A letter home

Eva Cross read aloud their son's words for her husband's benefit who stood fussing with a smoking pipe by the window. The woman's tone wavered towards the end as emotions began to swell up.

".. And so, dearest Mother, dearest Father. This is only the first of what I hope to be many letters I write to you as a starter Beater on the Slytherin Quidditch team!"

As she carefully put the letter away and sniffled - Charles moved over and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, which only encouraged Eva to stand and choke a sob of joy out in to the man's vest.

They shared a long hug and sigh of relief. Maybe their little Addie had finally found his stride after all.

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"What are you drawing Corn Snake? Aren't you supposed to be taking notes? You don't want more homework do you?"

Adrian blinked to his right, a pair of eyes near framed by half-rimmed glasses stared back at him. He discreetly tried to hide the paper from her, but Alice was faster. She gently yanked it away to look, and what she saw produced a raised eyebrow, followed by an amused smile Adrian's way.

He tried to explain: "It's-.. just heraldry, for Quidditch. I wanted to-.."

His sentence was Interrupted by the commanding, gruff voice of Professor Sharp.
"Mr Cross! Your grades may have improved recently, but I still expect you to pay attention."

Alice held back a smirk and slid the doodle back over before both students returned to their notebooks. Or rather Adrian did for about 12 seconds or so until his attention drifted back to the hastily made drawning. Of course sporting the Hippogriff as the main motif.

The past few days had been a blur after Haitham generously accepted the blonde Slytherin to try out as a starter Beater for their team. It was a little overwhelming, frankly.
Adrian recalled as a young boy how his Mother used to read the tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. That combined with his father's admiration for Quidditch as a sport, as well as the star players in the World Cup - had lead young Addie to view them as Knights in their own right. And a Knight needed an Emblem, Heraldry.

He shook his head and blushed with embarrassment after realizing how childish a fantasy it was. Even so.. rather than going back to taking notes, he penned another line on the doodle.