Silent Riot | Regulus Black

NINE

Three long, uneventful weeks went by. Once again, Gemma had returned to her regular rhythm; schoolwork, quidditch practise, Hogsmeade on weekends, sleep. She grew steadily closer to Regulus, though Sirius' question was burned into her mind- how were things at home?

She didn't ask, though. To ask would be impeding on his privacy, which was something she personally hated. He would tell her if and when he wanted to, and if he didn't, then so be it. End of story.

Hallieween had been an enjoyable occasion- she'd eaten sweets until she was almost sick, since she only allowed herself much sugar on Hallieween and Christmas. 

Today, however, her mind was preoccupied. It was preoccupied with something both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

Quidditch.

The match was Slytherin versus Hufflepuff, and it was the second of the season- Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had already played, with Gryffindor coming out victorious. She was happy about that- she really wanted to play Gryffindor.

She eyed herself in the mirror, in her emerald quidditch uniform and her blue hair in two braids; she and Ted had made a pact to dye it for Quidditch matches, and today she'd chosen a light blue.

She turned away from the mirror and went over to where Regulus was standing, with the others. He was in the middle of an inspirational speech.

'And I just think that whatever you do, don't- oh hi Gemma- um just don't... wait what was I saying?' Gemma shook her head at him and he smiled. 'I really suck at this.'

'We know,' Ted joked. His hair was an obnoxious shade of orange.

'Right.' Regulus smiled wryly. 'Just... do what your meant to and everything will be fine. Should be fine. Probably. Maybe. Unless-'

'Okay,' Mulciber said loudly. 'We get it.'

'Right.'

They all left the changing rooms and walked onto the pitch in team formation; captain at the front, then the chasers, then the beaters, and finally the keeper. The Hufflepuffs were already on the pitch, and the only people cheering the Slytherins were their own house- everyone else seemed to be supporting Hufflepuff.

In all honesty, Gemma liked that. For the most part, she hated the people in the other houses, and disappointing them by winning gave her some satisfaction.

'Nervous?' Mulciber drawled.

'Please,' she scoffed. 'Hufflepuff? They don't stand a chance.'

'I agree. It's insulting we even have to play with them,' he said, shaking his head and grinning slightly.

'For once, you are right,' she said warily.

'I mean what're they going to do, beat us with "please" and "thank yous?"' Gemma laughed at this comment, and he laughed too.

'Now,' Madame Hooch said. 'Shake hands.' Regulus shook the Hufflepuff captain's hand. She hoped he'd done it firmly. 'I want a nice, fair game. Three, two, one... Go!'

The quaffle was tossed into the air. Immediately Gemma kicked off, bat in hand. She saw Hufflepuff had possession of the quaffle. Goddammit.

Finally the bludgers were released, and Gemma raced to get to one before the opposing team. She got one, saw that Mulciber had the other. She hit it with all her might, and it crashed towards the Hufflepuff seeker- but he managed to dodge it.

She zoomed around the pitch looking for another. She found one- and it was hurtling toward Ted. At the same time, she saw the Hufflepuff chaser about to score- she lodged it at him. He grunted, and dropped the quaffle; Avery picked it up.

Now Avery was going- he passed it to Ted- Ted passed it back, and then Avery was trying to shoot, but Gemma could see the Hufflepuff keeper effectively blocking the hoop.

Luckily, Avery and Mulciber appeared to be strangely in sync. Mulciber whacked the bludger towards the Hufflepuff keeper, and though she managed to avoid it, she gave Avery an opening. The quaffle sailed through.

Gemma used that moment of distraction- while the keeper was grieving the goal, she was left vulnerable for a split second. Due to sheer luck on Gemma's side, a bludger came towards her. She directed its course and it hit the Hufflepuff keeper in the head- she fell off her broom and landed on the floor with a wet thwack.

Gemma winced, she hadn't been aiming for the head. Madame Hooch gave Hufflepuff a penalty, which they scored on Snyder.

But nobody reprimanded her for the penalty, because with the other keeper gone, Slytherin were free to shoot as many goals as they liked. Gemma and Mulciber had assumed roles- him on defence, her on offence.

She wasn't listening to the commentary- she knew what they'd be saying. Slytherin were playing dirty, it wasn't fair, blah blah blah. In her opinion, playing dirty was playing smart, and their moves were adequately punished, were they not? If the other houses had a problem, they should take it up with Hooch and not them.

Ted scored another goal, and then Jules scored one, and then the Hufflepuff chaser got one on Snyder, who- Gemma had to hand it to him- was defending very well.

The score was 70-20 to Slytherin when Regulus caught sight of the snitch. He was chasing it, as was the Hufflepuff chaser. They were both heading for it, as it was hovering in one place. But Regulus was at a disadvantage- the position from which the Hufflepuff seeker had started was closer to the golden ball than Regulus.

She caught Mulciber's eye from across the pitch. He narrowed his eyes at her, and somehow, she understood what he wanted to do. She zoomed across the pitch looking for a bludger. She found one just in time.

Wham! She hit it at the seeker. He dodged, but as he was recovering, Mulciber hit another at him. This one caught him squarely in the chest, and he was knocked off his broom, barely able to hang on let alone fly.

This gave Regulus all the time he needed. Less than fifteen seconds later, he'd caught the snitch.

Gemma touched down on the ground as the Slytherins all began shouting- she could see Avery and Mulciber fist-bumping each other. She gave Ted a hug, and saw Regulus jogging towards her.

'You were great!' She said excitedly.

'So were you!' He exclaimed. She hadn't seen him this happy before.

'So was I!' Ted interjected. They both laughed.

'Woow, we won.' Gemma turned to see Iz, looking very unenthusiastic, and Luke looking just the opposite.

'You sound pleased about it,' Ted commented with an eye roll.

'Hufflepuffs are silly. The real game is against the Gryffindors,' Iz said, smoothing her skirt.

'I told her she was wrong,' Luke informed them. 'I said that Slytherin had a 60% chance of winning.'

'I don't know which of these reaction I prefer,' Regulus said. Not wanting his euphoria to extinguish so quickly, Gemma swung her arm around him and steered him away from the two.

'Neither,' she said. 'We did amazingly, and now we are going to celebrate it.'

a/n- i am very sorry about the hufflepuff prejudice. i do love hufflepuffs. gemma does not.