Disclaimer: I own only Marti, Andy, and their friends. I am very possesive of them. You take them, and I hurt you.
Clay rounded on Zinny, swearing mad, “Zinny! What was that for?”
Zinny backed away from Clay “ and seeing as how I’d never seen him so angry before, I couldn’t blame her “ from where she had been working with her group a plant away.
“It was an accident!” she said, trying to sound innocent. Sadly, even I had a hard time believing that one. Why did she do that?
“Everyone back!” Professor Bones shouted as she knelt down by Marti, who was kicking and flailing, holding her face… I could bet she was hurting. For the first time since I’d met her, I felt bad for her. The boils were already swelling…
“Why did you do that, Zilpha!” Clay demanded again, getting right in her face.
This time, Zinny didn’t step away, “What’s it to you, McAfee? She’s a Ravenclaw, and she’s a skank. You saw as well as anyone the dance she did in the Great Hall, and what she wore.”
Anger like I hadn’t ever seen in Clay “ mild mannered Clayton McAfee “ surfaced to his face. Oh, I’d seen Clay get angry before, heck what seeker didn’t blow his top at some time? I’d watched him knock a Hufflepuff off a broom, and I’d seen him hex Ridley in our dorm when he’d started a pillow fight, but this was more than that.
Much more. This was… unreal.
“She’s a friend,” he stated in a dead whisper, “Which is more than I could say for you, Pearson.”
Zinny’s eyes widened, and she stepped away from him. Clay had had a crush on Zinny for ages, and as far as I knew, she’d never known about it, but for as long as he’d had a crush on her, he’d called her Zinny, to try and be friendly with her. To my knowledge, he’d never called her ‘Pearson’ before… and I knew that he never called anyone by their last name unless he was really upset with them. Zinny knew that too, from the look on her face.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered again, “I won’t tell on you… I, unlike some people, do not take the law into my own hands,” he shot me a nasty look, glared at Zinny again, and rushed over to where Marti was on the ground.
“Hey, what did I do?” I muttered as he walked past me, but he ignored me. I hadn’t been the one to shoot her with the puss, after all.
He knelt down next to Professor Bones and said, “Professor, I’ll levitate her to the Hospital Wing,”
“No, no, McAfee,” she protested, trying to get Marti to hold still, “I’ll take her…”
“Professor, please,” he said, pausing and putting a hand on Bones’ shoulder, “It’s my fault she was late, and therefore my fault she got hit with that…you can clean up around here, please let me take her?”
There was a pause, in which everyone was silent, except Marti who was crying now, before Professor Bones nodded, “Alright, McAfee, but be careful with her, alright? Tell Madame Pomfrey that I’ll be there in a while.”
“May I go with her, Professor?” asked a near hysterical Deanne Liles, who was trying to hold Marti’s hand.
“Yes, Liles, go with her,” she answered softly, before she rounded on the rest of us.
I watched as Clayton and Deanne drew their wands and simultaneously levitated Marti up and out of the greenhouse. She was shaking now, and whimpering.
“Not funny, Zinny,” I whispered as Bones began cleaning up the puss that had fallen to the ground as best she could. “That had to hurt her.”
“Andy,” Zinny growled back, “How many times do I have to tell you it was an accident? I didn’t mean to hit her! And you have to admit it was funny when she fell to the ground,”
“No, it wasn’t, Zin.” I turned away from her, and didn’t speak to her for the rest of class.
*** *** ***
I remember crying a lot, and being in a lot of pain… and the swelling all over my face, that was a nightmare.
I knew somewhere in there that Deanne had grabbed my hand and was patting it, but that’s all I noticed.
I don’t know how long I’d been out, but I think it was sometime around noon when I opened my eyes and noticed that I was lying in the Hospital Wing. My face was sore, but when I touched it with my fingers, it felt like it was back to its normal size. That was a major relief.
I sat up and looked around. I thought for sure that Deanne would be there, but she wasn’t. No one was… but I was behind a curtain, so I couldn’t be sure about that.
“Hello?” I asked timidly, “Hello?”
A rustling noise met my ears and after a moment a face poked itself around the curtain to smile at me. It was Clay.
“Oh,” I said a little startled by him, “I didn’t think you’d be here.”
He shrugged and walked over to the bed beside me. “I got puss on my hands when we brought you here, so Madame Pomfrey allowed me to stay for awhile. I didn’t think you’d be awake this soon.”
“Wait,” I said, shaking my head, trying to clear it, “You brought me in here?”
“Well,” he shrugged, “Deanne and I did. But she was fine, so Pomfrey said she had to go back to classes.”
I shivered as I remembered the feeling of the Bubotuber puss on my face, “Thanks Clay, for doing that. That was awful… hey, are you all right? You look a little down.” I noticed a droop to his usually happy face.
He gave me a weak smile, “Oh, it’s nothing. I just… have you ever thought something was really great, and even had proof that something was really great, and learn that there’s something about it that isn’t great at all? It may be one thing, yes, but it’s just… disappointing? Ever felt that?”
I sighed and leaned back in my bed, “Oh, yeah, every time I look in the mirror.”
He shook his head, “Don’t say that, Marti. You’re not like that.”
I grinned at him, “You don’t know me very well, Clay. Trust me; I am a disappointment to myself every day.”
He looked like I’d shot a bunny or something. “How can you say that?”
I gave him a weak smile, “Ask me again sometime when I’m less prone to tears. Back to your point, I have felt that. Why are you feeling that right now?”
He sighed and looked towards the window, “No reason, really. Someone’s just not whom I’d thought they’d be. Nothing bad.”
Alright, that was what he said to me, but I didn’t quite understand him. What did he mean, someone? I knew for a fact that he wasn’t talking about me, and he most likely wouldn’t be talking about Deanne “ she wasn’t deceitful at all. Maybe he had a crush on a Slytherin girl, or something. If that was the case, I could tell him that I told him so, but that wouldn’t make him feel better… and I didn’t know that was the case, besides. So, while I watched my new friend with his I-have-a-broken-heart-and-can’t-say-who-over look on his face, I patted his hand.
“Don’t think about that. Think about Quidditch. Deanne told me that you and I get to face off first in a few weeks. What do you think about that?”
He smiled at me and brushed his hair out of his eyes, “I think that should be interesting.”
*** *** ***
Paul was hard on us when it came to Quidditch Practice. I guess what news Rich Westman had spread about Marti had done its job, and Paul was terrified that she was going to be Ravenclaw’s secrete weapon or something. I still had my doubts. Three weeks went by all to fast “ though the practices went slowly “ and before I knew it, I was adjusting my Quidditch robes, preparing for the match that was going to start in less than half an hour.
In the Three weeks up to the match, I’d still been rather furious with Zinny, and hadn’t talked to her much. I mean, she still refused to show any remorse for what happened, since she claimed it was an accident. It seemed like every time I even looked at my friend, I saw Marti whimpering as she was levitated to the hospital wing. Marti was infuriating, I would be the first to admit that, but I knew that what she’d gone through must have been awful.
If Clay hadn’t had offered to take her in, I would have.
Zinny sat next to me while we waited for Paul to give us some last minute reminders in his pep talk. She kept tapping her fingers on her knee, nervously. I didn’t look at her.
“Andy,” she said in a whisper, “I can’t stand it anymore.”
“Stand what?” I asked coyly, even though I knew what she meant.
“This,” she waved her hand between the two of us. “I can’t stand not having you speak with me. What more can I do? Put puss in my eye? Will that make you talk to me?”
I shook my head, “I don’t like this either, Zinny. You are my best friend, and I miss talking with you, too. But… you didn’t even act sorry for her.”
“Why should I? It was an accident, you know that, and I don’t like her besides. Sorry, but I can’t show remorse when I don’t have it. But I thought we were friends through good and bad, I thought you accepted that I was… different.”
I smiled in spite of myself, “This has nothing to do with you being an odd-ball. I just couldn’t believe you thought that was funny. It really hurt her, Zinny.”
She turned to me and looked me straight in the eye, “And this, you not being with me, hurts me just as much. I do feel bad that she got hurt, but I have a sick sense of humor, and I thought they way she wiggled was funny! I’m sorry I’m too weird for you, Andran, but that’s all I can be sorry about! She’s not even in our house, for crying out loud! She’s a bloody Ravenclaw!”
… I hate it when she has a point. Marti was all right now, from what I saw, and, true, she wasn’t my housemate. I didn’t have a reason to care this much. And, most definitely, what I did have wasn’t enough for me to lose my best friend.
I shook my head, to clear my thoughts, and sighed, “Eh, you’re right, Zin. This shouldn’t be that big of a deal to me, especially since you’re the best friend any Gryffindor could ask for,” she looked up at me and grinned, “I’m sorry, too. Forgive me?”
She threw her arms around me, “Anytime!” then she let go and bounced up and down a little, “Let’s get ready to cream Ravenclaw!”
*** *** ***
Some people get happy before Quidditch Match. Others get nervous. Okay, so most people get nervous. Me? I get grumpy.
“Out of my way!” I shouted while digging in the locker I was given to put my regular clothes into. Most people stopped what they were doing around the room, to stare at me. I think they wanted to see who I was yelling at… they all smirked when they saw it was my own bag.
Maybe that’s why I’m so violent when I get out into the pitch. I’d not thought of that before…
It took me a moment to find what I was looking for “ an elastic tie for my hair. It was so long and all over the place, I knew it would be a problem if I didn’t tie it back. I started to give myself a pony-tail, but as that would still let most of my hair roam free, I thought better of it, and twisted it into a bun on the back of my head. With that done, I was ready.
I took Nina, my broom, from my locker and seated myself between my fellow chasers, Jason Barde and Evelyn Russell. Jason bumped my arm and I shoved him back.
“Ouch,” he said with a frown, “Marti, what was that for?”
“Oh, sorry Jason,” I said, trying to sound as heartfelt as possible. But, really, he shouldn’t have touched me.
There was a point when Rich tried to give us a pep talk, but while he was confident in our abilities, he didn’t seem to be too talkative before a match, either.
“Alright… team,” he said with a pause, “We can do this, I know we can. All we got to do is… win. We can do that, right?”
I gave a bitter laugh, but as most people were snickering a little, no one seemed to notice.
“Okay,” he clapped his hands together and hefted his broom, “Let’s head out to the pitch!”
I didn’t start to feel a little less grumpy until I was on Nina and in the air. The voice of seventh-year Hufflepuff, Evan Humphreys filled the stands.
“And here comes the Ravenclaw team! Captain and keeper, Rich Westman!” the students in the stands roared as Rich made a lap around the field, “And then we’ve got Barde! Russell! Owlsten! Appleby! Garrett! And last but not least, Seeker Helquist!”
I was uncomfortable doing a lap around the field, but I wasn’t about to stand out from the rest. I followed Evelyn around, and then lined up for the Gryffindors to enter the field, so we could shake hands.
Was it just me, or did the crowd roar grow in size when they entered the field?
“And now, here comes the Gryffindor Team! Captain and Chaser, Paul Drake! And Pearson! Tinkerman! Dawson! Gose! Audierus! And Seeker, McAfee!”
They, too, flew once around the field before lining up to shake hands with us. Just the way they lined up, I had to shake hands with Kayla Dawson, and she was nice enough.
“Alright, alright, take your places,” Professor Weasley called. He mounted his own broom and we kicked off. Weasley released the Bludgers and the Snitch, and then hovered just above the ground with the Quaffle. “Starters?” he called. We all kicked off, and we chasers on each side waited for the whistle.
Just before Weasley blew the whistle, I nodded to Evelyn, letting her know she should go for the Quaffle, and I’d be ready and open for it when she was swarmed. She nodded back.
And then the game began.
“Russell takes possession,” Evan’s voice rang out, “But Pearson and Tinkerman aren’t taking that well. Tinkerman in pursuit… Russell passes to Owlsten, who races to goal posts! Look at her go, small but fast…”
I had the big red ball under my arm and all I could see were the goal posts. I urged Nina on, but somewhere in the corner of my sight I saw two black flashes…
“Jason!” I yelled, “Catch!”
Just as practiced, Jason was about twenty feet below me, and about the same for distance behind. I dropped the Quaffle into his waiting arms, and pulled up just in time to miss two Bludgers that Dawson and Gose had launched at me. They crossed below me, and Jason continued on his way towards Andran and the Goal. Gose had already re-launched one of the Bludgers towards Jason... just as we had expected from them.
“Nice play by the Ravenclaw team!” Evans shouted, “Barde nears the Goal posts, can Audierus block him? Barde swerves left, feints right, WHOA!” Andran, by what had to be a fraction of an inch, dodged a Bludger that had been following Jason. As Andran ducked, Jason threw…
There was a clang and Evan roared, “TEN POINTS TO RAVENCLAW! Ten nothing, Ravenclaw! And what a play!”
The game went on for a while. Jason and Evelyn and myself tossed and tossed, but it wasn’t long before Drake intercepted the Quaffle from Evelyn and they scored a few points. Jason took a Bludger to the shoulder, but was still able to play. And then…
Weasley blew his whistle, “Foul, on Gryffindor!” he shouted.
I blinked and looked around. Todd Helquist, or seeker, was lying on the ground.
“Rich,” I called, landing and racing to Rich Westman, who was kneeling by Todd, trying to wake him up. “Rich, what happened?”
Rich shook his head; “Pearson hit a Bludger right at him, knocked him out cold. Marti, you’re going to have to take his place.”
“What? But I haven’t practiced much as seeker!”
Rich turned to me, leaving Weasley and a few more teachers to levitate Todd off the field, “You are our reserve,” he said sternly, “And now you’re our seeker. Tammy can fill in as reserve chaser. Buttons, you’re up!” he called, and second year Tammy Buttons zoomed onto the field.
“Can you be our seeker, Owlsten?” Rich asked me again.
Could I? That was a stupid question, for so many reasons. Mainly, he was captain, and I was reserve. I couldn’t say no. “Yes, sir.”
I mounted Nina and took my place above the rest.
*** *** ***
“Quite a blow to the Ravenclaw team,” Humphreys said, “But, it looks like they’re alright, and Todd, too. Chaser Marti Owlsten is now changing from chaser to seeker, and it looks like Tammy Buttons will be filling in as chaser! Let the game resume!”
I watched from my place in front of the goal posts as Marti flew to hover around the field near Clay. Zinny, I could see, didn’t look too pleased about that.
But then Evelyn Russell was heading my way, and I caught the Quaffle before it flew through the lowest goal. I threw it and Paul caught it and headed across the field. I watched the Quaffle carefully… down the field, Paul scored, making us eighty-to-twenty in the lead.
After a few moments, Clay spotted the snitch and dived for it… Watching him, Marti saw it too. She hugged her broom with one arm out and dived after it. Had it not been Clay’s classic feint to see how good Marti was, and the snitch actually been spotted, Marti would have caught it. She was smaller and lighter than Clay, and her broom was in better condition, even though it seemed to be similar to Clay's. She noticed that Clay was watching her as she dived, and even I could see that she was furious that he had tricked her, and she pulled up… brushing her broom twigs across his head as she did so.
Wait… did she just grin at him? Was that a joke? I watched him grin back and wave at her as she passed… was there something going on between them????
“Andran!” Zinny shrieked as Evelyn Russell threw the Quaffle right past me. There was a clang, and Ravenclaw scored. Eighty-thirty.
Zinny made a zoom past me, “Pay attention, you great prat!” she hissed.
I stuck my tongue out at her as she flew on… and had to hold back a gasp. Flying right behind Zinny, right behind her head, almost in her hair, was the Golden Snitch.
But there was no way to tell Zinny. I couldn’t leave my posts, else Drake would murder me, and she couldn’t hear me from her distance. And the worst thing about it was that against the backdrop of Zinny’s dark hair I could see it plain as day. And if I could see it, from half way across the pitch, so could the others.
There was nothing I could do now but watch.
Sure enough, Marti spotted the snitch, like I thought she would. She dived hard. Slender as a rail, wrapped tightly against her broomstick, she zoomed straight at the back of Zinny’s head.
Clay went after it, too. He dived, and called out to Zinny, “Zinny! Duck!”
But, not to be rude to my best friend, Zinny has a one-track mind. When she thinks of one thing, there’s no room for much else. She was after the Quaffle, as Chaser, and when she heard what Clay said it took her a moment to register what was going on.
“What?” she turned to look at Clay, but Marti was much closer, and then it was too late.
They collided hard. The crowds gave a unanimous groan as Marti slammed full into Zinny.
But there’s nothing wrong with Zinny’s grip, I must say.
“Ouch!” Evan groaned with the crowd, “That’s got to hurt. Seeker Owlsten spotted the snitch and rammed into Pearson! Did she catch it?”
“Get off me!” Zinny roared. But Marti wasn’t listening. I think she had the same type of one-track mind that Zinny did.
“Where’d it go? Where’d it go?” she was yelling back.
Weasley had to fly over and disentangle them, after which Marti realized that the Snitch was gone and she went off to find it. Zinny, on the other hand, glared after her, angrily. I had a bad feeling about that.
But then I had to block a shot by Tammy Buttons. I caught the Quaffle and tossed it to Kenneth Tinkerman, our third chaser. He raced it down the pitch and nearly out of my sight.
That was about when it happened. I saw it, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Ken tossed the Quaffle at Zinny, and she caught it. Veronica Appleby, one of the Ravenclaw Beaters, knocked a Bludger towards Zinny. Zinny saw it coming and began looking around for something quickly. At the same time, Marti spotted the Snitch in the middle of the pitch, just floating there, and she took after it. When the Bludger was right upon Zinny, she spun on her broom and wrapped criss-crossed her ankles behind the base of her broom and….
WHAT?!!!
As she spun, the base of her broom connected with the Bludger, with her legs behind it for added support… She cried out, I think she snapped her ankle. Maybe both of them, I couldn’t tell. I was too busy watching where that Bludger went… what had been so important that she had to become a makeshift beater?
Marti had her back turned to what Zinny did, and she was almost to the Golden Snitch, but the Bludger got to her first.
It hit her right in the back of the head. The tie that had been holding her hair back was no more, her hair was all over, and she was out cold.
And over a hundred feet up in the air!
The Quaffle was still being thrown about, and Marti was in a dead fall… could no one see her? Weasley blew his whistle and raced to catch her, but her legs were still wrapped around her broom, and it was wiggling all over the place, making her fall erratic and unpredictable…
I don’t know why I did it, but as she was falling, near fifty feet from the ground, I noticed that she was on my side of the field, and most everyone was over twenty feet from her…
“Marti!” I yelled, leaning onto my broom and flew after her. She was small and light, and wouldn’t fall as fast as I could dive from the goal posts. I watched as her legs popped free of her broom and it wandered away… and she started tumbling end over end…
Heavens… if I didn’t reach her and she landed on her head…
But my theory was correct. She was twenty feet from the field and I was thirty feet from her. Fifteen feet from the field, twenty feet from her… Ten feet from the field, five feet from her…
She was less than five feet from the ground when I caught her. She’d tumbled right side up, and I’d just managed to wrap my right arm around her middle when our paths collided. I could hear people cheering from the stands as I slowed, got off my broom and laid Marti down on the field.
Breathing hard, I put her on her back, laying her head down carefully. Her teammates where landing all around us. A few of mine were too, though most were still in the air. Zinny I could tell was hovering nearby. I don’t think she could stand off her broom.
I looked Marti over… and then I noticed that something was wrong. Her face was turning blue and her mouth looked a little swollen.
No…
“What’s wrong?” Westman demanded from my left.
“I don’t know!” I yelled. She was bluer now. My mind began racing.
Weasley was there then, and he was trying to figure what was wrong, too… and then I figured it out. She wasn’t breathing!
Could she have?
I knew it probably meant detention, but I shoved Weasley aside and took hold of Marti’s face.
“Andran!” Weasley shouted, trying to get me off her.
“I know what’s wrong! Let me help her!” I bellowed. I think the whole stadium could hear me, now. It was silent everywhere.
Quickly putting my hand beneath her neck, and brushing her hair from her face, I parted her blue lips with my fingers and reached three fingers into her mouth. Her mouth was so small, three was all I could fit… or maybe my hands were just too big…
Somewhere to my left, I could hear the Ravenclaw team in an uproar at what I was doing, but I knew what was wrong, and I could fix it. It wasn’t easy with three fingers, but she needed air… down in her throat I felt what I was looking for… It was fluttering all around, and was a hard thing to hold on to, but I took hold of the fluttering wings and pulled the Golden Snitch from where it had lodged itself in her throat.
Marti gasped and coughed, her eyes only opening briefly before she was out again. Cries went out around the Pitch when I held up what had almost killed her.
“What the “ Martina Owlsten, uh, apparently caught the Snitch! Ravenclaw wins!” Evan shouted.
I didn’t hear him. Weasley took the fluttering golden ball from my hand and I could feel a crowd of people around me, but all I could do was look at her. She was in my arms now, as I could tell that she had lump on her head and I didn’t want to put her back down on that lump. She was unconscious, but her breaths were short and gasping. I could feel them, for her head had fallen to the side, and her breath was against my forearm.
In just a moment, I had a peculiar feeling. I…I don’t really know what it was. Her face was so white and her lips now were pink, not blue. And she wasn’t yelling at me, that was always nice… and I was shaking a little, but I reached out and touched her cheek to see if it was as soft at it looked… I think she had the longest eyelashes I’d ever seen…
Then some teacher levitated her out of my arms and hurried in the direction of the hospital wing. I just sat there, still shaking. She had almost suffocated to death… had I not thought of where the Snitch had gone…
Then someone lifted me up. Weasley lifted me up, and there was Professor Granger with a hand on my shoulder.
“Audierus, are you alright?” she asked quietly.
I nodded numbly, “She almost died.” I managed.
Weasley patted my back, “Right smart job there, Andran,” he said with a kind smile, “Twenty points to Gryffindor.”
“Thanks…” my team crowded around me, all surprised and even excited. Drake looked surprised… I was sure he would have been mad.
“That was amazing,” he whispered to me.
“You’re not mad? We lost,”
He shrugged, “Yeah, but you earned us twenty points, and you saved her life, Andran.”
I smiled and headed towards the hospital wing. Zinny was floating ahead, and I could see that Professor Granger was with her, helping her. She was still on her broom, so I think she had hurt both her ankles, and Granger was holding her shoulders, keeping her straight and leading her slowly towards the castle. I wasn’t feeling too great myself. Perhaps some Pepper Up Potion would fix that…
I headed on my way, but I couldn’t remove the sight of white skin and pink lips from my vision.
*** *** ***
Later that evening, when I’d been released from the Hospital wing, trudged towards the Common Room. I was tired, and I was hurt. Not physically, for broken ankles were easily fixable.
I was hurt because I had seen him hold her in his arms. I saw the look on his face.
I struggled up the stairs to the Gryffindor Sixth-year Girl’s dorm, and flopped on my bed. Smothering my face in my pillow, I sobbed myself to sleep.
Enjoy! I know this was quite some time in coming, but thanks for being patient! I hope this lives up to what you expected... even though I didn't think there was anything very funny in it...
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