Four Hearts, Two Pathways

After all my classes were done, I was walking to the Qudditch pitch to see if I could practice some until I saw that Hufflepuff was here. I sighed and bit my lip turning back to the castle. I saw Potter and his gang coming towards me and what do I do? Turn towards the black lake.

Finding a safe spot to sit in, I opened my bag and pulled out my favorite muggle book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. As I read the words, I felt a presence next to me. I remembered what spot I was at and looked over to my right. There sat Harry Potter, the most famous student attending Hogwarts currently.

“Can I help you?” I snapped at Potter. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the book in my hands.

“Won’t you get kicked out of your house for having a muggle book?” asked Harry. I sighed, getting annoyed and put my book back in my bag quickly.

“Why does it matter to you, Potter? Won’t your girlfriend, Granger get upset for you talking to a Slytherin, especially one close to Malfoy?” I stood up and brushed off my robes while looking at Potter. He shrugged his shoulders, clearly not caring about anything and then it hit me. He was trying to get information out of me. “You know, if you came here for information about anything, you’re asking the wrong girl. I’m not close to Malfoy and never will be.”

Harry Potter sighed and got up, nodding. I smirked as I watched him saunter back to the castle. I slowly trailed after him while thinking about everything. Everyone automatically assumed I was in the wrong crowd just because I was friends with Draco. I wasn’t even technically friends with him; I was friends with one of his friends.

I looked at my watch realizing I was late for Quidditch practice, since Hufflepuff had finished. I ran through the halls to get to the dungeons but I had to be careful, prefects were out right now looking for people like me. I couldn’t afford to miss our first practice. I saw Blaise on my way and shouted something along the lines of, “Might be late, got caught up in a book,” towards him as I entered the girl’s dorms. I got to my bed where I saw my new Quidditch jersey sitting on my trunk.

After fully dressing and grabbing an old broom of Draco’s, I headed down to the pitch. My other teammates were still holding tryouts for a beater and a chaser. I motioned to Blaise to go up into the air to practice with me.

“Hey, Zephyr, what took you so long?” Blaise asked jokingly. I stuck my tongue out at him as I flew to the goal posts.

“I was reading by the black lake until Mr. Celebrity himself ruined it. What’s the whole big deal with him anymore?” I said as I stretched and ran through the hoops.

Blaise laughed at me as he grabbed the Quaffle. He asked if I was ready and I nodded. He started throwing the Quaffle at me repeatedly and I actually managed to block most of them.

“Not bad, Zephyr, at least you’re better than last year’s Keeper,” said Draco. I flipped him my middle finger as second and third years came up to try to get it through. Apparently this was the final test. “Get the Quaffle past the new Keeper and you’re on the team,” I heard Draco say from behind me. I groaned and prepared myself for the constant stream of Quaffle throws.

Luckily, I was better than I thought. I had not only managed to block the incoming attacks, but throw them back with more speed than before. We kept at this for an hour more, leaving one third year and two fourth years that appeared later.

“Come on everyone, we’re going to be late for dinner if we don’t get out of here now,” Blaise shouted by the locker room. I smiled and walked past my friend as he patted my back. The little things he and I did for each other were rare, as I was closed off to everyone, but he made me rethink how I acted around school.

After I was changed, I was being dragged to the great hall with Pansy and Millicent Bulstrode. Millicent and I argued more than Draco and myself. She was an arrogant, rude, and just overall nasty human being. She had a thought in her head for some reason that Blaise Zabini would want to snog her in the broom closet near the trophy room.

Throughout dinner, I had to ignore all the stares I was getting. I felt stares coming from the Gryffindor table along with stares from Blaise and Pansy. I excused myself early to go back to the dungeons early.

When I got to the dungeons, I changed into my pajamas and laid in bed, attempting to get some sleep but failing, seeing as how Millicent, Pansy, Tracey Davis, and Daphne Greengrass entered the dorms at the same time. I put my pillow over my head and finally drifted off to sleep.