Moon Dust | Mattheo Riddle

Chapter 24: Better Company

"Lia! You've got to keep your eyes on the quaffle!" Fred yelled across the quidditch pitch, using both hands to be heard through the on-slaughter of wind whirling through the Scottish hillside as the pink-eyed girl glanced up with a faraway hum.

Magnolia was lying on her broom, hovering above the ground lazily. She didn't mind the boat like movements from the wind as she stared upwards on her back, in-fact it was peaceful really, like being rocked to sleep. They had a free hour after lunch, and the quidditch pitch was free for anyone to practice instead of just the house teams. Seeing as Cedric was too busy with his new champion duties, off to put on a show for Rita Skeeter somewhere far on the other side of the castle, Mags had asked Fred to practice with her. However, the ginger boy was a little rougher than Cedric, leading to her exhausting herself within the first twenty minutes.

She lay back down on her broom, stretching her arms out with a yawn, only to tumble forward with a jolt.

Magnolia let out a squill squeak and steadied herself with both arms clutched to the end of her broom as the quaffle tumbled past her. She flipped her head around with a furious expression and Fred laughed, coming to a halt on his broom with a mischievous look.

"I told you to keep your eyes on it."

The pink-haired girl grumbled dramatically and frowned at him, causing the boy to only chortle further, before flying towards her with a broad smile. "Wanna take a break?"

She narrowed her eyes, curling her lip stubbornly. "No," Magnolia yawned, covering it with a quick cough. "Do you want to take a break? Cos, I mean, I could go all day."

"You yawned as you said that," Fred quipped, lifting a hand from his broom to brush down the tangled mess of red-hair that was blowing in his eyes. Magnolia shook her head, hiding another yawn by looking in the opposite direction.

"No, I didn't."

"You just did it again!"

"Really, Freddy. It would help if you got your eyes checked," the Hufflepuff mused, glancing up at him with a sly smile. Fred chuckled and stretched his arms back, letting out a yawn of his own.

"Okay, fine, but I'm taking a break, so either join me or fall asleep on your broom and break your arm," he shrugged playfully, aiming his broom downwards and taking off toward the ground.

Magnolia stared after him, pulling her lips into a soft smile before following. She hit the ground just after he did and caught her broom in one hand, walking toward one of the benches at the far side of the pitch. The pink-haired girl slumped onto it, leaning back against the aging wood while Fred stretched his arms ahead of her. "You're getting better, by the way—didn't even drop your broom on landing. Diggory's really helping with your technique. Jokes aside, I reckon you've got a good chance this year."

She grinned up at him, reaching for her yellow water bottle that was nestled on the ground beside her bag. "Yeah, we'll see, but I do feel pretty good about it this time. I reckon this will be our year, Freddy. Ced's going to win the competition, I'm going to make the team, and you and Frankenstein number two are gonna get one step closer to opening your shop, I can feel it-"

As she trailed off, taking sips between her blabbering, her sage coloured eyes caught onto a flick of black hair behind the railing, matched with a flirtatious smile waving over at her gracefully from the stands, Amélie Mercende. Water dribbled down Magnolia's chin as she stared over at the girl, the words failing to form in her mouth.

Fred pulled a face, releasing his arm from the stretch he was doing and stepping forward with a bemused expression, only to let out a laugh as he glanced over her shoulder.