Chapter 3
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Aventurine’s first thought was that this was not someone to cross (though, that won’t prevent him from causing a bit of mischief).
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid. Then, he pushed Aventurine and Jelena up in front of him. “Plus the special ones.”
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big it could’ve even rival their IPC mansion back in London. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Aventurine could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here — but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.
Aventurine was about to say something but shut his mouth immediately when Professor McGonagall shot him a look that indicated that she had something to say.
“Welcome to Hogwarts,” said Professor McGonagall. “The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.
“The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.
“The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.”
Her gaze swept around the room, lingering a bit longer on those whose attire was messy or crumpled from the walk here.
“I shall return when we are ready for you,” said Professor McGonagall. “Please wait quietly.”
She left the chamber. Aventurine could hear the kids around him gulping loudly and tried not to laugh or point it out.
“Hey but, how’d you think we’ll be sorted?” Aventurine said, putting his hands up to rest on the back of his head. The more he thought about it, the more he was pissed. Jade had gotten a week prior to their official mission in order to scout around and find information, but she barely got anything.
It’s because they’re so closed off, she said. To Aventurine, that was just excuses. Or maybe she did know the details and wanted to see how the two of them would act in a situation like this? Aventurine soon shook the thoughts away. Thinking too much made his brain hurt.
“I don’t know,” Jelena said, looking around the room. “Maybe a little magic test?”
Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air — several people behind him screamed.
“What the —?”
He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: “Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance —”
“My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost -- I say, what are you all doing here?”
A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.
Nobody answered.
“New students!” said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. “About to be Sorted, I suppose?”
A few people nodded mutely.
“Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!” said the Friar. “My old house, you know.”
Then, she noticed Aventurine and Jelena, who, unfortunately, are like two black sheeps in a herd of white ones. It was abundantly clear the two of them were not first years, given their freakishly tall height compared to the other kids around them.
“Hey, what’re you guys—”
"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.
"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."
Aventurine clutched his shirt’s chest area. God, that scared the living daylights out of him. Jelena, noticing his behavior, let out a snicker.
“Haha, scared of ghosts?” She teased, purposely trailing behind the other students so that they could have a private conversation.
Aventurine scoffed. Who wouldn’t be? He heard there were some ghost-like things called Heliobus on the Xianzhou Luofu, but he’s never seen one himself. How was he supposed to not be scared?
“You’re kidding,” he said.
“Miss Jade already informed us of the ghosts,” Jelena said, quirking up a brow. “It’s no wonder you’re scared if you hadn’t even touched the report papers.”
At that, Aventurine whistled distractedly and looked out a window, leading Jelena to laugh a bit.
They walked out the chamber, across a long hallway, and then reached a huge pair of double doors, leading into the Great Hall.
Aventurine had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them.
Among the teachers, Aventurine could make out Jade’s strikingly purple hair amongst the many heads of black and gold. He made a mental note to complain to her later for running off without any instructions.
The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Aventurine looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars.
He heard a girl suddenly pipe up, “Someone I know told me it’s bewitched to look like the sky outside. She says she’d read about it in some book.”
It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.
Aventurine quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aventurine was sure even Jade’s hideous hat would suddenly look like a best-of-the-best limited edition next to this scrawny one.
“Hey, you think the school’s too broke to afford another hat or what?” Aventurine leaned over to whisper to Jelena, who gave him an exasperated look before mentioning for him to shut up.
Noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing:
"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
‘Damn right you’re not,’ Aventurine thought.
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
“Boooring,” Aventurine whistled before shutting up after getting a jab to the side from Jelena.
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"
“What kind of nonsense—” Aventurine said, scowling. But before he could finish, the whole hall erupted into loud claps, making him jump. The hat bowed to each of the four house tables before becoming a useless lump again.
“So we’re just trying on the hat,” Jelena said.
“Except it can see into your mind,” reminded Aventurine. Aeons, this sucked. Did this school not have any sense of privacy? He just hoped the only thing it could do is read his thoughts and not see his whole life story.
Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Anderson, Lisa!"
A pale girl with brown hair stumbled out of line, put on the hat that was obviously too big for her, and sat down on the stool. A moment’s pause—
“HUFFLEPUFF!” shouted the hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Lisa went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Aventurine could see the fat ghost waving merrily to Lisa.
“Bailey, Ava!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!” shouted the hat again, and Ava scuttled off to sit next to Lisa.
“Yikes, seems boring,” Aventurine said. He played around with his wizard robe out of boredness, annoyed at the lack of accessories. He made a mental note to himself to later go out and spend some of Jade’s money if he got the chance.
“Aeons, leave them alone,” Jelena said, laughing. She beckoned for him to start paying attention to the sorting again.
Aventurine stayed focused for about five minutes before he started spacing out again. In his defense, it was so boring. It was just tons of names being called, and then clapping, then another name, and so on and so on. Aventurine wasn’t one to sit down in place for long.
He swept his eyes across the huge hall, scanning each table for some kind of distraction. Amongst the bunch of black, brown, blonde, and redheads, there was one who stood out quite clearly. His hair color was quite a contrast compared to the many other heads in the rooms.
He was a boy who looked around the same age as Aventurine, sitting with one leg on top of the other, propping up his head with one hand that was resting on the table. He had wavy violet hair that partially covered his left eye with pale skin and a muscular build.
He seemed to also be extremely bored, judging by the way he’s just sitting there instead of standing up and clapping whenever someone gets sorted into his house. Holding back a laugh, Aventurine continued staring at him to watch his expressions until—
“Aventurine!”
Jumping, Aventurine spun his head around quickly, coming face to face with an annoyed Jelena.
“What’s got you so out of it?” Jelena said, looking in the direction of the violet haired beauty. “Fell in love?”
Aventurine gave her a look. The boy was beautiful, yes, but that didn’t mean he’d fallen in love. Her and her little fantasies, Aventurine lampooned inwardly. “Pay attention.”
Jelena scoffed. “I should be the one saying that to—”
“Last but not least,” came Professor McGonagall’s voice. “We have two new students. There had been a mishap, and the school had failed to detect the two’s magic, therefore resulting in the late invitation.”
Sounds of rustling could be heard, then suddenly every eye was on them.
Aventurine’s eye twitched as he tried to uphold his smile. He had always hated the disgusting and probing looks of others. It made his skin crawl. Disgusting, the whole lot of them.
“Please treat them like you would treat any other,” Professor McGonagall said, before calling out another name. “Topaz, Jelena!”
Jelena hastily made her way up to the stool, giving Aventurine a last look before putting on the hat. There was a moment of silence, before the hat slowly opened its flaps—
“GRYFFINDOR!”
The Gryffindor table clapped and cheered loudly, a bunch of people running up to grab Jelena’s hands and pull her in before she could even reach the table. Seems fun, Aventurine lampooned inwardly.
“Ventura, Aventurine!”
He gave a sigh before starting towards the hat. He wanted all this to be over already. Being last had been not fun, since now his feet were aching from standing so long, plus, it was now solely him who was at the center of attention.
Aventurine took the hat in disdain, sat on the stool, and slipped it on his head. Almost immediately, a voice entered his head. It wasn’t that the hat had spoken out loud — no, it was more like it invaded his mind.
The hell? He thought. What’s with the things here..
“Huh. So I’m right,” said the voice. “You two really are… The girl too… Huh. Curious. Very, very curious. Lots of passion, lots of…hatred? And lots of bravery, plus very witty. Huh.”
The hat continued to hum to itself in his head, pissing him off slowly. This damned hat, Aventurine thought, barely able to contain a scowl from appearing on his face. He put one of his legs on top of the other, propping his chin up with his elbow resting on his knee. He figured he might as well get into a comfortable position since the hat was taking so damned long.
“...” said the hat. “You’re cursing me. Purposely. Huh. Curious.”
Aventurine scowled a bit before returning his lazy smile back on his face. Hurry up, you old shit, before I stand up and chuck you out the castle’s windows, he thought threateningly. It was really pissing him off now, since it clearly can tell something was off with Jelena and him.
“Huh, curious—”
Three, Aventurine started a countdown. Two.
“You fuck—” said the hat before quickly switching its words. “SLYTHERIN!”
Finally, he scoffed, before standing up and heading towards the Slytherin table. He gave a glance to Jelena and Jade, then was about to give one last sweep across the halls before his gaze somehow ended up stuck on the violet beauty. What’s worse, the guy was also staring at him.
Aventurine almost froze, but he looked away hastily before sitting down in a vacant seat at the Slytherin table. Multiple girls peeked at him before turning away and giggling to themselves, but other than that, he was completely ignored.
Great, Aventurine lampooned inwardly. Slytherins sure are friendly.
Professor McGonagall had already rolled up her scroll and took the chair with the Sorting Hat away and everyone seemed like they were getting ready to eat. Aventurine looked down at the golden plate before him, in boredom. He quirked up his brow. Where’s the food?
Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
“Welcome,” he said. “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!
“Thank you!”
He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Aventurine didn't know whether to laugh or just chuck a plate at his face. ‘Best wizard in the world, my ass.’ He thought.
Then, his eyes opened as wide as frying pans. In front of him where a bunch of useless golden plates had been, there were now piles upon piles of food. The food seemed messily made and the quantity was much, but a normal Stoneheart’s meal could easily surpass this much food. What surprised him was the magic. How they could just, appear, out of nowhere.
Aventurine froze for a moment before shakily picking up the fork beside him. Aeons didn’t grant these kinds of powers. He was sure they didn’t. The powers he was familiar with could only be used in combat, and an ability as useless as being able to produce food out of thin air was never ever seen or heard of before.
Then, a laugh entered his ears, which made him snap back to reality and look up.
A guy adorning sparkling brown eyes entered his field of vision. His dark brown hair was cut extremely short, making it look like a grown out buzz cut. He was continuing to laugh at Aventurine, even after making eye contact.
“...What?” Aventurine scowled before remembering that he always had to be friendly, as Jade had told him over and over again before the mission. Ah, fuck it, he thought, annoyed. He laughed at him first anyways.
“Haha, n-nothing,” the guy said, covering his mouth and hiding his face behind the person next to him in order to hide his snickers.
“...I can still hear you, you know?” Aventurine pointed out exasperatedly, propping up his chin with his hand. He started poking around the food plates with his fork before deciding that the food was too cheap quality for him and his stomach.
He had always been a picky eater, but with the environment he grew up in, he was forced to just eat anything he could get his hands on. Plus, his stomach was weak, so eating random food eventually led him to constant stomach aches.
“Get off me, Adrian, you’re heavy as hell,” said the person supporting Adrian’s laughing figure. He gave Aventurine a little nod of approval before turning back to his other friends. It took Adrian a whole five minutes to finally calm down.
“Sorry, your shocked gaze was just too funny,” he said. Then, he reached out his hand across the table. “Adrian. Adrian Pucey, Chaser of the Slytherin’s Quidditch team.”
Aventurine took his hand with a scoff before asking a question out of curiosity. “Pardon but, Chaser of what?”
Adrian blinked once. Then twice. Then thrice, before he burst out laughing again, pissing Aventurine off a tad bit.
“You don’t even know what Quidditch is?” Adrian finally managed after calming down a bit. He turned over to his friends and relayed the message, and before he knew it, Aventurine found himself surrounded by the so called Slytherin’s Quidditch team, whatever that was.
“Are you sure you’re not a mudblood?” A guy who supposedly was the Slytherin Quidditch team’s captain, Marcus Flint, asked with an underlying tone of disgust in his voice. “How’d you not know what Quidditch is?”
Pissed, but still smiling nonetheless, Aventurine gave a fitting answer from the small details Jade had given him. “Pureblood, but I was raised by muggles after my parents died.” From what he’d known, Slytherins tended to absolutely despise mudbloods for some unknown reason, so Jade had gotten the IPC to make up a few fake identities and personas, and made it so that Aventurine’s and Jelena’s names were in the family tree.
“Oh,” Flint said, finally letting go of the hostility. “They must’ve tried hard to keep you from Hogwarts, seeing as how you’re only here now.” He gave a shrug and backed away a bit, gnawing on a potato while the rest of the Quidditch team introduced themselves.
Afterwards, the team made themselves comfortable around Aventurine, laughing at him whenever he was surprised by magic but liking the attention nonetheless. After everyone seemed to have eaten everything they could, the plates wiped themselves clean and then desserts appeared. Aventurine blinked in awe. This could be a bit helpful in the days to come, he thought, just summoning snacks out of thin air.
“You didn’t touch anything from the main course,” Cassius, another Chaser, pointed out. “What, the food here not to your liking?”
“Oh yeah,” Miles (Keeper) said through his full mouth stuffed with apple pies. “What’d the muggles feed you?”
“Ew, stop talking while you’re chewing,” Aventurine scowled, throwing an egg tart at his face, causing Adrian to fall out of his seat laughing. From what he’d collected so far, Adrian Pucey was an idiot who would laugh at anything, Cassius was a jerk, Miles had an enormous appetite, Flint was a huge dick, and Derrick and Lucian, the two Beaters, were Flint’s two biggest meat suckers.
“And I’m just unused to the food here,” Aventurine said, nibbling on a piece of lettuce that he had found somewhere. “They might be muggles but they at least fed me something with more flavor. What’s with all these potatoes and cheese?”
“What? Are you lactose intolerant?” Flint looked over from where he was wiping his broomstick.
“Nah, just don’t like cheese,” Aventurine responded with a sigh, spitting out his chewed lettuce onto an empty dish that happened to be Lucian’s. He gave Aventurine a disgusted look before throwing out the plate.
Aventurine looked up at the High Table, trying to find Jade. He didn’t know when this boring dinner party would end, but he was crossing his fingers for it to end now. Jade could be seen being seated right next to Gilderoy Lockheart, seemingly praising his snobby books, seeing as how he was going on long rants.
At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.
“Ahern -- just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.
“First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.”
Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins Aventurine saw at the book shop the other day.
“I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.
“Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.”
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Aventurine noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.
Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.
“Everyone pick their favorite tune,” said Dumbledore, “and off we go!” And the school bellowed:
“Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot, just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot.”
Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.
“Ah, music,” he said, wiping his eyes. “A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!”
“Is he on drugs?” muttered Aventurine. Though he never expected anyone to hear him, apparently the whole Quidditch team had extremely fantastic hearing, seeing as how they all burst into laughter, with Adrian Pucey in the middle.
“Drugs, he said!” Miles snickered, standing up and patted Aventurine’s shoulders as he passed. Aventurine was about to stand up and walk out himself, but before he could do that, Adrian and Cassius both took one of his arms and dragged him up and off outside into the corridors.
Aventurine’s face darkened. He stared at the place where his arm was connected with the two’s palms and forced himself to relax a bit. Calm down, he thought, taking a deep breath. They’re just pulling me along. Nothing else.
“Hey, have you heard of this really, really rare thing?” Aventurine said, a scowl on his face as both Chasers turned back in question. “It’s called fucking ‘personal space’.”
Adrian only burst into laughter again, and Cassius gave a teasing smirk.
“It’s no wonder you got into Slytherin with that temper of yours,” Flint said from behind, followed by his two meat suckers, Lucian and Derrick. He walked with his hands resting behind his head, giving Aventurine an amused chortle.
They ended up spending about fifteen minutes walking to their dorm room, and by the time they had finally stopped somewhere deep underground in the dungeons, Aventurine was about to explode on the person leading them.
“Gee, I’m tired,” Aventurine said, tussling his hair in annoyance. He peeked at the front to try and see where they were and to his surprise, there was no door or anything, just a bare, damp stone wall. He was about to let loose a few curses before Adrian gave a loud chortle, pulling him along again.
“The door’s hidden, look,” he nodded towards the one at the front, who approached the wall, then stopping and saying something. Then, the wall slid open, revealing a hidden doorway. “The password’s ‘pure-blood’.”
Aventurine staggered inside, pushed and pulled by many students much to his annoyance. The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, green-ish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several high-backed chairs surrounded it.
“Our dormitory’s over here,” Miles said, somehow still chewing on an apple pie in his mouth. “The girls’ is casted with some magic so we can’t get in, so don’t even try.”
Aventurine gave him a look.
Like hell he’d try. What kind of person did they think he was?
“Oh, shut it before he starts letting his mouth loose again,” Flint said, waving his hand dismissively. “Your luggage is already in there, I’d assume. You’re sharing a bunker with Adrian.”
Great, Aventurine thought. He was supposed to be going around collecting information, but all he’d collected so far was useless information about some magic sport called Quidditch. Oh, and he collected himself a temporary friend group, so at least now he’d know how to make his way through the annoyingly large castle hallways.
He got into bed after getting all washed up, frowning at his dirty roommates who didn’t even brush their teeth and only slumped down onto their bed, snoozing off right after a fulfilling dinner. Aventurine looked around before pulling out his phone, opening the little group chat where he had Jelena and Jade added and sending a message.
Aventurine: Got anything on your end?
Jelena: A lot.
Aventurine quirked up a brow. How much was ‘a lot’? Jade only sent a sticker before going offline, probably off to do her own investigations, Aventurine thought. Looks like only he had learned something absolutely useless.
Jelena: I’ll tell you tomorrow.
Jelena: Oh and, you’ll probably hear about it too.
He replied with a sticker of himself holding up a glass of wine before bidding her goodnight and turning off his phone. Aventurine slipped it under bed before falling asleep, pulling his blanket up to his neck.
“So that’s what happened,” Jelena finished off her excruciating long story about how the famous Harry Potter and his friend, Ron Weasley, had crashed into the Whomping Willow with a flying car arriving at Hogwarts instead of just taking the train like any other normal person.
Aventurine looked around. Seems like rumors come and go pretty quickly around here, since when he woke up, there were some talks about the incident, but now, it seems as if nothing even happened at all.
He moved his eyes back to Jelena after receiving a light jab in the side.
“Hey but,” she said, motioning towards Adrian, who was right next to him talking with other Slytherins. “Why’re they here?”
“Oh,” Aventurine said awkwardly. This morning, Adrian had dragged him out of bed, ruining his calm slumber with his loud mouth. After learning that Aventurine was planning to go off on his own, he had somehow clung onto him persistently until he was given permission to tag along, using excuses like how he would get lost in the unfamiliar hallways.
After seeing Jelena and her Gryffindor robes, Adrian had ignored her and made small conversations with other students he passed by instead. Aventurine thought it was quite thoughtful of him, since he was sure if someone else, like Flint, was here, he’d probably go off on her for just being from Gryffindor.
“Alright, nevermind,” Jelena shrugged, thankfully dropping the subject much to Aventurine’s relief.
It wasn’t long before they reached the Great Hall and split up, Jelena having to go sit down at her own table and Adrian and him to theirs. The four long house tables were laden with tureens of porridge, plates of kippers, mountains of toasts, and dishes of eggs and bacon, beneath the enchanted ceiling (today, a dull, cloudy gray). Aventurine followed Adrian and sat down next to Miles, saying his greetings to each of the Quidditch players.
“You’re more cheerful today,” Lucian pointed out with a smirk. “Even smiling and everything. What happened to the crashout from yesterday?”
Aventurine’s left eye twitched as he offered back a small chortle.
“Pardon?” he said, flashing a bright smile. “You must’ve been mistaken. I’m always like this.” The table laughed and gave Aventurine a few back pats, at which he finally scowled and pushed them off.
“Mail’s due any minute now.”
Aventurine had barely taken a bite out of his piece of toast when, sure enough, there was a rustling sound overhead and a hundred or so owls streamed in, circling the hall and dropping letters and packages into the chattering crowd. A big, lumpy package bounced off Adrian’s head before dropping onto his lap. Aventurine had to control his facial expressions with great difficulty in order to mask his shock at the horde of owls. He had seen an owl before, but it was only one at the time.
“Aha!” shouted Adrian as he pulled out a black satchel from his package. “My bag! I thought I was done for when I realized I’d forgotten it at home.”
The satchel had a silver keychain dangling from one of its straps, glinting underneath the many candles. It looked oddly familiar to Aventurine’s eyes, and he wondered if he had seen a similar keychain somewhere before. Then, it hit him. His keychain!
Aventurine brought up his own satchel and looked at his keychain. It was the same rectangular keychain with a snake curling around it, a capital A carved into the middle. Since Adrian’s name also started with an A, he had the exact same design. Aventurine hastily put his bag back down, shoving it under the table. It would be quite annoying if—
“Hey, you guys are matching keychains,” Miles suddenly piped up.
—someone found out.
Aventurine wanted to take the whole plate of bacon and shove it down Mile’s throat right this second. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before throwing on a beam.
“Oh, you’re right,” he said, stabbing, no, poking his scrambled eggs. “We do.”
Adrian looked at Aventurine, then to his plate of eggs, then to Miles, before bursting into laughter again. “Look at his face,” he snickered, pulling on Flint’s sleeve. “He’s trying so hard not to strangle Miles right now.”
Aventurine scowled. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, a loud shriek ricocheted around the hall, making him jump and drop his fork on the floor. The roar was so loud it seemed to shake dust from the ceiling.
“—STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON’T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE—”
Aventurine recognized the voice. It was someone he’d met before at the bookshop, Mrs. Weasley. Her yell made the plates and spoons rattle on the table, and echoed deafeningly off the stone walls, leading people around the hall to swivel around to see where the noise was coming from.
“—LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN’T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED—”
Aventurine looked over to the Gryffindor table. Whatever this was, he thought, was probably about the whole Whomping Willow incident from yesterday night. Gee, so everything did revolve around the kid. He’s always at the center of trouble when there is any.
“—ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED — YOUR FATHER’S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT’S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT, AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE’LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME.”
A ringing silence fell. Aventurine couldn’t make out what Harry and his friend were doing since the two tables were so far apart, but he himself felt as if a tidal wave had just passed over him. A few people laughed, and, gradually, a babble of talk broke out again.
“Holy shit,” Aventurine whispered, bringing a hand to his chest. He could still clearly feel the loud poundings of his heart reverberating through his skin. Whatever that was, he never wanted it to ever happen to him. Just thinking about it made his skin break out in goosebumps.
“Right, Aventurine doesn’t know what a howler is,” Cassius said, biting off a piece of toast as if nothing had happened at all. In fact, everyone was acting as if nothing had happened, making Aventurine feel a little overwhelmed. Was this normal? His heart sure wouldn’t be able to handle it if it was.
“Oh, cause he’s raised by muggles,” Flint sneered, clear disgust and loathing in his voice as he said ‘muggles’. Aventurine made an indifferent face and tried to let it all flow from one ear to the other as the whole team suddenly started cursing out the muggles as if they’d committed an atrocious crime against humanity itself.
Right after the fuss died down, Adrian had been thoughtful enough to explain to him that a howler was basically a voicemail, if he had to put it in more modern terms. It seemed that this planet’s technology was very outdated, seeing as how the normal people still use telephones instead of actual cell phones to contact one another. Though, it does wind up being an advantage towards him, Jelena, and Jade in the end.
But he had no time to dwell on this; Professor Snape, as he had learned just this morning that he was the Slytherin’s head of house, was going down the table passing out course schedules. Aventurine took his and saw that he had double Herbology with a few Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws. He turned over to Miles and gave him a jab in the abdomen.
“Hey, do they always put all four houses together in a class like this?” he asked, pointing to his schedule.
“Ah, yeah,” Miles said, showing his own schedule. “We have the same class, look.” Aventurine gave a small smile, not knowing if that was supposed to be a good thing or not. He could really take a break from these insufferable brats.
Turns out, Aventurine’s luck seemed to not be in his favor today, since both Adrian Pucey and Cassius ended up having the same class as him and Miles. Aventurine rolled his eyes. As if having one annoying Quidditch player next to him wasn’t enough.
The four of them left the castle together, crossed the vegetable patch, and made for the greenhouses, where the magical plants were kept, having Cassius and Miles in the front leading the way, followed by Aventurine and Adrian at the rear.
As they neared the greenhouses, they saw the rest of the class standing outside, waiting for Professor Sprout, apparently their Herbology teacher. Aventurine had just managed to catch up to Cassius and Miles before she came striding into view across the lawn, accompanied by Gilderoy Lockheart. Professor Sprout’s arms were full of bandages, drawing Aventurine’s attention.
“Geez, the Whomping Willow must’ve been tough on her,” Cassius whistled, resting his hands on the back of his head. Miles and Adrian have a snicker before shutting up when she gets closer.
Professor Sprout was a squat little witch who wore a patched hat over her flyaway hair; there was unusually a large amount of earth on her clothes and her fingernails were disgusting to say the least. Aventurine flexed open his palm in order to take a good look at his nails, making sure they were neat and tidy.
“Oh, shut up,” laughed Adrian, smacking him on the back. “You just took care of them this morning, princess.” Aventurine scowled before tucking his hands away into the huge sleeves of his robes.
Gilderoy Lockheart, however, in contrast to Professor Sprout, was immaculate in sweeping robes of turquoise, his golden hair shining under a perfectly positioned turquoise hat with gold trimming.
“Oh, hello there!” he called, beaming around at the assembled students. “Just showing Professor Sprouts the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow! But I don’t want you running away with the idea that I’m better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several of these exotic plants on my travels...”
“Greenhouse three today, chaps!” said Professor Sprout, who was looking distinctly disgruntled, not at all her cheerful self that Aventurine had seen at the welcoming ceremony.
“He really needs to—” Aventurine started, before his mouth was blocked by Adrian’s palm. Suddenly, his blood ran cold. It was one thing when they had touched him on his arms or back, since they only made contact with his robes. But now, he could feel their skin directly. Aventurine had almost jumped and swat at the hand, but he had thankfully managed to keep still.
He hated physical contact. Actually, he was a huge fan of physical contact. It was just that he eventually grew to feel disgusted by it after ... what had happened with his previous master.
“My fault, just that you shouldn’t be throwing around so much cursing right in front of the teachers,” Adrian backed off with both hands in the air after seeing the look on Aventurine’s face, laughing awkwardly.
Aventurine heaved a sigh before dropping his glare. It was a reasonable excuse, after all. He really does need to keep his mouth in check. In fact, it was the main reason why he was often criticized and the cause of his value dropping just a tiny bit, since most customers supposedly couldn’t handle his ‘smart mouth’.
“Anyways, greenhouse three?” Miles said, trailing after the crowd and gesturing to them as if to say that they should too. “We’ve only ever touched greenhouse one.”
“Maybe we’re doing something fun for once,” said Cassius with a snigger, causing Adrian to giggle. He turned to Aventurine. “Herbology’s real boring, you know?”
Professor Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the door. Aventurine caught a whiff of damp earth and fertilizer mingling with the heavy perfume of some giant, umbrella-sized flowers dangling from the ceiling. The wizarding world really is fascinating.
He followed the group as they trailed to the back of the classroom, where it was slightly closed off from the wandering eyes of Professor Sprouts. Aventurine sat down and took a look around the classroom, trying to see if he noticed anyone familiar. Then, he saw him.
The violet beauty!
Aventurine’s breath caught in his throat as his eyes widened, staring at the back of soft, wavy violet locks of hair. That had to be him! He was wearing the Ravenclaw tie, so that checks out. Plus, Aventurine was pretty sure no one else had such a unique hair color in the whole school. He nudged Adrian, who was sitting next to him, and asked about his name.
“Oh, him?” he said, chortling as he pulled out a pen. “He’s Veritas Ratio, the top of the whole school in academic abilities even though this is just his fourth year. He’s got excellent looks as well, but a very bad temper.”
“What more could he need,” Miles sighed dramatically, somehow joining their conversation out of nowhere. “He’s got brains, brawn, and looks. Plus he’s popular and is fairly good at Quidditch.”
Aventurine’s ears perked up. Quidditch? Now he was interested in the sport.
“He’s on his house’s Quidditch team?” Aventurine asked, taking Adrian’s pen to play around with. “What’s his position?”
“Seeker, and he’s a great one at that,” Cassius said, leaning back on his chair. “Our seeker could barely beat him whenever we had to go against Ravenclaw.”
“Hey, how about teaching me Quidditch?”
“...” Cassius gave him a look.
“What, you’re seriously going back on your words just because you found out he plays Quidditch?” Adrian said disbelievingly, leaning in.
Earlier that day, when he was getting ready to go down to breakfast, the team had surrounded him and asked if he wanted to try out Quidditch. They said he could accompany them during their training, and he’ll get one-on-one lessons too. Though, Aventurine had turned them down with a wave of his hand. He had figured it would take up too much time and would just end up being in the way of his mission.
But now, if playing Quidditch can help him get to know this mysterious guy better, Aventurine would definitely do it.
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“...Just because you’re interested in him?”
“Yeah.”
“...”
A heavy silence followed. “Crazy,” was all that Miles said before Adrian burst into laughter again. Cassius pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance before agreeing that they would all go outside later on the field in order to teach him how to use a broom first. Of course, Aventurine happily agreed.
After a few more short conversations, Professor Sprout finally spoke up. She said, “We’ll be repotting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?”
To nobody’s surprise, Ratio’s hand was up first before anyone else’s.
“Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative,” said Ratio, sounding as usual as though he had swallowed the entire textbook. “It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state.”
“Excellent. Ten points to Ravenclaw,” said Professor Sprout. “The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?”
Again came Ratio’s hand.
“The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it,” he said promptly.
“Precisely. Take another ten points,” said Professor Sprout. “Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young.”
The rest of the class was pretty boring. All Aventurine remembered was having to pull these ugly little earth babies out of pots and put them in a newer pot. They were crying the whole time and would be difficult to remove from the dirt, but when he tried to shove them back in the dirt, it also seemed to not want to go back into it. He had almost thrown it out the window and had only not done so thanks to Adrian and Miles holding him down.
Their next class was transfiguration, taught by Professor McGonagall, the one who had led him and the first years to the sorting ceremony. She was, as expected, strict as ever, and he had absolutely zero clue about what she was talking about the whole time. For credit, he just waited until Cassius managed to transform his pick into a beetle before taking the beetle for himself and claiming that he did it whenever Professor McGonagall came by for a check-up. Cassius had shot him a glare but otherwise said nothing before transforming another pick.
Then, came Aventurine’s worst class of the day, Defense Against the Dark Arts.
When he’d reach the class, he once again, with Cassius, Adrian, and Miles, trailed off to the very far back, slumping down on his chair as he waited for the class to start. In his last class, Aventurine had thought his luck had died out on him, since he didn’t see Ratio in there, but it seems he didn't need to worry, since now, he could very well make out the head of violet locks a few tables in front of him.
When the whole class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat loudly and silence fell. He reached forward, picked up some random’s copy of Travels with Trolls, and held it up to show his own, winking portrait on the front.
“Me,” he said, pointing at it and winking as well. “Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of the Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of Witch Weekly’s Most Charming Smile Award — but I don’t talk about that. I didn’t get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!”
He waited for them to laugh; a few people smiled weakly.
Aventurine gave a scoff before opening his mouth and letting out a loud string of ‘Ha-ha-ha’s, obviously meaning to mock him instead of laughing at his god awful joke. Adrian slammed his head onto the table and tried awfully to muffle his laughing, which obviously did not work, Miles bit the insides of his mouth in order to hold back from laughing, and Aventurine could see Cassius’s shoulders shaking as he struggled to control himself.
Aventurine could see Lockhart’s left eye twitching, and he let out a snicker. What’s better, is that Ratio had turned back to look at him, even though it was a fleeting glare, disapproving of his troubles. Aventurine’s eyes sparkled in that short moment, and he flashed a mischievous grin.
“Ahem. I see you’ve all bought a complete set of my books — well done. I thought we’d start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about — just to check if you’ve read them, how much you’ve taken in —”
When he had handed out the test papers he returned to the front of the class and said, “You have thirty minutes — start — now!”
Aventurine looked down at his paper and read:
- What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s favorite color?
- What is Gildroy Lockhart’s secret ambition?
- What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart’s greatest achievement to date?
On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to:
- When is Gilderoy Lockhart’s birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?
“...”
“What kind of bullsh—” Before he could finish though, came Adrian and Cassius’s hands, blocking his mouth before he could stand up and actually say some very regrettable things that might or might not have ended him in the Headmaster’s office.
Grumbling, Aventurine pulled the both of them off before glaring at his test paper. Then, he decided to just write random batshit answers that sometimes weren’t even related to the question.
Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and rifled through them in front of the class.
“Tut, tut — hardly any of you remembered that my favorite color is lilac. I say so in Year with the Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully — I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples — though I wouldn’t say no to a large bottle of Ogden’s Old Firewhisky!”
He gave them another roguish wink. Even Cassius was now staring at Lockhart with an expression of disbelief on his face; Fred Weasley and George Weasley, who were sitting in front, were shaking with silent laughter, and Aventurine, out of the corner of his eye, caught Ratio’s handsome face scrunched up in a scowl, his annoyance obvious.
“...Seems like some people didn’t try at all,” Lockhart said, staring straight to the back of the classroom, right into Aventurine’s eyes. Then, he changed his gaze and looked down at the two Weasley twins. Aventurine’s eyes sparkled. He just knew him and the two would get along immediately.
“I also didn’t want to do this, but I’ll have to subtract ten points from both Gryffindor and Slytherin for lack of effort.”
Aventurine had almost snapped his pen (Adrian’s) in half. He didn’t even know points can be deducted for something as stupid as that! He was halfway out of his seat before Cassius, Adrian, and Miles all threw him back down, holding him against the chair.
“Hey, hey, he’s a teacher, dumbass!” Cassius said through gritted teeth, though his face seems to also want to go up there himself and beat Lockhart up. Before they could dwell more on the topic though, Gilderoy Lockhart had bent down behind his desk and lifted a large, covered cage onto it.
“Now — be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm.”
Despite himself, Aventurine’s interest was piqued as he finally went slump against the hold of the other three, leaning forward a bit to take a better look at the covered cage. Lockhart places a hand on the cover. The Weasley twins had stopped laughing now, and Ratio seemed interested for once.
“I must ask you not to scream,” said Lockhart in a low voice. “It might provoke them.”
As the whole class held its breath, Lockhart whipped off the cover.
“Yes,” he said dramatically. “Freshly caught Cornish pixies.”
George Weasley couldn’t control himself. He let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart couldn’t mistake for a scream of terror.
“Yes?” He smiled at George.
“Well, they’re not — they’re not very — dangerous, are they?” George choked.
“Don’t be so sure!” said Lockhart, waggling a finger annoyingly at the twins. “Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!”
The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies arguing. The moment the cover had been removed, they had started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making bizarre faces at the people nearest them.
“Right, then,” Lockhart said loudly. “Let’s see what you make of them!” And he opened the cage.
It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in every single direction like rockets. Two of them seized a poor student by the ears and lifted him into the air. Several shot straight through the window, showering the back row with broken glass. Aventurine had almost activated his shield, but with this many people, surely someone would notice, so he hastily threw away the thought in bitterness, wincing as sharp shards pierced the back of his exposed neck and dug into his skin. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more efficiently than a rampaging rhino. They grabbed ink bottles and sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures from the walls, up-ended the waste basket, grabbed bags and books and threw them out of the smashed window, Aventurine watching in horror as his brand new satchel was ruthlessly discarded outside into a pile of mud; within minutes, half the class was sheltering under desks and someone was swinging from the iron chandelier in the ceiling.
“Come on now — round them up, round them up, they’re only pixies,” Lockhart shouted.
He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed. “Peskipiksi Pesternomi!”
It had absolutely no effect; one of the pixies seized his wand and threw it out of the window, too. Lockhart gulped and dived under his own desk, narrowly avoiding being squashed by the student hanging on the chandelier, who fell a second later as the chandelier gave way.
The bell rang and there was a mad rush towards the exit. In the relative calm that followed, Lockhart straightened up, caught sight of Aventurine and a few remaining students, who were almost at the door, and said, “Well, I’ll ask you three to just nip the rest of them back into their cage.” He swept past them and shut the door quickly behind him.
Aventurine’s jaw dropped. He watched in disbelief as Lockhart ran out of the room so fast it looked like he used teleportation.
“That…” Aventurine mumbled under his breath. The only people left in the classroom now were him and his group, since they sat so far back, they were the last ones out, plus the two Weasley twins who were too busy laughing to care, plus Ratio, who wasn’t distressed at all, only annoyed at the outburst.
Miles cautiously poked at Cassius, gesturing to Aventurine with his chin. “Hey, he looks like he’s about to do something.”
“Huh? What?” Cassius grumbled, looking up from where he was putting back his torn notebooks. Then, Adrian gasped, leaping forward with both his hands. This seemed to have signaled something in the other two as well, seeing as how all three simultaneously leapt at him with terrified faces.
“Aventurine, no —!”
“...fucking SON OF A BITCH!” came Aventurine’s loud scream. “THAT —”
“AVENTURINE NO!” shouted the three in unison, blocking off his mouth as they wrestled him down back onto his own chair. The Weasley twins broke into laughter again and Ratio gave a disapproving glare, the only one right now doing any of the cleanup since he was probably the only one capable of the clean up.
“Can you believe him?” roared Aventurine as he chucked multiple books across the room after his little crash out, successfully knocking a few pixies unconscious everytime.
“Maybe he wanted us to have some hands-on experience,” Miles shrugged, biting into an apple pie that had managed to survive the whole incident. He casted a few freezing spells and successfully stuffed a few pixies back into the cage.
“Hands on?” Fred Weasley said with an amused smirk. The Weasley twins had somehow ended up coming over and befriending the group. Cassius was still a bit cold towards them, but was mostly won over by their similar sense of humor and mischief.
The only one standing alone now was Ratio. Aventurine had tried to make a few conversations with him, but was rudely turned away every time. After about fourteen tries, Cassius had to drag him back to the group, where he was teased by the twins.
“I hope he trips on the stairs and somehow breaks all his bones,” Aventurine grumbled under his breath. Somewhere far away, Lockhart sneezed, rubbing his nose in confusion.
“Now, I got special permission to use the training grounds specifically from Professor Snape himself, so you’d better be grateful,” Flint bragged, pushing the note in front of Aventurine’s face and flicking it as if that would help get the words in his head.
“Get that out of my face,” Aventurine said, swatting his hand away, causing the group to laugh. After a few more classes, Aventurine had finished all his courses for the day, and so Cassius had informed Flint about him wanting to play Quidditch. So now here they were, the whole Quidditch team surrounding him and claiming to be the best flying teachers he’ll ever get.
“Just get on with it,” he yawned, leaning on his broomstick. This caused Adrian to snatch the broom from him, almost resulting in him falling face first into the ground. Annoyed, Aventurine turned around to see what he was doing.
“Don’t treat your Nimbus Two Thousand and One so carelessly!” Adrian said, clutching onto the stick as if it was his lifeline. Aventurine quirked up a brow before scowling. What was it to him if he wanted to lean on his broomstick or not? He snatched it back before giving Adrian a kick in the shins, causing Cassius to let out a snicker.
“First, put your broom on the ground,” Flint ordered, the rest of the team either standing behind him or sitting on the benches, looking bored. Aventurine followed the instructions and placed it on the ground beside him. Flint also put his down and demonstrated first for Aventurine to see.
“Just hover your palm over it and say ‘Up’!” he said, his broom quickly jumping up into his palm.
“Up!” Aventurine shouted.
Aventurine’s broom jumped into his hand at once, and he quickly gripped onto the handle, his eyes sparkling with interest. Flint had then shown him how to mount his broom without sliding off the end, and Adrian, who was standing right beside him the whole time, fixed his grip and helped to hold his hips steady on the broom, in case he did slip off. Aventurine would’ve preferred if Adrian hadn’t touched him at all, but he stayed quiet about his discomfort.
“Alright, now just kick off the ground — lightly —, if you do it too hard, you’ll end up about a hundred feet in the air. We don’t want that now, do we?”
Aventurine had given him a crisp nod before tapping his leg against the ground and pushing himself up softly when Flint had counted to three. Adrian, who had both his hands resting on Aventurine’s hips, had given him a little boost too, so he ended up at the same level as Flint when they both kicked off the ground.
The remaining team members on the benches sat up and cheered, giving him a thumbs up from under the ground. Flint grinned. “You’re pretty much a natural. Quick learner, huh?”
“Luck’s just on my side,” Aventurine answered with a flick of his hair, ignoring the disgusting feeling forming a pit inside his stomach when he thought about the word ‘luck’. Luckily for him, Flint decided to only give a snort before changing the subject.
“Now just do what you want on the broom. It’s pretty easy,” he said before beckoning for the rest of the team to fly up. Adrian arrived at Aventurine’s side with a swish, grinning as he took an arm off his broom to wave in greeting. They all raced around the field for the first couple of minutes, giving Aventurine the time to adjust to flying. Then, afterwards, he was taught the rules of Quidditch and how to play.
There were four balls in total, and two of them, Bludgers, are supposed to be flying around trying to knock people off their brooms. There are two Beaters on each team who carry clubs to beat the Bludgers away from their side. The Quaffle, the biggish red ball, was the one that scores goals. Three Chasers on each team throw the Quaffle to each other and try to get it through the goal posts at the end of the pitch — the three long poles with hoops on the ends. The fourth ball is the Golden Snitch. It was extremely small and agile, and was also extremely difficult to catch. The one in charge of catching it is the Seeker, since a game of Quidditch doesn’t end until the Snitch has been caught. And whichever team’s Seeker gets the Snitch earns his team an extra hundred and fifty points. There was also a Keeper, who guards the goal posts, and every goal scored with the Quaffle is worth ten points.
After the huge information dump, Aventurine’s head was ringing, but he still got a rough idea of what was going on. Marcus Flint was the Slytherin team’s captain and Chaser, along with Adrian Pucey and Cassius Warrington. Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick were the two Beaters, and Miles Bletchly was their Keeper. Apparently, they were missing a Seeker, since their old one had gotten into a nasty accident during a match and is now prohibited from playing.
“Now, ready to play?” Lucian called, grinning as he struggled to hold back the Bludgers in his hand. After seeing Aventurine’s nod, he released them. They immediately came flying at Aventurine’s face, and he had barely dodged them out of pure instinct. An amused whistle came from Adrian next to him. Derrick then took out the Quaffle and then the Snitch, setting them all free. Aventurine was playing the role of Seeker right now, since it was the only open spot. He kicked off towards the sky, looking down into the field in an attempt to spot the glare of gold.
Then, he saw it. Immediately, he pointed the tip of his broom downwards and went flying past everyone, seemingly acting just on instinct. He eventually neared the Snitch and then — caught it tightly between his two hands. He blinked. It was surprisingly easy to catch. A moment of silence dragged out, before the whole team suddenly started yelling. Startled, Aventurine turned back to see what was the matter, but he was hit square in the face with Adrian, who had collided into him in an effort of giving him a hug.
“Aventurine! It was barely five minutes and you’ve already caught it!” Adrian shouted gleefully, twirling him around. Miles was standing there with his mouth wide open, going to collect the balls one by one in a daze, and Flint looked like he'd just won the lottery tickets.
“Seems like we got our new Seeker,” was all he said.