As I entered the fields of hills that sat outside of Hogsmeade, I heard some bickering to my left through a clearing of some rundown wooden fences. I held my eye up to a cracked hole in the wood.

"What's with you, Magdalene? Why can't we just take a day to relax and blow off some steam?" Oliver yelled.

"Oliver! You're not doing very well in your classes. We shouldn't be out in Hogsmeade so I can watch you drink a dozen butterbeers!" Magdalene shouted back.

Oliver and Magdalene were standing a few feet apart in a field, where the grass was somewhat maintained. Although I saw some movement far behind Oliver on the left in the thick, tall grass.

"Pft. I wouldn't drink a dozen butterbeers. Besides, babe, who cares about school. If you're lucky enough to marry me, I'll be paying for everything with all the money earned from my Quidditch career!" Oliver snarled, getting right up close to Magdalene's face as she backed away.

"Luxino prement!" a voice shouted from the left.

A sparkling pebble of light shot through the field, hitting Oliver directly on the back of the neck.

"Ow! What the devil was that?" Oliver spun around, Leon, Johnny, and Sable were snickering up a storm.

Magdalene breathed a sigh of relief and glanced over to her left, and I swear she saw me through the crack of the fence. The edge of her lip pulled up in a half-smile.

"Yeah, yeah! Laugh it up while you can, wankers! Tomorrow on the Quidditch field, I'll be cracking up at the three of you tossers!" Oliver glared at Magdalene. "And you're just gonna let them play pranks like that, are ya?"

"It's just a stupid light pinch spell. It barely hurts. What do you want me to do?" Magdalene furrowed her brow.

"I don't know! A curse or something, really mess with their heads!"

Magdalene scoffed.

"Luxino prement!" this time, I saw Sable shoot out the pebble of crackling light at Oliver with her wand. It struck the back of his neck again, making his face flush tomato-red.

"That's it!" Oliver charged after them, and that's when I clambered over the fence and landed on the grass with full balance.

"Knock it off! All of you, let's not do something we'll regret later."

Oliver scowled at me. "Oh, this is rich, coming from the damn yankee! Who the hell are you, coming out here and patrolling around like the fuzz? Why do you care?"

Sable aimed her wand at Oliver's head once again, but he didn't notice. He was too busy marching his way up to me, fuming.

"C'mon, let's leave 'em alone," Leon said, I could overhear him in the background.

"What? Are you serious he's about to blow a gasket, don't you wanna see this?" Sable said.

"Oliver! Let's just get out of here!" Magdalene cried out.

I was standing up against the fence, taking deep breaths as Oliver stomped closer to me, but he stopped in his tracks when he heard Magdalene.

"I was just leavin' anyways," Oliver muttered, as he changed his path towards an opening in the fences, glaring at me all along the way.

He left the premise without waiting for Magdalene. She watched him go and sighed. I was surprised that she trudged towards me instead of the exit.

"I'm not sure what compelled you to intervene, but I'm glad you did," Magdalene said, a slight smile appeared on the corner of her lip. "Magdalene," she shook my hand.

"Rollie."

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise."

"I better get going, but perhaps we'll talk more now that we're acquainted," Magdalene smiled. "Cool jacket, by the way."

"Thanks, see you around," I smiled, and Magdalene followed after Oliver.

Sable had aimed her wand at me while Johnny and Leon were in the middle of smoking a cigarette. Leon peeked over and said, "Sable! Knock it off."

She spun towards him and scoffed. "What's up with you?"

"Let's just go back before we get in trouble."

"We'll get in trouble, you won't, what's the big deal?"

Leon turned around and walked away from the two of them.

"He's been such a drag this year," Sable said.

"C'mon, don't be mad at him, you know why that is," Johnny reminded, and the two of them followed after Leon.

I stood there for a few moments, watching them leave, waiting for everyone to clear out. As I got back on the path, Daphne was rushing towards me. "Rollie! Are you okay? We're all really sorry, we didn't mean to strike a nerve."

"That's okay, don't worry about it. Let's link back up with the gang."

***

On Saturday, all the students woke up with an energy I hadn't seen since the start of the school year. Kids were bouncing off the walls, shouting with glee, except the Slytherin students. Their table during breakfast had the quietness and tone of a funeral. The Gryffindors were all naturally beaming at each other, some of them fawning over Oliver, boys, and girls alike from all years. Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were chatting nonstop about who they thought would win, and how excited they were that they didn't have to watch their house lose this week.

We all shuffled out into the corridors after breakfast and wore our warmer robes since it would be a little cold outside. I wore my denim jacket though once again.

Around noon was when the match started. All of the bleachers were filled with students. I sat closer to the top of our stands, high up in the air. My friends and I all squished together like arctic penguins.

"It's so chilly up here!" Bran exclaimed, but he had his signature smile curving up to his ears.

"You really gotta watch Oliver, Rollie, as much as I don't like him, he's a treat," Edna said.

"Wizards and witches!" a voice yelled out through the enchanted speakers. "It is with great excitement that we start our wonderful sporting tradition of the season. Not to mention we start with one of the most heated rivalries in the school, Slytherin versus Gryffindor! The captains, Sable Buckling and Oliver Reinholt. Without further adieu, let's start the match!"

Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and all the players flew up in the sky. My jaw dropped watching Oliver glide through the air with the grace of a figure skater.

Bran and Edna were still chatting about something, but I wasn't paying attention. Daphne and I both had our focus set on the match in front of us.

"Slytherin has hurled the quaffle through the hoops! Ten points for Slytherin!"

Gryffindor's offense with the quaffle was disjointed as they missed on passes and fumbled whenever they had it in their possession longer than a minute. The Slytherins were able to poke and prod the quaffle, stealing it to rack up the points.

"Another 10 for Slytherin! It's a 70 - nothing lead! But don't count out Gryffindor yet. Oliver seems to be leading Sable on a wild goose chase. He's clearly setting the pace between the two!"

I glanced away for a moment and saw the golden snitch's twinkle. Looking back at Oliver, he noticed it too and smirked. Sable flew around in a complete circle around the rest of the players, periodically checking Oliver's movement. He swooped down, and shoulder checked Johnny but made it look like an accident as he looked to his left while flying straight ahead. Johnny fell off his broom but held on with both of his hands, hauling himself up after Oliver cleared away.

The Slytherins booed, hoping for a whistle to be blown at the play, but Oliver played it off well. If I hadn't been watching him so closely, I would've thought it was accidental. Sable followed after him, but Oliver weaved through players until Sable collided with Leon, and both of them hung on with the fingertips of their broom. Oliver cackled and scanned the field, while Sable and Leon pulled themselves back up, Oliver flew to the other side. He played a quick game of cat and mouse with the snitch before clutching it with ease.

Gryffindor students roared and cheered, even some of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws celebrated by joining the "OL-I-VER" chant.

Daphne was the first to storm off, not saying a word. Bran, Edna, and I exchanged glances and shrugged. We followed her lead, as many of the students were still in the stands.

***

"Wow, that was such a great match!" Bran beamed.

We were back in the dining hall for dinner after the game.

"Not really," Daphne said, looking down at her food as she stabbed a forkful of potatoes.

"What do you mean? Slytherin scored like 90 points, 150-90 is a pretty good score against Gryffindor," Bran argued.

"Yeah, but their team without Oliver is pretty meh," Daphne shrugged.

"That one seventh-year, Horace, is pretty good on their team."

"Yeah, but the Slytherins prevented him from doing anything. He was a non-factor."

"Ugh," Edna scoffed. "Are we going to talk about this all dinner? I love Quidditch as much as the next witch, but it's getting exhausting."

Daphne and Bran paused for a moment, stared at each other, and then went back to eating as if the conversation had never happened.

"A fun idea crossed my mind," I said.

The three of them stared at me with wonder. "What is it?"

"But I think we should do this up in the second-floor lavatory, but it's going to require us to swipe some materials from the potions class," and I proceeded to tell them what was on my mind.

***

Daphne stood in front of the cracked mirror, resting her hands on the edge of the sink. There was a jar of honey mixed in with raw bee pollen to her left. Edna held her wand upright, standing next to Bran and me.

"Are you ready to do this?" Edna said.

Daphne smiled. "Yes," she chuckled. "Rollie, I can't believe you've convinced me to do this."

"It's okay, I'll be next, and you don't have to worry about being alone," I said.

"All right, now close your eyes, I'm about to do the spell," Edna said, tapping Daphne's shoulder with her wand.

Edna drew in a deep breath and gazed at the jar of honey mixed with pollen. Pointing her wand at the mixture, she said, "Capillus mutatio!"

Daphne's hair sparkled, every last strand was glowing white.

"It's so bright!" Bran shielded his eyes.

I squinted at Daphne, as she smiled at herself in the mirror. Her glowing strands faded, and her sharp porcupine blue hair transitioned into blonde.

"How do you like it?" I said.

"I just wish we were in Slytherin, so I could have green hair, but it's nice to support Hufflepuff," Daphne smiled.

Bran and Edna chortled.

"It's alright, I'm getting rid of my green hair," I stroked the frayed edges of my mohawk.

Myrtle came flying from the wall, gawking at Daphne. "Oh, Daphne! I absolutely LOVE the new hair, sweetie!"

"Well, thank you, I appreciate that."

"I daresay, I like it more than the electric blue, not that I mean to insult your style, but this is definitely my preference. But you're gorgeous either way!"

"Enough about me, let's get Rollie to change his hair now!" Daphne pulled out her wand and grabbed the jar of black treacle, sitting on the other busted up broken sink.

I stood in front of the mirror to admire my lime-green mohawk one last time.

"Capillus mutatio!" Daphne said, and my hair went through the exact same process, coming out the other end with all black.

"This is really gonna turn some heads and freak people out," Bran smirked.

"I think both of you look great!" Edna beamed.

"I concur, I much prefer the natural black hair color on you, Mr. Rollie," Myrtle chimed in, floating off to the side.

"Helga Hufflepuff would be proud!" Bran said.

"Thank you, it's an honor, I can't wait until the first match!" I beamed.