Love Made Us Blind

Marie-Adelaide looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. She was wearing her Quidditch uniform, getting ready for her first game. She remembered the last time she wore one, over a year ago, in a different colour. She had been so pleased at Draco's reaction back then, how he had seemed a little smitten with her. He often claimed she looked best in green but this morning, as she looked at herself, she disagreed. She looked her best in red. She was ready to join her team for one last briefing when Ginny came in. One could have expected that with Ginny's red hair, the flashy red uniform would be too much but it actually made her look as if she was on fire, ready to win.

"You got this." Alice said to her encouraging her teammate the most she could. Ginny knew the game relied on her catching the snitch as quickly as possible and she had been nervous about it all week.

"You got me?" She asked, smiling. Ginny had never expected to befriend the transfer from Beauxbatons. Not only was she a year younger and had barely no interaction with the half-French witch prior to her joining the team she couldn't imagine that a Death Eater's daughter who was voluntarily dating a bully could be nice. But during practice when they weren't flying, the black haired girl attempted a few polite conversations. After a few practices, Ginny eventually let her walls down a bit as the teammates bonded over DA and Quidditch. While they were a long way away from best friends, both girls had their own social circle, the redhead appreciated having a friend on the pitch, one that would protect her from incoming bludgers.

"I got you." Addie reassured her, as they high-fived, giggling

"Then I've got this."

The game was a complete blur for Marie-Adelaide. What was maybe a twenty minute game felt like five minutes. But then again maybe it was a good thing that the game was so short. The Gryffindor team spend the whole game being dominated by the Hufflepuffs. Kirke was absolutely abysmal, he could not hit the bludger to save his life, or the game, and managed to fall of his broom twice. Watching Ron was just as frustrating. He started the game pretty decent but after failing to save the goal twice in a row, his game went downhill. Like instructed, Alice kept her eyes on Ginny and made sure that no bludger came anywhere near her. Sadly this was not how she wanted to play her game. Had given the choice she would have spend the match trying to target key players: the chasers and the goalkeeper. She still managed to knock three players off their brooms temporarily, the keeper and two chasers, but felt she could have done more damage if she would have actively sought the bludger instead of waiting by her seeker. Ginny eventually caught the snitch but Gryffindor still lost but at least by only ten points.

"I should have caught it before" Ginny said under her breath as Alice hugged her once they landed on the ground.

"It was your first game, you did amazing." Alice responded but it didn't improve their humour. She saw Ron landing and quickly leaving the pitch as a chorus of Weasley is our king was heard from the Slytherin side of the stands. Alice didn't even bother to look, in fact she didn't glance once towards where her boyfriend could be sitting. Last thing she wanted as to see his smug smile as they were losing. Not that Alice could be too mad about it, after all with Gryffindor's defeat Slytherin was in favour of winning the cup.

"Good job Addie." Angelina cheerlessly said as they entered the locker room. She patted her Beater twice on the back and did the same to Ginny. Both girls smiled at their captain. Alice wanted to discuss her role but felt it should wait for a practice. When she changed out of her Quidditch robes and into a weekend attire she left the changing to find a group of Gryffindors waiting for their friends. They didn't look too happy but managed to crack a small smile to their team. Amid the crowd of lions, she noticed someone standing out, wearing a scarf that belonged to another house. Alice smiled and ran to Rachelle, so happy to see her. Both girls hugged as Rachelle was barely able to contain her excitement.

"Alice you were amazing!" The blond raved

"We lost" The Gryffindor reminded her, chuckling softly

"Only by ten points! And you were so graceful on your broom, hitting that ball towards other players!" Rachelle took a break as she clapped her hands "All that rolling around in the mud was worth it I guess!"

Alice laughed as she hugged her Ravenclaw friend again. Hayley came next and hugged her housemate also congratulating her on her game.

"Next time, it will go better I'm sure!"

"Let's hope so" Alice responded giggling. As Hayley was telling her something about the game, Alice didn't feel down by her team's defeat anymore. After all they did their best and it could have been a lot worst if Ginny had not caught the snitch. They were about to leave to go back to the school when to Alice's complete but pleasant surprise she spotted two boys with green scarfs.

"Theo, Blaise!"

Theo hugged the girl and gave a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"Alice. I didn't knew you had it in you to give out such a hit."

"I didn't believe it when Draco told me you would be a Beater. I'm quite impressed." Blaise laughing

"Well it's all about the technique, not just force." Alice replied as they started walking. "By the way, where is Draco?"

"I don't know he left the moment the game was over."

Alice didn't know if it should make her feel better. On one hand, the first thing she thought of was that at least he wasn't one of the Slytherins who were gleefully taunting Ron after the match. One the second hand if his friends could come to see her at the end of the game surely he could too. She knew the reason Blaise came was because Rachelle was already here but she appreciated Theodore for come to see her. She finally saw her boyfriend waiting at the entrance of the Great Hall.

"Good game." Draco whispered as he kissed his tired looking girlfriend

"You didn't come see me." Alice said, trying to keep her tone as little reproachful as possible.

"I was going to but then it hit me that the reason why you guys were so awful was partly my fault, I preferred not to flaunt myself in front of your frustrated teammates and housemates. After all the only reason you got to play today was because Potter and the previous Beaters almost killed me."

Frustration overtook Alice in an instant. If it wasn't for the fact that she was tired she would have probably snapped back that it was completely his fault because Harry nor the twins would have attacked Draco had he not been such a sore loser.

"I'm going to eat with my house and I still have to finish some homework afterwards. I'll see you tomorrow." Alice said as calmly as she could. They had just survived a whole week without getting into a major argument and after his previous comment her patience just got cut in half.

Alice entered the Hall and headed straight towards the Gryffindor table. She noticed Hayley and Rachelle sitting at the Slytherin table and felt a knot in her stomach. She wanted to hang out with them but she had already made it clear to Draco that she was not going to stick around him today. She fell on her seat besides Hermione, barely containing her rage.

"Addie are you okay?" Hermione asked, looking concerned

"I'm okay." The girl lied, filling her plate

"It's just a game, tomorrow everyone will have moved on-" Hermione started, a speech clearly prepared for Ron

"It's not about the game, I don't care about it." She snapped but regretted it the moment later. "It's just that..."

"Hey, hey, it's okay..." Hermione said as she put her arm around Alice

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have said anything." Alice was replaying the scene from two minutes ago. Had she not said anything about Draco not coming to see her, he maybe wouldn't have mentioned the incident after the first game. But it had been the way he said it that bothered her the most. She concentrated hard on holding back the tears she felt were coming. She was so hurt by what Draco said, why had everyone had been able to compliment on her play except for him?

"Do you want to talk about it?" Hermione asked very gently.

"It's nothing." Alice responded trying to smile.

Addie ate her meal as quickly as possible and went straight to the common room. The mood in the common room was rather dark so the girl didn't bother to stick around and went straight towards her dormitory for more privacy. Well as much privacy as one can have in a room shared by four other girls. A few moments later she heard someone get it.

"You don't look too well." Addie looked up at Hayley "What did Draco do?"

"He did nothing, I-"

"Alice you were fine after the match, smiling, talking. We leave you for what thirty seconds alone and you hide yourself in the Gryffindor's table."

"I didn't hide, I-"

"You completely avoided Rachelle and me."

"It's not you, it's just that..." Alice's mind blanked and without being able to give any excuse she blurred out the truth. "I didn't want to be near Draco." Both girls remained in silence as Alice tried to gather her thoughts.

"Do you feel like that often?"

"Every now and then. I sometimes just don't see the point of us being together. And I love him, I really do I'm just scared he doesn't love me."

"You should really talk to him about this Alice. It would clear so many things for you and it would let him know that you're not happy. I've seen the way you were with him at the beginning and how you are now."

Alice nodded, scared if she would say something her voice would crack

"Thank you" she managed to whisper, trying to hold some tears in.

Hayley sat down next to her on her bed and hugged her for a few seconds and left the dormitory to give her friend some privacy to sort out her feelings. The black hair witch ready herself to bed, exhausted by today's events both physically and emotionally. As she lay down in her bed, alone in the room, she took out her glass heart.

"Do you still love me?" She whispered before kissing the small object

A few moments later the heart started glowing. She picked it up and noticed a single golden word appeared.

"Always." Alice read before putting the heart on her nightstand "I want to believe you"