Blackbird

“Alright,” James said as he looked around at his teammates. Anticipation was plastered all over their faces and nervousness over the ones who were playing their first game on the team. “Today is our first game of the year. Ravenclaw is good, but we’re better.” He laughed a little. They all followed suit. They were a cocky bunch, but rightfully so. The only true rival Gryffndor had ever had was Slytherin.
“Gryffindor on three,” Belle said as she threw her hand into the middle of the circle. Each of them added a hand in. She looked around at them and smiled. They were going to kick Ravenclaw butt.
“One, two, three, GRYFFINDOR!”

The sound of the rain nearly drowned out the crowd at times, but they could still be heard. All of Belle and James’ friends stood cheering as loud as their voice would allow for their house, and for their best friends. It had been an intense game, and even Belle was being thrown around more than she was used to. Gryffindor was up by ten points, and had every intention on keeping the lead. Belle was headed for the snitch, when out of nowhere, there was a change in the atmosphere, and gave everyone the feeling that something was about to happen. It was like time had froze for just a second, if that. The players lost their concentration simultaneously, without an obvious explanation, and then it happened. Blurred, black figures descended from the sky and began to attack the players as well as people in the stands, causing screams of terror to erupt throughout the pitch. Bludgers began to chase players in a manner that would suggest them being hexed. They tried to land, but the bludgers did not allow it. Teachers threw carefully placed spells at the figures, but the rain made it hard to see them, and intern making all efforts useless. The students in the stands ducked down, and held each other in fear, most of them not knowing what they could do; most of them not having the experience to even attempt to do something.
On the pitch, James was slammed into a stand by one of the blurred figures and fell to the ground. Belle went to go after him, but was hit hard by a bludger in the ribs, and was knocked off her broom herself. She dangled from it with one hand and was trying to grab the broom with her other hand when a bludger hit her again, and she fell to the ground. Remus looked over in horror when he saw her hit the ground. Panic rushed through him. Both her and James now lay without movement as the attack continued, causing more panic and chaos.
Only minutes after the attack began, it ended, and everyone stood, confused as to what had just happened. They were scared, and unsure as to what they should do next. Remus, Sirius, and Lily began to harshly push through the terrified Gryffindors, in an attempt to get down to their friends. Remus swore he could see his heart beating against his chest as he fought to get to Belle. They ran down the stairs faster than they thought possible, and before they knew it Lily was at James’ side, and Remus was at Belle’s. Sirius checked on Belle then ran for James in a panic; he knew Remus was capable of tending to her without. “Belles,” Remus said as he slowly rolled her over onto her back. She groaned in pain. “What’s hurt?” he asked.
“My ribs,” she cried as pain shot through her side. She began to cry. Remus looked down at her then around in a panic. He saw McGonagall running onto the field with Madam Hooch and Dumbledore, along with a few other teachers in tow.
“Mr. Lupin,” she called. “Can you please take Ms. Crouch to the infirmary?” Remus nodded and looked back down at his girlfriend.
“Babes, I’m going to pick you up,” he said as he slid his arms under her, and pulled her injured body into his. She whimpered in pain and cried into his chest and he carried her off of the field and toward the infirmary.

Darkness and silence were what Belle awoke to. She looked around to find more than half the beds in the infirmary filled with injured bodies. On her right lay James, his arm in a sling, and his chest rising and falling in jagged breaths; he was in pain. When she went to sit up, pain shot through her entire body, and she whimpered. And when she went to try and remember what had happened, it was all just a big blur. One second she was playing the game, and the next, everything went into chaos, which felt like lasted forever, when it only lasted mere minutes. The last thing she remembered was Remus picking her up. Now she lies here, with one of her best friends in the bed next to her, just as injured as herself. The war is here. Lucius’ words echoed through her mind. The war had reached Hogwarts.



Snow fell harshly from the grey sky, making visibility low. Belle, Remus, James, and Lily headed toward the Three Broomsticks with a hankering for Butterbeer. They were enjoying the downtime, and just being around each other. The moment they entered Hogsmeade though, everything changed. It was like all the happiness had been drained from the group. They continued to walk toward their destination in silence.
Belle was the first to the door. She pushed it open to find an empty room. The door fell shut and she turned to see she was alone. She tried to open the door again, but it wouldn’t budge. She pulled her wand out and attempted to unlock it, but nothing worked. “Don’t bother,” a familiar voice said from across the room. Belle turned to see Barty emerge from behind the stairs.
“What’s going on, Barty?” she asked, still gripping her wand; he made her very uneasy. He noticed and smirked.
“There’s no need for that,” he said, and licked his lip. Belle hated that habit of his. It made him seem like a snake, about to attack.
“Why is the door locked?”
“Because I’d rather not chase after you,” he answered before throwing a curse at her. Belle blocked it.
“Stupefy!” she cast, but he blocked it. She kept throwing them, and he kept blocking them. She couldn’t wrap her mind around how her brother, a fifth year, was any match to her, a seventh year. She knew magic far beyond his years, yet he was winning.
“Expelliarmus!” Belle’s wand flew from her tired hand. She watched it as it landed too far away from her to lung for. “You can’t beat me. The Dark Lord has trained me.”
“I can’t believe you,” she spat harshly, her chest rising and falling heavily as he stepped closer. Her brother was two years younger, but much bigger than her. She only stood at five feet, three inches, and he stood at five feet, nine inches. He towered over her as he stood less than a foot away. His arm suddenly stretched out, and his hand grasped her neck. He slammed her back against the wall and raised her so that she was eye level with him. She gasped for air and tried to pry his fingers from her neck, but to no avail.
“You can’t stop me, Belle,” he said, then dropped her. She fell to her hands and knees and began to cough. Barty rose is arm with his wand. “Crucio!”

Belle jolted awake in a panic, still feeling a slight tinge of pain in her ribs from the incident a week prior. Her heart raced, breathing was shakily, and her forehead was slightly sweaty. The girls’ dormitory was dark, and soundless. “Are you alright?” she heard Lily who lay in the next bed ask. Belle sat up slowly and nodded tiredly.
“Yeah,” she responded, “just a bad dream."
“It was about Barty, wasn’t it?” Lily was sat up now, and looked at her best friend, worry plastered over her porcelain features.
“How did you know?”
“You kept saying, ‘Barty, no.’” she said as she tucked a piece of her orange hair behind her ear.
“I dreamt he attacked me. He told me You-Know-Who had trained him.” Belle pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her head atop of her knees. “But he wasn’t even acting like himself. He acted more like Malfoy, and could perform curses way beyond a fifth year.”
“It was just a dream, Belles. There’s nothing to worry about,” Lily responded as she decided to lie back down. Belle did the same, but sleep never found her that night. She just stared at the top of her bed, and let silent tears fall from her eyes as she thought about the brother she had already lost to the war.

The following morning, Belle awoke to the sound of Lily's voice prompting all of the girls in their dormitory awake. "It's Satruday!" Marlene wined as she tried to go back to sleep.
"Everyone needs to be up! Professor Dumbledore has called all students to the Great Hall by ten!" Lily announced as she exited the room, bound for the other girls' dormitories to awake them as well. Belle rolled over tiredly. Sleep had not found her that night since waking up from her nightmare. She groaned when Marlene threw a pillow at her.
"Get up, Belles!" she slightly shouted, feeling as though if she was out of bed, her friends had to be out of bed too. Belle groaned but got up anyway. There was no chance she would be able to sleep now.
After twenty minutes, and now dressed Belle lazily walked down the stairs and fell onto Remus' lap who was sat in a chair. He was surprised by her sudden arrival, but smiled lightly and kissed the top of her head as she placed her face in the crook of his neck. "Bad night?" he whispered. She nodded against his chest and took in the familiar scent of his cologne, which immediately calmed her down, and made her want to go to sleep right then and there. She remained there for a few more moments before she forced herself to sit up and look at the rest of her friends. With one look she knew why they were still sitting there with ten minutes until they were supposed to be in the Great Hall. Marlene wasn't ready.
"Belles, you look worse than Remus after a full moon," Sirius commented when he looked at her. She rolled her eyes.
"Thank you so much for the kind words, Mr. Black," she said sarcastically as she covered her heart with her hands.
"Don't be such a prick," Remus said with an eye roll.
"Oi, I'm only joking. We all know I think Belle is the sexiest girl, possibly in seventh year..." Sirius stated. All of them, besides Marlene, knew Sirius found Belle attractive, and it was quite possible that had Remus not snatched her up, he would have. Then again, Belle had a functioning brain.
"Belle's the what?" Marlene's voice questioned from the foot of the stairs as she walked toward her friends.
"The... best damn seeker Gryffindor has ever seen," Sirius said, trying to cover up what he had said. She looked at him and then at Belle, before looking back at her boyfriend.
"That she is," Marlene concluded before everyone arose from their seats. Remus lifted Belle up into his arms, making her laugh and hold onto him tightly.
"Moony!" she giggled as he began to walk with her nearly over his shoulder, out of the Common Room.

The Great Hall was nearly full when they arrived, and as opposed to the normal tables, there were seats set up in rows, all facing forward, toward Dumbledore's podium. The group of six filed into whatever seats they could find, all of them branching off in different directions, and finding seats just as their Headmaster silenced the room. Everyone stopped and brought their attention forward. "Due to the recent attack," Dumbledore announced, his voice echoing through the Great Hall, “Each Defense against the Dark Arts lesson will be extended by one hour, and all other lessons will adapt to this new schedule. I apologize for any inconveniences, but it must be done. You must be able to protect yourselves.” The students all looked intently at their Headmaster. He remained stoic but it was obvious to a lot of the older students that he was beginning to grow afraid. They didn’t dare say a word as they gazed at him. Things were changing, and they were beginning to see more and more of the world around them seep through the castle walls and tear the very fabric of their lives. He was coming. They all knew it was going to happen; it was just a matter of when.