star shopping ✰ d.m.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Despite the terrible storm taking place, the Quidditch match was still to happen. Since Draco was still claiming that his arm hurt, Gryffindor wasn't to be playing Slytherin anymore but were instead playing against Hufflepuff. Arabella, who knew that Hufflepuffs Seeker was Cedric Diggory, a very handsome fifth year, didn't complain about this. Instead, she, Ginny, and Ginny's new friend Evelyn were very excited to see Cedric on the field, something that greatly disgusted Seamus and Dean.

However, once the match began, the rain was so heavy it was hard to see anything, and the wind so loud they couldn't hear the commentary. Arabella was so uncomfortable that she just wished that Harry would catch the Snitch and end the game already.

The game didn't last much longer. Arabella suddenly began to feel colder than she had been previously. Everyone around her was looking upward, so she did, too, and what she saw made her stomach drop. Above them were multiple dementors. Then she saw something that looked like it was falling out of the sky. As it dropped closer, she realized it was Harry, and gasped. Harry had fallen off his broom from an extended height and would be hitting the ground in seconds, surely killing him. However, he seemed to slow down just before hitting the mud and landed much more softly than anyone expected. The stadium went silent despite Cedric Diggory just having caught the Snitch for Hufflepuff. Dumbledore ordered the dementors away and then took Harry up to the castle.

In shock, everyone filed out of the stands and began to trudge back up to the school. The Gryffindor Quidditch team didn't even change out of their uniforms in the locker rooms first, but instead went straight to the infirmary with Arabella, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Seamus.

Hours later, they were all still there, waiting for Harry to come to.

"He looks a bit peaky, doesn't he?" Ron asked.

"Peaky? What do you expect? He fell over 100 feet!" Fred said.

"Yeah, come on, Ron. Let's walk you off the astronomy tower and see what you look like," said George.

"Probably a right sight better than he normally does," Harry said, opening his eyes.

"Yeah, I'd say he's all right," said Arabella.

"How are you feeling?" Hermione asked him.

"Oh, brilliant," Harry said sarcastically.

"You gave us a right good scare there, mate," said Fred.

"We all thought you were dead," Arabella said.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Well, you fell off your broom," Ron said.

"Really? I meant the match. Who won?"

Everyone looked around awkwardly.

"Um, no one blames you, Harry," Hermione said. "The dementors aren't supposed to come inside the grounds. Dumbledore was furious. As soon as he saved you, he sent them straight off."

"There's, uh, something else you should know, too, Harry," Ron said.

"Ron, perhaps it should wait," Arabella said, not wanting to upset Harry even more.

"No, Ron, tell me now," said Harry.

"Well, um... when you fell," Ron explained, "your broom, it sort of blew into the Whomping Willow and, well..." He held up one part of Harry's destroyed Nimbus Two Thousand with an apologetic look on his face.

"Professor Flitwick tried to repair it, but... it just didn't work," Arabella added. "We're awfully sorry, Harry."

After being kicked out of the hospital wing by Madam Pomfrey, the Gryffindors began to head towards Gryffindor Tower. Then, Arabella, remembering that she had to meet Draco in the library again, tried to slink off once they passed it, but was unsuccessful.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked. He and Hermione stopped. Seamus did for a second, but after seeing the look on Arabella's face, he continued walking away with the others, afraid he might say something he wasn't supposed to.

"Oh, I just..." Ideas ran through Arabella's mind until she settled on one. "I just remembered I need to write my essay for Defense Against the Dark Arts. You know, the one on werewolves that Snape assigned."

"Bella, you finished that last night," Hermione said. "I was there. We read over each other's essays. Don't you remember?"

"Oh, yeah! I just remembered that I forgot to include something that I had wanted to and I was just gonna go do that. I would go with you guys to the common room, but you know how noisy it gets. Plus I have things for other classes I need to get done. So, I'll just go now."

She had begun to walk away again when Ron said, "There's something you're not telling us. Isn't there?"

Arabella slowly turned around and tried her best to feign a confused expression. "I really just want to do my homework, Ron."

He didn't say anything but instead stood there with a surveying look on his face that Arabella didn't like at all. She took the silence as an opportunity to escape and rushed into the library.

"She's lying," Ron said. "She just lied straight to our faces!"

"Oh, whatever, Ron. Come on," Hermione said, grabbing his arm and resuming their walk back to Gryffindor Tower. "I'm sure whatever it is, it's none of your concern."

"None of my concern? Hermione, she's my sister!"

"Ronald, there are just some things girls don't particularly look forward to telling their brothers and you're going to have to learn that sooner or later."

[word count: 903]
[written: 4/26/20]
[published: 5/27/20]