Saving Audrey

Chapter 10

Audrey could not believe how different things were. This time last year, she was a frightened fifth year student who felt she had no one to turn to. Now, she was in sixth year and couldn't be more at ease. She had family who loved her, friends to support her and a boyfriend who would do anything for her. While she had simply started dating Roger to get over Oliver, sometime during her relationship she actually grew close to him and was somewhat thankful for the day she realized she and Oliver were nothing more than good friends. This, however, did not mean she didn't still think of Oliver. She just didn't hurt as much when she did, now.

Not only was her social life at an all-time high, but she was shared top position with Percy in almost all her classes. He seemed a little upset when she did so well on her OWLs, but he had finally gotten used to his niece's intelligence. If anyone was going to be smarter than him, he thought, it damned well better be family. She was also in top shape. All the running she had begun with Oliver last year was paying off. She had even managed a coveted position on the summer All-State cheerleading squad at home. This was remarkable since she had not been on a squad in a year. Quidditch did not hurt, either. At the first practice, she had been elected captain of the reserve team. In Audrey's eyes, life couldn't get much better. However, she had learned that things at Hogwarts don't seem to stay normal for long.

She had finished her dinner in a hurry so she could go back to her room before meeting Roger in the library. The downside to dating a guy a year younger was that she had already studied everything he was learning, so he always asked for help, sometimes before he had even looked over the material. However, she never made it to the library.

As she turned to corner, she noticed that all of the Hogwarts students had come to a complete stop, blocking all the halls. She made her way to the front of the Hufflepuff crowd to see what was going on. In front of her, she saw what looked to be a dead Mrs. Filch hanging above a puddle of water. It took her another moment before she noticed the writing on the wall. It took the ever smart ass Draco Malfoy to turn her thoughts away from the Chamber mentioned on the wall. "You'll be next mudbloods." he sneered. Luckily, by that point Roger had made his way to Audrey's side and was able to calm her down with just his touch. Of course, it might have been looking across the hall into Oliver's eyes that calmed her down, but she didn't want to give that idea much thought. It was her immediate turn from Oliver's gaze that caused her to notice that Ron, Hermione, and Harry were also standing in the midst of all the commotion. Not that this surprised her, she was used to those three always being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

She heard Roger groan at the announcement that everyone was to report back to their common rooms. After giving him an apologetic look and quick kiss on the lips, Audrey took off to join the rest of her house and head towards the Gryffindor common room. She immediately joined the rest of the Weasley family as the waited on Ron's return. As she sat down, Audrey noticed that one of them was missing. It always took her a while to notice when Ginny wasn't around since she had just started this year. She made a mental note to start paying more attention to the youngest Weasley.

The twins spent the time waiting on Ron to come up with awful stories about their brother and the chamber. Luckily, Ron came in before the ideas got too wild. He informed them that none of the teachers seemed too upset and that he and his friends were not suspected of anything. Remembering what the three younger Gryffindor's had gone through last year, she was glad that the message did not pose a threat. She knew that Harry Potter wasn't scared of many things and his two best friends seemed to want to prove the same. Relieved that Ron was okay, at least for the moment, Audrey set off to find his younger sister.

Entering the first year girl's room, Audrey found Ginny sitting on her bed writing in a book. When Ginny finally noticed Audrey standing near her, she became flustered and quickly hid the book. Audrey laughed to herself. She figured that Ginny must have been writing in a diary, or whatever the Wizard equivalent to one was. "Ginny, "she began, "how are things this school year? Everything good?" Ginny simply nodded her head. "Well, if you ever need to talk, remember, I'm just down the hall. We can talk about anything, boys, school, Snape, whatever." Audrey then gave Ginny a hug and walked out. She wondered what had gotten into Ginny. She figured it wasn't too bad, she was probably still flustered about being in the same area as Harry Potter, or maybe she was just homesick. Audrey knew how that felt. Still, she thought it best to keep an eye on her younger aunt.

The excitement of the message on the wall and the petrifying of Mrs. Filch seemed to die down and everyone was focusing their energy on the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. The day before the house team played, the reserves were to take on each other. Audrey was nervous about her first game acting as captain. Of course, Oliver was there to give her advice every step of the way. If the guy would put half as much attention into a girl as he does Quidditch, thought Audrey, he would be the perfect catch.

On the day of the reserves match, everyone seemed to be in high spirits, with no more threats circling the school corridors. Audrey led her team out and shook hands with the Slytherin captain. As soon as Madame Hooch blew her whistle, the team was off. Audrey immediately gained possession of the Quaffle, scoring a goal. She managed to score three more before Slytherin ever got to their end of the pitch.

At he was walking towards the stands, Oliver watched with awe as Audrey took over the game from the start. He didn't realize that the older Slytherin house members were walking behind him. That was, until he made a comment to Fred and George about the beaters seeming to have it in for Audrey. "They must be scared of her.," answered George. "Ha," responded Marcus Flint, "as if my reserve team were scared of any team captained by a stupid mudblood girl." Luckily the Slytherins split to head towards their seats before the three boys could kill him.

Before the seekers ever spotted the snitch, Audrey had scored ninety points, giving Gryffindor a total of 120, putting them eighty ahead of Slytherin. Audrey was heading towards her hundredth goal of the game when her seeker took off after the snitch. She had just scored her hundredth point when the game ended 280-40 in favor of Gryffindor. It was the best moment of Audrey's life. Her first game as captain and she had managed the biggest win in reserve history. She knew her team would once again be unstoppable.

The twins had managed to once again put together a great party and Audrey was having a great time. She once again didn't notice that Ginny was not around. She was busy teaching all her friends the Electric Slide and Macarena when Oliver announced it was time for his team to report to bed. As his chasers let out a groan, they hugged Audrey goodnight and headed towards their rooms. The twins and Oliver came to congratulate her one more time before doing the same. With the Gryffindor house team gone to bed and Percy out with Penelope, Audrey decided to use this opportunity to go see Roger. She hadn't had a chance to do more than kiss him on the cheek since the match.

After tiptoeing through the Ravenclaw common room, (Roger gave Audrey the password every time it was changed in hopes of a late night visit. This was Audrey's first, though.) Audrey found her way to the fifth year boys dorm. Audrey was glad that the Ravenclaw's went to bed early. You would never find all of the Gryffindor's asleep before 2am. Finding Roger's bed was easy. He had a picture of him and Audrey on his nightstand. Smiling, Audrey opened the curtains to his bed and prepared to crawl in and surprise him. Instead, she received the surprise. Roger was not alone. Lying beside him, wrapped in his arms, was Cho Chang, another member of his Quidditch team. Before anyone could hear her sobs, Audrey ran out of the dorm and through the common room without looking once. After exiting through the portrait, Audrey ran straight towards the Gryffindor tower. She went straight to her bed and cried herself to sleep.

When she awoke the next morning, she was more mad than upset. She had forced herself to care about Roger and this is what happened? Her pride was much more wounded than her heart. She quickly vowed to not let it affect her and began getting ready for the Quidditch match. She slipped her robes over her jeans and polo shirt, pulled her hair into a high ponytail and hurried to the Great Hall to see her friends before they had to get ready for the match.

She was in such a hurry that she did not see the figure coming towards her as she rounded the corner. Before she knew what was happening, she landed on the ground. She looked up to see Roger standing over her. "Hi," he said as he helped her up. "I didn't see you at the table with the team so I came to see if you wanted to do something after breakfast, before the game starts." Audrey took a deep breath to keep from yelling as she answered him. "No, actually, I don't want to do a damn with you after breakfast, or at any other point in my life. I mean, it was fun while it lasted, but I guess the newness just kind of wore off. Cho might be interested, though." With that she walked right by him without ever turning around to see the shocked expression on his face.

No matter how mad Audrey was, nothing could occupy her mind like Quidditch, especially when it involved Oliver. The game did not seem to be going as well for the house team as it had for Audrey's team. The bludger did not seem to want to go after anyone but Harry. The twins were too busy trying to protect him that the Slytherin's continued to score without the threat of a bludger. After a time out, the twins once again had it in for the Slytherin chasers and Harry seemed to be defending himself just fine. Soon, Harry took off with Draco behind him. The snitch was obviously in sight. After a long chase between the two, Draco was knocked off course and Harry won the match for Gryffindor. The win did not come without Harry suffering a broken arm, though. Audrey knew that Madam Pomfrey would take care of him and set of to congratulate Oliver and the twins.

Audrey was sitting in the midst of yet another party in the common room, listening to Ron describe Lockhart's removal of Harry's bones when McGonagall walked in. She quieted the Gryffindor's down and made an announcement that no one was to leave the common room. There had been another attack.