Post by caladwen on Dec 21, 2007 1:00:12 GMT -5
Risa: Okay people, welcome back, and we're not dead! ... The groans make us feel so very nice, thank you!
This update is mainly thanks to Azure, who has written the majority of this chapter, and it's her you ought to praise!
In this chapter: The Quidditch match and more!
Azure: Okay, people. This is going to be a universal disclaimer, for I don't like adding them and neither does Risa. We don't own Harry Potter or any of the themes therein. We make no profit from the writing of this story. Enjoy!
Risa & Azure
Mercy sat at the Ravenclaw table as she had taken to doing more recently, a small pile of food on her plate, and five letters folded and ready to be sent before her. Her quill flew across a last piece of parchment as she wrote yet another, and her eyes didn't leave the glistening words.
She'd taken to sitting with Tabitha, and to their dismay, Maggie and Diana; while the two tolerated her presence as she had yet to do something that would put her in the bad books, she was not their favourite person. She wasn't overly popular with the Hufflepuffs, but they accepted her with some suspicion; the Ravenclaws barely spared her a second glance, the Gryffindors, as house rivalry dictated, wanted her blood. The Slytherins mostly left her alone, though she had a slightly more respected place since that night nearly two weeks ago.
She paused in her writing, and took a sip of orange juice before re-reading her latest paragraph, and continuing, quill returning to that which she had already written to correct something here or there. And this was how Tabitha, Diana, and Maggie found her a few minutes later.
"Who are you writing to?" Tabitha asked curiously.
"My siblings," Mercy replied with a slight grin. "And Mum and Dad."
"Yikes, you've got a lot of siblings," Tabitha commented, eying the pile. "Are they younger? Or older?"
"I'm the baby," Mercy replied, shifting slightly as she rolled up the last letter. "Done!"
"I'm an only child," Tabitha informed her. "Why haven't you mentioned them before?"
Mercy gave a non-committal shrug. "I dunno, just slipped my mind I guess. Sorry."
The brunette looked uncomfortable, and Diana changed the subject.
"Quidditch today!" Diana announced happily, digging into the large bowl of eggs on the table.
"I've been hearing about this for a month. Who's playing who?" Tabitha grinned as she loaded her plate with bacon.
Diana's eyes flickered to Mercy momentarily. "Ravenclaw versus Slytherin."
"... Oh." Tabitha stopped short, dropping her eyes to her plate. Since Diana and Maggie had explained the reason for all the inter-house animosity two weeks ago, she tried to avoid any mention of it.
Mercy, despite this, leaned forward with a grin. "Oh really? Who would you put money on to win then?"
"House pride says Ravenclaw," Diana replied, smirking slightly.
"And logic says..." Mercy teased.
Diana didn't reply, merely shrugged and returned to her food.
Tabitha sensed an awkward silence coming on and interjected, "Logic still says Ravenclaw."
"We don't even know how the house teams play and we're betting," Mercy laughed slightly, "I don't think this is going to turn out well."
"But it's fun, anyway."
Diana checked the time, "Let's go. Nearly time."
They all left their plates and followed the large crowd of students on their way to what Tabitha supposed must be the Quidditch field. Apparently Hogwarts had quite a sports following; it looked like nearly all the students in the school were fanned out across the grounds.
As they approached the field, Tabitha found that it wasn't so much a field as a stadium. Six towers stood at different points along the oval of the actual stadium. They were house-themed. Tabitha was beginning to think that everything in Hogwarts was house-themed. Rather exhausting, she thought, but she hadn't been there since the beginning. It might just be second nature.
Getting in to the stadium took longer than expected. With all of the various students filing in through the sole double doors, it was a rather long wait to finally get a seat. When they finally got inside of the stadium, Tabitha found that it was generally seated by house, with a few misplaced students here or there.
"Do we have to sit with our house?" Mercy asked Diana, looking around the stadium at all of the color seperation.
"Generally, it's whatever team you support," Diana said, heading over to join the mass of blue to the far right.
Mercy paused, standing in one of the isles between the segmented colours. There were several people rather displeased with her choice, who made sure she heard their obscene suggestions. She debated sitting with her House, but she had few (okay, no) friends there, and she did not particularly care which team won. She had not been a Slytherin long enough to be caught up in the House competition, nor did the mindlessness of the animosity attract her. Mercy shrugged to herself, and followed the other three into the roaring crowd of blue.
She knew that amidst the sea of blue, she would not be noticed in her dark, cool green, and was surprised to find that she felt a little out of place there. So far, in her mingling with the blue House, she had felt fairly comfortable.
Mercy glanced out at the field, and found excitement welling up. In Australia, there were brooms (and some damn fast ones at that), and Quidditch was played, but Quidditch was mainly a British thing. She knew that in America, it was not anywhere as near as popular as it was in either Australia, or in Britain, but it existed. As did a confusing game known as Quodpot, which, frankly, made little sense to the brunette; why on earth would you want to play catch with a grenade? Okay, so it was a Quaffle spelled to explode, but the comparison was adequate.
She was slightly surprised at the sheer mass of the crowd, she really had not expected it to be the entire school that turned but, but apparently, it was extremely popular among, not only the student population, but the staff. She could pick out every one of her teachers in the stand reserved for parents and teachers, and was highly amused to see the headmaster wearing a green and silver hat, and holding a blue and bronze flag.
"Mercy!"
Mercy turned back to her friends, and saw that Maggie was grudgingly guarding a seat, Tabitha standing and waving on her own. The Australian witch felt a grin break across her face, and hurried to join them. It was getting more than a little annoying to have the two dubious Ravenclaws merely accepting her presence, but making no offer of friendship; did the rivalry and hatred run that deep?
"Sorry! I got sidetracked," she finally sat in the seat between Maggie and Tabitha, and was forced to yell over the hubbub of the crowd. "This is huge! I didn't think it would be so popular!"
"It's Quidditch," Diana yelled back, interrupting whatever reply Tabitha may have given and grinning widely; apparently the euphoria and anticipation was making her a little more open minded. "What did you expect?"
"It's not this big in America!" Tabitha countered in Mercy's place. "We have Quodpot."
"What the bloody Hell is Quodpot?"
The shouted discussion ceased not too much later when a there was a painful whine from the commentator's stand, and the first, slightly crackly, words began to thunder over what remained of the crowd's cacophony.
"Good morning Hogwarts!" the commentator yelled into the loudspeaker, drawling unnecessarily long on the 'morning'. "Welcome to the first Quidditch game of the season!"
The crowd roared it's approval, and Mercy found herself cheering along, caught up in the rush of things.
"Contrary to our usual Slytherin verses Gryffindor, we've got Ravenclaw and Slytherin playing today!" the boy continued. "Rumor has it [insert name had to call off sick, apparent-."
There was a muffled voice, and Mercy could see (when she squinted) that the commentator had covered the loudspeaker to converse with a teacher who she couldn't identify.
"Sorry folks, anyway! On with the show. We have a crisp breeze, not too powerful; clear skies; and the pitch looks like a dream. Perfect conditions!"
Mercy tuned out as the commentator began an in depth analysis of how he thought the match would go given the conditions and the strengths (and weaknesses) of the teams. She was more interested in observing the other students. It was interesting to see her own House-mates let loose; they were usually so uptight. Seeing them red in the face and screaming along with the crowd was refreshing.
Meanwhile, Tabitha was busy trying to look at everything at once.
Of course, in America they had Quodpot, which was a line of players trying to transport a large red ball fast enough between each other to get it into the pot before it exploded.
It was the height of intellectual gaming, obviously.
Still, Quodpot and all its explosions had nothing on the brightly colored banners and stands that lined the stadium, the Bludgers that raced around the pitch and the elusive Snitch. She had learned most of the basics from Diana as soon as they had heard that the Quidditch season was starting; she had never really been that big a fan of the sport and the States wasn't as big on it as Britain apparently was.
It was an admittedly exciting game, but there were so many things to watch at once: the Quaffle as it flew between Chasers, the Keeper that guarded the goal posts when any of the Chasers tried to get a goal in, the Bludgers that tried to knock players off their brooms and the Beaters that chased them around. Not to mention, of course, the Seeker and his or her search for the small golden Snitch.
Too many rules, though, in her opinion, though, considering the sheer amount, they didn't seem to protect the players from harm. Maggie and Diana had spent the better part of the morning giving gory details of Quidditch injuries that had been received in any and all games they could recall; sadly, they seemed to enjoy relating those that had been inflicted upon the Slytherin team the most. Tabitha was starting to wonder if Slytherin's supposed vile nature was more self-preservation than actual ill-will.
It was hard, no, impossible to miss the entry of the teams; the explosion would have lifted the roof if there had been one to lift. She leaned forwards eagerly, despite the crush of others doing so and making the action not only uncomfortable, but dangerous.
The brightly coloured blurs shot past, weaving through the air like a dolphin through water, so natural. She found herself shrieking along with the crowd, and somewhere beside her, she heard Mercy following suit. She cast a brief glance at the Slytherin, and was amused to see some of her inhibitions dropping away; she was usually so guarded it was almost painful to be in her company, of course, this didn't help Maggie or Diana's opinions any. The two were determined, even now, to think the worst of the Australian girl, which confused Tabitha.
Mercy had, despite the icy, often acidic, words, not shown them ill will. She was enduring surprisingly well; Tabitha had expected her to at least shout at them one time. She wondered just how long this cool neutrality would last.
And then her attention was captured again.
The starting whistle had been blown, the balls released, and the fast-paced, potentially lethal game had begun.
There was the shudder-worthy crack! as re-enforced bats slammed into heavy Bludgers, sending them careening across the field, soon returned by another blow. There was the appreciative roar of the crowd as a particularly spectacular save was made, and quite suddenly, she was caught in the rush.
She realised then why Quidditch was so popular. The other games she'd been to had been no-where near as exhilarating as this; you may as well have been playing yourself. There was no real need for the commentator, the gasps, cheers and 'ooh's of the crowd was enough; the atmosphere was incredible.
She was one of those soaring and diving and slapping each other high fives amidst the cacophony; she held her breath as the Ravenclaw Chasers threw the Quaffle, released it, half disappointed, half amazed, as the Slytherin Keeper blocked, expertly deflecting it to her own team mates.
She was going to have to try this game sometime.
"Slytherin Scores!" the commentary rang out over the Pitch, and Tabitha booed to counter the loud cheers coming from the opposite side of the Pitch. Beside her, Meri was silent. Tabitha figured that she didn't yet know who to cheer for, seeing as how her house and her friends were both represented. From what she had heard about the Slytherins (mostly from Diana), Meri had a good chance of being treated unkindly for sitting with them. Tabitha frowned a bit, but didn't say anything.
Mercy, she'd observed in the month or two she'd been here, had many habits. Tabitha didn't, per se, find them annoying, but they were oddities. Even in America, which she'd learned was the height of the general British perception of the word 'odd'.
Mercy was nearly always quiet. Occasionally, she'd have a mood and be talkative, but said moods were rare. There were many things going on in her brain, Tabitha guessed, but she didn't like sharing them. When she did talk, it was nearly always guarded, or there was some hidden meaning embedded in her words. Unless, of course, for these rare moods.
There wasn't much deeper that she could get when analyzing her friend.
She was shaken out of her thoughts when Ravenclaw scored, and she cheered loudly. Mercy was still silent, as expected.
The game continued in what Tabitha could deduce was a fairly normal fashion. Still, she was caught up in the rush of the sport as adrenaline that wasn't rightly hers, but rather seemed to electrocute the air around the pitch.
When nearly a quarter of an hour had passed, there was a rather dull thunk from the general direction of one of the Slytherin players... a chaser, Tabitha thought, though she wasn't really paying all that much attention to positions.She was being lowered to the ground... apparently one of the Ravenclaw players had slung a Bludger her way and it had made contact.
For the remainder of the game, the Slytherins were rather relentless in their negative attentions toward the Ravenclaw team. She didn't know their names, but she was sure a few of her house-mates were adding them to some sort of 'To Hex' list. She thought blearily that they had to have this sort of thing... if they didn't, she'd toss the idea around a bit and maybe procure one.
All this aside, the game ended in what seemed to be a fairly quick manner. Slytherin's Seeker had caught the Snitch, awarding the team one-hundred and fifty extra points and winning them the first match of the season.
Walking back to the castle, Tabitha asked Diana, "Does that mean we're out of the running for the Cup?"
"Nah," Diana answered mildly, "We've just got to win the second game we play, and then all the others. We can't lose again. The season's already started badly... and we never win the Cup, anyway."
"Who does, then?" Mercy asked, startling nearly everyone in their small group.
Diana hesitated, "Slytherin won last year... Gryffindor the year before. It's always either Slytherin or Gryffindor. Hufflepuff's team really isn't all that good. Ours is fair, but it doesn't compare to Slytherin's, as you've seen."
Mercy nodded, before returning her thoughtful gaze to the path winding in front of them.
The group lapsed into silence. There were student all around them, broken up into groups when the match let out. It was a beautiful Saturday. Tabitha would have liked nothing more than to go swimming, but she knew that here it wasn't really that possible. Unless, as Diana had told her when she had the urge in the past, she'd like to share with the Giant Squid.
It was nearly winter anyway, she told herself reproachfully. Too late in the year to be--
"Dwyer!"
A rather malicious voice from ahead of the group caught her attention. There were a group of Slytherins about eight feet away, looking as though they might have been waiting.
Mercy looked up and held the gaze of the one that called her name.
"Have you checked your badge lately?"
Immediately, a crease appeared between her brows, but she didn't flinch away. She continued to look at the person that had spoken mildly.
At the lack of a reply, the girl continued. "What, as confused about your House as you are about your family, Dwyer? Takes a special kind of idiocy to get confused about-."
Before Tabitha could register the movement, Mercy's wand was in her hand. She didn't even think to try and stop her friend; she could only look on with admiration and a slight twinge of horror.
Mercy was good at what she did.
A moment hadn't passed. The girl that had been speaking was now running around in circles, screaming and patting her clothing as if to put out invisible flames.
"Is she on fire?" Tabitha whispered, half to herself.
"No," Mercy replied quietly, as though she wasn't aware she was answering. "She just thinks she is."
Tabitha stared at her friend.
"Mercy Dwyer!"
For the second time, Mercy's name was called out. This time, however, the source was more recognizable.
"Come with me," Professor Slughorn said, glancing between Mercy's group and the girl that Professor McGonagall was trying to calm. Tabitha wondered if the spell Mercy had used was one of a kind, as they were having a bit of trouble countering it.
Mercy, rather than looking ashamed, drew herself up and raised her chin. The head of Slytherin house started up toward the castle, breaking away from the large group of students that Tabitha noticed were watching. Mercy followed, carrying herself proudly. Tabitha waited for Mercy to look back, to maybe mouth to her that they would wait, but Mercy never turned.
Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall was leading the girl toward the Hospital Wing. She wasn't patting herself all over anymore; now she was simply trying to pretend as though she didn't feel like she was burning.
Tabitha would have snickered at this but for the fact that the other teachers were beginning to break up the crowd. She glanced at Diana and kept a steady pace, trying not to fall back into the crowd. When they reached the Entrance Hall, she turned to her other two friends. "I'm going to go wait for Meri," she declared, opening the invitation for them to join.
"We'll wait in the common room," Diana said quietly, and Maggie kept her eyes down. Nodding, Tabitha turned and made her way down to the dungeons.
Nearly a half hour later, Mercy emerged from Slughorn's office, managing the same dignity that she always carried. Tabitha was sitting a little down the hall, huddled in her cloak but looking nonetheless semi-cheerful. Tabitha was almost always cheerful. It was annoying at times, but invigorating as well. If she ever had bad moods, she hadn't shown it. Mercy admired her for that, although she tried to keep her own outward appearance mild.
Slughorn's severe dressing-down hadn't damaged her pride too much, she was too self-righteous for that. She thought about next Saturday morning, and what she might be doing.
"So, what's the verdict?" Tabitha had stood and met Mercy halfway down the hallway, still shivering slightly.
"Detention, next Saturday," Mercy answered simply, showing Tabitha the tiny slip of pink paper.
"Ooh, that stinks. My sympathies. It's Hogsmeade next weekend, isn't it?" Tabitha made a face, no doubt thinking about how cold it would be, and how Diana and Maggie would surely drag her everywhere.
"That's what the notice board says," Mercy shrugged, tucking the paper away inside her pocket and starting to leave the cold of the dungeons. She guessed that since she hadn't had all of her education at Hogwarts, she didn't really get what was so impressive about Hogsmeade. Shopping? Or was it getting out of the castle, a change of scenery?
At the rate she was going, she doubted she was going to ever be able to get there.
She sighed softly, mostly to herself. She doubted Tabitha even heard, as she prattled on about... something.
"-- and I think I want to try out for the team next year." Tabitha finished, and took a breath.
"What?" Mercy asked, taken slightly aback by what she hadn't been listening to.
"Quidditch," Tabitha said patiently, as though she knew that Mercy hadn't been listening and just wanted an excuse to talk. "I want to try out for the Ravenclaw team next year. I think I'm a fair flier... nothing special, but I'm sure I can do that just as well as they can. Only thing is, I'm going to need someone to teach me. Any suggestions? I don't want to ask any of the Ravenclaw team, but the other houses might think that it's traitorous to train a player for another team..." She trailed off.
"I wouldn't ask anyone on the Slytherin team," Mercy said darkly, "They will think it's traitorous, no doubt about that."
"That was my thought too. Do you think maybe a Hufflepuff? They're nice enough. Gryffindor... I dunno. Gryffindors seem a bit impressed with themselves, don't they?"
Mercy considered. "They aren't all bad," she replied, remembering her last Potions lesson.
"I suppose not. I think it's sort of silly to judge someone just by what house they're in, granted..." Tabitha backpedaled.
Mercy merely nodded, and suggested they go somewhere in the sun to escape the cold. There was a small sitting area for students near the Greenhouses, but she didn't want to use it. It was normally crowded on such a nice day.
They ended up in one of the courtyards that Tabitha had discovered earlier. There was a small topiary in the center, and no benches. Every now and again, a group of students would pass in the outdoor hallways that surrounded it, but for the most part it was private. Tabitha took off her cloak and spread it in the grass for them to sit on. She talked, and Mercy listened.
This was how the days normally ran, when they had free time. Mercy hardly minded; Tabitha didn't press her to reply, like she knew Diana would have done. And besides, it gave her time to think.
They lapsed into silence as darkness descended, and Mercy suggested that they go for dinner. Tabitha agreed, taking her cloak off the ground and shaking it out. She walked back to the Great Hall with it slung over her shoulder.
Diana and Maggie, Mercy noticed, took to sitting apart from their normal group arrangement. Every once in a while Diana would whisper something to Maggie, which seemed to annoy Tabitha. Mercy just shrugged it off; they were bound to be talking about her, but she pretended not to care what they were saying.
Tabitha had some studying to get done after dinner, but Mercy declined the invitation to join her. She noticed that Diana and Maggie, though they hadn't really been invited, followed her up the stairs and invariably to the library.
She wondered, briefly, if they would talk about her. She reminded herself, though, that she was pretending not to care.
Alrighty then, review people!
Risa & Azure
This update is mainly thanks to Azure, who has written the majority of this chapter, and it's her you ought to praise!
In this chapter: The Quidditch match and more!
Azure: Okay, people. This is going to be a universal disclaimer, for I don't like adding them and neither does Risa. We don't own Harry Potter or any of the themes therein. We make no profit from the writing of this story. Enjoy!
Risa & Azure
Mercy sat at the Ravenclaw table as she had taken to doing more recently, a small pile of food on her plate, and five letters folded and ready to be sent before her. Her quill flew across a last piece of parchment as she wrote yet another, and her eyes didn't leave the glistening words.
She'd taken to sitting with Tabitha, and to their dismay, Maggie and Diana; while the two tolerated her presence as she had yet to do something that would put her in the bad books, she was not their favourite person. She wasn't overly popular with the Hufflepuffs, but they accepted her with some suspicion; the Ravenclaws barely spared her a second glance, the Gryffindors, as house rivalry dictated, wanted her blood. The Slytherins mostly left her alone, though she had a slightly more respected place since that night nearly two weeks ago.
She paused in her writing, and took a sip of orange juice before re-reading her latest paragraph, and continuing, quill returning to that which she had already written to correct something here or there. And this was how Tabitha, Diana, and Maggie found her a few minutes later.
"Who are you writing to?" Tabitha asked curiously.
"My siblings," Mercy replied with a slight grin. "And Mum and Dad."
"Yikes, you've got a lot of siblings," Tabitha commented, eying the pile. "Are they younger? Or older?"
"I'm the baby," Mercy replied, shifting slightly as she rolled up the last letter. "Done!"
"I'm an only child," Tabitha informed her. "Why haven't you mentioned them before?"
Mercy gave a non-committal shrug. "I dunno, just slipped my mind I guess. Sorry."
The brunette looked uncomfortable, and Diana changed the subject.
"Quidditch today!" Diana announced happily, digging into the large bowl of eggs on the table.
"I've been hearing about this for a month. Who's playing who?" Tabitha grinned as she loaded her plate with bacon.
Diana's eyes flickered to Mercy momentarily. "Ravenclaw versus Slytherin."
"... Oh." Tabitha stopped short, dropping her eyes to her plate. Since Diana and Maggie had explained the reason for all the inter-house animosity two weeks ago, she tried to avoid any mention of it.
Mercy, despite this, leaned forward with a grin. "Oh really? Who would you put money on to win then?"
"House pride says Ravenclaw," Diana replied, smirking slightly.
"And logic says..." Mercy teased.
Diana didn't reply, merely shrugged and returned to her food.
Tabitha sensed an awkward silence coming on and interjected, "Logic still says Ravenclaw."
"We don't even know how the house teams play and we're betting," Mercy laughed slightly, "I don't think this is going to turn out well."
"But it's fun, anyway."
Diana checked the time, "Let's go. Nearly time."
They all left their plates and followed the large crowd of students on their way to what Tabitha supposed must be the Quidditch field. Apparently Hogwarts had quite a sports following; it looked like nearly all the students in the school were fanned out across the grounds.
As they approached the field, Tabitha found that it wasn't so much a field as a stadium. Six towers stood at different points along the oval of the actual stadium. They were house-themed. Tabitha was beginning to think that everything in Hogwarts was house-themed. Rather exhausting, she thought, but she hadn't been there since the beginning. It might just be second nature.
Getting in to the stadium took longer than expected. With all of the various students filing in through the sole double doors, it was a rather long wait to finally get a seat. When they finally got inside of the stadium, Tabitha found that it was generally seated by house, with a few misplaced students here or there.
"Do we have to sit with our house?" Mercy asked Diana, looking around the stadium at all of the color seperation.
"Generally, it's whatever team you support," Diana said, heading over to join the mass of blue to the far right.
Mercy paused, standing in one of the isles between the segmented colours. There were several people rather displeased with her choice, who made sure she heard their obscene suggestions. She debated sitting with her House, but she had few (okay, no) friends there, and she did not particularly care which team won. She had not been a Slytherin long enough to be caught up in the House competition, nor did the mindlessness of the animosity attract her. Mercy shrugged to herself, and followed the other three into the roaring crowd of blue.
She knew that amidst the sea of blue, she would not be noticed in her dark, cool green, and was surprised to find that she felt a little out of place there. So far, in her mingling with the blue House, she had felt fairly comfortable.
Mercy glanced out at the field, and found excitement welling up. In Australia, there were brooms (and some damn fast ones at that), and Quidditch was played, but Quidditch was mainly a British thing. She knew that in America, it was not anywhere as near as popular as it was in either Australia, or in Britain, but it existed. As did a confusing game known as Quodpot, which, frankly, made little sense to the brunette; why on earth would you want to play catch with a grenade? Okay, so it was a Quaffle spelled to explode, but the comparison was adequate.
She was slightly surprised at the sheer mass of the crowd, she really had not expected it to be the entire school that turned but, but apparently, it was extremely popular among, not only the student population, but the staff. She could pick out every one of her teachers in the stand reserved for parents and teachers, and was highly amused to see the headmaster wearing a green and silver hat, and holding a blue and bronze flag.
"Mercy!"
Mercy turned back to her friends, and saw that Maggie was grudgingly guarding a seat, Tabitha standing and waving on her own. The Australian witch felt a grin break across her face, and hurried to join them. It was getting more than a little annoying to have the two dubious Ravenclaws merely accepting her presence, but making no offer of friendship; did the rivalry and hatred run that deep?
"Sorry! I got sidetracked," she finally sat in the seat between Maggie and Tabitha, and was forced to yell over the hubbub of the crowd. "This is huge! I didn't think it would be so popular!"
"It's Quidditch," Diana yelled back, interrupting whatever reply Tabitha may have given and grinning widely; apparently the euphoria and anticipation was making her a little more open minded. "What did you expect?"
"It's not this big in America!" Tabitha countered in Mercy's place. "We have Quodpot."
"What the bloody Hell is Quodpot?"
The shouted discussion ceased not too much later when a there was a painful whine from the commentator's stand, and the first, slightly crackly, words began to thunder over what remained of the crowd's cacophony.
"Good morning Hogwarts!" the commentator yelled into the loudspeaker, drawling unnecessarily long on the 'morning'. "Welcome to the first Quidditch game of the season!"
The crowd roared it's approval, and Mercy found herself cheering along, caught up in the rush of things.
"Contrary to our usual Slytherin verses Gryffindor, we've got Ravenclaw and Slytherin playing today!" the boy continued. "Rumor has it [insert name had to call off sick, apparent-."
There was a muffled voice, and Mercy could see (when she squinted) that the commentator had covered the loudspeaker to converse with a teacher who she couldn't identify.
"Sorry folks, anyway! On with the show. We have a crisp breeze, not too powerful; clear skies; and the pitch looks like a dream. Perfect conditions!"
Mercy tuned out as the commentator began an in depth analysis of how he thought the match would go given the conditions and the strengths (and weaknesses) of the teams. She was more interested in observing the other students. It was interesting to see her own House-mates let loose; they were usually so uptight. Seeing them red in the face and screaming along with the crowd was refreshing.
Meanwhile, Tabitha was busy trying to look at everything at once.
Of course, in America they had Quodpot, which was a line of players trying to transport a large red ball fast enough between each other to get it into the pot before it exploded.
It was the height of intellectual gaming, obviously.
Still, Quodpot and all its explosions had nothing on the brightly colored banners and stands that lined the stadium, the Bludgers that raced around the pitch and the elusive Snitch. She had learned most of the basics from Diana as soon as they had heard that the Quidditch season was starting; she had never really been that big a fan of the sport and the States wasn't as big on it as Britain apparently was.
It was an admittedly exciting game, but there were so many things to watch at once: the Quaffle as it flew between Chasers, the Keeper that guarded the goal posts when any of the Chasers tried to get a goal in, the Bludgers that tried to knock players off their brooms and the Beaters that chased them around. Not to mention, of course, the Seeker and his or her search for the small golden Snitch.
Too many rules, though, in her opinion, though, considering the sheer amount, they didn't seem to protect the players from harm. Maggie and Diana had spent the better part of the morning giving gory details of Quidditch injuries that had been received in any and all games they could recall; sadly, they seemed to enjoy relating those that had been inflicted upon the Slytherin team the most. Tabitha was starting to wonder if Slytherin's supposed vile nature was more self-preservation than actual ill-will.
It was hard, no, impossible to miss the entry of the teams; the explosion would have lifted the roof if there had been one to lift. She leaned forwards eagerly, despite the crush of others doing so and making the action not only uncomfortable, but dangerous.
The brightly coloured blurs shot past, weaving through the air like a dolphin through water, so natural. She found herself shrieking along with the crowd, and somewhere beside her, she heard Mercy following suit. She cast a brief glance at the Slytherin, and was amused to see some of her inhibitions dropping away; she was usually so guarded it was almost painful to be in her company, of course, this didn't help Maggie or Diana's opinions any. The two were determined, even now, to think the worst of the Australian girl, which confused Tabitha.
Mercy had, despite the icy, often acidic, words, not shown them ill will. She was enduring surprisingly well; Tabitha had expected her to at least shout at them one time. She wondered just how long this cool neutrality would last.
And then her attention was captured again.
The starting whistle had been blown, the balls released, and the fast-paced, potentially lethal game had begun.
There was the shudder-worthy crack! as re-enforced bats slammed into heavy Bludgers, sending them careening across the field, soon returned by another blow. There was the appreciative roar of the crowd as a particularly spectacular save was made, and quite suddenly, she was caught in the rush.
She realised then why Quidditch was so popular. The other games she'd been to had been no-where near as exhilarating as this; you may as well have been playing yourself. There was no real need for the commentator, the gasps, cheers and 'ooh's of the crowd was enough; the atmosphere was incredible.
She was one of those soaring and diving and slapping each other high fives amidst the cacophony; she held her breath as the Ravenclaw Chasers threw the Quaffle, released it, half disappointed, half amazed, as the Slytherin Keeper blocked, expertly deflecting it to her own team mates.
She was going to have to try this game sometime.
"Slytherin Scores!" the commentary rang out over the Pitch, and Tabitha booed to counter the loud cheers coming from the opposite side of the Pitch. Beside her, Meri was silent. Tabitha figured that she didn't yet know who to cheer for, seeing as how her house and her friends were both represented. From what she had heard about the Slytherins (mostly from Diana), Meri had a good chance of being treated unkindly for sitting with them. Tabitha frowned a bit, but didn't say anything.
Mercy, she'd observed in the month or two she'd been here, had many habits. Tabitha didn't, per se, find them annoying, but they were oddities. Even in America, which she'd learned was the height of the general British perception of the word 'odd'.
Mercy was nearly always quiet. Occasionally, she'd have a mood and be talkative, but said moods were rare. There were many things going on in her brain, Tabitha guessed, but she didn't like sharing them. When she did talk, it was nearly always guarded, or there was some hidden meaning embedded in her words. Unless, of course, for these rare moods.
There wasn't much deeper that she could get when analyzing her friend.
She was shaken out of her thoughts when Ravenclaw scored, and she cheered loudly. Mercy was still silent, as expected.
The game continued in what Tabitha could deduce was a fairly normal fashion. Still, she was caught up in the rush of the sport as adrenaline that wasn't rightly hers, but rather seemed to electrocute the air around the pitch.
When nearly a quarter of an hour had passed, there was a rather dull thunk from the general direction of one of the Slytherin players... a chaser, Tabitha thought, though she wasn't really paying all that much attention to positions.She was being lowered to the ground... apparently one of the Ravenclaw players had slung a Bludger her way and it had made contact.
For the remainder of the game, the Slytherins were rather relentless in their negative attentions toward the Ravenclaw team. She didn't know their names, but she was sure a few of her house-mates were adding them to some sort of 'To Hex' list. She thought blearily that they had to have this sort of thing... if they didn't, she'd toss the idea around a bit and maybe procure one.
All this aside, the game ended in what seemed to be a fairly quick manner. Slytherin's Seeker had caught the Snitch, awarding the team one-hundred and fifty extra points and winning them the first match of the season.
Walking back to the castle, Tabitha asked Diana, "Does that mean we're out of the running for the Cup?"
"Nah," Diana answered mildly, "We've just got to win the second game we play, and then all the others. We can't lose again. The season's already started badly... and we never win the Cup, anyway."
"Who does, then?" Mercy asked, startling nearly everyone in their small group.
Diana hesitated, "Slytherin won last year... Gryffindor the year before. It's always either Slytherin or Gryffindor. Hufflepuff's team really isn't all that good. Ours is fair, but it doesn't compare to Slytherin's, as you've seen."
Mercy nodded, before returning her thoughtful gaze to the path winding in front of them.
The group lapsed into silence. There were student all around them, broken up into groups when the match let out. It was a beautiful Saturday. Tabitha would have liked nothing more than to go swimming, but she knew that here it wasn't really that possible. Unless, as Diana had told her when she had the urge in the past, she'd like to share with the Giant Squid.
It was nearly winter anyway, she told herself reproachfully. Too late in the year to be--
"Dwyer!"
A rather malicious voice from ahead of the group caught her attention. There were a group of Slytherins about eight feet away, looking as though they might have been waiting.
Mercy looked up and held the gaze of the one that called her name.
"Have you checked your badge lately?"
Immediately, a crease appeared between her brows, but she didn't flinch away. She continued to look at the person that had spoken mildly.
At the lack of a reply, the girl continued. "What, as confused about your House as you are about your family, Dwyer? Takes a special kind of idiocy to get confused about-."
Before Tabitha could register the movement, Mercy's wand was in her hand. She didn't even think to try and stop her friend; she could only look on with admiration and a slight twinge of horror.
Mercy was good at what she did.
A moment hadn't passed. The girl that had been speaking was now running around in circles, screaming and patting her clothing as if to put out invisible flames.
"Is she on fire?" Tabitha whispered, half to herself.
"No," Mercy replied quietly, as though she wasn't aware she was answering. "She just thinks she is."
Tabitha stared at her friend.
"Mercy Dwyer!"
For the second time, Mercy's name was called out. This time, however, the source was more recognizable.
"Come with me," Professor Slughorn said, glancing between Mercy's group and the girl that Professor McGonagall was trying to calm. Tabitha wondered if the spell Mercy had used was one of a kind, as they were having a bit of trouble countering it.
Mercy, rather than looking ashamed, drew herself up and raised her chin. The head of Slytherin house started up toward the castle, breaking away from the large group of students that Tabitha noticed were watching. Mercy followed, carrying herself proudly. Tabitha waited for Mercy to look back, to maybe mouth to her that they would wait, but Mercy never turned.
Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall was leading the girl toward the Hospital Wing. She wasn't patting herself all over anymore; now she was simply trying to pretend as though she didn't feel like she was burning.
Tabitha would have snickered at this but for the fact that the other teachers were beginning to break up the crowd. She glanced at Diana and kept a steady pace, trying not to fall back into the crowd. When they reached the Entrance Hall, she turned to her other two friends. "I'm going to go wait for Meri," she declared, opening the invitation for them to join.
"We'll wait in the common room," Diana said quietly, and Maggie kept her eyes down. Nodding, Tabitha turned and made her way down to the dungeons.
Nearly a half hour later, Mercy emerged from Slughorn's office, managing the same dignity that she always carried. Tabitha was sitting a little down the hall, huddled in her cloak but looking nonetheless semi-cheerful. Tabitha was almost always cheerful. It was annoying at times, but invigorating as well. If she ever had bad moods, she hadn't shown it. Mercy admired her for that, although she tried to keep her own outward appearance mild.
Slughorn's severe dressing-down hadn't damaged her pride too much, she was too self-righteous for that. She thought about next Saturday morning, and what she might be doing.
"So, what's the verdict?" Tabitha had stood and met Mercy halfway down the hallway, still shivering slightly.
"Detention, next Saturday," Mercy answered simply, showing Tabitha the tiny slip of pink paper.
"Ooh, that stinks. My sympathies. It's Hogsmeade next weekend, isn't it?" Tabitha made a face, no doubt thinking about how cold it would be, and how Diana and Maggie would surely drag her everywhere.
"That's what the notice board says," Mercy shrugged, tucking the paper away inside her pocket and starting to leave the cold of the dungeons. She guessed that since she hadn't had all of her education at Hogwarts, she didn't really get what was so impressive about Hogsmeade. Shopping? Or was it getting out of the castle, a change of scenery?
At the rate she was going, she doubted she was going to ever be able to get there.
She sighed softly, mostly to herself. She doubted Tabitha even heard, as she prattled on about... something.
"-- and I think I want to try out for the team next year." Tabitha finished, and took a breath.
"What?" Mercy asked, taken slightly aback by what she hadn't been listening to.
"Quidditch," Tabitha said patiently, as though she knew that Mercy hadn't been listening and just wanted an excuse to talk. "I want to try out for the Ravenclaw team next year. I think I'm a fair flier... nothing special, but I'm sure I can do that just as well as they can. Only thing is, I'm going to need someone to teach me. Any suggestions? I don't want to ask any of the Ravenclaw team, but the other houses might think that it's traitorous to train a player for another team..." She trailed off.
"I wouldn't ask anyone on the Slytherin team," Mercy said darkly, "They will think it's traitorous, no doubt about that."
"That was my thought too. Do you think maybe a Hufflepuff? They're nice enough. Gryffindor... I dunno. Gryffindors seem a bit impressed with themselves, don't they?"
Mercy considered. "They aren't all bad," she replied, remembering her last Potions lesson.
"I suppose not. I think it's sort of silly to judge someone just by what house they're in, granted..." Tabitha backpedaled.
Mercy merely nodded, and suggested they go somewhere in the sun to escape the cold. There was a small sitting area for students near the Greenhouses, but she didn't want to use it. It was normally crowded on such a nice day.
They ended up in one of the courtyards that Tabitha had discovered earlier. There was a small topiary in the center, and no benches. Every now and again, a group of students would pass in the outdoor hallways that surrounded it, but for the most part it was private. Tabitha took off her cloak and spread it in the grass for them to sit on. She talked, and Mercy listened.
This was how the days normally ran, when they had free time. Mercy hardly minded; Tabitha didn't press her to reply, like she knew Diana would have done. And besides, it gave her time to think.
They lapsed into silence as darkness descended, and Mercy suggested that they go for dinner. Tabitha agreed, taking her cloak off the ground and shaking it out. She walked back to the Great Hall with it slung over her shoulder.
Diana and Maggie, Mercy noticed, took to sitting apart from their normal group arrangement. Every once in a while Diana would whisper something to Maggie, which seemed to annoy Tabitha. Mercy just shrugged it off; they were bound to be talking about her, but she pretended not to care what they were saying.
Tabitha had some studying to get done after dinner, but Mercy declined the invitation to join her. She noticed that Diana and Maggie, though they hadn't really been invited, followed her up the stairs and invariably to the library.
She wondered, briefly, if they would talk about her. She reminded herself, though, that she was pretending not to care.
Alrighty then, review people!
Risa & Azure
