Hogwarts Legacy: The Price of Power

The Poltergeist's Song

As October arrived, a buzz of excitement hummed through the castle walls. Along the corridors, students whispered excitedly together, and Everett Clopton cornered pupils from all houses and years with a long roll of parchment, adding their bets to his list. Quidditch season was upon them, and the first match of the year, Slytherin vs Hufflepuff, would take place Saturday morning.

"You'll be there," Imelda said to Dracaena that weekend, as she struggled to extract herself from her duvet. It wasn't a question.

"Of course I will," Dracaena watched her beetling around their dorm, already in her Quidditch robes of emerald and silver, her goggles pushed up on her forehead. "You'll flatten Hufflepuff, I'm sure."

"You don't need to be sure," Imelda said, irritably. "It's a fact. Hufflepuff haven't got a hope, they've hardly trained at all so far. Plus, their brooms are all rubbish, I think their newest is about two years old."

"Oh dear," Dracaena said, yawning as she reached for her clothes.

"Mine's the best," Imelda continued. "The newest Starshooter, faster than any official broom on record." Here, she narrowed her eyes at Dracaena. "I didn't have to have anyone tamper with mine to make it work properly."

"Getting an upgrade isn't tampering," Dracaena hopped, pulling on her trousers, one hand under her chest to stop it bouncing. "I'd have thought you'd have gone to Albie by now to get yours seen."

Imelda made a face. "It's cheating," she said. "You only beat me that one time because of that."

"Three times, and the first time I didn't have any upgrades," Dracaena reminded her, and grinned as Imelda went red. "Don't you have a match to prepare for? I'll cheer extra loud for you."

Muttering, Imelda stalked from the dorm, leaving Dracaena to finish getting ready. She chuckled a little, donning her favourite tartan jacket and wrapping a long, emerald and silver scarf around her neck before heading out and along to the boy's dorm. She'd barely even raised her hand to knock before the door opened, and the pair of them stepped out, both sporting similar scarves to hers.

"You're up early," she grinned, greeting them both with a hug.

"We were actually hoping to wake you up for a change," Sebastian said, ruffling her hair. She batted his hands away, laughing.

"Better luck next time," she said, heading for the stairs. "Looking forward to the match?"

"Well, yeah. It's been ages since I've seen one. How'd we do last year?"

"Almost won the cup," Ominis said. "We had a really good lead for most of the year, then Gryffindor got a new Keeper in March, completely threw our Chasers off their game. We lost the cup by ten points."

Sebastian winced. "Ten? I bet Imelda was steaming."

"She had to go to the Hospital Wing," Dracaena said. "Nervous breakdown."

"Shame."

"I've got a good feeling about this year," Ominis said, with a soft smile, as they climbed another flight of stairs. "Though I'm still surprised you didn't join the team, Dracaena. You'd win it easily for us."

"You give me way too much credit," she laughed. "I've no interest whatsoever."

"I bet you'd make a good Beater," Sebastian said, smirking a little.

"You know, you're right," she replied, and clapped a hand around the back of his head, giggling.

"Oi!" he laughed and caught her in a headlock, ruffling her hair until Ominis deliberately tripped him up and he stumbled, cursing.