The tall, athletic woman stopped outside the locker room and glanced over her team roster:

Ginevre Weasley—Seeker, captain

Astoria Greengrass-Keeper

Jamie Glen—Beater

Gardenia Hearth-Beater

Giovanna Tally—Chaser

Hannah Goldberg—Chaser

Gretchen Smith—Chaser

Her team was excitedly pulling out their new brooms and new uniforms from their lockers. She wasn't over thrilled with the youngest addition to their team, Astoria Greengrass. The manager had insisted on purchasing her contract, so now Gwenog resigned herself to extra trainings until she got up to par. Overall, though, Gwenog felt that this year was going to be superb. She had great players from the previous year-or in some cases, years-and she had spent the entire off season piecing together a training regimen that would surely lead them to victory. The Quidditch World Cup was going to the Holyhead Harpies this year!

"All right, laaaaaaaadies!" Gwenog stomped through the door, Quidditch box thrown over her shoulder. The Holyhead Harpies immediately quieted their excited discussion about their new brooms and focused their attention on their coach. The former Beater was broad in the shoulders, and tall. Her long black hair was tied loosely at the nape of her neck. "Welcome to Spring Quidditch Camp! We've got an incredible amount of work to do before the season starts. A warm welcome to our rookies, Gretchen Smith, Chaser, and Astoria Greengrass, our new Keeper. I trust the rest of you have made them welcome?"

Gwenog gave a stern look to her team. "What, no response?"

"Of course we've made them welcome. We're just hoping if we don't talk, you won't be encouraged to start one of your famous long speeches." Ginny smirked at Gwenog cheerfully.

"Fucking Weasley." Gwenog rolled her eyes at her favorite player and team captain, and then continued nonplussed, "Okay, look, ladies, I'll make this short. For now." She shot a dirty look at Ginny.

"I'm proud of how we played last year, but we have got! To step! Up! Our! Game!" Gwenog smacked one of the beater's bats into her palm to punctuate her speech. "Take to the field and do some warm up exercises, everyone but Weasley."

Ginny threw her broom over her shoulder. "Damn. I still haven't had a chance to test my new broom."

Gwenog grinned excitedly, "I know, the Gloriola is a beautiful broom! They made it according to the specifications you and I recommended, you know. It's being patented as the Holyhead Harpies Broom. You can only get it in gold and green with Holyhead Harpies emblazoned on the side of it!"

"Really? I didn't think Broomstix would take our suggestions. Where'd they get the name, anyway? Gloriola?" Ginny followed the tall woman to the edge of the pitch.

"I think it means halo or something. I asked them to name it something with a G, since G names are a Harpy tradition."

Ginny laughed. "I really can't believe you refuse players who don't have a G name. There were a few girls who were overall better players than the Smith girl. She played for Hufflepuff at Hogwarts, but she didn't make the team until her 7th year. She's not got much experience at all."

"I don't make the final hiring decisions, the manager does. He's the one with the money. Something to do with a curse on the team. Whatever, though."

"Well, I was still at Hogwarts at the time, but we never won a game that season with Valmai Morgan." Ginny smiled at the stupid superstition.

"Don't get me in a depressed state thinking about that season. Merlin. That was a rough year." Gwenog transfigured two sticks and a rock into a table and chairs.

"Sit. Let's discuss training regimine and strategy!"

Ginny pulled out a sheaf of parchment and handed it to Gwenog. "Here are my observations of the team from try-outs. Also, somewhere in there are some new training suggestions and, I was thinking, Gwennie?"

Gwenog distractedly looked up from Ginny's notes. "Yeah?"

"I was thinking, maybe we should get a healer to draw up a proper diet plan, so we are at our peak strength levels. You know?" Ginny tucked a flyaway strand of bright red hair back behind her ear.

"Not a bad idea, Weasley. Not a bad idea at all."

After another half hour of discussion, Gwenog stood and stretched. "Here, I've got something for you." She rummaged around in a bag and pulled out a heavy vest and dark goggles.

Ginny lifted the goggles to her face and immediately tossed them back in the bag. "Hell no. I can't see shit with those."

"That's the point, Weasley. We need you to practice in extreme conditions. Here, take this already." She shoved the weighted jacket at Ginny, who exhaled in a loud oooomph! as she struggled to not drop it.

"This thing weighs like eight hundred kilos! Are you out of your mind?!" Ginny wrinkled her nose. "The broom won't even hold me!"

"It will. I tested it, and I weigh more than you. Quit whining. Do three laps with the goggles and the jacket, and then take it off, and I'll release the snitch. You'll see. You'll want to practice with this from now on out." Gwenog crossed her arms imperiously.

"Merlin's nose hairs, Gwenie, I hate you." Ginny struggled into the vest and tightened the goggles against her face. She barely was able to kick off the ground, and felt like she had been hit with the Arresto Momentum Charm. Even if she could move faster, Ginny would not have dared because her obscured vision made her afraid she was going to smash into another player. She was flying blind, and she hated it. This was worse than flying in snow, or fog, or even at night. At least at night the pitch was lit from the stadium lights.

Ginny tried to focus on each of the players as she passed them in the air, but her vision was so hampered that she could only distinguish them by their voices. Gwenog was off yelling at the Beaters about their form, and the Chasers were giving the Keeper a merry run for her money. She completed her first circle of the pitch high in the air. Her second lap the weight was too much and Ginny could barely keep even with the posts. The last lap, Ginny sank up and down comically, like a cork in the middle of the ocean. She finally completed Gwenog's assignment and slipped to the ground. "WOMAN! Get this shit off of me!" Ginny ripped off the shaded goggles and flug them at the back of Gwenog's head. Laughing, she flitted over to Ginny and helped take the jacket.

"Here's your snitch." Gwenog let the little golden blur go and planted her hands on her hips. "Get a move on, Weasley!"

"Fuck, Gwenie! You couldn't give me a second for a breather?" Ginny tossed her arms in the air in exasperation.

With a final dirty look over her shoulder, she threw her legs over her broom and took off. However, without the extra weight, Ginny propelled herself forward so rapidly that she covered the distance of half the pitch.

"Whooooooo!" Ginny let out an exuberant shriek in surprise over the speeds she attained.

"Gwenie, I take I back! You're genius!" Ginny glanced around for the snitch. Without the exasperating glasses hamstringing her vision, she felt as though she could see everything.

Unfettered, Ginny felt joy bubble from deep within as she overtook the snitch. She was flying so fast that she turned a few circles around it before reaching out and gently plucking the snitch from the air.

Gwenog nodded, satisfied. Ginny swooped down and handed the Holyhead Harpy manager the snitch. "I suppose that you're going to do something awful and make me use this until I can fly for hours on end," Ginny sprawled on the ground, physically drained, "and then add more weight after that."

"I didn't even need to tell you! You are the secret weapon, Weasley. We are going to win for sure this year!"

Ginny wiped the sweat off her forehead and struggled to her feet. Her whole body felt like jello. "Merlin's beard, this is going to be a long month."