Golden Girl: The Missing Piece (2)

15- I Take a Walk in My Mother's Chacos

The Horned Serpent Quidditch team crushed Pukwudgie's team. With as hard as they'd been training, and as bad of a team as they were facing, Ember and her teammates had no trouble scoring goal upon goal that Friday afternoon. The final score, including Elsa's extra fast Snitch retrieval, was 450- 80. Ember almost felt bad for how dejected the opposing team looked as they flew off the field... almost. 

The party in the common room made it worth it. It almost rivaled the celebrations that took place after last year's house cup. At some point, amidst the butter beer waterfalls and confetti, Beau Valentin climbed up on top of a tall table and started yelling, more emphatically than usual. 

"This is the BEST team that Horned Serpent has ever had!"

The cheers were deafening, and before she could protest, Justin and Orion had picked Ember up to balance her on their shoulders between them. Both large, stocky boys, she suddenly found herself quite high up in the air. But she laughed, because she could hardly do otherwise, with the infectiously joyful mood in the room. 

Justin started yelling then, "Let's hear it for Ember! She scored EIGHT GOALS today! THat's unheard of by any second year player in this house for YEARS!!!!!"

The hollers increased, and Ember felt several people pound her back as she laughed again. 

Beau continued on, saluting their Seeker with his mug of Butter Beer, "And to Elsa Hernandez, who caught the snitch in a record breaking THIRTY-TWO MINUTES!!"

Elsa, too, received pounding on her back as she lifted her own mug aloft, pointing at the boys underneath Ember with her other hand, "For Justin and Orion, for some extraordinarily well placed Bludgers, I couldn't have caught the snitch if Orion hadn't nailed Evan Folier and got him off my ass!"

More laughing, more cheers. 

Ember tapped the boys on their heads, "Put me down, put me down, I gotta say something!"

They dutifully dropped her right on the table next to Beau. Ember grinned up at him, "For Beau Valentin, for being the best captain we could ask for, even when he sends me through a hail of bludgers during practice! We couldn't do it without you!"

The room descended into roaring, and music blared, causing the creatively inclined group of students to jump and dance for the next hour. It felt about as it did when Ember won Capture the Flag at Camp, only the significant sound of swords banging on shields was absent. Ember, Addy, Indigo, the Quidditch team, and the entire Horned Serpent house danced and sang and partied for a good long while.

Eventually, Trenchroot busted into the common room and put a stop to the partying, as it was way after curfew. Ember saw the barely restrained smile on his face, though. And she felt the pride and joy he was feeling, and knew that he probably wanted to join in the party rather than put it down. But nevertheless, the students disbanded, heading towards their dorm rooms.

For the first time in weeks, Ember went to bed with a smile on her face. 

The communal good emotions must have been the source behind her rather lovely vision, because normally when she went to bed in a good mood, it was very ruined by the time she woke up. 

Normally, Ember's dreams centered around future events, typically unpleasantly imminent future events. But somehow, she knew she was in the past from the moment her feet appeared on a beach. 

Despite the circumstances, the salty breeze and the sound of flocking seagulls and soft ocean waves was disarmingly soothing. She wished the beach wasn't full of sharp shells, sticking up out of the sand, because she would have taken off her sandals in a heartbeat. She didn't often get to feel the sand beneath her toes.