For Our Parents Willed So

For Our Parents Willed So

*

Quidditch Match

*

"What's happening?" asked Severus irritably. "That bloody commentator is not making any sense!"

"Now, calm down, Severus," chuckled Lucius, amused by the blind Slytherin's irritation. "You'll soon scare our little guest away!" With this, he was meaning Peter. The small boy was sitting with them in the Slytherin stands, looking completely out of place with his crimson robes in the middle of the ocean of green.

"You wish," Peter snorted, feigning indifference although he was a bit nervous, and almost scared. Not of the other Slytherins, mind you -- his two companions would keep anybody willing to protest in control -- but of his companions themselves. Well, not as much of Severus, whom he'd come to actually like, but of Lucius. He knew very little about the man -- everybody except for Sirius and perhaps Severus did -- and even though he would take Sirius's word that Lucius was a good guy, he couldn't just forget all warnings his parents had given him about the Malfoys, who were supposed to be one of the Darkest families ever.

"I'll shove you both down to the pitch if nobody tells me what is happening," grumbled Severus. "It's not fair that I don't know what happens there. You aren't the only ones with a fiancé up in the air, remember?"

"Fine, then," Peter snapped. "To your definite delight, James has just caught the Quaffle. A Slytherin tried to hit a Bludger to him, but Sirius gets there first like always. Remus hasn't seen the Snitch yet..."

Thus, he continued throughout the match, keeping Severus all the time updated about what was happening.

*

The game had gone on for quite some time, until suddenly, Remus saw a flicker of gold in the corner of his eye. His predatory instincts hitting in immediately, he curved his broom towards the Snitch. The Slytherin Seeker was right on his heels, but their brooms were equal in quality, so Remus with his light-build form could easily get faster than the other boy. All his senses concentrated on just catching the Snitch, he reached out his hand, dived dangerously and spun back upwards just in time to get a bit closer to the bouncing ball, then stretched his fingers. Near, so near...

And suddenly, his instincts told him to grasp. So he did, and felt a small, golden ball being closed inside his fist, tiny silver wings flapping uselessly against his hand. Somewhere, the audience began to cheer, but he didn't hear it. His wolf side was stronger for a flicker of a moment, like it was every time he'd chased down the Snitch.

He was so deeply concentrated in the little ball fluttering wildly inside his hand that he never noticed even the Bludger coming towards him on a murderous speed.

*

Sirius saw the Bludger flying towards his friend. "Remus! Dive down!" he tried to shout a warning to the werewolf, but it was in vain. For a few moments after he caught the Snitch, Remus could not notice any warnings or other messages trying to get to him, he was too deep in the overflow of his predatory instincts to notice anything else.

The Bludger kept flying right towards him. If Remus didn't try to avoid it - which he didn't even know he should do - it'd hit the werewolf's head. Despite having grown to get past the youngest children in the school, Remus was still tiny, hardly rivalling even third years in size. And when the Bludger could with its current speed seriously damage even a normal sixth-year, it would most probably kill the tiny, fragile werewolf.

Somebody else would have thought that it was unavoidable. Sirius, however, being Sirius, saw also another option.

Picking up speed, Sirius flew right towards Remus. Just before he caught his friend, he took a sharp curve, throwing himself between the werewolf and the Bludger. Just a couple of seconds later, he felt something hitting his chest, hard. Blinded by the pain, he could not keep hold of his broomstick, nor could he hold back the scream that bursted out from his mouth. The last memory he had before blacking out completely was air whirling around him as he fell, fell, fell...

*

James saw the Bludger at the same time as Sirius did. He didn't even have time to try to warn Remus as he already saw Sirius rushing forward, knowing exactly what his friend was going to do. Neither did he have time to shout to Sirius; he could just watch as his best friend threw himself in the way of the Bludger, shielding Remus from its force.

The rock-hard ball hit Sirius right to the chest, throwing him away from his broom accompanied by a loud shriek. This seemed to at last wake Remus from his post-Snitch-catching daze, but his broom, designed especially for a light and small Seeker in the need of much speed, could not hold the weight of two people. Thus, he could not save Sirius. Knowing this, James dived down towards his limply falling friend, praying to every god he'd ever heard of that he'd be in time.

And truly, just before Sirius hit the ground, James caught him. Taking a slight turn upwards to counteract the sharp halt of catching his friend, he then carefully slowed his broom to get them both to the ground. All other players were now coming down as well, the Gryffindors clearly concerned, and even the Slytherins looking serious. Sirius was - if only supposedly - in an intimate relationship with a Slytherin professor, after all.

"Sirius!" cried Remus out as soon as he got to the ground. "Merlin, he flew between me and the Bludger!" Reaching a slightly trembling hand towards his friend, the werewolf whispered, "He took the hit meant for me... And I didn't even notice that..." Remus's face was deathly pale, and his lips quivered threateningly.

"It was not your fault," James tried to reassure him. "It most definitely was not your fault -- it was just the Slytherins' fault, and theirs alone."

*

"What now? What happened?" asked Severus as the audience's cheering -- well, the Slytherins didn't cheer, but all the others did -- turned into horrified screams and yelling. "What's happening, Peter?"

"Oh, Merlin," the tiny boy whispered. "Remus caught the Snitch -- but a Slytherin hit a Bludger towards him. Of course Remus didn't see it, so Sirius flew between him and the Bludger. It hit Sirius -- he fell, but James saved him -- but Sirius doesn't look well, not at all."

"Take me there," demanded Severus immediately, grasping his hand. "We have to see that Sirius is okay -- and James and Remus also, of course."

"Yeah," muttered Peter, starting to lead their way out of the stands the same way by which Lucius had just left them with great haste. "Let's hope nothing is wrong with any of them..." He swallowed hard, though, finding himself unable to believe even his own words.

*

James watched quietly as Madam Pomfrey was trying to heal his friend. Sirius was seemingly in a too bad condition to be moved to the Infirmary immediately. He could just hope that his friend's condition wasn't too bad.

"James?" asked a quiet voice behind him. "James, are you okay?"

Turning around, James came face to face with his fiancé, whom Peter had brought there before hurrying to Remus's side. Reaching out a hand to slightly touch Severus's, trying to assure his fiancé that he indeed was in one piece, he said, "Yes, I am. I don't have even a scratch on my skin. But I do fear Sirius is in a much worse condition."

"Oh." Severus's voice was quiet, but James did not miss the sad tone in his voice, nor did he miss the worried expression on the pale face. Understanding the Slytherin's emotions, the Chaser brought up his other hand, brushing Severus's cheek with his fingers.

"I'm sure he'll be all right," he assured his fiancé. "It takes more than just one Bludger to take down Sirius Black."

"Awww, isn't this sweet," said a malicious voice from nearby. "The traitor of Slytherin and his Gryffindor boyfriend having a gentle moment. I know that only a blind guy might like you, Potter, but do you really have to resort to the likes of him?"

This, however, was a bad move. The person who'd said this was just the one boy who shouldn't have come anywhere near James. "You bastard!" James shrieked, pointing a finger at Geoffrey Hamilton, the one of the Slytherin beaters who'd hit the Bludger. "Remy'd already caught the Snitch when you hit the Bludger! You had no right for that!"

"Shut up, Potter," the other boy replied snidely. "It's Quidditch. People get injured in Quidditch. Deal with it. Who cares about a couple of seconds, anyway?"

"I do," said somebody behind them. Turning around, both boys saw their Potions Master glaring at them. "Throwing Bludgers at fellow students is only allowed during a Quidditch match, Mister Hamilton," said Lucius coolly. "The match had already ended, and therefore, your vengeful action was only plain abuse. You're assigned a month's detention, and you shall not play Quidditch anymore."

"That's unfair!" exclaimed Hamilton. "You're punishing me like that only because Black's your fiancé!"

"Really?" Lucius quirked an eyebrow in question. "Then, perhaps, you'd rather submit to another professor's judgement?" Glancing around, he caught sight of the nearest professor, who was Professor Flitwick. "Filius! Would you assign a punishment for Mister Hamilton?"

"Most certainly, Lucius," the tiny wizard replied, hurrying a bit nearer. Obviously he'd heard everything, because he simply locked his eyes sharply at Hamilton with a stern, angry expression none of the students had ever seen on him before. "Mister Hamilton, you're assigned two months' detention for your dangerous and forbidden stunt, as well as kicked away from the Quidditch team. Also, I'll take a hundred points from Slytherin for accusing a teacher of favouritism."

Hamilton looked dumbstruck. However, he didn't protest this time. Instead, he just turned away, grumbling angrily to himself.

*

It was the late afternoon of the following day as Sirius finally woke up. Blinking slowly a couple of times, he tried to sit up in his bed, only to find himself unable to do that.

"Don't try too hard," said an amused voice from his bedside. "Madam Pomfrey bound you to the bed. You have to rest for at least two days more."

"Lucius?" asked Sirius faintly, looking at the man sitting next to him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, watching over you, obviously," the Potions Master replied. "I managed to drive your friends to eat, but they were worried that the Slytherins might try to hurt you more and were pretty reluctant to leave you all alone."

"And you volunteered?" Sirius raised his eyebrows. "How heroic of you, Lucius. Missing some of your precious free time to sit by a useless Gryffindor."

"Missing grading horrid essays to sit by my fiancé," corrected Lucius. "By the way, I think you'd like to know about our dear Mr. Bludger Terror. Mr. Hamilton was assigned two months of detention, banned from Quidditch altogether, and lost Slytherin a hundred points."

Sirius managed to whistle, despite the fact that he was really tired. "That's nice," he said with a smirk. "Who decided on that?"

"Well, I was originally just banning him from Quidditch and giving a month's detention," the blond replied with a similar smirk. "Then he accused me of favouring, so Filius gave him another month and the loss of points."

Just then, the door was banged open, and the rest of Marauders came in. "Sirius!" exclaimed James, sounding delighted. "You're awake!"

"Looks like your personal bodyguards are back," chuckled Lucius. "Rest then, o hero of Gryffindor. You've certainly deserved that." To Sirius's great dismay, he ruffled the teen's black hair before leaving the Infirmary.