The Rogue Bludger
After the disastrous Pixie incident, both in Slytherin and Gryffindor, Professor De Plume stopped bringing living creatures to the class, instead, he read parts of his books to them and sometimes reenacted some of the more dramatic bits and Luz was usually his helper in the reconstructions.
From a Transylvanian villager cured by De Plume, a cold-inflicted Yeti, and a vampire unable to eat anything but lettuce. Luz would have refused if she didn't have a good reason to keep De Plume in a good mood. De Plume went on and on with his stories and even asked for a poem about one of his feats as homework.
One day Gus, Luz and Willow waited after the bell to talk with De Plume alone “Professor De Plume,” Gus stammered “I want to get this book from the library… for background reading to help me better understand Gadding with Ghouls, but I need you to sign for it.” He held out a piece of paper.
A broad smile formed on De Plume’s face “Ah yes, probably my favourite book, did you like it?” Gus nodded energetically “Well, I’m sure no one will mind me giving a little help to such a dedicated student,” De Plume said warmly and pulled out an enormous peacock quill. “Yes, nice, isn’t it?” He said misreading the revolt look on Luz’s face.
De Plume signed the paper with a giant loop “Tomorrow is the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor and Slytherin, right Miss Park?” Willow nodded “I was a seeker too and I was even asked to try for the national squad but preferred to dedicate my life to the eradication of the dark forces.” Gus folded the paper carefully.
“But if you ever need help, I’d be more than happy to pass down my expertise to less able players.” Having no answer to that, the trio left the room. Luz was surprised that De Plume didn't even do as much as look what book they were asking for.
They went to the library where they met Malphas, the librarian. He was a tall man, with piercing yellow eyes, wearing a black cloak with a purple top, along with a pair of reading half-moon glasses. He spent his time riding on top of a large book that was speculated to have a list of every single book in the library.
“Moste Potente Potions,” He said reading the note from Gus. Malphas was a reasonable and kind individual, but he was very strict regarding the library rules. To Gus's delight, Malphas gave him back the note and hovered inside the Restricted Session, returning several minutes later caring a large and mouldy-looking book.
Minutes later they were in Myrtle’s out-of-order bathroom, the one place they could have privacy. The trio looked over the pages of the book and they understood why it belonged in the Restricted Session, some potions there had effects too gruesome to think of and some very unpleasant illustrations.
On the page headed The Polyjuice Potion was drawings of people halfway through transforming into other people. Luz sincerely hoped the artist had imagined the look of intense pain on their faces.
“This is the most complicated potion I’ve ever seen,” Gus said as they scanned the recipe. “Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass,” she murmured, running his finger down the list of ingredients. “Well, they’re easy enough, they’re in the student storecupboard, we can help ourselves… Oooh, look, a powdered horn of a bicorn is an ingredient —don’t know where we’re going to get that—shredded skin of a basilisk—that’ll be tricky too and of course a bit of whoever we want to change into.” Gus concluded.
“Excuse me?” said Willow sharply. “What d’you mean, a bit of whoever we’re changing into? I’m drinking nothing with someone's toenails in it—” Gus continued “We don’t have to worry about that yet, though, because we add those bits last…” Willow turned, speechless, to Luz, who had another worry.
“You realize how much we’re going to have to steal, Gus? The shredded skin of a basilisk, that’s definitely not in the students’ cupboard. What’re we going to do, break into Lilith’s private stores? This is not a good idea” Gus shut the book with a snap.
“Well, if you two are going to jump off, fine,” he said. His eyes were brighter than usual, shining with determination. “I don’t want to break the rules, you know. I think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don’t want to find out if it’s Boscha, I’ll go straight to Malphas now and hand the book back in.” Luz and Willow exchanged surprised looks.
“Never in a hundred years, I ever thought you'd be persuading us to break rules,” Willow said and Luz nodded. “It’s very noble of you to dedicate so much to the muggle-borns.” Luz gave him a soft smile “Thank you… my family has been fighting alongside the community for years, I’m following their footsteps.” Gus reopened the book.
“We are in of course, how long until it’s ready?” Willow asked, “A month, considering the multiple preparation stages.” Luz widened her eyes “That’s too long, Boscha could attack half of the muggle-borns by then.” Gus raised his gaze to her “Unfortunately this is our best plan, so we must go full steam ahead.” They agreed and headed out to their common room.
By the time Luz woke up that Saturday, Willow had already left the bedroom. Luz could only imagine how much pressure she was dealing with. As 11 O’clock approached, the whole school made its way to the Quidditch Pitch, it was a muggy sort of day with a hint of thunder in the air. Luz and Gu hurried over to wish Willow good luck as she entered the changing room.
Inside, the team put on their scarlet robes and sat down to listen to Wood’s usual pre-match pep talk “Slytherin have better gear than us, no point denying it. But we got better people in our gear, we’ve trained harder than them, in all kinds of weather!” Oliver begun.
“True,” muttered Emira Blight “I haven't been properly dry since August,” Edric added. “And we’re going to make them rue the day they let Troisoeil buy her way onto their team,” Wood turned to Willow, his chest heaving with emotion “Show them, Willow, that a seeker needs way more than a rich mother! Get the snitch before Troisoeil, or die trying, because we must win, we need to win today!” Willow's mouth went dry instantly.
“So, no pressure.” Edric winked at her. A roar of noise greeted them as they walked out, cheers from Gryffindor, booing from Slytherin and a bit of both from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Madam O’Neil asked Flint and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares. On her whistle and the roar of the crowd, the fourteen players launched themselves into the sky and the game began.
“Good morning Quidditch lunatics! Hope you are ready for this incredible match between Gryffindor and Slytherin!” Amber Pilulip was commenting on the game as usual “Willow Park and Boscha Troisoeil fly above everyone else, the new Slytherin seeker is fast!” The game began and Luz watched it eagerly, waiting for Willow to show how much better seeker she was and that money was everything Boascha had. But she was wrong.
“Troisoeil just louched herself towards the ground!? Did she spot the Golden Snitch? Park is right behind her but can she compensate for the head start from her opponent?” A loud gasp and cheer exploded from the crowd. “Troisoeil isn't a pushover… maybe she didn't buy her way into the team,” Edric commented and a chill came down the spine of the Gryffindor students.
“She’s actually good,” back in the Slytherin stand, Lucas Greenfield said surprised “What do you mean by that? Are you surprised?” Skara asked “Yes, I kind of expected her to be bad at it since she had to buy her spot on the team” Skara raised an eyebrow “Really? You believed that?” Lucas stuttered.
“Boscha is too prideful for that, she would never accept getting in the team that way,” Skara explained “Then, why did she gift the team all the new gear?” Lucas asked “She thought the old ones were looking like rags, not fitting to the Slytherin house, besides she’s been training a lot since her first day so she could apply to the team this year, she only gave them the gear after she was accepted and didn't mention to anyone but me and Amity,” Skara concluded.
“And Slytherin scores again, they are now winning 90 to 30 and it looks like the beaters aren't seeing much action this match, the seekers on the other hand, are showing what they’re made of,” Amber continued with her commentary. “It’s an interesting contrast between them, while Willow waits to spot the snitch from a high point, Boscha keeps on the move constantly, she probably has circled the pitch as much as a chaser by now,” Gloria, who was sitting next to Luz and Gus, commented.
“It's just me, or we have only been seeing one bludger this game?” Star, who also was near them, asked confused “Yeah, I noticed it too, at least it means people are getting hurt less, really, this game is unnecessarily violent,” Luz said “You’ll get used to it” Gloria, the biggest fan of Quidditch of their group, after Willow, responded.
“Do you guys hear that too?” Gus was looking around confused, once he brought attention to it, Luz started hearing too. The sound was of iron hitting wood, it remained Luz when she and Willow crashed the flying car in the Whomping Willow, but it also came with a unique sound, one Luz had only heard from one place before. Suddenly it clicked, but not only to her.
“Bludger!” Luz, Gus, Star and Gloria all screamed and dive, falling on top of the other students. There was uproar for a moment, students were yelling at the 4 for distracting them from the game, but soon they shut up as the missing bludger burst from the ground exactly where Luz was standing.
“Azura’s hair! It’s the bludger!” Gloria screamed “Why? They don’t attack people on the stand!” Gus yelled preparing his Palisman. The ball stopped midair for a breath moment before launching itself towards Luz, the girl grabbed her staff, asking what she could do, she knew spells, but none seemed useful at that moment.
Faster than she could yell, the gem in her staff glowed and a golden aura covered her entire body, a blink later, she had dashed about two meters back, avoiding the bludger but now she was falling from the stands “The seekers go for the snitch, they're neck a neck” Amber narrated, no one other than some Gryffindor students had noticed the bludger.
Luz managed to land on the ground without breaking anything in the process, she looked up, the two teams were too focused on their match to notice her all those meters beneath. Suddenly it started to rain as if on cue “What a great way to start the day,” Luz thought.
With her tunic now soaked in water, Luz looked at the Gryffindor stand, the bludger hat hit where she was and ended up breaking another whole into the structure, she thought she heard Gus saying that the bludger had been tampered with, but there was no time to think about it.
More crash sounds came from the stands in front of her, and the heavy iron ball charged towards her, making yet another hole in the process. Luz clenched her staff, that golden aura had saved her, whatever spell it was. The bludger was fast but he couldn't change direction without decelerating, Luz felt like a Spanish matador dodging a raging bull, but in her case, she was the only one at risk of getting hurt.
Luz was getting more tired by the second so the bludger was getting closer to actually hitting her, she started feeling the wind moving as she dodge the ball in the last possible second multiple times “I need to do something.” She needed space and a window to cast a spell, the red sparks could grab the attention of the people above her.
“I need the dash now!” She talked to her staff and focused on the feeling of getting away from the ball and it worked, sort of. Her body was now engulfed by the aura and every time she blinked she would dash a couple of meters in the direction she was looking at.
Luz started widening the distance between her and the bludger which didn't stop his charging attacks, it could cover the two meters distance in a few seconds so Luz had to be quicker, she pointed her staff towards the sky and cast the Vermillious charm. Well, she intended at least, what came out was just a jet of pinkish light that missed Emira by a few centimetres.
“Help!” Luz yelled with everything she had, but the roar from the crowd easily suppressed her plead. The bludger caught up to Luz and went for her shoulder and in the last possible moment, she dove to the ground and the ball missed her head for less than an inch.
“Luz! Here!” Emira was coming down with her arm extended for Luz to grab, the younger Gryffindor jumped to her feet and ran towards the beater “Almost…” but she wasn't fast enough, the Bludger hit her at last, smashed into her elbow, and Luz felt her arm break. With better reflexes, Emira managed to dodge the ball but not before Luz hit the muddy floor.
She was done for, couldn't move, and was passing out. The bludger had flown up and was now falling like a meteor aiming for her face, everything went black and she waited for the impact… which never came. In the distance, she heard Amber announcing Gryffindor's victory.
She came around, rain falling on her face, still lying on the field, with someone leaning over her. She saw a glitter of teeth. “Oh, no, not you,” she moaned. “Doesn’t know what she’s saying,” said De Plume loudly to the anxious crowd of students from all houses pressing around them.
“Not to worry, Luz. I’m about to fix your arm.” Suddenly, her heart was racing again “No!” said Luz. “I’ll keep it like this, thanks…” She tried to sit up, but the pain was terrible. She heard a familiar clicking noise nearby. “I don’t want a photo of this, Nosa,” she said loudly.
“Lie back, Luz,” said De Plume soothingly. “It’s a simple charm I’ve used countless times” Luz clenched her teeth. “Why can’t I just go to the hospital wing?” she said. “She should really, Professor,” said a muddy Wood, who couldn’t help grinning even though someone was terribly injured.
Through the thicket of legs around her, Luz spotted Emira and Edric Blight, as well as Diana, a chaser from Slytherin, wrestling the rogue Bludger into a box. It was still putting up a terrific fight. She looked around, there were worried looks all around her.
A few meters away, a small group, mainly composed of the Slytherin students as well as some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were cheering up the green team after their defeat. Amity and Skara weren’t there, but among the students who came to check on Luz.
“Stand back,” said De Plume, who was rolling up his blue sleeves. “No—don’t—” said Luz weakly, but De Plume was twirling his Palisman and a second later had directed it straight at Luz’s arm and shouted "Brackium Emendo". A strange and unpleasant sensation started at Luz's shoulder and spread all the way down to her fingertips.
It felt as though her arm was being deflated. She didn’t dare look at what was happening. She had shut her eyes, her face turned away from her arm, but her worst fears were realised as the people above her gasped and Tinella Nosa began clicking away madly. Her arm didn’t hurt anymore—nor did it feel remotely like an arm.
“Ah,” said De Plume. “Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. But the point is, the bones are no longer broken. That’s the thing to bear in mind. So, Luz, just toddle up to the hospital wing—ah, Mr Porter, Miss Park, would you escort her?—and Madam Cutburn will be able to—er—tidy you up a bit.” Willow and Gus had a look of utmost shock on their faces
As Luz got to her feet, she felt strangely lopsided. Taking a deep breath she looked down at her right side. What she saw nearly made her pass out again. Poking out of the end of her tunic was what looked like a thick, flesh-coloured rubber glove. She tried to move her fingers. Nothing happened.
De Plume hadn’t mended her bones. He had removed them and Madam Cutburn wasn’t at all pleased. “Why didn't you come straight to me!?” she said holding up what half an hour ago was a perfectly working arm “I can mend bones in seconds but growing them back?! It will be a much longer and more painful process” Luz gulped as she was handed a pyjama.
“You’re in for a rough night Noceda, drink this” Cutburn handed a cup of something labelled Skele-Gro, a transparent potion that burned her mouth and throat as it went down, making her cough and splutter. Still tut-tutting about dangerous sports and inept teachers, Madam Cutburn retreated, leaving Gus and Willow to help Luz gulp down some water and change into her pyjama.
“We won, though,” said Luz, a grin breaking across her face. “That was some catch you made. Boscha’s face… she looked ready to kill!” Gus said. “I want to know how she fixed that Bludger,” said Willow darkly.
“We can add that to the list of questions we’ll ask her when we’ve taken the Polyjuice Potion,” said Luz, sinking back onto her pillows. “I hope it tastes better than this stuff…” Willow scoffed “If it’s got bits of Slytherins in it? You’ve got to be joking.” the trio laughed. Luz received candies, cakes and pumpkin juice from her housemates.
Madam Cutburn eventually sent all the visitors out, leaving Luz alone with the stabbing pain of heaving to regrow 33 bones in her limp arm. Hours later Luz woke quite suddenly in a pitch blackness giving a small yelp of pain, her arm now felt full of large splinters, and for a second she thought that was what woke her up. But no, someone was sponging her forehead in the dark.
“Kiki?” The Kikimora was peering at Luz with her uncovered eye, it would have been terrifying had Luz not met her before “Luz Noceda came back to Hogwarts… even after my warnings and after you missed the train” Luz held herself up on her pillows and pushed Kiki’s sponge away.
“How are you here? How do you know I missed the train? Unless… it was you!? Wasn't it? You stopped the barrier.” Kiki nodded slowly, she seemed a bit angry “I never thought you would find another way… How fool I was.” Luz leaned back into her pillows “You nearly got me and Willow expelled! You better clear off before my bones come back or else…” Kiki rolled her eye, unphased by her anger.
“Luz Noceda must go home! After my bludger, Luz Noceda can’t possibly want to stay here.” Anger raised even higher within Luz “¿¡Tu bludger!? ¿Qué estás– ¿Estás tratando de matarme?!” Luz lashed out “Of course not, I want to save Luz Noceda’s life, better be sent home severely injured than remain here!” Luz was red with anger.
“And of course, you won’t tell me why, right?” Luz asked “And risk Luz Noceda going on another deadly adventure? Never! Luz Noceda’s life isn't safe in the magical world, not after the triumph over the Emperor, you must go back to the muggle world… Hogwarts isn't safe now, not now that history is about to repeat itself, now that the Dead Man’s Hall is open once more…” Kiki slapped her own mouth in shock.
“So, it is real…” Luz muttered “Did you say it has been open before? Kiki, I need you to tell me!” Luz stopped momentarily “But Im not muggle-born, why am I in danger?” Kiki reluctantly spoke “The enemies of the legatee are far more than just muggle-borns… anyone who stands in the way… I must save Luz Noceda” Kiki pointed her hand to Luz and made a circle with her wrist, and a halo of red light formed.
“Please wait, I can’t let the others get hurt, you have to tell me,” Luz pleaded “Luz Noceda is very kind but very stubborn too, I promise it won’t hurt… much.” The light grew brighter, Luz looked around, her staff was too far out of her reach, she needed a miracle, and it came, in the form of footsteps down the passageway outside.
Kiki and Luz exchanged looks before the kikimora, with a face of anger and annoyance, disappeared the same way she did in Camila’s kitchen. Luz slumped back into bed, her eyes on the dark doorway to the hospital wing as the footsteps drew nearer. The next moment, Bump and Eda were entering the dormitory carrying what looked like a statue, Madam Cutburn guided them to an empty bed and they heaved it onto a bed.
“What happened?” Cutburn asked, “I’m afraid another attack, Edalyn found her on the stairs.” Luz slowly turned her body towards where they were “She had grapes with her, she was probably trying to sneak up here to see Noceda.” Luz’s stomach gave a horrible lurch. Slowly and carefully, she raised herself a few inches so she could look at the statue on the bed.
A ray of moonlight lay across its staring face. It was Tinella Nosa. Her eyes were wide and her hands were stuck in front of her, holding her camera. “Petrified?” whispered Madam Cutburn. “Yes,” said Eda. The three of them stared down at Tinella. Then Bump leaned forward and wrenched the camera out of Tinella’s rigid grip.
“You don’t think she managed to get a picture of her attacker?” said Eda eagerly. Bump didn’t answer. He opened the back of the camera. “Good gracious!” said Madam Cutburn. A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera. Luz, three beds away, caught the acrid smell of burnt plastic.
“Melted, all melted…” said Madam Cutburn wonderingly. “What does this mean, B?” Professor Eda asked seriously. “It means, that the Dead Man’s Hall is indeed open again,” Bump said. Madam Cutburn clapped a hand to her mouth. Eda stared at Bump.
“But… who?” Bump shook his head, his eyes on Tinella “The question is not who, but how…” And from what Luz could see of Professor Eda’s shadowy face, the professor understood this way better than she did.