Chapter 6: Of Halloween, Quidditch and Hidden Depths

Disclaimer: Sadly, still not mine.

Author's Notes: Once again, this chapter has been beta read by DracoGurlFurever, so I'd like to thank her once more for her support. Also, thank you to you, yes, you, for coming on here and reading my little story.

Please note the warnings for this chapter. It does contain a scene of attempted rape. I have tried my hardest to treat this subject sensitively and respectfully. I will welcome any comments that people may have in response to this chapter - however, flames I will ignore. Thank you.

Chapter 6: Of Halloween, Quidditch and Hidden Depths

Sophia never did find out what Remus had said to Sirius but, whatever it was, it did the trick. She was deeply relieved; the next time they shared a free period together, they went back to their usual banter. Past that, she didn't have much time to dwell on the matter – over the next two weeks, Sophia's homework levels increased to a dangerously high level.

The only respite she got from all her work was the Hogsmeade visit and the Halloween feast, which happened to be on the same day. Sophia, Lily, Niahm, Lucy, and Melanie went into the village together, stopping first at Honeydukes sweet shop, where they each topped up their own store of goodies. Sophia treated herself to her favourite Honeydukes' toffee chunk chocolate bars along with a few chocolate frogs and a couple of packets of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Once they had finished there, the girls split, with Lucy, Melanie, and Niahm going off in the direction of Zonko's and Gladrags while Lily and Sophia went to the Three Broomsticks.

Sophia bought the first round of Butterbeers, and the two girls spent the rest of the afternoon talking about a variety of subjects; as Lily didn't bring up either Snape or James, Sophia respectfully steered clear of the topic as well. She knew Lily was probably still trying to sort out her own thoughts and feelings on the subject – after being friends for over five years, she knew Lily well enough to let the matter rest until the redhead brought it up herself. As the sky outside began to darken, they were rejoined by the other girls for one final round of drinks before they all headed back up to the castle for the Halloween feast.

The Great Hall, as usual, had been expertly decorated – there were carved pumpkins everywhere and live bats were flying about the hall, causing several of the female students to duck away in fear when one flew too close to their head. Melanie, in particular, seemed to have the most difficulties with low flying bats, and she resorted to honing her Keeper skills to knock the bats back as she tried to eat her meal. Luckily, she wasn't afraid of them like some of the other girls were, if the occasional shrieks were anything to go by.

After filling themselves to near bursting on the delicious food, the girls headed back up to the Gryffindor common room. There, Niahm, Lucy, and Melanie spent the evening chatting and reading the latest copy of Witch Weekly out loud to each other while Lily and Sophia played chess in front of the fire. That was, until Sophia lost for the third time in a row and refused to play anymore, much to Lily's amusement.

'Oh, stop laughing, will you?' Sophia retorted, just as Lily's white queen finished off her black king.

'Well, did you not even notice? You moved him straight into her path. What was I supposed to do? It's not my fault you are rubbish at chess,' Lily said, giggling, which just added fuel to Sophia's fire.

'Well, there's no need to rub it in,' she replied sulkily. Unfortunately, Sophia's humiliation wasn't over; Lily's laughter had attracted James' attention.

'What's so funny?' he inquired as he and the other Marauders looked over the back of an unoccupied sofa.

'Oh, it's Sophia. She can't stand losing and this is the ... I forget ... how many times have I beaten you now?' Lily asked her friend innocently, barely suppressing her giggles.

Sophia responded by chucking a pawn at Lily, causing Sirius to joke jovially. 'Catfight! Better stand back – it's gonna get ugly!' This saw Sophia launch a pawn in his direction as well. Sadly, her aim wasn't as good over that distance, and it hit Remus on the forehead instead, sending everyone else into fits of laughter while Sophia rushed over to Remus to make sure he was okay.

'Next time you do that, make sure I'm nowhere near where you're aiming, won't you?' moaned Remus, rubbing his head.

'You might be safer if you're actually stood where she's aiming at, Remus,' Sirius said, in between laughs. Now that she was closer, Sophia managed to give him a slap round the head for his cheek.

'What was that for?' Sirius griped as he rubbed the back of his head as well.

'For poking fun at me,' Sophia replied nonchalantly, kneeling on the sofa in order to examine Remus' forehead for any injury. She felt guilty for inflicting pain on an innocent bystander and silently cursed herself for not being better at directing projectiles. She tried to ease her guilt by reiterating an internal monologue of, 'I didn't throw it that hard. It can't have hurt too much.'

The next thing she knew, Sirius had picked her up off the sofa and had slung her over his shoulder.

'Sirius!' she squeaked indignantly. 'What are you doing? Put me down – now!' Sophia pleas clearly fell on deaf ears as Sirius proceeded to spin her around. She balled her hands up into fists and started pounding his back while thrashing her legs in an effort to make him comply with her wishes.

'It's called payback, Sophia,' he said calmly, plainly ignoring her flailing limbs. 'Now, Lily, is Miss McKinloch here ticklish?' he asked with a hint of enjoyment. Though she couldn't see his face, she knew that he must be smiling.

'Lily – say nothing!' Sophia shouted, desperately hoping to regain control of her current state.

'Now, Soph, you know if you do the crime, you should do the time. You aimed a pawn at me, too, remember?' Lily said, clearly enjoying the torment her friend was in, despite the Marauders' involvement. 'Black, I think you'll find her feet would be the best place to start with.'

'Lily!' Sophia admonished. 'I will never speak to you again!' She put her kicking legs and pounding arms into over-drive.

'Thank you, Lily – James, Remus, would you care to remove Miss McKinloch's shoes please?'

'Sure thing,' they replied in unison as they moved forward to take control of Sophia's legs before removing her shoes.

'Remus – touch my foot and I'll kill you! Same for you, James – back off!' Yet, it was useless, and she knew it.

Once her shoes come off her feet, Sirius dumped her, rather unceremoniously, back on to the sofa, where he and James then grabbed one foot each and started tickling her mercilessly. Everyone was laughing, and she couldn't help but laugh herself; she was really ticklish, which only infuriated her more.

In her effort to free her feet, she twisted and turned. Her upper body unsteadied her, and she quickly found her top half falling off the sofa while Sirius and James kept hold of her feet, causing her head to smack off the floor. The sight caused everyone to burst into even more laughter. Abruptly, Sirius and James had let go of her feet once she had fallen, and Sophia sat on the floor, becoming the third person in the room to rub the back of their head. After the immediate pain, not to mention her self-righteous anger, had subsided, she too started to smile and laugh at herself – after all, if she hadn't been such a bad loser, none of this would have happened, she reasoned.

*

The next Saturday saw the first Quidditch match of the year – Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Poor Lucy was feeling sick all morning at the thought of her first match and could only manage a glass of pumpkin juice for breakfast, and even that was pushing it a bit. The rest of the girls had tried to reassure her that she would be fine, but nothing seemed to be helping. Eventually, Melanie decided it would be best to take Lucy from the Great Hall to go down to the changing room. They were followed by James, who Sophia noticed was also looking slightly nervous.

Once they had finished their own breakfast, Lily, Sophia, and Niahm walked down to the pitch along with Sirius and Peter, ready for the match to start. Sophia knew that Remus was in his bed; the full moon was that night. She had seen him deteriorate throughout this week as his body responded to the changes in the lunar cycle in preparation for tonight's transformation. He had confided in her yesterday that he felt guilty over missing James's first match as Captain, but he knew as well as she did that he had as much control over when the full moon landed as she did over the weather.

The girls took up seats near the front of the stands by the Gryffindor goals, and Sophia found herself seated in between Niahm and Sirius. The weather was cold, with the sky an ominous shade of grey, but for the moment it was dry, and Sophia hoped it would stay that way until the match was finished. She pulled her scarf up to her chin and dug her hands into the pocket of her coat as she and the others waited for the teams to emerge on the pitch below.

First to appear were the Slytherin team, clad in green and silver. They were greeted by rapturous cheers from the Slytherin stands on the other side of the pitch. By the time they had reached the middle of the pitch, James was striding across the grass, followed by the rest of the Gryffindor team. Sophia and everyone seated around her leapt to their feet to cheer, clap, and whoop their support at the sight of the red-and-gold team. A quick handshake between the captains took place, and the match officially started.

The Gryffindor team took an early lead with James sneaking the Quaffle past the Slytherin Keeper, Simon Kells. This saw the Slytherin Beaters increase the ferocity with which they were hitting the Bludgers – to the point that Sophia feared for the Gryffindor team's safety. Evan Rosier, the Slytherin Captain, roughly tackled Kelly Jones to get the Quaffle before flying at full speed towards Melanie, who was trying to decide which of the three hoops Rosier was most likely to aim for.

At the last second, Rosier dived and aimed for the hoop on the far left. However, his turn was not sharp enough. There was just enough time for Melanie to display an incredible turn of speed, and she managed to intercept the red ball before it passed through the hoop. The entire Gryffindor stand jumped to their feet to cheer the spectacular save as Rosier flew past to turn back up to the middle of the field.

'How does it feel to get out-foxed by a girl, Rosier?' Sirius taunted loudly as Rosier swooped past him. Peter let out a loud burst of laughter along with Sirius; Sophia saw Rosier flash them a look of pure contempt through the silver and green billow of his robes before turning his attention back to the game.

For the next hour, the game continued in a whirlwind. The score was standing at Gryffindor fifty, Slytherin forty, and there had been one attempt made by both Seekers on the Golden Snitch, but neither had managed to get close enough to it to bring the game to an end.

Brendan Fuller and Neil Jones, the two Gryffindor Beaters, were doing a supreme job of disrupting the Slytherins' play through well-aimed hits. On a couple of occasions, they also managed to clear the path for the three Gryffindor Chasers to fly the length of the field to the Slytherin hoops. The first time they did this, it resulted in Gryffindor scoring ten points, but the Slytherin Keeper, Simon Kells, was a quick learner and so stopped the Quaffle before it could find its target on the second attempt.

Sophia was trying to keep a close eye on Lucy throughout the game. She was easily the smallest player on the pitch, and Sophia worried that if one of the Bludgers was to hit her, Lucy could be seriously injured. Actually, if one of the Slytherin players collided with her, Lucy could find herself in the Hospital Wing, and judging by the way the Slytherins were resorting to more and more desperate actions, this was a strong possibility. Lucy had begun nervously, but was now looking composed and in control as she flew in methodical circles round the pitch, keenly looking for any sign of the Snitch. Sophia only hoped that Lucy would spot the Snitch before the game became any more volatile than it already was.

The game passed the two hour mark, and the threatening grey clouds kept their promise as the rain began to fall. Sophia, Lily and Melanie were all beginning to feel the cold from sitting in the stands, and the wet weather only added to their discomfort.

The two Marauders, however, seemed oblivious to the adverse conditions and were as enthusiastic as they had been at the start of the match. Every time Melanie saved a goal, they were sure to stand up and cheer, and Sirius almost always aimed a heckle at the unsuccessful Slytherin player who had tried to best the Gryffindor Keeper. Sophia noted that the more scathing the looks Sirius received in reply, the happier he seemed to be, and none of the Slytherin team could quite match Rosier's brooding scowl. In fact, the taunts that Sirius aimed at Rosier seemed to almost be personal insults, much more so than the taunts he aimed at the rest of the Slytherins. Sophia wondered what had caused such deep animosity to form between the two boys.

It was when the scores were even at eighty a piece three-and-a-half hours into the game that both Seekers tore across the field like lightning. Both stands of supporters quickly rose to their feet to gain a better view of the green-and-silver and red-and-gold blurs as they wove rapidly around the Slytherin goal stands before heading back up the field, where they climbed higher and higher until they were going in a near vertical lift in their pursuit.

Sophia couldn't help but lean forward in anticipation as her eyes tracked Lucy's slight figure, her robes and ice-blond hair flowing out behind her. The two Seekers turned sharply to the right and shifted to follow a downwards path back towards the field, giving the Slytherin Seeker, Belinda Mulciber, an advantage over Lucy.

The rest of the players seemed to come to a halt as the flashes of colour plummeted in pursuit of the nearly invisible golden ball. Sophia watched, her heart in her mouth, as Lucy flattened herself to her broom in an attempt to close the distance between her and her opponent.

Suddenly, the two players swerved violently to the left and swung back up in an arc, narrowly missing a gaping Rowan Caulder of the Gryffindor team. This turn helped Lucy, and now she was half a broom in front of Belinda as she stretched out her arm. Sophia heard Rosier bellowing to his Beaters to do something, but her eyes remained fixed on Lucy as her fingers closed victoriously around the winged ball.

The Gryffindor stand all jumped to their feet and cheered as the Gryffindor team flew to the ground to where Lucy had landed before they all enveloped her in a hug. Sophia, Niahm, and Lily quickly left the stands so that they could congratulate Lucy, and the rest of the team, when they emerged from the changing room. They were followed closely by Sirius and Peter, who were loudly celebrating their team's win.

Once they arrived down at the changing room, the group didn't have to wait long for the soaked and sweaty Gryffindor team to emerge; the three girls immediately launched themselves at Lucy and Melanie, while Sirius and Peter heartily congratulated James.

'You were brilliant – both of you!' Niahm exclaimed happily as she hugged Lucy and Melanie at the same time. Once they had been released by Niahm, Sophia and Lily took their turns at congratulating the two girls.

'I think this warrants a party in the common room, don't you?' Sirius proclaimed after he had congratulated James. 'Come on, Peter,' he said, beckoning for Peter to follow him as he started to walk in the direction of the castle, 'We'll sort out the food and meet you back up there.'

True to his word, Sirius, with the help of Peter, provided food from the kitchens for the celebration party. They had even managed to provide some bottles of Butterbeer as well. When Lily had asked where they had come from, Sirius' only answer had been, 'Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies,' which he accompanied with a wink. Lily had wisely decided that, on this occasion, ignorance was bliss. The party went on until past midnight, with Lucy being picked up on to the shoulders of James and Brendan on many occasions throughout the evening.

*

The next few days passed in a blur of classes and homework for Sophia. On Wednesday evening, she had been finding it hard to concentrate in the common room, so she had gone to the library with Lily to do some work. Lily had left at about half past eight, while Sophia had stayed to finish off her Potions essay.

She only realised that she was out past curfew when Madam Pince found her huddled in the corner of the library and demanded that she leave at once. Gathering her things together as quickly as she could, she left the library and began her walk back up to the Gryffindor common room and her bed. Her thoughts were so pre-occupied with how to finish her essay that she did not notice the tall figure coming down the corridor towards her – until she heard a voice.

'Well, well, what do we have here? Miss McKinloch? Out past curfew?'

Sophia stopped dead in her tracks; her heart started pounding against her chest. It was Evan Rosier – of all the Prefects she could have crossed paths with, he had to be one of the worst. He was bound to take as many points as possible for finding a Gryffindor out past curfew.

'Yes, I got ... I lost track of time in the library and ... and I'm just on my way back now,' she stammered. Why was it that she stammered just when she most needed to sound confident?

'You know, I could take house points for this, don't you?' he replied as he slowly stalked towards her. His tone was unnerving – she knew that he would enjoy taking points from a Gryffindor, but this was different. There was something else in his voice – a sense of pleasure and anticipation. Regardless of what the motive behind his tone was, it was enough to tell her that something was amiss, and that made her worry slightly.

'Or, you could just let me be on my way, and I'll be back in my common room in less than two minutes,' she said, trying her best to manage a smile but failing.

He was closer to her now, and she could see his features more clearly. He had tilted his head to the side and was smiling at her. No, he wasn't smiling; he was leering at her. 'Of course, I could leave the points and take something else from you instead...'

His voice was low and silky as he looked her up and down in a way that made her skin crawl. It took a few moments for the meaning of his words to sink in, but when they did, Sophia felt her heart rate spike and her palms began to sweat. The rational part of her brain was trying to tell her that she was over-reacting, tried to tell her that Rosier wouldn't actually hurt her and that he was just trying to scare her, but it couldn't completely override her wild imagination.

She was alone, and no one knew where she was. Lily would be expecting her back any minute, but when she didn't turn up, what would Lily do? Even if Lily did raise the alarm, would anyone find her before Rosier did something serious to her? She doubted it – Hogwarts was huge, and there were many paths from the library to the Gryffindor Tower that Sophia could have taken. She had left her wand in her room, thinking that because she was only studying in the library she wouldn't need it – how she cursed that decision now! Without a wand to defend herself, Sophia knew she was in serious trouble. Evan Rosier was more than a match for her physically. Whatever way you looked at it, she was going to come off worse from this encounter.

A voice in her head was telling at her to run away as fast as she could as she watched Rosier continue to close the distance between them. She listened to it and tried to turn and run from the situation, but he was too quick. He grabbed hold of her left arm and swung her round quickly into his chest as his other arm retained a vice-like grip round her waist, pinning her right arm to her side. The force of his action crushed the air out of her lungs, and as she spluttered, she inhaled the smell of smoke mixed with belladonna, obviously from Rosier's previous Potions lesson.

Her heart rammed against her chest, and adrenaline pumped through her veins as her primal instinct to fight or fly kicked into gear. Every cell in her body felt like it was shaking – she was utterly trapped, with no possible means of escape. He brought his head down level with hers as he whispered in her ear, and she flinched at the feeling of his hot breath on her neck.

'If you wanted to get this close to me, McKinloch, all you had to do was ask – I wouldn't have said no.' She tried to shake him off, but his grip was simply too strong, and he began to laugh softly at her efforts. He dropped hold of her left arm and traced the line of her jaw with his finger before tilting her chin up to look at him.

She saw him smirk as he continued. 'You know, you blood traitors are almost as bad as the Mudbloods themselves. I wonder what the blessed Potter and Black will make of you after I've finished with you.' Again, she struggled, but it was to no avail; as he pushed her backwards, she had no choice but go where he directed.

She stopped as she felt the hard, cold stone wall against her back; Rosier's body blocked out anything else in her line of vision. His face was inches from her own now, and she felt his hot breath on her skin once more. She wanted to shout, to scream, to do something, but her body was paralysed with fear. The seconds seem to drag by as she wrestled with her body, willing it to make some sort of movement in an attempt to prevent what she was sure was inevitable.

All the while, she saw his smirk as he assessed her and the effect he was having on her. He seemed to be taunting her as he made no further advances; instead, he merely surveyed her with his cold, blue eyes, tilting his head from side to side as he did, like the snake that was his house's symbol. She knew it wasn't going to be swift – he would take his time, and he would take his enjoyment from the fact that he was prolonging her torment.

Her breathing was quick and shallow in correspondence with her rapid heartbeat, but still, she couldn't move. Even when he ran the back of his hand over her cheek and caressed her neck with his fingertips, she didn't move. Instead, a single tear spilled silently from her eye, and she attempted to close down the walls in her mind so that she might separate it from her body and what was happening to her.

Rosier ran his fingers from her neck, then down the length of her body, which caused her shaking to become more agitated. He pressed his palm firmly against her body before running it into the small of her back and pulling her against him. She was nearly hyperventilating now through fear as she felt his nose touch her jaw followed by his lips; she heard him exhale rhythmically, as if whispering a laugh, as she flinched at his action.

He moved his face torturously slowly across her own until he met her lips with his. He brought his other hand to her jaw and forced her mouth open so that he could plunge his tongue into her mouth, causing her to gag. As he moved his tongue about her mouth, she could taste oranges, and the acid felt like it was stinging her gums. He pushed his body closer to hers, and she was now completely trapped by his large, powerful frame; she felt the sharp edges of the stones in the wall stab her back, legs and arms.

However, this invasion of her body awoke her Gryffindor courage. She had just enough room to draw her left knee strongly and swiftly upwards, and she struck him squarely in the groin, causing him to drop all contact with her as he doubled over in pain and shock. She took this opportunity to run from his grasp, screaming for all she was worth in the hope that someone, even if only Peeves the pestering poltergeist, would hear her.

However, she only managed to travel three strides before she felt Rosier painfully grab her again. He spun her quickly back against the wall with such force that her head was thrown backwards. She heard the sickening thud as a sharp pain ran through her skull.

'You'll pay for that,' he hissed; as she saw the anger in his eyes, she realised she had only made her situation worse. He quickly withdrew his wand and cast a silencing spell on her – even if she did scream again, no sound would leave her mouth. There was no hope for her now, but that didn't mean that she would stop trying, for she had found her fighting instinct. She raised her hand in an attempt to slap him, but he grabbed hold of her arm hard, digging his nails into her skin in the process, before she had the chance.

He kicked her feet apart as he grappled with her robes, pulling them apart to reveal her clothes underneath. The angry expression left his face – replaced by lust and greed as he began to pull her shirt free from her skirt, placing his free hand against her now-exposed stomach before running it up against her rib cage to her breast. He leant forward again and kissed her roughly as he squeezed the hand under her shirt viciously. The pain was horrible, but she knew worse was to come.

His fingers slid down from her chest to her skirt as he continued his pillage of her mouth, and she felt the fabric moving up her thigh, exposing it to the chilled air of the castle. Just as another tear escaped her eyes, she heard a noise of footsteps coming down the dim hallway.

'Who's there?' a familiar voice asked. Sophia could hear the person continue to draw closer.

'Thank Merlin, someone heard me,' she thought.