Fan Fiction ❯ Fall From Grace ❯ Gryffindor Vs Hufflepuff ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: See Chaps 1-4

Notes: Thanks for all the reviews.

---S/O/C/6---

CHAPTER 6: GRYFFINDOR Vs HUFFLEPUFF.

The sun shone brightly through the crack in the curtains, bouncing onto one of the students, hitting him in the eyes, as he slowly woke.

"Urgh…what time is it?" he asked groggily, blinking. It always took him a while to focus when he woke up; damn eyes were always blurry when you needed to see the time.

"Time you got up Padfoot," said one of his friends, jokingly throwing a pillow at the black haired boy, the voice he recognised as that of James Potter.

"What ever Prongs," yawned Sirius rolling over onto his stomach, giving his eyes time to focus. "Is Wormtail still asleep?"

"Yes, he woke up before you and said he'd come down to breakfast with us, and watch us practise," explained James, slouching down next to Sirius, as he pulled on one of his white socks "But I told him to go back to sleep, and just come watch the game,"

"Your such a hero Prongs," said Sirius sarcastically rolling his eyes, before pulling himself out of bed and stretching.

James grinned at his friend's statement, but said nothing; he picked up his boots and proceeded to put them on. His brown eyes watched his other friend closely, something was going on and he was going to find out "Padfoot what are you up too?" he turned away quickly as his tall friend, proceeded to undress and then get re-dressed in his Qudditich uniform.

"Me? Up to something?" asked Sirius, his voice full of false innocence, he was careful not to face James since his huge grin would have given away the fact that he really was up to something "Where's Moony, isn't he supposed to be getting ready too?"

"He's ready, and down having breakfast with the girls, and don't avoid the subject Padfoot!" James snapped the last bit, after realising that Sirius, had once again almost made him lose track of the conversation.

"I'm not avoiding it Prongs, I'm just not talking about it," replied Sirius cheekily, turning his head, so James could see him grin over his shoulder "Plus, you're so easily distracted from the course of a conversation, that it's just plain, good fun to distract you even more,"

James response was a snort, what ever Sirius was up to, no doubt they would hear about it sooner rather than later. Standing up, he headed for the door, as Sirius quickly followed behind him.

The pair walked into the great hall, James still bugging Sirius about what he was planning on doing, though to no avail.

Remus, who had been happily chatting away with Nancy about their team strategies, looked up at his bickering friends and slowly shook his head at the pair whilst a wry smile graced his thin pale lips.

"What are you shaking your head about Moony?" asked Sirius, taking a seat next to his friend. He looked over to James, who had a similar expression on his face to Sirius's.

"Do you two ever stop teasing each other?" asked Remus, looking back at his food whilst waiting for his friends response to his question, which would no doubt be delivered in joke form.

"When we're teasing Snivellus and his Slytherin cronies" said Sirius in a matter-of-fact tone, reaching his hand out and taking a piece of toast and some butter, which he then set to work putting on carefully, so that it was spread neatly in several thick layers over the slice. James nodded in agreement, a huge grin on his face.

Remus shook his head again, looking at the rest of the team, the girls looked at Sirius and James as if they where bullies, and Nancy started to protest about what Sirius had said.

"You should leave the Slytherins alone, we've lost enough house points the last seven years since you two arrived," pointed out Nancy, glaring at Sirius, clearly stating that she thought he was the worst "And I would have expected better from you James, after all you are head boy; you should be setting an example to the younger students,"

"Yeah, about how not to let Slytherins walk all over them," put in Sirius, looking at Nancy sternly "Though Kai is not that bad," he added with a look in Jordie's direction. Jordie said something muffled then went back to eating as Sirius turned his blue-eyed gaze back to Nancy who glared at him a once more before turning back to her Breakfast.

The team ate the rest of their Breakfast in silence and headed out for practise in the same manner. As soon as they reached the pitch, Nancy turned on her heels and looked at the whole team.

"Now this year, we are going to win the cup again!" she said firmly, her hands planted firmly on her hips, as she glared at them all one at a time "For many of us this is our last year and this time we're going out with a bang".

Gabriel, one of the two beaters of the team was about to say something when Nancy interjected "-I know we haven't lost a match since Potter joined, Gower!" she growled at him "But, this year-unlike last-" she muttered under her breath "We are not, I repeat, We are not going to cut it so close with scoring points!"

The team nodded slowly, wondering whether their captain was going to curse them, or give them lines or something if they did `cut it close' with the points, as she put it.

They mounted their brooms and took to the air. Nancy flew about above them shouting instructions, as well as searching for the snitch at the same time; a skill she seemed to have perfected.

Remus, James and Sean all passed the quaffle between them racing to see who would reach the goal first, it was usually James, who seemed to some how always manage to obtain the ball from the opposing person's hands in the blink of an eye. Sirius and Gabriel had fun hitting the bludgers in all directions, though they did there best to make sure the balls avoided hitting the Chasers, and once only narrowly missed hitting Nancy.

Jordie swooped in front of all three goals, keeping both her eyes solely focused on the quaffle and those in possession of it. As far as she was concerned all that mattered in the game was watching that damn quaffle and the chasers. She successfully blocked the majority of Remus' and Sean's attempts to score, but James managed to get all but three goals past her.

The practise session finished, with the whole team feeling tired and in need of a shower. Nancy had pushed them hard that morning and the match with Hufflepuff was in just a few short hours. The group dismounted and dragged themselves back into the changing rooms, and up to the showers to get freshened up.Then they started to change back into their Quidditch robes for the match.

---

The Slytherin common room was buzzing, students were packed into small groups on chairs and sofas chatting happily to each other about the up coming Hufflepuff-Gryffindor match.

"Hufflepuff are useless, Gryffindor'll stomp them into the mud and they know it," jeered one third year nastily.

"That's if Staples can stay on his broom!" laughed a rather podgy fourth year.

"That's nothing compared to Fletcher in Hufflepuff, worst beater in the history of Hogwarts, he almost makes Black and Gower look good!" added Willis Avery with a grin that showed off his yellow uneven teeth to a painful advantage.

Lucius smirked at his friend, his long arm hung loosely around Nacrissa's shoulders. Kai sat nearby trying not to listen to the insults directed at the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and trying his hardest to ignore any comments aimed at Jordie and her goal keeping skills.

Bella sat in the same group looking bored at the conversation, `did no-one have anything interesting to say'. She had come down into the common room hoping for some distraction to stop herself from fretting over this up and coming conversation wit Sirius Black and the fact that she felt she had no-one she could confide in. `There's always Maria' she though to herself as she passed a glance at the girl sitting next to her. She had long brown hair and brown eyes, which were darker than Bella's, with creamy-olive coloured skin .

Bella watched as her friend clenched and unclenched her hands, as the conversation in the room passed onto the Ravenclaw team, of which Maria's long standing boyfriend, Mark Leeman, was the captain and seeker. He was also a prefect, and Bella had to admit a very good and loyal boyfriend to Maria, with the brains to back up his brawn.

"So Bella," sneered Avery, making her slowly turn to head to face him, with a look on it that said she had just been addressed by some piece of filth "I bet it's going to feel good, when you see Lupin get stomped out there today and when we play them of course."

Lucius looked from Avery to Bella, waiting for her to respond, instead she fixed him with a firm glare, turned away and started trying to reassure Maria that the Ravenclaw team were very good and that she should completely ignore what everyone was saying.

"So are you not going to answer Avery?" he asked silkily. Turning away from Maria, Bella looked at Malfoy as if she was pondering what a good answer would be.

"No," she said simply, sitting back and folding her arms, whilst waiting for Malfoy to explode in a fit of rage.

But it didn't come, what did however, shocked everyone, even Narcissa. A smirk appeared on his lips as he looked at Bella half with fondness and half with the eagerness for a challenge "are you challenging me Depardieu?" he asked, then adding "Or are you just being awkward?"

"I believe, Malfoy," she said coolly "that I am, in fact, being a stuck up bitch,"

Malfoy's grin grew slightly, and the glint of a challenge in his eyes, appeared to have grown with it "Indeed, though I think it's rude that you didn't answer Avery's question, so you will do it as a service to me," it was an order, not a question or a request.

It was also to see how far she would push the boundary of obedience. Which, in many peoples view, she'd already pushed rather too far. Bella nodded at Malfoy, making her brown ponytail fall over her shoulder.

"No Avery, I don't look forward to Lupin being stomped on in this match or the one against us, as I cannot see how you can in fact stomp on someone when they are flying about in the air" she stated matter-of-factly. She felt the pressure increase on both sides of her arms, as Maria took hold of one, and Jade the other.

Looking at them both she noticed, the shocked looks on their faces, and the amused one on Malfoy's, who was watching the three with no small amount of interest. Avery on the other hand looked very confused by what she had just said.

"Bella," whispered Jade warningly in her friends ear "Watch it, you know what Malfoy's capable of," Maria was about to say something into her other ear when Lucius spoke, leaning forward and looking Bella directly into the eyes.

"So, how are you lessons with Lupin going then?" he asked challenging her to answer him with a rude comment, which happened to be in fact on the very tip of her tongue.

"Great actually," she lied, the lessons were almost unbearable, and she swore that Lupin and Black had heard the conversation between herself and Severus. If they had it would definitely explain why Black kept running into her in corridors, and reminding her of their little meeting after the match.

This was clearly not the response Malfoy had wanted, but before he could respond, Maria pulled back her sleeve and looked at her watch. "Oh dear me", she exclaimed in a rather false voice "Look at the time, we'd better get going if were going to go see McGonagall and then get to the Quidditch match, come on Bella, Jade," she said quickly ushering the other two girls out of their seats, and waving goodbye to the rest of the group.

They reached the great hall quickly as Maria had dragged Bella there by her elbow, a furious look on her face, none of them realised that both the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor teams, were sitting down to lunch on their own in the hall, so that none of them played on an empty stomach.

"Maria dearest I think you're hurting her," put in Jade, noticing Bella flinch when Maria increased the grip on her elbow.

Maria stopped quickly flying round on Bella, a half furious and a half scared look on her face "What do you think you're doing?" she asked in a shaky voice, placing both her hands on Bella's shoulders as if steadying herself.

"I believe I was letting you drag me away from what promised to be a rather interesting conversation, by the elbow with your very vice like grip and now I'm standing here in front of both the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams being yelled at," supplied Bella helpfully, both Jade and Maria knew she was just being difficult again.

Maria shook with anger and worry at the same time, as Jade looked round, going slightly red when she realised in fact, that both Quidditch teams were staring at the scene, all looking highly amused.

Jade cast her calming grey eyes over to the Hufflepuff table as saw the seventh year she had had a crush on since her first year at Hogwarts, watching the seen, he was a beater on the team, a rather handsome boy with sandy blonde hair and the lightest pair of blue eyes, Jade had ever seen.

Bella cast a glance around the room as well, wondering what they were making of Maria's little outburst at her, and also followed Jades, eyes to the Hufflepuff table, and slowly watched her black haired friend smile nervously at the boy, and then turn scarlet when he smiled back.

"Bella that conversation with Malfoy was anything but interesting!" said Maria shakily, losing her grip on her friend.

"I found it rather entertaining actually, didn't you see how he reacted?" asked Bella blinking at her brown haired friend hoping she'd click that they were being watched and calm down a bit.

Maria luckily did catch on and after looking around nervously turned back to Bella,. "It wasn't entertaining either, and what you said to him when he asked how those sessions were going, probably made him even more angry," pointed out Maria quietly. Their conversation tough hushed still carried round the hall making Remus even more interested in what they were saying to each other.

But before he could hear the rest, Nancy stood up and said "Come on, time to get ready to go to the match," the team nodded slowly and rose from their seats following her out. Remus, Sirius and James looked back over their shoulders, to see if they could catch anything else, but to no avail.

About a half an hour later, everyone was waiting for the teams to arrive on the pitch and the match to start. The first team on was Gryffindor.

"And here comes the golden Gryffindors!" cheered Woodbury, the Gryffindor who commentated for all the matches. Last year there had been a Slytherin doing it "Rhodes (Nancy, she wasn't submitted with a last name!), Kenyon, Black, Gower, Staples, Lupin…and last but not least, the star player of the team Potter!"

A huge cheer rose from the Gryffindor crowd as James' name was called. Then the Hufflepuff team came out onto the pitch "and here comes Hufflepuff!" exclaimed Woodbury "Mattson, Fletcher, Ryan, Hanson, Micheals, Ellis aaaaaaaaaaaaand…Reed!" Cheers erupted from the Hufflepuffs this time.

Madame Hooch walked out onto the pitch "Now Captains shake hands!" Nancy and Mattson met in the centre and shook hands smiling pleasantly at each other "Ok, now mount your brooms!" commanded Hooch, the two teams did as they were asked, and zoomed off from the ground as soon as Hooch threw the quaffle in the air and blew the whistle.

"Lupin with the quaffle…he's doing well…no Ellis has got it, passes to Hanson," Rattled out Woodbury excitedly as the match continued to intensify, it was now becoming clearer to the Gryffindor team, that somehow Hufflepuff had gotten good.

"Oh Staples looks like he's going to fall. Ah the bludger just hit his broom! Look at the boy spinning!" laughed Woodbury, as the blur that was Sean Staples was spinning around in circles uncontrollably where the ball had hit the front of his broom.

"Gryffindors get the quaffle, Lupin passes to Potter…who's heading for the goal, Look Out!" yelled Woodbury as a bludger headed straight for James. His panic was for nothing as the bludger was quickly deflected by Sirius. "Lucky Black was there! Oh Potter scores! Ten-Zero to Gryffindor!" A loud cheer echoed from the Gryffindor part of the stadium.

The match continued in the same heated manner for a long time, Sean seemed to spend a lot of time hanging on to his broom for dear life, but managed to score twice whilst doing so.

Nancy flew above the pitch watching her team, and dodging bludgers, whilst looking for the small golden snitch, a replacement for the one which she suspected James Potter had stolen in the fifth year. Then it caught her eye, hovering near the Hufflepuff goal, the golden snitch, ever so slowly she moved, still looking as though she was searching.

Ryan, who was the Hufflepuff seeker, watched her moves carefully, but didn't grasp onto what she was doing until she gained speed as she headed towards the snitch. Getting himself into gear, he blasted off in pursuit and he had the advantage of being nearer the target than she was.

Nancy and Ryan zoomed towards the snitch as both teams played on with baited breath, wondering who would get there first. Gryffindor was in the lead, but if Ryan got the snitch, the game would be Hufflepuffs.

Jordie caught the quaffle quickly as Reed attempted a goal and as she threw it back out she heard Madame Hooch's whistle blow. Then after what seemed like an age, Woodbury's voice announced, "Rhodes got the snitch! Gryffindor wins!" There was applause like thunder booming across the pitch from the on looking Gryffindors, and even some Ravenclaws were clapping.

Both teams dismounted from their brooms as they touched down, and congratulated each other on a brilliant game, and even Ryan said that Nancy did a great job.

Sirius watched the Slytherin crowd with some interest until his eyes finally caught what they were looking for, Bella Depardieu, stood up and made her excuses from the small group she was sitting with, then left.

Looking back at the whole crowd of people crowding round them, Sirius walked over to James, Remus and Peter.

"You were brilliant Padfoot!" exclaimed Wormtail with delight. He never been picked for the Quidditch team, even though he tried out every year, and all his friends had been.

"I know," he said grinning, then turning to James "Look I've got to go now Prongs, so could you tell Nancy and the rest something, because I haven't got time to make excuses. I'll meet you all in the common room for the party,"

James nodded, and was about to ask where his friend was going, but Sirius disappeared before he could.

"Where's he off to?" asked Remus thoughtfully, but James simply shrugged his shoulders, and went to meet Lilly who came walking up to them with a huge smile on her face.

---

Bella stopped outside the Slytherin changing rooms, and looked at the door, she shouldn't have come alone, she should have brought at least one other person with her, not Severus, maybe Jade or Maria, even Narcissa, and if she got that desperate Crabbe or Goyle. Though they'd probably hit Black before he'd said a single thing to her.

Turning away from the entrance door she looked at the wall opposite, what was this about? Had Black and Lupin overheard the conversation between herself and Snape? If they had, wouldn't half of the school know about it by now?

She was abruptly pulled out of her thoughts by a confident voice "Is that wall really that interesting?" it asked, Bella jumped round and came face to face with Sirius Black.

She glared at him, which he returned with a simple smirk "Now, now, Bella, don't look like that, I've simply asked you here to apologies," he explained casually.

"Oh so your friends managed to persuade you then Black, I thought your ego was too big to listen to anyone," she retorted angrily. She felt cornered and vulnerable at the moment, and that was something she wasn't that pleased about.

"It took them a while," he admitted stepping closer to her, and grinning in delight when she took a step back "Then something else came to my attention that I thought we'd chat about,"

It dawned on Bella then, he had heard, every word of what had passed between her and Severus, and now he was going to question her, even taunt her about it. Still she didn't reply and almost went back to avoiding eye contact with him, but decided against it as it would be something he was looking for.

Smirking with even greater satisfaction he continued "You and Snivellus," at this point she snapped -"oh grow up Black!" - But this small interruption didn't stop him "were talking in the DADA room, and me and Mo-Remus," he corrected himself "just happened to over hear, and it proved rather interesting,"

"For an eves dropper like yourself I believe it would have," she replied coldly. He was not going to get to her, he was not going to make her crack she kept chanting mantra-like in her head.

He once again ignored what she said "Anyway, several parts of it interested me, like why you have been obsessing over what I said in the library, and what Snivellus knows, but the things that got me the most was that-you have a crush on Remus," he said smirking nastily, knowing that he had her pinned now.

"You shouldn't take everything you hear for gospel Black," she replied, her voice hardening. "Otherwise a lot of things that are said about you and your friends would make it impossible for any of you to find a girlfriend, though I suspect your smallest friend Peter already does,"

Sirius looked shocked, what were people saying about him? He would have dwelled on these thoughts, if he hadn't noticed that she'd avoided answering what he had just asked.

"So you're not denying having a thing for Remus?" he questioned taking several steps closer to her, and reaching out and gripping her by the top of her arm, so that she couldn't move away.

"I do not-and will not ever-have a crush on Remus Lupin!" she snapped angrily at him, struggling out of his grip "Now let go of me Black!"

"What are you going to do, run to Snivellus and Malfoy?" sneered Sirius, pulling her in closer to him.

"I don't need them to fight my battles for me, I'm not as dependent on others for reassurance and to be there to correct my mistakes as you obviously are Black," she snapped back, trying to struggle more with the second vice like grip on her arm that day.

Growling in annoyance Sirius tightened his grip on the top of her arm, "Now you listen to me" he growled, "I am sorry for what I said in the library, I didn't mean to upset you," she once again interrupted him with a -"how noble of you" - "But if I find out that you have set any of your friends on Remus, or have upset or annoyed him in anyway then we'll have another little chat". He'd started to speak through gritted teeth now. "He doesn't enjoy these session with you, and it's your fault for being a stuck up cow,"

"Well he's not exactly the most pleasant company either, always asking me what's wrong," she snapped back at Sirius.

"That's because he's concerned, and he wants to be-" Sirius trailed off before continuing "your friend," he finished "Something which I have advised him against".

Sirius seemed to have finally lost his temper completely, as she fell into a stubborn silence after his last revelation. In a fit of rage he threw her roughly against the wall, and stalked off. How had she managed to wind him up when he had been in control?

Bella leant against the wall in shock, the slowly slid down it, her back still pressed up against it as tears poured down her ivory cheeks, what had she done to deserve that? Also she heard Black had a temper but that had been more frightening than arguing with Malfoy, and that was saying something.

---E/O/C/6---

OK I APOLOGIES FOR SIRIUS'S BEHAVIOUR, I AM NOT TRYING TO MAKE HIM THE BIGGEST ASSHOLE ON THE PLANET, BUT IT JUST SEEMS TO WORK, I DUNNO.

ANYWAY REVIEW PLEASE, AND SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG, AND WOW I THOUGHT IT WAS LONG, FOR ME ANYWAY.

SO CHAP 7 WILL BE UP SOON, AND IT WILL BE CENTERED ROUND A DADA WITH REMUS AND BELLA, AS IVY CRANE SUGGESTED SHE'D LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THEM, SO I THOUGHT, WHY THE HELL NOT.

ANYWAY THANK YOU TOO ALL MY REVIEWRS:

IVY CRANE

CALLIE WILSON

AND

BELL

AND TOO MY TWO BETAS

JADESKY AND EMILY.