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𝐀 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐏 𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐏𝐎𝐑, where she found herself face-down in the wet grass. In her groggy state, she slowly pushed herself up onto her knees and was nearly knocked right back down onto her stomach as something whizzed past her head.

"Get up, Serdeys! We still have a match to play!" a shout filled Jackson's ears, and she quickly realized that she was in the middle of the Hogwarts quidditch pitch with the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams racing above her.

Jackson's head instinctively snapped to the right where she found her broom laying five feet away from her. She must have fallen, but she didn't remember the fall...or how she even got to the pitch in the first place...Jackson held her hand to her head as images of bloody bodies flashed through Jackson's mind like a lightning bolt, forcing her into a fetal position. She nearly vomited into the grass before her, but another shout from above helped her to hold it back.

Jackson rose to shaky feet and closed the gap between herself and her broom, a Nimbus 2000 that had been gifted to her by her mother when she first joined the Gryffindor team. She climbed onto it, letting it whisk her up into the air alongside her fellow teammates. She gave them each a determined nod to signify that she was ready before leaning forward on her broom and letting it cut through the dense air in pursuit of the Slytherin chaser with the quaffle.

Jackson caught up to the Slytherin chaser quickly, but she left some space to allow Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote, the Gryffindor beaters, to do their job. Jackson silently cheered to herself as Jimmy knocked the bludger into the Slytherin chaser, forcing them to drop the quaffle in surprise. But Jackson didn't celebrate too long because she knew that now was her time to shine. Speeding up, she snatched the quaffle out of the air just as another Slytherin chaser attempted to grab it. Jackson pulled her broom up at the last second to avoid collision and quickly raced towards the opposite end of the pitch with the quaffle locked under her arm.

Out of the corners of her eyes, Jackson could see Ginny Weasley and Katie Bell joining at her sides and a large smile parted her lips. However, the smile quickly turned into a focused frown once she noticed a Slytherin beater on her tail. Jackson passed the quaffle to Ginny before a bludger flew right past her face, the air in its whizzing wake grazing her cheek.

Ginny passed the quaffle forward to Katie, who had sped up ahead of them. With a fierce strength, Katie tossed the quaffle through the middle goal post before the Slytherin keeper could block it, alighting a series of loud cheers from the Gryffindor bleachers. Jackson and Ginny both raced to high five Katie, taking a small moment to celebrate before the game resumed.

Once the quaffle was in their possession, the Slytherin chasers quickly took off down the pitch towards the Gryffindor goal posts and a slightly-scared Ron Weasley. A shadow overhead drew Jackson's attention to the air above her and she spotted Harry Potter flying in the opposite direction. That could only mean one thing: the golden snitch had been spotted.

Jackson leaned forward on her broom to increase her speed and close the gap between herself and the Slytherin chasers. A quick glance at the scoreboard informed Jackson that her team was in the lead, but not by much. She had a lot of faith in Harry, but if the Slytherin seeker beat him to the golden snitch, the game was over, and the thought of having to listen to the Slytherins gloat for the rest of the semester made Jackson want to gag.

Jackson felt her stomach drop as she watched one of the Slytherin chasers attempt to throw the quaffle through the left goal post, but Ron quickly blocked it and the quaffle was once more free rein. Katie snapped up the quaffle and flew off towards the Slytherin goal posts, but the Slytherin beaters quickly flanked her. They closed in on both sides of Katie, trapping her between them. Before they could knock her off her broom, Katie was able to throw the quaffle up in a desperate attempt to free it from the kerfuffle, but her aim missed the mark and the quaffle flew towards empty air.

Jackson locked eyes with the Slytherin chaser flying beside her as they both raced for the quaffle. Their brooms inched in front of each other and the crowd bit their finger nails in anticipation. Taking a deep breath, Jackson stretched herself nearly flat across her broom, giving her just enough speed to take the lead and capture the quaffle before the Slytherin chaser could. She tried to withhold her smile when she heard the Gryffindor bleachers erupt in cheers, but a small one edged its way across her mouth.

The Slytherin chaser had to pull up abruptly after nearly running into another chaser in the pursuit, giving Jackson the advantage as she flew down the pitch. She cautioned a glance over her shoulder to see that she was far ahead of everyone else, including her own teammates. She locked eyes with the Slytherin goal posts ahead of her, determined to score.

Despite being in the middle of a match, Jackson couldn't help but shut her eyes and revel in the splendid feeling of zipping through the air on her broom. It was simultaneously the most peaceful thing she had ever experienced and also the most exhilarating. But it was in this moment that a strange thought randomly struck her: A.S.

Jackson didn't know what the initials meant or what they stood for, but they caused her broom to wobble and her eyes to pop open. For a split second after opening her eyes, Jackson wondered whether she had actually even opened them at all because everything was coated in a thick darkness that rolled through the air like a fog. The next thing she noticed was that it was eerily quiet; no cheering, no brooms whizzing around, no thumps of bludgers being knocked about.

Something drew Jackson's eyes downwards and the sight below nearly sent her broom crashing to the ground. Broken bodies were scattered along the pitch in contorted positions. When Jackson flew down for a closer look, she noticed that they were all the Gryffindor and Slytherin players. Jackson choked back a sob when she glanced up to the bleachers and found a similar scene.

What the hell was happening?

Jackson tipped her broom down towards the pitch but she was quickly consumed by a rolling cloud of darkness that completely consumed her senses. Jackson coughed in an attempt to expel the vapor, which oddly consisted of a strong scent of lemons, pears, and fresh parchment. When Jackson came out on the other side of the black fog, she was startled to find that everything was back to what it had been only moments ago; the crowd was cheering, her teammates were whizzing around on their brooms, and the bludgers were arching through the air.

What the hell had happened?

Jackson felt something round in her grip and looked down to see that she was still in possession of the quaffle. She tried to shake aside the strange vision or hallucination or whatever it was, but the sight of all her friends mangled like ragdolls had left her in a state of shock that slowed her down. Within moments, the Slytherin chasers and beaters were on her tail and she just barely managed to evade them as she sped ahead down the pitch.

Jackson dodged two bludgers but she was able to make it to the Slytherin goal posts in one piece and with the quaffle still firmly locked in her grip. She only had one chance to throw the quaffle through the goal posts and she had to make it count because the Slytherin team was still close behind.

Taking a deep breath, Jackson focused on the right goal post, making it obvious that her intention was to throw the quaffle in that direction. The Slytherin keeper quickly noticed and immediately flew to the right goal post just as Jackson lofted the quaffle towards the left goal post. She held her breath as time seemed to slow down, waiting for the cheer from the crowd that would signify her success.

An uproar consumed the bleachers, nearly deafening Jackson as a wide grin plastered itself to her face. She had done it! Jackson felt a hand on her shoulder and quickly turned around to greet her fellow teammates. She assumed that she would find Katie or Ginny waiting for her, or maybe even Jimmy or Ritchie if they had caught up in time, but instead she found somebody that she hadn't been expecting: a Slytherin chaser.

Jackson studied the boy's face like one studied a childhood schoolmate that they hadn't seen in years. He looked familiar, but she couldn't recall his name or ever having met him before. Yet, he sat before her on his broom, with dark hair and even darker eyes.

"Forget about A.S.," the boy said in a stern tone, catching Jackson by surprise.

Jackson opened her mouth to say something when a twisted look overcame the boy's features and his arms lashed out at her, shoving her off her broom. A look of shock consumed Jackson's face as she fell towards the pitch twenty feet below her, her hands clawing the air as if to find a hold to catch her. The only thing she could see the entire way down was the boy's face.

Jackson hit the ground with a thud, her limbs splaying out around her at unnatural angles. She had just enough breath in her to wheeze out a name: "Mr. Green."

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A/N: Sorry again for the delayed update! My family came to visit last week so I didn't have any time to write. I should hopefully be able to get another chapter out next week though! Hope you're all doing well and thanks for being so patient with me! ♥

Mr. Green's chapter will be next!