Effervescence | h.p.

ii | xi. rogue bludger

Lyra woke early on Saturday morning and lay for a while thinking about the approaching Quidditch match. She was nervous, mainly at the thought of what Oliver would say if Gryffindor lost, but also at the idea of facing a team mounted on the fastest racing brooms gold could buy. She had never wanted to win so badly.

After laying for ten minutes, she could no longer stand just thinking about the game anxiously as she sat in bed. She had slept in her own dorm a lot more recently, just wanting to stay near Hermione protectively. She got up, dressed, and went for a quick walk in the castle.

She planned on heading to the Astronomy Tower, where she could breathe in the cool air and watch the grounds beneath her. She made her way there cautiously, making sure she was aware of her surroundings at all times.

Heading up the staircase and onto the balcony, she looked out upon the grounds of Hogwarts, wanting nothing more than to sit here through the day and into the night to watch how the stars filled the sky. She wanted to see her dad in the stars, shining brighter than any other. Even the thought of him brought a smile to her face. She had missed her fathers.

Last year, she never missed a night writing to them, updating them as to what was happening in her life. This year, however, she neglected to write to them and when they wrote to her at least once a month, she was lucky if she even remembered to write back. She hadn't been allowed to leave the school this year for her monthly transformation, either; she wasn't told why, just that she wouldn't be given the exception this year. Maybe that was when Lyra began harboring slight disdain toward her fathers and their letters; when they told her that she would not see them until the next school holiday.

She missed them dearly now, though, and she silently hoped Harry had maybe wrote to his parents to inform them of today's game so that she just might see her whole family.

She forced her attention back onto her surroundings. Lyra admired the Black Lake from above, watching as an older-looking Hufflepuff student in a yellow sweater — that's why she figured it was a Hufflepuff — approached it and waved at seemingly nothing. That's when she noticed the giant squid, which resided in the lake, sticking a tentacle slightly out of the water in front of them. They then gave the squid a quick bump of their fist before they walked along the water's edge, making Lyra giggle to herself. She wondered curiously how many students were friendly with the squid.

Lyra figured she had spent enough time absorbing the admirable atmosphere created by the castle and she began her descent to the Great Hall. As she walked, she looked at one of the clocks on the wall and discovered that she had only spent about twenty minutes in the tower, meaning she was still early for breakfast.

Walking into the Great Hall, she found the rest of the Gryffindor team, including Harry, huddled at the long, empty table, all looking uptight and not speaking much. Even the Weasley twins made little sound, which scared Lyra most out of all of their silence.

"Hey all," said Lyra, offering the group a tight smile that differed greatly from her anxiously scrunched eyebrows along with two thumbs-up. "How are we all doing today?"

"Oh, simply splendid," said Angelina sarcastically.

"Figured just as much," said Lyra quietly, sitting beside Harry.

"Come on, team," said Oliver more lively than expected. "Let's think positively! We are great flyers, great players, and we all have practiced the new program I devised over summer. We know what we're doing!"

"Yeah!" Lyra said enthusiastically, trying to bring some energy and fun to the group. "Oli's right! We are some great players and we'll have Lee's encouragement from the commentator's box. If he doesn't hype us enough, then — shit, I'll do it!"