A few notes: This chapter is kind of an "in between" chapter between Christmas and the rest of the spring term. I needed something interesting that happen between Christmas and what I knew would be the Valentines chapter so here you are. I wanted something sort of funny and lighthearted so that's where most of this chapter came from. Quibble-a slight objection or criticism.
Chapter 13-The Quidditch Quibble
New Year's came and went. Victoria's biggest highlight however was almost kissing Jeremiah. It had happened New Year's Eve when most of the family had gone to bed, Jason and Christian were in the kitchen (no doubt getting more food) and Jeremiah and Victoria had decided they were going to walk down to the square and watch fireworks in the nearby Muggle neighborhood.
Putting on a hat, coat, and scarf with her favorite pair of boots Victoria and Jeremiah made their way down a few blocks, in the distance they could hear the clamor of the crowd even though the fireworks wouldn't go off until midnight. The only downside to their outing was Victoria nearly froze her butt to her broomstick. She had grumbled something to Jeremiah about using an unsticking charm on her jeans, but figured it wasn't worth getting expelled from Hogwarts or setting her pants on fire. Jeremiah had only laughed, which had warmed the atmosphere considerably and Victoria blushed, not sure if it was because of embarrassment or because of the cold.
The two teenagers made their way on the periphery of the crowd until they found a suitable place where they could see the fireworks going off. Finally the crowd began to murmur and the countdown began:
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Happy New Year!" The crowd chorused. Each person turn to their loved ones and hugs and kisses were exchanged under scarves, mufflers and hats. Victoria watched the scene with a smile. In those few seconds between seconds Victoria and Jeremiah had moved closer and by the time it was midnight they were as close as they could possibly be. Jeremiah had an arm around her and their heads were close together, but they hadn't spoken. There was a cacophony of noise, but Victoria barely noticed, fireworks, people chattering and the distinct "bong" of Big Ben in the distance. She could feel Jeremiah's breath against her cheek and the brush of his scarf against her face and it struck her once again how close they were. In the chaos of the crowd Victoria could see the glow of Jeremiah's watch, which was now glowing a soft pink. Against her skin, Victoria could feel her necklace knowing it probably had a similar color.
In the cold Victoria felt their skin brush again- cheeks, noses and nearly every inch of exposed skin. Jeremiah still wasn't speaking, but his breath was coming in short little gasps and she could tell he was nervous but why she couldn't say. Their noses brushed again as they were staring at each other, in Jeremiah's eyes she saw as many questions as she knew she had in her own, but after a few seconds Jeremiah turned his head and her nose and lips brushed his cheek instead. He didn't seem to notice.
After the fireworks Jeremiah and Victoria went back to the house. Victoria took her wand and unlocked the door, it was a general protection charm set by an adult so it's not like she was actually performing magic outside of school. Most of the lights , except for the glittering fairy lights on the Christmas tree, were out and they each made their way upstairs with only the light of a single lamp and went to bed without speaking.
The return to school for the most part was uneventful. Victoria's farewell to Jeremiah on New Year's Day was about what she had expected, not that she was prepared for it or liked it.
Her first day back at Hogwarts she caught up with Laura without elaborating about what she had done with Jeremiah specifically (not that she wanted to). For the most part she kept her vacation events to herself, holding onto the time she had spent with Jeremiah because she didn't know when she would see him again.
The new semester brought new classes-Ancient Runes and Astronomy. She was still debating with McGonagall how to squeeze in Care Of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies and to Victoria's amusement the headmistress seemed a bit taken aback.
"Ms. Smith, seems to me you have more than enough classes for you to handle. I think two additional classes on top of your already busy schedule is enough. I assure you, there will be more than enough time for you to fit everything in if and when you graduate from Hogwarts."
Victoria found McGonagall was right, however, particularly with Kingsley increasing their time on the Quidditch pitch in preparation for the upcoming match in a few weeks. The weather for January was bitterly cold which made flying, which Victoria normally found enjoyable, abysmal and she said as much to Kingsley which started one of the longest weeks of her school career.
"Smith!" Kingsley barked, "I'm the captain I call the shots with the schedule, if I say this team isn't ready for the match in two weeks I say we're not!"
"Well you won't get very far if your Seeker is freezing their butt off!" Victoria shot, rising on her broom so she was on eye level with Kingsley.
The rest of the team watch this with a great deal of interest as if they were watching a tennis match.
"Maybe you shouldn't have signed up if you thought we would be only flying in decent weather!" Kingsley snapped, "I can call in an alternate for you." Victoria found his tone rather degrading.
Victoria was still steaming by the end of practice, she hadn't spoken to Kingsley unless she was directly spoken to. She wasn't even sure what she was mad about, she was tired of his rigorous training schedule and thought they should at least have a few nights off to do homework, but most of the boys on the team laughed at this idea because most of them preferred Quidditch over school work.
"Why are you trying to pick a fight with him?" Laura asked one afternoon after class.
"Because," Victoria replied shortly, "I think he's wrong, I do agree we have to be ready for the match but he doesn't have to run us ragged in this weather and I can't fly as well as I normally can in these conditions, my muscles lock up."
She even wrote a terse letter to Jeremiah which only went to show her state of mind, but to his credit Jeremiah was understanding and if she had said anything out of turn he hadn't said anything about it.
After their second grueling practice in two days Victoria had just about had it.
"What do I have to do to get through to you!" She yelled after doing a series of catches for the Snitch and missing. "I can't play like this!"
"Well I can't control the weather!" Kingsley yelled as she came down from the air. "Just get your arse in line or I'll be looking for a new Seeker!"
Victoria had already landed, but she hadn't seemed to hear him.
"What do I have to do to get through to you!" She said again, still hovering in front of him, glaring. "Shut up, just shut up!" Then before she could think better of it she had wooshed past him and what happened next no one expected. Before Victoria could think better of it her lips were on his. The kiss was hard and passionate and over as quickly as it had begun, and Victoria headed for the castle Kingsley still yelling after her.
"You know I'm a prefect! That's 40 points from Gryffindor! 40 points! I will be speaking to McGonagall about this!" Victoria didn't know whether he meant about the kiss or her telling him to shut up.
Kingsley indeed did speak to McGonagall, which earned Victoria her first ever (and hopefully last) detention. She had detention for the rest of the week and had been suspended from the upcoming match. At this point thanks to their conflicting schedules, Victoria hardly ever saw Laura, the only time she did see her was at meals and they passed each other in the common room. To add to her troubles, the school gossip chain was working overtime. Her stunt with Kingsley made her the talk of the school, which was the last position she wanted to be in. The rumors ranged from she had assaulted Kingsley with her broomstick to that they were dating to that they had been dating and they had a falling out. None of these were further from the truth.
Between her detentions and late-night class in the Astronomy Tower Victoria didn't have much time, any of her extra time was spent doing school work or talking or writing to Jeremiah, which she still did frequently particularly after the kerfuffle with Kingsley. Such was the topic of conversation on a particular evening after Victoria had gotten back from her latest detention as the two friends conversed via the 2 way mirrors
"Why did you get so mad in the first place?" Jeremiah asked his brow furrowed.
"He's not cutting me any slack!" Victoria exclaimed, "He knows I can't fly as well as the other players in this weather, he knew that when I signed up!"
"Maybe he doesn't." Jeremiah countered mildly. "Sorry about you getting suspended though."
"McGonagall let me off easy," Victoria reflected, "I'm lucky I only got suspended for one match and a week's worth of detention. I could've gotten a month's worth of detention and been suspended for the rest of the term."
Suddenly Jeremiah grinned again.
"I can't believe you kissed him!" He chortled, "You must have really been pissed my watch was literally vibrating for an hour."
"I guess I'm not surprised you felt it." Victoria replied sheepishly, "I didn't know the charm was that powerful."
"The stones are like a Muggle mood ring," Jeremiah explained, "I think they'll probably be fine… Unless you murder someone."
Victoria laughed quietly and allowed herself another sheepish smile. Jeremiah always had a way of making her feel better even when she was too mad or too sad to ever think she would be happy again.
With her suspension from the match at the end of January Victoria had much more free time than she had originally anticipated and spent most of her time on Thursday nights finishing her homework while the rest of the team was out on the pitch. She hadn't quite decided whether she would watch the match or not, she figured it would just make her depressed.
Finally, after some cajoling from Laura, Victoria decided to go.
"Stop sulking," her friend said with a hint of disgust, "it's unattractive, especially for you. What does Jeremiah think of all this?"
"He's saying the same thing." Victoria replied grudgingly, "after he laughed at me for kissing Kingsley in the first place."
"Yeah, why did you do that? Although it was worth seeing the look on McGonagall's face, I doubt she's given someone a detention for kissing someone before."
Victoria gave a lopsided shrug as she maneuvered her broom out of the dormitory.
"Well, how else was I supposed to get him to shut up."
The game went about as well as Victoria had expected. Desiree Cottenwood was the reserve Seeker and as Victoria had observed during tryouts, she was a good flyer. Victoria, however, could have done without the included commentary, provided by Colin Platt, a fast talking skinny looking fifth year who looked like a zipper.
"Desiree Cottenwood filling in for Victoria Smith of Gryffindor. Smith was suspended for kissing the Captain and Beater Gregory Kingsley. Are they dating? Go ask Lucy Puckle of Hufflepuff."
This comment made Victoria snort. If they only knew the truth.
As it turned out, Gryffindor ended up winning the match, much to Victoria's relief she figured by then her teammates would be so happy they wouldn't hate her too much, but most of them had been too amused by her stunt she had pulled on Kingsley to be mad anyway.
As the school filed down from the stands and back to the castle, Victoria made her way back to the common room trying to decide whether or not she would stay for the party she knew would follow. She worked on her assignment for Astronomy for half an hour before she decided it wasn't going anywhere and went down to join the party in the common room.
The common room was packed and Victoria squeezed her way into the only available space grabbing a Pumpkin Pasty as she went before making herself comfortable. It was only after the initial ruckus had died down Kingsley found her.
"I guess it's time to put this entire mess behind us." He murmured.
Victoria nodded.
"Maybe you're right, I guess I got so wound up about being prepared going into this term. I didn't really think about what it was doing to everybody. Maybe I should make the practices a little shorter… At least until the weather warms up," He gave her a stern look, "but providing its below freezing I'm not canceling practice."
Victoria nodded again.
"Fair." She finally murmured, "I can live with that." Finally she looked up at him and was surprised to see his no nonsense expression had softened slightly.
"I just want you and the rest of the team to do your best, like you do in Defense Against the Dark Arts," Kingsley chuckled, clapping a sturdy hand on her shoulder which nearly knocked her off her broom, "why you're practically Quinn's star pupil."