Nic woke up the following day around noon. After strict instructions to take it easy, including no flying, for the next two days at least, she was free to go from the hospital wing. She had missed Quidditch practice as it was Saturday, but it was no matter. The weather was beginning to turn bitingly cold as they entered into November. Nala began drilling them harder than ever to be ready for their first match against Ravenclaw.
It was the first match of the season, the second one being Gryffindor against Slytherin. Nala had changed practices so they were practicing every single day. One the days they couldn't practice in the afternoon, for Ravenclaw could, they practiced in the early morning before school. Saturdays became brutal with practices starting at five in the morning and, with a few breaks for food, ending at nine at night. At long last, the week of the match arrived.
Nala lightened up on the practicing so they wouldn't be worn out, but now Nic had anxiety to worry about. She spent several nights trying to calm herself down by the fire in the common room by reading or just staring into the flames. At these times, her greatest comfort was hanging out with Tyriq. He seemed to know just want to do to get her to calm down. He found that she calmed down when he tried to get her to explain something she knew well.
For example, one way he calmed her down was to get her to explain to him the wand movements for different spells they had learned. Eventually she would calm down and they'd talk. There were several nights that they talked late into the night, sometimes even til midnight. Finally, the day of the game arrived. Nicki changed into her canary yellow robes and braided her long, now black, hair into a long, tight braid. "All right this is it," Nala began, smiling happily. "It's time for the first match of the season. I believe in all of you. We got this."
With that, they all went onto the field. The Ravenclaw captain and Nala shook hands before they all took off into the sky. Instantly all of Nic's nerves melted away as she soared in the sky. Next moment the quaffle was served up. Nic streaked down and moved alongside Nala to block the opposing chaser that came along on that side. Next moment, she spun away, the ball clutched in her grip. The three chasers tossed the ball back and forth before it ended with Nic in possession.
With a small lurch, she tossed the ball, just making it into the goalpost. "And that's ten-zero to Hufflepuff," Lee Jordan, a friend of the Weasley twins shouted. The commentary continued throughout the whole game, but Nic tuned it out, focusing on the match instead. She had scored five times and there was still no sign of the snitch. Nala just scored for the eight time when Ravenclaw seeker dove. Soon after however, he pulled out of it, what he thought he saw turning out to be nothing.
The other chaser, a girl named Charlotte, got her sixth score when Cedric began to dive. The other seeker joined him, the two neck and neck before Cedric pulled out of the dive, the golden snitch in hand. "YES!" Nala screamed, soaring up to Cedric and embracing him in the air. When they landed, Nic hugged Cedric tightly.
"Great job," she exclaimed.
"You too," he replied happily. "You were killing it." The crowd began to stream into the field when Harry practically tackled Nicki to the ground.
"That was amazing!" he shouted. Once the excitement went down a bit, they all went to the common room and had a bit of a party for themselves. Several hours into the night, the only people left were Cedric, Tyriq, Nala, and Nic. Each sat with a bottle of butter-beer in front of the fire and laughed heartily at the jokes and stories being told.
A little bit later, Nic noticed a slightly sad look on Nala's face. "Nala? You okay?" The laughter of the other two died down as they noticed it too.
"Yeah," she replied, but everyone know she was lying. "It's nothing." After some prompting, she explained, "I just...my dad was the Hufflepuff captain when he went here. He always said one day I'd do the same and win games like he used to. I guess I just thought that he'd be here, you know? He passed away during my first year at Hogwarts."
"My dad passed away too," Nic sighed, ignoring the fact that they all knew that.
"Do you remember him at all?" Tyriq asked, never having broached the subject with her before.
"No," she admitted sadly. "I was just a year old when it happened. I don't even really remember it. I just remember this cackling. It was high pitched and harsh and then there was this red light. Then after that was just this blinding green. I can't remember anything else." The rest of the night was spent talking about more somber topics until they all decided to go to bed. As Nic was curling up under the covers, she realized that she finally did have a family. That feeling she'd had on the first night wasn't just her jumping to conclusions.
These people did care about her and treated her as family. With that comforting thought in mind, she drifted off with a smile on her face.