A/N: Written for Round 11 of the Quidditch Fan League
Team: Montrose Magpies
Position: Beater 2.
Round prompt: 1380 AD, school day
Optional Prompts: 2 (word) crimson; 5 (word) freedom; 14 (word) spitting
School Days
Zacharias Mumps stared out of the window of his family's stately home. Today was Monday, the 27th of March 1380 and as a twelve year old wizard he was supposed to be at Hogwarts, but the school had closed for one of the first times in history. You see, there was an epidemic raging across Britain. Hundreds of wizards and witches had already fallen ill or died, and nobody knew when it would be over.
It had started in the village of Godric's Hollow late the previous year, when Chauncey Oldridge, of the Devon Oldridge family, had turned violently ill following his shift at the dragon reserve near the Welsh marsh. He had been bitten by a Welsh Green, and the wound had looked nasty indeed, his crimson blood gushing out of a wound that quickly turned green and swelled. But that was only the start of the problem. Within a few days of the bite his entire skin started to turn green and boils began to appear all over his body, and Chauncey started spitting up phlegm and other humours. No more than two weeks after being bitten he died, not even having reached his fortieth birthday.
His wife already seemed weak at the funeral and was coughing up nasty phlegm, even more than she was crying. She, too, would die in the following week. And that was just the start of a horrible epidemic: of the sixty-odd people that went to Chauncey's funeral, forty caught the same illness and two-thirds of their number would die before the Ministry of Magic knew there even was a problem. By the time it was nearing spring. people from Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands were coughing and turning green, and the first reports of dead people in the Irish territories were rumoured about.
So public life had pretty much shut down to try to stop the plague now called 'Dragon Pox', after its first known victim. Hogwarts was closed, the shopping streets of Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade were empty, and those that could afford it, stayed home from work.
Not so Zacharias' father Audley though. Audley Mumps worked as an Aurisor for the Ministry – a dark wizard catcher – and was forced to still report in for work despite all the risks, but his mother Mildred remained at home. And she had decided that Zacharias and his siblings needed to continue their lessons.
"But muuum! Maybe the school won't open at all, so why do I need to know this stuff?" Zacharias complained.
"Don't speak such words, this malady will pass before we know it. Your sister is not complaining now is she?" his mother answered him.
Next to Zacharias, his twin sister Emma stuck out her tongue when she noticed their mother wasn't looking. A perfect Ravenclaw, Zacharias would've bet a sickle that she actually missed school!
"Now, take out your wand and repeat after me: swish and flick," their mother demonstrated the wand movements.
Zacharias grumpily complied. A swish and a flick later, and nothing happened at his side of the table, whereas Emma had a floating loaf in front of her.
"Muuuuum... it's not working. Why can't I go out and fly instead? Merry and me want to practice our Kwidditch for when school starts up again," he whined.
"Meriadoc and I, Zacharias. And you can play your silly broom acrobatics after the lesson," his mother chastised him.
Back to the lesson it was. Swish and flick, swish and flick... it took a long time, but finally Zacharias managed to cause the loaf of bread he was practising with to float and remain in the air. His mother prodded it and when it did not fall down, she finally seemed satisfied.
"All right, you can go out and play. But be back before sundown!" she told him.
Excited, Zacharias rushed to the garden shed where the family kept their brooms and he picked up the light model he preferred. Freedom!
Moments later a young wizard was zooming across the fields towards the next home, where his friend Merry Pittiman lived. Zacharias hovered his broomstick in front of the first floor window, and rapped his fingers against the frame.
The freckled face of his friend appeared as the window opened. "Kwidditch?" he asked.
"Kwidditch," Zacharias confirmed. Merry disappeared back inside, and moments later came running out the Pittimans' front door, broom clutched in his hands. Zacharias gave a delighted whoop of joy as Merry joined him, and they rushed towards the clearing where two baskets had been hung up high to serve as goal posts.
Proper Kwidditch of course required more than two players, but Merry and he made do by turning it into a simple game where both used the same goal. They didn't have a Golden Snidget of course, and also opted to play without Blooders, just using the Quaffle for this game. Zacharias was the first to grab the leather ball by its strap, and he rushed off towards the basket only to have his throw blocked by his friend.
"Nice try! But I saw that coming from a mile away," Merry teased him. Having the Quaffle in position now, he flew it back to the centre of the field and started his own attack run. Zacharias managed to block his throw too, and the game continued.
The boys continued playing until late that night, then went back to their respective homes. That had been a great "school" day, Zacharias decided. Part of him knew it was wrong, but he wouldn't mind if Hogwarts remained closed much longer... there were many games of Kwidditch to be played in his future.
A/N 2 explanations: Until 1752 AD, the New Year in England and related territories started on the 25th of March.
Zacharias Mumps is taken from 'Quidditch Through the Ages', set a few decades after this fic, when he is noted as recording down the first full 'modern' Quidditch Match. Back in 1380 he would be a child still.
The spellings Kwidditch and Blooder are from the same book, as is the reference to a Golden Snitchet.
Aurisor is my attempt to find an etymology for Auror. It could be from the Latin for ear, 'Auris', so an 'Aurisor' is someone who listens (to crime). Later that became the familiar 'Auror'.