Cold War

"Harry Potter! Come with me." Professor McGonagall suddenly appeared on the pitch, looking as stern as ever. Mia immediately grew worried.

"Don't worry." Harry gave Mia a reassuring pat and followed her.

Later, Harry told Mia that he had been made an exception and picked for the house team.

But for the next few days, Harry and Draco, along with Theodore and Blaise, received an unprecedented cold shoulder.

Even the little snakes were on edge. First, Mia was wearing a cold expression, and they were terrified she might do something to them. Then Draco, on the receiving end of Mia's silent treatment, was disturbing everyone in the common room, and Harry kept running over to the Slytherin common room.

The little snakes dared to be angry but dared not speak.

At the Slytherin table

Harry humbly carried Mia's favorite fries and a drink over and sat on her left. Beside Draco were some little snacks Narcissa had prepared.

"Mia, please talk to me. I was wrong, really wrong. I shouldn't have been so reckless."

"Mia, I was wrong too. I shouldn't have deliberately provoked Harry."

Mia gave them both a cool glance and a quiet huff. Under their hopeful gazes, she went over to Hermione, Ron, and the twins.

The sky was falling!

"This is all your fault, Malfoy!"

"Heh. Can't make it up to your sister, so you're taking it out on me, Potter?"

They glared at each other, and Harry hurried after his sister with the fries and drink.

"Wait!" Draco suddenly called Harry back.

"What is it, Malfoy?" Harry looked back in annoyance.

"Take these to Mia." Draco turned his face away and pushed the snacks toward him.

"Hmph!" Harry couldn't stand Draco, but he took them anyway. His sister liked them, after all.

"Mia~"

"Seeker! First-years never make the team. You must be the youngest Quidditch player in a century—the youngest!" Ron said excitedly to Harry.

"Even the youngest Quidditch player has to make it up to his angry sister, doesn't he, Miss Little Snake?" The twins came over, grinning and making faces at Mia. It worked: Mia couldn't help smiling.

"Well done, Harry. Wood told us all about it." After teasing Mia, the twins went over to Harry and each threw an arm around him from either side.

"Fred and George are on the team too. They're Beaters," Ron added.

"Our job is to make sure you don't get beaten up too badly. We can't make any promises, though. Quidditch is brutal."

"But no one's ever died. Someone disappears now and then, but they turn up again a month or two later." The two of them took turns trying to scare Harry.

Harry and Mia listened with deeply furrowed brows.

"Go on, Harry, Quidditch is brilliant! You'll be the best!" Ron loved Quidditch too. Of course, who didn't?

"I've never played before. What if I make a fool of myself?" Suddenly burdened with such a responsibility, Harry couldn't help worrying.

"You won't. It runs in your family," Hermione suddenly said. All three of them turned to look at her.

"Maybe Mia could be a brilliant Quidditch player too." Hermione looked at Mia. "Of course, if Mia were in Gryffindor. After all, you two are twins. You know each other best, don't you?"

"But wouldn't they have the same setup as Fred and George?"

"Maybe?" Hermione shrugged, making a little joke at just the right moment. Only then did Harry feel less nervous.

"What do you know about it running in our family, Hermione?" Mia asked.

"I'll show you!"

Trophy Room

Hermione led them to a trophy. It read: Seeker, James Potter, 1971.

"Wow, you never said your dad was a Seeker."

"I didn't know." Harry stared intently at the trophy, perhaps trying to glimpse his father in it.

James Potter, Lily Evans, what kind of people were my parents in this life? Mia wondered. When Voldemort came, he had used his own body to hold him back and let his wife escape with the children. At the very end, she had not forgotten to tell her children to grow up healthy. If they had not died, Harry might have grown up in a wonderful family, with parents who loved each other and their children.

Perhaps it was a connection unique to twins, but Harry sensed Mia's troubled feelings and quietly took her hand. Her hand trembled slightly, and she gripped his in return.

When they left the Trophy Room, Ron chattered on. "Hermione knows more about your parents than you do."

Then they suddenly felt the staircase shift beneath their feet.

"What's going on?"

"The staircases change positions."

"Let's get out of here before it moves again." With that, Mia pushed open the door ahead. She looked at it, and the longer she looked, the more familiar it seemed.

"Where are we? Does anyone think we've taken a wrong turn?"

Now she remembered. This was Fluffy's territory.

"This is the forbidden area on the fourth floor."

The wall lamps, which had suddenly gone out, flared to life, and a beautiful Maine Coon appeared. It really was lovely, and Mia itched to pet it, but this was no time for that.

"Follow me!" Then she grabbed Hermione and ran to the door.

"Damn, it's locked." Harry pounded the door.

"Alohomora! Harry, did you eat the magic you learned?" Even as Mia opened the door, she didn't forget to make a comment at Harry's expense.

"Get inside first." Once everyone was in, Mia closed the door.

"You're finally willing to talk to me, Mia." Harry looked at his sister, touched. Mia, Hermione, and Ron were speechless. Was this really the time?

They listened quietly for any movement and only spoke once Filch had left.

"Whew, Filch is gone. He must have thought the door was locked." Ron was rather pleased with himself.

"The door definitely needed to be locked..." Harry stared at the enormous three-headed dog in front of them.

Fluffy smelled a familiar scent and stood up. His enormous body was truly frightening. Once he confirmed it was Mia, Fluffy excitedly tried to pounce on her.

"Aaaah!" The three screamed in fear. Harry grabbed Mia and ran outside with her just as she was about to speak.

Mia: Forget it.