𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 || 𝐒𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰

Chapter Forty: Back again

"And trust that I will," Matty said with a bit of an unamused tone. She was trying to think of a joke she could make about his age to hit him back with.

As they were nearing the Hogwarts grounds, Matty had a smile on her face. It was so refreshing to see the school again.

She got inside and went up to her dorm room, having the same feeling as she did when she saw her old room in London. She excitedly greeted Natty and Nellie with tight hugs, asking them so many questions about their Christmas break. She'd tell hers after, she loved to hear from them first.

Sebastian entered the Slytherin common room, greeting a few of his friends as he made his way to his dorm room. He greeted Ominis and Thomas with a smile and a big hug. They chatted briefly about their breaks and Ominis gave Sebastian a letter from Anne and said she was doing well Which was a big relief to Sebastian.

They talked on the way to dinner in the Great Hall and while sitting down at the table. Garreth and Leander were already sitting down across from each other, debating about something random. A usual experience that Matty missed seeing, she would admit.

Garreth looked at Matty as she sat down. "Oh, Matty! It's good to see you. How was your break?"

"It was wonderful," Matty replied. "London kept Sebastian and I busy, that's for sure. But it is very nice to be back and with my parents again. How was it being back at home?"

"Chaotic to say the least," Garreth replied.

Immediately, you could hear some stifled giggles further down the table. They were indeed Garreth's three younger siblings, they knew how they had acted. "Mine was quiet and boring." Leander sighed. "But how are you supposed to tell your parents you want to leave break early and go back to school? That's practically a death sentence."

"My mum would've locked me in a room and only let me out when I had to leave." Matty chuckled. She knew how much her mother loved having her home, which made her feel wanted and loved so there was nothing wrong with that. Especially since she wasn't used to Matty being gone for extended periods of time like that.

Elliot came walking over to the Gryffindor table, looking like he had something to say. Anyone who was on the Quidditch team immediately looked over—it was simply a habit to look at their Captain with their undivided attention when he was coming over.

"It's January and you all know what that means." Elliot started as he walked over to take a seat, making sure he had their attention. "Early morning tomorrow, out at the pitch before school starts. We have to get good practice hours in if we're going to win this thing."

A collective groan from the entire team rolled around the Gryffindor table. Early morning quidditch practices were not something that any of them wanted to do—but regardless needed to do it if they wanted a chance to beat the Slytherin team. No doubt Imelda had a few things up her sleeve that were going to give them problems.

"Look, do you guys want to win this or not?" Elliot asked with a brow raised. He was serious about this. After losing to Slytherin so many times, he wasn't willing to do it again. "And since you're the newest on our team, I'm counting on you to give us everything we need as our Seeker." He said, looking at Matty.

"I'll be there," Matty replied with a curt nod.

Leander looked at Elliot. "Elliot, how early are we talking about with early morning practice?" He asked, hoping it wasn't at the crack of dawn.

"Five am sharp, as soon as the sun is coming up. Don't want to waste any daylight." Elliot replied firmly. It sounded like he had planned this out with a strict plan in his mind.