Disney's Hogwarts

Chapter twenty-three: Storage cabinates and quidditch

Merida:

I laughed as Astrid once again told me the story of how her father slayed a dragon with nothing more but a wooden spoon.
How much of it was real, I didn't care. It was a fun story anyways.

Together with some other Gryffindors, we sat down at the table in the Great Hall for some late breakfast. It was Saturday, my first day of freedom after a long but interesting week of classes and homework. I'd deal the rest of the homework tomorrow...

Today was about relaxing, what meant exploring the ins and outs of the castle grounds, and perhaps take a sneak peak at the Gryffindor Quidditch team tryouts. A boy from my year told me about it yesterday. His parents were wizards as well, he said, so he pretty much knew what is going on with that "wizarding sport".

Apparently, it was played on brooms. Can you believe it! Soaring through the sky, chasing the wind (and the balls of course). These balls were there in four different shapes, each having their own meaning and goal.
As the boy told Astrid and me about the game, I became excited to go and see the team play.
Maybe I could be up there too some day.

When Astrid was done telling her story, we both finished breakfast and headed towards the Quidditch Pitch. The weather was quite nice today, since this was still Scotland, and I was surprised to see many students wearing their normal summer clothes. Astrid wore a skulled skirt (try to say that ten times fast) with a light, red shirt, and her hair like she always wore it: in a braid common for northern folks.
I myself was wearing a light blue dress my mum packed me. At home, I would have hated it, but with some clever stitching from Astrid, we made the damn thing more comfortable and now it just remembered me of my home.

As we sneaked our way to the pitch, we saw some older students, dressed in red and gold robes walking in the same direction, talking loudly.
Astrid gasped and pointed towards two guys and a girl who were walking not far past and were holding three shiney brooms.

"I think those are the brooms they ride on! How could they possibly sit on top of that?!" She whispered in my ear.
I just shrugged and kept looking at the three students, who now were near the entry.

"C'mon"

Not much later, Astrid and I had sneaked into the pitch and were hiding in a cupboard, what was probably used for storing the supplies. We had a fair look to the field and we could see bright red robes waving in the upcoming wind on the other side of the field.

A whistle sounded and suddenly, they were up.
Tiny flashes of red flew up into the sky, leaving me with nowhere to look. With big eyes, I tried to follow one player as he soared towards the high goals, stopping just as he reached one of the rings that were placed on top of the long poles.

Others just flew right through each other while passing a big red ball over and over again, so fast I could barely see it.
This would be my next hobby, I decided. What could be more amazing then to fly up, trying to win a good game of Quidditch?

Astrid and I gazed with our mouths open to the flashing red dots high up in the air, trying to understand what on earth was going on. 

"Can I see?" the high voice of a girl ringed through our silence, followed by a crashing sound right next to me. 

I yelled and quickly turned around, thinking we had gotten caught by a Prefect. But it was no Prefect who stood in front of me. It was a small, blonde girl with big green eyes who was trying to peek through the door where Astrid and I had just been watching the game. 

The loud crash next to me seemed to be caused by Atrid who fell over. She was lying in a pile of old robes and forgotten gloves, covered in dust. I couldn't help but laugh at the sight, silently thanking the gods I wasn't the only one who'd been scared.