Mischief not so Managed

7: Banned

Lia:

"what happened?" Hermione and I were standing at the entrance to the Quidditch pitch as the twins and Harry came off. Fred was being man handled by Jack and Andrew, both yelling at him to calm down. We had seen the fight but hadn't a clue what had happened. George had a bleeding nose and an ugly gash across his face. Harry looked white, that bludger hit had been hard and the fight hadn't helped.

"Malfoy bloody happened" George spat. Malfoy was being pulled to his feet by Warrington he was covered in blood.

"who hit him?" I asked. George looked at me and gave me a small smile.

"You're going to be in so much trouble" Hermione said looping her arms around Harry's waist helping him walk, he needed to sit down. He tried to shrug her off and failed miserably. "Stop Harry, you can barely walk" George stopped in front of me. I crossed my arms and looked up at him examining the cuts over his face.

"Did he deserve it?" I asked.

"every bit of it" George smirked. I took a handkerchief out of my coat pocket and handed it to him, he held it up to his nose.

"good, he's a stupid bastard anyway" I muttered as we walked on. George kept looking at me out of the side of his eyes. Hermione had Harry leaning against the tunnel wall. "where's Ron?"

"throwing up in the bathroom last I heard" Hermione replied.

"we need to go to McGonagall" he said through his teeth, wincing at the pain.

We were sat in the common room an hour later with the rest of the team waiting for the twins and Harry to return. Little Nigel came thundering into the room. "They're coming". They entered to a raucous applause and chants.

"Hey! Hey!" Fred shouted over the crowd "cool it guys, we've got bad news". Angelina, who was still in her match gear stood. "McGonagall was going to give us a weeks detention, but then Umbridge came in waging war saying that it wasn't enough". I could see that Harry was terribly upset. George slumped down into a chair. His face still bleeding, tears of frustration lining his eyes. "she banned us from Quidditch for life and took our brooms. We're done, our season is over". The common room exploded. Angelina's face a shade of bright red.

"That's ridiculous" Alicia jumped to her feet.

"Look guys, there's nothing we can do" Harry said. "Andrew and Jack will have to take the twins spots, and Gin, you'll be our seeker. I'm sorry Angelina, you don't deserve this". The common room emptied out leaving just a few fifth, sixth and seventh years behind. Ginny stood in shock.

"she can't ban you" she mumbled, "and I, I can't"

"she already has Gin and you'll be fine, we'll help you" Fred said gripping her shoulder as he walked past, "Harry, get the gang together, we're going to need something to do". Harry nodded, following Fred up the stairs. Angelina had tears in her eyes.

"It's not your fault Ange" I said to her.

"Umbridge wants a fight? A fight is what she is going to god damned get" Angelina spat as she ran up the stairs, tears spilling over

"Merlin's beard, this isn't what i expected today to be like" Alicia said, "I'm going to check on Katie". She headed towards the door and out it. It was just me and George left. He had his head in his hands. Like the exhaustion had finally hit him. I stood beside him and held out my hand. He took it. I walked him to the couch in front of the fire and sat him down.

"take that gear off" I said "It's soaked through and covered in blood, you'll get sick". I ran up the stairs to my room, grabbing a small box from my trunk and returning. Gorge's gear was dumped in a pile on the floor. He was left in a tight black undershirt and his trousers. The lines of frustration and worry clear across his face. "Let me have a look". He lifted his head to look at me, his green his sad. "It's going to sting". I knelt in front of him and took out a wipe and began to clean the cut on his cheekbone. I may have been a witch, but sometimes the muggle way was the best way to go. "Your nose isn't broken; the swelling will go down in a while" I whispered placing a sterri strip over his cheek bone.

"thank you" he mumbled.

"well, I did say I'd come to the party if you won" I tried to inject some humour, but it wasn't going to work. "it's not your fault"

"I know" he stared into the fire, the flamesflickering in his eyes. I turned and sat facing the flames, leaning my back againstthe couch. I felt him sit back into the couch, silently. Not knowing what to door say. I didn't either, I wanted to help. But I couldn't. I leaned my head against his leg, I felt his hand rest on the back of my head. For once George Weasley had nothing to say, no jokes to crack, no pranksto play. He was, he was just empty.