Saying I had fun almost didn't do it justice. I had fun with my friends, during charms, when I was watching movies or reading a good book.
But playing Quidditch that evening, playing off frustration and anger with Sirius Black was so much more than that. It felt as if all my worries and the negative aspects of life simply disappeared, while we were hitting the Quaffle back and forth and told each other funny stories- he'd actually laughed when I had retold the story of the quill stuck in my hand.
The word fun didn't really describe how amazing this little match had been and how much joy it had brought to me, as cheesy as it may sound.
I learned that Peter was too shy for his own good, that Remus had a chocolate obsession, and that James owned an invisibility cloak that had allowed the marauders to explore every corner of the castle without being caught. (That last piece of information was a slip up, though.)
In return, I told him about Valerie's talent at drawing, Aleya's obsession with muggle sitcoms and that my sister was a healer-to-be at St. Mungo's, after she had left Hogwarts three years ago.
And I learned that there was more about Sirius Black than just good looks and funny jokes. He was an amazing friend, always there for all of them, and he was a true Gryffindor at heart, always standing up for what he believed in, no matter what others - even (or especially) his family - thought.
As I said, I was having the time of my life. That was, until I could've sworn that something huge and black had flown over the forbidden forest. I turned my head to look at it properly, but I didn't see anything.
The last thing I remembered was Sirius shouting "Freya, look out!", then the Quaffle hit my head and everything turned black.
~~~
I was woken up by hushed voices and a dull pain in the side of my head.
When I groaned and opened my eyes, the voices turned silent. I was in the infirmary, I noticed. Of course, I'd fallen off of my broom. How embarrassing. That had never happened to me before, oh Merlin.
Apparently, the voices belonged to none other than the marauders themselves. All of them stood beside my bed; James, Peter and Remus on my left and Sirius on my right side. Sirius looked really pale and guilty.
As soon as they noticed that I was awake, smiles appeared on their faces. Sirius let out a sigh of relief.
"You see, Padfoot? We told you she wasn't dead," Peter grinned with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Whereas Remus and James chuckled, Sirius rolled his eyes. "Ha ha. I knew that! Still, it's my fault that she's here."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "It's not your fault that I got distracted."
He looked at me, still wearing that guilty expression. "But I didn't notice that you weren't paying attention, and I knocked you off your broom!"
"We weren't that high up."
"You still fell off your broom, unconscious! How are you feeling?"
I smiled reassuringly, slowly sitting up in my bed. I tried to not flinch at the stinging in my ribcage that had appeared once I'd moved. While I was leaning back against my headboard, I answered. "My head and ribs hurt a little, but I'm fine. Madam Pomfrey will fix this in no time, it's no big deal."
"See," James raised his eyebrows at Sirius. "We told you she wouldn't be angry. Freya is too nice for that."
I blushed.
"Besides," James continued, "Every Quidditch player can take a few injuries. If not, they should change the sport."
"Exactly," I backed James up and smiled at Sirius. While it was sweet that he felt so guilty, it was my fault and really not a big deal. No Quidditch game had ever ended without someone having at least a small injury.
It was very nice of Sirius that he had stayed in the infirmary until I had woken up. And it was super nice of James, Remus and Peter to join, but I still wondered how that had happened.
So I shoved my embarrassment at the situation to the back of my mind and turned to the three marauders on my left. "Don't get me wrong, but why are you here?"
Remus smiled and pointed to something next to my head. I looked to my left and saw a plate full of chips standing on the little night table. "You missed dinner. We wondered where Sirius was, because he never misses a meal, so we searched the castle and found him here with you.
He told us that you'd played Quidditch together and that you had taken the Quaffle to your head, and that he felt bad and wanted to stay with you, so we went away again and got dinner for both of you. But we didn't know if you were vegetarian, allergic or something, so we kept it simple."
My heart could've straight up melted at this point. That was so nice and well thought through of them, I was at a loss for words.
I opened and closed my mouth once, then found my voice again. "Thank you so much!"
"Oh, don't mention it. Dig in," James grinned and handed me the plate.
I took a chip. "What time is it?"
"Around half past eight," Sirius replied, eyeing my plate. I held it towards him and he took a chip as well. "You've been out for a little more than one and a half hours."
I gulped. That was pretty long for just a Quaffle to my head. At least Bludgers were hard, they would've justified fainting. Oh god, that was so embarrassing. Hopefully they didn't think of me as a wimp or drama queen who couldn't take a small hit.
Although Sirius had a strong swing with the bat.
"Aah, you're awake," Madame Pomfrey entered the room, holding a tray with steaming bowls and little bottles on it.
She eyed the marauders suspiciously and stopped next to Sirius.
When she saw the plate in my hand, she scrunched her nose disapprovingly, but didn't say anything.
"You've bruised your head and ribs, but nothing is broken. The small concussion will be gone if you drink this." She handed me one of the steaming bowls.
I set the plate with chips down and directed the bowl she handed me to my lips. I was careful not to burn myself with the steaming hot potion, but to my surprise, it was cold. It didn't taste too disgusting, so I hurried to drink everything, feeling slightly uncomfortable with all eyes on me.
"Good," The healer said and took the bowl when I had finished. "Now this will take care of the bruises."
With a small 'thank you' I took the bottle she was handing me. It was not bigger than my thumb, so I gulped it down in one go.
"Bottoms up," Sirius chuckled quietly and James snickered.
I set the bottle back on the tray and smiled. The pain in my ribs and head subsided, and I took the plate of chips back in my hands, feeling much better again.
Madame Pomfrey nodded at me. "You're free to go now, but please, go directly to bed once you've arrived in your dormitory, alright?"
"Okay Madame Pomfrey," I said and stood up slowly. "Thank you."
She just nodded again and disappeared back into her small study behind the infirmary.
"Bye Poppy, until next time!" James called after her, and I could still hear the nurse scoff.
I smirked.
With the plate in my hands, I made my way out of the infirmary, the marauders following me.
"I'll take you to your common room, okay?" Sirius asked, stealing yet another chip. I didn't mind.
"You don't have to."
"But I want to, honestly. Please?"
I mean, why would I say no to that? "Okay, if you want. Thanks."
I stopped and turned to the rest of Sirius' friends. "Thank you all for my dinner," I grinned and held the plate out for all of them to take some chips with them, as a thank you.
"No problem," Remus smiled. "Good night."
"Yeah, good night all of you."
James and Peter said their goodbyes as well, and then we parted our ways.
It was quiet when Sirius and I strolled down the hallways to the Ravenclaw tower. He had told me that he had taken care of my bat and broomstick, putting them back in my locker, but that was all. We shared the last bit of the chips, not talking. At first, I frantically thought of something to say, but once I had realised that the silence wasn't an uncomfortable one, I stopped and enjoyed the peaceful walk instead.
When we had reached the corridor in which the entrance to my common room was, I broke the silence. "Thanks for cheering me up earlier."
He smiled. "My pleasure, it was a win win situation. Sorry for hitting you on the head, though."
We arrived at the door of the common room and stopped walking.
I waved my hand dismissively. "Like I said, it's no big deal. My body just overreacted and fainted, that's all. I got distracted, so it's my fault."
"If you say so."
It was quiet again, and Sirius and I spent a few seconds just smiling at each other. Then I realised what I was doing and looked away.
"Don't you wanna knock and go in?" Sirius finally asked.
I looked back at the eagle knocker and my blood froze. "Sure," I said with a forced smile, stretching out the word.
Please don't be difficult, please don't be difficult!!!
I held my breath as I raised my hand and used the heavy bronze knocker.
The eagle figure opened its beak.
"When is a black dog most likely to go into a house?"
Thank Merlin! That was a pragmatic riddle, the one type I was actually good at! I wouldn't have to embarrass myself in front of Sirius because I couldn't get into my own common room!
I was so relieved because of the riddle type that I didn't even notice that Sirius was laughing behind me.
I only needed two seconds to think of the answer. This type of riddle always tried to fool you by giving unnecessary information, for example the fact that the dog was black. It didn't matter. The riddle's answer was right under my nose.
"When the door is open, of course."
"Obviously," the eagle knocker replied, winking. The door opened and I quickly set my foot in the frame and held the door open with my free arm.
I turned back to face Sirius.
He was smiling.
"Well, that was an easy riddle."
I nodded. "Yep, that's the easiest type there is, so I was lucky. It's strange though, because usually, the closer we are to curfew, the more difficult the riddles get."
Sirius shrugged. "Maybe it wanted to go easy on your head, with your concussion and all."
I tilted my head and raised one eyebrow, chuckling. "But how would it know about that?"
Sirius raised his hands in a exasperated manner, grinning. "Hey, how would I know how this thing knows stuff!?" He gave the eagle a suspicious glance, and a short laugh escaped me.
"Good night, Sirius. Thanks for walking with me."
He nodded. "You're welcome. See you tomorrow."
"Yep, bye." I walked through the door and let it fall shut behind me.
The common room was less crowded than I'd expected. I looked around, trying to spot Aleya, Lina or Valerie, but they weren't there.
I set the now empty plate down on a table, knowing that the house elves would take care of it over night, and made my way towards the stairway leading to the girls dormitories.
When I entered my dormitory, Lina, Valerie and Aleya were all there already. Lina was reading a book while Valerie and Aleya were talking to each other.
"Hi," Valerie muttered, Aleya gave me a smile and Lina didn't even look up from her book, only waving at me.
"Hi everyone," I greeted back. I quickly changed into my pajamas, brushed my teeth and did as Madam Pomfrey had instructed.
Laying down on my bed (the one all to the right), I noticed that none of the girls had asked me where I had been for the last three hours. None of them had asked why I hadn't been present for dinner, although they knew that I loved food.
And none of them had asked why I was going to bed without reading a little bit before, like I usually did every evening.
I tried not to think too much into it. They were distracted, that was all.
Still, it was a little ironic that people I barely knew had looked after me and given me company in the infirmary, noticing their friend's absence and searching for him.
My friends didn't even seemed to have noticed that I had been missing for a little less than three hours.
So, what do you think so far? That chapter was longer than expected, oops.
This is the first time ever that I've made an attempt at creating an own character, so what do you think of Freya so far?
It's funny to me how I know exactly how I want this story to end, but I still have to think of and write the whole middle part of the story and make the characters evolve before I can make the story end, ugh😂😂
Anyway, thanks for reading!
Stay happy!
Xoxo, your fangirl