"I hear someone's finally realized her feelings."
Rey set her goblet of pumpkin juice down and frowned at Poe as he plopped down next to her and leaned his back against the table. "Just because I smell certain scent in amortentia doesn't mean I have deep seated feelings of love, Poe."
Poe shrugged and plucked a piece of bacon from her plate. "I've been oh-so subtly asking N.E.W.T. students if amortentia smells like their significant other." He ripped off a piece of the bacon with his teeth. "All said yes. Well, all except Jessika, but let's face it, she and Ello aren't going to last."
The flutter of wings announced the arrival of the morning owl post, and a white owl with splotches of orange feathers landed in front of Poe. Rey took a sip of her pumpkin juice as Poe untied a parcel from the owl's leg. "I think Beebee wants some of your bacon, Rey."
Rey closed her book of broomstick spells with a dull thud and frowned at Poe. "Maybe I'll give Beebee some bacon if you finally tell me why you ruined his perfectly good feathers with a color charm."
Poe looked affronted and stole more bacon from her plate. "I've told you I didn't do that." Beebee's beak snapped as he gulped down some of the bacon. "I bought him like that. And I, for one, think it's endearing."
Rey rolled her eyes and watched the owl soar away. "So how in Merlin did you go about asking N.E.W.T. students about amortentia?"
"Said it was for an arithmancy project," said Poe with a smile. He stole Rey's goblet and took a gulp.
Rey snatched the goblet back and filled it with more pumpkin juice. Eating with Poe generally involved stealing food back from him. She was just glad Hogwarts always had plenty. "You're not even taking arithmancy."
"Nope. But your future husband is," Poe snickered around another bite of the bacon. He untied his parcel and opened the box nonchalantly.
Heat crawled up Rey's neck and cheeks against her will. Her eyes darted to the Slytherin table to find Ben Solo sitting alone. He slumped over the table, absently picking off pieces of a muffin as he read a book. The deep red of the cover poked past the edges of the pages, and Rey looked down at her own red book. She opened it to the middle section and compared the size to the book in front of Ben.
Shaking her head, Rey looked back at Poe and nearly slapped the smug grin off his face. "Shut up, Poe. It's not gonna happen."
"And who says it's not? You two obviously have a thing for each other." Poe sighed and leaned forward. "Once Quidditch is over, you could talk to him without getting hostile glares from the rest of the Slytherin team."
Rey scoffed and threw a chunk of her muffin at Poe's shoulder. "Once Quidditch is over, term will be soon after, and he's graduating. Just shut up about it."
Poe tapped his fingers on the table. Tan lines rested just above the second knuckle on each finger from his Keeper gloves. "Sounds like you're coming around to the idea, though. Maybe I can get you another whiff of amortentia to remind you."
"He's part of a legendary family. I don't even know who my parents were. I'm. Not. Interested." Poe opened his mouth to argue, but Rey snapped her book shut again and snatched up her bag. "I've got Charms."
Rey didn't look up as a throat cleared, and she tapped her wand against her patched bag. The seams pulled together again. She only needed it to last for the rest of term and her last year; it would be stupid to waste her limited galleons on a new one. Not that the discolored thing had been new in the first place.
The throat cleared again, and a tentative voice followed. "Uh, Rey? Could I speak with you for a moment?"
Rey glanced up through wisps of hair to focus on Ben Solo. Green robes poked out of flap of his bag, and he clutched a sleek broom in his right hand. His shoulders sunk inward, and he held his free hand around the strap of his bag, as if trying to condense his broad frame. Rey brushed the hair from her forehead and nodded. "Er, yeah."
"It's kinda late." Ben's eyes dropped to his feet, and he let out an audible breath. "But I, uh, wantedtothankyou," he said quickly. "For, you know, exposing Phasma and Hux."
An unfamiliar nervousness spiked through Rey. "Oh. Yeah. No big deal."
Ben chewed on his lower lip, and a flush reddened his face. Rey silently cursed Finn and Poe for picking up on something that she had really no experience with. The awkward silence between them broke as a steely voice sounded down the hall. "Don't talk to the enemy, Solo. You might break something."
Rey's grip tightened around her wand. Seven Slytherins traipsed toward them; six clutched brooms similar to Ben's while the redhead who had spoken held a book in a loose grip. Rey eyed the pieces of parchment sticking out of the book. "At least the Ravenclaw players are talented enough to strategize and play. What're you planning, Hux? Attacking our Keeper?"
Hux's already pale face whitened considerably, but he kept his expression impassive. "And why would you think that?"
"Seems like something an uncreative Slytherin would do." Rey tucked her wand in her robes and plastered a falsely bright smile on her face. "See you tomorrow!"
She climbed the stairs toward the Great Hall without looking back at the Slytherin team. Finn raised an eyebrow from where he leaned against the wall and muttered out of the side of his mouth as they entered the hall. "Hux is going to make what he did to Solo look like child's play if he decides to retaliate against you."
Rey shrugged and dropped her bag onto the Hufflepuff table. "I don't have any family for him to mess with, and I've proven that I can see through his little plans."
"You're too independent for your own good, Rey." Finn piled a Charms book and Practical Defense Against the Dark Arts on top of his battered potions textbook. "Hasn't being on the Quidditch team taught you how valuable working with others is? Hux knows you're friends with me and Poe."
Rey paused and bit the inside of her cheek. "The Damerons are too popular in the wizarding world for anyone to believe anything someone from a family that supported Palpatine." She sat down on the bench and pulled out an ink bottle and quill. "You and Poe are attached at the hip. You're basically a Dameron, too."
"Just be careful, all right?"
A droplet of rain sploshed against Rey's face. She glanced up at the cloudy sky and adjusted her grip on the broomstick with her left hand. Two figures in blue raced just ahead of her, and she dropped down as the red ball flew back to her. Her right hand closed around it, and she tucked it under her arm as she pulled her Cleansweep higher into the air.
"That's Teedo to Smith. Ravenclaw Chasers are looking good today, but let's see how they fare in this coming rain."
Rey rolled her eyes at the dramatic tone of the commentator and spared a quick glance below her. Her fellow Chasers circled underneath, fending off the Slytherin players. She ducked under an oncoming bludger and let the Quaffle drop from her grip.
"Smith to Ashla. These Ravenclaws are passing too fast for Slytherin to keep up."
Rey kept her height and let Teedo and Ashla speed up. The Quaffle flew between them as they played a game of keepaway from the three Slytherin Chasers. They neared the goalposts, and Rey shot forward.
"Looks like Keeper Bernany is ready to block a shot from Teedo. He swerves around Netal and throws it high!"
Rey caught the Quaffle as it soared up to meet her, and she chucked it through the middle post.
"Ravenclaw scores! They lead Slytherin 80 to 20."
Rey high fived Teedo and Ashla as she dropped down to meet them. She grinned at the assembled crowd of screaming Ravenclaws and pulled her goggles over her eyes to block the increasing rain. Turning her attention back to the game, she watched Slytherin Chaser Bala Tik's hands open in preparation to receive the Quaffle from his Keeper. Seeing her chance, Rey used her Cleansweep's newly charmed speed to race forward and catch the ball just before it met Tik's hands.
Rey spun her broomstick and tossed the Quaffle into the waiting hands of Ashla, who darted past the flustered Keeper for another goal.
"Oh! A Ravenclaw interception and another goal! Fantastic work by the Ravenclaw Chasers. Slytherin'd better up their game. And what's this?"
The crowd of Ravenclaw supporters groaned with the commentator, and the sea of green in the stands applauded wildly. Rey scanned the pitch through the rain and nearly missed the blue figure on the ground by the opposite goal posts. Her heart sank.
"Ravenclaw Keeper JJ is taken out of the game by a well-aimed bludger. Looks like the Slytherin Chasers will have a clear shot to the hoops if they can get by the powerhouse of Ravenclaw."
Rey closed her eyes for a moment. JJ was their captain and had already performed several excellent saves. She wiped water from her goggles and looked up to meet the eye of Ben Solo as he flew above her. His black hair stuck to his face from the rain, but she could see the distinct cocky grin dimple his cheeks. She watched him fly for a moment in a daze. His slouching form suited flying; he leaned over the broom to make him more aerodynamic, and he moved with grace through the air that he could not hope to achieve on foot. She swore she caught a glimpse of wink before he sped after one of the bludgers.
She shook herself out of her stupor and nodded to Teedo as they raced after the Slytherins. They did not have the passing skill that she and her teammates had trained extensively to achieve, but they had plenty of flying talent and had better brooms – the Nimbus class, a jealous part of Rey's mind told her. They chased the Slytherins across the pitch but failed to stop them from putting the Quaffle into the lowest goal post.
"Slytherin scores on an undefended post. That's 90 to 30 with Ravenclaw ahead."
Ashla retrieved the Quaffle as it fell behind the goal posts, and Rey looked up to see the lithe figures of both teams' Seekers circling overhead. They would have to utilize all their training to keep the Quaffle away from their goal posts, but she hoped their Seeker, Alho, would be able to end the game soon before the Slytherins overcame their lead or took the Snitch themselves.
Another half hour of playing, and the chill of the rain sank uncomfortably into her bones. Slytherin had managed to score three more goals to their one; Rey had not realized how much they relied on their Keeper.
She caught a pass from Teedo and sped toward the green dot of Slytherin's Keeper by the goal posts. The rain was heavy, and she wished she had time to pull out her wand and charm the lenses to keep them clear. She tossed the Quaffle to the form of who she thought was Ashla.
"Look at them go! This might be the end!"
Rey rubbed her lenses with the sleeve of her blue robes and looked around the pitch for the Seekers. The rain immediately covered her goggles again, preventing her from finding the racing players.
"Oh no! Move, Smith!"
Rey blinked at the urgency in the commentator's voice and looked up in time to see the Slytherin Seeker crash into her. She heard a crunch, and then the wind obscured all other noise as she fell. Her stomach flipped, and she struggled to move herself through the rain to spread her limbs out. The hazy ground came closer, and she braced herself for an impact when she hit something distinctly softer than the ground. The air rushed out of her lungs.
Her hearing returned slowly, and she barely registered the cheers of the crowd as a low voice murmured, "Are you all right?"
Rey felt her feet hit the ground lightly, and she lifted her foggy goggles to find her left arm around Ben Solo's broad shoulders and his arm around her waist. The heat from the previous day rose up her neck again, dispelling the chill of the rain. "Oh, uh, yeah." She extricated herself from Ben and rubbed her neck as her stomach twisted in embarrassment. "Thanks."
Ben lowered his gaze and got off his broom. He brushed the wet hair out of his face and spared Rey a quick glance before he moved to join his teammates. The Slytherins gave him a mix of nods and glares, and Rey noticed with a twinge of satisfaction that blood dripped from the Seeker's nose. Rey's fellow Ravenclaws surrounded her with yells and cheers of victory, but she kept her eyes on Ben's slouching form retreat from the soaking Quidditch pitch.
