DISCLAIMER
I do not own Harry Potter ... but if I did Hufflepuff would have won the Quidditch Cup more often
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Over the weekend, the first Quidditch match of the year took place.
It was Gryffindor versus Slytherin.
Meaning Bel could join Ron and Hermione to cheer on Harry as he made his debut as the youngest quidditch seeker in over a century.
She knew that if she even dared cheer on another team whilst Hufflepuff was playing, Tia would kick her out of their dorm for at least a week as punishment.
At breakfast Saturday morning, Bel excused herself from Ollie and Riley as she saw Harry walk in dressed in his red and yellow quidditch uniform.
"Nervous?" Bel asked as she took a seat to Harry's left, opposite Ron who had Hermione to his left.
"Just a bit", Harry admitted.
He looked more than just a bit nervous.
His face was completely pale, and Bel noticed he hadn't touched his food.
"I'm sure you'll do great. But I'm going to have to add a bit of pressure onto you. Tia is a very competitive person and last night dragged us all into placing bets on who would win. I have two galleons riding on Gryffindor", Bel admitted.
"I wouldn't hold out much hope to see your money back", Harry said as he took big gulp.
"Oh, I'm fully expecting that I will. You wouldn't have been put on the team as the youngest seeker ever if you were bad at quidditch", Bel said.
"She's right, you know. And you should really eat something. It'll give you strength", Hermione added.
"I'm not hungry", Harry replied in a flat tone.
Before the other three could protest, they were interrupted by a voice coming from behind Bel and Harry's shoulders.
"Good luck today, Potter. Then again, now that you've proven yourself against a troll a little game of quidditch should be easy work for you. Even if it is against Slytherin", the low and intimidating voice of Professor Snape spoke out before he limped away from their table.
"That explains the blood", Harry muttered as he watched Snape leave.
"What blood?" Bel asked.
"Listen, the other night I'm guessing Snape let the troll in as a diversion so he could try and get past that three-headed dog. But he got himself bit, that's why he's limping", Harry explained.
"But why would anyone go near that dog?" Hermione asked from across the table.
"The day I was at Gringotts, Hagrid took something out of one of the vaults. Said it was Hogwarts business, very secret", Harry replied.
"So you're saying ...", Hermione started.
"That's what the dog's guarding. That's what Snape wants", Harry finished for her.
Bel furrowed her eyebrows in deep thought.
Professor Snape was rather mysterious and terrifying, but why would he be trying to take something that was already guarded safely in the school he worked for?
It didn't make any sense.
Before she could raise her point, the sound of squawking interrupted her.
The four looked up to see two birds flying side by side.
Hedwig and Gus.
Hedwig was carrying a large parcel that was oddly shaped.
Gus was carrying another small envelope.
"I told you our birds would be friends", Harry whispered to Bel as the two birds dropped their mail off and flew away together.
Bel smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Bit early for mail, isn't it?" Hermione asked as Harry laid the package out on the table.
"But I never get mail", Harry said, confused.
"Neither do I ...", Bel said with the same confused look as she held the envelope in her hand.
"Well ... open them!" Ron said, but he was more occupied with the interesting package Harry had than Bel's letter.
The three Gryffindors all started tearing at the package whilst Bel opened the envelope.
Inside was another folded piece of parchment, just like last time.
She opened it to reveal the same scraggly writing.
Impressive work on the troll. A powerful one you are. It runs in the family.
Bel felt her heart drop as she read the final sentence.
It runs in the family.
So whoever is sending her these letters knows her family.
Or are they a member of her family?
"It's a broomstick", Harry's voice snapped her out of her racing mind.
Bel quickly shoved the piece of parchment into her robe pocket and glanced up at the table to see a shining new broomstick laid there.
"That's not just a broomstick, Harry, it's a Nimbus 2000!" Ron exclaimed as he eyed the broomstick with wonder.
"But ... who ...", Harry started as he glanced around.
His eyes settled on Professor McGonagall petting Hedwig with a smile on her face.
"What was yours about?" Harry asked Bel as he looked away from McGonagall.
"Nothing as interesting as a new broomstick. I'm assuming it's a good one looking at Oliver Wood's face", Bel replied, quickly changing the subject.
Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, was staring at the broomstick with his mouth and eyes wide open.
"It's not just a good one, it's the best one currently going on the market!" Ron said.
"That's got to lift your nerves now, Harry. You'll be the fastest one on the pitch", Bel said as she turned to face the glassed boy.
However, he was already looking at her with slightly furrowed eyebrows.
Like he was trying to figure something out.
And he was.
Harry had taken quick notice of Bel's secretive behaviour.
She had been receiving letters when she wasn't supposed too, and yet wouldn't divulge what they were about.
And something seemed off about her explanation of just what she was doing in Dumbledore's lessons.
She wasn't being honest.
And that wasn't like a Hufflepuff.
It wasn't like her.
But Harry knew better than anyone that people were well in their right to keep secrets.
However, that didn't change the fact that he was slightly annoyed that Bel was lying to him.
To Ron and Hermione as well.
But it wasn't his place to pry.
And what if he was wrong?
What if it all was to do with her family and he upset her by asking.
He didn't want a repeat of what happened with Hermione.
And so, for the time being, he decided to leave well enough alone.
"It definitely helps", he replied to Bel's statement.
And with that, the group disbanded to the quidditch pitch.
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Bel had taken her place with Hermione and Ron amongst other Gryffindors at the front of the stand.
Hagrid was just behind them with a huge pair of binoculars.
"Hello and welcome to Hogwarts' first quidditch game of the season. Today's game ... Slytherin versus Gryffindor!" the Gryffindor commentator announced.
When their house was called, the respective crowd cheered loudly.
Bel naturally had been selected as an honorary Gryffindor by Ron and Hermione for the day, and so cheered along with them.
Everyone watched as multiple individuals dressed in either red and yellow robes or green and white robes flew out onto the pitch, each taking their places opposite each other.
"The players take their positions as Madam Hooch steps out onto the field to begin the game", the commentator announced.
Bel saw Harry take his place high up in the centre of the pitch.
He looked even more nervous than before.
But also excited.
Bel just hoped he would walk away from the match in one piece, no matter the outcome.
Cedric had taken the time to talk her through the rules and also the dangers of playing quidditch as he was on the Hufflepuff team.
A seeker.
Like Harry was.
And he had been injured before.
It didn't exactly make Bel feel confident that a first year, brand new to quidditch, would walk away unscathed.
"Now I want a nice, clean game ... from all of you", Madam Hooch said as she peered around the flying circle of players before kicking open the box containing the balls.
"The Bludgers are up, followed by the Golden Snitch. Remember, the snitch is worth 150 points. The seeker who catches the snitch ends the game", the commentator announced.
Bel slightly regretted putting pressure on Harry to win earlier.
The entire game pretty much fell on his shoulders.
"The quaffle is released ...", the commentator said as Madam Hooch threw the largest red ball into the air, "... and the game begins!" the commentator finished as the Gryffindor and Slytherin players suddenly flew into action.
One of the Gryffindor players, Angelina Johnson, scored pretty much right off the bat, putting Gryffindor 10 points in the lead.
Bel watched on in complete awe as the rest of Gryffindor yelled in celebration.
It looked incredibly fun.
And she quickly came to the decision that she would love to play a chaser.
Seeker was too much pressure, and she could never be as good as Cedric. Beater was too dangerous. Keeper was also too much pressure. But she wanted to be a part of the game desperately.
So, chaser it is.
And as she had promised Harry, she would try out next year.
It became apparent rather quickly just who Madam Hooch had been referring to when she asked for a nice, clean game.
The Slytherin captain, Marcus Flint, kicked Angelina's broom off to the side as he made his way towards the goals.
But as he threw it, Oliver Wood swooped in and hit it away, giving Gryffindor possession once more.
This led to another 10 points for Gryffindor.
Hermione grabbed Bel by the shoulders and physically shook her with joy.
The stand packed with Slytherins was less cheerful, a chorus of boos echoing from their side of the pitch.
Clearly, their annoyance was shared by the players.
Flint had grabbed one of the Beaters bats and hit a bludger straight at Wood, hitting him in the chest after he had saved another goal.
The Gryffindor captain went crashing down to the bottom of the pitch.
"Surely they can't do that?" Bel exclaimed and looked at Ron who just shrugged his shoulders.
What soon resulted was Slytherin scoring twice to bring them up to tie with Gryffindor, 20-20.
This time, the sounds of disappointment were coming from Bel herself and the surrounding Gryffindors, with the cheers coming from the Slytherin stands.
"Without a keeper, we don't stand a chance. It's up to Harry now", she heard Ron say.
Bel's eyes quickly scanned the pitch above her head and landed on the nice new broomstick, the boy who lived sat watching the game.
"Why is he just sitting there?" Bel asked.
"The snitch is impossible to see, and even harder to catch ... oh hang about. Harry's seen it!" Ron replied.
Bel snapped her attention back onto the pitch to see Harry flying at a much greater speed than the other players.
She couldn't see the small golden ball he was after from the distance she was standing at.
But the only person who needed to see it was Harry.
Suddenly, his broom started to move around chaotically.
It instantly reminded Bel of how Neville lost control of his own broom.
"What's going on with Harry's broomstick?" Hagrid asked.
Bel couldn't get a good view of what was happening and so turned around to Hagrid, asking to borrow his binoculars, which he quickly handed to her.
She held the gigantic binoculars up to her face and focused on Harry being tossed around in the sky.
"He's going to fall off if this continues any longer", Bel exclaimed, seeing Harry grip onto his broom for dear life.
"What's wrong with it?" Ron asked as he nudged her shoulder, moving the binoculars down a few inches.
Bel's eyes landed on the teachers stand where she saw Snape quickly mouthing something.
"Hermione look at this. What do you think Snape's doing?" Bel said, handing Hermione the binoculars.
She didn't want to make any assumptions, and if anyone knew what was going on, it would be Hermione.
"He's jinxing the broom!" Hermione exclaimed as she looked over at the teachers stand.
"Jinxing the broom? What do we do?" Ron said in a panic.
"Leave it to me", Bel replied as she quickly turned on her heel and shoved her way through the crowd of Gryffindor students, all watching Harry getting tossed around in horror.
As quickly as she could, she located the teachers stand and made her way up the wooden stairs until she laid eyes on the familiar end of Professor Snape's black robes.
With her eyes off the pitch, Bel didn't know what state Harry was in.
But she hadn't heard any screams, so he must still be in the air.
Bel quickly crouched down and approached Snape's robe.
She focused on the piece of black fabric on the floor in front of her and closed her eyes.
Of course, she could have used her wand.
But not only was this excellent practice for her lessons with Dumbledore, but she didn't have time to argue back and forth with the annoying voice.
Besides, she had plenty of practice setting things on fire without a wand.
It was one of the first things she did that had gotten her into trouble.
Bel closed her eyes, pictured Snape's robes catching fire, and focused on her fear.
Fear that Harry would fall of his broom and get injured.
Fear that he would blame himself and never play quidditch again, despite it making him happy.
Fear that it would have been her fault as she didn't act quickly enough.
Her eyes opened just as a small flame started forming on Snape's robe.
Bel smiled and slowly backed away, leaving the flames to do their work.
"You're on fire!" she heard one of the other teachers yell out.
She took that as her cue to leave and quickly bolted back to the Gryffindor stand to re-join Ron and Hermione.
"Did it work?" Bel said through staggered breaths as she retook her place next to her friends.
"See for yourself", Ron exclaimed, and Bel scanned around the pitch to find Harry.
He was back on his broomstick, neck and neck with the Slytherin seeker.
They both dived down simultaneously, heading straight for the ground.
The Slytherin seeker pulled away, but Harry kept going.
Bel could barely bring herself to watch.
If he didn't pull up soon, he would crash.
Harry stood up on his broomstick, pulling it upwards at the last second and started reaching forward for the snitch.
Everyone around her held their breaths as Harry inched closer and closer along the floor of the pitch, still standing up on his broom.
Harry took a step forward, and in doing so, catapulted himself off the front of his broom.
He tumbled across the ground before coming to a stop on his feet.
Ron, Bel, and Hermione all leaned forward so much that they were practically hanging off the end of the stand.
They watched with a mixture of disgust, confusion, and concern as Harry held his stomach with both hands and started to gag.
"Looks like he's gonna be sick", Hagrid said from behind them as he looked through his binoculars.
"I can't watch", Bel said as held her hands up to cover her eyes.
But the next words spoken tore her hands away from her face immediately.
"He's got the snitch! Harry Potter receives 150 points for catching the snitch", the commentator announced.
"Gryffindor wins!" Madam Hooch called out as she flew around the pitch, ending the match.
Bel immediately started screaming with joy so loudly that she felt her throat began to strain.
But her own screams were drowned out by the screams of everyone else around her.
Hagrid leaned forward and lifted Bel up off the floor, placing her on his shoulders as she waved one of the Gryffindor flags in her hand.
"Yeah! Well done, Harry!" Bel yelled as she sat on top of Hagrid, watching her friend hold the golden snitch up for everyone to see.
From where she was sitting, she got a perfect view of the annoyed Slytherins, all holding their heads in disappointment.
And in that moment, she felt the happiest she had ever been in her entire life.
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Another shorter one ... sorry about that
I hope length of chapters isn't like a huge issue for y'all
Some will be longer, some will be shorter
It all depends on when I want to cut things off