Raven (Fred x oc)

16. Eagles and Lions

"So, I had an idea," Alicia said as we came into the dorm to have our girl's night before the game. "So you know how I'm a prefect? I can get us into the prefect's bathroom and there is a gigantic bath tub." Soon we were all in the warm water and I let out a content sigh.

"Great suggestion, Alicia," Angelina said. "This is great."

Sitting up, Katie said, "Okay so spill. Why aren't you and Professor Lupin on speaking terms?" Angelina and I exchanged looks. Brows furrowed, she asked, "What?"

"Uh," I replied awkwardly. "It, um, has to do with my dad so I wasn't going to mention it."

"Oh," she replied quietly.

"So what did you do over break, Alicia?" I asked. As she began talking, some tension seemed to be relieved and we went back to how we had been before. After a long relaxing night, we all returned to the dorm and got some sleep.

After all the pre-game rituals, we were all standing in the locker room in our robes. "You know what we've got to do," Oliver said, facing us all. "If we lose this match, we're out of the running. Just - just fly like you did in practice yesterday, and we'll be okay."

"We got this, Ollie," I insisted, faking confidence to cover the anxiety growing in the pit on my stomach. Once we were out on the field, I felt my anxiety grow, but Fred grabbed hold of my hand, rubbing his thumb over my hand comfortingly. I squeezed back, giving him a grateful smile as Oliver and Rodger Davis shook hands.

"Mount your brooms," Madame Hooch ordered. We all did so. "On my whistle. Three...two...one-" Instantly we pushed off. With my greater speed, I managed to be the first one to the Quaffle.

"They're off," Lee Jordan called. "And the big excitement of this match are the two Firebolts flown by Harry Potter and Valerie Black." Smiling, I tuned him out as I soared towards the goalpost, turning and twisting out of reach as the Ravenclaw chasers attempted to steal the ball from me. Soon I was almost completely surrounded.

"Ange!" I shouted, pretending to throw it to her while actually tossing it to Katie. Smirking, Katie streaked towards the goalpost as Angelina and I continued to divert their attention. Next moment, Katie scored.

"Val!' George shouted, rushing towards me just behind a buldger. Instantly I pulled the handle up, curving around and catching the Quaffle and beginning to take aim. Harry began to dive as Katie, Angelina, and I all kept scoring.

"Gryffindor leads eighty points to zero," Lee called. "And look at those Firebolts go. Potter and Black are really putting it through its paces now, see it turn - Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision-balance is really noticeable in these long-" McGonagall began to scream at him as one of the Ravenclaw chasers scored for the third time.

Swooping over Alicia and Angelina, I called, "Come on ladies, we got it. Let's go. Formation three."

"You got it," Katie called back. "Johnson, position two, I'l take three. Black, you know what to do." We moved so I was on the far left, Angelina in the center, and Katie on the far right.

"Pull," Katie shouted and instantly we all moved, moving in a perfect circle around as Angelina caught the Quaffle. The Ravenclaw chasers began to swarm around me, but every time they moved so did we, tossing the ball between us and changing positions so frequently they didn't have time to try and move between us. With this method, we managed to score several more points with few steals.

However, while I was flying, I suddenly dipped towards the ground, trying to escape the opposing chasers when a blinding light hit me full in the face. Next moment, it was gone and black figures were streaking towards the ground and Madame Hooch blew her whistle. Looking up, I spotted the snitch in Harry's hand. Sharing excited looks with the others, I let out a cheer and we all landed.

Angelina and Katie both kissed Harry and I ran towards him, instantly wrapping my arms around him tightly, everything forgotten. Turning to the twins, I hugged them both, shouting, "We won!" As I pulled away from Fred, I kissed his cheek, smiling widely. He blushed, but I barely registered it as I turned to the others.

As I was talking excitedly with Angelina and Katie, I heard a voice behind me say, "That was quite some patronus." Turning, I spotted Remus talking to Harry.

"The dementors didn't effect me at all!" Harry said excitedly. "And I didn't see Valerie effected either!"

"That would be because they - er - weren't dementors," Remus admitted.

"What?" I exclaimed, turning around to look at them.

"Come and see," he replied, smirking slightly. We followed behind him as he said, "You gave Mr. Malfoy quite a fright." I laughed, savoring in the sight of Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and Flint all being screamed at by McGonagall.

"Come on, guys!" George shouted, rushing over to us. "Party in the Gryffindor Common Room, now!"

"Right," Harry replied, smiling widely.

Soon the party was in full swing and there was music, food, and drinks. Sipping at a butterbeer, I chatted with Angelina, Katie, and Alicia about the match. I let out a laugh at something Katie had said before we quieted and she said, "Listen, Val, I know things have been weird between us this year, but...I don't care that Sirius Black is your father. You're still my friend. That's more important to me and I'm sorry it took me so long to see that."

"It's okay," I replied. Chuckling, I said, "Come here." She wrapped her arms around me and we hugged, everything between us completely right.

"Val, dance with me," Fred asked, stepping towards me.

"No one else is," I countered with a laugh.

"So?" he laughed. "Come on." Rolling my eyes at the girl's smirks, I consented to allow Fred to grab my hand and lead me to the middle of the room. Soon others joined in and we were having a full-fledged party. We danced for hours until we were both sweating and out of breath. Smiling happily, Fred offered, "I'll go and get us a drink."

"Thank you," I replied, moving back over to the girls. At the sight of me, they all took on teasing smirks. Fighting a blush, I sighed, "What?"

"Don't think we didn't see you two," Angelina laughed.

"Yeah, I don't know," Katie teased, smirking at Angelina and Alicia. "They looked like they were getting pretty cozy to me."

"Who was getting cozy?" Fred asked, appearing by my side.

"No one," I said quickly.

"Oh, well here you are," he replied, dramatically handing me a butterbeer. Angelina raised an eyebrow at me as I grabbed it from him.

"Well, I'm thinking I need a drink," Alicia said smirking. "Ange, Katie, join me?" They left us alone and I took a sip of my drink. A bit later, we started dancing again, our bodies moving together fluidly before I suddenly became aware of two things. The first of which was how close we were to each other. The second was how my heart raced and my eyes shifted quickly down to his lips.

Fred noticed. His hand cupping my cheek, he began to lean in towards me. My eyes fluttered closed, waiting to feel his lips on mine, but the next moment, McGonagall burst through the portrait hole and shouted, "Now, really! It is one in the morning." Fred and I jumped apart, looking sheepish. "Go to bed. All of you, now!" Blushing, I glanced at Fred, giving him a small smile before I turned to go up the stairs.

We all got in bed, not wanting to deal with a tired, angry McGonagall, and went to sleep.