Beginning of autumn
“As the Porlocks classified as xx, e’s quite ‘armless. But that don’t mean you shouldn’t be careful wi’h em.” This years care of magical creatures class sat on various stones, tree stumps, logs and on the ground in a half circle of sorts around Hagrid. The class was rather small, consisting of seven people in total. Along with me from Hufflepuff was my dorm mate Cally - who was giggling over something her friend Bethany McLaster a short plumper girl with beautiful strawberry blonde hair from Gryffindor was drawing in her notes-, and Tristan Bens, a studious and shy guy, who always wore a ridiculously long scarf, and was somehow someone who always knew all the gossip around school. In addition to the four of us, there were two Ravenclaws, Eddie Carmichael, who was scribbling notes furiously, and Marietta Edgecombe, who looked like she was deeply lost in her own world. Lastly there was a singular Slytherin, Juno Ferbell, who caught my eye and gave a shy smile before turning back to their textbook. Their hair, wavy dark brown wolf cut, fell in front of their shoulder when their head moved, blocking the sideview of their face. Had I ever had a proper conversation with them? I wasn’t sure. But I was certain they would enjoy the “Banana Peel Radio Rockers” that Remus and I were such fans of. Perhaps Oliver knew them though. I figured that these were the people, myself included, that had interest enough in the subject to not care about last year’s hippogriff incident. And perhaps were knowledgeable enough to know a hippogriff wouldn’t lash out without some provoking.
“As yer can see, I have no Porlocks ‘ere. As yer know, these creatures are protectors an’ caretakers of ‘orses. An’ there ain’t many ‘orses at ‘ogwarts. So I’ve arranged for us to take a trip to ‘ogsmeade next lesson to visit one of the stables there and see if we can convince one to ‘ave a look a’it” Hagrid smiled excitedly at us, clearly happy about having found a way to make his lessons on the Porlocks practical as well as theoretical. “‘An as it’ll be the last class of d’day ye’ll ’ave the opportunity browse around ‘ogsmeade for a while after. Alright, thanks fer today class”
The seven of us started packing up our things, chatting contently about how we’d get an extra Hogsmeade trip this year thanks to Hagrid.
“Katie is gonna get her knickers in a twits when she hears” I overheard Bethany tell Cally, as they started their walk back to the castle “She’s been counting days to the first trip ever since that new broom polish launched last week”
I picked up my now full satchel and slung it over my shoulder, before walking up to Hagrid.
“Eh, Hagrid?” The big man was in the process of scattering food to some Flobberworms in an enclosure, and gave a “Hm?” Letting me know I had his attention. “What can I do fer yer, Kira?”
“Well, my friends and I were wondering if we could use the grounds over there in front of the gates to have our own quidditch games?” I gestured over to the mentioned area. After a Quick Look, Hagrid scratched his beard “I don’t see no problem with tha’. Just don’t do it after curfew or I’ll ‘ave to give yer all detention. An’ I’d prefer not to” I nodded in agreement. “Yes of course, thank you! See you soon, Hagrid”
“‘Ave a good day Kira”
And with that I started moving happily towards the castle for dinner. Glad to have done my part of the quidditch planning.
“Argh, divination is such a drag …” Paige picked lightly at the remaining food on her plate. “In my teacup today I saw three weird stripes and a half circle”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Like I would know? I just told Trelawney it surely had to mean someone would die a terrible death in the middle of an orchard while the half full moon shines” She picked up the last piece of potato that was laying on her plate. “I mean, Trelawney seemed happy enough with that interpretation” she shrugged.
Dinner had been mostly cleared away when Oliver joined us at the end of the Hufflepuff table.
”How are my two favourite ladies doing?”
”Paige is predicting people’s death and demise in divination so watch out”
”ah noted, please don’t speak a horrible death for me into existence” Oliver took a seat next to Paige. “Ah it’s not like whatever bullshit I tell Trelawney will actually happen!” Oliver shrugged “Perhaps not, but I still haven’t discarded the idea of you having some sort of weird seer powers”
“Exactly! Like back in third year when you swear you saw a bird in your crystal ball and less than a week later a crow flew straight into our dormitory window.”
“Yeah yeah, but that was just a coincidence! It’s not that uncommon for a bird to crash a bit?”
“Anyway, the reason I came over here was to tell you that Madam Hooch has taken our request into consideration, but I think she’ll come around to it eventually.” Oliver said proudly “Oh and Hagrid gave us the a-okay to use the patch between his hut and the gates!” I chimed in. Paige was about to answer as three familiar Gryffindors jumped in on the conversation from behind my two friends.
”Talking quidditch are we?” Asked Lee excitedly. I stole a quick glance towards Oliver, whose eyes briefly widened, before he smiled and placed his elbow on the table and his cheek on his fist. He then turned his upper body to face the Weasleys and Lee. “Indeed we are, Jordan” Oliver was such a smooth yet slightly awkward sweet talker, and it was very charming. Paige, still quite oblivious, took no notice in Oliver’s slightly exaggerated manner.
”Why don’t you three join us? I’m sure you’d have some great input” Paige motioned for them to take a seat. So Lee plopped down beside Oliver while the twins quickly came over to my side of the table and took a seat on either side of me. “So what’ya got so far?” Fred asked, “Well, we got the location down and we might have acquired some brooms and a quaffle” I answered
“Might?” Came from Georgia on the other side of me. I turned to her and gave slight shrug before looking at Oliver.
”Yes, might. Hooch said she had to consider it for a while. Perhaps she has to figure out which brooms she’s alright with us borrowing” He informed
“Damn, I hope she at least lets us use the Comet 140s, so we don’t get stuck with only the Shooting Stars” Georgia sighed “weren’t we stuck with the Shooting Stars the first year we were on the team? ” Fred asked as he leaned in to be able to see his sister. “Mhm, and harry was stuck with one of them last year after his Nimbus splintered”
Lee placed a hand on Oliver’s shoulder “Didn’t you get your own sometime last year” Oliver only managed to nod “Lucky bastard” he lightly punched Oliver’s arm “What type was it? I feel like I remember it being a Comet of some kind” Oliver’s face went through a series of minuscule expressions “- Eh, yeah a 290”. Paige caught my eye and gave me a slight questioning look. I simply gave her my best “trying not to smile” face. I briefly looked over to Georgia beside me, it was clear that she found this whole interaction hilarious. Fred however seemed to either not notice or not care, how much else did boys casually miss?
“We’re gonna need players though, how many were you thinking?” Asked Fred
”Depends on how many wanna join. It’ll be way less formal than the actual quidditch cup, so we were thinking of just making teams of around five players formed by whoever wants to play.” Answered Paige.
”Could mixing houses be an idea?” Asked Lee
”That wouldn’t be a bad idea. Makes it more of it’s own thing, instead of a poorly produced quidditch cup” Nodded Oliver
“Would you guys be able to talk to your team captain and hear if they’d like to spread the word a bit and possibly rotate the responsibility of leading the training and games? - Who is your captain now that Oliver Wood isn’t here?” I asked the three Gryffindors
”Angelina. She was bloody fuming about being made captain but not having the tournament. But yeah we could do that” Georgia replied.
“I’ll talk to the Slytherin team” offered Oliver
”Oh gods, do we really have to involve that Flint idiot” Fred complained
“Well, no. He graduated last year”
“Thank Merlin! Had me worried there for a second”
”We might have to deal with Malfoy though”
”Damnit… perhaps he won’t want to joins something so lowly as a pretend tournament?” Said Georgia hopefully
“Perhaps”
”Or perhaps I finally get justification to give him a solid one straight to the nose” Georgia jokingly assumed a boxers arm position.
“Not if I get to him first!” Fred chimed in and soon enough I was stuck between two joke fighting Weasley twins, unsure what to do with myself except laugh at the two of them.
Later that evening I sat down to write a letter to Remus. I had my pen and parchment available and a big mug of steaming chai tea. He made me promise to write every once in a while.
I opened the letter with explaining the current quidditch plans. Before continuing with other matter:
Paige is doing alright, as is her little sister as far as I know. She hasn’t talked much about her father, but I hope he’s alright too.
Oliver is in a constant panic around a certain boy from Gryffindor. I presume you know all about that feeling. Speaking of which, have you heard anything from Padfoot recently? Professor McGonagall said to wish you both the best.
My writing was interrupted by an attention seeking Loaf, who started gnawing on my quill, and inked some scribbles on the parchment. I gave in, and gave her the scratches she demanded. Eventually I placed her in my lap so I could continue my letter. But first I signed Hi, from Loaf where she’d left her masterpiece.
Do you still have a supply of your potions or would you like me to acquire some more from professor Snape? I’ve been wanting to ask him to teach me how to make it. But he’s so unpleasant to be around.
Anyway, I hope you’re doing alright. Take care (properly! I’m warning you). Love you and miss you,
Hugs, Kira
I rolled up the letter and sealed it with some dark green wax. My original plan had been to go to the owlery immediately, but with Loaf curled up in my lap I figured it could wait a little longer. She purred contently as I scratched her behind the ears. Loaf rarely settled for long in my lap, except for when I was wearing a woollen sweater. And most of the woollen sweaters I owned were old ones of Remuses. The one I was wearing had thick beige, brown and black stripes, with different designs on each stripe colour. It was unfortunately quite rugged looking, and even had some patchwork done by Molly Weasley to cover up some fraying holes. It had been an autumn day in August about seven or eight years ago, not too long after Dumbledore had placed me in Remuses care. Well, Remus had requested it, but without Dumbledores help it would have never happened. At that time we visited the Weasley family every once in a while, and each time we left Remus had a new recipe learned and a few less holes in his clothes. After that it became quite clear that he really enjoyed cooking and apparently had done so when he was a teenager too. But having grown up in a muggle orphanage you got used to the bare minimum during trying times. Which resurfaced in his adulthood years and which unfortunately just kinda stuck. But having the Weasleys around, who’ve always made the best of what they had, and made it loving and plentiful, and having to care for another person and set some examples, likely gave him the reality check he needed. And the truth is, that like Remus, the muggle orphanage is likely where I would have ended up if he hadn’t taken me in. Of course there is a chance one of my aunts and uncles would have taken me in, but I’ve always seriously doubted it. They were all terrified of anything slightly abnormal or magical, and ever since I was young they all seemed to sense some “devilry” in me. They are mostly very caring and proper people, but they have certain beliefs that become a sore splinter for anyone remotely different. Take uncle Sammy for example, who after marrying his husband Aspen, didn’t feel properly at home amongst the rest of the family, and ended up moving to Belgium. I haven’t seen him in years, but I usually get Christmas cards sent every year, featuring the two of them and their cats Mons, Pepper and The Duke.
Eventually, Loaf decided it was time for her evening meal, and I took that as my opportunity to get to the owlery. After filling up my cat's food bowl of course. On my way out I grabbed my Hufflepuff scarf and flung it around my neck. It wasn’t necessarily terribly cold outside, but once the sun dropped below the horizon the otherwise tolerable wind became a maw of icy bites. It was that time of year where all the trees had slightly begun to change all their colours to a much warmer palette. And in all honesty I was glad the autumn was finally here. I left my dorm, and then the Hufflepuff common room and began my walk towards the Owlery. I passed several students as I walked, curfew wasn’t until another hour. Some where studying or doing homework for tomorrow’s morning classes, while others where simply enjoying each others company.
Up in the Owlery I tied the scroll to the foot of a mature looking barn owl. “Make sure he writes me back alright? At least 5 full sentences” the owl simply blinked blankly. It accepted a couple of strokes on its back before taking off into the evening sky. Footsteps could be heard from the stairs as I lingered by the archway where the barn owl had been only moments before. A pair of students came into view, stumbling up the stairs entangled in each others arms. One of them came to a halt as he saw me. Realisation quickly dawned upon me as I recognised “Mr. Future head boy” William.
“What’s wrong Willia-“ the other person, a black haired girl with her hand on his chest, followed his gaze to find out what had stopped their very important business. Her gaze landed on me, and gave me a scan from top to toe. “…oh” She wore an expression of someone who just had to remove wet food from the sink. Although I had been up there first, and this was public grounds, I felt like an intruder and immediately beelined past them, and made my way down the stairs. Whatever they were up to, was none of my business and I would prefer being out of earshot sooner rather than later. I probably could have stood my ground and made some sort of smart comeback at the younger Slytherin girl, but in all honesty I couldn’t give a flying fuck about what she thought of me. And with that thought I hurried back towards the Hufflepuff common room.