What If? Year 1

Chapter 20

"Are you ready to watch your first official Hogwarts quidditch match, Goldie?" Fred asks. I nod, slowly.
"I hope you'll be cheering us on by the sideline," George tells me. My face turns a deep shade of crimson.
"Of course we'll be cheering for you!" Ara says, "maybe not on the sideline." Heather and Ginny giggle.
"We've got to go," Harry says, "Oliver will skin us alive if we're late for his speech." I giggle.
"Bye guys," I say, as Harry gives me a quick hug. Fred and George wave before exiting the Great Hall with Harry.
"I wish I could play," Ara says, sighing, "I can't wait to play." Ginny and I nod.
"What position do you play?" I ask, "I'm a beater!" Dean and Seamus giggle.
"You are not," Dean says, "you are the most passive person I've ever met." I laugh, nodding.
"She hits hard," Ron says, "she shattered an apple with our beater bat." Seamus' eyes get really big.
"Wow," he mumbles.
"I am a beater as well," Ara says. I nod.
"Now that makes sense!" Seamus says, laughing.
"I'm a chaser," Ginny says, "but I could be a seeker though." I nod.
"I could probably be a chaser," I say, "I could never be a seeker, cause I would probably dive into the ground." Heather and Ginny laugh.
"You guys might want to go change into you're Gryffindor robes," Hermione says, "It'll show who you're cheering for." I nod and walk with Ara and Ginny back to the common room. We quickly change into our robes and run to the quidditch pitch. We sit next to Hermione and Ron.
"It should start soon," Ron says, "They're warming up." We nod. A whistle is blow and all of the players get into place. The snitch is let out and the bludgers flew out. The quaffle is thrown into the air and Katie grabs it. My eyes follow Harry and all of his movements. He ducks and dodges bludgers and flies above everyone else. I notice that there is one bludger is not being hit, but is just following Harry.
"That bludger's been hexed to follow Harry!" I growl, so Hermione and Ron can here me. Harry dives towards the ground and the bludger follows.
"Who could have done that?" Hermione asks, as Harry and Draco race towards the ground. Harry pulls up in time, but Draco had no such talent and face planted straight into the ground. Ara giggles and puts her hand on her mouth. Harry turns around and gets hit with the rogue bludger. I cover my mouth and Harry grabs his arm. He reaches out with his other arm, as he cradled the other and grabs the snitch. I clap as I start down towards the pitch. Harry was laying on the ground and holding his arm. Fred and George walk over to me.
"We tried out best, Goldie," Fred says, "But he went into a dive, and it's impossible for a bludger to hit him when he's diving."
"Is he alright?" I ask, trying to push my way past them.
"Oliver thinks he broke his arm," George says, "but Professor Lockhart is fixing him up."
"Lockhart?" I whisper, "You're letting that idiot fix his arm? Shouldn't we be taking him to the hospital wing?"
"He demanded that he did it," Fred says, "he should be fine." Harry gets rushed past us still holding her arm.
"Harry!" I shout after him, "Are you alright?"
"Lockhart took all the bones out of his arm," Ron tells me, "such a mumbling idiot." I shake my head and start to look for Ara. She was being followed by a man with long blonde hair. I run over to her and put my arm through hers.
"Ara!" the man shouts, "Turn and look at me, you disgrace." I look at Ara, and her face was red and blotchy.
"And tell your little redheaded freak of a friend to scram." Ara spins around and takes me spinning with her.
"You leave my friends out of this, Dad," she growls, "and she will not be scramming. I've only know her for two months and she's a better family then you have ever been." My face turns red and Mr. Malfoy smirks.
"Well then," he sneers, "I was here to try and talk to you. Get you to get resorted into Slytherin, but I see that your housemates have already infected your brain." Ara sneers right back at him and turn her hair to ginger.
"Maybe I've just always been like this," she tells him, looking at me, "I like being in Gryffindor, with my friends."
"Then its a good thing that I dropped your stuff down at the headmaster's office." Mr. Malfoy turns around and leaves. Ara turns to me and gives me a hug. She starts to cry into my shoulder.
"I've got you," I whisper, "It's going to be alright, Ara." She sniffles a little and lets go of me. Her face was covered in bright red blotches and her silver eyes were watery.
"I don't know where I'm gonna go," she cries, "I guess I can stay here for Christmas.. but what about summer?"
"We talked about this," I tell her, taking her hand, "I told you that I'm one hundred percent that my parents will be totally okay with you staying with us." Ara nods, and wipes her eyes.
"Are you sure?" she asks, "I don't want to bother your family or anything."
"Well that doesn't matter," I say, "You're my family now. Lets go write a letter to my parents and ask if you can stay with us." We start to walk back to the common room. Collin was standing in front of the stairs with his camera.
"Collin," I tell him, "Please put your camera away." Collin does not move an inch.
"Collin?" Ara asks, as I shake his shoulders. He still does not move. I look at Ara.
"We need to tell a Professor," she says, "I think someone petrified him." I nod and we run off to McGonagall's office.
"What do you need, girls?" McGonagall asks, as we run up to her desk.
"Collin's at the bottom of the stairs and he isn't moving," Ara tells her. McGonagall looks at me for confirmation.
"He isn't responding," I say, "he's just standing there looking through his camera." McGonagall gets up.
"Show me where he is," she says, following us back to the staircase.

Once we showed McGonagall where Collin was she dismissed us up to our dorm room. I get out a piece of parchment. Ara sits down right next to me as I write;

Dear Mum and Dad,
I watched Harry's match today. He broke his arm, but he's alright now. Well, he's in the hospital wing, because all of his bones in his arm disappeared. But back to the point of this letter. You remember me writing about my friend, Ara. She just got kicked out of her house, because of her house. She needs somewhere to stay, and I was wondering if she could stay with us. You always told me that our house was always open for people that were in need of help. Maybe she could even come over for Christmas. But of course that is for you to decide.
Love,
Marigold

Ara smiles at me. I give her a quick side hug before we go up to our dorm and go to sleep.