January 10th, 1939,
Sophie and Marcella have been back for a few weeks now. They absolutely loved the presents I sent them. Tom has been wearing his new scarf, an indisputable sign that he liked it.
Our second term has begun and slowly the teachers are preparing us for the end of term exams.
---
"Ugh. Just think, in a few months we have to take our end of term exams," groaned Sophie as she sat outside, making snowballs that day.
"Double ugh," agreed Marcella.
Miriam wasn't too concerned about the tests. She usually did well in school and made good grades, so a little thing like the end of term exams wasn't high on her list of things to fret over. Another person she knew who in all likelihood wasn't worried about the tests either was her brother Tom. They were both favorites among the teachers for being incredibly intelligent and quick witted.
It was a cold, Saturday afternoon and Miriam and her friends were lallygagging around the front lawns making snowballs and talking about the impending end of term tests.
"I'm not too worried about them," Miriam answered as she made an egg-shaped ball.
"Well of course you’re not worried about them. You're smart, intelligent and bright, so a little matter like that isn't going to worry you," Sophie sighed as she tossed her snowball into a group of Slytherins.
Smiling, she watched her projectile land on Stephane’s neck and slide down his back, causing him to jump about ten feet into the air.
“Score!” she exclaimed as she watched Stephane shimmy and shake, trying to dislodge the cold, icy snowball from his back.
"You guys are smart, intelligent, and bright, too!" Miriam pointed out.
Marcella shook her head and replied, "You always get good marks from the teachers and the teachers absolutely love you and your brother. Meanwhile, we're just scraping by with barely passable grades."
Deep inside, Miriam knew she couldn't argue with her friends, even if part of what she was saying was true. The teachers loved having her and her brother in their classes and many have said that they were the two smartest kids in the whole school. Of course this led to some pestering generated by the Slytherins, but she learned quickly to ignore them. She knew the Slytherins could be downright vicious at times.
Watching Sophie’s induced debacle from afar, she grinned as Stephane angrily looked around to see who had pelted him with the snowball.
As her friends looked away, Miriam threw her egg-shaped snowball at the back of Stephan’s head. Laughing evilly to herself, she watched him furiously trying to wipe the snow off the back of his head.
An hour later, they sloshed their way back through the castle, hoping not to attract the attention of Moody, who would have killed them if he saw the soggy mess they made in the hallways.
Once they turned down a hallway, only a few corridors away from the entrance to the common room, they stopped dead in their tracks. Up ahead stood Tom, his wand pointed directly at a cowering Hufflepuff boy, his mouth curled into a twisted sort of face.
“Take that back!” She heard Tom shouting at the poor boy.
“I’m... I’m sorry!” the boy squealed, cowering into the wall.
“Thomas! What on earth are you doing?” Miriam yelled in disbelief. Tom looked up at her, a vacant expression on his face, but his eyes were ablaze. Pushing the boy away, he stormed off, barging his way by Miriam, causing her wet feet to slide out from under her.
“What do you think happened?” Sophie asked, eyes wide in amazement.
Guesses swirled through her head, but none of them could explain Tom’s demeanor.
February 14th, 1939,
Today is Marcella's birthday and Valentine's Day as well, and since it was a holiday, Sophie colored the food on Marcella’s and mine plates for the occasion, which of course was also a special treat for Marcella’s birthday. Sophie also sprinkled pink and red confetti over our section of the table.
And just for the record before I forget... I met my first ghost today.
---
While Miriam walked to the Great Hall for breakfast that morning, she was suddenly stopped by something iridescent in front of her. Looking up, she came face-to-face with a ghost in period clothing.
“Why, hello, young Miss!”
She looked up into the pale, translucent face of a man.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
Miriam gaped at the ghost before replying, “M-M-Miriam R-R-Riddle.”
“Hello Miriam!” the ghost smiled. “I’m Sir Nicholas de Mimsey Porpington, but you can call me Nick for short. I’m also the Gryffindor house ghost.”
“Hello Nick,” she replied, starting to ease up around the ghost. “What’s a house ghost?”
“Every house here in Hogwarts has an official ghost, of sorts. I’m Gryffindor’s ghost. First year, I presume?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Ah. I would have been here to see the Sorting ceremonies last September, but I had an all-important meeting with the members of the Headless Hunt. Funny how those months just flew. Unfortunately they still denied my request to join!”
“What do you mean by Headless Hunt?”
Nick lifted up his head to reveal that his head was nearly severed off.
“Just a bit of skin holding it on. They don’t consider it nearly good enough, I guess.”
Miriam felt green around the gills. That had to be the most disgusting thing she had ever seen in her life.
“I better be off. Good day to you Miriam. Oh, and do be careful of Peeves.”
“Who’s Peeves?” she asked.
“Peeves is a poltergeist.” A loud crash came from the floor above them. “A very noisy and disruptive poltergeist. Best not to get tangled up with him,” Nick sighed. “I better go see what he got himself into now.” He disappeared into the wall beside him, much to the astonishment of Miriam.
As she continued her walk to the Great Hall, she met up with Abby, who was blushing from ear to ear.
"You're really happy," Miriam said with a grin.
"Oh, I uh... didn't see you there," Abby replied blushing, while trying to conceal something she had in her hand. Miriam noticed it and from the quick peek she got of it, it looked like a note or something.
"You got a secret admirer?" Miriam asked, still grinning. Abby suddenly turned a darker shade of red.
"How'd you guess?" she questioned.
"It's kinda obvious," Miriam said. "It's Valentine's Day, you're blushing, and you have a note in your hand."
"You're very observant," Abby answered. She looked at the note again and heaved a sigh. "If only I knew who sent it."
"Who would you like it to be from?"
Abby sighed again. "Well... there was that cute Quidditch captain on the Ravenclaw team. I think he likes me.... Well, I’m not exactly sure he does. He talks to me from time to time, but I don't think that equates to him liking me. Besides, someone like him would probably be too busy to write to someone like me... let alone on today of all days."
"Don't say that. You’re smart, pretty, and he’d be a dang fool if he didn’t like you,” Miriam said.
Abby smiled, as her cheeks went a shade darker. "You're absolutely right!"
Together they walked into the Great Hall, both unaware of Sophie’s transformation of the Gryffindor tables for the holiday. Upon entering, their eyes met the decked out table. "Wow” was the only thing they could muster.
As they passed by the Slytherin table, Miriam overheard someone make a gagging sound. "Talk about pukey," she heard someone say. Miriam looked over and saw it was Tom who had said it. He sat there, boredom written all across his face as sat with his legs crossed, kicking his right foot slightly. Carrey was pretending to vomit.
Miriam rolled her eyes and continued walking toward the Gryffindor table. Boys have no appreciation for cute stuff like this at all, she thought.
"Guess what?" Sophie said to Miriam when she and Abby finally made it to their table. Miriam obviously didn't know what was ‘what’, so she asked her what she was talking about.
"Today is Marcella's birthday," Sophie replied. "Peter was nice enough to light a candle for us to stick in her French toast." Miriam looked over and saw a candle sitting in the middle of Marcella's uneaten French toast.
"I was waiting for you to come before I blew it out," Marcella said. "But now that you're here....” She closed her eyes and blew out the candle. Miriam, Sophie, and Abby then went into a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday.”
March 18th, 1939,
Spring is slowly starting to arrive. The days are beginning to feel warm and the snow is melting. Abby is very excited.
This Saturday is the final Quidditch match of the season and it will be Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Whoever wins will get the Quidditch cup. Professor Dumbledore has made it a point not give the Gryffindor students any extra homework for the week leading up to the game. He informed them one day after class to "practice hard and play like champions."
Tension between the two houses are at an all time high. Not one Gryffindor or Slytherin can walk in the hallway without exchanging an insult (or worse, a hex) from the other. At least five students have been sent to the infirmary from being hit by one. It’s unfortunate for me to write that Tom was a perpetrator in one of those cases. I was walking out of the library the other day and apparently a Sixth year Gryffindor girl was mocking him over the upcoming match. Mind you, Tom can have a bit of a short fuse at times, and well... he hexed her with the ‘furnunculus’ curse. Sad to say, she’s still in the infirmary with some rather nasty boils on her face.
The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs are afraid to even be in the same room with a Gryffindor or Slytherin as they're worried they might become the unfortunate recipient of an unwanted hex. Luckily, the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs are generally on friendly terms with us Gryffindors and are supporting us to win the Quidditch cup.
Apart from that, Tom won’t even meet me in the library after class anymore. I made him promise me that when all this absurdity has stopped we would resume our meetings. He reluctantly agreed.
The school has gone into complete pandemonium....
---
That day after school, Miriam decided to go out and watch the Gryffindor team practice as she wasn't meeting her brother in the library anymore.
Miriam found a vacant seat up in the middle of the stands. Although she was a fair distance from the ground, she could still make out Abby standing in the middle of the field, leading her team through many excruciating drills and exercises. At that moment they were in the middle of doing pushups.
"C'mon team!" yelled Abby. "If we want to beat those slimy Slytherins this Saturday, we're gonna have to work hard for it!”
Even from up in the stands, Miriam could hear the rest of the team grumble.
“Bloody hell you guys, don’t give me that poppycock!” Abby huffed with her hands on her hips. More grumbling emanated from the team.
“Oh, alright,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. “We’ll stop the exercises for now. Let’s just practice our technique on passing the Quaffle. Everyone mount your brooms on push off into the air."
The other players and Abby were soon in the air passing around a red ball that was the Quaffle. Once Abby and her team practiced that move, she announced, "Now let's divide into two teams and play a practice game against each other."
Miriam watched them for another hour eventually realizing that her stomach was rumbling. It was nearing dinnertime! Abby must have realized the time too, as she announced that practice was over with for the day, amid cheers from the team.
Miriam rushed down the steps and met up with Abby on the ground. "I saw your practice today. I just know that Gryffindor is going to win!"
Abby beamed at her. "We have the best team, so I know we’ll win... or else!" she yelled as she glared at the rest of the team.
~*~
Saturday came around and all of Hogwarts was in a Quidditch frenzy. As Miriam came down for breakfast, she noticed that everybody was wearing a red and gold pin that read "Go Gryffindor!" Even the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were wearing "Go Gryffindor" pins.
The only ones who weren't wearing them were the Slytherins. They had their own “unique” pins that blinked and flashed the saying "Go Slytherin! The Gryffindors are losers!"
"Ugh," Abby scowled as she looked with disgust at the Slytherins and their insulting pins. "The only ones who are losers are them for wearing something so horrendous." She looked at Miriam and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, uh, Miriam, I wouldn't look to your right you if I were you," Sophie said who was sitting next to Miriam and Marcella.
"Why?" she asked curiously.
"Uhhh... just because," Sophie replied. She gave Marcella a cryptic look. Marcella got the hint and quickly looked to her right and nearly gasped. She saw Tom sitting at the Slytherin table with hands clasped behind his head, proudly wearing one of the "Gryffindors are losers" pins.
Not following Sophie's advice and letting curiosity get the better of her, Miriam looked to her side saw the same thing Marcella had. Her temper suddenly flared up inside her. Before Marcella or Sophie could react, Miriam was up and heading straight over to the Slytherin table. She walked around the table and stopped directly behind Tom. She tapped him on the shoulder and slowly he turned around and came face to face with his irritated sister.
"So," she said, looking at him squarely in the eyes, "you think that Gryffindors are losers, huh?"
“I’m sure you must know that Gryffindor has absolutely zero talent in Quidditch ““
"What?!" she spat angrily. “Where do you come up with such ludicrous theories?!”
“It’s rather obvious, isn’t it?” Tom replied, his temper cool, calm, and collected, which further infuriated his sister. “You really shouldn’t let a silly little pin get to you like that.”
"Oooh,” chorused the Slytherins while over at the Gryffindor table Marcella and Sophie watched with bated breath.
Miriam stormed away from the Slytherin table and headed back to her house’s table, leaving Tom with a smug expression on his face. She didn't say anything to anyone and remained very quiet for the rest of the meal.
After breakfast, Miriam got up and left the table leaving Sophie and Marcella behind. "Where is she going?" Sophie asked. Marcella shrugged. "I don't know, but the game will be starting soon!"
A little while later, Miriam appeared again. The game hadn't started yet, so she still had time to make it to the Quidditch pitch before the game started. As she headed up the steps to meet with her friends, a few people stopped and stared at her. She knew exactly what they were gazing at. She grinned as she continued proudly walking up the stairs.
"Hey Miriam!" Sophie said. "Where have you been?"
Miriam smiled mischievously and replied, "Simply adjusting my pin." She held it up as it read "Go Gryffindor! Those slimly Slytherins are the REAL losers!"
Sophie and Marcella burst out into laughter.
"After breakfast I headed back to the common room and that’s when I modified it," Miriam replied as she wiped tears of laughter from her face.
Before long, Professor Luchtig had made her way out onto the field carrying a large, dark-brown trunk. The game was beginning!
"Let's have a good natured and clean game, okay?" Professor Luchtig ordered, staring at the two captains. "Please shake hands." Abby extended her hand and shook it with the short, brown-haired Slytherin captain whom everyone knew as Stephane Lestrange. Abby hastily pulled back her hand and grasped it. The jerk squeezed Abby's hand so tightly, she thought it was going to pop right off.
"Everyone mount your brooms!"
Each teams seven players were in the air. "On the count of three.... One... two... THREE!" Professor Luchtig blew her whistle and released the balls.
"The game begins with Abby grabbing the Quaffle from right under the Slytherin teams’ nose!" Patrick Jones said. "Wow! Abby Bones is really flying fast! Oh my, she scores only ten seconds into the game! Ten points for Gryffindor!"
Everyone in the stands cheered, that is, except for the Slytherins.
The game went on and each player on both teams fought tooth and nail for the victory. When Gryffindor scored, the Slytherins would turn around and score, tying the game up again. The game proved to definitely be a nail-biter.
Eventually the game was one-hundred to one-hundred and everyone in the stands were sitting on edge. The game had been going on for a couple of hours and the players were getting exhausted and tired. Fatigue was setting in, Miriam could tell, as Abby didn't quite have the same vigor she had at the start of the game.
"Abby has the Quaffle... she shoots... aw, she misses. Better luck next time Abby! This is the longest game Hogwarts has seen in some time. In order for it to end, one of the teams’ Seekers must find and catch the golden snitch to earn their house one-hundred and fifty points. Gryffindor’s and Slytherin’s Seekers are both pooped from the never-ending search for the snitch. Finding it will certainly be a chore now."
Miriam, Sophie, and Marcella anxiously watched, each hoping the Gryffindor Seeker would find the snitch before the Slytherin team did while over on the Slytherin side, Tom and his friends were pulling for Slytherin to find the snitch first.
Just when everyone thought the game would surely go on forever, they all received a surprise. "The Gryffindor Seeker has found and caught the snitch! Gryffindor will receive one-hundred and fifty points and win the game and trophy!"
Deafening cheers went up through the stadium as all the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs all clapped and yelled. With all the cheering going on, no one could hear the boos and hisses coming from the Slytherins.
Miriam and her friends were beside themselves with glee as they jumped up and down in their seats.
"First-rate party!" Sophie exclaimed later that night. The entire Gryffindor team was throwing an enormous celebration in the common room to celebrate them winning the Quidditch cup. It was a huge festivity as Slytherin had won the Qudditch cup the last seven years, so this was quite a huge thrill for the Gryffindors.
A few of the team players had managed to bring in a whole buffet of food and drinks for everyone. This was certainly a much bigger party than the one they had at the start of the Quidditch season. It was a good thing the next day was Sunday as the party lasted well into the night.
Everyone in Gryffindor House slept in the next morning as they were all thoroughly exhausted from the merrymaking of the night before.