch!"
"I am very much aware," Professor Dumbledore said. Remus could hear the footsteps, presumably of Frank and Alice, running to the hospital wing as well. "Unfortunately, Mr. Lupin, we can't allow you to go in."
"Why not?" Remus demanded.
"Our wonderful healer needs to put her full attention in Miss Poole, and having her anxious friends around would be a too large a distraction," Dumbledore explained.
Logically, Remus could understand, but the words infuriated him anyway. Before he could try to argue with the headmaster, Frank and Alice came running up, James notably missing. "What's going on?" Frank asked, out of breath.
"Can I trust you to handle this, Mr. Lupin?" Dumbledore asked.
Remus was red in the face. He wanted to argue, to barge in the room, march up to Noemie's bed, and hold her hand until she was awake. At the same time, Dumbledore could send him away in the blink of an eye. Begrudgingly, Remus opened his mouth. "We need to wait out here."
"What?" Alice asked, shocked. Professor Dumbledore nodded his approval and disappeared back into the hospital wing. Remus scowled, having half a mind to kick the door open and walk in. "Why?"
Remus took a deep breath. "Because we would be distracting. She's… probably badly hurt, so they need to be extra careful."
Alice frowned, but now that she wasn't actively running to something, her emotions caught up to her. Her wide eyes filled with tears and she turned to press her face into Frank's shoulder. He wrapped his arm protectively around her, setting his chin on top of her head as she began to cry.
Remus looked away.
A few minutes later, James trailed over to the hospital wing, Lily behind him but also clearly holding his hand. "Why are you out here?" James asked.
"Professor Dumbledore was here," Remus said. "He told us to wait."
James shook his head. His eyes were noticeably red, but his grip on Lily's hand seemed to steady him. "I guess we—"
But they would never know what James guessed, because before he could finish his sentence he was thrown back against the wall. They gasped, save Alice, who only heard the sound of James hitting stone and whimpered.
Professor Poole had arrived. No one liked him. But they also hadn't expected he would ever use magic to propel a student into a wall.
"Professor!" Lily exclaimed. "What are you doing?"
Professor Poole didn't even look at her. Instead he grabbed James's collar and held him against the wall, eyes dangerous. "You had better hope she ends up fine," he whispered. "Or you'll have a fall of your own."
With the threat clearly made, he released James and stormed into the hospital wing, sending dirty looks at each of them as his black robes swished behind him.
The door slammed shut. James was still against the wall, shocked. It was Lily who spoke first. "What the bloody hell was that?" None of them had an answer, so Lily continued. "We need to tell Professsor McGonagall."
"No," James said firmly.
"Lily's right," Alice chimed in. "He can't just—"
"I said no," James repeated.
Thus began their vigil outside the hospital wing. They were waiting for two things. First, for Professor Dumbledore to come and give them the all clear. Second, for Professor Poole to leave. They were hopeful the two events would coincide, because none of them wanted to sit by Noemie's bed with her father there. Before too long, their numbers increased. The entire Gryffindor quidditch team joined them, and then Sirius and Peter showed up. The rest of the seventh year girls came as well, wanting to check on their roommate. Noemie's younger brother even popped his head around the corner, but scurried away when he saw the large number of Gryffindor camped outside of the hospital wing.
An hour ticked by, and then two. Remus's mood, like James's, was souring by the second.
The door to the hospital wing opened. Professor Dumbledore emerged with Professor McGonagall at his side, and the two were whispering hurriedly with each other. "Professor?" James interrupted boldly. "May we…?"
Professor Dumbledore waved his hand to signal they could enter. They weren't lucky enough to have Professor Poole leave with the others, but after waiting outside for so long, they didn't care about his presence anymore.
James took a breath and looked at his team. "You're only staying for a few minutes, you hear me? I don't want to overwhelm her."
The team nodded and went inside, whispering with each other. James didn't move from outside the door though, which prompted the rest of them to wait as well. James hesitated for a moment and then looked at Frank. "Has she spent time in the hospital wing for something other than quidditch?"
Frank frowned. "Not that I know of. Why?"
James just shook his head. "Alice? You know of anything?"
"No," she replied. "What's going on?"
James glanced at Remus. "Did you hear what they were saying?"
"Obviously you did," Remus said.
"I heard them say something about old breaks," James said quietly, so no one else would overhear.
"She broke her arm last year during the match against Hufflepuff," Alice stated.
"No, I know. But why would they be concerned about old breaks if they were just because of quidditch?"
The question hung in the air. None of them spoke, trying to process and come up with an answer.
The quidditch team emerged looking shaken a few minutes later. Noemie's roommates went in next, spending only a few minutes with her as well. Once they had left, it was time for Noemie's friends to enter.
There were only four of them. Lily had elected to wait in the corridor with Sirius and Peter. Alice and Frank practically ran over to the bed with curtains pulled around it, desperate to finally check on their friend. Remus and James, however, walked slowly, apprehensive. It was a Professor Poole's presence that made them feel worse. He'd basically attacked James, and he knew what Remus was, like all of the professors at Hogwarts. The last thing Remus needed was for the professor to tell Noemie what he was.
But eventually they did make it to her bed. James put a hand on Remus's arm. "You good, mate?" He asked gently.
Remus nodded, stomach churning at the thought of seeing Noemie in any kind of pain.
They pulled aside the curtain and found Professor Poole glaring at Frank and Alice. Neither of them could understand why. Noemie had become friends with the two in their first year, and they'd been friends ever since. Surely Noemie had spent time with them in the summers, either at their houses or her own?
His glare only deepened when James and Remus appeared. "What do you think you're doing here?"
"Obviously we're here to sit with her," James said, seemingly unphased by what had happened in the corridor.
"I don't want you here. Any of you."
"Well, unfortunately, Professor, you don't really get to decide where we sit down," James replied.
With that, he pulled a chair up and sat in it forcefully, glaring right back at the professor.
Remus slowly took a seat next to Frank. He was eager to reach out and take Noemie's hand, but he didn't want to do that with her father watching.
The scene of her getting hit replayed in his mind as he looked at her. The way she froze on her broom, the bludger barreling toward her. Remus couldn't even begin to imagine what had been going through her mind. And then the hit, to the right side of her—
Wait.
The right side of her face. That's where the bludger had smacked into her. So then why was the left side of her face bruised?
Remus looked at James, who was staring at the same set of bruises. Clearly they'd reached the same conclusion.
Both of their jaws tightened, but they didn't dare say anything in front of her father. He would overreact, claim that they'd done something to her, and he'd probably be even angrier than he already was.
They sat in the awkward stalemate for a while, Professor Poole glaring at all of them. His dark features, combined with his harsh black robes, made each of Noemie's friends uncomfortable and squirm in their seats. Then, they got lucky.
Professor Poole rose abruptly, ending the standoff as he stormed out of the room. They collectively let out the breath they'd been holding in.