Nine

                                    

                                          
The sun hadn't yet risen when Cynthia pulled her Quidditch robes on and made her way out of the common room to the pitch, her breath smoking in front of her face as the chill air woke her up like a slap to the face.
"Morning lovely," calls out Tiffany Briggs, one of the Hufflepuff Chasers, a thick scarf wrapped around her as she jumps in place to keep warm.
"Morning Tiff, looking forward to flying in this weather?" She replies, looking out at the low lying clouds that she can make out in the light, or lack thereof from the sun.
"Just as long as it doesn't rain."
Pulling off the woollen beanie she had donned before leaving the room, Cyn ruffled her hand through her hair, a last ditch attempt to make it look like she'd bothered to brush it.
"You guys coming?" They hear Zacharias call out from the door of the changing room.
"Yeah, yeah keep your shirt on."
Grabbing her broom she follows Tiffany out onto the field for a day of gruelling training.
"Pass the ball Zach," yells Summerby, his voice cracking after shouting instructions all morning.
"Isn't he dating Hannah or something?" The beater, Lydia asks, hovering beside Cyn as they watch the mess unfolding below.
"I pity her." Cyn laughs, wondering why anyone would willingly put up with his attitude.
"How about you? Anyone caught your fancy these days?"
"Not really, nothing serious at least. There's this seventh year who I will admit is rather cute but, nah."
The two lean back as much as they dare on their brooms, knowing it will be a while before the captain can extract himself from telling off Zacharias.
"Anthony and I have been dating for a year now. He got me this cute charm necklace for the anniversary," sighs Lydia, showing off the jewellery to Cynthia.
"It's adorable."
"Oi, you two, heads out of the clouds and back to the training drills," calls out Summerby, finally spotting them.
"Whoops."
"Tell him," says Lydia.
"What?"
"Tell him you think he's cute."
She flies off to join the other beater, leaving Cynthia behind lost in her thoughts momentarily before Summerby reminds her again to get moving.
They only stop training when the Gryffindor team march onto the field, they pass each other nodding slightly and Cynthia's gaze is drawn to the two redheads from the DA meeting the other night.
"Hi," she says in passing, resulting in one of them breaking out into a giggle before returning her greeting.
"Hermione wants to talk to you," calls out Ron as he and Harry pass by, "She's having breakfast in the hall if you hurry."
"Sure thing," Cyn says ducking into the changing room before running up to the castle eager to tuck in to a huge breakfast after training.
In the Great Hall she makes her way towards the Gryffindor table straight away, knowing if she doesn't catch Hermione here she'd struggle to find her in the rest of the castle. With a quick glance to the Hufflepuff table she notices Eleanor isn't sitting there anyway, instead, after searching for a few more seconds she spots her at the Ravenclaw table eating with Reggie and a few of his friends.
"Ew."
While she was happy that her friend was finally entering the world of boys and dating, and she had told her that she was fine with El's relationship with Reggie, something just didn't sit right whenever she saw them together. With a pang of guilt she realises she wouldn't be too upset if it didn't work out.
Almost as soon as the thought enters her head Cyn shakes it away, scolding herself for being so petty in the face of her friend's and brother's happiness. Snapping out of her thoughts she spies Hermione with her face buried in a book, holding a forkful of food by her face as she devours the words on the page in front of her.
"Just a bit of light reading?" Cyn says, plopping in the seat beside Hermione with a nod towards the book.
"Oh this is nothing," Hermione smiles, putting the book down to focus on Cynthia and finally eating the forkful of food.
"Ron said you wanted to talk."
"Oh yeah. About the Hufflepost and some more article ideas, as well as some things to write about for the DA like defensive spells and information. I thought you and I could brainstorm some things that people should be informed about and pool our knowledge."
"As long as I get to eat breakfast while we talk," Cynthia says, already piling toast, bacon, eggs, fruit and a half a dozen other foods onto her plate.
For nearly an hour the two of them, between snacking on food, compile lists of defensive topics and ideas for articles to help students who might not go to the DA meetings but still need to learn things for a proper Defence Against the Dark Arts education.
By the time they stop for a break Eleanor has left the Hall, most likely to do the photography she'd been talking about catching up on recently and the food along the tables has vanished, soon to be replaced with lunch.
A group of Gryffindors join them at the table, back from Quidditch training.
"Second time in a day blue? I'm starting to think you're following me," winks one of the red haired twins.
"If anything, you're following me."
Beside him his brother again lets out a snort of laughter before being hushed quickly by the other.
"I'm sorry but which of you is which?" Cyn asks.
"I'm Fred, he's George," says the one that had laughed.
"Right well, nice to meet you properly. I spoke to my friends by the way, if you give me an outline of what you want to advertise we'll put it in the Hufflepost."
Their faces light up instantaneously.
"Really?"
"No way!"
"If we work it all out today we can have it for you tomorrow?" Smiles George.
"Okay, see you then." Says Cyn, getting up from the table, Hermione already gone to work on homework.
Suddenly, with a burst of confidence she can't place the source of, she turns back around to face the other twin, George.
"You're really cute by the way."
Without waiting a second, she turns on her heel and barely holds herself back from running, her face burning red as she leaves the Hall.
Dashing back into the common room she looks for Eleanor and Susan but neither of them are to be found, instead she scoops up Ollie, holding him close and sitting down at one of the spare desks as she ponders what to write first.
Ever since she had been little Cynthia had loved to write and while she enjoyed fiction, her favourite had been news articles. The idea of chasing down a story, of interviewing witnesses and telling the public the real truth - the more scandalous the better. A particular favourite journalist of hers was Rita Skeeter. Sure the woman was lying and devious, sure she wrote lies, but the stories were still a great read and she was popular enough that she had been asked to cover the Triwizard Tournament.
That was the type of fame and renown that Cynthia wanted for herself one day. No matter how much her mother tried to push Cynthia towards a career at the Ministry or her father encouraged her to follow Quidditch like he had, she knew the only thing that would make her happy after school would be to become the next big journalist of the wizarding community. 
A/N Hey guys, bit of a different chapter this time focusing on Cynthia. I hope you enjoyed it and let me know if you'd like to see more of her story. Don't forget to vote and comment xoxo