"It's the first game of Quidditch!" Ginny practically squealed with excitement.

Cassandra smirked a little as she pulled on her own red robe. "What's with that much excitement?" She chuckled. "You've been doing it for years now."

"But that doesn't make it any less exciting," Ginny insisted.

"It's time to go out," Harry interrupted.

"Are you ready?" Cassandra asked Ginny as she grabbed her broom.

"Pfft! I was born ready!" The red head ran out of the room and Cassandra had to briskly walk in order to follow her out.

The rush of wind in her hair was everything when the game started. She gripped her broom tightly, but not so tightly that she would be stiff. After years of flying, she had learned to trust the broom. As cliche as it sounded, becoming one with the broom was a motto many Quidditch players used. The broom wasn't an object that assisted them, it was a part of them.

Playing Quidditch was when Cassandra felt the most alive. Whether it was a game or just practice. Some could say that it was her hobby, but, frankly, she found it to be her passion. What she wanted to do with her life. Perhaps one day she could actually make it into the professional teams.

She should have been more aware of her surroundings. Hyper focussing on the game always helped her. She would block out the cheering crowd and forget that she was being watched. But today, all the players suddenly stopped. Taking her broom into a hover, she looked around. Did someone get hurt?

The crowd was screaming in panic, running. A sinking feeling gripped in her stomach, feeling deja vu when Cedric died. Only, something far more tragic by the reactions.

That was when a spell was shot in their direction. Cassandra managed to dodge but it hit Ginny's broom. The younger girl screamed as she was suddenly zipped straight into the crowd, crashing. Cassandra moved to fly after her, but she felt something hit her in the chest. Her and her broom spun out of control until her back hit something. She fell and a black slime began to ooze into her vision. At least that's what it felt like. Blinking, her ears rang and she found that she couldn't hear anything else. Consciousness did not stay long, leaving her in total darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Varian was walking his way towards the Slytherin seats. The crowd was large, but he wasn't really paying much attention. He waited patiently, squeezing his way through the people, all while keeping his eyes glued to his book on ancient spells. At least, he was until someone stepped back and knocked the book out of his hand.

The figure who had committed the crime turned to him. "Ah, Varian."

The teen paused, taken by surprise. "Mr. Malfoy."

Lucius bent down and picked up his book, looking it over. Then he looked back up, passing a small smirk. "Haven't changed a bit, I see."

"No sir, I haven't." Varian gripped the strap to his bag tightly. There was something about Lucius that always made him grow stiff and nervous.

"Perhaps you should keep a better eye on where you're going, hmm?"

"Err... Yes, sir..." The boy felt his face grow red, which made him feel embarrassed. That didn't help the growing redness any.

The man slipped the book back in Varian's bag, making the bag feel oddly heavier than he anticipated. Lucius Malfoy passed him a nod before turning to go to his own seat. No doubt the best one in all the arena.

Not bothering to pull out his book again in order to not make the same mistake twice, he pushed his way towards the Slytherin seats. He found a vacant spot near the back where he happily sat down. Just in time too. Leaning back, he watched as the game began to start.

If he was being honest, he didn't care much for sports. Frankly, it was as boring as heck to watch them alone. It was more fun when he watched a game with his parents, but he did want to support Draco. After all, the Ice Prince was technically the closest he had to a friend, which he didn't want to be a bad friend and never show up. So he made it a point to watch most of the games that he could.

However, he wasn't expecting the Gryffindor's seats to suddenly light up. Not light up like Muggle Christmas lights, but by the light of a powerful spell getting cast. Luckily, it appeared someone blocked it, but that didn't stop panic from spreading.

Suddenly, the stairs next to him got hit with a spell, debris flying up. He yelled, falling off his seat and shielding his head from flying wood. How he managed to make it with barely a scratch, he would never know.

Running was either the right thing to do or the wrong one. He decided that he would take his chances and started sprinting as fast as he could to get away from the danger. The small explosion caused him to be a little off balance, probing the task of running to be more difficult.

Screams and cries filled the air as chaos erupted. The Quidditch players stopped the game, looking around, trying to figure out what was happening. Then somewhere in the crowd, spells were being thrown at them. Varian tried to pinpoint where the spells were coming from, but they were coming from everywhere. Then he understood.

"Invisible cloaks-"

Upon making this discovery, Varian scanned the crowd for any one of the teachers or a head of authority. He was certain that they could figure it out on their own, it didn't take a genius to see, but he wanted to be sure.

"Look out!"

Varian barely had time to react to the scream. He turned his head only for a broom to plow into his body. The teen tumbled, rolling with whoever had been thrown into him.

"Gah!" He bit back a cry, holding his side. Merlin, did he just break a rib?

The girl that flown into him immediately sat up, pulling her red hair out of her face. "Oh, my gosh! Are you ok?"

It was that bloody Gryffindor girl that always hung out with Potter and his gang. The youngest Weasley he believed, who went by the name Ginny. Of course he had never actually taken the time to ever pay her any mind, but he wasn't sure if he should feel angry with her or not.

"I'm fine," he bit off, pushing her away harder than he meant to. Her face was way too close to his and it made him uncomfortable.

She flinched, but immediately masked her hurt. "Good." Grabbing her broom, she took off running.

Guilt tugged at Varian's stomach. Why did he snap at her? It wasn't like it was her fault and she was only trying to help. He was instantly reminded why when he tried to sit up. A sharp pain made him draw in a sharp breath. A pain that would make anyone sound mad.

He scooted himself behind a seat where he wouldn't get trampled. That was when he saw it. A broken locket on the ground. Varian didn't know what possessed him to scoop it up and stuff it in his satchel, yet he found himself doing just that.

"Woah-What are you doing on the ground, buddy?"

Varian snapped his head up to look at the speaker. He could ask how a Gryffindor ended up in the Slytherin's seating area, but honestly, he didn't feel like asking. Instead, he merely stared up at the seventh year.

"You're gonna get trampled," the teen continued.

"I can't move," Varian spoke at last. "I think I broke a rib."

"By the sun-" he muttered. "Am I supposed to move you, or should you stay where you are?"

"I'm a lot of things, but a medic? Not so much," Varian admitted. "If you wanted the formula for a healing potion, I'm you're guy. Actual procedures? I'm not it."

"Fair enough..." He ran a hand through his brown hair, gripping his wand. "Guess we stay here and I cover you."

"Careful, the attackers are hidden with invisible cloaks."

"That makes a lot of sense." He crouched down next to Varian in hopes of keeping somewhat hidden.

"Suppose this means that he really is back..."

The other teen raised a brow and Varian just shook his head. He didn't feel like explaining the He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named theory. They had enough on their plate as it was and their top priority would be to stay alive and not figure out why the attack was happening in the first place. Speculating was a job for later.

The Gryffindor set his jaw. "We're not even a week in school and we're already having an attack... There better not be more Cedrics."

Varian looked up at him. He could see the fire and anger in the other's eyes. It was very apparent that what happened to Cedric really bothered him. They must have known each other then. As much as Varian hated to admit it, he had always seen the death of Cedric more like an unfortunate event. He didn't know him, so it didn't exactly effect him too much. Unlike the older teen beside him.

"I'm Eugene, by the way. Eugene Fritzherbert." He watched their surroundings intensively, using his wand to block flying rubble from hitting them.

"Varian Meyer." He clutched his side, and clenched his jaw.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she crashed, Ginny found herself rolling on the ground. She scraped her cheek against the wood, but that was the last of her problems. Unfortunately, she hadn't warn the person she landed top of in time. Her stomach churned at the thought of them being injured because of her.

She pushed herself off, looking at the victim of her crashlanding. By the green scarf, she realized that he was a Slytherin. Not just any Slytherin. Varian. The boy that she saw with Draco all the time. The one who liked to read a lot.

"Oh, my gosh! Are you ok?" She managed to gasp out.

"I'm fine!" He snapped angrily, pushing her away.

She flinched at his tone. At least he was fine so she didn't have to feel guilty. Of course he could have been a whole lot nicer about the situation. Who was she was kidding? He was a Slytherin. The Malfoy kind. So she had no point sticking around.

Ginny took off running, gripping her broom tightly in her hand. She pulled out her wand, searching for anything that might be what's causing the threat. She saw spells being cast, but not the people casting them. Remembering the invisible cloak that Dumbledore had given Harry, she watched where one purple spell came of nowhere.

"Stupefy!" She shot her spell. It appeared to have missed. Gritting her teeth, she tried again. "Stupefy! Stupefy!" The second of the two hit an invisible wall. It hit.

Running towards the area the person probably hit, she tripped over them. Scrambling back to her feet, but knew that the culprit had moved. Clutching her want tightly, the red scanned her surroundings. There wasn't any movement. Not so much as a misplaced breath being exhaled.

"Ginny!"

She whirled around to the person calling her. It was Luna, grabbing her arm. "Come on, we better leave-"

"Wait, the attackers are wearing invisible cloaks. I had one just now. I don't know where they went." Ginny looked back at where the criminal originally was.

Luna looked in the direction she was. "I know you want to help..." Suddenly she whispered. "They're to your right."

Ginny whirled around, casting her spell. "Stupefy!" To her surprise, it hit her mark the first time. She moved to grab them.

"Ginny, wait!" Luna cried suddenly.

The red head turned to her friend before she felt something hit her in her back. She fell forward, her vision spinning around her. Yelping, she landed on her chest.

Luna cast a spell in the direction of whoever hit her. However, Ginny was aware that her friend didn't really fight. She preferred magical creatures and spells to help people rather than fighting. Not that Luna had ever needed to fight before. Of course, Ginny didn't either, but there was always something that told her she would need to know how to fight. Whether that was because she was the youngest of six brothers or because she was friends with Harry Potter, the boy who lived.

Perhaps deep down, she had always known it would come down to a fight. But who was to say this attack had anything to do with Harry? She shook her head. Questions later. Hex first. If her victims didn't like it, then they shouldn't have endangered those she cared about.

Ginny reached up to grab her locket to activate the healing spell she kept on it. She always wore one while playing Quidditch. One never knew when they could accidentally take a fall. It happened quite often. But there wasn't a locket. Her hands moved towards her neck in hopes of finding the chain, but quickly realized that it was not there. Clenching her fists, she grabbed onto one of the arms to a seat to pull herself up. Her world rocked and spun around her, so she closed her eyes and focussed on Luna's voice.

There was a shout and the blonde girl was thrown back into Ginny. The two girls fell on the ground with a thud. Ginny feared they would be hit with another hex, but she quicky realized that their attackers had abandoned them. So they just wanted to spread chaos? Or were they wanting one thing specifically? What was their bloody goal?