Chapter 10: Anticipation

As classes began to run their course, and September entered its final week, the students of Hogwarts began to feel the first hints of pressure from their schedules. For the younger students, this meant juggling club activities, homework, essays, and the occasional pop quizzes a few of the professors took pleasure in handing out.

As for the fifth years, they had all of this, along with preparing for their O.W.L.'s, and in Marinette's case, she had Quidditch to deal with as well. She had, for the fourth straight year, outflown any and all competition thrown at her in tryouts. The new captain, Brendan Gray, had pulled her aside after, and assured her that the job was hers, no matter what Mendeliev, or the rest of the team, tried to do.

This had eased some stress off of her shoulders, especially considering the surprise tryouts the previous captain, who had since graduated, was known to hold, with the sole purpose of trying to get her thrown off of the team. Marinette was painfully aware of the whispers that had followed her around after she made the team in her second year.

A mudblood on the team? How disgraceful.

I can't believe you got beat out by the pariah.

We'll lose for sure with her at keeper.

But Marinette had kept her head up, and despite several of her housemates best efforts, she now had a record of ten wins, two losses and now a Quidditch Cup to boot. She also had one of the lowest goals allowed percentages in Hogwarts history, and while she normally didn't care about records, Marinette had her eye on the total save record. If she kept her pace, she would beat it the very next year.

But at the present moment, she was not concerned with that. She was far more concerned with the History of Magic essay that was sitting in front of her, only half written. She was sitting in the Hufflepuff common room, which Nino had graciously permitted her and Alya access to. Her two best friends were hunched over papers of their own.

Nino sighed and popped his knuckles, before shaking out his hand, which was clearly cramping. "I didn't know I could care about something less than the Goblin Rebellion of 1612." He commented.

Marinette scribbled one more sentence about how the Minister had completely mismanaged the situation, and set down her quill as well. "I dunno. At least the one in 1612 was handled properly. This one seems to be an excuse for me to rant about how Minister Albert Boot completely ruined everything."

Alya poked her head up. "I'm writing about how Basil Flack completely choked on his opportunity at being Minister right after Boot."

Marinette tapped her essay, frowning thoughtfully. "I was thinking of adding a brief part dedicated to that."

Nino hummed thoughtfully, eyeing his parchment, which was about half as full as he needed it to be. "Maybe I could just rant about how wizards are the worst in general."

Alya grinned. "Professor Kubdel does seem to enjoy those."

Marinette sat up and began to take out the ribbons that were holding her pigtails in place. "It's a shame he teaches History of Magic. If he taught anything else he'd probably be my favorite professor."

Alya spotted what Marinette was doing with her hair and immediately set her essay aside. "Ooh can I help?" She asked, giving Marinette her best pleading eyes.

"Always." Marinette replied, holding the ribbon aloft for her friend to take. Alya whipped out her wand and whispered "Accio." The ribbon flew out of Marinette's hand and into Alya's, who was already waving for Marinette to come sit in front of her. Marinette rolled her eyes and stood, temporarily abandoning her essay. "You know you could have just walked over yourself right?" She asked Alya dryly.

Alya was unphased. "There's no point in being magical if you can't use it." She said philosophically. Marinette settled in front of her on the floor, and Alya leaned forward on her chair, taking Marinette's hair in her hands. "Your hair is so soft." She said, slightly envious.

"So you always say." Nino commented.

"Hush your face Puff." Alya muttered. "Or I'll do it myself." She said the second part in such a way that Nino couldn't hear.

Marinette chuckled. "How bold Alya. Why don't you just shove him against a wall while you're at it?" She was gratified to see both of her friends turn pink.

Alya cleared her throat. "How are we doing your hair?" She asked loudly, attempting to change the subject.

Marinette tried to catch Nino's eye, but he was suddenly fascinated with his essay. Marinette clicked her tongue disappointedly, but allowed the avoidance, if at least to spare Alya any embarrassment. "I'm not sure." She finally said, enjoying the feeling of Alya playing with her hair. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't." Alya replied honestly. "But how do you feel about braids?"

Marinette contemplated it but shook her head. "Just throw it up in a ponytail?" She asked.

Alya huffed. "Can we at least settle on a bun?" She asked hopefully.

"Sure Alya." Marinette chuckled, consenting. "That works." She presumed Alya had flashed Nino a thumbs up, because he gave one to Alya, a bemused expression on his face.

A few minutes later, Alya clapped her hands together, clearly pleased with her work. "Done!"

"Thanks girl." Marinette said, rising and rolling her shoulders. She glanced at the mirror in the common room, and smiled. Alya had given her a messy bun, which dropped a bit from where it sat. She approved.

Alya pouted. "You know if you actually gave me time to work on your hair, I'd be able to work magic on it. Literally and figuratively."

"Tell you what Alya," Marinette said, settling back down in front of her essay. "If there's a school dance, I'll let you do my hair however you like."

"Promise?" Alya asked, looking hopeful.

"Yeah of course." Marinette replied, giving her friend a smile.

Alya smiled broadly. "I'm gonna hold you to that." She said happily, picking up her History of Magic textbook.

Marinette didn't respond, immersing herself in her essay again. The group remained in a comfortable silence for the remainder of the afternoon, writing their essays and enjoying each other's company. It was Alya who eventually broke the silence, reminding Marinette that she had quidditch practice.

Thus, Marinette made the walk from one common room to another, satisfied that her essay was almost completed. She quickly deposited her schoolwork and threw on her practice robes. She quickly made her way back up the stairs and towards the quidditch pitch. As was often the case, she was the first one there, and she made her way to the broomshed, where she had stored her Nimbus 2100 the previous night. Marinette stretched her arms as she opened the old shed, scanning for her broom. Her eyes found it where she left it, and she pulled it out.

She immediately clambered on, and zoomed into the air without a second thought. Marinette took a lap around the pitch, enjoying the cool air breeze past her. She pulled to a stop in front of the goalposts she usually defended and took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of being thirty feet in the air.

Marinette loved flying. The minute she'd heard that it was a class in her first year, she'd been over the moon. The flying instructor Madam Sullivan had placed a broom in front of her, and the broom had flown up into her hand without her saying anything. Later, Madam Sullivan had referred her to Professor Mendeliev, telling the professor that Marinette was a natural flier. For whatever reason, this had not gone over well with the professor, and the dislike Marinette was suspicious of at first became blatantly obvious.

While her professor's attitude did not seem to change very much, Marinette often went out late and flew just because she could. One night during her second year, she had been spotted by the instructor, who had all but demanded she go out for the Slytherin team. Marinette had done so, and promptly won the keeper position. Then she had done it again a week later. And the week after that. After winning their first match against Hufflepuff, and allowing just four goals past her, the captain had tried to get rid of her again, at which point Professor Fu had intervened.

Despite his intervention, more than half of the team seemed to make it their mission to get Marinette to quit, something Marinette absolutely refused to do under any circumstances. She could be stubborn as all hell if she wanted, and she was going to play the sport she had fallen in love with, no matter what her teammates did to try to get her to stop.

So here she was, floating in lazy circles, watching the sun begin its descent over the horizon. She hummed to herself softly, the tranquil silence surrounding the quidditch pitch setting her at ease. She slowly broke out of her serenity as she noticed a few people filing into the seats. People did show up to watch practice on occasion, and tonight was no exception. With their first match of the season getting closer all the time, more and more students were becoming invested in their house teams, just as they did every year.

Marinette sighed, knowing that this quidditch season was going to be far more difficult than the last. The thing about winning a championship was that once you had it, everyone else was dead set on taking it away from you. Marinette spotted a few Gryffindor players in the stands, obviously there to scout their opponents. Their captain Jared Duncan could often be heard shouting through the halls how they were going to win the cup this year. Marinette flew over and parked herself a few meters away from the group. The group shifted uncomfortably as she raked her gaze over them, but none looked away, staring up at her defiantly.

Marinette smirked. She turned around and flew away, thinking of the cup that currently had Slytherin's logo on it. Try to take it from me. She thought to herself, grinning. I dare you.

She flew back down to her team in a very good mood. It immediately dissipated when she saw who was amongst them. Lila Rossi looked exceedingly smug, and Marinette wanted nothing more than to wipe the smirk off of her face. She landed a mere foot in front of the brunette, and stared her down.

Brendan seemed to sense the animosity and quickly interposed between the two. "Lila I take it you know Marinette. Marinette, Lila is our backup seeker." A glance at Brendan showed Marinette that he seemed about as thrilled as she was.

"What happened to Julian?" Marinette asked suspiciously.

Brendan sighed. "Apparently he and his idiot brother were mock dueling, and he was hit with a weird mix of a stunning spell and a stinging jinx that has him writhing in pain. Madam Vera hasn't figured it out yet, so Lila is filling in."

"So it's temporary?" Marinette asked, looking Lila dead in the eyes. Lila's smirk vanished, and her eye twitched.

Brendan looked as though he were trying not to grin himself. "Temporary." He agreed, and quickly walked past the two witches. Marinette followed him soon after, leaving Lila to herself. "Everyone in the air, let's go!" Brendan called, and soon there were seven people on brooms whizzing through the air, all ready to tackle whatever drills Brendan was planning to throw at them.

Practice ran until the sun finally descended beyond the horizon, nearly an hour and a half later. Brendan was the kind of captain that would run his team for as long as possible, and seemed to be genuinely considering asking the remaining spectators to cast the lumos maxima charm to give them more light. Marinette politely informed him that if he did so, she would lead a mutiny, and he wisely ended practice.

It was a tired, but high-spirited Slytherin team that made their collective way to the great hall, where dinner was in full swing. Lila sulked off to join her own friend group, and Marinette was prepared to do the same, when she was stopped by Amelia Wilson, one of the new chasers.

"You should eat with us." She offered, smiling shyly. "I know the team wasn't exactly forthcoming in the past but.." She glanced back at Brendan and smiled. "I think that might be changing." Marinette hesitated, but found herself drawn to her teammates and joined Amelia as she returned to where their teammates were gathered. Marinette was rather surprised when the remaining team greeted her. She hadn't gotten along with most of them at all in previous years, and while the chatter was awkward and stilted at first, she soon became far more comfortable with her teammates than she'd ever been.

At one point, she caught Alya's eye across the room and shot her a thumbs up. Alya looked concerned, but smiled when she saw that Marinette was fine. After dinner, Marinette would catch up with her, and tell her how the team had seemingly changed their attitude towards her.

"It's weird it happened so fast though." Alya commented, a bit suspicious.

Marinette sighed. "Don't kill my mood Alya. I'm just happy they're not trying to get me thrown off the team."

Alya shrugged helplessly. "I know girl, I'm glad, I'm just.. Wary."

"Trust me, so am I." Marinette said resignedly. "I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. It might not be from them, but with my luck..." Alya nodded in agreement, and the two continued through the castle.

Despite Marinette's paranoia, there had been no backlash from her sudden good luck. Quidditch was going well, Alya was seriously considering asking out Nino, and there had been a stunning lack of incidents involving her and dangerous situations. So as October drew to a close, Marinette was beginning to feel optimistic that perhaps her bad luck truly had begun to dissipate.

Hogwarts itself was gradually becoming more and more excited. The other schools were both set to arrive at Halloween, and that was just days away now. The hype surrounding the tournament had been building since Fu had announced it and the legendary tournament was suddenly becoming very real for those who were considering participating. Thus, students and professors alike all went to bed on October 30th with an excitement that was nearly palpable.

A/N: Yay! Another Chapter! Not a lot to see here just setting some stuff up. Mostly the tension between Marinette and Lila. They don't like each other. In case you couldn't tell. Hope you enjoyed! Lemme know what you think! I'm very excited about next chapter :D VERY excited. I've had part of it written for SO long. I'm happy to get to use it.

Alternate Chapter Title: 'The Filler Chapter Before the Important Thing Happens'

Comments! Follow! Fave! Etc!

Love you all. :)

Until Next Time!

~Nebilas~