firebolts and firewhiskey
4 february 1997
Mattheo’s POV
“I’m telling you, there’s no way Potter’s got a Firebolt now. They can’t afford that,” Draco says snottily as we make our way down to the Quidditch Pitch with Theo and Marcus. Rumors have been circling for weeks that Harry Potter now has a Firebolt broom over the holidays but no one has seen it yet.
“The Potters’ are rich, they just don’t show it off like you do, Draco,” I grumble, shoving my cousin’s shoulder lightly.
“How do you know?” Draco scoffs.
“Oh, Riddle here is now an expert on all things Euphemia Potter,” Theo chuckles, stubbing a cigarette under his shoe.
“What?” Draco and Marcus ask in tandem, making me roll my eyes. Since my friends found Mia and I in the Astronomy Tower earlier in the week, they have taken every opportunity to rib me about it.
“Don’t listen to Theo. He’s just being an arse,” I grumble, shoving my hands in my pockets. In all honesty, rounds this week were more enjoyable than they have been all year. What used to be an excruciating two hours, has turned almost pleasant. Since Sunday, we’ve entered an uneasy truce and I’m finding I actually like Mia when she isn’t acting like she’s better than everyone else. Yesterday, we spent the two hours talking about music and as long as we steer clear of topics such as our parents and Quidditch rivalries, we can actually get along.
“You better not be going soft on me, Riddle,” Marcus starts in but before he can continue we are interrupted by cheers as we near the pitch. Laughter and cheers echo across the grounds as Harry flies up over the stands faster than I’ve ever seen, catching the Snitch with ease.
“Salazar Slytherin, he does have it,” Theo mumbles.
The four of us move quickly to enter the stands and climb up to one of the professor’s boxes, where we will be able to watch and less likely to be seen. We watch in begrudging silence as the Gryffindor team finish running their drills and their practice comes to an end. The team whoops and hollers as they land, confident in their win tomorrow with Potter’s new broom. The team converses for a moment before moving to exit the pitch but Mia, Harry, and Ron stay on the pitch, Madam Hooch seemingly asleep in the stands below.
Theo, Marcus and Draco talking lowly about strategy as Ron takes a turn on the new broom but I’m more focused on Mia. Her back is to me but even so I can hear her talking with her brother, cheering on the boy above, and laughing. Fuck that laugh… Soon, Ron lands uneasily on the broom, babbling to Harry about how great it is and Harry offers it to Mia. I watch in the fading light as Mia grins mischievously, setting her own Nimbus aside and mounting the Firebolt.
She bolts upwards in the sky, quickly looping the pitch. Ever since our third year, I’ve been secretly jealous of the way Euphemia Potter flies. Even though I’ve been riding a broom for as long as I can remember, Mia can out fly me with ease. Like she was born to fly rather than be cursed to walk on solid ground.
She loops around the goal posts, flying through the hoops and weaving madly, her laughter ringing out over the pitch as she flys better than I’ve seen. I watch, in awe, as slows her speed, hopping off the broom before it's stopped, laughing wildly all the way. “I think you’ve ruined my Nimbus for me, Haz,” she laughs, shaking her head and handing her brother back the broom.
“Get one for yourself, then!” Harry laughs.
“Then Gryffindor will be practically unbeatable!” Ron whoops, finally waking Madam Hooch. Theo, Marcus, Draco and I duck below the railing of the stands while Hooch scolds the trio. I peek over the railing in time to see Hooch leading them off the pitch but before Mia disappears, she looks up in our direction, right at me. She stops for a moment holding eye contact for a moment, a smirk growing on her lips, before ducking under the stands and disappearing from view.
“Draco, you better start practicing if you’re gonna have any chance of catching the snitch against Potter,” Marcus grumbles, causing Draco’s face to sour further.
5 february 1997
Euphemia’s POV
I walk quickly through the corridors, my scarlet Quidditch robes trailing in my wake and my broom in my hand as I rush down to the Great Hall for breakfast. I’m running a little late due to sleeping in longer than I meant to. After practice last night, I started working on an essay for Potions and lost track of the time and before I knew it, it was nearly 2AM. I run down the last of the stairs and rush through the last corridor. As I turn the corner, I see Riddle leaning against the wall outside the Great Hall, one leg kicked up against the wall behind him. “Stalking me now, Riddle?” I ask teasingly as I near him, noticing his fingers fiddling with a cigarette. He looks up at me and pushes off the wall to close some of the distance between us.
“Last I check, you don’t own the Great Hall, princess,” he quips back, pointing at me with the cigarette.
“True, but if I tell Wood you were spying on practice last night he’ll flip his lid,” I point out. I noticed him up in the stands as I was flying the Firebolt, along with some of his buddies. I won’t actually tell Wood but I wanted Mattheo to know I know. Since Sunday, he and I are still trying to figure out how to be around each other without biting each other's heads off. Thursday rounds we talked about music, but we snapped at each other quite a few times on Tuesday night. Mattheo watches me with a mischievous smirk, searching my face to decipher if I’m bluffing. Eventually he shrugs, putting his hands in his pockets.
“Didn’t care about your practice. We just wanted to see if the rumors were true.”
“Well they are, so you-”
“Mia!” Mattheo and I are interrupted, again, by Fred emerging from the Great Hall. “Bloody hell, if you don’t get in here soon Wood is gonna have a fit,” Fred says, eyeing Mattheo and moving to stand at my side. “Riddle.”
“Weasley,” Mattheo responds, his playful smirk gone.
“Yeah, let’s go, Freddie,” I say, pushing Fred away from Mattheo and into the Great Hall. As we reach the Gryffindor table with the rest of the team, I sit next to Fred. As I’m pouring myself a mug of coffee, Malfoy and his lackeys approach Harry.
“Sure you can handle that broom, Potter?” he sneers.
“Reckon so,” Harry responds.
“Too bad it doesn’t come with a parachute-- just in case the dementors decide to come watch again,” Malfoy says maliciously, his lackeys at either side snickering.
“Too bad you can’t put an extra arm to your broom. Could catch the Snitch for you then,” Harry quips back, causing the rest of us to laugh. I smile at Harry proudly as Malfoy stalks back to his own table. As Malfoy sits down, I catch Mattheo sitting near him and watching me. I raise my eyebrows slightly in acknowledgment and turn back to my breakfast listening to my friends and teammates talk about the match to come.
✦
The game passes in a blur, all my focus on the game in front of me. Now that I know Harry should be able to defend himself against a rogue dementor, I don’t have to worry about him as much. Angelina, Alicia and I work seamlessly together scoring 8 goals easily. I tune out most of Lee’s announcements due to the majority being about Firebolts rather than actual game play.
As I am cutting across the field, the Quaffle under my arm, I hear Harry yell out behind me, “Expecto Patronum,” and I whip my head around to see a large white and silver stag galop towards a large cloaked figure. My attention is reverted as the Quaffle is pulled out from under my arm but it doesn’t matter because Hooch’s whistle blows signaling the end of the game. I turn my broom around to see Harry with the Golden Snitch in his hand, and follow the rest of the team to celebrate on the ground.
I jump off my broom once I’m low enough and run to Harry, wrapping him up in a sweaty hug. “Haz! You did it! That patronus was amazing!”
“That’s my boy!” Wood yells and suddenly the entire Gryffindor team is surrounding Harry and I, hugging us so tightly I can barely breathe. We’re all laughing and cheering and yelling when a group of classmates run onto the field to join the celebration.
“That was quite a patronus,” A voice says from behind Harry and I as we are released from our teammates. We turn and my smile falls as Remus Lupin stands behind me. He smiles proudly at Harry, although it doesn’t quite reach his eyes which look shaken. I had neglected to attend our extra lesson with Lupin this week, although I insisted Harry still go. I’d shown Harry the letter once I returned from the Astronomy Tower on Sunday evening, but he took the news much better than I had. Over the last week, guilt has crept in about the horrible things I said but I’m still angry enough to keep my distance; I wouldn't want to burden the poor professor with an unwanted godchild after all. I’ve done perfectly well on my own the last 15 years.
“They didn’t affect me at all, I didn’t feel a thing!” Harry says excitedly, practically jumping up and down.
“Yes, well they, uh, weren’t real dementors,” Lupin says, motioning for Harry to follow him. I follow behind them until we are out of the crowd to see Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Marcus Flint in a heap on the pitch, black cloaks around them. I smile as Professor McGonagall shouts at them and assigns them detention. Lupin looks back at me and I turn back to the crowd, not wanting to spoil the day with thoughts of him. The Twins are conversing quickly, already planning a party.
✦
A few hours later, a majority of the student body is gathered into the large abandoned classroom which was deemed the “party space” quite a few years back. It’s on the very far side of the castle in the dungeons. There’s a short staircase up to the shore of the black lake. I’m sure the teachers know about it but they leave us to our antics as long as no one gets hurt, I guess.
Even though Ravenclaw lost today, there’s still quite a few of them here. Not many students pass up a party thrown by Fred and George no matter the circumstances. Even some Slytherins are here, although they are mostly all in one clump looking pretentiously at the rest of us who are actually having fun.
I’m standing around a barely standing table, surrounded by Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia and Lee as Fred pours firewhiskey shots messily into our glasses.
“Freddie, you’re spilling it all!” Alicia cries out as she gets splashed slightly.
“Well, you said fast!” Fred defends himself, passing the glasses out which are all full to the brim. Lee begins counting and the six of us all put the glasses to our mouths and tilt our heads back. Lee coughs and shakes his head from the taste. I slam my glass on the table but suddenly I get slammed into by a drunk Fred who wraps his arms around my head so I can only see over his arms.
“Fred, let go of me!” I laugh, pulling on his arms. I see Angelina give me a wide eyed look and I shoot an annoyed one back, knowing my friend well enough to know what she’s thinking. Fred releases his grip on me but stays by my side as the party continues on.
After a while, I turn to Alicia who's standing next to me and place my arm on her shoulder to get her attention. “I’m gonna grab another drink, need one?” She declines and I make my way through the crowd towards the wall where the drink table is.
“Hey, Mia,” Jaden Filly says, stepping into my path, just before I make it to the table.
“Hey,” I respond politely. Jaden is another Gryffindor prefect a year above me but I don’t know him that well, although I’ve begun to suspect he’d like to change that.
“You look great tonight,” Jaden says, his eyes trailing up my figure slowly. I’m just wearing jeans and a blank tank top, nothing special, and yet Jaden looks like he wants to eat me. “You played great too.”
“Thanks, yeah the team did great today,” I say, pulling my hair over my shoulder to hang over my chest.
“Not the team, just you,” Jaden says, taking a step close enough that I can smell the alcohol on his breath. “You want to dance?”
“I was actually gonna get another drink, but maybe another time,” I say, taking a step back.
“I can get you a drink,” Jaden offers, reaching for my cup.
“I’m good, Jaden. No thank you,” I say more forcefully, refusing to let go of the cup in my hand. Jaden looks back up at me but then his eyes flick to behind me and they widen in fear.
“Beat it, Filly,” a voice snaps from behind me that sends Jaden running. I turn to see Mattheo standing behind me, a black t-shirt tight over muscles I’m not sure I knew he had and jeans. His dark curls fall slightly in his eyes and his arms are crossed over his chest, and my intoxicated brain catches on the veins protruding from his arm. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I saw, snapping out of my daze and offer Mattheo a small smile. “Thanks.”
“You looked trapped,” Mattheo says, dropping his arms to his sides.
“I was,” I say with a slight laugh. “I’m surprised you came. Didn’t think the Slytherin team was too keen on celebrating tonight, what with the foiled prank.”
“Yeah well, Draco and the others are but I never pass up free booze,” he responds, with a shrug. He steps around me grabbing a cup and filling it up and I move to do that same. “You played well today,” Mattheo says, turning to look at me with his cup now full.
“Scoping out your upcoming competition?” I ask, looking at him out of the corner of my eye, as I pour my own drink.
“Maybe I just like watching,” Mattheo says and I turn to look at him, my eyebrow raised. “Games. Don’t flatter yourself, princess.” I laugh and shake my head, rolly my eyes slightly.
“Mhm, right. Whatever you say, Riddle,” I say lowly, holding eye contact with him for a moment before stepping away from the table to head back to my friends. After a few feet, I glance back to see Mattheo still watching me, his eyes snap up to my face as realizes he’s been caught and I smirk, turning back to look ahead as I disappear into the crowd.
Mattheo’s POV
Fuuuck.