By: Lady Catriona-Arre for Just-Giddy
Ashlyn (Ash) Rochester- chaser
Jacob (Jake) Olivier - chaser
Kaitlin (Kaye) Evans - beater
Joel Hendriks - Beater
Chase Jones- keeper
Robbie Iaga- seeker
Mr. Kristofferson- coach
Authors Note: it makes reference to Oliver and Katie and characters from my puddleducks stories. cause well i love them :D but whatever. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIDDY!!!! HOPE YOU HAD AN AWESOME AWESOME DAY!!!!
-x-x-x-x-x-
Christin Totti looked around her and beamed.
It was the first time she'd ever been to Ireland, and she was impressed. Everything was so green; it was beautiful, just as she'd imagined it. The brightly coloured pavilions behind her rustled in the wind and Christin turned around.
There were close to three hundred people here from schools across Western Europe and America – all fit as fiddles and excited about being here at the Trans-Atlantic Junior Quidditch Tournament. The flying banners waved at her and Christin laughed. It had taken a lot of training to get here and there were so many scouts that it was almost impossible that she wouldn't get drafted for a professional team.
The chance that she mightn't had her more than a little high-strung; it was a thought that she daren't not dwell on for too long so she wouldn't start chattering like a nutter. Christin shook her head in the breeze and felt strands of dark brown hair whip about her head and neck pleasantly.
Sighing happily, she wandered back to the tent she was sharing with her friends Ashlyn and Kaye. Both played quidditch with her on the team, at the American magic school – King Ace College, and were good players. Ash was a chaser, like Christin was, and Kaye was a beater. The rest of their team were boys and they shared the tent across the path from Christin, Ash and Kaye's.
As Christin drew closer she could hear Kaye's beater buddy, Joel Hendriks shouting obscenities from inside their tent. Christin learnt why as Kaye almost fell out the door laughing hysterically and holding Joel's suitcase.
"Kaitlin – friggin' – Evans, get your white ass back in here with my clothes! I'm freezing!"
Kaye giggled and led Christin back into their own tent, dragging the large suitcase along behind her.
It was playing dirty since Mr. Kristofferson had said that on no uncertain terms were the boys to be anywhere near the girl's tent. Joel was stranded with nothing but a towel and his broom and beaters bat. It was unlikely that Jake, Robbie or Chase would lend him any either: for one he was at least a size bigger than all of them, and secondly, they would find the situation far too funny.
Christin laughed and held open the door as Kaye pulled his clothes through. Ash guessed almost as soon as she saw Kaye's face what had happened and shook her head.
"Kait-a-lin Joanne when are you going to stop tormenting him?"
Kaye pretended to think about it then smiled nicely, "Pretty much never."
They laughed, believing it wholeheartedly.
Kaye grinned, "He's gonna try and get me back for this, you know."
Christin laughed, they could still hear Joel yelling in the other tent.
Ash smirked, "I reckon we should go wait outside for the others, don't you?"
The girls sat down outside on the front ground sheet and waited for the return of their seeker, third chaser and keeper.
Christin commented that it was likely to be a while before they finished hunting down food especially with Robbie's appetite. He ate almost double what Joel did, and Joel was no small man. Robbie was tiny in comparison, at least six inches shorter, and nowhere near as broad. He was the oldest of their team, and had almost held back "the dream team" from coming to the convention on account of his being too old. But their coach Mr. Kristofferson had pushed a few buttons and drawn half of his working associations into the argument and they had got there, fully sponsored, all expenses paid.
Quidditch America had even arranged for Ash to write them a full four-page report, opening doors into journalism for her which she was very grateful for. Jake and Chase had tried to get new brooms out of it, but their last brooms had been bough only last season so they were denied. Chase, humorously, was their Keeper, a short broad man, who took a very relaxed view on life and quidditch practices, and for the latter, was more often than not the last one there. Christin found she had to laugh at it, and plan for it or she'd feel like strangling him.
Jake was one of those immaculately tidy, well-kept people, always with the very best of everything: quidditch gear, clothes, brooms; you name it, he had the best of it. Christen even suspected that he had a name-brand toothbrush. Even his girls were the best, and he seemed to be harbouring emotions for Ash. It was almost cliché really. Of the team, Ash was the most sophisticated, the smartest, the sweetest, the cutest – it was fantastic, they were perfect together, but it made Christin feel a little left out.
Robbie and Chase weren't interested in sporty girls at all and rarely ever flirted with anyone, let alone their Quidditch captain. And then between Kaye and Joel's ridiculous relationship – which was based more on who made the other laugh loudest rather than anything more serious – and the more traditional, slow courting of Ash and Jake, Christin felt a little left out: always the fifth wheel, never the one grabbing the attention from the boys, other than that she could grab by being able to beat most of them at any sport they named. Well, except for American football or rugby… she never really did like the idea of getting tackled to the ground by massive hairy, sweaty men.
The sounds of Robbie, Chase, Jake and Mr. K returning broke Christin away from her lonely thoughts and she faked a smile as they walked towards them. Joel seemed to have calmed down a little, judging by the lack of cursing in the background, something Kaye seemed to have noticed, as she greeted them slyly and asked if they'd seen Joel at all. Mr. K looked at her suspiciously and turned towards the boy's tent. Sniggering loudly, the others followed their coach into the tent.
Kaye skipped along in tow, more than proud of her efforts.
Joel was sitting on the sofa with a towel wrapped around him, a sandwich in one hand, and a butterbeer in the other.
"I'm going to get you back Kaye, don't you worry," he said, tactfully ignoring the others laughs, "right after I finish my sandwich and find some pants."
Mr. K made exasperated noises under the hands covering his face.
"Evans, go bring his clothes and his wand back."
Kaye grinned and skipped off again, laughing as Joel's scowl followed her out of the tent. Mr. K chewed his bottom lip in frustration for a bit before continuing with the issuing of orders.
"Totti, I need you to go up to admin and finalise the team names and times; you go with her Rochester. Jones, Iaga go upstairs and get unpacked. I'm going to be living with you for a week; I don't want to be wading through your mess every time I need to wake you up in the morning."
Chase and Robbie scuttled up the stairs making a thunkity-thunk sound with their feet.
Christin looked to Ash who was smiling coyly at Jake and elbowed her gently, "come on you."
The admin building was a large bottle-green tent at the base of the main quidditch pitch. A coat of arms with a pair of crossed brooms, a beaters bat, quaffle and snitch on it, hung from the cross bow - signifying the Trans-Atlantic Quidditch Association (or the T.A.Q.A (pronounced "takka") as they called it).
Christin walked through the door a step ahead of Ash and found herself face to chest with an exceptionally tall redhead boy shaped object wearing the Badge of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – the main one in Britain, and according to reports, home to the best junior team in the northern hemisphere.
"Terribly sorry, love, didn't even see you coming through the door, was too busy telling Reggie here about the American team from Kings Ace," she heard the red-head saying and Christin suddenly realised he was talking to her.
"Oh, um, no it was my walk- uh - I mean fault," she stammered, feeling herself blush. Merlin he was cute.
"Not at all, I'm Charlie Weasley by the way, captain and chaser of the Hogwarts team," he introduced himself, holding out a hand.
"Uh - Christin Totti- captain and chaser of Kings Ace," she replied nervously shaking his hand.
"Reggie," Charlie's companion said, "chaser too but no to his standard," Charlie laughed, "better mate"
"Ash," Ashlyn said, stepping up and introducing herself with good-natured laugh at Reggie's joke.
Christin felt awkward and embarrassed, and wished she had Ash's knack for manners and etiquette. Reggie shook Christin's hand and she tried to smile politely.
"So you're from Kings Ace?" Charlie confirmed, looking impressed, "it's the biggest school in the world isn't it? Something like 7000 students. S'pose America is a pretty big place though right?"
Christin grinned, "Kings Ace is pretty big but it's only half of North America - the top half, Canada, down to New York. The bottom half go to a school in Mexico."
"What about South America?" Reggie asked, "Brazil has a few good players in quidditch leagues over here."
"South America is a different story altogether," Ash answered, " they have a school in Argentina and another one, but I can't remember where, or what it's called."
"So how you finding Ireland?" Reggie asked Ash, taking her aside to talk about landscape and culture, and leaving Christin alone with Charlie. Christin almost wished they'd come back, she didn't know what to say to him.
Charlie solved this problem almost immediately for her though.
"The Kings Ace team is the one that we've been told to watch out for the most,' he said as they walked toward the front desk, "supposed to have the best junior chasers in the world right now – are the rumours true or are you going to be a pushover for me tomorrow?"
The board on the wall confirmed that Hogwarts and Kings Ace were the first team to play.
Christin sniggered, firing up a little, "not a chance, Charlie Weasley, we're the best! It's not going to be an easy game for you at all! And watch out for my beaters: they're dynamite."
Charlie laughed, "I met Joel, earlier, and I believe it too. But if my seeker holds to his usual speedy delivery, you and your chasers may be having trouble getting the ball near the hoop in time."
"Your seeker can't be that good, have you seen Ash or Jake fly? They're speedier than speed!"
"Well, my seeker is speedier than speedy speed!" Charlie retorted, his face betraying his ridiculous sense of humour.
Christin found herself unable to stop laughing until the secretary barked at her for wasting her time. Startled, Christin jumped around to face the desk and carefully marked off the names, positions and colours of her team. She was handed a copy of the draw and told that she was to be careful with it or there'd be trouble. She bit back a laugh and followed Charlie out the door.
The light was fading, and Christin could only make out the shape of Charlie as he slouched down and started hobbling along the road, mimicking the grumpy secretary and making Christin giggle uncontrollably.
"Madam, don't you lose that draw card! I'll have none of the foolishness in this tournament - none of it, you hear? You come here you be responsible. GRAH!"
Lost to her giggles Christin didn't see a tree branch lying haphazardly across the path in front of her and she tripped up, going flying once again into Charlie's chest. He grabbed her arms and stabled her, standing up straight again. Christin grimaced. Twice in one evening- what a klutz!
Charlie laughed, "I'm starting to think you fancy me or something girlie, that's twice you've thrown yourself at me so far."
Christin laughed nervously, her voice a little rattly. She didn't trust herself to speak. Suddenly the flash of a torch lit up Charlie's face, setting his shock of red hair alight and emblazoning his heartwarming grin.
"Totti?" Mr. K called. Christin tensed. "Hurry up and come inside. Dinner's almost ready."
Charlie grinned at her, "I better let you go Christin. My tent's just over there, the red and gold one."
"I'll see you on the pitch Charlie Weasley. Watch your speedier than speedy speed seeker, he's gonna need you to."
"On the pitch, Totti," Charlie pulled a coin out of her ear with a grin, "watch for the skill, I don't want you going easy on me just cause you think I've got a cute English accent."
Christin opened her mouth in protest, and he laughed.
"Close you mouth love, or a bug'll fly in," he said cheekily and with that, he kissed her on the cheek and turned off.
"I don't even like English accents!" Christin protested softly as she watched him stroll languidly away.
Mr. K, was kindly waiting inside the boys tent for her, within hearing distance however, and Christin could feel herself blushing again as she walked past him through to the dining room, staring at her feet the whole time. She was just about to cross the threshold into the room where the other were already seated, when Mr. K gave a fake cough.
Grimacing, Christin turned to face him. He was frowning.
"He's the Hogwarts captain isn't he?" Her coach asked, his voice icy.
"Ye-es..." Christin replied uneasily, knowing he'd find out tomorrow if she'd lied.
He still didn't look happy, in fact, if anything, he looked less so.
"Totti, I know you're sixteen, and that a cute boy is everything in the world to you at the moment, but think how much work we've put into this. You're an exceptional chaser, I'd hate for you to sabotage a chance at an illustrious career just because some cute English boy was flirting with you."
"Mr. K, I'm almost offended. If I let them win, I'd be letting my team- no - my friends down. And I would never do that. Besides, I've just spent the last half and hour telling Charlie that our chasers are speedier than speed. I'm not going to let myself look like a fool who can't back up her boasts for anyone – cute English male or not. This team, this sport, is my life, and these people my best friends. No boy could replace them."
Behind her, Christin heard loud clapping.
"Oh bravo, capt'n, bravo," said Joel, laughing.
Next to him stood a clapping Kaye, indicating that he'd forgiven her at least a little bit. Ash and Jake were applauding as well.
"Good speech, I'm proud of you," Ash said, beaming at her.
Mr. K laughed and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Well Totti, even if this whole quidditch thing falls down around you, I think you'd make a mint as an inspirational speaker."
Christin laughed along with the rest of her team, and walked into the dining room. Despite the wonderful people she was surrounded by, she couldn't seem to get the image of a certain red-haired boy out of her head. Not to mention the fact that her cheek was still tingling where he had kissed her.
"So who was he?" Kaye asked, as they walked across the path back to their own tent after dinner.
Christin had refused to say anything about him in front of the boys, Joel in particular being the biggest tease she knew. She smiled and decided to indulge her girl friends who were less likely to taunt her, "his name's Charlie"
"Did I hear Mr. K say he's English?" Ash asked.
"The captain of Hogwarts team."
Ash smiled, shaking her head, "you know how to pick 'em don't you Totti? His friend's pretty funny; I brought him back here with us. Jake didn't like him at all though."
"Surprise, surprise," Kaye laughed, raising an eyebrow.
"Couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact Jakey-Boy's planning on marrying you could it?" Christin said her tone more than a little sarcastic.
Kaye snorted.
"He does make it rather obvious sometimes Ash-a-lyn."
"Back to Charlie though- did you swap addresses? Agree to meet up later?" Ash asked, a deliberate attempt to change the topic, but one that neither Christin nor Kaye minded much, curious as they were about Christin's new beau.
"We play his team first tomorrow," Christin explained, setting the topic down a different track again.
"Hogwarts? First?" Ash sounded a little panicked, "but they're one of the strongest teams - all their older players already have clubs chasing them! If we lose, we'll lose the chance to play finals!"
Kaye, who was digging the dirt out from under her fingernails, replied.
"Not necessarily- we don't start playing elimination till Thursday. So, even if we lose we've still got a chance at the finals."
"Still, are we going to be able to play well at all against such a good team?"
"They're at a bit of a disadvantage," Kaye said reasonably, "my cousin Zade goes to Hogwarts, he said that they don't have a junior and senior team, just the one team, so their younger players won't be playing here- they'll be playing with subs. And it's not the best seven players across the school it's the team that won the house cup. So that may make a difference too."
"We're still the team that won the cup, Kaye," Christin pointed out.
Ash smiled, seeming a little calmer now, "but we also won nationals didn't we? So either way we are the best players in America."
"And we've got the best captain!" Kaye exclaimed, reaching out and squeezing Christin's hand.
"So what did you learn about his team?" Ash asked interestedly, "knowing you, you won't know anything else about him other than his opinion on qudditch."
Christin glared at her, "I care about things other than quidditch!"
"Yeah, but your first topic of conversation with any boy is quidditch or sport Chris... always."
Christin sighed, they were more than half right anyway so there was not much point arguing. "He mentioned his seeker was very good. So keep an eye on him Kaye, if he starts doing anything that looks remotely dangerous, take him out."
"You know I will" Kaye smirked, "we're Kings Ace girls- we've got this in the bag."
"Okay, Reggie is a chaser too isn't he, Ash?" Christin asked.
"Yeah, and from what he said Charlie is one of the best players he's ever seen: he's a fast, aggressive player but very sly about it. He's a quick thinker. You'll need to be marking him I think Chris, you're the fastest thinker of us and the fastest player- but that's your decision of course."
"If what Reggie said was right, it's probably a good idea. You and Jake are a little more defensive in your plays; fight fire with fire as they say," Christin nodded decisively with a small smile, "so we'll play Kaye right wing, Joel left. You and Jake will start your usual positions and then play from that."
"Sounds good to me," Kaye said before letting out a huge yawn, "as for me, I'm getting tired, and I want sleep."
-x-x-x-x-x-
As Christin showered and made up her bed, she couldn't seem to shake the image of Charlie's grin. No matter how hard she tried to focus on anything else- be it quidditch or how to convince Ash that Jake was crazy about her, or even her potions homework (which she was yet to finish), Charlie's grin and the replay of their entire conversation and that kiss on the cheek that he'd given her were the only things she seemed to be able to think about.
Eventually she must have drifted off to sleep because all of a sudden Ash was shaking her arm and telling her to get up, behind her Kaye, grumbling about something. Christin climbed out of bed, stunned at the coldness of the morning. Her high opinion of Ireland seemed to be lessening a little until she looked outside and saw the view of the hills and the river, and in the foreground Charlie Weasley holding a mug of coffee.
Luck of the Irish indeed… it could only have been luck that had introduced them.
Christin pulled on a Kings Ace hoodie and ran outside, forgetting shoes, something that she regretted as she almost ran into Charlie, hopping from one foot to the other in the cold.
Charlie handed her the coffee with a grin and pushed her back inside.
"A little good luck coffee for the match Totti, you'll probably need it."
Christin opened her mouth to protest but Charlie had already shut the door and disappeared. Christin turned to Ash and Kaye hoping that they'd seen him too and that she wasn't still dreaming but the coffee that she'd spilt on her hand as she'd stumbled back into the tent was all too real and it was hot.
Christin gasped and put it down blowing on her hand.
Kaye laughed.
"Pretty sure you should marry him Christin, he's cute, a quidditch player, and he brings you coffee in the morning... what a catch."
"Hear, hear, wish someone would bring me coffee right now," Ash said, grinning.
Christin laughed. "You can have half of mine."
"Thanks darlin'- you're a doll," Ash said and skipped off to find another mug to pour it into.
Post-coffee, Christin was a lot warmer and the bite of the wind as they went out to practice before the game, seemed like nothing.
Of course, the buzz Charlie had left her with was probably helping too, as even Ash was complaining about the cold and she'd drunk more than half of the mug of coffee herself. Kaye was wearing two jumpers, the bigger, outer one Joel's. The arms were so long that half of her beater's bat had disappeared under it. It looked pretty funny.
Joel was freezing too, and had dropped his bat twice already, complaining afterwards that his hands were too cold to function. He was from California, so Christin expected that he'd be coping with the cold pretty badly. Although, he was a surfer and was always swimming pretty early and that should have made him a little more immune to the cold. Christin kneaded her gloves along her broom handle, softening them ready to catch the ball that she knew was coming.
Ash released it, and Christin caught it deftly, ducking under the bludger that was aiming for her; it was a soft practice one however, that Mr. K had insisted they train with. Made of rubber or something ridiculous like that, it would sting but not maim the way the official ones would. It let the chasers practice without too much risk of injuries but meant that Joel and Kaye had to practice another half-hour every night with the real ones so they were strong enough to send one of those at least half-way along the pitch.
The game against Hogwarts began at 9 o'clock, and as the whistle blew to signal the release of the ball, Charlie caught Christin's eye and mouthed 'good luck'.
She returned the sentiment just as the quaffle came hurtling into the air.
Christin kicked off, aware in her peripheral vision of Kaye and Joel making their way forward to take control of the bludgers. Charlie was as far away on the other side, on the ball as she was. Using her size to advantage, Christin swung around on an ascending arc taking the ball with a sweep of her arm and kicking around Charlie toward the goal posts. Charlie looked at her in amazement and chased after her, indicating to his beater. Christin ducked the bludger and grinned as Joel came out of nowhere to send it screaming towards Charlie. Charlie swung around to avoid collision, and lost her.
A moment later, Christin was ganged up on by the Reggie and the other chaser, a girl. Christin tried to weave around them and threw the ball to Ash. A moment later Kings Ace were winning ten-nil. The Hogwarts keeper tossed the ball towards Reggie, Jake raced in and intercepted, passing the ball to Christin as he dipped away from Reggie and a bludger that Kaye had sent towards them.
Christin knew that her team's weaker point was defense, Chase was a good keeper most of the time but he wasn't infallible, and against chasers of Charlie's calibre, Christin wasn't sure if he was good enough. As for Robbie, he was a brilliant player, but Charlie's boasts that his seeker was "speedier than speedy speed" had held true: Robbie wasn't as good as the Hogwarts chaser at all.
She wasn't worried at all about Kaye or Joel's ability, they had the advantage, no contest, on the Hogwarts beaters; Joel was bigger, and Kaye was faster, and together they were unstoppable, especially when they worked together, as they were doing now. Ash and Jake were backing her well and Ash had scored three times already. As Christin circled in, Jake scored again. She watched him raise his arms in triumph as the crowd screamed.
Fifty-nil, was, so far a good place to be sitting, Christin thought not at all humbly. She relaxed a little. A moment later she regretted it though, as a fumble from her allowed Charlie to score. Reggie scored, before Charlie scored again.
Fifty-thirty.
Christin frowned as she dove for the quaffle, catching it off a kick. Glancing back at Charlie she scored, and watched his face fall. Their seeker scrambled up towards a gold glint. Christin felt panic wrap around her gut, before Kaye and Joel appeared either side of him and whacked both bludgers in his direction. He ducked under them, and then panicked as they rebounded off each other back to Christin's Superheroes of beaters. In his wariness of the inanely grinning Americans the Hogwarts seeker had lost the snitch. Christin sighed in relief and turned to catch the quaffle from Ash.
She dived under Ash, away from Charlie and hurtled toward the hoops, scoring again. Charlie's keeper was good, but not good enough.
But Christin was beginning to wonder if she had spoken too soon as the Hogwarts keeper stopped one of Jake's then two more shots. Charlie got hold of the ball and scored. Chase stopped three in a row, and then Christin scored again. Most of Kings Aces games tended to be won on the chasers' points rather than the seekers'. It looked like that was going to happen again.
Eighty-forty.
Ninety-forty.
Reggie and Charlie blocked her from catching the quaffle and then Charlie scored again.
Ninety-fifty.
Reggie crashed into Ash, and though Jake was visibly shaking with anger he scored another ten on a penalty.
Ten more minutes and the score was 120- fifty.
Ten more and it was 150- 50.
Ash scored another penalty from a bludger that had been purposefully hit at Chase. Another goal each from Christin and Jake left the Score 180-50.
Time-out was called by Kaye who had chipped her bat badly and wanted a new one. Christin sipped at a bottle of chilled water, and shook her shoulders out. The sweat on her clothes was making her cold and she shivered. Joel had cuddled up to Kaye, and was trying to stop his teeth chattering.
"We're doing very, very well. Another three goals and we'll change the focus from attack to defense I think. As long as were 160 up, it won't matter much if their seeker has a faultless track record or not," Christin said, "we chasers physically can't keep up this level of play much longer. I reckon if we score three more times, then we'll retract into our half and just fiddle around to prevent them from scoring. How are you doing Robbie?"
"All right. This guy's very fast and he's nearly had the snitch twice already. It'll only be by luck if I catch it, and unfortunately I'm not Irish"
Kaye laughed.
"Joel's great grandmother was, maybe there's hope."
"I don't think so Kaye," Christin shook her head. "how are you beaters doing anyway?"
"Freezing!" Joel whimpered.
'You're such a wimp," Kaye rebuked him, with a scathing look, "we can keep up for a bit longer, but I think retracting is a good idea. Having you three closer together and not moving as much makes our job a lot easier. And to defend is easier" she smirked, "though not as much fun."
Christin grinned and rolled her eyes, "all right then. Let's score and then hold our advantage, keep trying Robbie, but don't stress if you don't, if we get the three then we win even if he gets the snitch."
The whistle blew to resume play.
Christin jumped at the ball and retreated away from Charlie, who had been blocking her on and off the entire game. It lulled him into a false sense of security and he expected her to throw to Jake or Ash. She feinted left and as he slid to follow she hurtled past him, passed to Ash, wove under Reggie who was marking her, took the ball from Ash's hands and scored.
190-50.
Jake scored a penalty.
200-50.
One more to go…
Ash had the ball, she passed to Jake, skidded around Charlie to mark him as Christin got the ball, and then shot off to accept the ball and score.
210-50.
They were safe. And no matter about the snitch, they had won the game.
Charlie was staring at them in amazement as he accepted the ball and soared into the Kings Ace half. The players seemed to implode as he approached, drawing together into a tight knot around the goals that made it almost impossible to score. Charlie tried and Christin blocked it taking the ball. Casually she passed to Jake. They passed the ball between them, keeping it away from the Hogwarts chasers for perhaps fifteen minutes, before Reggie intercepted a pass between Ash and Jake.
He shot towards the hoop but was knocked off-course by a bludger to the leg. He dropped the ball, and Christin rushed in to collect it. Kaye knocked one of the bludgers down the other end of the field sending one of the Hogwarts beaters chasing it. Joel followed through leaving the other bludger to Kaye.
Robbie sped toward the eastern sideline, but it turned out to be a feint trying to draw the Hogwarts chaser away from the snitch. He saw through it however and turned, Robbie barely two feet behind him to find the snitch flitting along in the western half of the pitch. They raced for it, but the Hogwarts seeker was the better flyer, and he grasped his hands around the snitch just as Charlie put another goal through.
The scoreboard flashed an even 260-260 draw.
Christin wiped her forehead and circled around the pitch, coming to ground at the base of their goals. Charlie landed next to her, laughing loudly.
"What a game Totti, what a game. You play very, very well," he shook her hand. "Well done."
"I didn't even see that last goal of yours coming Charlie, I thought we had the game in the bag." Christin replied, taking his hand, shaking it and eyeing him with an impressed expression.
Reggie landed next to them, "told Ash to watch his tricks, good score captain, saved us to humiliating defeat by the Hamburger Eaters."
"'Hamburger Eaters'?" Christin snorted, "Beats 'Tea and Scones Eaters' any day Reggie, have you even eaten a real hamburger?"
"Yeah, and frankly I reckon it could do with some lettuce or something, how do you yanks eat that rubbish?"
Kaye and Joel joined them on the ground. Joel was the simple hamburgers' biggest fan, and he joined in on the argument in a fashion that quickly became both loud and aggressive.
While the other players were nattering away, Charlie grabbed Christin's hand. Startled, she turned to face him.
"Meet me at the Tara inn at 12 30 alright?" he hissed quickly with a lopsided smile.
Christin barely had time to nod before he was gone, shaking the hands of her team mates and then consoling his own weary team as they trudged off to the showers, muttering darkly about the draw.
Then, she suddenly remembered her own duties and hurried after them, shaking the hands of the Hogwarts players and then retreating to the sides of her own team-mates.
"Good game," she said nodding reassuringly to Robbie, "we played very well."
Ash and Jake high-fived and Ash and Kaye came over to hug her.
"What did he say?" Ash whispered in her ear as she embraced her friend, grinning as Christin groaned.
"You notice everything don't you?" she sighed before smiling shyly, "he asked me out for lunch."
"Are you going?" Kaye asked; one dark eyebrow raised gracefully.
"Not if I smell as bad as you darlin', we need showers," Christin answered good-naturedly with a coy wink.
Kaye feigned offence, but couldn't hold it, and burst into peals of laughter.
"I think you do, but you've got nothing up on Joely-Boy!"
Joel tossed his gloves at her, playfully.
"I'll go shower then if my scent is so offensive to your Royal Highnesses."
The next game had started on field, between the Bulgarian Durmstrang and the French all-girls Beauxbatons; two of the other schools in their first round. Christin watched for a moment and then dragged herself away, she knew she should probably be gathering tactics against Durmstrang - their next game, but the prospect of her date with Charlie was too tempting.
Kaye came to the rescue, "Joel and I are going to stay and watch the game. We figured that if were playing Durmstrang next we don't want to be caught unaware because their players are massive bulky things, bigger even than Joel- well at least some of them anyway."
Christin grinned.
"Thanks."
Kaye smirked, "I want a good story later- you had better provide."
Christin laughed, "Are you kidding me? Have you seen him? Of course I'm going to have a good story!"
"Good, good, now go. Shower. Have fun!""Yes ma'am!" Christin cried playfully throwing her friend a mock-salute before running off.
Casting a look back at Kaye, she noted that her friend was already arguing with Joel again, probably about how she though the keeper was cute. It was a pity no one had ever pointed out to Joel or Kaye that all the guys she was attracted to looked like Joel.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Ash and Jake were sitting in the coffee shop next to Tara's when Christin walked past on the way to meet Charlie. Christin wondered if Reggie's interest in Ash had finally inspired Jake to stop pussy-footing about and finally ask Ash out. Probably not, Christin decided as she watched Chase and Robbie join them. They were probably just there to spy on her and Charlie.
Charlie was leaning without a calm sort of elegance against the door post, his ginger hair flopping in his bright eyes and his usual smirk lighting up his face.
Christin stopped suddenly, startled, she had been too busy thinking about her team and hadn't seen him.
"'ello, 'ello," he called out to her in greeting, his English accent proving to her that although the Brits were an arrogant bunch – just as she'd always thought, it wasn't as bad as she'd believed.
English boys could be kinda cute.
scratch that- very cute.
Accepting the flower Charlie handed her she took his offered hand and followed him as they walked up the street away from the coffee shop.
"Where are you taking me?" Christin asked as they walked further away from where her team had congregated to spy on her, unable to keep herself from sniggering as Ash's face fell.
Charlie grinned at her and ducked into a side street.
"A little place I found yesterday, my friend Thomas Bell's aunt owns it."
Following him, Christin beamed as her eyes met a tiny little shop looking oddly squashed in, as though the owner had merely conjured it up out of nowhere and stuck it in the tiny alleyway. They strolled up to the shop and she noted that the sign above them read 'Moira's sweets and toffees'.
'Best sweet shop in Ireland, I believe," Charlie said, smiling proudly, "I figured you loved sweets cause you had all those wrappers stuffed in your pockets yesterday."
Christin blushed good-naturedly.
"You do take your research seriously, don't you?"
"Always," he replied, still grinning as he opened the door for her.
Christin stepped past him and sighed, she was candy's number one fan.
Candy was also another thing that made her love quidditch- if she didn't need to train so much for the sport she'd weigh like five hundred tonnes with all the junk she ate.
The shop smelt divine, the owner must have been making caramel or something similar because the air wafting around her smelt heavenly: of burning sugar. The shelves were huge and stacked to overflowing with jars and boxes and hanging ribbons of all sorts of candy. Christin didn't know where to look but then she spotted an entire shelf dedicated to varieties of peppermints. She pulled down a jar of peppermint crème fudge for Kaye.
Peppermint was Kaye's favourite. Caramel was Ash's so for her, Christin pulled down a jar of jersey caramels. For the boys and Mr. K she bought a large box of assorted candies.
Charlie walked her to the back of the store and called out.
"Mrs. O'Reilly? Are you here?"
A dimpled, smiling lady walked out from the back room wiping her hands on a cloth. "Charlie Weasley! Well if it isn't my favourite surrogate nephew! Back again are you?"
"I am," replied Charlie as she smothered him in a hug, pulling away from her to introduce Christin, "this is Christin Totti, she's from the USA."
Christin smiled, and waved a hello.
"Hello dear, I'm Moira O'Reilly – Charlie's best-friend Thomas' aunt."
"Oh, um, Charlie told me," Christin said politely, encouraged slightly by the woman's friendly nature.
"You're a quidditch player too?" Moira asked interestedly, noting Christin's athletic build with the slight air of approval.
"I am," Christin replied.
"My nephew Thomas plays on Charlie's team but he just missed the cut off to come to the convention, a pity really he's a very good player. How did your game go this morning Charlie?"
"A draw, but a very impressive one, 260 all… Christin's team make formidable opponents," he answered, winking at her, "especially that Joel guy, you should see him Moira, he's huge!"
"Oh, you're the Kings Ace captain!" Moira cried excitably and clapped her hands, "you're not going to get yourself in trouble for fraternising with the enemy are you Charlie?"
Christin laughed, casting a sly side-glance at him, "No more than I am.""It didn't get in the way of our game this morning," Charlie told her, fiddling with a basket of sugar quills.
"It wouldn't would it?" Moira's face seemed to light up as she laughed, "Nothing's ever gotten in the way of your quidditch now has it?"
Charlie shook his head, "Not much anyway if at all ma'am""You're not wrong- I tell you what though, how would you two like to come round and see me making those caramel twists that Thomas loves so much? You can take a box home for him, Charlie. Ooh, and you'd better take some of those jellybeans for little Katie- she does like them."
"Actually Mrs. O'Reilly - I don't think its Katie that is eating all the jelly beans, you remember Hamish Wood? Mr. Bell's best man?"
"Of course, of course, lovely man isn't he?"
"Oh definitely, but I think its his son Oliver who eats all those jellybeans you send Katie," Charlie explained, grinning.
Mrs. O'Reilly barked with laughter, "Well why not? I'll send some jellybeans for young Mister Wood shall I?"
Charlie laughed too, "why not."
Christin watched all this with avid enjoyment, Charlie's extended circle seemed as confusing as her own was. Except that of course Christin's was Italian and they were all related.
Mrs. O'Reilly opened the door around to the back and let them through. The kitchen was bright and a large cauldron of caramel was bubbling slowly in the corner. Mrs. O'Reilly handed each of them a wooden spoon, with the mixture on it. It was cooling fast and was going chewy.
"Careful now, they'll be hot," she warned.
Christin blew softly on hers.
"Now how's that brood of yours going Charlie? Your mother given birth to the latest one yet, she was heavily pregnant last time I saw her."
"Ginny was born in July," Charlie said, "tiny little thing, more character than volume I think."
"Well aren't you all? Your mothers the same isn't she?" Moira replied with a wicked grin.
"Oh, she is," Charlie replied with a matching grin before turning to explain to Christin, "My mother has the tendency to yell like a Pro Captain when she's mad."Christin snorted with laughter, her mouth too full of caramel to do much else.
"What about you Miss Christin? Have you got brothers and sisters?" Mrs. O'Reilly asked as she added a white powder to the caramel and stirred it.
"Uh, yes, two brothers and a sister... and more cousins than I can count, my family's Italian so were pretty close."
"Of course, Totti," Mrs. O'Reilly smiled, "I do like the way the Italians view the family life."
"It makes for interesting get-togethers" Christin admitted, licking more of the cooling caramel off her spoon. "This is very nice, ma'am."
"My nephew Thomas loves it, I had to keep it down low when he was staying with us, I was scared he'd hurt himself climbing the cupboards."
Charlie laughed, "I can tease him about this can't I?"
"Oh, I suppose" Mrs. O'Reilly smiled mischievously.
The bell from the front door rang and Mrs. O'Reilly put her stirring spoon down and wiped her hands. Christin followed her out to the counter just in time to see a tall dark haired figure made his way around the shelves to the front bench.
Christin stared at him for a moment before recognition struck her.
He was Roger Jones, the quidditch player who had gone to Kings Ace and had then gone on to captain the American side and win the last two world cups. It was something that she'd have to tell the others about. He walked to the counter and paid for a bottle of the same peppermint crème fudge that she'd bought for Kaye.
Mrs. O'Reilly handed him his change of three sickles and he smiled and left.
Kaye would be so jealous.
"Should've got an autograph," Charlie said behind her as he walked out of the kitchen, "He's the American captain isn't he?"
Christin nodded "Yep, he is. My friend Kaye's had a crush on him for years, she's gonna be so excited when she finds out he bought the same fudge that she likes."
"The crème fudge one?" Charlie asked; Christin pulled it out of her tote bag and nodded, "I'm going to pay for this now."
"Half price," Mrs. O'Reilly said with a wink at them both, "you just grab what you want alrighty Charlie boy, and take the twists and jelly beans for Thomas and Katie."
"Of course," Charlie said as he walked down an aisle and pulled a large box of chocolates down from the top shelf. "For my team… you're not the only one who spoils your players Totti."
-x-x-x-x-x-
When they returned to the camp site they discovered that Durmstrang had beaten Beauxbatons.
Joel was sore about the galleon he'd lost in a bet with Kaye and the two were squabbling as per usual when Charlie and Christin walked in. Charlie led her to the entrance of the tent and then with a smirk, bid her farewell and left, throwing a coy look at her over his shoulder as he strolled lazily away, his long legs carrying him back down the road to his own tent where his team was conducting some kind of small riot involving a pair of his boxers.
Kaye immediately forgot her squabble with Joel and all but jumped on Christin as she walked in. "So what happened? Did he kiss you?"
Christin shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"Of course not, I only met him yesterday, Kaye! He took me to a candy store his friend's aunty owned. But guess who came in while we were there?"
"Um... Your uncle's cousin's neighbour's mailman who owed your dad a favour and..."
Christin frowned at her, "my family isn't quite that bad, Kaye."
"Okay I give up, who?"
"Roger Jones."
"As in the Roger Jones the captain of the US Quidditch team and practically hottest man alive?" Kaye squealed excitably.
"Here she goes again," Joel sighed sullenly, covering his ears.
"Uh huh," Christin said and then quickly followed Joel's example as Kaye began to scream.
"No way, no way, no way! That is so cool!"
"And guess what else?"
"What?!" Kaye was all but bouncing around.
"He likes peppermint fudge." Christin handed her the jar of fudge she'd bought her.
"Ahh! Thank you Chris!!!" Kaye hugged her and bounced out of the room to find Ash, calling back "I can't believe you saw Roger in person!"
Christin looked pityingly at Joel and then smiled.
"What do we need to know about Durmstrang?"
"We're screwed," Joel said bluntly, lounging back onto the small couch with a decidedly dark look on his face, "they're very, very good, and they're strong. The only chance we have is if Robbie catches the snitch early."
Christin felt her buzz diminish.
"Are you sure?"
"Unfortunately."
"Damn!" Christin swore, kicking a cushion back onto the couch, "because we needed to win that game to make it into the finals. The rest are likely to be pushovers, but we could only afford to lose to one team."
"We didn't exactly lose to Hogwarts…" Joel said fairly.
"But we didn't exactly win either," Christin snapped back.
Joel frowned, "we'll get in somehow Chris."
"I hope so," she replied, sighing loudly as she flopped onto the couch beside him.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Unfortunately, Joel had been right; they hadn't had much of a chance against the Bulgarian Durmstrang. They played that evening against them and lost 190- 60.
By Christin's reckoning, since Durmstrang and Hogwarts had beaten Beauxbatons and Kings Ace had lost to Durmstrang and drawn with Hogwarts, Kings Ace had to win against Beauxbatons. Hogwarts had to beat Durmstrang and then Kings Ace had to win the rest of their group games for her team to make it to the semi-finals. Three games wasn't a big ask, but if they lost even one more game then their hopes were dashed and it was unlikely that Christin would get her scholarship or signing. The Scouts were going to put more focus on the finals than any other game.
Their win against Beauxbatons and Hogwarts' win against Durmstrang had put Mr. K in a somewhat jubilant mood and he decided suddenly to treat them to a night out ice-skating. It seemed however that Professor Eagell of Hogwarts had had the same idea, as Christin soon found out after crashing into Charlie out on the ice, after having been knocked off-balance by Joel.
"Hendricks, you great freaking idiot!" Christin yelled trying to pull herself up.
Joel was clinging to the side wall desperately, looking with trepidation at the cold white ice that he couldn't quite seem to keep his balance on.
Kaye, Ash and Jake glided past, laughing at him, and Christin forgave him even though her butt was as cold as Alaska.
Charlie lent her a hand and helped her to her feet."Fancy seem you around here Miss Totti."
"Hi," Christin said with a weak smile, wondering if it was to be her fate to look like the biggest idiot whenever Charlie was around.
"Looks like your dynamite beater isn't so great on skates, hmm?"
"Or his feet," Christin laughed, looking at Joel who was trying not to fall over again.
Kaye was holding his hand and trying to get him to just focus on his balance. Joel let go of the railing and a moment later he was lying on top of Kaye on the ice. Kaye groaned and Joel moved back apologising profusely.
Next to her Charlie laughed, "Wanna come skate with me Christin? I promise I won't squash you too much."
Christin took his hand and began to skate faster as Charlie started showing off. Christin drew back to watch as he and Jake jumped around in the middle of the rink, casting hopeful glances now and then back at the girls they were trying to impress. Ash skated up to her and stopped. They watched the boys for a moment or two as they skidded back and forth, trying different things that made Joel dizzy. Kaye was laughing in the background, before she skated over to join Christin and Ash.
"Boys," Ash laughed, as Jake and Charlie tried a particularly difficult stunt and ended up sprawled on top of each other, their limbs in awkward places, "can't take them anywhere."
Kaye shot a look towards Joel who still clinging pitifully to the side of the rink and shook her head dismally, "no kidding."
-x-x-x-x-x-
Jake, Robbie, Joel and Chase were covered in bruises the next morning when Christin called a warm-up for their game against the Portuguese Teamo. Joel could barely walk, his knees were so battered, and Jake had a black eye from when Charlie had lost balance and elbowed him in the face. Charlie had a bleeding nose and split lip and if Christin didn't know better she'd have assumed they'd gotten into a punch-up. The main question however, was if they could still fly.
Joel was no trouble once he was up on his broom, and Chase and Robbie were the same. Jake couldn't see out of one eye, however. That had Christin in a panic, and she took out her frustration on Jake, yelling at him.
"JAKE! Why did you do that why did you risk it, you knew we had a game tomorrow, and you know how important these are: we can't lose them! You've just ended our tournament for us. We may as well forfeit. Merlin, you idiot, you've just cost me my scholarship. You're so stupid! This is all your fault..."
Jake hung his head, looking mortified as all she'd said came crashing down on him. Too wrapped up in her own anger, she hissed through her teeth slightly when Ash quietly walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder gently.
Great, now my team's ganging up on me, Christin thought sourly as she turned and lobbed the ball as hard as she could down the pitch. The sound of someone catching her made her turn back and groan, standing there with his broom in one hand and her quaffle in the other, was Charlie Weasley.
"Charlie! What are you doing here?" Christin shouted, descending and stepping onto the ground in front of him.
"I heard you yelling, I thought that maybe I should come and help. It's not Jakes fault, it's mine. I was so hell-bent on impressing you, and that's how Jake got hurt," he said calmly, handing the large leather ball back to her.
He was avoiding her gaze and Christin didn't know whether she was happy that he'd accepted fault or whether she was annoyed because she didn't want to be angry with him, because she really liked him. It was always easier yelling at Jake because no matter what she said, he'd always forgive her. Charlie probably wouldn't.
Christin threw her hands up in frustration and stalked off, leaving her broom at Charlie's feet. Charlie didn't move, instead, Mr. K followed her.
"Totti?" he called, Christin slowed down and stopped, but didn't turn around.
"What?" she demanded acidly.
It didn't affect her coach at all.
"You can substitute someone for Jake if he's unable to play. It's in the rulebook."
"We don't have any Subs, Mr. K, we couldn't afford to bring them over," Christin reminded him, still feeling cantankerous and fed up with the world.
"Subs don't have to be on your team," he said pointedly but gently.Suddenly, Christin had an idea.
She turned on her heel and marched past Mr. K, back to Charlie, who was still standing dejectedly in front of her broom.
"Weasley!" Christin ordered; her voice still as sharp as swords, "put on Jake's uniform, you're subbing him. And I want two hundred and ten percent on that field, you hear me? Now move!"
Charlie stared at her, bewildered, for a moment before he nodded and pulled on the shirt Jake dropped into his hands. Biting his lip he jumped on his broom and circled the pitch twice before lining up on the right of Christin.
She was still fuming.
"Don't drop it Charlie." she ordered passing to him, weaving around Robbie and then ducking under the soft bludger Joel hit in her direction.
Charlie caught it and feinted right before passing to Ash who tried to shoot past Chase. Chase placed himself in the way and the ball rebounded back off his chest towards Christin. Christin braced herself to catch it, keeping an eye on Kaye and Joel who had been practicing a new feint before they had gone ice-skating the previous night. Christin didn't trust them to not use it just because she was in a bad mood. The ball was almost at her when Charlie dropped ten feet to intercept and to shoot.
Kaye, Joel and Robbie applauded.
"Even Jake couldn't have done that, Chris!" Joel called, "and Jakes a freakin' awesome chaser!"
Christin looked at Charlie for a moment and frowned. "
Good, now let's get out on that pitch."
Mr. K waited for her to float down to the ground,
"You'll get your scholarship Christin" he said pointedly, "so relax and enjoy the game will you?"
They won the game against Teamo, but Hogwarts, even with a tired captain, won their game by more than two hundred points. The next game Kings Ace drew, Hogwarts won, and Christin knew that making it to the finals was impossible; they would have to win their game against the German school by 2000 points. Even with Charlie it was too high an ask.
Dejectedly, Christina made for the shower and stripped, letting the jet belt cold water onto her shivering body. She was fighting back tears she was so frustrated, and she never cried, so this only made her more miserable. Shed let herself down. There was no hope of the scholarship now.
She heard someone enter the room, figuring it was Kaye or Ash, Christin turned off the water and pulled a towel off the rack. With it wrapped around her she stepped out of the en suite and stopped dead. It was Charlie.
"Oh- um-uhrm- I'm, I'm sorry, I'll come back later," Charlie stammered, flushing a brilliant red as he covered his eyes and turned to walk out of the room, nearly taking his head off on the doorpost.
"Watch out!" she called making him turn around again, just as her towel slipped a little, revealing more cleavage then she was comfortable with.
Charlie sucked in a mouthful of air and averted his gaze to a less dangerous view: his own muddy feet. Embarrassed, Christin ducked back into the bathroom and shut the door. She'd made a fool of herself as far as Charlie was concerned; and let her temper get control of her and been more than a little selfish as far as the possibility of a scholarship was concerned… quite frankly, she wouldn't be at all surprised if Charlie didn't ever want to speak with her again, let alone take her out.
Biting her bottom lip, she dried and dressed and tried to figure out where Charlie would have gone. She didn't have to look very far – as she stumbled out of the bathroom she found him sitting on her bed, flicking through a copy of Quidditch Weekly.
"I came to see how you were," he said and stood up.
Christin took the magazine off the bed and out it into her suitcase.
"What do you mean?" she said dismissively, "I'm fine. Perfectly okay."
"You're a terrible liar, Totti." Charlie said, taking full advantage of his formidable height and looking down at her.
"I'm not, I am fine," Christin lied again, scowling as she realised just how much taller than her he was.
"I did the math, Totti, you've lost the chance at finals," Charlie said softly, " I know you're upset."
Christin wheeled on him, her biting remark lost as, much to her own shame, she started crying. Charlie wrapped his arms around her and held her to his chest.
"Shh, its okay, Christin, its okay, it's just a sport after all," he hummed soothingly, "I'm sorry, love."
-x-x-x-x-x-
They won against the German school, but it was little consolation.
Jake would have been right to play in the finals had they made it. His eye had gone down and his balance was back. Having all seven in the finals would have been awesome, and they may have all been handed scholarships.
The night after the game, Christin was sitting in the middle of the paddock backing onto their campsite. Hard as she tried tears kept falling down her cheeks and the wrist of her hoodie was wet with wiping her face. Back at the tent she could hear Kaye yelling at Joel for pulling the same stunt as she had on their first day here. She didn't understand how they could be so flippant about the loss of the finals.
"Where on earth is Totti?"
The cold air carried Mr. K's voice to Christin. She sniffled; she wasn't ready to go back yet.
"Evans! For Merlin's sake, go put some clothes on!"
That elicited a giggle out of her; Kaye would be running around in the cold with no clothes on if anyone would be. Her mother practically expected her to run a nudist colony. Joel's rowdy laughter seemed as loud out here as it did in person, its echoing boom comfort to her. Christin shook her head; it was almost funny how the only people whose voices carried this far were Kaye and Joel.
Someone sat next to her, and Christin nearly shrieked herself to death.
Ash giggled and hugged her.
"Shh, you'll wake your mother squealing like that."
Christin breathed deeply and shuddered.
"Bit of warning next time please, eh?"
"Of course, of course," Ash giggled again before taking a more serious, quieter tone, "I uh, I saw Charlie…"
"Oh?"
"He's worried about you," Ash said as she leant her head gently on Christin's shoulder, "Y'know, he really likes you Chris."
Christin smiled slightly and rested her own head on Ash's.
"I don't know why, after the way I yelled at him, if I were him I'd be planning the party for when I get back to the other side of the world."
Ash squeezed her hand, "Don't be silly."
They sat for a moment in silence before Ash stood up, stretching her almost numb limbs out gingerly. "Come back inside, you don't want to be getting sick. Its cold out here."
Christin scrambled to her feet and let her friend lead her back to the tent.
Kaye had managed to find some clothes and was throwing cushions back and forth with Joel.
Christin shook her head.
"Joel get out, you're not even supposed to be in here."
Joel laughed.
"You're not going to tell on me are you?"
"I might," Christin threatened with a grin.
"I don't think you will," Chase said, walking out of the kitchen carrying a tray of Butterbeers, "not while we've got some kick-ass news for you."
Christin furrowed her brow."What?"
"We got wild carded" Kaye squealed, and Christin was being squished in a group hug before the news had even fully sunk in.
Joel's shoulder somehow was under Kaye's arm and digging into her side. Christin shook them off and screamed. She looked at Ash and waved her hands about. She really had no idea what to say.
Ash rolled her eyes and laughed, "I know."
"But-"
"I know."
"And-"
"Yep," Chase nodded.
Christin turned back to Kaye, "for real?"
"Yep!" Kaye hugged her again.
"Butterbeer anyone?" Robbie asked, grabbing bottles and passing them around. Christin accepted one and clinked it with Ash and Kaye.
"This is so surreal," she whispered, "I'm in shock! Wildcarded... wow. When did you find out?"
"Charlie had seen it posted in the office after his game, he'd been looking for you for hours, but just after tea I ran into him and he told me." Ash replied as she sipped at her butterbeer.
"She didn't believe him," Kaye laughed, "Charlie had to pretty much drag her in there."
"Charlie made it into the finals too?"
"Of course," Ash nodded. "Ooh, did I tell you?, Reggie asked me out""Reggie?" Christin felt her eyebrows rise in shock; she turned around to look at Jake, who was currently looking a bit surly, "what about Jake?"
"I said no" Ash said quietly, "He lives in England. And… well, there's Jake I guess."
"So does Charlie," Christin said sadly, "but I don't have a Jake... or a Joel."
Christin looked at Kaye and laughed, Joel was staring at her.
"I don't have a Joel either Chris. Well- not like that anyway," Kaye denied.
Christin looked at her skeptically.
"What?" Kaye yelped, "I don't!"
"And I don't, as yet, have a Jake," Ash said quickly before coughing, "anyway, moving on, there's nothing wrong with long distance relationships Christin Maria, and Charlie is clearly nuts about you, you might pull it off. Merlin knows you're stubborn and dedicated enough to."
"You really think so?"
"We do."
"Well there's no guarantee there's any "Charlie-and-Christin"-ising happening anyway." Christin brushed it off and grinned; "Besides… we got wildcarded who even NEEDS boys?"
"I think I resent that," Chase said humorously with a mock glare.
Joel laughed, "I second that, you very muchly need us."
Jake snuck in next to Ash and whispered something in her ear; Ash giggled and then suddenly got up and snuck away with him to the kitchen, both of them clearly thinking they were sleuths and wouldn't be missed or noticed.
Kaye leant closer to Christin, "think he'll do it?"
"If by "he", you mean Joel than probably," Christin teased.
"Not Joel, Joel's a fruitcake!" Kaye cried impatiently, "he's not even important in this conversation, I mean Jake!"
Christin nodded, "I think so"
"About freaking time then, I say." Kaye said with a rogue grin, kicking back with a satisfied grin.
"Hearing you," Christin agreed, looking similarly pleased with herself and the situation at hand.
A moment or two later a girly squeal issued from the kitchen.
Cackling with laughter, the team ran to the kitchen to find Jake leaning over Ash on the bench, kissing her like he'd wanted to for months. The cat-calls of Joel, Robbie and Chase made the couple look up. Jake was grinning inanely and Ash was blushing heavily.
Christin followed Kaye's example and clapped.
"Well, even if we don't win this stupid tournament, at least we've accomplished something," Chase said laughing.
In her mind Christin felt a list being drawn up.
REASONS WHY THIS TOURNAMENT ROCKS MY SOCKS:1.QUIDDITCH IS THE GREATEST SPORT EVER
2.IRELAND IS FREAKING BEAUTIFUL
3.IT FINALLY GOT ASH AND JAKE TOGETHER...
4...CHARLIE WEASLEY
-x-x-x-x-x-
The semifinals opened the next day and the all the entrants in the tournament were cheering for them. Kings Ace played the first game against the South American School, Charlie was sitting in the audience and that made Christin a little more nervous. Before the whistle, she looked for him. He was sitting half way up the first grandstand, about level with where he'd taken that intercept off her when they'd practiced.
Christin breathed in and tried to relax. It couldn't have been good to be thinking so much about Charlie when she was supposed to be focusing on quidditch. Charlie waved and she waved back. The whistle blew and straightening, Christin kicked off to take the quaffle.
After the game, in which she'd been hammered in the last few seconds by a particularly dirty-playing beater, she saw Charlie screaming "foul" along with the rest of the crowd.
Kings Ace had lost by just ten points.
Christin was still trying to catch her breath and keep from hysterics when she walked up to him after the game, feeling giddy. ((AN:hah)) Charlie threw his arms around her and Christin felt a little stronger for the contact.
"Are you okay?" he growled, glaring daggers at the beater who had just landed a few metres away, looking overly smug, "I saw he fouled you, you should have won that."
"I'm okay, I think."
Charlie looked down at her, a little confused before uttering something that made her feel more than a little confused herself. "You are amazing Christin, I'm going to Romania next year, but I can transfer, if only you say so."
Christin breathed heavily. Charlie was still staring her in the eyes, his blue ones drilling into her brown ones with a strange expression.
"Kiss me," he breathed, before lowering his mouth onto hers.
"Charlie?" Christin said pulling back a moment or two later, "please don't."
Charlie looked a little hurt, "Why? What's wrong..? I'm sorry I thought you..."
Christin bit her lip and looked down, disappointed that she had to say what she was about to, "its never going to work Charlie, we'll only end up hurting each other."
With that said Christin ran away back to the tent, where she could be alone, and where Charlie couldn't make her feel like the quidditch was nothing, as long as she had him… where Charlie couldn't make her feel like the Atlantic Ocean was just a pond, with stepping stones across.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Charlie stood fixed to the spot, for a moment, trying to understand. She'd shown every sign of being interested in him. He turned away to find Joel Hendricks in front of him, looking sympathetic.
"I know how you feel man."
Charlie stared at the ground, "You fancy Kaye right?"
"Freaking Evans, psht, yeah," Joel handed Charlie a butterbeer.
"Thanks," Charlie cracked the lid off, and flung it as hard as he could into the rubbish bin on the other side of the stand.
"Good shot," Joel said, looking fairly impressed.
The flow of people around them seemed to disappear.
"Her grandmother lives in Romania."
Charlie looked up sharply, but for some odd reason, Joel had simply disappeared.
"Thanks mate," he whispered, and turned to get ready for his game..
Hogwarts lost, but it was expected, they'd lost last time they'd played Durmstrang too. The only problem was that Charlie now had to face Christin on the pitch again, in the third/fourth playoffs. It was still undecided whether he had the heart to beat a team that he'd played with, trained with, and whose captain he'd just lost his heart to...
-x-x-x-x-x-
"We're playing CHARLIE?" Christin fumed, getting angry to stop herself from breaking down into a blubbering mess.
"I think we've got to accept that he's going to win" Kaye said, "he's trained with us, he knows where Joel and I are less than perfect..."
"In bed," coughed Chase, earning him a dead arm from Joel.
Kaye made a face and then decided to ignore them, "and he knows exactly how to get past Chase, and all of your quirks Chris. There's no way we can play against that kind of knowledge and win."
Christin paced the floor, restraining the urge to kick the couch.
"I hate to admit it, but I think you've got a point Kaye… Jake? Ash? Do either of you have anything? Joel?"
They shook their heads and Christin felt her confidence drop further.
"I guess that's it then. We've lost the game."
"We don't know that for sure yet," Ash said, "it's not over 'til the fat lady sings, as they say."
"Go on, give us a rendition Joel then we can all get home already," Jake sniggered. Joel thumped him in the shoulder.
"What if..." Robbie started.
The team turned to him.
"What?"
"Uh nothing, it's stupid."
"No, what is it Rob? Tell us," Christin sat down next to him.
"What if we all switched positions in the second half? Like Chase go to beater, Kaye go to chaser and Jake go to keeper?"
Christin jumped up.
"That's brilliant, they'd never expect it! It'd throw them off their guard! Kaye? Chase? Jake? What do you think?"
Kaye frowned, "I like it, I played chaser in junior- I can do it, maybe not as well as Chris, but yeah."
"Jake?"
Jake nodded.
"Sounds good, Capt'n."
"And Chase?"
"Call me Chase the keeper turned beater, Merlin knows ill be able to hit the stupid thing harder than Kaye anyway," said Chase with a grin at Kaye, who scowled.
Joel laughed, "You kidding me? No freaking way!"
Noticing the blush Kaye was boasting, flattered by Joel's confidence in her, Christin laughed, "we may have a chance then."
-x-x-x-x-x-
By the time the time-out whistle blew, Kaye had already committed two fouls on Charlie and he'd gotten both shots, leaving the score at 50-40 Kings Ace's way. Christin called time out, just as the commentator announced the score.
Kaye circled down next to her and Christin took it as a sign that Kaye was with her, win or lose. It comforted her a little, and gave her something to think about other than Charlie's hurt expression when she flew straight past and didn't toy with his defense, testing her bounds as she had every other time he'd seen her play.
It disconcerted Charlie as well as his team to whom he had explained the political and social mechanics of the Kings Ace game as well as their technical quirks. This momentary weakness in the opposing team may have led to a win from Kings Ace- or at the very least another draw- except that Kings Ace was as confused by the change in their captain's play as the opposition.
It was a loss, but to an outsider who didn't understand the politics between the two teams, it was a respectable one; where both teams had played strong- if passionless- quidditch, and the point difference was not so very bad, if you ignored the hundred and fifty points that Hogwarts had scored from the snitch. The score was 200- 70.
Christin watched the Ref approach Mr. K after the match and talk rather animatedly, moving his hands about a lot. He was at least part Italian, Christin could tell from the look on him and the way he carried on. Mr. K nodded and Mmhmm-ed and said definitely a lot, moving his head in that way he did when he completely agreed.
Christin wondered what they were talking about, but refused to move closer, terrified that it was bad news. She had had enough of Ireland, she wanted to go back home where issues with boys was never a problem, because there wasn't any potential about. She'd had enough of the whole quidditch thing. She'd find something else to do, take up knitting or something, there were plenty of things she was good at- like drawing, and writing, but they seemed to often take a back seat to quidditch because she loved to be moving around.
Joel and Kaye were there then, standing either side of her, as if there as bodyguards. Joel grimaced menacingly at some skinny blonde kid who was making eyes at Christin. He stared at the giant boy for a moment in panic and then turned tail and disappeared. Kaye looked at him curiously, a smile on her lips. Christin however, barely noticed as she'd just caught a glimpse of Charlie's hair above the crowd of people he was with.
Turning away quickly, Joel and Kaye came back into her vision - and for the first time in their acquaintance wished life was as simple as Kaye and Joel made it. Nothing more than games with the one you love; however much they denied it, it was obvious Kaye's adoration of her brute was more than she claimed. Kaye didn't seem to have issues with her relationship with Joel (whatever that relationship was), whereas with Christin and Charlie - if there was even such a thing as a "Christin-and-Charlie"- there had been issues from the beginning.
It wasn't long before the rest of the team congregated about them, Chase and Robbie talking animatedly about some type of broom or something and Jake and Ash gazing into each others eyes like star-crossed lovers. Christin tried to smile. Kaye squeezed her hand and Christin felt a little better for it.
A moment later Mr. K wandered over, the Ref walking a step behind.
"This is Benito Thierolli- the manager of a prominent Romanian team. He'd like to speak to a few of you about scholarships."
Only a few? Christin's heart was racing, still high on adrenaline from the game, and worry about Charlie. She wasn't sure she could take too much more before yelling at someone.
"Good morning all."
His accent was just heavy enough to show that he'd been in Romania for a while, though his name betrayed that he was most definitely Italian by birth. She might have been a little prejudiced but this instantly gave him a little more respect in her eyes.
"I've consulted your coach and spoken to my other representatives here and we would like to offer two of you a contract - for three seasons- playing junior league then working your way to the first grade. This will be including a full scholarship for any further education you wish for."
He beamed at her, and Christin felt even more tense.
"The two players we have selected are your Captain- Christin Totti..."
Christin felt the rush of blood to her head and thought she'd either faint or whoop. She'd gotten her scholarship - although in Romania, which could be an issue but for the moment it was brilliant. To her understanding the Romanians played excellent quidditch. She wondered who the other player to go was.
"…and your beater- Joel Hendriks."
Christin felt her jaw drop.
She hadn't expected that, he was a good enough player certainly, but to be contracted? After that game? Christin looked round at him in wonder.
Joel was in shock as well and was clenching Kaye's hand; she was congratulating him and looked very proud, though if you knew what to look for there was a definite faraway look in her eyes, such as you'd find in someone whose life-mate had died. Christin realised why it was that Joel had played so well. He had been defending Kaye, was more worried about her now she was without her bat. It was almost cute.
Joel was still holding Kaye's hand when he gibbered a forced thank you and shook Benito Thierolli's hand.
He beamed again.
"You will accept then?"
Joel shook his head, "not yet" Kaye nudged him, "I-I-I'll need to think about it, this was really unexpected.We only ever really expected that Chris would get it"
Thierolli looked towards Christin and she nodded.
"Where do I sign?"
Her new manager beamed at her and clapped her on the back. A smile wide as the ocean crept onto her face, and Christin couldn't believe shed nearly convinced herself that this wasn't what she wanted.
And Romania? Romania couldn't have been a better place in all the world for her to play! Not only was it where Nonna Julie lived but Charlie was going to be there next year as well!
Christin looked about her and found no sign of the Hogwarts team.
A bubble of panic gripped her and she fretted that she had lost her chance with the crazy boy with blazing hair. Knowing it was rude but doing it anyway, she fumbled through an apology and ran off. Benito Thierolli winked at her as she left hurriedly, leaving her broom with Kaye and running with wild abandon towards Charlie's tent.
"Charlie! Charlie!" she called, ducking between the tents flanking it on the left, "Charlie!"
"Christin?" he looked almost annoyed at her appearance as he ambled out of his tent, running a large hand through his wild red hair.
"I'm sorry" She blurted, still out of breath, "I was worried about the distance thing and the fact that we barely know each other and, and..."
"Shh," Charlie put a finger to her lips and grinned at her, making her knees feel like jello. "You were probably right, Miss Totti, I'm ridiculously impatient… and I think your bloody amazing. But- if I may ask - why the change of mind?"
"The distance thing's sorted," she said with a smile and small gurgle of laughter, "I got a contract with a Romanian team, I'm going to go live with my Nonna there!"
Charlie picked her up and spun her around.
"So we will see each other again!"
Giggling madly and clinging onto his strong arms, Christin nodded.
"Next summer -" she tilted her head, "you will write before then won't you Charlie?"
"Oh, of course," he said with that grin she loved so much, "kiss me."
-x-x-x-x-x-
In the end Joel didn't accept the scholarship, saying to everyone that quidditch was just a hobby and all he'd ever intended to become was a builder, like his father.
Christin always suspected another reason though, as Ash and Jake stepped aside out of her grandmother's kitchen doorway, and she saw Charlie sitting on the lounge eating a plate of her Nonna's best pasta… just like Ash and Jake, and herself and Charlie, she figured Joel would never be happy anywhere but with Kaye.
Christin smiled at her visiting friends and her boyfriend and her delicate old Nonna, and knew that she wouldn't swap any of them for anything, not even quidditch.