A/N: Hi friends, thank you for your patience with the updates. I've been off my game recently and my levels of motivation aren't the same at the moment, but I hope that those of you who are still reading enjoy this <3
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While they were also trying to find a place to meet and practice spells in secret, the Potters, the Weasleys, and the rest of their Gryffindor friends were also anxiously awaiting the first Quidditch match of the season.
The morning of the match, Ron Weasley was on the verge of vomiting out of nervousness, as this was his first official match as the Gryffindor Keeper.
Angelina, as captain, was as encouraging as she could be when she wasn't hard on them all during training, and the rest of the team were beyond proud of Ron for his progress in training, but it didn't help his anxiety one bit.
"I'm going to die out there," he wailed over his scrambled eggs.
"No you won't, Ron!" Fred said, clapping him on the back as he sat down next to him.
"And if you do, it'll make for a great story!" George said, sitting on his other side.
"Not helping, George," Emilia scolded, though she, too, was nervous on Ron's behalf.
This was the first Quidditch match in two years, since the Triwizard Tournament had replaced Quidditch last year, and nervous energy thrummed through the school as Gryffindor and Slytherin prepared to face off that cold November morning.
Luna Lovegood sat down next to Emilia, wearing an enormous piece of headgear in the shape of a lion's head, that appeared to be enchanted to blink at them all.
"Don't be nervous, Ron," she said brightly, "you have the support of the other Houses on your side."
"Great, even more people to let down," Ron said, going slightly ashen.
Luna turned to look at Emilia, and she dropped her voice into a conspiratorial whisper so only their small group would hear, "what about Professor Trelawney's classroom as a meeting place? I was looking around after class yesterday, and I couldn't see any Nargles or Blibbering Humdingers hiding around the place. We should be safe there."
Fred almost choked on his orange juice while George looked like he'd seen the Ravenclaw girl grow not one, but two extra heads.
Ron banged his forehead on the table in front of him.
Emilia cleared her throat and kindly patted the arm of the younger girl who was fiddling with an empty stem of grapes that had been on Emilia's plate.
"Thanks, Luna. We'll think about it." Luna's face lit up at her words. "Will we head up to the stands? The rest of the supporters will love to see your headpiece."
The girl leapt from the bench so quickly that Emilia got hit in the face with a huge amount of long white-blonde hair before she, too, stood up.
"Oh, wonderful. I spent two weeks making it, you know!" The girl said happily.
Emilia looked at the three Weasleys sitting in front of her, "good luck today, we'll be cheering you on. You'll be great." The twins nodded and grinned at her, while Ron stared blankly ahead.
"Ron."
Ron jolted back to the present, "huh? What?"
Emilia chuckled, "I said you'll smash it, today."
Ron smiled gratefully but he was still pale with anxiety, and then Luna linked Emilia's arm, "I see Harry up ahead, if you want to wish him luck!"
Following Luna's gaze, Emilia found Harry, and they went over to wish him, Angelina, Alicia and Katie good luck, and then up in the Quidditch stands, they sat down next to Hermione, Ginny, and Neville.
Luna had linked her arm again while they walked to the stands, but let go to sit down next to Neville with a bright smile, "good morning, Neville."
Neville turned bright red and barely managed to get out a 'hello' in return, and his eyes went wide at the sight of her lion headpiece. He complimented it and she beamed at him, making his face go redder than before.
Within half an hour, the match was in full swing.
Ron was struggling to save the Quaffle from the rings, and then Emilia could hear the faint sound of singing coming from the delighted Slytherin stands.
"Do you hear that?" she asked Hermione.
The other girl frowned, and then her eyes widened, "oh no."
The singing got louder, and then the majority of the Slytherin stand was singing, apart from a few select Slytherin students who found their peers extremely immature and glared at them.
"Weasley cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring,
That's why Slytherins all sing:
Weasley is our King."
"I really hope Ron doesn't hear that," Hermione said anxiously.
"Um, I think he already has," Neville said with a grimace, and he pointed to Ron who was staring dejectedly at the Slytherin supporters.
In his moment of distraction, he let another goal in, and the singing continued.
"Weasley was born in a bin
He always lets the Quaffle in
Weasley will make sure we win
Weasley is our King"
"Those pricks," Ginny seethed furiously.
Emilia winced but watched as Fred and George flew over to talk some encouragement into their younger brother, and Harry hurried over as well, once he was sure that their Chasers had a hold on the Quaffle.
The three boys then returned to the game, but Ron was already defeated.
Hermione leaned over the stands and, cupping her hands around her mouth, she screamed at the top of her voice, "come on, Ron!!"
Ron looked straight at her, his eyes widening in a mixture of surprise and awe.
Emilia followed suit, shouting her support, "you've got this, Ron!"
Ginny, Neville, Seamus, Dean, and soon the rest of the Gryffindor stand echoed their support for the team.
And the next time the Slytherin Chaser shot a goal, Ron saved it.
The Gryffindor stand cheered loudly, and Emilia saw the joy on the face of the boy who was basically another younger brother to her, and she decided at that moment that she didn't care what anyone thought of her.
She stood up on the bench behind her and cupped her hands around her mouth as she half-sang, half-shouted, "WEASLEY IS OUR KING!"
Emilia's friends looked at her in surprise, and then Luna dragged a grinning Neville up onto the benches too, and they also shouted out, "WEASLEY IS OUR KING!"
Hermione beamed widely and Ginny practically jumped in excitement as they, and others joined in, "WEASLEY IS OUR KING!"
Before long, the rest of the Gryffindor stand was joining in, and they sang in support of their friend, and the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students began to sing too. Even a few Slytherin students joined in, sticking their fingers up at the more cruel and bitter of their fellow peers.
"Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He didn't let the Quaffle in
Weasley is our King."
Emilia was positive that she saw Ron wiping his eyes as he smiled at them, and the game was at a standstill. Emilia met Fred's eye as he flew his broom to a stop near the stand, looking at her with something in his eyes that she couldn't quite describe, other than amazement.
Fred was amazed, because he knew Emilia was the last person who'd want to be the centre of attention, unlike him and George. But despite that, she'd stood up to cheer on his younger brother, and had gotten the whole stand, and then three quarters of the supporters to join in too.
He was completely in awe of Emilia Potter in that moment, and he hadn't realised that he'd been staring until she smiled at him, and he smiled back with a grin that hurt his cheeks.
Emilia flushed under his gaze, but held it until he waved and flew off, and then she waved at Harry who was laughing incredulously, and he shook his head at her in amazement as the singing carried all the way across the pitch, drowning out those who were jeering the team.
"Well! What are we waiting for!" Angelina roared, passing the Quaffle to Ron who used his fist to send it back into play, and then the match was back on.
They scored another goal, and then another. The stand erupted in joy, and the cheers only got louder when Ron saved the next goal, and the next one, and the singing continued loudly, boosting everyone's morale.
"Weasley can save anything,
He never leaves a single ring,
That's why Gryffindors all sing:
Weasley is our King."
Gryffindor won, and Emilia could have cried out of happiness.
Hermione actually was crying as she jumped up and down, "he did it! He did it!"
Despite everything, their encouragement had helped Ron and Gryffindor had beat Slytherin and won the first Quidditch match of the season.
The singing continued throughout the stands as the team left the pitch and, half-crying out of pure joy at Gryffindor's win, Emilia, Hermione and Ginny ran down to intercept the Gryffindor Team on their way from the pitch to the changing rooms.
The three of them descended on Ron, literally knocking him to the grass as they all wrapped their arms around him. He hugged them back, beyond shocked and delighted, and then the twins pulled them all up from the ground and hugged their younger brother tightly.
They hugged Emilia then, and then Ginny and Hermione, and Emilia turned to hug Harry who laughed deliriously.
"How did you do that?" he asked.
"What? Encourage Ron by turning the Slytherins' bullshit back on them? Magic, Harry. Magic," she grinned at him and he rolled his eyes fondly but laughed.
"Saved Weasley's neck, haven't you?" Malfoy shouted from several feet away, sneering at them all as he stopped between the teams respective changing rooms. "I've never seen a worse Keeper...but then he was born in a bin. Did you like my lyrics, Potter?"
He directed his last question at Harry, and Emilia grabbed her brother's shoulder to turn him around, away from Malfoy.
"We wanted to write another couple of verses, you know!" Malfoy continued loudly, "but we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly, we wanted to sing about his mother, see..."
Emilia bunched her fist at her sides as she pushed Harry and Ron towards the changing rooms.
"Talk about sour grapes," Alicia muttered furiously as she walked behind them with Angelina and Katie. The twins were up ahead, and Emilia hoped that they couldn't hear any of this.
"- we couldn't fit in 'useless loser' either for his father, you know."
Just then, the twins stopped walking, and Emilia felt herself tensing up at the inevitability of a fight.
She hurried forward to grab them by the arms and pull them forward, "Fred, George, ignore them, Malfoy's just sore they lost-"
"-but you like the Weasleys, don't you, Potter? Well, both of you do, don't you?" Malfoy said, louder this time.
"Spend the holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, but I suppose when you've been dragged up by Muggles, even the Weasley's hovel smells okay, especially with dirty-blooded company like Granger there to top it off."
Emilia decided to use her words instead of allowing the twins to use their fists. She let go of the twins, pushed past her friends and came to a stop in front of Malfoy who was now taller than her, but she didn't let the realisation of that fact show on her face.
"I'd shut up right now if I were you, Malfoy," she said dangerously.
Malfoy smirked, "oh, would you? Speaking of dirty blood, is it true you were raised by that werewolf mongrel Lupin?"
He glanced down suddenly, realising that Emilia's wand was poking directly into his chest, "walk away before I take away your ability to."
He paled slightly but glanced at the others over her head, and then his smirk returned, "you know, it would've been awfully convenient for the rest of us if you'd just died that night along with your Mudblood mother."
Emilia felt the breath leave her body in shock at his cruel words, but before she could react, she was pushed out of the way as Harry cracked his fist across Malfoy's face, not once but twice.
"Don't you-" punch, "dare!"
Emilia pulled Harry back, and Malfoy's punch of retaliation that was aimed at Harry hit her across the face instead, sending her tumbling to the grass. The taste of blood filled her mouth, the impact had made her bite her lip hard.
Fred and George practically roared in fury, and as George joined Harry, pulling out of Angelina and Alicia's grip, Fred dropped to his knees next to her, pulling her upright.
"Emilia!?" his voice was strained with worry.
He cupped her face and as soon as she blinked the black spots out of her vision she sat up and shook her head, "I'm fine, I'm fine."
"You're bleeding," he realised in a mixture of horror and rage. He held her face gently, in complete contrast to the anger he was visibly feeling, and he wiped the blood from her chin with the sleeve of his Quidditch robes.
He pulled her to her feet and his eyes were hard with anger but she held onto his arms, "Fred, don't, this has to stop."
Fred stepped back from her, "not before I fucking end him."
He joined in the fray just as Crabbe and Goyle went to Malfoy's aid, and Emilia gasped as she saw Fred land a hard punch to Malfoy's nose which immediately started to bleed.
Hermione and Ginny hurried to Emilia's side just as Professors McGonagall, and Umbridge, of all people, arrived at the scene just as the boys were pulled apart by their teammates.
She just barely heard Umbridge attempting to ban the twins and Harry from Quidditch for life, before she was rushing over.
McGonagall's eyes widened when she saw her still bleeding lip, "Miss Potter, goodness, your face."
She shook her head, "you can't ban them from Quidditch. Malfoy was provoking them, and using slurs."
Umbridge chuckled lightly, "but resorting to violence is not a display of proper sportsmanship, is it? Mr and Mr Weasley, and Mr Potter, you may hand over your brooms as you won't be needing them anymore."
McGonagall looked livid, "this is not how we handle these-"
"Oh, Minerva, you'll find that as Hogwarts High Inquisitor, I can carry out the punishments as I see fit."
"And Malfoy?" Emilia retorted, "he hit me in the face and used a slur against Muggleborns."
"As far as I'm aware, he didn't throw the first punch, Miss Potter," Umbridge said sweetly, "and unfortunately, there is no proof that Mr Malfoy used any incorrect language."
Emilia gaped at the older witch, and McGonagall looked fit to explode, "I will take charge of their brooms, and return them as I see fit, even if Weasleys and Potter are not permitted to partake in Quidditch. And Malfoy will receive detention for the rest of the month."
Umbridge looked up at McGonagall with a tight smile, "very well, if that makes you feel better, Minerva. Keep their brooms, but my decision is final, Mr and Mr Weasley, and Mr Potter are hereby banned from Quidditch. For life."
With a girlish giggle, she turned on her heel and practically skipped away while the Slytherin team bellowed with laughter all the way back to their tent.
The Gryffindor team stood in silence, and McGonagall cleared her throat, "such foolish behaviour indeed deserved a punishment, but not this. I'll see what I can do, but in the meantime, you may turn over your brooms to me."
The twins and Harry slowly handed over their brooms, and stared blankly after McGonagall as she left with them floating through the air behind her.
Angelina sank to the ground in tears, "this is a disaster."