Cody v Valerie. Quidditch Battle. pv Valerie Laurier

@Valerie Laurier

Unsurprisingly, the standoff between the Gryffindor girl and the Hufflepuff boy was heated. Literally. The girl was still on fire. Della continued desperately to try to dampen the flames with her scarf. The girl seemed relieved by Della's presence, thanking her.

However, the boy recognized Della. He must have been very keen on remembering names during the sorting or during classes. Still concentrating on ridding the poor girl of the fire, Della thought of times when she had seen the rambunctious Hufflepuff around the school. He was often hard to miss. Cody. Yes, that was his name.

Cody turned to her accusingly and asked why she was extinguishing her fellow Gryffindor. Della decided that the question was too vapid and full of angry, and she ignored Cody.

The girl, who Della learned by Cody's shouting, was called Val. Maybe short for Valerie? That seemed right. Valerie seemed to be holding herself back from charging Cody—a good thing, Della thought. He seemed to be a loose cannon and continuing to engage with him would only make matters worse.

Their argument hit a crescendo, and Cody threw his wand to the ground. He wound his arm back—only a split second too late, Della realized that he was going to punch Valerie. She had just been getting used to magical violence, which made her forget all about the normal kind. Before she could do anything to intervene, the punch went through but only connected with the air. Cody grumbled and walked away from them. Good, at least he had some self-control.

Della waited until it was clear he probably wasn't going to turn around and come back, and then she turned back to Valerie. "Oh god, you're still on fire! Here let me help!"