Chapter Twenty: Go Cannons!
The buzzer on the alarm clock chimed early in the morning as sunlight flitted across the room. Groaning, Harry rolled over, slamming his hand against the clock, effectively shutting it up. Tired, he moved onto his stomach, pulling the pillow over his head and burying his face into the mattress. He lay there for a few minutes before lifting his head to check the time. 8:23. It was unfortunately time to get up. With a grunt he slowly got out of bed, throwing the blanket off his legs and standing up. He crossed his arms and stretched, yawing loudly at the same time. Scratching his head, he shuffled out of the room and into the kitchen.
Pushing the door open he was greeted with a very unappealing sight.
A woman with long blonde hair stood bent over a drawer that was pulled out from the bottom of the fridge. She wore a long t-shirt, which in her current position, revealed her skimpy underwear.
"Ahem."
The woman looked at Harry from between her legs before slowly standing up.
"Hey there sexy." Pansy said, licking her lips at the sight of him, shirtless, in just a pair of dark green pajama bottoms.
"Pansy." Harry greeted as warmly as he could manage. What the hell was she doing here?
"You look good Harry." She purred, smiling seductively at him.
"Thanks." He muttered, walking over to the fridge.
Pansy stood in front of it, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips. Harry sighed; what a pain.
"Could you move?"
"Why?" She said, trying to be cute, fluttering her long, dark eyelashes at him.
Harry stared at her, unfazed. "Because I'd like to eat."
Pansy smiled at him once again, biting her lip, her eyes scanning slowly over his lightly chiseled body. "Alright, one second."
She turned around and reach for a box of cereal on the top of the fridge and at the same time, conveniently lifted her shirt to show off her well sculpted stomach.
Harry rolled his eyes, before looking away. He didn't need to see that so early in the morning.
She slowly lowered her shirt after grabbing the cereal.
"All your's." She said, stepping away.
"Thanks." Harry muttered. He opened the fridge, looking for something good to eat, finally settling on a left over sandwich from last night.
"Hang on a second. I forgot something." He heard Pansy whisper behind him before he suddenly felt her breath on the nape of his neck and felt her soft but firm breasts press lightly against his back. She grabbed the milk from the side door and stepped away, but not before lingering her hand on his shoulder for a moment.
"Trying to steal my leftovers Potter?"
Both Harry and Pansy turned around to find Draco standing against the doorframe, arms crossed, trademark grin intact.
Harry rolled his eyes, "Yeah, sure Draco. If you can think back that far, I've got a girl of my own. I don't need any of your," He looked Pansy over quickly, "Leftovers."
Draco chuckled and walked into the room. Harry saw Pansy frown from the corner of his eye before it quickly disappeared. She swayed her hips lightly as she walked up to Draco, giving him a sloppy kiss.
Harry shuddered and looked away, thanking the Gods for his good taste in girls.
Draco pulled away after a few seconds, looking over at Harry, "What are you doing up so early?"
"I could ask you the same thing." Harry said, taking a seat at the table, "You're not exactly a morning person."
"Pansy woke me. In a rather pleasant way. After that, I didn't exactly want to go back to sleep. We eventually got hungry." He said, grabbing a piece of cold pizza from the counter before taking a seat next to his friend. Pansy walked over to the counter, hopping up on the surface.
Harry cringed at the mental images coming to mind of how exactly Pansy had woken him up.
"So what are you doing up?"
Harry shrugged, "Going to hang out with Ginny today." He didn't want to tell Draco about the game with Ron. It was a sore subject with him because Harry had bailed the last time there was a game in town.
Pansy glared from the other side of the room.
"Oh ok." Draco said, munching on another bite of his pizza. "Have fun."
Harry nodded, finishing off the last of his sandwich before going back into his room to get dress for the day.
--
Harry strolled up the walk to Ginny's door, hands in his pockets. He took a deep breath, smelling the crisp morning air and looked up at the sky. Wisps of clouds spattered the sky but the sun shone brightly. No ominous clouds in sight.
Before he could even knock the door swung open, and Ron stood in front of him. He wore a bright orange jersey with the number seventeen on it, the color clashing horribly with his hair. He also wore an orange colored cap with two large C's on the front, with a cannonball rushing through them.
"Hey Harry."
"Hey Ron, nice jersey. Jenkins your favorite player?"
"Yeah he's a wild one. Gudgeon's your favorite right?" Ron asked, gesturing to the number eight six on his jersey.
"Of course, he's the best player on the team in my opinion."
Ron laughed, "Come on in." He said, moving aside for Harry to enter.
"Thanks," The emerald eyed teen looked around, taking his own Cannons cap off before running a hand through his messy hair. "Where's Ginny?"
"Ah, she's still sleeping. Not exactly a morning person."
"Huh, I didn't know that."
Ron gave an affirming nod. "Good, you better keep it that way."
Harry chuckled before following the redhead into the kitchen.
"Want something to eat? Mum makes the best breakfast food."
"Ah, no thanks, I've already eaten."
"Alright." Ron said, sitting at the table, "We've got some time to spare right?"
"Yeah, I came a bit early. We should leave in about fifteen minutes."
"Good, I'm starved."
A few moments later Mr. Weasley came walking into the room, wearing a nice business suit. He fussed with his tie, seeming to have difficulty tying it. He hadn't noticed Harry in the room yet. "Ron, didn't you eat already?"
"Yeah but, not very much." Ron answered, shoveling food onto his plate.
He looked up from his food for a brief second, "You can sit down you know Harry. Want something to drink?"
"Sure." He said, pulling up a seat.
Mr. Weasley stopped short.
"Oh, hello Harry, I didn't see you there." The older man laughed, tapping his glasses, "Maybe I should get these checked eh?" He chuckled to himself before continuing rather enthused, "Ready for the big game today?"
Harry grinned, "Definitely, it'll be great. The Kestrels are a pretty good team."
"Won the cup last year if I remember correctly."
"Yeah they did."
"You're both pulling for the Cannons though right?"
"Of course!" Ron said through a mouthful of food. "They're going to kick the Kestrels arse."
Mr. Weasley smiled; he knew Ron was very much looking forward to the game.
"Arthur, let me help you with that." Mrs. Weasley said, walking into the kitchen, grabbing the tie from him and looping it together.
"Thank you dear." He said, looking down as she worked the tie. "Ah, now I always forget that part."
"I know you do." She said endearingly, leaning in to give him a peck on the lips.
"Ugh, gross, don't blind me. Besides, we have company Mum."
Mrs. Weasley looked to Ron and finally spotted Harry.
"Oh goodness," Mrs. Weasley said, a blush creeping onto her cheeks, "Hello there Harry, it's good to see you again."
She smiled warmly at him before walking over to grab an empty plate, "Would you like something to eat?"
Harry held up his hands, "Oh, no thanks Mrs. Weasley. I already ate."
Mrs. Weasley frown, looking him over, "You could use to eat a bit more. You're looking a bit thinner than the last time I saw you…"
"Which was only a few days ago Mum, so it's in your head. He's fine." Ron replied, stabbing a buttery piece of waffle then smearing it through some syrup. He plucked it up and plopped it into his mouth.
"Of course." She said, taking one last look at him before turning around.
"Arthur you're going to be late. I'll grab your briefcase, you get out to the car."
As his parents left, Ron swallowed a rather large amount, opening his mouth to speak.
"Sorry about her. She's taken quite a liking to you. Going off on how you're such a 'charming, nice boy'.
Harry flushed, "You're Mum's really nice."
"Yep, we like her."
A sudden thought came to him, "Hey Ron, what do your parents do?"
Ron looked up from his plate, finally pushing it away, "Oh, well Dad works in a big law firm for the government in the city and Mum stays at home. She used to have to handle all seven of us and never had any time for a job, that was a big enough one in its self. But now, I think she enjoys being home by herself when Ginny and I are at school. It helps make up for the years of alone time she never got."
"Oh, alright." Harry said. He was just simply curious what Ron's parent did for a living.
Harry opened his mouth to ask another question but was stopped by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Ron, what's all the racket down here?" Came a feminine voice as Ginny appeared at the bottom of the staircase. Her long, red hair was slightly disheveled and her eyes barely open, she had obviously just woken up. She had on a pair of blue pajama shorts with some sort of writing on them Harry couldn't make out. She also wore a large white t-shirt that was several sizes too big for her. It was obviously one of her brothers.
Harry thought she looked incredbily cute.
"Oh nothing," Ron said, a wide grin on his face, "Just here talking to Harry."
Ginny's eyes shot open as she stared open mouthed at Harry who sat at the kitchen table.
"Hi." She said, face bright red.
"Hey." He said, giving her a lopsided grin, "Did we wake you?"
"No, ah, I just got up."
She stood there a moment longer, shifting from foot to foot, staring at the two of them.
"Well, I'm uh, going to go get dressed. Have a good time at the game you two." She said in a rush before dashing back up the stairs.
Ron snickered beside him at his sister's embarrassment. "That was great. You should come around here more often. It's not often you can get Ginny embarrassed like that."
Harry shook his head, a small smile on his face. He liked how they interacted with one another, teasing but with a lighthearted tone.
Checking his watch, he rose from the chair.
"We should head out. Do you have your ticket?"
"Yeah right here."
Ron fished around in his pocket for a minute before pulling out his crumpled ticket.
"Great, let's get going."
Ron jumped up from his seat. Grabbing some pounds from the table he turned to Harry, readjusting his cap.
He flashed the raven haired teen a wide grin, showing his pearly white teeth.
"Let's go!"
--
"This is bloody brilliant." Ron exclaimed, staring all around him. Many booths were open, lining the walls on each side of the vast tunnel that lead to the field. They held anything from mugs with the team's mascot or logo on them, to bobble heads of favorite players. Jerseys were the most apparent feature advertised in each stand, with matching hats. A man stood behind a counter selling hotdogs, while another stood selling popcorn and drinks. The place was jam packed, with people walking every which way. Little kids ran around, dragging flags behind them, joy spread across their features. Many people stood holding beers, laughing loudly with the friends they had come with. A few oddballs were spotted here and there with faces painted green or orange.
"You want anything to eat?" Harry asked looking around at the various shops. Nacho sounded extremely good to him at the moment.
"Yeah sure. I'll have two hotdogs and a thing of popcorn. Can you handle all that by yourself? I want to take a look around quick before the game starts."
"Sure." Harry replied, "I'll see you back at the seats."
Ron nodded before walking off, looking like a kid in a candy store.
Twenty minutes later, Harry sat in his seat, food all around him. He checked his watch, ten minutes before game time.
He scooted around in his chair, getting more comfortable, before picking up a hand full of popcorn and throwing it into his mouth.
"Harry, can you clear my seat?"
Harry looked up, his mouth dropping open in shock as he stared at Ron. The guy had only been down there for twenty minutes and seemed to have cleared out the place.
"Is there anything left down there?"
Ron flushed, before sitting down in his seat, "Of course there is, I didn't get that much…"
"You have three bags full of-" Harry looked into the nearest one and pulled out an item. "Foam fingers?"
"No, that's just for the game." Ron said, pulling out another and handing it to Harry, "Got you one too."
Harry chuckled, "Thanks." He said, running his fingers over the white lettering: Cannons Number One!
"And the rest… Well, I do have quite a large family Harry. They all might want something and if not," Ron shrugged, smiling to himself, "More for me. I love this team."
Harry watched as he fished around for something else in the bags.
"Hey I got this for you too." He said, placing a bobble head of Galvin Gudgeon into Harry's hand.
Harry snorted, finding the bobble head barley resembled the player.
"Such an uncanny resemblance, don't you think?" Ron chortled at this as Harry toyed around with the figure, "Nice though, thanks a lot." He continued, pocketing the toy.
They both looked up as the music in the background stopped, a booming voice filling the stadium instead.
"It's starting!" Ron exclaimed, jumping up from his chair, Harry in toe.
The stadium was filled with a thunderous applause as they watched the players run out onto the field; booing as the leprechaun mascot for the Kestrels came out and cheering at the Cannonball mascot when it emerged onto the field.
A sea of orange and green colors packed the stadium, green outweighing the orange greatly. That didn't matter to the two teens though, as they cheered and stomped as loudly as they possibly could, to the annoyance of the Kestrel fans around them.
As the game continued on, the teens joked and laughed, bonding over their shared love for the biggest losing team in football history.
--
"Goal!" Came a wild yell from the commentator, "Cannons win the game! I can't believe it! By a freak accident the Cannons win the game five-four in the final seconds, their first win in over three seasons!"
Orange erupted in a deafening roar as the teens shot up from their seats, waving flags and pumping their foam fingers in the air. The mascot for the cannons stood in the middle of the field as a group of players formed a few yards away. The cannonball charged, diving to the ground and rolled into the Cannon players, causing them to all tumble down. He then shot back up, running around the field, waving his hands for the crowd to cheer more.
As the minutes went by, the crowd finally calmed down, Kestrel fans leaving in disgust while Cannons fans chatted loudly and excitedly to the friends they had come with as they headed for the exits. Harry and Ron however remained in there seats.
"That. Was. Awesome!" Ron yelled, punching his fist in the air.
"Definitely, that was brilliant!" Harry exclaimed, still staring somewhat speechless out at the field, "I can't believe they won."
"I know," Ron agreed, "But they did! And I was here to see it!" Ron laughed, completely giddy, "No one at home will believe it."
He turned to Harry, "Thanks for inviting me to this Harry, it was amazing."
"No problem," Harry said, giving Ron a pat on the back, "I had a great time, thanks for coming with me. It's nice to watch the game with a fellow Cannons fan."
Ron grinned and nodded, picking up his bags, "You read to go?"
"Yeah."
They walked down the steps, going into the hallway before Ron slowed to a crawl, looking around.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked, staring strangely at the redhead.
"I'm looking for the team."
"… Uh, Ron. The team's probably in the locker room celebrating their victory. They wouldn't come out here."
"Well, they might." He shrugged, "You never know. That would be the most perfect end to the most perfect day ever. Getting Jenkins to sign my jersey or something."
Harry paused, an idea forming in his mind. He smirked at Ron in a mischievous way before saying, "Follow me."
"Huh?" Ron questioned, but Harry was already down the hall, looking left to right.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked, bewildered by Harry's actions, "The car's the other way."
"I'm not looking for the car." Harry said, turning to him but still walking backwards. "Just hang on a second and follow me."
Ron continued to follow Harry for several minutes, finally having enough.
"Ok, listen Harry. What-"
"Here it is!" Harry said excitedly, stopping at a door marked, 'Personnel Only'.
Ron looked on blankly, "Here is what? All I see is a door."
"Exactly." Harry grinned and gave him a quick wink before looking around. Thankfully no one was in the hall with them, they had gone too far in the opposite direction of the crowd.
He walked up to the door, checking over his shoulder once more before giving the obviously locked door a hard yank while Ron looked on with wide eyes.
"What are you doing?" He hissed, coming to stand next to him.
"You wanted that autograph right? Well, they aren't going to come out here to us, so we'll have to go to them."
Ron's ears perked up at the idea but he quickly shook his head, "Are you insane? We can't do that!"
"Who's going to stop us?" Harry said, arms splayed out to the completely empty hall.
"Bu-but, we'll get caught."
"Nah," Harry said, waving off the comment. He pulled a paper clip from his pocket, molding it into a specific shape before slipping it into the doorknob. "And even if we do, they'll only kick us out. And what does that matter? The game's already over."
Ron considered this as Harry worked at the door, finally hearing a soft click.
"Well come on then," Harry started, standing in the entryway, door wide open. "What are you waiting for? Don't you want to meet your team? I mean come on Ron, this is your team. The Cannons. Wouldn't you love to meet Jenkins?"
Ron looked at him for a moment, worry written clearly across his face, "But even if we do make it there… The team will never want to see us."
"Sure they will!" Harry explained jovially, "They just won their first game in years! Some happy fans come to get a few autographs and they're gonna turn them away?" Harry took a few steps inside as voices came down the other hall. "So… you want to or not? We can leave if you want to, I just thought if you really wanted to meet them, here's your chance."
Ron hesitated for only a moment, running a nervous hand through his hair before grinning.
"Alright."
Creeping slowly down the hall, Harry walked a few steps in front of Ron, holding up a hand to stop him and motioning when to go. They made their way up and down hallways, turning every which way, until they were completely lost.
"Where the hell is it?" Ron whispered, coming up to Harry. "The place isn't that big. We've been at this for," He checked Harry's watch, "Twenty minutes. Where's the locker rooms?"
"They've go to be around here somewhere." Harry said, sneaking across the hall.
Harry paused for a moment, a look of concentration on his face.
"Let's see, we went mostly to the right and forward, over near the Cannons side. Maybe we went too far forward." He turned around, brow furrowed. "Let's go back a bit."
"This is ridiculous." Ron muttered, "We should go right, we've gone this far haven't we? Let's go a few more halls down and if we come up empty, we'll go back."
Harry shrugged, "It's worth a shot, lead the way."
Ron crept forward down the hall to the right, twisting and turning until he came to a dead end.
Harry chuckled, "Great directional skills."
Ron's ears tinted red, "Hey, I can't help it, I thought I got it right. Besides, you weren't much better."
"You're right about that." Harry said, rubbing his face tiredly, "Alright, lets go back to the previous cross and take a left."
Ron nodded, gesturing for Harry to go. They made it to the cross and turned left, before a voice from behind startled them.
"Hey, you two."
Harry and Ron spun around to see a security guard heading toward them.
"Great." Ron groaned, "We're dead."
"Just let me do the talking ok?" Harry muttered from the corner of his mouth. He cleared his throat and spoke a little louder, addressing the guard. "What can we help you with Sir?"
The guard looked at them suspiciously, his eyes narrowed. "What are you doing back here?"
"Ah, just making our way to the janitorial closet. Someone's got to clean up the seats."
The guard looked from Harry to Ron, who merely nodded.
"Right. Get on with it then and stop lingering back here. People will think you're up to something."
"Right away Sir." Harry said, giving the man a polite smile and nod before walking past him and around the corner.
"Nice." Ron whispered when they were far enough away, "I would of never thought of something to say. Would have probably frozen up or just made a run for it."
Harry grinned, "Hey, he's got no proof that we aren't workers here. They just try to intimidate you to slip up if you are doing something wrong."
Another ten minutes later and Ron abruptly stopped.
"Ok, I've seen that piece of gum before. We're going around in circles."
Harry sighed. "I suppose you're right. Guess we should head back huh?"
"Yeah, we better." His stomach growled loudly, "I'm starving. Think we could pick up something to eat?"
"You ate like four hotdogs during the game." Harry said in slight disbelief.
"Yeah well, I worked it off with all that jumping up and down. It was a very intense game."
"That it was." Harry agreed. He opened his mouth to ask which way they should go back when they heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, what are you two doing? You're suppose to be out on the floor cleaning."
They whipped their heads to the right to see the same security guard making his way towards them.
"Got any more excuses?" Ron questioned, backing up.
Harry shook his head, "None he'd believe."
"So what do we do?" Ron asked him, looking slightly panicked.
"Run." Harry replied before quickly turning around and shooting up the hall, Ron right behind.
"Hey, wait!"
The guard ran after them but because of his extra weight, couldn't keep up for long.
They ran blindly through the halls until they ran smack into a group of people.
"Oy!"
"What the bloody hell was that for?"
"Sorry about that." Harry said, standing up and dusting himself off. He turned around quickly, looking for the guard. "Come on Ron, let's go."
He turned to walk away but didn't feel Ron move beside him.
"What's up?"
Ron merely continued to stare at the lot in front of them, mouth hanging open.
Harry finally turned to the group, seeing four men standing with casual clothes on, bags slung over their shoulders.
"You- You're… You're Rodger Gibbins!" Ron exclaimed, staring at him in awe.
"Eh? You know me do you?" The man said, laughing at the overwhelmed look on Ron's face. He glanced down at Ron's shirt, "But it doesn't look like I'm the one you want to see." He turned around, opening a door behind him. "Hey Joey, come out here a second."
"What's up?" The man, Joey, said walking into the hallway. He had dark drown, messy hair and was tall and stocky, clearly a power player.
"You're got a fan." Rodger said smirking, pointing to the number on Ron's jersey.
"Really?" Joey said, raising an eyebrow at Ron. "You know who I am kid?"
"Of course I do! You're Joey Jenkins!" Ron nearly fell over, seeing his favorite sports player in the entire world. "Bloody hell!"
The first man, Rodger, laughed finally turning to look at Harry.
"I see you've got number eighty six." He turned back around and went through the door, calling for someone once again.
He reappeared with another man a few moments later. The man was the shortest of the three, but was slim, giving the impression he was incredible fast.
"Galvin Gudgeon." Harry said, a beaming smile spreading across his face.
"We've got fans?" Galvin exclaimed, slightly surprised, "Well this is a first. Hey kid." He said, shaking Harry's hand. "You guys want autographs?" He continued, seeming excited about the prospect of signing things for them. Harry got the impression they had never really met any fans of their's before.
"Of course!" The teens exclaimed at the same time. They dug around in one of Ron's bags, looking for something for them to sign.
"Out of all of the things you could buy Ron, you didn't get any sort of paper with it! Where are your receipts?
"Hey it's not my fault. I just wanted some foam fingers…"
"You really weren't prepared for meeting your dream team were you?"
They players in the hall smirked at their bantering.
"Hey, give me some slack. I didn't exactly think you were suddenly going to come up with some crazy idea to break back here to get us to meet them!"
"There you are!" A gruff voice yelled from behind them.
They turned and groaned at the guard running towards them. Why now?
"Alright you two, you're coming with me."
"Wait just a second," Rodger said, walking up to the guard, "Why are you taking them?"
"They broke back in here and had no permission whatsoever…"
"Ah come on mate." Joey said, "The blokes just wanted to meet us, cut them some slack."
"They broke into a room that clearly stated-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it. How about giving them a break? They're with us now." Galvin said, crossing his arms.
The guard looked around, completely outnumbered.
"Come on, we'll give you an autograph." Jenkins tempted, a smirk on his face.
The guard scoffed, "Why would I want your autographs? You're the worst team in the league."
The men frowned, not liking to have it rubbed in their faces.
The guard sighed however, sending a final glare at them all.
"Just this once, I'll let you off the hook." He turned to give a threatening glare at Harry and Ron, "If I ever see you kids back here again…"
"We get it, thanks mate." Rodger said, slapping the guard on the back. "Now," He began, turning to the teens as the guard walked away. Pulling out a sharpie from his back pocket he grinned, "I knew this would happen one day." He joked, pulling the cap off the marker. "Who's first?"
--
A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews :) I know it's been a while since I've updated (sorry for that) but make sure to review and I'll update within the next day or two!