An Art of Balance

Chapter 10: A Change of Plans

Warning: very small mention of food

Word Count: ~ 2.900

______________________________________________________________

Losing their first match against Ravenclaw had been a heavy blow to her ambitions, but Lizzie was glad everything seemed to go back to the way it was supposed to be, nonetheless.

Penny and Skye had decided to act as if the incident with the spilled love potion had never happened. They were on speaking terms again, although they limited conversations to superficial topics like Quidditch, homework or the weather.

Lizzie and Skye going from fighting to being close again was not a great surprise for the rest of their friends. They had all known the two girls long enough to not question how their friendship worked. They couldn't have explained it anyway. It just did.

Their performance during practise had improved almost instantly after the match. Although neither girl cared to admit it, both took losing very personal. If they wanted to retain even the slightest chance at claiming the Cup once more, crushing their next opponent was vital. Both Lizzie and Skye were determined to make sure Slytherin would have a much harder time than Ravenclaw had had.

Even though the team had gotten back to being their usual fun bunch, Lizzie took great care to steer clear of Everett as best as she could. Neither of them had mentioned what had happened at the post-match party and Lizzie very much intended to keep it that way.

Still, she had noticed his eyes trailing her and could feel his gaze on her back when she sat in the Common Room with her friends. Lizzie had caught Orion watching Everett with an indeterminable look more than once, while the other boy tried to ignore him as best as he could.

*

Winter had started to hit the Hogwarts Grounds in earnest by the middle of November. Although no snow had fallen so far, the air was freezingly cold, sending biting gusts of wind howling through the open archways and cracks in the walls of the castle.

The windows of Hagrid's hut were covered in frostwork so thick it was impossible to see outside. Lizzie was glad for the roaring fire Hagrid had stoked up before leaving for the Forbidden Forest. It was heating up the whole room to a degree that she was enjoying the cold air brushing her face as the door opened and Charlie came stomping inside. He was rubbing his palms against each other and went straight for the hearth to thaw his freezing fingers.

Lizzie was busy cutting up the heap of feed piled on the table. Charlie gazed at the fairy that was comfortably perched on her shoulder. It was dangling its little feet while happily buzzing into the girl's ear. It was the one that had befriended Lizzie when she had tried to convince the fairy population to resettle in the Forbidden Forest. From time to time, some of them came back to the pumpkin patch, however. They loved to admire  their reflections in the windowpanes of Hagrid's hut.

When the fairy caught him looking, it suddenly started shrieking, baring its tiny fangs at him. Caught by surprise, Lizzie dropped her knife and covered her ears with a pained expression.

"Stop scaring her!" she shouted at Charlie over the screeching. She hurriedly offered the little creature a fingertip full of food, which the fairy gladly accepted. It fluttered onto Lizzie's head and started munching away.

"Scaring her?" Charlie lifted his eyebrows. "I just looked at her."

"I guess, she got offended by that hat of yours." She pointed her knife at the crimson Gryffindor hat he was wearing, the colour clashing horribly with his ginger hair.