The Invasion of the Match
“Morning!” beamed Ginny.
“Is it?” grumbled Hannah pulling her quilt up further over her head.
“You guys coming to the match?” asked Artie as she pulled on her quidditch robes.
“Of course,” said Hannah, “in five hours when the match actually starts!”
“Hey Sus seeing as we’re already awake do you want to get up?”
“It’s six o’clock in the morning,” Susan pointed out.
“I want to try something,” beamed Beth.
“Oh alright then,” sighed Susan getting out of bed.
Beth and Susan both got dressed in jeans and jumpers and grabbed their coats, and Hufflepuff scarves for later.
The only person still asleep in the dorm was Hannah who was dropping back off.
“I get why Ginny and Artie got out of bed at six thirty, they want to get some practise in before the match, but why are we getting up this early on a Saturday?”
“Well firstly I’ve been up all night,” said Beth, “I can never sleep properly on the night of the full moon, I’m too worried about Remus.”
“I get that,” shrugged Susan.
“The other reason in because I want to try something,” Beth whispered as they reached the seventh floor.
“Why are we up here?” asked Susan, “there’s no homework, we’re all caught up.”
Beth walked past the Room of Requirement three times thinking I want somewhere to be alone.
Beth opened the door that appeared in the wall.
“We’re not catching up with Theo, are we?” asked Susan.
“There’s more than one thing that I would rather to do in private,” beamed Beth as she opened the door.
Susan went into the room after her, the Room of Requirement had changed into a version of the Hufflepuff dorm but with only one bed and a roaring fire.
“We just walked up all those stairs to go back to bed?”
“Yes and no,” Beth pointed out sitting down on the bed.
“What do we usually do first thing in the morning?”
“Make out in the Common Room,” Susan pointed out.
“And what’s the biggest problem we face?”
Susan looked confused.
“People interrupting us, one of the first years asking a question, Hannah needing help with her homework, Neville having lost Trevor again. Here we can spend as much time as we like together with no interruptions.”
“You are amazing,” said Susan sitting down next to Beth, “did you know that?”
“Not as amazing,” said Beth stroking Susan’s cheek, “as you.”
Susan pulled Beth in close and became lost in her eyes.
After what felt like several days full of bliss, Beth checked her watch.
“Oh Merlin!” she exclaimed, “it’s a quarter to eleven!”
“They’re going to kill us!” said Susan shaking her head as she redid her plaits and they straightened their clothes.
They sprinted down to the Quidditch pitch and sat down next to Ernie and Justin who had been saving them seats, it was chucking it down with rain, they were already soaked.
“Where have you two been?” asked Ernie looking at them.
“Never you mind,” muttered Beth as she sat down.
Susan pointed her wand in the air and cast an umbrella spell which covered both her and Beth.
“Who do you think’s going to win?” asked Justin.
“Well Gryffindor obviously,” said Ron.
“You seem to be forgetting that Hufflepuff has Cedric, Artie and your sister,” said Ernie.
“Yes,” nodded Ron, “but Gryffindor’s got the twins and Oliver’s the best keeper in the school.”
“Yes, but Cedric’s the best seeker,” said Susan, “one hundred and fifty points is a lot!”
“Let’s just see how it goes,” sighed Hermione as she tried to squeeze under Susan’s umbrella.
The match started and the players were getting soaked.
“I think Cedric’s found the snitch!” said Beth pointing towards the Cedric who was flying higher into the sky.
At this moment, Beth was overcome with a feeling of utter misery, one hundred dementors were gliding onto the pitch.
The voices started to fill Beth’s head, but they weren’t screaming this time.
“Lily take Beth and run!” said a man’s voice.
“Take me please!” a woman begged, “just don’t kill my little Beth!”
“Stand aside you foolish girl!”
And only then did the screaming start again, and much louder than any other time before.
“Beth,” called a soft familiar voice, “Beth!”
“Where am I?” muttered Beth drowsily.
“You’re in the Hospital Wing sweetheart,” sighed Remus brushing her hair fringe off her forehead.
Beth opened her eyes and looked around frantically.
“Mum!” she called, “Dad!”
“It’s ok little one,” said Remus tucking her back in, “you’re safe.”
Remus looked exhausted, he had had his transformation the night before, but looking after his little girl was far more important than getting his rest.
“Where’s Mum and Dad?” she gulped.
“What are you talking about?”
“I know what the dementors make me remember,” she muttered.
“Hmm?”
“It’s Mum and Dad’s last moments,” she whispered trying not to cry, “they were protecting me from Voldemort.”
“Oh sweetheart,” breathed Remus pulling her in for a hug.
“What are we going to do?”
“About what little one?” he chuckled.
“The dementors, there’s got to be something I can do right?”
“There is a spell, but it’s very advanced,” Remus explained.
“Could you teach me?”
“After Christmas,” nodded Remus.
“But as for now, I believe Madam Pomfrey wants to talk to you.”
“Remus dear,” sighed Madam Pomfrey, “now you can see that Beth is completely fine you should go get yourself some sleep.”
Remus got up from his chair and nodded slightly.
“You’re right Poppy,” he muttered.
Remus gave Beth a kiss on the forehead and headed back to his room.
“Right,” sighed Pomfrey, “now we’ve sorted Remus out, we need to get some chocolate down you.”
Beth groaned slightly as Pomfrey brought over a small boulder of chocolate.
“If you don’t eat any, I’m not going to let in Miss Bones or Mr Macmillan.”
Beth blushed and picked a small piece of chocolate which she nibbled on and felt instantly better.
“Better?”
“Hmm,” muttered Beth.
Pomfrey nodded as she let Susan and Ernie in.
“Hey Beth, how you doing?” asked Susan.
“Tired,” she sighed, “but not as tired as Remus.”
“Well the good news is,” said Ernie, “we beat Gryffindor, Cedric caught the snitch, 200 to 80.”
“Oh that’s great,” said Beth drowsily as she settled back into the pillows and fell half asleep.
“You put sleeping draught in that chocolate, didn’t you?” asked Ernie looking over at Pomfrey.
“Beth looked like she needed sleep can you blame me?” asked Pomfrey arching her eyebrows.
“Fair enough,” nodded Ernie getting up to leave as Susan sat down on the end of Beth’s bed with a book.