'𝕀'𝕞 𝕒 𝔻𝕒𝕞𝕤𝕖𝕝, 𝕀'𝕞 𝕚𝕟 𝔻𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤. 𝕀 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕝𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤, 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕒 𝕟𝕚𝕔𝕖 𝕕𝕒𝕪'
Sirius still had a bump on the back his head. He would not stand for it; how dare such a dreadful lump taint his beautiful head (in reality, he was only frustrated because it stopped him from styling his locks properly).
He grumbled as he shoved a spoon full of porridge into his mouth,
"Poppy should have given me more ointment."
Peter snorted,
"It doesn't even look that bad mate."
"That's not good enough!"
Snapped Sirius, self-consciously flattening the hair on the back of his head as a group of fifth year girls looked towards the four Marauders, giggling amongst themselves.
"So find that girl from Friday night, get your revenge and be done with your whining."
James mumbled absent-mindedly, his eyes glued to the latest really release of 'Seeker Weekly',
"I'm trying but Remus isn't helping!"
Remus responded by raising his goblet of pumpkin juice mockingly, his Transfigurations homework splayed out in front of him. Sirius grumbled again tucking back into his breakfast, eyes darting to the entrance of the Great Hall as three figures walked in.
The first figure was Gwen Sabra, a girl that actively went out of her way to assure Sirius she regarded him as lesser than the spiders that roamed the corners of Hogwarts, Sirius couldn't say he was a big fan of hers either, not after the time she humiliated him in front of the whole Defence Against The Dark Arts class in fourth year. Sabra reminded Sirius a bit of Lily Evans; dark ginger hair, freckles, flaring personality and incredible intelligence, only Lily was much nicer.
The second figure was Nova Tallis. Personally, Sirius was a huge fan of hers; they had become some sort of friends after being on the team together for so long and he admired her skills to no end; she'd proven wrong all the other team members who had doubted her abilities as a Seeker simply because she was a Muggleborn.
Nova had her arm slung over the shoulder of the third girl. Baggy, patchy cardigan, crop top and flare jeans with oddly hand-painted daisies, hair tied back with a silk bandana. She carried a battered notebook along with a slightly crisper copy of a book titled 'King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table'. The girl from Friday night.
Sirius chocked on his porridge.
"Tha- her!"
Remus and James glanced at him oddly as he rapidly gestured in the direction of the girls slowly nearing them, still spluttering and wheezing. Peter thumped his back a few times, shaking his head as he did so,
"Yes, Sirius, I'm excited to see Nova too but really there's no need for this many dramatics."
James said slowly as if talking to a naughty child, nodding exaggeratedly. Sirius glared at his friends,
"I couldn't care less about Tallis right now! That's her, that's the Friday girl."
The three girls happened to pass by right as Sirius shouted this; Nova placed a hand to her heart as if to say 'rude' before rolling her eyes and continuing onwards to join Gwen and Friday girl who had seated themselves beside Lily and Mary McDonald.
Remus leaned forward to take a look at the three and then he clicked his tongue,
"I knew it would be her."
Sirius jumped in outrage,
"You knew who she was and didn't tell me?"
"Sit down, Sirius!"
Huffed Remus swatting the other boy's leg with James's magazine. Sirius slummed back down into his seat with a pout,
"I didn't mention it because you said you were sure she wasn't in Gryffindor. I figured it had to someone else because how could you possibly have never seen her before despite being in the same house as her for seven years now."
Remus drawled sarcastically, his eyebrow raised leading Sirius to flush slightly in embarrassment. James peered over at the girls too, tapping his chin,
"Fry, right? Or was it something else? She's Nova's best friend."
Remus rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his juice,
"It's Fay, Juniper Fay and she's not only Nova's best friend, she's Sabra's best friend too."
James and Peter grimaced in unison eyeing the redhead talking animatedly with Lily and Mary while showing them a text in her Potions book,
"So what if she's friends with Sabra? I want to get back at her for injuring me!"
He complained gesturing to his head, James scoffed lightly,
"No can do mate, I choose life."
Remus hurriedly nodded along, packing his books away,
"Sabra's one of the best duellers in the school. If we prank her friend, she will come for us, she will find us and she will hurt us. Terribly."
"Like the kind of injuries Madam Pomfrey can't fix."
Peter added wiping the crumbs off his hands with a slight shudder. Sirius grumbled.
James was very excited for the first practise of the year to begin. Everyone had gathered on the pitch in two groups, the newbies on the left and the returning on the right. On the team that year they had: him, Cody Besser and Henry Vier as a Chasers, Nova as their Seeker, Sirius and Marcus Baddock as Beaters and finally, Nathan McCoy as their Keeper. Besser, Baddock and McCoy were all new to the team.
"Welcome to a new year of Quidditch. I have very high expectations for our team this year so I'm going to need you all to give me five-thousand percent in every practise!"
There was little to no reaction from his team so the Captain swiftly cleared his throat and moved on,
"There are four different courses set up on the pitch today. Chasers, you're with me, I'm going to go over the basics with Besser but Vier I'd like you to go over the basics of Keeping with McCoy and then we'll do some passing. Beaters, Sirius you're in charge of getting through the basics with Baddock and then I want you to release one Bludger and throw it around for a bit. Nova, I've arranged for a some faux-snitches to be release in your section of the pitch; catch and release as many times as you want and then you can leave. Everyone clear?"
A chorus of 'Yes, Sir's' sounded and shortly after the players divided themselves up on the pitch.
McCoy was in his fifth-year, he'd played Quidditch before and his ego was bruised by Potter's demand that he be taught the basics,
"Right, your job is to guard the three goalposts in an attempt to stop the other team's Chasers from scoring but I'm sure you already know that otherwise you wouldn't even be on the team,"
Vier began as he drifted nearer the younger Keeper, McCoy smirked cockily,
"Obviously, I was better than everyone else at it too."
Vier gave him a cold smile,
"That's because everyone else that tried for Keeper were twelve."
McCoy sneered at the Chaser's seemingly innocent smile, glancing past him at James who was meticulously guiding Besser into the best Chaser positions. Behind them, Nova was walking around on the pitch, her broom upright and following behind her as if it was alive; she occasionally let go of one of the jittery golf balls that had been charmed to act as Snitches before capturing it in her palm again.
"How come she's exempt from the basics and proper practise?"
Vier glanced back even though he already knew who McCoy was talking about. He shook his head,
"Trust me McCoy, you don't want to fuck with her. She's the best on this team aside from Potter and for that reason Potter lets her get away with everything...but I think she just has cramps this time, she doesn't usually stay on the ground."
McCoy scoffed, angling his broom so he could grab a better look at the concentrating Seeker,
"So she's the Captain's slag?"
Vier snapped his head up, nostrils flaring,
"You would do well to remember that Nova Tallis has secured this team every Quidditch Championship win for the last five years running. She is a brilliant Seeker and she is no one's woman but her own. Also, James Potter will absolutely have you removed from the team if he hears you speak about her like that."
McCoy kicked his foot against his broom in frustration making it sway slightly; he came to the conclusion he disliked the Gryffindor Seeker,
"Why's the Captain so obsessed with her if she isn't sleeping with him then?"
Vier dragged a hand down his face with a heavy sigh,
"Look, kid,"
McCoy seemed mortally offended by the term 'kid',
"I'm sure you already know that Sirius Black and James Potter are the best of friends, right?"
McCoy nodded in confusion, unsure where the Chaser was going with his speech,
"Well on the pitch, friendships don't matter anymore. Black is just another player but Nova is our win. She's the gamechanger, the faster she gets the Snitch, the quicker we win and James adores her for her ability to do her job. On the pitch, Nova is James's right and left hand and maybe even a little bit of his left foot too. They work well together."
McCoy scoffed in disbelief at the amount of faith the other players seemed to put into their Seeker,
"There's that and I think James also has a soft spot for her because she actually talks to him occasionally."
Vier added slinging a Quaffle through the middle hoop,
"Tallis doesn't talk to anyone else?"
"Nope!"
Vier replied, popping the 'P',
"What a weirdo."
Vier shrugged getting the Quaffle back as James began to call them over again,
"Good practise guys, I know it was short but it's just a warmup today. Thursday is when the real training starts."
The players began to bid their Captain goodbye and Nova went to join James and Sirius. Vier fell into step with McCoy,
"I think Potter mentioned something about Nova having an accent of sorts, I think that's why she doesn't talk much."
McCoy felt his face twist with scorn,
"You mean she can't even speak English? Unbelievable!"
Vier turned back to see the Captain, Black and Nova walking behind them, he sent Nova a wink watching as James frowned at him before turning back to McCoy,
"I never said she couldn't speak English, just that she has an accent."
"That means she's foreign! Why else would she have an accent? Probably from France or something, you reckon she got kicked out of Beauxbatons?"
Vier shook his head at the younger boy's petty jabs, inclining his head towards the three behind them. McCoy flushed at the irritated look on James's face and the deadpanned expression on Nova's.
"Sorry, Captain."
James scoffed, nodding at Nova,
"Apologise to her, not me."
McCoy sneered at the blonde,
"Can she even understand us? What with all her accents?"
"You do realise that not only foreigners have accents?"
Sirius butted in calmly,
"Why else would she have an accent-"
McCoy was cut off by Nova slinging an arm over his shoulders, bringing his ear close to her lips with a cool smile as they all paused. A smirk began to tug on James's lips as Nova opened her mouth,
"I'm Irish, you fucking cunt."