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"I have some very bad news." Lina looked up from her homework to Justin who was standing by her chair "team meeting now" Cedric and Lina joined Justin and the rest of the team to a quiet part of the common room.
"Justin, what's going on?" Jennifer the Hufflepuff beater asked.
Justin started pacing back and forth in front of the team "Justin!" Lina exclaimed, "what's going on?"
"Alright, I'm just going to say it. Our match with Gryffindor is going to be refereed by Snape."
The colour from Lina's face drained away and bile raised in her throat "huh?"
The rest of the team were just as unhappy "you can't be serious!?" Tony cried.
"Oh, I am."
"Why?" Cedric asked.
"No idea."
"I think I'm going to be sick" Lina mumbled, she was thinking of every possible thing that could wrong.
"Hey you're going to be fine," Cedric said grasping Lina's hand.
"Look, I know this isn't ideal for anyone but there's nothing we can do about it. We need to make sure we all play clean and give him no reason for him to give us any penalties."
That was all that was needed to be said on the matter, so the team went back to their respective friends. Cedric still held onto Lina's hand and they sat back down. "So what was all that about?" Lucy asked.
"I still think I'm going to be sick," Lina said in a state of shock.
"We just found out Snape's refereeing our match" Cedric answered.
"You can't play Lina," Danny said.
"Say you're ill" Lucy suggested.
"Kill Snape."
"Say you're dead."
"Kill Snape."
"Runaway."
"Kill Snape."
"Hide."
"Seriously kill Snape."
"You two aren't helping," Cedric said, Lina next to him had somehow gotten even paler.
"I don't know, killing Snape doesn't sound like a bad idea" Lina mumbled smiling half-heartedly.
"The match might not be too bad," Danny said.
"How?" Lucy asked, "Snape's hated Lina since the moment she got here."
"Still not helping," Cedric said.
"It's true Snape hates Lina but who's the one person Snape hates more than Lina" no one answered Danny "Harry Potter."
"Yeah, I'm definitely going to be sick."
***
The feeling only got worse as the days drew closer to the match, every possible thing that could go wrong Lina thought about, just before she would fall asleep the image of Snape throwing Lina off her broom would appear keeping her awake for another hour, the only thing that would ease her mind was the fact that they would be playing Gryffindor, her friends were on that team, her friends wouldn't play foully.
Lina sat in the changing room her knee was bobbing up and down and she was chewing her lip, Justin's pep talk was falling on deaf ears with her. "It's going to be fine" Cedric whispered to Lina placing a hand on her knee.
"Yeah, fine, I'll be fine, it'll be fine."
"Right team, to summarise everyone do your best and Diggory try and get the snitch as quickly as possible" Justin said.
The two teams walked out onto the pitch, Snape was there in between them looking angrier than Lina had ever seen him, she assumed this was because Dumbledore was in the crowd or because he had to referee a match between the two students he hates the most.
The teams mounted their brooms and kicked off, once the whistle was blown the Quaffle was released. The Quaffle was immediately taken by Katie Bell and passed straight to Angelina Johnson as she threw to Alicia Spinnet Lina intercepted and caught the ball, Lina dodged past Katie, Fred and a Bludger hit her way and passed the Quaffle to Justin. Justin threw the ball at true left goal but it was saved but Oliver Wood.
The Quaffle was thrown out again, Tony Devon Hufflepuff chaser caught it this time, he threw it to Lina just before he got hit in the face by a Bludger, Lina kept dodged every Gryffindor player and the Bludger that was hit her way, she looked behind her for a brief moment and saw Snape glaring daggers at her. Before anything could happen a streak of scarlet shoot past him, it was Harry. Harry pulled out of the dive, his arm was raised in victory the snitch held tightly in his hand.
***
An hour later Lina sat alone in the empty stands, the Gryffindor team was off celebrating their victory and the Hufflepuff team had retreated to the safety of the common room. She watched the world go by in silence, the clouds slowly moving and occasionally making an odd shape, at one point she saw a unicorn made out of clouds. When it started to get dark Lina left, her broom was still with her so before she could go for a long overdue shower she needed to put it away.
She wasn't the only one in the broom closet, sat on the singular bench facing the brooms was Cedric. "Hey," Lina said breaking the still silence.
"I lost to an eleven-year-old in under five minutes" Cedric replied not looking away from the brooms in front of him.
"Yeah, it wasn't our best match" Lina sat down next to him.
"I didn't even see the snitch, he went for it and I didn't see it."
"No one blames you Cedric" Lina placed her hand over his.
"I do!" He snapped jumping up "of course it's my fault we lost, the match only ends when the snitch is caught and I didn't catch it."
Lina stood in front of Cedric and placed her hands on his cheek "that match was never going to end well Ced, you did your best and that's anyone can ask. So what we got beat this time, we're going to beat again probably many times but it's how we come back, we'll come back stronger next match and we'll beat Gryffindor and Ravenclaw and Slytherin."
"That was the worst and best cheer up speech you've ever given me" Cedric chuckled.
"Well, I got you to laugh so as far as I'm concerned mission accomplished."
"Yeah you did, well done."
"I'm going to go up to the castle, you coming?"
"I think I'm going to say here for a bit."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, you go up I'll be there in a bit, don't worry about me."
"Well I always worry about you like you worry about me but if you're sure I'll see you up there." She left but paused at the doorway "don't stay out for too long, you'll catch a cold" she smiled at him and left.
