13 ◆ rose figg - resident badass
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ROBYN HADN'T GOTTEN A CHANCE to ask Professor Lupin about her mother's name, as he was still out sick for the next several days. The day he did return was the day of the first Quidditch match of the season, but Robyn had found herself preoccupied in encouraging Flynn and the twins that they were going to have a good game. Fred and George didn't look particularly worried, but Flynn continued to make hesitant glances towards the windows of the Great Hall as they ate their breakfast.
The weather outside was vile, not at all ideal conditions for a Quidditch match. It was dark and stormy, with rain pooling down in sheets, thunder and lightning booming and flashing across the murky skies. The sky was blanketed with heavy, dark clouds that let in little to no light from the sun above. However, the Gryffindors were still set to play in the match against the Hufflepuffs, as the Quidditch match must go on, come rain, come shine, come snow, come sleet.
Lisa, who was seated between Flynn and George, ignored her own food entirely and spent breakfast focusing all her morning energy on trying to force Flynn to eat, though Robyn saw her glance worriedly down the table at her cousin several times. She didn't need to worry though; as far as Robyn was concerned, Harry looked just fine. He was indulging himself in a few pieces of toast and making small talk with Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson.
However, far sooner than any of them hoped, Oliver called for everyone to get up, which meant it was time for them all to head down to the Quidditch pitch; the team to the locker room and Lisa and Robyn to the stands. Robyn grabbed her red jumper from the bench and yanked it on as they all began walking towards the exit.
The rest of the team exited the Great Hall and began making their way down to the pitch. Fred, George, Robyn, and Lisa, however, were all stopped by a pair of Hufflepuffs, clad in their yellow-and-black Quidditch robes. It was the two Hufflepuff Beaters, Lucas and Rose.
But, no, this was no longer Rose. It was Quidditch-Rose, or as she'd become known to be called on the pitch, Carren. While Rose carried a sweet, motherly disposition, Carren's was much harder, much more ruthless. Rose would never hurt a fly, while Carren knocked Bludgers into her opponents with a sort of merciless brutality that scared even Flynn.
True to her Carren nature, Rose stood tall, as if daring Fred and George to meet her eye. She nodded curtly towards the two, muttering, "Weasleys."
Fred and George glared back, and all three pairs of eyes gleamed, eager for the match to start, eager for their competition to begin. "Carren," the twins said in unison.
Robyn looked over and met Lucas's eye. He smiled apologetically at them, as he was never a part of the trio's Quidditch rivalry. Robyn grinned back, shaking her head.
Rose stepped around the twins and quickly marched past into the Hall. Lucas shot Robyn and Lisa another meek smile before following her inside. Once she had passed, Fred and George immediately relaxed their shoulders, and they all started their way out of the castle and into the cold, windy rain.
"We have to destroy them this match," Fred grumbled, George nodding in agreement. Lisa let out an amused laugh, lightly hitting her boyfriend in the arm, and Robyn merely rolled her eyes. They stepped through the main doorway and into the rain, which immediately soaked all four of them to the bone.
"Plutectum," Robyn said, holding her wand like a handle and pointing it up to the sky. A shimmering umbrella sprouted from the tip of her wand, billowing out above her. Lisa followed suit, and together they bid the twins a good match before heading off to the stands, leaving the two drowned rats to make their way to the locker room by themselves.
Robyn and Lisa climbed the stands, then looked around to find Ron and Hermione up in the very front, crowded on nearly every side by other Gryffindors except for a small spot they'd saved for the two. Robyn shivered, her clothes completely soaking wet, somehow getting impossibly even more drenched as sheets of rain poured down on them, the wind howling around them, tugging on Robyn's arm as if to pull her wand out of her hand.
Robyn and Lisa made their way to the front, next to Ron and Hermione. Ron looked miserable, just as much like a drowned version of his pet rat, Scabbers. Hermione, on the other hand, though her usually bushy brown hair was completely drenched and lay flat and plastered to her head, looked deep in thought. She occasionally moved her hands as though she was putting on a pair of glasses before moving them to wipe the rain out of her eyes.
All the while, people were cheering as the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams made their way out into the field. No doubt Lee Jordan was providing his usual snarky and heavily biased commentary, but it proved entirely useless, as no one could hear a word over the howling wind and thudding rain.
Soon, the teams had mounted their brooms, and with the distant sound of Madam Hooch's whistle, they were off, soaring into the air like streaks of crimson and yellow. It was almost impossible to see them through the solid walls of rain, blurring the skies with grey. Once or twice, a loud clang sounded out from the booth where Lee made his commentary. Someone had scored a goal, but no one knew who made the goal or on what team they played.
A flash of lightning streaked across the sky, accompanied by the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle; the small streaks of crimson and yellow circled around down towards the ground. Hermione suddenly jumped up from her seat, and before anyone could ask what she was doing, she disappeared into the crowd. A moment later, she reappeared down on the pitch, running over to the huddle of red where the Gryffindor team was standing. She only paused for a moment before running back into the stands. Once she reappeared, she explained what she was doing.
"I fixed Harry's glasses. Now he can see through the rain," she yelled over the clap of thunder that had just sounded overhead. The players all took to the sky again, and Robyn wiped the fresh pools of rain off of her face, blinking the water out of her eyelashes so she could see. Lisa snuggled into Robyn's side to keep warm, wrapping her arms around Robyn's waist tightly. Though the two were freezing cold in the pouring, windy rain, the extra body heat helped to keep them both from going completely numb.
"I hope Harry's doing alright," Lisa muttered, scanning the skies for her cousin. Robyn nodded in agreement, but her mind had instead wandered to Fred. Hopefully he was alright; it was nearly impossible to see anything through the grey sheets of frigid rain, let alone the heavy, missile-like Bludgers that whirled around the pitch at whatever players they could find.
There was another sudden streak of lightning that illuminated the sky; for a moment, Robyn could see the outlines of all fourteen Quidditch players on the pitch. Robyn found the faint outline of Flynn, and watched as she flew across the field, the Quaffle nestled in the crook of her arm. She scarcely dodged a Bludger before George knocked it away towards a Hufflepuff Chaser that was tailing her; to avoid being hit, the Hufflepuff veered away quickly, leaving Flynn open to score. Flynn grabbed the Quaffle out of her arm and hurled it towards the goal posts; the Keeper barely missed it as it flew through a hoop. Another loud clang sounded out from the commentary box: Gryffindor had scored.
Before the Gryffindor stands could cheer, a sudden gasp rang out across the entire stadium. The air turned suddenly colder, and Robyn wrapped her soaked red jumper tighter around her body to try to keep warm. She leaned forward over the railing to watch as Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff Seeker, climb upwards into a nearly vertical incline, accelerating rapidly, his arm outstretched. He'd caught sight of the Snitch. Not long after, Robyn saw Harry take off after him.
As Harry made his way across the field, he suddenly began to slow down, for at first no apparent reason. Robyn watched as Harry looked down towards the ground; she followed his line of sight to see nearly a hundred dark, cloaked dementors crowded down on the field below, looking right up at Harry.
Lisa let out a horrified shriek, and her shoulders tensed, digging into Robyn's side. At first, Robyn assumed it was from seeing the dementors as well, until she looked up to see Harry had fallen off of his broom and was plummeting some one hundred and fifty feet, down directly towards the dementors on the ground below him.
The next several moments moved by as though in a rapid blur: as Harry fell, Robyn looked down at the ground below to see that Professor Dumbledore had run out onto the field and was pointing his wand at Harry, seemingly slowing the boy's fall; Rose's head snapped up from her seat on her broom to see Harry plummeting towards the earth; she tossed her club to the other Hufflepuff Beater, Lucas Edder, who caught it easily, as though they'd read each other's minds; Rose leaned forward on her broom, speeding up until all Robyn could see was a yellow blur streaking across the Quidditch pitch; suddenly, Rose stopped on a dime, her head turned upwards, feet hooked tightly into their fastenings, arms stretched outwards. Less than a second later, she'd been pushed several feet downwards, but an unconscious Harry Potter was in her arms, and the entire Gryffindor box breathed a collective sigh of relief. A flash of gold sparked from the other end of the pitch, and Cedric Diggory held his hand up, gripping the Snitch tightly between his fingers. As he looked over to see Rose holding Harry's limp body, his eyes widened, and he immediately flew over to Madame Hooch, waving his arms and shoving the Snitch furiously into her hands.
Rose slowly made her way down to the ground, followed by the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team. Dumbledore waved his wand again, and a silvery figure burst from the wand, chasing off the retreating dementors. Lisa ripped herself off of Robyn and, grabbing her hand, pulled her down from the stands with her, followed closely behind by Ron and Hermione. They climbed down the stairs and rounded the side of the stadium, stepping onto the field to see Professor McGonagall rushing towards Dumbledore, the Gryffindor team, and Rose, who was now standing on the ground but still holding Harry in her arms. Robyn and Lisa quickly ran over to meet them; Robyn pulled her wand out again and muttered, "Plutectum," and once more, an umbrella sprouted from the tip of her wand, shielding the large group from the ever-pouring rain.
"Is he going to be okay?" Lisa said, her voice breaking between words. Robyn glanced over to see Lisa's face had gone completely white, contrasting harshly with her soaked, jet black hair. There was a steady stream of tears flowing down her face, and her eyes were already beginning to redden and swell. Professor McGonagall set a comforting hand on Lisa's shoulder.
Dumbledore, however, didn't respond; instead, he conjured up a stretcher with his wand. "Rose," he said kindly, though there was a tone of urgency in his voice that startled them, "you can put Harry down. He needs to get to the hospital wing." Rose obliged, and Dumbledore hurried off towards the castle, the stretcher carrying the still-unconscious Harry floating in front of him.
Professor McGonagall turned to Robyn, Lisa, Ron, Hermione, and the Gryffindor team. "Give Madam Pomfrey some time to work on him. Go shower and dry off, you can go up once you're done." She then turned to Rose. "Thank you, Miss Figg. That was very brave of you."
Rose smiled and nodded slightly before rushing off to the Hufflepuff locker room. Robyn and Lisa followed Ron, Hermione, and the Gryffindor team to their own. As soon as they had all made it inside, however, Lee Jordan burst in, stopping in the middle of the doorway.
"Diggory caught the Snitch - saw Harry - wanted a rematch - Madam Hooch denied - hundred points ahead - Hufflepuff won," he sputtered out, breathless, before turning around and running back out, slamming the door behind him.
"They won?" Flynn yelled, pure fury etched across her face. "That's total bullshit. They won-"
"Fair and square, Flynn," muttered Oliver, interrupting her. Flynn shot him a furious glare, but he didn't meet her eyes. Instead, Robyn watched as Oliver threw his broomstick against the wall in frustration before storming off to the showers.
Twenty minutes later, the entire team was cleaned and dried off, aside from Oliver, who refused to get out of the showers, even after Fred and George banged on the door repeatedly.
"Is he trying to drown himself in there?" Robyn asked incredulously.
"Must be," said Fred, shaking his head. "Guess we'll just leave him."
Together, Robyn, Lisa, Ron, Hermione, and the team (minus Oliver) trekked up to the castle, carrying conjured umbrellas to keep them all dry. No one said a word as they walked up; they were all too worried about Harry to even make small talk. As soon as they were inside, they all broke into a run, racing down the corridor to the hospital wing as fast as they could. They reached the doors to the infirmary to meet Rose, who was already there waiting. As they gathered around, the doors opened up from the other side to reveal Dumbledore, whose long grey hair was significantly darker and dripping water into pools on the marble floor. He paused to look at the group of students, blue eyes sparkling beneath his raindrop-stained half-moon spectacles.
"He'll be alright. Madam Pomfrey's got him stable. Be quiet as you go in, and don't give her a reason to kick you all out." He smiled gently before passing them, leaving the doors open behind him. They all rushed inside, making their way over to Harry's bed and circling around it. Lisa let out another choking sob. Harry looked just fine, aside from the fact that he was still unconscious. His black hair was matted and damp, plastered across his forehead. Only the very bottom of his scar peeked through underneath his hair.
"Lucky Rose was able to catch him," said Katie Bell.
"I thought he was dead for sure," said George.
"But he didn't even break his glasses," said Fred.
"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life," Lisa whispered, reaching down to grab her cousin's hand.
Robyn nodded in agreement. Watching Harry plummet from the sky was unnerving to say the least; to think, if Rose hadn't been there to catch him...
Beneath them, Harry's eyes snapped open, and Robyn saw him meet her eyes with his own bright green ones before they flickered away to look around at the large crowd encircling his hospital bed.
"Harry!" said Fred, color finally beginning to return to his face, which was white as a sheet under his freckles.
"Oh, thank goodness you're alright," Lisa gasped, shivering under her soaking wet hair and clothes. "How are you feeling?"
Harry paused for a moment. He blinked. Then, he sat up so suddenly Lisa gasped in surprise. "What happened?" Harry asked frantically.
"You fell off your broom," said Fred. "Must've been...what, fifty feet?"
"Would've been a hundred more if Rose hadn't caught you," Robyn said.
"Merlin, if Dumbledore hadn't slowed you down like he did, I don't think I would've been able to catch you," added Rose.
Lisa and Hermione both made a nervous, squeaky noise. Hermione's hair was beginning to frizz out again now that it was drying, and the steady stream of tears flowing down Lisa's face wasn't showing any signs of ceasing.
"But the match," Harry said. "What happened? Are we doing a replay?"
The room fell silent as everyone looked away from Harry. Robyn shared a disappointed look with Fred, who tapped his thumb nervously against the metal footboard of Harry's bed.
"We didn't...we didn't lose, did we?"
Robyn sighed. "Diggory got the Snitch just after you fell."
Rose nodded, tucking her short, brown hair behind her ears. "He didn't realize what had happened," she explained. "When he looked back and saw me holding you, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch."
"But they won fair and square," Robyn said. "Even Oliver admits it."
Harry looked around curiously, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Where is Wood, anyways?" he asked.
"Still in the showers," said Fred. "We think he's trying to drown himself."
Rose scoffed softly and shook her head. "I'll go talk to him. He's being melodramatic, as usual," she said. Before leaving, she looked down at Harry with a smile. "I'm glad you're alright, Harry."
Harry smiled back weakly. "Thanks for catching me." With a final wink, Rose turned on her heel and marched out of the hospital wing. As soon as she was out of the door, Harry pulled his knees to his face, his free hand gripping his damp hair. "I didn't catch the Snitch," he muttered.
Lisa smiled, releasing her hold on his other hand. "I think today is a special occasion where it's okay to not catch the Snitch," she said. "You're alive, and that's what matters." Harry smiled back at her appreciatively, and she reached over to ruffle his hair.
"And anyways, there had to be one time you didn't get it," added George.
"It's not over yet," said Fred. "We lost by a hundred points, right? So if Hufflepuff loses to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin..."
As the twins began bouncing ideas off of each other to find a complicated way that Gryffindor could still win the Quidditch Cup, Robyn decided she'd better leave. She felt she'd outstayed her welcome. Besides, the twins didn't sound like they were going to be finishing any time soon, and she didn't feel like sticking around to hear the rest of their banter. She gave Harry a wave and a smile to show him that she was glad he was alright before backing away from the group, turning and heading out of the hospital wing.
Robyn was starting her way back to Gryffindor Tower when, as she was rounding a corner, collided roughly with a person in front of her. She looked up to see none other than Professor Lupin, who, aside from his scars and shabby robes, looked much healthier than he did the last time she'd seen him.
"Oh, sorry, Professor, I didn't see you there," she said hurriedly.
Professor Lupin smiled kindly back. "You're quite alright, Robyn. Have you been to see Harry?"
Robyn nodded. "He's awake, he's doing alright."
"That's good to hear," said Lupin. He dipped his head and moved to pass Robyn when suddenly she remembered the question Flynn and Lisa had planted in her head.
"Hey, Professor?" She called out after him. Lupin stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly, he turned back around to face Robyn. "I've been meaning to ask you a question," she continued.
"Of course, Robyn. What is it?" he replied, though his voice was laced with uncertainty, like he wasn't sure he wanted to hear whatever she had to ask.
Even still, Robyn needed an answer. "What was my mother's name?"
Lupin paused, looking down at the floor before slowly raising his eyes to meet her own. They were filled with a sorrow Robyn had never seen before, as though he was suddenly reliving all of his saddest memories at once.
"Amber."
And with that, Lupin turned away, leaving Robyn alone in the corridor, surrounded by nothing but the moving portraits on the walls around her and the dim, flickering candles floating far above her.
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