Elisabeth pulled her hair into a high ponytail and laced her shoes up
tightly. Her first week at Hogwarts was almost over, she just had Quidditch
practise left before she could relax for the weekend. She walked out of the
dormitories and down into the common room.
"Are you guys going to come watch?" She asked Will and Daniel.
"Nah, we're going to sneak into the kitchens, Dekko here told us where the entrance was and how to open it and Uncle George says the house elves are quite willing to cater to your every whim."
"Alright then, don't get in trouble."
Will smiled wickedly, then, in a very innocent voice, "Trouble? Us? Never."
Elisabeth shook her head and walked out of the common room with Derrick and Vivyann.
"Dekko?"
"Derrick has been dying for a nickname since he was seven and he noticed people calling his cousin Bobby instead of Robert."
"But still, Dekko?"
Derrick waved the comment aside. "So, you ready for your first practise?"
"I reckon so, it can't be that bad."
"You don't know Ugly."
"He works us into the ground, and we're never good enough. He could find fault with the Wasps."
"A regular Oliver Wood." Elisabeth said without thinking.
"You know Wood?"
"Yeah, he's on the same team as my dad, duh."
Derrick shook his head. "Your father should have been given to someone who can properly appreciate him."
"Someone like you?"
"Exactly, someone like me."
They had reached the pitch. They walked over to where the rest of the team stood.
"You're late." Ugly said crossly.
"Shut up Ugly, the more you yak the longer we wait."
Ugly didn't pursue the topic. "I was just telling the rest of the team that we're going to have to forfeit Mahoney."
"What? Why?"
"His father died a couple of days ago and he doesn't ant to play anymore."
"So who we got?" It appeared the death of Arthur Mahoneys father was not an important topic.
"Chase O'Reilly." He nodded at Chase. He was an average boy average height, average weight, brown hair and blue eyes. Elisabeth's eyes drifted over him.
"So we got two new players to break in. Potter and O'Reilly. I trust you two know the team?" He eyed them beadily.
"Oh for Christ's sake Ugly, of course Elisabeth doesn't know the entire team. She's barely been here a week." Thanks Viv, Elisabeth thought silently.
Ugly rolled his eyes towards the heavens. "Okay then, good thing some one thought to introduce her before practise tonight."
"Ugly! Christ, you haven't even got the brooms out, we got plenty of time."
"Cage, just go get the brooms, we'll introduce her. You're driving yourself to high blood pressure." A small girl spoke softly to the captain and he nodded and went to get brooms.
"Good thing he listens to you, Christina cos he sure don't listen to any of us."
"Alright. Elisabeth, you know Vivvy and Derrick right?" Elisabeth nodded.
"Okay and you've met Chase." Elisabeth nodded at Chase and he nodded back.
"Okay then, I guess what we have left is Ugly, who you clearly know. Then there's me, my name is Signey and according to Ugly I get around more than the Quaffle." Signey glared in the direction that Ugly had gone in. "Then we have Christina who goes out with Ugly for a reason nobody can understand. That's it I guess."
Elisabeth nodded. "You know, if Christina didn't go out with Ugly he'd have a little less teeth because nobody could get him to shut up."
Everyone roared with laughter but Elisabeth couldn't believe she had said something like that. She also couldn't believe she had actually called him Ugly. She smiled in spite of herself.
"Okay. We got your brooms here. I still think that everyone should get their own brooms at practises. I don't know where you guys figured out that it's the captains job but-"
"It's in the rule book, chapter 17."
"That rule book also says Harry Potter was the greatest Quidditch player to ever grace the pitch."
"Well we all know that book is outdated, you are, of course, the greatest Quidditch player ever. Harry Potter was just a tide over until you came along." Elisabeth caught her tongue. Where was all this nerve coming from?
Ugly glared at her.
"Perhaps, if you took any interest in your players at all you would realize that Elisabeth is Harry Potters daughter." Chase broke his silence and everyone around them bobbed their heads in agreement.
Ugly was spared comment by the arrival of Madame Abbott who had come to supervise their first practise.
They flew seamlessly and Elisabeth stopped every goal. She didn't know if this meant that she was a good Kepper or if Signey, Chase and Ugly were just bad Chasers. At the end of the practise Madame Abbot called Elisabeth to come into the stands with her. Elisabeth had forgotten Madame Abott was a friend of her mothers until her first statement.
"I'm sorry I didn't come talk to you sooner but I was just getting over how little you look like your mumma."
Elisabeth smiled slightly. "Good or bad?"
"Well, I think you got the best of your dad's looks, so you aren't doing that terribly."
Elisabeth smiled, she liked Hannah Abott immediately, the way she did not look at you, waiting for an instant reply.
"Why didn't you come with Ron and Hermione and the rest of them to get my dad and me?"
"Well, your daddy wasn't really my friend. We managed but we got in some pretty harsh debates. Your mother had to come between us more than once. And I always harboured a little bit of resentment towards him."
"Why?"
Hannah studied her for a moment then turned back to the pitch. She took a sip of her coffee and started. "You wouldn't know this but I had a baby, he would have been about five or six months older than you. But he didn't live, he, and my fiancée were killed by death-eaters, two weeks after your parents wedding. I was so angry at Harry and Susan because they still had their baby and they still had their marriage. And then when your mama died Harry just went out and fought. It wasn't that he didn't love you it was just that he loved you so much that he couldn't bear to face you without a mother. But I didn't see that. I hated him because he had a baby and he wasn't there, looking after her, he wasn't there watching her and I hated him because I wanted my baby back."
"I'm so sorry."
"You shouldn't be. I should. I knew I should have followed your dad and brought him back. I knew I shouldn't have let him go but I did because I was selfish and I thought that if I couldn't have my baby and he could I would at least let him have a baby and be miserable. But he never was miserable."
Elisabeth remembered a time when she was five years old and her dad and Uncle Rosco had had a terrible row. She had pretended to be asleep and it had worked. She had heard the bitter, terrible words they spoke. "Yes he was. He was miserable, more than you can ever know. He ran off all the time, and he drank too much and he really didn't want a child." Elisabeth had never considered the possibility that her father had not wanted a child, she had merely accepted it. Now she wanted Hannah to confirm her theory that her father had wanted her.
"Never say that." Hannah said feircely. "If there is one thing I respect your father for it was the amount of love he had for you. He never felt obligated to care for you, he wanted a baby maybe more than Susie. He came home every day and the first thing he'd say as he walked in the doo was "Where's my baby?" He loved you more than anything in the world, he really did, and does."
"Did you ever hear from him after he left?"
"Allt he time. I made him send me letters, I told him that if he didn't tell me how you were doing I would march into his house and take you home with me." She smiled.
"Who was your fiancée?"
"Dean Thomas. I think it's time to get back into the school don't you?"
Elisabeth nodded and they walked back. "If you ever need anything just come talk to me, okay Elisabeth?"
"Yeah, of course." Eliabeth wandered back up to her common room and sat down with the others.
"What did Madame Abott want?" William asked around a cookie.
"She wanted to know if she could bum a smoke."
"I knew it! I knew you smoked! Ha!"
"It was a joke William."
"I knew that."
"I bet you did."
"What did she really want?"
"None of your business Dekko. Now give me one of those tarts. No, a cherry one. I know perfectly well what a canary cream looks like..."
"Are you guys going to come watch?" She asked Will and Daniel.
"Nah, we're going to sneak into the kitchens, Dekko here told us where the entrance was and how to open it and Uncle George says the house elves are quite willing to cater to your every whim."
"Alright then, don't get in trouble."
Will smiled wickedly, then, in a very innocent voice, "Trouble? Us? Never."
Elisabeth shook her head and walked out of the common room with Derrick and Vivyann.
"Dekko?"
"Derrick has been dying for a nickname since he was seven and he noticed people calling his cousin Bobby instead of Robert."
"But still, Dekko?"
Derrick waved the comment aside. "So, you ready for your first practise?"
"I reckon so, it can't be that bad."
"You don't know Ugly."
"He works us into the ground, and we're never good enough. He could find fault with the Wasps."
"A regular Oliver Wood." Elisabeth said without thinking.
"You know Wood?"
"Yeah, he's on the same team as my dad, duh."
Derrick shook his head. "Your father should have been given to someone who can properly appreciate him."
"Someone like you?"
"Exactly, someone like me."
They had reached the pitch. They walked over to where the rest of the team stood.
"You're late." Ugly said crossly.
"Shut up Ugly, the more you yak the longer we wait."
Ugly didn't pursue the topic. "I was just telling the rest of the team that we're going to have to forfeit Mahoney."
"What? Why?"
"His father died a couple of days ago and he doesn't ant to play anymore."
"So who we got?" It appeared the death of Arthur Mahoneys father was not an important topic.
"Chase O'Reilly." He nodded at Chase. He was an average boy average height, average weight, brown hair and blue eyes. Elisabeth's eyes drifted over him.
"So we got two new players to break in. Potter and O'Reilly. I trust you two know the team?" He eyed them beadily.
"Oh for Christ's sake Ugly, of course Elisabeth doesn't know the entire team. She's barely been here a week." Thanks Viv, Elisabeth thought silently.
Ugly rolled his eyes towards the heavens. "Okay then, good thing some one thought to introduce her before practise tonight."
"Ugly! Christ, you haven't even got the brooms out, we got plenty of time."
"Cage, just go get the brooms, we'll introduce her. You're driving yourself to high blood pressure." A small girl spoke softly to the captain and he nodded and went to get brooms.
"Good thing he listens to you, Christina cos he sure don't listen to any of us."
"Alright. Elisabeth, you know Vivvy and Derrick right?" Elisabeth nodded.
"Okay and you've met Chase." Elisabeth nodded at Chase and he nodded back.
"Okay then, I guess what we have left is Ugly, who you clearly know. Then there's me, my name is Signey and according to Ugly I get around more than the Quaffle." Signey glared in the direction that Ugly had gone in. "Then we have Christina who goes out with Ugly for a reason nobody can understand. That's it I guess."
Elisabeth nodded. "You know, if Christina didn't go out with Ugly he'd have a little less teeth because nobody could get him to shut up."
Everyone roared with laughter but Elisabeth couldn't believe she had said something like that. She also couldn't believe she had actually called him Ugly. She smiled in spite of herself.
"Okay. We got your brooms here. I still think that everyone should get their own brooms at practises. I don't know where you guys figured out that it's the captains job but-"
"It's in the rule book, chapter 17."
"That rule book also says Harry Potter was the greatest Quidditch player to ever grace the pitch."
"Well we all know that book is outdated, you are, of course, the greatest Quidditch player ever. Harry Potter was just a tide over until you came along." Elisabeth caught her tongue. Where was all this nerve coming from?
Ugly glared at her.
"Perhaps, if you took any interest in your players at all you would realize that Elisabeth is Harry Potters daughter." Chase broke his silence and everyone around them bobbed their heads in agreement.
Ugly was spared comment by the arrival of Madame Abbott who had come to supervise their first practise.
They flew seamlessly and Elisabeth stopped every goal. She didn't know if this meant that she was a good Kepper or if Signey, Chase and Ugly were just bad Chasers. At the end of the practise Madame Abbot called Elisabeth to come into the stands with her. Elisabeth had forgotten Madame Abott was a friend of her mothers until her first statement.
"I'm sorry I didn't come talk to you sooner but I was just getting over how little you look like your mumma."
Elisabeth smiled slightly. "Good or bad?"
"Well, I think you got the best of your dad's looks, so you aren't doing that terribly."
Elisabeth smiled, she liked Hannah Abott immediately, the way she did not look at you, waiting for an instant reply.
"Why didn't you come with Ron and Hermione and the rest of them to get my dad and me?"
"Well, your daddy wasn't really my friend. We managed but we got in some pretty harsh debates. Your mother had to come between us more than once. And I always harboured a little bit of resentment towards him."
"Why?"
Hannah studied her for a moment then turned back to the pitch. She took a sip of her coffee and started. "You wouldn't know this but I had a baby, he would have been about five or six months older than you. But he didn't live, he, and my fiancée were killed by death-eaters, two weeks after your parents wedding. I was so angry at Harry and Susan because they still had their baby and they still had their marriage. And then when your mama died Harry just went out and fought. It wasn't that he didn't love you it was just that he loved you so much that he couldn't bear to face you without a mother. But I didn't see that. I hated him because he had a baby and he wasn't there, looking after her, he wasn't there watching her and I hated him because I wanted my baby back."
"I'm so sorry."
"You shouldn't be. I should. I knew I should have followed your dad and brought him back. I knew I shouldn't have let him go but I did because I was selfish and I thought that if I couldn't have my baby and he could I would at least let him have a baby and be miserable. But he never was miserable."
Elisabeth remembered a time when she was five years old and her dad and Uncle Rosco had had a terrible row. She had pretended to be asleep and it had worked. She had heard the bitter, terrible words they spoke. "Yes he was. He was miserable, more than you can ever know. He ran off all the time, and he drank too much and he really didn't want a child." Elisabeth had never considered the possibility that her father had not wanted a child, she had merely accepted it. Now she wanted Hannah to confirm her theory that her father had wanted her.
"Never say that." Hannah said feircely. "If there is one thing I respect your father for it was the amount of love he had for you. He never felt obligated to care for you, he wanted a baby maybe more than Susie. He came home every day and the first thing he'd say as he walked in the doo was "Where's my baby?" He loved you more than anything in the world, he really did, and does."
"Did you ever hear from him after he left?"
"Allt he time. I made him send me letters, I told him that if he didn't tell me how you were doing I would march into his house and take you home with me." She smiled.
"Who was your fiancée?"
"Dean Thomas. I think it's time to get back into the school don't you?"
Elisabeth nodded and they walked back. "If you ever need anything just come talk to me, okay Elisabeth?"
"Yeah, of course." Eliabeth wandered back up to her common room and sat down with the others.
"What did Madame Abott want?" William asked around a cookie.
"She wanted to know if she could bum a smoke."
"I knew it! I knew you smoked! Ha!"
"It was a joke William."
"I knew that."
"I bet you did."
"What did she really want?"
"None of your business Dekko. Now give me one of those tarts. No, a cherry one. I know perfectly well what a canary cream looks like..."