The Red Rose That Has Green Thorns

The game started with blurs of color shooting for the quaffle. The Durmstrang keeper shot toward his goalposts, and I shot toward mine as, with a hint of glee over the thunder, I heard Leanne say that Lily had come out with possession. She soon passed it off to Olivia, who passed it back, and then Lily passed to Martha within scoring range. They pulled a fast one on the Durmstrang keeper, however, when Martha did a quick pass to Lily and scored ten points.

That, at least, is what I gathered from Leanne’s commentary. When Olivia passed back to Lily, the rain started coming down - hard - and I lost sight of everyone but Zack, who was making a pass of this end of the field in search of the snitch. I had to pull my eyes from watching him when the Durmstrang chasers seemed to just appear out of the rain about ten yards from where I was.

I put on my game face, so to speak, as I bent closer over my broomstick to peer at them analytically through the rain. Leanne’s commentary was still running, and I couldn’t help but wonder how she could see when even the players were having trouble - and my team, at least, using the Impervius Charm, to boot!

The person in possession passed quickly to a teammate, who looked as though she - I realized it was Theresa - was going to pass. With one look at her eyes and expression, I quickly determined that she wasn’t going to hand it off, and I moved to block the hoop she was nearest to.

It was with a slight sense of relief, since I didn’t know Theresa’s style very well, that I was able to predict her move correctly and block her goal.

Fifteen minutes later, in the pouring rain with lightning spearing down from the clouds, as though to impale the unsuspecting players, the score had gone up considerably. Well, considerably for being in the pouring rain. It was 60 to 10, with Hogwarts leading. As Lily streaked away back down the field with the quaffle in arm, I took the time to pull my sopping wet bangs out from where they’d wedged underneath my goggles. It was getting scratchy and annoying and I secretly blamed the hair for my missed catch just then.

Shaking my head of any distracting thoughts - such as my hair and how I blamed it - I focused on straining my ears to catch Leanne’s commentary over the now howling wind. I was wrestling slightly with my broom, trying to keep it as steady as possible in the gale, and I squinted through the sheets of rain, trying to see.

The last thing I expected to see was the tiny glint of gold by my rightmost hoop.

“Is that the snitch…?” I asked myself aloud, glancing towards the other end where I could see nothing. I let myself stray from my center hoop, drifting slowly - if jerkily, due to wind - towards the little golden ball.

I reached out my hand, stretching my pointer finger just far enough, and touched it.

I pulled back my hand as though burned. It really was the snitch - the Golden Snitch! If only Zack were here, he could catch it and win the game!

I groaned in frustration. If only I was seeker, I could win us the game right here - but I’m not, and I wouldn’t make a very good one, anyway. After all, I can hardly ever spot the snitch, even when both seekers are in a steep dive chasing after it. And now, the one time I do, it’s hovering by my goalposts and there is no seeker in sight - and if there was one, I would hope upon hope that it was Zachary Zabini.

A strangled cry escaped my throat as I was sent looping through the air away from my posts when a large gust of wind blew and I wasn’t paying attention. Cursing, I forced my broom around and hurriedly went back to my center hoop, no sign of the little golden distraction anywhere.

“I hope the next person that sees that little bugger is Zack,” I murmured darkly, shaking my wet bangs out of my line of vision, to spot a smallish black ball heading straight for my face, just feet away.

Letting out another cry, this one more resembling a shriek, I rolled over as the bludger passed, shooting straight through my center hoop. I looked in the direction it had shot, but I saw nothing through the darkening skies and rain. I turned back to the game, hoping that the bludger wouldn’t come back to bludgeon me in the back of the head, and once more started staring down the field.

A flash of lightning illuminated the two people racing toward me at breakneck speeds, and I recognized Zack. The two seekers showed no signs of slowing down, or of dodging me, so I dropped lower as the rain seemed to part for them to shoot through. Once they were by, I rose back up to the height of my center hoop, as I spotted another person speeding my way. It was the younger chaser, I didn’t remember her name. She had the quaffle tucked firmly under her arm as she shot toward me.

I shook off all the events of the last few minutes and focused not on the seekers that had shot off behind me, but on the two Durmstrang chasers that were now within my sights. I managed to block the shot, and passed the quaffle off to Martha, with Olivia on her tail.

Less than five minutes later, Scorpius had to come and get me.

“It’s over,” he shouted at me over the roaring of the wind and rain and the thunder, “Durmstrang won by thirty.”

“Damn!” I groaned, following him away from the goalposts. Then I paused and shouted my newfound question: “How did we only finish thirty points below them, if they caught the snitch? That means we’d have to have one hundred and thirty points ourselves!”

“Which we do,” he hollered back, nearing the ground at last, the wind buffeting us from side to side. It seemed to be picking up now that the game had ended. “Hugh took out the keeper with a bludger in the first ten minutes. He should be fine, just knocked out.”

“The quaffle was in the scoring zone, then, since no one came at me for a penalty?”

“Yeah.”

We were in the alcove that lead to our changing rooms, and I sighed dejectedly. “It’s selfish, but I really, really wanted to win it all.” I leaned against the wall, not ready to face my teammates. Scorpius stopped and looked at me.

“It might be a bit selfish,” he said calmly, “but we all wanted it. Just ask the rest of the team.”

“I might later.” I said, looking out at the overcast, roiling sky.

I wouldn’t admit it to Scorpius, but I was holding back tears as he turned and slowly entered the changing rooms. I kept looking out at the skies, watching as the rest of the school began clearing from the stands and rushing back to the castle, most likely to warm up and dry out by their common room fires, and grab a bite to eat.

Quidditch seemed a far away dream at that point in time. Like a star - something I could never reach out and touch, always hovering tantalizingly close yet so far away. And it didn’t seem to matter how much I wanted it, it wouldn’t ever happen. I’d be forced to do something else with my life, like be an Auror, or maybe I’d have to take over Granddad Weasley’s office, the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts.

“Damn it,” I said, in a choked up tone, when a tear found its way down my cheek.

I had really thought this to be my big opportunity - to show the world that Rose Weasley wanted to play Quidditch, and that she was good at it. Yet we ended up losing, and somehow, I blamed it all on myself. Perhaps it was something to do with my coaching strategies? Or maybe the goal I let past me was enough to dishearten the team and thus, cause us to lose.

“Rose?”

I turned around sharply to face the voice, which had issued from the lips of redheaded Lily Potter.

“Yeah, Lils?” I said, hoping the rumbling thunder overhead hid the slight tremble in my tone. “What is it?”

“You did amazing,” she said, suddenly stepping forward and hugging me. She backed away with a slightly faltering smile. “I know you’re going to find a way to blame yourself, but it’s really nothing we can help. It was a really close game, and Zack nearly had the snitch. If anyone is beating themselves up worse than you are, it’s him. He thinks you’re mad at him for losing.”

“I’m not!” I said loudly. “I’m not mad at him. I’m just…I guess I’m just disappointed.”

She nodded knowingly, but we reentered the changing rooms together, for one last Hogwarts Exhibition pep talk, and an invitation to have another small get together in the Head dormitories.

Dinner was a Durmstrang-based meal, to congratulate them on their win. Several Bulgarian dishes and delicacies lined the tables, although here and there was a normal British or French meal, in case the rest of us didn’t like the Bulgarian ones. The fourth year keeper for Durmstrang, Alexander Dumas, still hadn’t woken up and was still in the hospital wing, as we learned at the start of the feast, but he would be all right. I was thankful for that - I didn’t want my little brother, as annoying as he was, to get in trouble for seriously injuring a foreign student.

“Now that our fabulous meal has come to an end,” Professor Collins said, standing up as the plates vanished. “I have an announcement to make. It was previously announced that the final match of the Exhibition would take place two weeks from now. This has been postponed due to the fact that there is a Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match on that day, and during the following week is the first task. Thus, in four weeks from today, will be the final Exhibition match. Good night!”

If I found this at all strange, I didn’t let on other than to look at Scorpius with a raised eyebrow. Together, we headed back to the dormitory - our little party had taken place during the afternoon, lacking the spirit to last as long as the party after we had won a match.

“What do you plan on doing tomorrow?” Scorpius asked, just to start a conversation.

“Finishing the three essays that I haven’t done, and then nothing. Why?”

“We should go to the library in the morning,” he suggested, “Then go eat lunch, then visit Hagrid for a while, and then…do something else…?”

I laughed, and agreed.

“Time to be haughty, act like a lady,” the now familiar voice of a small creature blossomed across my subconscious.

“Mistress, if you would?” Martha (the handmaiden) gestured towards the stands. I tilted my parasol to cover my face more completely.

“Lead the way,” I said coolly, glancing to the knight I still stood by to see a look of satisfaction cross his features.

“Good, Rose, keep the act until the close!”The close? I wondered.What could the close be? Death, or rescue? Or just until I wake up?

“Don’t get distracted from the task, follow Martha and keep up the masque!”

I shook my head imperceptibly, as if to rid myself of such distracting thoughts, and followed Martha to the bleachers. She led me to the center of the front row, to my surprise. I had thought it would be safer to keep me farther back in the crowd.

“This is for ease of access, Mistress,” she whispered, seeing my confused expression. “In case you need to jump into action quickly to help your friend.”

“I see. Thank you.” I murmured, my lips barely moving as I glanced at the other women. They held their parasols still, at an angle so as to partially hide their faces. With a hint of relief, I held mine as such and waited.

“It won’t be long, now,” Spunky’s voice came, “I hope you know how!”

How what, was what I wanted to ask.

“How to save the boy, apart from playing coy!”

There was a sudden drum roll that lasted about five seconds. The few people in the clearing with me instantly hushed. Another short drum roll, and a pompous looking little man stepped onto a podium in front of everyone.

“We are all here to witness a criminal brought to justice!” he said in the annoying voice that announcers seemed to have in Muggle movies I watched. “His crime is being servant of the Dark One, whose name we do not know and even if we did, we would not dare speak. He has spied for this evil entity, and for that he must pay!”

This inspired actions from the crowd, and I saw a stirring in the far corner of a large cage that sat in front of us all.

“Oh, dear, it’s time for you to go already!” came a disappointed tone of voice. “Next time you’ll finally see.”

The clearing faded.

The clearing had faded into the scarlet canopy above my four poster. I had no idea why I woke up, but my mind wasn’t groggy or fuzzy as it would have been on a normal night. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again, but I had no idea why.