BROTHERHOOD ⟶ Harry Potter

Chapter Twenty

"Harry, you need your strength," Seamus Finnigan told him with a mouthful of food. "Seekers are always the ones who get clobbered by the other team."

"Thanks, Seamus."

Just as Harry was about to drop his head down on the table and knock it repeatedly until he lost consciousness, he heard the sound of his brother's voice and looked down the table. Near the end, Harry spotted Katie Bell sitting with Alicia Spinnet. The two girls were laughing about something while Milo had a bright smile on his face. There were times before when Harry had caught Milo stealing looks in his direction but Milo paid him no mind that morning. 

"You should talk to him," Hermione said, bringing Harry to look over at her once more. "I think that's what he's waiting on, Harry. For you to talk to him when you're ready."

"Who said I was ready now?"

"No one, but your actions are speaking for themselves," Hermione pointed out to him. Suddenly, it appeared as though Milo was making his way over. Harry looked away, waiting for his brother to say something to him, but instead, Milo approached Hermione, thanking her for the spare ink that she allowed him to use.

Hermione smiled up at the boy. "It was no problem. Um...say, Milo, are you going to the quidditch match today?"

Harry nearly scoffed at the question that Hermione asked, knowing what the obvious answer was going to be.

"No," Milo answered.

Harry nearly fell off the bench at the answer, before he looked over at Milo. Milo paid him no mind as he continued to look at Hermione while he gave his explanation.

"It's pretty cold out and just as I was telling Katie and Alicia, I don't handle the cold very well. I was thinking about spending the day in the dorms, catching up on some reading. But I hope you have fun. Neville already promised that he would give me the details of the match, so I don't think I'll miss out on too much. Make sure you bundle up, though."

Milo didn't say anything to Harry before he left, leaving the younger Potter boy to just sit at the table in pure disbelief. His older brother wasn't coming to his first quidditch match, he didn't even offer his support. Instead, he was going to curl up with a book and read for the rest of the day leaving Harry to face the match on his own. However, Harry didn't blame him finally, instead, he knew that it was his own actions had driven Milo away and now he wasn't sure what to do in order to fix it. 

***

Milo was not one for lying, he didn't enjoy the feeling he got in the pit of his stomach when he did lie and most times, nothing good came of it. But he wanted Harry to do well during his first match and since Harry didn't want him around, Milo made sure to mention loud enough that he would not be attending the match. However, he planned to be there and watch, even if it meant remaining hidden in the stands. 

So before others started piling into the stands and before the quidditch teams made their way out to the pitch, Milo was there with his mother and Lee. Minerva was giving Lee the rules again for commentary since the boy didn't seem to firmly grasp the concept of just announcing rather than adding his own opinions on the plays or the players for that matter. 

Milo took a seat all the way in the back of the stands, sitting quietly and observing the empty pitch. Pretty soon, it would be his own first match with the Hufflepuff team against Ravenclaw, leaving him mighty nervous as he thought about it. 

Suddenly, his mother appeared and sat next to him, looking out at the pitch as well.

"You arrived this early to the stands so you could see all the way in the back?" She questioned, knowing there was an obvious motive behind her son's seating.