The Little Lightning Girl

42- Prophecies Have a Personal Vendetta Against Me

There were eyes on us this year. I wasn't sure what caused it, my abduction last year, the fact that we were now some of the older students, or the fact that Rose, Kaley, and I were at the top of our class... whatever it was, something had caused the eyes of students of Hogwarts to turn our way. It shouldn't have felt any different from last year after I woke up, but Hogwarts wasn't just focused on me this time. Rose and Kaley were normal witches, well, for the most part. Other than being friends with me, they'd done nothing to warrant this kind of attention.

I tried to ignore them, I really did. After all, it was fifth year and I had more things to worry about than people staring at me and my friends. Like OWL exams, for one. None of us were killing ourselves over studying for the OWL exams, because as arrogant as it sounded, I knew that if we just paid attention in class and did the homework assigned, we'd most likely end up with good results.

I was a bit disappointed to find that Henry Arrow, the young Seeker with an abusive family, had indeed left the school, and left the country. As much as I had missed playing Quidditch all the time, I'd grown to like the boy and the rest of the team had too. But other than his absence, the Quidditch team remained virtually unchanged from last year. James was still the Captain, and he was good at it. Everyone respected him and listened to his advice, for the most part. Rose, Fred, and I tended to test his limits every now and then.

While warming up for our first Quidditch match of the season, I was surprised to find that it wasn't only the eyes of Hogwarts on us, but the eyes of the world. As I hovered above the other players, waiting for the game to officially start, my eyes snagged on two unfamiliar adults in the crowd. Both were seated next to McGonagall, dressed in solid black robes. Both had clipboards in their laps and quills poised at the ready. Their eyes were trained on the field. But when I honed in my vision, I could've sworn that the man on the left had locked his gaze on me. When I followed the other one's line of sight... Rose. I felt strangely hostile when I found him staring at my friend, but McGonagall was smiling at the two men and that was good enough to comfort me for now. So I turned my attention back towards Angelina Weasley on the field below me, just as she threw the Quaffle in the air and blew her whistle.

The teams shot into action, Gryffindor managed to steal the quaffle first, Marina Buckshot snagged it and skirted around the Ravenclaw players. The last few times we'd played against Ravenclaw, we had left them no way to study our plays, having created all new strategies for each game. This time, they expected us to do that, so we did the opposite. We had no new plays, no surprises us our sleeves. But the Ravenclaws were nervous now that we'd beat them at their own game, intelligence. This game wouldn't be won by intelligence, but by speed, skill, and strength.

Ravenclaw did manage to get a few good shots against us, but only five of them made it through Rose's quick hands, whereas Gryffindor scored fifteen by the time I spotted the snitch.

The moment I spotted it, thoughts of the strangers in the crowd disappeared and my focus narrowed. Weaving through players tossing quaffles about, dodging bludgers as Ravenclaw's beaters desperately aimed them at me, I shot after the tiny golden ball with wings.

As if in another world, I managed to catch a phrase from the announcer.

"And off goes Alana Faye, she spotted the snitch! Pretty amazing, that girl flies like she isn't afraid of falling!"

Internally, I found that amusing. I wasn't afraid of falling, and being fearless in this game was a definite advantage. Ravenclaw never ended up having a decent seeker, and unfortunately for them, this year was no exception. The younger boy had waited until I spotted the snitch and then followed me. But even though he had a fairly decent broom, and even though he wasn't big enough to weigh it down, he was no match for me. I caught the snitch when it moved to dart around me. The Ravenclaw seeker groaned as I lifted the ball high in victory. I gave a shout and was immediately swarmed by my team. Still hovering in midair, the seven of us wearing red and gold hugged and shrieked and celebrated winning our first game.