21 | The canceled match
"No! Noelle! You don't understand!" Marley Macmillan heard her mother's shouts from the kitchen. She sounded upset. The four children went silent, trying to hear what were they about to talk. Eavesdropping was bad but they had no choice. "When she told she was a Chaser was the moment I broke. He- he was a Chaser, Elle."
"I know, I know." Noelle Black said with calm voice, trying to comfort her best friend. The two women had been through a lot for their short existence on the world and Marley didn't want to imagine how they felt. Her curiosity was getting too big, and though every second she spent on the stairs of Marley felt more and more nasty, she began to approach the answers of some of her questions. She so desperately needed them.
"She remind me of him so much." Brielle cried, her voice broke. "She has even his eyes, Elle. You pretty well know that. He's your twin, damn it!"
Marley froze. Her father was a twin brother to her godmother. What was going on? She sensed that Noen was trying to make her stop listening because it wasn't good to eavesdrop, but Marley pulled out her hand from his. She had to keep listening. She was grateful that Fred and George didn't say anything to her, but tacitly supported her.
"James Potter never had a twin." said quietly Marley. There was no evidence that this man may have had a twin, so suddenly Marley was super relieved. Noen's face suddenly turned white and his grey eyes narrowed slightly. "See, he's not my father."
"You might be right. I have never heard of James Potter having a twin. It doesn't look that obvious anymore." Noen said with sincerely sad voice. Marley wondered about what was Noelle's maiden name before she got married to Sirius Black. Her curiosity continued to grow, but after hearing about Noelle's twin, who was definitely not James because he didn't have one, Marley's thoughts turned away. So another James must have been her father.
The four refused to listen and went up to their rooms. Marley slept a little restlessly because of everything that had happened to her. In the morning of Christmas Erol, the Weasley family owl had left Mrs. Weasley's gifts. There were two scarves with the colors of Gryffindor, one sweater with Ravenclaw's emblem and one with Gryffindor's. Fred and George gave Marley a new collection of pencils and the girl gifted them new Quidditch gloves. Noen had given Marley three types of bread rubbers because he knew how much she wanted them. And the girl gave him a beautiful Diagon Alley quill and Sugar quill from Zonko's shop.
All in all, Christmas was a very ordinary day, and by the end of the holidays not many extreme things had happened. All had a good time and shortly after New Year's, the four returned to Hogwarts, ready to start the new term. Everything was going the normal way and nothing strange was happening. Marley didn't see her friend Hermione Granger until February, and Lee Jordan had become a commentator of Quidditch matches during that time. Gryffindor would be playing against Hufflepuff very soon. Wood tortured the team a lot and made them train even more because he definitely didn't intend to lose against Hufflepuff.
After one Saturday's early training in February, Marley, the Weasley twins, Harry Potter and Angelina Johnson, still wearing Gryffindor uniforms and brooms, went to the Great Hall for breakfast. Lee Jordan was already having breakfast, talking to a few boys from Harry's year - Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. He quickly saw them and a big smile appeared on his face. However, all four were too tired and they literally crashed on Gryffindor's table.
"How are my favourite friends?" questioned Lee. The Weasley twins just looked at him tiredly with thier brown eyes and shook heads in unison. "Oh, well, it seems Wood is too strict with you."
"No, he's not." denied Angelina Johnson with weak voice. She drank from her pumpkin juice. "We're just not durable enough. But I'm tired enough and I want fucking sleep."
"We woke up at five thirty." added Marley, putting in her plate muffins with strawberry filling and cream. "It's Saturday, for the God's sake! Oh, whatever. Let's just not talk about Quidditch, please."
"If someone says Quidditch again, I'm gonna stab him with my broom." threatened Fred Weasley, howling angrily. In the winter holiday, the twins came over at Marley's place and they met her mother who turned out to not be dead. They swore to her they won't tell anyone she was alive and they were still keeping their promise.
Suddenly, Wood sat next to Marley on the table, too energetic for a boy who had got up at five in the morning. "So, about the next training--"
Fred reached for his broom, which stood beside him, and lifted it straight to Wood. As he was much asleep, his movement was slightly impeded and he almost pulled out an eye from the girl sitting next to him, but George grabbed him by the elbow and released his arm. Fred dutifully dropped the broom and yawned. Wood just frowned. "You don't seem really coordinated, Fred. Work on that. We should be perfect for the match against Hufflepuff."
"They're weak, mate." said George, his eyes slowly closing. Usually the ginger twins were really energetic people, but Oliver Wood had taken all of their energy away. Wood ignored his comment, let out a sigh and stood up from their place and went to his friends.
"He'll see who's not coordinated." Fred muttered angrily, his elbows resting on the table and his head drooped to one side. Marley assumed he was asleep, because after a few moments his breathing became noisier. No one woke him up until the end of the breakfast, but only when it was time to get into the common room.
Time passed and passed, and the match against Hufflepuff was approaching. During those months, Marley had never been worried about anything related to her father, for she was almost convinced that he was not James Potter. There was another visit to Hogsmeade, and Marley bought more Sugar quills from Zonko's shop. Fred and George also bought more fireworks and dungbombs.
And here wass the long-awaited match against Hufflepuff. The pitch was filled with many Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, chanting. The two teams were already on the pitch in their uniforms and ready to play, Lee was in the stand for commentary, and only a moment ago Professor McGonagall was standing next to him, but now she was coming down to the pitch and Madame Hooch.
"The match is canceled." she announced. With disapproving shouts and exclamations, Wood seemed more than upset and went to talk to McGonagall, but she told him that another attack had taken place. In a moment, the professor led Harry behind him, knowing that what he'll see would not please him. Suddenly Marley's heart leapt into her chest and she thought about who had been attacked this time. The last victims were a long time ago - the Nearly-Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor and Colin Creevy.
Professor McGonagall made everyone go back to their dormitories and wait for their headmasters to come. It seems that this attack was serious. Everyone on the field was quiet until she left, along with Harry Potter. Then everyone burst into shouts and angry exclamations.
"And Wood made us train for nothing?!" asked rhetorically Fred, but his voice was full of angry tones. Marley just looked at him with the corner of her eyes. "Now, he's gonna meet my broom."
And he walked forward, raising his broom in the direction where their captain Oliver Wood stood. George grabbed his twin by the shirt and pulled him back just before he would drag someone with his broom. "Chill, mate. I know it sucks, but let's just go to the common room."
"Maybe the attack was serious." shrugged her arms Marley and bit her lower lip. Fred seemed visibly angry, because Wood had made him swing the bat like crazy for a few months, and then his hard work went into the wind. However, the boy nodded and the Gryffindor team, still in their uniforms, went into the common room where Professor McGonagall told them to go and wait for her. Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley appeared a few minutes before she arrived.
The headmistress of the Gryffindor house seemed very tense. Her old face was flushed and pale, carrying a folded roll of parchment in her hand. She said Hermione Granger was the next victim. Marley felt awful about the poor girl, remembering how she encouraged her on the tryouts that had seemed to her that passed centuries ago.
"Students must be back in their common rooms by six o'clock. They will be accompanied by teacher after the end of each class without exception." professor McGonagall read and rolled the parchment roll again. Her eyes were full of sadness. "If the perpetrator of the attacks is not caught, it's most likely to close the school."
And then she left the common room. However, there was some commotion inside. Everyone seemed much more worried about being able to close Hogwarts instead of the fact that teachers would accompany them to classrooms. Marley was worried, too. Everything was going well for her and overall her life at Hogwarts was very nice. They didn't have to close the school. Only if she could do something about it, but what could a thirteen-year-old girl do?
"Calm down, Marley." said Fred like he had read the girl's thoughts. "They won't close Hogwarts. Fifty years ago the Chamber of Secrets was open again and they took control over the situation."
"And still no one knows if the Chamber is real, Fred." interfered George with his nose wrinkled. "But I totally support you. Everything will be okay. The school've been through that once."
The twins' words seemed to calm Marley a little, but still something kept her worried and would hardly leave her. Yet what was going through the school and now experiencing it was nothing compared to what was about to happen. But no one knew it yet.