My Last Laugh (A Hogwarts Story)

Chapter Ten: Wizards Know Nothing

"So what you have to do is stand in front of the stumps, the three upright poles, while Tom is at those stumps over there." I say, pointing to the make-shift cricket pitch I'd made. "Each of you have a bat which you hit the ball with. I will bowl the ball to whichever person is at this end and, when you hit it, you swap places with each other, the more times you swap places, the more runs you get. If you are not at a stump and the ball hits them, then you are out. Also if the ball is caught on the full then you are out. Get it?"

"Sort of." Tom says while Cedric nods.

"Ok, let's play." I say pulling a tennis ball out of my pocket.

I stand at the stump where Tom is and am about to bowl when I see Cedric is holding the bat completely the wrong way.

I laugh and run over to him. "You have to hold the bat with two hands down low, with the flat side facing me."

When he is holding the bat right, I jog back to tom's stump.

I bowl the bowl the ball to Cedric and he completely fails at trying to hit the ball. He ends up knocking over the stumps in the process.

"Like this." I say grabbing toms bat and showing them the right technique.

After a couple tries, they get it right. I bowl the ball to Cedric once more and he sends it flying. He looks in astonishment at what he had just done before Tom yells for him to run.

Eventually they get the hang of batting and I teach them to bowl and field.

After about an hour long game, we are all exhausted. We say our goodbyes to Tom and head back to the hufflepuff common room.

***

I was in the common room the next day, doing some homework when Cedric comes over to me and takes the essay I was writing.

I sigh and put my pen away. I refused to write with a quill, ink and parchment, instead writing with a pen in a notebook.

Wordlessly, Cedric pulls me from the common room, his broom in his hand.

I follow along, trying to work out what he is doing. We only make one stop on the way, to get one of the school brooms.

"I'm gonna teach you to play quidditch." Cedric states as we enter the pitch.

I merely raise an eyebrow in amusement.

"Ok then. What do I do?" I ask.

Cedric pulls over a large box that I hadn't noticed before. He opens it and shows me each of the balls.

He passes me a bat and tells me to hit the bludger.

"Just hit it as hard as you can." He said as he released a ball that shot into the air. I flew towards me at an alarming speed.

I closed my eyes an swung. To my surprise, the bat hit the bludger and it went soaring away, only to return and be caught by Cedric.

Next we jumped on our brooms and passed the quaffle around. I managed to score a couple goals without a keeper and one with Cedric as keeper. I also had a go at playing keeper and failed miserably.

Last of all I tried to catch the snitch, but it flew to fast for me to even be able to see it.

Overall it was a fun day and a fun game.

"Maybe you could try out for the quidditch team next year." Cedric said once we had finished.

"Thanks for the offer but I don't like to play in competitions, I only play for fun." I reply. "Maybe in a couple years."

"I look forward to the day."

***

"I still don't understand why British schools start more than halfway through the year." I say to Tom at dinner.

"Well, when else are they meant to start?"Tom replies.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the start of the year, so it, you know. Makes sense. The British school system is messed up, the American one too."

"Just because you don't think it's right, doesn't mean it isn't."

"What on earth are you guys taking about?" Cedric says as he sits down.

"How the British school system sucks." I say

"How the Australian school system sucks." Says Tom at the same time.

Our argument immediately stops when the food arrives.

Cedric laughs but I don't hear him, im to busy stuffing myself with food.

My life had suddenly taken a turn for the better. I had 2 awesome friends, an awesome brother and I didn't have to worry about my mother anymore. Life was good.