Dyed Hair
My first quidditch match. It was a beautiful day in the first week of November. I’d slept less than an hour the night before. My stomach feels hollow from the nerves.
Lily had come to sit with me at breakfast, encouraging me to eat something. Quidditch games could go on for hours.
I could only manage a weak cup of tea and half a biscuit.
Once I am standing next to my teammates with my broom in hand, my nerves settle a bit.
“Fawley, chin up. You’ll do fine,” Burke says, unsmiling.
I hear it as more of a threat than a reassurance. At practice, I was excellent. It has become quite easy to read where a throw will come from and where someone intends to fly. Plus, I was bound to be underestimated by those older than me. And these who believe girls can't play as well as men.
So I shove down my self-doubt and nod.
Madam Hooch whistles and we fly out, preparing for the quaffle to be thrown in. I find a spot in front of the hoops looking around the pitch. Every student in the school has got to be here. Plus teachers and a handful of witches and wizards I’ve never seen before. Parents, I presume.
Glancing over at Slytherin House, I smile at a long banner with my name on it, being held by Sev and Lily. She’s even sporting a green scarf. A few feet down from her Eleanor is already cheering, her face painted with a green S.
Looking towards Gryffindor is a different story. There is a large banner cheering on Gibson, their star player. I find him amongst the other players. He is broad-shouldered, with light hair and a crooked nose.
Black and his friends have hung their own banner. It's got a five-minute timer enchanted to count down splayed across it in bold black numbers. At first, I wonder where Potter is before remembering he'll be down on the pitch, ready to replace an injured player.
Part of Burke's strategy was to bully the other team into submission. I didn't have to play a role in that, so I was alright with it. Even if it did feel a bit unsportsmanlike. Maybe that is just a muggle sentiment though. Seeing as there are a few hundred fouls I've yet to learn.
Hooch starts the game and Slytherin takes possession first, for which I am grateful. But soon enough, Gibson has got the quaffle and is flying towards the posts.
He feigns left, but goes right and I manage to catch the quaffle, smiling as the cheers of my classmates erupt around me.
Passing off the quaffle I settle in, knowing I can at least manage five minutes.
Slytherin scores twice before Gryffindor regains the quaffle. The Gryffindor keeper nearly gets knocked from his broom trying to grab the second shot while distracted. I have to remember they are out there, flying around causing mayhem.
Gibson tries once more and I nearly miss the catch but manage to hit it out of the way.
I get a funny mental image of a soccer goalie diving in front of a ball.
He glares at me but turns and flies the other way. He'll be back. It's rather cold up here, and I envy the chasers, who are at least warming up as they move through the sky. I'll have to remember gloves for the next game.
Slytherin scores again. I glance at Gryffindor. The timer has less than thirty seconds on it now.
The quaffle gets taken from Slytherin and Gibson looks like a rabid dog. He’s flying straight for the center but I know he’s going to pull left or right, I just don’t know which.
Focusing on his feet I move as soon as his left foot turns in.
Grabbing the quaffle is almost too easy as it whips towards the ring.
“Nice grab,” Burke yells as I pass him the quaffle.
I just grin, picturing four lions with bright green hair.
Not only had I managed to stop Lou Gibson scoring, but I’d done it more than once.
The boys have pulled their banner over the side and Sirius seems to be yelling at his friends.
My luck runs out a few minutes later, but I only let in three quaffles the whole match. The Slytherin Seeker, Wallace Travers, manages to catch the snitch in under an hour. Two of the Gryffindor players end up injured by bludgers, but Potter stays on the ground.
All in all, the win feels incredible. The final score is 240 to 30. Very respectable.
Sev and Lily both meet me on the pitch, grinning their faces off.
“You were fantastic!” Lily squeals.
“Thanks,” I beam.
Burke congratulates me on my first win and confesses he had doubted my ability. “Gibson’s face when you blocked that shot to the left was priceless. He looked like an angry centaur.”
Laughing, I smile at the mental image.
“There will be a party tonight in the common room. Sorry, but no other second years are invited,” he says, shrugging and walking off with his friends.
What’s the point of going to a party where no one wants me to be?
“You have any plans for tonight?” I ask Sev and Lily.
“Don’t you want to go to the party?” Sev asks. Of course he would want to go. He’d managed to befriend most of the pureblood boys in our year. Or at least convince them he could help them in Potions.
“No. Not particularly. Besides, they don’t really want me there. I’m too young.”
“You’ve got to celebrate somehow,” Lily insists.
“Maybe we could hang out?” I ask, nervous. I know her house lost, but she isn’t a huge quidditch fan to begin with.
“Of course! If you think you could stand it, you could come to Gryffindor. We can hang out in my room.”
Sev can’t go then. I shake my head.
“I was thinking we could just sit together at dinner? Maybe go to Slughorn’s classroom for a bit after. We still have curfew.”
“Right! Alright, perfect. Sounds good Sev?” she turns and asks the quiet boy.
He smiles and nods.
Dinner is one of the best I’ve had at Hogwarts, and not for what they serve.
Less than five minutes after Lily settles beside me at the Gryffindor table, four boys with bright green hair come walking into the Great Hall.
Potter at the front, followed by a livid Black. I’ve never noticed how long his hair is before. Remus doesn’t look an ounce bothered, but poor Peter Pettigrew’s face is nearly as green as his hair.
I can’t help but laugh out loud and the people close to me turn their heads to look at them.
Soon enough the entire hall is laughing at the group of lions.
“Brilliant.”
“Look at Sirius Black. He looks as though he’s been covered in goo,” Valeria says loudly,
I’m a bit surprised when they turn and walk over to the Slytherin table.
“Congratulations,” Remus offers with a brighter smile than I would have expected.
“Thanks.”
“I suppose I should have seen you fly before I agreed to the bet,” Potter says, his arms behind his back.
I decide to take that as a compliment.
“I wasn’t sure you’d follow through with your side of the bet,” I confess.
“We would never welch on a bet,” Black snaps.
I ignore him, taking a bite of my dinner. Obviously, he is going to be a sore loser.
“Anyways, we just came to admit that we were wrong,” Remus says.
Looking at the other three, he had forced them to come over here.
Potter is looking at Lily, and Sev is glaring at him, so I decide to just wave them off. I’ve no desire to see them all fight it out.
They head towards their own table but I am surprised when Pettigrew scurries back over.
“You were brilliant. Truly,” he says softly, glancing over his shoulder at his friends.
I thank him and he leaves, his light hair having taken to the green the most out of all of them.
“Should I ask why those four boys have green hair?” Eleanor asks, sitting opposite me at the table.
Lily, Sev, and I laugh and shake our heads.
“Will you be in attendance at tonight’s party, Connie?” she asks.
“Will you?” I ask, surprised. She wasn’t normally one for parties.
“Yes,” she nods, and more interestingly, she glances down the table at a handsome sixth-year whose name I don’t know.
“I won’t be. Lily and Sev are going to help me celebrate after dinner. Besides, I’ve an early morning tomorrow. McGonagall has invited me to learn a bit more about the transfiguration of animate objects.”
“On a Sunday?” Eleanor asks.
“Yes.”
She looks like she wants to ask me more about it but her friend Kathryn calls her back to their spot farther down the table.
Dinner goes by quickly, but I am extra pleased when a beautiful chocolate tart appears on my dessert plate. I’ll have to thank Bosky when I see him.