⚯͛ Snitch - James Potter ⚯͛

3.

Quinn woke with warm sunlight beating down on her face, it sounds pleasant but really it just hurt her eyes.

She slowly sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes, and looked round her new dorm. She was sharing it with Tia, Faith and the only other girl in the quidditch team: Veronica Sawyer. She noticed none of them were in the room, which was weird. The room was light blue, grey and white. It was nice, but not homely yet.

Quinn noticed a piece of parchment sitting on her bedside cabinet. It read: Quinn Emerson - Class Schedule.

She internally groaned at the thought of having to attend classes, but began to read the rest of the parchment nevertheless. Then she checked the clock on the wall to check the time.

Shit.

It was 7:30, and breakfast ended in ten minutes. She was going to be late. She wouldn't get food.

She jumped out of the bed, stumbling across the floor, and darted into the bathroom. She waved her wand over her hair to quickly  smooth it out and straighten it out and fumbled round to find her makeup bag.

She then flicked her wand to her brow and lashes stuff to try to make herself look at least a bit presentable. Slipping her clothes and shoes on and spraying herself with her perfume she nearly fell over in the process but managed to (very ungracefully) leave the dorm with a few minutes.

Quinn sprinted to the great hall, she was ridiculously hungry. She entered the hall and turned her run to a 'calm' walk towards her friends.

Eli stood up as she neared and signed furiously to her Where were you? I was so worried! You never wake up late.

I'm sorry! She signed back as she sat down next to him I don't know what happened.

You hungry? Class starts soon so you better hurry, Tia told her.

Yes please, I'm starving, the tired girl signed back to her.

Faith tossed Quinn a slice of toast which she hungrily gulped down.

Let's go, classes start in a minute and we don't really know where we're going, Eli signed to the three girls.

I'll see you later, I have a free period first lesson, Quinn signed with a big grin on her face.

You lucky little bitch Tia signed with an offended look on her face.

See you at training Eli told her, to which she nodded and high-fived him.

Quinn walked with her friends to the door and winked at them as they parted ways: them reluctantly to class, and her happily skipping to find somewhere nice and peaceful to sit and relax.

Faith stuck up her middle finger at her friend playfully before Quinn turned a corner and lost sight of them.

The deaf girl walked down the large corridor in peace despite the hundreds of students rushing past her, chatting frantically to one another. She was isolated from everyone else, she was on her own in a world of a silence...yet this never upset her. She liked it, she liked the peace. Most people were irritating to look at anyway and she couldn't imagine what it would be like for more than one sense to experience that.

As Quinn walked down another sunlit corridor she noticed the empty stretch of green that was the courtyard. The wall of the corridor next to her, nearest to the courtyard, was quite short and had a little ledge she thought would be ideal to perch on.

She sat cross-legged on the brick ledge and pulled out her current book: 'Murder on the Orient Express' by Agatha Christie. She wasn't too sure about it yet, but she knew it was great because it was a 'classic' according to Eli.

She read: All around us are people, of all classes, of all nationalities, of all ages. For three days these people, these strangers to one another, are brought together. They sleep and eat under one roof, they cannot get away from each other. At the end of three days they part, they go their several ways, never, perhaps, to see each other again.

Kind of like this quidditch tournament, Quinn internally laughed to herself.

But then her thoughts got interrupted, someone had tapped her on the shoulder.

It was that Hogwarts guy. Shit. Those eyes, those lips, that hair...

She watched his lips as they moved, he was talking to her. Bless him. She smiled kindly at him before she motioned to her ears, hoping he'd get the message.

His eyes widened quickly in realistion.

At least she knew he wasn't completely dumb.

And then he did something she was never expecting him to do. He lifted his arms and started speaking to her. In sign language.

Are you deaf? He asked.

What?

He was signing to her...

What?

Yes I am She signed hesitantly to him. What the fuck was happening?

My name is J-a-m-e-s. It's nice to meet you, He signed with a small smile on his face.

James. She liked it.

My name's Q-u-i-n-n, She signed back, How do you know UWSL?

UWSL stood for Universal Wizards Sign Language, and was the sign language that all deaf wizards and witches used.

He thought for a moment before telling her, It's a long story.

I have a free period, I have time, She grinned at him.

He shrugged his shoulders and nodded, raising his arms to sign: Both my parents are aurors. When I was 4 my mother got hit by a curse that we realised was causing her to slowly lose her hearing. When we went to the hospital they told us it was irreversible. Ever since then her, my Dad and I have been learning sign language for her benefit. Now she's almost completely deaf we communicate in that way in the house. I feel like I'm pretty fluent now...sorry, I just sprung all that on you, I've just met you and I just told you something really personal I'm not really sure what's wrong with me.

Quinn breathed out a very quiet giggle that she obviously couldn't hear, but she had been told by her friends that she made that giggle-like noise when she found something funny.

She gave him a sweet smile and signed back to him, It's okay. Why did you come and talk to me in the first place?

He hesitated and raked a hand through his dark curls for a moment. Then he lifted his hands to sign to her: Because I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and I just had to say hello.

Okay he's perfect.

But her? Why did he think she of all people was beautiful. She thought she was quite plain, brown hair and brown eyes...definitely not what she would associate with beautiful.

Even so, Quinn felt her heart swell with this unfamiliar overwhelming feeling of happiness.

You're very sweet, She signed to him, bashfully looking down.

Then she saw his head tilt sharply as something had caught his attention. She saw some boys who were probably his friends walking towards them.

She observed as they talked to him. She watched as his eyes glinted with mischief and humour, and how his cheeks rose up high when he laughed.

He turned to her and signed, I'm so sorry but I have to go now. See you around?

Of course, it was nice meeting you, she signed back.

The pleasure was all mine, He signed before shooting another sly wink and walking off with his friends.

Wow.