Up and Down

Visitor and Intruder

"Didn't think I'd be here this year, what with Quidditch cancelled.  But you went and managed to get a concussion, and not a Bluddger in  sight."

"Don't start. I was defeated by some slippery mud. Not my finest moment."

"Next year, I thought. Probably. I think you'd make a fine Chaser. Or even a Beater. If your noodle arms get stronger."

"Your vote of confidence is inspiring, Imelda."

Imelda smirks and kicks back, putting her hands behind her head.

"What I'm saying is that your House is better put up a good fight next season. Last one was pathetic."

"Should I take that as an endorsement to try out for the team next year?"

"You better. If only the Hat had put you into Slytherin. We'd be unstoppable."

"It very much considered it. But I guess my curiosity was stronger than my ambition."

"Stupid pile of junk. But it did come off the head of that arsehole Godric Gryffindor, so it's not surprising."

The  infirmary is empty, aside from the two of them. A good day, she  supposes. Nobody burnt off their hair or turned their eyebrows into  slugs, along with less esoterical injuries like hers. She was in the  middle of a crazy magical battle, and what got her? A rock in the mud.

"Ugh,  I gotta go to Divination. After the OWLs, I'm dumping that stupid  subject. Never saw anything in my tea leaves, and I think my crystal  ball is broken."

"Professor Onai does say that true Sight is very rare. The rest of us have to make do with small predictions."

"Well,  the only prediction I care about is when the Quidditch is going to be  back, and whether or not I'll finally be the captain of the team."

"I'm sure you will," Anna smiles brightly, "there is no one better in the whole Slytherin."

"Careful  not to let Sebastian hear that, Anna. He might get jealous," a soft  voice from the doorway is easy to make out in the nearly silent room.  She perks up, turning to see Ominis calmly walking toward her, his wand,  as always, guiding his way.

"He just has to get over that he'll  never be as good as me on the broom. Surprised he isn't moping about  here right now, where did you lose your guide dog, Gaunt?"

"He heard you from the bottom of the stairs and decided to keep his strangely... uplifted mood  intact," the way Ominis said that word makes Anna think he knows that  his best friend didn't spend the entirety of the night in their dorm,  and where he had disappeared to.

"Coward," Imelda sneers and pulls her feet down from the end of the bed, "but I gotta be going. See you, Ravenclaw."

"See you, Imelda," she smiles, Imelda's strange nickname for her seems to acknowledge her as the best flyer in her House.

Imelda  leaves, and Ominis takes her place on the chair by the nightstand. Of  course, you wouldn't catch him dead with his feet propped up on other  furniture.

"How are you feeling?" He puts away his wand and  reached out a hand. She takes it, his skin so cool and soft. It makes  her hands feel completely unkempt by comparison, what with all the  climbing, gardening, beast keeping and fighting she does on the regular  basis.

"Better. You couldn't see the state I was in after the battle."

"It  was so disorienting," Ominis' shoulders slump and he leans forward in  the chair, "so much screaming and noise. I could hear you somewhere, and  you seemed in pain, but I couldn't even tell where the sound was coming  from. I'm so sorry..."