Dursley's Daughter (A Harry Potter Next Generation Fan Fic)

23. Would You Rather

Scorpius, Holly, and Sawyer were waiting for me outside the locker room when I emerged, straggling after the rest of my downtrodden team. Holly took possession of my beloved broomstick as I hugged each of them.

"You played fantastically," said Scorpius. "What a game."

"You don't need to be effusive with your praise because we lost."

"I'm not. I'm being honest, Esther. Take a compliment."

I gave him a tiny smile. "Thanks for the effort, but your compliments are not really appreciated right now. I'm going to be bitter for a few days. Just bear with me, please."

"Understandable," said Scorpius, putting his hands up in surrender. "I was only impressed by those saves, especially the one when you -"

Holly clamped a hand over his mouth. "What happened out there, Essie?" She paused. "Wow. I didn't mean that judgmentally, but it certainly came across that way. Only I thought you guys had a trick up your sleeve, but I didn't see anything. If that was the object, then good job, though obviously you didn't pull it off because you -"

Scorpius clamped a hand over her mouth. The two of them stared daggers at each other, each stifling the other. Sawyer forced himself between them, breaking their hands apart.

"We did have a trick," I said, "but I decided against using it."

"What?" Scorpius said, dodging Holly's hand this time. "Why?"

"It wouldn't have been fair."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Where's the Essie I know?" he asked. "You don't go for stereotypes."

"It's not a stereotype," I said. "It's a truth. I'm a Hufflepuff and ultimately, I feel the need to be fair and just. I'm diligent. I'm hardworking. Those are fine. The stereotypes that I'm against are the ones that say that Hufflepuffs can't be leaders, or successful, or win the Quidditch cup. Yes, I'm aware that we didn't win. But we made it to the finals, and if we did win, I wanted it to be fair. There are parts of me that are Slytherin, that are Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, but I wanted to win as a Hufflepuff."

Scorpius threw his arm around my shoulder and shook his head incredulously. "Spoken like a true Hufflepuff, too. Not sure why I expected anything different of you, Dursley."

I put my arm around him and shrugged. "Let's go back to the castle," I said. "I'm starving."

~~~

It was rough, seeing the victorious Gryffindors in the hallways, knowing that we had lost to them. I felt awkward around my teammates, though they all told me individually that they respected the decision I had made for the team. As Hugo assured me, the best thing to do wasn't often the easiest. Unfortunately my heart and my brain weren't cooperating; my brain knew why it had made the decision it did but my heart still pumped faster every time I saw a flash of a scarlet scarf.

Not only did I get the awkward, morose feeling of having lost after so much hard work, but it was also odd to not have to organize weekly Quidditch practices. The team had no reason to meet up all together and, since we all had our own friend groups, we didn't congregate all together. I saw them all in the dining hall or in the dorms or in class, of course, but it wasn't the same.

I made a point of speaking to all of them, though, whether it was about Quidditch or just school in general. We may not have been training any longer, but a captain still needs to look after her team.

One of the most rewarding things to come out of being the captain of the team was seeing how my players grew and developed. I had watched Oliver and Mona grow closer together as friends and then romantically; even if now they were often a bit too close - they were reprimanded for making out in the middle of the hallway - it made me happy to know that their relationship was in part due to our extensive Quidditch training. Cassie, of course, I had seen grow tremendously in her actual playing ability, but also personality wise. She had become gregarious - well, more gregarious at the very least - as her flying improved. I had watched her form an unbreakable friendship with Hugo during our private practices before the ones with the full team, had seen them go grow acquaintances into an inseparable duo.