Okay. So I didn't entirely get this out on Halloween. Please don't stone me. I really did try, guys!
Anyway, I hope everyone likes this chapter and please drop me a review if you do. I got a couple of awesome one's last chapter and I would really love to see more. It really just warms me up to see that you guys enjoy Clara and are enjoying the storylines and characters that I've established. That being said, thank you to Kristen, Pamela, mostwithtoast and the guest that left me a comment last chapter. You guys made my night! And also thank you to the follows and favorites I got. I hate to be superficial like that but it really does make me feel like I'm writing a story that people enjoy and would like updates on and that means a lot to me.
Chapter Thirteen: A Scarf, a Badger and a Quidditch Game
It was a sordid, awful English day the morning of the match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. The sky was dark and foreboding, the clouds rolling together as if holding themselves back from a great downpour.
"Like they're just waiting for us to get out on that field," Archie said grimly, fully outfitted in the honey yellow and black of the houses quidditch gear. Thick, leather pads protected his arms and shins. Absently, he cleaned the goggles that hung loosely around his neck. Beside him, Molly mumbled away, her wand flitting back and forth over his broom as she performed a spell to keep it dry through the flight. She had done the same with his clothes, making sure to focus on Archie's boots. If his feet slipped, that ground would be a hard lesson on why enchanting your broom for harsh weather was essential.
Keela frowned up at the clouds. She didn't particularly like the rain. It led to colds and colds led to snot and snot - scientifically speaking - was just the body's way of telling you that you needed to shove lotion up your own nose because it was dry up there. However, Molly was Archie's brother and Archie had rather grown on her in the last year or two and so she had put a water charm on her boots and looked up a quick umbrella spell.
"I think it's splendid," Cedric said cheerily, staring happily up into the crackling mass of clouds above. They had already wound their way through most of the halls and were now trudging through the undergrowth to the school's quidditch fields. The team was getting there a bit early so Clara, Molly, and Keela had the pick of the Hufflepuff seats.
"You won't think it's so splendid when you get a lightning bolt to the head," Clara grumbled, flattening her hair closer to her skull as much as she could, staring grumpily and rather distrustfully up at the sky.
"You know what clouds mean?" Cedric continued on merrily.
"Oh! Oh! Choose me for this one, professor!" Keela snapped, jumping up and down while raising her hand impatiently. She batted her eyes. "Rain?"
"Low visibility," Cedric smirked, eyeing the sky with a creepily dazed look of joy. "Which means that the snitch is going to be harder to catch."
"I'm sorry," Clara snapped as her fair frizzed back to life under the perceived threat of oncoming rain. Like a porcupine trying to ward off the attack of an enemy. Her eyes glittered in the morning light. "But aren't you a seeker?"
Cedric stared blankly down at the witch. "I don't see your point."
"Your job is to catch the snitch, no?" she hissed growing more and more agitated at his vacant gaze. Fuming, she glanced around for help. "Am I not understanding something? Does being a seeker mean something different in England?"
"I take my role as team captain much more seriously," he said with an off-handed wave. Absently, he rummaged around in his bag, coming out with a very long, gold and black scarf. "The real question is why aren't you wearing your scarf? I told you to wear Hufflepuff colors."
"Yes, Clara love," Keela piped in petulantly. "You're ruining the plan."
"It's in the wash," Clara said glumly, tugging her robe a bit closer to her neck. She had warded her clothes as much as possible but their magic could only do so much against mother nature. And as the winds picked up, the lack of heat amulets on her became more and more apparent. It was going to be a long quidditch game.
Hogwarts' quidditch field was a far enough walk from the school to be a nice morning excursion. On normal days, the house colors were stripped from the massive structure, leaving it to its natural barren wood. Now, however, the alternating colors were stark against the darkening sky. The house banners whipped angrily in the wind, giving a rather foreboding indication of the weather to come.
"I don't see why this is so important," Clara huffed, trying not to grow agitated as the static of created by Cedric's scarf made her hair frizz up even more.
"Careful, Cedric," Keela warned as the seeker went to wrap the scarf snuggly around the witch's neck. Archie rolled his eyes. "Your fans might see."
"Oh bugger off, Keela," Cedric grumbled, ignoring the altogether grumpy look that Clara was flashing him as he completed another loop around her neck. For a moment, Cedric thought of that long glance that Weasley and she had shared just the evening before and second thoughts began to invade. Would giving her his scarf be too much?
"OI!" Clara blinked, whipping to the side and away from the imposing figure of Cedric Diggory to the direction of a pair of redheads who were making their way down the hill with their brooms clenched beside them.
"Oh you're in for it now," Keela whispered, tugging the frizzy-haired witch over to her side.
"He looks angry," Clara murmured, frowning as she took in the thunderous expression on George's face. Beside him, Fred grimaced, his eyes moving suspiciously from Cedric to Clara and then back again.
"I don't condone any of the actions that have led us to this outcome," Molly said nervously, clutching her brother's broom in her hands.
"Well, you're in it now," Archie grumbled, crossing his arms uncertainly.
"Oh, you two have made sure of that, haven't you?" Molly hissed right back, glaring at the Hufflepuff beater and seeker.
As for Clara, she had absolutely no clue what they were talking about. Nor did she particularly care. Because at the moment, George looked… Well, he looked ridiculously handsome, if she were being honest with herself. Too handsome for her to entirely think straight. His reddish hair had turned darker from the storm clouds above and the wind had twisted it into a riot. His eyes snapped in the low light and his uniform fit snugly around his rather broad shoulders, tapering at his waist.
His lips, which were usually twisted into a mocking smirk, were curled down. Clara blinked in surprise, taken aback. What could he have gotten his feathers that ruffled? George was never this angry. Or, at least he had never been this angry around her.
"Weasleys," Cedric called amiably, his smile broad and warm as the twins got closer, their crimson robes snapping in the wind. "Nice day for a quidditch match, isn't it?"
"Suppose," Fred replied with a fake kind of smile. "But then again, every day's a nice day to win in my book."
A muscle twitched in Cedric's temple, his smile going stiff. For a moment, Clara saw a bit of actual frustration peek through and was mildly impressed. The Weasley's charm was penetrating even to the most steeled.
"Glad to hear your confidence hasn't been affected at all," Archie grumbled, rolling his eyes.
"Boys and their quidditch games," Keela muttered under her breath, obviously unenthused by the veiled hostility charging the air. Beside her, Molly twisted her brother's broom nervously in her hands.
George had remained uncharacteristically quiet through the short exchange, his eyes flicking over the scarf that was covering half of the little French witch's face. Grudgingly, he had to admit that she looked adorable, her nose red and her cheeks bright with the chill air, luminous, tawny eyes poking from beneath a shade of lashes. But that was all he was going to admit because something in his gut was twisting, gnawing rabidly ever since he had seen that pretty boy, Cedric tuck it around her neck. Who the hell was this guy anyway? One minute he's discussing the benefits of moisturizing before bedtime with his little lackeys and signing some pictures of himself and then all of a sudden he's talking to Clara every day. What the fuck was that?
George's eyes narrowed, something like calm taking place of all that rage. Because she was looking at him. She hadn't taken her eyes off of him since the moment that she had heard his voice. Was it a fluke? Did he care if it was?
"I thought I told you to wear red." Even George was startled by the gravelly texture to his voice, the way it rolled from his throat like a bag of rocks. Clara's eyes widened, finally snapping back to herself.
"I'm a Hufflepuff," she defended lamely, biting at her lip. She did feel oddly awful that she wasn't supporting him. But he seemed to have enough going for him. Gryffindor was one of the hardest houses to beat. They had won countless times and maybe that came from their frankly brutal style. They did things that were reckless and foolhardy. Things like leaping off their brooms mid-flight to catch snitches or aiming bludgers at the outstretched arms of opponents.
Clara had even heard from Cedric that Fred and George had purposefully slammed a bludger at one of the keepers, knocking him unconscious so that they could get a fresh, decidedly inexperienced one to take his place.
"Yeah," Archie threw in, crossing his arms with a glare. "A Hufflepuff."
"Oh don't get your feathers in a ruffle, Professor Hufflepuff," Keela threw out sarcastically.
Cedric's easy smile had returned as he caught the tightening of George's lips, his eyes narrowing on the curly-haired beater. "You have your house and we have ours, Weasley. That's just the way it goes."
There was a moment of tense silence between the four quidditch players, each pair shifting as if readying themselves for whatever mayhem was about to proceed. Beside George, Fred shifted, moving a bit closer to his brother's side as Archie and Cedric stared at them, Archie grimly and Cedric with a decidedly pleasant smile.
"This is ridiculous," Keela muttered, her hair thrashing with another gust of wind.
Molly pulled out her wand, still eyeing the four warily but deciding that if her brother was going to waste time in this petty squabble then she shouldn't. His broom still needed another spell on the footholds to keep his grip.
Beside the pair of girls, Clara blew out a breath, growing confused and more than that, agitated at the continued glaring. She didn't know why it even mattered which team she rooted for. In this weather, whoever won would be by sheer luck anyway.
"I don't like this kind of pressure," she snapped, ripping at the scarf around her neck until it was fully off and her hair was a frizzy halo all around her face. Angrily, she thrust the scarf into Cedric's bag. "Whoever wins, wins and in the meantime, I'm going to go sit with Slytherin."
The group as a whole took in a quick breath, staring at the quietly fuming witch as she tried and failed to get the whole of Cedric's scarf back into his bag, one side after another falling back out into the grass. The seeker in question looked scandalized, his mouth open in a look of pure horror.
"I'm sure that Slytherin's are absolutely delightful-" Molly started nervously.
"No, they're not," Fred snapped. "They're little gits with mommy issues."
"George-" Molly reprimanded.
"Yeah, George," George scolded, shoving his brother as he stepped forward to grab the scarf out of Clara's hands. "Don't say mean things about our friends."
Archie rolled his eyes with Keela. Clara blinked up at the beater, his hands strong and warm as they slipped the gold and black scarf from her grip and gave her a wink that made her stomach flip.
"Get out of my bag-" Cedric started, slapping at George's hands and only getting a returning slap in response.
"I think we can all agree that this is silly," George said with an air of superiority, completely belying the fact that he had just been up in arms mere seconds earlier. Deftly, he started to pull his own scarf from around his neck, stepping a little bit closer to Clara until he was looming over her and she caught the sweet smell of fresh grass and whiskey. "Therefore, I'll be taking Clara's scarf and she'll be taking mine."
"Brilliant, Freddie," Fred murmured in awe.
"Thank you, Georgie."
Cedric's shoulders went up, his cheeks reddening for a moment. "That's my-"
"One minute, Cedric ol' pal," George called, tossing the Hufflepuff scarf around his neck and then leaning down to Clara with a winning smirk. "I can't hear you over all the scarf exchanging that we're doing over here."
Cedric's face reddened even more, his eyes flicking to Archie for help but only getting a noncommittal shrug in return. Molly and Keela stared blankly over at him. There was nothing to be done. Or more precisely, what was to be done was already being done. Unless Cedric planned on tackling George and wrestling the scarf from him (which would more than likely end in the mutual destruction of both) he could only stand and watch. Enraged, Cedric tried again. "George, that's-"
"FOR THE LOVE OF MERLIN, MAN!" Fred bellowed. "LET THE MAN WORK!"
"This isn't very nice," Clara murmured to George, the taller boy leaning farther around her as he looped the red and black scarf around her neck one more time. Jolts of electricity and awareness shivered up her spine each time his fingers grazed along her neck or ears, something deep inside of her shaking. A soft smile worked its way onto his lips, his deeper amber eyes swirling with mischief.
"You're the nice one here, love. Not me," he whispered back, his hands completing the final loop and just staying there for a moment, curling a stray strand of kinky hair around his fingers. And there was a moment where Clara stopped breathing, her eyes taking in the slight splatter of freckles along his nose and they way that his hair glittered with gold and red even in this low light.
And then he was turning away, his hands dropping from her hair and a showman's grin hiking his lips higher.
"Everybody happy?" he asked.
"Well, I would certainly say not-" Cedric snapped, his cheeks growing a ruddy red, his eyes glittering with barely contained rage.
"Oh no," Molly murmured, staring at the quivering form of the Hufflepuff seeker.
"Someone's woken the beast," Keela winced.
George and Fred looked absolutely delighted. "If no one has any objections-"
"You arrogant-" Cedric snarled.
"We'll be on our way," Fred finished, taking a bounding run towards the quidditch field beyond.
"Toodles," George snickered, ruffling Clara's hair into a flurry once more before bouncing after his brother.
For a moment, the only sound from the wayward Hufflepuffs was the wind dragging its fingers through the blades of grass at their feet, ripping at their cloaks. Clara blinked, her mind suddenly calming from the bubbling mess that George had created. Her nose was stuffed into the folds of the tattered scarf, ink stains marking the edges like dots of a timeline. It had definitely seen more quidditch matches then Clara ever had and it was still warm from its place around George's neck. And - she took a deep, calming breath - it still held his scent.
"Well, wasn't that fun?" Keela finally said lamely.
Cedric was still noticeably shaken, his hands clenched at his side. "I'm going to kill them."
"Sure, you are, tiger," Archie muttered, his brows going up in a clearly unconvinced expression.
Clara's brows furrowed. "Tiger? What's a tiger?"
"I don't know," Archie replied with a shrug. "Callum had it in one of his little, muggle books."
"I think it's an animal…" Molly said thoughtfully.
"Come on, Cedric honey," Keela said, softly taking the taller boys' shoulders to steer him in the direction of the field.
Cedric blinked rapidly. "They just took my scarf, Keela. They just…"
"I know, honey," she soothed, rubbing his back. "Gryffindor scoundrels, they are."
"And thieves," he squeaked out, clearly shaken to his very core.
"Sssshhh," Molly hushed, patting his head "We'll get you another one. A better one."
Clara and Archie fell behind, both unwilling to give the Hufflepuff seeker any sort of sympathy.
"This is pathetic," Archie grumbled, staring into the back of Cedric's head like he was trying to determine whether it was a melon or a skull.
"CHO CHANG GAVE ME THAT SCARF!" Cedric wailed, falling into a heap against Keela's shoulder.
"Go Hufflepuff?" Clara tried lamely.
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