Midnight Rain - L.B.

S E V E N T E E N

Lightin' up the sky, wasn't always right, baby
Yeah, every time that we realign, it's crazy
And you save me

Hogwarts Quidditch Field
September 27th, 1997
7:47 am | Tatum Vaughneton

"We have a game against Hufflepuff tonight, everyone needs to be here two hours early for practice. Do not blow me off, I had to bribe Ginny Weasley for the field." I dropped the clipboard to my side, staring at the group of boys in front of me.

"You can always just blow me," There was a small snicker from the back of the crowd, then multiple amused chuckles from the rest of them.

"Jacobs, you don't have to play tonight. I can easily have you sit this one out." I snapped, watching him roll his eyes and mutter his own "I was just joking."

"Maybe you were, but I wasn't." I shook my head, looking back at the checklist attached to the clipboard. "If you can't make it to practice before the game, you can arrive fifteen minutes early for warm-ups and uniform checking, which is now mandatory after an incident between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw last week."

There were a few nods as I kept talking. "If you don't make it to practice, you need an official signed pardon from a professor or the headmaster, if for studying purposes, Professor Snape is willing to give two excuse notes for missing an hour of practice. Other than that, just please make sure you show up. You're all free to go."

"Wait wait wait!"

I turned around, putting my hand on Luna's shoulder to steady her as she took in a breath after evidently running over from the school. "What? Are you okay?"

"Yes." She smiled up at me. "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to interrupt. Lorenzo, Blaise, Professor Snape asked me to get you. He needs to see you in the headmaster's office." She explained, looking over to the two boys who, for just a moment, looked terrified of the words leaving her mouth.

The rest of the boys just dispersed, off to classes and breakfast.

I just stared down at Luna. She had nice hair. Very blonde. And she was very short. Pretty. I could see why Lorenzo was so into her.

"Did he say why?" Blaise blinked a few times, shuffling nervously on his feet as he and Lorenzo walked over to Luna and me.

"No, but Draco's already there. Might be dorm replacing but I doubt it. You would have to grow weed in your dorm or something for that to ever go through since everyone's already settled, and Lorenzo's killed every plant he's ever owned so that wouldn't work. You'd probably just be expelled, anyway." She shrugged, playing with the small gold necklace sitting just under her neck.

"Just." Lorenzo rolled his eyes. "Alright. Then I guess we'll be back later. Blaise, let's go."

"Make sure you get to practice." I nodded after them, watching them trod back up to the castle.

Luna smiled kindly at me once they were out of earshot. "So, you and Enzo?"

"No." I shook my head. "Why does everyone seem to think we're dating all of a sudden?"

"Oh," She laughed quietly. "No, nobody thinks you're dating. Everyone just thinks you're hooking up. I'm sorry I assumed."

"It's fine." I looked down, smoothing out the corner of my green plaid school skirt. "How are you? I heard it ended pretty badly between you two."

Her eyes searched the ground for a moment before looking at me, a few strands of her hair falling out of the deep blue headband. "Not really, it was surprisingly mutual. We both really knew it wasn't for forever. Just for fun, you know? He's a good guy, he's just not ready for anything not purely "for fun," and I was."