Forever&Always

Chapter Twenty Seven

Juliet's P.O.V

Today is our first quidditch match, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin and it hasn't been going too well, since Sirius and I have been getting into fights on the field. We try to knock each other off the brooms and honestly, I'd rather knock Sirius off and feel self victory than beat Slytherin and feel team victory. James has threatened to kick us off the team multiple times, but I'm sure he wouldn't actually deprive the team of his two best players. It's down pouring and I'm bummed about having to play in the rain. Right now, I'm on the girl's side of the locker room and I can hear James start his pep talk on the guy's side. I jump on the bench, pop my head over the top of the lockers, and listen to James speak. I heard a girly squeal to my right. I spin my head to where it came from and I can our seeker, Travis, shielding his bare chest with a pair of quidditch tights.

"Oh, get over yourself" I say to him. I turn my head back to James.

"Alright, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, Slytherin has a pretty sucky team this year. Their best team member graduated last year and now they're no match for our beaters who never fail to block bludgers, our keepers who never let the quaffles in, our seeker who always catches the snitch, and of course the three amazing chasers who consistently get the quaffles in the goals and are just generally amazing" James smiles at me.

"So, let's get out their and kick Slytherin's rude arses!" He yells, the team goes into an uproar as they charge out of the locker rooms.

I walk behind them and onto the pitch. Not seconds later, I'm completely drenched, head to toe. The rain is freezing, being the end of January and it causes me to want to turn back, but I know I can't because the whole school is watching from the stands. I even heard that Dumbledore was attending. The Slytherin team was already on the pitch.

"And here comes the Gryffindor team. Captain Potter and teammates Black, Longbottom, McKinnon, Grant, Samuels, and last but certainly not least, Mercer!" boomed the happy voice of Alice Prewett who was chosen to commentate.

"Mount your brooms, please" Madam Hooch called to us. I put the broom between my legs and got into a kick-off stance.

"Ready, set, go!" she yelled. I kicked my legs off the ground and zoomed into the air, in search of the quaffle. I looked to my right and a Slytherin had it under his arm.

"Rosier has hold of the quaffle, he's going for a goal and it's only 10 seconds into the match. McKinnon knocks it out of his hands, tosses it to Mercer, Mercer tosses it to Potter and - he shoots, he scores!"

The Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff stands roar, I guess they're routing for us.

"10 - 0 to Gryffindor"

"Avery hits a bludger towards the Gryffindor seeker, Samuels and it hits him straight in the back. Oh my- that's gonna be a nasty bruise"

"Slytherin in possession of the Quaffle, Rosier throws the quaffle at the goal, but - oh, a nice save by Potter"

"Potter in possession, he throws the quaffle to Mercer, Mercer dodges Avery's bludger and - she scores! Another ten points to Gryffindor!"

"20 to 0, with Slytherin in possession"

"Avery goes for the ball - oh what's that? Has Regulus Black found the snitch- nope false alarm. Avery in possession, he shoots and - ugh, he scores"

"20 to 10, Gryffindor" Alice says

"Alrighty, we have Slytherin in possession and -once again they score" Alice sighs "20 to 20, a tie"

Marlene looks at me and nods, which is our signal for a teamwork move we do. I flew underneath the Slytherin who was now in possession of the quaffle and Marlene rammed into him from the back, causing him to drop the quaffle straight into my arms. I flew quickly to the goal post, but the keeper blocked my throw.

"A good save by the Slytherin keeper" Alice notes

I fly away from the goal and go after the quaffle once again, but someone rams into me from the back. I look behind me and Sirius stands there acting as if he had done nothing. I continue on ignoring him and chase Avery, who now has the quaffle. James gets ahold of the quaffle and passes it to me. I take my hands off the broom to catch it and someone - Sirius- Rams into me again. I lose my balance and fall from the broom, but catch myself just in the knick of time. I'm dangling from the broom by one hand at this point. I chance a look below me, and I'm so high up that I'm a goner if I fall. I struggle to pull myself up, but it's impossible, I have slim to no upper body strength.

"Someone help her!" Alice screeched from over the loud speaker.

Sirius flew over with a guilty look on his face and extended a hand out to me. I grabbed it, but instead of him pulling me up, I accidentally pulled him down. The air pushed against my face as I was falling and falling. I closed my eyes as I waited for the inevitable. And eventually, as I expected, it came. A horrible pain shot through my back before I blacked out.

***

I woke up in the hospital wing with the curtain around me closed. My back ached, but it was nothing compared to the pain I felt when I hit the ground. I wonder what happened to Sirius. He fell too. I pull the sheets off myself and slip my feet into the quidditch shoes that sit next to the bed. I draw back the curtains and look around. At the back of the room, I can see James with his arm around Lily.

"What do we have here?" I asked with a smirk on my face. Lily looked up at me and and then back at James, before jumping out of the seat.

"Nothing, nothing - how's your back?" she asked trying to change the subject.

"Hm, I see how it is. It's a little sore. What happened to it anyway?" I asked

"Madam Pomfrey said that you fractured your lower spine or something. She fixed it while you were sleeping though" James tells me

"Oh and where's Sirius?" I asked trying to sound not too interested.

"Over there. He woke up a while ago, but he went back to sleep. He was much more hurt than you were though. You kinda landed on top of him when you fell" Lily said.

"Oh my gosh. You're kidding right?!" I asked

"No.." Lily said

"What happened to him?" I asked

"Broken ribs, broken arm, and a pretty messed up face. Believe me, the scene was not pretty" James shivered.

"How long has it been?" I asked

"Oh not long, maybe 6 hours" Lily shrugged.

"We're going to dinner. We'll be back in a hour, Juliet" James tells me. I nod.

Once they close the door behind them, I make my way over to the first curtain, hoping its Sirius'. I poke my head in and indeed it is. I slide the curtain open enough, so my body can fit through. He's asleep, so I poke his face. His striking grey eyes open slowly and stare up at me.

"I'm sorry" he says in a deep raspy voice.

"No, I'm the one that should be sorry, if I hadn't shoved you on the broom in practice that week, the whole broom fiasco wouldn't have happened. And I was the one who fell on top of you, wasn't I?" I tell him

"No, I'm sorry for more than that. I deserved you falling on top of me from rapid speeds and breaking almost all of my ribs, arm and messing up my ridiculously handsome face" he points to the cuts, that aren't totally healed on his face "I was so rude to you this past month and I was being a total jerk. Would you ever forgive me, Juliet Mercer?" he pleads.

I laugh at him, because he is now on the floor on both knees begging for my forgiveness.

"Of course I forgive you, now get off the floor, you big buffoon" I giggle. Ew, I just giggled.

"Uh, a little help? My ribs still hurt a bit" he asks. I grab his hands and pull him up onto his feet.

"Thank you, oh-so-kind lady" he smiles

"Any time, oh-so-kind sir" I say