Witch Me?(Witch or Shadowhunter?Book 2)

Owls and Quidditch

I jerk awake, trying to focus on where I was. I blink my eyes as they adjust to the dark and look around. I sit up with a gasp as my eyes land on Valentine standing at the foot of my bed. "Valentine? What are you doing here?" I hiss, glancing over at the other three girls, sleeping peacefully. He smiles at me in the dark and I fight the urge to hug him, remembering how he'd told me to not anymore a few months ago. "Don't worry about the mundanes, they'll sleep on while we talk," he tells me, sitting on my bed. I nod, crawling towards him across my bed with a small smile. "I need your help," I say quietly. He looks at me steadily, almost affectionately, as he replies, "I'm here to help, you should know that by now. But first, I must ask, why has my little angel-demon come to this place, infested with foolish mundanes?" I gulp nervously, "I was sent a letter, and both the Silent Brothers and Inquisitor thought it best I come to investigate." Valentine nods understandingly. "My dear Naila, I know you need my help, but I must go now. Take care, I'm sure you can handle things yourself. I'll visit you soon, don't stop practicing," he says with a glace out the window as the moon rose higher. Before I can respond, he's gone, leaving me to fall back into an uneasy doze.

  Some hours later I wake to Ms. Know-it-all rummaging around in her trunk. I sit up groggily, petting Nightmere lovingly. With a glance at the clock I realize its only 6:30. "Hey Hermione, what are you doing up so early?" I ask, swinging my legs off the bed. She spins around, surprised. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" When I shake my head she continues, "Madam Hooch has been giving me private flying lessons every Saterday. I'm no good on a broom and have been trying to at least be able to use one in emergencies. Would you like to come?" she says, finishing up in her trunk. I shrug, "why not, I'm already up, might as well do something with my morning." Standing up, I grab jeans and a deep blue T-shirt and throw them on. I latch on my weapons belt, currently only armed with a few daggers and three seraph blades, and slip my stele through it. Grabbing my wand, I turn to Ms. Know-it-all, "lets go!"

  As my bushy haired companion leads me through the castle and across the grounds I think about Valentine's visit. "Angel-demon" he'd called me, and it makes me feel proud. Having demon blood as well as extra angel blood coursing through my veins had helped me immensely over the years. I think of the small vial of each he'd given me for my eleventh birthday, at my request. I'm brought out of my thoughts when Ms. Know-it-all stops in front of a lady who held three broomsticks. The lady smiles at me, "I'm Madam Hooch, I teach youngsters to ride brooms and coach Quidditch games. I assume that since Ms. Granger has brought you that you're going to be taking a lesson with us today?" I nod, smiling politely, "yes ma'am." A moment later I'm standing over one of the brooms, my left arm held out, and feeling very foolish. "Up," I command, just as Madam Hooch had instructed. Without any resistance the broom jumps into my hand. Ms. Know-it-all glares at my success before giving up on her broom and just bending down to grab it. I smirk and slip a leg over my broom, following the teacher's example. When Madam Hooch blows her whistle for us to lift off, I kick against the ground and into the air. I hang suspended about a foot above the ground for a moment before angling my broom and going higher. Now at about ten feet, I straighten out and zoom forward, the broom flying smoothly above their heads. I fly around while Ms. Know-it-all struggles for maybe an hour before we head back up to the school, her shooting me glares repeatedly.

  We sit at the Gryffindor table in the great hall for breakfast and are soon joined by Mr. Thunderhead and Mr. Eats-a-lot. After taking a sip of my drink, I turn to the boys. "When are Quidditch tryouts?" I ask curiously. The boys pause eating to glance at me. "8o'clock today,"  Mr. Thunderhead says after a slight pause. Mr. Eats-a-lot looks at me funny, "why do you care? Do you even know what Quidditch is?" I smirk at him, shrugging, before returning to my breakfast of eggs and sausage. After breakfast, I follow the boys down the the Quidditch pitch, much to their annoyance. Know-it-all Granger walks with me, trying and failing to make conversation. An older Gryffindor student stands in the middle of the pitch, several students surrounding him. Mr. Eats-a-lot and Ms. Know-it-all take seats in the stands while I continue on the the team captain with Mr. Thunderhead. "To those of you who don't know me, my name is Oliver Wood and I'm the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Those trying for Chaser stand over there, Beaters over there," the tall boy says, pointing to two spots. The redheaded twins and two other older boys go to the spot Oliver pointed to for the Beaters. I follow swiftly, daggers gently hitting against my legs. Oliver looks at me, eyes widened, as I stand defiantly with the others trying for Beater, the only female and the youngest. "Miss, you know you're with the Beaters, right?" he questions. I roll my eyes, "really? I thought this was the book club." He sputters, obviously taken aback, while the twins clap me on the back. "Well done with the sarcasm, sweety," they say in unison. I shrug my shoulders and when they still don't remove their hands, bring my elbows back into their stomachs swiftly. The stumble back, more in shock than pain, as Oliver starts instructing us on what to do.

  Some time later, I hop off my broom, flipping my sweating hair over my shoulder and striding towards Ms. Know-it-all. "Tutoring session?" I suggest, tossing the broom to Oliver, several feet away. He catches it and stumbles back slightly in surprise. I ignore him and wait for Ms. Know-it-all's answer. "Not now, Naila, I've got homework to do. We can work on your tutoring tomorrow," she says, heading back towards the school. "I'll come with you, I need to do Snape's paper anyway," I reply, jogging lightly after her. She shrugs and continues in her way, not bothering to respond. I pull the letter for Grace from my pocket, along with my stele from my belt. I keep pace with Ms. Know-it-all as I place the stele the the letter, tracing the rune for fire in an attempt to send the fire message. The rune glows slightly in the paper for a moment before dimming, but nothing happens, just like the last two times. With a snarl, I thrust my stele back into my belt and look at Ms. Know-it-all. "Hermione, how do we send messages in this godforsaken school?" I demand, frustrated. She stops and turns to look at me, a gleam in her eyes. "By owl, come on I'll help you," she says brightly, taking my hand and dragging me away.

  By the time we reach the Owlry Ms. Know-it-all is out of breathe. I glance at the owls as she calls a random one down to us. "You just tie the letter to the owl's leg and tell the owl who to take it to. They were raised specially for this, they can find almost anyone," she tells me, handing the owl over to me and calling another down for herself. "Here, I'll show you, I have a letter to send anyway," she says, tying a piece of paper to the owl's leg as she talks. Done attaching the letter, she pets the owl's head gently and says, "take this to Mr. Granger, please." The owl cocks its head and takes flight, flying from a window. I narrow my eyes suspiciously but attach my letter to the owl anyway. Feeling foolish for the second time today, I whisper to the owl, "please take this to Grace Appleshade for me." The bird blinks his beady eyes before taking off, leaving the school in a flurry of feathers. I shake my head in disbelief as I head for the library. The only thing on my mind as I walk is whether or not Grace will want to be my Parabatai.