"Typical," said Harry darkly to his friends and his sister as they walked down the corridors of the castle. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy." The Twins had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else.
"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," said Kirra reasonably as she gave her brother a reassuring look "and besides, I'm more worried about Mattheo."
"Anyway, I know Riddle and Malfoy are always going on about how good they are at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk." Ron added into the conversation and Kirra nodded her head unsurely, trying to convince her brother that it would be fine.
Mattheo and Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. Draco had complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters.
Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about soccer. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly.
And JJ had had an argument about baseball with Maxine who couldn't see the point of a game where there was basically beater and then a bunch of dogs running around for the ball. Kirra had caught JJ prodding his poster of the New York Yankees with his wand, trying to make the players move.
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At breakfast on Thursday Kirra and her two best friends had decided to sit over at the Gryffindor table with her brother and his friends. They had been listening to hermione all morning as she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages.
Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.
Harry nor Kirra had received a single letter since they had got there, something that Mattheo and Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course. Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table.
Mattheo on the otherhand, had a large Blakistons fish owl which had often brought him the same things as Draco, due to the fact that he had been living with the Malfoys ever since the downfall of his father and his mother being locked away in Azkaban (which of course no students knew about besides Draco and Mattheo).
A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke. "It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things — this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red — oh..."
His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "...you've forgotten something...." Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table with Mattheo, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand.
Kirra, JJ, Harry and Ron jumped to their feet. The boys were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy, whereas Kirra just wanted to defend the poor boy, the boys and the Hufflepuff girl got ready to pounce but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.
"What's going on?"
"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor." Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table.
"Just looking," he said, causing Kirra to scoff.
Mattheo who heard the scoff, turned to look at the Hufflepuff, a large smirk on his face as he did so, "try not to fall of your broom little Hufflepuff." Mattheo said to Kirra and he sloped away with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle behind him, a snicker falling from his lips.
At three-thirty that afternoon, the first years made their way down to the pitch to have their flying class. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.
The Slytherins were already there, and so were a bunch of broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Kirra had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.
Kirra, who had a taste and a knack for trouble had actually made good friends with the twins during her time at Hogwarts and had even helped them with a few of their pranks. The twins had been surprised at first when they had found out how rebelious the Hufflepuff was, but they quickly accepted her into their group.
Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk. "Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."
JJ, Maxine and Kirra rushed over to three brooms next to each other with Kirra in the middle. Kirra glanced down at her broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles. "Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"
"UP" everyone shouted.
Kirra's broom jumped into her hand at once, she felt weird and she had a sudden feeling of deja voo wash over her as the wood flew into her hand, almost like her mind was begging her to remember something.
She brushed it off and smiled over the fact she had been able to get the broom to fly into her hand on the first try, but it was one of the few that did, though she noticed that the same thing had happened for her brother and Mattheo.
Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all. JJ's had come about half way up and then dropped to the ground again. Maxine's broom had actually flown backward a few meters.
Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Kirra, JJ and Maxine tried to stifle their laughter and were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.
"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle — three — two —"
But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips. "Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle — twelve feet — twenty feet.
Kirra saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and — WHAM — a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay facedown on the grass in a heap Kirra quickly ran over to Neville as fear raced through her body.
"Neville! Neville are you alright!" she exclaimed but didn't touch him, not wanting too risk hurting him more than he already was.
His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight. Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his. "Broken wrist," Kirra heard her mutter and she felt her heart drop and ache for the boy. "Come on, boy — it's all right, up you get."
She turned to the rest of the class and Kirra slowly made her way back to her friends. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear." Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.
No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter. "Did you see his face, the great lump?" The other Slytherins joined in.
"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.
"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl and shoved her, causing the Gryffindors cultural hair pin to fall out and onto the ground. Pansy quickly snatched it up into her hand with a smirk. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."
"Give it back Pansy" Kirra said stepped towards the Slytherin girl who quickly chucked the hair pin over to Mattheo who caught it easily in his hand and smirked down at the short Hufflepuff who was now glaring up at him from a few meters away.
"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him." The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.
"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly as he and his sister shared a small look before glaring over at the two Slytherin boys who held proud smirks on their faces.
Everyone stopped talking to watch and the two Potters got closer to the two Slytherin boys who had stolen something that didn't belong to them. Malfoy smiled nastily at Harry while Mattheo just smirked down at Kirra like usual, which was really beginning to piss the girl off.
"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find — how about — up a tree? Mattheo, does that sound like a good idea to you?" Draco asked as he looked over at his best friend, a laugh falling from his lips as he chucked it in the air a few times and caught it.
"sounds like a great idea Draco, and what about this, how about on a roof of the Gryffindor tower?" Mattheo asked him and the two Slytherins laughed, clearly enjoying themselves more than they should be.
"Give it here!" Harry and Kirra both yelled, but Malfoy and Mattheo had leapt onto their broomsticks and taken off without a second thought, neither of them thinking that either of the Potters would have the guts to get on their broom and fly after them.
"It's alright Kirra don't worry about it, I have more" Parvati said with sadness clear in her voice, but the Hufflepuff wasnt going to take it. The Slytherins had no right taking her stuff, so she was going to get it back for Parvati and that was final.
The boys hadn't been lying, they could fly well. Hovering level with the top most branches of an oak Draco called, "Come and get it, Potter!" Harry grabbed his broom.
"Yeah come on little Hufflepuff, or are you too scared? I bet you want to hide in your little den now huh?" Mattheo asked her with a sly grin. Kirra couldnt stop the snarl that fell from her lips as she grabbed her broom and gripped it angrily in her right hand, her knuckles turning ghostly white from her firm grip.
"No!" shouted Hermione Granger and JJ Maybank.
JJ stopped, he knew that Kirra was too stubborn to stop, but Hermione clearly hadnt caught onto that just yet, "Madam Hooch told us not to move — you'll get us all into trouble." Harry and Kirra ignored her.
"Kirra youre going to get hurt, just don't do it okay" JJ pleaded with her but she didn't listen to him. Blood was pounding in the twins ears. They looked at each other and nodded their heads in determination, knowing that they were thinking the same thing 'they were going to prove to the slytherin boys that they aren't as weak or stupid as they think that they are'.
The twins mounted the brooms and kicked hard against the ground and up, up they soared; air rushed through their already messy hair, and their robes whipped out behind them.
JJ and Maxine watched the girl in worry, but they could see she somehow knew exactly what she was doing. The twins looked at each other with matching grins — and in a rush of fierce joy they realized they'd found something they could do without being taught — this was easy, this was wonderful.
The twins both pulled their broomsticks up a little to take it even higher, and heard screams and gasps of girls back on the ground and an admiring whoop from Ron. Harry turned his broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in midair. Malfoy looked stunned. And Kirra did the same thing to Mattheo, who seemed just as stunned as Draco was if not more.
Mattheo quickly brushed the stunned look off his face, "Well look at the little badger, seems she can do something... you know, besides complain and get in the way all the god damn time," Mattheo told her with a grin and tossed the hair pin up about a meter and then caught it again a moment later
"Give it here Riddle," Kirra called out to the dark haired boy in front of her, his name left her mouth agressively and for some reason that made her heartrate increase... as if the name Riddle had once meant something to her in her past... but that was impossible, she had been kept away from the wizarding world her whole life, and the boy in front of her meant nothing to her, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"
"Oh, yeah?" said Mattheo, trying to sneer, but as Kirra noticed the look in his eyes, she could see that the boy happened to be slightly worried. Kirra knew, somehow, what to do as if she had done it all before.
She leaned forward and grasped the broom tightly in both hands, and it shot toward Mattheo like a javelin. Mattheo only just got out of the way in time; Kirra made a sharp about-face and held the broom steady.
A few people below were clapping and Kirra noticed her brother and her were basically in sync with everything that they were doing. They were twins afterall, and they had done everything together as they grew up... they were all that they had.
"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy, and it seems Riddle is a little bit preoccupied" Harry called. The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy as he looked over at Mattheo who seemed to be struggling just as much as he was right now.
"Im getting that hair pin back no matter what Mattheo" Kirra called out to him and the two Slytherin boys looked at each other and then shared a nod before looking at the Gryffindor and the Hufflepuff that they each had in front of them
"Catch it if you can, then!" they shouted, and Draco threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back toward the ground and Mattheo threw the hair pin as far as he could toward the castle.
Kirra saw, as though in slow motion, the hair pin rise up in the air and then start to fall as it got closer and closer to the castle. She leaned forward and pointed her broom handle down slightly— next second she was gathering speed in a steep dive, racing the ball — wind whistled in her ears, mingled with the screams of people watching and could hear JJ and Maxine calling out to her in worry — she stretched out her hand — a foot from the ground she caught the hair pin, just in time to pull her broom straight, and she toppled gently onto the grass with the pin clutched safely in her fist.
She looked up and looked over at her brother who was hovering over the ground with the small sphere in his hand "HARRY AND KIRRA POTTER!" The twins felt their hearts sink faster than they'd just dived.
Professor McGonagall and an older Hufflepuff student were running toward them, the Hufflepuff had a gigantic smile on his face as he trailed after the woman. The twins got to their feet, trembling and gave each other a worried look, they weren't prepared to be expelled.
"Never — in all my time at Hogwarts —" Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, she looked at the Hufflepuff with an unreadable expression on her face that was interlapped with concern "— how dare you — might have broken your neck —"
"That was bloody brilliant, both of you" the Hufflepuff exclaimed excitedly
"Enough Blythe" McGonnogal said quickly
"It wasn't their fault, Professor —"
"Be quiet, Miss Patil —"
"But Malfoy and Riddle—"
"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Mr Potter, follow me, now. And Blythe, you take Miss Potter to Professor Sprout please" Harry and Kirra caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle's triumphant faces as they left, Mattheo's face was blank as he watched the girl.
"Hey just a moment please" she quickly said to the Hufflepuff boy and he nodded his head and watched as the girl ran over to Parvati and handed her the hair pin which had been very small, he thought back to what he had witnessed when he had been talking to McGonnagal, both of them had seen the Potter twins dive for the small objects, and both of them had thought the same idea, as both of them were having the problem.
Both of them needed seekers for their quidditch teams
"Thank you Kirra, my mum gave me this pin, it used to be hers and it means a great deal to me," Parvati tells the Hufflepuff with a grateful smile
"don't mention it" Kirra said and smiled back then looked over at her two friends who looked sad, she gave them a soft smile, not knowing if this was the last day she would be spending with them and then she walked over to the Hufflepuff who had come down with the Gryffindor head teacher
Kirra and the older Hufflepuff boy walked towards the castle in silence. She was going to be expelled, she just knew it. She wanted to say something to defend himself, but there seemed to be something wrong with her voice.
The Hufflepuff boy was sweeping along without even looking at her; she had to jog to keep up. Now she'd done it. She hadn't even lasted two weeks. She'd be packing her bags in ten minutes. What would the Dursleys say when she and her brother turned up on the doorstep?