Glory |A. Potter|

Thirty-Seven

"Jane! Jane! JANE!"

Antonio landed roughly on the ground, almost hysteric as he sprinted the remaining distance to the right goal post in the Gryffindor's side of the Pitch, to the unmoving body of his teammate. The game had stopped shortly after Jane had fallen. He had been on the other side of the Pitch when he had seen her fall. Somehow he managed to be the first one by her side.

He fell to his knees beside her, eyes rapidly welling with tears as he took in her body, spread in an awkward position. He could only see half of her face and in his panic, he took off her helmet and reached over to push her to the side as gently as he possibly could. A whimper was torn from his throat before he had even realised it.

He looked away from her face, his eyes immediately closing, willing himself to forget of what he saw. There was blood, so much of it, starting to trail down her face now he had moved her and to her Quidditch uniform. The Pitch beneath her was already stained. She wasn't moving. Antonio had never fought the urge to cry so fiercely in his life.

Roxanne was soon landing next to him, the rest of the Slytherin Team following suit. Antonio could tell the exact moment she realised the damage on Jane's body. She let out a choked sob, landed harshly next to Antonio, raised a hand to cover her mouth.

The referee only just arrived in the scene with the nurse in tow and quickly, they were levitating Jane and heading back to the castle. Professors were also starting to arrive in the Pitch. Now, the wind had almost stopped. From a few ways away, Antonio could hear Albus yelling at the Professor standing in front of him, refusing to let him pass in the Pitch.

"So you allow them to play in such a weather but I'm not allowed in the Pitch after your failure?!"

"Detention, Mr Potter-"

"See if I come!"

Antonio didn't listen any more. He turned his attention on Roxanne looking in the direction Jane had disappeared to, and he was about to attempt to comfort her when the Captain reached them.

"We need to finish the game."

"Like hell we are finishing without her," Roxanne snarled with a glare. "We cancel the game and play again when she's ready."

"We can't," he frowned, "it's against the rules. I wish we just stopped, too. But we can't. What we can do now is win the game."

Antonio and Roxanne shook their heads but had no other choice. They would try to win for Jane. They took their broomstick and with the rest of the players, rose in the air.

The Slytherin team wasn't all that focused for the duration of the game. It was over soon, when the Gryffindor Seeker caught the Snitch, giving the victory to Gryffindor. One by one, the Slytherins landed and headed over to the changing rooms. Antonio and Roxanne were quiet as they got ready but still, there was an unspoken deal between them, it seemed. Antonio finished first and waited until Roxanne was ready to leave as well to escort her out. They walked side by side and it was only when they had left the Pitch Antonio spoke up.

"We should find her broomstick. She will want it back, probably."

Roxanne nodded at once, and so they walked in the general direction of where they had seen the broom disappear off to. They looked around for a while until Roxanne stopped in the edge of the path and called out a summoning spell.

"Accio Nimbus 2000!"

Jane's broom was an old model, a lot slower than those all others had, a lot cheaper as well, but she had been so skilled there had been almost no difference in the Pitch. Antonio had forgotten about it and was surprised at the model Roxanne called out. He didn't have the time to be surprised, though, when a piece of wood was hurled towards him. Then another. He fell to the ground as Roxanne did the same with a small shriek. They waited for a couple of moments until the rain of wood had stopped before they rose once more and curiously looked at the pieces of wood that had come to a stop in front of Roxanne. Antonio inspected it for a moment, eyebrows furrowed as he examined the thin pieces of wood. Then his eyes caught sight of little gold markings on the handle.