Beginning Notes
Let me first get some things out of the way: I'm not really into Harry Potter anymore and it's been a hot minute since I've read the books so I don't know as much about the wizarding world as I once used to. However, I do really enjoy Hogwarts AU's, so I thought why not give it a go myself? Also, I don't own any of the characters, they belong to Rick Riordan, and the Harry Potter universe belongs to the Potterheads since I don't think Rowling deserves any credits :)
Finally, I would like to take a quick moment to say the biggest thank you to my most amazing betas, Noah and Myr: I love you guys so much, and thank you, because I could definitely not have done this without you!
After three years at Hogwarts, Will was used to the energetic buzz that filled the Great Hall whenever there was a Quidditch match. But the morning of the first match during his fourth year seemed to be different from the usual: everyone seemed to be whispering about something, but Will had no clue what it could be. As he walked over to the Hufflepuff table, he caught some words here and there such as 'Slytherin's been so mysterious about it' or 'I wonder who it is', but he had no idea what that was supposed to be.
'Hey, what's all the whispering about?' he asked his friends as he sat down to have breakfast.
Frank shrugged. 'No idea, honestly. I was wondering the same thing.'
'I heard it was something about the game, and Slytherin was hiding something about it, but I wouldn't know what,' Hazel said.
'You mean the new Seeker?'
Will looked up to see Percy walk over and sit down with them too.
'Jason mentioned something about Piper being the new Seeker, but I wouldn't know why everyone would be making such a deal out of that,' he explained, but Hazel shook her head.
'No, I don't think it's that, everyone already knew Slytherin would need a new Seeker since Luke graduated last year,' she said.
Will frowned. He'd never really been interested much in Quidditch, but now he was really curious as to what was going on. What could be going on with the Slytherin team that was causing such a ruckus among what seemed to be all of Hogwarts?
He tried remembering who had even been on the team last year, but since he'd barely been to any Quidditch matches he didn't remember anyone other than their former captain, Luke Castellan. The name of their Keeper kept nagging at his mind though, the thought lying on the tip of his tongue, but just out of reach to remember.
'Wait, who was the keeper of the Slytherin team last year?' he eventually decided to ask and Hazel gasped, clasping a hand against her mouth.
'I think I know what's going on,' she said quietly, a sad look suddenly on her face.
'What is it?' Frank asked cautiously, and Will could tell by his voice that he'd noticed too how serious the conversation had suddenly gotten.
'Didn't Slytherin have a new Keeper last year?' Percy asked, to which Hazel nodded. 'Bianca... right? A third year, I believe.'
'Yeah, she's my half-sister,' Hazel explained.
Will didn't remember her mentioning anything about it last year, but by the shocked looks on Percy and Frank's faces he guessed that she probably hadn't.
'How come you never told us about that?' he asked.
Hazel shrugged. 'My dad was actually married to her mother at the time, he had me because he'd had an affair with my mother. At first, he was still around to help both Maria and my mother with raising me, Bianca, and her little brother, Nico, so we used to see each other a lot. But he left for good when I was about six years old, and since then I haven't been in contact with them.'
'Wow, that's... yeah,' Percy said, but Will got what he meant; that was quite the story that Hazel had just told them.
Frank put an arm around Hazel's shoulder as she continued:
'I'd never really thought much about it. Of course, I remembered her whenever I saw her in the halls, but we never spoke because of the distance that had grown between us. Which makes sense, given that our mothers didn't want to have anything to do with each other after my dad left. But then the day before I had to go back to school my mother told me-' Hazel abruptly stopped and took a shaky breath, and Will couldn't help but feel that she was about to tell them something bad. 'She told me that Bianca had gotten in an accident and was taken to the hospital, but she didn't make it.'
A silence fell between them as they took in what Hazel had just told them.
'That's terrible, Hazel. I know you guys weren't really close anymore, but I'm so sorry for your loss,' Will said.
'Thanks, Will.'
Frank rubbed her arm comfortingly and Percy gave her his condolences. Hazel thanked them, a pained smile on her face, but then a trumpet sounded, announcing that the match was about to start.
'I guess we better get going to the field, or we'll miss the match,' Percy said.
The four of them got up and made their way over to the stands where everyone was holding green and red banners to support Slytherin and Gryffindor for the first game.
'Alright, ladies, gentlemen and enby peeps, welcome to the first Quidditch game of this year! It is I, Leo Valdez, here to bring back the best commentary to Quidditch!' the voice of Leo sounded through the stadium.
'Ah, Leo truly is made for this job, isn't he?' Jason said, who'd come to sit with them, the words 'GO GRYFFINDOR' painted across his cheeks in bright red to show support for his house.
Will laughed for he couldn't agree more; Leo's commentary had been great the few matches he had watched, and he knew it would be the same for this game.
'Today is going to be an interesting match, everyone! We have Slytherin versus Gryffindor, and some new players to add some spice to the game. On the Gryffindor team we have captain and Chaser Clarisse La Rue,' Leo announced as the Gryffindor team walked onto the pitch, waving at the stand. 'Along with Chasers Katie Gardner and their newbie, second year, Sadie Kane, who looks like she's ready to win! We'll have to see how she does, but we love the energy already! Then for the Beaters we have the iconic duo Travis and Connor Stoll again, and Keeper Chris Rodriguez. And last but not least, Seeker Thalia Grace!'
The whole stadium erupted in cheers for the Gryffindor team, and Leo continued as the Slytherin team made their way onto the pitch too.
'Then our Slytherin team this year! We have our captain and Beater Zoë Nightshade together with Beater Lavinia Asimov! As for the Chasers this year, we have Lou Ellen Blackstone, Cecil Markowitz and Alex Fierro back again for another amazing year! Then give it up for Slytherin's two newbies, fourth year, Seeker Piper Mclean, and third year, Keeper Nico di Angelo!'
Will gasped as the stadium cheered again. Nico di Angelo, the new Keeper for the Slytherin team, was Bianca's little brother. Of course people would have been gossiping about that. Nobody probably knew what had happened to Bianca, except for the fact that after a year already, she was no longer Keeper and replaced by none other than her own brother. That definitely seemed gossip-worthy if that was all you knew.
The whispering died down when Leo announced that team captains Clarisse and Zoë were going to shake hand and then the game would begin.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the fourteen of them all shot into the air.
The game was just like every other game, and nothing much interesting happened apart from the two teams whizzing past each other on their brooms, trying to score goals and hit Bludgers at each other. Will didn't really enjoy much of it, but he watched the first match every year just to see if his thoughts on it had changed over the summer, which they still hadn't.
'Gardner with the Quaffle,' Leo announced, 'who passes it to La Rue, back to Gardner. Gardner is flying over to the Slytherin goals, swiftly avoiding the other team's Chasers- oh!' he exclaimed as Katie got hit by a Bludger from behind. 'Gardner got a perfectly hit Bludger to the back by one of the Stolls, no idea which one, but the Quaffle is down! Fierro catches it and passes it onto Blackstone. Blackstone with the Quaffle now, and she passes it to Markowitz. Markowitz passes to Fierro, but oh, Kane intercepts! Kane with the Quaffle, speeding to the goals, will the Gryffindor newbie score the first goal of the game? She throws and woah, would you look at that save by di Angelo! The team captains truly did choose amazing new players this year.'
On and on the game went, with neither of the Seekers even getting a glimpse at the Snitch. Slytherin managed to score three times, one by each of their Chasers. Gryffindor however, had a hard time getting past Nico, Will noticed. He hadn't been paying much attention to the game if he was being honest, but from the moment he noticed that, he started keeping an eye on Slytherin's Keeper.
Nico intercepted every ball, not even one was let through. The boy moved so smoothly through the air, sometimes even effortlessly hanging upside down from his broom to keep the Quaffle from getting through the goalpost. Will watched in awe every time the Gryffindor Chasers tried to score, but failed miserably. He simply couldn't help but be mesmerised by the boy. And he could hear by the bewondered gasps and exited muttering that he wasn't the only one.
'Another amazing goal by Fierro! The score is now seventy to zero for Slytherin. She really does not miss, wow!'
Everyone watched at Alex stopped in her tracks and got out her wand. As Will wondered whether that was even allowed or not, she pointed it to her throat and suddenly her voice boomed through the stadium like Leo's.
'That would be 'he', Valdez.'
He then pocketed his wand and sped back to the other side of the field where Sadie and Cecil were fighting over the Quaffle.
'My bad, everyone, he really does not miss. But now it's our super newbie Kane with the ball again, who passes to La Rue, who passes back to Kane. Kane passes Gardner, and she's speeding over to the Slytherin goalposts again where undefeated Keeper di Angelo waits. Will she finally get this ball through?'
Will held his breath as he watched Katie aim for the right goalpost, but she promptly threw at the left goalpost. Nico wouldn't be able to reach out and stop it, Will could see. He'd never been this invested in a Quidditch game before, but there was just something about Nico that kept his eyes on the game the whole time.
He anxiously bit his lip as he watched the ball fly straight to the goalpost, but then Nico jumped off his broom and the whole stadium gasped in shock. Will held his breath in fear, but Nico caught himself with his left hand on the edge of his broom, and managed to kick the Quaffle with the tip off his toe. It was just enough to make it change directions in the slightest, but that was all it needed for it to narrowly miss the goalpost and everyone jumped up and cheered in triumph.
Will could finally breath again when Nico heaved himself back on his broom, and Percy mumbled: 'Damn, that was one risky save.'
'Would you look at that! Yet another fantastic save by Slytherin's new ace, di Angelo!' Leo called out, making everyone clap and cheer again.
Thankfully, Nico didn't do any extreme stunts like that for the rest of the game, because Will was scared he might get a heart attack if he did.
The game finally ended after a very intense chase after the Snitch between Thalia and Piper. In the end Thalia caught it, granting Gryffindor 150 points.
'And that was the end of this very intense first game! Grace caught the Snitch, making the final score one-seventy to one-fifty for Slytherin. Thanks to their fantastic ace, Nico di Angelo of course! He didn't let in a single ball the whole game, and combined with the other seventeen goals by Slytherin that grants them the first win of this year!' Leo said, and Will clapped enthusiastically along with the rest. Maybe he would have to start watching the quidditch games, even if only for Nico, because he was for sure the star of the show.
End Notes
Well, what do you think? This is going to be my first long, chaptered fic in like two years, so yeah, constructive criticism and other feedback is appreciated!
Also, I for once planned this whole thing out, so that will 1) hopefully make for a better story, and 2) consistent updates! You heard it people, I, happydragonfestus, will be updating once every week! So yeah, thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you next week for chapter 1!