Clara Diggory, Girl of Secrets - a HP fanfic

Chapter 7 - Fighting on the quidditch pitch and Whispers in the walls

The next few days were pretty uneventful, with Malfoy actually leaving me alone for once.

I mean, besides from the letter from my parents.

It wasn't a Howler, thankfully, but it couldn't have been that much worse if it was. I was pretty sure I wasn't coming back for Christmas – or Easter.

I wasn't even sure if I'd be welcome in the summer.
No one wants a Slytherin in the family, Was just one of the phrases used in that letter.

Well, if I wasn't fearing going back home, I was now.

Upon reading the letter, I'd promptly got up and left the Great Hall, blinking back tears until I got to my dormitory. Not that it had escaped people's notice, however – out of the corner of my eye, I'd spotted Malfoy staring at me, and Ginny had asked me about it later. I'd brushed it off, but it was eating me away on the inside. I think Melanie and even Lara as noticed, too – Mel went out of her way to be kind to me, and Lara didn't give me a hard time.

I woke up on Saturday morning quite early, to find Lara up too.

“You alright?” She asked me.

“Uh, fine...” I replied uncertainly. She hadn't even spoken to me for the past two days. “Why?”

“Heard your parents were giving you a hard time, that's all,” She told me, smiling supportively, although there was a hint of maliciousness in her eyes.

My own eyes narrowed. “How did you hear that?“

“Well, I guessed, from your reaction to the letter you got a few days ago.”

“Right...” I said. Something seemed off. Even if we hadn't been enemies, Lara didn't seem like that nice a person. What was she doing, all smiling and supportive?

At breakfast, I noticed she was talking with Malfoy. Trying to ignore his shooting glances at me and the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I went out onto the quidditch pitch to sit in the stands. I'd done this a couple of times, but this time I noticed Ron and Hermione sitting there too. I walked up to their seats.

“Is it alright if I sit with you?” I asked tentatively.

“Sure,” Mumbled Ron through a mouthful of toast. I sat down next to Hermione.

“What are you doing out here, then?” I asked.

“Oh, Harry's got quidditch practice,” Hermione replied.

Just as she'd said that, I noticed the Gryffindor quidditch team making their way out onto the pitch.

“Aren't you finished yet?” Called Ron to Harry incredulously. I looked at him in confusion – how early would they have gotten up if Ron expected them to be finished by now?

“Haven't even started,” Harry said. “Wood's been teaching us some new moves.”

As he mounted onto his broom, I noticed the captain – Wood, I'm guessing – focus on me and frown. He said something to Fred, who shouted so loud we could hear him from the stands.

“IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH A GIRL I'VE KNOWN FOR THREE YEARS WATCHING A QUIDDITCH PRACTICE, THEN YOU, OLIVER WOOD, ARE AN IDIOT, BECAUSE SHE WOULDN'T BE SPYING ON US FOR SLYTHERIN IF THEY PAID HER!”