Chapter 23

A few weeks had passed since Adria returned to Hogwarts on the Hogwarts express, and Finn had lived up to his promise to inform Adria when the next hufflepuff quidditch game was, which happened to be today, against the Gryffindor's.

James, at breakfast that morning was an excited wreck as he talked excitedly to the boys and Adria whilst he attempted to give Adria a quick lesson of how the game worked, but she still managed to be confused about the whole ordeal after James had hurried away.

"I just...don't understand." She whispered, looking up at Sirius beside her who's red hair had faded to a darker colour, but not quite black just yet. As much as she wanted to support Finn during the match, seeing as it was her idea to go to a Hufflepuff game, her four Gryffindor friends had warned her countless times that she definitely should not cheer on the other team.

"Don't worry," Remus chuckled from across the table, "you'll catch on at some point."

"I hope so," Adria nodded, "I better not hate this!" she huffed, biting off a piece of her toast, whilst Sirius attempted to steal the other bit from her plate.

"There is a whole pile of toast right there," Peter scoffed, catching Sirius who glared at him.

"It tastes better," he mumbled through a mouthful of toast, rolling his eyes when Adria snapped a picture of him with her camera.

"Caught in the act!" she grinned, patting his head lightly before standing up, "okay lets go!"

"We have plenty of time!" Sirius complained, turning to look at her whilst she gave him a look.

"I wanna talk to Finn!" she exclaimed, pulling his hand so that he would stand up, "come on Peter, and Remus we have to go!" she pulled Sirius along, who was stubbornly pulling himself back.

"Sirius Black I will not hesitate to shave off your eyebrows," she growled, her eyes narrowing to slits as he finally picked up his pace.

"You don't have to be so bloody terrifying all the time," he huffed as he walked beside her, Adria rolled her eyes as she pulled out her camera.

"I'm not terryifing at all," she scoffed, "you're just stubborn and I need to do something about it."

"Mhmm." Sirius muttered, pulling on the scarf that hung around his neck, "y'know I still don't understand pens."

"They're the exact same as quills!" she exclaimed, "except you can write without dipping it into ink every two seconds, they're practical!"

"They feel funny when I hold them!" he huffed.

"Will you two quit arguing?!" Remus asked, pushing himself in between the two to break them apart, "honestly it's bloody hard to tell if you're friends or not!"

"We are, he's just an idiot!"

-

"Why is he doing that?!" Adria asked, an accusing look at one of the Hufflepuff players as he attempted to knock James off of his broom.

"It's just a part of the game, Ads, don't worry." Remus chuckled from beside her, his eyebrow raised when she leant forward in her seat. She saw Finn at the other side of the pitch, zooming about so much that the only thing she could see of him was a light blonde hair swooshing everywhere. She had spotted Milo sitting at the Ravenclaw benches, and made sure to speak to him before the game, telling him secretly that she'd be rooting for both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, like a true Gryffinpuff.

"But...why?" Adria asked, shaking her head slightly, completely confused why it was so violent. She grew up watching football, and her family where avid supporters but Quidditch was completely different, it was of course, more violent and frankly a little concerning. She wondered why a permission slip to a harmless village was needed when Quidditch was much more worrying.

"They play to win," Sirius said, "till death."

"Shut up, Sirius." Peter muttered, pushing him slightly when he saw Adria's eyes widen.

"It's not that bad, Adria, really." Sirius chuckled, "it's entertaining."

"I wouldn't go that far," Adria whispered, bringing out her camera and snapping a picture of James when he passed by the stands, she showed it to Sirius when it had developed, to which he grinned.

"Y'know you're really good at the whole picture taking thing," Sirius complimented, "you should show this to James."

"Well he's a little busy at the moment," Adria joked, earning a push from Sirius who rolled his eyes.

Suddenly there was an uproar of cheers, startling Sirius who looked at her just as confused, but it was made obvious when the cheers where coming from the Hufflepuff stands and the commentator boomed, "Finnegan Wilson has caught the snitch, one hundred and fifty points to Hufflepuff!"

"That's Finn!" Adria beamed, wide eyed as she cheered, earning glares from her fellow Gryffindor's, which was understandable seeing as they had lost.

"I'd wait a while before cheering for him, Ads." Remus muttered, eyeing the people staring at the girl.

"Oh, yeah." Adria muttered, shutting her mouth as she watched the Hufflepuff players rush to Finn at the bottom of the pitch, her eyes trailed to Milo who was grinning ear to ear. She liked that he supported Finn, even though he was just as confused at Quidditch as she was, their friendship was amazing, "I'm going to see Milo." She announced, rising from her seat.

"Here can you take my stuff?" she asked Sirius, pulling the strap of her bag and handing it to Sirius who had nodded, "I'll meet you guys on the trail back."

It took her a few minutes to reach the Ravenclaw stands, and was thankful to see Milo still there, a wide grin still etched across his lips as he cheered, "Adria!" he beamed, hugging her tightly with excitement.

"Milo!" she laughed, "I see you're excited."

"Yes!" he nodded, "he's going to be so happy, I'm proud of him!" he whispered, a glint in his eye that was unfamiliar to Adria, but nonetheless made her smile widely.

"Y'know it's really nice," Adria spoke softly, "the friendship you two have."

"As soppy and cliché as it sounds, he's all I have," Milo answered truthfully, "neither of us have ever really been good at making friends, and yeah, he has the team but not always, they all tolerate each other, and that's it really. We met on the train, in first year and we just clicked. Even talking to you right now is just weird because to think that we actually got to know you and that you're our friend is just foreign."

"Trust me, I understand," Adria nodded, patting his shoulder, "Before this year I had no one, apart from back home, and letters where always rare so I had my book, and the thing is I haven't even written much in my book lately. I met the boys first, but I really wasn't fond of them and then I forced myself to talk to Lily, and that was it. Everyone was just great, of course there was some humiliating times courtesy of the boys, but those don't even matter anymore because I have friends, and having you and Finn as friends is such a great feeling too, i never thought I'd have one friend, and don't get me wrong if I only had one friend I'd be happy, mind you if I had to choose who out of my friends, I don't think I could, but the thought of having multiple friends is just...so crazy!"

"I completely agree," Milo nodded, "we should probably get going or we're going to be the only ones here." He laughed, grabbing his things whilst Adria trailed behind him, down the stairs of the stands.

"I'm going to wait for Finn, are you staying?" asked Milo as they reached the trail back to Hogwarts.

Adria shook her head no, quickly hugging Milo before gesturing behind her, "my friends are waiting." Milo nodded, waving as Adria left him and rushed over to the boys.

"You can wait with Milo, if you want." Sirius muttered, looking over at the tall boy leaning against one of the trees.

"No, he's waiting on Finn," Adria shrugged, "I'd rather walk with you."

"Let's go then!" Remus piped in, his hands shoved in his pockets as the four made their way up the trail.

"So where is James now?" Adria asked, leaning on Sirius for support for being so out of breath, she clutched her side slightly as she spoke.

"Probably getting a pep talk from the team." Peter chuckled, "also I wouldn't talk to him much when we see him, he's always brooding if they lose a game."

"Oh yeah, I know," Adria scoffed, allowing Sirius to pull her up the hill as she held onto his hand, "I've been the brunt of his grumpiness plenty of times."

"He's just always bitter about it, is all," Sirius said, "he loves quidditch too much, the thought of losing is unbearable."

"Well I suppose that's a good thing," Adria said as they made their way to the top, "means he's motivated and all that."

"Oh yeah, I suppose." Sirius muttered, "can I let go of you now, my arm is killing me?"

Adria groaned as she reluctantly let go of Sirius' hand and instead walked beside him, "I should really take up jogging or something." She muttered through breaths, the trail from the Qudditch pitch to the castle was rather steep and Adria's legs ached from hill.

"You are so unfit," Remus chuckled as she stopped.

"You all are tall!" she exclaimed.

"Peter is the same height as you!" Sirius laughed.

"I'm the same I just don't complain as much," Peter said, earning a glare from Adria who was leaning on Sirius.

"Okay, hop on." Sirius chuckled, crouching down and gesturing for Adria to jump onto his back.

"Are you sure?" she trailed off, he rolled his eyes before nodding his head with a 'yes!', "okay," she muttered warily, grasping his shoulders as she jumped onto his back, her arms wrapped around his neck as he stumbled slightly, before straightening himself up and walking the rest of the walk besides Remus and Peter.

"Remus, you should carry Peter," Adria laughed, her head resting atop of Sirius shoulder.

"Nah, I'll pass on that." Peter scoffed. Adria was completely oblivious to the stares she got from students in her year, eyeing her and Sirius curiously as they passed with Remus and Peter.

"Have you finished the Transfigurations homework, Remus?" asked Adria as they entered the castle.

"Not yet, I'll do it tonight at some point," he shrugged, "what about you?"

"I finished it yesterday, but I wanted to double check it with someone else's." She sighed.

"You can look at mine?" Sirius suggested, moving his head slightly to look at her, unsurprisingly getting a look of shock back.

"You've finished the homework?" she asked, her eyebrows raised. Sirius could barely be bothered to show up to class half of the time, never mind complete the homework a week before it had to be done.

"Yes," he nodded, "I done it last night."

"Are you kidding?"

"No!" he exclaimed, "is it so hard to believe that I actually done my homework?!"

"Of course, it is," Peter scoffed, "Sirius you barely do work at all, never mind homework, what happened to it being cruel and work should only be during school hours."

"I still think that," he shrugged, "but I gotta get it done at some point, detentions kind of boring now if I'm being honest."

"Think you've been hanging around me too much, Black." Adria chuckled, rolling her eyes as she leaned her head back onto his shoulder.

"I think you're right, Hopkins." Sirius nodded, "am I just going to carry you around everywhere or are you going to actually walk yourself?" he asked, shaking his head causing the red locks to brush her face.

She moved her head, a scowl on her lips as she spoke, "you're gonna have to carry me around everywhere, it's part of your maid duties."

"That ended three days ago!" he exclaimed.

"Nope, I've changed it, you don't have to do anything else," she giggled, "apart from carry me around whenever I want, it's a much better way of transportation, I'm rather enjoying it."

Sirius scoffed, tightening his grip on Adria's legs as he spoke sarcastically, "well that seems fair."