The Story of...
Chapter 3 - ...a Thinking Hufflepuff
Part One
Prompt: 56 - Poetry at
potterverse100 (lyrics by
doodlerific)
Word Count: 591
Rating: PG
Zach looked to be on his way to practice. A broom (he and Cedric never left their brooms with the others, claiming that it messed with the aerodynamics) and gear bag over one shoulder, he kept his gaze on straight ahead. If he’d bothered to look around, he would have seen the many girls watching him, their eyes riveted on the shoulders that were even now promising to be wide.
“Want to follow him out the pitch?” Susan asked. “Everyone else will be out there.”
Megan tried to look innocent but knew she only ended up looking ridiculous. “Why? I’m studying. It’s very important, this part of the year, to keep one’s head on one’s studies.”
“You keep using one like that and I’m going to go out there just to keep away from you.”
A curl fell into Megan’s line of sight and she blew on it. It had been a couple of months since she’d bothered to trim up her hair. The curls were rioting all over her head. Even more so when she took out her frustrations by pushing her hands through them, causing them to spring up even more like a brown halo. No angel would ever want this sort of halo, though.
“What did you get for the second question?” Megan asked, standing up off her seat to see what Susan was studying so intently. “That’s not Charms.”
“Sure it is.” Susan’s cheeks were a dull red color even though she was doing a masterful job of keeping her eyes blank. The book she was reading was not Charms nor was it anything to do with magic. A piece of notebook paper stuck up from the pages of Walking with the Yeti, a book that Susan had been reading a lot lately. This was the fourth time she’d checked it out of the library this month.
Seizing her moment, Megan grabbed for the piece of paper and read the first few lines.
She's a beautiful soul/ Searching for something she can't find
Everyday in everyway/ Reaching out to be known
“What is that?” she asked as Susan grabbed for it successfully. “It’s not your notebook paper. I’d recognize yours. That handwriting doesn’t look familiar either. It’s not from any one in this House.”
Susan gathered all of her books and pushed them haphazardly into her bag. “If you want to continue this conversation, you can find me on the Quidditch stands, watching Zach and Cedric practice. I’ve heard it might be warm enough for them to take off their shirts.”
With a sigh, Megan watched Susan walk away. She wanted to know who that poem was from and she wanted to read the rest of it. Susan had never blushed in her presence even though they’d talked about some pretty embarrassing topics, or so she had thought at the time. No matter what the topic, Susan was always witty and verbose.
“But she’s hiding something from me,” Megan mused. “I never thought she’d do that. And she knows I don’t want to be at the pitch right now. He’ll think I’m following him.”
If he asked, though, she could say that she needed to talk to Susan. Everyone had seen her walk out of the Common Room where the two of them had been studying. Plenty of people would corroborate her story if she needed them to. She was still safe if she decided to follow Susan. There was no way Zach would think she was hanging out to watch him, with his shirt or without.