That upcoming Saturday was the first Quiddich match of the year: Gryffindor versus Slytherins. It seemed to be a highly anticipated event, even for the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students as the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin was prevalent and bound to present itself during the match. Fred had convinced Haidee to come and watch, which she did not often do. Only once before had she gone to see the school Quiddich match and it was in her first year. She did enjoy the game, however, she decided from then on she would take advantage of the silent grounds and spend her time studying in peace under a tree instead of cooped in the library.
She would be unable to do that this coming match, as she had agreed to watch Fred play. She was aware he and his brother were the Gryffindor Beaters, which was one of the most brutal positions in the game, and although she would rather not watch the twins place themselves in harm's way, she knew it would make Fred extremely happy if she did.
When Saturday had arrived she had followed the crowd down to the Quidditch stadium, but instead of being led by the Hufflepuffs, she followed some Gryffindors up to their post. She was not very comfortable doing so, but Fred has asked her to sit with the Gryffindors and for some odd reason, she agreed. It wasn't necessarily a rule that students had to sit with their corresponding house during Quidditch matches.
It was there that Ron had spotted her, waving her over to join him and Hermione, and being some of the only people she knew (seeing as Lee was commentating the match) she though her best option was to sit with them.
"Hermione, this is Haidee. Fred's . . . friend," he introduced as Haidee sat beside Hermione. Haidee gave a little wave and a small hello before looking out onto the field to try and find Fred. "The one I told you about." Hermione looked at Haidee as if she was trying to decipher where she knew her from.
"Oh," she said with a smile, taking in her odd appearance. It was clear that she was aware of the cyclopes rumour as her eyes stared unknowingly at her fringe. "Yes, I've seen you in the library before. Quite often, actually."
"I believe I've seen you, too." She wanted to mention that she had seen her furiously looking through many unnecessary books for a first-year, but she now knew why and had no confidence to mention it. "You studied a lot for a first-year," she said instead. Hermione looked down sheepishly as Ron laughed. "Oh no, it's quite admirable. People always assume it's Ravenclaws who should be the ones with the best grades and studying in their free time. I don't see why, though."
"I completely agree," Hermione chimed in, feeling a tad bit more confident. Haidee smiled at her and pulled out a bag of sweets.
"Sweet?" As they both reached for a sweet, the whistle blew and the students entered. Everyone flew high into the air and she watched as Fred and George circled the stadium as they entered. She could tell it was them as they were the only red-haired people flying about the sky.
Then, the match began.
Haidee's eyes stuck to the Bludger throughout the game, knowing that where the Bludger was, the twins would not be far to follow. It was difficult to tell the difference between the twins when they flew throughout the game.
"How can you tell the difference between Fred and George out in the field?" Haidee asked and she leaned over to Ron.
"I don't. I can't even tell the difference between them when they're on the ground." Haidee gave a polite chuckle in response before turning back to watch the game. The Bludger was flying out of control. Its force was powerful as it zoomed through the air, but she had quickly noticed that it would often swerve to aim at Harry. She would watch as the twins would swing with all their might, trying to force it in the opposite direction and instead, towards a pale-skinned, white-haired boy who was the Slytherin Seeker. But their efforts were tiresome. The Bludger would tirelessly aim for Harry, no matter what direction it was swung. So much so that Fred and George were flying either side of Harry, stopping the ball from colliding with him.
"Is the Bludger meant to do that?" Haidee asked, sitting on the edge of her seat. She watched as one of the twins signalled for a time out before they dived for the ground, avoiding the Bludger as the rest of the Gryffindor team followed.
"No, it's not," Hermione sneered as they watched the Gryffindor team argue on the ground. Soon, the whistle blew and they were back in the air, the Bludger still fixated on Harry, however, the twins were nowhere near as close to him as they were before.
It was horrifying to watch. Haidee's heart pounded as she sat on the edge of her seat, watching Harry dodge the merciless Bludger. She gasped and hid behind her hands as Harry narrowly missed its attack. But when she had uncovered her eyes, she saw that Harry was reaching out for the Golden Snitch.
"He found it!" a happy Gryffndor shouted from behind her. He reached for the Snitch, the white-haired Slytherin following him in an attempt to grab it first. As he reached, the Bludger came as whacked his arm, making it bend in a direction it never should have. Haidee let out a squeal of pain, hiding once again as the crowd grimaced at the sight.
"He got it! Harry got the Snitch!"
Her eyes opened wide. She had never felt more exhilarated in her life. She cheered with the Gryffindors at their victory as Harry laid on the field, clutching his obliterated arm.
After the game, Haidee had walked with Fred, George, Ron and Hermione to the hospital wing to see Harry, who was getting his arm mended by Madam Pomfrey after Professor Lockheart had managed to remove Harry's broken bone instead of repairing it.
"Unbelievable flying, Harry," said George. "I've just seen Marcus Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing. Malfoy didn't seem too happy."
"Malfoy?" Haidee asked Fred. "The white-haired Slytherin?"
"Yeah, he's a blithering moron, that's what he is," Fred scowled and Haidee instantly became aware that they did not like this Malfoy boy.
Haidee had hurried down to the kitchen to retrieve some of her cakes and pastries before flying them back up, her following soon after. They watched as the trays flew in and settled down on the tables and end of Harry's bed and everyone began to eat. It was not long after that that they were ushered out by Madam Pomfrey, who declared that Harry needed rest of he was to heal.
Haidee smiled down at Harry. "You fly extremely well," she congratulated. "Hope you enjoy the cakes."
It was that night when the next victim fell. A young Gryffindor student by the name of Colin Creevey and been petrified. It had caused havoc across the school. Students were scared that they would be next so, in order to settle some confidence into the students during the frightening time, Professor Dumbledore had allowed Professor Lockheart and Professor Snape to run a class where students would learn simple self-defence, which they called a Duelling Club.
The room was warmly lit by the hovering cadel lights, the stone walls around them blocking the light in. The room was settling at a warm temperature which calmed a lot of students. With rumours flying about the school about who the heir of Slytherin could be, the Slytherins themselves seemed to gain the most confidence.
The students gathered around the platform, a long catwalk type of stage that was placed in the middle of the room, Professor Lockheart and Professor Snape standing atop. Haidee stood by Fred and George as they gathered around the stage, unsure of what was going to happen in the so-called 'Duelling Club'.
Fred took this as a time to be close to Haidee, holding her in front of him as they watched Professor Lockheart drawl on about himself on stage, his chin resting on her head.
When he first pulled her in she was quite surprised. Often the two of them would flirt and whatnot, and he would make not-so-subtle efforts to touch and hold her whenever he could, but never before like this. In such a public place to show such a profound display of affection when they, technically, were not together stunned Haidee.
But after the initial shock of his overt hold, she smiled as he pulled her closer. She knew he would be a distraction to her in this session but she loved the sensation of being close to him so much that she hardly cared.
"An excellent suggestion, Professor Snape. Let's have a volunteer pair. Potter, Weasley, how about you?" Professor Lockheart suggested, causing the Weasley twins to snigger.
"This is going to be amusing," George chuckled.
"Weasley's wand causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending Potter to the hospital wing in a matchbox. Might I suggest someone from my own house? Malfoy, perhaps." It was a suggestion that made Fred groan. Ever since the Quidditch game with Slytherin, the mere mentioning of his name disgusted them and Haidee quickly became aware that they not only disliked Malfoy but considered him an enemy.
After both Draco and Harry flying backwards due to ineffectively defending a spell, Draco grew embarrassed and releases a serpent to dethrone Harry from his high after effectively hurting Draco.
It was an instinct, a primal movement for Fred to hold Haidee tighter at the sight of the snake. He felt Haidee shiver in shock at the movement, a sudden fear for Harry's safety concerned her. But he did not seem scared, not when he challenged the snake and looked it directly in the eyes before it turned to a young Hufflepuff student.
A strange hissing filled the room, echoing off the walls and around the room. The snake darted at students, sending shrieks around the room as Harry spoke fluent Parseltongue to the serpent.
It was at that moment, the moment Harry spoke Parseltongue, that the school started to become more chaotic. Students started avoiding him, calling him the Heir of Slytherin, who opened that Chamber of Secret and petrified all those children.
It was ridiculous in the eyes of Haidee. The poor child being harassed from the school for having a gift as precious as Parseltongue, but unfortunately for Harry, the evidence was stacking up against him. Next, it was Hufflepuff second-year Justin Finch Fletchley and the Gryffindor ghost that was petrified. The students were avoiding Harry at all cost. Haidee had seen him in the library many times, avoiding the glares of other students.
To Fred and George, it was absolutely absurd to assume he was the Heir of Slytherin, so absurd that it was hilarious. Hilarious enough for them to go out of their way to move in front of Harry as he marched down the corridors.
"Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through," George shouted, moving students in the path of Harry. Haidee hurriedly walked by their side in an attempt to keep up with them, not extremely condoning of their behaviour, but she secretly found it quite amusing.
"Harry's in a hurry," Fred continued, looking behind his shoulder to reach for Haidee.
"Yeah, he's nipping off to the Chamber of Secrets for a cup of tea with his fanged servant," said George, chortling.
Haidee was surprised at how much she developed in the presence of Fred, where she would usually retreat from an audience like this, taking another hallway to class and never in her wildest dreams would she have ever dreamed that she would ever find this type of humour amusing, but she truly did. She had found that she had become more confident when she was around him.
She laughed slightly, her hair slightly swaying in the breeze of her running to catch up to Fred. His hand grasped hers and pulled her closer to him, dragging her along with him as they marched around in front of Harry.
She was very grateful to have Fred in many of her classes, and also not so. They would sit and chat and he would tell her about all the little pranks he had pulled on some of the students and all the prank he was planning to do next. Sometimes she would make an innocent suggestion on how to improve the prank causing Fred to howl with delight.
"I bewitched Percy's Prefect badge," he sniggered, laughing to himself. Haidee placed her quill down with a smile and looked up at the redheaded boy that sat next to her.
"It seems that he has been a victim of a lot of your pranks lately," she said with a small smile.
"That bighead never sees it coming, that's why," he smirked.
"What trouble have you gotten him in now?" she asked softly, picking up her quill to continue writing.
"I changed the badge from 'Prefect' to 'Pinhead'," he laughed. "And he's too big of a git to notice." Haidee laughed with Fred. It was true that she had found Percy pompous the more she got to know him and he was quite the character to make fun of, however, unlike Fred and George, she had an appreciation for Percy's uptight nature and she found it quite hilarious that Fred and George, who were born directly after Percy, were exact opposites.
It was not long before the last day of the term had occurred and she was one of three Hufflepuff students that remained for the Christmas holidays. She now thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas holidays as it was a reminder of their first date a year ago, and how they had grown since then. She knew that the twins were also staying back for Christmas that year, so once again, they were spending the Christmas holidays together.