Vicious Love [Teddy Lupin]

47. Darker Side

I remember waking up this morning and finding Seth's bleeding body on the floor.
Right next to him was my mother's pale, lifeless body. And then I saw him. My father. He's standing over them as if they were nothing. He was looking at me as if he wanted me to disappear, and his wand was pointed straight at me.

And then I heard a piercing scream. Colleen had tears from her eyes and Nina is as pale as a ghost. We were all looking at the same thing. Colleen was backing away, as if my father was going to attack her. Nina was completely petrified.

I remembered my heart beating so fast, I couldn't breathe.
I also remembered the laughter from outside the room.
It was all a joke. It was a prank to him.
He had toyed with a boggart, fresh out from Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and trapped it in our room for a sick prank.
I confronted him about it, saying that his joke had gone too far and he said that I shouldn't take everything too seriously. He said, I couldn't take a joke.

And so that is why I refuse to talk to Edward Lupin.

Besides, it's not like he tried talking to me. He hasn't even apologized for what he's done. It's the last 2 days of school and he decides to mess everything up now. Our O.W.L's exams are finished and today is our Quidditch match against Slytherin and I can already tell it will not be a good game.

Even with Captain Flint's angry pep talk, I could tell we're all uneasy about the match. We've seen the Slytherin team practice and they have gotten better. And we are going to get killed at this match. Their new players are genuinely skillful and their old ones are the rough ones. We're doomed.

As soon as the gate opens and our team flies around the pitch, the Gryffindor house roars loudly, along with several Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Slytherins made sure to amplify their booing. I took my position by the three hoops on the west side of the field, facing the Keeper of the Slytherin team.

I glanced down at the audience to see Seth screaming for us. Nina and Colleen are also one of the loudest ones, cheering for me and Roxanne. I took a deep breath and pulled my angry expression. Sometimes, I pull off this serious, angry expression so that I can pretend I'm a bad ass woman in the field. Faking confidence always gives me real one, if that makes sense.

I can do this.

As soon as I hear the whistle blow, players from both houses scatter all over the pitch and I kept my eyes on the quaffle. Right now, Nate has it but has two Slytherin Chasers on his tail. He then passed the quaffle to Flint, who quickly flew passed in front of the beaters, purposely leading the other Slytherin Chaser to hit a bludger, before throwing the quaffle to Roxanne. Roxanne, of course, made the first goal as the Slytherin Keeper failed to block her shot.

"10 points to Gryffindor!"

***

"10 points to Slytherin!"

"Captain Flint passes the quaffle to Wood but our new Slytherin Chaser, Matthew Holmes, takes a steal and shoots another 10 points to Slytherin!"
"Gryffindor Keeper Samantha Avery loses advantage as she was hit by a bludger!"

Yes. We are doomed.
And I'm hurt.
I lost one good arm thanks to a bludger but I'm still here.

"10 points to Gryffindor, an excellent shot by Nathan Wood!"
"10 points to Slytherin!"
"Another lucky shot by Roxanne Weasley!"
"Gryffindor catches up, only behind by 30 points!"

We can do this. We can catch up.

"Slytherin's Seeker catches the snitch! Slytherin wins!"

Okay, maybe not.