The Badger and the Snake

Chapter 4: White in the Woods

After the event in the garden, I went about my business, keeping the whole thing to myself. I didn't even tell David, no doubt because he would probably tease me for hours with me and Ophelia's "secret rendezvous". But, the more I kept it a secret, the more I couldn't stop thinking about it. How had she discovered that place, and not only that, why did she keep coming back there? As I was falling asleep in my dorm that night, it suddenly popped into my head as to why. She was like me. She had the same break time like I did, and she spent it in that garden. It was perfect. No one could come and bother her, because no one else knew about it. Except for me. That would probably make her hate me even more then she already did. Pondering this helpful thought, I fell asleep. The next morning, I went into the Potions class, and saw she was already sitting down at her seat, as usual. I sat down in the seat next to her, and began to write in my notebook, knowing she wasn't going to acknowledge me. Even though I knew that, I still wanted to make some attempt at communication. I looked over at her and muttered a bit silently. "I'm sorry." As I thought, she didn't appear to react, so I kept on writing. Then, I heard her speak. "For what?" I looked up and saw she was looking at me. The annoyance in her eyes was gone. Now, it was pure curiosity, as if looking at me for the first time. Not expecting her to answer me, I didn't have an answer prepared. After stammering a bit, I responded. "Um...for...following you yesterday. I know that place meant a lot to you..." She looked a bit shocked, then narrowed her eyes at me and looked back down. "Whatever." She said. I let out a sigh. Well, at least things were back to normal.

Today was Tuesday, meaning that the Hufflepuff Quidditch team was meeting to practice. We had our game against Ravenclaw coming up soon, and our captain, Gareth, was pushing us as hard as ever. But deep down, we all knew that he knew we were going to win, mainly because me and David were on the team. But still, he trained us like we had never won a game in our life. I pulled out my broom, a Comet Two-Sixty, and kicked off the ground. I loved flying on my broom. The feeling of the wind flowing through my hair and the rush of flying fast made every single one of my worries seem to fall away. Everything from Conrad to Ophelia and school just disappeared as I chased down the Snitch. We flew around the field, and Gareth worked us out for a solid two hours. As we were nearing the end of our session, one of our Beaters knocked a Bludger at the Snitch, knocking it off course and making it fly into the woods near the field, while also almost taking off the end of my nose. Gareth yelled at the Beater and used his usual threat of kicking him off the team, until me and David were able to calm him down. "I'll go get it." I said, and flew off into the woods. As I touched down, I began to traverse through the trees, looking for the Snitch. As I moved through, I saw something white move behind a tree. Curious, I moved closer, and I actually saw what it was. It appeared to be an Arctic Fox, it's white fur standing out against the green leaves. In it's mouth was the golden Snitch. As soon as it saw me, it stared at me for a moment with grey eyes, then dropped the Snitch and ran off, disappearing into the brush.
I walked over and took the Snitch, still a bit in awe at what I just saw.