October 25, 1988-Hogwarts-2nd year
I talked to Oliver for the first time in a long time. I suppose he was avoiding me after I was placed in Slytherin, and he hates Slytherin...Would you like to know what happened? Well, Melanie and I were walking aimlessly around outside of the castle when we decided to check out the Quidditch stadium, where we saw Ollie. He was doing Keeper Practice, where he jinxes the Quaffle to speed at him so he practices blocking it. We watched him for a bit before he noticed us. He just stopped the Quaffle and flew down to talk to us.
"So, I see I have an audience," Ollie said, smiling his smile that could launch a thousand Quaffles.
"I suppose so," I replied, smiling back, "you're quite good, you know that?"
"Why thank you! That's what everyone says. I don't think so. I think I'm a bit slow..." He trailed off, squinting a bit. "Wanna have a go at it?"
"Beg pardon?!"
"Help me at Keeper Practice, you Muggle!"
"Oh, well alright. I suppose so. But I need a broom..."
"You can use one of the school's!" I could tell he really wanted me to come with him. I looked over at Melanie, who just shrugged.
"Go ahead. I'll watch you from the stands." Melanie said, smiling. I assume that she knew that I fancied Ollie and decided to let me spend some time with him.
"Alright then," I said, climbing over the fence and onto the pitch. Melanie disappeared, heading for the stands. I took off my cloak and set it on the sidelines. "How old are the models they have here?" I asked, as I followed Ollie to the shed.
"Eh...they're Cleansweeps. They're a bit slow, but you'll live, right?" He smiled again. Ollie opened the shed and pulled out a broom. "Here." He said, throwing it at me. I caught it, and mounted it. I then kicked off the ground. Ollie was right. It was a tad bit slow, but it wasn't too bad. I've been flying since I was three, so I was pretty good on a broom. And, I was terrific at being a Chaser because Katie had been teaching me to be one since I learned how to fly. I did a few loops before stopping in front of Ollie, who was now in the air. He tossed me the Quaffle, and I caught it with my left hand.
"We'll use the northern end of the pitch. Is that alright with you?" He asked.
"Sure," I replied, tossing the leather ball from hand to hand. As you may have noticed, I can fly no handed. I can also do a lot more cool tricks, but let's not discuss that right now. Anyway, Ollie flew down to the north end of the pitch, and I just hovered there, mapping out how I would do this. Katie told me that the key to every Chaser's success was judgment. You had to make a crucial judgment on what wand hand the Keeper was. She told me that whatever wand hand the Keeper is, throw the ball to the opposite side. That way, you sort of hit their weakness, if you'd like to call it that. And from the way Ollie was circling the left goal hoop, I decided he was a leftie. And because he threw me the Quaffle with that hand. I smirk mischievously as I looked up at the fourth-year-Gryffindor boy. I suddenly sped forward, and lunged the Quaffle as hard as I could, and as far as I could, toward the right goal hoop. I swerved to a halt, watching to see what he did. Almost as if it were a reflex, Ollie flew to the right hoop and hit the ball back to me with the tail of the broom, and I caught it.
"That was wicked, Ollie!" I yelled to him. And I wasn't lying, either. You didn't see a Keeper do that everyday!
"You're not too bad yourself! That was a pretty powerful throw! I wouldn't be surprise if I lost a few sticks from broomtail from that!" He yelled back. From where I was hovering, I could see him smile. I blushed slightly and thanked him for the compliment. We practiced for about a half- an-hour before he called for a break.
"You know, you should be on the Quidditch team. You'd make a fine Chaser. What house are you in again?" Ollie asked me, squinting again in the bright sunlight. Didn't he remember that I was a Slytherin? Obviously not. But then again, I wasn't wearing my Hogwarts robe, so everyone who didn't know me was unaware of my house. I looked down at my filed nails and picked at them a bit.
"Slytherin," I replied, trying not to turn red with embarrassment. Everyone knew that Ollie didn't like Slytherins. He just assumed that all of them were bad and evil! I half-expected him to disown me then and there. But he didn't.
"Ah...has Flint seen you play?"
"No."
"He should. Slytherin could use a Chaser as good as yourself!"
Why was he doing this? He was on the Gryffindor team, and he was helping out the Slytherin team! And being as competive as he is, this surprised me greatly. Suppose I judged him too soon.
"Aren't you Katie's sister?" He asked, looking up at me. I cringed. I hated it when someone asked me that. He'll probably compare me to her next, I thought, gritting my teeth. I just nodded. Then he muttered something, which I didn't hear. Suddenly, I remembered that Melanie was watching me! Derr! I glanced in the stands and spotted her. But she wasn't alone. She was talking to another boy. Marcus Flint! I nudged Ollie with my elbow and pointed to my friend and Flint.
"Hey Ollie?"
"Yeah?"
"Isn't that Flint talking to Melanie?"
He squinted even more to see. Nodding, he replied, "That's Flint alright. Look, I'd better go anyway. Make him see you play!" He said this very quickly. And with that, he left! I then blinked, shrugged, and flew over to socialize with my Quidditch captain and best friend. Melanie spotted me way before I got there.
"Hey Linds!" She yelled, waving. I reached them and remained hovering in the air. As you can tell, I enjoy hovering. "This is Marcus Flint. He's the Slytherin Quidditch team captain! He's been explaining Quidditch to me, and I told him how much you like it. And he's willing to give you a spot on the team! Isn't that wonderful?" Melanie said this all very quickly. She had a tendency to do this sometimes, probably due to extreme boredom or sugar rush. I blinked again, and glanced at Marcus.
"Hello," I said, smiling and extending my hand towards him, "I don't believe we've met. I'm Lindsay Bell. You may know my sister Kati-" He interrupted me, shaking my hand lightly, then letting go.
"Melanie has told me about you. You like Quidditch do you?"
"Oh yes, very much! You can say that I'm a bit obsessed with it!"
"I've seen you fly out there," He gestured to the pitch, "and I'm willing to give you a position on the team. How'd you like that?" My heart skipped a beat.
"Oh my, I'd love that! Thank you very much!" I felt like the happiest person on Earth. Me on the Quidditch team? Flint just smiled slightly and nodded. Even though I was grateful that he let me on the team, I had to admit that he was a bit creepy looking. I smiled at him again.
"Then it's done, you're on the team. The season starts in November."
We talked for a bit after that, with me hovering, and Melanie and Flint sitting. When it started getting dark, we parted ways with Flint and I put the broom I had borrowed back in the shed. On the way out, I got my cloak from the sidelines and Melanie and I returned to the castle. That night at dinner, Marcus and I conversed a lot about Quidditch. I swear, he's as obsessed as I am! It's nice to have someone like that around. But I don't like him like him! I just think he's a nice friend. So don't get the wrong ideas! And I think after what happened today, I think I've taken a certain liking to Oliver Wood. Isn't it ironic, how now I'm on the Slytherin team, and Wood captains the Gryffindor team? Nothing makes sense anymore.
November 16, 1988-Hogwarts-2nd year
Today was the first Quidditch match of the year! It was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin! And guess what? WE WON! WE BEAT THOSE SHTUPID PREPPY LITTLE GRYFFINDORS! But then I do feel a bit bad about beating my big sister like that, but it was still really cool! Would you like to know what happened in the game? Well, I was so nervous right before we came out, but I soon got over my fears just as I kicked off the ground. I could sense a lot of pressure on our Seeker, William Brocklehurst. And why not? He's the most important person on the team! Anyway, once the game started, I immediately had the Quaffle. I sped down the pitch toward my team's goal hoops, I then saw Flint speed up ahead of me.
"Bell!" He yelled, motioning for me to throw him the ball. I nodded, and threw it to him. He caught it and raced down the pitch towards Ollie who was guarding our team's goal hoops. As I stopped in midair, I narrowly missed a bludger.
"Hey!" I exclaimed, scanning the pitch for our Beaters. The bludgers were on a rampage today and our Beaters weren't doing parp about it! It's either that or the Gryffindor Beaters, were just really good today. I turned my attention back on the game. Suddenly, I heard my name being called out and saw the red Quaffle flying in my direction. Our other Chaser had thrown it at me, obviously. Like it was a reflex, my arm shot up and caught the ball. Swerving sharply, I turned around and headed down the field. Another Gryffindor Chaser, Alicia Spinnet leveled with me, trying to steal the Quaffle. I tried to use my elbows to get her away, but she persisted on flying alongside me. Irritated, I flung my arm hard at her face and flipped over a few times on her broom, giving me just enough time to reach our hoops. Instantly, I threw the Quaffle with all of my strength at the middle goal hoop. I had noticed that Ollie had taken a liking to the left hoop, so I took to his weakness. I half-expected him to hit the Quaffle right back at me, like he did at Keeper practice, but he missed! And it went through! I'd scored for Slytherin! The Slytherin crowd in the stands cheered loudly. Smiling, I flew towards the person with the Quaffle. Or rather where most the most people were gathered. My sister was one of them, and I decided to try and block her from getting the ball, rather than anyone else. I wanted her to see how good I was, and how well she had taught me. I started flying alongside her when she suddenly got the Quaffle. I began hitting her with my elbows, trying to distract her. It worked. She looked over at me, and gave me a half-glare, half-smile. And the next thing I knew, a bludger came flying at her at top speed, and flung itself into my sister. Katie spiraled downwards a bit, but didn't fall off of her broom. But she did drop the Quaffle! Sticking my tongue out at her, I grabbed the ball and raced down to Slytherin's goal hoops. This time, Flint accompanied me, and we tossed the Quaffle back and forth, between each other, until he threw it towards Ollie. This time, the Gryffindor Keeper was alert, and he caught it with one hand before Slytherin could score. And Angelina was there; ready to catch the Quaffle as Ollie threw it at her. I narrowed my eyes at Ollie and flew towards Angelina with Flint. But she passed it to Katie, who passed it to Alicia, who made a goal in their hoops! But I didn't worry; we were still ahead twenty points. This back-and-forth scoring went on for at least an hour until the shrill sound of a whistle paused the game. Madam Hooch, the referee, had called a penalty. Obviously, there had been a foul.
"PENALTY TO GRYFFINDOR!" She screamed, flying towards Gryffindor's hoops. This meant that one Chaser from the team who had the penalty had a free shot at the goal hoops. What had Slytherin done? I nudged Flint to ask him this.
"What'd we do?" I asked him, squinting in the now bright sunlight.
"That dumb Brocklehurst was cobbing. I warned him about that!" Flint replied, a bit angry.
"Oh...I see." I said, watching as Gryffindor's score went up another ten points from the penalty. Once the game had resumed, it ended. Our Seeker caught the snitch! We won! The Slytherin crowd below was going crazy. I flew down to the ground to congratulate Will, our Seeker. Once I was off my broom, I ran over to Will and hugged him.
"We won!" I screamed, after letting him go. Flint dismounted his broom as well, and joined us. He was smirking at the Gryffindor team, who was now walking off of the field. Speaking of the Gryffindor team, I ran over to Katie.
"Good game," I said, extending my hand towards her. She shook it and let go.
"Yeah, I see you paid attention during my Quidditch lessons at home." Katie replied, grinning. I suppose she wasn't too upset, seeing that she was smiling. Ollie passed us, with his head down. He didn't say anything. I motioned towards him.
"What's his problem?"
"Oh, he's just a sore loser. Ignore him, he's always like that when we lose."
"Hm...Should I go and talk to him?"
"No," Katie said, shaking her head, "he might try to kill you. I assume he's on his way to the showers to try and drown himself." Shrugging, she congratulated me again and walked off, joining the rest of her team.
"Lindsay!" Called out someone on my team, "There's a party in common room! Come on!" I smiled and ran back to my team, and we walked back to our common room. We'd won the first game of the season! The party our fellow Slytherins held for us was wicked! We had another Bertie Botts contest. I lost this time to Will when I ate a vomit-flavored one, and vomited myself. But I had fun doing it! We stopped partying after someone set off a Filbuster Firecracker and woke up Snape. He yelled at us again, and we all went to bed. He's always crashing our parties! Doesn't he ever celebrate anything? I swear, that man is a rock with a brain. Or something like that. Sorry, I just can't write very well right now seeing that I'm so hyper. I had six Chocolate Frogs, and two Cauldron Cakes! That's a lot of sugar! Maybe I'll be able to write better tomorrow...Yes; maybe I'll actually attempt sleep now.
I talked to Oliver for the first time in a long time. I suppose he was avoiding me after I was placed in Slytherin, and he hates Slytherin...Would you like to know what happened? Well, Melanie and I were walking aimlessly around outside of the castle when we decided to check out the Quidditch stadium, where we saw Ollie. He was doing Keeper Practice, where he jinxes the Quaffle to speed at him so he practices blocking it. We watched him for a bit before he noticed us. He just stopped the Quaffle and flew down to talk to us.
"So, I see I have an audience," Ollie said, smiling his smile that could launch a thousand Quaffles.
"I suppose so," I replied, smiling back, "you're quite good, you know that?"
"Why thank you! That's what everyone says. I don't think so. I think I'm a bit slow..." He trailed off, squinting a bit. "Wanna have a go at it?"
"Beg pardon?!"
"Help me at Keeper Practice, you Muggle!"
"Oh, well alright. I suppose so. But I need a broom..."
"You can use one of the school's!" I could tell he really wanted me to come with him. I looked over at Melanie, who just shrugged.
"Go ahead. I'll watch you from the stands." Melanie said, smiling. I assume that she knew that I fancied Ollie and decided to let me spend some time with him.
"Alright then," I said, climbing over the fence and onto the pitch. Melanie disappeared, heading for the stands. I took off my cloak and set it on the sidelines. "How old are the models they have here?" I asked, as I followed Ollie to the shed.
"Eh...they're Cleansweeps. They're a bit slow, but you'll live, right?" He smiled again. Ollie opened the shed and pulled out a broom. "Here." He said, throwing it at me. I caught it, and mounted it. I then kicked off the ground. Ollie was right. It was a tad bit slow, but it wasn't too bad. I've been flying since I was three, so I was pretty good on a broom. And, I was terrific at being a Chaser because Katie had been teaching me to be one since I learned how to fly. I did a few loops before stopping in front of Ollie, who was now in the air. He tossed me the Quaffle, and I caught it with my left hand.
"We'll use the northern end of the pitch. Is that alright with you?" He asked.
"Sure," I replied, tossing the leather ball from hand to hand. As you may have noticed, I can fly no handed. I can also do a lot more cool tricks, but let's not discuss that right now. Anyway, Ollie flew down to the north end of the pitch, and I just hovered there, mapping out how I would do this. Katie told me that the key to every Chaser's success was judgment. You had to make a crucial judgment on what wand hand the Keeper was. She told me that whatever wand hand the Keeper is, throw the ball to the opposite side. That way, you sort of hit their weakness, if you'd like to call it that. And from the way Ollie was circling the left goal hoop, I decided he was a leftie. And because he threw me the Quaffle with that hand. I smirk mischievously as I looked up at the fourth-year-Gryffindor boy. I suddenly sped forward, and lunged the Quaffle as hard as I could, and as far as I could, toward the right goal hoop. I swerved to a halt, watching to see what he did. Almost as if it were a reflex, Ollie flew to the right hoop and hit the ball back to me with the tail of the broom, and I caught it.
"That was wicked, Ollie!" I yelled to him. And I wasn't lying, either. You didn't see a Keeper do that everyday!
"You're not too bad yourself! That was a pretty powerful throw! I wouldn't be surprise if I lost a few sticks from broomtail from that!" He yelled back. From where I was hovering, I could see him smile. I blushed slightly and thanked him for the compliment. We practiced for about a half- an-hour before he called for a break.
"You know, you should be on the Quidditch team. You'd make a fine Chaser. What house are you in again?" Ollie asked me, squinting again in the bright sunlight. Didn't he remember that I was a Slytherin? Obviously not. But then again, I wasn't wearing my Hogwarts robe, so everyone who didn't know me was unaware of my house. I looked down at my filed nails and picked at them a bit.
"Slytherin," I replied, trying not to turn red with embarrassment. Everyone knew that Ollie didn't like Slytherins. He just assumed that all of them were bad and evil! I half-expected him to disown me then and there. But he didn't.
"Ah...has Flint seen you play?"
"No."
"He should. Slytherin could use a Chaser as good as yourself!"
Why was he doing this? He was on the Gryffindor team, and he was helping out the Slytherin team! And being as competive as he is, this surprised me greatly. Suppose I judged him too soon.
"Aren't you Katie's sister?" He asked, looking up at me. I cringed. I hated it when someone asked me that. He'll probably compare me to her next, I thought, gritting my teeth. I just nodded. Then he muttered something, which I didn't hear. Suddenly, I remembered that Melanie was watching me! Derr! I glanced in the stands and spotted her. But she wasn't alone. She was talking to another boy. Marcus Flint! I nudged Ollie with my elbow and pointed to my friend and Flint.
"Hey Ollie?"
"Yeah?"
"Isn't that Flint talking to Melanie?"
He squinted even more to see. Nodding, he replied, "That's Flint alright. Look, I'd better go anyway. Make him see you play!" He said this very quickly. And with that, he left! I then blinked, shrugged, and flew over to socialize with my Quidditch captain and best friend. Melanie spotted me way before I got there.
"Hey Linds!" She yelled, waving. I reached them and remained hovering in the air. As you can tell, I enjoy hovering. "This is Marcus Flint. He's the Slytherin Quidditch team captain! He's been explaining Quidditch to me, and I told him how much you like it. And he's willing to give you a spot on the team! Isn't that wonderful?" Melanie said this all very quickly. She had a tendency to do this sometimes, probably due to extreme boredom or sugar rush. I blinked again, and glanced at Marcus.
"Hello," I said, smiling and extending my hand towards him, "I don't believe we've met. I'm Lindsay Bell. You may know my sister Kati-" He interrupted me, shaking my hand lightly, then letting go.
"Melanie has told me about you. You like Quidditch do you?"
"Oh yes, very much! You can say that I'm a bit obsessed with it!"
"I've seen you fly out there," He gestured to the pitch, "and I'm willing to give you a position on the team. How'd you like that?" My heart skipped a beat.
"Oh my, I'd love that! Thank you very much!" I felt like the happiest person on Earth. Me on the Quidditch team? Flint just smiled slightly and nodded. Even though I was grateful that he let me on the team, I had to admit that he was a bit creepy looking. I smiled at him again.
"Then it's done, you're on the team. The season starts in November."
We talked for a bit after that, with me hovering, and Melanie and Flint sitting. When it started getting dark, we parted ways with Flint and I put the broom I had borrowed back in the shed. On the way out, I got my cloak from the sidelines and Melanie and I returned to the castle. That night at dinner, Marcus and I conversed a lot about Quidditch. I swear, he's as obsessed as I am! It's nice to have someone like that around. But I don't like him like him! I just think he's a nice friend. So don't get the wrong ideas! And I think after what happened today, I think I've taken a certain liking to Oliver Wood. Isn't it ironic, how now I'm on the Slytherin team, and Wood captains the Gryffindor team? Nothing makes sense anymore.
November 16, 1988-Hogwarts-2nd year
Today was the first Quidditch match of the year! It was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin! And guess what? WE WON! WE BEAT THOSE SHTUPID PREPPY LITTLE GRYFFINDORS! But then I do feel a bit bad about beating my big sister like that, but it was still really cool! Would you like to know what happened in the game? Well, I was so nervous right before we came out, but I soon got over my fears just as I kicked off the ground. I could sense a lot of pressure on our Seeker, William Brocklehurst. And why not? He's the most important person on the team! Anyway, once the game started, I immediately had the Quaffle. I sped down the pitch toward my team's goal hoops, I then saw Flint speed up ahead of me.
"Bell!" He yelled, motioning for me to throw him the ball. I nodded, and threw it to him. He caught it and raced down the pitch towards Ollie who was guarding our team's goal hoops. As I stopped in midair, I narrowly missed a bludger.
"Hey!" I exclaimed, scanning the pitch for our Beaters. The bludgers were on a rampage today and our Beaters weren't doing parp about it! It's either that or the Gryffindor Beaters, were just really good today. I turned my attention back on the game. Suddenly, I heard my name being called out and saw the red Quaffle flying in my direction. Our other Chaser had thrown it at me, obviously. Like it was a reflex, my arm shot up and caught the ball. Swerving sharply, I turned around and headed down the field. Another Gryffindor Chaser, Alicia Spinnet leveled with me, trying to steal the Quaffle. I tried to use my elbows to get her away, but she persisted on flying alongside me. Irritated, I flung my arm hard at her face and flipped over a few times on her broom, giving me just enough time to reach our hoops. Instantly, I threw the Quaffle with all of my strength at the middle goal hoop. I had noticed that Ollie had taken a liking to the left hoop, so I took to his weakness. I half-expected him to hit the Quaffle right back at me, like he did at Keeper practice, but he missed! And it went through! I'd scored for Slytherin! The Slytherin crowd in the stands cheered loudly. Smiling, I flew towards the person with the Quaffle. Or rather where most the most people were gathered. My sister was one of them, and I decided to try and block her from getting the ball, rather than anyone else. I wanted her to see how good I was, and how well she had taught me. I started flying alongside her when she suddenly got the Quaffle. I began hitting her with my elbows, trying to distract her. It worked. She looked over at me, and gave me a half-glare, half-smile. And the next thing I knew, a bludger came flying at her at top speed, and flung itself into my sister. Katie spiraled downwards a bit, but didn't fall off of her broom. But she did drop the Quaffle! Sticking my tongue out at her, I grabbed the ball and raced down to Slytherin's goal hoops. This time, Flint accompanied me, and we tossed the Quaffle back and forth, between each other, until he threw it towards Ollie. This time, the Gryffindor Keeper was alert, and he caught it with one hand before Slytherin could score. And Angelina was there; ready to catch the Quaffle as Ollie threw it at her. I narrowed my eyes at Ollie and flew towards Angelina with Flint. But she passed it to Katie, who passed it to Alicia, who made a goal in their hoops! But I didn't worry; we were still ahead twenty points. This back-and-forth scoring went on for at least an hour until the shrill sound of a whistle paused the game. Madam Hooch, the referee, had called a penalty. Obviously, there had been a foul.
"PENALTY TO GRYFFINDOR!" She screamed, flying towards Gryffindor's hoops. This meant that one Chaser from the team who had the penalty had a free shot at the goal hoops. What had Slytherin done? I nudged Flint to ask him this.
"What'd we do?" I asked him, squinting in the now bright sunlight.
"That dumb Brocklehurst was cobbing. I warned him about that!" Flint replied, a bit angry.
"Oh...I see." I said, watching as Gryffindor's score went up another ten points from the penalty. Once the game had resumed, it ended. Our Seeker caught the snitch! We won! The Slytherin crowd below was going crazy. I flew down to the ground to congratulate Will, our Seeker. Once I was off my broom, I ran over to Will and hugged him.
"We won!" I screamed, after letting him go. Flint dismounted his broom as well, and joined us. He was smirking at the Gryffindor team, who was now walking off of the field. Speaking of the Gryffindor team, I ran over to Katie.
"Good game," I said, extending my hand towards her. She shook it and let go.
"Yeah, I see you paid attention during my Quidditch lessons at home." Katie replied, grinning. I suppose she wasn't too upset, seeing that she was smiling. Ollie passed us, with his head down. He didn't say anything. I motioned towards him.
"What's his problem?"
"Oh, he's just a sore loser. Ignore him, he's always like that when we lose."
"Hm...Should I go and talk to him?"
"No," Katie said, shaking her head, "he might try to kill you. I assume he's on his way to the showers to try and drown himself." Shrugging, she congratulated me again and walked off, joining the rest of her team.
"Lindsay!" Called out someone on my team, "There's a party in common room! Come on!" I smiled and ran back to my team, and we walked back to our common room. We'd won the first game of the season! The party our fellow Slytherins held for us was wicked! We had another Bertie Botts contest. I lost this time to Will when I ate a vomit-flavored one, and vomited myself. But I had fun doing it! We stopped partying after someone set off a Filbuster Firecracker and woke up Snape. He yelled at us again, and we all went to bed. He's always crashing our parties! Doesn't he ever celebrate anything? I swear, that man is a rock with a brain. Or something like that. Sorry, I just can't write very well right now seeing that I'm so hyper. I had six Chocolate Frogs, and two Cauldron Cakes! That's a lot of sugar! Maybe I'll be able to write better tomorrow...Yes; maybe I'll actually attempt sleep now.