He's in her sights like a loose Quaffle,
and she zooms after him on her broom,
no longer caring what others think
of her childhood crush turned love,
because they're them but she's her;
they can watch and judge and insult
her until the cows come home and
the day turns dark and everything ends,
but only she knows what's right for her,
and their thoughts are superfluous.
People titter and gossip and leer and boo
from their places in the towering stands,
trying to bring her crashing back to ground
without daring to put themselves out there,
happy to judge but not to ever be judged,
but she doesn't stop soaring around the pitch
for, up there, they are nothing but little dots
bright in colour but not in personality,
and their voices are muffled by whistling winds,
so she dismisses their scrutiny as background noise.
And she catches up to him in time;
she snags him and rushes forward
towards the goals of love, trust and hope,
darting around every single obstacle
that jumps up in their direct path
in an attempt to waylay the lithe Chaser
and repossess the precious Quaffle,
and, before she knows it, they're there,
and all of their friends are cheering
as they do their swooping victory lap.
But, to him, it played out differently;
she's the zippiest, most elusive Snitch
he's seen in his admittedly short life,
for she somehow eluded him for years
while he industriously searched the world
for someone to be his life companion,
knowing the connection he wanted to foster
but stumped on how to locate the person
with whom he could build and share that
resilient and heartfelt relationship.
Rapid flashes in the crowd caught his gaze
like a beacon beckoning him home to safety
as he navigated himself through the open pitch
in the search of that glittering endpoint;
it became hard to discern between cameras
and the real, true thing he was seeking out,
but he investigated each burst of luminosity
before pressing forward in his search
for the glittering ball that was still out there
and promised to end his endless plight.
And then he saw her, hovering underfoot,
and he couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before,
hadn't spotted the glimmer sparkling nearby
as she waited for him to turn around and see her,
to catch her and end the long waiting game
they'd both signed up to participate in,
and he leaned down and swiftly caught her,
and raised her up high above his head,
and the outcome was announced to the crowd
as they plummeted to the ground to celebrate.
But, despite the version of the tale told, they'll both agree
that the game of Quidditch brought them to together be,
and they're both ecstatic to get the chance to finally see
what it's like to face the world as a pair of sports retirees.