star shopping ✰ d.m.

CHAPTER EIGHT

For a month, there were no more attacks, no more messages written on the walls in blood, and things began to die down. People were finding themselves comfortable enough to be around and talk to Arabella again, and for this, she was grateful. It improved her mood enough to start raising her hand in class again. Previously, she had withheld from doing so so as to not draw attention to herself.

She was still as mad as ever at Draco Malfoy, although he had done really nothing wrong for a while and Arabella had not gotten in trouble since the night of the attack. She didn't understand why she hated the boy so much, and why he hated her so much, but she had better things to worry about.

The first Quidditch match of the season was taking place, and it was Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Arabella and everyone else at Hogwarts were interested to see how proficient Draco was at being Seeker, but Arabella knew that Harry would be better no matter how good he was.

So far, however, probably due to the fact that the Slytherin team had much better brooms than the Gryffindor team, Slytherin was in the lead 90-30. This worried Arabella, but she had faith in Harry.

Arabella winced as Harry narrowly avoided a Bludger, and had to look away when Oliver Wood's broom was hit and it sent him to the ground. She looked up to see the same Bludger deliberately chasing after Harry and knew something was wrong. She instinctively took out her wand.

"Blimey! Harry's got himself a rogue Bludger!" Hagrid exclaimed. "That's been tampered with, that has."

"I'll stop it," Ron said, apparently having the same idea Arabella had since he had his wand out.

"No!" Hermione said, yanking his arm down. "Even with a proper wand, it's too risky. You could hit Harry. That goes for you, too, Bella."

"Hermione-" Arabella began to protest.

"You know I'm right. Let the teachers handle this one."

Arabella sighed but kept her wand out. "Why is it always him?"

After watching for some time, she observed as Draco and Harry seemed to be racing each other and knew that they were chasing after the Snitch. She knew that Draco had the faster broom but hoped that Harry's superior Quidditch skills would lead him to catch the Snitch first, even with the Bludger intent on killing him.

Just minutes later, Arabella's hopes seemed to reign true. Draco flew off of his broom and landed on his back. Like Harry just a year before, he looked like he was about to be sick, but as Harry was still flying around, Arabella didn't think Draco swallowed the Snitch.

Arabella switched her attention back to Harry, and just as she did so, he was hit in the arm by the Bludger.

"Oh, no," she groaned.

But that didn't stop him. He continued to chase after the Snitch, and just as his unharmed hand closed around something, he slipped off his broom and fell hard to the ground. At this, Hagrid, Ron, Hermione, and Arabella left the stands.

"Harry Potter has caught the Snitch!" Lee Jordan announced. "Gryffindor wins!"

The group of four arrived on the field as Harry was being attacked by the Bludger, narrowly avoiding its blows.

"Finite Incantatem!" said Hermione, her wand pointed at the Bludger, and it exploded. Then they ran to Harry.

"Thank you," Harry thanked her.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"No. My arm- I think my arm is broken."

"Oh, not to worry, Harry," Professor Lockhart said, kneeling down next to him as the rest of the school came down from the stands to see what was happening. "I will fix that arm of yours straight away."

"No. Not you," Harry begged.

"Boy doesn't know what he's saying." He rolled up the sleeve on Harry's broken arm. "Now, this won't hurt a bit."

"Professor Lockhart, with all due respect, I do think he should be going to the hospital wing," Arabella spoke up.

"No, no, Miss Weasley, I've got it all under control. No need to waste Madam Pomfrey's time." He continued to take out his wand and point it at Harry's broken arm. "Brackium Emendo!"There was a light that glowed blue and then Lockhart lifted Harry's arm. To everyone's horror, it flopped around uselessly. "Ah, yeah, well, aha, that can sometimes happen, um, but, uh, the point is, uh..." He folded Harry's hand backward over his arm and Arabella thought she was going to be sick. "...you can no longer feel any pain, and, very clearly, the bones are not broken."

"Broken? There's no bones left!" Hagrid exclaimed.

Harry's arm flopped again. "Much more flexible, though."

Later, the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team plus Ron, Hermione, Arabella, Seamus, and Dean went to see Harry in the hospital wing. Across the room, Draco was lying in a bed, groaning obnoxiously as his friends sat around him.

"Oh, Mr. Malfoy, stop making such a fuss. You can go," Madam Pomfrey said as she rushed into the room with Harry's medicine. She pushed through the crowd of Gryffindor's. "He should have been brought straight to me. I can mend bones in a heartbeat, but growing them back..."

"You will be able to, won't you?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, I'll be able to, certainly. But it'll be painful." She poured Harry a glass of Skele-Gro. "You're in for a rough night, Potter. Regrowing bones is a nasty business."

Harry took a sip of the medicine and quickly spit it out, spraying it all over everyone around him.

"Well, what do you expect? Pumpkin juice?"

[word count: 952]
[written: 4/19/20]
[published: 5/20/20]