PRONGSLET AND THE CERYNEIAN GUARDIAN

Chapter Sixty-Five

"There's always next year," Milo pointed out as he took his seat in between Cedric and Heidi. "We didn't get to play for the cup this year, but it just means we have to try harder next year that's all."

Before any of the other three could respond, they were drowned out by the loud cheers as the Gryffindor team took to the pitch.

"Oh Merlin," Milo whispered under his breath as he began clapping his hands together, "here we go."

It was when he stood up with the cheering crowd did Milo notice that about three-quarters of the attending were decorated in scarlet colouring while the remaining dawned the silver and emerald for Slytherin. Of course, Milo and his crew stook out like sore thumbs in their Hufflepuff gear, but at least, Harry would always know where his brother was sitting among the crowd. The shouts of "Go Gryffindor" and "Lions for the Cup" were chanted and as Milo glanced over at Cedric, he could see him fighting back a frown.

Seeing as it was his first year as Captain of Hufflepuff, Cedric was hoping to pull off a mighty win, possibly to throw back into his father's face that liking boys wouldn't affect his quidditch game. But Milo didn't want him to worry about that, he still had time to pull off a win for Hufflepuff. 

"And here are the Gryffindors!" Lee's voice rang out. "Potter, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years—"

Milo clapped his hand over his face and he was sure his mother was doing the same as Lee was booed from the Slytherin side. 

"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—"

While Lee was obviously still playing favourites to his house team, he wasn't exactly wrong with his line-up. As Heidi pointed out, Draco looked like a blonde shrimp compared to the rest of the Slytherin team that was massive in size.

"Merlin, do you think Flint has been feeding his ox enough grain?" Milo commented causing the tension to break around him. 

"I don't know," Heidi grinned," but if the Slytherin team starts looking that way and staying like that, I can't wait to play them again!"

"Heidi!" Cedric and Milo scolded her simultaneously. Unfortunately, while Milo and Cedric may have found Heidi's statement amusing, albeit a bit a disturbing, Max didn't look amused at all. Instead, her smile faded instantly and she quickly excused herself from the stands.

"Max, where are you going?" Heidi called after but it was Milo, who went after his friend in hopes of bringing her back to watch the match.  He ran after her, nearly tripping over several feet that were sticking out. But he wasn't able to catch up with Max until she was already leaving the Quidditch area, at that point, he was already out of breath but he managed to grab her by the back of her shirt to get her to stop.

"Max! Please, slow down, my cardio system can't take chasing you down any further," Milo begged her and finally, Max stopped and turned around to face him. 

"Milo, go back to the match, you don't want to miss out on your brother playing-"

"But I want to make sure you're alright," Milo said, " Harry will be fine and he has a lot to focus on. I have faith that he'll do well without me watching him. But Max, come on, something is wrong. I've never known you to just walk away from a quidditch match and I think we both know the reason behind why you walked away."

Max rubbed her arm as she looked away, attempting to avoid eye contact with Milo as he waited for her response. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to easily escape, she let out a heavy sigh.