rough game, quidditch

“My old man thinks you’re my girlfriend. Silly, isn’t it?” he said after catching his breath and gave the girl a flick.

"Oh look!", she exclaimed, fishing for an omnicular next to her seat - how precious they were, those VIP seats! - to get a better view. "There they are!"

Her eyes slowly looked back up at Catriona, a flush still clear on her porcelain cheeks. "When would you like me to tutor you? I suppose it can't be on the weekend, because you're probably with your friends." Her smile faltered slightly into a little frown, making her look so innocent and childlike. "B-But if you did want to give it back to me somehow, you could maybe give me a lesson on Quidditch, I am not really the sporting type."

She thought about it for a split second... it was true, she had a lot of reunions and stuff with her friends going on, but she should probably prioritize studying over that. "Whenever you have time. If on the weekends work for you, that's totally fine with me! I want to get better at potions, after all." She winked. When Lucinda mentioned quidditch, Catriona felt her heart jump immediately. "That would be lovely, of course! You'll see, you'll like it - who doesn't? It's heavenly, I promise you, and we can get you a broom and practice flying and playing with the quaffle-" She grabbed Lucinda's arm excitedly. "You'll love it."

For his own sake, he decided to play along. “Besides,” he straightened his cloak, “if you tell them the story, they won’t ever want to play again.” With the wooden end of his broomstick, Al gestured to the open, silent, shrouded pitch. His voice fell quiet and he looked over at a group of fifth years, who had just joined the team a few weeks ago. “They tell you what happened in the mist in seventh year. This dummy let it slip-” an accusing glance at Devlin- “but you kids aren’t supposed to know about it. They build you all up on the fun of the game and friendship and team spirit and all that so you don’t feel like you can quit after you find out. Right guys?” The other seventh years nodded in agreement. One whispered something to a sixth year, making her shudder. Oh, good. This was working out well. “A mist like this doesn’t come very often, and what comes with it is much worse.” Al patted Devlin on the back with unnecessary force, making him cough loudly. “So no more trysts with the Gryffindor girls, Dev, unless you want your filthy mind rotted and your pretty face eaten off.” The seventh years laughed (“Thank god,” Al thought, “I got the clever house”) but the sixth and fifth years weren’t sure how to react. A few laughed nervously while the others cringed. Al smiled. This wasn’t exactly how he intended his morning to go, but it was probably just as fun as playing quidditch. Playing with minds, he found, was much more satisfying than playing with brooms.

From afar, she could already hear the Slytherins discussing vividly, and oh - there was Devlin as well! There must definitely be some news. Maybe everything was alright again - she squinted, but the mist was still there. She waved at everyone and smiled as she bounced on her toes. "What's going on - is the ban lifted finally?" She eyed Alastar, who was looking rather angry. Hopefully everything was alright. "You are not using the pitch without permission, Al, are you?" It was meant as a joke, but by the look on his face, he didn't take it as one.

"You don’t have to come along of course, it’s completely up to you but if you do I’ll help you as much as I can with what you’re stuck on. I usually go straight there after school and do some intervention and then go to the library for the rest of the night. Of course, you don’t have to come with me to the library." Lucinda’s voice became more quiet with shyness. "It will be nice to have some company that won’t make fun of me."

As Lucinda went on, Catriona began to feel even more for her. What it must be like, so lonely? She couldn't even imagine, she'd never been without friends herself. Nobody should be. So she touched Lucinda's shoulder and smiled at her. "I would love to come with you to the library! You'll have to show me around though, I don't quite know my way around there..." It was actually embarrassing to admit, but maybe it would make Lucinda feel better, and that was worth it. "We can make it a study day, it will be fun!" She thought about it. "I'm going to bring pumpkin cupcakes, okay? I mean, we can't eat them in the library, probably... But maybe we can take a break and eat them outside? If the weather is good."

As her eyes fell upon the doors of the Great Hall, a rare frown tugged at her features. “I wish you very good luck in the choir. I hope it all goes well with your frog. He’s very nice. I like his colour. Very frog-like.” She smiled proudly before skipping off into the hall, though, tripping over something of the ground and falling over, front first. The students currently in the hall laughed, making Lucinda feel humiliated as she attempted to scramble to her feet unsuccessfully.

"Thank you! We practiced so much for this, so all should go well. And with all the frogs present now, what could go wrong?" She winked. In that moment Lucinda stumbled over something and fell to the ground. Catriona almost let the frog fall when she crouched down to help her up. Lucinda looked beyond embarrassed. "Are you okay? Don't listen to them, they just have nothing better to do." She helped her up and patted her shoulder. "Did you hurt yourself?"

Tilting her head back again, she started to go on about the Thestrals. “The Thestrals aren’t scary at all. They are very misunderstood creatures and I find them very fascinating. I feed them when I have the chance, I like looking after the baby ones.” Her voice said excitedly, clasping both of her hands together around her book. “I don’t like all this Halloween business though, it gives me the creeps. It scares the unicorns too. That’s why they can’t be found in cold Octobers. I heard pygmypuffs sing on Boxing Day!”

As they walked on, she hoped for a change of subject. "So, do you spend a lot of time in the library, Lucinda?", she asked the other girl. "You must be very smart, then..."

I think everyone’s dream is to be an actress, but I never really thought it was going to happen. Now that it’s happening, it’s incredible. I do a lot of other things, too. I’m not stuck in this little world. I’m aware that we’re in the middle of an economic crisis in the U.S. There’s a lot going on in the world, and I’m really happy and excited about what I have and I don’t take it for granted. I’m pretty lucky.

Reaching up to brush a stray strand of hair out of face, she spoke again. "I like going into the forest and looking for the unicorns, though I found centaurs. They're nice too. I feed the Thestrals sometimes. I will find unicorns someday. I'll keep looking until I do."

"You go into the forest?", Catriona echoed, mildly shocked, and accidentally squeezed the frog in her hand. It reacted with a protesting croak. This girl was turning out to be more and more of a surprise. If she survived the Forbidden Forest, surely one didn't have to worry about her social life at Hogwarts. "But it's forbidden and - I mean - aren't you scared?? And don't you find the Thestrals... you know... eerie?" She bit herself on the tongue. She was being rude. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be invasive."

-Al

- Cat