The Choices We Make ∆ Harry Potter Sister

Chapter 2.7

"Hey Ellie!" Called Blaise as he and Theo sat across from her at the Great Hall for breakfast before the game against the house of red and gold, "Theo and I have a bet here."

"He bet me you'd catch the snitch within fifteen minutes, but I say you'd do it in less than five. It's Potter's own record and I think you are even better than him," Theo informed her as he filled his cup with pumpkin juice. Ellie glanced to the Gryffindor table where Harry was having a hard time swallowing, he never was the best with his nerves. Don't get her wrong, she never wished Harry to be in such a state, but Quidditch was Quidditch, and she sure had the upper hand with her being able to keep her nerves at bay. She finished her toast in two bites, picked up her Nimbus 2001 and shouldered it.

"I'll do my best to make sure Blaise loses his Galleons," she said before walking out of the Great Hall with Adrian on her right and Draco on her left.

"Atta girl!"

"Good luck, Ellie!"

"Thanks, lads!" Ellie called to the two boys over her shoulder before disappearing out of the hall.

•••

"Adrian! It's not right!"

For the past ten minutes, the Slytherin team captain had been watching the youngest Potter paced back and forth across the changing room. The game had ended half an hour ago, but it didn't end on a high note. Instead, chaos was all over the Quidditch pitch. The game didn't start with the best weather, to begin with. The moment the players stepped on the pitch and mounted their brooms, they were immediately soaked to the bones. It was hailing hard, and the wind was blowing even harder. Five minutes into the game, the two Potters exchanged a subtle nod of understanding. It was like their first match against each other all over again. The Quidditch cup be damned, one of them needed to end the game as quick as possible and save their teammates from hypothermia. When the snitch flew above the older Potter's head, both Potters accelerated on their broom, eager to end the game. Too eager, one might say, for they didn't even realise how up high they were flying. That was until a wave of bone chilling cold hit them. With her eyes locked at the golden fluttering snitch, Ellie brushed off the cold and blamed it to the storm. It wasn't until she entrapped the snitch in her hand did she realise what she had flown through. A handful of dementors were flying just beneath her, torturing her brother who had lost his grip on his broom. With the golden snitch still clasped in her hand, Ellie descended as fast as she could, past the dementors once again without a single mind about them. Fear was flooding her mind, but it wasn't the dementors' doing, it was from watching Harry free falling through the sky. Fear overflowed from every inch of her skin as she couldn't close the gap between her brother and her, and if it wasn't for the headmaster's quick reflect at slowing down Harry's fall, he'd be plummeted to the ground by now.

"Look, I'm not exactly happy about it either, alright, but you caught the snitch first. Technically speaking, we won fair and square."

"But Harry could've died!" Ellie exclaimed exasperatedly. Sighing, Adrian stood up and went to grab the girl by her shoulders, stopping her pacing. "Ellie, it was not our doings. How should I know there were dementors up there? You two must be, what, fifty feet above the ground!"

"What about a rematch?"

"You're joking right?" Draco piped up for the first time since Ellie began blowing her steam. When he earned a death glare from the girl, he turned to his team captain, "She's joking right?"

When he received nothing but cold, hard glare from the older boy, he raised his arms in defeat. "Fine, fine, I'm out. I'll see you two at dinner."

"Wood refused," the Slytherin team captain told his seeker as he sat on a bench and pulled her closer so that she was standing in front of him in between his spread legs. Rubbing her arms in a soothing manner, he added, "Just go and visit your brother. Everything will be alright, Ellie. At least he's okay."

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Adrian," she said absentmindedly as she began to walk away from her captain, but was made to stop as Adrian stood up and grabbed a hold of her wrist, pulling her back to him and spinning her around to face him. Lifting her chin with his finger, he kissed her forehead and whispered, "Chin up, yeah?"

•••

When Ellie entered the hospital wing, she wasn't even surprised to see all the red crowding a bed as most of the Gryffindor team and a few others were gathered around her brother's bed. Spotting the two redheads who would definitely come to her rescue, she silently made her way to the Weasley twins and called for them softly, pleading for them to get the silent message she was sending them. With a subtle nod of their heads, Fred cleared his throat, attracting his fellow Gryffindors' attention. "The boy lived once again. Move along, people."

"Might as well check on Oliver, see if he really drowned," added George as the two shooed everyone else from the wing. With a few last get well soon and get some rest, the Gryffindors, save for the twins, left the wing.

"Thanks Freddie," Ellie said to the older twin, kissing his cheek gratefully, before turning to the younger twin and did the same. "Thanks, Georgie."

The twins winked at her before exiting the hospital wing, leaving her alone with her brother, although one of them did turned around slightly to catch another look at her before smiling soundly to himself and left the room. The small action might have gone amiss by Ellie, but certainly the same cannot be said for Harry. Harry made a mental note to talk to the twins later. Ellie didn't waste a breath to climb on Harry's bed, sitting with her legs crossed next to her brother. Harry shifted slightly on the bed, making more room for his sister, smiling at the sight of her. "You know, they don't let just anyone call them Freddie and Georgie. Lee Jordan called them that one time, next morning he woke up with feathers all over his body."

"Maybe they just love me that much," she mused as she fiddled with the white sheet of the hospital bed. "Are you alright?"

"I'm still breathing, so I reckon I'll be alright."

"I'm not just talking about the fall Harry."

Harry let out an exasperated breath as he threw himself back on the bed. "Truth? I don't know what to think. Guess I'm just glad you're not a Gryffindor. That way you're safe away when a lunatic murderer decides to barge into the tower."

"That's how you console your mind?" Ellie tutted at her brother, "I think you have a concussion."

"I blame the fall. Nasty that was," Harry said with a contagious chuckle. As their laughter died down, Harry sat up once more and held Ellie's shoulders with both of his arm before putting on a look that made him aged a few years, a look reserved only for his little sister, "But I mean it. You're the only family I have, I can't have anything happens to you."

"I'm not the one with a list full of people wanting to slaughter me in my sleep," Ellie countered as she carefully forced her brother back on the bed. After all, he did fall from fifty something feet above the ground. She wasn't sure he should be sitting up too long. She proceeded to run her fingers through his untameable hair, something that soothes both parties. Since they were kids, his hair was always fascinating to her. It was always sticking up in all direction, never laying flat. She could brush it in a thousand different ways, only to have them back to how it was in the next twenty seconds. Harry didn't mind her playing with his hair for growing up, she didn't have many toys to play with. If his hair was her form of entertainment, so be it.

"Why aren't you celebrating?" Harry asked her as he reluctantly complied to her mothering him, despite Ellie being the younger sibling. Ellie had taken the liberty of laying next to her brother once she successfully pushed him back to the bed, the fatigue of the match finally catching up with her. She hummed for a second, letting the wave of nostalgia hit her. "Feels familiar, doesn't it? You need to stop ending up in the hospital wing after every game against the Slytherin. I know we're that good, but you don't have to kill yourself because of it."

Harry couldn't help the laughter that erupted from his mouth. Trust his sister to sass at him even in the hospital wing. He snaked an arm under her neck and around her shoulders, pulling her to his side. Kissing her temple, he told her sincerely, "I'll do my best."

•••