March 6th, 1891 — Gryffindor Tower

The match had been a close one, with the chasers of both teams performing marvelously. It had, ultimately, been the Hufflepuff seeker—Farrow—who had caught the team and secured victory for the badgers, but for much of the match, Maddy had felt exhilarated by the competition of it. Even with the disappointment of defeat, Maddy had still touched down upon the grass of the quidditch pitch with a smile on her face, but one look in Sloane's direction had told her the seeker did not share her feelings on the matter.

The team had made their way back to Gryffindor tower, but it was only when she and Sloane found themselves alone in their dormitory that Maddy felt confident probing her friend for information.

"It's alright, you know, to be disappointed, but you flew quite well today," she offered kindly, busying herself with the putting away of her quidditch robes so that Sloane needn't feel scrutinized.

— Sloane Bixby/@"Elsie Beauregard" —

  

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— Bree is a graphics genius ♡ —

Sloane was slowly losing her grip on everything that she enjoyed or loved. Her friends were slipping through her fingers, things with Cam were still askew and now she was losing quidditch matches to first years. What was happening to her? She was happy for Billie, somewhere deep down, that her friend had caught the snitch, but to be bested when her chasers had worked so hard, well it was a hard potion to swallow.

She'd slipped out of the locker room and away before anyone could say anything, straight up to her bed without eating, nothing. She curled up in her bed, curtains mostly drawn with just Splash for company until Maddy had come in. "Mmhmm..." Was all she could manage as she wiped away the tears that had been slowly falling down her cheeks, hoping her friend hadn't seen.

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Maddy hesitated a moment before sitting down on the edge of Sloane's bed, face concerned.

Sloane Bixby was a great deal like Maddy herself—boundless energy, a jovial nature, and a deep devotion to both friendship and quidditch. To see her so... subdued was disquieting.

"You know, my papa says that 'a burden shared is a burden halved,'" the Gryffindor remarked. "And he used to play quidditch professionally."

That was another thing the girls had in common: quidditch was in the family, in the blood. Perhaps, Maddy thought, if her friend was reminded of that, she would be more comfortable opening up.

  

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— Bree is a graphics genius ♡ —

There was unfortunately no way Sloane could tell Maddy what was really bothering her, not after already breaking that promise once recently, but she appreciated her friend's concern nevertheless and scrambled to think of what to say.

"I'm just disappointed," Are sniffled a little. "I've been practicing a lot lately and today it just didn't make a difference. You guys all played so well and I didn't." And it had cost them the match. She'd put in countless hours on the pitch recently, the only place she could sneak away to without anything really questioning it, but her head just hasn't been focused lately and today it caught up with her. Regrettably, everyone else had to suffer the consequences.

She was just too distracted. Maybe it was time...

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"You did!" Maddy exclaimed in protest. "It was just that Farrow played well too and had the better luck—snitch placement and all that."

The Gryffindor team was not infallible; indeed, they had lost many a quidditch match before. That Sloane seemed to be taking this loss so hard made Maddy's heart hurt.

  

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— Bree is a graphics genius ♡ —

"I suppose," Sloane shrugged, looking over at Maddy slowly. Splash adjusted accordingly, rubbing her head against Sloane's shoulder affectionately.

The defeat just came at a poor time. When she already felt like she couldn't do anything right, losing a match was just adding insult to injury. She'd put so much focus into practicing to get her mind off everything else and they'd still lost.

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A frown, a moment of hesitation, and then, "I just don't like to see you so glum, Sloane. It seems so..." the Gryffindor fumbled for the right word, coming up empty and having to settle for, "wrong." It did not seem entirely up to the task, but would have to do.

  

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— Bree is a graphics genius ♡ —

Sloane sighed softly and dug deep to find some semblance of her normal, happy self to convince Maddy that she was alright. She sat up a little bit, leaning on her elbow to look over Splash at her friend. "I'm fine, just being a bad sport. Promise." She mustered a halfhearted smile, hoping to reassure Maddy somewhat. It wasn't as easy as she would have liked, Sloane was exhausted by trying to put on a happy face, but she was trying.

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Her friend's reassurances were not enough to lessen Maddy's soft frown, but if something was the matter, it was clear Slone was not interested in discussing it further—at least not right now.

"Will you come to dinner?" she asked instead. "Surely it will do you some good to be out with people. I think I have some hedgehog quills left over from potions last week—we can see how many we can sneak into Ned's potatoes before he notices!"

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— Bree is a graphics genius ♡ —

There was probably no escaping this one, so Sloane nodded slowly. "Sure," She wasn't hungry and she didn't want to face everyone right now, but she didn't want to disappoint Maddy either. Sloane pushed back the covers, cheated using her meta abilities and fixed her hair before sliding towards the edge of her bed.

"Maybe we should aim for Selwyn instead of Ned though." She offered with a small smile.

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