Chapter 7 -Christmas

December 7th 1991

The last match before Christmas came quicker than expected. The year was going too fast for Rayna and it scared her.

It was another Slytherin vs Gryffindor match and Slytherin had been training harder than they ever had before now they knew they had a great chance at winning. Rayna, Adrian and Flint had all been dedicated to throwing themselves into training, finding the best techniques that worked for them all. They knew each others plays inside out and were showing a very strong front.

The great hall was a hive of activity this morning, much like it was everytime there was a quidditch match. The Slytherin team sat together eating breakfast and excitedly talking between themselves minus Adrian who seemed to be in a foul mood. The gryffindor team were opposite them at the lions table, however the atmosphere was more tense, no one was talking much.

Angelina was picking at her food while Katie was pushing her toast side to side on her plate in disinterest. The Weasley twins were talking between themselves occasionally laughing at something the other said.

"the Gryffindors all look like they woke up on the wrong side of the bed today" Flint stated happily while munching away on his toast and grinning to himself.

Rayna glanced over to the Gryffindor table curiously. She observed how they weren't interacting with each other. However, her eyes landed on the captain who looked tired. But that wasn't what caught her attention.

Oliver was talking with the blonde haired Alicia Spinnet, they seemed closer than normal, Oliver leaning down towards her so he could hear her. Alicia let out a laugh, her hand resting on Oliver's arm in a flirtatious manner.

Rayna looked away paying attention to what Flint was now speaking excitedly about.

She turned her attention to Adrian who had been abnormally quiet throughout the whole of breakfast. He was glaring at his empty plate not blinking.

"you alright?" Rayna whispered so only he could hear.

Adrian only responded by flicking his eye from his plate to Rayna, his glare turning into a softer expression. He nodded quickly and Rayna took that as him saying he would tell her later.

"do you think Adrian's alright?" Rayna asked Flint as they walked ahead of their team to the pitch. It was still early and the air was freezing. The grass had frosted over, crunching beneath their feet as they walked.

"yeah, he's always like this a couple weeks before Christmas break." Flint responded.

"does it effect his game?" she asked curiously, worrying about how well he would work with them when he wasn't in the mood to interact.

Flint smirked glancing at her from the side.

"what?"

"if you thought Adrian was a good chaser when he's in a good mood, just wait until you see him play today." Flint spoke smirking again.

Rayna understood what Flint had been talking about. Adrian was playing the best that Rayna had seen him. He was more aggressive than normal but just as determined and no one seemed to want to get near enough to him to snatch the quaffle.

Snow was falling heavily from the grey sky clouding everyone's sight but the game was still in full swing. Rayna dropped the quaffle bellow as Angelina Johnson made her way straight towards her. Adrian was there to catch it before speeding down the pitch and scoring. The Slytherin stands were chanting Adrians name but Adrian didn't react, he kept the same emotionless expression on his face.

The Gryffindor supporters were becoming fed up. They were cold and starting to get covered in thick blankets of snow, many of them glaring up at the sky at their players who were obviously having a bad playing day.

Rayna clasped the quaffle that Flint sent her way, dodging Katie Bell and making her way to the Gryffindor hoops. She didn't look Oliver's way once, scoring in the middle hoop. She turned away as quickly as she had scored not wanting to see the keeper. She missed the look he sent her, full with regret and confusion. He didn't think what he had said was that bad. He didn't mean to offend her.

"you're infuriating"

His words from the Gryffindor locker room repeating in her mind as she brushed away a clump of snow that landed just below her eye.

"Higgs has caught the snitch. 220 - 140. Slytherin wins" Lee Jordan's voice broke through the air. He didn't sound too enthusiastic but he was drowned out by the uproar of the Slytherin supporters shouting happily and cheering loudly. A win against Gryffindor was there favorite kind of win after all.

Rayna smiled brightly at Flint as they made their way towards the ground. ONce they all hopped of their brooms Rayna ran to Terrance to hug him, congratulating him for catching the snitch.

"welldone!" Rayna said excitedly.

"thanks, seemed Potter was distracted the whole game" he spoke smiling.

"I think all of them were" Flint laughed gesturing to where the Gryffindor team stood a good ten meters away from them.

They all watched curiously as the defeated team were sulking as Oliver was shouting something at them.

"what the hell was wrong with you all today?" Oliver was almost shouting.

Angelina was glaring at the floor as if it had done something terrible.

"Katie, you were missing the quaffle everytime and Angelina you seemed to back out every time you went to snatch the quaffle."

Suddenly Angelina looked up meeting Rayna's eyes and glaring harshly at her.

This took Rayna a back, confusing her.

"you can't blame us for everything, you missed alot of goals today." Angelina scoffed back at him

It was true, Oliver had been very distracted today and he may have let a lot more goals than he normally did through.

He sighed before telling them all to go to the locker room.

Most of the Slytherin team were laughing at the interactions. However, Rayna was too focused on Adrian who had already started walking away.

She was concerned about him. Even though Flint had said not to worry as he was always like this closer to Christmas.

Oliver was devestated to lose against Slytherin.

He had been cooped up all week trying to come up with strategies, but the Slytherins were too unpredictable that nothing could be set.

It didn't help that his team were unfocused again.

He didn't understand what was wrong with the girls. Even more he didn't understand what was wrong with him today. He admits he played terribly. He hadn't let that many shots in ever. Maybe he was being a little hard on his team today, but he was just so frustrated he felt that he couldn't not say anything to them.

Rayna was following Adrian up to the castle, walking fast to try and catch up with him. But she was a lot shorter than him and was proving difficult.

She hurried through the front gates losing sight of Adrian.

"and where are you going in such a rush?" someone said stepping through one of the lower windows from the court yards.

"if it isn't our favorite little Slytherin" someone else said stepping through the window on the other side of her.

"Fred" she nodded at him turning the other way and doing the same for George.

"always amazes me how you do that" George said.

"we were just wondering if you knew why our dear captain is so frustrated at Slytherin" Fred asked.

"probably because we just beat him at his one true love" she shrugged.

"he's been like it all week though, everytime someone mentions Slytherin he gets this mad look" Fred spoke.

"I don't know, why are you asking me?" she said frowning.

"we were just thinking-"

"nothing, we were thinking nothing" George said smiling while cutting his twin off. "have a good day now" he said dragging Fred away.

"see you around Ray" Fred called.

How very odd she thought before going back to her mission to find Adrian.