Mara's Magic

ii - this boy's got the worst luck

I told Oliver, Percy, and Diana exactly what had happened and they all believed me. They continued to treat Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I like normal. The rest of the school, however, took to calling Harry the heir to Slytherin and the teasing about my magical inabilities started up again. A few cruel Slytherins even claimed that it was the reason that I helped Harry open the chamber - because I was bitter.

But, I ignored the teases and instead stuck to Harry's side. I was going to protect him. If I did, then everything would be okay, even with all of this chamber rubbish.

I kept this philosophy when entering our first match of the season. It just so happened to be against Slytherin and knowing the slimy little Malfoy boy and his disgusting, dental-work-needing team captain, there would be some dirty moves in play. 

"Slytherin has better brooms than us," Oliver began his tradition pre-match speech. "No point denying it. But we've got better people on our brooms. We've trained harder than they have, we've been flying in all weathers and we're going to make them rue the day they let that little bit of slime, Malfoy, buy his way onto their team." 

He turned to Harry with sharp, determined eyes. 

"It'll be down to you, Harry, to show them that a Seeker has to have something more than a rich father. Get to that Snitch before Malfoy or die trying, Harry, because we've got to win today, we've got to," he insisted, one hand coming up to rest on the boy's shoulder. The other rubbed the back of his neck out of habit and I knew that he wasn't okay. I could feel the anxiety coming off of my boyfriend, but I wholeheartedly believed that we would win. The only reason we lost the year prior was because we didn't have Harry, but we had him now and there's no way Draco could beat him.

"No pressure, Harry," Fred snickered as we moved to take our positions. Harry slipped away from Oliver to join the twins and I grabbed Oli's hand, pressing a quick kiss to the uncovered skin on the top of his hand, and rubbing my thumb against the leather of his glove. 

"We've got this," I said with a nod. He nodded slightly, seemingly a bit dazed from thinking over tactics. 

"Right," he agreed absentmindedly. I pulled my hand away and settled it against my temple with a lopsided grin.

"Good luck out there captain," I saluted, letting out a chuckle as he rolled his eyes at me. 

"Come on love," he said, pulling me towards the front of our lined up teammates.

Before I stood in my place, I grabbed my camera from my bag and took a quick snapshot of them all conversing excitedly. I loved candids like that. I put it back after receiving a goofy grin from the twins and took my spot next to Angelina.

We took off from the locker rooms, flying around and waving at our cheering fans. As per usual, most of the crowd was decked out in scarlet and gold with the exception of the Slytherin stands. I waved and grinned at Diana and Cedric as I passed by their seats, sending a wink towards my baby sister who was sitting near Ronald and Hermione. 

I joined Oliver's side, staring down Adrian Pucey from my spot on Oliver's right. Pucey sent me a smirk, peaking over Flint's shoulder as Flint and Oli shook hands rather aggressively. It was a relief to know that Flint would be gone at the end of the school year and that we'd never have to see his face again. He grinned and winked at me and I rolled my eyes, clutching my broom tightly in my hand. We rose to the sky again and settled in our semicircle, waiting for Madam Hooch to set us off.

"On my whistle," she shouted. "Three... two... one...!"

The quaffle was thrown in the air and everyone began diving one way or the other. I raced Flint for the ball and caught it easily, though with his Nimbus 2001 he was moving much quicker than I was used to him being. But, I was still more agile - I didn't bumble around like the Sixth Year did.