The first sight that greeted me on Tuesday morning was the Great Hall decked in green and yellow House banners and four Hogwarts Houses already divided between themselves as to who support – Slytherin or my own cutesy house of fluffy badgers, Hufflepuff. I blinked at the array of bright colours and storm of loud excitable voices, really needing a coffee to ease me into the pre-match festivities.
Considering this was the second match of the Semester after Gryffindor VS Slytherin and the first match where my House played, I should have been nervously cheerful. Truth was, I was. But I had also managed to read my Divination book until two in the morning ("The accuracy of the Twentieth Century Prophecies" could pretty much come across as a historical fantasy psychological thriller instead of an academic textbook if it was late enough at night).
I was already clad in my overly-zesty yellow knit jumper with a massive black badger stitched on the chest with two matching badger spawns on either sleeves. If you saw the photo of muggle actor Jason Momoa with two shorter bodyguards then that was defiiinitely the look I was going for. Promise. The jumper was definitely a very bright colour and I didn't know a spell to give me a quick tan, so I wasn't sure how well the outfit was working for my pale skin – but one glance at some of my House companions and I felt a dash of relief. Some were wearing yellow onesies, another student had a turban on his head that was rather oversized and had flashing letters that said "Go SSSSSUCK ON THISSSSS, SLYTHERINSSSSSS" and finally someone seemed to have rented out a bear costume. Literally a bear costume. Completely covered in brown fur with a big fake head hanging on the back with a comical pink tongue sticking out. The head was DEFINITELY not a badger's, but it dwafted my yellow knit jumper so I was grateful.
I was about to head for my table when Maja came striding over with a big smile and the usual perfect eyeliner. She joined my side looking quite triumphant. "My favourite pancake companion," She wagged an eyebrow. "We have a stack over on the Slytherin table, come over."
Maja was a beater on the Slytherin Quidditch team and had done a great job last time they'd defeated Gryffindor by 110 points. She had definitely started this year with a growl, and since she first joined the team she had made lots of new friends. Some were close, others good duelists for quick-wit verbal practice. She received several nods and a couple waving hands in greeting as we made our way over, and that was saying a lot because she was wearing just a plain grey t-shirt and black leggings and had linked arms with a Hufflepuff so there was no way of recognizing her unless she was as good as she currently was.
We sat down on the Slytherin table and no one bothered us as we divided a stack of pancakes between us. "You nervous at all?" I asked conversationally, helping myself to a mug of hot coffee.
"Nah. It'll be a good game." She flashed me a quick grin from beyond plump lips. She was like a brunette Rosie Huntington-Whiteley when she did that. "I'm feeling confident. Hard not to be when we've been practicing four afternoons a week, right Caleb?" She said snidely, turning to glance at the Slytherin Team Captain next to us a few feet down.
I didn't think he had been listening as his group of mates had been deep in laddish conversation, but he turned his head with surprising promptness, and cast a cheeky dimpled smile to Maja in reply.
"We need everyone on top form, and you're not excluded." The Team Captain replied back. He had a round face that might have been boyish if it wasn't for a striking set of deep blue eyes and sharpened cheekbones that were innately handsome in any world culture – wizarding community or not. "I know you've been doing a lot of watching at the Quidditch Tournaments this summer, but now it's going to get a lot more practical and more involving this colder end of the year."
He had a tilt in his voice that verged between laddish and arrogant. I was unsure whether he verged more on the innocuous or pompous side, so kept pretty still and quiet with the mug of coffee held in front of my mouth as I watched the showdown from the sidelines.
