The Chaser's Heart

Year 4: The Celestial Ball

The weeks wore on. I didn't hear much from Charlie besides a few discreet words in the lessons we shared. Between him, Bill, Rowan, Tulip and I, we all agreed it was best to lay low for a bit until we got a better idea of what Rakepick was really up to. Penny had told me that if Dumbledore trusted her, that ought to be enough for anyone, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Dumbledore didn't exactly trust her. It was one thing to be good at a job, a completely different matter to be trustworthy.

Bill and Charlie were my best bet. Charlie was as busy as I was between lessons and Quidditch practises and Bill only had two years left at Hogwarts before he graduated. The clock was ticking.

True to McNully's prediction, Siobhan Coughlan was awarded the Keeper position on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. She wasn't as good as Sean Ross had been, but she was damn close and better than any of the others who tried out. McNully seemed confident that with a bit of practise and training, she would surpass Ross's abilities in no time. She was certainly motivated. And easy on the eyes, to Chris and Seth's delight and Orion's chagrin. She had thick, long, dark curly hair that she usually wore down unless we were practising, and pale features with bright blue eyes. She was very fit, as well. Clearly she hadn't wasted her summer laying on the beach like I had been tempted to do. She was nice though, I liked her and we got along well enough. I knew Orion and Skye didn't care what she looked like so long as she could block Quaffles, and that she could definitely do.

Gryffindor had won their first match against Slytherin by a very narrow margin. Charlie had caught the Snitch within the first half hour of the match. Despite Gryffindor having the most experienced team members of any of the four houses, they couldn't seem to get it together. Three of their players were graduating this year, Quinn, a Chaser, O'Toole, Beater, and McLaughlin, their Keeper. All of them seemed determined to prove themselves and McNully had mentioned to me that they all had their sights set on joining the British and Irish League after finishing at Hogwarts. However, despite playing different positions, they couldn't seem to work together well as a team.

We played Hufflepuff in November and beat them quite significantly, putting us in the top position in the Quidditch standings, for the first time in twelve years, according to McNully. We'd only been second on the standings last year, but had managed to beat Slytherin anyway for the Cup.

I had to admit, it was fun being defending Quidditch Champions. I noticed that Professor Flitwick was much more lenient with me when it came to school work than he'd been in previous years. It was no secret that each head of house enjoyed having the Quidditch Cup displayed in their office. Snape had held onto it for the last couple of years and McGonagall had made it known that she certainly wouldn't mind having it displayed in her office for a change.

My brother was never far from my mind, but the Cursed Vaults didn't consume me like they had in my previous three years at school. In a way, and even though I didn't trust her, it was nice having Rakepick around for the sole purpose of discovering the Cursed Vaults and breaking the curses. Penny couldn't be wrong, Dumbledore wouldn't have hired her if she didn't think she was good at her job.

Christmas came and went. It was nice going home to spent the holidays with Mum, but also nice to get back into the busyness of school and Quidditch.

Our next match against Slytherin was only a few weeks away and the pressure was on. Slytherin was still sour about losing to Gryffindor and the last time we played them, we'd beat them for the Quidditch Cup.

I could hardly wait.

***

The dormitory had been deserted for nearly half an hour, but it still reeked of perfume and hairspray. I even had a window open, despite the fact that it was early February, but it was still nearly impossible to breathe and I was starting to get a bit of a headache on top of being cold. So much for spending the evening getting caught up on homework.