Quidditch

Chapter 4

4 It was the first Quidditch game of the season, Slytherin versus Gryffindor, everyone was buzzing, the news of Harry Potter being a Seeker floating around the school like a cloud. "Are you going to the game?" Draco asked her as they walked to Transfiguration. They hadn't spoken more than a hello and good-bye to each other in almost a month and she blinked at him for a moment before acknowledging his question. "Well, I mean, I expected to," She said, "I'm not sure," "If you weren't I was going to offer to hang out here with you, but if you're going you can come with my group," He shrugged. "If you want," She studied him smiling, "Thank you, I'll have to-" "Zanna! Zanna!" She turned, Severus was billowing towards them. "What's wrong?" She asked, stopping. Draco stopped too. "Excuse me, I need to borrow Miss Z," He said to Draco before swishing past, towing Zanna behind him. "What?" She asked again after they had traveled far enough down the hall. "What about your class?" "They'll be fine for now," He turned to her, grabbing her by the shoulders roughly. "It's Quirrell," "What?" "It's Quirrell, Quirrell is Voldemort," Snape said, swallowing and glancing up to make sure no one was listening. "That's why we've had bad feeling about him," "How do you know? How are you sure?" She asked. "Because why else would he be here? He doesn't actually know how to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts," "How do you know?" "Shouldn't you know? You're in that class," "I send in an illusion double, I can't look at him very long without-" She stopped. "Without feeling the same way I used to when looking at Tom," "See," Severus said. "I have to get back, but we know who it is, now we just need to get him alone," "He's always with the other professors," "I know, but-" "Severus!" Minerva called, "Get back to your class, and I need my student," "We'll talk later," He said before apparating away. She felt herself walk numbly to Minerva. "Are you okay? What did he say?" She asked, blocking the door and keeping her voice low. "We found Tom," She said hoarsely. Minerva paled. "Oh Merlin," "Keep it under wraps until we can deal with it okay?" "Of course," They both took cleansing breaths, then Minerva moved and they walked back into the room. The Quidditch match was evenly played for the most part, Lee Jordan was commentary and Zanna didn't remember the last time she had laughed so much. Even though Lee was commenting against her chosen house she agreed firmly with his play calls. She kept looking at Severus who was sitting in front of Quirrell, Severus continued to look at her. They were watching to see if Quirrell was willing to attempt something on Harry in the public. There were audible gasps from the crowd and Zanna turned back to look out at the field. Harry's broom had gone haywire and he was barely hanging on, fifty feet from the ground. She looked over at Severus who was chanting an incantation and Quirrell behind him who was doing the same. Zanna pushed herself up and climbed onto the blockade keeping the students from falling out of the observation stands and ran along it. She grabbed the ends of her robes and tied them around her middle, then waved her hand at the tower with Severus and Quirrell. She twisted down on herself and apparated into the stand next to Severus, knocking Quirrell over as another bystander pointed down at Severus' robes, which had been caught on fire. He stomped them out and Zanna stood up, extending a hand out to Quirrell. "So sorry Professor!" She said, "I'm so- oh Merlin," "It's okay," Quirrell said, although she could tell he was starting to doubt her ruse. She helped him up and turned to stand next to Severus, who took her hand and apparated them away. They ended up outside the observation stand and he released her hand quickly. "Why didn't you just-" Severus waved his hands in the air. "Because I can't do it in front of thousands of students and the entire school board, students' parents, and other game watchers," She said, also waving her hands. "Plus, it's still Harry's destiny," "Oh when have you cared about destiny!" Sev said exasperatedly. "Just kill the man and be done with it," "I'll get to it!" She said, "I just- can't right now," Sev raised an eyebrow. She looked down, "Understand the fact that when I say I haven't willing killed people before, I mean I haven't willingly killed people," "This man is a murderer," Her breath hitched and she took a step back. "Zanna, don't panic. I'm sorry, just don't panic!" Severus said. She waved hands slightly, the feeling building up inside of her. "Don't, no no no no," Sev made motions with his hands and tried to calm her down without touching her. She hopped up and down, trying to relieve some of the energy building up in her. "Don't kill him now if you don't want to," Sev said. "Let Harry give it a go, just don't panic," She bit her lip, "Okay," She let out a long breath but the clouds had started to form. "No! No, no," Severus said sternly. "Zaranda, we do not make thunderstorms- when we get up set," "No we don't," She said, trying to push the clouds down. "What do we make?" "Flower gardens," She said, balling the energy up in her hands and throwing it to the nearest tree. A large flower garden sprung up around the tree, ivy and roses climbing up the bark, and a small bird fountain surrounded by tulips and daffodils. "Good," Severus said, "Now breathe and go distract yourself," He apparated away and she was left alone. She started to walk away from the Quidditch pitch but there was a large collective cheer and she glanced back. All the Gryffindors were on their feet and with that she assumed Harry had gotten the Snitch. She turned and started on her journey back to the castle again. She was almost there, hearing the chatter behind her and the cocky chants of the Gryffindors. She entered the castle through a side door and walked past Filch but paused. "Gryffindor won," She said. He muttered a profanity and got ready for the celebration of mud and dirt that was about to be trekked through his freshly cleaned Great Hall. She continued her journey up the stairs to her room and entered it. Calling to one of her brooms telepathically. This dear reader is when I explain to you Zanna's brooms. Now the thing about Zanna Dumbledore is that when she's not a student at Hogwarts, she's a very popular witch. Modeling for the wizarding world, writing, inventing spells, testing and reviewing products. This is what the brooms she has are, sponsored products from the Amish. They are telepathic brooms, a new type of broom that listen to physical and mental commands. You can call it from anywhere around the world and it will find you. The problem they've found with this idea however, is that the brooms tend to grow their own personalities, henceforth why Zanna had fifteen test brooms. Her most opinionated and self-sufficient broom is the Quicksilver broom, constructed from birch and made in France. Her favorite broom, although she won't tell you if you ask, if the Phoenix broom, made of cherry wood from Scotland. The other brooms in a clockwise motion around the room are as follows: Thunderbolt, Quicksilver, Mustang 4, Mustang 3, Mustang 2, Mustang 1.2, Mustang, Archer, Phoenix, the Balance Broom, Key Hopper, Snapped, Charger, Lightning Rod, and The Koy. As you can probably tell, they really did try with the Mustang brooms. Zanna took hold of the Phoenix broom by the handle, it struggled against her for a moment then relented, letting her carry it to the window which she opened. The breeze blew into her room and fluttered the papers she had scattered around on her multiple surfaces. She stepped up onto the window seat, then onto the ledge, barely able to catch the top of the window frame with her free hand. She looked down at the front courtyard to her left and then out to the Black Lake at her right. She tossed the broom out the window and it spun in the air to face her. "Let's go," She said, then fell off the ledge. The broom raced beside her on the descent until she reached out and grabbed it. It pulled itself under her and carried her out over the lake and away from the castle, away from the problem at hand which she knew she couldn't out run until she had dealt with it. The broom dropped suddenly and Zanna caught air, falling until the broom caught her again. She was skimming the water now and she lay out on her stomach on the handle of the broom, brushing her fingers against the top of the water, creating a line of ripples. The broom continued to fly and would until she told it to stop, but she didn't want it to, not really. She wanted to end up on the other side of the world and never return to the blasted school again. But finally she made the broom turn around and it tossed her into the air and situated itself under her feet and she rode it back to the school like a Muggle's longboard. She entered her room, jumping off the broom and trotting across the floor. "I'll polish you tonight," She told it as it went back to its case. "Promise," She left the room, not looking where she was going, and bumped into a figure walking through the hall. "Harry," She said in surprise. "Zanna?" He looked past her. "What's in there?" "Professor McGonagall's room, she asked me to retrieve some papers for her," She held a hand behind her back and magicked some papers into it. "Oh," He said. "Congratulations on the game," She said. "Thanks-" He looked at her skeptically. "So because I chose Slytherin I can't congratulate you?" She scoffed. "Discriminatory much?" "No, no! It's not like- I just thought you didn't like me," "Because I'm a Slytherin?" She rolled her eyes. "Nice," "No! Because you're- better, I guess," She paused at this. "I'm sorry, I'm not better than anyone-" "Sure you are," He said. "Hermione said you apparated to the professors stand to save me from Snape when he was cursing my broom," "Is that right," She muttered. "We don't learn apparating until the sixth year," He paused, "We can't legally apparate until we turn seventeen," She opened her mouth and closed it again. "Well I won't tell the Ministry on you for being a Seeker if you don't tell on me for apparating to 'save your life'," He paused, "I can get in trouble for that?" "Ministry law that you have to be in your second year to join Quidditch," "Alright, I won't tell if you won't," He said. "Deal," They shook. "Where were you going?" She asked. "Victory dinner's down stairs," "I have to see Pomfrey to make sure it's safe to swallow a Snitch," "Oh," She laughed, "Okay, see you later," "Yeah, bye," They walked their separate ways, Zanna down to the Great Hall and Harry to Madam Pomfrey.