metanoia

Chapter Twenty-two

"So, who're you taking to Slughorn's party, Remus?"

Before Remus could answer Alex's question about his date, Professor Slughorn clapped loudly and urged his students to find their seats, "Good afternoon class. Yes, I know that tomorrow is the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Quidditch match but this Potion will require your attention and care all weekend. We're going to be brewing Veritaserum. Everyone open your textbooks and turn to pages 197."

"Oh, great Lockhart," Charlie groaned, plopping her head on her open Potions book on the page with the instructions for Veritaserum.

Alex sighed in agreement, flipping to the pages Professor Slughorn told them to turn to, "The bloody bastard hasn't stopped asking me to take him to Slughorn's party since we got the blasted invitations."

"Mate, if you don't leave them alone I'm going to make you," Eddie warned, pointing back in the direction Gilderoy came from.

Gilderoy rolled his eyes at the Hufflepuff, leaning against their table to continue flirting with Charlie, "So, How is the most beautiful woman on the earth doing this morning?"

"Please, go away Gilderoy. I just want to complete the assignment," Charlie politely asked, lifting her forehead off her textbook.

"Oh, don't be like that, Johnson."

Alex looked up from her and Remus' Potion, glaring at the Ravenclaw Seeker, "Back off, Lockhart. She doesn't like you."

"Oh, sure she does. She's just too afraid to admit it with Eddie around. Just like how you want to take me to Slughorn's Party even though you're going with Sirius."

Eddie couldn't control his anger any longer. He began to see red and in a split second, he threw his left fist at the Ravenclaw's nose. Hearing a satisfying crunch, Eddie smiled happily and sat back down beside Charlie.

Gilderoy retracted his hand from his bleeding nose, seeing his now crimson hand and set his jaw at the smirking Hufflepuff Beater, "My mother will hear about this."

"Momma's boy," Sirius barked as Lockhart sulked back to his seat. Sirius lightly smacked Eddie on the shoulder and offered him a high-five, "Good job mate. Please beat Ravenclaw tomorrow, that git deserves it."

Saturday morning was filled with it's usual excitement that came with a Quidditch match, many students migrating to House tables they didn't belong to so they could encourage their friends or talk about their plans for the day forthcoming. The token red and gold embellished table had splashes of blue, yellow, black and green.

A seventh year strolled down the center pathway to find her seat with her teammates, harshly yanking her long red hair into a ponytail on the top of her head. Seeing the flaming red hair out of the corner of his eye, James whistled sharply to get her attention, "Oy, Evans!"

Mary MacDonald turned her head to see the sixth year Gryffindor staring at her with wide, embarrassed hazel eyes, "Really, Potter, the one day I don't curl my hair you think I'm Lily? How long have we been friends?"

James blushed, looking down into his bowl of oatmeal too embarrassed to look the Scottish Ravenclaw in her light brown eyes, "Sorry, Mary. Well, good luck today."

"Thanks."

Eddie looked up from his food, hearing his friend wish his opponent good luck, giving James a look of utter betrayal, "You did not just wish the enemy good luck, you traitor."

"The enemy? Really, Eddie, Mary MacDonald is hardly the enemy. You're being a bit dramatic."

Unappreciative of Charlotte's laughing at him, Eddie turned slowly to look at his fellow Hufflepuff amongst the group of Gryffindor with a look of seriousness, "Charlie, there are three things I'm sure of in this world. One, I do not understand arithmetic of any kind. Two, food. And three, friendships do not matter during Quidditch matches. You play to win. And as far as I'm concerned, every Ravenclaw is the enemy today until the end of the Match."

"I mean, he's not wrong. All three, right on the money," Alex chortled, taking a drink from her warm ceramic mug.

Most of the school began to leave the Castle, the Great Hall, and out to the Quidditch Pitch for the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff match. The group of Gryffindors; consisting of the four Marauders, the Prewetts, Frank Longbottom and his best friend, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Alex, Letti, and their roomates, led Charlie through the Courtyard as the large group had many conversations amongst themselves. Not looking where he was going, Fabian walked under the large, low hanging branches of the oak tree that is planted in the center of the Courtyard and walked right into a foot, not a tree branch.

The group looked up, finding that seated in the tree was Narcissa Black, reading a novel. Sirius cocked an eyebrow at his cousin who he's slowly begun to mend the relationship with, "Why are you in a tree, Ciss, and not down at the Pitch. I thought you liked Quidditch?"

"I do, but I also like reading in this tree. No one bothers me here. Well normally, sorry about that... Gideon?"

Fabian chuckled at her hesitant guess at which of them met a face full of her foot, shaking his head no, "I'm actually Fabian, and it's okay."

"Are you coming, you can hang out with us?" Alex offered, smiling up at the blonde who apologized to the identical twins for not being able to differentiate them.

Narcissa began to protest, telling them she'd rather keep her solace in the safety of the oak tree, however, she had a change of heart when seeing that her saying no made a few of the Gryffindors sad, "Okay, yeah. Thank you."

All students and staff alike bundle up in the high stands that surround the oval Quidditch Pitch, trying to keep warm in the harsh, cool air as the days drew closer to December. This particular morning, the announcer for the Match was not Timothy Jordan. The commentator for the match was Nicholas Parker, sixth year Slytherin, "Welcome back everyone our second match of the season, Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff. And, no, I'm not your typical host and yes I only have this job because Mr. Jordan is in detention. Anyways, enough about me, Madam Hooch blows the whistles and starts the match. Benji Fenwick tips the Quaffle far enough away from Mary MacDonald, back to Nicolette Finch. Unfortunately, her pass to MacMillan was intercepted by Xeno- Lovegood. Sorry man, I'm not even going to try and say your first name."

Nicholas' commentary earns him a chuckle, all eyes glued to the fourteen players flying around the Pitch fighting to score. The Quaffle gets passed around quite a bit, each team fighting to get possession from the other, until Mary MacDonald finally scored the first goal on the Hufflepuff Keeper, Dorcas Meadows.

Hufflepuff quickly came back from the small lead Ravenclaw had on them, Benji scoring three goals on Ravenclaw's Keeper, Winston Clearwater. The close game came with many injuries: among them being the Ravenclaw Chaser, Emma Parker who happened to be Nicholas' older sister, Nicolette Finch taking a Bludger to the head, and Robert Abbott being knocked off his broom.

"Has anyone seen the Snitch yet?"

As Frank asks his friends the question on everyone's mind, Amos Diggory spotted the glittering golden sphere speeding behind the Ravenclaw goal post hoops. He flies as fast as his broom allows, trying to get to the sacred ball before his opponent, Gilderoy Lockhart. Luckily for him, Lockhart's reaction time is substantially longer than his own, realizing that Diggory had found the Snitch after Nicholas announced it over the intercom. Hufflepuff won the game 230-60.

"Good game guys, you did really well."

Benji didn't accept the compliment, keeping his arms crossed tightly over his chest as they walked to the Castle, "It's cold as shit and I seriously hate this jersey, it provides no warmth and I hate the color yellow. I need coffee."

"I know what you're thinking," Eddie muses as they watch the fifth year stalk up to the Castle as if they hadn't just won that match, earning all of their eyes on him. "He's not a normal Hufflepuff and you'd be right. But you've got to admit, it is cold."