𝐌𝐢𝐚 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐞 - 𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬'𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

Mia woke extremely early the next morning; so early that it was still dark. For a moment she thought the roaring of the wind had woken her. Then she felt a cold breeze on the back of her neck and sat bolt upright — Peeves the Poltergeist had been floating next to her, blowing hard in her ear.

"What did you do that for?" said Mia furiously.

Peeves puffed out her cheeks, blew hard, and zoomed backward out of the room, cackling.

Mia fumbled for her alarm clock and looked at it. It was half past four. Cursing Peeves, she rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, but it was very difficult, now that she was awake, to ignore the sounds of the thunder rumbling overhead, the pounding of the wind against the castle walls, and the distant creaking of the trees in the Forbidden Forest.

In a few hours she would be out on the Quidditch field, battling through that gale. Finally, she gave up any thought of more sleep, got up, dressed, picked up her broom and walked quietly out of the dormitory.

The noise of the storm was even louder in the common room. Mia knew better than to think the match would be canceled; Quidditch matches weren't called off for trifles like thunderstorms.

At long last Mia thought it must be time for breakfast, so she headed through the portrait hole alone.

"Stand and fight, you mangy cur!" yelled Sir Cadogan.

"Oh, shut up," Mia yawned.

She revived a bit over a large bowl of porridge, and by the time he'd started on toast, the rest of the team had turned up.

"Oh here you are, for a moment I thought you went out to practice," Harry said relieved.

"It's going to be a tough one," said Wood, who wasn't eating anything.

"Stop worrying, Oliver," said Alicia soothingly, "we don't mind a bit of rain."

But it was considerably more than a bit of rain. Such was the popularity of Quidditch that the whole school turned out to watch the match as usual, but they ran down the lawns toward the Quidditch field, heads bowed against the ferocious wind, umbrellas being whipped out of their hands as they went.

The team changed into their scarlet robes and waited for Wood's usual pre-match pep talk, but it didn't come. He tried to speak several times, made an odd gulping noise, then shook his head hopelessly and beckoned them to follow him.

The wind was so strong that they staggered sideways as they walked out onto the field. If the crowd was cheering, they couldn't hear it over the fresh rolls of thunder.

The Hufflepuffs were approaching from the opposite side of the field, wearing canary-yellow robes. The Captains walked up to each other and shook hands; Diggory smiled at Mia and as she passed by him he whispered, "Good luck Tonks."

Mia saw Madam Hooch's mouth form the words, "Mount Your brooms." She pulled her right foot out of the mud with a squelch and swung it over her broom. Madam Hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a blast that sounded shrill and distant — they were off.

Mia rose fast, but her broom was swerving slightly with the wind. She held it as steady as she could and turned, squinting into the rain.
Within five minutes Mia was soaked to her skin and frozen, hardly able to see her teammates, let alone the quaffle.

She couldn't hear the commentary over the wind. The crowd was hidden beneath a sea of cloaks and battered umbrellas. Twice Mia came very close to being unseated by a Bludger; her vision was so clouded by the rain she hadn't seen them coming.

The sky was getting darker, as though night had decided to come early. Twice Mia nearly hit another player, without knowing whether it was a teammate or opponent; everyone was now so wet, and the rain so thick, she could hardly tell them apart...