Serendipity (Fred Weasley HP)

Chapter Six - Quidditch Grumbles

Halley had been feeling a little lost without the twins the past week. The first quidditch match of the season would soon be upon them and Oliver Wood had become frantic and twitchy. Not only was he now hovering over his team every chance he got but they were now practising almost every day in preparation for the match against Slytherin.

Halley and Lee, on the other hand, were keeping themselves busy with homework. They'd even said they'd help with the twins' workload since Wood was keeping them from finishing any of it. (Not that not doing their homework was a great loss in their lives)

The Gryffindor team had been forced into another early morning practice by Wood, so Hal sat with Violet at the Hufflepuff table, she was scribbling down things on her Astronomy chart while shoving a piece of peanut buttered toast into her mouth.

"Do you ever stop to breathe?" Vi asked as she mixed some honey into her porridge.

"I can breathe when I'm dead." The girl replied and wiped off a butter smudge from the corner of her chart then began scribbling down the names of the moons that she could remember off the top of her head.

"You're going to burn out if you don't take proper breaks, it's not even December yet and you're going a bit crazy." Hal sighed and put her quill down, stretching out her hand that was starting to cramp.

"You know I'm even dreaming about homework that's how bad it is. I just want to do well, I want to make Gran proud and I also have no idea what I want to do when I leave Hogwarts so I want as broad a range of subjects as possible so my choices aren't limited." Vi smiled sympathetically and gave the girl a quick side hug.

"Next to Alex, you're the smartest witch I know. You'll ace all your exams and kick our butts with your scores, you'll make your Gran proud and you'll go on to get an amazing job! Do you know how I know all of this? Because I'm amazing at Divination, so if I say it'll happen, it'll happen." Vi said brightly but with an undertone of 'don't argue with me' and booped Halley on the nose. "Hi, Ced." She smiled and waved the tall handsome fella over to sit. "Hal this is Cedric, Ced this is Halley, the one I always talk about."

"Nice to finally meet the famous Hal- oh is it okay if I call you that?" The Hufflepuff seeker smiled and held his hand out across the breakfast spread.

"Yeah that's fine, everyone else does, just don't call me late for tea." She said lamely as she shook his hand. Vi just looked at her with a bewildered expression and Ced cracked a smile that frankly made her insides melt. "Sorry, I think I've been hanging around Lee too long, his bad jokes are rubbing off on me. Her cheeks went a shade darker and looked down at her Astronomy chart, fixing a spelling error she'd seen.

"So did you hear? Slytherin pulled out of the Quidditch match on account of their seeker's broken arm, so Hufflepuff is playing Gryffindor this weekend." Cedric informed them which made Halley look up forgetting all about the planets and moons.

"Oh Woods going to be pulling his hair out, all I've had to listen to the past week is, 'Woods designed our whole play against Slytherin, we know all their moves and dirty little tricks.'" Vi just rolled her eyes and leant her chin in her hand.

"I don't get why he's so scrunchy about Quidditch, it's just a game." But that was the wrong thing to say. Both Cedric and Halley looked at her like they wanted to throw the porridge in her face. They proceeded to go on a rant about how Quidditch wasn't just a game, it was an institution, a place for athletes to shine outside conventional muggle sports. The fact that they were almost saying the same thing made Violet smile as if she'd just discovered a new type of plant in Herbology.

"Do you play?" Cedric asked, ignoring the looks that Violet was giving them.

"Oh no, I'm scared of heights, but I'm an enthusiastic supporter. Gran has taken me to a few professional games and we really get into it."