Author: Paranoid

Rating: PG

Summary: Oliver Wood reflects on his love for the game of Quidditch.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. "Sweetness" is a Jimmy Eat World song, property of Jimmy Eat World and Dreamworks.

A Dizzy Dance

If you're listening.
Sing it back.
String from your tether unwinds.
Up and outward (but only) to bind.
I was spinning free with a little sweet and simple numbing me.
Are you listening?
Sing it back.
So tell me what do I need when the words lose their meaning.
I was spinning free with a little sweet and simple numbing me.
Yeah, stumble until you crawl.
Sinking into sweet uncertainty.
If you're listening.
Are you listening?
Sing it back.
I'm still running away.
I won't play your hide and seek game.
I was spinning free with a little sweet and simple numbing me.
What a dizzy dance.
This sweetness will not be concerned with me.
No the sweetness will not be concerned with.

--Jimmy Eat World

Sometimes, I think I live for it.

Other times, I think I can live without it.

But when I step out onto the pitch, every time, I think I know this is what I want to do with my life.

And when I step off the pitch, every loss, every time, I think I know I should be doing something better with my life.

I remember once when we were third years, Percy Weasley asked me what exactly was so special about playing Quidditch.

I remember how I opened my mouth and the words just tumbled out, jumbled and confused. Like me.

"It's like… when I step out there, onto the pitch, and the people are cheering and I feel the wind rush past me and, and I just can't think, can't think about anything at all really. It's just me and the air and the wind and—and then the game begins and I thrive in the pressure and my nerves they, they kill me sometimes but then I feel the adrenaline rushing through me and everything's okay."

Percy just looked at me like I was crazy.

Which, you know, I probably was.

But all the crap life throws at me, all the losses and all the failure, they just stop to matter when I play.

And I know it sounds stupid.

And I know I should think about something else.

But when you're up there, when you're flying, numb to the whole world except for thirteen people in brilliant colors, flushed with energy, when you're up there in the madness, it all just makes sense.

For once in my life, my actions make sense.

The sweetness of winning a game, of blocking a goal, of succeeding. The bitterness of failure, of sweat, blood, and tears, of losing. Both exist up there, the bittersweet game of life.

Up in the madness, it all makes sense.