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'LISTEN, LISTEN, ALL I'M SAYING is Gryffindor are gonna completely fuck up all your arses.'
PJ's bold statement is almost lost to the merciless wind as the three step off the Hogwarts Express onto the platform, Leo cursing the heavy rain. The brutal September air is a noose that hangs heavy and humid, damp and deathly, water slicing from a formidable sky. Leo does not believe in omens, of course not, but watching mud swirl into the cracks of the pavement like blood leaking from a wound, she can't help thinking this is not the best way to herald in a new school year.
Fucking Scotland, she thinks, skin crawling with ice. Good to be back.
'I hate to break it to you, PJ my lovey, but you are so incorrect,' Lena says with a brightness that only Lena Karkaroff, woodland nymph, can muster in thunderstorms. 'Hufflepuff are going to kick all your butts! Kindly, obviously.'
That's when Leo realises they're talking about Quidditch. Surprise-surprise, not exactly her favourite topic of conversation.
And why, exactly, is that? Well. Quidditch, with its stupid broomsticks and stupid, stupid rules - because why it absolutely has to have three balls is completely beyond Leo Jordan - plagues her like a nightmare, throughout the school year and beyond. Because Quidditch just has to be Lee's thing, doesn't it, and doesn't Leo fucking know it; Merlin, it makes her sick, watching the entire school up his arse after every single match. Ooo, Lee, you're so funny! Not.
She even got dragged to the stupid Quidditch World Cup, which was beyond a joke, and not even because of the Death Eaters that decided to come along and crash the party. No, if anything, at least they provided some entertainment - although, admittedly, there had been one moment at the World Cup, one silvery laugh and one pair of delicate lips in the dark...
No. Don't be stupid, Leo scolds, following PJ and Lena into one of the driverless carriages. You can't think about that. You can't think about that ever again.
'I didn't even realise you gave so much of a shit about Quidditch, Karky,' PJ says, practically yelling, even though Lena is literally sat right next to her. Leo groans, covering her ears to save herself from imminent deafness. 'Got something to tell us, babes? About, I dunno, Ophelia Alder?'
Who in McGonagall's name is Ophelia Alder?
Lena flushes furiously. 'I - I don't know what you're talking about, PJ! No - no, I certainly don't like Ophelia Alder - I mean yeah, she's so pretty, oh, so ethereal, and she's such a good Chaser, and I love watching Hufflepuff matches for her - but no!'
