The Snitch and the Bludger

The Snitch and the Bludger

Chapter 1

"You've made it!"

Julia was jumping up and down with excitement. Gilderoy smiled.

"Gryffindor Seeker," he repeated.

"This is wonderful! I'm so happy for you!" She was indeed, and she didn't even grumble at the smug way he pronounced his house's name.

"Blaikley said I was perfect, and that the position had to be mine."

"You deserve it."

He smiled again. He loved to receive compliments, but when they came from Julia they sounded even more special; perhaps it was the fact that she was his best friend (his only friend, actually, but he would never admit it, not even to himself).

"I wish I could have seen you wiping the smile off bloody Martin's face," Julia continued. "She was so certain she would get the position."

It was no secret that Julia hated Dara Martin, especially after the Gryffindor girl had said that she looked like "an orange sheep" in their first year. In reply, Julia had punched her in the nose, which resulted in her getting detention. More exchanges of insults and punches followed, the last one during a Herbology class the previous week, when Dara made Gilderoy trip over a Skunk-Shrub and received Julia's elbow in her stomach in return.

"She didn't show up," Gilderoy admitted.

"What? But she wouldn't miss this."

"Well..." Gilderoy paused. "She's at the hospital wing."

Julia stared at Gilderoy's guilty expression.

"What did you do?" she asked, with a menacing voice.

"I didn't do anything," he said, but his face reddened. "She drank something that didn't agree with her."

"What did she drink?"

"Pumpkin juice."

"Pumpkin juice?"

"Yeah."

"How can you get sick from drinking pumpkin juice?"

"Er... It seems like it was mixed with some... er... laxative potion... extra strong and concentrated."

Julia's expression had darkened by now, and Gilderoy was beginning to feel scared.

"You didn't, did you?" she asked.

"Er..."

"Why?"

"Hm."

"Just to get the Seeker position? But you're better than her, anyway! Blaikley himself said you were perfect."

"Why are you so upset? You can't stand her anyway."

"You don't get it, do you? You just don't get it!" She was absolutely furious by now. Gilderoy took a step back, but tried to make her see his point.

"Jules, you know I had to get this. You know what my dad's like. If he-"

But before he could finish, a fist came his way, knocking him to the ground. After some blurred seconds, he regained his vision in time to see Julia running back to the castle, looking absolutely furious.

***

Gilderoy didn't see Julia again until dinnertime. He smiled her way, only to receive an angry glare in return. At the end of the meal, he got up and followed the second-year Hufflepuffs as they were leaving the Great Hall.

"Can we have a word?" he said as he approached her. She kept walking.

"Tell him I don't talk to cheaters," Julia said to her friend Rosie Appleton, who was walking next to her.

"She doesn't talk to cheaters," Rosie said to Gilderoy, grinning. It was obvious that Julia hadn't told her about Dara Martin, but she had sensed something was wrong.

"I'm not a cheater!" he complained.

"Tell him that when people use laxative potions to keep away competition, they're cheaters," Julia again said, staring blankly in Rosie's direction.

"When people use -"

"I got it!" He interrupted her. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"Ask him why he's apologizing to me."

"Why are you -" Rosie began again.

"What do you want me to do, apologize to Dara?"

"Yes," she said, finally looking at him.

"Why?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

He smiled. "Only if you apologize to her as well."

She stopped. "Why should I apologize to her?"

"Er, for punching her? All those times?"

"She deserved it!"

"Well she deserved the potion, and you know it! Remember Herbology class last week?"

She crossed her arms in exasperation. "Okay," she said. "Let's go and apologize, then."

"Why are you so obsessed with the idea of apologizing to stupid Martin?" Rosie asked.

"He's supposed to be a Gryffindor, right?" Julia replied, turning to her. "Then it's time he starts acting like one."

Rosie rolled her eyes. After a year of knowing Julia, she should have been used to her annoyance towards the Gryffindor house and everybody in it - except Gilderoy.

"I'll go with you, then," she said. "I'm sure it's going to be a show I can't miss."