Quidditch

The three of us go through the halls of the classroom, and I can see Harry internaling panicking. It's a bad habit of his. Whenever he gets in trouble, he immediately goes to the worst case scenario.

But I recognize the hall we're in, so I doubt that he's going to get expelled or anything like that. Though I am curious about why we're heading to the Charms classroom.

Opening the door, Professor McGonagall asks Professor Flitwick for 'wood'. 'Is she going to hit him with a stick or something? She does seem like a stickler for discipline.'

But to my surprise, instead of Professor Flitwick bringing out a piece of wood, a burly fifth-year walks out of the classroom with a confused expression. Wood conspicuously absent. I exchange glances with him and shrug as Professor McGonagall leads us away.

We end up in a nearly empty classroom, the only one present being Peeves. Seeing her, he scowls. Seeing me, he rushes out of the room through the wall, yelling about how "it's not done yet" and swearing revenge.

Professor McGonagall looks at me in surprise. "Ms. Potter, when did you get here?" She frowns. "More importantly, shouldn't you be in class right now?"

I shrug. "I've been here since you took Harry from the flying field. It wasn't like I could do anything for that class anyways…" I mutter angrily.

She quirks an eyebrow. "Oh? And why is that?"

"Whenever I tried to get the broom to come to me, they shot off into the air. Apparently I'm not suited for riding a broomstick." I really wanted to fly too! But this is a magical society! I'm sure there are other ways for me to fly! Maybe if I drink a bunch of red dragon's blood, I'll grow wings?

Putting that aside for the moment. "Anyways, what are we doing here? Harry and I thought he was going to be punished for his fancy broom tricks."

Professor McGonagall sighs while the fifth-year perks up. "Fancy broom tricks? What do you mean?" He pauses for a moment. "I'm Oliver Wood, by the way."

I raise a hand in greeting. "Misha Potter." I point to Harry. "Harry Potter." Instead of freaking out like everyone else- I guess the fame factor has finally worn off?- he just says hello to Harry with a gleam in his eyes.

"You see, Wood," McGonagall starts to explain. "I've found you a new Seeker."

The gleam in his eyes grows brighter. "Are you serious, Professor?"

"Absolutely." Professor McGonagall says crisply. "The boy is a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Especially when it was his first time on a broom. That was the first time, right Mr. Potter?"

He nods, obviously confused. So I put an arm around his shoulder. "Come on, what's there to be confused about?' He looks at me, surprised that I know what's going on. "Obviously, you're being recruited to search for those broomsticks that got shot into the sky! You're 'seeking' magical items with the potential to expose wizard society."

He gives me a deadpan look, not sure why he thought that I would actually know what they're talking about. We start paying attention to the other two again just in time to hear Professor McGonagall's final sentence. "Charlie Weasley couldn't have done better."

I can almost see stars in his eyes as he looks at Harry now, his excitement palpable. "Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?"

We both shake our heads as Professor McGonagall tells us that he's the captain of the Gryffindor team. Wood starts circling Harry, muttering about how his body is perfect for being a seeker. He also starts telling Professor McGonagall about how they'll need to get him a good broom. He mentioned the Nimbus Two-Thousand, which I vaguely recall hearing about way back in Diagon Alley.

"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin. I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks…" She trails off at the end and peers at Harry sternly.

"I want to hear that you're training hard, Mr. Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you."

"You realize that you still haven't said what's going on, right?" They blink at me in surprise. "You're talking about 'Quidditch' like we should know what it is, but you can't forget that we were raised by muggles." I tap my chin. "Oh, and if you're making an exception for Harry to be on Wood's team, shouldn't you make an exception for all the other Houses too?"

"Well," she starts slowly. "Quidditch is the premier sport in the wizarding world. Wood can explain it far better than me though, but that can wait until their practice. As for making exceptions, your brother is a special case."

I shrug. "I don't really care that much, but then again, I don't know Quidditch, and don't really care." Wood clutches his chest and stumbles back, a wounded look on his face. "But if it's really as popular as you say it is, then wouldn't that turn basically the whole school against Harry?"

"How do you mean?" Wood asks as Professor McGonagall gets a look of realization.

"Blatant favoritism rarely ends well for the one in question. Everyone would look at Harry on the team and assume that the only reason he's there is because he's famous. Plus they would resent the fact that he got the chance and no one else did."

Wood is stunned, and Harry is slowly coming to the realization that he would have ended up making a lot of people dislike him if Misha hadn't brought this up.

"It's not like you can't have him on the team though. Just let everyone know that one first-year student from each House will be allowed on the Quidditch team. If they pass the test of course."

They look at me in silence, broken by McGonagall awarding my House five points.

𝌡𝌡𝌡

"And that's what happened." Draco, Tracy, and Daphne all look at me in bemusement.

"Well. It seems that you had quite the adventure." Daphne says.

"I can't believe you sassed a teacher- McGonagall even!- and got House points for it!" Tracy exclaims in admiration.

"Was she really going to just put your brother on the Quidditch team?" Draco frowns.

I sip from my cup of juice, making a note to find the kitchens and figure out a way to introduce them to soda. "Yep."

He looks to the Gryffindor table where Harry and Ron are excitedly talking to two older ginger-haired boys, likely Ron's brothers.

Scowling he gets up. "What are you planning?" Tracy asks.

He side-eyes me, hesitating a moment before speaking. "I'm going to go over there and pick a fight." He says it hesitantly, unsure of how I'll take it.

But I just wave him on. "Have fun, don't make it personal or you'll wake up sparkly!"

He strolls off with a confused but irritated look on his face. Daphne looks at me with an eyebrow raised. "Glitter?"

I smile. "Yep. Found a bag filled with it in the helmet of one of the suits of armor. Someone probably put it there to use for a prank, but it's mine now."

In another part of the castle Peeves' scream of frustration echoes when he finds his glitter missing.