"You ready for the match?" Chandler says to me.
I look at him, "Course I fucking am, why would you ask me that?"
"Cause breakfast is in ten minutes and you're still in your pyjamas?"
I look down at what I'm wearing then back up at him from my position on the couch, "Watch out boys we've got Sherlock fucking Holmes in the building."
Chandler laughs, "If you lose then this sign is going to look pretty fucking stupid." He pulls a big sign out of god knows where and unfolds it for me to see. It's got two horribly drawn snakes on either side with the words, KEEP ON KEEPING ON WEASLEY in the middle of it.
"Even if we lose, that sign looks pretty fucking stupid."
Chandler throws his sign at me and we both laugh. "I should go find my uniform I suppose," I say standing up from the couch and handing him his stupid ass sign again.
"I dunno man, I think you should play wearing the fuzzy unicorn pyjama pants you got on now."
"Bite me," I say before walking towards the girl's dorms.
"I would but Ash would get jealous!" He calls after me.
I flip him off before I walk into the girl's hallway which makes him laugh. The only person in the dorm still is Cass. Ever since her weird blow-up yesterday she's been quiet.
"Oi, you coming to the match?" I say as I pop open my trunk and start shoving my quidditch stuff into my Slytherin duffle bag.
"I've got to write to mum and dad a letter, explaining what happened yesterday." She says. I glance over at her and she's staring down into her lap.
"The teachers take care of that, don't worry." I change into my favourite pair of jeans and the Slytherin team jumper that we've got to wear before every match. I look at Cass again, she hasn't moved, she's still sitting all hunched over, cross-legged on the top of her perfectly made bed. "I'm serious, don't worry about that shit."
"I'm not worried."
"Tell that to your face."
She cracks a smile which makes me smile. "Aren't you going to be late? Dom is gonna kill you." She says.
"I'm gonna be late if you don't get your ass out of bed. Let's go, you're walking me to the pitch."
Cass rolls her eyes but she crawls off of the bed and wraps herself in that ugly fucking black coat that she wears all the time and puts on a pair of black boots.
"Would it kill you to wear, I dunno, colours?" I say to her as we walk through the common room and out into the hall.
"You're seriously judging what I wear? When was the last time you even washed those jeans of yours?" She says right back to me.
She's got me there honestly. These jeans are stained in any and all substances and are ripped to shit. I shrug, "Mum washed them before we got on the train."
"That was two months ago! Godric Ophelia, you're disgusting."
We go the opposite direction of everyone else, taking a secret passage that we learned about from Freddie's map.
"Question," I say to her.
Cass looks at me with one of her eyebrows raised. Its become our little thing, if I want an honest answer out of her I say question, and she says answer.
"Answer." She says after a moment.
"Did you really go on a date with Darcy? Like pissed his bed till he was six, cries during Lilo and Stitch, can do makeup better than either of us Darcy?" I say looking at her.
Cass stops walking which forces me to turn around and look at her. "You're judging me." She says quietly.
"Not judging you, just asking."
"Why does everyone care what I do and who I spend my time with? Is it so weird that I may have caught feelings for one of my best friends?"
"Well when you call his mum Auntie Em, it's a little unsettling."
Cass huffs but she starts to walk again. I push open the door and we walk out into the cold November air. "So did you go on a date with him?"
"He called it a date but we just carved pumpkins in the Hufflepuff common room with his friends." She says awkwardly. "Is that considered a date?"
"Don't ask me, dude. I haven't got a fucking clue what is considered a date."
"Boys are hard." She says after a while.
I can see Dom standing in front of the changing tent looking very mad. "They're only hard when they're turned on. I would have hoped you knew that much." I say quickly, picking up my pace and leaving Cass alone for the rest of the walk.
"Godric Ophelia!" She squeaks. I laugh and start to jog over to Dominique.
"Weasley, you're late," Dom says. When she's mad like this she looks like Aunt Fleur and take it from me, Aunt Fleur is not someone you want to piss off.
"Don't get your panties in a twist Dom I'm here now aren't I?" I say with a wink. I walk past Dominique and into the tent. She swats the back of my head as I pass her.
Once everyone is changed and holding onto their brooms Dom starts her speech. Which isn't very long honestly. "It's cold out but not that windy. Wear your gloves. I don't want to hear one person bitch about getting frostbite understand me?"
"Yessir!" Vania says saluting which makes everyone laugh, even Dom cracks a smile.
We can hear the crowd start to cheer the Gryffindor anthem which is basically just a lot of 'bring the lions out, bring the, bring the lions out' which is the worst cheer at Hogwarts in my very professional opinion.
Dominique straightens out her shoulders and looks at us all confidently. "We're next boys." She says. We all get up off the benches and stand behind Dom. As soon as she moves, we move. The crowd changes its chant, now it's filled with Slytherin voices screaming at the top of their lungs 'Determined to win, we're Slytherin!'
I know, it's pretty crappy, but at least it's not the Gryffindor chant.
Dominique marches right into the middle of the pitch, the rest of us taking our respected positions behind her. I stand at the very back of the group, a few feet away from everyone else and closest to the pitch. Doesn't mean I can't see Dom and Kate Carter glaring at each other though.
"Guys, gals, and nonbinary pals! Welcome to the first inter-house quidditch match of the season!" The commentator, Marmaduke Vega from Hufflepuff shouts into the microphone. The crowd around the pitch roars with cheers and claps. It makes my ears ring, but it's the best sound in the world, all these people watching me, rooting for me, it makes me feel powerful.
"Given it's our first match of the season, let's break down our teams! The Gryffindor Lions! Led by seventh-year chaser Kate Carter! Rumour has it that she's got her eye on that house cup and there's nothing she won't do to bring it home this year! On her team, she has, chasers Freddie Weasley! Son of the great Hogwarts legend George Weasley! Now I don't know about you Jan but I might just pull a Weasley and get myself out of first period tomorrow!" Marmaduke says loudly. There's no one in the announcement box named Jan but he tends to bring Jan into many of the conversations he has with himself during the matches.
The crowd cheers ridiculously loud for Freddie which annoys me a little, my brother stealing the spotlight and all. I'll show them, he's not the Weasley you should be cheering for.
"Chaser Timothy Wood! Son of Oliver Wood, Hogwarts alumni and keeper on Puddlemore United!" Marmaduke continues, more cheers fill the stadium. "Following Carter's team of chasers is James Weasley! You may know his mother Ginny Weasley, the best damn chaser the Holly Head Harpies has ever seen! Speaking of, James, you think you'll be able to get your mum's autograph for me?" Marmaduke says, followed by another deafening cheer. One of my favourite things about James is that he goes by Weasley when he's on the quidditch pitch, says it makes listening to the commentator try to keep up with which Weasley is which very amusing.
"We've got beater Hannah Torres, and fresh meat on the team, brand new beater, Rose Weasley! Yes, you heard right folks, the minister's daughter is getting her hands dirty!" Marmaduke pokes fun at Rose, all jokes of course but it still makes a little bit of me mad. After Marmaduke introduces Ollie Davis, Gryffindors god awful keeper, he turns his attention to the Slytherins.
"I say it every match, but Slytherin captain Dominique Weasley looks stunning in green, don't you think everyone?" He shouts. The crowd cheers right along with him. Dom hates it, every time we play, Marmaduke always manages to bring her looks into it somehow. Sure she's part Veela, but she's more than her looks and she's made that fact very obvious.
"Introducing, Slytherins keeper... Ophelia Weasley!" Marmaduke's voice rings out over the pitch. "This is Ophelia's second year on the team and by Godric's beard, she deserves it! Her brother may play on the opposite team but I can assure you, folks, she does not go easy on him!"
The sound that follows his announcement is like music to my ears. Screaming, clapping, a few people shouting out my name. This is what I live for. I'm not one of those people that needs to be the center of attention at all times constantly, but I also really do have to be the center of attention at all times constantly. I know technically Cass is the middle child of the family but it feels like I'm the middle child as well, always being overlooked or forgotten, constantly being in competition with my twin sister. But not here, here on the pitch there's just one of me. And I'm a damn good quidditch player.
I'm not paying attention to what Marmaduke says about the other people on my team. In fact, I zone out till Madam Hooch blows her whistle and the game starts. Instantly I kick off the ground and position myself in front of the posts.
"Weasley with the quaffle, hit by a bludger sent his way by Weasley. Malfoy with the quaffle now, heading towards the Gryffindor end!"
Scorpius sinks the quaffle with ease, making the score ten nothing for us. After a quick little victory lap, the game is on again. Carter's got the quaffle and is soaring towards me. Lucas hits a bludger towards her but he misses.
The only thing I can hear is my heartbeat at this point. I watch Carter as she dodges my teammates and their attempts to stop her from getting any closer. She's going higher. I position myself at the left ring, knowing damn well that she's trying to sink the quaffle in the middle one. My brooms faster than hers though, this'll be easy.
"Carter with the quaffle, she shoots... And it's blocked by Weasley!"
All the Slytherins that are sitting behind me cheer wildly as Conrad flies over and I pass the quaffle over to him so he can fly it up the pitch.
"Hoffman with the quaffle now... and OH! Hit with two bludgers sent over to him by Torres and Weasley! And he is down! It's not looking, good folks!"
Hooch's whistle cuts through the noise and everyone sinks down from the air and lands on the pitch.
"Sale salaud tricheur!" Dominique screams at the top of her lungs. She's staring down Torres from the Gryffindor team. If Rose wasn't the other beater then I'm sure it would have been much worse.
"How was I supposed to know that Weasley was going to hit a bludger towards him!" Hanna shouts.
"Ladies!" Hooch shouts. Dom brushes a few stray hairs off her forehead and huffs. Conrad is sitting on the ground in the middle of the crowd looking up at everyone like a curious child. "Hoffman, you good to keep playing?"
"Yeah, yeah we're all good down here Hooch darling." He says. It takes him a minute to get up, but he does. Though he's leaning heavily on his broom for support.
"Right. Penalty shot for Slytherin. Back up there!" Hooch blows her whistle three times very loudly.
Before she kicks off the ground again, I can hear Dom, "Watch yourself, Torres."
Everyone shoots back into the air and the game starts again. I situate myself in the middle of my posts, not really paying attention cause all the action is happening on the other side of the pitch. Slytherin is up forty nothing now. My hands start to cramp from the cold and I lose focus. Till of course,
"Weasley with the quaffle! He dodges Malfoy's block. Weasley hits Weasley with a bludger but that does not slow him down! Wood is right by him, protecting him from any more bludgers! He shoots!"
Freddie whips the quaffle at the lowest post. In a quick tug on my broom, I fly over to meet it, literally kicking it down to Vania who is waiting for the quaffle under Freddie and Wood.
"Gonna have to try harder than that Freddie!" I shout as Vania whips back towards the Gryffindors pitch.
"You're not that good Leah, don't get cocky!" He shouts back.
"You're right! I'm not good, I'm excellent!"