1 November 1942

After Halloween, the rest of the world patiently held its breath and waited for Christmas to come, but the students of Hogwarts rejoiced because the end of Halloween meant the start of the Quidditch Season.

The first Quidditch match of the year was legendary, and it would be all but assured that the entirety of Hogwarts would be running down the halls just to get a good seat, especially if their house was the one on the Quidditch pitch.

And this was definitely the case on the first of November in 1942.

Most of Hogwarts was not even awake yet, their clocks still reading 6 AM, but Envy Atkins and Darling Galavan were already making their way to the stands.

"I can't believe you made me wake up this early for a Quidditch match," Envy spoke as Darling turned to her. "The match starts at 8. Didn't you read the program?"

Envy sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I did. I just thought we could go at 7." Darling's eyebrows raised in disbelief. "7? Are you mad? Do you want to be stuck not seeing anything?"

"Fine, you're right... I shouldn't have questioned you." The two girls eventually reached the top of the stairs and began moving towards the best seats in the Ravenclaw section.

"See, calm, no rush, and we got the best seats," Darling spoke. "Yeah, yeah. And there's no one else here. Plus, we have to wait for 2 hours before the game even starts."

Not even two minutes had passed before Envy stood, earning a frown from Darling. She was never really known for her patience.

"Envy, where are you going?" She asked as Envy rubbed her eyes once again. "I'm getting us something to eat, so we don't go hungry while we're sitting here for two hours." She emphasized the last part of her sentence, making Darling roll her eyes.

"Fine, but be quick. I don't want to have to fight someone because you gave up your seat." Envy let out a chuckle before disappearing from Darling's view.

The Great Hall was quite a far walk from the Quidditch pitch, and as soon as Envy entered the hall, she was greeted with the smell of toast and a strange chill in the air that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

When she looked in the direction of the Slytherin table, she understood why.

Tom Riddle and his gang of... she wasn't exactly sure what to call them, were already up, sitting by the Slytherin table.

She didn't understand why they were all together. She didn't understand what they were doing either. Some people in the group were Quidditch players, and they weren't even ready.

She knew something was up, but she couldn't place her finger on what it was.

Envy moved quickly, walking to the Ravenclaw table to grab a piece of jam toast when she heard one of them speak.

"Of course you would say that, Malfoy." The voice was that of a girl, which was unusual for Tom Riddle. His gang mainly consisted of Pureblood Boys, but when she turned, she saw the familiar face of Alina Dolohov.

What was even odder was that there wasn't just one girl sitting with them. Tati Dixon had also managed to make an appearance, which confused Envy greatly.

It didn't surprise her that Alina had joined Tom Riddle's little posse. After all, her brother was already affiliated with him, but she never expected Tati to join.

Though, she didn't really know much about the girl because she was so quiet.

She wanted to look away, but the girl looked towards her, and they locked eyes. Envy looked away as soon as she could, though, trying to act like she hadn't been staring.

She grabbed three more pieces of jam toast that she placed in a flowery tin her mother had given her.

With her eyes fixated on the floor, she walked out of the Great Hall, silence falling among the group when she passed them.

Envy was kind of a living legend. Everyone had heard about her so called 'curse'. Her devil's mark.

Some students believed her to be capable of dark magic. Those were the students that feared her.

Others opted to believe that the girl only had three scratches on her hand for some odd reason, but not because she was special in any way.

And, of course, there were students who were envious of her because they believed that she could be capable of something.

One of these very students sat at the Slytherin table, and he was the only one who slightly glared at her as she walked by.

Tom Riddle.

Envy eventually reached the Ravenclaw stands once again, but she froze when she saw Darling again because the girl was talking to someone.

Simon.

Her eyes reached the curly-haired boy sitting in her spot next to Darling, and figured he was just a placeholder of some kind, as he was already in his Quidditch kit, holding a beaters bat.

"I thought you were a chaser." Simon jumped at the voice, but he relaxed slightly when he saw Envy.

He still remained tense, despite his smile, and Envy noticed.

"I am. Flick asked me to hold his bat for him." Flick was not a person Envy knew well. No one really knew Flick well. She hadn't even been told what his actual name was.

"Simon was sitting here so your seat wouldn't be stolen." Darling's words made Envy smile at the boy.

"Thank you." Simon gave her a small nod before nervously tapping his fingers against the bat. "Ok, well, I have to go get ready."

Darling waved at Simon, who waved back before walking away, leaving Envy confused.

"I thought you said you were only helping Simon with Transfiguration?" Darling nodded. "I am. He offered to sit here." Envy sat back down and bit into a piece of her toast, which made Darling frown.

"Didn't you get me a piece?" Envy gave Darling a look before taking a piece of jam toast out of the tin and handing it to her.

"Of course, I got you a piece. Why wouldn't I have?" Darling smiled as she took a bite out of the toast, silently thanking Envy for standing up in the first place.

☆☆☆

When the match started, Envy silently thanked Darling for waking them up so early. She saw a girl sitting in front of her crammed between two boys who would push and shove her every time they wanted to get a good view.

The entirety of Hogwarts sat in the stands, and Darling and Envy had gotten a spot right next to the goalposts, leaving them with a great view. The people sitting in front of them had a difficult time seeing, however.

"10 galleons on Fletcher!" One boy yelled out as he challenged his friend.

"20 gallons on Crockett!" His friend exclaimed, making Envy frown.

"He's mental! Why would he bet against his own house?! Why would he bet against Elias?!" Envy yelled on account of it being so loud around them.

"I don't know!" Darling yelled back. It was widely known among the students of Ravenclaw that Elias Fletcher was by far the best seeker they had on their team in a while.

And any fool who was willing to bet against him would lose all their money.

As the game continued, the two girls saw Eli only once when he flew by the stands. Mostly, they were focused on the Chasers.

Because of them, Slytherin was leading 60 points to Ravenclaw's 20, and everyone in Ravenclaw's stands desperately hoped for Eli to catch the snitch.

It was then that Envy saw it. The snitch was almost in the middle of the field, Eli not far behind it, while Winky Crockett trailed behind him, hoping he would spot it so she could get ahead of him and catch the snitch.

As Elias sped his way toward the snitch, Alina hit a bludger his way, which backfired majorly on the Slytherin team.

While the bludger almost hit Eli, it was much more successful in hitting one of the Slytherin chasers just as he caught the snitch, ending the game.

"What just happened?" Darling asked from beside Envy, who shrugged as she tried to see. They couldn't see much, but they did see a Slytherin Chaser face down in the middle of the pitch.

"Elias Fletcher has caught the snitch! Ravenclaw wins!" Cheers erupted from the stands as everyone clapped.

Envy and Darling both cheered for Elias as he flew around the stands, something he did when he would win a match.

The girls remained curious about what had happened to one of the chasers, though, making them go down to investigate.

As they neared the boy who fell, Envy noticed a familiar head of brown curls, and as she looked at Darling, they both knew what had happened.

The bludger had hit Simon.

A small crowd had gathered around the boy, who had yet to regain consciousness.

A few teachers had also gathered on the pitch, some helping and some... not helping.

"It wasn't on purpose!" Alina spoke, her anger making her accent thicker. "That doesn't matter, Miss Dolohov." Mister Spinnet said as their argument continued.

Envy noticed that most of the Slytherin team had left apart from Alina and Simon's roommate, Darien, who was also a chaser.

"Ah, girls, can you help Mr Reedham take Mr Nykvist to the Hospital Wing?" Envy looked towards Darling, who nodded as they walked closer, each grabbing one of Simon's arms while Darien grabbed his legs.

It took ages before they eventually reached the halls of Hogwarts once again, and it was as if Simon was getting heavier with each step.

Before they arrived at the Hospital Wing, however, they had to put the poor boy down on account of their tiredness. "I really wish we hadn't left our wands in our dorm room." Envy mumbled as she put her hands on her hips.

Under normal circumstances, Darling might've appreciated having one of her ghost friends by her side, but in that moment, she wished for anything but what happened.

She was glad they had put Simon down for a moment, otherwise he might've been dropped by the girls as Nearly Headless Nick popped up in front of them.

"Fuck!" Darien yelled out as Envy jumped slightly before the ghost situated himself next to Darling. "Hello, my dear. Do you need any help?" Darling offered Nick a smile.

"Maybe if you were alive, Nick." The ghost chuckled at her comment, making Envy look at Darien, who still had his hand over his chest.

"You ok?" Darien gave Envy a small nod. "Yeah, but you've got to admit that was really fucking scary."

Envy smiled slightly at Darien's terrified state. "You aren't wrong, but we should probably get Simon to the Hospital Wing as soon as possible."

The group picked Simon back up, walking faster towards the Hospital Wing.

"You know, if you lift with your legs, he won't feel as heavy." Darling sighed as she walked with Nick floating right next to her.

It had already been established that Nick was not going anywhere, both now and in the afterlife.

Darling had tried several times to help him cross over, but to no avail, and she felt guilty for that, even though Nick had assured her that he was perfectly happy at Hogwarts.

"Thank you for the advice, Nick. We'll be sure to keep it in..." When Darling looked to her right, Nick had vanished, making her sigh once again.

"Mind." They eventually arrived at the Hospital Wing, Darling, and Envy draping Simon's arms over their shoulders as Darien knocked on the door.

Madam Quinine opened the door, her eyes widening when she saw Darling and Envy holding an unconscious Simon.

"Oh dear Merlin help me." The woman muttered as she opened the door fully, allowing the girls to enter as Darien grabbed Simon's legs again, helping to get him to a bed.

The Hospital Wing was probably the fullest building in Hogwarts by the time a Quidditch match ended, but surprisingly, the only other person in there was Marina Hale.

The girl's eyes widened as she looked towards the three people standing by Simon.

"What happened?" Marina asked. Envy was unsure why Marina was in there,  but when she saw a first-year with a scratch on his arm in the direction Marina was coming from, she knew she was probably there to help.

"A bludger. Alina hit a bludger and it accidentally hit Simon." Envy explained as a faint blush crept over Marina's cheeks when Alina's name was mentioned, yet no one seemed to notice.

"Can I help?" Marina asked as Madam Quinine walked toward the group. "No, you just finish up with Theseus, I'll handle him. I've had enough Quidditch players in here to know what I'm doing."

Envy shook off her muddy hands as Darien looked towards her. "I'll stay with him. You two can go back to your dorm." The two girls nodded as they walked out the door and back into the hall.

Envy sighed deeply as she and Darling eventually fell into step with one another. "You know what I saw this morning?" Darling shook her head.

"No..." Darling trailed off, curious. "Alina Dolohov and Tati Dixon sitting with Tom Riddle." Darling's eyes widened slightly.

"Are you sure?" Envy nodded as they finally reached the common room. "What can run but never walk, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?"

"A river." The girls answered quickly in unison, causing the door to open. "Since when does Tom Riddle accept half-bloods into his little posse?"

Envy rolled her eyes as they walked up the stairs to their dorm. "He's one himself. It's only logical that he would probably start accepting them eventually..."

Darling shook her head. "I don't think that's the case..." As Envy opened their door, she immediately walked towards her bed, going to lie down.

"I don't even care anymore. I woke up way too early and there's been way too much chaos and other shit happening today. I need a nap."

☆☆☆

a/n- Envy if you only knew what was about to come...

FIRST CHAPTER :)

I tried to include all the ocs in this chapter so please let me know what you all thought of it in terms of your ocs and their behaviors and if I need to change something you're unhappy with!

As always, much love, Danni <3