AN: NoDownSide, you are waaay too nice to me, always saying nice things about the stories I upload and then take ages to follow up on. It made me really happy to see your reviews !
iRedeem, thank you for the review !
under the table – fiona apple
"don't push me, cookie, don't push me."
Maybe a week later, the Hogwarts team match against Spain crept up on Sofia.
Thursday night during dinner, Dumbledore called the attention of the Great Hall to introduce the arrival of the Spanish Quidditch team, who would be staying until the end of the week, their match taking place on Saturday afternoon.
Coach had forced the Hogwarts team to gather at one table, supposedly chosen at random, but very suspiciously had ended up being the Hufflepuff table, which was probably the closest they'd be able to come to a neutral ground.
A tall golden-haired boy sat next to Sofia and grinned at her. He spoke in a very cute accented English. "Hello, my name is Javier, but you can call me Javi. This is my friend Luis, he doesn't speak much English."
She looked over at Luis, a younger boy with mousy brown hair and kind dark eyes. She smiled. "Pues por pura suerte les tocó sentarse junto a la inglesa que habla español."
Both boys did a double-take, then both broke out into grins upon hearing her say she spoke Spanish.
"How do you speak Spanish? Where are you from?" Luis asked in Spanish.
"Wait... that accent sounds... Puerto Rican maybe?" Javier added.
Sofia grimaced but let it go. She was a nice Cuban, she could let it go. "Cuban, actually. You're lucky you only said that to me, most Cubans... if you assume they're anything but Cuban, let's just say someone's getting stabbed."
Javier broke out in a rambunctious laugh.
Chloe slipped into the seat next to Sofia. "Wait. What is happening right now? Why are you speaking Spanish? Is that a spell?"
"I'm Cuban."
Chloe's head tilted. "I thought you were Russian."
Sofia shrugged. "I'm both." She turned back to the guys. "Me llamo Sofía, by the way. And this is Chloe."
"Sofía," Javier dragged the last syllable out. He turned to Chloe. "Chloe. Very nice to meet you," he said in English.
"What positions do you guys play?" Luis asked in Spanish.
"Um..." Sofia tried to recall the Quidditch position names in Spanish. "Yo... Beater? Golpeador... no, bateadora! Y Chloe... uh cazadora? Chaser?"
Luis nodded. "Bateadora y cazadora."
"I'm a Seeker and Luis is a Chaser too," Javier said.
Sofia translated for Chloe quickly. Then as she swept her gaze back towards the boys, she felt the stare of one Regulus Black, who sat across from her. He sat next to Travers, neither of them making any attempt at socialising with their guests. Sofia fought the squirm that his stare initiated. He wasn't glaring and it wasn't a dirty look at all like some Slytherins such as Travers tended to throw her way occasionally. No, this was just an innocent look. But it was somehow piercing. She felt like he was trying to read her like a book.
She tried to focus back on the conversation since she had to help include Chloe with translations. But it was hard, she wanted to snap at Black, just ask what the hell was he staring at but that would count as initiating a possible fight and she was the bigger person in this situation. She would not not be the bigger person.
She listened to whatever Javier was saying about the Spanish Quidditch league and persevered. Regulus would eventually tire of whatever weird psychological mind game he was trying to play with her and that would be it. No need for alarm. She smiled at herself.
Everyone on the team had been kind of hoping they would be excused from class the next day so that they could keep their Spanish counterparts company, but no such luck. They were only excused from the last couple of hours of class, which was still good. She could only hang out with Javier and Luis during dinner though since apparently their team was very dedicated and had scheduled practice almost all afternoon.
The Hogwarts team didn't practice at all until Saturday morning. A practice to which Sofia headed to very much in a sulk.
Her almost-daily letter from home — which was usually at least two pages long, with alternating paragraphs written by different family member in a mixture of English, Spanish and Russian — had left her with a lot to think about and she got stressed out even thinking about what her mum had told her.
Sofia had barely just gotten in the air when she spotted the Spaniards coming out to the pitch to practice and her two new friends waved at her. She waved back.
Javier, with his ever-present good mood, immediately hurried over towards Sofia. She wished he wouldn't, she wasn't in the mood, not to mention she didn't exactly enjoy making conversation during the morning practise before a match. Ugh, she'd have to politely get rid of him now.
The Hogwarts team glanced strangely at Sofia, all knowing full well she wasn't exactly the friendly, welcoming kind.
Two other girls from the Spanish team trailed behind Javier. All three were on their feet so Sofia reluctantly got off her broom as they reached her. She caught the trail-end of the girls' conversation. "... me encantan sus trenzitas de india, ¿a ti no?" I love her little Indian braids, don't you? Sofia felt a flash of self-consciousness pass through her before it transformed into anger. She bit her tongue.
"Hi! Javi told us one of the Hogwarts players spoke Spanish, but we didn't believe him," one of the girls — pretty and blonde-haired — said without preamble in Spanish.
"Sí. Sí, hablo español," Yes, I speak spanish, Sofia replied.
Blondie and her friend giggled, for some reason. Sofia felt murderous.
"We were just joking about how this has to be a Día de la Hispanidad miracle, that someone here speaks Spanish," the other girl said.
Sofia's jaw clenched. "What did you just say?"
Blondie's smile faltered. "We just thought it was a funny coincidence. Marta just means to say feliz Día de la Hispanidad."
She said it as if it were funny, but Sofia didn't find it very funny at all. "Did you seriously just wish me a happy Día de la Hispanidad?"
Sofia wasn't sure when she took a step forward, getting in Blondie and friend's faces if she meant to actually physically smack them but she never got to find out. Someone grabbed her arm firmly from behind to hold her back, so she had to settle for yelling. "Muy feliz estás de que tus ancestros hayan matado, violado, esclavizado y colonizado a los míos, mal—?" You're so happy your ancestors killed, raped, enslaved and colonized mine, you fuck—
She got cut off by Coach's whistle, then his voice. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Bess, come on. Take her to the locker room so she can cool down."
Sofia glared at the girls, who looked genuinely scared by her reaction, even though Sofia knew they could take her. She didn't even realise who Coach had been talking to until she turned and saw it had been Regulus who had held her back.
She pulled her arm from his grasp, but they had already reached the empty locker room. "Get the fuck off me, Black."
He only showed the slightest bit of surprise before schooling his features. "So, you want to go fight those girls and get kicked off the team?"
Sofia huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "You don't know what they said."
"Whatever it was, I doubt you don't hear things like that here on a daily basis, but you never... well almost never actually try to maul people over it."
That caught Sofia off-guard. She almost laughed. Shit, did he remember...?
She scoffed. "Actually, I think I'm so used to dealing with the blood purity bigotry all the time that I wasn't expecting those girls to make it a race thing. It just caught me off-guard and I... let my emotions get the better of me. It was a slip."
She had no idea why she had just admitted this to Regulus Black of all people. She supposed some people at school might have noticed her occasional anger issues, but she didn't make a habit of openly admitting them to people. Much less him.
Regulus frowned. "A race thing?"
Sofia stared at him. "Well, partly a race thing and partly a... colonisation thing? I don't know, I mean, surely you've noticed that I'm not exactly white."
Regulus examined her with a crease between his brows. Sofia wished she didn't feel so... scrutinised under his gaze, it almost made her blush. She was all too conscious of her rich bronze skin — a few shades lighter than her mother's —, her bushy thick brows and her medium length deep brown hair currently pulled into twin Dutch braids — which were apparently the epitome of indigenous peoples in the Spaniards' eyes.
Regulus shrugged. "I guess I just thought you liked those tanning solutions they sell in Diagon Alley. Not to mention I thought you were fully Russian."
Sofia's brows raised slightly. "Wow. Well, first of all, not all Russians are white. And second of all, do I really seem like the kind of person to tan obsessively?"
Regulus seemed frustrated. "I don't know, Bessonova. Believe it or not, my brother and I don't have heart-to-hearts where he gushes about the girl he's in love with."
Sofia rolled her eyes dramatically. "I... am not even going to dignify that with an answer, Black."
"Right. So, now you're the image of reason and self-restraint."
Sofia gaped at him. Where the hell was this coming from? "You are probably the most privileged person in this entire school, you have no idea what it's like to get harassed mercilessly for things you can't control. Forgive me for snapping every once in a while."
He stared at her for a long few seconds. Sofia couldn't decipher the look on his face.
"I guess I just thought you were smarter than that," he finally said.
"That's rich coming from you, considering the company you keep."
Regulus pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not even trying to be an asshole right now-"
"You want a medal?"
He ignored her quip. "I just think that you shouldn't have let those girls get to you, you've shown them your weakness."
"I don't care. I'm not the kind of girl to just let some bigot walk all over me."
"Are we still talking about those girls?" He asked.
"You tell me," she replied without missing a beat.
"Well, I haven't seen you attempt to assault one of our classmates since..."
"The time Nott called my mum a Muggle whore in Third Year?" Sofia provided, she didn't think he remembered that.
"Yeah, but she was being so fucking annoying. She deserved that one."
Sofia's brows raised in surprise. "Did she?"
This conversation was taking a very interesting turn but Sofia couldn't find out Regulus's answer because in walked none other than Sirius.
He frowned upon seeing his brother. "What the hell are you doing? Leave her alone."
Sofia looked away from the younger Black, uncomfortable.
Regulus scowled. He rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Sirius."
Then he walked out of the room without looking once at Sofia.
Sirius watched his brother go with narrowed eyes before turning to Sofia. "What did he say to you? I swear to Merlin I'll—"
Sofia cut him off with a hand on his arm. "It's fine. Coach told him to come with me over here because he was standing the closest to me. He hassled me about fighting with the other team, that's it."
Sirius's eyes softened. "Are you okay? Chloe said you got into it with some of the Spanish players."
"Yeah, I'm fine... they didn't say anything too bad, really. Just insensitive. It piled up with a bunch of... other things and I snapped."
Sirius nodded, understanding. He'd known her since she was an angry little twelve-year-old, after all. He sat on the bench a few feet away. "Want to talk about it? The other things?"
"I should get back to practice."
"You're already the best Beater in the history of Hogwarts, I think you can miss a few minutes of practice."
Sofia sat with a sharp exhale. "I got a letter from my mum this morning."
Sirius nodded slowly as she paused, letting her know he was listening.
"He hasn't stopped by since Vanya's birthday, he's barely even called. And now Natasha's asking if he's going to go to her recital," Sofia said in one breath. She didn't say his name, but Sirius knew who.
"Has he written?"
"Once. Just a... general well-being... not even letter, a note. But I told her, I told Mum, this isn't the first time he's done this, he does it every other year and it never lasts. The only reason she let him do more this time is because he's sick. And now Vanya and Natasha and even Romy are getting their hopes up that he'll be around for good but he won't. He won't! Because he's a fucking liar!"
Sirius took Sofia's hand in his and squeezed.
Sofia took a deep breath to try and stifle the knot in her throat. "And she won't say it outright because I've told her how I feel about her doing this but I just know that she expects me to go and deal with my siblings and tell them that we have no fucking idea where Papa is."
"It'll be okay, Sonya. I'm here for you."
Sofia wiped away the tears that had gathered in her eyes and took a deep breath. Sirius squeezed her hand. "Thanks. I... I can deal with this, I just... I wish I could be there for them."
Sirius nodded. "I know," he said softly. "Wanna tell me what happened out there now?"
Sofia threw her head back in frustration. "Ugh, it was stupid. Those girls decided it would be a good idea to wish me a happy holiday, referring to the day in which Spain literally celebrates having colonised my people."
"Oh, shit."
"Yeah... I don't think they meant any harm, they just seemed... ignorant. I should've handled it better."
"It's okay, Sof, you did no harm."
Sofia sighed heavily. "I should go apologise to them. I'll probably still hate them, but I should apologise."
Sirius smiled, amused. "You're too good."
Sofia rolled her eyes playfully. "I know."
Sofia felt a little awkward returning to the potions lab on Monday after a very narrow defeat against the Spanish team. She didn't think she had ever had a conversation that long with Regulus like they'd had on Saturday... and dare she say she had felt a sense of... camaraderie towards the end there. Heck, he'd almost made her actually laugh out loud, very few people could do that.
She expected him to say something when they started working but he just went on ignoring her existence as he usually did. Sofia didn't know what she expected him to say though.
A putrid smell suddenly rose from Regulus's cauldron and Sofia covered her nose with her robes. "Jesus fucking Christ, Black. What is that?"
He was covering his nose too. He stepped away from his cauldron but he didn't answer Sofia.
Frustrated, Sofia walked over to his station and peered into his cauldron, then she looked at the ingredients he had laid out next to it. "Are you making brain elixir?"
He nodded.
Sofia raised her wand to the cauldron.
"What are you doing?" Regulus asked angrily.
Sofia glared at him. "Well, you obviously took too long to add the ashwinder egg and now you've basically made a dung bomb that will probably fry your brain if you ingest it. I'm going to fix it."
She cast a spell over the cauldron and went back to her desk where she examined the supplies she had on her before selecting a small lilac bottle. She poured its contents into Regulus's cauldron before waving her wand again. "There, it should be fine now."
She did a poor job of holding back a smirk as she walked back to her station. She just knew he was dying to know how she had fixed it. Now she just had to see how long he held his pride.
"You've made brain elixir before?" Was what he asked.
Sofia nodded.
"So you're not going to lecture me about how I should've asked Slughorn before making such a delicate potion?"
Sofia scoffed. "Even if I did, would I get through that thick skull of yours?"
She didn't look at him but she could feel him glaring at the side of her head.
"Did you end up apologising to those girls on Saturday?" He asked.
Sofia wasn't sure if his strategy here was to just get her talking and hope she would just let slip what she had done to his potion. She decided to humour him. "I... did."
"Why?"
She continued chopping her Valerian sprigs. "Well, for starters, if I hadn't taken the initiative myself, Coach would've certainly made me do it and as you know, I kind of like being ahead. And also, unlike some people, I've attended therapy and I know how to make amends when I've made a mistake."
A beat. "Are you implying I should see a shrink, Bessonova?"
Sofia bit her lip to hold back a cheeky smile. "I never said anything about you, Black, did I?"
"Not to mention they were very sorry about what they said and apologised to me too," she added.
He didn't reply and their silence extended, still loaded with the question on the tip of Black's tongue.
Sofia felt like she was holding back a shiver. "Will you just ask, Black?"
"Ask what?"
Sofia rolled her eyes. "Fine, do what you want."
"What did you do to my potion?"
Sofia smiled. She hadn't expected him to give in that soon. "That wasn't so hard now, was it?"
He glared at her.
"I... added some daisyroot essence which can counteract the effects of ashwinder egg. I just added enough to make it even again," she explained.
He nodded. "Right." Then went back to ignoring her.