Snitches and Quaffles

Untitled Part 3

It was a week later, and Lisel was sitting in Professor Sprout's office. She was discussing the fact that she wanted to drop out of Defence.

"Are you sure you want to quit Defence, Ms. Epstein?"

"I know my reason seems a bit too silly to drop it, Professor, but yes."

Professor Sprout nodded and said. "It's not silly, Ms. Epstein. If you feel uncomfortable with the professor it's understandable."

She smiled at her Head of House, and not much later, she was excused from her office.

She was walking towards the Hufflepuff Common Room, when She saw a group of Slytherin boys bullying a first year of her House. She stepped in front of them, as she would've done for any other house.

"Step away!" One of the boys exclaimed.

"I will not! If you don't leave her alone I'll tell Professor Snape," she threatened. Though she was positive Snape wouldn't listen to her, but these boys wouldn't have to know that.

The little girl trembled as the four boys stalked away.

"...Thank you," the little girl stuttered.

Lisel smiled and replied. "You're welcome. You know, I'm one of the Hufflepuff Prefects, Lisel Epstein."

"I'm Emily Roberts. You weren't the one who led us to the Common Room, I remember, it was that cute boy instead," she pointed out.

Lisel chuckled. She couldn't blame the little girl for being infatuated with Cedric. She had also been infatuated with her favourite professional team's Seeker in her first year, after all.

"So, have you been enjoying your first year?" Lisel asked.

"Yes, I have. My favourite subject is Herbology," Emily confirmed.

"Well, I'm particularly good at Charms," Lisel noted.

Emily nodded, and soon, the two of them reached the Common Room.

-----

It was now early October, and Lisel was currently doing her rounds with Cedric. Despite their obvious flirting, she was still a bit hurt because of their history.

"I need to apologise for something, before we continue this... thing," Cedric blurted out.

Lisel turned to face him and questioned harshly. "What took you so long?"

"Well, I would've apologised sooner if Lincoln didn't prevent me from doing so, every single time I tried."

Lisel contemplated for a moment before nodding hesitantly. Joanna could be a little too overprotective sometimes indeed, though it might have been that she was scared of Lisel ditching her, if she once again became friends with Cedric. But Lisel knew better, and she was fairly sure that wouldn't be the case. She knew they would all be friends.

"And, you know, I'm not very good with feelings and words, for that matter," Cedric continued

"Go on."

Cedric sighed and explained. "I'm sorry for those two years, when I didn't give you the time of day due to the Quidditch team."

"You really hurt me, Ced. I was heartbroken."

"Tell me what, and I'll do anything to make you forgive me."

Lisel smirked and said. "All you need to do is spend some time with me."

"I guess I could do that," Cedric answered.

She nodded once again, this time with more determination. The two of them finished their rounds soon, and walked back to the Hufflepuff Common Room. Joanna was already fast asleep on the couch, since it was past midnight. It was obvious that she had been waiting for Lisel.

"Goodnight, Cedric," Lisel said.

"Night, Lottie."

Lisel smiled. Cedric had called her that in their first year, and it felt nice to hear him call her that again. She climbed into her dorm, leaving her best friend sleeping on the couch. She then crawled into bed and fell asleep soon.

----

The next morning, Lisel woke up to the familiar, loud snoring of Joanna. After shaking the tiredness out of her eyes, she got up and did her normal routine. Once finished with it, she stalked back in the room, where she found Joanna, already awake.

"Morning," Lisel yawned.

"How late did you get in last night?" Joanna inquired.

Lisel shrugged and said. "Around one am, or so."

"Are you sure you were doing your rounds and not snogging?" Anjali, who had just woken up, teased.

Lisel blushed. She did actually hope that she would get to snog Cedric soon, but she doubted she'd have a chance, since she was just one of his many admirers anyway.

Joanna didn't look too happy about the prospect of her best friend snogging the brown-haired boy though, so, before she could have started an argument with her, Lisel quickly left the dorm.

It was Saturday, so the quartet didn't have any classes, and so, Lisel spent most of her time by the lake. Although it was quite cold, it was also Scotland in October, so it was to be expected.

Over the next few weeks, Cedric and Lisel began spending time together again, even outside of their prefect rounds.

----

It was the night of the arrival of the two other schools competing in the Triwizard Tournament, which just so happened to be the day before Halloween.

"Please, welcome the lovely ladies of Beauxbatons Academy," announced the Headmaster when the Feast ended.

The girls floated in and most of the guys, led by none other than Ron Weasley, were staring at their behinds. Then, Durmstrang also marched in and Lisel immediately locked her eyes on Viktor.

"Blimey, it's him," she heard the youngest Weasley boy exclaim from across the Great Hall.

After dinner, she caught up with her cousin. The two of them greeted each other warmly.

"So, are you going to enter the tournament?" Lisel asked him.

Viktor shrugged and answered. "Yeah, I guess."

"Whatever you decide to do, I'll support you all the way."

Viktor gave her one of his rare smiles and said. "I wouldn't expect anything less, Lissy."

He escorted her back to the Hufflepuff Common Room, despite not even knowing the way back to the Slytherin Commons, where he would be staying. Joanna was waiting for her outside the portrait.

"Hey, Viktor," she greeted.

"Fine, forget about your best friend," Lisel remarked.

"Viktor, why don't I escort you back to the Slytherin Common Room? It would be beneficial, since you don't know your way back," Joanna asked, jumping at the chance.

He shrugged, so Joanna took that as a yes and walked him back towards the Slytherin dorms. Lisel though, she crawled back into her own Common Room instead.