Today… Today was the quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Nina felt her heart pounding in her ears and her shoulders and hands were shaking with the magnitude of an earthquake, her nervous behavior only grew as match drew closer with each passing minute.

When the school had woken and the halls came alive, it was met with the rain that had been falling since the week began and the castle practically shook with the loud claps of thunder, that were closely followed by the moments of blindness from the lightning that covered the castle grounds.

She had heard from Oliver Wood that the rain was like ice and made any broom damn near impossible hold onto if you move your hands from their grip for even a second, fine weather for the first game of the season.

Nina found herself at the breakfast table her shoulders tense and shaking as she breathes in deep and rigged until her lungs strained and she exhales with a long huff. She had been repeating this all morning, trying to calm herself as her hands lay palm down on the table visibly vibrating if anyone were to glance over her hands for even a moment. She had a piece of buttered toast with a peeled hard boild egg placed untouched on the plate between her forearms, Harry came into the hall and sat next to her in a huff since he had finally made it away from Oliver, who had been hounding him all morning.

"You alright?" He asks and the tail of his new Quidditch uniform hangs off the back of the bench as he turns his head to look at her.

"I am fine, just a little shaken. The weather has me a little on edge." She replied to him and her hands slide off the surface of the table and onto her lap, before moving and grabbing the food she had neglected since she arrived early in the morning, she hadn't slept the night before so as soon as she was able to she left the common room as soon as the doors opened. She sighs in relief as she tastes the sweet jelly of the soft and moist bread of the pastry, nostalgia washing over her for a few moments as her mother's smiling face fills her mind. She relaxes with the rest of the sweet treat in her hands and her forearms rest on the edge of the table. She hears a soft laugh pulling her from her daydream of home, she looks over and Harry is snacking on a turkey sandwich she inhaled sharply and then laughs.

"What about you? Are you ready for this?" She asks with a soft voice as she becomes calmed with her friend next to her, her worries lifted as she continues to eat the one thing she thinks she could stomach and keep down. The Hufflepuff team were all sitting around the table going over plans, she could see the back of Diana's head from where she sits. Things were going to be hard.

•◆•

The group of Gryffindors stand in their change room, waiting for the que from Oliver. They were all excited and dancing around to shanties Fred, George and Nina had learned from her father one christmas when they got together at the burrow. Harry sat on a bench and it was like all the weight and pressure of the first game was gone. Then a large clap of thunder shakes the ground and everyone goes silent, the storm had everyone in a shaky uneasy mood, it was dangerous and everyone had felt uncomfortable. Wood comes in from the door and he looks over his team before nodding and a grin stretches across his face reassuring his team. They all grab their brooms and quickly stride down the wood hall to the opening, there are soft splashes as water drips from wooden beams into water collecting in puddles on the ground.

The group stands at the entrance as the rain pours, making a sheet twenty feet in front of them. Nina puts her goggles on and so does her team as oliver steps out first followed by Harry and so on. She mounts her broom at the door and flies to the center and waits, the other chasers doing the same. She stares down the other team, the voice of the announcer muffled by the wind and rain as the sound beats against her ears and the cold rain stings her skin like red hot needles. She winces as closes her right eye as thunder cracks and hurts her ears, moments pass and it feels like hours but then the Quaffle is thrown into the air and her heart stops. She leans forward and it's like time had slowed down, as she reaches for the ball the frantic look on the others faces as they all do the same. Somehow Nina got the ball and had it tucked under her arm, as she pulls up and goes straight up and away from the others she makes it about forty feet up before she stops and allows herself to fall back, her heart racing and she panics even though she has complete control over what is happening, she shoots past the others and goes straight down before pulling up and heading in the direction she believes to be the other teams. The rain making it almost impossible to see she couldn't place any crimson robes of her teammates, she hears the sound of something fast and moving through the air at an alarming rate, it gets closer and she holds her breath as she braces for impact. She hears the bludger hit something but it isn't her, she looks up and sees Fred Weasley in a powerful stance upon his broom as he looks at her with a grin, his usually bright red hair had been turned to dark brown from the rain, he looks points at the goal, she leans forward aiming to the right and the keeper follows her movements, she doesn't stray from the path. She rears back suddenly and turns towards the center goal, she is standing on the broom as it was pointed right at the and she throws the Quaffle through the middle goal, but partially loses her balance, so she throws her arms around the broom handle. She gains control even if she never truly lost control, she turns on her broom quickly gaining speed once again as she approaches center field, her hair bun soaked and strands become loose and stick to her face.

What seems like forever passes and Harry and Cedric are still looking for the damned snitch, Nina felt drained as the cold froze her to the core and made her shiver nonstop, she prayed that one of the seekers would hurry up and find that blasted ball so it would end. Gryffindor was ahead by just a few points but Hufflepuff was catching up due to the sluggish moving Gryffindors, all stiff with the cold. Nina takes a moment and pants sitting on her broom as the tails of her robes are violently flapped around, the water weight weighing her down and in result making her slower, and require more energy to keep her body in a sitting position , she takes a moment to look around, she looks to see if by chance her family was there, but much to her dismay, not a single body from her family were in the bleachers guests and parents would be placed with teachers, and she feels her heart drop 'must be work' . But from where she is she sees the hufflepuff chaser, Malcolm Preece heading in a straight line gradually coming to a point right below her. She goes straight down to meet him, and he doesn't see her as they come to a T, she grabs the Quaffle and pulls up right before the lake of water and sand and she flies along the bottom of the pitch it is the hardest place to see from. She sees Katie is close and she sits up using all of her strength she pulls her arm back and throws the Quaffle straight for her, while her arm is extended it leaves her side wide open and she feels the collision and both she and the hufflepuff are thrown from their brooms, her body goes flying and tumbles in the air and she hits the ground rolling. Coming to a stop she gasps as she feels as if her lungs on one side had stopped working, she groans through her teeth before she openly groans in pain and hisses loudly, her arms, legs, hair, face and robe covered in wet sand. She rolls onto her back and gasps, her goggles being pelted with rain but she sees dark figures high in the sky almost dots. And she sees Harry on his broom, but then. He isn't… She gasps and then he pinwheels down towards the ground.

McGonagall walks along the row of Gryffindors, all of them sitting at the dining table and waiting for her to come to them, she had to take count of who was staying for the winter break. Nina leans on her hand sighing as she hears people naming themselves off and then say if they are staying or not. McGonagall comes to her and she smiles up at the House head. "I will be going home" She says softly and smiles, but in reality she will be going to the Malfoys, her mother was out on a tour in America while her father went to go check on one of the gryffin holds, someone had let a flock of them go and so he had to go and fix it.

It was like the last few weeks hadn't even happened, she had bruised three ribs and Harry almost fell to his death, Sirius Black was in the castle,yet things were normal and people went as usual. She was actually really happy to get out of the castle even for a little while, everything was too much and she was feeling overwhelmed. This Christmas her uncle Archibald would come to visit them, he was a large scotsman with bright red hair that covered his whole body. He was loud and fun and he was her favorite person in the world, he taught her folk songs and danced with her. When her parents were busy and the Malfoys were out, he would take her and his son Thomas for a field trip, he would show them many things and teach her the wonder of even the smallest things. Her mother taught her to sing, her father taught her about animals and creatures, while he taught her the things she loved. Then he had to go away and she was unsure why he did but he left, and when he came to see her he would tell her of his travels and bring her a souvenir, most of the time it was a rare flower encased in glass and metal, or a new saddle for riding. Last time he brought a blanket that was embroidered with an king and queen of where his family had originated.

Walking down the hall she whistles an old Celtic song, taught to her by her father, her spirits lifting as she moves with a hop in her step as the song fills her with hope and the need to dance fills her. Her eyes close as she imagines the thought of her uncle and her dancing to the tune once again. Soon…