Emery

Falling

When Emery woke on Saturday morning, the weather reflected her mood. She had barely found any sleep, restless thoughts keeping her up into the early morning hours, so she was exhausted and a bit snappy.

Outside the sky was so black (A/N it was siriusly black xD) it would have been easy to believe that morning had not come yet, had the clocks not said otherwise. The wind was howling and rattling the windows and heavy rain pelted against the glass.

In the Great Hall, the faces of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff quidditch players were laced with caution as they sent worried glances up at the ceiling to see if the storm was clearing up, but it only seemed to be getting worse. The Slytherins on the other hand looked rather smug and Draco Malfoy was openly gloating as he smirked at Harry across the room, stroking his injured arm dramatically.

Emery was dragged down to the quidditch pitch by her friends. Padma was going with Parvati and Lavender, and Mandy (to whom the whole thing was just one big social event) went with some of her Hufflepuff friends. That left Emery with Isy and Lisa who were determined to make her a quidditch fan.

It was raining cats and dogs by now and Isy and Lisa would not have been able to convince her to come had it not been for Harry on the Gryffindor team. Supporting her friend was the sole reason she had finally agreed to come along despite the rough weather.

They waited in the entrance hall for as long as possible before bolting to the stands. Isy's umbrella was ripped from her hand and whisked away by the wind halfway there and by the time they reached the stands they were all drenched from head to toe. Hermione and Ron had saved them a spot and they squeezed their way through a sea of dripping red and gold.

They could barely see what was going on on the pitch, only blurred colors, streaks of scarlet and canary yellow flying back and forth. Nobody really knew what the score was, they couldn't hear the commentator over the howling of the wind, but somebody swore they saw Gryffindor score three times already.

Emery wasn't even trying to keep track anymore, just hoping it would be over soon so she could get away from this suffocating crowd and curl up in the common room with a fluffy blanket and a good book by the fireplace.

The first flash of lightning broke through the clouds, the jagged streak of white lighting up the stands as a loud clap of thunder drowned out every other noise.

As soon as it subsided, a faint whistle rang out across the pitch. It must have been magically enhanced, because it was impossible to even hear someone who was standing right next to you unless they shouted in your ear.

"What's happening? Are they breaking it off?!"

"No way! It's Quidditch! You can't just break it off!"

"Look! Wood called for a time-out! I'll be right back!" Mione shouted, disappearing through the crowd.

"Where is she going?!" Ron shouted.

"I don't know!" Emery shouted back.

"What did you say?!"

"I said I don't know!"

It didn't take long, and the teams flew off again and Mione returned. She was beaming.

"I've had the most brilliant idea! I put a water-repelling charm on Harry's glasses so he can see!"

"Can you put it on us too?" Lisa leaned across Isy and Emery so Hermione would hear her.

"I can try! Impervius!"

The effect was immediate. The heavy raindrops were still pelting against their clothes that stuck to them like a second skin, but instead of drenching them further they bounced off a little. The damage was already done though, and it didn't do much since they were all wetter than they had ever been before.