Luro and Gloria waited in the common room for Tobias. Luro was sat quietly on one of the comfortable chairs with Hufflepuffle on her lap, whilst Gloria paced the floor impatiently.

Gloria groaned, shouting in the direction of the boy's dorms, "Hurry up, Tobias! Everyone else is already there, and the match is about to begin!" She sighed dramatically, tapping her foot and pacing again.

Luro stroked her winged kitten, looking pitifully at her friend, "I'm sure he'll be here soon," she tried to assure her, "If we just wait a little longer."

"By the time he's ready, the match will have finished!" Gloria moaned.

Just then, an older student came in with several books in her hand, and a muggle's pencil case under one arm. She was a plump girl, with short, brown hair and glasses too large for her zit-covered head.

"Oh, sorry," she said, in an American-like accent, as they noticed her, "I didn't mean to bother you."

"No bother," Gloria said, trying her best to give a friendly smile, "Are you late for the Quidditch match too?"

"Oh no," the girl laughed, "Sports are my chance to be alone. Just me and my thoughts, with no one to judge me." She smiled for a moment, then asked, "Aren't you two pretty late, though? What are you waiting for?"

Luro was about to answer her, but Gloria shouted out, "Why in the world wouldn't you go to see Hufflepuff's first match?! Quidditch is the most amazing thing; who wouldn't want to watch it?!"

The girl shrugged, slipping into the chair opposite Luro. Gloria frantically waved her arms about in complete horror, and the older student patted the seat.

"Ninja!" She called, and a small black cat slowly entered the room. Hufflepuffle jumped down to greet her, and she sprinted back to where she had come.

"Ohh," The girl sighed with an amused smile, "Poor Nin-hita." She said the last word with a Spanish accent.

"Well," Luro introduced herself, "My name's Luro, and she's Gloria. Sorry about the fuss; she really likes quidditch."

"I can tell," the girl smiled. "My name's Natalia. Nice to meet you." She looked over at Hufflepuffle in awe, "I really like your cat. How did you get the teachers - er, professors - to let you give her wings?"

Luro opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment there was a loud crash from the boy's dorms. The girls turned to see Tobias walking in, looking like something had exploded in his face. There was black soot loosely scattered all over him, except for where his eyes had been blocked by his glasses, which he held in his hands, cleaning.

Gloria burst out into a fit of laughter at the sight, making Tobias frown.

"And that's Tobias," Luro sighed, making Natalia chuckle.

Tobias finished cleaning his glasses, placing them on his face. "Ha, ha, very funny," he said sarcastically.

"What were you doing, Tobias?" Luro asked.

"Just practicing some spells for the match," he responded, hurriedly brushing off his robes, "Now come on, we're going to be late."

"We were waiting on you," Gloria reminded him.

"Right," he said, then headed for the door, "Well I'm ready now." Gloria rolled her eyes and followed him.

Luro got up to join them, then turned back to Natalia, "Sure you don't want to come?" She politely shook her head, and Luro shrugged, joining her friends.

***************

"What's going on so far?" Luro asked, squeezing in next to her friends.

"Slytherin's ahead with twenty points, but Hufflepuff has ten," came a voice, and she looked up to see an excited Gryffindor boy who looked to be about their age, focused on the game. "Slytherin's probably gonna win, though." He told her this without taking his eyes off the field.

"Look, there's Richard!" Gloria screamed, grabbing Luro's arm and pointing towards a black and yellow blur.

"My sister's in Hufflepuff, but she's not really a sporty person," the Gryffindor commented.

"And Hufflepuff ties the game with another ten points from Green!" the commenter shouted at the crowd enthusiastically. Luro and Gloria cheered, and Tobias threw black and yellow sparks into the air with his wand.