- Chapter Eighteen -
"YES!"
"Is she dead?"
"She looks sort of...pale."
"Should we wake her up?"
"Mate, never wake up a girl."
"Well, I don't know what to do."
"She's gonna miss breakfast if she doesn't wake up."
The whispers that surrounded her made her eyes flutter open, she was facing the wall, covered in the comfortable extra blanket that she got from Sirius' as her head was buried deep in one of Peter's pillows. She made a slight movement and there was rustling from around the room whilst she sat up, running her fingers through her hair as she glanced around the room, seeing all the boys pretending to wake up too.
"Oh, hey Dora." Sirius fake yawned as he sat up.
"I know you were all awake." She said and they didn't bother to hide their mischievous laughs as they climbed out of bed, still all in their pyjamas that fit their personalities massively. Sirius was wearing a pair of black sweatpants with a big black shirt over his top half, James was wearing the same thing but with grey pants and a white shirt, Remus was wearing navy blue checked long-sleeved pyjamas and Peter was wearing a normal t-shirt with some plaid pants.
"Morning." Sirius sighed, stretching his arms back before looking at a calendar that hung over his bed. James also looked at the calendar and their eyes widened considerably.
"QUIDDITCH!" They both screamed at once and Elladora squeaked at the volume, wincing whilst she pulled the blanket over her head until they stopped screaming. The two boys seemed to be more woken up than ever as they practically bounced around the dorm, getting their normal uniforms ready as quickly as possible.
Elladora pursed her lips and got out of her bed that she made on the floor, stretching. She had been given James' shirt to wear, which was over-sized, due to the body difference. And she had also been given some of Remus' shorts to wear, they were rather comfortable.
"Why are they screaming?" She whispered to Remus, who was stood next to her, his bed being the closest to her blanket and pillow.
"Quidditch." He answered with a chuckle.
She had never been to a quidditch match, she didn't see the point in going, just a bunch of students riding around on brooms. Besides, who would she even support if she went, she didn't like any of the houses, not even her own. But it seemed that James and Sirius were both very passionate about it.
"Do they like watching it?" She asked.
"They like playing it." He laughed, watching his friends run around the dorm room. "Both of them are on the team, James is a chaser and Sirius is a Keeper."
"That's right!" Sirius called from across the room, hopping up and down whilst trying to pull on his sock. "Are you coming to watch?" He asked, leaning against one of the bed posts as he blew a strand of long hair out of his eyes.
"I don't know, I've never watched Quidditch before." She shrugged. "Accio fresh uniform." She said and not a moment later, clothes came smashing through the window, startling the boys as Elladora's hand grasped them.
She searched for the girls bathroom and slipped in without being noticed. Luckily there was a shower cubicle that she could lock up so no one would see her. It would be terrible if she was seen coming out of the boys dorm, rumours would fly around like pesky little mosquitos and she wouldn't be left alone.
The showers in the Gryffindor common room were much more relaxing than the ones in the dungeons, the water was warmer and even though she felt slightly out of place in there, it did her hair and her body lots of good. It was soft as the water trickled down her back, not like the cold pelting drops from the dungeons.
It seemed as though everything was better in Gryffindor. The showers, the porridge, the blankets, the pillows and the people.
Speaking of porridge, breakfast would start soon and she didn't want to miss it. So she quickened her pace and ran the hair products through her hair, using the body wash that was stored in the bathrooms. After she had gotten all the soaps and suds off of her, it was time to dry off and it was only then when she remembered she didn't have any towels with her. Great.
She decided to wait it out, just stand there whilst waiting for her body to dry, she had cast the drying spell on her hair so it was just her skin that needed all the moisture to disappear. Once it did, about 5 minutes later, she quickly changed into her Slytherin uniform and discretely sneaked out.
No one was in the boys corridor, but they might be in a minute so she decided to make a run for it, she rushed down the hallway, James' shirt and Remus' shorts in hand as she ran to the sixth-year room. She burst in and shut the door quickly behind her, breathing heavily as she turned to see Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes and Alice Fortescue staring at her. Her eyes widened as she realised that this was the girls corridor.
"How did you get in here?" Marlene asked skeptically with narrowed eyes as she stood up from her bed. Instead of answering, Elladora ducked out of the room, rushing back down the corridor and going to the left, where the boys dorms were.
Just as fast as she was last time, she burst into the right room and plopped straight down on one of the beds, covering her face with her hands in disbelief at what had just happened.
"Dora?" Peter stepped forward, coming to sit next to her. "What happened? Are you okay?"
The girl nodded and lifted her head, still alert and in shock that someone had spotted her. "I think you guys might have to talk to the sixth year girls." She said and they nodded in understanding, shaking their heads whilst chuckling.
•*•*•*•*•
Remus, Peter and Elladora were now walking down to the Qudditch Pitch. They had convinced the girl to come and watch the match, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw it was. Sirius had lent her his scarf so she could be wearing the respective colours for the team she was supporting. The boys had also explained to Lily, Marlene, Dorcas and Alice about what happened so they didn't question Elladora a lot, she didn't think she could handle that much attention. Four boys was enough.
It was also quite hilarious to see the Slytherins late for breakfast that morning, their hair disheveled slightly from cleaning up the toilet paper and the food splatters. Severus had glared at the five sat at the Gryffindor table, sparing an extra one to Elladora, he knew that she had given them the password, how else would they have got in?
Elladora was a little bit disappointed at Snape's glare, there was no chance of saving him now if he hated her. She would still try, but sometimes you just had to rely on somebody else's mind and hope that they're telling themselves the right things.
There was no time for being hung up on things that can't be reversed though, Elladora returned her mind to the present, she had never been this close to the pitch before and it was truly magnificent. It was. The goals stood tall, so did the towers where the staff would sit, and the students in different places.
Remus and Peter led her over to a tower that was covered with the Gryffindor colours as well as different symbols, they climbed up flights of wooden stairs and eventually secured three places right at the edge of the barrier, overlooking the massive field.
Elladora looked around in amazement, not bad. Then she made the mistake of looking down, they were so high up, nearly 30 feet off of the ground. It took her back to that night, when she looked down at the height from the astronomy tower, when she let her foot hover over the edge.
Remembering this, she squeezed her eyes shut tightly and grasped Remus' hand that was gripping the barrier. He glanced down at their hands, to her screwed up eyes and down to the ground. A small noise of realisation came out of his mouth.
"It's okay." He comforted, she opened her eyes slowly and removed her hand from his, not daring to look down again as she looked straight ahead, bouncing on her feet anxiously.
"Hello, and welcome to Hogwarts' first Quidditch game of the season! Today's game Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor!!!" Somebody and their voice echoed around the whole field as everyone cheered. It was so loud when the Gryffindors came out, soaring into the air and taking their positions. Elladora lifted a hand to her ear and winced at the volume. "The players take their positions as Madam Hooch steps out onto the field to begin the game."
Madam Hooch was a new teacher at Hogwarts, she had short spiky hair that she had died grey and piercing yellow eyes. She taught flying lessons as well as being the referee for the game. She kicked a trunk that was at her feet and two balls zoomed up into the air forcefully. Elladora's eyes widened as she watched them fly high, up past their eye-line.
"The bludgers are up...followed by the Golden Snitch. Remember, the snitch is worth 150 points. The seeker who catches the Snitch ends the game." The loud voice announced again and the girl leaned into Peter.
"Bludger?" She asked, confused. He explained that they were really heavy balls that had minds of their own and flew around the pitch wildly, trying to hurt the players. She regretted ever asking as she leaned back slightly.
"The Quaffle is released...and the game begins!"
Madam Hooch chucked an odd looking ball into the air and James, noticeable because of his round spectacles and the word 'Potter' on his back, zoomed forwards and grabbed it, flying away.
He rushed toward some goal points and threw it, watching as the Ravenclaw keeper failed to block the ball from going through. The crowd yelled deafening cheers once again and Remus and Peter both yelled for James.
"Did he just get a point?" Elladora asked loudly, trying to get them to hear her.
"He got ten!" Peter called out and clapped heavily.
The players chucked the Quaffle back and forth, both keepers from both houses kept blocking it. Some points went to Gryffindor and some went to Ravenclaw. The cheers kept coming and the shouting never stopped.
It only got hyped up for Elladora when the Ravenclaws started to play dirty, and she noticed the way they were whispering with each other. "They're going to try to knock James off of his broom." She said and the boys either side of her looked at her, shocked.
That is indeed what they tried to do, two of the man trailed after them as James was flying with the Quaffle. He seemed to know what was happening too as he glanced back and swore slightly under his breath, speeding up. More of them tried to gain on him.
"BLUDGER!" Elladora screamed, pointing to the ball that a Ravenclaw beater had swung in James' direction as the Chasers slowed down, leaving him in pure view.
James had heard her scream and just narrowly dodged the wild bludger. The crowd was even louder than usual as Elladora had joined in on the cheering. "YES!" She screamed, pumping a fist in the air. "YES!" She clapped her hands together whilst she watched Sirius block another goal, during the bludger fiasco, the Ravenclaws had been able to get the Quaffle, but another Gryffindor chaser grabbed it from Sirius' block and set off towards the Ravenclaw goals.
"You're really getting the hang of this cheering thing, aren't you?" Remus laughed, also clapping whilst Peter started whooping for their best friends. Elladora nodded with a slight twitch of the eyebrow, she suspected that her smile wasn't that far away, she just had to catch it.
After the game, Gryffindor winning 180-40, the three in the stands rushed down the stairs and onto the field where Sirius and James were embracing each other in a brotherly hug, laughing heartily. When they spotted the others running over to them, James squealed and ran straight to the girl in the middle, hugging her as he twirled her in the air. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." He praised, setting her back down.
She stumbled back slightly but nodded anyway, she didn't actually feel that uncomfortable with the contact. Maybe it was the adrenaline from Gryffindor winning the match, or maybe it was just the happiness that she could feel coming to her body. She didn't know what it was, but she never wanted it to leave as they held a group hug and swayed side to side, living in the moment.
•*•*•*•*•
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