The Marauders: Year One (female)

45. Barbarossa Brocklewank

'Would you stop?' Lillian asked irritably, looking up at the rowdy group on the row above him. It was the first Quidditch match of the delayed season, Ravenclaw Vs. Slytherin, and although everyone else was screaming the name of their favoured team, this bunch were taking it to the next level. 'Who are you even supporting anyway?'

Sirius, Jamie, Frankie and Petra continued to ignore him and bellow, waving around flamboyant purple and pale green posters. 'BROCKLEWANK! BROCKLEWANK! BROCKLEWANK!' they  chanted repeatedly.

Despite the pandemonium around them, they were starting to get odd looks from all around the stadium. They were dressed in all shades of purple and green, and stood out from the blue-clad Gryffindors, who were in support of Ravenclaw by default.

Alex Prewett's jaw clenched. He turned around to face Frankie, who he could be sure would answer him. 'What, in the name of Merlin, Morgana, and Mordred above is going on?' he demanded.

Frankie flushed, tongue-tied. 'I'm -- we're --'

Jamie took over. Frankie was a poor substitute for Remus, she thought privately. 'We're supporting our own house. We,'  she said grandly, 'are Brocklewank house. We stand for pride, honour, justice, annnd... terrible jokes.'

'This sounds like a really bad imitation of Gryffindor,' muttered Mason McKinnon to Alex.

'Well at least we all know which one of you is the terrible joke,' said Lillian snidely. 'To say you stand for immaturity, insecurity, inconvenience, and general pains in the arse would be a lot more apt, I'd say.'

'And this,' said Jamie, ignoring Lillian magnificently, 'is our noble founder, the great warrior queen, Barbarossa Brocklewank!'

She waved expansively at Sirius, who pretended to blush and wave.

'You don't even have a mascot,' scoffed Lillian.

'Sure we do,' said Jamie unconcernedly. 'What was it again, Barbarossa?'

Sirius thought for a moment. 'The Crumple-Horned Snorcack,' she said quickly. 'Darling Xeno and I had simply the greatest chat, and he's really quite enlightened.'

Lillian nodded mordantly. 'I can see you've thought this through.'

Petra grinned. 'Spent all of last night making our posters.'

Lillian was forced to look at the horrific things again, as Sirius remembered that they were meant to be supporting their own house. 'BROCKLEWANK!' she shouted, and the others echoed the war cry.

'BROCKLEWANK!'

Mason looked shoved his face into his hands like he was about to cry, as the Slytherins elapsed into fits of laughter at the sight of Sirius tripping over the frilled hem of her over-sized tattered purple and green ballroom robes.

Sirius got up stubbornly and continued with her rallying call.

Lillian saw Professor McGonagall giving them the stink-eye from where she was wrestling for the microphone with Ronnie Gibbs, a Ravenclaw Fourth Year. He hoped she would put a swift end to this soon.

'I can't believe this,' whispered Marius.

'Neither can I,' whispered Lillian fervently.

The Brocklewanks were soon forgotten as the Ravenclaw and Slytherin teams strode out on the pitch, their brooms over their shoulders. The entire Quidditch stadium either whooped and cheered, or catcalled and jeered.

Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher told the the Ravenclaw Captain, Adam Hodges, to shake hands with Steve Laughalot, the Slytherin Captain. Whilst Ravenclaw and Slytherin tended to be on decent terms with each other, their smiles were still forced, and their grip tighter than necessary.