Innocent Words
Author: Captain Cornflake
Chapter Ten: The Plan…
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~*DISCLAIMER*~
I do NOT own Harry Potter, all credit goes J.K Rowling and thanks to PuddlemereChaser for letting me steal your ideas (j/k). PS I own Emilia.
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A/N: if anyone wants a full list of all Q.A (Quidditch Association) cup games played, please email me.
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After the Christmas and New Year break, Puddlemere United roared back into action, in both the league and the Quidditch Association Cup.
They had progressed to the semi-final for the first time in twenty years. League –wise, they were second, topped only by the Pride Of Portree.
The semi-final was to be against the Montrose Magpies, much to Em's dismay. They'd had a lucky win over the Wimbourne Wasps in the quarterfinals. They'd been 70-0 down until their Seeker; Matt Fortune caught the Snitch, which was good fortune, considering it was really foggy that day.
When the fixture was drawn, Emilia had a dilemma. You see, the game was to be on a Tuesday, with an 11:30 start.
So, she had to ask Professor McGonagall of she could have permission to play. Of course McGonagall agreed.
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The day of the game arrived quickly; it was supposed to be a sunny day. It was sunny, but it was almost gale force winds.
So, the team knew they were going to have problems playing, let alone winning.
In the cold changing rooms at the Magpies stadium, the Puddlemere squad were huddled together, mainly for Ian and Sam's pre-match pep talk, and to keep warm at least for a while.
Just over a month ago, it had been Emilia's 17th birthday, and the guys had a party for her at their house. Eventually the other five guys had gone out and left Oliver and Em alone, to um, do their own thing.
-Oliver's POV-
When Em's 17th came round, we organised a big party for her at our house. Which, as per usual, involved a lot of alcohol and loud music. As you can imagine, everyone got pretty drunk. Especially me, I was completely wasted, but not wasted enough to not notice how attractive Emilia was looking that night.
After much drinking, and very bad singing, Ian, Sam, Jason, Ben and Will left us alone and I'll let you imagine the consequences.
-Normal POV-
But back to the game, they had been playing for about twenty minutes and there was no score, mainly because none of the chasers could get anywhere near the goals before being blown away further down the field.
To add to that, visibility wasn't very good for either seeker, so the match looked as if it could go on for a long time..
By 1pm, everyone was getting a bit beyond tired, but thankfully Will and Jason had managed to score. Problem now being that it was now bucketing down with rain. Right then though, there was that familiar golden flash near the ground, so Em zoomed after the tiny glimmer of hope for ending the game.
As she hurtled towards the ground, rain flowing through her hair, a spectacular clap of thunder and a flash of lightening lit the field up. Emilia saw a blur of black and white besides her heading for the same target.
No more than twenty feet from the ground, Fortune swung himself into her, causing her veer violently off course. Rain was making everything blur around her, but Em kept as firm an eye as possible on the Snitch.
Both Seekers reached out and snatched at the glimmer. Emilia fell from her broom and slid across the muddy field on her back. When she stopped, he head was lying in a huge mud filled pool.
She drifted in and out of consciousness for a few seconds before the Snitch fell out of her sleeve, a faint whistle was heard, and the fans erupted into an endless roar of applause.
Thick black hair was plastered to Emilia's forehead, never ending rain falling into her eyes. Moments later, and an ecstatic Oliver knelt down besides her, sat her up and pulled her into his strong arms.
They were both soaked to the bone and quite muddy, but the hug continued, they didn't even notice the other players land and surround them. Oliver scooped Emilia up in his arms and hauled her off the waterlogged field.
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A few hours later, back at 4 Navy Drive (The team house), wrapped up in a fleecy blanket, Em was now in a fit state to celebrate the victory.
"Well, once again we've triumphed over the weather" laughed Ben, wiggling his bare toes in front of the roaring fire.
"Yep, and I've got to go back to school tomorrow" sighed Em.
"Shame, we could have had a proper celebration" said Will.
After many hours of merriment and celebration, Mr Griff escorted Em back to Hogwarts.
They flew in his car, avoiding being seen by anyone, just as a precaution. While flying over the lake, Emilia looked out of the window and down on the shimmering water, which, at the moment, was reflecting the moon.
After landing about 50ft from Hagrid's hut, Em said goodbye to her boss, hurried back inside, had a shower and decided on an early night.
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The following morning, May 18th, Emilia was woken up by her alarm clock, which happened to be called Aurora.
"Oh crap" she squealed, throwing the covers off herself and jumping out of bed. Hastily, she threw on her robes, pulled her hair back into a ponytail, grabbed her books and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.
There was an empty seat next to Alicia, Em stepped over the bench and sat down, smiling at the group.
"When did you get back?" yawned Katie.
"Last night, but I went straight to bed, I was really tired."
"So…what happened at the game?" asked Angelina
"Oh, that, I-well the weather was terrible, I couldn't see anything…"
"You didn't lose did you?" said Fred
Emilia looked at the floor and the others just guessed.
"Aaaawwww, I'm sorry" piped up Harry
"Sorry? Are you kidding me? We won!!" she screamed with delight.
Fred and George's eyes went wide.
"We're in the cup final!!"
Angelina, Alicia, Katie, Fred, George, Harry, Ron and Hermione jumped up, causing a few other people to look around, they all crowded around their now celebrity friend, itching to congratulate her and shake her hand.
"How's it feel to be on the team now then?" asked Harry, calming himself down.
"It feels bloody great."
McGonagall strode up behind the excited students and said.
"I heard about you win yesterday Miss Stewart, congratulations"
"Thank you professor"
"I look forward to seeing you play in the final, whenever that may be"
"Yeah"
"Well..." the Head paused "…good luck"
"Thanks" whispered Em, hoarsely.
McGonagall swept away, back to the teachers table.
Later on that day, after suffering double Arithmancy with Slytherin, Emilia was collared by Madam Hooch as she headed back to the Gryffindor common room. Hooch had been appointed as head of Gryffindor when Dumbledore died and McGonagall became headmistress.
Calling of the Quidditch star as she opened the portrait hole, the excited flying instructor beamed at Em.
"Well done!" she exclaimed in her rough voice.
"Thank you madam" blushed Emilia, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"I'm going to be at the final"
Em looked at her.
"You've got a ticket already?"
"Yes I have, for a few weeks actually"
Hooch produced a beige coloured strip with black writing on it, the lines labelled time and place were still blank.
Noticing the confused expression on her face, the hawk-eyed teacher explained:
"Ah, those will appear when they've been decided" she paused " You'd best be getting on, I'm sure you've got much studying to do."
"Yes I have, um…bye"
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Sam and Ian decided to start the training for the final two weeks after that Magpies game, before the date had even been confirmed.
While standing in front of the club trophy cabinet, Em looked at the list of cup wins the team had. Scanning down the list, she saw that the last time they had won the Q.A cup was in 1970.
"My first year here" said Mr Griff, appearing behind her.
"Really?" said Em, still gazing at the shining trophies and moving pictures of past teams.
"It's taken twenty-five years, a hell of a lot of hard work and some really good young talent to get back here" he sighed, a smile forming underneath his thick greying moustache.
She looked up into the coaches' shining dark green eyes and saw both fear and hope/
"Ah ha! There you are!" shouted Sam from the other end of the corridor "…come on, the other semi-final's on the radio"
"Is that still going on?" said Em, disbelieving that that particular game had been going on for two weeks now.
"Yeah, we think it's nearly over now, so come on, we need to know who we're playing."
Sam pulled the startled Seeker by the wrist towards the canteen, where five keen pairs of ears were crowded around the small portable stereo on one of the tables.
Emilia sat herself down next to Oliver, who put an arm around her shoulders and then turned his attentions back to the radio. The commentator was practically screaming into his microphone.
The Stormers are on the attack again; they have dominated the game so far. If you're just joining us, the score is Stonewall Stormers 80, Appleby Arrows 70.Ian rested his chin on his closed hand.
Oh, Stormers Seeker Philips is locked in a fight for the Snitch with Arrows Seeker Tubbs, Philips is edging ahead. Oh, that's gotta hurt, Philips is on the ground, and he's holding his nose, but wait a minute… YYYYESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!! He has the Snitch, along with a broken nose the lucky sh-
The commentator was cut off and adverts came on instead.
"Sounds a bit like Lee Jordan doesn't he?"
"Yeah he does, just a little bit"
After listening to the Stormers victory, the team forced themselves out onto the field to train for the final in a fortnight's time.
But nerves got the better of Jason and Emilia, and they had to leave training early, mainly to throw up.
When they left the stalls, pale-faced and shaking, J and Em met the others back in the changing room.
"You guys Ok now?" asked a concerned Ian.
"Yeah" was the reply that came from Jason, but Emilia remained silent.
"Hey babe, what's wrong?" said Oliver, holding Em at the shoulders.
"Nothing" she whispered
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm fine"
"Ok then"
Oliver turned to his locker and touched to small box inside…
"When game day comes" he thought "When game day comes…"
The locker was then shut, leaving Wood's plan lying dormant, until the day of the final that is…