Author's note: As we know, the urge to write about all the Chasers compels me every now and then, and I guess we were due. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the canon, world, and characters portrayed below and you can tell I'm not J.K. Rowling because #transrights

Hogwarts: Assignment #11, Toxicology Task 6: Write about someone who has difficulty sleeping.

Warnings: Disownment; mentions loss of parents; anxiety

In Need of a Win

Alicia's hands grazed the bottom of the goal post before she turned around for another lap of the Quidditch Pitch. Blood was pumping hard in her ears but it couldn't drown out the snippets from her father's latest letter as they replayed in her head. She ran faster. Pumped her arms. Hiked her knees up high. Closed her eyes and let the night air slam against her.

She ran until her muscles were on fire and then ran more until she collapsed onto the grass, already damp even if morning and dew should be hours away. The smell of dirt grounded her as the urge to throw up receded into her stomach and as fire consumed her legs. She had heard once that there were acids in your muscles, and she believed it. And still, her father's words rattled around in her head as if there was nothing else there. You knew our deal. You knew what would happen if you went back.

"Hey!" Someone shouted.

She sat up as quickly as she could and spun towards the noise. In the dark, she could only make out the shape of one girl–until she recognized Angelina by the shape of the bun atop of her head, rows of cornrows twisted together.

"Are you okay?" Angelina asked.

"I'm fine," Alicia answered breathlessly. "Why are you out here? It's after curfew."

"Why are you out here?" Angelina asked, hands on her hips. Still, she answered Alicia's question. "I have trouble sleeping sometimes, and I woke up and saw you were gone. I came looking."

"I couldn't sleep either," Alicia said. "I came out here to… well, tire myself out."

"Looks like you did," Angelina pointed out.

Alicia let herself fall back down onto the grass and, to her surprise, the other girl came to sit next to her.

"Why can't you sleep?" Alicia asked, hoping to get rid of her. Her thoughts were still spiraling. She couldn't get dragged back to the castle yet. You knew what would happen if you went back. You did this.

"I'm dyslexic," Angelina said casually. She lay down in the grass too. "I get nervous when tests are coming up, and Binns's is coming up."

"They have to give you extra time or something, don't they?"

"Yeah," Angelina said. "Still stressful, though. Why are you up?"

Alicia thought about making something up–she was rotten at History of Magic, and always felt behind since she'd been raised in the Muggle world. But the stars were bright and she felt so much less alone with Angelina there, so much less alone than she had felt since running away and taking the bus to King's Cross Station and coming back to school…

"My dad told me to stop writing him letters today," Alicia said. "He's disowned me."

"What?" Angelina asked sharply, sitting up like a spring someone had released.

"My mum was killed by some dark wizards for marrying a Muggle when I was little," Alicia said. "Or at least we think so. She went missing. I don't remember her much. Dad told me that it would be better to forget magic; he didn't know that You-Know-Who had been killed I guess or maybe he thought it would be safer. Whatever. He tried to raise me Muggle, had me in Muggle school and doing Muggle sports like boxing and football and track. But then the letter came and I… I wanted to come. I wanted to see what it was my mum had known and why she'd died. We argued. A lot. Then he agreed that I could go to Hogwarts for a year to see what it was like, but only a year. He wanted nothing to do with witches and wizards for more than that."

"And you came back for second year," Angelina said.

"I came back," Alicia said. You ran away like a thief in the night. You knew our deal. You knew what would happen…

She wanted to run some more until she threw up for real.

"Why?" Angelina said, picking at the grass in the Pitch. "I mean, I think it's brave. Super brave. But what made you do it?"

"Flying lessons," Alicia said, since she had already told the other girl so much.

"We only get them in first year," Angelina said. "Which is bollocks."

"I know," Alicia said. "But I loved it so much and I… well, I knew if I never came back I would never get to do it again." You did this.

Angelina was quiet and Alicia's stomach gurgled. She hadn't told anyone this yet, not even a teacher. She had no idea what she would do when Christmas came.

"You know that boy a couple of years ahead of us, Oliver Wood?" Angelina asked. "He wants to fix up Gryffindor's Quidditch team. There are tryouts this weekend, and you're a good flyer. That's why I even thought about looking for you here. And, you know, you're pretty fast–at least on land. You would probably make a good Chaser, if you borrowed a broomstick from the school. You should try out with me. It would get you back in the air."

You did this. I was a widower and I don't have a daughter anymore because of it.

Alicia looked at the stars again and thought of how crowded they looked and of how grounded and surrounded she felt, even if Angelina was the only one at her side and they shouldn't be out here in the first place.

"Sure," Alicia said, even if she only knew about half of the rules of Quidditch. "I'll try put with you."

WC: 939