The Other Side of the Moon

Stormy Weather

Percy

Over the next week Sirius Black was the only thing anyone spoke of. Everyone had their own theories on how he came into the castle but each was crazier than the last.

In addition to crazy theories, teachers have been doing everything they can to not leave Harry and me alone. Trailing us in the hallway, coming up with excuses to talk to us as we walked to our next class. Even Percival was following us, probably on orders of Mrs Weasley.

To top it all off Professor McGonagall called us into her office with a somber expression.

"You boys understand that Black is likely after you?" She asked us.

I was about to mention that I had a suspicion he was after something else but I said nothing, instead just nodding along with Harry.

"Well, in that case, you'll understand why I don't think it's a good idea for you two to be practicing Quidditch in the evenings. Out in the field with only your team members, it's very exposed-"

Harry cut her off.

"We've got our first match of Saturday!"

"We need to train!" I followed up.

Harry had told me that McGonagall was the one who got him the spot on the team and that she was very invested in our success.

She stood up and walked over to her window and looked out onto the Quidditch pitch.

"Well goodness knows I'd like to see us win the cup at last... but all the same boys... I'd be happier if a teacher were present. I'll ask Madam Hooch to oversee your training sessions."

Despite the joy of still being allowed to play, it was shadowed by the worsening weather. They had still been training harder then ever and on the last training session before the first game Oliver gave us some news.

"We're not playing Slytherin," he said liking angry, "Flint's just been to see me. We'll be playing Hufflepuff."

There was a chorus of whys.

Oliver shook his head, "Flint gave some excuse about their seeker still getting over the trauma of his accident the first week of school. I told him that Percy almost died in that accident and will be playing. Really he just doesn't want to play because of the weather. Think it'll damage their chances..."

Strong winds and thunder could be heard in the background. Yet they were drowned out by the angry screams in my mind.

"There is nothing wrong with Malfoy!" Harry yelled, "He fell over, Percy was the one who got injured!"

"I know." Wood said sadly. "But it's already been approved. We've been practicing to play Slytherin. Hufflepuff plays very different. And they have a new captain and seeker, Cedric Diggory-"

Angelina giggled slightly, "strong and silent"

"He's only silent because he's to thick to string two words together," said Fred impatiently. "Honestly Oliver, don't know why your worried. Hufflepuff is a pushover. Last time we played Harry caught the snitch in 5 minutes, remember?" (Not my opinion on hufflepuffs or Cedric this is just what it said in the book don't come for me)

I shot Harry an impressed look which caused him to blush slightly.

Yeah that didn't make Oliver happy. He started yelling about how we weren't taking this serious and how this is very different conditions that what we were training for blah blah blah blah blah. I wasn't really paying attention. I just followed Harry outside to practice.

That week Oliver kept coming up to Harry and me giving us millions of tips for Saturday's game. One of those times he talked for so long we were late for Defense.