The Weasley twins had asked Oliver Wood a day before if they could use some of their Qudditch gear for practice after a visit to Hogsmeade. Oliver was surprised they even wanted to spend their practice-free day doing some drills, so it only made it that much easier to get him to agree.
Helena was soaring in the air, going from one end of the pitch to the other to warm up a bit. She thought of herself as a good flier considering she never got to practice back in her muggle home.
Forgetting how much colder the wind was when it hit your face when flying, she regretted not bringing her scarf and maybe a pair of gloves the keep her warm but she tried not thinking about it too much. "Mind over matter... if you don't mind it doesn't matter!" her mother would tell her when she was young.
While on her broom, she peered down at the ground realising how far up she was and the bones she would break if she fell and prayed to God she didn't lose her balance when the twins tossed the Quaffle at her.
"Okay, Nina!" yelled George zooming up with his broom and the Quaffle in hand. "We're gonna start off by flying to that post-"
"-While taking turns to pass you the ball!" finished Fred also on his broom. "Just remember to keep a firm hand on your broom and hold the Quaffle to your side before tossing back to us!"
"Ready, Rosemund?" George waited for Nina's signal and then they were off.
Nina concentrated on Fred's advice and it made quite the change. At first the ball would bounce a bit in her hand before she got a good hold of it, tucking it close to her body and then throwing it to the other twin.
Once they reached the end of the pitch, George suggested that they try to fly faster and to throw the Quaffle at her with more distance between the three. The girl gulped at this but still agreed.
This time, Helena wasn't as successful. The flying ball would zoom past her making the other twin catch it instead. One time, Nina speed up a bit losing her focus and getting hit by the ball on her back. She cursed to herself when it happened. Not because it hurt, though it did. But mostly she felt bad for not getting it right.
"Ughhh! I suck!" she growled at the sky. She had taken her coat off because she was starting to sweat and needed to be able to move freely.
"You do," Fred said stopping his broom beside the girl's. "But you got better! At least compared to last year."
"Yeah, Nina... you just need to practice some more," commented George taking the Quaffle from her hands since she was starting to lose her balance mid-air. "You could come to one of our practices so you can see what the Chasers do!"
"I appreciate that!" she smiled at them. "Looks like I need all the help I can get."
Nina, Fred and George continued to practice until it got dark and couldn't see what they were doing. The girl had certainly gotten better but she still had trouble catching the Quaffle at fast speeds.
So calling it a day well spent, they headed back to the castle for the Halloween feast. Every year, the Great Hall would be decorated with hundreds of candle-filled pimpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and many flaming orange streamers, which were swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling like brilliant watersnakes.
Helena went upstairs to her room to have a quick change of clothes and later stood besides the twins grinning from ear to ear.
"What is that on your head?" asked George with a mouthfull of Cauldron Cake.
Fred turned to see what his brother was talking about and saw Nina sporting some kind of flat black hat.
"It's Halloween, so it's my Halloween costume!" she twirled right there on the spot causing a few weird and confused stares.
"So... what are you?" asked Fred chugging on his Pumpkin Juice.
"Umm, I think it's pretty obvious..." she signaled at her entire outfit. "I'm french!" she beamed striking a pose, her hand on her waist.
Helena was wearing tight black pants, red flats, a striped navy and white long sleeved shirt and a black beret. "A french muggle, that is." She tied a red scarf on her neck to complete her look.
"I think it's pretty!" said Hermione
"Thanks! Oh and here, Harry..." Nina reached for her pockets and took out some candy she had bought in Honeydukes. "Happy Halloween!" and she sat between Fred and George going "Scoot!" when she did.
"Can you pass me zee Shu-gahr Bah-terfly Wings, s'il vous plait?" she asked Fred in an airy manner with her best french accent.
Fred just stared at her deciding whether he should laugh or worry about her mental state. "You're weird," he said laughing and passing her the sweets.
The whole food was delicious and Nina was glad she hadn't eaten too much Pumpkin Pasties at Hogsmeade for she had filled her plate with a mix of everything she could get her hand on.
Some ghosts had prepared an entertainment segment where they would pop out of the walls and glide in formation over the tables. Nearly Headless Nick had reenacted his own beheading but Helena decided to look away to keep her food down.
At the end of the feast, the Gryffindors made their way to the usual path to Gryffindor Tower but found the stairway that lead to the portrait of the Fat Lady blocked with students.
"Why isn't anyone going in?" said Ron.
Although she knew she wouldn't be able to see anything from where she was standing, Nina still got on her toes grabbing Fred and George's shoulder for support. Nothing.
Percy Weasley's voice was heard from the end of the line, making his way up the stairs boasting how he was Head Boy and telling people to let him through. "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick!" he ordered.
Minutes later, the Headmaster was there and the Gryffindors squeezed in together to let him pass. Fred signaled Nina to follow him and his brother to get a closer look.
The Fat Lady had disappeared from her portrait which had been slashed so harshly that large strips of canvas were laying on the floor. Nina couldn't believe how someone could do that to a portrait.
Dumbledore turned to Professors McGonagall, Lupin and Snape, who had been summoned. "We need to find her. Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch ay once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."
"You'll be lucky!" Peeves the Poltergeist cackled, looking delighted at the mess before them.
"What do you mean, Peeves?" asked Dumbledore.
Peeves knew better than to taunt Dumbledore with his antics. The poltergeist explained how the Fat Lady felt ashamed and didn't want to be seen, having jumped in several other portraits to get away and hide.
"Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black." said the poltergeist.
Dumbledore sent the Gryffindors to the Great Hall where they were soon joined by the students from the other houses. The Headmaster told them that the staff would make a thorough search of the castle and said that they would have to spend the night there to make sure everyone was safe.
"Oh, yes. You'll be needing..." and with a wave of his wand, Dumbledore flew the tables to the sides and made purple sleepings bags appear, all lined up in the Great Hall for them to sleep in.
Nina was still wearing her french costume and was having second thoughts about it now that it was nighttime and the weather got colder, especially since they were going to be sleeping on the floor.
She got herself inside the sleeping bag and curled under it, hiding her entire body making it seem like she was a lump of a sleeping bag.
"Ouch!" Helena cried and peeked outside her cocoon to see who had accidentally hit her.
"Sorry, Hell!" apologized Fred, a sleeping bag under his arm. He then let it fall next to her and layed on it.
"I know we're friends now," she said. "But we don't have to stay together 24/7." She watched as George did the same as his brother, placing his bed on her other side. Then she wondered,
"Do you always do that?"
"Do what?" they said in unison.
"This," Nina made a circling motion over their sleeping bags. "Make a Weasley sandwich out of a person."
The boys looked confused but then laughed it off. "It's usually Lee who's in the middle but you're cuter," George explained with a yawn.
"And hopefully," Fred added, "you don't snore as bad as him. Nighty night, Hell!"
Most Gryffindor students were discussing theories as to how the wanted prisoner had entered the castle and even managed to almost get himself inside of their common room. Some of them passed on the information to the other houses. But both twins closed their eyes, starting to doze off immediately, Nina staring at them with disbelief and poked them to get their attention.
"Let us sleep, woman!" groaned Fred tossing to his side.
"How can you both sleep when Sirius Black could be inside the castle this very moment?!" she whispered.
Helena had her eyes wide open staring at the starry ceiling, thinking how they must have just missed an encounter with Black by mere minutes.
"He's not here anymore-" said George.
"-Probably ran for it before he got caught," Fred said casually.
And just like that, the redheads dozed off again leaving Nina to her thoughts and own theories. She could hear not far from where she was, how a student from Ravenclaw suggesting the wanted murderer had disguised himself and fooled the dementors.
Then a third year Gryffindor said that maybe he had Apparated to which both Helena and Hermione said, "You can't Apparate in Hogwarts!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The next few days, all the school would talk about is Sirius Black and as time went by, the theories became crazier and least likely to have happened. And to top it off, school security was tighter than before; staff who had free periods would keep an eye on corridors and when a class ended, that teacher would escort their group to their next class.
The Fat Lady's portrait had been replaced by Sir Cadogan who always wanted to battle a student whenever they tried to get in the common room.
Nina had already gotten tired of dealing with him that she would spend her time in the library instead and waited until it she got kicked out. Cedric kept her company even when they had finished their work.
During breakfast one day, Harry told the rest of the Quidditch team how McGonagall was close to forbid him to keep going to practices because there he would be exposed.
"Madame Hooch has to supervise our training sessions from now on," he said.
If possible, the weather had worsened and the Gryffindor team was training harder than ever. They would arrive at the Great Hall for dinner exhausted and sometimes soaked from the rain. Nina went to sit on the stands whenever she could, mainly for moral support.
But the biggest blow was when Oliver Wood gathered his team on the last day of training, Helena, Ron and Hermione close by.
"We're not playing Slytherin," Wood looked angry. "We're playing Hufflepuff instead."
The whole team was confused as to why the sudden change and only a week before the game.
"Flint said his Seeker's arm has not healed," Oliver said through gritted teeth, furious. "It's obvious they don't want to play in this weather."
Where's Flint and that slimy Malfoy? Helena had turned to go look for them, but the Weasley twins caught her arms and pulled her between them guessing what she was about to do.
"Nothing's wrong with Malfoy's arm!" yelled Harry frustrurated.
"But there's something wrong with Flint's brain," Nina muttered under her breath.
"I know that but we can't prove it," said Wood bitterly. "And we've been practicing all those moved assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff! Their style's quite different. They've got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory-"
Nina's heart skipped a beat at the name.
Angelina, Alicia and Katie Bell giggled and Oliver wondered why they weren't upset by these news.
"He's the tall, good looking one isn't he?" Angelina said and discreetly winked at Helena who glared playfully.
"Strong and silent," said Katie and the three of them started giggling again.
"Not so silent around our Nina here, right?" Fred nudged the already flushing girl and to her horror everyone saw her red face.
Oh, no.
"Are you on friendly terms?" asked Oliver curiously. "Have you two talked about Diggory's tactics?"
"I... No, we h-haven't. We just study," she was in the spotlight and didn't like how they were all staring at her. She especially didn't like how the twins and Angelina were wiggling their brows at her.
"That's a shame," sighed Wood. "Well... we are going to have to change some strategies and I need everyone's full focus on this."
Everyone agreed and went off to head to the Quidditch pitch to train for the upcoming match on Saturday.
And as if he had heard his name being discussed, stepping away from his friends, Cedric walked up to the girl before she could step foot on the field, when the rest of the Gryffindors settled for practice.
"Cedric! Hi... is something wrong?" Helena asked quietly so the others wouldn't notice his presence.
"Everything's fine, don't worry," he chuckled at her behaviour. "I didn't want to play agaisnt Gryffindor like this, you know? But I heard about Flint's excuse and... well, it was a cheap move." Cedric sighed shrugging his shoulders, his hands in his pockets.
"I'll let Oliver and the rest of the team know," she assured him. But then she wondered, "Cedric, you know you could've just told me this later in the library, right?"
"I know," the tall boy smiled bashfully looking down at her, meeting her gaze, "but I wanted an excuse to come talk to you."
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a/n whoa there!! so, what do you think of the story so far? And don't be afraid to comment even if it's a single exclamation point lol
:)