Roses and Riots | f. weasley

Chapter 36: Our King

A/N: Hi friends, thank you for your patience with the updates. I've been off my game recently and my levels of motivation aren't the same at the moment, but I hope that those of you who are still reading enjoy this <3

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While they were also trying to find a place to meet and practice spells in secret, the Potters, the Weasleys, and the rest of their Gryffindor friends were also anxiously awaiting the first Quidditch match of the season.

The morning of the match, Ron Weasley was on the verge of vomiting out of nervousness, as this was his first official match as the Gryffindor Keeper.

Angelina, as captain, was as encouraging as she could be when she wasn't hard on them all during training, and the rest of the team were beyond proud of Ron for his progress in training, but it didn't help his anxiety one bit.

"I'm going to die out there," he wailed over his scrambled eggs.

"No you won't, Ron!" Fred said, clapping him on the back as he sat down next to him.

"And if you do, it'll make for a great story!" George said, sitting on his other side.

"Not helping, George," Emilia scolded, though she, too, was nervous on Ron's behalf.

This was the first Quidditch match in two years, since the Triwizard Tournament had replaced Quidditch last year, and nervous energy thrummed through the school as Gryffindor and Slytherin prepared to face off that cold November morning.

Luna Lovegood sat down next to Emilia, wearing an enormous piece of headgear in the shape of a lion's head, that appeared to be enchanted to blink at them all.

"Don't be nervous, Ron," she said brightly, "you have the support of the other Houses on your side."

"Great, even more people to let down," Ron said, going slightly ashen.

Luna turned to look at Emilia, and she dropped her voice into a conspiratorial whisper so only their small group would hear, "what about Professor Trelawney's classroom as a meeting place? I was looking around after class yesterday, and I couldn't see any Nargles or Blibbering Humdingers hiding around the place. We should be safe there."

Fred almost choked on his orange juice while George looked like he'd seen the Ravenclaw girl grow not one, but two extra heads.

Ron banged his forehead on the table in front of him.

Emilia cleared her throat and kindly patted the arm of the younger girl who was fiddling with an empty stem of grapes that had been on Emilia's plate.

"Thanks, Luna. We'll think about it." Luna's face lit up at her words. "Will we head up to the stands? The rest of the supporters will love to see your headpiece."

The girl leapt from the bench so quickly that Emilia got hit in the face with a huge amount of long white-blonde hair before she, too, stood up.

"Oh, wonderful. I spent two weeks making it, you know!" The girl said happily.

Emilia looked at the three Weasleys sitting in front of her, "good luck today, we'll be cheering you on. You'll be great." The twins nodded and grinned at her, while Ron stared blankly ahead.

"Ron."

Ron jolted back to the present, "huh? What?"

Emilia chuckled, "I said you'll smash it, today."

Ron smiled gratefully but he was still pale with anxiety, and then Luna linked Emilia's arm, "I see Harry up ahead, if you want to wish him luck!"

Following Luna's gaze, Emilia found Harry, and they went over to wish him, Angelina, Alicia and Katie good luck, and then up in the Quidditch stands, they sat down next to Hermione, Ginny, and Neville.