AN: Finding friends is sometimes easier than keeping them. There's still a bit of setup for Amelie's new school-year, but Halloween is coming...
Malfoy was still absent by the time they walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, which didn't bode well for Hagrid.
When they arrived for History of Magic later Professor Binns was already floating behind his desk and Amelie seriously considered the possibility that he had spent all summer in his classroom.
While Polly made herself comfortable for an extended nap, Amelie let her eyes wander across to the other side of the classroom. It was true that she had never paid much attention to the Slytherins beyond the first few lessons they'd had together.
Unlike the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, who would talk amongst themselves or to friends and bench-neighbours from her own house, the last quarter of the second year student body barely said a word to anyone who wasn't also wearing green.
Her eyes drifted across the different faces, until they landed on one that was at least a bit familiar. Cecilia Bole appeared as enthusiastic for her first lesson with Binns as every other student in the room. While the girl next to her was unabashedly whispering to the boy on her other side, Cecilia kept her head down.
The school bell eventually released them and they split off to march across the courtyard and meet the Ravenclaws for Transfiguration.
Amelie handed in her essays and listened to Professor McGonagall, as she instructed them on how to turn beetles into coat buttons.
Scribbling her notes into the margins of her text-books had taken some time getting used to. Some part of her was still back in elementary school, reading from borrowed school-books that had been passed down for generations. But the books were all hers now and she could write her notes wherever she wanted.
Amelie almost jumped with joy when she finally managed the transformation near the end of the lesson, only for her button to suddenly sprout tiny legs and make a run for it.
Lunch was spent in tense anticipation of the upcoming lesson with Professor Lupin. The third years had already had their first two hours with him that morning, but neither Amelie nor the rest of her class felt like slinking over to the Gryffindor or Slytherin tables to ask them for details.
And so they walked into the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, on the second floor of the Astronomy Wing, thirty minutes later with no idea what to expect.
Professor Lupin was already there in his slightly shabby robes, but looking far healthier than during the starting feast. The room was almost unrecognisable without the stacks of Lockhart's awful books or his collection of worthless artefacts. In their place, there were now charts and diagrams, hung up between the occasional cage, containing some unpleasant-looking creature or another.
Amelie felt herself tense up as she took a seat near the front of the class, but the feeling was easy enough to shake off. Lupin gave her friendly nod, while the chairs and desks around the room slowly filled up.
The Gryffindors came in not long after them and Amelie spotted Ginny and Colin among the bubble of red-trimmed robes. One had spent most of the last year petrified and the other possessed by a cursed book, but at least today, they looked no worse for wear.
"Hello everyone!" Lupin began, his arms behind his back and his gaze moving across the class with a faint smile.
"Welcome to your first lesson in Defence against the Dark Arts. Now, I've had a look at some of the things you, uhm, covered over your first year. And while there's certainly been a keen focus on the basics of creatures, it seems like Professor Lockhart has been somewhat... remiss in teaching defensive spells."
A few people mumbled in agreement as he tapped the blackboard with his wand and several lines of writing revealed themselves. They spelled out the names of spells, jinxes and charms Amelie had seen in the book Riyan gifted her for her birthday.
"Therefore, we will set our eyes on bringing everyone up to speed on some of the key magic when it comes to protecting yourselves. Our first goal, for the coming weeks, will be the Disarming Charm, the Body-Bind Jinx and the basic Shield Charm."
Despite his soft, deep voice Lupin had a way of keeping the attention of the class as he went over the basic wand movements and incantations. Soon after, he ordered them to take out their wands and come to the front of the room. With a quick charm, he made the chairs and desks slide to the side, leaving plenty of space before them.
"Form a queue here. Don't worry, everyone will get their turn," Lupin instructed. While the class shuffled into place, he drew his wand and flicked it at a pile of boxes and cleaning supplies.
They quickly tumbled over each other, before stacking up and forming a shape vaguely looking like a mannequin. An upturned bucket served as the puppet's 'head' and an old cleaning-mop was stuck through its centre to serve as a pair of arms. For a final touch, Professor Lupin charmed a small stick to serve as the puppet's 'wand'.
"Right then. When we get started, each of you will step forward and give the Disarming Charm a go. Simply aim for the centre of your target and remember the wand movement. Sturton, why don't you begin?"
A Gryffindor boy stepped forward and raised his wand, narrowing his eyes, before pointing at their makeshift training-dummy and shouting, "Expelliarmus!"
There was a flash and a thin, red beam struck the target, sending the stick flying.
Lupin gave him a pleased nod. "Very good. Remember that, in an actual duel, your opponent will keep a strong grip on their wand. But don't worry about the intensity of your spell just yet." He flicked his own wand at the dummy and the stick returned.
One by one, they walked up and practised the spell. Most weren't as accurate as Sturton had been and instead needed a second or third attempt to properly hit the target. With their many days of practising in the abandoned classroom, the trio had no problem landing their shots.
For the second lesson, they were paired up and instructed to take turns using the charm on their partner, while trying to keep a hold of their own wand.
"Alright, give me your best shot!" Polly taunted, before assuming the duelling position they had seen Snape and Lockhart use last winter.
Despite her friend's best attempt at keeping her grip, Amelie managed to make Polly's wand fly out of her hand.
"This is kind of fun," Amelie giggled.
"Pff." Polly narrowed her eyes as she went to pick up her wand. "My turn."
Getting into position, Amelie held her hand at her side and waited.
"Expelliarmus!" With some unnecessary flourish, Polly sent a bolt of red lightning at her. The spell hit dead-on, but despite the uncomfortable twitch in her arm, Amelie managed to hold onto her wand as it tried to fly from her fingers.
Biting her lip, Polly tried again, to similar results. Amelie's finger-tips started feeling numb, but her grip held.
Next to them, Patricia and Linda had paused their own duel to watch them and Amelie was starting to feel nervous. For the next attempt, she slightly relaxed her hand and, sure enough, Polly's spell managed to disarm her this time.
Amelie bent down to pick up her wand and gave Polly an apologetic look, whispering, "Sorry."
"That's cheating," her friend mumbled, pouting as they prepared for another go.
The rest of the class fared somewhat better and most managed to disarm their partner once they got a good hit in. Lupin left them to practise until the bell rang.
"Excellent progress today," he praised, while sending their desks back to their position. "For Wednesday, I want at least half a page on the Shield Charm, with a focus on its strengths and limitations. See you next week."
When the stream of black robes spilled from the classroom, it quickly became clear that Amelie wasn't the only one more than happy with their new teacher. For the first time since coming to Hogwarts, they walked out of a Defence class excited.
"That was brilliant. I almost wish we could've kept practising all day," Riyan said, grinning from ear to ear.
"Oh, definitely," Polly chirped in, before leaning closer and whispering to him, "but next time you have to duel Amelie. She's going to make me look like an idiot otherwise."
She gave Amelie a sneaky nudge in the side.
Defence against the Dark Arts was quickly climbing to the top of their favourite classes, not just for Amelie and the other Hufflepuffs, but the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws as well.
As if purely out of spite, Malfoy and his group of hanger-ons loudly complained about any irrelevant thing he could come up with. To their credit, few if any Slytherins, outside the third years, joined in.
Malfoy's regular whining and melodramatic behaviour, ever since coming back from the Hospital Wing, apparently wasn't making him any more popular with the rest of the house. It was easy to miss, if one only looked at the loud-mouthed boy, but during his performances, there were quite a few annoyed glares and rolled eyes, even if nobody spoke up.
Just after dinner, Beatrice reminded the second years to go and get a bit of sleep in before their first Astronomy lesson at midnight.
Amelie was surprised to see Polly marching straight to their dorms, instead of hanging around the common room for another hour or two to play Exploding Snap and try to singe Riyan's eyebrows.
"Quidditch try-outs are tomorrow at ten. I've got to be ready," her friend explained cheerfully, before slipping out of her robes and crawling into bed.
Amelie managed to close her eyes not long after and when they were woken up in the middle of the night by Linda's rooster-shaped alarm-clock, she felt better than ever.
More than last year, she was starting to feel the difference between day-time and the dark. The excitement of their first week back at school had kept her energised, but now, comfortably surrounded by the quiet atmosphere of the night-time castle, she felt her body humming with anticipation.
She had to slow her pace to stay with Polly, Riyan and the rest of the Hufflepuffs, who were dragging themselves up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower.
Professor Sinistra bid them welcome to their second year, while walking around and collecting their finished homework.
"For this term, I have prepared something special," she announced. "Instead of a regular examination next spring, your grade will be derived from a months-long pair project. You will chart the progression of the night sky together and answer a series of questions, based on your observations."
Sinistra let her gaze sweep across the combined class. There were quite a few raised eyebrows and several students were discretely shuffling towards their desired partners.
"Groups will be formed next lesson, so I suggest you look for someone to partner with until then. For now, let's revise what you worked on over the summer."
Before Amelie could turn around, Polly latched onto her arm with an innocent, puppy-eyed smile.
"Oh, look who's come crawling back," Amelie teased, giving Polly a friendly nudge in the ribs. She looked over to Riyan, but he had already paired up with Gareth.
For the rest of the lesson, she tried to pay attention to Professor Sinistra, no matter how distracting the beautiful, starry night-sky was.
The bill for her unplanned midnight activity came due the next morning, when Amelie had to be bodily dragged out of bed by Polly.
"Rise and shine, Nosferatu. Try-outs will start in just two hours!"
Grumbling under her breath, Amelie let herself get pushed towards the bathroom, where a cold splash of water brought her back to the land of the living with a shock. It felt as if her body had to be dragged back, kicking and screaming, from falling into the routine she had become used to at the coven. With her roommates at breakfast, she emptied another bottle of Sanguinaris Potion.
When they were walking down to the Quidditch pitch not long after, Polly seemed ready to burst. Her fingers were twitching as she clutched her new broom tightly.
"Lots of competition this year," she mumbled, nervously eyeing the surprisingly large number of people who had come out so early on a Saturday morning.
A desk had been placed on the grass of the pitch near one of the tall goal-posts and there were several older Hufflepuffs already present, wearing their Quidditch robes. Despite the sizable crowd, there weren't quite that many people holding brooms.
Riyan chuckled. "I think you'll be fine. From the way it looks, not everyone's here to actually try for the team."
He pointed to the desk, where a particularly big cluster of mostly female students, some not even from Hufflepuff, was standing around Cedric, the newly appointed captain.
He seemed to have his hands full sifting through the crowd to fish for people who actually wanted to participate. The rest of his team was lingering behind him, visibly amused.
As Polly was pushing her way past the gaggle of fan-girls to put her name down, Amelie and Riyan hung back. She spotted Linda and Patricia, sitting with a few first years, and marched over.
"Do you think she's got a chance?" Patricia asked. It wasn't hard to see why she had doubts. Polly was the only second year to apply, making her the shortest player among the crowd.
Letting her eyes sweep over the other applicants, Amelie shrugged. "I suppose so. Polly said they have to replace half the team this year, so anything's possible."
Since the former captain, Luke Cholderton, had graduated the previous school-year, the Hufflepuff team would be under new leadership and with a completely different fixture.
One of the first years, the freckle-faced girl Polly had been speaking to during the opening feast, was mustering the candidates and asked, "How old do you have to be to join?"
"Anyone can apply, Stephanie", Patricia explained, "but from what Ernie said there's not much of a point trying if you're in first or even second year."
Linda piped up, "Didn't Harry Potter become Seeker at the start of his first year?"
Patricia shrugged dismissively. "True, but he's famous, so they probably made an exception. Hannah mentioned that he did something reckless and impressed McGonagall enough for her to put him on the team."
"What position is Polly trying out for anyway?" Riyan asked Amelie.
"Chaser. They only have Heidi MacAvoy left, so they need two more. Also, since Beccles graduated last summer they need another Beater." She rattled off what she had learned, mostly against her will, about the players of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.
From the bench on the sidelines, they couldn't hear very well what Cedric was saying, but soon after his unofficial fan-club dispersed, with some of them returning to the castle, while the rest took up the remaining space on the benches.
The applicants were split into two groups and Polly joined about half a dozen other Hufflepuffs off to the side, while the remaining four were lined up to try out as Beaters.
While they waited for their roommate to have her turn, the topic of discussion turned back to Professor Lupin.
"Do you think we'll get to keep him next year?" Patricia asked. "Hannah and Susan said he's the third Defence teacher in as many years. They had someone named Quirrel before and I heard he was a nervous wreck most of the time."
Amelie nodded. "I really hope so. Professor Lupin is great and we're finally learning something useful."
"Well," Linda began, chewing her lip nervously, "do you think he knows Snape?"
Seeing everyone turn around and stare at her, made Linda shift uncomfortably. She sputtered, "I- uh, I saw them talking in the corridor Thursday after lunch and it sounded like, well... like Snape really didn't like him."
"Snape's been after job for years." Riyan shrugged and added, "Honestly, it's kind of funny that he hasn't gotten it. Almost makes it look like Dumbledore's denying him on purpose."
The others laughed at the suggestion, but Amelie was lost in thought. Did Snape know about Professor Lupin's condition? Most likely. So did he dislike him for that or for getting the position as Defence teacher? Or something else entirely?
Out on the pitch, the Beater try-outs had begun and they watched as the hopeful applicants tried to thwack the Bludger towards Heidi MacAvoy, while Cedric and the rest of the team observed.
Amelie tried to pay attention, but her eyes were mostly on Polly, who was waiting her turn. It was impossible to miss how nervous she was, her hands twitching ever so slightly.
Eventually, the Beater trials were through and things were getting serious. The remaining students were lined up by year, from oldest to youngest. Herbert Fleet mounted his broom and took up position in front of the goal-rings, while Heidi went to grab the Quaffle and Maxine O'Flaherty readied herself with her bat.
The first few prospective players did reasonably well, as far as Amelie could judge from her second-hand knowledge of the game. Malcolm Preece even managed to land most of his shots, while Fleet blocked the rest. Unfortunately, the younger students seemed to struggle and Wayne Hopkins, a third year she'd seen hanging around Ernie MacMillan, even managed to fly into a Bludger, rather than avoid it.
By the time it was Poppy's turn, most on the benches had lost interest and were simply chatting. Amelie nudged Riyan's arm, before lifting her hands to her mouth.
"Go, Polly! You can do it!"
She could see her turning around to give them a nervous smile, while Riyan, Linda and Patricia joined in with their own cheers.
Polly swung her leg over her broom and kicked off, rapidly climbing towards the other players. Seeing her face, it was as if something had switched on inside her head. There was an almost mad gleam in her eyes, and her mouth was pulled into a grin, as if getting airborne was already all she could've wanted.
Down on the ground, Amelie held her breath as she watched Polly accept the Quaffle from Heidi and get into position to try and score a few goals against the Keeper.
Upon being given the signal, she surged forward with such speed that it uncomfortably reminded Amelie of her own broom accident almost one year ago. Though unlike her, Polly kept a firm grip on the handle and held her legs close, while her right arm grabbed the Quaffle.
Only metres from the goal, she performed a sudden feint to the left, then dashed to the right and threw, bypassing Fleet entirely and scoring her first goal.
Amelie jumped to her feet, shortly followed by Linda, while cheering her friend on.
Again and again, Polly came around and managed to get the Quaffle through the ring, although Fleet managed to at least touch the ball a few times. Pulling himself together, he blocked her last two throws.
Her test against the Bludger went well, but there were a few very close calls that made Amelie want to pull out her wand, just in case Polly was hit and fell.
When Cedric blew his whistle and signalled the try-outs to be over, Polly almost looked disappointed rather than relieved. She returned the Quaffle to Heidi, before flying back down to the pitch.
A few minutes later, she joined Amelie and the other second years, wiping some sweat from her forehead.
"That was absolutely amazing!" Amelie gushed, before throwing her arms around Polly's neck.
"Thanks, yeah, I kind of screwed up after I came from the left and Fleet blocked it. He got wise to the feints in the end. I got lucky, I guess."
Riyan laughed. "What are you talking about? That was brilliant. Nobody came close to that, aside from Preece maybe."
Back in the common room, they let Polly go and grab a shower. With her hair still wrapped in a towel, they got started on their homework. Ten minutes in and Amelie could see that Polly was still eyeing the top of her blank parchment, chewing on her quill.
She leaned over and said quietly, "Look, just take a break, alright? You can copy mine later."
Polly smiled, but shook her head. "Nah, I've got to do this too. I mean, I probably won't be playing and I have to, you know, learn how to get a job without Quidditch. Maybe I can just sell the broom or something..."
"It's been less than an hour," Riyan sighed. "Your life isn't over yet."
When they marched to the Great Hall for lunch, Polly's mood still hadn't improved. Dragging her feet, she seemed prepared to quietly accept her fate. They had barely gotten her to eat a few spoonfuls of porridge, before Heidi came along and took her to meet with Cedric.
"See you in the common room," she said, valiantly keeping a straight face as she got up.
It wasn't until almost thirty minutes later, when they were back in their little corner with the sofas and arm-chairs, that the entrance-portal to the Hufflepuff den opened and Polly came trudging back inside. She appeared dazed, her expression oddly flat, as she sat down next to Amelie.
Riyan gave her a sympathetic look. "Look, you can always try next year. I'm sure they'll-"
"I'm on the team."
"...what?"
"Cedric put me on the team," she managed to say, her voice barely holding together as her face pulled into a wild grin.
"Yes!" Amelie quickly dove in and wrapped her arms around her neck, squeezing her tightly. "Congratulations!"
Patricia and the other within earshot joined in, patting her on the back.
"Wow, you've got to be one of the youngest Chasers in... I don't know, decades!" Linda gushed.
Polly, still beaming madly, nodded and gently extracted herself from Amelie's hug.
"Thank you. It's- I still can't believe it. Cedric and Heidi are trying something completely new this year and I was so sure they'd pick someone else. He actually had a whole speech prepared for how we were going to train and everything," she babbled on, words tumbling over each other.
Amelie was so happy for her, she sat patiently and let her ramble on about formations and strategy. Once Polly had calmed down, they got back to finishing their homework in time for dinner.
"Do you want to go to the old Charms classroom tomorrow?" Amelie asked as they were on their way back.
Polly grimaced, giving her an apologetic look. "Sorry, Cedric wants to get an early training session in. The game against Slytherin is right before Halloween and we basically have to start from scratch. But you can come along, if you want."
"Oh, sure."
"Tomorrow should work," Riyan uttered, rubbing his chin, "but on Monday the Gobstone Club starts meeting and I promised Morgan I'd come and take a look."
Amelie nodded, feeling only a bit disappointed. Their spell practice in the old classroom had been some of the most fun she'd had all year. But perhaps there would be time for that later.
True to their word, Riyan and Amelie packed up their things and went down to the Quidditch Pitch the next morning, not long after Polly had rushed off to get her new gear from Madam Hooch.
The air was surprisingly crisp, despite the mild, early-autumn weather they had enjoyed the days before. Out on the pitch, the newly assembled Hufflepuff Quidditch team was sitting in a huddle, while Cedric kept talking, occasionally holding up a piece of parchment and pointing to a few blurry lines and dots.
As happy as Amelie was, seeing Polly so beside herself with excitement, she couldn't quite get into the spirit of the game. Quidditch was interesting, sure, but there was far too much broom-riding involved for her to ever be more than a spectator.
"I hope this works out for her," Riyan commented, nudging his head at Polly who was eagerly absorbing every titbit of information from Cedric. "From what Beatrice said, the house team has been struggling for years."
"She'll do great, I'm sure of it." Amelie stared across the field, her eyes glazing over. They sat in silence for almost five minutes until Riyan spoke up again.
"About this whole thing with your family," he began, speaking slowly as if to weigh every word, "do you think someone's really after you?"
"I don't know. The leader of my coven said it's possible, but all that happened years ago. My name wasn't even in the book then." She gave Riyan a look, unsure of what to make of his question.
"Have you told Dumbledore about it?"
"Well, no."
He turned to her, his brow furrowed. "Why not? He could definitely help."
There was no doubt in Amelie's mind that Professor Dumbledore would take her concerns seriously and do what he could to assist her, but thinking about approaching him made her feel uncomfortable. The thought of talking to him about it made her feel like she was going behind Lady Duras' back, no matter how friendly she was with the headmaster.
"I don't think I should bother him with something like that. I mean, there's nothing he could really do anyway," she replied. "Besides, I'll be staying with the coven while I'm not at Hogwarts. It'll be fine."
"If you say so."
It wasn't hard to hear the doubt in Riyan's voice, but Amelie had no clue if it was out of concern for her or something else.
Now that she thought about it, her friend had barely asked any questions regarding her new living arrangements. Even during their free period before their first Potions lesson, he had seemed less enthused every time she talked about the coven and the other vampires.
"Cedric's finished his speech," she pointed out, gesturing at the pitch, where the Quidditch players had stood up and were in the process of getting on their brooms.
They spent another mostly quiet hour, watching them practise.
After a late breakfast on Monday, followed by another hour with Professor McGonagall, Amelie finally managed to transfigure her button without it trying to jump off her desk.
Afterwards, they made their way out of the castle for Herbology with their head of house, Professor Sprout. To their surprise, she was already waiting for them by the entrance.
"Good morning, everyone!" she announced cheerfully. "We'll be working in greenhouse three this term. Come along!"
There was a lot of excited chatter as they walked over to the largest of the four greenhouses. It held some of the more dangerous plants and so far they had been forbidden from going inside.
Professor Sprout unlocked the door and as they stepped inside, the warm, humid air around them was enough to make Amelie want to loosen her tie.
The soil-beds around the edge of the room were sealed behind panes of glass and it wasn't hard to guess why. Many of the plants growing behind it were rather wicked-looking. Some even moved as they walked past.
In the centre of the greenhouse was a large table, holding a number of big flower-pots and, for some reason, a good two dozen fluffy ear-muffs.
Another set of much smaller pots was standing in the middle of the table. Unlike the other ones, they were filled with soil and each had a single, wrinkly plant growing out of it. The strange growths seemed familiar.
"Now then," Professor Sprout said, "who can tell me what these are?"
"They're Mandrakes, professor," Linda replied after Sprout pointed at her. "They're a powerful ingredient for spell-cures and restoratives."
"Excellent, Miss Chaddesley, five points for that. Now, as some of you probably remember from last year, Mandrakes can be dangerous. Their cry is very harmful and, with a particularly ripe specimen, it can even be fatal."
She pointed at the ones on the table. "Thankfully, these are still young, but be warned. They can still send you to the Hospital Wing if you're not careful."
Professor Sprout sighed. "Normally, we only keep a few around for teaching purposes, but after last year the new directive says we must keep a stock of maturing Mandrakes on hand at all times, just in case."
She cleared her throat and continued, "Today we'll replant them, but first things first. Everyone grab a pair of muffs and make sure they fit tight over your ears, then take an empty pot and find a free Mandrake."
They stepped forward, some of the boys not-so-subtly pushing to the front to get a pair that wasn't bright pink. Amelie snagged one that was purple and had seemingly seen a few years of use already.
"Alright," Sprout said, making sure none of them had been left without ear-protection. "When I give the signal, everyone will put on their muffs. Afterwards, you'll pull out your Mandrake and quickly replant it in the bigger pot. Make sure you get plenty of soil and fertiliser around it to seal it in."
They all got into position, but before she gave the signal to begin, Professor Sprout marched over and took Amelie's ear-muffs.
"Just a second, Miss Hastings. I think the silencing charm has worn off a bit on these." She mumbled an incantation and tapped the fuzzy ear-protectors with her wand. "There, that should work."
Amelie saw her giving a sneaky wink, before returning to the front of the class.
"Now then. Muffs on!"
Brushing her hair back, Amelie slipped the ear-muffs onto her head. In an instant, nearly all sound disappeared around her. Only the faintest traces of her classmates' voices still came through.
Professor Sprout took one last look around and then pointed at the Mandrakes.
They didn't look particularly noteworthy. The bushel of leaves sticking out of the soil was hardly wider than a hand-span. Amelie took a good hold of them at the root and pulled.
What looked at first like a particularly thick root turned out to be a strange and wrinkly creature, the leaves growing out of its head like hair. Even through the ear-muffs, she could hear its painfully high-pitched screams. From the look of her classmates, she wasn't the only one.
Moving quickly, Amelie stuffed the Mandrake into the pot on the table in front of her and shovelled handfuls of fresh soil on top of the wriggling plant. The screaming was slowly drowned out.
When the last Mandrake was silenced, Professor Sprout gave them a thumbs-up and removed her own ear-muffs.
There was a dull throbbing in Amelie's head. She didn't want to imagine what would've happened if Sprout hadn't added the enchantment to the muffs. Having powerful hearing could be a curse in and of itself.
The rest of their lesson thankfully didn't involve any further assaults on her senses.
Not long after they had finished their homework, Riyan left to make good on his promise and meet Morgan at the Gobstone Club. So it was only Polly and her, who walked down to the Quidditch Pitch for another training session of the Hufflepuff team.
In the absence of any other company, Amelie had brought her French text-book along. Looking up occasionally to see how her friend was doing, she still couldn't shake the creeping sense of boredom.
Of course she was beyond happy for Polly. Seeing her smile as she surged through the air was infectious, her passion for flying burning like a comet's trail. Yet somehow, Amelie had hoped they would pick up their afternoons in the old classroom again, practising spells, fooling around or just talking about the latest mystery.
But perhaps that wasn't going to be an option anymore.