Name of the Game
Chapter 4
One Heck of a Day
By TK's Angel
Ron did not bother to wait for an answer, knowing that there wouldn't be a reasonable one. Instead he pulled out his wand.
"Alahomora." Just as he suspected, blue sparks flashed from the keyhole. "Stikiclick."
"What did you call me?"
He turned to Hermione. "I didn't call you anything, I just said Stikiclick."
She remained exactly the same, perplexed and intrigued.
"Remember that ointment Fred used to stick Percy's bum to the toilet? Well, the guys must've used it on the door."
"Why would they do that? And how do you know it was them?"
"Just my guess, they probably got word from Coach. Trust me. They don't waste a single minute." Though he was surprised they'd been able to strike in less than two hours after they left the office.
"Seems a bit dodgy if you ask me. So how do we unlock it?"
"You can't. It's completely spell-proof and extra resistant. Shouldn't be too surprised, it did come out of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, after all." He winked at her. "In other words, take a seat, the only choice is to wait for it to wear off in about… let's see, seven hours?"
Hermione went to the door to prove things door for herself. It was futile.
"Are you sure you can't fix it?" she didn't even know why she asked, her memories of the whole ordeal were still a bit foggy to her, but she did at least remember how impossible the situation had been.
"Where's the fun in that?"
"I'd hardly call this fun," she sighed in sheer frustration.
"What about apparating?"
"You of all people should know that private facilities like this don't allow that Hermione"
"This day has been quite interesting, don't you think? I mean, we both meet again after five years, have to spend the following five weeks practically glued to one another and now we have to resign ourselves to be trapped in here!" Her voice rose with every particular word.
"If you put things that way," he shook his head at her. "All we have to do is look at the bright side. You could say we're making up for lost time." In comparison, his voice just got softer.
She tried to look for any hidden meanings to what he said. "You're right, things aren't all that bad," she laughed faintly. She gave up. It wasn't good to get her hopes too high.
"We're in luck however, 'cause there's a Wizard's Chess board around here," he snickered.
She appreciated his attempt to lighten the mood, but Wizard's Chess was not going to happen. "Do you want me to step aside for you to start doing your little victory dance?"
"I want to save that for when I win"
"Let's call you a winner and get done with it"
"I'll go easy on you," he bent pouted with his best puppy dog look. "Pretty please, Hermione? Ron promises he'll be good"
She tried to stop herself from smiling at his attempt; another useless thing to do, he was acting too irresistibly. "Fine, stop that! I'll play that silly game with you."
God should punish men like Ron for being so charming.
Ron's eyes lit-up. "Great! I'll go get the set."
He went to his closet to pull out the chess set from a small wooden trunk.
"I haven't played in ages! Those were the good old times; only Bill is up for a match or two these days, but I only see him on Christmas holidays so until then they just lay in that old thing"
Ron pulled out the set and toyed with it.
"Hey guys, how have you been doing?" he jokingly talked to the pieces. "Yes I know how long it's been" He looked to Hermione "Is it just me or do the rooks have beards? Well, doesn't matter old or not they can still win every time"
"Have I told you lately how amusing your antics are?"
"No."
"That's right that must be because they're not." She knew that her only chance to win would possibly be to psyche him out before their match.
He, however, was quick to catch on this one. "Nice try, but my head's completely in the game."
She was doomed.
"Now get over here, we have a game to play."
He sat down on the floor and she followed his lead, still a bit apprehensive about it all. He noticed this and could not help but pleasantly sneer at her "There's nothing to worry about I can go easy on you if you'd like. It's understandable though, my legendary triumphs speak for themselves"
"I'd hardly call them legendary" She replied and let her eyes wander to the cuddly toy that she had absentmindedly, yet extremely conveniently, placed nearby their spot a while before.
"You were right. The cat did do nicely to hit you with."
"What happened to you and your stand against violence?"
"I just call it personal defence against a moron." She half-smiled, feeling very triumphant.
"That's excellent! You should enjoy that little smile of yours while you can."
It was payback time.
I've had enough, Ron we've already played fifty-six times."
"Fifty-four and they'd last a lot longer id you concentrated a little more, come on Hermione you can do much better than that."
They had nothing else to do anyway.
"It's late and I'm really tired."
She hadn't slept well in two weeks since she got the news.
"Don't tell me you aren't either, just look at your pieces, even they're ready to call it a night." Just then she caught one of his knights falling asleep. "I've proven my point."
"There's no use in arguing with you, is there?"
"I thought you knew that by now," her last words were muffled by a soft yawn.
She simply ignored it and began to pick up the chess pieces until she was stopped by Ron. "The bathroom is to your left, you can get changed in there. I'll finish off with this"
She shot him a sceptical look. Her thoughts couldn't help but focus at the possibility of there being more stikiclick around the room. Of course there must be! And it wasn't bad enough they'd be locked in the room but now she could be trapped in the WC.
He noted the lack of response on her behalf, sensing something troubled her. After all, when was Hermione Granger ever quiet around him? "Don't worry, I wont' peak."
"No, no, that wasn't what I was thinking," she blushed lightly.
Blushes were becoming contagious "Well…uhm, I could just close my eyes or something if you don't…er…want to use the bathroom, I don't know…and if…"
She interrupted him before his thoughts could run any further "Heavens no, it isn't that. The bathroom looks fine to me but what I am trying to say is, what if there's more of that Stikiclick on the bathroom door?"
"Only one way to find out; you see, the Stikiclick only works when two surfaces come into contact so just close go and close the door. But really, I wouldn't fret over it too much."
She did what she was told and tested the door.
Nothing happened.
"You're safe."
"Do you mind if I take a shower in there?"
Ron always welcomed the opportunity to make fun of her. "I'd mind it more if you took it in here, that and the fact that there's no running water in this room."
"I'll give you the benefit of not gracing that with a reply."
Instead she took one of her bags in with her to the bathroom, making sure to slam the door and make a point that she was annoyed.
The redhead examined the door for a while, checking for damages "Not bad…she could have broken it off the hinges with more of that attitude. Anyone who'd see her on a broom could swear she's off to Beater School." A Beater? A light bulb turned on in his head. "Say...that's not a half-bad idea; she could do with some more strength in her upper body but that's nothing a little exercise and preparation can't fix."
That was it! He knew exactly what they would do during practice and training.
"I'm a genius…."
"Hermione are you done yet?!" Ron bellowed, for some reason he sounded anxious. "Come on, I'm waiting." He knew from experience that women lasted hours in the bath but this was just ridiculous.
A couple of minutes afterwards, she finally came out, looking incredibly refreshed. "That was fairly pleasant up until the moment you began yelling."
"Yes well, the Atlantic Ocean seemed to be running out of water, I'm sure you can understand"
It was then that she noticed he was holding some sort of large bat and something she recalled as a bludger.
"Where did you get those from?"
"Finally, I thought you'd never ask!"
He got up from his bed.
"You know my roommate Mickey? Lucky for you he's one of the beaters in our team"
Hermione did not look pleased "Run that by me one more time. Now why would that be fortunate for me?"
"Well, the bloke left some of his stuff in here, including his old practice gear" He signalled to them with his eyes. "This will be your equipment while you're here. Isn't that just grand?"
"I'm sorry. I don't think I understood correctly…. What exactly do you mean by equipment?" There had been too many surprises already.
"You're going to be a Beater, you know, the warrior of the Quidditch, the all Defender of the Team…."
"And what makes you think I know the first thing about being a Beater?" she was being extremely sincere at that point.
"You've seen my brothers play"
"Oh! I'm sorry that means that I must be ready for this. How come I didn't think of that before?"
He went to her and put the objects in her hand.
"Look at some of the facts here: You have a real good swing; I could tell by the way you threw that bloody cat at me." He devilishly got closer, making sure that her eyes remained only on him. "It's obvious you have bloody good accuracy since you intentionally missed my head by a centimetre or two."
So he did notice she'd done that on purpose.
"Please, I just got distracted and missed." It would also prove to be a good alibi. "As you can see, I'd probably break someone's neck if I were to be put as a Beater."
He didn't believe a word she was saying; her excuses lacked sense "What are you so afraid of? It will only be for a few weeks and you actually used to like practicing with me."
He let out a sigh. He hadn't meant to put the past into play once more.
"I know that I'm a Chaser now, but you forgot that I was a Keeper on the House Team and all-around substitute of our own Cannon Beaters. Trust me, you're in good hands."
Of course she'd be in good hands, but it wasn't being in his there that worried her; it was being to close to him again.
She remembered their endless nights together spent practicing on a broom. Before that she had been terrified to even mount one, but his determination to teach her had driven her to learn.
It was too much to go through again, too much to dig from the past. She analysed the situation a bit closer and found that she couldn't refuse. 'Perhaps all this can lead to something' she thought, but to what exactly was what kept her on her toes.
His eager expression said it all and thus her mind was made up "It's not like I'm dying to do this but I did come here for a reason and that was to learn about Quidditch; it wouldn't hurt to give it a try."
And she finally found her reason to stay.
And he had found his reason to keep her.
"Excellent, we can start training in a day or two, once I get you the proper outfit. You'll need extra protection since this is all so sudden for you."
By all means, he wanted her alive or at least conscious during her stay.
"You wouldn't want to be a Bludger target your first day out would you?"
"No, that sounds like a fourth or fifth day sort of thing to me." Actually, she was already worrying about those potentials dangers as it was.
"One other thing, you still know how to ride a broom don't you?" It was a two-faced question; after all, it had been he who had spent hours teaching her all he knew.
She nodded meekly and gave him a shy smile. "That is one thing in my life I will never forget."
It was odd how he couldn't help but feel pleased at himself; he even swore his heart had given a bounce or two. "It'll be fun, there hasn't been a female player practicing with the team for over three years."
"Why is that?"
"Well there were two, one got exchanged for a Siberian player and the other ran off with another player," he stood for a moment, trying to recall something. "I even think they got eloped and everything."
That sounded like something from a cheap romance novel, Hermione reflected. It was a sweet sort of cheesy; like something Anita would have begged her to put in one of her novels. "That's very…dashing on their behalf"
"And you know," he stated matter-of-factly, "Quidditch is the most romantic of all sports."
She was just full of sarcasm today "Yes I know! There is nothing more romantic than riding a flying household cleaning artefact, trying to catch a ball or little tiny ball for that matter, all the while trying also to avoid two immense bludgers aimed at you and whose sole purpose is to break your neck." She took a breath "It's the kind of thing soul mates dream of."
That had probably been one of the rare times she had given an exasperatedly vague explanation.
"Isn't it? Just give it a day, you'll love it!"
Well, that's it for now folks. Chapter 5 is well on its way since it is summer and my Beta and I have time to concentrate on it. I want to thank all of you, yes all of you who reviewed because if it weren't for you I would've cancelled this story a long time ago. Thank you so much for your emails and responses, they meant the world to me. As always, reviews are also very much welcomed again :D, so don't be shy about dropping a word or two!
Till then, my friends;
TK's Angel