Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Three: The Co-Captian

The Slytherin common room was always cold in the morning. I was buried deep under my blankets, feeling the heat of my bed warmer just out of reach of my feet and I sighed happily. I could stay in this cozy bed all day long. I knew what waited for me outside of these blankets and I was not looking forward to the cold air of the submerged green tinged common areas.

But just as I had resigned myself to stay in bed through breakfast, I was jolted from my cozy slumber by none other than Imelda Reyes. She was donning fresh Quidditch robes, black hair tied back into a bun rather than her usual low ponytail, eyes glowing with excitement.

"You have to get up," Imelda said to me in leu of a hello or good morning. "We are going to be scouting out additions to the Slytherin Quidditch team at breakfast."

I blinked at her in surprise.

Sitting up and grumpily throwing my warm blankets off of my body, I asked, "What are you talking about?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "Of course with a certain someone talking to you last night, you must have missed the announcement."

I opened my mouth to protest her comment about Sebastian and then closed it again. She wasn't wrong. I sighed. "Sure, I was a bit distracted, but that won't be happening again. Now what are you talking about?"

She gave me a look before shoving a set of green and silver robes into my hands. I noticed my name embroidered in silver just under the crest of Salazar Slytherin, followed by the word Chaser. "You, my fast flying friend, are co-captain and Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team."

I blinked in surprise. "But, Imelda, I've never even seen a Quidditch match. How- why?" I couldn't help the lump that was forming in the back of my throat as I swelled with pride and affection for her.

"You're the only other halfway decent flyer," she quipped to me and I beamed at her. She always had a tough time acknowledging that someone could beat her on a broom. I knew that this was her way of saying I was the only other person she trusted to help her win the Quidditch Cup.

"I'll meet you upstairs in a little bit, if you want. I just need to shower and get ready for classes."

She nodded and turned to leave the room. "Make sure you wear those to breakfast. You can change for classes after breakfast."

I watched her walk out the door, noticing how her shoulders shook with an air of importance before the door swung shut. It took me a moment to fully process what she had told me. Quidditch was back, and in my very first year of seeing the sport played, she had chosen me to be her co-captain.

Making a mental note to ask her just exactly what I would be doing as Chaser for the Slytherin team, I grabbed my toiletries and made for the bathroom. I waved at a few familiar faces in the common room as I walked through, spotting Ominis by the stairs up to the Great Hall.

He stood alone.

Not wanting to get into any discussions with him just yet, I darted into the bathroom, stripping out of my pajamas and into the shower. The warmth of the water cascaded over my body and I took less time that I would have preferred to wash. Comparing this to the shower in my home in London, I was immediately reminded of how much I had missed these taps.

Using my wand to dry my hair off, I dressed quickly into the beautiful new robes. They fit like a glove, and I noted how much thicker the material was. The green was a deep emerald, with white and black trimmings on the sleeves and tail ends, a large cut up the back of the cloak, creating coattails that I knew would allow me to sit more comfortably on the broom. All around the robes were small silver embellishments, swirling patterns that all seemed to connect to the large Slytherin snake on the back.  My name was in bold black lettering across the shoulders, and a the number 5 was added to the sleeve. It was beautiful. I quickly laced my boots before taking one last look in the mirror.

My white-blonde hair lay straight, having grown several inches over the summer, hitting just below my ribs. The emerald green of my robes complimented my hair and complexion well, and a smile split across my face at the reflection I saw. My freckles were prominent, evidence of a summer spent enjoying the small patio I had at home, but so too were the few scars I had. I gently placed my fingers to the cut across my nose between my eyes, remembering the dragon attack that has caused it in the first place.

I couldn't bring myself to touch the second scar.

Tucking my shampoos, conditioners and cosmetics into the small cubby labeled CRANE to the right of the sink, I tucked my wand into the pocket of my robes and dashed out of the common room to get to Imelda. Knowing her, she'd be back here in five minutes time complaining about how I'd been late.

I rushed through the common room, seeing it was already emptier and I could hear the thundering footsteps of students echoing all around the dungeons as I climbed the stairs two at a time and rushed through the main entryway to get to the great hall.

I flew past a group of first years standing huddled in a group by the doors, and entered the hall eyes scanning for Imelda. I spotted her three quarters way up the Slytherin table, eyes locked on a girl about four seats from her. Happy to see she wasn't pacing due to my tardiness, I plopped into the empty seat beside her and grabbed for a plate of thin, rolled up crepes. I shoveled a few on my plate and turned to her.

"Alright, so, we are scouting?"

"Yes," she answered, not taking her eyes off the girl. "We aren't going to talk to anyone today unless they come up to us. I want to see who's interested on their own."

"Okay," I said, lifting my fork to my mouth and relishing at the delicious breakfast I had chosen today. "I absolutely love the robes, by the way. Did you design them?"

She didn't answer right away and I had to poke her arm rather hard to get her to look away from the girl she'd still been staring at. "Imelda! Leave the poor girl alone, why are you staring at her?"

She whipped her head towards me and blinked twice. "What? Oh, no, I didn't design them. But whoever did, did them well."

I gave her a quizzical look before deciding to drop the subject of her rapt attention and instead delved into just exactly what I would be doing as chaser.

Breakfast passed in a blur of talking tactics and fielding interest in the Slytherin team by what felt like most of the seventh year boys, a handful of sixth years and a desperately excited second year. I had to stomp on Imelda's foot so she wouldn't be rude to the poor boy before tryouts.

The first bell rang signaling to head to class and I glanced at my schedule, noting that Professor Weasley must have dropped it next to my plate unnoticed while we were deep in discussion with our classmates. I stared at the first lesson of the day and had to steady myself, a familiar feeling of horror and excitement swelling inside of my chest.

Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Here we go again.