Meant To Be

No Hard Feelings

"Avery!" Marc shouted, running towards me.

"What?" I looked over at him. "And you'll probably have to make what you're telling me short because I don't want Alec to be mad at me."

Marc looked confused. "Who's Alec?"

"Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain and Seeker," I answered. "Now what were you trying to tell me?"

He grabbed me into a hug. "I know you're a member of the opposite team but, good luck out there Hufflebuddy."

"Marc!" Daniel yelled, looking around for the person who was currently preventing me from getting a proper breath of air.

"He's over there," Sebastian said, gesturing to him. "I think Avery needs to breathe Marc."

He let me go as the others began walking towards us, the four of us all standing there in our Quidditch uniforms.

My eyes flicked between the three Slytherins in front of me. "Why aren't you guys with your Quidditch Captain?"

"Well Marc ran off so we went to find him so now here we are," Daniel answered. "Why aren't you with your team?"

I looked over at Marc basically pointing at him with my eyes, then I switched between him and Daniel as understanding came across his face.

"Avery!" Someone yelled.

I whipped my head around to see Alec. "Give me a minute, I'll be there after I finish this conversation."

"We should probably let you go now," Daniel spoke up as Alec left.

I sighed. "I guess so, good luck out there guys, I think you might need it."

The three of them chuckled as they one-by-one gave me a hug before leaving, Sebastian being the last one.

"Whether our teams win or lose, no hard feelings right?" He asked.

I shook my head. "There's no way I could get mad at you boys over a game. So no, no hard feelings."

<><><>

The match had already started, I was currently sitting on my new broom watching everyone closely. Marc and Daniel seemed the most interesting at the moment, mostly because in the span of two minutes Marc had almost been hit in the head three times by a Bludger. Although I did keep a very close eye on the Chasers who were currently going in the opposite direction, which I was very thankful for.

Charles currently had the Quaffle and was weaving between the Slytherins who were currently after him to make sure he didn't score. I watched as he passed it to Mel, who began doing the exact same thing. Everything seemed to be going well until the Quaffle was passed again.

Mel tried to pass the ball to Murph but she didn't time it right, instead a Chaser from our opposing team caught the Quaffle. The girl immediately passed the ball to Sebastian who was heading straight towards me at full speed.

I waited anxiously for him to get close enough to throw the Quaffle. Although he was moving fast it felt like forever before he actually got near me.

He took a few seconds, no doubt trying to find the hoop that guaranteed his best chance of scoring a goal. Once he chose he threw the Quaffle at the hoop on my right.

I quickly flew to the hoop and spun around, using my broom as a bat to hit the ball away from me and towards one of my teammates.

The sound of the crowd erupting into loud shouts, either cheering or in the Slytherin's case, booing reached my ears after I blocked the shot.

I immediately went back in front of the center hoop to wait until someone tried to attempt to score again.

<><><>

My heart was pounding, I had successfully kept five more throws from scoring but the game was getting intense. We were all waiting for Alec or the Slytherin Seeker to catch the Golden Snitch as the Chasers kept going back and forth.

The score was 50-20 with us Hufflepuffs in the lead, but we still had a chance of losing if Alec didn't get the Snitch before his opponent.

"Alec and Melvin are neck and neck as they fly around the Quidditch field!" I heard the announcer say.

Sure enough when I looked the two Seekers were flying right next to each other. Melvin kept slamming into Alec, trying to get him off his side but nothing worked, Alec stayed there next to him.

"Come on Alec, you can do this," I said under my breath, although he couldn't hear me I still cheered him on.

I blocked a Chaser trying to score before going back to watching the Seekers, Melvin had gotten in front of Alec and was so close to catching the Snitch.

I heard a scream before the front of Melvin's broom was shattered by a Bludger, causing him to fall to the ground. The landing wasn't graceful, and I knew he must have broke at least an arm because of the fact that he landed on it, but I also knew that he'd be okay after a visit to Madam Pomfrey.

Alec must have known that too because the next words that came to my ears still caused loud cheering even though one of the players fell hard to the ground.

"Alec Bell caught the Snitch! Hufflepuff Wins!"

Without a second thought I landed onto the ground and ran to where my teammates were standing.

Charles pulled me into a hug. "You were amazing up there!"

"Thanks, you were too," I returned the hug before turning around to where the Slytherins were standing, watching Melvin being carried away.

"I'm starting to regret buying you a faster broom, I didn't expect us to lose," Marc spoke up from behind me.

"Bad thinking on your part Marc," Daniel patted him on the shoulder. "But then again, when have you ever had a good thought."

I shook my head at the two. "Do you guys ever have a civilized conversation that doesn't require insulting each other every time you get a chance?"

"No," They answered in unison.

I sighed. "Didn't think so."

My teammates seemed to back away, I didn't understand why until I looked at who they were staring at. Sebastian.

I walked over to him and gave him a big hug, still not understanding why people thought he was scary. But I guess years of being a Slytherin who didn't necessarily have any real friendships until this year and always looked angry would give many a reason to be intimidated.

"I cannot believe that you, Avery Harper, actually kept me from scoring," He told me as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Beginner's luck?" I offered.

"That was not beginner's luck," He denied. "You are amazing at being a Keeper, I don't understand why you haven't been on the team all this time."

"I was just afraid of all of the things that could happen while I'm up there," I replied. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still terrified, but I also know that just because they could happen doesn't mean they will."

Sebastian let go of me and ruffled my hair. "You're a smart girl Avery, don't let anyone tell you that you aren't."

"What if someone does anyway?" I asked.

He looked at Daniel, Marc, and Penny who had just joined them, then he looked back down at me. "Do you really think that we'll let anyone call you anything other than your name or an appropriate nickname?"

"Not really," I answered. "But at least I know I have people who care so much about me that murder is one of their ways of fixing a problem."

"Heck yeah it is," Penny spoke up.