Growing up in Kenmare, Shouyou Hinata had been surrounded by magic for his entire life. His father, an eccentric writer, and his mother, a steadfast member of the Ministry of Law Enforcement, lived in a cottage on the eastern side of the village. It was one of the most magically-dense villages in all of Ireland, with a history that could be traced all the way back to Partholón and his group of early settlers. Magic infused the foundation of every home, the roots of every plant, the breeze off the sea. Even the Muggle families in the village often had magic somewhere in their genealogy. The ones who didn't were the sort to readily accept the presence of the supernatural. Hinata's neighbor was a famous Muggle psychic that had a popular daytime television show.
Hinata's mother had gone to school at Hogwarts, like the majority of the other wizards in the country. Hinata's father was a Muggle, Irish to the depths of his soul. Hinata's father was a muggle, but he loved magic, and wrote fantasy novels for teenagers that were based on life in Kenmare.
Hinata lived a blessed life. He knew this, and it only helped encourage his love for his town. He had lots of friends, a loving family, and most importantly, the Kenmare Kestrals Quidditch team. Hinata loved Quidditch, and went to as many matches as his family could afford. The Kestrals' left-point Chaser, Kier Marcus, was a legend who also played for the Irish National team. He'd taken them all the way to the World Cup when Hinata was ten, and Hinata still daydreamed about the chanting of "Small Giant" that had swelled from the crowd.
Then, fifteen years before Hinata had been born, Dean Thomas, Muggle-born football enthusiast, had been instated as both the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports and leading member of International Confederation of Wizard's Quidditch Committee. He'd introduced some rule changes that had initiated a complete overhaul of the game on an international scale. The Seeker, he'd argued, while a challenging and engaging player to watch, destroyed the balance of the modern game. The seeker made the rest of the team unnecessary in 97% of cases. Improved broom technology was also a cause of the problem. The introduction of the Nimbus line, with its improved velocity charms, started a series of brooms that could fly faster than a Snitch. Seekers were often able to catch the Snitch within minutes since they could outstrip it in the air. Day long, and even hour-long matches became a thing of the past. The immediate point gap and game end provided by the Snitch all but guaranteed victory to whichever Seeker was successful. The skill of the opposing Chasers and Keepers and Beaters became irrelevant. The rest of the team became obsolete, Committee Head Thomas had argued. An overhaul of the game was needed to keep Quidditch relevant in modern Wizarding times. New rules were tested and played. It took ten years of struggle and international debate, but finally Thomas was successful, and the international rules of Quidditch were changed.
That rule modification was the reason Hinata wanted to play Chaser. With the Seeker's role completely overhauled, the Chasers became the most dynamic players on the field, working together in tight duos and trios, and new combinations were developed to maximize Quaffle advantage. Coaches could focus more on improving the effectiveness of all the players on the team as a whole. Seekers were still important too, Hinata knew. His childhood Quidditch coach had always tried to pressure him into playing Seeker. He was small and fast and quick, which were all necessary qualities when chasing the Snitch. Seekers didn't get to enter the game until their team had scored a hundred points, though, and once they were in, the game ended when they caught the Snitch. It was a dangerous position, and required a lot of strategy to ensure the victory of their team. Hinata respected the position, but his passion was in chasing the Quaffle after a well-timed throw by his teammates, in dodging Bludgers and performing the necessary aerial acrobatics to avoid being unseated, in feeling the rush when he slammed the ball perfectly through the goalpost, in outsmarting a challenging keeper.
He'd played in the children's league before he'd gotten his Hogwarts letter, but none of the other local children in Kenmare seemed as enthusiastic as he did. They were okay, but he'd never found another Chaser that he synced with. Their team traveled a bit, and sometimes played against the children from other wizarding villages, but they never won.
Then he'd turned eleven, and had gotten his Hogwarts letter just like his mother had promised he would. They'd bought his school supplies, bought him an orange pygmy puff ("It'll match your hair wonderfully!" his mother had said, tears in her eyes), and had sent him off on the train. He'd made friends quickly, his engaging personality attracting other shy first years to him. He would never forget the feeling of entering the castle on the boats in the lake. He'd never forget standing with the other anxious first years in the entrance hall. He'd never forget the awe he'd felt when he'd seen the Great Hall for the first time, with its floating candles and starry ceiling and the sea of unfamiliar faces.
He couldn't remember the song the Sorting Hat had sung, but he did remember his name being called. His palms had been drenched in sweat when he'd had to sit in front of the entire school. The sorting hat's voice had been papery and dry and had made him shiver.
Lofty ambition and a deep caring, yes. You could do well in Slytherin or in Hufflepuff, but I see at your core is an unbreakable courage. Your bravery will take you to great heights. Make your mark on GRYFFINDOR!
He'd stumbled, surprised, over to the Gryffindor table. He hadn't given much thought to his house. His mother had been a Ravenclaw, but she'd made it clear to him that all houses were wonderful in different ways. In the aftermath of the Great War, improvement in inter-house unity programmes had helped remove some of the negative stereotypes of the different houses. Headmistress McGonagall had spent her career as headmistress mending the former divisiveness between houses. She'd even tried to implement new rules that would have delayed sorting until third year. The proposition had made it to the board of directors, but they had insisted that a little competition was healthy for young people.
Still, Hinata hadn't been expecting Gryffindor. It was the house of the legendary heroes of the Great War. More importantly, it was the house of the Small Giant. He glanced at the table full of strong, happy faces cheering for him, and felt a little overwhelmed. He hadn't given his sorting much thought, but he'd expected Hufflepuff more than anything. Still, he refused to be intimidated, and slid into an open seat on the Gryffindor bench. He was greeted with good natured slaps on the back, and felt more comfortable at once. The rest of his class had been sorted without any hatstalls, and he found himself with fifteen other first years all sorted into Gryffindor. It was a big class, but enrollment in Hogwarts had increased after the Great War. Muggles were having more and more magical children, and Hogwarts was the fullest it had ever been.
The fallout of the Great War had affected the entire mentality of the Wizarding World. The post-War ministry was determined not to allow prejudice against Muggles to continue. Minister Shacklebolt, the first Minister of the Reparation period, had established new laws to promote further understanding of their Muggle neighbors. Hermione Granger, a chief legislator of the Wizengamot, had helped Headmistress McGonagall in introducing expansive change to the educational policies of Hogwarts, largely based on her own experience as a Muggleborn student in the years leading up to the war. Inclusiveness was valued. Inter-house unity was made easier. More inter-house extracurricular clubs were added: chess club, duelling club, Model Wizengamot Association club, Practical Defense team, and others. Students had been encouraged to expand their knowledge and interests outside of schoolwork and to form lasting friendships with students from other houses..
These changes had affected the school Quidditch teams, too. Hinata had read and re-read all those parts in his books. In the years after the Great War, and as the school expanded, the inter-house Quidditch cup had been limited to students fourth year and up only. The first through third years all played on mixed-house introductory teams, so Muggle-born students who had never been on a broomstick before had a chance to catch up to the level of their peers with wizarding parentage. This had led more students to attempt to join the house teams when they reached fourth year, and Hogwarts eventually had to follow the example of the other wizarding schools in Europe and split into a boy's league and a girl's league. "A Study of Extracurricular Quidditch in Europe" had informed Hinata that this change had created quite an uproar in the UK wizarding community, but with the extra influx of students and the support of professional teams like the Holyhead Harpies, had remained in place to give everyone a fair chance to play on their house team. It had helped that without their co-ed house teams, Hogwarts was able to play in the European Educational Quidditch Championship against the other two wizarding schools in Europe, which had benefitted international relationships between students as well. In the aftermath of the defeat of Voldemort, the Ministry had been quite keen on any programme that increased the cohesion of the wizarding world as a whole.
Hinata had played through his first three years, of course. His intramural team was awful just like his childhood team had been awful, and he'd developed a healthy rivalry with his housemate Kageyama. Kageyama had been placed on a team with a few Slytherins that Hinata hated, a Muggle-born Ravenclaw whose name he couldn't remember, and a handful of Hufflepuffs. He had developed a reputation for being an unbearably bossy genius on the Quidditch Pitch. Whenever Hinata played against him, he felt a strange mix of rage and fascination. It wasn't fair to have that much natural talent. Kageyama was Muggle-born, but his ball control was incredible, and the quaffle flew wherever he wanted. Kageyama flew like he had been flying his whole life. Hinata didn't have anywhere near that level of control, but he could outdistance Kageyama in a head-to-head race, and outmaneuver him when Bludgers went flying at the two of them.
As Hinata and Kageyama continued to play for their respective introductory teams, word had started to spread to the older Gryffindors on the boy's House team. By the time they'd reached third year, Kageyama and Hinata developed a vicious rivalry. They flew harder and harder in each of their matches, trying to prove that they were the worthiest of a spot on the team when they finally reached fourth year. The rational voice at the back of Hinata's mind told him over and over that there would be two open chaser positions on Gryffindor's starting lineup when they were finally allowed to try out, but the excited paranoid voice in his head shouted louder that it didn't matter and that he still had to prove he was the best. Kageyama had way more to worry about than Hinata did, since the center striker position on the Gryffindor team was already played by Sugawara, who would only be going into his sixth year. Kageyama was way better than Sugawara was, though. Hinata felt bad for thinking it, but the entire school knew it was true. Sugawara knew himself, but he was also best friends with Daichi, who was rumored to be slated for team captain. Kageyama had to outperform Sugawara at try-outs, or he would probably be playing right wing Chaser and not center striker.
The Gryffindor house team was historically the best team in the school, but since the Small Giant had graduated six years prior, the team had deteriorated. In Hinata's third year, the Gryffindor team hadn't even made the Quidditch Cup Finals. They'd managed to beat Hufflepuff in the semifinal, barely, but they'd been thrashed by the polished skill of the Slytherin team and their incredible chasers. He'd watched sullenly as Ravenclaw then eked out a win over Slytherin in the final, and made a vow to himself that when he was finally allowed on the team, they would take the Cup all four years he was allowed to play and return Gryffindor to its former Quidditch glory.
When Hinata boarded the Hogwarts Express to leave for his fourth year, he felt his skin prickling with an excitement he hadn't felt since he'd ridden the train for the very first time. He couldn't contain his energy, and banged his way down the train, knocking into other students. He peered into compartments, looking for his friends, Yachi, Izumi and Kouji, and finally found them sitting in a compartment with Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, two other Gryffindor boys in their year. Hinata made a face, but he clambered into the compartment anyway, slamming the door behind him so that the glass rattled. Yachi smiled at him, her enthusiasm for life in general almost matching Hinata's own. He plopped down onto her lap and wrapped his arms around her.
"I missed you!" he yelled, then reached over and grabbed Izumi into the hug as well. "And you too!"
"It's only been a few months since last term," came Tsukishima's bored drawl from the corner of the compartment. "You really should calm down before you break something."
Hinata paused his hugging long enough to glare over at him. He didn't much care for Tsukishima, who seemed grumpy all the time and only cared about getting top marks in all his classes. Hinata couldn't understand why he'd been put in Gryffindor and not Ravenclaw. He didn't have many friends except for Yamaguchi, who was quiet and shy but would be a lot nicer, in Hinata's opinion, if talking to him didn't also mean talking to Tsukishima.
"And get your own seat. You're distracting, slobbering all over your girlfriend like that." Tsukishima had a thin book clutched in his fingers and he was thumbing through it idly, not even bothering to look up at Hinata.
"I'm not his girlfriend!" Yachi spat back at Tsukishima. "Stop being such a grump all the time! We're not even at school yet!"
Tsukishima opened his mouth like he was going to argue with her, but was interrupted by a knock against the glass. The compartment door slid open and revealed Kageyama, who was glaring at the floor and clutching his owl cage under one arm.
Hinata scrambled off of Yachi's lap and stood up, glaring at Kageyama. He pissed Hinata off in an entirely different way than Tsukishima did. "What do you want?" he yelled, windmilling his arms in an effort to shoo Kageyama out of the compartment. Izumi grabbed his arms and held them down without comment. Hinata did have a long history of breaking things on accident.
"The train's almost full," Kageyama snapped. "I need a seat. I don't want to sit with-" he broke off with a glare to Hinata, and pushed past him and into the compartment.
"It's fine if you sit with us, Kageyama," said Yamaguchi in his soft voice. He made room on his other side, pressing closer to Tsukishima.
Kageyama put his owl on the luggage rack, then sat down with his arms and legs crossed, glaring across at Hinata.
Hinata glared right back at him. Kageyama annoyed him in the same way that Quidditch excited him. Just having to look at his smug face and strong, Quidditch-bronzed hands made Hinata's skin prickle. It made him want to fight and jump and get out all the excess energy, just like his excitement did. He was pissed off. He couldn't wait to grind Kageyama's face into the Quidditch pitch at the first try-outs.
"So!" Yachi said brightly, trying to sooth over the sudden tension that crackled through the apartment. Hinata ignored her, busy in a staring contest with Kageyama. He wouldn't blink, no matter how his eyes started watering. "I heard that we're getting a new herbology teacher this year! Professor Longbottom is retiring!"
Hinata didn't care very much about Herbology, and didn't reply. He kept glaring at Kageyama, his cheeks starting to turn red with the effort of not blinking. Yamaguchi said something agreeable in response to Yachi's question, and the rest of the compartment seemed content to stolidly ignore the tension between Kageyama and Hinata.
Eventually, Hinata had to blink, and built up tears cascaded down his cheeks. He felt his face burn with embarrassment, and he wiped them away furiously before turning his back to Kageyama as best as he could and focusing his attention on the conversation around him.
Kouji was talking about the dueling club. Apparently he was going to be a Junior Coordinator, whatever that was. Tsukishima sniffed, but nodded.
"You'll be good at it," Tsukishima said, not looking up from his book.
"Thank you," said Koushi. He didn't seem to have earned Tsukishima's wrath, at least, and wasn't afraid to engage him in conversation. "I'm surprised they didn't ask you, to be honest."
Tsukishima shrugged. "I'm not sure I'm going to be a member this year."
Hinata gaped at him. One of the only things he knew about Tsukishima is that he loved duelling club. "What are you doing instead?" he asked, his eyes wide and still watering a little from his staring contest.
"I thought I'd try out for the Quidditch team," Tsukishima said, lounging back against his seat, long legs sprawled out in front of him. "Chaser, probably." His mouth quirked up into a small smirk, and he looked between Kageyama and Hinata.
"What?" Kageyama asked, gaping at Tsukishima the same way Hinata had.
"Since when do you play Quidditch?" Hinata demanded, standing up and leaning down over Tsukishima. He peered into his eyes, trying to see if he was lying. His stomach twisted up. He'd been feeling so confident about his chances of getting on the team. He knew he was good. Maybe not as good as Kageyama, but still good enough that with two open Chaser positions, he would be all but guaranteed a starting spot. He hadn't factored an unknown entity like Tsukishima into his plans at all.
Tsukishima just gazed coolly back at him, the faint smirk still on his face. "I've always played. I learned from my brother. I play right point Chaser."
"Well why the hell didn't you play on the introductory teams then?" snarled Kageyama, who had sat up and was glaring over Yamaguchi's head.
Tsukishima sneered. "I don't need introductory practice. I'm well beyond that point already. I have been playing my whole life, after all."
Kageyama's face tinged pink at that, and his eyes narrowed at Tsukishima. Hinata gulped. Kageyama didn't like any mention of the fact that he hadn't been able to grow up playing Quidditch.
"Well, I've played my whole life too!" Hinata shouted, windmilling his arms at Tsukishima this time. "And I still played on the introductory teams! It was awesome and fun!"
"Well, I didn't feel the need to waste my time on a team that was just going to lose over and over," said Tsukishima, mocking Hinata's tone.
Rage boiled up in Hinata then, and he drew in a deep breath to yell at Tsukishima, feeling righteous indignation for the honor of his team. Yachi stood up behind him and clamped both hands over his mouth, drawing him down to sit on her lap again.
"I think getting detention while still on the train might be setting the wrong sort of school record," she told him sternly, and didn't release her hands until Hinata had stopped squirming and slumped back, glaring over her hands at Tsukishima. She was right, of course. If he got detention now, he might not be able to go to Quidditch try-outs.
"We don't have any seventh years this year, right?" asked Yamaguchi in his soft voice. "Not with all the chaser positions open."
"That's right," snarled Kageyama, who was also still glaring at Tsukishima. "There's three spots open for chasers, but they have the three fifth years who were reserves last year. If you want to start on the team, you have to be better than them. And me, of course."
"Ah, yes, however shall I compete with the prodigy ruler of the pitch," sneered Tsukishima. "It will be a terrible challenge, I'm sure."
"Well, you both have to beat me too!" yelled Hinata. "I will get a spot on the team! For sure!"
"Whatever, dumbass. You've never had anyone actually decent to play with so who knows how good you actually are."
"I'm way better than you'll ever be, idiot Kageyama!" Hinata shouted, but cringed back against his seat when Yachi shot him a dirty look. He folded his arms and stared at the window, starting to go through moves in his head so he could prove to the Gryffindor captain that he was the most deserving of a starting spot on the team.
"I'm thinking about trying to announce the matches," said Yachi, making a valiant attempt to change the subject.
"Shimizu is so good at it, though," said Izumi.
"I know," Yachi said, her eyes glazing over and a grin spreading across her face. "Oh, I know! She's perfect in every way."
"She's a little too serious for my taste," said Kouji.
"Yeah, but her knowledge of the game is encyclopedic."
"Well, whatever the case, there are certain players that could focus more on the actual game and less on showing off for her," muttered Kageyama from where he was sitting and looking sulky.
Yachi obviously didn't know how to continue a group conversation in the face of such belligerence, so she just rolled her eyes and turned to shut Kageyama and Tsukishima out of the conversation.
The soft voices of his friends rolled over Hinata, and he lost track of time as he watched the scenery pass by. He could picture himself flying on the pitch, soaring over the crowd in gold and scarlet robes, catching the Quaffle after a series of expert maneuvers. He would be the best. He'd beat Tsukishima and Kageyama for a spot on the team, no matter what it took. He'd skip meals to practice. He'd skip Astrology to practice. It was a useless class anyway. He would be on the team, and no one would stop him from flying as high as his dreams demanded.
His eyes blurred as the train traveled north. His mind was too full of Quidditch theory and visualizations to focus. He didn't respond when the food trolley came by, and was only startled out of his reverie by the pumpkin pastie that Yachi threw into his lap.
"Eat this," she said, frowning at him. "Who knows how long the sorting is going to take this year."
Hinata smiled at her and ripped open the orange and green packaging. Pumpkin pasties were his favorite. He'd discovered the kitchens in his third year and would enthuse about the pasties until the house elves gave him an entire platter.
He stuffed the entire sweet into his mouth and closed his eyes in bliss. They snapped open again when he felt someone staring at him, and he met Kageyama's disapproving gaze. Hinata tried to glare back at him, but the effort must have been mitigated by the food bulging in his cheeks. Kageyama just rolled his eyes and ripped open a chocolate frog. Hinata felt his face warm, and he crossed his arms and sulked in his chair. Stupid Kageyama just had to share a compartment with them and ruin a peaceful train ride. Tsukishima's presence made everything worse, though he was too distracted sharing some Weasley's Whipped Weasels with Yamaguchi to pay attention to the glaring contest.
Yachi kept trying to talk to him for the rest of the train ride, but Hinata ignored her so he could continue contemplating how he was going to fly circles around Kageyama at tryouts. Something about the stupid jerk motivated Hinata to play his very best. He wanted to try out some new moves he'd seen in Quidditch Weekly. Of course, he hadn't had anyone to toss him the Quaffle properly, so he hadn't been able to practice them on his own over the summer.
When they reached the station on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, the train emptied and the students milled about on the platform while they waited for the horseless carriages to take them all to the castle. The air was still muggy with the summer heat. Hinata started to sweat in the stuffy school robes. He wanted to change into his Quidditch practice gear and fly around to feel a breeze on his face, and he started bobbing up and down until a carriage finally rolled up. He climbed in with Yachi and Izumi and Kouji, finally free of the looming presence of Tsuskishima and Kageyama.
He glanced behind him, watching the train platform get smaller behind them, and caught sight of Kageyama standing alone on the platform with an unaffected look on his face. He must have felt Hinata watching him, though, because their eyes met and Kageyama's mask cracked into a look of annoyed discomfort. Hinata watched as he climbed onto a random carriage with students wearing Ravenclaw robes, and scowled. Kageyama was probably selling Gryffindor team secrets to them. It would have been better if he'd crammed into Hinata's carriage instead.
The carriage trundled over the grounds towards the castle. Hinata twisted in his seat to catch a glimpse of the distant goal hoops of the Quidditch pitch. He leaned so far over that he almost fell out of his seat. Izumi caught his robes before he toppled over without breaking his conversation with Kouji.
The upperclassmen flooded into the Great Hall, and Hinata was soon seated at the Gryffindor table. Sounds of happy conversation floated up with the candles until the twisted line of first years worked their way into the front of the room. Headmistress McGonagall stood up and welcomed the first years, and the sorting ceremony began.
The first years all looked young and terrified, but Hinata found himself scowling at them, because it seemed like all of them were around his height. He'd hoped for a growth spurt after third year, like Izumi, but he was still short enough to be mistaken for a first or second year. Chasers were supposed to be tall and strong and powerful, and Hinata was tired of being mistaken for a Seeker. He would have killed for some of Tsukishima's height. Still, he was certain he could fly the fastest and score the fastest, and that was all that mattered in a game. He was used to being underestimated, even though it pissed him off.
Soon, the Gryffindor table was even more packed with the new first years, and the feast began. Hinata filled his plate with an impressive stack of meat pies, and got into a heated debate with Yachi about the Kestral's chances in the league against the Tutshill Tornadoes.
"I just don't think that one strong player like Morgan is enough to compete with the speed of Penelope Davies," Yachi argued. "She's the fastest seeker the league has seen in years!"
"Doesn't matter," Hinata said, his mouth full of beef and potatoes. "Can't compete with a strong line of chasers. Even if MacMillan isn't the best seeker around, he'll always be at an advantage thanks to the chasers. If he was really that incompetent, he wouldn't have made a professional team! It's not like it's easy!"
"You're both wrong," said Kageyama, and Hinata and Yachi both turned to stare at him. Kageyama rarely spoke during meals, but he was glowering at Hinata from three seats away.
"Eavesdropping is rude, git!" Hinata yelled.
Kageyama shrugged. "The league is going to Puddlemere United this year. They've got two Weasleys and a Potter on their team."
"So what? Puddlemere is probably just after the name recognition!"
"You know that the Potters and Weasleys have consistently been the best two Quidditch families in England for years now," Kageyama said, glaring over his bowl of carrot and lentil soup at Hinata. "I went to one of their practice matches this summer. There's no hope for any other team."
"Kenmare is going to prove you so wrong!" Hinata said, leaning over the table to yell in Kageyama's face and dragging his elbows through his plate of pies. "The Small Giant is still the best goal scorer in the country! We'll beat you!"
Kageyama just scoffed and went back to his soup. Hinata seethed, feeling too annoyed to finish the rest of his pies.
He stared unblinking at Kageyama until Professor McGonagall stood up to make the welcoming speech.
"I am glad to see you all here," she said in her brisk Scottish brogue. "This year at Hogwarts will be just as fine as the years preceding. We will continually strive to make our school a safe learning environment for any student that wishes to learn. We will strive to stay strong as a school, and not fracture under stress. I hope you will all make an effort to make lasting, broad-reaching friendships with your own houses, and with students of other houses. For our new first years, you are encouraged to participate in any extracurricular activity that you wish. Older students, I expect the same participation that you have given in previous years. On that note, Dueling Club is having an introductory meeting tomorrow morning directly following breakfast. Please meet Prefect Malfoy at the Slytherin table if you wish to participate, and she can give you appropriate instructions. Dumbledore's Army will continue to meet Wednesday Evenings. Quidditch tryouts for those fourth year and above have been arranged with each separate team captain. Please see the notice boards in your house common rooms for further information, and for information about our smaller club activities as well. Thank you." She sat down again and waved her hand. With her dismissal, the Great Hall emptied.
Hinata and Kageyama stood up at the same time, and glanced at each other. Hinata felt a spark of competition flare up, and he darted towards the stairs half a second before Kageyama.
They dashed up towards Gryffindor tower, taking steps four and five at a time, other students moving out of their way. Hinata was determined to win. Kageyama had been behaving like a conceited asshole for the whole train ride, and Hinata would prove that he was worth more than snide comments.
Hinata moved without thinking, jumping over trick stairs and past laughing portraits that were cheering them on. Hinata could see the Fat Lady's portrait up just one more flight of stairs, and put on another burst of speed, jumping up the staircase in two jumps. Kageyama crashed into the wall right after him, breathing heavily.
"Goodness," said the Fat Lady, looking down on them with both eyebrows raised. "I'm afraid that one went to Hinata, Kageyama, but you both really ought to be more careful. Careening around like maniacs. Password."
Hinata paused his victory dance and stared over at Kageyama. He'd forgotten to ask a prefect for the password. Kageyama stared back at him blankly, and Hinata threw his arms up in frustration.
"We don't have it. Can you let us in anyway?" he asked, though he knew it was useless.
The Fat Lady gave them both a stern look. "No password, no entry. You'll have to wait."
Hinata growled and slunk down to sit on the floor, his back against the wall.
"Idiot," Kageyama said, but slumped down to join him.
"You didn't ask either!" Hinata shot back.
"Whatever. You cheated anyway. You got a headstart."
"I'm way faster than you. It's not my fault you can't accept it!"
"The definition of cheating means that you can't win normally, dumbass! Let's try again in a fair fight! The Fat Lady can count down for us, and I'll leave you stuck on the seventh floor when I've already reached the bottom!"
"Fine! Let's go!" Hinata stood up again, ready to run. He turned back to the Fat Lady expectantly while Kageyama got to his feet.
She sighed at them, shaking her head. "I don't know how you two haven't destroyed half the castle. It's just my luck that I always get stuck with you sort."
"'You sort'? What does that mean?" Hinata demanded.
"It means you destroy everything because you're too overly excited all the time. Like a little gerbil or something," Kageyama said. "Maybe if you could calm down, we could actually have a proper race."
"What do you know, Kageyama? You were running just as much as I was! Plus you're worse at charms than I am!"
"So? You're way worse at Transfiguration! You're the worst in the whole year!"
"Am not!"
"Don't even try to deny it." Kageyama was looming into Hinata's personal space, bending down to yell in his face.
Hinata glared back up at him, standing on his toes to try and maximize his height. "I could transfigure you into a turtle, since you're the same speed as one!"
"What's going on here?" asked a deep, confident voice. Hinata turned and abruptly stepped away from Kageyama, shrinking down in embarrassment. It was Sawamura Daichi, the new captain of the Gryffindor boy's team, and next to him was Koushi Sugawara, the sixth year prefect.
"I- I- we don't know the password!" Hinata yelled, screwing up his eyes in embarrassment.
Daichi stared between the two of them for a moment, then stepped up to the Fat Lady. "Lacewing flies," he said, and she smiled at him and swung open.
Hinata and Kageyama waited for Daichi and Sugawara to climb through. Hinata glanced over at Kageyama and saw a look of chagrin on his face that matched how Hinata felt. He wanted to impress Daichi, but he'd never spoken to him much before.
Daichi turned to both of them when they were inside the common room. "I hope you both will behave more appropriately for Quidditch tryouts. They're going to be this Friday at six in the evening. I expect you both there, but there has been a lot of interest this year. There are only two spots open for chasers, and you're competing against some of our reserve players from last year. I expect only cooperation and sportsmanship from my players, or we'll have no chance at beating any of the other houses." He smiled at both of them, and the look was somehow creepier than his disapproval. Hinata felt his legs going numb in terror, and he let out a small squeak.
"They understand, Daichi," said Sugawara, placing a hand on his chest. He smiled at both of the fourth years. "We've been watching you play in the introductory leage. Bring your best to try-outs, and we could have a very strong team this year. Daichi will do whatever he has to to make us strong. It's been too long since Gryffindor won a Quidditch Cup."
Hinata nodded and his hair flopped into his face. He saw Kageyama do the same out of the corner of his eye, and Sugawara nodded at both of them. "We'll see you Friday, then. Good luck!" He led Daichi up the staircase to the boy's dormitories.
A/N
This fic is mostly an excuse for me to cram a bunch of my Harry Potter meta into people's faces in the form of cute volleyball dorks. I love Quidditch but it's so ineffective as an actual sport, so this is my attempt to make it more realistic.
It takes place about 30 years after the events of Harry Potter, so there's a lot of history tidbits that I'm including from the Harry Potter universe. Most of them don't follow the HP7 epilogue but are instead just my random headcanons.
I didn't sort players into houses individually, but sorted teams to keep everyone together. There will likely be lots of shipping by the end of this fic, so hold on to your bowler hats.
Feel free to come say hi on tumblr if you want. Link is in my profile.