AUTOPHOBIA - G. WEASLEY

Third Year: Victory

tw for MILD homophobia throughout this chapter

also tw for underage drinking. I will say it here that Estella IS going to drink throughout this chapter, and due to her having a very small alcohol tolerance as it is her first time, she will be a bit drunk. Ron is also somewhat an enabler, but that is not something i want you guys to criticise or hate him for. Estella has a choice.

If you are likely to be triggered or offended by Estella or anyone else drinking, stop reading at the end of the Quidditch game. But i will warn that you will miss a few important plot moments. I will summarise them at the start of the next chapter.

✯ CHAPTER FORTY ✯

April 21st, 1993.

The Easter holidays quickly came and went -- and unfortunately for Estella, they hadn't been very much of a 'holiday.' The third years had never had so much homework, and with all the catching up Estella had to do with Remus, her workload was even higher than most; not to mention she also had quidditch practice three times a week.

There was times where she questioned if her education was even worth it -- but after hours and hours of staring at textbooks and fighting the urge to drop dead, she made it through and got to the same level as everyone else.

She was still worried about Hermione, though. Her best friend had taken a break, just like they discussed, but as soon as she got back to studying she was immediately stressed again.

So, with all of the work Hermione was doing, and so Harry and Estella could focus on Quidditch -- as the final was fast approaching, and Wood was getting stricter and stricter, Ron had taken over responsibility for Buckbeak's appeal. When he wasn't doing his own work, he was poring over enormously thick volumes with names like The Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology and Fowl or Foul? A Study of Hippogriff Brutality. He was so absorbed, he even forgot to be horrible to Crookshanks.

The whole of Gryffindor House was obsessed with the coming match. Gryffindor hadn't won the Quidditch Cup since the legendary Charlie Weasley (Ron's second oldest brother) had been Seeker.

Estella was probably more desperate to win that anyone, however.

She needed to get Malfoy back -- and this was the most perfect way to do it. The young Slytherin would be absolutely mortified if Gryffindor was to win -- and for this reason she was so determined to make sure that they did.

Never, in anyone's memory, had a match approached in such a highly charged atmosphere. By the time the holidays were over, tension between the two teams and their Houses was at the breaking point. A number of small scuffles broke out in the corridors, culminating in a nasty incident in which a Gryffindor fourth year and a Slytherin sixth year ended up in the hospital wing with leeks sprouting out of their ears.

Estella was one particular victim, but she supposed the fact that she had a history of not getting along with certain Slytherins played a really big part in that. Parkinson was constantly at her nose, finding a way to insult her at every point given -- if Estella hadn't been so afraid of losing her place on the Quidditch team, she probably would have thrown another punch.

All usual pursuits were abandoned in the Gryffindor common room the night before the match. Even Hermione had put down her books.