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

12. Palm Reading

Immediately after Rehmat's announcement, the Hufflepuff section of the spectators erupted into raucous screaming and applause. I directed my broom over there, swooping over their heads with Hugo and Mona close behind, laughing along with them as many hands reached up for high-fives. It was only one match that we had won, but if it felt this good to win, it must feel like heaven to win the cup.

Hufflepuff was obnoxiously loud on their way up to the castle, a swarm of witches and wizards dressed in yellow running across Hogwarts lawn, crushing through the doors to get inside. Becuase our dorms are right by the kitchen, it was easy for students to sneak food in for the party, and the house elves were more than happy to oblige, whipping up cakes, candies, and all sorts of goodies for us to eat.

Hufflepuff house was euphoric.

"All hail Esther Dursley, our fearless captain!" Hugo shouted when we made it to the dorms, making us all laugh.

Before I knew what was happening, Geronimo had lifted me onto his shoulders and I was being paraded around the common room as the rest of my house waved their yellow scarves and stomped their feet, all chanting my name.

"Dursley! Dursley! Dursley!"

Safely on my feet again, I blushed red as the entire room burst into applause. I was saved from having to make a speech or some kind of inspirational statement when music began playing from somewhere - maybe an enchanted instrument or a Muggleborn's iPod - and the center of the common room turned into a mess of dancers.

I wasn't left alone for much more than a minute. Neither was anyone else on the team, for that matter. We had been praised for our Quidditch playing before, of course, but nothing like this. It felt good. We weren't letting our house down, we were building them up.

I was dragged onto the dance floor first by Midha, whose hijab was a nice lemon yellow for the match, and then by Oliver, who twirled me around so many times that he had to find me a place to sit down and wait out the dizziness. Every time I finished my bottle of butterbeer, it was replaced by a wellwishing Hufflepuff. I must have spoken to everybody in the entire house, first year through seventh, by the end of the first hour of celebrations.

I did make sure to talk with each member of my team, thanking them for their hard work and congratulating them. Each and every one of them was grinning wider than I had ever seen before. Even Cassie was bouncing around with her friends, laughing along with them.

"You did well today," I told her.

"I didn't do much."

"Still. You're a valuable member of the team. You certainly gave Scorpius a run for his money."

"Yeah, I suppose. I'm just glad that we won for once. I didn't like letting the team down." Cassie offered me a candy, which I accepted. "Do you think that tactic could work again? We could probably win every match like that."

"It'd be long and hard, sometimes tricky, but we can try," I said, honestly.

A little later I stood with Sawyer, who had his arm around my shoulder, praising me to anyone who would listen. "That plan you saw executed today was a stroke of genius," Sawyer said. We were surrounded by a gaggle of first years, all of them clutching lukewarm bottles of butterbeer, their eyes sparkling from our victory. I didn't mind Sawyer stealing the spotlight a little, and let him talk. "Esther took inspiration from Viktor Krum, right? One of the best seekers in Quidditch history," Sawyer said, "but he caught the snitch too early. Esther hoped Malfoy would take the same bait."

"And he did," I said. "That was mainly luck. I thought he would be smarter than that."

"Guess not," said Sawyer, beaming. It must have been the first time I had seen him smiling while Scorpius Malfoy was the topic of the conversation.