October 1918 – "Helloooo Sports Fans! And the Boston Red Sox have won the World Series! With the miraculous pitching and batting of George Herman "Babe" Ruth the Red Sox have won in the brilliant year of 1918!"
A young boy who was sitting in the family room of his American home leapt up and shouted for joy. The Red Sox had won again. Little did he know they wouldn't win again for quite a long time.
August, 2004 – "Grandpa! Grandpa, wake up!" The little girl shook her grandfather persistently, too excited to wait for him to wake up on his own. "Grandpa! Jayli has to go to school and I get to see her off this year! She's going to England, remember? Grandpa, you need to get up now!"
"All right, I'm up, I'm up. Don't worry, Aerie, we'll be on time. Is Jayli even up now?"
"No, she's not." It dawned on the girl that the person who really should be up wasn't. Aerie ran from her grandfather's room to wake up her sister.
Ten minutes later Jayli and Aerie sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Jayli was a pretty girl, with long brown hair, complete with glossy curls that framed her face. She was wearing a red shirt with "RED SOX 24" printed on the front and "RAMIREZ 24" on the back and blue jeans. She also wore a Red Sox hat turned backward over hair that was in a low ponytail.
"Ah, the Red Sox. My favorite team, even with the curse of the Bambino," mentioned Grandpa as he took in her attire.
"Yeah, I thought I might need the luck going to England this year," Jayli replied with a tired smile on her face. "Though with the curse it might not be such a good idea."
"Well, you'll need the familiarity of the BoSox. Everyone can use a bit of comfort in a foreign country. Anyway, we'd best be off. Don't want to miss your first day at school as a foreign exchange student," answered Grandpa.
After breakfast they drove to the airport where Jayli was to take a private plane with several other foreign exchange students. Maine was the last stop on the flight and they would go straight to the school. As Jayli boarded the scarlet plane Grandpa and Aerie waved goodbye. On the plane there were several seats open. Jayli walked up to an oriental girl and asked if she could sit next to her. "Sure," replied the girl. "I'm Amber, by the way."
"Hi, I'm Jayli. Where are you from?"
"Japan, but my mother is English so I learned the language from her, if you were wondering. And she named me. It's kind of funny really, how most of my friends can't pronounce my name right." Amber gave a small smile. "It's really a relief sometimes to go visit my English relatives. What does your shirt and hat stand for?"
"The Boston Red Sox are my favorite major league team ever. Maybe you've heard of Hideki Matsui? He's on the Yankees and supposedly really big in Japan. They even have translators at all of their games."
"Really? How do you know that"
"They played the Red Sox in the American League Championships last year. It's a muggle sport, baseball, but it's really fun."
"How do you play?" inquired Amber. "Is it hard?"
This was a breaking point for the girls. Jayli explained all the finer points of the game while Amber listened rapturously. They met several other students that were flying on the plane. Through the flight the girls discussed a variety of topics including Quidditch.
"Do you play?" asked Jayli.
"Yeah, I'm keeper for our team at home."
"I've always loved seeking. It's more independent."
Suddenly a voice echoed around the cabin with the captain's voice. We will be landing at Hogwarts in 20 minutes it said. Please leave your belongings in bags on board. They will be taken to your dormitories during the feast
As they got off the plane a tiny man led them inside. They were sorted along with the first years but the headmaster announced them first as exchange students and gave their names and countries. Jayli and Amber were both sorted into Gryffindor.
Jayli enjoyed the feast immensely. She was then led to her dormitory by the prefect from the house. The next day they got their schedules and the school year progressed rapidly, Jayli and Amber excelling in all their classes.
Jayli longed for information about how the Red Sox were doing so she sent weekly owls to Grandpa and Aerie, describing what she was learning and inquiring about the team. Each letter ended with Believe
As she got letters back her Grandpa sounded more and more excited. "The curse may be broken this year! I can feel it in my bones! Find a counter-curse won't you?"
So Jayli went to Professor McGonagall to ask for help on curses. "I'm not sure Babe Ruth was even a wizard though," Jayli explained to the teacher. "So the curse may not be real."
"Hmm, I think I've heard the name before so he just may have been a wizard. But the only way a curse like that would likely be broken would be to just believe. Enough people would have to participate though. Threatened curses are the most difficult to break. Sometimes it may take time, or a few or more people to break it."
Jayli sent this to her Grandfather who in turn replied he would believe and get more to believe. Then he gave her shocking news. The Yankees were winning the 7 game series 3-0. This devastated Jayli. Every moment she had she chanted "win, believe, this is the year!" over and over under her breath. Another week went by and Grandpa sent her another letter with shocking news. The Red Sox had just won the series, under circumstances that had never been done in Major League Baseball before! But to still be on the safe side, Jayli continued chanting. The chants got addicting so all day long it was stuck in people's heads.
Finally, Grandpa sent more exciting news. "THE CURSE IS BROKEN!!!" he wrote. IT WORKED, IT WORKED!
The end
Yes, I am a die-hard Red Sox fan. I needed an excuse to write about them and the "curse" kinda applied to Harry Potter. I didn't really care much about details of her school life. And I'm so excited they won the 2004 World Series! Just a quick spur-of-the-moment fic and I don't really care how bad it was, it just has the Red Sox in it so I'm happy!
And if I had to pick a Yankee player it would be Matsui. I'll admit he's good. And he's got a cool name.
I don't own the Red Sox, Yankees, or Harry Potter. Thanks!