- Chapter Seventy-Eight -
"I'm going to get in so much trouble."

The match went as well as it could have gone.

Elladora had gotten bored halfway through it and settled on looking around the pitch distractedly, bouncing on her feet and pursing her lips whilst the crowd reacted to every goal, foul or close call. She never usually got bored during Quidditch matches but when she didn't want to cheer for either team because she has friends on both of them, it got tiring to just be stood there the whole time. Regulus flew perfect laps around the pitch searching for the snitch the whole game whilst James had the Quaffle under his arm and weaved in and out of green players to then chuck the ball through one of the hoops and score for his team.

Remus' commentary, although doing well on explaining what was happening in front of him, was slightly biased. Not slightly...very biased. The difference of enthusiasm when talking about Gryffindor's accomplishments compared to Slytherin's accomplishments were obvious, so much so that Elladora feared he was going to get badly hurt if he didn't stop.

Peter was the same, chiming in every now and then as he put his face towards the microphone Remus was holding. Although Peter didn't say much, what he did say was the worst of things that provoked different reactions from the crowd and had McGonagall yelling down at him from where she was seated on the top row of the staff seats. Remus only laughed at Peter's words and Elladora tried desperately not to let a smile peak through, especially when she presumed she was being watched at every angle.

Everywhere she went, she felt someone staring. Whether it be Yaxley or the other boys in Slytherin for their horrible constant watch or Remus who always seemed to be the person she made eye contact with. Stares were obvious, she felt them often and always knew in which direction they were coming from. In the case of the Quidditch match, one was coming from one of the other staff seating areas and then another one from the Slytherin stands. What irked her this time though, was that Yaxley was sat a couple of rows behind her so the man staring at her was...

She risked a look, turning her head whilst Remus said something that provoked a loud reaction. Dumbledore stared back at her, she could barely se him from how far away he was but the way he was eyeing her had her nerves boiling up inside her. She had tried to avoid him and so far she had managed but when it came for the time to get Remus' potion, she would have to converse with him at least once.

It was scary knowing that he was more powerful than her, he might've been able to penetrate her mind and she would never know because he could make it that way. With that in mind, she tore her gaze away from the man so they weren't making eye contact and if he was trying to use Legilimency then she had just made it slightly harder.

Her eyes focused on as much as the match as she could fathom with the burning of two sets of eyes on her; James was soaring across the pitch with the Quaffle under his arm before he lobbed it forwards towards another Chaser who caught it and got closer to the Slytherin hoops before throwing it back to James who had zoomed even closer so he had a clear shot, Sirius had his eyes trained on the Quaffle and was ready to block it if needed which didn't seem likely anytime soon, Ernie was hitting a Bludger harshly towards the Slytherin Keeper in hopes of knocking him off and Regulus was lapping the pitch and keeping his eyes out for the Snitch.

Jamie Martin, the Gryffindor Seeker was hovering in the air, looking for the snitch in a more controlled way whilst hoping that Ernie and the other Beater for their team would hit back any Bludgers directed towards him.

"James, lucky number 7, passes to Dominic Rodriguez, number 4, who passes back to James who shoots..." Remus trails off, his eyes zeroing in on the Quaffle which hit the edge of the hoop and bounced through the large gap before the Slytherin Keeper could get there. The crowd burst into cheers as a Slytherin Chaser grabbed it from below and started to fly towards Sirius. "Yeah! James Potter scores, bringing the actual score to 100-20 to Gryffindor!"

The crowd cheered once more as Remus continued. "Not surprised seeing as he doesn't look like he could even lug a bag of potatoes."

"I'm not saying your a moron, Snyde..." Peter started, the microphone now being shared between the two boys as they sniggerd together and Elladora watched them with a small smile. "but maybe you should pursue something more in your league, like maybe Frog Choir? You've already got the slimy skin."

Remus let out a round of booming laughter with the crowd again as Elladora hid her growing smile with her hand, turning her head to face them as she let out a very small laugh but one was still there. Peter grinned brightly at her amused face and looked around the crowd proudly as they laughed at his words, his chest puffed out and he felt more appreciated than he ever had been before. People that weren't his friends were actually...laughing, at his jokes.

"Good one, Pete." Remus said away from the microphone, smiling down at his friend who laughed to himself in satisfaction before Remus brought the microphone back up to his mouth again. "Sirius blocks Quaffle aimed towards the left Gryffindor hoops and kicks it all the way across the pitch...right into James hands!"

James grinned as he caught the Quaffle skilfully before flying towards the Slytherin hoops, a Slytherin Chaser from across the pitch looked furious and began flying dangerously fast towards James. Elladora saw Regulus pause in his lapping and begin to yell down at the other player but he didn't stop and just started to fly faster, his face contorted into one of anger as he soared straight towards James. The crowd were on the edge of their seats or if they were stood up, on their toes as they looked over at the flyers.

Jules, Elladora thought his name was, flew right into James, sending  the Quaffle through the air and sending James very harshly to his left and off of his broom. The spectators erupted with rage and without the knowledge of having the microphone pointed in her direction with Remus not paying attention to it and instead making sure James was okay, Elladora voiced her own rage.

"Cheating little fucker!" She exclaimed loudly, freezing when instead of just hearing it between the three of them, it echoed around the whole pitch and Remus turned to look at the microphone in horror whilst the crowd silenced.

Elladora had two options: throw herself off of the stand out of embarrassment or stay in her seat and endure the embarrassment. Stupidly, she stuck with the second option and shrunk back slightly as after the small silence, everyone started to laugh. Remus grimaced at the situation and brought the microphone far away from her as she covered her face and went down into a small crouching position so she wasn't seen by people who looked over, instead just hiding behind the wooden banister.

Remus laughed nervously into the microphone and began spluttering apologies to McGonagall for everyone to hear before going back to commentating the match as normal as possible since he knew the three of them were already in big trouble from their previous sentences and now Elladora's small blunder. He tried  to go as normal as possible as James heaved himself up on his broom.

"You alright, mate?" He said and James turned, giving him a big thumbs up. "Cool, okay, so that was a foul from Jules..."

As Remus continued, Peter joined Elladora in hiding from the crowd. He smiled at her as she leaned her back against the wooden planks that stopped people from falling off, her face was still buried in her hands and she only took it out when she felt a presence shuffle next to her. At the sight of Peter's amused grin, she smiled grimly.

"I'm going to get in so much trouble." She mumbled and Peter hummed in agreement, nodding. Elladora whined slightly and buried her face in Peter's shoulder as they sat side by side, it was likely to be Yaxley who approached her after the match and gave her yet another detention where he would watch her endure the torture of bad hand cramps from endless line writing.

"JAMIE MARTIN CATCHES THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS 260-20!" Remus let out a sudden yell, a large whining noise coming out of the microphone afterwards but it could barely be heard by the uprising of the crowd all screaming.

Elladora grinned brightly despite herself, she was happy that Gryffindor had won. She took her head off of Peter's shoulder as he began to stand up, he then turned and put his hand out for her to take which she did and pulled herself up with the help of Peter. The first thing she saw was Sirius and James hugging each other very roughly in the middle of the pitch, next was the flurry of red beginning to filter onto the pitch, the crowd having already made their way around.

"We won!" Remus cheered away from the microphone and turned to his friends, grabbing the first one he saw which was Elladora and picking them up into a hug, spinning around. He let her down quickly and they held onto each others arms for stability as they laughed, the buzzing in Elladora's stomach came back but with an added feeling of jitters like it was doing some sort of jumping routine. "We won." He murmured a bit quieter as they looked at each other.

"Miss Hargreaves!" A sharp voice brought them away from each other and they turned to see Yaxley stood behind them; she gulped nervously.

Remus turned to Peter, who now looked quite crestfallen and dispirited as he stared at Remus,  and threw a quick arm around his shoulder whilst not noticing his expression. With a small tap on Elladora's arm for good luck, they made their way out of the staff box and down the wooden stairs whilst Elladora stood good-postured in front of Professor Yaxley.

"Detention, tomorrow night." Is all he said and she felt herself fill up with dread at the thought of another detention. Especially on Sunday night when she had five more hours of school the next day where she would have to write more. Yaxley then glanced behind her to make sure the boys weren't lurking before he continued. "You're playing your part well. I'm afraid the detention is necessary so it doesn't look too suspicious but I am impressed with your ability to deceive the Gryffindors. I expect great praise will be rewarded at the meeting next week."

"Meeting?" Elladora couldn't stop herself, her eyes widened slightly and her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at him. "Next week?"

"Indeed." Yaxley nodded, not picking up on her cluelessness. "I am on duty for your next Hogsmeade trip and am responsible for taking you and the boys to the meeting. As always, you'll start off with Evan and then will join the higher ranks. I'll get you there and back in time so I suggest you work up an excuse."

Elladora nodded silently and with a jerk of Yaxley's head, she was dismissed and she traced Remus and Peter's footsteps down the wooden stairs with her head spinning slightly. A Death Eater meeting in the middle of the Hogsmeade trip and she has to come up with an excuse, at least it was the week before the full moon and not on the full moon. After Remus' obviously bad transformation over Easter, he could do with a peaceful one in May.

She reached the main pitch and was immediately flustered with the amount of red that she was submerged into, trying to find her friends. A hand grabbed her arm and she turned abruptly, frightened, but she only saw James with a bright smile on. His hair was messy, his glasses crooked and a large trophy in his hand.

"We won!" He said loudly over the cheers and she smiled at his excitement. "WE WON!"

Everyone cheered and she raised a hand to her ear at the noise behind her. James suddenly got higher, Sirius and Ernie had lifted his onto their shoulders as he lifted the trophy high with a shout of victory. The joy on his face almost made her cry; out of happiness and out of jealousy. The red cheering and the green sulking had her conflicted. The Gryffindor's win was not her loss, it should be just as her win as it was theirs since her relationship with Gryffindor's were stronger but she can't help but get caught up with the look on Regulus' face as he watched Sirius and James hug brotherly once the captain had been let down.

He looked...sad and that made Elladora sad.

An arm was thrown around her shoulder and she turned her head to see the grinning face of Remus, her stomach was overcome with sudden jitters again at the bright happiness on his face and it made her feel...nauseous? She really needs to go to Madam Pomfrey.

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A/N: i saw a Regulus edit to jealousy, jealousy by Olivia Rodrigo and i can't stop thinking about it

also can we talk about the feels that Peter was giving me in this chapter like pls sir i love you so much