Chapter 15 – Feud

"Where are you going now?" Rachel asked uninterestedly from an armchair in the common room. It was May, and Liz had insisted that the three of them start studying for exams, which were about a month and a half away. Michael and Rachel had grudgingly obliged. Now Liz was getting up to leave. "Don't leave us to study by ourselves!"

"I have to. I'm going to the library."

"Again?" Michael said, setting down his book. "Don't you ever give yourself any free time? Ever?"

"Sure," Liz replied. "I'm going to the Quidditch Cup final on May thirty-first."

"No free time between now and then?" said Rachel. "You do know that's a month away, don't you?"

"Yes, but I need to do this. I'm so close."

"It's that crazy Ancient Runes thing again, isn't it?" said Rachel.

"For one, it's not crazy. For two, I promised I'd do it. And for three, I don't see why you care!"

"Because! I never see you anymore. If you're not doing homework, you're working on that idiotic Ancient Runes assignment for Professor Magus. She teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts!"

"It is Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Liz, thinking of Slytherin's possible revenge. She would know if only Rachel would let her leave…

"You said it was Ancient Runes!"

"It is!"

"Stop it!" yelled Michael. "Rachel, study. Liz, go to the library. Stop fighting."

Liz grabbed her bag and left. Rachel should have never looked at the manuscript in the first place. It was none of her business. She flew to the library, fuming, and landed at her usual table. The books she had from last time were still there. She had already searched them for D multiple times, so she skipped directly to Y. It was difficult, sure, but after an hour, Liz finally found it. She wrote it down on a piece of parchment with the rest of the alphabet from the manuscript, tracing the squiggly symbol onto her makeshift translator. Now she only had to find Z and D. The blank spot she had saved for D was discouraging, but she worked on Z instead.

After Z was found, the only one she had left was D. She felt drained after all the searching, but she just needed one more letter, the hardest one to find. Liz spotted a book she might be able to use sitting on the shelf, and a thought occurred to her. Why not use her powers to retrieve it? So Liz concentrated with all her might on bringing the book to the table. Then, with a flash of strength, she watched the book float over and land lightly in front of her.

Then came the sensation that she was being watched.

Liz looked around quickly, trying to find an unseen spectator, but in her heart she knew who it was. He had told her so herself last year. It was the Dragon. He had said that he had devised a way to watch her while she used her powers. She hadn't even thought of that until now. He had seen her working on the manuscript.

Despite the paralyzing sense of terror that had suffocated her, Liz managed to calm herself and open the book. Nowhere in it could she find D. It was virtually impossible. She thought about asking Professor Magus for help, but her pride pushed that away. She could do this all by herself.

With that, she gathered her things and headed back to Gryffindor Tower, where Rachel and Michael were still in the common room. Liz ignored them completely. Instead of talking to them as she would have done if Rachel hadn't just yelled at her, Liz shot past the both of them up the stairs to the dorm, where she went to bed feeling that something good had better come out of this whole manuscript predicament.

It was May thirty-first, the day of the Quidditch Cup final between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Though Michael was nervous about facing Kathryn Hertel, probably the best Seeker since Liz's father, in her last Quidditch game in school, he still wanted to patch up things between Liz and Rachel. Their feud had lasted through the month. "You'll still sit with her, won't you?"

"Of course not," Liz said stubbornly. "I'm not going to give in. She basically called me an idiot."

"No she didn't!"

"Yes she did!"

"When?"

"She called it 'that idiotic Ancient Runes assignment.' I'm working on it, so wouldn't that make me the idiot?"

Michael faltered. "Well…"

"See? You admit it! She called me an idiot! I'm not sitting with her."

"Then who will you sit with?"

"I don't know. Someone else. Anyone else."

"Bettie?"

Liz looked up at him. "You know that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I wouldn't sit with Bettie. Bettie hates me."

"And according to you, Rachel thinks you're an idiot!" said Michael. Liz was silent. "So you'd rather sit with Bettie than Rachel? I love being right."

"I can tell," Liz said. "Listen, Michael, she insulted me and she doesn't understand why I have to finish the manuscript. If she had just left me alone about it, everything would be all right."

"Maybe if you told her why, she'd understand. I don't understand, and you're not all red-in-the-face mad at me. Why can't you tell her?"

"I just—can't."

"Why not? Did Professor Magus swear you to secrecy?"

"No, not really."

Michael raised an eyebrow. "Not really?"

"She never actually said it, but I don't think she would like me to tell the whole world."

"I'm not asking you to tell the whole world. I'm only asking you to tell your best friend. Can't you just do that?"

Liz hesitated. "No," she finally said. "I can't. You better go, you're going to be late. Didn't Sarah McGuire say warm-ups began at eight-thirty?"

"What time is it?"

"Eight thirty-five," said Liz, looking at his watch.

Michael scrambled out of his seat. "Bye, Liz! Bye, Rachel!" he called back over his shoulder. Both girls waved, glared at each other, and turned back to their breakfast.

When eleven o'clock came, hordes of excited Quidditch fans poured into stands, eagerly waiting the most exciting Quidditch Cup final to date. Liz found a seat far away from Rachel, next to a group of second-years who raised eyebrows but said nothing to her. Rachel sat with Alberta Monroe, Desiree Armstrong, and Keith Dirks, who acted like this was normal. Liz fumed until Chris and Hagrid came and sat with her. Most of the second-years looked up at Hagrid's large mass in awe, their jaws hanging open.

"Where's Rachel?" Chris asked. Liz jabbed a thumb to her left. "Are you two still fighting?"

"Not you too," said Liz.

Chris opened his mouth to say something, but Josh Lepress took the microphone and began his usual pre-game commentary. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the much-anticipated Quidditch Final! The two biggest factors in this game are Michael Weasley, the Gryffindor Seeker, a wonder since he joined the team in first-year, and the only Seeker who's ever bested him, seventh-year Hufflepuff Captain Kathryn Hertel! Hertel has led the Hufflepuff team to victory for the past three years in a row! Some say she's the best Hogwarts has seen since Harry Potter!"

At this all the second-years shifted in their seats to look at Liz. She reddened.

"Here come the teams now! For Hufflepuff, Evangelista, Southard, Rounds, Kua, Larosa, Hannigan, and Hertel!"

Liz looked down at the field. She had completely forgotten that David was a Beater on the Hufflepuff team. She waved, and he waved back.

"Who's that?" Chris asked her.

"Hmm? Oh, no one, just…a friend."

"And for the Gryffindors, Bautista, Dogginsen, Fancher, McGuire, Gadsden, Castor, and Weasley!"

The two teams took their places on the field. Oliver Wood, the flying instructor, carried a large wooden box out onto the field and released the Bludgers and the Golden Snitch. Michael sidestepped a Bludger that came pummeling at him and then shot for Sarah McGuire, the Gryffindor Captain, who barely dodged it. Then Wood threw the Quaffle into the air, and the game began.

"Chad Rounds of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle, passes to Shelia Evangelista—oh, intercepted by Viola Bautista, a newcomer to the team this year but she's doing incredibly well. She fakes a pass to Stephen Fancher and heads for the goal, where Keeper Hugh Kua has to prove his worth, she shoots, SHE SCORES! Ten points to Gryffindor! Hufflepuff Manuel Southard in possession, passes to Evangelista, she's wide open! No, she's not, Shannon Dogginsen makes a spectacular tackle and steals the Quaffle—look out, Shannon! Bludger from Beater David Hannigan, and Rounds takes the ball. He's racing up the field, there's no one between him and Keeper Sarah McGuire, he shoots—he scores. Tied ten to ten."

Things went downhill from there. The Hufflepuffs, now brimming with confidence, took every opportunity they could to shoot, and most times they made it. Sarah McGuire may have been a good Captain, but she was definitely not the best Keeper for the job. The score was sixty to twenty (Viola Bautista had scored on a fluke) when Hertel came spiraling out of the air, Michael hot on her tail.

"Go, Michael, go!" Liz urged from her place in the stands. Rachel was doing the same thing on the other side. The snitch darted behind and through the Hufflepuff goalposts, and so did the Seekers. Hertel reached out her hand for the Snitch—but Michael got there first.

"GRYFFINDOR WINS THE CUP! GRYFFINDOR WINS!" yelled Josh. "Michael Weasley pulls off a magnificent capture of the Snitch, resulting in a Gryffindor victory one hundred seventy to sixty! Hertel is denied a final victory, and there's a celebration going on out on the field!"

The Gryffindor fans streamed out onto the pitch and formed a large crowd, the Quidditch team in the middle. Michael and Sarah McGuire were holding up the Quidditch Cup together. Liz cheered with the rest of them as three seventh-year boys hoisted Michael up above the crowd.