Chapter 8 – Quidditch

"Wake up! It's game day! Come on, get up!" I had my blankets ripped away from my body and tossed at the foot of my bed whilst simultaneously being violently roused from a rather pleasant dream. I sat up furiously, as Mia jumped onto my bed – also waking a now grumpy Iris. I didn't need to remove my eye mask to know I was face to face with her wide smile, and that she would be already dressed, wrapped in her Slytherin scarf.

"What is wrong with you?" I scowled as I rubbed my eyes, dropping my eye mask onto the covers.

"Oh get up grumpy. I thought you loved Quidditch? It's the first match of the season and we're playing!" Being reminded of the pending day's events gave me the energy I needed to quickly dress, choosing my plain clothes of a black skirt and emerald green cable-knit jumper, I zipped up a small pair of black ankle boots and found my cloak, clipping the silver clasp at my neck and tying my scarf before pulling on my matching gloves. Despite being underground we could still hear the howling winds of outside, it was perfect Quidditch weather.

The two of us excitedly made our way into the common room, smiling as we found it already full of other students happily wearing our house colours with pride. Mia and I approached the fireplace where Crabbe, Goyle, Draco, Blaise, Theo, Pansy, Millie and Sally-Anne were grouped together. Theodore Nott had become something of a late arrival to our group. He was almost as quiet as Blaise and the two of them often paired with one another in classes, working silently and precisely. Blaise and Mia had formed an instant friendship having apparently met at Diagon Alley before the school year started and so I had chosen Theo as the one to be my closest friend other than Mia. He wasn't aware of that fact yet but I would drive the point home and it began by dropping myself onto the floor next to him, offering a small smile. He looked at me with an expression of surprise but I had no hidden agenda and he soon realised that as he visibly relaxed. As I looked around our group of friends I couldn't help but smile again, somehow, what had started with just Mia and I, and then our dorm group, had expanded into being nearly half the Slytherin intake for the year. I found it comforting to be surrounded by so many people I could truly be myself around, it was not something we were privileged to on a day to day basis. Mia however, had once or twice voiced her concerns to me about not being on 'the list' when most of our other friends were. But it had made clear by them, and me, that it didn't matter. Mia was a Slytherin and so she was one of us. It also helped when I'd explained how Crabbe and Goyle were on the list and there was certainly nothing special about either of them. The Sorting Hat put us in Slytherin for a reason and she fit that mould, blood status aside.

"Excited for the first match?" Millie questioned, drawing my attention to her as she happily munched on a Pumpkin Pasty for her breakfast. "Didn't think you'd be up in time." She smiled, I rolled my eyes in response.

"It takes exactly eight hours every night to maintain these looks. We can't all roll out of bed looking like you." My statement was true, whilst Millie was not a small girl by any means, she was proud of who she was and how she looked – which was blooming stunning most days. In the past few evenings, she had been teaching me how to properly apply eyeliner after I'd shared the origin story of my 'panda' nickname from my childhood. We shared a grin before I shrugged my shoulders.

"But yeah, the match should be good." I was very good at playing down how excited I was. If I was going to play for the team one day, I would need to know exactly what we were capable of – and that went for the other teams too. I had noticed how Alec had circled the first Ravenclaw match of the season on my calendar before I'd even got to Hogwarts. It was scheduled in for the second week of February and I was not allowed to miss it…under any circumstances.

"I can't wait!" Mia exclaimed and I couldn't help but smile. Our love of Quidditch was one of the first things we'd bonded over during the first nights at Hogwarts, whispering about World Cups gone by long after our dorm mates had fallen asleep. The only thing we'd disagreed on were our favourite teams – myself being loyal to Ballycastle Bats (my mother's home town and the place I first fell in love with Quidditch) whilst Mia was an avid fan of the Tutshill Tornadoes.

"Changing the subject entirely, but this has been bugging me ever since Halloween." Mia had the attention of our whole group now, each of us looking to where she was sat, wedged between Draco and Blaise.

"Where do you suppose the teachers put that troll?" She questioned, I shrugged casually – not having thought about it since that eventful night on Halloween. Though as the idea passed through my mind all I could see was an unconscious levitating troll being hidden away in the depths of the castle. Not a very comforting thought when that's where we lived.

"Who knows? I'd like to know how it got in here in the first place. I thought trolls are supposed to be stupid – surely there's no way it could have gotten in here by itself. Especially with all the protective charms on the castle." I commented, loosening my scarf as the heat from the fire made me start to sweat.

"They are." Mia stated, as she bit into a chocolate frog that had been graciously donated by Crabbe to the 'feed the Mia' cause of the morning.

"Newt Scamander says troll brains are the size of a Quaffle. With most of the space being taken up by thinking about food." She continued, sounding oddly like Hermione as she recalled the information taken from her favourite book.

"So, what?" Crabbe asked, munching his way through his second chocolate frog of the morning. "Someone let it in?"

"I think so." I nodded. "But who would let a troll into the school? Plus, with the third-floor corridor being blocked off this year. It does seem oddly convenient doesn't it? I asked my brother and he said that other than the Forbidden Forest, no other areas has ever been blocked off to students. "I shrugged my shoulders once again; "It just seems coincidental that the first year Harry Potter comes here, they start restricting access to certain areas of the school from us."

"Then let's find out." Draco blurted abruptly, making himself known for the first time that morning.

"If you're so sure there's a conspiracy, we'll go and find out. Tonight. I'd like to see what's meant to be so scary about the third floor corridor anyway." I couldn't deny I was surprised by his statement, but concealing true emotions was something I was rather apt at and so I simply shrugged my shoulders, preventing a look of potential apprehension being made apparent.

"Well I'm not going to risk expulsion roaming the castle at night so you can carry on without me." Mia expressed, folding her arms over her chest, sinking back into the sofa with a shrug.

"Oh thank you, Amelia, but you're not actually invited." I smirked as Mia narrowed her eyes at Draco but she didn't let it irk her and she jumped from her spot on the sofa and strode over to me.

"Fine. I'll meet you here at midnight." I replied calmly before getting to my feet and linking arms with Mia. I flicked my hair over my shoulder for added dramatic flair and left the common room for breakfast.

"Do you really want to be adventuring around the castle at night?" Mia questioned as we followed our noses to the Great Hall.

"No. But I will never let Draco Malfoy see me scared." I replied confidently.

The noise from the Quidditch pitch could be heard the moment we stepped into the courtyard up at the school. The increasing volume only served to reinforce our excitement as we made our way to the Slytherin stands to support our house team. Towers rose up out of the ground between the student's stands and as I looked around the pitch I could see the red and gold of Gryffindor on the other side of the grass alone with the blue and bronze and Ravenclaw and yellow and black of Hufflepuff. Mia and I shuffled forward through our housemates until we had reached the barrier where we both began to wave our small green flags emblazoned with silver serpents. The atmosphere was infectious and it made my curiosities about the third floor corridor vanish to the back of my mind.

"Isn't Harry making his debut today?" Mia called over the noise of the cheering crowd. I nodded as the early November wind blew my hair over my face, forcing me to reluctantly tie it up.

"Yeah. The Gryffindor's haven't stopped going on about it." We both looked down as the team doors opened and the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams flew out and began doing warm up laps of the pitch, igniting fresh boughs of excitement amongst the spectators. After they had gotten the crowd warmed up, they took their starting positions in a circle with the two seekers above the rest of the players. They all waited patiently as Madam Hooch stepped out onto the field with the trunk of playing balls. The crowd fell silent as she looked up at the floating players, making her expectations clear.

"Now I want a nice clean game. From all of you." She appeared to target the last portion of her statement towards the Slytherin's in particular which I wasn't overly surprised about, I knew we would play dirty if our team felt that it was needed. Everyone waited silently, anticipating the beginning of the game. Kicking the trunk, two heavy brown balls flew out of their own accord and up past the players. The enthusiastic voice of the match commentator, Lee Jordan – a Gryffindor third year, came over the tannoy.

"The bludgers are released, followed by the Golden Snitch. The player who catches the snitch, wins the game." The snitch was so small it was almost impossible to see, as soon as it had appeared, it was gone again and I figured I would get a headache if I tried to keep my eyes on it. I was certainly not cut out to be a seeker. Madam Hooch reached into the case and pulled out the final ball.

"The Quaffle is released, and the game begins!" Lee Jordan announced and as soon as he had finished his words, the players took off in dozens of different directions.

There was no build up to Quidditch, it's very much an all or nothing game, and that was one of my favourite things about it, the adrenaline rush was constant. Players were instantly taking hits and kicks from their opposing team and in some cases from their own equipment. There were rules in place, the same as any other sport, but I figured most referees made the decision that it was safer to not try too hard to enforce them during game play. There was no quicker way to get hurt than to stray on to a Quidditch pitch during the middle of a game. The Bludgers made a horrible whistling sound as they whipped around the pitch, almost as if they were looking for stray limbs to damage. In a few instances, they got so close to the crowd, multiple students had to duck out of the way in order to avoid being hit. There was no half-time, in fact there was no clock at all. In Quidditch, you played until a winner was declared and for a while it was close. Both teams drew 20-20 at one point and with one of Gryffindor's chasers unconscious on the field, it looked promising. The noise coming from the Slytherin stands appeared to add to the team's motivation and the snitch was spotted by Terrence Higgs who quickly shot off after it. Harry Potter was nowhere to be seen and as I scanned the pitch, wondering where the debut Gryffindor seeker was, I spotted him clinging onto the handle of his broomstick, dangling about twenty feet in the air.

"Look!" Crabbe shouted as he too spotted Harry. The entire Slytherin stand began to laugh and jeer at the youngest member of the Gryffindor team.

"What's wrong with his broom?" Mia asked, slight concern clear on her face.

"I don't know – maybe he's just a terrible flyer." I smirked, it quickly vanished however with a "not the time or place" glare from Mia. I glanced behind us to spot Malfoy, seeing he was laughing at Harry along with the rest of us, I decided it wasn't him. The two boys seemed to butt heads on a daily basis since their first unfortunate interaction and Malfoy certainly jumped at any given opportunity to ridicule him.

Harry slipped and the whole stadium gasped, even the Slytherin stand's volume decreased in intensity as we witnessed the drama unfolding above our heads. Suddenly, his broom stopped trying to fling him off and Harry could swing his weight over and regain control. Once he had, he wasted no time in flying after Higgs. As quickly as the drama had engulfed the stadium, it was forgotten and the excitement of the game returned. The snitch took a nose dive and so did both the seekers, chasing it with everything they had. They dove from above everyone's heads and down past the stands, towards the ground until Higgs pulled away at the last-minute leaving Harry chasing the snitch alone. General gameplay seemed to have suspended with everyone watching as Harry stood on the handle of his broom, slowly inching further and further to the edge with one arm outstretched, reaching for the snitch.

"He's going to fa…" Mia began but was cut short as Harry did indeed fall off the end of his broom and barrel rolled onto the pitch. He seemed to roll for an unnecessarily long time before eventually coming to a halt as silence fell over the stadium. After a few moments, he stood and clutched his stomach with a pained look written across his face. Mia's gloved hands shot to cover her eyes.

"Is he gonna be sick? I can't stand vomit." She was the only one looking away – the rest of the stadium watched closely as Harry heaved once more and the snitch popped out of his mouth and landed in his gloved palms. Lee Jordan's voice boomed over the tannoy.

"Harry Potter has caught the snitch and scored 150 points!" Flying above them all, Madam Hooch blew her whistle, declaring Gryffindor the winners. Applause broke out in every stand other than where green and silver dominated and the chants of 'Go, Go, Gryffindor' drowned out the Slytherin's boos and jeers.

"I don't know if I like school Quidditch as much as I thought I would." Mia commented, having uncovered her eyes once the crowds has broken out in cheer.

"I'm sure we'll do better in the next game." I said as we turned our backs to the pitch and began to shuffle back to the castle for lunch with the rest of our disappointed housemates. Surely it could only get better.