❝  quidditch games and grims ❞

Carina is utterly miserable as she trudges through the wasteland of mud previously known as the grounds of Hogwarts. The torrential downpour nearly drowns her as she clings to her umbrella that offers little coverage in the hurricane-like winds that threaten to rip it from her clutches.

She's drenched to the bone and wants nothing more than to be back in her warm bed, where her biggest problem was the thunder waking her. Nonetheless, she pushes onward, following the student-like figures that are nearly impossible to see only a few steps in front of her to the Quidditch stands.

She wishes the game would simply be rescheduled, but Quidditch doesn't wait for such trivial matters as good conditions. If it wasn't for the fact that Harry and nearly all of her friends are on the team, she wouldn't even have bothered to leave the castle in the terrible weather.

No matter how much she hates the cold, supporting those she cares about is enough to force herself to endure it for a limited time. However, that doesn't mean she'll complain about it any less.

Carina staggers up the wooden steps, nearly falling as the harsh winds push against her. Struggling to close the umbrella that's been torn to shreds by the same terrible gales, she moves past the packed bleachers to the commentator's stand.

The stand is quite small, intended only for the Quidditch commentator, which has been Lee for the past few years. More often than not, though, Mcgonagall ends up in the box with him to reprimand his unprofessional remarks. But with the constant rumbles of thunder and the heavy downpour, it's unlikely anyone will be hearing his comments, leaving Mcgonagall free to sit with the other professors in a different part of the stands.

Despite the small space, Lee usually reserves a seat for Carina to join him. More often than not, it's because she most likely wouldn't attend the games in the winter months if it wasn't for the fact that his designated stand provides heating from an unseen magical source.

"You selfish git!" Carina shrieks, seeing only one seat Lee is already occupying so that he can have the warm reprieve all to himself.

The boy jumps, nearly toppling out of the single seat. He clutches his chest as though recovering from a heart attack, his breaths heaving.

"These clothes weigh a thousand pounds!" She complains, struggling to lift her arms in the soaking wet layers of a warm shirt, jumper, and coat to prove her point. Despite having gotten there sooner, Lee isn't much drier. "I don't particularly fancy standing much longer."

"Use your wand to conjure another seat," Lee suggests once he drops the dramatic antic, having left his own wand in the castle.

"I left my wand in my dorm."

"Then sit on the ground!"

"I don't want to get splinters! I may be freezing, but I still have standards!"

Lee rolls his eyes, though he didn't truly expect anything less than theatrics of her own to occur. He gestures for her to come closer and she complies, her shoes squelching with each step she takes. Without a word, he pulls her into his lap to share the seat with her. She harrumphs but doesn't argue as their combined body heat helps them to warm up faster.

If it had been anyone else, Carina would have rather faced the storm than sit in someone's lap in order to be slightly warmer than the rest of the student body while watching the game. But this is Lee, a boy she's been close friends with since they met on the Hogwarts Express five years ago. Neither hold anything but platonic feelings towards the other and it's what allows her to be comfortable enough to adjust her position to rest against his chest so that they can both watch what little fragments of the game they're able to see.

Apparently Madam Hooch has blown her whistle, because the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff players kick off the muddy field, flying in and out of Carina's limited line of vision as they chase bludgers, snitches, and quaffles she doesn't even attempt to keep track of.

The time passes rather quickly, despite the harsh conditions. With Lee not having to worry about commenting on every aspect of the game,  he and Carina poke fun at the terrible weather and make up convoluted stories for what could be happening with what little they can see when a strike of lightning illuminates the field.

They completely miss the timeout called in order for both teams to somewhat briefly recuperate, far too caught up in their jokes.

"If you think your eyes are deceiving you, I'm here to assure you they're not," Lee says in his commentator's voice. "That is in fact Oliver Wood attempting to fight the rain!"

"Oh, but that's where you're mistaken," Carina corrects him, strengthening her voice to sound like an announcer as well. "He's actually yelling at Mother Nature herself for her to stop this nonsense. They will be fighting in the courtyard later!"

The duo erupts into more peals of laughter, finding themselves far too hilarious.

"You heard it here first, folks! Wood can be found-" Lee cuts himself off, his attitude changing completely. "What's going on?"

Shivers run down both of their spines and an icy pain blooms from inside Carina's chest. It reminds her of when a dementor stopped the Hogwarts Express at the begining of the year and got too close to their compartment, except now it's amplified. Every dementor stationed around Hogwarts has left it's post to swarm the Quidditch pitch, all of them seemingly going after something.

Carina and Lee stand up, peering over the edge of the elevated stand to get a better look. The players try to stay out of the dark creatures' way, the game all but forgotten.

Two players, however, are still streaking upwards in the hopes of grabbing the golden ball that ends the game. A panicked cry escapes Carina's lips as the player with dark hair and a red jersey let's go of his broom, plummeting suddenly to the harsh ground below.

With the rain still pouring down, it's impossible for Carina to keep her eyes on Harry as he falls, but she does notice a spell being cast from the teachers' stands that slows his descent.

She snaps out of her worried trance at the same moment Lee does and they hurry out of the stands. The rest of the school's population seems to have the same idea as everyone rushes for the stairs.

Her umbrella forgotten, the rain pelts down on her in it's full force, but it does little to slow the determined girl as she latches onto Lee's soaked jacket and drags him along through the mass of students. They slowly fight their way to the front of the crowd, where Dumbledore is magically guiding Harry's battered body up to the hospital wing on a stretcher.

Despite how amazing it feels to be back in the warm castle, Carina can only focus on the young boy, worry for the last remaining child in her biological family taking what feels like ten years off her life as she realizes this is his fourth near-death experience in the course of his short life.

Madam Pomfrey is quick to attend to him, assuring Carina that he's going to be okay as she drops into one of the chairs next to his hospital bed. Lee places a comforting hand on her shoulder, taking the seat next to her as they watch the healer get rid of the bruises caused by his harsh fall. They're soon joined by nearly the entirety of the Gryffindor quidditch team and Ron and Hermione, who looks as though she's been crying.

Everyone is drenched from the rain, and all of the players are covered in mud, but nobody minds as they wait for Harry to wake up. George maneuvers around his brothers to stand behind Carina, offering a sympathetic smile and taking her hand in his for support.

It feels as though hours pass before Harry starts to regain concousness when, in reality, it's only a handful of painfully tense minutes.

He sits up with a gasp, startling the entirety of the group. Carina leans forward, dropping George's hand to gingerly put her hand over Harry's, watching him worriedly as he recovers from his panic when he realizes the dementors no longer surround him.

She opens her mouth to answer the questions he must surely have about the situation, but he speaks up with one she doesn't expect.

"We didn't lose, did we?"

"You nearly died and you're worried about losing?" Carina nearly shrieks,  suddenly struggling to remind herself that she shouldn't knock sense into the boy so soon after his fall.

"Diggory got the Snitch just after you fell," George answers him when it becomes clear Carina won't. "He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch, but they won fair and square - even Wood admits it."

"Where is Wood?" Harry asks, suddenly realising he's the only member of the team missing from his bedside.

"Still in the showers; we think he's trying to drown himself," Fred says with a chuckle. Harry groans and drops his head into his hands, resulting in the older boy grabbing his shoulder and shaking it roughly. Carina smacks his arm, warning him to be gentle, but Fred's method seems to get the point across. "C'mon, Harry, you've never missed the Snitch before."

"There had to be one time you didn't get it," George agrees.

"It's not over yet. We lost by a hundred points, right?" Fred asks, but he's not truly looking for an answer. "So if Hufflepuff lose to Ravenclaw and Slytherin-"

"Hufflepuff will have to lose by at least two hundred points," George points out.

"But if they beat Ravenclaw-"

"No way! Ravenclaw are too good. But if Slytherin lose against Hufflepuff-"

"It all depends on the points. A margin of a hundred either way-"

As their Quidditch debate progresses, the twins continue to grow louder and it isn't long before Madam Pomfrey is ordering everyone out.

"We'll come and see you later," Fred promises, and Carina's heart warms to see the twins clearly caring for Harry as much as she does. "Don't beat yourself up, Harry. You're still the best Seeker we've ever had."

George nods in agreement and goes to follow the rest of the team out of the hospital wing, pausing and sending a puzzled look back at Carina when she isn't still by his side. "You coming?"

"I'm going to stay with Harry for a little while longer," she says, briefly wondering if Madam Pomfrey will dry clothes if she asks nicely. "I'll come find you later?"

"You better," he states, only partially joking. "Someone has to fix my nail polish!"

Carina giggles as he holds up his hands, showing where the harsh weather battered away all but the faintest chips of the golden color that can hardly still be seen on her own nails. Truth be told, George hasn't the slightest care in the world as to how his nails look. But he's not oblivious to the way the simple gesture of allowing Carina to paint them can turn her whole mood around, and with her cousin having just survived yet another near death experience, she's definitely going to need something to cheer her up.

Ron and Hermione stay behind as well, and Carina is glad he has friends that worry for him so avidly.

"Hey, Carina?"

"Yeah?" She perks up as Harry says her name, ready to help in whatever way she can.

"You know how Trelawney says the Grim is an omen of death?" He begins slowly, suddenly unsure of himself. "I swear I saw it sitting at the top of the Quidditch stands."

"You're not going to die," Carina reassures him. "That's just another one of her crazy predictions that never come true."

"I know, but-"

"It was probably just another dementor," she says, cutting him off. She can't bear to even think of Harry dying, especially not while he's laying in a hospital bed. "It was impossible to see anything out there so your mind was most likely playing tricks on you."

Harry nods, accepting her words as a reasonable explanation. Carina sits back in her seat as Ron and Hermione tell him about the destruction of his broom, pondering over the possible truth to his words.

The only possible answer she can come up with - aside from the Grim theory that Harry is destined to die soon, which she refuses to ever accept - is that the omen of death was actually Snuffles hanging around the Quidditch pitch.

She hadn't seen the stray dog in nearly a month and assumed his family had found him. But, with Harry's recent observation, it only encourages her to go back to searching the grounds for him like she had before the Halloween incident when the professors became far more strict about who was able to leave the castle.

Though she shouldn't have let herself get attached, Snuffles holds a piece of her heart and something tells her she holds a piece of his as well.

Of course, Carina has no idea how right she is. Unbeknownst to her, she has all of his unconditional love and no one could ever replace her top spot in his heart.