A/N: Written for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry February Event The New Year's Zodiac Writing Challenge (Horse, prompt #3: Write about someone playing quidditch. Alt, incorporate a unicorn in your story.)
WC: 500
Gwenog walked out onto the Quidditch pitch. It was a cool and cloudless fall day, the perfect weather for practicing for the Holyhead Harpies' upcoming match against Puddlemere United.
Grabbing her bat from the box where all the Quidditch equipment was stored, the captain turned to her team. "Alright ladies" she said. "Let's go out there and have the practice of our lives."
Gwenog's fellow Harpies cheered as they all mounted their brooms. Then, almost in perfect unison, they kicked off of the ground and soared up into the air.
The captain shouted out commands to her team. "You try to defend the chasers while I swing at them" she said to her fellow beater. The witch nodded and took a position from which she could best defend the chasers.
Turning to her chasers, Gwenog said "Give it everything you got. I want clean passing and smooth shots."
Then she faced the team's keeper and said "You know Puddlemere is going to give us Hell on Saturday. So I want you to guard those hoops as if your life depends on it."
Finally, she turned to her seeker. "Catch that snitch as fast as you can" she said. "Because Puddlemere is a strong team, and we don't want to let them wear us down. And once you'll caught the snitch, release it, then go and catch it again."
Once all her players were in place, they began practicing. It didn't go as well as Gwenog would have liked. But then, practices rarely did.
It wasn't that the Harpies weren't good. It was just that Gwenog wanted them to be the best. Quidditch was what she had lived for ever since she had taken flying lessons in her first year at Hogwarts. And, as a result, she was very demanding of her team.
There was a lot of yelling during practice. Fortunately, Gwenog's players were used to this behavior from their captain, and all of them remained calm under the pressure she was placing on them.
The three chasers scored some excellent goals. At the same time, the keeper managed to make quite a few impressive saves. Her keeper, who had a habit of keeping time with a stopwatch, told Gwenog afterwards she'd made a personal best when it came to the speed with which she'd caught the snitch. And the other beater managed to prevent any of the chasers from being whacked with a bludger.
Gwenog called the team's practice to an end just before the sun set. She didn't want them out on the pitch all night, trying to catch the snitch in the dark.
"Nice job out there, Harpies" the captain said in a cheerful voice, as if she hadn't been shouting for the past several hours. Her teammates smiled at one another. When Gwenog was happy with the team's performance, the other Harpies were happy with the team's performance. That was just how things were when you played with someone who loved Quidditch as much Gwenog did.