Rose picked herself off the ground, straightening to her full height and brushing dirt off her skirt. She glared at the tea kettle sitting at her feet in the grass, filling her gaze with her disdain. "I hate portkeys."

"Me too," I said, still lying on my back where I'd landed, staring up at the clouds.

"Too bad we have to take one home again," said Albus. He reached over and picks a twig out of Rose's hair, which she had pulled up into a bun on the top of her head.

"That was an unnecessarily bumpy landing," said Rose.

Scorpius, besides me in the grass, poked the tea kettle with his shoe. "I don't think the portkey's going to apologize, Rosie."

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

"Several thousand," said Albus. He appeared in my line of sight, blocking the clouds, and offered me a hand, which I accepted. Once I was on my feet, my cousin stuck his hands in his pockets and started down the hill without another word. Rose and I exchanged a look before following him without offering a hand to Scorpius, who yelled after us. The three of us laughed, but waited for him to catch up.

It was an unusually warm day for England, even in the summer, but it didn't keep Scorpius from wearing a scarf, albeit loosely around his neck. He was just as incapable of properly wearing a scarf as he was his Hogwarts school tie.The pleasant breeze blew Scorpius's hair into his eyes as we walked together in a tight knit group. I reached out to ruffle it, persevering as he tried to duck out of my reach.

"You need a haircut," I said.

He shook his head to get his hair out of his face. "No, I don't."

Albus snorted, Rose laughed.

"Okay, okay, changing the subject," said Scorpius, turning slightly red. "After all, this is hardly the place to get into a conversation about my hair."

He stopped walking and threw his arms out wide in front of him, encompassing the entirety of the Quidditch pitch in front of us. The stadium was the biggest thing for miles, beating out even the tallest of the pine trees surrounding us. The rest of us kept moving as Scorpius stopped, Albus grabbing him by the arm and dragging him along to keep him from getting trampled by the other wizards and witches trying to make their way inside. Scorpius let himself be dragged along backwards, Albus's hand firmly around his upper arm, and continued walking that way for a few steps even after he was relinquished.

"Turn around," said Albus. "You're going to trip and fall."

"Aye aye, " said Scorpius, turning on his heel.

As we got closer to the entrance, more and more little stalls popped up, people trying to sell us merchandise every way we look. Figurines of the players for today's match flew around one stall, darting in and out of the crowds going past, trying to entice children into grabbing them so their parents would be forced to fork over galleons. Another stall offered flags and banners to wave in support, one that continuously burst with light was kept farther back from the crowds. I craned my neck to try and see what it was.

"Esther," said Scorpius, his hand on my shoulder, "how many galleons do you have?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, suspicious. "About thirty."

"About thirty," he said, "is going to be nowhere near enough."

"I'm not buying you anything."

"Not what I meant."

"Esther, he's a Malfoy," said Albus. "Have you seen his house? He can buy whatever he wants."

"He's a Potter," retorted Scorpius. "Have you met his father? He can buy whatever he wants. But, Esther, honestly? Only thirty?"

"I'm trying to budget. I only have so much to spend and I have to wait until the end of the summer to get more off my parents."

"You've never been to a Quidditch match before," he said. "You're going to want to buy everything, trust me. Do you not see these stalls?"

I looked at the figurines zooming on miniature broomsticks above our heads with envy, but tried to steel my resolve. "I don't know."

Rose rolled her eyes at Scorpius, siding with me. "The fact that she's going to want to buy everything is exactly why she isn't bringing too much money. It's to keep herself from spending too much."

"Thank you," I said, gesturing victoriously at my cousin. "That's exactly what I was thinking."

Scorpius sulked. "All I wanted was to urge you to spend all your money like a bad friend."

"Sorry," I said.

I glanced over my shoulder at the crowd of people spanning as far as I could see. "How are we ever going to find Holly and Sawyer in this? It would be much easier if you witches and wizards would suck it up and accept some muggle technology."

Scorpius pulled a face. "Why?"

"Cellphones would be handy right now," I said, "though I doubt I'd get service out here."

Rose waved away my concerns. "They're going to meet us at our seats, remember? People are able to find each other without using cellphones."

"We could apparate," suggested Albus.

"Great idea!" exclaimed Scorpius. "You know, if we were allowed to do that."

"Is it always this crazy?" I asked. "Not about the apparating. It's just that I wasn't exactly expecting this many people to be here. This isn't even a very important match."

"It's a much bigger pitch than the one at school," said Rose. She strained her neck looking up towards the top of the stadium. "If that's the only one you've seen in real life, you must've been completely unprepared."

Scorpius elbowed me in the side. "We're not like you muggles with your thousands of different sports. This is it. Don't like Quidditch? Tough luck. Though such people don't exist. Imagine not liking Quidditch. Ridiculous."

Rose went to say something, but Albus shut her up before she could begin. "It's the only popular sport," he said. He watched Scorpius pull off his team scarf and wave it in the air, sighing good-naturedly. "I think it was a mistake to bring him along. He's too..."

The crowd had stopped moving as we lined up to enter the pitch, but Scorpius kept going, scarf waving. We watched as he bumped into a witch holding hands with her young son and almost caused a very long chain of human dominoes. He apologized profusely to the family in front of us; Albus and I dissolved into laughter.

"Exuberant," said Rose, crossing her arms decisively. "He's much too exuberant."

~~~

I'd been in football stadiums before with Dad, back when he'd attempted to get me interested in the sport. London stadiums were large, but close to the ground. The stands of the Quidditch stadium were stacked almost vertically, a steep slop towards the bottom of the pitch. I put both hands firmly on the railing before leaning forward to try and look down. I quickly stopped doing that. The drop was a long one. The stairs hadn't been fun and I was going to be slightly paranoid about falling for the entire game, but I was sure the view we'd get of the match would be incredible.

"This is so exciting," said Holly, her hands in fists that shook with her happiness.

"You think everything is exciting," said Sawyer.

"Yeah," she responded. "That's because everything is. I dare you to tell me you're not excited, too."

He looked out over the pitch with just as much awe as I did. "You've got me there, Holls."

"It's the opposite of a football stadium," I observed out loud. "The cheapest seats are closer to the bottom."

Scorpius was leaning back in his seat, feet propped up on the one in front of him, which was currently unoccupied. "That's because Muggles don't play their sports in the air, Dursley."

"I'm aware," I said, "Malfoy. So. Who are we supporting today? Harpies or Cannons?"

Scorpius started to laugh, even as he struggled with opening his chocolate frog. I gave him a quizzical look, but Holly and Sawyer also looked vaguely confused, so at least it wasn't due to my being a muggle that I was lost.

"That's a point of some contention," explained Rose.

Albus leaned forward so he could look past Rose to Scorpius and I. "Mum used to play for the Harpies," he said.

"Oh, I knew that. That's how we managed to get such good seats, isn't it?"

"Well, that and her journalism," said Rose. "Dad's favorite team has always been the Cannons."

My eyes widened in understanding. "So that's what they were fighting about the other night at dinner. I was completely lost."

"Right," said Rose. "I've practically been threatened to support the Cannons. I told Dad I'd rather not choose a side."

Sawyer leaned over. "What'd he say to that?"

"I'm too much like my mum."

Albus shrugged. "It's not like it's much of a competition, is it? The Cannons haven't won in years and the Harpies have always been good."

"Did your mum bribe you to say that?"

"No," he said, "it's true."

Rose turned in her seat to better argue with him. "The Cannons have almost an entirely new team," she said. "Dorkins finally pulled together and hired all new chasers."

"Only several decades too late," said Holly.

"He's getting on a bit now, isn't he?"

"That doesn't matter, Albus."

He shrugged.

Rose continued, "The new chasers have to make a difference. There are three of them, making them the most populous position. An improvement there is bound to rejuvenate the entire team."

"Bound to rejuvenate the entire team," Albus echoed, in an insulting imitation of Rose's voice. She scowled at him, but he ignored her, asking, "Did your dad bribe you to say that?"

"No," she said, crossing her arms, "it's true."

"Is their seeker any good?" I asked, before they could continue their fight.

The chocolate frog box burst open all at once. With the reflexes of a seeker, Scorpius caught the frog before it could land on the nest of Holly's hair. "Dreadful," he said. "The seeker, that is."

"Well," I said, "there are other ways of winning."

They all laugh. If anyone knew that, it was me.

~~~

When the match started, I was caught off guard for a moment by where I was.

Yes, the crowd was huge. Yes, this was the first professional Quidditch match I had ever attended. Yes, I had been excited about this for a while. But I looked around the box I was standing in with my friends, cheering the appearance of the two lines of players on the pitch so far below. Rose and Albus were still bickering besides me about which team we should support; Holly's hair bounced as she did, just as enthusiastic as she was about everything; Sawyer stood more reservedly, careful now that he had already almost toppled over the banister in his characteristic clumsiness; Scorpius had stuffed his face with chocolate frogs already and was even more hyper than he had been before. And then there was me, the muggleborn, the one who knew nothing compared to these others about the wizarding world, who had been a sideline part of it for six years now but who had never truly been integrated. Me, who was being brought to this match by all of them because they wanted to see me outside of school.

I couldn't recall ever having had friends like that in the muggle world.

In the end it didn't matter who we supported. I cheered for each team, but most of all the keepers, having a natural bias towards that position. We chanted with both sides, we danced at each goal, booed every foul. I bought two of the figurines I had been coveting, one of each team's keeper. I wanted to keep things - like the Hufflepuff I am - fair.

In the end it didn't matter who we supported, as it wasn't the match that was important but what had made it happen: my friendships with these people I was surrounded by.

~~~

The summer was spent playing Quidditch with my cousins, staying up late reading with Rose, beating Hugo at wizard chess, setting up elaborate pranks with Albus. I helped my aunt cook and ate around a bustling table with the side of the family I had been ostracized from for so long. I visited Sawyer's home and got to properly meet his dads, I nearly got lost in the mess of Holly's room.Scorpius was always around, hair always a mess, somehow more himself when not limited to a wardrobe of school robes, able to romp around in t-shirts and sweaters and jeans. The last few days before we were shipped back to Hogwarts were spent noisily completing all the summer homework we had neglected until then, laughing and joking and helping one another across the long kitchen table.

In short, it was one of the greatest summers I had ever spent, but it wasn't all good.

I almost felt guilty for enjoying myself, thinking of my parents spending most of it alone. I loved them and had a happy life with them. On the other hand, though, I was a witch and the lifestyle they lived didn't leave much room for witches. I couldn't let Pavo fly too freely or practice my goalkeeping or eat candy that hopped around the room in company.

That wasn't the only issue, either. As the summer drew to a close, I became more and more aware of the fact I was entering my final year of Hogwarts, about to start studying for N.E.W.T.s and choose a definitive career path and have to make a lot of decisions. A lot of decisions that seemed very important.

I knew that for my friends - Sawyer and Scorpius and the rest of them - it was hard. But they weren't caught between two worlds, muggle and witch, family or friends, in the way I was. No matter what they chose, they wouldn't have to hide who they were. They could live comfortably in the wizarding world, never bother with muggles if they didn't want to.

I didn't know that I could make that choice, but also didn't know that there was an alternative. I was a witch. I had studied at Hogwarts for six years now. I couldn't exactly go back to the muggle world and get a job there. They wanted A Levels and GCSEs, not O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. Yet that world was the one in which I was initially raised. Could I erase a part of my life just like that?

"Rose?" I asked one night as we read together in her room.

"Yes?"

"What are you studying to be?"

She closed her book to think about it. "I think I would like to go into the Ministry, like my Mum. Make a difference in the world, you know? I don't know whether I can do anything as drastic as they did, of course, but I can start small."

"That sounds good," I said.

"What about you, Esther?"

I liked Potions class a lot and wasn't half bad at Charms, but I found my mind going blank with the question. "I don't know," I told her. "I don't know at all."