Chapter 10 – Quidditch and the Revolting Quill
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"Who can it be, though?" Hermione said in a quiet voice. "Who'd want all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?" 

"Let's think." Ron said in mock puzzlement. "Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?"

He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced. 

"If you're talking about Floppy -" 

"Of course I am!" Ron said. "You heard him: 'You'll be next, Mudbloods!' Come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him -" 

"Felix Malfoy, the heir of Slytherin?" Hermione said sceptically. 

"Look at his family." I said. "I've been to Draco's 'house' -" Harry snorted and I glared at him, "-he's filthy rich, it's an old wizarding family, the lot of them have been in Slytherin, and old Lucius is definitely evil, what's the odds that his cousin will be the same? They could easily be Slytherin's descendants." 

"They could've had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries!" Harry said. "Handing it down, father to son ..."

"Well." Hermione said cautiously. "I suppose it's possible ..."

"But how do we prove it?" Harry and I said darkly and dramatically.

"There might be a way." Hermione said slowly, dropping her voice still further with a quick glance across the room at Percy. "Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect."

"Well, I'm a pro at that. I've been breaking school rules since I was four. Actually, no, since I started nursery, which was three ..." I said, as Ron was saying irritably in the background, "If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?"

"All right." Hermione said coldly. "What we'd need to do is get inside the Slytherin common room and ask Floppy a few questions without him realising it's us."

"But that's impossible." Harry said, as Ron laughed.

"Oh no it's not." I said slowly, looking at Hermione. "Polyjuice Potion!"

"Exactly." Hermione said.

"What's that?" Ron and Harry said together.

"Snape mentioned it in class a few weeks ago -" 

"D'you think we've got nothing better to do in Potions than listen to Snape?" Ron muttered. 

"I only knew that because ... well ..." I muttered, and I mumbled a few other things - I'm sure the others only caught the words 'Fred', 'George', 'Terry', 'Filch's office', 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous Drawer', 'Insurgent's' and 'Marauder's'.

Hermione explained all that Polyjuice Potion does and how we'd have to get the recipe - it's in a book in the Restricted Section in the library. We'd need a signed note from a teacher to get in there.

"Hard to see why we'd want the book, really." Ron said. "If we weren't going to try and make one of the potions, I mean." 

"I think that if we made it sound as though we were just interested in the theory, we might stand a chance."

"Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that." Ron said. "They'd have to be really thick ..."

~~~

In DADA the next day, I had to act out the part of a werewolf for a demonstration in class. As I acted, I sent winks Dean and Seamus's way, and they couldn't stop laughing, I thought they were going to have a fit.

When we went up to Lockhart at the end of class to get a signature from him, he took out this revolting peacock quill, and Ron and I stared at it with these disgusted faces. Lockhart mistook the looks on our faces and said, "Yes, nice, isn't it? I usually save it for book signings."

We took the signed note to Madam Pince (who also hates me since I always create noise and chaos in the library) and she got the book for us. We went into the girl's bathroom again - Hermione said it would be the last place anybody would look - and we read the ingredients. We would have to steal several ingredients from Snape's private stores. I could get the Insurgents to help with that!

---

The day of the Quidditch match arrived after pranking - lots of it. The Minor Prank War was nearly over (it is only supposed to last a short while) but we've also been pranking the teachers.

I woke up that morning waiting the worst of the dizziness off. Then I dragged myself down to the Great Hall, where I put on a bright and happy facade, to cheer up my teammates, who were looking glum and down-in-the-dumps.

"C'mon guys, cheer up!" I said happily. "They've got better brooms, but we've got better PEOPLE on our brooms!"

The entire Gryffindor table as well as most of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff cheered.

As eleven o'clock approached, we made our way down to the pitch. 

"Good luck, Daisy!" Suzanne cried.

"I'm betting on you!" Terry called, grinning.

"Go Daisy! Go Daisy!" Amy started chanting, then the rest of the Gryffindor supporters started chanting too.

"Boo!" Shannon boo'd teasingly, then winked and grinned at me, mouthing 'Just messing with you, mate!'

The team went into the changing rooms, where we pulled on our robes and sat down to listen to Oliver.

"Daisy's right. We're the better team. We've trained harder than they have, we've been flying in all weathers -" ("Too true." George muttered. "I haven't been properly dry since August.") "- and we're going to make them rue the day they let that little bit of slime, Floppy -" he glanced at me when he said this, and I gave him the thumbs-up. "- buy his way onto their team."

We all cheered, high-fiving.

"It'll be down to you, Fred and George, to show them that a Beater has to have something more than a rich father. And Daisy, get to that Snitch before Draco Malfoy or die trying, because we've got to win today, we've got to."

"So no pressure, Daisy." Fred said, winking at me.

No, none at all. "Same to you." I said, winking back.

As we walked out to the pitch, a roar of noise greeted us; mainly cheers, but the Slytherin's were boo'ing and hissing. Madam Hooch asked Oliver and Flint to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than was necessary.

"On my whistle." Madam Hooch said. "Three ... two ... one ..."

With a roar from the crowd to speed us upwards, us fourteen players rose towards the sky. I flew higher than all of them, squinting around for the Snitch.

"All right there, Scarhead?" Floppy yelled, shooting underneath me as though to show off the speed of his new broom. "I'll get you with the Bludgers later!"

And with that he shot off, me shouting profanities after him.

"Calm down, Daze!" Draco laughed, soaring beside me. "Wow, you need anger management!"

I had no time to reply, because at that very moment, a heavy black Bludger came pelting towards me; I avoided it so narrowly that I felt it ruffle my hair as it passed.

"Close one, Daisy!" George said, streaking past me with his club in his hand, ready to knock the Bludger back towards a Slytherin. I saw George give the Bludger a powerful whack in the direction of Adrian Pucey, but the Bludger changed direction in mid-air and shot straight for me again.

"What the fuck?" I said, dropping quickly to avoid it, and George managed to hit it hard towards Floppy. Once again, the Bludger swerved like a boomerang and shot at my head.

I put on a burst of speed and zoomed towards the other end of the pitch. I could hear the Bludger whistling along behind me. Dafuq was going on? Some asshole has charmed it, I expect.

Fred was waiting for the Bludger at the other end. I ducked as Fred swung at the motherfucker with all his might; the Bludger was knocked off course.

"Finally!" I cheered. 

"That's done it!" Fred yelled happily, but he was wrong, Godric damn it; as though it was magnetically attracted towards me (well, I don't blame it, I am rather attractive), the Bludger pelted after me once more and I was forced to fly off at full speed.

Lee, commentating, said, "Slytherin lead, sixty points to zero."

Fred and George were now flying so close to me on either side that I couldn't really see anything: it was raining and it was really dark, so I had no chance to look for the Snitch, let alone catch it.

"Someone's - tampered - with - this - Bludger -" Fred grunted, swinging his bat with all his might at it as it launched a new attack on me.

"We need time out." George said, trying to signal to Oliver and stop the Bludger breaking my nose at the same time.

Oliver had obviously got the message. Madam Hooch's whistle rang out and Fred, George, and I dived to the ground, still trying to avoid the mad Bludger.

"What's going on?" Oliver said, as the Gryffindor team huddled together, while Slytherins in the crowd jeered. "We're being flattened. Fred, George, where were you when that Bludger stopped Angelina scoring?

"We were twenty feet above her, stopping the other Bludger murdering Daisy, Oliver." George said angrily. "Someone's fixed it - it won't leave Daisy alone, it hasn't gone for anyone else all game. The Slytherins must have done something to it."

"But the Bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office since our last practice, and there was nothing wrong with them then ..." Oliver said anxiously.

Madam Hooch was walking towards us. Over her shoulder, I could see the Slytherin team jeering and pointing in my direction. Floppy was laughing and saying something along the lines of, "It turns out I don't need to knock her out after all!" from what I can gather. Draco was standing to the side, fists clenching as he looked to be restraining himself from attacking Floppy. Harry, Fred and George's heads were turned towards them too, and their jaws were clenched. Yep, they heard him all right.

"Listen." I said as Madam Hooch came nearer and nearer. "With you two flying around me all the time the only way I'm going to catch the Snitch is if it flies up my sleeve. Go back to the rest of the team and let me deal with the rogue one."

"Don't be thick, it'll take your head off." Fred said.

Oliver was looking from me to the Weasley's.

"Oliver, this is mad." Harry said angrily. "You can't let Daisy deal with that thing on her own. Let's ask for an inquiry -" 

"If we stop now, we'll have to forfeit the fucking match!" I said. "And we're not losing to Slytherin just because of a crazy-ass Bludger! Come on, Oliver, tell them to leave me alone!"

"This is all your fault." George said angrily to Oliver. "'Get the Snitch or die trying' - what a stupid thing to tell her!"

Madam Hooch had joined us.

"Ready to resume play?" She asked Oliver.

Oliver looked at my determined (and extremely hot (just kidding)) face.

"Alright. Fred, George, you heard Daisy - leave her alone and let her deal with the Bludger on her own."

Madam Hooch's whistle sounded. I kicked off in search of the Snitch, the Bludger whistling along behind me again.

I zig-zagged, looped, backtracked, and angled to get away from the Bludger while searching for the Snitch.

"Dragon!" I called out as he took a Bludger hit for me. "What did you do that for, you adorable idiot?" 

Wait, did I say that bit out loud?

"I did it for you!" He called back, grinning and rubbing his arm where the Bludger had hit.

"Oh, just kiss already!" Fred called, soaring past us.

I glared after him. "Shut up Fred, you dork!"

"Training for the ballet, Potter?" Floppy called out as I was forced to do a stupid twirl-thingy in mid-air to avoid the Bludger.

"I went to ballet lessons once, so I could do even ballet better than you!" I retorted. 

Then I saw it. He was flying along to the other Bludger behind me, on the other side of the pitch. The Snitch. It was flying next to his ear.

WHAM! I had waited too long - the Bludger had hit me at last, smashed into my elbow, and I felt my arm break. Dimly, dazed by the searing pain in my arm, I slid sideways on my rain-drenched broom, one knee still crooked over it, my right arm dangling useless at my side. The Bludger came pelting back for a second attack this time aiming at my face. I swerved out of the way.

I dived towards Floppy, his eyes widening as he probably thought I was going for him.

"What the -" He gasped as he dodged out of the way. I snatched the Snitch, but I was now only gripping the broom with my legs and there was a yell from the crowd below as I headed straight for the ground, trying hard not to pass out.

Harry shot straight for me. But the Bludger was shooting towards me as well, and it came into contact with Harry's leg. He cried out as it shot past him.

"Harry!" I cried out as he cursed. The Bludger smacked into my back, and I felt myself falling off the broom as something in my spine broke. I couldn't move. I was paralysed. 

Then it came back for more. The last thing I remember was the Bludger careering straight for my face and an intense pain in my skull.

I came to a few minutes later, blearily, to see Harry trying to scuttle away from Lockhart. Fred and George were wrestling the rogue Bludger into a box. It was still putting up a terrific fight. 

Blood was dripping to the ground from my nose.

"Great capture, Daisy, really spectacular, your best yet I'd say." Oliver grinned at me.

Everyone was crowded around me. Draco and Terry were crouching beside me worriedly.

"You okay, Daisy?" Terry said anxiously. His voice was ringing a bit.

"You don't look so good ..." Draco said as his voice hurt my ears.

The last thing I heard as my eyes fluttered shut and my head thumped back on the ground was Harry saying, "No! Professor, she doesn't need you to - get away from her!"

~~~

I woke up in the hospital wing, feeling nothing in my arm, and a pounding pain in my skull and spine.

I couldn't move from the waist down.

"All right." Madam Pomfrey came bustling towards me. "Here's your potion - come on, drink up."

She handed me a cup. I took the potion, and my head slowly stopped pounding and I could start to feel my legs and spine again.

Harry lay in the bed next to mine. "Thank goodness Lockhart decide to 'mend' your arm first!" He said. "Otherwise your skull or spine would be gone! Obviously, he'd seen that there was no bones in your arm, so he decided to leave it to Madam Pomfrey here to fix them."

I looked and saw that his leg looked the same as mine - floppy and flexible.

"Let me guess, he removed all the bones instead of fixing them." I said.

"Yep." Harry replied.

Madam Pomfrey gave us each some Skele-Grow. It was incredibly painful, and apparently would take the entire night to regrow our bones.

The door of the hospital wing burst open. Filthy and soaking wet, the rest of the Gryffindor team, Ron, Hermione, Terry, and Draco had arrived to see us.

"Unbelievable flying, Daisy!" George said. "I've just seen Marcus Flint yelling at Floppy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head, not noticing and telling Draco here! Floppy didn't seem too happy!"

They had brought cakes, sweets, and bottles of pumpkin juice; they gathered around Harry and I's beds. We had a great party, then night came and they had to go.

"Bye!" We all called to each other. 

Then we fell asleep.

~~~

The next morning, Madam Pomfrey pronounced us fit to leave. There were curtains drawn around a bed further down the dormitory. I wonder who that was.

Harry was very angry.

"What's up, Harry?" I said as we made our way up to Gryffindor tower.

"Dobby visited me last night." He said. "He said that that was his Bludger. He sealed the barrier at Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters. He said that he wants to get us sent home - to stay away from Hogwarts. He told me that he wanted to get you badly injured with the Bludger so that you'd be sent home - apparently since you're the smaller twin, you'd be more easy to hurt - and that I'd go with you, as you're my sister." He punched the wall. "I'm going to kill him!"

"Calm down! Who was that person behind the curtain?" I changed the subject to calm him down a bit.

He looked at me. "You saw, didn't you?" 

"No." I shook my head.

"It's Colin. He was Petrified. Dumbledore and McGonagall found him. He was sneaking up to see us with that camera. They said that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened once more." Harry said. I shivered. "You sure you don't remember? You went to the bathroom and came back just before he was found. You were awake, like me, when they brought him in. You said you didn't see him in the corridors when I asked you. Remember?"

At a loss, I shook my head.

I don't remember anything about waking up in the middle of the night last night.

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