Wonder

Chapter 1: A smashing beginning

Disclaimer! The events of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child have not been taken into consideration; they have not happened in this universe.

The compartment was filled with laughter and chatting. It only partially drowned out the puffing sounds of the train driving forth. With a warm smile, I looked around and thought to myself: This will be my last year. How strange. It did not feel like that at all. It didn't feel special or extraordinary. The only thing that suddenly struck me, was how much we had all grown. I still remembered how we all had been six years ago; nervous, tiny and dependant. My friends had changed. Not only in character, but also who was my friend and who was not. And so I had ended up with a strong core who sat with me in the compartment right now.
Cameron, who sat opposite of me, kicked against my shin. 'Earth to Lila!' he said loudly. 'Which cloud surrounded your head over there?'
I laughed and stuck out my tongue. 'What do you want, hamburger?' Cameron was an American transfer who joined us in our fourth year. We always loved to tease him with it.
'Would you like to play a game of Exploding Snap with us, Liliana?' he asked with an exaggerated, horrible British accent. He knew I hated it when I was addressed by my full name.
I narrowed my eyes. 'The game is on.'
Next to me, Noah laughed. 'You're dead, Cam.' Noah was a fifth year. He and his twin sister Claire had joined our group via Jesse, their brother. Jesse was a seventh year and a Gryffindor, just like me.
Cameron laughed. 'I might have someone to back me up.'
'What? No cheating!' Claire exclaimed. 'We're going to play this fair and square and work together to get Cameron to loose.' She grinned devilishly.
We laughed and I looked at Kaylee, with whom I'd been friends since my first year. I raised my eyebrows. 'No Occlumency!' I said strictly.
'Can't promise anything,' she said, smiling benignly. Kaylee was a Legilimens, but not a strong one. She couldn't read the literal thoughts, but she could sense emotions and understand the large picture of what was happening behind closed doors. A great perk for gossiping.
And so we spent the time of my second to last ride on the Hogwarts Express. We played several games, gossiped, ate Chocolate Frogs and other sweets, changed into our robes and sat in the carriages that pulled itself.

The time passed quicker than I thought. I barely noticed how quickly the weeks passed. We had many lessons, got piled up with homework and shivered as autumn fell. Jesse performed his Prefect duties, I tried out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and became one of the Beaters for the third year in a row; Noah landed his position as Seeker of Hufflepuff again. Kaylee got selected for the Christmas Ball Committee, Cameron immediately got himself into detention and Noah and Claire worked harder than ever: they had to complete their O.W.L.s this year.
And suddenly, the Saturday of the first Quidditch match had arrived. I had already changed into my Quidditch robes and I balanced my bat in my gloved hands. My Comet 290 laid under the bench behind my feet. Our captain Ruby Sanderson cleared her throat to give us a speech. She was a sixth year and this was her first year as captain, but she was a star Chaser.
'Okay guys, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. The first match of the year and the first match with this team. But I am confident that we will do well. We have an airtight Keeper...' She gestured to Freddie Hewitt, a third year, and we clapped, '... we have a sharp Seeker...' Laura Montgomery, a fourth year, bowed and we cheered her on, '... two scary Beaters...' the others clapped enthusiastically and I put my bat in the air, '... and three Chasers that will fight for that darn Quaffle to fly through the hoops. We can do this. Let's go!' We cheered and prepared the last bits. Caleb Thompson, one of the other two Chasers, quickly slipped on his robes and grabbed his broom. We had made the team in the same year and were Quidditch mates since then. 'You nervous?' he asked.
'A little. But very excited.'
'I'm a little scared that I'll be too distracted. The summer was so quiet that I'm afraid I won't be able to handle the noise.' He rubbed his face with his hands.
'You'll be fine,' I assured him. 'Once you're on your broom and up in the air, you're used to it again.'
'Hope so,' he muttered.
Under loud cheering by the students on the stands, we mounted our brooms and flew onto the field. It was a sunny day; the weather was surprisingly good for October. But it was cold and the wind made me shiver. I flew over to Ryan, the other Beater. He was a sixth year that I had never met before, but during training, we had gotten along well. 'Hey. What do you think about the other Beaters?'
Ryan frowned and inspected the Hufflepuff team that had entered the field. 'Rhodes is huge,' he said. Norman Rhodes, a seventh year, was the captain of the Hufflepuff team for the second year in row. He had a mean swing. I nodded. 'We have to watch him.'
'Yeah. But he is uncouth. We just have to be quick. Higgins is more troublesome.'
'Yeah?' I asked. The other boy was a sixth year too and Ryan appeared to know him.
'Yeah. Damian is very strong and tactically good. We'll just have to scare them with our energy. They're both not very fanatic.'
I nodded and made mental notes. Madam Hooch stepped onto the field with the box. 'Good luck,' I wished Ryan and we hit our bats against each other.
Madam Hooch yelled up at the teams: 'Welcome to our first match! I hope you're all properly warmed up. We do not want to fill the Hospital wing now already. I expect a clean game. Good luck.' She tapped her wand on the box and the balls shot out. The Snitch shot away, the Bludgers flew up and the Quaffle was thrown up. Ruby and Hattie Scott, one of the Hufflepuff Chasers, shot towards the Quaffle. Ruby bumped her shoulder and flew past her with the Quaffle under her arm.
'And Sanderson snatches the Quaffle as the game starts off with a quick pace.' I didn't recognise the voice that was commentating, but it sounded like a third year. 'She passes to Thompson who avoids a Bludger and passes to Dawson! Dawson is new to the team. Was it a good choice? And...' The Gryffindor stands groaned loudly. 'She throws the Quaffle straight at the Keeper, who catches with ease. The Quaffle has been passed on to Holland, who sprints across...'
I stopped listening to the commentary as a Bludger flew in my direction. I chased it, aimed and hit it towards Holland. It hit the twigs of her broom and threw her off balance. She had to grab her broom with both hands and dropped the Quaffle, which Ruby picked up and raced back to the Hufflepuff goal posts. Julia Dawson, our third Chaser, hovered a couple of metres next to me. 'Julia!' I yelled. 'Don't be distracted by the commentary. You can do it! Just remember training.' She nodded, sighed and flew after Ruby.
'Sanderson throws the Quaffle to... risky pass, but Thompson snatches the Quaffle before Jetta Graves can touch it. He chases towards the hoops... he performs a neat feint, throws AND SCORES! Gryffindor scores ten points.' The Gryffindors cheered loudly and I congratulated Caleb.
It continued like that for half an hour. Our teams were evenly matched. Ruby coached us fanatically while scoring sixty points. Julia did better and eventually managed to score twice. Freddie caught the Quaffle half of the time.
Eventually, we were leading 90-80. Ryan got caught up in a battle with Rhodes and Higgins. They kept hitting Bludgers at each other and tried to hit both a Beater and a Chaser at the same time. I wanted to join and help, but I suddenly heard the commentary. 'Oh! Noah Davis just dove towards the ground. Would he have spotted the Golden Snitch?'
I looked for Noah and saw how fast he was flying. That was no manoeuvre; he was actually chasing the Snitch. Laura was way too far away to catch it before Noah. I was the only one who could still do something. 'Sorry, Noah,' I muttered under my breath and hit the Bludger that was coming at me towards his shrinking back as hard as I could.
It wasn't pretty what happened next. The Bludger hit Noah directly on his spine. He got thrust forward as a few ribs cracked. I could hear it twenty metres away. The Snitch fluttered away and he thumped onto the ground, breaking yet another couple of bones. I quickly flew towards him, along with some others. As I landed on the ground, I saw blood spatters that had erupted out of his nose. Carefully, we turned him on his back and he coughed up blood. He winced in pain and mumbled: 'I can't feel my legs,' before his eyes rolled up and he lost consciousness.
Madam Pomfrey hurried onto the field alongside Madam Hooch. 'Out of the way!' Jetta Graves looked up at Madam Pomfrey and said, panicking: 'He can't move his legs!' Higgins added: 'I heard his bones crack!' Hattie Scott yelled: 'His spine!'
'All of you, quiet!' Madam Pomfrey ordered. She had kneeled down next to him and was inspecting him roughly. Then, she looked up at Madam Hooch. 'A Bludger is not supposed to do this much damage. We have to get him to the Hospital Wing immediately.'
Madam Hooch yelled to all players: 'Match has been ended,' and shot a look at me before helping Madam Pomfrey transport the lifeless body of Noah to the castle. All eyes turned to me and all I could do was respond with a shocked expression. I had never intended this much damage. I would never. And now, it seemed as if I smashed Noah halfway to his grave.
I backed away and ran to the changing rooms. What had I done?!

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Aaaaand that was the end of the very first chapter of my new story! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope it wasn't too cliche...

(But things will get more interesting soon...)

Anyways, leave feedback in the comments, I would love to hear what you thought of it.