Chasing The Keeper

Preparations

Spending time with Oliver was nice. Even though I was still torn up about the breakup it wasn't nearly as bad.

By the time we got home, the blizzard subsided and we could walk with more ease.

Dinner went by as usual, and by the time we were ushered upstairs, it was easy to tell our parents were tipsy on the muggle wine they drank.

I darted up the stairs, Oliver following close behind me. I threw open the door to the guest bedroom and beamed back at him. He slowed when he saw what was on the bed.

On it sat a new professional broomstick maintenance kit which I spent quite a bit of my pocket money on.

"Is this for me?" Oliver stammered, "No fucking way Stone."

"Paid for it myself!" I grinned.

"Wow," he muttered picking it up and looking it over, marvelling at the packaging. "Well, my gift is pure shit then."

"Probably," I snickered.

Oliver opened his suitcase and produced a box with a large red W painted on it.

"Here," he shoved it in my hands.

"Is this a bomb?" I examined the box. It was wooden, with chipped brown paint on its exterior and scratches and burn marks covering it in weird locations.

"It's the prototype Weasley product," Oliver replied. "It took me weeks of convincing and a good handful of galleons to procure."

"You really got the twins to give you their lucrative products early?" I raised my eyebrows, "Unbelievable."

"If the box wasn't in your hands right now I wouldn't believe it either." He chuckled, "Now open it."

I unlatched the lid and opened the small container. It was filled to the brim with pencil shavings, on which lay all sorts of different coloured candies and small glass phials filled with god knows what. Small pieces of tape were on each item that served as a label. It took a couple of moments for my mind to process the scribbly and barely legible handwriting to see that these were labels for the Weasley's ingeniously evil inventions.

I raised my eyebrows, "You reckon you could test any of these out for me?"

~~~

I stood on the platform next to Liane, who was already bumbling excitedly about some new revolutionary makeup product in the muggle world she discovered during her trip to Paris.

"You see eet is applied to your face like soh-"

"Y/n, Liane!!!" I heard a group of yells across the crowd.

Pushing past the obviously annoyed families and even tipping over some first years luggage, June, Sarah, and Lori came running at us with all the speed they could muster; that is while holding at least two suitcases in each hand, and an owl under their arm.

By the time they reached us their faces were covered in sweat, and the three girls were heaving heavily. Despite all of that they all dropped their bags as quickly as they could and pulled Liane and I into a sweaty bear hug.

"Hello to you too," I giggled, patting my friends on the back, relieved that Liane's excited chattering was now going to be split amongst the four of us. It wasn't like I disliked her interest in muggle beauty products, but her fast-talking with a strong French accent was incomprehensible at times to my still drowsy mind at seven am.

"You barely wrote to me!" June pouted, "Aren't we supposed to be best friends or something?"

"Sorry," I rubbed the nape of my neck, chuckling awkwardly, "I was-"

The train whistle blew in signal to get on, cutting me off mid-sentence.

We climbed aboard and said our goodbyes to Sarah before sitting down in our compartment.

"Sorry guys, head girl duties," she yelled as she ran to the prefect's carriage, and we saw her dart down the narrow corridor pushing past other students.

I quickly took my spot near the window and placed my small suitcase under the seats. The train began to start quicker than I had anticipated and I could see kids who weren't yet settled in rushing up and down the hallways in search of an open compartment.

"Spring break was simply wonderful," June sighed peacefully and leaned back into her cushioned seat, "Sarah and I celebrated New Years together and we were all alone..." By the grin on June's face, we could all tell what she was thinking about.

"Oh my god!" Lori squealed, "How was it?"

"A gentle lady never discloses such information," June responded cooly, seeming very satisfied with herself, "Although, I'm sure that I am not the only one in this compartment with this experience," She smirked, looking directly at me and cocking her eyebrow.

I felt myself blush furiously, remembering the event. And then the bitter aftermath. Shit, they still don't know.

"Fantastique!" Liane clapped, "'ow was eet?"

"Spill all the juicy details," Lori pressed.

"It was nice," I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

"You seem off," June squinted.

"Yeah, I.. We, you know," I stumbled trying to get the words out, "We broke up."

"Holy shit," My friend's eyes popped open.

"Are you ok?" Lori put a hand on my arm.

"Yeah," I laughed at their reaction, "It's not that big of a deal though."

I felt myself relax.

"Ehm, but you were together for a yeer?" Liane pointed out.

"I realized I never loved him," I shrugged.

"You shagged though, right?" June asked.

"June!" Lori slapped her arm and I laughed.

"Yeah, I'm glad he was my first time." I smiled genuinely.

I didn't love him, and he didn't love me, but it was true. He was as respectful as they get, and he was the ideal person to show me what being loved in that way felt like. If I could do it all over again of course I wouldn't go out with him, but I don't regret it.

~~~~

After catching up with everyone else I fell asleep to the monotone turning of the Hogwarts express' wheels. I awoke as the train came to a screeching halt. It was already growing dark outside, and we hurried over to the flying carriages. I gave lingering look at the thestrals before hopping into the small carriage.

The wagon shook over the gravel road as it began gaining momentum for liftoff. My only cage jumped up and nearly flew off my lap, and I barely caught it.

When we entered the dining hall it was already packed full of students. The hall was abuzz with chatter and friends reuniting after the holidays.

Classes started again the next day. The last thing anyone felt like doing was spending two hours on the grounds on a raw January morning, but I intended to have everyone fully prepared for the Slytherin match. Only Liane and Randolph were as eager as I was to practice. The rest of my team had sour faces throughout the practices.

Lori spent most of the time perfecting her poly juice potions. Our plan for filling the hall with a load of Snape's was set in stone. We figured out through trial and error that 1 drop of poly juice was enough to transform someone for a good two minutes. That would be more than enough time to wreak havoc across the dining hall. That was the thought that kept me going through the harsh practices that I subjected my team to.