Year 1 - Part 4
November rolled around and with the cold came and the beginning of Quidditch season. The first match was Slytherin and Gryffindor and the entire school was ecstatic about the upcoming game. Wisteria, along with most of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, was rooting for Gryffindor. She was going with Michael, though just as friends, and she was both excited and nervous. On one hand, it was the first Quidditch match that she will see, but on the other, she knows nothing about Quidditch. Wisteria meets Michael outside the Great Hall twenty minutes before the game begins.
"Hello." Michael says to her, standing with his hands clasped behind his back as he waits.
"Hi." She replies right as her stomach growls. She prays he didn't hear it. He did.
"Are you hungry?" He asks, his facial features laced with concern.
"A little. I woke up late and missed breakfast. I'll be fine."
"Are you sure? We have a while before the game. We can go down to the kitchens. The house elves would be more than happy to make you food."
"Oh, no. I don't want to be a bother."
"It's no bother at all. Come. We'll go get you food."
Wisteria was about to protest, but her stomach growls again and she quickly follows after him. Michael leads her to the kitchen and she watches as he finds the painting and tickles the fruit.
"How did you find this place?" She asks as she walks through the opening and into a huge room. It's as big as the Great Hall and there are actual tables where the real house tables would be upstairs.
"My brother, William. He's a fifth year and he knew about it. How he found out, I'm not sure, but he showed it to me."
"Master Alderton!" A small voice squeaks. For a few moments Wisteria is fishing around in her brain to remember what they are, but finally she remembers seeing them in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. These are house elves.
"Mistress!" The same elf squeaks.
"Oh!" Wisteria exclaims, shocked at being addressed as 'mistress'.
"What can Deedee do for Master Alderton and the Mistress?"
Michael looks at Wisteria and it takes her a few moments to realize that they are waiting for her to tell her what she wants to eat. "Umm... Some toast and bacon would nice."
"Right away Mistress!" The house elf says before scurrying off to cook the meal.
"Come." Michael says, beckoning Wisteria towards one of the tables. "Sit. Are you excited for the game today?"
"Yes! Though, I don't know much about Quidditch.."
"Oh, that's right. You're a muggle born. Well, I myself don't particularly enjoy watching the sport, but I will do my best to explain. There are seven players per team and each have a specific role. There are three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper, and one Seeker. The Chasers role is to score as many points as they can in whatever time they have. They play with a ball called a Quaffle. The way they get points is by getting the Quaffle passed the other teams Keeper and into one of three hoops. I believe that they get ten points for every goal. The Keeper obviously is trying to keep the Quaffle from getting through the hoops. The Beaters play with a ball called a Bludger. They have big bats and their job is to hit the Bludger around the field to either save their own teammates from getting hit or to try to hit the other teams players with the Bludger. Finally there's the Seeker. The Seeker plays with the Snitch. The Snitch is a small golden ball with little wings. It flies around the Quiditch pitch and the Seekers have to find and capture it. When the Snitch is caught the game is over and whichever team's Seeker found it gets 150 points."
While he was talking Wisteria's food arrived. Now as she sits there finished off the toast and moving onto the bacon the only word she can seem to mutter is, "Wow..."
"Yeah, It's a lot I know."
"That's not a problem. I have a really good memory. My parents were convinced for a while that I had a photographic memory. I don't, but my memory is still really good."
A few minutes later the two friends had finished eating and were on their way to the game. They got the Quidditch pitch five minutes before the start of the game. It didn't take long to find Shannon, Penelope, Jane, and Christine and they were already sitting with Severus and Lily. Unfortunately that also meant that James, Peter, Sirius, and Remus were there.
"Hey look! It's our other red-headed flower." James says as Wisteria sits in front of them.
"That it is." Sirius says, chuckling at Jame's comment.
"Hello boys." Wisteria says.
"Hello Wisty. How has your day been?" Remus asks.
"Wonderful. Thank you for asking Remus. And you?"
"Oh my day's been terrible!" James complains loudly. "Lily has rejected my love once more and they wouldn't let me join the Quidditch team because I'm a first year, so now I'm stuck in the stands! How am I supposed to impress my precious Lilypad if I'm not even allowed to play Quidditch!"
Remus laughs at James before responding to Wisteria, "My day has been fine."
"Hey, Wisty?" Peter asks.
"Yeah, what's up Peter?"
"Have you finished that Astronomy homework yet? I was trying to do it last night, but I couldn't figure it out."
"Oh yeah, neither could I." Sirius states.
"Nor I." Says James.
Wisteria sighs. "I'll meet you all tonight in the Astronomy tower so that I can help you."
"Oh no, I would hate to impinge on your sleep time." Sirius says. "After all, you of all people are in desperate need of beauty sleep. You can just give us yours and we'll copy your answers and boom! Problem solved."
Wisteria rolls her eyes, but otherwise ignores Sirius's comment of her needing beauty sleep. "No. If I'm helping you this homework we will treat it as tutoring, I will not allow you to cheat off of me."
"Fine then." James sighs. "Remus, could we copy yours?"
"No. I'm with Wisteria on this one. Besides I don't have part of mine done as well."
"I would actually enjoy coming as well," Michael speaks up.
"That settles it then." Wisteria decides. "Tonight, directly after sunset, in the Astronomy tower."
Before they could argue the teams walked out and the announcer started talking, "Welcome to the first match of this school year! This is Marshal Fawley speaking and I will be your commentator for todays Slytherin versus Gryffindor game! The captains of the teams this year are seventh year Hamish Frater for Gryffindor and sixth year Mercury Black for Slytherin!"
Upon hearing the name Mercury Black, Wisteria thinks back to her conversation with Sirius on the train a few months ago when he mentioned that his family had a thing with space. She looks down at the Quiditch pitch and finds the boy standing in front of the rest of the Slytherin team. He has brown hair, much like Sirius', but shorter and even from up in the stands Wisteria can see the stone cold expression on his face and the fact that Mercury's eyes are brown, unlike Sirius' silvery grey ones. Wisteria turns to look at Sirius to find him looking somewhere in between angry and sad.
"Is that..." Wisteria starts to ask.
"Yeah." Sirius grumbles. "That's my older brother."
"And the match has begun!" The Fawley shouts into the microphone while Wisteria makes a mental note to ask Sirius about his relationship with his brother later. For now though, she pays attention and tries to understand as much of the game as possible.
A few hours later Remus and Peter force James and Sirius away from the still raging party in the Gryffindor common room and get them to the Astronomy Tower on time. When they get there Wisteria is already there, sitting down, watching the sunset. The colors of the sky reflect in her hazel eyes she looks at peace for a moment.
"Hello beautiful." Sirius says as he struts up to Wisteria. By now he has made his way through three girlfriends and has already been written off by most of the school as a player. Not that that stops many girls from chasing after him and worshiping the ground he walks on. That's one thing he has in common with his older brother. Both of them easily win the attention of any and all girls they could possibly want.
"Hello Sirius." Wisteria says, ignoring his flirting.
"The sunset is almost as lovely as you are tonight." He continues.
"Thank you, but we are not here to watch the sunset." Wisteria tells him.
"We are here to watch the stars rise." Michael adds as he enters the room. "I hope I'm not late."
"Of course not. You're perfectly on time. We were just here early." Remus says.
"Ah, good. Let's get started then." Michael says as he sits down and takes out his Astronomy homework.