With her head in her hand and doodling with her pencil. Gracie was trying to do her homework. The sun was going down and it was almost time for dinner.
“Why is homework so boring?” She thought idly, looking at Rodger her newt.
Rodger had gotten his own little terrarium and was currently sunbathing on his favourite log.
Gracie was contemplating letting him loose in her room when she heard a loud smack against her window.
Turning around she saw an owl slowly sliding down the glass pane.
Having read the folders about the magical world she assumed that this was probably one of those post owls.
Feeling a bit bad for the poor thing she moved to open the window and scrape him of.
The owl looked tired as he flapped his way in to her room. She recognised it as Owlicious. Pinkie's post owl!
Owlicious presented his leg to Gracie which had a small tube attached.
Gracie didn't relieve him of his burden though. Instead she let him hop on her hand and placed him on her shoulder.
“Let's find you some treats first. You've earned it!”
“Hoot.” Owlicious agreed. He did earn it.
With owl on her shoulder Gracie zipped down the railing of the stairs and landed nimbly on her feet and hurried into the kitchen where Maddie was currently working on dinner.
“Look Maddie, Pinkie sent us something!”
“Hoot!” Owlicious spread his wings in what he thought was an impressive manner. He presented the little tube to Maddie.
Maddie untied the little thing and gave the owl some bacon bits. The leftovers from breakfast this morning.
“Why don't you go get everyone Gracie?”
She hadn't finished speaking yet or Gracie ran towards the stairs.
“FOOD'S READY!” She bellowed in the stairwell.
A low rumble shuddered the foundations of the little orphanage as feet both small and large thundered their way downstairs.
Gracie jumped out of the way just in time for the stampede to move past.
She sighed a small sigh and made her way back to the kitchen where a bunch of children were eagerly waiting the nights scrumptious dinner: Cooked pears, sweet meats and potatoes.
Maddie put a big pan on the table and smacked away greedy little hands with a wooden spoon.
“Has everybody washed their hands?”
Some of the younger children grumbled, left the table and started faffing about at the sink. A competition arose about who washed their hands the fastest.
When everybody had found his or her seats again the feast could begin.
The older children would help the youngest ones learn how to use their utensils and they made sure that everyone got their fill. Still, no pear was spared the vicious onslaught of hungry little mouths and the big pot was soon very empty.
Pleasant conversations started around the table. Gracie asked Nico to help with her homework and he begrudgingly obliged.
“Yay score for Gracie.” She thought. She started to wonder if there was going to be desert when suddenly Owlicious descended from the high cupboard to the surprise of many.
“HOOT!”
She landed right in front of Maddie, picked up the little tube with his beak and dropped it in her lap.
“HOOT HOOT!”
“Oh, right.” She went and grabbed the little cylinder. “Everyone. Pinkie send us a letter!”
Maddie uncorked the little tube and with a loud ‘poof’ The entire room was filled with quite frankly an overabundance of confetti. The children tried grabbing it out of the air but just like snow it seemed to melt away and disappear when touched.
The tube held more surprises though as with a little shake from Maddie big boxes of Birtie Botts Every Flavour Beans, butterbear bottles and of course Pinkies home made cupcakes came tumbling out. Honestly this seemed quite a lot of space warping even for Pinkie Pie.
Almost as an afterthought a few pieces of paper floated out as well which got deftly caught by Maddie before even touching the table.
“Who would like to read Pinkies letter?”
A few hands rose up around the table.
“Okay, so we have three papers here. Why don’t you… Gracie, Iris and Ricky. Why don’t you read it to us?”
She walked around the table and gave each of the children there piece of paper.
“Iris? You’re up first.”
Some of the children groaned. Iris wasn’t very good at reading. But a harsh look from Maddie stopped the groaning right smartly.
“Go on Iris.”
Iris put her finger on the piece of paper and started her attempt at making the words come out right.
“Hi… ev...ev...”
“Everybody.”
xxx
Hi everybody!
Zowie, I should have written sooner but life here at Hogwarts sure is hectic.
Learning magic is really hard! Especially all the wand stuff. It requires a lot of concentration which is hard to do when you keep thinking about new cupcake ideas. (Taste the new butterbear/pumpkin spice flavoured ones I sent along.)
Luckily I've made some new friends who help me a lot! There's Hermione and Harry who are in Gryffindor so I don't see them very often but they're the best! Ron who is their friend doesn't like me very much though. He says it's because I'm in Slytherin but I don't get it really.
Speaking of Slytherin, our common room is underneath a lake! How cool is that! My roomy is Millicent Bullstrode. She's great because I think she wants to be real hard but instead she's just a cute softie. Just like Sophie.
xxx
The youngsters had a good laugh about that one.
“Hey! I'm no $%@& softie!”
Alfie who was sucking his thumb drowsily petted her on the back in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.
“Don't worry, I think you're scary sometimes.”
Sophie groaned, slumped on the table and waved her hand to continue the letter.
xxx
Honestly so much has happened these past weeks I don't really know where to begin. I suppose I could tell you about today... You wanna here about today?
It was our first flying lesson. On brooms like real witches in the storybooks and boy let me tell you; this day was a doozy!
xxx
There was a nice breeze blowing over the Quidditch pitch as the first year Gryffindor and Slytherin contingent had themselves lined up in two lines as Madam Hooch had instructed.
Brooms were placed alongside each student in preparation for the upcoming lesson.
Madam Hooch had just finished her lecture about safety and instructed the children to step next to their brooms and say 'up'.
Pinkie watched as the other students went to work. Hermione's broom just wiggled around a bit while Ron's broom smacked him in the face. The brooms of Harry and Draco jumped into their waiting hands eagerly.
“Up!” said Pinkie. And the all the brooms within hearing distance leapt out of their owners hands and flew towards her. The brooms thumped her in the face with their eagerness and knocked Pinkie over.
Pansy, Draco and Ron started laughing but stopped abruptly when they noticed the reaction of their opposite.
The brooms were all still vying for Pinkies attention as she slowly crawled back on her feet. She grabbed one at random and hoped that the others would leave her alone.
Madam Hooch came to investigate what all this brouhaha was about and found those brooms to be behaving oddly.
The school brooms were never very good but it's possible that another year's worth of neglect had finely made them loopy.
She noticed they were vying for the attentions of a girl that looked rather uncomfortable with all their antics so she gave them a stern look and the brooms slowly floated back to the other children.
“Now then! Mount your broom and when I give the signal I want you to kick off of the ground hard. Hover for a few seconds then land pointing the tip of your broom downward.”
Madam Hooch put the whistle in her mouth and gave it a short tweet.
Before anyone could even start floating, Neville happened. He started flying though he did not seem to be enjoying it overmuch.
Either his broom decided on going on it's own merry adventure, or maybe Neville's own wanton movements caused the lift, or maybe it was a combination of both but whatever the reason Neville certainly did not enjoy what came next.
He crashed into a tower, then a metal thing, then the tower again, only to be knocked of his broom and be caught dangling from a torch sconce. Gravity decided that that was enough tomfoolery for one day and decided to tear poor Neville's robe apart just to have him back on terra firma.
Terra firma he did meet with a thud and a crack. Madam Hooch quickly ran up to him.
She sighed in relief when he came away from that bit of foolishness with nothing else then a broken wrist.
Gently she helped Neville on his feet. “Let's have madam Pomfrey have a look at you. Just to make sure that a broken wrist is the extent of your injuries mister Longbottom.”
The group of firsties finally caught up with Madam Hooch.
“As for you lot. If I see a single broom in the air you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say Quidditch.”
Pinkie didn't want to leave Hogwarts so she decided to keep her feet firmly on the ground. Draco and Harry on the other end had other ideas.
Draco grabbed a little ball that Neville had dropped and decided to taunt Harry with it. Flying on his broom and trying to lure Harry into a conflict of some sort.
Pinkie didn't really get it. Maybe it was a Gryffindor Slytherin thing but things quickly escalated when Draco threw the little ball away.
Harry did not hesitate and zoofed away faster then you would believe on his rickety school broom. He made it just in time to catch the little ball right in front of professor McGonagall's study.
She saw the whole thing...
But Harry didn't notice as he casually glided down to his friends.
Everyone was really impressed with his flying, Pinkie included. He made it look easy and she couldn't wait to give it a go herself.
She would have to wait though because just then professor McGonagall arrived on the scene.
Her expression was unreadable as she requested mister Potters presence.
Harry looked a bit scared as the crowd parted way to let him through.
“Follow me.”
xxx
And we never saw Harry again...
Ha, that was a joke.
What happened instead was they made him the Gryffindor seeker for the house team. I'm not really certain if he should be happy about that. Quidditch has some weird rules. Did you know that first aid is not allowed unless the injury is life threatening? You have to fly with a bludgered liver if the injury isn't serious enough.
Supposedly to build character.
This lead to odd situations like that of Kendrick McGinty who hit himself in the head with his beater bat just so that he could get a small cut above his eyebrow healed which was bleeding into his eyes.
The wizarding world sure is loco in the coco sometimes...
Anyway,
xxx
Madam Hooch's hawk eyes quickly noticed that her group of firsties was lacking in number.
“Where is mister Potter?”
Hermione spoke, always eager to answer questions. “Professor McGonagall took him away.”
“Why?”
“She didn't say.”
“Didn't she?... Oh well, let's get on with it.”
Everyone stepped on their brooms once more and at the sound of the whistle everyone floated nice and behaved for a couple of seconds to then touch down again.
“Good.” Madam Hooch said as she surveyed the group. She noticed Hermione was holding her broom wrong and corrected her hand position.
Pansy started snickering but was quickly silenced because she had her hands wrong as well.
Pinkie thought that the whole thing was rather easy actually. The broom behaved exactly like she imagined a broom to behave when you imagine yourself flying on one.
Madam Hooch instructed the same exercise three more times to make absolutely sure everyone got it right. Then she started to explain how to properly land.
It was all very technical and Pinkies concentration started to waver. Unbidden thoughts started to enter her mind.
...Rainbows were nice things... Would butterbeer make a good cupcake flavour?... Do the stars dream?... Picklebarreljuice is a funny word...Hmm.
Unbeknownst to Pinkie, Madam Hooch had finished her explanation.
“Now, kick off!” She shouted and whistled sharply.
Pinkie was startled out of her reverie and kicked the ground a bit too hard.
“Buttered-rainbow-star-dream-pickle!” She squawked as she did a somersault and had enough speed leftover to shoot strait into the sky.
Whatever she was supposed to do during this exercise she was pretty sure this wasn't it.
“WHA-HEEEEEE!”
Screaming seemed like the right thing to do as she quickly cleared the castle.
She gave a yank on her broomstick and was now flying upside down over the astronomy tower.
“Wait a second.”
She gave another yank and was now speeding toward the ground again. Fast.
“Wait one finger licking second.”
She yanked her broom towards the forbidden forest.
“This.”
“Is.”
“Awesome!”
xxx
Blaise, Pansy and Daphne were hovering as they looked on.
Madam Hooch was trying to catch Pinkie but it seemed that she had finally fully cracked because she seemed to think that she was in some sort of race.
“You know, that was the best buttered-rainbow-star-dream-pickle I've ever seen.”
“That's not a thing Blaise.” Daphne informed him.
“I dunno... There was the arc and then the straight shot towards the astronomy tower. It looked like it was a thing.”
Pansy was getting antsy from sitting still on a piece of wood 50 feet of the ground. “Oh whatever.” She said with annoyance trying to turn her broom. "It's not like it matters."
Suddenly she heard something crack within the bristles.
“Uhm, guys? ...I think I broke my stirring twigs.”
xxx
“Whee!”
Pinkie was doing barrel rolls, aileron rolls and sweet rolls but it didn't feel nearly roly enough. She was trying to push herself. What she was trying to achieve she couldn't really explain. More speed maybe?
“Miss Pie! You will land this instant!”
Pinkie turned around and found madam Hooch right on her tail looking particularly angry.
It was a bit of a startling realisation. She was lost in her own little world for a second there.
“Okay madam Hooch.”
Pinkie speed didn't reduce in any way shape or form.
“...”
“I'm waiting.”
Slowly Pinkie turned around on her broom to face madam Hooch with a bit of a forced grin on her face.
“I don't know how to brake.”
With a clear amount of exasperation and using small words madam Hooch explained how to do it.
Nevertheless Pinkie still manage to crash in a spectacular way. What with creating a new ditch in Hagrids pumpkin patch. Hagrid was not pleased.
Neither was madam Hooch.
“Detention miss Pie, for this reckless display! You will serve your detention with your head of house and I will make sure professor Snape is fully aware of what you've done!”
xxx
And that's how I got my very first detention. Well in Hogwarts anyway. I'm sure we all remember the incident with the hamster and the food colouring...
Poor mister Bigglesworth... Blue was not his colour.
Moving right along.
xxx
Madam Hooch was basically dragging Pinkie towards the Slytherin dungeons.
It seemed a bit unnecessary since Pinkie knew the way and knew how to walk. But some people just liked be in charge she supposed.
Her knock was brisk and Snape's reply was as well.
“Enter.”
With a zeal for proper broom safety she exulted on Pinkies escapades. Explaining how she did a buttered-rainbow-star-dream-pickle without even knowing how to brake.
Snape turned his gaze towards Pinkie slowly. “I'll make sure she is properly... taken care of.”
“Thank you professor.” Madam Hooch left the dungeon with one last disappointed look towards Pinkie.
Honestly that one hurt the worst.
“Follow me.”
They entered an abandoned classroom without much fanfare. Normally Pinkie would sit behind the teachers desk as a joke but something told her that that would be a bad idea right now. So she sat behind the small desk in the front.
Professor Snape didn't sit. Instead he looked out the window into the green waters of the great lake.
“You will do lines.” He waved his wand and some writing utensils appeared in front her.
“What should I write?”
“Whatever will make you stop displaying such foolish behaviour.”
“Oki-doki-loki!”
She started on her work and professor Snape returned to his desk and started to grade some potion assignments.
They worked together like that for several minutes until Snape suddenly spoke up.
“I've had an... interesting conversation with professor McGonagall just moments before.”
“Oh really?”
“Yes. Apparently that Potter boy... is the new Gryffindor seeker.”
“Harry got the seeker position? That's great! He'll be so happy.”
“...Yes.” Snape looked like he swallowed a bug. “Be that as it may our own seeker is leaving school this year. We would be in need of a replacement come spring.”
“Hm.” Was Pinkies thoughtful reply.
The silence got filled with the scratches and scribbles of a quill on parchment as Pinkie continued with her lines.
Snape sighed. “It was implied that you would take up this position.”
“Really? Don't I get a say in it?”
Snape'e expression turned sour. “I suppose if you must.”
Now Pinkie was relatively new to Slytherin's ways but even she recognised an opportunity.
“I've heard that this sport is really quite dangerous. What's in it for little old Pinkie Pie?”
“You mean besides that you would be the envy of our entire house and that you would get all the privileges that members of the team enjoy?”
“I don't think I want to be the envy of the house. People are mean enough as it is.”
Pinkie thought she saw professor Snape glaring angrily for a second. But maybe she had imagined it.
He decided on a different tactic.
“Your grades aren't exactly...stellar.”
“My potions grade is Outstanding!”
“And nothing else is... You know the rules of Slytherin house.”
“Yeah... Just for reference. What does happen if your grades aren't up to snuff?”
Professor Snape's grin was eerily jubilant. “Something deeply ...unpleasant.”
“Yikes.”
“We've held that cup for six years I aim to have it for a seventh. Not that I care for that silly game. I just want to beat those vapid Gryffindors.”
“Oh?”
“To be the new seeker is hard work. There will be a lot of demands on your time. Naturally we would have look the other way with regards to your marks, nobody's perfect after all.”
Truth was that Pinkie was actually rather excited about becoming a seeker. It meant more flying and flying was fun. She didn't own a broom and the school brooms were heavily regulated. So this was really the only way.
“Well professor, I guess I have no choice.”
She shook Snape's hand happily with both hands.
“You drive a hard bargain mister!”
Professor Snape was a little bit disgruntled by Pinkie's quick turn around. He started to wonder if he perhaps had made a mistake... Did this airheaded dunderbrain just play him?
He highly doubted it.
“You may leave.”
Pinkie skipped out of the classroom with a smile on her face.
When Severus later looked at her lines out of boredom he found one-hundred instances of 'Professor Snape will be sad if I display foolish behaviour.'
He stared out of the window for a while after that.
xxx
And that's how I came to be the new reserve seeker for the Slytherin house team. I'll have my first practise soon. Wish me luck! Bye!