Gabriel had admittedly been more worried about the whole "Heir of Slytherin" affair than he'd let on to Dumbledore. His best friend was, after all, a Muggle-born - the exact sort of person someone like that would target. And even if all the Heir did was petrify Hermione, she'd probably consider losing an entire school year while the mandrake draught was brewed worse than death.
…She really needed to reconsider her priorities.
Still, a week had passed, and nothing else had happened. For all Gabriel knew, Dumbledore might've already caught the culprit and dealt with them quietly, without alarming the rest of the school. Filch had unfortunately grown more vicious in his punishments, but that was hardly something Gabriel could blame him for.
November had arrived, bringing with it the start of the Quidditch season. The first match, as always, was Slytherin versus Gryffindor. Gabriel couldn't help but wonder if that ancient rivalry had been inherited straight from the quarrel between Godric and Salazar themselves.
He hadn't gone to a single game the previous year - preferring instead to enjoy the peace and quiet of the castle with Hermione while everyone else crowded the pitch. This time, however, the combined efforts of Neville and Luna had managed to drag him out. Luna, as it turned out, was an avid Quidditch fan, though she had no interest in actually playing the sport. Gabriel, naturally, had refused to suffer through it alone and had made sure Hermione came along.
At the moment, she sat beside him with a book open in her lap, completely absorbed in her reading despite the thunderous cheers around them. Neville had once again painted himself in bright scarlet and gold, and Luna wore her newest enchanted creation - a pointy hat topped with a stuffed lion's head that occasionally let out a muffled roar. Gabriel had to admit it was impressively made, even if he wouldn't be caught dead wearing it.
Lastly, there was Ginny, who seemed far more interested in the raven-haired boy chatting animatedly with her brother a few rows down than in the match itself.
Gabriel snorted at the sight, earning a puzzled grunt from Neville.
"You think this game's going to be as much of a disaster as last year's?" Gabriel asked, smirking at the glare he received from the surrounding Gryffindors.
"Well…" Neville began hesitantly, "Wood's been training them nonstop since that game. Especially this year - he's determined to start the season with a win! The new Seeker, Marcus Sheridan, is loads better than the last one, and Fred and George have brand-new brooms! Nimbus Two Thousands! I mean, they're not as good as the new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones, but still-"
His rambling was cut short by Gabriel's quiet laugh.
"I know, I know," Gabriel said, leaning back in his seat with a faint grin. 'I'm the one who bought them, after all.'
He had told the professors that he'd bribed the twins to keep Lockhart indisposed. He just hadn't specified what he'd bribed them with - or how long the arrangement would last. Namely, for as long as it took the curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position to ensure that Lockhart was defenestrated, expelled, disappeared, mangled, or any of the dozens of things that had made the past professors for the last decades to be unable to return to their posts after the year's end.
"Is Sheridan better than the Slytherin Seeker?" Gabriel asked, tossing a handful of sweet popcorn into his mouth. He'd asked the house-elves to make it for him earlier - and it was perfect.
Now that he thought about it, he still hadn't given Hermione that book about the elves. Had she forgotten about it? 'Hermione forgetting about a book?' he thought incredulously, glancing toward her. 'What on earth could cause her to- ah.'
A single glance explained it all. She was reading one of Gilderoy Lockhart's books. Gabriel made a face of pure distaste and shoved another fistful of popcorn into his mouth, muttering something unintelligible under his breath.
"Oh, loads!" Neville said, his voice suddenly animated. "The biggest problem with Terence Higgs isn't that he's that good of a Seeker - it's that he's a cheater. Always breaking the rules and somehow getting away with it by technicalities!"
Gabriel blinked, mildly amused. It wasn't often he saw Neville get so worked up about something.
"Hm… what about Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw's Seekers, then?" he asked.
Neville immediately deflated.
"W-well…" he stammered, "I don't want to badmouth anyone from my own house, but- Cedric's probably the best player in Hogwarts outright. And Cho Chang, the new Ravenclaw Seeker, she's supposed to be amazing. The only reason she wasn't on the team last year is because the old Captain wouldn't give up his spot, and she refused to play any other position."
"Is that so?" Gabriel asked curiously. Neville spoke of them like they were mythical creatures. "I have absolutely no idea who either of them are."
Neville turned to stare at him, aghast, before whipping back to the game just in time to see Gryffindor miss a goal. He let out a hiss of frustration.
"How can you not know Cedric? Everyone knows Cedric!"
"Hm… nah. His surname's funny, though. 'Dig-gory.' 'Digg.' 'Diggy'…" Gabriel chuckled. "Is he a dwarf or something?"
It was Luna who answered. She shook her head, her long hair swaying like a silvery halo - which, incidentally, reminded Gabriel of his own. The cold wind made him frown, and he lifted his wand.
"Blauflammer," he murmured. A stream of blue fire flowed from the tip, coiling around his body to reinforce the flickering magic bands on his wrists, ankles, and arms. The halo above his head blazed brighter for a moment before settling into a steady, liquid glow.
"Cedric's not a dwarf," Luna said solemnly. "He's quite tall. He used to give me shoulder rides when we were younger." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "But maybe he's a dwarf with gigantism?"
Hermione groaned beside Gabriel, not lifting her eyes from Lockhart's book.
"Or perhaps," Gabriel added with a grin, "he's a giant with dwarfism."
Luna nodded slowly, conceding the possibility.
Neville chuckled but still looked incredulous. "And what about Cho Chang? How do you not know her? She's in your house!"
"I dunno, mate," Gabriel said with a shrug. "I don't interact much with older students."
"She's only one year above us!" Neville protested.
"That's a whole three hundred and sixty-five days."
"One year isn't that much," Ginny said, speaking up for the first time.
Gabriel turned toward her, one eyebrow raised. His gaze flicked briefly to Harry Potter a few rows away, then back to Ginny's face - now bright crimson.
"Actually," he said mildly, "it's exactly that much."
She huffed. "I meant it's not too much."
Gabriel's grin turned positively wicked. "Oh, I don't know about that. Seems plenty to me. Hey, Nev - would you go out with a girl a year younger than you?"
Neville didn't blush as expected; he just looked confused. "Aren't first-years still kids?"
Gabriel burst out laughing at the indignant looks from the two youngest girls in their group.
"You're a kid too!" Ginny all but shouted - though beneath the blush, Gabriel idly noticed her skin looked paler than usual.
"Yeah," he said cheerfully, "but you're kiddier kids."
Her glare could have melted steel. Gabriel just laughed harder.
They soon turned back to the game - except for Hermione, who hadn't been paying attention in the first place - and Gabriel had to admit Neville's prediction had been spot on.
Wood was playing as if his life depended on it, doing his best impression of Gandalf and quite literally "you shall not pass"-ing every Quaffle that came near the goalposts. The Chasers, all girls - an excellent executive decision by Wood, in Gabriel's opinion, since it made watching the game far more enticing - were scoring point after point, managing to stay out of the Slytherins' reach thanks to the chaos wrought by Fred and George.
Gabriel still couldn't tell them apart, and the sight of their twin antics reminded him of something he'd completely forgotten.
"Hey, Ginny," Gabriel said suddenly, leaning forward. The girl blinked at him, startled. "I never got to ask - why weren't you at the Halloween Feast? Luna was really worried."
The blonde beside him nodded, confirming that she hadn't gotten an explanation either.
Ginny froze. Her face went through several shades - pale, red, pale again - until she seemed to settle on something between mortification and panic.
"I- I had the flu," she said at last, her tone just a touch too light.
Gabriel frowned. "Nah, that can't be it. Your brother gave you a Pepper-Up earlier, didn't he? You were smoking from the ears all day." He grinned. "You looked like a Curupira - like your hair was on fire."
Ginny opened her mouth to stammer something, but Hermione finally looked up from her book.
"Oh, honestly, Gabriel, stop interrogating the girl," she said sharply, snapping the cover shut.
"I'm just worried about our widdle juniors, Hermione," he said, eyes wide in mock innocence.
The flat look she gave him made it very clear what she thought of that performance.
"I know you might not understand this, since you're a boy-"
"Proudly."
"-and have the empathetic prowess of a particularly unsocial honey badger-"
"That actually sounds really cool."
"Stop interrupting me!"
He blinked at her, feigning being startled, though the twitch at the corner of his mouth gave him away.
Hermione exhaled through her nose, clearly fighting for patience.
"Look," she said, tone softening and turning lecturing, "after a certain age, there's a time of the month when girls are… indisposed."
Gabriel gave her a flat look. "I know what a period is, Hermione." He turned to Ginny, who was now almost glowing red. "Are you on your period, Ginny?"
Hermione's slap to the back of his head was so strong he almost felt it - though her hiss made it clear that she did feel it.
Ginny didn't answer. She stared straight ahead, refusing to acknowledge that the rest of the world existed.
"I'm asking," Gabriel continued as if nothing had happened, "because my mom got fed up with it and brewed a potion to stop it altogether. I can get the recipe if you want."
Silence. Ginny's ears were the color of her jumper. Gabriel briefly worried she might actually pop a vein.
"I'd like a copy," Luna said serenely.
"You got it," he said with a thumbs-up.
He glanced at Neville - who looked nearly as red as Ginny and was doing his best to pretend to be invisible. Gabriel snorted and turned back to Hermione.
"What about you, Hermione?"
Her glare could have frozen a bull mid-charge. But his shamelessness eventually wore her down, and she sighed, defeated. She didn't speak - just gave the tiniest of nods while staring at the match she didn't truly care about as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world.
Gabriel grinned and gave her a thumbs-up too.
Then he turned back to the field - just in time to see one of the Bludgers veer wildly off course. It curved unnaturally, slamming toward the stands before twisting again in pursuit of a single figure: Harry Potter.
There was a sickening 'crack' as it hit his arm and sent him spinning through the air. The crowd screamed. Beside him, Ginny let out a piercing cry that tore through the noise of the stadium.
"Puta merda," Gabriel muttered, wincing as the boy hit the ground hard. "Who did this guy piss off?"
No one answered him.