Play the Damn Game
By: Kim
Angelina stared blearily at the mug of tea in front of her. Had she added sugar yet? Her memory said no, so she spooned some in and watched it dissolve. She took a careful sip of the hot beverage and nearly spat it back out. Yes, she had already added sugar and a very generous helping at that.
"Hey Fred, you want some gross tea?" She offered the mug in his direction.
"Pass," grunted the redhead.
"Also pass," George interjected as she turned to proffer the mug in his direction.
She heaved a sigh and pushed the mug away before grabbing a fresh one.
"It's too bloody early," she muttered as she poured herself some more tea. "Can't see how Oliver thinks us getting up so early helps our chances any. And where is he anyway? Sleeping in while the rest of us suffer?"
"He's gone down to the pitch already. Says he wants to check the conditions so he can work out the best strategy," replied George.
"And the others? I haven't seen anyone but the three of us so far."
"Harry's down there," Fred pointed down the table to their Seeker. He was sitting alone, looking green and poking at some eggs. "No sign of the girls though. Thought you'd have seen them."
"Alicia was already gone when I got up. I'm surprised she's not down here, actually." Angelina looked around again, but there was still no sign of the other Chasers.
The twins shrugged and went back to eating. A quick cooling charm allowed Angelina to gulp down the rest of her tea before pushing back from the table.
"I guess I'll go see if the others have joined Oliver. I wanted to go over a couple maneuvers with them before Oliver starts his lecture. See you." She gave the twins a wave and headed out of the Great Hall, pausing along the way to clap Harry on the shoulder. "See you in a bit, Potter."
He responded with a noncommittal grunt and Angelina continued on her way. She thought that he didn't have much reason for pre-game nerves. He was a natural, one of the best flyers she had ever seen. Although, thinking about it, he did have a knack for suffering from strange mishaps on the pitch. But Dumbledore had chased the Dementors off, so at least that wouldn't be a problem this time.
Alicia must have grabbed her broom for her that morning, as it wasn't there when she got up, so she didn't need to go back up to Gryffindor tower to get it. She passed through the entrance hall, and out into the predawn chill of outside. The ground was hard with frost as she crunched down to the locker rooms, and her breath steamed in front of her. The sky was clear, and it looked like conditions were going to be perfect for the game. As she approached the pitch, she spotted Wood standing on the field, going through his pregame rituals. She knew that if she interrupted him, his preparations would be ruined, so she headed instead into the Gryffindor locker room.
Her broom sat with Alicia's and Katie's, but her teammates were nowhere in sight. Angelina was now starting to feel a little annoyed with them. They usually spent their time before games getting prepared together so, where were they? Why hadn't they included her in their plans? She knew that she could be a little cranky in the mornings, but they weren't avoiding her, were they?
Grumbling a little to herself, Angelina began to get dressed on her own. She had just finished strapping on the last of her padding when Fred, George, and Harry arrived. She pushed her thoughts about the other girls out of her mind and chatted with her other teammates about what they thought they could expect in today's match against Ravenclaw. Shortly, Wood marched in, filled with his usual Quidditch mania.
"Alright men and wo— Wait. Where are the rest of our women?" Wood frowned at them.
"I haven't seen either of them all morning. Their brooms are here, though, so I was hoping that you would have seen them?" Angelina's feelings of annoyance started to morph into concern. What if something had happened to the girls? The Slytherins weren't above sabotage, what if they had done something to her friends?
"I… I guess I may have seen them earlier." Wood's reply was unconvincing. The team knew how hyper-focused he always got about Quidditch. "At any rate, we're running short on time and I have a lot of Bludger play to go over before the game." The twins groaned. "I'll get started."
An excruciating lecture about the proper Beating techniques to employ against the Ravenclaw side later, Alicia and Katie had not arrived. The rest of the school had though. The team could hear the buzz of students heading to their seats. Realizing that he was still down two players, Wood was beginning to get frantic.
"I'll have to ask Madame Hooch to delay the game. We don't have any relief players. Where could they be? We'll need to look for them." He was pacing quickly around the locker room talking mostly to himself. "Can you all go ask your friends to look? I need you all to stay close, in case Hooch says we can't wait."
The team nodded in agreement, faces grim, as they all considered the prospect of playing two women down. It would be painful, but if Harry could finish the game quickly enough, not impossible. Still, they wanted to avoid that outcome. The twins and Harry hurried off to find people to look. Angelina hesitated, who would she ask? Katie and Alicia were her two best friends. There wasn't anyone else that she was close with. Resolving herself to just ask whoever was close by, she exited the locker room. Standing outside, she heard a noise that the thick walls between the houses' areas had muffled before.
A girlish scream was coming from the Hufflepuff locker room. Hufflepuff wasn't playing today so there shouldn't be anyone in there, she thought. The screams grew louder and Angelina realized with horror that her fears from before must have been correct. Something horrible was happening to her friends!
Fearing a trap, she grabbed Wood and gestured towards the door.
"Oliver, someone's screaming in there! We need to get in there!"
Wood heard the noise, and, realizing the implications, raised his wand and nodded. Together, they crept towards the door. Angelina pressed lightly on it. It was locked. She gave Wood a significant glance, then held up three fingers. She counted down slowly then, after Wood silently cast the unlocking charm, blasted the door in. They both burst in, wands up to deal with the would-be saboteurs. The screaming was cut off with a gasp.
Wood and Angelina screamed instead.
Katie and Alicia screamed in response and quickly tried to disentangle themselves, while also trying to cover their mostly naked bodies. They had not been attacked by Slytherins and they were not being tortured.
Oliver turned bright red and began sputtering. Angelina, also blushing heavily, grabbed him by the arm and wheeled him around so he was facing away from the indecent display. She then turned back to her friends.
"This is where you've been all morning?! I've been worrying myself sick! I was afraid something had happened to you! That you'd been attacked! That the Slytherins had—" Angelina was just starting to work up a good shout when Wood cut her off.
"GAME. STARTING. GET DRESSED. GO. JUST GO. PLAY THE DAMN GAME." He stormed out of the room.
After some hurried pulling on of Quidditch gear, Angelina followed Alicia and Katie outside.
"Your jersey's on backward, Katie," she muttered.
Katie let out a nervous laugh and started to struggle with the garment.
"We're really sorry Ange—" Alicia began.
"Not now, Alicia. Here, Katie. Let me help." Angelina began helping Katie with the straps on her pads.
"Thanks," Katie murmured, giving her a quick hug once the uniform was set right.
Alicia joined the hug, sandwiching Angelina between the two of them.
"Ugh. Lesbians," Angelina said with a wry smile.
The girls all laughed.