Counting Stars || Poppy Snape

CHAPTER 10

I was nervous. Wait, no. Let me rephrase that. I was terrified. My first quidditch match was in an hour, and even though I knew I was ready, I couldn't help feeling scared.

"Oh come on! Eat something, will you?" Sarah kept nagging me.

"Hey," I said with a grin "It's up to me if I want to starve myself or not, don't tell me what to do"

She let out a laugh and then looked at me with a somewhat serious expression. "Don't sweat it, Poppy. You're going to do great." I gulped and sent her a smile, but I was still feeling scared. Although I did end up eating some toast (Sarah basically pushed it down my throat).

"Soooo" I started saying after a while, "what are you going to do about Warrington?"

Sarah spit out her drink in shock and I couldn't help laughing as people gave us wierd looks.

"Quiet down" She said to me in a hushed whisper.

"Oh, you mean you don't want people to know that CASSIUS LIKES YOU?" I said, practically screaming.

She buried her face in her hands and over at the Slytherin table I could see Warrington doing the same.

I grinned and wanted to continue teasing her when I saw a a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw walking towards me. Lanti and Pen.

"Hey guys!" I said bringing them in for a hug.

"There's our little Quidditch star!" exclaimed Penelope.

"Our little girl is growing up so fast, isn't she Pen?" said Lanti wiping away a fake tear, I couldn't help laughing.

"Are you ready for the match?" asked Pen after I was silent again.

"Well, I'm ready but I'm still scared."

As I kept making conversation with my friends, someone else caught my eye. It was Harry.

I had been training with him recently and he was the youngest in the team, as he was only in his first year. Wierdly I felt extremely overprotective of him. Everytime the twins would joke about him being knocked out, or tell some twisted story about people getting hurt while playing, I couldn't help getting annoyed with them. I was actually quite close with him now.

There's also the fact that his last name was Potter. Like James Potter, the guy who had been kissing my mum, Lily Evans. But I hadn't had time to question him about that yet, since I mostly only saw him during practice. But I knew I would talk to him eventually, it's not like I had forgotten my promise to myself.

Excusing myself from my Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw friends, I made my way to where he was sitting along with a Weasley and another girl.

"You're going to do fine Harry. Snape isn-"

As soon as the curly haired girl's eyes landed on me, she abruptly stopped talking and looked down at her plate. I simply ignored her and sat next to Harry.

"Hey kiddo." I said ruffling his already messy hair. "You ready for this match?"

He nodded, not looking at me, but I could tell he was just as nervous as I was. I gave him a sad smile as I continued talking

"You don't have to be nervous Harry. It's just a match"

"Tell that to Wood" he scoffed.

"Well beileve it or not, Oliver likes to over exagerate the gravity of the situation."

"What do you mean?" the raven haired boy asked me curiously.

"I mean, my dear Harry Potter" I said in a posh british accent, making him and his red head friend laugh "that the world isn't going to explode if you don't catch the snitch. Sure, Oliver might drown himself," another round of laughter, "but I seriously doubt it"

Harry smiled at me warmly, "Thanks for that Poppy"

"Anytime kiddo" I said messing up his hair again.

Just then Harry's curly haired friend cleared her throat, making the three of us stare at her. "Besides Harry, you won't make a fool of yourself. It's in your blood." With that the three first years said their goodbyes and left.

I sighed and decided it would be best for me to start heading to the field, considering I was probably going to get lost a couple of times on the way.

As I made my way to the pitch I ran into none other than my detention partner, Cedric Diggory.

"Hey Poppy" He said, smiling at me warmly.

"Hey Cedric." I looked at his hands and realised that he was holding a Gryffindor scarf. "Are you supporting Gryffindor today?"

"Oh this? Yeah I am. I just came back from the common room, I'm borrowing it from my friend."

"Oh well how come?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He said with a grin "I'm supporting my favourtie Quidditch player!"

"Who? Harry?" I asked

He looked a bit taken aback by my question but quickly composed himself. "No you idiot. You"

I stared at him blankly, I didn't know that I had had such a strong impact on him. "Wow, that's really nice of you, Cedric"

He smiled at me, clearly about to say something, but he didn't get the chance. Oliver turned the corner, and started walking towards us. "Poppy! Here you are! I've-" But he stopped as soon as he laid eyes on the Hufflepuff boy, who simply smiled warmly at the Gryffindor.

"Sorry to disturb whatever is happening here." He said signalling between Cedric and I, "But we have a Quidditch match in a couple of minutes so I think it's best if Poppy comes with me."

Without letting either of us respond, he grabbed my arm and started dragging me to where I assumed the Quidditch field was. As we left I turned back to look at Cedric and I sent him a small wave. Oliver looked furious.