LAWS OF THE STARS / h. potter

𝟏.𝟏𝟔, the quidditch final

        "𝐎𝐊𝐀𝐘, no wind to speak of — sun's a bit bright, that could impair your vision, watch out for it. Ground's fairly hard, good, that'll give us a fast kickoff—" Wood paced the field, staring around it with the rest of the team behind him.

Once he'd warned against the possibilities of another dementor attack, a sudden onslaught of angry hornets, and a hurricane, the front doors of the castle swung open in the distance. The rest of the school came spilling onto the lawn, a sea of crimson with islands of emerald.

"Locker rooms," said Wood tersely.

None of them spoke as they changed into their scarlet robes.

Melody had a feeling she knew why, and her sentiments were no different — it felt as though her stomach was home to a fleet of butterflies, a dozen asteroids, and a large cumulonimbus cloud all at once.

In what seemed like no time at all, Wood was saying, "Okay, it's time, let's go."

Melody was joining Fred and George in a small circle around him and murmuring "Knock on wood."

Harry was stepping towards her, looking extremely peaky.

Once he arrived at her side, she pulled herself away from her stellarly dissociative haze. His presence was enough to inspire the briefest of confessions, and she took a shaky breath before turning to him.

"I'm going to cry myself to sleep."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "If we win, or if we lose?"

Melody regarded this. She quirked her head to the side, scrunched up her nose, and gave her Firebolt a squeeze for good luck. "Both."

With that, they followed the team out onto the field.

A tidal wave of noise greeted them, all hollers and screeches and cheers. Three-quarters of the crowd were wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion upon them, or brandishing banners with slogans like "GO GRYFFINDOR!" and "LIONS FOR THE CUP!"

Behind the Slytherin goalposts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; the silver serpent of Slytherin glittered on their flags, and Professor Snape sat in the very front row, wearing green like everyone else, and a very grim smile.

Then came a familiar voice, Lee Jordan's, as usual: "And here are the Gryffindors! Potter, Bell, Johnson, Prewett, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years—"

An onslaught of "boos" rang out from the Slytherin end of the stands, and Lee was drowned out in the downpour.

"And here come the Slytherin team, led by Captain Flint. He's made some changes in the lineup and seems to be going for size rather than skill—"

More boos from the Slytherin crowd. When Melody scanned her newest archenemies, however, she concluded that Lee had a point. Malfoy was easily the smallest person on the Slytherin team; the rest of them were enormous.

"Captains, shake hands!" ordered Madam Hooch.

Melody watched as Flint and Wood approached each other, grasped each other's hands very tightly, and looked as though they were trying to break the other's fingers.