𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐂 || 𝐒𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖

Chapter Six: A lesson in confidence

Chapter Six

The library was peaceful and quiet, the only noises that one could hear were the small patter of rain outside and the flipping of pages. Matty sat at a desk near the windows, occasionally glancing over to see the rain slide down the stained glass.

At the moment, she was working on some homework from Magical Theory class. Professor Willoughby wasn't lying when he said there wouldn't be any slacking off. Some of this work Matty didn't even fully comprehend. Part of her was telling herself that this was a good thing because it was testing her and making her think harder, but she was also particularly upset because she was more focused on an elective class rather than her core classes.

It was only a couple days into school, and she was already slightly distressed over the work which wasn't the best record she had under her belt.

And on top of that, she was worried that she was seemingly losing sleep. She would wake up feeling exhausted no matter how early she went to bed. She couldn't tell if it was anxiety over school or something else, but she figured that it was the first one, so she tried her best not to worry about it.

After a while, she figured she had studied enough and decided to give herself a break. Slipping her books into her school bag, she quietly left the library.

As she walked out into Central Hall, she was caught up by Leander who had just left the Greenhouse. "Oi, Matty!" He called out, grabbing her attention and walking over to her. "When do we start Quidditch practice? Since you're the new captain and all I figured I should ask. Wouldn't want those Slytherin's to get the upper hand on us, right?"

Matty grimaced a bit, having forgotten that they really did need to begin practice soon. "Sometime soon, I promise." She assured him as they began to walk alongside one other.

"Nervous, aren't you?" He asked her, having noticed that she seemed unsure when she answered. She gave a reluctant nod of her head. A weakness she had was thinking she could handle several things at once with ease and no stress. But boy was she wrong. "Don't be, you'll do great," Leander said.

"Thank you but I feel I'll have to at least go through one practice as a captain before I start to feel confident about things," Matty admitted sheepishly.

"Don't worry, I know how you feel," Leander said reassuringly. "I suppose my advice is to fake it until you feel it. Terrible advice, I know, but I'll have to admit, I did that all the way up until last year. It was a long time, but I actually feel much more confident with myself. And even now sometimes I find myself still doing it."

"Sure, I still lose in Summoners Court to Samantha and I'm still not the best duelist in school but instead of giving up—I have the confidence that I can do better next time."

Matty almost paused for a moment—that was actually some pretty good advice, which she was not expecting to hear so casually from Leander's mouth. "Wow... That's actually some pretty good advice, Leander."

"Oh, really? Well, I'm glad I could help!" Leander replied cheerfully, he hadn't expected his advice to be accepted so easily and with such a reply.

The thing was, Matty was confident enough that she could do something as the quidditch captain, but she was afraid she'd lack almost everything that Elliot had given them. He was truly the perfect captain in her eyes. He had amazing leadership skills, was skilled on a broom in general, and was also extremely understanding of his players. Immediately after meeting him, she knew why everyone liked him so much.

A part of her was comforted since Elliot was the one who had spoken so highly about her to Professor Weasley in the first place. Perhaps putting Leander's method to use would work.