The Empty Chamber (Harry Potter Next Generation Fanfiction)

Chapter Nine: Kadence

Kadence could still hardly believe all this was real. Kadence? A witch? But Kadence was far too average to be anything this spectacular. Not only was she a witch, but at her school of witchcraft, she already had friends. Kadence didn't make friends this quickly. She chalked it up to magic, which was, she supposed, the obvious answer.

Kadence knew that at this point she should expect anything, but once more, on Saturday night in the common room she was caught by surprise. Never did Kadence imagine herself in a situation where she was riding a broomstick, and what was more than that, never did she imagine herself riding a broomstick for sport. A sport called Quidditch, to be exact.

Yet Monday afternoon was her very first flying lesson. On a broomstick. In order to practice for a sport, Quidditch. When Kadence asked Ella about Quidditch, she didn't get the simple answer she was hoping for. She got a detailed, play-by-play explanation of everything that could possibly happen in any Quidditch match ever, including a summary of at least half of the 700 Quidditch fouls. Ella was a Quidditch fan, and so was the entire wizarding world, apparently.

Monday morning in the Great Hall, Ella communicated mostly through squeals. She did this sometimes, but fortunately Kadence thought it was cute. This was likely due to the fact that Kadence was grateful to have friends at all, and therefore the part of her that would have objected didn't mind. Certainly, Kadence would not tolerate her sister speaking in the same manner.

"I'm just so excited!" Ella exclaimed once more as they ate their breakfasts. It was one of the two sentences she had repeated all morning. "Only Transfiguration, and then it's time for flying!" This was her other sentence, although Kadence would admit sentence structure varied. Sometimes she would say, "Only Transfiguration left," or, "then it's flying time," instead of her original statements. She smiled, and her chest welled up. "I'm just so -"

"Excited," Louis grumbled. "We know." Contrary to what Kadence would have believed, Louis was not a morning person.

"Well, you aren't saying anything about it!" said Ella. "So I'm filling in. You are excited, aren't you?"

"Well," Louis had a very dignified look of embarrassment on his face, "I'm just not that good at Quidditch."

"That's okay!" said Ella earnestly. "Kadence has never played at all, and neither have any of the muggle-borns. You'll be on the same ground as they are."

"So I'm going to fail, basically?" Kadence interrupted. "Because I've never played before?"

"You know that's not what I meant," Ella said in a reprimanding tone. "You'll both do great!" She was smiling again. "I'm just so excited!"

Kadence knew she should be nervous by now, but she couldn't quite bring herself to feel scared. Flying sounded fun. Well, to be truthful, everything at Hogwarts sounded fun. Kadence had gone from the slow torture of public school to the wonder of a magic school, so everything was exciting in comparison. But flying? That sounded exciting as a stand alone, without comparison to her old life.

The Hufflepuffs were so restless during Transfiguration that the Ravenclaws decided to collectively band together and glare at them. Whether they were trying to shame the Hufflepuffs into silence or shame them into leaving the room the Hufflepuffs never learned, because neither of these things happened and the Ravenclaws didn't stop glaring.

Professor Banff was more understanding; he was the Hufflepuff Head of House, and knew exactly why the Hufflepuffs were so inattentive. "I was on my House Quidditch team during my time at Hogwarts," their teacher said, his hair, which was black today, falling in front of his eyes. "I was a Keeper. Our team was very good - we won the Quidditch cup my Seventh Year!" He wasn't really looking at the class as he spoke, but instead gazing absentmindedly at his ceiling and smiling. "I wish you all the best of luck. Hufflepuff could do with a strong team, we haven't placed above third for the past decade."