Disclaimer: Do I own? No. Do I wish I was that good? Absolutely.
AN: Written for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition round 2 and my prompts are, (word) force, (word) mirror and 9:(opening sentence) It had been a very long day and all prompts should be in italics.
AN2: Grant Page is a character I stumbled across on the Harry Potter wiki who was keeper for the Ravenclaw team between 1993-1994 and turned up in the game Harry Potter Quidditch World cup. His friend Duncan Inglebee is also from the same game and so is his girlfriend Heidi Macavoy. Yeah, I've really focused on the really insignificant characters in this round.
It had been a very long day. A very, very long day indeed. Everything that could go wrong had indeed gone wrong and it was only three in the afternoon. It felt like it should have been later with the number of bad things that happened today to Grant Page.
Firstly, he had managed to lose his favourite lucky quill. It wasn't much to get riled up about, but he had a game coming up and the last thing he wanted was to lose one of his (many, far too many in his opinion) lucky charms. When it came to luck, you could never be too careful.
Then his girlfriend Heidi Macavoy had broken up with him. Apparently she had found 'somebody else' and she 'didn't want to lead him on'. Her timing however could not have been worse however. He had to face her in a game next week if they managed to beat Gryffindor. (Unlikely in his opinion. The Gryffindor team was probably so solid that nothing short of a miracle would get them through.) Still, seeing her playing for the other team was bound to stir up more than a few distracting memories. Especially as it had been through quidditch that he had fallen for her in the first place.
All the professor's were busy talking about the forthcoming NEWT examinations and today had lead to the largest pile of homework he had ever seen.
Then there was quidditch practise, which was compulsory as far as Captain Roger Davies was concerned. He was determined to win the cup for Ravenclaw this year and so, come rain or shine, they were all putting in extra training on their schedules. And today was looking a lot like rain. A sudden crack of thunder made him jump and the sound of a torrential downpour pounded the windows. Grant raised his eyes to the heavens as if to challenge them. He really did not need this today of all days.
It wasn't as though they really stood a chance this year. Their seeker Cho was completely out of whack over her dead boyfriend and probably couldn't catch a cold if it flew up her sleeve. To be honest, if it was up to him, Cho would be off the team and replaced by someone who was…less inferi-like for her own good and the good of the team. She was a good seeker when she was on form, but as she was…it would probably be a kindness to force her to leave the team for a while.
"Hey mate, you ready to rock and roll?" a familiar voice asked as a dark-skinned arm landed on his shoulders. Grant shrugged his shoulders.
"Not really Duncan," he saw his friend's face fall slightly, so he decided to elaborate. "I've been having one of those days and I can think of a million better ways to end it than flying in the pouring rain."
"Come on mate, we've got a game to prepare for," his friend replied and Grant shrugged.
"Do you really think we stand a chance with Cho such a mess?" he said with a look of distaste on his face. "If Rodger didn't fancy her, I reckon we'd be shot of her."
"Probably," Duncan said, nodding his head in agreement. "But that's not why you need to practise really."
"It isn't?" Grant asked, looking dubiously at his friend, who shrugged.
"Mate, have you looked in the mirror? You need something to get your mind off of Heidi."
"And playing the game that drew us together is going to do that?" Grant asked credulously. "Are you SURE you belong in Ravenclaw mate? Cause that sounds stupid."
"Nah, you need to flush her out of your system. You need to get used to quidditch without her."
"Are you doing that psychopathy stuff again?" Grant asked with a frown and Duncan rolled his eyes.
"Psychology, Grant, psychology," Duncan replied with slight exasperation. "And yes, that's pretty much what I'm doing. At least, that's what I'm doing if it works."
"If it works?" Grant asked, raising an eyebrow. Duncan shrugged.
"If it doesn't work, I'm just lifting your spirits with a well timed and comforting few words to help get your head in gear," he said with a smirk. Grant raised an eyebrow and snorted.
"All that psycho stuff running around in your head has made you crazy I reckon," he replied with amusement.
"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Duncan countered swiftly grinning. "I'm serious though. We need the practise and you need to play her out of your head."
"I need you out of my head!" Grant snapped with a hint of annoyance and Duncan simply smirked.
"And where would you get such awesome advice from without me?" he replied. Grant raised an eyebrow.
"What awesome advice?" he asked and Duncan gave him a look of faux hurt.
"Will you two lovebirds get a move on and get on that blasted pitch?" Roger Davies snapped angrily at them and both boys jumped in surprise. "We have a game coming up in case you haven't noticed and we need all the practise we can get."
Roger turned away and Duncan and Grant both glared at his retreating figure. Roger however did not appear to notice however, focusing on the other still present members of his team and trying to cajole and encourage them into moving with more urgency.
"Come on mate, lets go," Grant said with a look of annoyance at Roger. "We don't want to give roger a heart attack now, do we?"
"Dunno, give us an excuse to miss practise," Duncan replied and the two boys left the Ravenclaw common room.