Gemma spent the next two weeks in her bed, sick. She only got up to go to the bathroom, and Iz and Pandora brought her food, though she barely ate any of it. She wasn't sure if it was because of the orb, or if she was generally just unwell, but most of the time she was too tired to think about it. She also refused to talk to anyone, even Ted and Luke, who she'd nearly hexed across the room for trying too hard.

Finally, on March 3rd, she was feeling slightly better, and Iz convinced her to come down to breakfast. 

'Heyy, it's Gemma!' Luke said cheerfully when she sat down. 

'You look awful,' Ted commented. 'I think all your muscle has disappeared.'

'That's because I haven't played or practised quidditch since December,' she mumbled. Stupid injured spine. 

'Are you going to watch our match against Ravenclaw tomorrow?' Mulciber asked from across the table. Gemma frowned, as she noticed her friends were sitting with their gang of bullies. Regulus was there too, obviously, with Luciana clinging to his arm. So Iz finally merged the groups, she thought bitterly. Said person was currently rummaging through her bag frantically, not listening to her boyfriend who was cooing weird things in her ear.

'Obviously,' Gemma said. 'You guys are gonna get hammered without me though.'

'We are not,' Regulus snapped. 'While you've been moping about your dead father, we've been practising every morning.' 

'You would've been practising once a week if it wasn't for me,' she said, rolling her eyes, ignoring the obvious jab he'd thrown at her.

'Yes,' he scoffed. 'Because you were so bad we had to increase it.'

'You know that's not what I me-'

'Ravenclaw is like, the yellow house right?' Luciana interrupted. Her voice was drawn out, like an idiotic child. Luke and Gemma stared at her, while Ted and Mulciber snickered.

'No, Luciana, its blue,' Regulus said tiredly. 'We've been over this.'

'Your girlfriend gives the term "dumb blonde" a whole new meaning,' Avery commented. Luciana didn't even appear to register his words. 'Seriously, downgrade from Aston, even though she didn't really have an ass as nice as Thornburry does.'

'I'm sitting right here,' Gemma mumbled, while Ted scowled at him.

'Guys!' Iz said, finally done searching her bag. 'My prototype hairbrush! It's gone!'

'Prototype hairbrush?' Luke repeated. 'Um, I think the hairbrush has already been invented Iz.'

'I charmed it to detangle instantly and appear in a person's bedroom when called,' Iz fretted. 'But I must've got the magic wrong because now it keeps disappearing and showing up in the dungeon cells instead!'

'Well if you know where it is then just go get it,' Snape said sullenly. 

'I absolutely refuse to go down there!' She persisted. 

'I'll go,' Gemma sighed. 

'I'll help you,' Mulciber said, standing quickly. 

'I don't need help,' she snapped, heading out the hall, but he followed her anyway.

'Have fun!' Ted called. 

As they walked, Gemma prayed that Mulciber would not try to make small talk. She hadn't really spoken to him since Valentine's Day, the same with Regulus. She usually liked to avoid confrontation until the complicated situation sorted itself out. 

'So,' he said, making small talk ,'are you feeling better now?'

'Much,' she responded dryly.

'You know, you never really answered to my Valentine's day gift.'

'It was flowers. They died two days later. Not much to really say.'

'They died?' He said, sounding surprised. 'They guy I bought them from said they wouldn't'. 

'Everything around me dies eventually,' she joked. But her mood soured when she thought of Edward and her dad. 'Oh, screw that.'

'Sure,' he said, as they entered the dungeon. In one of the cells, Gemma saw a sparkly pink hairbrush, and she snorted.

'Found it,' she said. They both entered the cell and she picked up the brush, but as they turned to exit it, the barred door slammed shut. 

'Shit!' she exclaimed, trying to pull it open while Mulciber watched amusedly. She spun to face him. 'Why did it close?'

'Probably some weird charm to keep the prisoners in,' he said, sounded unperturbed. 

'Why are you so chill! We're stuck down here now!'

'And who's fault is that, hm?'

'Yours! Why did you follow me in here like some lost puppy!'

'Because, idiot,' he said, pulling his wand out and pointing it at the door, 'I can do magic. Alohamora!'

The door unlocked just as Gemma gave it a massive push, and she stumbled. He caught her, arm wrapping around her waist. It gave her butterflies, but somehow not the kind Regulus had once given her by the Shrieking Shack. 

But she decided then and there that that was over. Regulus, in her mind, had been murdered and replaced by his evil twin Regulus 2.0, who was a horrible asshole who didn't deserve the time of day, and suddenly hated her for having a life besides being his distraction from a pathetic miserable life of grovelling before an evil lunatic.

Mulciber was.... a horrible asshole from the start, but maybe by saving Elladora, and giving her the flowers, and not letting her fall flat on her face, maybe he did stand a chance at redemption.

Wow, she thought bitterly. The stakes are low.

'Falling in love?' He smirked, and she realised she'd been staring at him. She scoffed and straightened. 

'Shut up,' she said, unable to think of a witty comment. She turned before leaving. 

'Good luck with the match tomorrow.'

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

Gemma stood in the Slytherin stands as the Ravenclaw and Slytherin teams came onto the pitch. This was a perspective she hadn't seen since her first year, and she very much hated it. Madam Pomfrey had said only one more week until she could resume practising, and she was brimming with excitement. 

The quaffle was thrown into the air, and the match began. 

'GO!' Gemma screamed at Jules as he raced to catch it, successfully.

'Are my eardrums going to be alive by the end of this?' Iz complained, but Gemma ignored her. 

The match raced on, and Gemma screamed profanities every time the opposing team had the quaffle, screamed encouragement every time her team had the quaffle, and screamed random orders at random people on her team from time to time. They listened. 

Halfway through the match and she was standing from her seat, while Iz had her hands covering her ears, and the score was 110-90 to Slytherin. They would have been much better, but the reserve playing in Gemma's place kept lodging bludgers at his own teammates by accident. 'YES! GO TEDDY!' Gemma yelled as Ted cruised across the pitch. Suddenly, a large blue uniform rammed into, causing him to drop it. 'NO!' She screamed as the blue player scored the quaffle. 'YOU SUCK SNYDER!' Snyder scowled at her.

'Shut up Gemma!' Regulus ordered from his broom. 'You are distracting-'

'THE SNITCH!' She yelled, catching sight of the golden ball. 'YOU DUMB SHIT ITS RIGHT THERE!' Regulus stopped scolding her for a brief second, but the snitch had vanished. Avery scored another goal, while Snyder saved about three more, when Regulus finally saw the snitch. 'GO REGULUS!' Gemma cheered, forgetting her rivalry with him. Anything for the sake of quidditch.

 Regulus and the Ravenclaw seeker were neck to neck when a bludger came out of nowhere, rendering the blue side unconscious. 'YES!' She yelled, and as he fell from his broom, she saw Mulciber shoot her a wink. 

Regulus caught the snitch, a purely victorious expression on his face. But instead of touching down on the pitch floor with the rest of the team, Mulciber flew straight into the stands, and touched down in front of Gemma and Iz. Ted followed.

The pure joy Gemma felt from the win was greater than any kind she'd felt since her dad had died, even though she hadn't played. Maybe that was what drove her to throw her arms round Mulciber's neck, and kiss him, right in the stands, right in front of all their friends. 

'We could do that too Iz,' She heard Ted suggest, but he was quickly shut down with a prompt no.

'Wow,' Mulciber said when she pulled away. 

'Wow indeed,' she said breathlessly. 

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

Regulus watched from the ground, his happiness from the win quickly fading. He watched as everything he wanted slipped from his grasp, and out of his reach.

As he watched, a hatred festered in his gut. A hatred for this girl, for the boy she was kissing, for their friends, for his parents, for the Dark Lord, for this school, for Dumbledore, for everything. For himself.