The world around Cressida was a spinning blur, the only thing running through her mind was to score as many points as she could. She could feel her heart thumping fast, beating hard against her chest.

She had to win, and that was exactly what she intended to do.

With her brother as their team's keeper, she knew she didn't have to worry much but the blasted James Potter was making the not worrying part a bit difficult.

The fact that the Lions had a decent enough keeper wasn't a relief, either. Xavi's got it, she kept telling herself. He's been on the team ever since his second year, he was experienced with the position. Knew what he was doing.

She was trailing right behind one of the opposing team's chasers, tipping her broom forwards in hopes of gaining more speed.

She let her eyes quickly wander around the pitch in signs of Atlas Lacroix, who was the seeker, to see if he was near to catching the Snitch. The answer; he wasn't. The brown-haired boy was hovering high in the air, his head dashing from side to side - which was a clear giveaway that he hadn't yet spotted the Snitch. "Come on, Lacroix." She muttered to herself before leaning her body further. That did it, and she now had her side pressed tightly to the Lions' chaser, using her body weight to push against the boy.

"Looks like the Slytherin chaser, Cressida Laurier, is settling for holding her ground!" Jacob Jordan, the Gryffindor commentator, exclaimed enthusiastically through the microphone.

The girl began to feel her impatience growing, deciding to distance herself from the chaser and knocking him off balance - finally getting a hold of the Quaffle.

Tucking it under her arm securely, she pushed her broom faster than before, eager to feel the sensation of scoring running through her veins. Spotting Natalie Quinn, a fellow chaser of their own team hovering below her, the black-haired girl sped until she was certain that they were leveled, and let go of the Quaffle; letting it fall into Natalie's hands.

"Quinn now has the ball!" Jacob announced. "Looks like she's going to score and-" The crowd hooked onto every word he said, sat on the edge of their seats as James Potter intercepted Natalie's attempt, taking the ball himself and turning the game around.

"Oh, no, you fucking don't." Cressida sneered. The raven-haired girl caught up with the bespectacled boy rather quickly, much to his surprise - and disappointment.

"The longtime rivals, Potter and Laurier, are now competing for the Quaffle."

They were speeding faster each second, the only thing ahead of them was one of the House stands. Cressida felt her emerald green Quidditch robes flow loosely behind her, the number four standing out in bright silver. The pair of colors fitted her well, matching her fair skin tone. Both chasers knew that if they kept going they would end up crashing onto the stand, but they were too caught up in the game of Quidditch to care.

The stand was only a few feet away, and James was beginning to feel a sense of sudden uncertainty in the pit of his stomach - not that he'd ever admit to it. Turning to look at his competition, the feeling didn't disperse upon seeing the epitome of absolute certainty written across her face. With a rapid shake of his head, he kept his eyes focused on both the scarily nearing stand and the determined girl, trying to see ahead of her plan.

And see ahead of her plan, he did. She was waiting for the last minute to press all her body weight against him to get the Quaffle again. Smirking to himself, he decided to make a few changes to her plan.

"Neither Laurier nor Potter are backing down, I wonder if history will be repeating itself-" That earned Jacob a wack across the head from the rolled-up parchment professor McGonagall was holding. Rubbing his head, he continued, "Let's see what the chasers have planned for us today."

James made an abrupt turn, his broom flipping vertically, and he sped off closer to the goals. Seeing the Serpent's beaters already taking their position, he searched the pitch for a certain dirty-blonde chaser. Upon seeing her, he quickly flew towards her and passed her the ball. This all happened in a short period of time, making Cressida curse to herself. James Potter and his perfect, idiotic self was killing her painfully slow.

She didn't even bother to try and intercept the ball, McKinnon was already too close for her to even be able to get close enough. All she could do was trust in her brother's keeper skills.

"McKinnon throws the ball and..." Jacob started, sitting up to see the event unfold. "She scores!" The Gryffindor boy almost jumped from his seat. "Ten points moves Gryffindor to a hundred, the two teams now tied!" He exclaimed over the loud cheers of the Gryffindor house.

Xavier sent an apologizing look to his sister, who gave him a tight-lipped smile to ensure it wasn't a big deal. But Xavier knew his sister better than that. She was way too competitive for her own good, and maybe that's what made her such a good Captain.

The previous year, Leonardo Hughes graduated - having to give his position away. He had chosen Cressida to continue honoring the title of team captain. She was taking it seriously, Leo was more than a good captain, so she would try her hardest to be like him; to lead their team to victory. They had a three-year streak, and she would not let it break because of some stupid boy.

So she brushed off that score and sent her brother a look he knew all too well. Madam Hooch blew her whistle, indicating the match was starting again and threw the maroon ball up in the air.

Xavier caught it smoothly in his grip and passed the Quaffle to Iza Martin, the last Slytherin chaser.

Iza flew fast across the field, passing the ball to one of the beaters, who rebounded it towards the middle goal post. Much to the Serpent's relief, he made it through the goal post.

"Slytherin changes the game and leads by ten points."

The Gryffindor keeper passes the ball to Marlene, who soars across the field in a zig-zag motion, avoiding Bludgers and the opposing chasers' attempts to take the Quaffle off her hands. As Marlene lets go of the ball, throwing it in the direction of the goalposts, Cressida adjusted her Silver Arrow and steeply flew upwards, intercepting the throw and changing the game in her house's favor.

James took a sharp inhale, his jaw locked. She was really pissing him off. He aimed all of his hatred toward the girl into the game, even when she wasn't near him she drove him crazy. He needed to win this game, not for himself but for his teammates and his house.

While Cressida flew around the pitch, Atlas finally caught sight of the familiar golden ball zooming through the air. Without any time to waste, he immediately started to follow the golden ball, but tried to make it less obvious he saw it.

He decided to fly in the opposite direction that the Snitch was truly going, and his plan seemed to have worked because the Gryffindor seeker began following him. "Looks like Lacroix and Williams have finally spotted the Snitch," Jacob announced loudly, which made the corners of Atlas's lips raise into a smirk. The statement made Cressida feel relieved, Atlas finally had the favour of allowing them to win.

Now it was just a matter of time and who reached the Snitch first.

Before the pair of rival seekers crashed into one of the Ravenclaw stands, Atlas made a sharp and sudden turn - one of which no one expected, especially not Williams. Not wanting his rival to catch up, he pushed his broom to go as fast as it possibly could to reach the Snitch first. He had eyes on the golden ball, now he just had to reach it.

Cressida wasn't paying attention to Atlas any longer, she was focused on scoring. The game had been going on for - what she guessed - almost two hours. It's safe to say that both teams were utterly exhausted, Cressida included. But if Atlas didn't catch the Snitch, then she needed to make as many points as possible to help her team's chances of winning. She was hoping that Atlas could at least stall for a bit so she and the other two chasers could get the points up higher.

Cressida felt a whizzing sound nearing where she was flying, so she decided to flip her body on her broom, hanging upside down. The Bludger missed her head by a few millimeters before she performed the trick.

"Laurier just performed the Sloth Grip Roll brilliantly!" Jacob remarked, enthusiastically. "I have never seen someone do this so-" McGonagall seemed to have hit him again, Jacob mumbling a few profanities under his breath that were muffled over the microphone. "Continuing..."

The girl flipped her body right-side-up nonchalantly once she was sure the Bludger had passed. She didn't want an incident similar to the one she had in her second year; which was messy, to say the least. As she shook off the reminders and continued her path towards the goal post, the whistle shrieked loudly.

Relief flooded her body almost immediately as she threw her head back and took in their victory.

"And here we are ladies and gentlemen, Atlas Lacroix has caught the Snitch!" Jacob bellowed loudly. Cheers from the Slytherins were heard as soon as the words left his mouth, the students jumping from their seats and breaking out into thunderous applause. A grin broke out across Cressida's face, they won. She held an arm in the air - the other still holding onto the broom - and waved it proudly. After taking in the feeling of yet another win, leading them to the semifinals, she descended in the air, reaching a tolerable height and jumping off her broom.

Cressida didn't waste a second before running over to her brother, engulfing him in an enormous hug, her broom falling from her grip. She heard him chuckle at her action before tightly wrapping his arms around her torso, hugging her back.

"We won!" She expressed before jumping in the air, making Xavier smile at her happiness. She hasn't been happy since before her injury, and he was more than glad to see her getting better. He had missed seeing her truly smile.

The recent break-up was tough on her, but he was there to help as much as he could. He knew that she needed space, he knew that he couldn't completely take away the sadness she felt, and he knew that she needed to learn from it herself. He was truly proud of her.

Xavier noticed Atlas and Cressida's other friend, Nelina Jones, walking over to where they were standing. Before he could say anything, Atlas raised a finger to his lips to signal for the older boy to stay silent. Xavi gave him a nod, one that went unnoticed by his sister.

"We did win, didn't we?" He replied with a joyful tone, before deciding to back away just in case her friends had anything planned. "Cress, I'm gonna go with my friends." He paused, trying to play it off cool, "I'll see you later." Before the girl could even process what her brother said, she was being pulled into a hug. Not even a second later, a much stronger force joined the hug, almost making her fall. Already knowing who it was, she raised her arms and tapped Atlas on the arm, and tapped Nelina on the head clumsily. "I- can't- breathe."

Nelina pulled her arms away. "I wasn't even hugging you that tight."

Cressida made a face before hitting Atlas in the head. "Fuck off, cunt."

The boy rubbed his head with a grimace before removing his arms from her sides, the girl inhaling air drastically. "Why are you so dramatic, Laurier?"

"I'm not, you try playing Quidditch for two hours." She retorted, before pausing to re-think her poor choice of words. "Wait,"

Nelina snickered before covering her mouth. Atlas pursed his lips into a thin line, reaching out to place his arm over her shoulders. "Thing is, Laurier, I did."

"And we won because of me, so..."

She glared at him. "How long did it take you to finally get that Snitch, huh?"

"Nah, that's just a low blow-"

Nelina kicked Atlas on the ankle, making his face scrunch up in pain as he raised his leg, standing on one foot. "What the fuck was that for?" The light‐haired brunette sent him a sarcastic smile in response.

"Okay," Cressida slapped Atlas on the cheek softly, "You two stop bickering so we can leave this pitch and make it to the Great Hall on time."

Nelina silently agreed, and the three began walking. "I don't even get a 'congratulations'?" Atlas questioned the two, expectantly.

"Let me think..." Nelina raised a hand to rub her chin, pretending to be in thought. "No." She stated, affirmatively. The light-haired girl turned to her friend. "We're gonna win the Cup this year."

Cressida smiled, hoping they would. She shook her head at their sibling behavior as they continued to bicker and turned to look for her brother. "Hey, I'm gonna go walk with Xavi, if that's okay?"

Atlas said it wasn't a problem, and Nelina pushed her in that direction. "We'll meet up with you in the Hall." Cressida nodded and began walking toward her brother.

She was deep inside her thoughts, and she didn't notice a certain, very specific group of four boys walking in her direction. Once she did snap out of her head, focusing back on reality, it was already too late to avoid them. She had bumped shoulders - quite hard, too - with one of them, and stumbled forwards, almost falling to the ground. Without looking up, she let the words slip out before she could even process what she was saying. "Hey! Watch where you're going, gits." She muttered the insult under her breath.

"What was that?"

That was enough to make her look up, she knew that voice all too well. James Potter and his friends had stopped walking and were now standing behind her.

"I said," She turned, staring straight into the boys' eyes. "Watch where you're going."

Potter shook his head. "No, no, what was that last part?"

"I called you a git, Potter."

The curly-haired boy tried to move forward, but Black held him back. Scoffing loudly, she flipped him off before walking away. "Go back to your pity party."

♠︎

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