The Chaser's Heart

Year 5: The Next Vault

After two days, Murphy allowed Madam Pomfrey to mend his face. He was sure by that point everyone on the school had seen him and heard how he'd come to be injured. DeBoer, on the other hand, hadn't wasted any time on getting his face fixed so I hadn't been able the extent of the damage that Murphy had inflicted. Murphy made sure I had a full and accurate description, though, as well as anyone else who would listen.

We had a three-month break until our next Quidditch match after our draw against Slytherin. Rowan and Penny told me this was the perfect time to focus on studying for the OWLs. I didn't like it, but I had to agree. We only had Quidditch practise once per week, which wasn't enough in my opinion, but all that was reasonable with me studying for the OWLs and Orion and Irina preparing for the NEWTs.

Orion would be leaving Hogwarts after this year. Our math against Gryffindor might be his last match ever at Hogwarts. I was determined to work as hard as I could to secure us a spot in the Final. Orion's methods might not be the most conventional, but they were effective. And I knew for a fact that training under Skye as Captain next year would be a complete reverse of how training under Orion was. So I would appreciate Orion while we still had him.

I was grateful for Murphy's prior experience with the OWLs. Once he was finished with his month of detentions scouring cauldrons without magic, reorganizing Snape's store cupboard, as well as a variety of other unpleasant tasks for Snape, he was free to help me. With no major exams to write this year apart from his normal sixth-year finals, we spent hours in the library and common room together, helping me prepare. I wasn't upset about the alone time either. According to Rowan and Skye, we were nauseating together. I didn't care. I was happy. For the first time since Jacob had gone missing, I felt truly happy. Murphy never ran out of things to say, which was helpful for me. I learned better from listening to someone speak than I did reading the same material from a textbook. We even found an abandoned classroom near Ravenclaw Tower to practise spells in. And then, of course, rewarding ourselves for a job well done with a bit of snogging before curfew.

All seemed well, apart from the looming OWLs and the match against Gryffindor. But, I realized, those were normal things for a sixteen-year-old to worry about. I wasn't worried about Cursed Vaults, Rakepick hadn't said anything to be specifically, but nothing odd was happening at school. Maybe this was what my life could be like from now on, just a normal student, trying to get through fifth-year.

***

I ought to have known the peace wouldn't last. It never did. I ought to have known something bad was about to happen.

One Tuesday evening in April, I was a hundred and fifty feet in the air at Quidditch practise, dodging Bludgers from Ev while attempting to catch the Quaffle Skye was tossing to me and then passing it back. We were laughing and carrying on. I looked forward to our weekly practises, and it was a nice evening. It was still early in the year, but the snow had gone and I no longer needed my thermal gear to fly in. Murphy had, begrudgingly, cast a sandpaper charm on my broom handle so I could grip it better and it was really helping.

'Come on, Ev, you can do better than that!' I taunted him when his Bludger went wide and soared harmlessly over the stands.

'I know,' he scoffed. 'Only I don't want to get my face bashed in,' he pointed his bat towards the Commentary Box where Murphy was ever present, observing and analyzing the practise. 'And we share a dormitory, not a risk I'm willing to take.'

'If you can knock her off her broom, you're playing for England in the next World Cup!' Murphy's voice echoed clear across the pitch.

Paul laughed while Ev grimaced. He did try after that, but, as Murphy had alluded, wasn't successful in knocking me off my broom. He did manage to make me veer off course and for either Skye or Orion to scoop up the Quaffle though, which was an improvement.