**Alex’s POV**
“GO ALEX!”
“Yeah, Alex!”
“WE LOVE YOU!”
“KNICK OFF!” Angelina yells, sticking her head out of the changing room doors. I can’t help smiling as I hear the twins and Scarlett laughing. Angelina’s mouth is pressed into a tight line when she comes back in.
“Alright,” she says, pacing back and forth, “we can do this.”
“We lost to Hufflepuff,” Ron sighs, “we’ve got no chance.”
“Not with that attitude,” I say, “come on, we can still win this thing!”
We walk out onto the pitch, and I look around at Angelina and Alicia. They’re both pale. We stare across at the Ravenclaw team, all of them seasoned players. A million butterflies erupt inside my stomach and for a moment I feel as if I’m going to throw up. We mount our brooms and kick off. I know that as soon as I hear the whistle I have to break left. Angelina will take the middle and Alicia cover the right. The Quaffle is launched into the air, the whistle sounds and for a few seconds everything is in slow motion. Angelina and a Ravenclaw chaser shooting forward. I start to fly left as Angelina snatches the Quaffle and shoots forward. She passes it to Alicia on the right as two chasers converge on her. Alicia takes it halfway up the pitch, then throws it back as the chasers fly to her. I pray that Angelina won’t need me to score, or even pass. My hand is still sore and I can’t throw in a straight line without it being a weak shot. Even Ron has been able to stop my shots. Angelina catches my eye and I hold my hands out for the Quaffle. It lands directly in them and I realise I’m in the shooting circle. Angelina and Alicia have dropped back and my head spins. I can see the three hoops and the keeper blocking them, flying towards them.
“Feint left then score to the right,” Michael says, “never let the keeper know where you’re going to shoot and always use as much force as you can. Then if they catch it there’s more chance they’ll stumble back into the goal.”
The keeper is about three metres from me when I lean to the left. He immediately shoots that way while I fly to the right and throw the Quaffle directly through the right hoop. I hear the Gryffindors cheer and Angelina high-fives me. It feels good to be out on the pitch again.
After the first goal things go downhill. We barely get possession of the Quaffle and when we do the Ravenclaws are marking us so closely it’s nearly impossible to pass without them getting in the way. Putting me on the left quickly becomes a clear mistake with my right side being weakened. By twenty minutes into the game my hand is seeping blood and throbbing. Trying to catch the Quaffle with it becomes increasingly difficult. Soon we’re losing by a considerable amount. Madame Hooch calls for a five minute time out and we collapse in the changing rooms.
“How’s the hand?” Angelina asks anxiously.
“Not good,” I gasp, running some water over it, “how far behind are we?”
“A hundred and sixty points,” Alicia sighs, sitting down and gulping some water down.
“We can’t win this,” I say. Angelina nods, looking tearful.
“Let’s tie,” I say. Angelina looks around at me.
“What?”
“If we tie they’ll do a rematch,” I say, “they always do. We’ll play them after the Easter holidays, it’ll give us more training time.”
“How’re we going to do that?” Alicia asks.
“Ginny,” I say, turning to her, “after our next goal, you have to catch the snitch.”
“I can’t,” Ginny says, “Cho is too good. She blocks me every time and her broom is faster than mine.”
“We’ll swap,” I tell her, “Right now I don’t need the speed as much as you do. Try to do a Wronski feint.”
“No way,” Angelina cries, “she hasn’t practiced, what if she crashes?”
“What if Cho does?” I ask, “Ginny’s right. Cho’s more experienced than she is.”
Angelina is chewing on her lip, looking conflicted.
“It’s time Gryffindor!” Madame Hooch calls.
“Alright,” Angelina sighs, “do what she says.”
I hand Ginny my broom and take hers. It’s a good deal slower than mine, but we only need one more goal and hopefully Ginny will see the snitch.
“After we score don’t focus as much on scoring, just on not letting them score,” Angelina says, “block them.”
We nod and kick off into the air. The crowds are cheering, but I try to block them and the pain in my hand out and just focus on the game. As soon as we start I fly forward. I feel like I’m moving at a snail’s pace and am convinced I could walk faster than this. Angelina passes back to me and I lean forward, willing the broom to go faster. In the end I have to take a risk and lob the ball over to Alicia. I’m still twenty metres from the goals when she scores. I immediately look around for Ginny and see her and Cho flying neck and neck straight for the ground. Ginny pulls up just in time, while Cho hits the ground. I don’t have time to see if she’s hurt when Ginny suddenly lifts her arm, showing off the small golden ball.
“I thought she was faking!” Angelina cries as we speed towards the ground.
Since we didn’t win we don’t expect a party, but when we reach the common room the twins have got piles of food around and bottles of butterbeer.
“If you’d scored just once more you would have won,” George says, clapping us on the back. I glance at Angelina and catch her eye.
“That didn’t even occur to me,” I confess. She shakes her head, laughing.
“Me neither,” she admits, “oh well, let’s relax.”
I sit down with Fred and we deconstruct the match together.
“You did well, all things considered,” he says. I lean my head on his shoulder and he brushes his fingers through my hair.
“Are you going home for Easter?” I ask. Fred shakes his head.
“Going to stay here and take care of Umbridge,” he smirks, “are you?”
“Yeah,” I nod, “it’s only a week, might as well.”
Fred loops one arm around my waist and holds me close.
“I’ll miss you,” he says in a girly voice. I laugh and poke him softly on the stomach.
“Sure you will.”
On Monday my hand is almost back to normal, there will be permanent scarring, but it doesn’t hurt as much anymore. During lunch time I’m sitting with Carma when our galleons heat up.
“Meeting tonight,” I breathe, “probably the last for the term.”
Fred and George approach us, bright eyed.
“Ron mentioned we’re learning something really cool tonight,” Fred whispers, “pass the chicken.”
I can’t sit still for the rest of the day. I fidget all through Charms and can barely eat at dinner. At seven o’clock sharp we arrive in the Room of Requirement. Nearly everyone arrives at the same time, making it look rather suspicious.
“What’re we learning?” I ask eagerly. Everyone falls silent and turns to look at Harry.
“I thought we could learn how to do a Patronus charm,” he says.
“Oh, yes!” I squeal. Fred laughs.
“I think she’s excited,” he says in a stage whisper. I nudge him in the ribs with my elbow.
“Uh, so, this one you don’t need to pair up for,” Harry says, “what you have to do is think of a happy memory, a really happy memory, it has to be powerful and the incantation is expect patronum.”
“What do they look like?” a third year asks.
“They’re different for each person,” Harry says, “they’re an animal that usually has some significance to a person, whether it represents someone in your life or yourself.”
“Can you show us yours?” I ask. Harry shrugs and lifts his wand.
“Expecto patronum!”
A silver stag bounces around the room for a minute, then fades away. I bounce up and down, eager to try it out.
“At first you might only get a few wisps of silver,” Harry says, “just keep trying and focus on the happy memory. Uh, okay, spread out and start.”
I move over to the side of the room and try to think of a happy memory. A really really happy memory. I think of the moment Fred asked me out and can’t help but smile. The room is full of hesitant “Expecto patronum!”s. I glance at Fred, George, Carma and Scarlett.
“You first,” I tell Scarlett. She half laughs and shrugs.
“Okay,” she says, raising her wand, “expecto patronum!”
A thin wisp of silver escapes the tip of her wand.
“Well that was impressive,” George says in a monotone.
“Show us how it’s done then,” Scarlett retorts.
“Expecto patronum!”
A flash of silver comes from his wand and then nothing.
“See? Not much better,” Scarlett mutters, “Alex, you have a go.”
“Okay,” I take a deep breath and focus on the happy moment, reliving it in my mind, “expect patronum!”
There’s a puff of wispy silver smoke.
“Nice try,” Harry says, “really focus on the memory, let it fill you. If that one doesn’t work, try a different one.”
“Carma?” we prompt. She blinks and looks down from the ceiling.
“Oh, my turn?” she asks somewhat vaguely, “expect patronum!”
A semi-formed shape escapes her wand.
“Really good,” Harry says, “try again, but focus this time.”
“Expecto patronum!”
A silver hedgehog scuttles from her wand. People stop to watch it before it fades.
“Brilliant,” Harry says enthusiastically, “really brilliant! Good job.”
“Thanks,” she smiles, drifting off into her own world again.
“Fred, you’re up,” Scarlett says. He rolls his sleeves up.
“A happy memory,” he says. We lock eyes for a moment and he smiles slightly.
“EXPECTO PATRONUM!”
“What is that?” someone exclaims as his patronus dances around us.
“A hyena,” I laugh, “your patronus is a hyena!”
For a while there’s only a fully formed patronus here and there, then gradually we begin to pick the spell up. George’s patronus is a coyote, Scarletts is a wolf, and mine is a dolphin.
“They’re cool, huh?” I ask as mine dives around me.
“They’re not supposed to be ‘cool’,” Harry says, “it’s easy enough to make one here, but what we need is a dementor or something to practice on.”
A few people protest this, then a howling causes everyone to fall silent and stare at a house elf.
“Is she coming?” Harry demands of it.
“Yes, Harry Potter, yes!”
There’s a long moment of silence. All the patronuses disappear. Harry turns to us.
“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” he yells, “RUN!”
Fred grabs my hand and we run to the exit.
“Not to your dormitories!” Fred yells, “hide! Owlery! Library! Bathrooms!”
We fly up the stairs as fast as we can go. We dive into a nearby bathroom and all hide in different stalls. I put the lid down and crouch on it, my heart beating wildly, gasping for breath. Someone lets out a single sob. I don’t know if we’re in a boys’ or girls’ bathroom, but it hardly matters. After a few minutes someone opens their stall and I listen to them cross to the door.
“The coast is clear,” Scarlett whispers, “but we should probably go back one by one. We’re not too far from the tower.” I’m shaking so badly that I nearly slip climbing down from the toilet. I unlock the stall and find a small group of people there. Fred, Scarlett and two Ravenclaw girls who look quite young.
“Fred,” I whisper. He looks at me, concerned.
“The-the list,” I stammer, “do you think someone got the list?”
“What list?” he asks.
“The list!” I exclaim, “we all signed our names! If she searches the room and gets the list…”
Fred looks horrified.
“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Scarlett says firmly, “will you two be alright getting to Ravenclaw tower?”
The two girls nod, looking terrified.
“Okay, you go first,” Scarlett says. They slip out the door and Scarlett starts to pace.
“She will have already searched the room,” she says, “all we can hope is that someone thought to grab it or they overlooked it.”
“So not much hope, then?” I joke half-heartedly.
Scarlett grins.
“Look on the bright side,” she says, “we’re all in it together.”
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So, question for you all: What would your patronus be and why? Mine would either be a wolf of an eagle. Wolf because I'm a social person, I don't do well on my own, I'm fiercly protective of those I love and I love wolves. Eagle because they make me feel safe and secure (this thing I have with God, long story lol).