Her Destiny || Sirius Black's Daughter

Chapter 13~ Dopplebeater defence.

The wind was so strong that they staggered sideways as they walked out onto the field the day of the Gryffindor versus Slytherin quidditch match. If the crowd was cheering, they certainly couldn't hear it over the fresh rolls of thunder.

Her eyes were narrowed into a squint as she struggled to keep them wide open for a long amount of time, she held by her side one of the school beater's bats and in the other she held her broom. The rest of her team were sporting shiny Nimbus 2001's, though out of season, they were one of the fastest brooms in the market.

"Mount Your brooms." Lilith pulled her right foot out of the mud with a squelch and swung it over her Cleansweep. Madam Hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a blast that sounded shrill and distant — they were off. Lilith rose fast, but her broom was swerving slightly with the wind, not having the secure balance feature that came with the rest of her team's Nimbuses.

She held it as steady as she could and turned, speeding off into the rain in search of a bludger to hit. Within five minutes, she was soaked through her skin and frozen. The only time she'd see her team mates would be when she was speeding in front of them, swinging her bat in front of their faces to intercept a bludger. Her whole body was stiff from the cold, her robes were pressed against her limbs like a second skin and her leather gear was dripping with water. Their substitute seeker sped past her suddenly, making her steer off course away from a bludger, his robes flapping at her quickly and fiercely.

"Cashmore—" She began to curse when a bludger whizzed past her, very nearly hitting her off of her broom. Spotting her opportunity, she pressed herself low against the handle as she pulled back quickly in the direction of the speeding ball.

Lilith felt heavy drops of rain fall onto her face, making her have to narrow her eyes into a squint to see properly. As she neared the ball, she raised her arm level with her shoulder and struck the heavy iron bludger spiralling towards Angelina Johnson who was getting closer and closer to the Slytherin goalposts.

"Yes!" She shouted as Angelina was knocked off course and the quaffle was taken by Cassius, however her triumphant cheers were unheard as the rain pelleted down from the sky, making terribly loud sounds as the raindrops landed on the stands and thunder rang through the air.

By now she couldn't hear the commentary over the wind and the crowd was hidden beneath a sea of cloaks and battered umbrellas.

With the first flash of lightning came the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle; Lilith could just see the outline of Cassius through the thick rain, gesturing the team to the ground. The whole team splashed down onto the mud.

"Wood called for time out— go on, over there."

They huddled close at the edge of the field under a large umbrella, shivering as their cold and wet robes were pressed between skin and rain.

"Anyone know the score?" Miles Bletchley asked, his teeth chattering as he rubbed his gloved hands together.

"Gryffindor are fifty points up." Said Cassius, the rest of the team grumbling, "We need to catch the snitch as soon as bloody possibly if we don't want to catch hypothermia." He directed at Amos Cashmore, the seeker who was substituting for Draco, to which he nodded back violently.

"Right," Cassius huffed, looking across the field to the Gryffindors, "Give it a minute or so and we'll be back up. And catch the snitch."

So with that, they straddled their brooms and flew higher into air, separating from the flying huddle like a flock of birds.

"Derrick!" She shouted even though Peregrine Derrick was near her, her voice could only just be heard over the roar of the wind and the pelleting of raindrops. Peregrine turned his head, his long black hair, though in a ponytail, flying around his head and whipping him in the face.

She moved closer and said, "The next time one of the red chasers get the quaffle," she balanced on her broom as she lifted both of her arms off to make a large gesture, "Dopplebeater defence." Derrick nodded and flew away, but only so far that they could both see each other.

Madam Hooch's whistle pierced through the wind again as the Gryffindors flew up into the air, resuming their positions.

The game commenced again, Cassius gaining possession of the slippery leather ball and tucking it under his arm as he sped to the opposite posts. However Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson both slammed into him on each side, cutting off all directions he could possible pass the ball to, making him drop the quaffle to be caught by Katie Bell who flew beneath him.

Peregrine nodded and she locked eyes with him determinedly, gesturing with bat to follow Katie.

They both advanced forward, bodies pressed flat against the handles of their brooms, flying to the nearest Bludger to Bell. Then, Peregrine with his right and Lilith with her left, their bats both veered back, propelling the rampant iron ball towards Katie at an impressive speed and with stupendous power.

The Bludger hit Katie's back with a sickening crunch, the quaffle falling from her hands as her arms wrapped around her midriff with an anguished screech.

But something odd was happening. An eerie silence was falling across the stadium. The wind, though as strong as ever, was forgetting to roar. It was as though someone had turned off the sound, as though she had gone suddenly deaf — what was going on?

And then a horribly familiar wave of cold swept through her, seeping through her body like blood pumping throughout her veins, just as she became aware of something moving on the field below.

Before she'd had time to think, Lilith had taken her eyes off of Katie and looked down.

At least a hundred Dementors, their hidden faces raised toward the sky, swarmed around them. A dizzying sensation coursed through her body, numbing her mind and blurring her vision. Katie didn't seem so fun to laugh at anymore and the game didn't seem so exciting, her body and mind were alike with numbness as her head spun and her arms struggled to keep her balanced.

As her body was growing weaker, her eyes began to falter. All she saw now was blurry, including the iron bludger that was propelling at her too fast for her body to react. Her mind was telling her to get out of the way, to bloody move, and while she often did what her mind told her, she didn't. Her limbs were limp as the bludger hurtled towards her, slamming into her ribs, winding her as she fell from her broom, hurtling down towards the ground like a child's discarded ragdoll, while the dementors swarmed above, around and below her.

*

When Lilith's eyes opened, it wasn't to the sight of heavenly lights, no gods nor angels nor pagan delights. The ground was warm beneath her, softer than she'd thought heaven to be. She could feel all her limbs, her stiff joints aching softly. If she didn't know any better, she'd say that she was still alive.

The pain came crashing down on her as she felt her torso throb achingly and her eyes scream as she gazed up at the dazzling light of the hospital wing that shone before her.

She squinted, though her eyes refused to see anything but colourful dotted lights that danced in her vision.

"Great fucking Salazar's spit." Her raspy voice slurred out across the wing; she heard a gasp, followed the scraping of chair legs on stone.

"Madam Pomfrey!"

*

Yeah sorry about the massive wait 😪 i'm not going to make up some story i just couldn't be arsed to write lol.