CHAPTER THREE
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

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warnings: heights, semi-dangerous situation, semi-fight?, mention of blood but not in detail, cursing.

Celena woke up to the soft tickle of a pillow hitting her skin. With a groan, she swatted the pillow away with all her might. When the hitting wouldn't stop, she grabbed the pillow and threw it at whoever was taunting her. "Hey!" She heard Cornelia shout. "It's time to wake up, sleepy-head!" She shook her. At first, Celena debated ignoring her warnings, but today was her first day of real classes—and she needed to ready.

Celena sat up on her elbows, looking to Cornelia's disheveled hair and making the conclusion that she had just woken up as-well.

"You look wonderful." Celena joked, earning yet another pillow thrown to her face. "You too, Sleeping Beauty." The brunette walked over around the post and back into the dormitory bathroom to grab her hairbrush.

Celena laughed to herself for a moment, then got up out of her bed and gently folded the covers over themselves to make it look neat. As she passed the mirror, she looked to her extremely messy hair that was tangled in harsh tresses down her back.

The dirty-blonde highlights of her hair shined brightly in the sun rays peeking in from the lake water.

She hurried into the bathroom, getting ready for the day and rushing after Cornelia who started walking into the common room. Surprisingly enough, the velvet green curtains couldn't hide much light as it spilled over the room in delicate rays. Celena pattered up the steps, the hem of her skirt flapping slightly as she did so.

Cornelia started to walk out the door, but someone had stopped Celena.

"Hey!" She heard a voice from behind her. Felix Alderidge stood there in all his glory, dressed neatly in his robes.

His hair, even straighter than the night before, hung over his forehead.

"Hey!" Celena responded with the same enthusiasm. "Celena come on! I'm hungry!" She heard Cornelia shout as she held the tall door open. "I'm coming! Just one moment!" She called out.

"It's okay, go. Catch up later?" Felix smiled, dimples flashing towards Cel as he ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah." Celena beamed, flashing her pearly white teeth. With a small wave goodbye, she disappeared and followed after Cornelia.

"Was that Felix Alderidge?" She quirked up as soon as they were far enough from the common room, just in case he was also making his way down the breakfast. "Mhm. Why?" The blonde clung to her book for the first class of the day, Care Of Magical Creatures. "He's cute, really nice boy." Cornelia sung with a flirty tone in her voice. "Oh, do you like him?" Celena glanced at her best friend from beside her.

"No you dimwit! I'm saying, you should ask him out!"

"I don't ask people out."

"Mhm, sure Cel. Completely..." Nelia began, then took a sharp breath and paused, then spoke again, "He looks like he's into you. It wouldn't hurt to give it a try."

"I mean, maybe," Celena thought about it for a second. Surely, he was very cute. With soft silky hair and dreamy eyes, piercing blue like the ocean whenever they looked at her, and his dimples—oh they were enough for Celena to fall head over heels.

"But this year is all about my grades. I have to focus, Nelia. Boys can come later!" She fought. Celena wasn't one to easily date someone, they had to prove themselves to not only her, but her family.

"If you say so, but don't be upset when another girl snatches him right up." She smirked as they walked into the Great Hall.

Sitting down at their usual spots, Celena glanced across the way to Draco Malfoy who was sitting on the opposite side of the table but a little left of her. He was weird. He hadn't stopped glaring at her since they arrived at Hogwarts. "Can I help you, Malfoy?" She furrowed her eyebrows and scowled. Surprisingly, he didn't say anything and just scoffed while looking away.

"Creepy, that boy is." Dalton spoke up, causing the girls to almost scream as he appeared across from them. "Blimey! How in Merlin's name did you get here?" Cornelia grasped at her heart.

"Uh, I walked?" He sassed.

"No really! I meant, when did you get here?" The dark haired girl dead-panned and tilted her head.

"I've been here. Gosh do you guys pay attention to anything?!" He mimicked her tone and shoved a small pancake into his mouth. Dalton nearly gagged at the blackberry that sat on top of it and handed it to Celena. Blackberries were her favorite berries, but Dalton hated them. Fortunately, they always landed on her plate.

She picked it up gratefully and popped it into her mouth.

Back home, her parents grew blackberry bushes in the gardens, which is why she enjoyed them so much. It reminded her of home.

Dumbledore didn't say much this morning, only to keep watch of the Dementors and to not provoke them, nor go near. Celena was smart enough to not do such a thing, but Dalton, on the other hand, was a curious boy. When the white haired man mentioned it, Celena smacked his hand and pointed, making him listen closely. "No way in hell would I go near one of those! Do you truly think so low of me, Cel?" He clutched his invisible pearls and scoffed.

Shortly, the Great Hall's silence had returned to its usual chatter.

Celena had been laughing amongst her friends when something splattered on her face. She brought her fingers up to her hair and cheek, wiping off a reddish-pink gel that soaked into her face. Strawberry jam.

With a scoff, she looked over to her left.

Draco watched, laughing alongside Crabbe and Goyle as he tried to 'sneakily' hide the spoon full of jelly he launched at her.

Instead of saying something, Celena stayed quiet and got up, ignoring the calls of Cornelia and Dalton—and the harsh words from Draco. "Looks like you've got something in your hair Leociadus!" He called out, only making her walk out faster than she came in. As she walked out trying to brush the jam from off her eyelashes, she collided with something.

With a grunt, she looked up to see Felix.

"Woah! Sorry about that!" He hadn't seen the pink jam already staining her face, only the side it didn't get. "I'm sorry. Sorry." Celena apologized. "Oh! What happened... there." He pointed, trying not to anger her.

"Malfoy." She scoffed, watching as the substance dripped onto the floor.

"I'm sorry. He's a muppet." He tried to wipe off some of the jam, but gave up when he realized he was making it worse. "I'm gonna go and clean this off, i'll see you later?" The girl took a deep breath. "I'll help you." Felix responded.

"It's alright, I can do it."

"No really, let me help you." He insisted. Celena smiled slightly, then nodded. "Okay."

They began walking down the hallway as Draco rushed out. He had been trying to get a word in with her since the train yesterday. Since the summer, the thought of her spilling his secrets scared him. At first, Draco Malfoy did not think much of it, that Celena Leociadus, a girl he had known since First Year, was eavesdropping on him and his father's conversation. However, after Lucius had forced him to pay to keep her silence, he realized how important her silence truly was.

If anyone knew, he could be ridiculed out of Hogwarts, he could be expelled. His family indulged into the Dark arts, they plead their allegiance to the Dark Lord—and if anyone knew, or spoke about it, he couldn't dare to imagine what would happen.

Would Crabbe and Goyle still be his friends? Would he be punished by Lucius for the slip-up? With a shudder, he watched Celena and Felix slip down a hallway.

He was going to find a way to keep her silent, she just had to be away from everyone.

ᛝ

Celena followed Felix to his dormitory bathroom in the common room. It felt weird sitting there in the boys room, as she had never stepped foot on that side of the dungeons.

He took a washcloth, dabbing it with water and gently wiping off some of the strawberry jam from her face. Unfortunately, not much could be done about her hair, but she managed to run it under the sinks water and squeeze it out best she could. The rest would have to be washed later.

Felix held one side of Celena's face, flipping the cloth over and running the other side under warm water then tapping on her cheek. Celena tried her best to not watch him as he did so, as it would be quite terrifying, but it was hard to not make eye contact with him.

Finally, after several minutes of scrubbing, her face was no longer stained. "There, good as new." He smiled. Celena turned around and faced herself in the mirror, scanning over her cheeks and tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Thank you." She spoke softly.

He didn't need to help her, but he did, and she was thankful.

She glanced up to the clock on the wall and neatly gasped. "I've got tryouts! Bloody hell, I forgot!" She lightly cursed. "I'll talk to you later, okay? Thank you!" She shouted as she ran out of the door, leaving Felix to sit within his own thoughts. He smiled as he watched her almost fly up the stone stairs over to her dormitory.

Celena quickly changed into her practice Quidditch uniform and grabbed her broomstick from its perch on the wall.

Luckily, she had gotten to the field at the right moment.

Many were arriving just as she did. Alongside Celena, was an older girl, Genevieve Waters. "Celena! Glad to see you're still playing." Genevieve's eyes twinkled.

She was two years older, but took Celena under her wing during their first year. To this day, the blonde couldn't express her gratitude to Gen. Most older students were scary and rude, but Genevieve Waters was far from it. Her hair sat neatly in a low pony, with soft curls hanging out from her front. Her skin was tanned, with even darker freckles to accompany. "One of our best chasers, yeah?" Genevieve smiled, peering down to the younger girl, even though their height difference was three inches.

"Not too sure about that." The younger girl joked.

Even if she refused to admit it, Celena truly was one of the best Slytherin chasers to date. Ever since her first game, she rushed through the field with a gust of wind behind her, knocking down opposing chasers and beaters. Her signature move was a curl, which meant she deliberately spun a full one-eighty on her broom and made the other two players chasing her collide.

Once, she used it on a pair of older Ravenclaws and scored the last points of the game, earning Slytherin's house points of the week.

Genevieve, unlike Celena, was a beater. She knocked the Bludgers away from her own teammates and aimed it towards other house players, not only to make them drop the Quaffle, but to throw them off their brooms.

It was risky, sure, to cause someone's fall to the field, but it didn't mean it wasn't allowed in the game of Quidditch.

You just had to be strong enough to play.

Marcus Flint stood tall in the front, facing the rest of the team with his shoulders back. He looked proud, but Celena knew he was just some cocky seventh year who wouldn't dare hangout with a witch or wizard who wasn't pureblood like himself.

Being apart of the Sacred Twenty-Eight came with a price, and most of the time, it had its perks—but it was keeping up with the overconfident and arrogant individuals that was the hardest to swallow.

"Let's see if you lot have what it takes." Was all Marcus Flint said, usually he'd be yelling and running tryouts like a boot-camp but Celena guessed that this year would be different. Everyone began picking up their brooms and gathering towards the middle of the field. "Separate yourselves based on position. Chasers to my right, beaters to my left, keepers and seekers in front." Marcus instructed, watching as each player sorted themselves neatly.

Celena bid goodbye to Genevieve who split off to the other side next to Marcus.

There had been about four new players trying out for chaser, a pair of twins she noticed as Gwen and Noelle North, but she couldn't figure out the other two. Celena had seen them around but she couldn't tell anyone their names, because she had absolutely no clue.

Draco stood in front of Marcus with a scowl on his face, he had been the only Slytherin seeker since first year, but now, two others stood among him. Silently, he hoped they sucked so his spot wouldn't be traded. "Good." Marcus spoke, with no expression.

He then looked over the group, eyes scanning to how he should split it. "Leociadus, Winton, and Crabbe with me." He pointed to the two. Daphea Winton was a fierce Chaser, with just the right amount of speed and anger to help them win a couple tournaments. Celena smirked to her, which she greatly returned and softly winked. Despite her hard shell and vicious image she showed to everyone else, behind the mask was a sweet girl who had the passion for the sport. "Malfoy, Pierce." He called the two boys over.

Marcus squinted, looking between the keepers and beaters. "Waters, Goyle." He paused, "Bletchley."

Soon enough, all that stood were a couple of players, some scared, others confident. "If you haven't been chosen, stay off to the side. I'll be switching you out with returning players." Marcus mounted his broom and shot off towards the sky, Celena following closely.

The wind tossed her hair around in funny shapes, slowly entangling itself into a mess Celena would have to brush later.

"Leociadus start with the tip off." He instructed her as she flew closer to the middle of the circle. "Montague, take the other half and sort them."

The other captain, Graham Montague, took the other half of the returning players. Quickly, he sorted them and had them play as the 'opposing team.' On the tip off, against Celena, was Aiden Pucey. He smirked, "Try not to get hurt, Leociadus."

Celena knew he was joking, and returned a snarky remark. "I'll be careful, Pucey, just make sure you don't fall off your broom." She smiled.

Soon enough, everyone lined up near their spots, forming a circle around the center, or the circle. Marcus stood off near the side, staying out of this match to observe newer players. Madam Hooch walked out from the sides with the box. "Goodluck." She spoke, then released the top and watched as the bludgers and snitch jumped out into the sky.

As she backed away, the whistle blew and Celena quickly grasped for the Quaffle.

Luckily, it fell right into her grip. She sped forward, zooming past other teammates and trying her hardest to go to the opposite hoops. Her broom spun, making her go upside down for a moment as two others tried to snatch it from her hand.

With a quick thrust, she zoomed to the left, but the Quaffle was taken out of her hand by Pucey. Celena groaned, chasing after him as the wind blew rapidly at her eyelashes. Genevieve threw the bludger towards him, knocking his broom enough that the Quaffle was thrown back into the air, then to Celena's arms.

She tucked it under her arm, then flew to the hoops. Two chasers tried to stop in front of her but she faked them out by forcing her broom downwards then back up. She quickly glanced side to side through her peripheral, noticing how the other chaser was nowhere in sight. Celena threw her arm back, then launched the Quaffle through the hoop. Genevieve cheered from the other side of the field, a bright smile across her face that could've been seen from France.

Celena sped past her, holding her hand out and smacking it with a high five.

As time went on, they kept resetting as more and more chasers scored. Celena held the Quaffle but was knocked back by a force colliding into her. She slipped with a groan, nearly falling off her broom. She held onto the wood, but the broom continued falling. She grunted, latching onto one of the handles and pulling herself up. "Finally got that slime off your face, Leociadus?" Draco taunted.

Of course, only Draco Malfoy would purposely target someone on his own team.

"I'm on your team, asshole!" Celena shouted.

"Guess I didn't know." He smirked. Celena scowled and watched as he sped off.

"Hand that over." She gestured to her friend, who watched as Malfoy flew around. Unfortunately, her anger got the best of her as she grabbed a bludger from Genevieve and launched it right towards his back. Draco grunted, his broom going haywire. Genevieve held back a laugh, but Celena was loud enough that Malfoy looked back. She flew forward, grabbing the Quaffle from the opposing chaser and bumping right into his broomstick. Draco fumbled, spinning upside down and then back in the right position. Celena launched the Quaffle, smirking as she made even more points.

She didn't see it coming when Draco sped right into her. Celena grunted. Gasps echoed throughout the field while all the players watched. "Malfoy!" Marcus shouted, but it was all a blur as Celena dragged him down by the collar while they fell towards the turf. With a tumble, they rolled and collided with the ground. "Bloody hell!" She groaned, feeling the grass burn her exposed skin. The blonde quickly got back up on her feet, thrashing her body towards the boy who brushed off his hands. "You idiot!" She shouted, pushing the edges of his shoulder with all her might. "Me? You just tore us down from fifty feet in the sky!" Draco yelled back, walking up closer to her but not pushing her back.

"We were on the same team! You purposely ran into me! Are you stupid?" Celena scowled, her facial expression lined with pure fury.

"So? What's a little bit of fun? Just proved that you needed to be knocked on your ass, Leociadus." He smirked. "Oh, really? You better watch yourself, you little shit." Celena cursed him.

"Watch you don't end up cursed, you or your bloody friends." Draco threatened. "Is that a threat?" Celena huffed, turning around for a moment. "Would you go cry to your little boyfriend if I said it was?" Draco poked at her back. Once more, her anger had gotten the best of her as she turned around and punched him right in the nose. Draco leaned back, holding his nose that was now bleeding. "Oh! Merlin! She's got me!" He cursed.

"Leociadus!" Marcus yelled as he landed his broom. "Take a walk!" He furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance.

Perfect. The perfect start to tryouts.

Genevieve and Daphea quickly pulled her aside, walking her off the field. "That took some guts." Gen laughed. "Yeah, well, Malfoy had it coming."

"Someone had to humble him." Daphea agreed, smiling big like a proud older sister. Draco Malfoy was an entitled asshole, and Celena wasn't the only one who saw it. Half of Hogwarts frowned when they heard his name, whether he cursed them, taunted them, or tormented them. "Hopefully Marcus gives me some grace." Celena took a sip of her water, only praying the fight didn't affect her spot on the team. "I think you'll be fine, Flint does much worse to others during the actual matches." Genevieve reassured the girl, patting her shoulder.

"You're right."

"Always am."

✶ AUTHORS NOTE ✶

me when celena ^^^
(ugh love my quidditch baddie)

draco: if i had a nickel for every time i was punched in the span of a week, id have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it was weird that it happened twice.

but yaya celena is humbling him (as she will be during like 80% of the chapters..)

wc: 3,313