"Is she asleep?" I heard Mica quietly ask Oliver. We had been on the flight for roughly ten hours and were all slowly losing our minds. I actually had to explain to them twice why they couldn't play a game of exploding snaps on the plane. I had just chosen to pass time with as many cat naps as possible. Mostly just waking up as they came by with the various meals and snacks.
"I think so," Oliver reached over, lifted up one of my arms and it flopped back down. I kept my eyes closed and my breathing constant hoping that they would leave me alone and I would fall back to sleep.
"How does she sleep so much? That doesn't even look comfortable" Mica laughed. I was curled with my knees to my chest, back against the side of the plane, and my face on the back of the seat. It wasn't the most comfortable configuration I had found during this flight, but I had been asleep for a bit.
"Kates can sleep anywhere, anytime. It's almost a super power" Oliver chuckled.
"So. What's the deal with you two these days?" Mica asked.
"How do you mean?" Oliver sniffed.
"Like, I know you claim you're back to being friends and all, yeah? But I never see you separately anymore, and it almost seems like you live together now? A bit suspicious, innit?" Mica chuckled.
"I hardly know, mate" Oliver sighed.
"We have finally gotten back to being as close as we were when were kids, ya know? It's just, I've been in love with her since then, and there is no way she is over everything that happened with Jake. I mean how could she be?" Oliver said. I was feeling extremely guilty to be listening in on this conversation. I wanted to make like I woke up before any other deep heartfelt testaments were revealed, but I also didn't want there to be any inclination that I could have heard what he said.
"What happened with you guys to begin with? Like when you dated? Looking at you now I don't understand why it went so badly." Mica said. Come on, pick a new conversation. Anything. I'm begging you Mica.
"I dunno. Fucked it up, I guess. Trying too hard and not hard enough to make it a thing, ya know?" Oliver grunted. Mica grunted in agreement.
"She doesn't wear Jake's ring anymore" Mica stated.
"Yeah, took it off for our friends' weddings and all that. Guess she must 'av forgot to put it back on" Oliver said.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as we start our descent to Los A``ngeles, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position. Make sure your seat belt is securely fastened and all carry-on luggage is stowed underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins. Thank you" Said the flight stewardess over an announcement.
"Kates…Kates you got to wake up," Olive said, basically turning me to be seated normally.
"what?" I asked grogedly. I was trying to play off that I was coming out of a deep slumber.
"They made the announcement saying they are starting the descent," Oliver explained.
"Okay" I grunted as I put my seat up and my belt on.
"I can't believe we aren't even halfway there yet" Mica groaned.
"At least we get to get off of a plane for a while," Oliver said while trying to stretch in his small space.
"It's the 21st century, you'd think someone would have figured out a way to travel long distances that's better than the muggle way" Mica whinged.
"Really makes you realize how bollocks Voldermorts' whole 'Magic is Might' shite was" I said.
"For the fuck of Merlin, Katie!" Mica said in response to me saying the name. I just shrugged.
"Muggle raised, friend of Harry. She does that" Oliver also shrugged. Mica shook his head.
We landed at LAX and had about an hour and a half to kill before our connecting flight took off. Most of that was taken up though by us having to change terminals and go through more security somehow. We mostly just took the time to walk around outside the gate to our next flight.
"Hollywood and all that" Mica said, looking out the window at more runways.
"Well...more or less" I laughed. Oliver was on the ground stretching to the point of almost doing full yoga.
"I know I should be taking advantage of doing shit like that, but I frankly just can't be bothered." I laughed.
"How you lot fairing? Bleeding torture this, really" Greg said shufflng over to us with some of the team.
"Nearly halfway there coach, we'll make it" I said trying to come off cheery.
"Greg? Gregory Somerville?" A strong American voice said from behind me. A group of very athletic people were following the man who spoke.
"Landon Howard. I'll be. How's it been ol' chap?" Greg said walking over to shake hands with the man.
"Great! Great! Are you on this flight too? Must have the same tour guide!" Landon guffawed.
"We are, there will be a lot of us going to the tour together on the flight then. Oh, Landon, these are Katie Bell, Oliver Wood, and Mica Owens all from... my group. Guys this is Landon Howard from the U.S….ah group. " Greg said. The rest of our team was buying snacks and such from the newsagents nearby.
"Bell and Wood! Of course we know you two! Had a bit of hope we might make it pretty far until we heard you guys were back." He laughed, shaking all over our hands. The three of us just sort of smiled and chuckled awkwardly before excusing ourselves.
"They think they are being stealth but it is more suspect to talk like that. Why not just say we are like a football team, would that really be that hard to believe?" I said to the boys when we walked away.
"We have to travel with a MACUSA officer just to make sure no one slips," a girl said next to me. The three of us pivoted quickly in shock to see her standing there listening to us.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you, but I totally agree. We draw way more attention trying to make it out to be some mass backpacking trip of young athletes and the odd old man on a power trip. Maria Gammon, I play...forward for the U.S. team" She said holding out her hand which we all shook in turn. "No need to say who you are, not to sound like a total fangirl and spaz but I know who you all are. I've been watching the English team's progress all year. You guys are totally amazing!" she said.
"Uh. Thanks" I said.
"We aren't in the same group, so I doubt we'll get to play each other at all. There is like no way this team is even going to make it to the round of 16. We're pretty crap. I'm sure you will make it far." She shrugged. Looking around at all of the American players they did seem a bit...unenthused.
We all boarded the plane for the second haul. It was starting to feel like the plane was my home and I had only ever lived on the plane.
"Same seating as before I am assuming?" Oliver chuckled.
"Yes please! But I'll not sleep so much this time maybe." I said.
It was a different plane but our seats were almost exactly the same. Mica, Oliver, and me in a row of three seats.
"You'd think with so many of us traveling together they would have shelled out for a private jet or something, then we could have charmed to be a bit more comfortable or something at least" Mica said, punching the small useless pillow they put out for overnight flights.
"Or at the very least could have given us business or first class seats" I agreed.
"Just think guys, we get to do this all again in two months" Oliver smiled.
"Do we want to watch a movie to waste time?" I asked pointing at the screens that this flight had in the backs of the seats in front of us.
"Do they have 13 hours worth of them?" Mica whinged.
"No, but oh look! They have that Fellowship of the Ring movie. That's that Lord of the Rings movie, ya know the books written by that squib Tolkien. I've meant to see that, wasn't really in the mood to go to the cinema while it was out." I said looking at the screen. The boys just groaned.
"It's the extended cut apparently. So that'll waste 3 hours. And it's filmed in New Zealand, I bet that's why they've got it on." I singled for the stewardess to buy three pairs of headphones and we settled all in to watch the movie independently and yet together.
Even though I only slept for about 4 hours this flight, it somehow felt as though it went by faster. By the time the movie had finished, they came around with the first meal. I taught the boys to play some muggle card games that had far less explosions in them, but Mica and I got into a heated game of Scabby Queen. Andrews had picked up a book of mad libs at the newsagents in LAX. He was sat in front of us with two guys on the reserves that I didn't know that well and they were far too tickled by it. I think the added factor of throwing random muggle words they didn't really know like "bouncy-house" in there was their favourite part. At least an hour passed of him leaning over the back of his seat getting us to fill out a few. It was a good laugh.
Finally we landed at 5 AM local time in Auckland. It took nearly another hour for us all to get through customs. When we finally made it outside Mica threw himself down and declared he never thought he'd find himself so happy to see the ground. Of course standing in the busiest city in the country we weren't nearly done traveling.
"But wait, how did we lose an entire day?" Edwards asked as we all walked down to a large building on one of the wharfs.
"We crossed the international date line," Wilson tried to explain.
"I feel like I lost more than a day," Hermit groaned.
"Keep up, keep up. Keys leaves in mere minutes" Tom Dillan ordered. The entire team shuffled along into the large empty building. The American team was behind us with barely any more pep than we had.
"They have no right to look so dead. They had 12 hours less on a plane than us" Mica moaned bitterly.
"You never know, some of them could have come from New York or Boston, or even Florida before LA." I shrugged.
"That whole country makes no sense" Oliver croaked.
"Okay gather round, gather round. The first one leaves in 2 minutes" Greg building was totally empty sans ten random objects laid out in a line down the middle of the large room.
They shuffled us into groups around each one as the large clam shell farthest away from where we entered started to glow. Oliver, Mica, and I were in a group waiting around a ball of rope. It turned blue and we all were pulled away spinning until we landed in a large field surrounded by magnificent mountains.
"Welcome to Mount Cook National Park" said a very pleasant looking witch where we landed.
"The U.S. team can follow Gerrard here, and the English can come with me." She announced. We followed her to a large tent set up in some distance.
"My name is Margaret and I am happy to help with anything you might need." She showed us in the tent and then went back to the port key drop location.
The tent was separated into a kitchen, living space, a small bathroom, and two large bedrooms. One for men and one for women. We split up to go and claim our beds in our respective rooms.
"This place is stunning" I said, jumping on what I was assuming was Oliver's prefered bed,as he had dropped his bags at it.
"It is pretty intense," Mica said with a cheeky grin. I threw a pair of Oliver's socks at him.
The following weeks were actually a blast. It was like a weird summer camp for adults. We all got up and had our designated practice grounds, then at night the teams would all gather for a large dinner and some form of festivities. The New Zealand magical community was heavily influenced and taught by their Moari ancestors, so they taught us a bit about their history and culture through both the magical and mōwaho (which is what they called their muggles). Before long, group play had begun and fans were starting to show up. Mica, Oliver, and I went for a hike one morning a few days before our first match. We turned a bend on the mountain and as far as we could see was a sea of tents. We could make out some flags from all over the world. Too hard to see clearly if there was a section devoted to England yet.
Our group was composed of us, Italy, Ivory Coast, and Fiji. There was a huge turn out for Fiji supporters from the get go. We watched them play the Ivory Coast and they were pretty good. Our game against Italy was a fairly quick shut out. Ivory Coast put up a good fight but we still came up with the win. Fiji was the last team we played and it was clear that it was going to be the two of us moving on to the round of 16. We went into the game thinking everyone was going to take a breather, save a bit of stamina for the rest of the tournament. But Fiji was out for blood. They clearly wanted to be leaving the group as the first seat and were relentless players. The game went on for four hours without the snitch being caught and due to a rule set by the ICWQC, games in the group stage must be called at the four hour mark. We were ahead in goals by 50 points so we were awarded the official win. It was brutal.
"I need like a week off" I said as we got back to our tent after.
"The matches are only going to get tougher from here" Oliver said, throwing his bag down and himself next to it on his bed.
"Nope, I don't think I like the idea of tougher. They should just be easier instead" I said, throwing myself down next to him.
"Oh if it were to be so simple" Mica laughed.
"Do we know yet who we are against in the group of sixteen?" I asked.
"No, I think there is still a game right now between Portugal and Senegal to determine it," Mica said. There was a board outside of the player's canteen that showed an updated bracket.
"Ah yes, the battle of the gulls" I said dumbly.
The morning of our game against what turned out to be Portugal, we all woke up to the sound of torrential rain smacking against the fabric of our tent.
"Who's idea was it to hold the cup in a country that is currently in the middle of their winter?" Mica complained as we ran into the canteen to grab some breakfast.
"To be fair, it's at least nearly twenty degrees out. That's better than many of our summer days back home" I laughed.
"Blowy as fuck out there as well" Oliver said as we joined him at a table inside the canteen.
"No doubt it's going to be an interesting game" I agreed. Just then a gust of wind knocked the door of the canteen open and the table closest to the door flipped over. A number of wizards charmed the door shut and upturned the table.
"You guys grew up playing in Scotland though, this shouldn't be that different" Maria from the U.S. team said joining us.
"Yeah, though this time we'll be warm and wet" I laughed.
The weather didn't improve at all by the start of the match. If anything it somehow managed to get even worse.
"Portugal is used to sunny beach days for their games. They'll be shaking on their brooms with these conditions. We are British, this should be a walk in the park for us." Greg said in a sad attempt at a pep speech before the match. We all put charms on our goggles to repel the rain and headed out to the pitch. The Portugese players didn't look like any part of them was shaking. All seven of them stood tall with marvelous olive skin that was perfectly tan and toned. The rain seemed to just be adding a glisten to their general demeanour.
"Are you kidding with this shit" Hermit muttered under his breath as we walked up to them. Clearly he noticed their god-like physiques as well.
A mere ten minutes into the game I was having shell-shock like flashbacks to playing some games against Slytherin. It was hard enough to fight the elements but I found myself fighting a lot of elbows and broom handles as well. I suppose they saw the opportunity to not be seen through the curtain of rain and took it. At one point I was the unwilling participant in a Parkin's pincer that felt more like being the victim of a mob than a successful play. But nothing was called on it and the player who took the quaffle from me was able to score.
There were a good number of fouls that the referee did see. Blagging and blatching were both seen happening to Mica, he scored both foul shots. I went for the most beautiful ride along into the ground, thankfully blurting was called and I got a brilliant goal with that one. They even gave Edwards a shot for cobbing, which was astonishing because I was genuinely beginning to believe that the ref was unable to see Portugese elbows.
Between the wind and the rain it was nearly impossible for either keeper to get even a tip on the oncoming quaffles so almost all shots on goal went in. Oliver had one really unlucky one where he finally managed to hit the quaffle but it slipped from his fingers and went into the next hoop over still resulting in a goal.
Time didn't exist anymore, we only knew how long we had been playing by how many goals had been scored. And the rain nor the Portugese had any intentions of letting up any time soon. I was getting angry and running off of rage at this point. I really couldn't even hear anything other than the sound of the rain and my heart pounding against my chest. Occasionally I would catch the commentator announce the score.
"That brings us up to 340 England 300 Portugal. This is a big game Ladies and Gents" said the voice. I needed this game to be over. Andrews is never going to catch the snitch in this weather. No one is going to be able to see it.
I powered through to get the quaffle back. Mica had caught it after a Portugese chaser swerved too fast and it slipped from her grip. He was coming towards me so I turned around to get closer to their posts. He dropped the quaffle to Edwards who had been flying below him, Edwards flew up in front of me and threw it back to me. I sprinted forwards and threw it through the third goal.
"Goal by chaser Katie Bell of England brings them now 50 points ahead of Portugal" I heard the announcer say.
I decided to fly up to see if I could even see Andrews flying around anywhere to get an idea of what was happening with the snitch when suddenly I felt something very cold on the back of my neck and I was tossing and turning through the air and rain. I couldn't tell which way was up and had no idea how high I had been. I was grabbing for my wand at it's holster on my leg but my robes were so heavy and wet I couldn't move them to get to it. I had a flashback to the last time I was spinning uncontrolled and couldn't get to my wand in time. I finally saw the ground and everything went black.
"They shouldn't be allowed to ever play for the cup again!" I could hear Mica yelling.
"Their beater claims she flew into the path of the bludger, no one could see that high to know for sure. What was she doing up so high anyway?" Greg said.
"I was trying to find the bleeding end to the game, and in a way I guess I did" I laughed weakly. It was damn near like waking up in the hospital wing of Hogwarts. The whole team sat around you arguing, a room full of beds with various states of injured peoples occupying some of them, and a healer busy trying to tend to them all.
"In more ways than one, Portugal also claims the bludger that hit you was meant for Andrews because he caught the snitch before you even hit the ground. Makes total sense until you realize he caught it on the total opposite side of the pitch and about 100 ft closer to the ground." Oliver laughed.
"So we won!? Ow! Fuck!" I yelled and tried to sit up but it was excruciatingly painful.
"Your team may have Miss, but you certainly didn't. Fell 50 meters out of the sky straight onto unforgiving ground. You've got a shattered hip and femur, a broken arm, and a bruised spleen just to name a few things! It's lucky someone was able to slow you down, even if it was a bit late, otherwise we'd still be out there scraping you off the pitch. Now for the love of Tiki, wait there and don't move while I get more potions" The healer said.
"Yes we won, also I get the feeling she puts more of the hell in healing than Pomphrey ever did, so good luck with that." Oliver chuckled.
"I feel like I should just hire good Ol' Pops to be my full time at home healer who follows me around for moments like these" I laughed and then winced.
"Here drink this" The healer said, handing me a small vial of foaming liquid. I drank it with no protest.
"How long do you think we will have our Kaite here in disrepair, Ma'am?" Greg asked the healer.
"Well, the damage to the spine and internal organs I can have fixed no later than tomorrow morning" She began and the entire teams' face lit up. I knew she had mentioned a lot more things so I was prepared for the but...
"But, her hip and femur are an absolute mess. Child, are you aware there are bits of metal inside your hip bone?" the healer asked with serious concern.
"Oh...yeah...I..uh...I got in a car wreck last November...and well...Muggles did surgery on me to try to fix it" I explained.
"You let those mōwahos cut you open and put metal inside your bones?" She asked in shock.
"Well… I was unconscious. From the wreck, so they brought me to a muggle hospital and just did what they thought was best." I was fidgeting with the sheet on my bed with my functioning right arm.
"What were you doing in one of those death traps to begin with?" she asked perplexed.
"It's complicated, would it make a difference if I said my boyfriend died in the wreck?" I asked just trying to get us to stop talking about it and move on. Everyone except Oliver was trying to seem like they were looking at everything but this conversation.
"No. That's even less logical." She said bluntly.
"Still. With all of the caveman tools inside of Bell's body it makes it a lot more difficult for me to heal this substantial injury well. It's going to take at least a week of bed rest and a strict potion regime." Said the healer.
"A week!?" Protested Greg.
"But our next game is in five days!" Mica said.
"I'm sorry, nothing I can do about it now. Think about this the next time one of your friends decides to go for a joy ride in a mōwaho death trap or do dances in front of a bludger 50 meters in the air" The healer shrugged and walked away to check on another patient.
"Well. That sucks" I stated almost as bluntly as my healer.
"I better go speak with Waters," Greg sighed.
"Wait Carrie? You're going to call up Carrie?!" I yelled and clenched my side.
"Yes. What do you want me to do? Unless you have a clone that you brought along that I don't know about, she is the only one I have that will even remotely fill your style of play with the team dynamic" Greg sighed and left the room.
"Shit. Is this it? Are we going to lose because I fucked my hip? Once again that stupid car accident coming back to try to ruin my life." I punched the bed with my good hand.
"It's going to be fine, I know Carrie annoys you but she does alright. We still have a shot at this. And it's just the one game, we make it through that and you are back to play in time for the semi-final" Mica assured me. I just sighed. Oliver had walked away a bit ago. Not sure if the conversation about the accident had triggered something for him too or what, but I wish he was here right now. The rest of the team except Mica had left now seeing I wasn't going to die.
"Sorry" Oliver said, reappearing.
"Where did you go?" I asked.
"Went to talk to the healer. It's nothing" He shrugged.
"It's fine that she talked like that about the accident. It didn't bother me." I shrugged. I assume he went to tell her off.
"I actually feel like that is true. Which is why that's not what I talked to her about" Oliver gave a weak smile.
"I had a sort of flashback to it. When I was falling. Because I was spinning out of control and couldn't get to my wand. It felt very similar. Yet peaceful in a way. Like I knew for some reason this time I'd be okay. Speaking of, two things; 1. Are my broom and wand okay? And 2. She said someone did slow me down, do you know who it was?" I stated slightly blankly.
"I think I know what you mean...Sort of. And yeah broom is fine, wand is right there" Oliver pointed to the end table. "As for slowing you down, I don't know. Must have been the ref or someone." he finished with a shrug. Mica however pointed at Oliver from his lower chest where I could see him pointing but Oliver couldn't and made a sort of "ya know" face.
"Interesting" I said, acknowledging both Oliver's statement and that I understood Mica's.
"So your mate here thinks you might be interested in a little dreamless slumber, is that right?" The healer said walking back over to us.
"Oh. I don't know. If that's best" I said. So I guess that's what he said.
" I was just saying might be good, take your mind off of not being able to play in the game, and your flashback. And you'll be less inclined to move around." Oliver defended. He clearly didn't think that the healer was going to call him out for suggesting it.
"He makes some fair points there Healer…." I said and realized I didn't know her name.
"Tohunga, Isla Tohunga. It is nice to meet you Miss Bell. You may just call me Isla if you need to address me. I like the idea of you not moving, I'll be right back with the dreamless slumber." Isla said, turning to walk towards her office in the healer's tent.
Mica and Oliver both patted me on the head before leaving after I took the potion. I had absolutely no idea what time it was, but I could still hear the rain beating a tattoo against the tent surrounding me as I fell asleep.