Chapter Nine

There were two major pieces of gossip going around the castle. First, someone was teasing the Slytherin quidditch team mercilessly. The usual suspects had all been questioned — meaning James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, but either it wasn't them or they were doing a remarkable job of keeping it quiet. Noemie definitely felt guilty, because she, like everyone else, was convinced the quartet was behind the pranks, and she knew it was happening because of the lie she'd told. But getting the boys to stop would mean that she had to fess up, and she was unwilling to do that.

The second piece of gossip was that James had arranged with the Ravenclaw team to have a scrimmage prior to the first quidditch match of the season, which wasn't until November. The entire castle, but especially the teams, were eager to get an actual match under their belts. For Noemie, it meant more practices, which her father couldn't fault her for because he wanted her to maintain the image of an excellent quidditch player. This, of course, meant that while her punishments had been pushed back in terms of start time, they were increasing in brutality due to her father's irritation over the whole ordeal. Noemie was simply relieved he hadn't forced her to quit the team with everything going on.

In Noemie's world, there was a third thing going on too, but the castle wasn't privy to this particular piece of information. Noemie had, in a move that made her tired mind feel even worse, started distancing herself from those around her. She'd finally realized how dangerous it was to have friends when her father was watching her every move, and she really wasn't sure who to trust given that someone had told her father she'd gone off with Remus.

Some days she hid out in the library. Others, she found a secluded space of lawn to sit on. Regardless, while her friends had certainly noticed the distance, they couldn't find her long enough to have an actual conversation about it. Noemie knew that at least her friends had others around them, so it wasn't like they were alone like she was. She found that she really did miss them, even though she'd only been avoiding them for a short matter of time.

The only person she couldn't truly avoid was James, though he seemed to be so upset about her avoiding him everywhere but practice that he refused to talk to her there. Noemie figured that was just as well. It was maybe easier than what she had to do with the others.

On the fifteenth, a Saturday morning after another violent beating, Noemie stood in her dormitory getting ready for the scrimmage. She had gone to bed without bothering to heal her bruises, because Alice had given up on waking her due to Noemie awakening earlier than ever to avoid her. So, getting ready for the quidditch match, she was faced with a decision. Should she heal them, or simply cover them with makeup?

Her left cheek was a collage of blues, greens, and yellows. Her left eye was ringed with a fresh purple bruise from the previous night. Noemie's complacency had started to bore her father, she thought, so he was trying harder than ever to make her cry out in pain.

Noemie looked out the window. The sun, just starting to rise, was still bright. There wasn't supposed to be any rain, which meant she wouldn't have to worry about rain washing makeup away. That way, when she was alone, she could inspect the bruises and remember why it was important to stay away from others.

After ten minutes of standing there, Noemie finally pulled makeup out and covered everything. Except for a slight bit of swelling around her eye, she looked just fine. She would just have to stand at a bit of a distance from James, so that he wouldn't notice. But that would be easy, because he was already mad at her for avoiding him.

She then made her way to the great hall to get a quick breakfast, before the rest of the castle was up, and then went outside to practice a few shots that she had been working on for the past few weeks.

Birds chipped softly in the distance, hovering over the forbidden forest as they decided which trees to perch on. Noemie watched them from afar, jealous of their freedom and carefree nature. She wished she could have that for herself. She wished she didn't have to avoid the people she cared about so as to not arouse suspicion.

She slowly shook her head to get rid of the thoughts. Thinking them was dangerous. She didn't get what she wanted and she never would, and she had to be okay with that.

Noemie spent the early morning practicing, and didn't land until some of her teammates and the Ravenclaw team started to arrive at the pitch. Even then, she stayed flying until Noemie saw James waving her down, so she sighed and went back to earth.

"Nice of you to join us," he said, irritated.

Noemie saluted him. "Aye, captain."

James scowled at her, which made Noemie feel like she was being stabbed. She reminded herself that it was for the best. "Anyway," he said, making a big show of rolling his eyes, "As I was saying, Henry is going to referee for us, since he's the Hufflepuff captain so he's neutral."

Henry, a tall blond boy with a wide smile, stepped up and waved at them. He was kind, but Noemie also knew he was a ruthless beater. "We're playing this like a normal match, so don't do anything stupid. I'll call you on any fouls and if anything is egregious, I'll be reporting it."

There was a rumble of agreement before Henry walked away to tell the Ravenclaw team the same thing. Noemie could see excited students filling into the stands to watch the match. With a small smile, she realized that Benji was there. Even though he was sitting with the Ravenclaws, she knew he'd come to cheer her on.

They didn't have real announcers, so Sirius and Peter had volunteered to fill in after promising Henry and the Ravenclaws that they would be good sports about the whole thing. Noemie didn't know why the others had believed them, but they were now sitting in the announcer's box and chattering on about how fit they thought one of the Hufflepuff chasers was, and how they were sad not to see her play that day. Noemie was sure the girl, a fifth year, was blushing bright red, because half the girls in the school had a crush on Sirius Black.

Soon, they all gathered around Henry, who was holding the quaffle in one arm and had his foot on the case with the rest of the balls. Noemie, if she listened closely, could hear the bludgers battering the case. "A clean game, yeah?" He asked one more time.

The two teams nodded, all of the chasers watching the quaffle intensely. They mounted their brooms. Noemie curled her toes in her trainers, ready to snatch the ball as soon as it was tossed in the air. She waited, counting one, two, three, four heartbeats until Henry blew his whistle and tossed the ball high in the air.

They were off. Noemie did exactly as she planned and snatched the ball right away, nearly knocking into a Ravenclaw chaser named Jeane but twisting just enough at the last second to avoid her. She heard Jeane swear, but by that time it was too late and Noemie was already off in the air and heading for the goal posts.

Noemie, proudly, made the first goal of the game, scoring ten points for her team. If their seeker caught the snitch right now, it would be the fastest win, she was sure, in the history of Hogwarts. Noemie looked around to see where the seeker was, but they were out of sight and Noemie was quickly forced to refocus on the game when James yelled for her, in less polite terms, to get her head in the game.

The seekers didn't seem to be making any progress, which meant Noemie was in the thick of it with the five other chasers who were also trying to score points for their team. The score went back and forth, sometimes with Gryffindor in the lead, but more often with the two teams locked in a dead tie. The game continued this way for an hour, and then two. Noemie realized that they might actually end up playing the longest game in the history of Hogwarts.

She made a few more good plays, working in tandem with James. Even though they weren't talking, Professor McGonagall had been correct in her statement that they were one of the best pairs to play together. Noemie knew what James wanted without him having to verbalize it, and vice versa. Finally, after a long game of ties, Noemie's and James's sync fully came back, and they were basically unstoppable.

In a moment of weakness, Noemie whooped in triumph after a particularly good play and slapped James's hand as he flew past. He grinned and nodded up, a signal that he wanted her to go high for a surprise attack against the Ravenclaws who now had the quaffle.

Noemie dutifully followed her captain's orders, which was part of what made her a good quidditch player. She would do as told, and put her own twist on it that made it even better.

She slowed to a stall high about the other players, watching calculatingly as the Ravenclaw team passed the quaffle back and forth. She started to pick up on a pattern and tried to memorize. They might get shot in, but her own team was fifty points up, and she knew James would rather have the strategy than the goal.

Distantly, she could hear Peter commenting on her. "We're not sure what Poole is doing," he said, demonstrating that he clearly had no mind for strategy. "Maybe taking a minute to powder her nose, we know she's a quidditch player, but she's still a girl."

Noemie glared toward his box, hearing Sirius's booming laughter through his own microphone. The crowd was laughing too, obviously pleased with the pair's commentary. Noemie thought it was better when they stayed focused on the actual game, so she was less than pleased and made a mental note to flip Peter off in what would inevitably be an embarrassing moment for both of them.

Because she was busy glaring at Peter Pettigrew, she stopped playing smart for the briefest of moments. Instead of keeping her head on a swivel, she let herself get distracted, which meant she missed one of the Ravenclaw beaters powerfully smack a bludger in her direction. And, because she was distracted, she let herself drift fully into its path.

The Ravenclaw girl shrieked, which only made Noemie turn to look at her, concerned for a moment that something had gone wrong. And she was right, something had gone wrong, but not with the girl. Something was about to go wrong with her.

She saw the bludger coming. She realized that it was going to hit her, and if she'd been thinking clearly, she could have ducked out of it's path and it would have sailed over her head and it would have been fine. But instead of moving in that brief moment, Noemie could only think about the possibility of escaping from her father. Was this it? Her one chance to get out of everything? If she let the bludger connect, would he maybe realize how much pain he'd caused her and stop? Could they become the happy family Noemie had always dreamed of? She couldn't fully make her decision, there wasn't enough time.

The bludger connected with the side of her head. The impact knocked her sideways and she lost her grip on her broom, slipping off. Noemie stayed conscious just long enough to realize that she was falling.