To Hell ~ Fred Weasley

Chapter 8.

The Weasley twins had asked Oliver Wood a day before if they could use some of their Qudditch gear for practice after a visit to Hogsmeade. Oliver was surprised they even wanted to spend their practice-free day doing some drills, so it only made it that much easier to get him to agree.

Helena was soaring in the air, going from one end of the pitch to the other to warm up a bit. She thought of herself as a good flier considering she never got to practice back in her muggle home.

Forgetting how much colder the wind was when it hit your face when flying, she regretted not bringing her scarf and maybe a pair of gloves the keep her warm but she tried not thinking about it too much. "Mind over matter... if you don't mind it doesn't matter!" her mother would tell her when she was young.

While on her broom, she peered down at the ground realising how far up she was and the bones she would break if she fell and prayed to God she didn't lose her balance when the twins tossed the Quaffle at her.

"Okay, Nina!" yelled George zooming up with his broom and the Quaffle in hand. "We're gonna start off by flying to that post-"

"-While taking turns to pass you the ball!" finished Fred also on his broom. "Just remember to keep a firm hand on your broom and hold the Quaffle to your side before tossing back to us!"

"Ready, Rosemund?" George waited for Nina's signal and then they were off.

Nina concentrated on Fred's advice and it made quite the change. At first the ball would bounce a bit in her hand before she got a good hold of it, tucking it close to her body and then throwing it to the other twin.

Once they reached the end of the pitch, George suggested that they try to fly faster and to throw the Quaffle at her with more distance between the three. The girl gulped at this but still agreed.

This time, Helena wasn't as successful. The flying ball would zoom past her making the other twin catch it instead. One time, Nina speed up a bit losing her focus and getting hit by the ball on her back. She cursed to herself when it happened. Not because it hurt, though it did. But mostly she felt bad for not getting it right.

"Ughhh! I suck!" she growled at the sky. She had taken her coat off because she was starting to sweat and needed to be able to move freely.

"You do," Fred said stopping his broom beside the  girl's. "But you got better! At least compared to last year."

"Yeah, Nina... you just need to practice some more," commented George taking the Quaffle from her hands since she was starting to lose her balance mid-air. "You could come to one of our practices so you can see what the Chasers do!"

"I appreciate that!" she smiled at them. "Looks like I need all the help I can get."

Nina, Fred and George continued to practice until it got dark and couldn't see what they were doing. The girl had certainly gotten better but she still had trouble catching the Quaffle at fast speeds.

So calling it a day well spent, they headed back to the castle for the Halloween feast. Every year, the Great Hall would be decorated with hundreds of candle-filled pimpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and many flaming  orange streamers, which were swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling like brilliant watersnakes.

Helena went upstairs to her room to have a quick change of clothes and later stood besides the twins grinning from ear to ear.

"What is that on your head?" asked George with a mouthfull of Cauldron Cake.

Fred turned to see what his brother was talking about and saw Nina sporting some kind of flat black hat.

"It's Halloween, so it's my Halloween costume!" she twirled right there on the spot causing a few weird and confused stares.