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booksmarts and broomsticks
act i , a lovelorn lockaby
chapter six , quidditch schmidditch

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➖ GRYFFINDOR vs SLYTHERIN ➖
november 1991

       BY THE NEXT AFTERNOON, all news of the troll's visit to the dungeons had been completely swept under the carpet — although, no one was a hundred percent sure how it actually got in — and now, the impending Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin was all anyone could talk about.

       Dria, Tess and Penny sat together at the Gryffindor table as they indulged in a late lunch with the rest of the school, before they would be ushered down to the stadium for the match.

       The three couldn't help but laugh at the various efforts some students had gone to in order to exhibit their house pride. A girl in fourth year had apparently gone to extreme efforts to dye her hair red and gold for the match but it had turned into the most unpleasant shade of neon orange in the process, and there was apparently a student charging a galleon to paint red and gold stripes on people's faces.

       The three girls had settled for less obnoxious examples of support and while the Gryffindors wore their house jumpers proudly, the Ravenclaw had elected to paint her nails in red and gold.

       They exchanged idle conversation between mouthfuls of sandwiches until their peaceful chatter was interrupted by the tornado of Irish chaos that was Jackie O'Hare.

       "Dria." The girl stated as she plonked down onto the bench, next to Tess, barely giving her friends enough time to soak in the fact she too was wearing a Gryffindor jumper.

       "Jackie." Dria responded, adopting the same serious manner that the Hufflepuff had, as she looked at her straight on.

       "Where the hell did you get that jumper?"

      But Tess' query was not answered, as Jackie put up her hand to Tess' lip and it fell silent, while the dark haired Gryffindor merely chuckled at the Hufflepuff's actions.

       "I'm sorry." Jackie cemented, reaching across the table and smacking Dria's sandwich out of her hands so she could hold them in apology.

       "Okay?" The blonde whispered back tentatively, casting discreet glances at the other two girls who looked just as confused as she did by Jackie's apology.

       "I've been thinking, and I decided to continue teaching you Quidditch."

       "Oh, great."

       At Jackie's news, Dria immediately shook her hands away and took a big bite of her sandwich, unhappy at the thought of having to resume learning about the sport.

       "Well, I thought that maybe actually seeing a match would help solidify your understanding." Jackie added in defence, which Dria granted was a fair point. "And so, I'm not giving up just yet ... although, give me time."

       "Your belief in me is outstanding, Jackie."

       Sparing a mischievous wink at the blonde, Jackie turned to face all three of her friends with a devilish grin as she grabbed a ham sandwich from Tess' plate.

       "Oi!"

       With a small huff, Tess rolled her eyes at Jackie and grabbed herself another sandwich to replace the stolen one before looking back at her.

      "Who'd you guys think is going to win, then?" The dark haired girl asked with arched brow as she looked at Jackie, who was munching upon the stolen sandwich with an extremely content expression.

       "Don't know, it all depends on Potter, I guess, doesn't it?" The Irish girl shrugged in between bites, "We'll finally get to see if he's all he's cracked up to be."

       "Wood was really stressing out, last night." Tess muttered, as she looked round at Dria and Penny to include them in the conversation.

       "Was he?" Penny asked with slight concern, as she began picking at the edges of her nails, where the polish was flaking slightly.

       "Dria saw, didn't you?"

       Dria's blue eyes widened at her sudden inclusion into the conversation, but soon responded to her friend with a hesitant nod, as she felt the heat rush back to her cheeks at the thought of the smile Wood had sent her, the night before.

       "Uh, yeah." She muttered in agreement as she swallowed her final bite of sandwich, taking a hand through her hair nervously. "Hopefully, it's for nothing though. I'm sure they'll be fine."

       Before her friends could question her dismissive attitude, a loud screech of a owl echoed throughout the Great Hall and the girls barely had enough time to duck before a large snowy owl swooped in and knocked them over their heads with the long parcel that it carried within its talons.

       "Shitting bird!"

       "What the hell was that?" Dria cried, incredulously, as she rubbed the back of her head with a groan, while her friends did the same.

       "It's for Potter." Tess groaned, nodding down the length of the table where the boy who lived stood with the parcel in his hands, having been dropped in his grasp.

       Dria squinted her eyes ever so slightly so as focus her vision down the far end of the table, and could make out that the parcel, now being opened by him and his two friends, was almost in the exact shape of a —

       "You don't think—?"

       "Oh my shitting Norah!" Jackie's excited cry cut Dria off, as they leaned in the look down the length of the table and see that Dria's suspicions were correct.

      "It's a Nimbus 2000." Tess chuckled in a hushed whisper, with a gleeful smile on lips as many others seated at the table began whispering in excitement at the boy's delivery.

       Even Dria couldn't hide the gleeful smile that crawled onto her lips at the sight, knowing even with her limited Quidditch knowledge what it meant for their house.

       "I think — and correct me if I'm wrong as I know shit about Quidditch." She smirked, turning to her friends, who were sharing grins between one another. "But I think Gryffindor's chances of a win today just got exponentially higher."

***

"ANGELINA JOHNSON scores! Ten points for Gryffindor!"

The voice of Lee Jordan, a third year Gryffindor, rang out across the Quidditch Pitch along with a giant roar of applause from the stands as Angelina scored the first ten points of the game for Gryffindor.

"I forgot how good Angelina was at this!" Dria said loudly in Jackie's ear above the deafening noise of cheering and supportive screaming from the crowd.

"I'll give you this, Dria!" The Hufflepuff called back at the same volume as they continued applauding Angelina's win. "Gryffindor have got some mighty fine Chasers!"

"Yes, we do!" Tess shouted in agreement from where she stood with Penny in the row in front of Dria and Jackie.

       According to Jackie, the weather was as perfect as it could be for a game of Quidditch. The sun was high in the sky and a few clouds was dotted around on the blue canvas with a light breeze carrying through the air, making the blonde Gryffindor glad that she'd worn her jumper.

       "Slytherin takes possession of the Quaffle, Bletchley passes to Captain Marcus Flint!" Lee's voice rang out again as the game resumed following Angelina's scoring.

       "Bastard!" Tess cried out, from in front of Dria, resulting in Penny burying her head in her hands in exasperation.

       "Fuck you, Slytherin!"

       "Jackie!" Penny turned around with wide eyes to address Jackie, while Dria merely grinned her eyes following the Slytherin Chasers as they tried to score.

       "What? They can't hear me over the noise!" The Irish girl responded over the noise, earning an eye roll and witless chuckle from the Ravenclaw in front of her.

       Flint dodged in and out of Alicia and Katie as they made desperate attempts to snatch the Quaffle from his grasp, before launching the russet coloured ball forward toward the middle hoop.

       However, his throw was hopeless as Wood swooped in with expert technique and whacked the ball away with the end of his broom and into the hands of Alicia, who caught it with ease before making beeline for the Slytherin goalposts.

       "Good save, Wood!" Jackie whooped, above the cheering crowd surrounding her as the Gryffindor Captain could be seen unmistakably smirking victoriously at his Slytherin equal.

       "Told you he was a better Keeper than you!" Penny chuckled, turning around ever so slightly with a loud laugh. 

       "I will throw you onto the pitch—!"

       But before Jackie could so much as finish her threat, the crowd erupted into another round of applause as a loud bell rang out signalling another goal had been scored.

       "Another 10 points to Gryffindor!"

       Dria smirked at the sight of the Johnson girl zooming back down the other end of the pitch and high-fiving her fellow Chasers as she went, as the blonde in the stands continued to applaud.

       "Here comes trouble."

       Dria suddenly became aware of Jackie tugging at her sleeve and nodding in the direction of Flint, who wore a furious expression on his troll-like face.

       "What do you mean?" Dria asked, her gaze following Bletchley as he secured the Quaffle in his grasp and made for the Gryffindor goalposts.

       "Slytherin." Jackie grimaced, her eyebrows furrowing in slight concern at the determination on Flint's face. "I'd be surprised if they don't put half your team in the hospital wing."

       Dria's eyes widened as she spared a glance at her friend, who bit her lip lightly in worry — a habit that immediately made Dria aware that her friend was being deadly serious.

       "Blimey."

       Bletchley continued to make for the goalpost, but threw a little too soon causing his goal to fall short and be caught by Wood, who threw the Quaffle over to Alicia.

       However, Dria couldn't bring herself to look away as Flint conversed with one of his Beaters momentarily, and — before she could even comprehend what was happening — saw Flint seize the bat from him, and strike a Bludger straight at Wood.

       The ball hit him forcefully in the stomach and Dria's eyes widened in horror as she saw him fall back through his own goalpost. He loosely clung onto his broom that plummeted to the ground, in a far less brutal manner than had he fallen without it, but by the time he reached the ground it was clear he had fallen unconscious.

       "Shit a brick!" Tess' cry brought Dria out of her worried state as she turned around and looked at Jackie with a panicked expression, while the Hufflepuff could only wince.

       "One down, six to go."

       "Do you think he's alright?" Dria asked, craning her neck to peer down the pitch, where wearily Madam Hooch was flying down to check on Wood.

       "No, Dria, he's just been winded by a Bludger!" Jackie cried, incredulously, shaking her head at her friend. "He's obviously not alright!"

       "And our goal's now open." Tess added, turning around with a grim expression as the bell rung out once more, as Slytherin scored their first goal and the stadium erupted in cheers from the Slytherin stands.

       Looking back out onto pitch, Dria found her eyes widening once more as she saw Flint and Bletchley swoop down to fly alongside Angelina and box her in. Giving the Chaser nowhere else to fly, they sent her straight into the capes covering one of the spectator towers.

       "Two down." Jackie winced from Dria's side as they craned their neck once more, just in time to Angelina fall onto the gravel at the bottom of the tower.

       Dria was suddenly reminded, by the way this game of Quidditch was playing out, just why she had never taken to the sport, especially from her view as an aspiring Healer — she dreaded to think what physical trauma Wood and Angelina had undergone and would need to be treated for.

       The sound of the bell rang out around the stadium once more as Bletchley scored another goal for Slytherin through the unguarded goalposts.

       More groans echoed from the Gryffindor stands but were drowned out by the excited whoops and cheers from the Slytherins across the fields.

       "Woah, what an earth is happening to Potter's broomstick?"

       Looking back onto the pitch, and following the direction in which Jackie's outstretched arm pointed, Dria settled her gaze of Harry Potter whose broomstick beneath him was bucking and jerking uncontrollably.

       "Could the broomstick be faulty?" Dria asked worriedly, unable to tear her gaze away from the struggling boy.

       "No, that's been jinxed that has." Jackie assured her Gryffindor friend, looking around at the Slytherin players who laughed at the boy's apparent peril. "Filthy gameplay, Slytherin, filthy!"

       Dria winced as the broom continued to knock and throw its rider around, until he was knocked completely off and was left dangling from it by one arm.

       The blonde swore her heart leapt in her chest out of fear, as she grabbed onto Jackie for support, her eyes still wide as the boy struggled, flailing about for his life.

       "I don't think I can watch." Dria stated, turning to look away by burying her face in Jackie's shoulder.

       "Oh, come on, it's part of the game!" The Hufflepuff cried, pushing her friend out of her embrace, disguising her worries with sportsmanship. "And he's the boy who lived, for Merlin's sake, not the boy who died!"

       "I don't think his nickname determines his chances of survival from a fifty foot fall, Jackie!"

       "You guys, look!"

       Penny's cry interrupted their slight argument, and caused their gazes to fly back to the Gryffindor Seeker.

       The broom had stopped bucking and remained still, allowing for the boy to clamber back on and regain his composure, before shooting off after the Slytherin Seeker following the Golden Snitch.

       "Go, go, go!"

       The Gryffindor stands erupted into another bout of applause as the Nimbus 2000 shot off with speed unlike any of the other brooms on the pitch.

       Refocusing her gaze, Dria watched the young boy who flew neck and neck with the Slytherin Seeker, both of them diving towards the ground after the Snitch with incredible speed.

       "He needs to pull up, or he's going to break himself." Jackie muttered, eyes widening as the two boys got nearer and nearer to the ground.

       After a few moments, a flash of green robes signified that the Slytherin Seeker had backed out of the chase, but Potter kept going.

       "Pull up, you blind idiot!"

       Almost as though he'd heard the dulcet tones of the Hufflepuff in the stands, Potter pulled up when there barely a foot between him and the ground, his gaze still intently following the Snitch.

       "Jesus, that was close!" Dria exhaled, letting out a breath of worry she'd didn't even know that she'd been holding.

       The blonde found herself grabbing onto Jackie's arm once more, as she saw the boy slowly stand up upon his broomstick and reach forward, trying to grab the ball.

       He edged more and more forward, until he went slightest bit too far, and Dria found herself wincing upon seeing his small frame topple off the broomstick and tumble to the ground.

       Intently spectating the action, everyone in the stands leaned forwards so as to get a better view as the boy got to his feet, clutching his stomach and lurching violently.

       "Oh God, the speccy git's going to be sick!" Dria got out incredulously, continuing to wince as the boy lurched again.

       But instead of throwing up as every spectator had anticipated, the crowd almost fell into silence as the Golden Snitch popped out of his mouth and landed in his gloved hands.

       "He's got the Snitch!" Lee Jordan's voice cried out, alerting the spectators of the news as the small boy looked around in bewilderment. "Harry Potter receives 150 points for catching the Snitch!"

       "Now that is a move I haven't seen before." Jackie cackled from beside Dria as the stands erupted into applause at the sound of Madam Hooch's sharp whistle.

       "Gryffindor win!"

       Jackie threw her arms around Dria in excitement and despite initially rolling her eyes at the action, the blonde Gryffindor soon smiled and returned the hug, joining in with the celebrations of the other spectators, applauding loudly.

       "Go go Gryffindor! Go go Gryffindor! Go go Gryffindor! Go go Gryffindor!"

***

THAT NIGHT, THE Gryffindor Common Room was a blur of excited chatter, loud music from an enchanted stereo and, of course, tankards of Butterbeer.

Dria had indulged in a few congratulatory conversations with the twins and Angelina, when she returned from Hospital Wing with a few cracked ribs, before the blonde had tired of the high energy of the room and snuck away into an armchair by the fire with a book lying open on her lap.

While she was fascinated by the words on the page, Dria couldn't fight the urge to spectate the room every now and then, just to soak in the happy atmosphere that radiated from every person.

She spotted her younger brother very easily as he clamoured around Harry Potter, offering his congratulations, with his two friends Dean and Seamus as the Gryffindor Seeker thanked them bashfully with an earnest grin.

The team's three Chasers were grouped with the Weasley twins who must have cracked a joke or two, judging by the reactive laughter that the girls emitted from behind their cups of Butterbeer.

Tess were quite far out of Dria's eyesight, but not far enough for the blonde not to see her if she craned her neck. So, after sitting up a little straighter, Dria's gaze landed upon her friend who was leaning against the wall by the boy's staircase, and in conversation with a girl in the year above. Dria smirked upon seeing her friend tuck her hair behind her ear with slight nervous and she spared a flirtatious grin at the sixth year.

"You not joining the party, Dria?"

At the sound of another's voice, Dria turned away from looking at her friends and leaned back in her seat a little more, before looking up to see Amir — whose face was streaked with faded paint streaks of red and gold — offering a mug of Butterbeer out to the blonde, with a chuffed smile on his lips.

         "Ah, well, you know what I say." The blonde tutted, shuffling in her seat and crossing her legs, before reaching to grab the mug from him. "Quidditch, schmidditch."

       "Don't let the team hear you say that or they'll knock you in the fireplace." Amir chuckled in response as he perched on the arm of the sofa to her left.

       Dria found herself tilting her head slightly and wincing a little, as she fully took in the artwork upon Amir's face.

       "Please tell me you didn't pay a galleon for that, Amir." She asked, gesturing at his face as she brought the mug of Butterbeer to her lips.

       "You know me always funding the arts." The boy shrugged nonchalantly, as his smile spread across his face.

       "The stripes aren't even straight—"

       "Bye!"

       The Gryffindor boy had whisked himself away before the blonde could so much as say two bad words about the wonky stripes that ladened his cheeks.

        With a roll of her blue eyes and an entertained smile, Dria took another sip of her Butterbeer and attempted to refocus her attention on her book. However, her gaze faltered before it landed on the page and the blonde peered to her left, where upon the sofa sat the first year girl with bushy hair with her head intently in a book. The sight brought a smile to Dria's lips.

       "Are you not a Quidditch fan either?" Dria spoke out with an arched brow, catching the girl's attention as she took another sip of her drink.

       "Not especially, I think it's a little overrated." The girl responded, closing her book gently upon her lap and turning to the older girl. "But I'm glad we won."

       "You're Granger, aren't you?"

       "And you're Dria Lockaby."

       "I am." Dria chuckled, with a slight furrow of her eyebrows, confused as to how the girl know who she was.

       "You're the smartest witch in the entire house." Hermione told her with a knowing smile, sitting up straight.

       "I don't know where you've heard that from, there are plenty of people smarter than I am." The blonde dismissed the first year's impression, a bashful blush forming on her cheeks.

      "Not according to your brother and sister." Hermione replied, nodding over to the other first years amongst which stood her brother. "Michael and Maisie are always singing your praises."

       "Nah, they just want attention."

       "Well, I believe them." Hermione chuckled, offering the older girl a charming smile, as she crossed her own legs upon the sofa.

       "Thank you, Hermione."

       A small silence fell between the two girls although by no means the Common Room as it still buzzed with leftover adrenaline and rhythmic melodies from the stereo.

       Although, Dria noticed Hermione's fiddly state, looking as though she had something else to say or ask, judging by her gaze which flitted about the room and her finger tapped against her lips.

       Dria merely chuckled to herself behind her drink, as she looked expectantly on the young girl who caught her eye with diffident look upon her face.

       "I don't suppose you have any advice for turning mice into snuffboxes, do you?" The girl asked with a curious smile, raising her eyebrows hopefully.

       "You know what?" Dria smiled, closing the book in her lap as she leaned a little further forward and nodded at the young girl. "It just so happens I do."

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖆 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘!
first year hermione is a
precious little bean, i
adore her and she must
be protected at all costs

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