In The Shadows² ★ Draco Malfoy

*Lions vs Snakes

As the first term wore on, Briar found herself becoming distracted from the Order, and her worries about Voldemort rising to power, thanks to her schoolwork and quidditch practices. But then when she heard Katie Bell had been taken to St Mungo's after an accident with a cursed object, that distraction faded entirely

So far the only good part of her 5th year was that Professor Slughorn had introduced his little "Slug Club" to Gwenog Jones, captain of the Holyhead Harpies, and Briar had taken an immediate liking to her so the girls exchanged addresses and Gwenog offered to come watch her play quidditch at some point

It was Briar's dream to be a professional quidditch player at some point, so she was in shock still

Harry did notice at practices that now she had an extra spark to her, and he was relieved to see that since he had to replace Katie with Dean Thomas, and their chances to beat Slytherin looked good, except for Ron

Briar had just come out of her hot shower, tired from practice, when Ginny burst into the dorm with tears streaking her cheeks

"Gin!" Briar exclaimed and pulled her best friend to sit down on her bed "What happened?"

"Ron caught me and Dean snogging and he shouted me and nearly called me a whore" she sniffed 

Briar's heart filled with sympathy for her friend, and as Ginny's best friend she took her side, so over the next few days Briar barely even looked at Ron. And on the day of the match, she and Ginny headed to the changing rooms early to avoid him

"Conditions look ideal," said Ginny when Harry and Ron walked in "Andguess what? That Slytherin Chaser Vaisey - he took aBludger in the head yesterday during their practice, and he'stoo sore to play! And even better than that - Malfoy's goneoff sick too!" 

"What?" Harry exclaimed "He'sill? What's wrong with him?" 

"No idea, but it's great for us," said Briar brightly. "They'replaying Harper instead; he's in our year and he's an idiot."

The team seemed to be in brighter spirits, including Ron, and Briar had an air of confidence about her as they walked onto the pitch.

The match started with an intensity from the Gryffindors and Briar was so focused on the game that she completely blocked out Zacharias Smith's biased commentary

With half an hour of the game gone, Gryffindor wereleading sixty points to zero, Ron having made some trulyspectacular saves, some by the very tips of his gloves, andGinny and Briar having scored three-a-piece of Gryffindor's six goals.

It seemed as though Gryffindor could do no wrong. Againand again they scored, and again and again, at the other endof the pitch, Ron saved goals with apparent ease. He wasactually smiling now, and when the crowd greeted aparticularly good save with a rousing chorus of the oldfavourite "Weasley Is Our King," he pretended to conductthem from on high.

And when Harry lifted the snitch in his fist, the gold and red supporters broke into massive cheers

The team met for a midair team hug, except Ginny who streaked past until she collided with the commentator's podium and Briar couldn't stop herself from laughing. But she quickly went to retrieve her friend

Briar flew down to the ground and celebrated with her classmates who had run onto the pitch, and then Professor McGonagall and Gwenog Jones approached her

"Ms Lupin," McGonagall smiled, trying to hide the pride in her voice "I believe you have met my former student Ms Jones"

"I have," Briar nodded and smiled at Gwenog

"Well played today," Gwenog said "Professor McGonagall was right, you are a natural"

"Thank you," Briar said, meaning it towards both women