Chapter 8

The sun was beginning to wane and the fog which was ever-present at Frogwart's had begun to settle on the grassy field. It heavy and thick, making it hard to breath. It was even harder to breathe when you were tired and the score was tied. Harder still when your second best player didn't bother to show up for the game.

'Damn-damn-damn, where the fuck is Heather?' Harriet rested her stick on her legs and waited mid-field for her team's opponents, the Whites, to meet her.

They were getting close. Harriet pointed her stick at the girl in the white skirt running up the field with the birdie and two of her teammates broke off in pursuit. Harriet closed the distance between herself and the lead girl. 'Damn. We only have one volley left and they have five. Shit! Okay, here goes nothing.' It was at that moment that Harriet stumbled.

The girl carrying the birdie saw Harriet fall on the damp grass and smiled. She flung the birdie to the girl closest to Harriet, taking advantage of the situation.

However, Harriet sprung up quickly, jumped into the air, intercepting the birdie. She turned and grinned at her opponent. "Who's your daddy?" she laughed, before taking off in a run.

Harriet surveyed the field at a glance. She saw that one of the girls on the opposing team was down. 'Probably ran into Bets, ' Harriet surmised. The odds were finally even. 'We might just be able to win this thing.'

Harriet passed the birdie to her teammate and dashed off toward the left of the net. She heard the slight whish of a volley. "Pass!" she cried, hoping it wasn't too late.

Just as the birdie left Beth's keeper, the poor girl's movements slowed a hundred-fold as she was influenced by the effects of the magic. That was what made this sport so difficult. The sticks they played with had two functions. On one end was a small net used for catching the birdie. On the other a small orb, that when fired at someone would slow the person down to one tenth of their speed for two minutes or until a goal was scored. You could only fire it once a game, and right now, the Whites had an abundance of volleys left.

Paula ran down the field with the birdie, her eyes wide with fright, as she looked around for the next volley.

Harriet wondered if Paula would ever be able to make a decent player. She was fast, but she was so scared of everything, she was almost useless. Scared of the magical volleys, scared of the birdie, scared of the sticks, she was scared of everything.

Harriet watched as the opposing team's goalie, turned her stick around orb first. She waited for the motion forward to begin. "To me!" Harriet cried.

Paula threw Harriet the birdie, glad to be rid of it. The volley hit her and then she too slowed down to the pace of a slug. It didn't matter, because Harriet now had the birdie captured in the webbing of her stick and the opposing goalie was defenseless with her stick in the wrong direction. Harriet flicked the birdie at the goal and then guided it in using the magic of her stick. She watched the world speed up momentarily as she was wrapped up in the effects of magic. Another of the opposing team must have gotten her, but it was too late and the spell was broken moments later as the birdie hit the net.

"We've done it. We've won!" shouted Harriet. A resounding cry went up as the center of the field became a small tangle of girls in gray skirts hugging a curly-haired girl with glassed in the middle.

After a small celebration with her fellow Grays, Harriet walked back to her room. She didn't relish this next part. Her roommate Heather didn't show up for the game. She didn't even bother to tell them she wasn't coming. This might not have been a huge problem when they were losing every game, but now that they had a win; it had become a much bigger problem.

Even before they had a win; it would have been a problem to Harriet. Not having any innate magical ability, Macrosse was one of the few things at Frogwart's Harriet excelled at. As such, Harriet gave it her all when she practiced and played. Her coach, Madam Morganna, had even made her team captain after today's win. And as team captain, it was her job to deal with slack players.

Harriet opened the door to her room and grew mad when she saw Heather sprawled out on the bed reading a magic book.

"We sure could have used you at the game today Heather."

Heather put a finger to her lips and shushed. "Quiet, I'm trying to study. I'm sure you guys did a fine enough job of losing without my help."

Harriet smirked. "For your information, we won."

Heather's eyes opened widely. "But the Gray's haven't won since..."

"Yeah, well we won today, and if you go to practice and play, we might even win against the Reds next week." Harriet threw her gear down in the corner and collapsed on the bed. "Stick a fork in me. I'm done."

Heather pinched her nose. "Phwew, smells more like rotten to me, but what do you expect from a mud witch."

Harriet groaned and stretched out, before getting out of bed. She was tired of the mud witch comments. She wasn't a witch, she had no magic. "Mud witch huh? C'mere, I'll make you a mud witch too." She advanced on Heather, dirty arms and grubby hands outstretched.

"Get away from me Hotter." Heather's hand came out from underneath her blanket with her wand. "I'm warning you," she menaced.

"Don't point that stupid thing at me." Harriet bluffed, but immediately backed off. It was no fun playing with these girls. They had no sense of humor. Besides, the memory of Heather causing the desk to bang up and down in the class was still fresh in Harriet's mind.

Thinking it was better to just avoid a bad situation, Harriet picked up a towel and fresh nightclothes then made her way to the shower. She disrobed and stood in the marble stall, complete with some very frightening marble golems. They took some getting used to, but the showers at Frogwart's were the greatest.

"Nasty filthy girl. What have you been doing, wallowing in the muck?" One of the marble golems said.

"Get out. Go wash someplace else. We keep a clean stall around here," said another.

"You know better than that little monkeys," Harriet said. "Let me have it--nice and hot."

The golems opened their mouths and hot water burst forth, almost blasting Harriet out of the stall.