Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(74) Second Task

Days to school was drawing closer and closer. New Year's eve was quite fun even when she wasn't at home. Although Florence would have loved to come home, to see what her mum, Remus and Sirius had for the holidays. She wrote them letters, though, almost everyday throughout the whole break. Remus had his transformation earlier during the month, and was glad that he got to spend his holidays painless and free.

Hogwarts had a splendid fireworks display, one that Florence had only seen that time, considering the fact that she always went home for the holidays. Red, green and white fireworks filled the night sky after the countdown, smoke lingering in the air as she and Fred shared a kiss away from prying eyes.

And so majority of the students spent their last few days of break on catching up with the workload that they were supposed to start earlier into the holidays. Noel, unfortunately, was one of the many students who liked putting his work off, that he had went scampering to Florence for help.

"Okay, buddy." Florence started, helping him heave a pile of books onto the table they had chosen in the library, "What have we learned from this?" she asked, Noel flashing her a guilty look, "No more procrastinating. Never again. I promise." he pulled out a roll of parchment, his ink bottle and his quill, "Lisa said she'll be joining us today too, if you don't mind. Although I'm not sure if she really is... Unlike me she actually does her work on time—"

"Florence, hi!" the girl in mention said sheepishly, emerging from behind a bookshelf, loads of heavy books cradled in her arms as well, "I need help with my potions essay..."

She simply shook her head at the two, before pulling up a chair for Lisa to settle in to. "Ah, thank you," Lisa said, setting her books down, "You are truly a lifesaver."

"As much as I enjoy saving your arses," Florence dragged a heavy book towards her, "I'd much prefer if you two started taking responsibility with O.W.L.s work. It'll help you get used to N.E.W.T work, as I heard they're very very tedious."

"Oh no, no. Unlike Elly here, I have a very valid reason as to why I'm doing all my work this late," Lisa explained, "My parents picked me up after the Yule Ball. We traveled all around Europe for mum's Scottish National Quidditch Team congregation—"

"Your mum played for the Scots? What year?" Florence asked, her inner Quidditch enthusiast kicking in almost immediately. Lisa shifted in her seat, "1970's. She played at the world cup in the year 197—"

"1978!" Florence exclaimed, eyes wide, "You're a Branson aren't you? Your mum's Cynthia Branson? She was the best keeper to ever play for the Scots. My father had the 1978 world cup recorded in photographs. Amazing, your mum was. Wow, I can't believe it..." she sighed, before looking slightly embarrassed with her rambling, "I'm sorry. I get overexcited when it comes to Quidditch," she said sheepishly.

"You're good." Lisa chuckled, scratching the back of her neck, "I, ah, I get that a lot, believe me."

"That's amazing," Florence said again, "Why don't you play for the Gryffindor team?"

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly..." she said dismissively, "Sports and I don't quite mix... I'd rather stay in my academics lane."

"Speaking of which, I have totally gone astray from our main agenda," Florence said, shaking her head at herself, "So sorry... Noel, show me your homework."

"Me? Nah, I'm fine, by all means, please continue your Quidditch-centric discussion. I quite like doing nothing—"

"If you think you're shimmying yourself out of this, you're wrong. Homework. Now."

"I tried..." the Gryffindor boy sighed helplessly, before digging through his bag for a quill.

Days passed, and the halls were just as busy again. Classes resumed, unfortunately, and the talk about the second task grew louder and louder everyday. Not only were the students peroccupied with the upcoming task, but the entirety of the students were shook with the news of Professor Hagrid being booted out of his job, due to an article written by Rita Skeeter.