CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE CHALLENGE
Over the next week, Buffy found herself listless, tired and downright sore. The first morning she'd tried taking a jog with Hermione, she'd had to stop after barely half an hour, not because she was tired, but because the muscles in her legs had been close to giving out on her. She had trouble staying awake during class, especially in the late afternoon, and Buffy often found herself waking up in the infirmary after passing out.
Her friends, as well as most of the other students, were incredibly worried about this sudden odd behaviour from the blonde girl. Harry was as supportive as he possibly could be, though once or twice Buffy had snapped at him for being too over-protective.
Giles had insisted that Buffy continue in her training to try and rebuild the musculature that she'd lost after the spell. It was hard going, but every day Buffy's strength returned. She was nowhere near as strong as she had been, but she felt as she had before she'd been 'Called'.
Harry had taken her out flying again, and Buffy had had to learn again how to fly without her fast reflexes or superior strength when throwing Quaffles. Her reflexes were still sharper than most peoples, (with the possible exception of Harry whenever he caught the Snitch) but Buffy definitely missed having the perks that had always come with Slaying.
"Try-outs are tomorrow morning," Harry reminded her at dinner on Friday night.
She grinned and nodded. "It's not like I'm gonna forget," she teased him. "You've only been mentioning it for the last two weeks."
He smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "I'm just excited. I've never been Captain before, and…well, I'm a little nervous about it is all."
"You'll be great," she assured him.
"Yeah Harry," Ron agreed enthusiastically. "You'll be a ripper of a Captain. You're the best Quidditch player that Hogwarts has seen in years."
Harry blushed slightly and Buffy patted his knee gently. To divert the conversation away from her now blushing boyfriend, Buffy looked to Hermione.
"Has Ron convinced you to try out yet?" Buffy asked.
"He hasn't stopped begging since term started," Hermione replied, scowling at Ron. "But I agreed to try out to shut him up."
"That's the spirit!" Buffy said with a grin. "Me and Harry are gonna go and practice a little tonight if you guys want to join us."
Hermione and Ron exchanged glances, the tips of Ron's ears going red. Buffy just raised her eyebrows and laughed at Ron and Hermione's embarrassment whenever they wanted some 'alone time'.
"Maybe next time then," Buffy said.
Harry smirked at his best friends and wrapped a casual arm around Buffy's waist. She sighed and leant into him, resting her head against his shoulder.
"You ready to get up in the air?" he asked.
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Harry and Buffy wandered down to the Quidditch Pitch, two brooms in their hands. Buffy had borrowed Ron's broom, wanting to wait to see if she was accepted onto the Quidditch team before she begged Giles to help her pay for a broom of her own.
When they arrived at the pitch, they could see two people already up in the air, illuminated by the strong floodlight on the pitch that seemed to come from nowhere. The two fliers stopped in mid-air and descended so that the Gryffindor couple could see who was already on the Pitch.
"Hullo Wood," Harry greeted cheerily. When he'd seen the old Gryffindor captain back at school instructing Flying Lessons for the First Years, he'd been excited to see his old friend. "Have you met Buffy?"
Buffy and Oliver smiled at each other.
"We've met," Oliver replied. "How are you Buffy?"
"Not bad thanks. Yourself?"
"Good, good," he replied. "Just teaching Dodge a bit more about Quidditch."
"You're a good flier Glenn," Buffy complimented the younger Gryffindor boy.
Glenn grinned at her happily. He'd grown to like Buffy over the last two weeks. Whilst they hadn't spoken since that morning in the Common Room two weeks earlier, whenever they passed each other in the hall, they'd wave or smile. The younger boy had managed to convince the other First Years that Buffy wasn't the evil girl that the Daily Prophet had tried to make her out to be.
"Thanks Buffy. Are you trying out for the Quidditch Team?" he asked.
"Yeah," she replied with a grin. "Whether I get on the team will be a different story, but, I'd like to give it a go."
Oliver looked at the other two speculatively.
"D'you want to play two-on-two?" Oliver asked. "It'd give you a bit of practice."
Buffy and Harry exchanged glances and shrugged their acceptance.
"Us two against you two?" Harry asked.
Oliver and Glenn looked at each other, sized up their opponents and nodded decisively.
"Yup," Glenn replied happily.
Buffy just grinned. "Sounds good."
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"She shoots…she scores!" Buffy yelled, rasing one arm in triumph before quickly racing to the other side of the goal to catch the falling Quaffle.
Oliver scowled, not happy that he and Glenn were being beaten, 60 to 40. Buffy threw the Quaffle to Harry, but Glenn was quicker than he looked, and intercepted it quickly. He flew back to the halfway mark of the Pitch before redirecting his broom and flying towards the goal.
They were only using half the Pitch, but whenever the other team got the Quaffle, they had to retreat to the halfway point before they could aim for any goals. It basically equated to them using the equivalent of the entire Pitch.
"Go left!" Harry yelled, frantically waving instructions at Buffy as they tried to move in front of Glenn. Proving that the young Gryffindor had been given the nickname Dodge for a reason, he constantly alluded the two Sixth Years and managed to get the Quaffle into the left goal.
Harry groaned and caught the Quaffle on it's way back out through the hoop. He sped back to the halfway mark, loop-de-looped around Glenn and threw the Quaffle to Buffy. Oliver had expected Harry to aim for a goal, and so was no where near the left goal as Buffy threw the Quaffle through the ring. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough to catch it on the way out of the hoop, and Oliver forced his broom into a dive at the same time Buffy did.
Harry and Glenn watched with growing anticipation as their respective Quidditch partners dove for the ball. The Quaffle hit the ground with a thunk, and both Buffy and Oliver pulled their brooms out of the almost vertical dive. Unfortunately for Buffy however, she had had very little practice on a broom, and didn't pull up fast enough. Oliver grabbed onto the back of Buffy's cloak, trying to cushion the fall, but failed to completely keep his hold on her.
Both Oliver and Buffy were thrown from their brooms, landing in a tangle of limbs, cloaks and broomsticks, Oliver sprawled on top of a winded Buffy.
"Are ye alright Buffy?" Oliver asked gently, his heart racing with fear and adrenaline.
She nodded shakily, and Oliver reluctantly moved off her, keeping one of his hands on her arm, almost as though he was ensuring himself that she was truly alive.
She laughed unsteadily and looked at the handsome Flying Instructor.
"I guess I still need a few more lessons at flying before I try something like that again," she said.
He grinned at her, thankful that she hadn't injured herself too badly. He stood and held out his hand to Buffy, gently pulling her up. Their hands lingered for a moment, the two teens staring into each others eyes.
Harry and Glenn chose that moment to land their broomsticks and race towards Buffy and Oliver. Harry engulfed Buffy in a tight hug, much to Oliver's disappointment. Buffy returned it and gave him a slight smile.
"I'm okay," she assured him.
"Maybe we should pack up for the day," he suggested.
"No!" Buffy cried. "If I don't get back on the broom now, I'll never get back up in the air."
Harry sighed and internally debated her point. Unfortunately, his girlfriend was making a fairly valid argument. He sighed, ran a hand through his messy black hair and walked over to where Ron's broom lay. He checked it over for damage, and was thankful to see that the crash hadn't done anything too damaging to it. Ron would have killed them if they'd broken it.
Oliver looked at the Sixth Year couple and sighed dejectedly.
"Me and Dodge had better get back," he said regretfully. "We'll leave you both to it."
Harry barely registered the Wood brothers leaving the Pitch, but Buffy glanced at Oliver momentarily. Oliver too cast a glance over his shoulder and caught Buffy's gaze. She dropped her eyes immediately and focussed back onto Harry.
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