Buster watched in minor awe as she whisked away all the equipment. It probably wasn’t an extraordinarily difficult feat but he was baffled by anything. “Pointers?” he repeated as though it was unreal what she was offering. “UH, YES!” Buster thanked her for the compliment, but to be honest, he also hoped the team was in good hands. “But if you’re helping me out, I’m gonna be better than ready.” He leaned up against his broom eagerly. “So what’s the secret to being the best Hogwarts keeper?”

Mulan relaxing in the common room wearing a stolen borrowed sweater of Bobby’s

Buster couldn’t believe when he saw his name on the team roster. In fact, not only was he ecstatic, he was terrified. He’d worked hard during the summer but he didn’t actually expect to make the team. Making the team meant friendship and camaraderie, sure, but it also meant stressful game situations and Buster wasn’t someone who handled stress tremendously. He did have good focus, though, and passion, which led him to excelling during tryouts.

Still, Buster knew he couldn’t slack off so he was on the pitch at every possible moment. As he walked on, expecting no one, the quidditch fan in his heart nearly fell out of his chest. Mulan was not only a Gryffindor legend and inspiration but a pro-ball player. And she was waving to him because he was expected to fill her shoes. Or broom. “Uh, hey!” he said trying not be sound to nervous or enthusiastic. After all, she was only a student last year. “I was just about to practice. I’m still slow going to my right side…” He had his broom in hand but felt embarrassed to try anything in front of her.

Mer tucked a strand of hair behind her ears at the comment with a small grin. “So I’m learning. I couldn’t tell you if my hometown has the same sort of crime as I feel like I’m rarely there anymore.”

But at Mulan’s rambling, she couldn’t help but look at her with a little confusion. “No, of course not. I’m too close to graduating to give up now and basically every decent career requires at least a Hogwarts degree.” Of course, she had no idea exactly what kind of career she wanted for after Hogwarts, but that was a minor detail. She had all of this next year to figure it out when she had the time to pay attention to it. “But I’ll enjoy getting to see you. Knowing its you.”

This time, May hung back and simply watched as the group of women converged on Mulan to give her their compliments more personally. Fairly soon, most of them had surrounded her and were each babbling in their own way over the different highlights of the game, comments on Mulan’s flying style, tips for improving, and the casual ribbing that came from people who spent far too much time around each other. 

A moment later, Ellen snuck out over to her. “So, were we successful? Do we get to steal this one away? Because I can almost guarantee that the Harpies are gonna want her.” May grinned. “You might have to fight for her. It looks like she’s pretty popular already.”

Mulan on a “runaway trip” from family and responsibilities

“Well, I guess it depends on what type of fruit you like, but I like to get a mix of the mango and the pina-colada. The mango is oddly smooth and creamy and the pina-colada accents it well,” Bobby then chuckled a little, hoping he didn’t come off as an Italian ice nerd. 

“I know you’ll do great, Mulan, there’s no way you wouldn’t!” He replied and put a hand on her shoulder and patted her. “And definitely! There’s no excuse not to hang out, so I’m all for it.” At her question, he nodded and thought about it, “I think the school year will be interesting, you know? It will be weird being a 7th year, but hopefully in a good way. Not only that but since most of the Gryffindor team graduated, I’m going to try and go for Captain. We’ll see what happens.” 

Myrddin had always felt it was polite to refuse a gift once, but at a second time it became rude. Politely he resigned to accepting the gift and gave Mulan a grateful nod as his treat was handed over. “Thank you very much, Miss Zhou.”

“You will be returning? Oh, my… this is wonderful news!” He said with a laugh, “And it’s not a problem. I returned here after a few years, and no matter how often I try to retire I always find myself returning once more to it. It’s not a bad thing, in my book.”

“Of course.  I hope you enjoy the treat!” she said before taking a bite of her own.

May gave Mulan’s hand another squeeze, grinning broadly as she did so. It was amazing to see her friend look so happy. In fact, this might be the first time she saw her look exactly this happy, and it was incredible. 

“Come on, let’s hurry and finish sorting this out so we can rejoin the rest of the group and finish up this tea. And sometime soon, I’m taking you for a true celebration. Somewhere with no parents and far too much alcohol for us to drink. If I can’t get you dancing by the end of a night like that, my name isn’t May Marian.” 

Mer rolled her eyes with amused exasperation. “You have no idea. You’d think a small town like this would hardly have anything to worry about, but it’s like people make trouble because they’re bored. The other day, Auror Gardner arrested a man who tried to hit his friend with a jinx that would make him produce slime continuously. Unfortunately, the spell backfired. So he wasn’t only arrested, but he slimed all over the holding cell. It was a disaster.”

What did that mean? Oh, um yes I suppose. None of that sounded particularly confident. Was it a bad thing? Should Mer not have asked? Except Mulan was the one who had been keeping secrets because of her feelings, so shouldn’t it be a good thing? Wait. Stop it Meredith. Freak out about this on your own time. “Of course. I wouldn’t give up Quidditch, especially not now. I don’t have the drive to be a professional with it like you, but I still enjoy it. Sometimes it feels like the only way I can relax during the year.”