Love, Aurélie | REGULUS BLACK

Chapter Seven

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[CHAPTER SEVEN]
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ODETTE ACCEPTED, OF COURSE. She had gotten bored of the books and she was awfully curious about this sport she had been hearing a lot about. She wanted to know if she would find it exciting like Hua, boring like Mei, or neutral like Xia.

Hua took Odette to a quidditch pitch. Hua told her that whenever she wanted to practice or play, she used to do it there rather than her own yard. While the Xun residence was quite big, their backyard was a different story.

"Do you have permission to be here?" asked Odette.

"Nope," said Hua, "But if we do get caught, we'll be fine. People know me quite well around here."

"Of course they do," said Odette.

"Come have a seat next to me," said Hua, opening up some sort of trunk. Odette complied.

"First thing you have to know is, well actually, you need to learn how to fly first, but we'll worry about that in a second. First thing I'm going to show you are the basics of Quidditch," said Hua.

Odette watched as Hua opened the trunk all the way, revealing different types of balls.

"There are seven players on each team: Three chasers, two beaters, one keeper, and one seeker. In Quidditch, there are four balls: A Quaffle, two Bludgers, and a Golden Snitch. You following?"

"I think so."

"Okay, good," said Hua, turning towards the trunk, she grabbed the biggest ball out of the four.

"This is a Quaffle, It is thrown around by the chasers in an attempt to get through the opposing teams' hoops. Keepers stand by the hoops and are supposed to keep Quaffle out of the hoops. Any questions about the Quaffle?"

Odette shook her head.

"These two," said Hua, pointing to two balls that were strapped into the trunk, "Are the Bludgers. They fly around the pitch trying to hit and push people off their brooms. Beaters hit the beaters away from their team's players and towards the other team's members. Trust me, you don't want to get hit by a Bludger."

"That sounds brutal," said Odette.

"Oh, it is," said Hua.

"How lovely," said Odette, a forced smile on her lips.

"My leg was once hit by a Bludger and it broke while I was still in the air. It was the worst thing ever, I couldn't even continue the game. There was also a time where the bludger hit my chest and I couldn't breathe and fell off my broom. "

"Injury after Injury," said Odette with a wince.

"That's Quidditch," said Hua, however, she must have seen Odette's face because she said, "But no one has died as of late!"

"People have died?" said Odette.

Realizing she made it worse, Hua cleared her throat, "I'm pretty sure all sports are risky."

Even though she really wanted to, Odette couldn't give a retort because she didn't know much about any other sports.

"Anyway, this is the Golden Snitch," said Hua, pointing to a small, golden ball with wings, "The game ends with the seeker catching the Golden Snitch. Whichever team catches the snitch earns 150 points, but that doesn't always mean they'll win."

Hua closed the trunk and stood up, she picked up one of the broomsticks that she brought along.

"Now, even if you don't like Quidditch, I think you'll really like flying, unless you're scared of heights — Are you scared of heights?"