((Another chapter guys! I've been waiting for this one! I hope I did it justice. Thank you so much for all the follows, favorites and reviews! If you have anything you want to say, or just want to talk, don't be shy to send me a message!))
The week grew cold and damp as the match neared, and it was obvious the first Quidditch map was taking its toll on the team. Oliver Wood looked like he was in the middle of a stroke every time she saw him, and the twins weren't in their usual mood from his badgering. They were extremely frustrated when three of the girls on the team had swooned over Cedric Diggory when Wood had broken the news that they weren't playing Slytherin, they were playing Hufflepuff. When the twins caught up with her after practice their egos were obviously bruised. "What's so great about Diggory? What makes girls like Angelina bat their eyelashes and twirl their hair over a guy like that?" George was saying to his brother when she fell in step next to them. "He's absolutely thick." Fred agreed, running his hands through his hair. "Who are we talking about?" Josie asked, wrapping her cloak tighter around her as the wind chilled her. "Cedric Diggory." Fred said with distaste. "Oh him, I know who that is." She said softly, looking at them. "Of course you do!" George said, exasperated. "What? I just know his name, the girls in my room talk about him, and I see him in the hallway and at meals." The twins groaned in unison. "Do you think he's good looking?" they asked.
She stopped, looking between them. "No. I don't. I don't think he's attractive at all." They looked at her with raised eyebrows. "You don't?" the question was in unison. "No I don't, he's not my type." She started walking again, not liking where this conversation was going. "Why's that?" George asked, jogging up next to her. "Are you really asking me that? First you hate that people find him attractive then you are surprised I don't." The two of them looked at her, smiling in the way that made Josie do whatever they wanted. She sighed."Well for one I don't know him that well, he's always so quiet, doesn't show much emotion from what I can tell. He's boring really." "Not one for the "strong and silent" types huh?" Fred asked, putting quotes around his words and linking his arm with hers, George doing the same on the other side as she shook her head. "No, not my type at all." "Then what is?" They said together.
"I don't think that's something we should talk about." She answered. They stared at her silently for a few moments as they entered the school. Josie sighed. "I like people who are talkative, intelligent, caring, exciting. What's the point in liking someone if they aren't going to make your life worth living?" she stated simply, letting go of them as they headed up the stairs. They were silent for the rest of the way, until they stepped through the portrait.
"So you don't think Diggory is the most attractive boy you're ever seen?" Fred asked. She laughed a bit, turning to look at them at the entrance to the girl's dormitory. "Boys, in my opinion you two are the most attractive boys I've ever seen." She ran up the stairs after that, her cheeks red, her heart thudding, but she was very proud that she had been brave enough to say that.
The day of the Quidditch match was dreadful, the sky dark and storm clouds violently rolling in, pelting the grounds with rain. She waited for the twins in the common room until the twins appeared, many of the rest of the team and Lee Jordan behind them. She followed them down to the great hall, linking her arms with the twins because of her nervousness. She'd never really watched Quidditch, but the idea of it being done in weather like this made her uncomfortable. Josie knew the team could do it, but it still made anxiety twist inside her.
She sat next to the twins, on the edges of the team as they ate breakfast. Wood did nothing but worry himself sick, he didn't touch any food. She could see Alicia, her roommate, trying to sooth him as Josie turned herself on the bench to straddle it so she could face the twins. "How are you doing boys?" she asked softly, fighting her urge to grab their hands. She was worried, not as worried as Wood, but worried. "We're alright." "Quidditch has been played in worse conditions." Fred and George answered, but she wasn't convinced.
By the time they needed to head down to the pitch, Josie was thoroughly bundled up and was a nervous wreck. The first Quidditch match she'd ever watched and it were in these conditions. Tugging her sweater down more, the bottoms of her jeans already drenched from standing near an open doorway, she looked at the twins as students ran past them. "You two be careful, and kick ass." She said as she zipped up her jacket. "Oh we will." George said, his hands shoved in his pockets, the cold air blowing past them. "You can count on it." Fred added. Josie looked at the weather then back at them, forgetting herself and pulling them into a tight hug, and arm around each of their necks. The twins stumbled a bit at her suddenness, but wrapped an arm each around her and held her tight, causing a dark blush to appear across her cheeks.
"You worry more than our mother." Fred chuckled as the three of them let go, George making a face at the group of students who were laughing and commenting on their embrace. "With you two around, I think your mother and I have reason to worry." Josie smiled, patting his cheek and waving as she headed down with the rest of the students so she could get a good seat.
Josie had never been so soaked in her entire life. She swore she had never been this wet even when she bathed. The rain had eaten away at her coat, slipping into the spaces and soaking her sweater underneath. Her feet were freezing in her boots, and she was sure she looked like a drowned rat. Which was probably the reason no-one was offering to let her stand by them. Lee Jordan was announcing, and the rest of her close friends were on the team. As she leaned against the wooden wall by the stairs up to the stands, she was at an impasse. Either stand by a stranger or stand all alone where she can't see well and miss her friend's first Quidditch match of the year. But who would want to sit next to a drowned rat?
As she was starting to head for the top seats, she saw someone waving at her, smiling through the rain. Bijou Lemay, the girl she had sat next to first night and had helped her find the Transfiguration classroom, was bouncing next to a very tall boy, trying to catch her attention. Josie headed over to her, slipping in between her and another 3rd year. "Thank you so much." She said softly, smiling at the girl, who's light hair was hidden under a hat. Bijou nodded, pressing herself closer to the boy Josie recognized as Neville Longbottom.
Looking down from her spot, she realized how high up she was, but was thankful for her position. She hoped she would be able to watch Fred and George in this weather. She stood on her toes as she watched the scarlet team splash onto the field, catching sigh of quickly soaked ginger hair and smiling a little as she watched Oliver stiffly shake hands with the Hufflepuff team captain, and as they took off from the ground at the whistle. Squinting through the rain, she lost sight of the twins in an instant, and started to worry that something may go wrong. A feeling of dread pooled in her stomach as her mind raced. What if they don't see a bludger to block it? What if they get knocked to the ground? What if they run into another player? Or a stand? Or fly out of the field and get lost? Josie's heart raced, her hands raised to keep rain out of her eyes as she tried to spot them, or spot anything for that matter.
She almost gave up looking for them until a bludger came roaring towards their section, and one of the Weasley twins flew over the crowd and sent it back towards the field before it could make it to them, the sound of his bat hitting the metal ball sounding like far away thunder through the rain. Josie smiled widely, clapping as the twin saluted with his bat and took off again, their scarlet robes soaked with rain.
It seemed like a few minutes later that lighting flashed and the team descended to the field, Josie leaned over the side to watch the team huddle under an umbrella to talk. The crowd murmured a bit, almost too quiet to be heard through the pounding rain. She watched as the frizzy haired girl that often hung around Ron Weasley and the Gryffindors Seeker, the famous Harry Potter, ran onto the field and into the huddle of the team. Moments later the team had taken off again, back into the air as rain seemed to come down harder than ever, thunder rumbling along with the applause and cheers of the students. Lightening flashed every few seconds it seemed, causing Josie's heart to jump with each streak as she began to worry again that someone may be hit.
What couldn't have been more than 10 minutes later, Josie suddenly felt cold, colder than she had before from the wind and rain. She felt people surge forward behind her, pushing her against the handrail as everyone tried to see something on the field through the rain. It was dead quiet, the teams above still zipping through the air above them. But no-one even noticed, all they could focus on were the dark shapes moving on the field.
The silence was broken by people screaming, and Josie looked up just as Harry Potter slipped off his broom and fell towards the ground. The entire world was in slow motion as the Gryffindor team all slowed to a stop, and Professor Dumbledoor ran onto the field, bright light shooting from his wand as the dark creatures fled. Josie turned her head and closed her eyes tight as Harry neared the ground.
The gasps and cheers around her made her open her eyes, looking down again to see Harry on a stretcher and being taken off the field, both teams huddled around Madam Hooch as one of the Hufflepuff members was speaking, clutching the snitch in his hand. McGonagall was standing at the exit off the stands, telling all students to stay put until further notice, only allowing Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley to exit. Josie watched as the teams exited the field, barley able to tell any of them apart through the rain. She hoped Harry was alright.
An hour or so later, she was pacing in front of the entrance to the hospital wing, listening to the voices coming from inside. They team, minus Wood who had stayed in the showers at the Quidditch pitch, had been in there for a while now, and Josie was getting antsy because she couldn't go in. She hadn't been allowed to even leave the stands until Harry was inside the school, and by then the twins and the rest of the time was halfway to the castle. Josie began picking at the skin around her nails again, her lip swollen from her chewing on it.
A while later the team exited the room, filing out of the doors and heading to wash off. Every single one of them was soaked to the bone and covered in mud. Fred and George stepped aside from the team when they spotted her, their light hearted air a little heavier than usual. "How is he?" Josie asked, releasing her lip from between her teeth. "He's awake, he'll be fine." George said, looking at her and scowling at her swollen lip. "You've got to stop doing that so much." His voice was softer as he reached his hand out, his thumb running over her irritated bottom lip. She felt warmth return to her body as her heart pumped blood more violently than normal. "I'll keep that in mind." She answered, turning to walk away from the doorway and towards the stairs.
"How are you two?" She turned to look at them behind her when they were halfway down the staircase, her heart fluttering at their wet hair and dirty appearance. It was oddly attractive. "Just fine, a little pissed we lost, but we can still catch up and win the cup." Fred replied, falling in step beside her. "I know you and the rest of the team can do it." She smiled, looking at him. "But you might want to go get Wood out of the showers before he drowns himself."