NOTES:
Another Quidditch game in this chapter, pitting brother against sister! And the plot thickens!
DEDICATION:
To Alice, my music swapping and rpg-ing buddy! W00t for all things Quidditch-y and angsty music!!
DISCLAIMER:
No one cares. I repeat, NO ONE FUCKING CARES.
*~*~*~*
"So, are you sleeping in the spectator stands tonight, or are you going to go home sometime?" The woman on the ground looked up at the one still in the air, arms akimbo, one eyebrow raised.
"I'll be done in a bit, Sky…" Cass Flint drew her arm back, and ferociously launched the Quaffle through a goal hoop. Diving and catching the red ball on the rebound, she threw again, with a fierce sort of grunt, dark hair whipping in the wind as she swung her arm forward.
Twenty-one-year-old Skyler Zabini looked curiously at the older woman, an amused smiled on her face, "Whose head are you pretending you're throwing the Quaffle at this time?"
Up in the air, Cass said something about chauvinistic bastards who put too much emphasis on their "equipment" to see how far their heads were stuck up their arses.
"Oh, come off it, Cass… Marcus might very well be a blinkered pillock at times, but he fancies that he's trying to do for your own good. Blokes are stupid like that a lot of the time… they don't know what they're doing, but they mean well. Usually." Skyler said reasonably. Cass, in the air, gave the Quaffle one final, violent fling, and flew downward towards her friend and teammate.
"It's not just Marcus…" the Chaser's eyes were dark slits of fury on her face, "Did you see that Oliver Wood after the game against Puddlemere? WHAT a complete prat!"
Skyler blinked, "What d'he do?"
"Bloody git thinks that just because I'm a girl…" Cass was about to launch into a tirade, but Skyler shook her head.
"Now, now… don't get yourself worked up. But that's strange… he was the captain of the Gryffindors when he was in school. Angelina was on his team. He doesn't seem the type to underestimate girls."
"Oh, but you didn't see his attitude!" Cass huffed, and glared at nothing in particular for a moment longer, before taking a deep breath and calming down. Skyler grinned.
"Oh… how sad. But you did well enough against him in the game against Puddlemere, I'm sure that whatever else, he considers you a worthy adversary on the pitch," Skyler said in a comforting tone of voice, "Now… are you ready for the game against the Falcons day after tomorrow?"
"Of course I am!" Cass smirked, "Marcus is going to bite the dust."
"Now, now… don't injure your brother that badly, Cassandra," Skyler said in a severe, sententious voice disturbingly reminiscent of Professor McGonagall of their schooldays, "We wouldn't want Karen after your blood…"
"Don't see how she could put up with the git, much less marry him…" Cass muttered and rolled her eyes. Karen Bletchley had, once upon a time, played for a year for the Slytherin Quidditch team as Keeper. Then, when Cass had reached fourth year and there had been an open Chaser position on the team, Marcus had disallowed females to play Quidditch for Slytherin House. Karen, understandably furious, had not spoken to him for years afterwards, despite the fact that the two had begun dating right before that time. She'd gone on to play for the Harpies as Keeper, until almost two years ago, when she and Marcus had met up again after a Quidditch match, and had somehow been able to leave past disagreements aside and resume their relationship. Karen had left the Harpies a year after, happily married and expecting a child, and the Keeper position had gone to the reserve, Kala Montague. Cass, though by her standards usually got along well enough with her sister-in-law, could not see either what Karen saw in her brother, the narrow-minded idiot, nor how Karen could have forgiven Marcus for kicking her off the team in their schooldays.
"Ah well… love is a weird, disturbing, generally-not-advisable thing," Skyler said breezily, "But enough of that. Just… play your best, and leave smiting Marcus and such to me, hmm? Wouldn't want you to get penalized for cobbing or blatching."
The twenty-four-year-old Chaser made a noncommittal noise, shrugged, and headed for the showers. Skyler watched her friend and rolled her eyes heavenward, "Oh dear… I'm almost tempted to owl Marcus and warn him… but that would be much less fun."
* * *
On the morning of the Quidditch game between the Holyhead Harpies and the Falmouth Falcons, Carl Warrington strode towards the Falcons' locker room with all the assurance of someone who was close friends with a goodly number of several team members.
Marcus Flint was in the middle of giving his team the usual, somewhat-bombastic-but-nevertheless-effectual pre-game prep talk. In the middle of warning Beater Vittorio Derrick "for FUCK's sake, do not foul, and keep the bludgers bloody OFF of Ca--…"
"… You know, Flint… if you do that, she's going to hate you for the rest of her life," Warrington interjected as he strode in. Flint whirled around, then gave his former teammate and friend a mock-glare before grinning and pulling the younger man into a rough, manly hug, clapping Warrington on the back.
"Warrington! You old bugger… how've you been?"
"Corking… yourself?" Warrington smirked, "As I was saying… don't try to keep Cass safe… she's going to fly at the bludgers if that's what it's going to take to win. And she expects anyone who plays against her to treat her like any other Quidditch player on the rival team."
Marcus shrugged, and changed the subject, and the Falcons and their visitor chatted for a brief time on everyday things before Warrington took his leave. More people to see, more havoc to wreak... but this time, he did not stride into the locker room without a care in the world. Carl Warrington was many things, but daft was not among them.
After calling out and ascertaining that no one was naked, he walked in. Cho greeted him politely, if not rapturously, and though Sarah Fawcett and Angelina Johnson-Weasley gave him rather wary looks, the third Chaser smirked at him in welcome.
"Hullo, you git," Cass greeted him. Warrington smirked right back at her.
"Spiffing to see you too, Cass. Good luck today."
"Thanks... go tell Marcus that he's going down," Cass grinned wickedly. Warrington laughed.
"I just did... he wasn't too pleased."
"Good." Cass took a look at the dubious faces of several of her teammates and rolled her eyes, "Oh, come off it... he's not here to spy on either our Quidditch strategies or the color of your knickers."
"Let's hope not," Skyler deadpanned, turning Warrington's attention to her, "The color of my knickers you can know, for aught I care... but if you were spying on our game plans, I'd be forced to finished what I'd started in the game against you."
The Puddlemere Chaser grinned, "Oh really... you just said that you didn't mind me knowing the color of your knickers... and then you threatened me with physical pain. Forgive me, please... but my imagination is truly running away with the possibilities of that statement..."
All of the Harpies laughed, even Skyler, after glaring at Warrington for a moment. Cass rolled her eyes and swatted Warrington's arm, "Stop flirting with my teammates, prat, and get out of here. People will start thinking that all of us are up to something."
"Yes... your royal Quidditch menace-ness," Warrington gave an exaggerated bow, and wished Cass good luck one last time before striding out.
* * *
And about twenty minutes later, Marcus Flint and Cho Chang dismounted to shake hands in the center of the Quidditch pitch as Commentator Henry Partridge announced the names of the Quidditch teams.
"For the Harpies, we have Brocklehurst! Fawcett! Flint! Montague! Weasley! Zabini! Aaaand, CHANG! Chang, Captain and Seeker, shakes hand with Captain and Chaser of the Falcons, Marcus Flint! For the Falcons, we have... Cornfoot! Derrick! Flint! Hopkins! Pucey! Spinnet! Aaaand, HIGGS! It's going to be an interesting game today, folks, as Flint and Flint face off... sibling rivalry at its most intense, indeed! Good luck to both teams..."
The balls were released, and both Flint siblings shot forward in a mad attempt to grab it. Cass ducked under her brother's outstretched arm, and emerged victorious, shooting off towards the Falcons' goalposts. Wayne Hopkins hesitantly hit a bludger at her, and it missed her by several feet, instead nearly smashing Adrian Pucey in the face had the latter not swerved out of the way. Cass scored, seamlessly passing the Quaffle on to Sarah Fawcett, and scowled at her brother. Over the din of the crowd and the Commentator, Marcus Flint heard his sister hissing in his ear, "Don't you dare have them try to take it easy on me!" before Cass flew past him to complete the Hawkshead Attacking Formation with Sarah Fawcett and Angelina Weasley.
Sarah scored again, and this time, Marcus Flint captured the Quaffle on the rebound, and made off with it towards the opposite end of the field. Skyler Zabini and Alice Brocklehurst exchanged a glance, and both of them zoned in on one of the bludgers, and in a coordinated movement, hit it with both their bats simultaneously. The Doppelbeater Defense... deadly, difficult, and wickedly effective. The black iron menace shot at Flint, who, somersaulting to avoid it, dropped the Quaffle into Angelina Weasley's waiting arms.
Adrian Pucey shot forward, and as Wayne Hopkins pelted the other bludger at Angelina, he leaned forward and stole the Quaffle from her arms, continuing the trip that Flint had started. As Skyler turned her attention on him, he passed the Quaffle to Steven Cornfoot, who bypassed Keeper Montague, and the score was 20:10.
Cass once again caught the Quaffle on the rebound, and zoomed off, eyes narrowed and fixed on the goal posts. Somersaulting on her broom to duck a bludger from Derrick, then swerving to avoid Pucey's attempt to intercept the Quaffle, she continued on, scoring another shot.
The game flew by, the teams fairly evenly matched: Harpies' precision and brilliant strategies against Falcons' brute strength. An hour passed, and the score was 60:40, in favor of the female team.
The Falcons grew more daring, and despite probable threats and admonitions from their captain before the game, they decided to make the game a little bit harder for the women. Derrick hit a bludger at Cass as she made another shot, and the reckless girl very nearly took the ball to the head, only avoiding it by scant inches as the score changed to 90:60, Harpies. Marcus scowled, but... to his surprise and disbelief, Cass actually passed the Quaffle to him!
The brother looked at his sister in shock, and as she passed him, she whispered, "Start playing, goddammit!"
Marcus blinked, but continued forward with the "free gift" from his sister, managing to score again. Cass smiled grimly as she caught the red ball on the rebound, and once again, the female Chasers went into Hawkshead Attacking Formation.
Cass, followed by Angelina, managed to score twice in rapid succession, and just as Angelina tossed the Quaffle through the goal hoop, making the score 120:70, Cho Chang and Terence Higgs started diving.
Alice Brocklehurst froze in the air as a bludger approached... she should stop Terence Higgs... and there would be victory for their team... b-but...
Skyler Zabini appeared seemingly out of nowhere next to her and pelted the bludger at Terence, cleanly catching him in the shoulder and knocking him out of his path. Rolling her eyes at the other Beater, Skyler sighed, "Look... just because you're shagging him doesn't mean that you should take it easy on him in a game, Alice. Besides, now you can nurse him back to health and everything... and moreover, he's a Slytherin. I know. He expects you to..."
And at that moment, as the crowd's eyes were focused on the Seekers diving after the golden snitch, Cass Flint was making one last shot.
And just as Cho caught the snitch... and the Quaffle flew through the goal hoop... the other bludger that had not been hit at Terence Higgs smashed into the back of her head. And as the crowd watched with horrified eyes, Cass Flint swayed, and tumbled off her broom, knocked unconscious.
"Shit..." Both Marcus Flint and Cho Chang, who had recklessly dropped the snitch after winning the game for her team, shot forward to catch the girl as she hurtled from the sky.
* * *
"Did you hear the news? That new Harpies Chaser, the reckless one... she's got a concussion!" Michael Corner, Puddlemere Beater exclaimed to Oliver Wood.
Oliver paused in his task of clipping the tail-twigs of his broomstick, and stared at Michael Corner in unabashed astonishment.
"What?"
"That Flint girl... she took a bludger to the head at the end of the Harpies/Falcons game... the Harpies won... Chang caught the snitch before Higgs... Zabini had knocked Higgs off-course with a bludger as he was diving... but anyway, the Flint girl was hit with a bludger... she's got a concussion, and will probably be in St. Mungo's for a week or so."
"Oh," Oliver said somewhat tonelessly. He did not know quite what to make of this news. All right... so obviously, Cass Flint was rather determined. Hell, sod determined... she was damned near reckless and insane. Win the game at all costs.
All of which were excellent, sterling qualities. And unlike her brother, she didn't even seem to have a particular penchant for cheating to do so.
He supposed it was providential that a woman with such first-rate, admirable qualities had to have numerous faults as well to compensate for it. Otherwise, she would be well-nigh perfect. Which was a highly... highly disturbing idea.
He reflected that altogether, it was too bad that such talents were wasted on someone with such a nasty, suspicious and confrontational bint. It made respecting her Quidditch skills very difficult when she was so contentious all the time, for apparently no reason.
Shrugging to himself, Oliver decided to pull an all-night Quidditch practice session by himself. Starting as soon as Michael Corner had left.
His team found him the next morning, seeing double and violently sick.
Fate seemed to have a cruel, sadistic humor... and Oliver Wood and Cass Flint found themselves recovering in the same hospital at the same time.
It was a matter of great speculation whether or not either of them would survive this ordeal unscarred.
!!!