Disclaimer: I own nothing by original characters.
I'm baaaack! I know it's been awhile, but I've been busy trying to find a better job than the nightmare I currently work in. Add to that a lovely little writer's block for this and the other fic I'm working on "The Long Night," but the opening of the block to my original stories, and you get distraction! Anyways, what we have here is the preseason for the Owls and a little table dressing for the future before the main season begins. Yay! I know it's short, but the next one, which I'm already in the middle of writing, will be longer. As always, please read and review. All the crap about sarcasm still stands.
Credo quia absurdum est
Chapter 7
Rightfully So
"Hewitt takes the quaffle down the pitch! He's on a breakaway! He shoots and scores! That's ninety-nil to Oxford who are delivering a truly spectacular pummeling to the Cannons in this pre-season match!" Archie Bonnet, regular game announcer for the Wizarding Wireless Networks Quidditch station was as excitable as always. He often was the announcer at Oxford home games, coming to enjoy the team and follow them closely over the last four years.
It was now the quidditch pre-season as July gave way to August. The Owls' first game had been a resounding loss against Ballycastle, 310-100. Iwan soon realized he did not enjoy losing, but the drinks of consolation after the match did make him feel better. He was just glad the team had booked a hotel in Ballycastle. There was no way he could have apparated back to Oxford in that condition. Their second match was also a tough loss to Falmouth in their own stadium, which made Iwan glad he had purchased a small, terraced house just down the road from the Raven and Lily.
Mary had been added to Puddlemere's reserve team, and had moved out to Dorset. They both decided to keep the small London flat, at least until the lease was up, for their off-weeks, so they could visit Anora, who had moved to London for her internship at the ministry, Gareth not far behind, and flooing to work every day at his uncle's pub in Carterton.
Puddlemere had been the Owls' third match. Which had been their toughest loss yet at 450-30. Hewitt had trashed the locker room after that, complaining that it was all Kelly's and Iwan's faults for not playing enough defense. In some way, Hewitt had a point, Iwan thought. If he and Kelly had been a better match for the Puddlemere beaters, Bunch and Carr. Hewitt then went on ranting about his brother, Edgar, a chaser on the Puddlemere team and how he was always better than Edgar at everything and it just wasn't fair. Luckily, Hewitt left before he got physical with any of the team.
That was the first night in a long time where Iwan had order whisky the entire night. He normally didn't drink too many hard liquors as he preferred to stay sober as long as he could, but that night he just wanted to get drunk and forget about the loss. Mary had looked conflicted. She was obviously happy that her team had won, and that she got to play in the latter half of the game, but she also didn't enjoy the thorough beating her best friend had received at her team's hand. It was embarrassing. But today promised an easy victory. The Chudley Cannons had managed to get even worse over the years. It was like playing a team in the minor leagues.
Iwan, almost lazily smacked a bludger at Findley, the Cannons' team captain and chaser who got spooked and dropped the quaffle to cover his face as the bludger flew by him.
"And Finch picks up the quaffle, passes to Gordon to Hewitt who breaks off and shoots again... Another ten points to Oxford! Oh, it looks like Coach Barker is calling a time out for Chudley."
Iwan flew over to Harry, floating just a few feet above the ground next to Kelly. Harry was telling them to just keep it up, and encouraged Adams to find the snitch soon, before we embarrass Chudley too much. Kelly leaned over to Iwan. "Want to try something crazy?" he whispered.
"Absolutely."
"Good," Kelly said. "Just follow my lead."
The game resumed and Iwan kept close to Kelly. Soon, as the Chudley chasers came close, Kelly dove straight into them, causing a pass to go very wide. Kelly capitalized on the wide shot and swung his club at the quaffle, sending it flying over to Iwan, who sent it over to Finch, who quickly put it through the center hoop. Hewitt yelled at them, but so far there was no rule against hitting the quaffle with a beater's bat, so Iwan and Kelly kept up the play, only occasionally focusing on the bludgers. The Cannons beaters couldn't aim well enough to save their lives anyway, which only served to help.
The relentless attack of having virtually five chasers against the Cannons' three broke Chudley, psychologically. Soon enough, Adams had caught the snitch, leaving the final score 510-30. It really helped boost the team's spirits, except for Hewitt. Nothing to could boost his spirit. He was just as foul after that game as he was after the loss to Puddlemere. Only this time he took it out on the team, rather than the lockers. The rest of the team paid him no mind, however, choosing instead to bask in their victory.
Of course, the team went over to the pub and Harry bought them all a round of the official team brew, Finnegan's Owl Ale. It had quickly become one of Iwan's new favorite drinks. The team continued to celebrate with the locals coming over to congratulate them on their resounding victory, and wishing them luck against the Pride in three days' time. Iwan and Kelly were specifically congratulated for their entertaining performance by Archie Bonnet himself, who chose to stay for a few rounds after and talk quidditch with the two beaters. It was the best feeling in the world, winning a professional quidditch match. Iwan was going to chase that feeling.
The game against the Pride was a win. But it shouldn't have been. It was only by luck that the snitch decided to fly that close to Adams that soon into the match. It hadn't been but twenty minutes and the Pride was up 170-30. If Adams hadn't noticed the snitch trying to hide right behind her head, or had taken just another three minutes to notice it, they would have lost. The Pride's chasers were a well-oiled passing machine, keeping the quaffle bouncing between the wings, and playing a terrible game of keep-away from the Oxford chasers. Hewitt was growing more and more frustrated at Gordon and Finch for not taking the quaffle, even though he himself had failed just as much as they.
Iwan couldn't seem to hit any of them with a bludger either. At least not when it mattered. They'd always pass, long before the bludger hit them, or they'd dodge it with the grace of a figure skater, like it was nothing. Kelly and Iwan closed out the night with Gordon at the hotel bar, drinking their frustration away. Kelly attempted to hit on a local girl, who just laughed at him and walked off with a chaser for the Pride.
They only managed one other victory in their pre-season matches against Kenmare. They suffered many embarrassing defeats to Tutshill, Appleby and Banchory. Their win against Kenmare was both a miracle, and a wonderful reprieve from their losing streak. Iwan and Kelly had been working on a strategy to capitalize on their hybrid play that they employed against Chudley, but without having to leave their team undefended from the bludgers, as most beaters were not as ineffective as Akers and Byrne, the Chudley beaters.
They managed to keep who was playing hybrid alternating with the one on defense. It helped to confuse the opponents while keeping their options open and chasers covered. Hewitt didn't like it. He felt like he was being overshadowed by the beaters, but Harry encouraged it, especially after their victory against Kenmare. They were expected to lose by at least 100 points, but Kelly and Iwan's strategy broke the Kestrals' line and their flow. They could never quite get back into their groove.
The miracle that really helped win the match was a bludger from Iwan. He had sent it flying at the tight chaser formation that Kenmare had formed and flew straight through them, causing them to drop the quaffle. But what Iwan hadn't noticed, was that Adams and Lucy Brumfield, the Kenmare seeker, were neck and neck for the snitch, hands outstretched for the tiny golden ball, and right in the continuing path of Iwan's bludger. A loud crack and then a collective groan rang throughout the Kenmare stadium as Brumfield was hit right in the ribs and knocked off her broom, giving Adams the chance to snatch the snitch out of the air and win the game at 230-100.
This inspired Harry's training regimen for the team before the main season started with a match against Montrose. Iwan and Kelly were now doing as much training as auxiliary chasers as they were beaters. It was how Iwan thrived, and Kelly seemed to be in his element as well. The predictions still weren't hopeful on their win-loss ratio, but many experts were expecting a vast improvement, and even moving up in the standings a few places, perhaps surpassing Portree and Kenmare and setting in closer to the middle than the bottom.
Iwan was fine with the extra training if that's what it took to make it there, and earn more victories for the Oxford Owls. Harry had named Kelly as team captain for the year, and then declared they earned the next two weeks off. He wanted them fully rested before the season began in earnest. They would resume practices the week before their first seasoned match. Iwan decided to take that time and visit his friends in London. He hadn't seen them since they left Hogwarts in May, and it was now the beginning of September.
Iwan flooed into his London flat and realized how empty it looked, now that most of his things were in Oxford. He'd have to refurnish it with Mary when she arrived the next morning. It was almost noon, so Iwan decided he'd go to the pub at the end of the block and grab some lunch. He ate his fish and chips and drank his beer, a local brew, in silence at a small table in the back corner. He noticed some women who kept casting glances at him. They were both blonde, and something looked familiar about them, like he'd seen them before somewhere. They were sitting with two redheaded men, both tall and scarred. One had deep scratches on his face, while the other seemed to be missing a good chunk of his ear.
The one with the missing ear was sitting next to a woman with long black hair. She also seemed familiar. Iwan was just about to shake himself out of it when he saw someone enter the pub. Harry Potter walked through, his arm around Susan Bones, the team agent. Were those two together?! How had Iwan not noticed? Harry and Susan sat down with the redheads and the table ordered their food and drinks, when Harry looked over and noticed Iwan, and motioned him over.
Iwan slowly, and confusedly got up and walked over to Harry's table. "Hughes," Harry said. "I'd like to introduce you to some people. This," he said motioning to the two redheaded men next to him. "Is Bill and George Weasley. Their wives Fleur," he motioned to the blonde woman sitting across from Bill. "And Angelina. You already know Susan, and this is Fleur's sister, Gabrielle Delacour. Everyone, this is my new beater, Iwan Hughes." Iwan shook each of their hands in turn and exchanged basic pleasantries before Susan invited him to join them for the remainder of lunch.
Feeling he shouldn't pass up the opportunity to truly see if his boss and his agent were dating, as well as the opportunity to lunch with such legendary war heroes, Iwan gathered what was left of his plate and his drink and moved over to their table, sitting next to Gabrielle. The topics of discussion were lighthearted and soon, talk turned to quidditch, as it so often does when there are three quidditch enthusiasts, a professional quidditch team owner/coach and professional player gathered together. The two French witches looked a little bored by the conversation, choosing instead to speak with each other in their native language in hushed tones. If Iwan was correct, which he wasn't entirely sure he was, he noticed them casting glances at him again as they spoke.
"What do you feel your chances are this season?" Bill asked.
"Better than they were last season. Hughes, here, and Aiden Kelly are as good a beater team as I've seen." This caused Iwan to blush a little bit, and he could swear he heard the Delacour sisters whisper even more furiously at that. "Don't be modest, Hughes, I'm serious! I've never seen such inventive play from beaters. Not even Gwenog Jones was that good. Most everyone is just textbook defensive or offensive beaters. I'll leave some tickets aside for the match against Montrose in two weeks, you'll have to see it."
"Are you sure you can beat Montrose this year?" Angelina asked. "Last year you got your ass handed to you on silver platter by them."
"I've seen them play," Susan spoke up. "They can win this time." She squeezed Harry's arm and confirmed Iwan's suspicions by giving him a light peck on the lips. Everyone knew that Harry's marriage to Ginny Weasley had gone down in bright, colorful, violent and very public flames. It had happened in 2003, five years ago. They had almost a year after the battle of Hogwarts, in June, 1999. Ginny was selected to play chaser for the Holyhead Harpies, and Harry went on to have a record-smashing rookie year, playing for Falmout after their starting seeker was injured. He had already won Rookie of the Year and League MVP, and helped the Falcons secure the League Cup for that season, as well as the Josef Wronski award.
Everything seemed fine, at least to the public, for the first three years of the high-profile marriage. Then everything seemed to explode in the papers and tabloids with rumors of Harry cheating on Ginny, and Ginny cheating on Harry, and that they were both unhappy with their relationship, and how the Weasleys were out for Harry's blood, and almost all of the rumors were denied by Harry, though Ginny went public with tales of Harry's various lecherous affairs with women from all over the quidditch leagues, and not just the British and Irish one. Everybody accused denied the rumors, but enough people believed them at least, that Falmouth traded Harry to Ballycastle at the first opportunity, for fear of bad publicity.
Harry adamantly refused to comment on the rumors to the papers, but they soon died down and returned to focusing on Harry's exceptional skills. Harry was soon placed on the English National Team after only a year with Ballycastle, and was injured during the preliminary tournament in 2005, just two years later, by a bludger to the head. It was a career ending injury, but Harry soon bounced back by announcing his own team, the Oxford Owls.
"When are you two going to get married, already?" Fleur asked coyly, with almost no sign of a French accent. Susan and Harry laughed a bit in response. "It has been five years since Harry's divorce, and you two have been together for four. So, I ask again, when is the wedding?"
"I'm not sure if we're going to get married, Fleur. It didn't exactly work out for either of us, now did it?"
Susan nodded in agreement. "True, Ernie was a right ass the entire time we were married, not to mention all the cheating and verbal abuse. I'm perfectly content to just be in a loving relationship with this man, ring or no ring."
"What about you, Iwan?" Fleur asked, catching Iwan off-guard. What was asking him about? "Do you have someone special in your life?"
Iwan laughed a bit and took a sip from his pint. "Not really, no," he said.
"Are you opposed to having one? Ow!" Fleur yelped as someone, Iwan suspected Gabrielle, elbowed her sharply in the ribs. They then started to argue in French while Susan leaned over to Iwan.
"Fleur's been trying to set Gabby up for a while now, you'd be the third person on the Owls she's tried it with. Just warning you for the future."
Iwan laughed and nodded. He then looked at his watch and noticed the time. He had planned to meet Anora and Gareth at their flat in twenty minutes. He stood up, politely excused himself and paid for his meal and drinks as everyone else decided it was time to go as well. Iwan started to leave when Gabrielle slipped him a piece of paper while everyone else was distracted, counting out their muggle money for their food and drinks. Iwan stepped outside before he opened the piece of folded paper. It was a short message, nothing too special.
As sweet as my sisters intentions are, I have no desire to settle down yet. However, I would like to get to know you better. Don't be afraid to write me soon.
Gabrielle.
Iwan turned around and caught Gabrielle's eye. She gave him a small smile and cute wink before turning back to her sister and getting her jacket on. This could be interesting. Iwan smiled to himself and turned to walk to his friends' flat, just a few blocks away.
