Quidditch League:
Round 4: Borrowed Inspiration
Beater 2: Use the title of a story written by your Beater 1 for inspiration
Prompts: (color) pastel pink, (object) broomstick, (action) pacing nervously
Word Count: 2990 exc title and A/N
A/N I have chosen the story "Girl Power" by my Beater 1, SassenachStarbuck to be my inspiration.
Also written for the Dialogue Wheel [Challenge/Mini Comp]
The Hogsmeade Highlanders
There was an air of excitement around Hogwarts as everyone sat down to breakfast on Saturday morning. Conversations were a little louder and more animated than usual as Molly entered the Great Hall, broomstick in hand, and walked over to the Slytherin table. She saw the rest of her teammates seated at one end and proceeded to join them. Her cousin, Roxanne, saw her first and moved up a little to make space for her.
"Good morning, everyone!" Molly said cheerfully whilst casting her eye over the options for breakfast. She eventually decided on some eggs and toast.
"You're in a good mood for this time of the morning," Jonathan remarked.
"Why wouldn't I be in a good mood?" Molly replied to her Seeker. "It's scouting day. Today is the day my professional Quidditch career starts. And I'm going to be playing for the best team in the league: the Holyhead Harpies."
"I wouldn't bet on it."
Molly looked over at Evie, who had spoken. "What do you mean?"
"Well, look at the last few years," Evie explained, "only one or two people have been chosen to trial for the professional clubs a year, let alone actually go on to play for them. And out of those few people, even fewer have been female."
"But none of those have been the Captain since their fourth year, and have a record for the longest period of time without conceding a goal. It's in the bag, guys." Molly finished confidently, raising her hand for a high-five from her teammates. They all looked at her, and couldn't help but smile at the enthusiasm of their Captain. "Well, that was rude," she said as she lowered her hand after no one responded in kind.
"The Harpies haven't scouted here for years, what makes you think they will turn up this year?" Harold - a chaser - asked.
"Because I asked them to," Molly replied nonchalantly, as she gulped down the rest of her orange juice. "Anyway, I'm off to the pitch to get equipment ready for us." She stood up, grabbed her broomstick and marched towards the Quidditch pitch.
"Hey, Mr. Flitney! Any word on who'll be scouting today?" The Quidditch instructor and referee turned back as he heard his name being called as he was walking through the entrance hall.
"Oh, hi, Molly," he replied as they both turned towards the Quidditch pitch, and the location of today's workshops and matches. "As of now, the Chudley Cannons, Falmouth Falcons, Appleby Arrows, Montrose Magpies, Puddlemere United and Pride of Portree are confirmed, and I've just been informed that the Wimbourne Wasps are planning on turning up today too."
"No word on the Harpies?"
"Unfortunately not. Their reliance on foreign players doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon."
"Oh," Molly was crestfallen; all her hopes were on the Holyhead Harpies
Mr. Flitney clapped the Keeper on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I know the Harpies was your dream Molly, but all the other teams are just as good and they'll all be lucky to have you. Now get out there and show them what you can do, I believe in you."
~o~
"You have got to be kidding me!" Molly fumed as she entered the Slytherin Common Room. "Are you actually shitting me? I was the best player out there today!"
Roxane followed her in, quietly apologising to everyone who her cousin pushed out the way.
"I know! It's totally unfair; you worked us hard out there today! And you saved more goals than any of the other keepers!"
Molly flopped down on one of the large, black leather sofas and put her feet up on the coffee table. Tears of anger formed but she blinked them back, not wanting to show any weakness.
"I was stupid to think that I'd get to play Quidditch professionally. Why should my dreams come true even though I've worked at them every day since I learned how to fly?" she said sarcastically.
"Oh, Molly, all those teams are terrible anyway. You can do better-"
"They're the only teams. What else can I do? Form my own team?" A silence descended over the two cousins whilst they thought about Molly's options.
"You could you know," Roxanne said with a something akin to mischievousness.
"What?" Molly asked, pulling her legs off the table and sitting upright.
"Form your own team," Roxanne replied with the straightest of faces.
"Have you been hit in the head too many times with a bludger? That's an insane idea."
"So insane it might work?" Molly looked at Roxanne incredulously. Roxanne sighed. "Listen to me, from the seventh year females alone this year you pretty much have a full team, plus there are a few good sixth year players available next year. I'm sure some previous students would be interested too. Get a few senior ladies involved, Aunt Ginny for one, she'd help. Aunt Fleur, she's all for women's rights these days."
"It could work… I suppose," conceded Molly, "but still, it'll be so much work and who knows if anyone would be interested"
"There's only one way to find out - ask! Start with Finnigan."
"The Gryffindor seeker? Why her?" Molly asked, with a confused look on her face.
"What you may have failed to notice as you stormed off the pitch is that she did exactly the same. She's the best seeker I've seen in my four years at Hogwarts, and Puddlemere chose the Hufflepuff seeker over her. I'm sure she'll be interested."
"Ok, next time we see her, we'll tell her about the idea. I'm still not convinced it'll work."
"Sleep on it, Molly. Tomorrow you'll see."
As it turned out, the next time the cousins saw Jasmine Finnigan was the following morning at breakfast. The Gryffindor entered alone and sat at one end of the long table, before pulling out reading the Daily Prophet she'd brought with her. Molly and Roxanne quickly grabbed some toast from the Slytherin table and made their way over to her.
"She looks in a worse mood than you did yesterday," Roxanne nudged her cousin and whispered into Molly's ear whilst leaning in. She giggled as Molly gave her a hard stare. "I'm just playing. But seriously, she looks in a foul mood. Is this the right time to ask her?"
"We need to ask her whilst the anger is still fresh; she's more likely to join us then." Molly had gone to bed thinking the idea was ludicrous but had woken up fresh in the morning and thought that maybe - just maybe - it wasn't such a bad idea. She would be playing professionally, something she'd always wanted to do, and it'd be a team for all future females like her who had been looked over in favour of male players.
"Hey, Finnigan!" Roxanne shouted, pulling Molly from her thoughts. Jasmine looked up at the two Slytherins walking towards her and sighed.
"What do you want? I'm not really in the mood."
"That's what we wanted to talk about," Roxanne said as she sat down next to the Gryffindor.
"You wanted to talk about my bad mood?" Jasmine asked, and raised her eyebrows.
"No, we wanted to talk about what put you in the bad mood. Yesterday's quidditch scouting." Molly continued, whilst taking a seat across the table from her. Molly could see the smiling faces of two boys on the back page of the newspaper, their necks draped with the scarves of Puddlemere United and Wimbourne Wasps: even the Daily Prophet was reporting on the new recruits, it seemed.
Jasmine stiffened. "What about it?"
"You're the best seeker, clearly, and yet Puddlemere decided to take the Hufflepuff guy. When has he ever gotten to the snitch before you?"
"Never. I've always beaten him, in every game for the past 3 years as well as all friendly matches during scouting days."
"So why didn't they pick you?"
"They said my flying style wouldn't fit into the team. Bullshit! Seems they'd rather have a baboon on a broomstick than a graceful flyer."
"Seems to me they'd rather have boys over girls. Like all the teams would…" Molly let that stew with Jasmine for a while.
"Hmm… they did take James Potter last year, and he didn't even want to play professionally."
Roxanne rolled her eyes. "Tell us about it, that was all we heard last Christmas. He only went to the trials for laughs. He took a place away from a deserving person."
"That's the kind of thing we want to change around here," Molly said earnestly. "We want to form our own team. An all-female team formed only of Hogwarts graduates, doesn't matter what house you were in, if you want to play Quidditch professionally then we'll be there. Are you in?"
"Yes, I'm in"
"What? Just like that? No questions." Roxanne queried.
"I need to play Quidditch, and you're giving me the option. I'm in."
"Sweet, we'll be in touch. We'll let you eat your breakfast in peace now." The two cousins stood and left Jasmine looking a lot happier than when they'd arrived. They made their way down towards the Slytherin Common Room, past the groups of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs gossiping about how their Beater and Seeker got chosen by the professional teams.
"So, you have a Keeper and a Seeker. Where are you going to get the other five players from?" Roxanne asked as they approached the wall where the entrance to their common room was.
"Python," Molly said to the wall, and a door appeared in front of them. "I was thinking the Hufflepuff chasers. All three of them are seventh-years and they've been playing together for two years, they're a premade team. Beaters? I'll ask Evie but there aren't as many female Beaters - apart from you, I know," Molly added as her cousin began to protest her point. "I think it's time to send some letters out."
~o~
Molly was pacing nervously in the function room at the Three Broomsticks. "What if no one turns up?" she asked Roxanne, suddenly doubting herself and the idea.
"Molly, what have I told you about this? It's a great idea, just you wait, people will come. It's only five to twelve."
Just then the door opened and a flurry of students wearing a variety of house colours entered chatting amongst themselves. Molly recognised the majority of them, having played against them over the previous few years. However, there were a few younger faces that she didn't recognise and a few that had changed since they had left Hogwarts.
When the flurry of people had ended and the last few stragglers had arrived Molly was speaking to a room of nearly twenty people, word had spread it seemed.
"Molly, can I have a word?" Evie asked Molly, pulling her to one side.
"Sure," Molly replied, surprised.
"I think this is a great idea but I can't play for you. Hear me out." Evie said as Molly began to protest. "I'll help in any way I can in paperwork and organisation but my time will be otherwise occupied. I just found out that I'm to be a trainee healer at St Mungo's next year. It's been my dream, Molly, for as long as I can remember."
"That's so exciting! I'm so happy for you, Evie!" she hugged the other girl, squeezing her tightly.
Once everyone had brought their drink of choice and were settled in a variety of comfy armchairs and benches they turned their attention to Molly at the front. She cleared her throat a couple of times before addressing the crowd.
"Well, we all know why we're here. I invited you here to discuss setting up our own Quidditch team. I am, quite frankly, tired of constantly being overlooked by the guys for not only professional teams but also House teams. We're here to change that. An all-female team comprised of only Hogwarts graduates, so we can't be infiltrated by foreign players like the Harpies. I've had a few thoughts but I'd love to hear from all of you all." A cacophony of noise greeted Molly as she asked for input from everyone.
"Calm down, calm down!" called Roxanne, "Let's go through the list we made, Molly. Ok, number one: where will we play? Our initial thoughts are that we would play at Hogwarts until a permanent pitch was made here in Hogsmeade. It would bring trade into the village, and we can make sure that some home games are played on Hogsmeade weekends so that students can come and support us. I don't know about you guys, but I would have loved to have watched Quidditch games on our weekends off."
"Definitely!" said Emily, one of the Hufflepuff chasers. "It would also make the next generation of players interested in our team."
"And I can't see the village or the school having any problems with it," added Roxanne.
"So, it's decided. We'll play here in Hogsmeade, and that leads to number two on the list: the name," said Molly, as she ticked off the first item on her parchment. "Most of the teams have some sort of alliteration and are animal based. The only animal that I came up with was hippopotamus and I think we'll be laughed at if we were the Hogsmeade Hippopotami. Anyone got anything better?"
The group thought for a while in silence, before a voice piped up from the back, "Not animal related but what about the Hogsmeade Heroines."
"I like it, but do we want to make it obvious we're all female? You wouldn't know that the Holyhead Harpies are just female from their name and I think we should strive for the same. Any more?"
"Hogsmeade Hares?"
"Hedgehogs?"
"Hermit Crabs!"
"Come on, be serious!" Molly shouted at the group who were suggesting stranger and stranger animals.
"How about the Hogsmeade Highlanders?" Evie asked, "I mean, we'll be playing in the highlands after all." The group all looked at each other and began to nod, smiling.
"Now we're getting somewhere," Molly said as she scribbled down the suggestion.
"Could we play in a pastel pink kit?" asked one of the younger girls who had turned up.
"Well, it could emphasise what we are... or we could get laughed out of the League. So, it's a maybe on that one." Molly said in a way that meant it was never going to happen.
"Don't you think you're getting ahead of yourselves. This is all well and good, but how are you going to pay for it all. Running a Quidditch team isn't cheap, you know," commented Sophie, a Ravenclaw sixth-year Seeker almost on par with Jasmine Finnigan.
"Leave that up to me," piped up a Slytherin fifth-year, "I know a person."
"Okay then," Molly wasn't sure she'd trust this 'person' but she let it slide for the time being. "Come on then, girls, we've got some work to do! We need to put together a pitch for the Department of Magical Sports and Games, and the British and Irish Quidditch League."
~o~
"No? What do you mean?"
"I mean no, Miss Weasley. We just don't have the capacity to host another professional Quidditch team in Great Britain. There have been thirteen teams since the League began in 1674, you can't just expect me to change that now. You are, however, more than welcome to form an amatuer team, your presentation was very good and I can see the benefits it would bring to the local area."
"We don't want an amateur team though, all of us deserve to be playing professional Quidditch and that is all I will settle for." Molly folded her arms and stared down the man across the desk in front of her, the Head of the British and Irish Quidditch League, Mr. Frisby.
"I've told you my reasoning and if you can't be amicable I will have to ask you to leave. Why do we need another all-female team anyway, aren't the Holyhead Harpies enough for you, girls?" Mr. Frisby added in a patronising manner.
"If you listened to us, you would know why they 'aren't enough'," replied Molly sarcastically, colour rising in her cheeks.
"Careful," warned Roxanne.
"Enough. I won't be spoken to with that tone from a bunch of girls. You are now dismissed, please leave my office." Mr. Frisby shuffled his papers and made to leave.
"You are part of the problem, Mr. Frisby! Mark my words, this won't be the last you hear from me!" Molly shouted as her teammates ushered her from the office. Roxanne forced her hand over her cousin's mouth before she could get herself into more trouble.
"Thank you for your time today, Mr. Frisby," Roxanne added sweetly.
~o~
"Are you ok, Molly?" Emily asked, concerned that her friend hadn't said anything since they left the Department of Magical Games and Sports.
"No, not really. How dare they just reject us like that? Pfft, 'why do you need more than one all-female team?'"Molly imitated the Head of the British and Irish Quidditch League - badly. "It's utter bullshit!"
"We tried our best, maybe it's just not meant to be," added Emily, shrugging.
"No! This team will get formed; the only reason they're denying us is because it's all female. Call the Daily Prophet, call all the news outlets, everyone needs to hear about this injustice. About how us women aren't being listened to and being pushed aside…"
"Maybe Mr. Frisby was right," interjected Lauren, "maybe they can't have more than 13 teams because of security, maybe they're right and... you're... overreacting..." She slowed down at the end, concerned about Molly's reaction.
"Are you all giving up on me now?" She looked around at the ladies who came with her. "No, this team will get formed. I'm not done yet!" Molly strode confidently from the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic, crumpling up the rejection letter and dropping it at her side.