Catch The Snitch

Sky trudged into the Great Hall, cup of coffee in a pristine cream mug, emblazoned with her family crest, in hand. She ran her hands through her messy brunette hair, having not even bothered to brush it. She wasn’t going to a dance…or a date. She didn’t need to dress up for anyone. Her bloodshot eyes scanned the hall before her, there seemed to be no one else around at this time (8:00am) on a Saturday morning. With a heavy sigh, she plopped down in a nearby bench, mug clanging loudly against the table.

Her hands started to shake as she set the mug down, trembling. The calm before the storm, the storm being the thing she would never tell anyone over her dead body. With a shaky groan, she pulled a small pocketbook out and began to read, muttering to herself as she did so. Stupid Potions project, which Sky would ace anyways. But her father had (thankfully) mailed her this pocketbook…his own special recipes….and she wanted to try something extra.

Quinn was one of those eccentric people who did regularly get up early, yet always appeared bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. It wasn't unusual for her to fly around the castle in the morning fog as her toes grazed the dewy grass, or indulge herself with an extra-long shower in the best shower stall mere non-prefect Gryffindor girls had access to, or just head to breakfast early to sample the first batch of pancakes and hog the maple syrup. Sometimes she got to do all of the above.

Spotting her dorm-mate up at an unusual hour, and therefore curious, she sat down opposite her. "Hey, Sky," she greeted. She thought it was weird for anyone their age to drink coffee, but she wasn't about to tease anyone about it (she was more of a hot cocoa person herself). More concerning though, was her friend's symptoms--symptoms she'd seen in the past. Almost monthly, in fact.

Her working theory, based on four years worth of observations, was that her friend merely had a peculiar set of PMS symptoms that were as-yet untreatable with potions. As such, she never pressed her for details or even commented about them. She didn't want her friend to feel any more awkward and uncomfortable than she already was. She just wished she could help.

Sky wasn’t usually a morning bird, usually a get-up-at-10-and-not-be-disturbed. When she was up this early…there were issues. But she knew that she needed all of the study time she could get before OWLs, even if those were a fair distance away. Her father always said “O or nunco”, which despite not being proper Spanish, was what she was indeed educated on. Parental pressure, love it. Hey, at the very least, the pressure had gotten her a nice bathroom, am I right?

Seeing Quinn up at this hour was not a shocker to the werewolf, for the girl always seemed to be somewhere. The extroverted cheery girl to her…sarcastic bitchiness. She’d taken a liking to Quinn, on friendly, if not “friends”, terms. Of course, she would never tell Quinn the truth. Not because she would care, Sky knew she wouldn’t, but what are the chances Quinn would be a blabbermouth? Also probably low, but again, no chances taken.

“Hey, Quinn.” She smiled softly back, sipping more of her coffee. She almost wondered if she wanted to get some cocoa for her friend at this early hour, but decided against it. Better not to get anyone anything if they don’t ask for it, her father always said. She stared at her shaking hands, before looking back up at her with luminous dark eyes. “God, sorry…I know I look like a nervous wreck..” She muttered under her breath, before realizing she’d said that out-loud.

She tried Wolfsbane Potion before, never seemed to work for her, or very little. It also tasted horrible, and Sky didn’t have the mental energy to endure that. If anyone asked, she said she had bad PMS and that was it. There were rumors of yet more anti-werewolf legislation in the works…at least…that’s what she heard…and if she was asked to leave? Sky honestly didn’t think she was going to know what to do with herself.

“I swear, I need to stop studying. Maybe it’s because I’m trying to one-up a certain someone, but eventually I’m gonna collapse from exhaustion.” She chuckled softly, musing mostly to herself. “Y’know?”

"Are you really blaming it on studying too late this time?", Quinn replied as she rolled her eyes.

After spreading butter on her pancakes, she looked both ways down the table, frowning. Then she turned to look at the Hufflepuff table behind her. "Aha!" She stood up to steal a jar of maple syrup while there were few witnesses. Returning to her seat, she proceeded to drown her pancakes in it.

"I've seen your symptoms before, and you always pull through, so I know enough not to be worried about them. I just wish I could help you somehow, because you seem to suffer so much from it all."

She took a generous bite of pancake and closed her eyes as the intoxicating flavor of maple syrup stimulated her tongue. Then she looked at Sky again while chewing, appearing contemplative.

"But now you've got me curious as to who this rival might be though. You're among the top in our year, after all. Is it someone who annoyed you somehow? Or are you just trying to get their attention?" She smirked.