I thought I knew my ending - Year 1 and 2

Chapter 16 - Two contests

Evelyne already knew about the new Gryffindor seeker. She, along with the rest of the Slytherin team, came stomping in with mud tracks from the field they had to train on a few hundred feet away from the Quidditch pitch. They were all quiet. Evelyne sat down on the couch between us and looked at us grumpily.

"Guess what we found out today?" Severus and I looked at each other before turning to her.

"We already know," Severus said softly. "But it doesn't mean anything, does it? Potter may have joined the team, but that doesn't mean he can fly well?" Evelyne stared at the fire as if imagining James lying in it.

"Ohhh, yes he does. We saw him flying from our measly field where we were forced to train today." She was silent for a while. "He caught the snitch three times in ten minutes and the way he can fly with his broom..." She shook her head angrily. She was clearly deeply impressed.

The news that James Potter had become Gryffindor's new seeker spread through the school like wildfire. The days before the match, he paraded through the corridors as if the whole wizarding world belonged to him. I couldn't imagine being more annoyed with anyone. Even his friends rolled their eyes when he told his story of how he had become a seeker for the umpteenth time to some random freshman who just looked at him.

"Evelyne, I don't care about Quidditch at all, but please make sure you win this Saturday," I said almost pleadingly, crushing my beans in tomato sauce until a dirty mess formed on my plate, staring absently at the Gryffindor table.

"I'm not even participating," Evelyne sighed, "but yes, I would like nothing more."

Severus approached, he was running to us, holding a flyer. He came to sit next to me, panting and turned to Evelyne.

"Have you heard?"

"What?" she asked grumpily.

"They moved the match!"

"What?! Why?" Lucius Malfoy looked at him with flared nostrils. Severus handed him the flyer. He read through it and stared at it as if it were his exam results and he had just found out that he had failed everything. He turned to the team in a slow and dramatic motion.

"They moved the match because of weather conditions..."

"No..." said Carrow, "they would never do that. Just last year we played a match against Huffelpuf in a snowstorm. I thought I had to amputate two toes because of the cold and we lost Goyle for a week because he was caught in the Forbidden Forest by a fierce gust of wind."

"There's hardly any storm predicted," added Evelyne, pulling the flyer out of Malfoys hands so she could read it herself.

Severus looked at me and bit his lip.

"They will be on the same day..." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"The same day as what?"

"Ohh," said Evelyne who now also seemed to understand. "They postponed it to the same day as your potions contest, didn't they?"

"No," I said in disbelief, now also snatching the flyer from Evelyne's hands. I shook my head.

"We start an hour early, but Slughorn said the match will probably last about two hours."

Evelyne blew a hair out of her face.

"Could this day get any worse?"

The day of the two contests, Evelyne, Severus and I split up. Severus and I walked towards the dungeons so we could set up in time for our potions contest we had been practising for for weeks. But even though Evelyne probably didn't have to play, it still felt awful to have her go to the pitch alone for her first match. I just hoped she didn't have to fill in because of some injury of Baker.