DISCLAIMER
I do not own Harry Potter ... but if I did this match would have 1000% been in the film, along with Ron and Neville beating up Draco haha
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The start of term bought a wave of emotional reunions.
Riley held Bel in such a tight hug that she almost passed out.
Ollie couldn't stop telling everyone how much he had missed them over Christmas break. Him being an only child meant it was quite lonely.
Tia couldn't engage in hugs as she had been injured over Christmas by her brother, Patrick, in a very competitive game of what she called 'family quidditch'.
Cedric had apparently told his father about his 'troublesome little school sister' and now he was demanding that Bel came over to stay at some point.
Hermione bought back about a hundred new books she had received for Christmas and handed all of the spell ones over to Bel as she had already read them.
Draco Malfoy was back as his usual unpleasant self, but so far, he hadn't approached Bel with yet another offer for her to switch up her choice of friends.
As for Bel herself, she was overjoyed that the school was once again full and her friends had all returned.
If she had to spend one more evening entertaining Harry and Ron, she would go crazy.
She was also overjoyed that her lessons with Dumbledore were no longer at four per week, but two. Finally, she could rest more in between them.
The final thing Bel was overjoyed with is that with Hermione back, the four friends could resume their search for Nicholas Flamel.
It had been starting to bug her that they weren't able to find any information on the mysterious man.
But finally, after an entire term and Christmas break of searching, Hermione remembered something.
"I had you looking in the wrong section. How could I be so stupid?" Bel heard Hermione say as she approached the library table that herself, Harry, and Ron were sat around.
Suddenly, Hermione slammed a huge book down onto the table in front of them.
"I checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading", Hermione continued as she sat down and started to flick between the pages.
"This is light?" Ron asked in disbelief at the size of the book in front of him.
Hermione shot him a deathly glare before running her fingers down one of the pages.
"Of course! Here it is! Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's stone", she read.
"The what?" Harry and Ron asked at the same time.
"Honestly, don't you two read?" Hermione asked in a judgmental tone as she glanced between the two boys sat opposite her.
"Hey! I do read ... when I feel like it. And what about Bel? I doubt she knows what that thing is", Ron argued.
"I know Bel reads because of the books I give her. Not to mention she can have a coherent conversation about topics that are in books. Can you say the same?" Hermione argued back.
"Okay, we can all read books. Just tell us what it says, Hermione", Bel chimed in before Ron could get another word out.
"The Philosopher's stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It'll transform any metal into pure gold and produces the elixir of life which will make the drinker immortal", Hermione read aloud.
"Immortal?" Ron said.
"It means you'll never die", Hermione responded.
"I know what it means", Ron snapped back in a raised tone causing both Bel and Harry to shush him.
"The only stone currently in existence belongs to Mr Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist, who last year celebrated his 665th birthday", Hermione continued.
Bel, Harry, and Ron all shared looks upon hearing of the man's outrageously old age.
"That's what Fluffy's guarding on the third floor. That's what under the trap door. The Philosopher's stone", Hermione pointed out as she closed the book.
"Why would Snape want it?" Harry asked.
"Who knows? Maybe he could use it to stay at Hogwarts to terrify kids forever", Ron said.
"Or maybe he's not going to use it himself", Bel started.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"A stone like that, being the only one ... it must be expensive. Perhaps he's trying to get it to sell it to someone. To become rich", Bel explained.
"I doubt being a teacher here pays very well", Ron scoffed.
"It certainly doesn't pay as much as Snape would get for selling the stone off", Harry added.
"Exactly", Bel said.
"So now we know Snape has a motive. What do we do? Do we go to Dumbledore?" Harry asked.
"No!" Hermione and Bel both said at the same time.
"We don't have any evidence of what Snape is doing. If we get it wrong, we could get into so much trouble", Hermione explained.
"Not to mention that Snape already has it out for us. If he finds out that we went to Dumbledore our next potions lesson might be a life-threatening one", Bel added.
"So what do we do? Who do we know that knows about this? Someone that we can ask without worrying Snape will find out?" Ron asked.
After the four sat in silence for a few minutes trying to think, Bel and Harry shared a glance, both knowing they had figured it out.
"Hagrid", they both said.
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The four had agreed to try and talk to Hagrid when they next saw him to avoid any suspicion or having to go to his hut after curfew.
That moment was the next quidditch match.
Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor.
It took place the weekend after the four had finally discovered who Nicholas Flamel was.
"You're not going to support Gryffindor just because your friend is their seeker, are you?" Tia asked Bel as they all sat around the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall for breakfast.
"I sure hope not. I'll definitely be reporting that to Sprout, May", Cedric said as he walked past the group of friends in his Hufflepuff quidditch uniform.
"I won't, I promise. I know you'll never let me on the team in the future if I do", Bel replied.
"Damn straight we won't. It doesn't matter how good you may be on a broom, Whitlock, every cheer counts", Patrick said as he also followed after Cedric.
"The only people I'll be cheering for will be in my house. After all, I need to show support for my annoying older school brother", Bel said to Cedric who smiled and ruffled her hair.
"Good to hear", he added as the two older boys walked around the table.
"Good luck!" Riley called out.
"Mess it up and I'm telling Dad!" Tia called out to her brother who rolled his eyes before disappearing out of the Great Hall.
"Do you think they'll win?" Ollie asked.
"With Snape refereeing, definitely. Everyone knows how much he hates Gryffindor", Tia replied.
"Surely he won't be that biased", Riley said.
"I wouldn't put it past him", Bel responded.
"But Harry Potter is on their team now. He's an amazing seeker", Ollie chimed in.
"True. Bel, try and get in his head somehow. Throw him off his game", Tia said.
"I'm not going to do that Tia", Bel said blankly as she took a bite of toast.
"We should probably go if we want to get a good position on the stands", Riley said and the group of four stood up and started down the centre aisle.
As Bel walked towards the Gryffindor table, she laid eyes on Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
Harry was once again in his Gryffindor quidditch uniform, looking less nervous than the game with Slytherin, but still nervous.
"Bel!" Hermione called out as she approached the three.
"Don't even think about it", Tia said in a whisper.
Bel truly loved Tia's competitive side. It was one of the things that defined her. But it wasn't going to stop her from talking to her friends.
And so she rolled her eyes and stopped beside Harry.
"Hey guys. What's up?" Bel asked as Ollie, Riley, and Tia stopped just behind her.
"Hagrid will probably be on our stand so we will try and talk to him about ... Operation Trap Door", Hermione said, her final words in a hushed tone as she laid eyes on the three Hufflepuffs listening into their conversation.
"Sounds good. I'll find you tomorrow so you can tell me what he says", Bel replied.
"Not today?" Harry asked, his voice shaking slightly from his nerves about the game.
Clearly the memory of falling off his broom during the last game hadn't gone away.
"Well, if we win, I'll be busy celebrating with my house. And if we lose, I think Tia would kill me if I came to celebrate with you", Bel responded as she gestured to her friend behind her who was staring daggers at them with crossed arms.
"We get it", Ron said in a flat tone.
"Yeah. But I'll still say good lu–", Bel started before her three Hufflepuff friends grabbed her by the arms and dragged her away from the table.
"Come on, Bel! We've got to go!" Riley said in a raised voice to cut her off as they pulled her out of the Great Hall.
"Okay, okay", Bel said and her friends let her go.
Bel turned around at the entrance and locked eyes with Harry, giving him a small wink and holding up crossed fingers.
He smiled back at her before she followed after her Hufflepuff friends towards the quidditch pitch.
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"Why do you have your wand with you?" Riley asked as the four stood at the front of the Hufflepuff stand.
"I picked it up by habit this morning. No time to put it back in the dorm", Bel replied quickly.
The truth was that she was preparing to take Snape out again if he tried to hurt Harry.
Both Ron and Hermione were also on standby.
Considering Snape wasn't in the staff stand this time, it would have to be a long-distance spell used.
Bel thought that her wand might come in handy.
Ever since her triumph over Christmas break with her wandless magic, her wand had been on its best behaviour.
She was finding herself almost trusting it.
But not completely. That would be a huge mistake. One that Dumbledore had warned her about.
"Here they come!" Ollie yelled as the two teams flew out of the entrances to the pitch.
Just like the previous match, they took their places in mid-air.
But instead of Madam Hooch walking out to greet them, it was a very angry looking Professor Snape.
"Snape does not look happy", Riley said.
"Have you ever seen him look happy?" Bel asked.
"That doesn't matter. It works in our favour if he's in a bad mood. He'll take it out on Gryffindor", Tia said in an excited tone.
Before another word was spoken, the quaffle was released and the players all flew into action.
Almost immediately, Snape gave Hufflepuff a penalty resulting in Tia cheering loudly.
Bel's eyes were jumping around from player to player so fast she was almost cross-eyed.
She was watching Cedric fly around the pitch in search of the snitch, which made her switch over to Harry who was doing the same.
She was also watching the chasers carefully, trying to analyse their play so that she was at an advantage at try outs next year.
To her surprise, they weren't very good.
It was clear that the Hufflepuff team relied on Cedric and Patrick a lot.
A seeker and a beater.
They needed a good chaser. Their play was sloppy, their formations all out of order, and they could barely catch.
However, in this instance they didn't need to be good.
Snape was making it practically impossible for Gryffindor to score, meaning Hufflepuff took the lead easily.
Bel knew that meant the game practically sat on Harry's shoulders.
He would need to catch the snitch and end the game. Fast.
Amongst all the cheers from Hufflepuff, Bel struggled not to boo with the Gryffindors every time Snape made a biased call.
"Harry has found it!"
Ollie's words pulled Bel from her thoughts and her eyes landed on Harry who was diving down towards the floor at a great speed.
She watched with a held breath as he got closer and closer. It was just like last time.
He quickly pulled up and raised his arm, revealing the golden snitch in his hand.
Immediately, the cheers from the Gryffindor stand took echoed throughout the entire pitch.
Tia, Riley, and Ollie all hung their heads in disappointment.
Bel went to clap but stopped herself in fear of Tia pushing her over the edge of the stand.
But she couldn't hold back her smile.
"That was fast. When's the last time someone caught the snitch that fast?" Riley asked.
"Not in a while", Tia admitted through clenched teeth.
It was true, the game had barely been going for five minutes.
And it was all because of Harry Potter.
One of her best friends.
In that moment, she didn't care if Tia would try and kill her. Bel started cheering as loudly as she could.
"Well done Harry!" she yelled out.
"Bel, what did we talk about?" Tia scolded as she punched her arm.
"Come on, Tia. You have to applaud his skill. It was very impressive", Ollie said as he and Riley both started clapping.
Harry flew around the pitch, soaking in the cheers and his eyes landed on a blond-haired Hufflepuff who was cheering loudly despite being surrounded by disappointed faces.
As he flew by, Harry held up his free hand and crossed his fingers.
Bel smiled and crossed her fingers back at him before going back to clapping.
She didn't need to betray her house by sneaking off to congratulate her friend.
He already knew that she was proud of him.
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Another short one ... sorry about that
I'm still in exams but I'm writing whilst I take breaks haha
That's probably why they're so short
But also ... I'll be honest with y'all ... I desperately want to get writing the later movies down cause that's where the good stuff is
Like I have such good plans for future parts, I'm so excited
But these chapters are so cute and nostalgic so I'm gonna write them anyways haha