"So, everyone got it?" asked Morgana.
The Ravenclaw House Qudditch team was to cold to contradict her. They were, for the most part, huddled in a row on a bench in the locker room, shivering and trying to make themselves as small as possible. Circe paced in a circle, rubbing her arms. Every so often she changed direction, so as not to get too dizzy.
"Everyone got it?" repeated Morgana.
She prided herself in helping her team get the most out of itself. As captain-in -training, Morgana pushed her team to the limit.
When she got no answer for the second time, she decided to just get on with it. "I give up. Come on," she sighed.
The team practically whooped as they finally got out into the sun. Even if it wasn't much warmer on the field, they could move about some.
When Morgana took off, she felt the same soaring sensation in her stomach that she'd felt her first time on a broom.
She hadn't been a natural, of course. When her parents first put her on a broom at the tender age of three, she'd promptly fallen off. But after years of practice, she became an excellent flyer.
To practice Quidditch in her Muggle town, Morgana joined a local league. The league, however, couldn't meet as often as she would have liked. For one thing, they had to get to the field. It was remote, at least forty miles away from town. An immensely complex Invisibility Shield spell was required, which the coaches provided, because the students weren't allowed to use magic outside of school. Often, the games had to be postponed or canceled because the person holding up the shield had suddenly collapsed. Once, Morgana was caught a hundred and fifty feet above the ground, completely exposed. Luckily, no one was passing, and she was able to land safely before the next car came by.
Those summer league games had been her only way to play the sport she loved until she got onto the Ravenclaw House Quidditch team. She was placed as a Beater, which was fine, since this was the position she normally played. Although Morgana was a third year, it was her first year on the team, owing to the enormously long waiting list. Circe, a Chaser, got on at the same time as she did.
Besides Cho Chang, the Seeker, Morgana and Circe were the only girls on the team. Morgana was captain-in training, due to the fact that they didn't want to make her a captain in her first year of playing for the team, and because Allen Davies was in his sixth and second-to-last year at Hogwarts.
After a superb practice, the team went in to join breakfast in the Great Hall. Merlin the owl had been looking for her for quite some time, when she came in late. He dropped a package and a letter in her lap. The letter was from her mother, the mayor of their Muggle town. It said:
Dear Morgana,
Hope you're having a good time at Hogwarts. Here is something I thought you might like.
Merlin seemed really vigorous when he came to deliver my weekly letter. I hope you've been exercising him enough.
How are all your friends? I was thinking of inviting them to spend Spring Break with us at Johnson House. What do you think?
Write Me Back,
Mum
Johnson House was the manor they lived on. The name had nothing to do with the actual occupants.
Morgana ripped open the package: it was topped with another note that said: "Don't show this to the librarian, she'll have fits." Inside was a very old book of complicated spells. Morgana silently thanked her mother. She had just been getting bored with the endless repetition of the student-level spells. She pulled out a scrap of parchment and her quill and wrote a note back to her mother.
thanks very much. Write more later. Am already late eating breakfast because of Quidditch practice. Kisses,
Morgana
Later, in Arithmancy class, Morgana puzzled over the complicated figures. Her head bent over her paper as she scribbled scratch work. Even so, she went faster than the rest of the class, and she was on above-grade-level work.
Professor Vector, the teacher, sat at her desk, sorting papers. Vector, though not Morgana's head of house, had taken the third year under her wing. When class was dismissed and the students began to filter out, she motioned for Morgana to stay.
Morgana promptly panicked. Was it about her grades? With all the advanced work she was doing...
Vector cleared her throat, breaking into Morgana's nervous thoughts.
"Now, don't fear, Morgana, I'm just going to talk to you about your wonderful grades." (A huge sigh of relief was heard from Morgana's direction) "I've talked to Professor Dumbledore and he agrees with me.
"He and I both think you should meet another of our Hogwarts honor students."
Vector got up and began walking to the door. But before she could get to it, it slammed open.
