Lincoln's School of Magic - Lost Treasure

Quidditch Practice

Lucia is walking down to the quidditch pitch with me on this lovely Saturday morning. Today is my first quidditch practice. I am excited, quidditch is fun, but I am not a fan of our captian unfortunately. I haven't played any quidditch until my first year. We would play sometimes during flight class to pass the time. I have played in all positions, but chaser is my favourite and my best position.

"Excited to spend another day with Omell?" Lucia asks me sarcastically.

"Very," I respond with the same tone.

I'm carrying a heavy bag full of athletic clothing, and it's about to get heavier when I receive my jersey today.

Before walking into the girls' changeroom, Lucia stops me.

"I don't think I'll be able to watch long," she begins, "I have detention."

"Why?" I say disappointedly, wanting her support from the stands.

"I was wandering the halls last night," she says ashamedly. "Worsteshire caught me."

"That bloody,"

"It's okay," Lucia cuts me off. "I was up to no good."

"That's very unlike you," I say in a certain tone of concern. "What were you doing?"

"I wanted to explore the basement," she says. "I have a feeling Adrian is down there."

"Why are you still concerned about him?"

"How are you not?" She says, almost angrily.

I stay silent. I have to admit, I am still worried, but I try not to think about it. Adrian disappeared from thin air and has not been seen since. He could be anywhere, doing anything.

The aurors were not able to find him. He's hidden pretty well. I know he must be near, he said he's in a cave below the castle. I suppose Lucia thinks that means the basement, but I feel that it must be something more. The basement is not a good hiding place, it must be someplace enchanted or guarded. The entire country is after him, so I'm sure the basement has been searched ten times over.

"Doesn't matter," I finally spit out. "I'm going to quidditch."

-

I'm practicing scoring with the other chasers, Rowan Virtue, Christopher Black, and our spare chaser, Reid Adams. We're doing pretty well, but David is really a brilliant keeper.

"Bloody hell," I hear Black whisper from beneath his breath.

"What?" I ask firmly.

"David is really good," he says while flying close next to me. "He's making me look bad."

We're floating in the middle of the pitch, with our teammates zooming past us quickly, chasing after the quaffle, bludgers and the golden snitch.

"He's not making anyone look bad," I say kindly.

I look into his brown, sorrowed eyes with compassion.

"Sorry for being a bother," he says after a moment of staring.

"You're not a bother," I smile before he flies off after a bludger that just passed by.

I fly closely behind him, trying to grab the bludger before him.

-

As I'm walking out of the changeroom after practice, I'm stopped by Omell and Christopher.

"Are you the Audrey Mitchell?" Christopher says almost in awe.

"Well," I say confusedly, "I don't know any others."

"You're that freak's girlfriend," Omell says in a mocking tone.

"I'm not his girlfriend," I raise my voice. "And he's not a freak."

"She still cares about him," Christopher whispers to Omell.

"Shut up," I say sternly as I push past them.

I can hear their irritating laughter behind me as I speed walk away. Because I'm so angry, I don't pay attention to where I'm walking, and accidentally bump into Lucia, who was on her way to see me after her detention.

"Woah," she says as we bump into each other, making us both fall backwards. "What's the rush?" She adds annoyedly as she gets up.

Once she gets back on her feet, she reaches a hand out to help me up. I look at her hand for a moment before taking it. Her nails are painted pink, with a glossy topcoat.

"Sorry," I mumble, still angry.

"Who?" Lucia asks.

She knows someone has been picking on me... again. Almost every day, I hear someone say something about my past relationship with Adrian, whether it's behind my back or to my face. She can tell when someone has said something now because I always react in the same way.

"Just Black and Grayve," I say quietly.

"Those two have been asking for trouble since we've met," Lucia crosses her arms.

"It's all right," I respond shyly. "How was detention?" I try to change the subject.

"The worst!" Lucia says before we start walking to our common room together. "Worsteshire apparently doesn't like me either, simply because I'm friends with you," she finishes.

"That's rubbish," I say.

"It's not your fault your parents fell in love."

"She just needs someone to take her jealousy out on," I reply.

"Did she do the same with Anna?" She asks.

"Yeah," I say quietly. "I was sort of expecting her to hate me too."

"You should tell Burnaby," Lucia suggests.

"And fire his deputy headmistress?" I scoff. "Who will take her place?"

"There's loads of professors that will do a better job than her."

"Sure," I respond downheartedly.

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Published January 20th, 2022