Thanks to all the votes/fans

Chapter 8

First Year

If I thought I was nervous about try-outs, it had nothing on the nerves I felt for game day. I was literally shaking while flying around. The weather was perfect. The sky was cloudy and there was no wind. But it was much more intense with the entire school watching from below. Suddenly there was a lot of pressure on me. Flint ordered team practice an hour before the game, to make sure we would beat Gryffindor. The team was extremely angry about me getting detention last week. I had to miss three practices, so I felt even more unprepared. I saw Gabe walk into the changing room. He waved at me before he went in. Jake, Nico, and Cal all took front row seats in the Gryffindor section, I wish they played on the house team instead of just for fun, but they said it was too much extra work for them. They were all decked out in red and gold to support Gryffindor. Harry walked into the changing rooms right before the game, I smiled at him as he walked in. "Nervous Nyx?" I heard a voice ask. I turned around and saw Draco on his broom next to me.

"Pfft," I scoffed as if it was nothing. "Please, what do I have to be nervous about?"

 "Just don't screw this up, my father's watching and you wouldn't want him to report anything to your parents." He smirked and then flew off. I looked into threw the stands, the crowd was getting bigger by the second. I spotted a man seated next to Snape that must be Draco's father. He had the same hair color but tied back in a long ponytail, the same cold grey eyes, and the same unpleasant look Draco always wore. He was invited to come because he supplied the entire Slytherin team with new brooms. Luckily I already had mine, because I wasn't going to take charity from them.

The Gryffindor team came out of the changing rooms and my heart began pounding. I felt a mix of excitement and nerves. Madame Hooch called for the game to start with a blow of her whistle. We all got into position. I pulled myself higher and higher into the sky. Harry and Draco faced each other in the center while Flint and Oliver Wood had to shake hands. Gabe yelled, "Bring it on Nyx!" Loud enough for everyone to hear. I just smirked  over at him. Harry looked over at me and mouthed good luck, I replied the same. My team didn't look to happy about those little exchanges. The whistle went off. The Quaffle was released high into the sky. I went after it quickly, but Angelina Johnson had it and was attempting to score a goal. I flew as fast as I could over to her. When she threw it, I tried my best to grab it from her, but it didn't work. Luckily, the Slytherin keeper was able to block it quickly. I continued to go after the Quaffle.

The game went on for another fifteen minutes like this, no goals and no sight of the snitch. It was way harder than practice and Gryffindor was exceptionally good. Suddenly I saw the Quaffle flying my way, I grabbed it and the force almost threw me off my broom but I managed to stay on. I was already out of breath from all of this. I had to take a few breaths to regain myself. I flew towards the Gryffindor goal post where Gabe was guarding the posts, this wasn't going to be easy. He knew my fake out trick. I thought quickly and started heading towards the left ring, he went slightly right, thinking I was going to change to that direction, and I shot for the left ring. "Ten to Zero Slytherin! Come on Gryffindor!" Lee Jordan shouted into the microphone loudly. The crowd cheered, mostly Slytherins. It actually felt good to score a goal and to have my house semi-appreciate me. Gabe looked shocked. I just smiled and flew back towards the Quaffle.

A half an hour went by, the score was 70-20 with Slytherin in the lead, I scored five of those goals and Flint got the other two. I began to actually have a good time, "Look out!" I heard Harry call to me. I looked at him quickly.

"What?" I yelled back, he pointed to behind me. A bludger was coming full speed at me, I screamed and ducked, nearly falling off my broom. The bludger breezed over me. I looked at it and saw that it was going full speed after Harry. Literally, it was zooming after Harry no matter which direction he was heading. That isn't part of the game.

"Harry! Watch out!" Oliver Wood called to him while Harry was flying past Wood. The bludger slammed into Wood's broom which broke in two and he fell quickly into a pile of sand. That has got to hurt. I really hoped that never happens to me. Teachers were quickly rushing out to help him and escort him to the hospital wing.

"Stop sitting there Nyx!" Draco yelled from across the pitch. "Keep scoring goals!" I snapped out of it, nodding quickly, and then went to shoot more goals. Someone needed to stop this Bludger, but the stupid international Quidditch rules state that there can be no interfering. That Quidditch book was really kicking into my mind. I was about to score another goal when the Quaffle slipped from out of my hand and started falling, I dived after it.

"CARLIE!" was the last thing I heard, before everything went black.

My head was pounding as I blinked my eyes open. "Carlie..." I heard and felt someone shaking my shoulder. "Wake up." I opened my eyes and saw that I was still in the Quidditch Pitch and Jake was leaning over me. His face flushed with relief when I opened my eyes. I also saw that Dasha and Eowyn were standing near me with nervous looks in their eyes. Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape were standing off in the distance as well. Everything was a bit blurry.

"What happened?" I asked looking at Jake confused and around the pitch, the game was still going on.

"The bludger hit you in the shoulder, luckily you were close to the ground. But, you hit your head pretty hard when you fell. You haven't been out for too long." I realized my shoulder did hurt a lot once he said it. I rubbed the back of my head, everything look slightly doubled, I was seeing little flashes of lights. People were still playing all around me. My broom... I shot up quickly and felt all the blood rush to my head.

"You should probably put your head back down..." he said.

"Where's my broom?" I asked concerned, not sitting back down.

"Nico has it, its fine. But you should probably sit back down." I started standing up and felt a little dizzy, but it was my first game and I wanted to finish it.

"I'm fine," I lied. "Really." I began to feel dizzier and started stumbling around, but I tried to control it. That's when I spotted Draco flying near me. I noticed Draco looking at me, although I couldn't see too clearly what his reaction was. "I want to go back in the game, I'm fine." Darkness flashed for a moment. I started to black out again, but barely.

"No you're not, you can't even walk," Jake pointed out.

"I'm fine Jake!" I yelled while turning to look at him.

"I'm over here..." I heard Jake say from behind me. I rubbed my eyes and then realized that I just yelled at Dasha. Maybe I should lay back down on the field for a bit.

"Sorry..." I said to her and turned around quickly, which made me even dizzier than before. I grabbed my head, why me?

"Nyx you're out of the game, Mr. Ryfeld escort her to the infirmary," Professor Snape snapped.

"I'm fine!" I defended, but Jake put his arm around me and began to pull me away.

"No you're not, come on," he said. I groaned as I was towed away.

He dragged me into the infirmary and I sat down on the same bed I usually do. I seriously think that Madame Pomfrey has been leaving it vacant for me. When she saw me she looked like it was no shock to her that I was here. Jake sat in the seat beside my bed. I looked over and saw a blurry Oliver Wood in a deep sleep a few beds over with his foot elevated. That was a high fall. I'm shocked that just his foot was hurt. "What is it this time Ms. Nyx?" Madame Pomfrey asked as she walked over. Everything was fading from clear to blurry.

"Nothing," I lied, hoping to be able to head back to the game, "I'm fine!"

"You weren't playing on the moving stairs again were you?" she asked in a warning tone. What did she think I dove off the stairs for fun?

"She got knocked off her broom in Quidditch by a bludger and passed out," Jake explained. I felt a large headache coming on and I squinted my eyes in pain.

"Mhmm..." Madame Pomfrey said looking at me, she took out her wand and did a scanning spell that only healers knew. Then she cast another spell on me to make the pain go away. "Slight concussion, shoulder is only bruised. Although I'm concerned about the concussion, as there have been many previous ones. How many fingers am I holding up?" The pain sharply increased. I looked up at her and tried to focus. Everything in the room was spinning, I put my hands in my head.

"Tw-twelve," I said quickly, not even thinking about how you only have ten fingers. "Wait! I mean ten, I mean ten..." Then the pain ceased, slowly things were becoming less blurry to me, I noticed that she was holding two. "Wait, I mean two..."

"It would be best if you stayed here for the night," she said walking away to get night medicine while shaking her head.

"I don't want to stay here for the night, it's an on and off kind of thing," I yelled at Jake. "Take me back!"

"I'm not getting in trouble with Snape," he said with a laugh and then muttered something that sounded like twelve.

"Oh please." I rolled my eyes. "When did you ever care about getting in trouble?" Just then Madame Pomfrey came over to me with two potions.

"This one," she said handing me a glass of what looked like oatmeal. "Will clear up the bruising before it gets worse." And then she placed another on the side table. "That one is a sleeping potion which will treat the concussion, take that in about five minutes," she said walking away. I looked at Jake annoyed, he just laughed at my expressions. I was about to say something to him when I saw Draco being brought in through the door. He was put in the bed three down from mine. About a minute later Harry was being brought into the room and sitting in the bed across from mine. "Broken ribs," I heard Madame Pomfrey say to Draco and handed him a royal blue potion. Then she walked over Harry and began ranting on bones and broken bones so I stopped listening. I'm beginning to regret joining the Quidditch team after seeing all of these injuries...

"I got to go," Jake jumped up. "Detention with Snape!" He said with false enthusiasm. "I'll come by again tomorrow morning, see ya," he said walking out of the room, my head began spinning again.

I drank the bruising potion, it tasted like dry flour. It was rather disgusting if you asked me. I looked over at Draco. "What happened to you?" I asked him, hoping that it was actually Draco, my vision wasn't very reliable today. He looked over to me annoyed.

"Bloody bludger..." he mumbled, yeah, that's definitely Draco.

"Mr. Malfoy, you can leave in ten minutes, the ribs should be healed by then," Madame Pomfrey called from where she was treating someone else.

"At least you get to leave...I have to stay here for the night," I complained.

"Why?" he asked in a dull tone.

"Concussion" I responded annoyed. "Better get to sleep then." I said and picked up the potion on the side table, once again, hoping that I was the right potion. I was still in my Quidditch uniform, but I'd rather sleep in that than in those awful pajamas they give you. I quickly drank the potion, it tasted like dust. And I have the unfortunate experience of knowing what that taste like. I felt myself slowly drift to peaceful sleep.