A Letter in the Dark

The scarlet and gold towels run wild in the air. The opposite side holds the green and silver version. The quidditch stadium located at Hogwarts is littered with students from all different houses and all different blood statuses gathering together to fight for one specific cause. A quidditch game.

A Gryffindor versus Slytherin quidditch game specifically.

Of course, Leah had to drag me along because she wants to see her new Gryffindor fling play and hopefully win. I don’t want to admit it, but I am slightly rooting for the Slytherins this time, but I think that is just because Bella is on the team.

The Slytherin team is the second best in the school. The order of teams from best to worst is Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Due to these circumstances, Gryffindor and Slytherin are most commonly put against each other while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are then put against each other. Slytherin would be as good as Gryffindor if it wasn't for all of the professors being overly biased and not even trying to hide it.

“Merlin, Rita, why didn’t you wear your scarf? You’re going to freeze to death,” Leah states before taking her bronze and blue scarf off and wrapping it around my neck.

“What about you? Won’t you get chilly?” I ask, worrying for Leah’s health.

“Some of us think ahead and wear more than a skimpy blouse,” She states, referencing the white turtleneck weaved around her neck.

Despite it only being mid-September, we are in the Scottish Highlands. During the ‘ber’ months it is either raining, snowing, or freezing. Or all of the above.

Abruptly, Kitty, March, and Edith come back each holding some form of food. Edith sits on my right while Kitty makes it a point to squeeze in between me and Leah.

“I still find every quidditch game absolutely mad,” Edith states.

Edith is a muggleborn. She is a very smart muggleborn and willing to be a powerful witch. But she’s still a muggleborn. Edith is the second smartest witch in our year. The only person stopping her from being first is the one and only Bellatrix Druella Black. Simply because Edith is smart, and creative doesn’t mean she gets to escape from the typical pureblood bullies. Hell, she is probably one of the most chivalrous people I know. Because no way is it possible for one girl to get pushed down over and over again, still find a way to get back up, and then learn from her mistakes instead of repeating them again.

I’ve always struggled with what I want to be in the future. The logical answer I’ve been told over and over again is to be a writer. But I think in reality I want to be something truly incredible.

As powerful as Edith Winters.

As altruistic as Leah Clarke.

As charismatic as Kitty Moody.

And as diligent as March Eastey.

If there is one thing my friends have shown me is that no matter what happens. You always get back up. Edith has shown me that you keep fighting back and being yourself no matter how many people try to pull you down. Leah has taught me to always be selfless despite how much you want that one thing for yourself. Someone will always need it more than you. Kitty has shown me that being you and only you will always attract someone because opposites always attract. March has shown me that just because there are obstacles, no matter how big or small, there is always a way to get over them. You just need to find a weak spot in the infrastructure.

“Is that a Lewis Carroll reference?” Kitty teases about my favorite author.

Lewis Carroll has been my favorite author since the first year when I first read “The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass”. Since then I have read every book he has written. My friends know that he’s my favorite author due to me constantly talking about him. Since I continuously talk about Carroll my friends like to tease me about it and constantly bring up mentions of him when someone says anything remotely close to his fairytales.

“Haha, very funny, Kitty,” You could probably sense the irony dripping from my vocal cords through a page as if I was a fictional character.

“Kidding, kidding,” She states with a giggle.

The Slytherin quidditch team begins to make their way onto the field and Hooch goes over the speaker.

“Welcome to the field, the Slytherin quidditch team!” the quidditch announcer, Ariadne Challenger, exclaims and the crowd erupts into cheers and chants.

“The team consists of captain and beater Abel Mintz!” The Slytherin side of the stadium begins to chant his name and you can practically feel his smirk bleeding throughout the stands.

“Next, is Slytherin’s second player, Drum roll please,” I feel the stands shake with excitement before the player’s name is announced.

“Bellatrix Black!” The stands break into jubilations and applause.

“Along with one of Slytherin’s impeccable chasers is Emma Vanity!” The crowd whoops and screams for Emma.

“The final chaser on Slytherin’s quidditch team is Aryan Dupont!” Ariadne exclaims as the students erupt into yelping and cheering.

“Coming up next is the second beater and younger sister of Bellatrix Black is Andromeda Black!” Ariadne blurts.

“After her comes their wonderful keeper, Rodolphus Lestrange!” She once again proclaims.

“Finally, what you’ve all been waiting for, and possibly the most important player on every single team is the seeker. Introducing Morella Parkinson!” Ariadne shouts into her wand which sends out an echo of noise throughout the stadium.

Ariadne continues to announce the Gryffindor members which seems as though the only player I can remember is Frank Longbottom and that’s simply because he happens to be captain of the excellent team. Slytherin would be the better quidditch team if it wasn’t for Gryffindor’s constant fighting for points, they believe are stolen from them. Not all Slytherins are evil; they are just more willing to admit they’re wrong than the other houses.

“That Morella girl is quite pretty,” Kitty states as she’s eating her sugary, pink cotton candy off of the stick.

I immediately reach my hand out to take a piece from the bag, but I am quickly shut down by a ravenous Kitty swatting at my hand.

“Here you can have a bite of mine,” Edith moves the bag of her blue cotton candy so that my hand has better access to it.

“Thanks,” I state before taking a small piece and eating it in one bite.

The game starts with Gryffindor almost scoring a goal immediately. Everyone knows, no matter the house, that Lestrange is not a good keeper but it's the worst position and nobody else wants to do the job, so they keep him. Bellatrix has one of the quaffles in her hand as she speeds towards one of the goal posts to shoot her shot.

I notice both Abel and Andromeda make a silent nod to each other as they both direct the two bludgers to one of the Gryffindor players immediately knocking him off of his broom. I believe the kid’s name is Edward if I remember correctly. Almost as soon as the attack happened there were people rushing towards Edward to move him onto a stretcher and into the hospital wing.

“Penalty to Slytherin for premeditating an attack on another player,” Ariadne’s voice echoes across the crowd and boos are let out from Slytherin’s section.

I see the look of fury across Bellatrix’s face. It’s an intense match, but she is taking it ten times harder than she should be. I notice how her speed increases as she uses more of her magic to power her broom.

She throws the quaffle into a goal post causing an eruption of cheers from the Slytherins and awarding the team with ten points. I notice a look flash onto Morella’s face as she begins diving for something down low. The Gryffindor seeker also notices this action and begins diving straight towards what Morella is going at.

Gryffindor has already scored so many points that it would be impossible for Slytherin to win even if they were to catch the snitch. Unless they would wait it out and collect more points. But with Gryffindor’s seeker right behind Morella it is either Gryffindor wins by catching the snitch, or Gryffindor wins by Morella catching the snitch. It was a loss, lose situation and Morella knew it.

I can see the realization flash across her face as she continues diving towards the snitch knowing what the fate of her team is. She reaches out, her fingertips almost touching it. She stretches as far as she can, but she ends up leaning on her broom too much causing it to tip and her to fall off. Everyone gasps in surprise and Leah elbows me in the side to make sure I’m paying attention.

Morella stumbles off of her broom and falls a solid 15.5 meters from the sky. She lands on her back roughly causing me to wince knowing that the landing hurt. All of a sudden Morella stands up and holds the small, golden bulb into the sky.

Normally, the Slytherins and Ravenclaws would erupt into cheers because that means that they won the game. But not this time. Despite Morella catching the snitch, they still lost the game. The Slytherins and Ravenclaws still give off an applause to show that they’re proud of Morella, but that they still lost. And Morella knows this.

I watch Bellatrix abruptly land and throw her broom to the ground causing it to break. If you aren’t a complete moron, you would be able to tell that Bella is a little bit more than just pissed right now. Bella immediately begins plodding her way to the girls’ changing rooms before slamming the door shut behind her.

“I’m going to go, I’ll meet you guys at the library before dinner,” I state before getting up and weaving my way through the stands to get to the changing rooms.

I reach the changing rooms noticing that there are no other girls in there yet, so it is just Bellatrix right now. I hesitantly walk over to her. She looks up at me with a scowl on her face.

“What do you want, Skeeter?” She asks with venom on her tongue.

“I’m sorry you lost,” I say trying to comfort her.

“I don’t want your pity,” She unlaces her shoes to reveal a pair of long black socks.

“It’s not pity. I’m genuinely sorry that you lost,” I try to defend myself.

“Yeah, yeah,” She dismisses my comment.

“If you cared so much you would’ve cheered me on,” She continues her statement.

“I did cheer you on,” I continue trying to defend myself.

Bellatrix gives me a look that tells me to change the topic.

“Sorry, I just- Thank you for standing up to Mileena for me and then taking the blame so I didn’t get in trouble,” I pick at the bright green nail polish that lays on my fingernails.

“Don’t worry about it” She begins taking her jersey off to reveal a black lace bra and I can’t help but blush, but I quickly hide it.

“Did I do or say something?” I ask, curious about whether I did something at the Gryffindor party we went to that I don’t remember.

“No, you didn’t do anything,” She states as she slides a green, Slytherin sweater over her head to cover her exposed chest.

“Then, I don’t get it, why are you so upset with me?” I ask and Bellatrix gives me an unintentional look that says something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Bellatrix slides on a pair of flared black jeans and switches out her quidditch shows for a pair of tall Doc Martens.

“Didn’t your poor, little, muggle father ever teach you to know your limit!” She screeches at me which feels like I’m being stabbed in the heart.

“I’m going to let you be, if you want to tell you know where to find me,” I state before making my way outside of the changing rooms.

I can feel the tears stinging my eyes and the other Slytherin quidditch players walk into the changing rooms as I leave. Suddenly, I bump into someone.

“Well if it isn’t the wicked bitch of the west,” I look into Audrey’s eyes.

“I’m not in the mood right now Audrey,” I state, wiping at the tears in my eyes.

“I’ll save you the bullshit, but I need to make my point as clear as day,” She states with a viper’s hiss. Ironically, she’s a Gryffindor.

“If you try to snog anymore girls, I’ll make sure that everyone knows what you did with Black at the Gryffindor party.

I’m immediately thrown into a state of confusion as she says this.

“I left the Gryffindor party early. Nothing happened between me and one of the Black sisters,” I look quizzically at her.

“Sure, pretend it didn’t happen all you want but the warning stands,” Audrey says and then shoves past me, her fiery red hair brushing against my shoulder.

But Bellatrix said nothing happened at the Gryffindor party. What the fuck is going on? I begin making my way to the library where I said I would meet Leah, Edith, March, and Kitty.

I wander down the halls of the ancient, castle-like boarding school. I begin to wonder how my father is doing. I should probably write a letter and send it to him.

I’ll also make a care package and send it to him. It’ll have all of his favorite things inside of it. I will put books, parchment and pens, playing cards, and peanuts. I should also give him toiletries and warm socks since he probably needs it by now.

Eventually, I make it to the library, and I get greeted with a shush by the librarian, like usual, despite how quiet I always am. Leah immediately comes over and grabs me by the wrist to drag me over to the group’s usual corner.

“We were just talking about what we’re going to do in the future,” Edith says.

“I want to be an Astronomy professor, Edith wants to be a dragonologist, Leah wants to be a broom maker, and Kitty wants to be a professional quidditch player for Ballycastle bats,” March whispers to the group.

The corner is far enough away from the librarian that we can make a small amount of noise, and we won’t get yelled at. The only way we can be heard is if somebody is directly in our line of view or behind the bookcase. It makes a perfect place for gossiping and group study sessions.

“What do you want to be, Rita?” Kitty inquires.

“I want to be an author,” I say with a slight smile.

The truth was that I want to be with Bellatrix Black.