Glory |A. Potter|

Thirty-Two

The wind against her face was harsh even though the day was a rather sunny one, the speed at which she had instructed her broomstick to move making her flight all the more difficult, but Jane was used to it. She had grown accustomed to the harsh winds, the piercing rain, the heat of the sun. Quidditch was a game that could be played in all kinds of weather and so Quidditch practice was held in all kinds of weather as well. The rays of sunlight were almost blinding as they fell on her broomstick she had made sure to clean before practice and the wind was fighting to push her down, but she prevailed. Her eyes were only on the Quaffle.

She swerved and rolled around invisible barriers as she followed after Roxanne who was flying up ahead with the Quaffle at hand. She passed it to Antonio smoothly, and the boy let out a small cheer as he gained height. Jane moved quicker from beneath and when she was close enough, Antonio let the Quaffle fall. She caught it in a practiced motion and with even more speed rushed forward and passed through the left hoop. And that was it for the day.

The Slytherin Captain had let them know at the start of practice they would have to be punctual this time as the Gryffindor Quidditch Team had booked the Pitch right after them, and now, from that far up, Jane could see them arriving. She didn't waste a moment to land, her teammates around her, and together, they headed to the changing rooms. The Captain pointed out things he thought each player should do better and so they left the changing room a while later. Jane and Roxanne left together.

"I'm losing my mind," Roxanne said as soon as they had left the changing rooms. "Between OWLs and Quidditch practice I hardly have any time to myself. All my friends talk about is our studies and in all honesty, once this year ends I will probably have no idea how to talk to other people."

"Now that's a bit too far," Jane protested, "look at us, we all turned out fine."

"You can't be trusted, though."

"But-"

"You wore red at the Malfoy ball-"

"-Will you let his go-"

"-Absolutely not-"

"-It suited me-"

"-I thought someone had brainwashed you-"

"-Scorpius's aunt insisted-"

"-I was sure you must have been forced-"

"-She said – oh please, Roxanne, it was just a dress, I didn't stand up in the middle of the Slytherin table to announce I adore Gryffindors."

Roxanne's lips stretched into a smile, "You should try it on the first of April, it's in a few weeks."

"That's too obvious, you know."

"Right. I was thinking at first I should tell dad I actually asked the hat to put me in Slytherin but that would have been too much for him, probably. He wouldn't survive the disappointment."

Jane raised an eyebrow over at her, "And did you?"

"Not really, I just asked the hat to not put me in Gryffindor because I didn't want to be with Fred—he really annoyed me back then—but the hat told me they wouldn't have put me there anyway so there was no difference in the end."

"I'm not sure if I would want to be in a house full of my relatives either."

"Exactly."

The two girls exchanged a smile before they turned back ahead. They were silent for a moment, content in each other's presence, until in the distance, they both caught sight of Antonio standing near the exit of the pitch, two members of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team in front of him. Jane spoke without thinking.