Part 10: Toiling Trouble

I eventually headed back inside, careful to keep my footsteps and breathing silent because I knew well that Argus Filch, Hogwarts caretaker, was roaming the halls at this hour, on the lookout for stray students. The snow fell softly on the ground and felt like cotton as I stepped and, sometimes, slid on it. My breath came out in shimmers of white mist, rising up towards the overcast sky above where the snow originated.

            As soon as a shiver crept down my back, I broke my gaze on the sky and continued my walk to get inside and get warm. By the time I reached the entrance to the school and got inside, I was half-frozen and practically starving. I placed a shaking a hand over my stomach. It rumbled with the thunder that often comes from being hungry. I then remembered that I had neglected to get dinner.

            Just great.

            I went down to the kitchens to get something from the house elves. They graciously offered me mouthwatering pastries and honeyed tea (my favorite kind, by the way). When I had left full, warm and happy and ready to sleep, I thought I heard something.

            Right in the middle of a yawn, I heard the faint shuffling of footsteps against stone and the soft panting of someone’s breath. My heart practically stopped for fear of being caught this late at night and then getting in trouble. I realized that the sounds were fading, though. Curiosity then propelled me to follow the sounds. I turned a corner and spotted a dark figure too hard to see just a few feet ahead of me, walking carefully and watching in front of him.

            He looked behind him and I carefully pressed into a shadowed part of the wall. As the dim light of the torches caught his face, a something glinted in his eyes. Glasses. And his hair shown black.

            At that moment I almost gasped, but covered my mouth. What the heck was Harry doing out this late? And of all people, why was he being so…so suspicious?

            It was then, against the dear wishes of my affection for him, that I decided to follow him.

            When Harry had turned the corner up ahead, I crept silently and hastily up after him. The silence gave my senses a much sharper outlook so that I was much more alert than before, plus the fact that all this excitement and adrenaline was making me really vigilant and eager. If I didn’t handle myself correctly now, I swear that my stomach would literally jump out of me.

            I turned the next corner and followed Harry as cautiously as I could. But I was surprised to find him face to face with the very same griffin that leads to Professor Dumbledore’s office. He disappeared as soon as he whispered the password out loud.

            What the heck is he up to?

            It was after that I gave up and simply went to bed. As I lay there trying to get some sleep, I kept wondering what Harry wasn’t telling. Why would he want to visit Dumbledore’s office in the dead of night?

 

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            I am Ravenclaw Seeker, am I not? Well, just because it was Christmas vacation didn’t mean that we got off that easily. It was months since we had all last played and Blakely thought it good that remaining people who were staying at Hogwarts for the holidays practice and be in good shape for the match in January where Ravenclaw was playing against Gryffindor.

            In our uniforms, and freezing if I might add, we stood out in the deserted arena in the snow, awaiting Blakely’s directions.

            He came out and stood in front of us all. He kept on glancing at me every now and then.

            “Those of you who have stayed on during the holidays know we will be practicing. Each of you will be working separately, and then later we’ll play a mock game to see what we have to improve.”

            After his little speech, Blakely dismissed us. I was assigned to chase a Snitch around the top of the arena in order to stay out of the way of my fellow teammates.

            I leaned upwards on my Firebolt, zooming up high into the air far above the ground. The feeling I get when I fly is so great. My heart jumps every time I soar down, turn, and speed. It’s great.

            The only bad thing about being up this high is not spotting things easily. I frantically searched around the space around me with my eyes for the Snitch, but my tries were of no avail. Until I spotted a shimmer of gold moving around hastily in the distance in front of me. I knew that it just had to be the Golden Snitch. I sped up behind it carefully.

            Unfortunately it escaped my reach once I caught up to it. I followed it around, careful not to let it out of my sight. After all that’s a skill I desperately needed to have especially with the Quidditch match in January coming up and all. And who knows? It could also come in handy with something else someday soon. You never know about these sorts of things.

            I noticed that I was flying faster and faster and soaring higher by the second. The wind that whipped my cheek was freezing and it literally burned me as it struck both my cheeks. The hair that was loose from my braid instantly snapped back in the force of the wind.

            Something unexpected happened then. Two rogue bludgers appeared, pushing themselves against the force of the wind in order to get straight to me. When they got near enough, they tried to strike me. I veered left but ended up spinning around crazily in the overcast sky.

            I rose a hand to the goggles that graciously protected my eyes from watering in the harsh cold of winter and the strong, whipping winds of the skies. A moment too late I realized that this was a bad thing to do for the second I lifted my goggles I saw something horrible. One of the two bludgers was headed straight for my face. And too late could I do anything for, before I knew it, a sharp pain exploded in my face and my hands released their grip from around my broom. I began to spiral down to the ground.

            “What’s happening?”

            “Drea! There’s Drea!”

            “Somebody! Help her!”

            I heard these shouts and more so of agony from the others who were practicing. I grabbed for my broom, but all I held was empty air. My broom probably had been thrown away in the strong winds and broke somewhere to bits and pieces. I knew I was helpless to do anything. Even my magic couldn’t help me now, regardless of its strength. Besides, it was a lot better to die a painful death such as one like this than one of magic. I wouldn’t be harming myself that way.

            And then, I felt something warm and alive on my cold flesh. I opened my eyes that I drew shut to accept my fate as it was. I gazed up at none other than our team captain Blakely. He had grabbed me by my forearm and held me on for dear, sweet life. With all his strength, he pulled me up and held me close against his chest. It felt awkward, but oddly (I must admit) warm and at home. He was very muscular and obviously had a six-pack by the hard feel of his chest. Blakely held me close in order to keep me safe.

            As he touched down onto the ground, I lifted my head and spotted a person far away in the shadows of the stands watching and glaring at me. A strange shiver ran down my spine. And that person looked oddly familiar.

            He released me gently from the comforting warmth of his arms. I wobbled on my legs and almost fell down if not for his help again. Everyone gathered around us, asking with worried looks if I was okay.

            I smiled and said, “I’ve seen worse.”

            They were satisfied and awaited directions from their leader. Still holding me, Blakely ordered them to stop practicing.

            “It’s apparently too dangerous to be practicing out here, anyway. Everyone’s to go inside and get warm. Relax and don’t worry about practice until the end of the holidays.”

            They all gladly went to the dressing rooms to return to their original outfits and left.

            “Are you alright?”

            Still in shock from my encounter, I simply nodded.

            “T-thanks for saving me.”

            His normally icy gray eyes defrosted for a moment and regarded me with tender warmth.

            “Glad to be of service to you,” he replied without smiling.

            I looked at him, confused, My hair was blown all over the place and snow landed in it and melted. I sniffed and wrapped my arms around myself. He smirked at me, drawing me close to his chest, warming me thoroughly. I felt something wet on my forehead and touched it gently.

            I pulled away, hissing at my own touch.

            “Ow!”

            He glanced at me.

            “Come on. Let’s get you to the hospital wing.”

            I tried to walk, but my legs felt like rubber. He wrapped an arm around my waist to steady me and his other one around my shoulders. Blakely helped me up to the castle. Regardless of the frigid cold outside, I knew my cheeks were burning; it wasn’t just because of his arm around my waist, but also because of the way he looked at me. It made me feel funny. I mean, it wasn’t perverted or anything, but different from the way I was with Neville when we were together. It felt like the spark Harry and I carried between each other.

            Blakely helped me up the stairs that led to the hospital wing. Some people on the way looked at us as if we were together and some girls even grimaced at me. I knew that Blakely was well liked for his looks, but I simply respected him as my captain and nothing else. Or did I? I didn’t know. I was still all wound up by that terrifying fall I had. My head was still spinning from looking at the incoming ground too much.

            “What’s this?” squawked Madame Pomfrey at the sight of me. “Drea Vela?”

            “Yeah…”

            She tsk-tsked at me, shaking her head.

            “Second time this year. Soon you’ll be making weekly trips.”
            “Heh…yeah.”

            “Lay her down right here, Blakely.”

            Madame Pomfrey pointed to an empty bed in front of us. Blakely laid me gently down. She waved Blakely off and attended to me.

She sat beside me and glanced over my tangled hair and wrinkled Ravenclaw Quidditch uniform. Madame Pomfrey narrowed her eyes at the wound on my head, but nodded to herself.

“That shouldn’t be too hard to mend. Should only take a couple of minutes to tend to.”

She patted something gooey onto my forehead. It felt warm and nice in a gross way. The stinging faded and she patted it clean with a towel. Then she gave me something to drink. I don’t know what it was, but the sharp taste of it helped to clear my head and bring me out of my dazed state.

As soon as she wrapped bandages around my head, she allowed me to leave.

“Don’t take it off until tomorrow night. That way it’ll give the skin some time to regrow over the gash.”

“Thank you, Madame Pomfrey.”

I smiled at her. She waved me off.

“Off with now!”

I headed to the Ravenclaw dormitories to undress, but as I was nearing my destination, Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione ran into me.

Literally.

“Ah!” I shrieked as they knocked me over. “Where the heck are you guys going in a hurry?”

“Drea!” exclaimed Harry. “Here.”

He offered a hand to me and I placed mine in his. He pulled me up and I brushed myself off.

I noticed Ron gaping at me. I ignored him and crossed my arms.

“You guys still owe me an explanation, you know.”

“We’re just…uh…”

“Going to Hagrid’s,” Hermione answered, rolling her eyes at Ron and jabbing him hard in the ribs with her elbow.

“Hey,” said Harry softly, reaching out to my forehead with a hand, “what happened to you?”

“I was at Quidditch practice the Snitch. It led me up high into the sky and two rogue bludgers tried to attack. One got me, as you see.”

Harry’s expression changed to one of the greatest sympathy.

“Do you know who did it?”

“No…but when my Quidditch captain saved me, I was sure I saw someone in the stands. I know that no one else on my team would dare to do a thing like that.”

“Huh…do you know who would hate you that much?”

“I can think of someone. Voldemort.”

 

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Orin stood in a dark corner, listening to the conversation that was taking place between Harry and Drea along with Harry’s friends Ron and Hermione.

“Huh…do you know who would hate you that much?”

“I can think of someone. Voldemort.”

He narrowed his eyes as he listened. He didn’t want to hurt his cousin, but he would for his master. Just because they were family didn’t mean a single thing. Just killing Drea and Harry Potter mattered to the Dark Lord.

What should I do, master?

Wait, Vela, and then…we will attack with all our might.

He nodded at his master’s voice and agreed whole-heartedly. Now was not the time for a full-fledged attack. It would definitely be best to wait until the two of them were in the same place at the same time in order to slaughter them more easily. Kill two birds with one stone.

He slithered deeper into the shadows and moved towards the Hufflepuff tower. Leaving Drea and Potter alive. For now.

He didn’t want to hurt Drea, but he knew he had to. He wouldn’t dare disobey his master for fear of what would be in store for him as punishment.

As soon as he had whispered the password to the dragon statue in front of him, he slipped into the boys’ dormitories. Checking to make sure no one was around, he closed the curtains around his bed. Satisfied, he slid the sleeve of his robes up his arm, he gazed with pride at the mark on his arm. On his left arm was, not a tattoo, but a mark of his loyalty to the Dark Lord. A skull with a snake slithering out. He tasted the power that flowed through him and savored it with great happiness.

Soon both his dear cousin Drea Vela and Harry Potter would both be dead.