Circi | 2

TWENTY SIX

"Losers"

The first quidditch match of the year was brutal. Slytherin was playing Gryffindor which resulted in tension between Circi and Leslie. While the boy cared very little for the sport, he still held a great amount of pride for his house and strongly believed that friendships came second. And the girl, she wanted nothing more than to cheer for her best friend.

In the bleachers, they stood side by side, squinting against the cold, foggy air. Leslie's scarf was waving around in the wind, smacking Circi in the face occasionally as she leaned against the railing. Batting it away as the players entered the pitch, she scowled at him.

"Stop it," she looked back at the pitch as the players took to the air. Immediately she noticed something off. To begin with, Draco wasn't there. In his place was their substitute seeker Harper, and their new captain and chaser, Vaisey, was missing as well. Sighing, Circi looked between the Slytherin beaters, Draco's allocated goons Crabbe and Goyle, and the Gryffindor beaters, both new third-years, Jimmy Peakes and Mica. Smiling at the set look of determination on Mica's face, Circi forgot any concern for her brother or annoyance for Leslie. That is, until the scarf once again hit her face and obscured her vision. This time the hindrance was intentional and Leslie laughed as he waved it in front of her.

"I'd hate to obstruct your view." Rolling her eyes as he laughed at her, she gave him a playful shrug and quickly glanced over her shoulder.

As the game progressed, despite the slytherin team being designed of substitutes, the Slytherin chasers were quick to take the quaffle and try for a goal. But the new Gryffindor keeper, Ron Weasley, a name Circi congratulated herself for remembering, proved to be much better at his role than the disaster of the tryouts earlier in the year. The game continued like this for a while, Slytherin taking charge and ultimately losing on the goal.

One of the chasers flew too low to the ground and tumbled from their broom, Crabbe targeted a bludger in Mica's direction and for a moment the whole stadium held their breath because she was lining up to bat away the other bludger Goyle had targeted her with. Circi held a hand over her mouth as she watched both bludgers threaten her friend and, as Mica hit one away the other Gryffindor beater flew up behind her and knocked the other across the pitch. The other three houses cheered as Mica gave Peaks a high five and flew off.

So far, the golden snitch hadn't been spotted and Circi could vaguely hear Leslie mumbling about how Draco would have spotted it before and the game would actually be interesting considering his established rivalry with Harry Potter.

The two remaining Slytherin chasers collided with a goal post after losing momentum under Ron Weasley's defence. The crowd elicited a series of 'ooh's and 'ouch' as the two players drifted to the ground. Circi hissed through her teeth and watched as a bludger dodged Mica and broke the tail of a Gryffindor chaser's broom and they too landed with a thud on the sand below.

For a moment, the remaining two Gryffindor chasers focussed on scoring a goal before a battle broke out between the beaters no that Slytherin was dependent on their seeker to win.

But not five minutes later, Harry Potter caught the snitch and the Slytherins wandered back to their common room, deflated and embarrassed.

"I still don't like quidditch," Leslie sighed as they moved through the dungeons, "but that was the most interesting game I've ever seen."

"I wonder how many of those players were hurt." Circi played with the sleeves of her robes and glanced over her shoulder as Crabbe and Goyle pushed through the crowd. It was then she fully registered Draco's absence and spun around to face the two boys. "Where's Draco?" She crossed her arms, glaring at them with the limited patience she held for them. Draco may tolerate them only as boys who will work for him and respect him as their superior, but Circi didn't want their respect or friendship, just the recognition that she was equal with Draco and therefore far superior to their dim-witted minds. They looked at her dully with open mouths. "Well?" The shorter one opened his mouth a little more. She didn't them individually, only collectively as 'Crabbe and Goyle'.