Study Date | James Potter

Chapter 13 - "What's Your Name Darling?"

Rose stood in the Quidditch stands with Matthew, Valentina, and Regulus Black. It was the first weekend of March, and the school had gathered at the pitch to watch Gryffindor's second match of the season, which was against Hufflepuff.

The teams marched out. James shook hands with the Hufflepuff Captain before they all kicked off into the air and the balls were released to start the match.

Rose cheered with the Slytherins as the Hufflepuffs scored goal after goal. Secretly though, she worried after James, who repeatedly fumbled and dropped the quaffle, or attempted to score and missed the hoops. It was quite the contrast to Gryffindor's previous match where he had scored five of their nine goals.

The rest of the team did all they could but James was barely playing, let alone leading. In the end, Hufflepuff won with two hundred and seventy points to Gryffindor's forty.

Regulus and Matthew were especially pleased at the result, since it kept Slytherin in first place overall to win the Quidditch Cup. With only two games left in the season, Slytherin had three hundred and forty points, Hufflepuff was second with three hundred and twenty, Gryffindor was in third with two hundred and eighty points, and Ravenclaw was just behind with two hundred and seventy.

All four teams still had one match to play, however. Slytherin would play Hufflepuff, and the last match would be Gryffindor against Ravenclaw, so with only 70 points between first and last place the rankings could easily change in the coming months.

"Gryffindor were absolutely abysmal but Hufflepuff have definitely improved this year," Regulus said as the four walked back to the common room. "I reckon your brother will have us out there four times a week before we play them," he added, speaking to Matthew.

Matthew made a face. "At least the weather's warming up. Seven in the morning during the winter is awful. I swear he enjoys dragging us up early for practice."

Rose and Tina laughed at the other two as they all walked into the Entrance Hall, then Rose stopped in place.

"What is it?" Matthew asked.

Rose frowned. "Hold on a minute. Erm..." she held up a finger, and her face scrunched up as she tried to remember.

"Library! That's it. I need to get a book back or Pince will have my head. I'll see you guys later." Rose rushed off up the staircase.

She hurried up another staircase and through corridors, until a few halls away from the library she stopped again.

A small, blonde girl was lying on the floor halfway through the corridor. From her tie, she was a Slytherin and Rose thought she might have seen the girl around before.

There was blood on her face, streaming from her nose, and she was attempting to scramble away from the large boy standing above her, who had a foot on her robes to prevent her from moving. He was laughing.

Rose's lip curled in disgust. Raising her wand, she pointed it at the boy. "Everte Statum"

A jet of orange light flew from her wand and hit the boy in his side. He stumbled away from the girl and cried out in both surprise and pain.

He started to turn and raise his wand, but Rose quickly cast a knockback jinx, sending him onto his back. The air came out of him in a loud huff and his wand rolled from his hand.

"You little bitch." He hissed. He wheezed as he tried to get up but he hadn't yet regained his breath so just flopped around slightly.

Rose raised a single eyebrow. "Oh shut up," she said, voice heavy with disdain. "Oscausi," she cast, sealing the boy's mouth. His eyes narrowed in anger as Rose approached.