Mischief Managed Year One: Mayhem of the Moon

Chapter Fifty-Eight- Flight and Fight

TW: Mentions of Past Traumatic Experiences

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Flying class was everything Sirius had hoped for and more! The practice games they had begun in class were going well. Peter and one of the Gryffindor first years; the pretty but incompetent at flying Marlene, weren't on Sirius' team and for that he was grateful, since the two of them were probably the worst flyers in their year. But the opposite team also had James, which was definitely a plus for them. They played with the Hufflepuffs, mixed all together instead of just facing them outright, as this was supposed to be "merely for fun."

It was a pretty evenly matched game even though his team lost both the first and second scrimmages. Sirius was disappointed Remus wasn't doing better on the broom, both a terrible Chaser and an even worse Beater. It wasn't until the third scrimmage, in which Sirius fought for him to be the Keeper, that anything changed. He wasn't, truth be told, expecting much from Remus at that point. But with his friends' quick reflexes he was a great Keeper. Good enough that James started taking things a bit seriously, and Remus provided the tipping point needed for Sirius' team to win scrimmage four and five.

"You're brilliant!" Several, perhaps a bit biased. Gryffindor team members encouraged Remus who had gone rather red. Even a few Hufflepuffs acknowledged he wasn't half bad. At this rate, Remus would be on the team in no time!

"Honestly mate, you keep blocking the goals like you've been doing with a little more practice and you could probably be on the team next year!" Sirius pointed out confidently, flying his broom next to his friend's. He was sure Remus would want to play now that he knew he could be good at it. Anyone would want to play Quidditch if they had the skill to. So it hadn't occurred to him that Remus, even if he was good at a certain position, wouldn't want to play.

"Is that what all your encouragement has been about, Sirius?" Remus asked, gripping his broom very tight and sounding rather cross. But Remus didn't have enough time to say anything else as Professor Yasin blew the whistle and they were off flying to get back into starting positions again. This time James was playing Seeker, which he seemed thrilled about. Everything was going fine even with Remus putting in less effort, because he was upset at Sirius for some baffling reason. But at least Remus was still blocking a majority of the Quaffles that came his way.

Then Dorcas, who had incredible skill at being a beater, the position Sirius was hoping to go for next year, whacked the Bludger at a first-year Hufflepuff named Bailey. The boy was knocked to the side slightly and attempted to change course quickly. This caused him to accidentally slam into Remus, who had his eye on Lily who was approaching fast with a Quaffle.

A more seasoned flyer would have been able to stay on their broom with no problem. But Remus had only recently been getting better at flying, and he had never been higher up than he currently was until today.

Remus tried, he really tried to stay in his broom. It went flying and then spinning out of control, hurling to the ground with him clutching for dear life. Sirius immediately tried to reach him. So did James, who although much further than Sirius to begin with, caught up to him, but neither of them was able to reach Remus in time.

"Remus! PULL UP!" they cried in unison. Lily screamed for him to watch out, which was much less helpful advice than what they had yelled.

It seemed Remus heard them both and perhaps tried to do both, but it was too little too late and his broom hit the goal post. Luckily at this point, he wasn't too far off the ground because he fell the rest of the way off his broom, crumpling rather hard. However, it looked like their friend may have hit his head, so Sirius was understandably terrified.