Chapter 14 : Disqualified

It was a beautiful Wednesday evening, less than two weeks before the end-of-year exams, and the sun had been so resplendent in the last few days that the Hogwarts students couldn't resist the urge to go outside to enjoy it.

However, there were two students who were far from taking it easy on the Quidditch pitch. For them, the sun wasn't welcome as it was beating on their skulls without interruption. It was also so dazzling that it was impossible to fly properly since they couldn't see where they were going, or where the balls were for that matter. Even the Quaffle, which was the largest ball of all, was difficult to spot. This increased the difficulty of the exercise that they were doing which consisted in catching it before it hit the ground.

"Go for it ! Why aren't you moving ?" Ana reproached to Akira who had missed the Quaffle for the twentieth time in a row.

"I'm going to the max. You just have to give our team faster brooms, or stop sending the Quaffle at the other end of the pitch which is too far away to be able to catch it on time." The latter complained once she had retrieved the ball which had the time to hit the lawn even though it was enchanted to fall slowly, proving that Ana was sending it too far away from her.

Annoyed by this training which was exhausting and not really helping to get a good level for the next Quidditch match which was coming soon, Akira gave the ball with force to Ana who caught it easily since she was used to deal with Bludgers.

"Progress aren't done by complaining so stop it and apply yourself !" Ana replied while putting her arm behind to send the Quaffle even further.

You're probably wondering how Akira ended up there, training intensely for Quidditch alongside Ana after knocking the latter out in order to not be integrated in the team for the last match of the season ?

It turns out that with this decisive Quidditch match taking place on Saturday this week, nothing could discourage Ana from recruiting a decent Chaser since she was missing one. Therefore to get a complete team, she would bother Akira from morning to evening, during every meal - pushing Arcturus unceremoniously to take his seat in front of Akira – and even during night as Ana once woke up Akira after dreaming that Gryffindor had lost the Quidditch Cup which was entirely her fault even though the match hadn't even taken place yet.

With all this psychological pressure, Akira accepted her offer reluctantly one week before the match to find herself at training that same evening, and the evenings after that.

But before helping out Ana with her missing player, Akira thought about another extreme to make the latter stop irritating her. Leave. Because with the exams for which she wasn't ready at all and the apprehension that Dumbledore would eventually discover that it was her who was passing information to Voldemort, staying at Hogwarts was really challenging. Of course, she had already thought about running away throughout her fourth year to return to Konoha in order to avenge Matsuo and Tatsuno death but this time, she knew people who could help her. Now, she only had to find a way to ask them.

Because she was thinking about Voldemort and his followers. The latter being her only hope to bring Matsuo and Tatsuno back to life, she was ready to put aside the fact that he was an extremely dangerous Dark wizard which was perhaps what she exactly needed to be able to sneak away from Dumbledore. But how to contact him when the only way she had right now was Rookwood who she only saw briefly during Hogsmeade outings ? The next visit being scheduled after the Quidditch match and the end-of-year exams, she would have to go through these trials before her request was transferred to Voldemort. She had to find another way.

But you don't come into contact with Voldemort so easily. Otherwise, the Ministry of Magic wouldn't struggle so much in finding him to send him to jail for his crimes. The best solution was to contact Rookwood instead since the latter knew Akira, the mission that she had to accomplish for his group and was a normal citizen working for the Ministry, not a feared wizard who had to hide himself. Besides, it was like a catch-up from the last meeting that they should have got at Hogsmeade for which she didn't show up. And she had an idea on how to reach Rookwood. The same way as she was reached by this anonymous letter reminding her of her mission for Voldemort. She still had to find an owl which knew his address.

"He suspects something. I can't stay to continue with my task. Get me out of here immediately." She read again from the brief note that she had scribbled on a piece of parchment as she was climbing the stairs leading to the Owlery.

Her message was cryptic but Akira couldn't say much more in case it was intercepted. It had to be subtle because being unmasked could have serious consequences. She wasn't thinking about being expelled from Hogwarts, or being judged for her betrayal. No, rather that Voldemort would make her pay for her incompetence, one way or another.

Akira finally reached the Owlery and after making sure that no other student was there, she walked into the middle of the circular room before spinning round to observe all the owls that were perched high up.

"Do any of you know the address of Rookwood ? I don't know his first name but he works as an Unspeakable at the Ministry of Magic."

Her question provoked a few flapping wings and hooting but no owl came near her. However, one of them - after watching its fellows staying static on both side - decided to volunteer to help her. It spread its large wings and landed at her height before extending a paw on which she could attach her note.

"Make sure you give it to him in person." Akira recommended in a low voice while making sure that the parchment couldn't fly away and be lost. "And when he's alone. It's top secret, you see."

The owl let out a bored hooting before spreading its wings and leave to accomplish its mission. Akira watched it rush through an opening of the tower and speed through the sky which was already dark as it was late.

When the owl completely disappeared from her field of vision, Akira was able to breathe a sigh of relief and come down from the Owlery while hoping to receive an answer quickly before having to face Ana again. However, she had to wait several days until the Monday of the week in which the Quidditch match was taking place, letting Ana plenty of occasions to harass Akira in one way or another. And the message she got wasn't even that long.

"Stay where you are but don't collect any more information. Just be present at the next meeting to receive instructions."

"This isn't what I wanted to read." Akira thought with annoyance as she hurried to crumple up this piece of paper to stuff it in her pocket before Arcturus – who was reading his lessons aloud to make them both revise for their exams to the great dismay of their table neighbours – saw it.

So, she had to be patient and live through this end of the school year which promised to be extremely complicated for her ? At least, she could cross off her list being unmasked by Dumbledore if she had been given the permission to stop spying on him. This removed a big thorn from her foot.

"Stop disturbing her with your lessons. Otherwise, she won't be fully focused on Quidditch." Ana said reproachfully to Arcturus once she stopped at their level at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

She would never have said this if Akira hadn't given up the same morning and accepted to join the Gryffindor team after Ana threatened to burn her suitcase with all her things inside when her back was turned.

"But the exams are starting in two weeks and Akira's still missing the lessons that we had at the beginning of the year. I'm only helping her on that part." Arcturus replied defensively. "You must know what it is since you've your NEWTs to redo. You should also take them seriously if you want to…" He added before interrupting himself at the dark gaze that Ana gave him.

He regretted even more having open the mouth as Ana picked his notes only to throw them into the air without the slightest scruple.

"No ! They were in chronological order !" Arcturus exclaimed while watching them scatter on the ground in horror.

He jumped up to go get them before the students trampled them, leaving the place open for Ana to sit down in front of Akira who would have preferred that she left her alone after she forced her hand with the last Quidditch match.

"You better not let the team down." Ana warned her unnecessarily which made Akira roll her eyes. "That makes me think, I want you to come one hour earlier than what we planned for your training today."

"What ? But it will be right after the end of classes." Akira pointed out offended as she really needed a break if only to go put her bag down in her dormitory.

"Finely observed. But since we aren't allowed to stay outside the castle too late in the evening, I decided to bring the training forward by an hour. And you better be here or I'll stalk you all over the school."

"Okay, okay. I'll be here." Akira replied bitterly after having to deal with Ana on her back for the last few days.

But despite her agreement, Ana didn't let Akira eat her breakfast in peace. She took this opportunity to give her a very detailed summary in a low voice of the strategies that she had discussed with the team to undermine the Ravenclaws that they were going to face. Arcturus even had to find another seat as Ana refused to give it back to him once he had retrieved all his papers.

Needless to say that since that day, Akira was under pressure until the match. She hadn't done a single training session with the rest of the team so that Ana could refresh her skills without affecting the others and their descent level. And Akira also had trouble to figure out who was occupying which position since there were lot of new faces since last year. She was a bit of an outsider and James was full of jokes when she showed up in the locker room to put on her Quidditch robe for the fateful match.

"Who went through the trash to get a player like that ? Nearly Headless Nick would have been much better at catching the Quaffle." He mocked in a sonorous voice that everyone could hear.

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't necessary to raise the level of a certain Chaser." Akira replied while shoving him when she passed him.

"You two, save that for our opponents. I just ask you to bear with each other for the next few hours and then, you can kill each other if you want." Ana advised them in a tone implying that it was better to not upset her as the match was about to start soon.

The whole team dressed in silence then listened to their Captain usual motivational speech before joining the pitch like their opponents of the day. By seeing them, Akira could only notice how united the Ravenclaw team looked like as they were standing in a close row. And in the meantime she was standing in her corner, looking at James who was saying things in the ear of the third Chaser while pointing at her. It was infuriating but she couldn't do anything about it as they had to take off while Madam Hooch was announcing the beginning of the match.

Following a hard training was useful in Quidditch, but it was of no help if you didn't get along with the other players since it was a team game. So Akira had a hard time to get her head in the game. She was no longer used to have everything moving so fast around her, nor having so many players on the pitch. She couldn't collaborate efficiently with her teammates and she wasn't quick enough to give the Quaffle to the third Gryffindor Chaser because she had to remember first that he had the same position as her to not send the ball to another player by mistake.

To resume the situation, having the Quaffle in her possession was a real nightmare. During her training with Ana, when she just had to catch it or take it from her, the task was simple. Simple, not easy. But doing the same against five other players was very different. She therefore found herself playing very messily, missing the ball, making imprecise passes and being unable to take the ball from the Ravenclaws.

This irritated Ana to no end but also Akira who had never wanted to end up on the field in the first place.

"Play properly or I'll get you out of here with a Bludger in the head !" She threatened Akira while sending effectively a Bludger past her to make her react.

This derogatory remark and the mocking smile displayed by one of the Ravenclaw Chasers who was close to her put Akira absolutely beside herself. She began to tremble with rage and she felt an impulse rising within her that made her want to show others what she was capable of. Her playing then immediately revealed itself to be more aggressive. She no longer hesitated to violently attack the players, pushing them out of her way or into accidents.

But Akira really crossed the line when she threw the Quaffle at the head of a Ravenclaw Chaser who was trying to take it from her. The ball being light, nothing would have happened if she had thrown it like any other player. But being a ninja with all the strength that came with it, the poor Ravenclaw saw stars when he got hit in the face and he fell off his broom. He would have crashed on the ground if it hadn't been for the Gryffindor Beater who had rushed to catch him on his own broom when he was only a meter away from the lawn.

"That's enough. You are expulsed from the field." Madam Hooch informed Akira dryly after flying up to her level as the game was suspended to take the injured Ravenclaw to the Hospital Wing.

The latter warned Akira several times about her bad behaviours but this time, she went too far so she was out for the rest of the game which displeased Ana greatly.

"It was an accident ! This idiot shouldn't have put himself in the path of the Quaffle." The latter intervened to defend her player.

"Except that she deliberately targeted him as she had no teammate to throw the Quaffle at on this trajectory. This voluntary act which almost had serious consequences must be punished." Madam Hooch added firmly.

"Now, each team has only two Chasers. It's fair." Akira pointed out as she just wanted to get down on the ground and leave the pitch.

"You stay here." Ana ordered her while pointing her index finger at her menacingly. "I refuse to lose the Quidditch Cup because of you !"

"You're fourty points ahead of the Ravenclaws and I haven't scored any. The team is doing very well without me." Akira advised her with anger before heading for land under the whistling of the crowd of spectators who had clearly seen her dirty trick.

Whether it was the Ravenclaws because she had hurt one of their own, the Hufflepuffs because she wasn't playing fair or the Gryffindors because she disgraced their name, they all booed her as she left the pitch with her head down. Only the Slytherins cheered her since this accident which could have been fatal had entertained them.

Akira went to the locker room with dark thoughts in her head. When she was still training the day before with Ana, she would never have imagined that the match would go like this. She had wanted to do her best so that the team would win and Ana would finally leave her alone. But with all the events that had upset her during this school year, she had ended up seeing red. And her condition didn't improve with time as she broke her broom in two over her knee as if it was a simple twig.

"Why is everything so complicated for me ?" She said out loud while throwing the broken broom into a corner of the room. "Is it too much to ask for one good thing to happen once in a while ?"

"Hey Akira." A voice suddenly said sheepishly behind her.

She turned around only to see that it was Arcturus who wanted to check on her as he seemed out of breath after running so fast from the Quidditch pitch until here.

"I was... wondering…"

"Not now !" Akira told him sharply without waiting for him to finish his sentence.

She then tore off her Quidditch robe with just as much rage as the one used to break the broom and she strode out of the room, hustling Arcturus in the process, towards the castle. Fortunately, the latter was deserted since everyone was watching the Quidditch match. This would allow her to go isolate herself in the Room of Requirement long enough to let her anger disappear before it hurt anyone else.

Hello dear readers,

Ouch. I wouldn't have wanted to be that poor Ravenclaw Chaser. At least, it was the Quaffle and not a Bludger which hit him. Anyway, let's move on to Akira.

Okay, so she doesn't need to spy on Dumbledore anymore but she still has to survive the worst nightmare of every student, namely exams. I wonder how things will go for her since she missed a good part of the year. It will be hard, especially since it's to move in fifth year where the OWLs take place. However, she has one best friend who'll never let her down if he wants to still take classes with her. It might be of great help in the next chapter that will be published at the end of the month.