"Hey" Oliver said, walking over to my bed in the hospital tent the next morning.
"Morning" I said and saluted him as my arms were still about all I could comfortably move.
"Not feeling much better?" He laughed.
"Oh no, I'm loads better. Just only from about the rib cage up. Everything else is still brutal. Healer Isla said my hip is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Something about dissolving the metal, to be honest I don't really want to know. She has me drinking about ten different potions every hour." I laughed.
"That sounds like a blast." Oliver chuckled.
"They had mentioned something about it when I got to St. Mungo's after the crash. But I was already mostly healed from the surgery, they decided there wasn't much point in messing with it then. Figures I'd land like a piece of toast, always butter side down, and fuck the same hip." I laughed. At least talking and laughing didn't hurt anymore.
"We just had some practice, Carrie is nervous but I think she'll do well. We are playing Romania" Oliver said and said down on the side of the bed.
"Romania?! Ugh. They nearly won in '94. That's going to be a hard game." I said flopping my head back against my pillow.
"Yeah but they are almost the exact same team, getting up there in age. Going to be slowing down" Oliver said.
"Krum is younger than you!" I laughed.
"Exactly" He laughed.
"I got you something" He said awkwardly and reached into a bag on the ground. He pulled out a stuffed spider that had a bit of red on it's back.
"I thought you could name him Toby 2 or something..." He chuckled awkwardly and couldn't look me in the eye.
"Oliver...what is this?" I asked, I could feel my eyes welling a bit.
"It's a...it's a katipo spider...they had them in the gift shop. I thought it would be funny...because...of the..ya know...the spider in the container. Probably being dumb. Sorry." He said rubbing the back of his neck.
"I love it." I laughed and made the stuffed spider 'attack' him.
"Ooof. Here, lie with me for a bit" I said taking great pains and effort to scootch over on the bed to give him room.
"I feel like you probably shouldn't have done that" He laughed and lied down in the small space next to me.
"Why were we such a catastrophically bad couple?" I said, looking up at my katipo that I was holding above us. The katipo has a relative in the states that is called the black widow spider because only the female is big enough to bite with its fatal poison. Maybe I had something in common with them.
"Ouch, I don't know if we were THAT bad." Oliver laughed.
"We fought all the time, broke up because you cleaned my flat, and then you made them trade me from the team rather than look at me" I chuckled and booped him in the face with Toby the second.
He sighed and shuffled on the bed awkwardly to pull a photo out of his back pocket of his jeans. It was the photo of us after we'd won the house cup.
"What do you see when you look at this photo?" He asked as he handed it to me.
In the photo I was jumping onto his shoulders with a smile as wide as my face, he was holding the cup with an equally large smile but he looked like he was on the verge of tears.
"We were happy, pure happiness, the best day of our lives when we won that cup" I said, there was a tone of concern in my voice. This was a weird time to break out this photo, and his expression was far too somber to be reminiscing fondly on this happy memory.
"Watch just me more closely," he said.
I looked back at the photo and sure enough our photo selves were almost on a loop in this, I would come up behind him and jump up smiling and then get down and go out of frame for a second before coming back and doing it again. I guess this is a test of how conceited I am because I must have always watched myself any time I've seen this photo. Now looking just at Oliver I saw it, a split second where the smile fades and tears in his eyes don't seem so happy. Right when I'm out of frame, it's like a flash of sadness and then I'm back and it's like it never happened.
"You were sad? But we won. That's all you ever wanted." I looked at him like I had never seen him before.
"Yeah exactly. That's what I always thought too, but the moment the cup was in my hands I realized that maybe it wasn't. I had put everything into quidditch to get this outcome and here it was, and it felt like nothing. Then right here, right at this very moment I realized why. Quidditch had become so much more than just playing the game, it was a time I got to see and be with you. I loved you so much but I couldn't say anything, and now quidditch was over, and I was leaving Hogwarts, all I could think for the rest of this day was that it was my chance to tell you how I felt and I never grew a pair and did it" Oliver said.
"Why do you carry this around?" was all I could say.
"Well, eventually I did tell you how I felt, but not when you think. It was in St. Mungo's after the necklace. I heard what happened and left in the middle of practice to go see you. I had never been more scared before that moment. When my Da found out I skipped on practice he beat to an inch from death. I didn't even fight back. But I went to you and you were awake, so I told you, poured my little heart out, no one else had been in the room and you looked at me so intensely the whole time. Then when I finished you were silent. I asked if you might ever feel the same way, you opened your mouth and let out a scream worse than the keening of a banshee and the healers all came running in. I guess even though you were awake the two curses still had mangled your brain and you weren't conscious. I sat there and watched you suffer for weeks, when you first woke up you didn't even care about what had happened to you, you just wanted to know if Harry was okay, and everything going on with the war. I felt like I couldn't burden you with my feelings, not with everything going on. So I made a sort of pact to just make sure I took care of you, make sure nothing like this ever happened again. I spent most of the battle of Hogwarts following you around to protect you. Then when everything was over my dad forced me to beg for my spot back on Puddlemore and you were off trying to do your own thing. I guess when we finally caught up and you expressed interest in me I didn't even know how to react. I was still so focused on protecting you from everything I forgot to realize that I had you, I could just love you. Then before I figured it out, it was too late, and in a continued effort to protect you, even if it meant from getting hurt by having to see me, I got you traded. I carry this photo around because it reminds me that I have always focused on achieving the wrong goal. I focused on winning the cup instead of telling you how I felt, or I focused on protecting you instead of loving you. I always end up being the one hurt" He sighed. He took the photo back and put it in his pocket. Both of us were crying a little and neither one of us said anything for a while. I didn't even know where to begin. I wanted to hug him, and cry, maybe even kiss him.
"You're quite shit at protecting me to be honest, I've been hospitalized twice just in the last year" I laughed gesturing to my current state. Comic relief is always the answer right?
"Tell me about it" he took Toby the Second and threw him at me.
"How come you didn't want me knowing it was you that slowed me down?" I asked.
"Who says it was?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I mean, basically everything you just said does. That plus Mica did" I laughed.
"Touche" he laughed. "I don't know. Why'd you tell your healer your boyfriend died in the car crash" He asked and began to fidget with the legs of Toby the Second.
"Because he did" I shrugged.
"No like, why didn't you say fiance?" he laughed.
"I don't know. I've come to terms with the facts that was all he was. Like yes I know he meant us to be more, and I think it was important and meaningful for me to wear the ring during the funeral and all that. But he never did get the chance to propose, and at this point he's been gone for longer than we were ever together. It's weird, but I think I just have to call him that as part of my grieving and coping." I shrugged and Oliver grunted in understanding.
"I had a sort of internal argument with myself a few weeks ago. I started thinking that if he really loved me and wanted to marry me he would have come back as a ghost. But then obviously that's crazy selfish and unreasonable. Because if he had either A. we would get some sort of married and he'd have to watch me grow old and die and then he'd just be stuck here as a ghost, or B. we get bored of each other and he goes off to do ghost things and he has to watch me fall in love with someone else." I laughed.
"Yeah, I don't think it's ever much of a good idea to come back as a ghost. Nic made that pretty clear back in Hogwarts." Oliver chuckled.
"I mean if you die before me I fully expect you to come back as a ghost" I laughed.
"After all of the reasons you just listed of why it's good Jake didn't?" He laughed, turning to look face to face.
"Yeah well, I very much would not be able to go on without you, that was determined when you nearly did kill yourself. Plus we already know what happens when I fall in love with someone else" I laughed and snorted because I'm on my back.
"Very funny" He said, plopping Toby the Second onto my chest.
"Too soon?" I laughed.
"Well, I've got to go grab dinner with Mica. Have fun with Toby 2." Oliver said, getting up.
"Toby the Second and I will miss you" I said, making the spider wave.
"Ah Toby the Second is much more regal" he laughed.
"Ollie, I'm glad we talked. Like actually talked through stuff. I'm sorry I didn't give us enough time to try to figure things out, when we were dating. Thank you. For everything" I said more seriously.
"No bother" he laughed and walked out of the tent.
I hardly knew what to do or think for the rest of the night. Obviously I had known he still had feelings for me, and knew that he did since we were in school after overhearing him talk to Mica on the plane. But there was a lot to unpack here. If I'm honest I had been crushing on him nearly that long as well. Not that that would come as a huge shock to anyone. I really wished that Alicia was here right now, or even George. They were planning on coming over, but not until closer to the final match.
"He seems like a good bloke" Isla said coming over.
"Yeah. He is" I chuckled.
"I'd like to say I tried not to listen, but I admit I'm a bit of a busy body so I heard every word" She laughed handing me one of my potions.
"At least you admit to it" I laughed and took another.
"Not the most romantic prezzie, a poisonous allusive spider" She said, picking up Toby the Second.
"We more or less broke it off over him washing a spider I had meant to keep as a pet down the drain" I shrugged.
"Ah yes, much more normal" She chuckled.
"Isla, I know I'm meant to be resting and all, but is there a point where I'd be healed enough that I could wear some sort of brace or splint and walk on crutches so I could go at least watch team practices?" I asked with my most innocent and sweet expression.
"You aren't pure blood are you?" She laughed, shaking her head.
"Half" I said and batted my eyelashes.
"Does this explain your love for, what do you call them, 'muggle' medicine?" She laughed.
"In part" I joked.
"Is that a pun? That's dreadful! I hope your quidditch playing is better than your humour." She laughed.
"I imagine it is" I laughed.
"I'll look into it" She smiled.
"I'll take it! Isla, have I ever told you that you're my favourite healer? Which is really saying something because I've seen A LOT" I laughed.
"Oh Miss Bell, I don't doubt that in the least bit" she laughed and walked away to her office.
The day before the Romania match Isla came to me with a huge brace and a crutch.
"You'd be proud, I got these at a mōwaho medical supply shop in Christchurch. They'll do to keep you from using your hip too much now while it finishes healing. You're basically just taking Skele Gro at this point" she said as she fit the brace to me. It went around my waist, down my hip, and around the top of my knee.
"I feel like some sort of cyborg" I giggled, standing up for the first time in days.
"Thanks to me you are now less of a cyborg" Isla laughed.
Once I was all suited up I hobbled out and headed over to our practice field.
"What's this now?" Mica laughed as he saw me.
"I wanted to be able to come out for practice, just to be here for support. So Isla compromised with some muggle medicine for me" I shrugged.
"Well it's good to see you" He patted my shoulder before flying up to join the others.
I apparated up to the top of the stands where the couches sat to watch the rest of the practice.
"Is this a good sign?" Tom, the chaser's coach, asked me.
"Good in that I'm healing, clearly still can't pay tomorrow," I laughed and knocked on the metal part of my hip brace.
"That's quite the contraption," He said.
"It's a muggle thing, compromise with me and healers so I could come and see how things are going here" I explained.
"They aren't exactly where I'd love them to be" Tom grimaced.
Just then Edwards threw the quaffle to Carrie who proceeded to miss catching it completely.
"Let's go Waters, this is what we've been talking about" Tom said calmly.
"Carrie, what the fuck was that?!" I shouted over him. Carrie looked back at me in shock and nearly fell off her broom. Oliver now realized I was here and was hovering in front of the hoops with his arms up in a "what are you doing" manner. I just waved him off.
They continued practice and Mica and Edwards rehearsed a few of our plays, the last one gave the quaffle to Carrie and set her up to attempt a shot on a hoop. She wound up and threw the quaffle directly at the ground in front of her.
"What the hell was that? The match is tomorrow! You've got to get your shit together and right quick!" I screamed before Tom even had the chance to open his mouth.
"This is dreadful," I said to Tom.
"They have their moments," Tom tried to explain.
"Is there a chance they will have enough moments for us to win tomorrow?" I asked.
"I hope so" he sighed disheartenedly.
After a few more fumbles things started to come together for the chasers. Carrie even managed to facilitate a play and score at the end of it.
"There we go Waters! That's it" I clapped.
"Bell you are either going to make a heluva good coach some day, or an absolutely dreadful one" Greg laughed.
"Let's hope for her sake she doesn't have any children who like the sport" The beaters' coach joked.
"Yeah" I laughed. I had to stop myself from almost saying that their father will be harder on them. I don't know who their father is so I don't know what would have made me say that. I guess I just automatically assumed that Oliver was the father of these future children we spoke of. Oliver was glaring at me from his broom at the hoops. Was he mad at me for not resting?
"That's enough for today, team. Get some rest tonight to be in tip top shape for tomorrow" Greg announced out onto the pitch.
"Can we help you get down Bell? How'd you get up here anyway?" Tom asked.
"Apparation, and no no you carry on. I need to focus on a spot to go back down to. Don't want to splinch myself." I laughed.
"Yeah, for the love of Merlin, don't add any more time off for injury would you please?" He laughed.
They left and I heard someone stomping into the booth in their place. Oliver came storming in and threw his broom onto the floor.
"Care to tell me what the fuck that was about?" He yelled with a fury in his eyes seldom seen.
"What was what about?" I asked in shock.
"Why did you feel the need to give Carrie so much shit?" He scolded.
"Because she was playing like shit!" I yelled back. Was he really lecturing me about this?
"You made her cry, Katie" He yelled.
"Then she is weak! If that was me back in Hogwarts you would have had me running laps in the mud trying to balance the quaffle on my head or some shit for playing like that!" I screamed.
"Yeah, but you're not me are you? I'm an arse so if I go off yelling shite at people they don't take much mind of it. You are Katie, you are kind and nice. You say someone's shite then they'll think they're shite" He argued but was no longer shouting.
"Well...She is shit. I just really want to win, Ollie" I said throwing my arms up in exacerbation. Here we were, back to fighting again.
"You sound like me. Maybe we've been spending too much time together and I'm rubbing off on you. Why do you want to win so badly, yeah? Got a wedding dress picked out already" He smiled his cocky smile. I had honestly forgotten about our "deal" that I'd marry him if we won. I've always been such a sucker for that cocky smile. Pierces through me to the base of my spine and breaks my trail of thought.
"Maybe I just want you to have a less depressing photo to carry around" I joked. Suddenly something blossomed in my brain and I had a totally nonsensical way to end all and any fights and arguments with Oliver here and forever more.
'Yeah, Ha, great just going to take the piss about that now?" He asked, smirking. I hobbled a bit closer to him, dropped my crutch, and grabbed his hips.
"What are you doing?" He asked, still smiling down at me.
"Winning" I said quietly as I pulled him into a kiss.
I could feel every muscle in his body relax, almost like he was melting as my hands explored his sweaty back. His hands made their way down my back, around my bum, and to my thighs where he lifted me up and put me against the wall of the booth, pushing deeper into his kiss. I didn't want him to stop but the pressure of him against my hip caused me to impulsively wince and a sort of squeak of pain came out of my mouth. He quickly but gently dropped me and took about five steps back wiping off his mouth.
"Fuck Kates!" He exclaimed.
"I'm sorry. I thought you'd be into it" I shrugged.
"Oh..Ohhohoo...believe me...I'm very into it. But your hip! I just hurt you there!" He said reaching out to me then clenching his hand into a fist and biting it.
"It's fine" I lied.
"No. NO! Don't give me that! I could tell. This is just like you, make a move right when you've got a totally shattered hip." He groaned. I couldn't help but laugh at him. Don't get me wrong, I wanted him to just ignore my hip and pretend that any moans of pain were happy moans and pick off where we had left off. So him pulling away so quickly was almost just as torturous for me as it was for him. But the level of squirming he was currently doing did entertain me a bit.
"Olls, it's fine." I laughed.
"Nope. Nope. I can't even look at you right now" He said. He bent down to pick up his broom and got my crutch as well. He handed it to me groaning a bit. He then turned and left waving over the top of his head.
I apperated back to our team tent and Oliver was nowhere to be found. Carrie was doing yoga next to her bed.
"Hey Carrie, sorry about being such a bitch out there. It's really hard not being able to play and I was taking it out on you. I think you'll do great" I said to her.
"I get it. I'd probably be the same way" She said without opening her eyes or breaking from her pose.
"But thanks for apologising" She said as I stood up to go.
"No bother, you haven't seen Oliver have you?" I said.
"No, not since practice, everything okay?" She asked sitting on her mat and looking up at me.
"Yeah….I think I might need to apologise to him for something too…" I chuckled.
"Alright, I'll let him know you're looking for you if I see him" She said.
"Cheers" I said and headed over to the canteen.
I grabbed some dinner and sat at a table with Mica and Edwards.
"You seem perplexed," Mica said after a bit.
"Do I, yeah? I guess I might. Oliver chewed me out earlier for being so rough on Carrie, he...sorta stormed off after and I haven't been able to find him in well over an hour" I said. They didn't need to know everything.
"No worries, here he comes" Mica nodded behind me. Sure enough Oliver was walking through the room with soaking wet hair.
"Bell was starting to get worried about your absence, mate" Mica said as Oliver went to sit next to Edwards instead of next to me.
"Just in the showers, yeah" He muttered.
"Holy pixies Wood! Your arm is like a block of ice!" Edwards exclaimed. Oliver had accidently bumped against him as he pulled in his chair.
"Cold shower" Oliver shrugged. I spit some of my pumpkin juice out when he said this and had to stifle a manic giggle.
"There was a bug...a bug in my juice" I tried to recover. I could feel Oliver glaring at me through Edwards and Mica was looking at me with a raised eyebrow over his own glass of juice.
Later on when it was just the two of us Oliver clarified that he wasn't angry with me but he needed to focus on the match and I needed to focus on healing in the most Oliver way possible. Said that he was going to be avoiding me, but just so that I wasn't a distraction. You know what they always say avoidance makes the heart grow fond. But I get it.
For the game against Romania Isla came and sat with me by the Romanian hoops. I figured that was the end that had the action I cared about, and it might be good if Oliver couldn't see me.
"I suppose I should admit to you now that I've never sat through a single one of these games" Isla said as we sat down.
"The world cup?" I asked.
"Quidditch" she laughed.
"You've never watched a quidditch match? How is that even possible? How did you get the job of lead healer at the world cup having never seen a match?" I laughed.
"I think that's exactly why I did. Didn't have to worry about me skiving off to watch a match when I'm meant to be tending to patients" She shrugged.
"Well I apologize in advance for any foul language or poor explanation I give during the time we are watching this" I laughed.
"Noted" she laughed.
The commentator announced the teams and I cheered as loud as I could for our team. Oliver wasn't wrong, the Romania team was getting up there in years. Krum was still their youngest player by far at 25. Oliver was our oldest player at 26. Maybe there was a chance here.
"Why didn't you want to sit in the coaches box?" Isla asked.
"Not every day I get to experience this as a fan. Plus I figured Oliver could see me from there" I shrugged.
"That going well then?" She snorted.
"Me and Oliver? A little too well actually" I laughed.
"Too well? It better not be! Don't go messing with that hip yet! I'd hate to see you being a spectator for their next match" Isla scolded.
"Yeah well that's the thing, yesterday things were getting a little hot and heavy and I winced, so now Oliver's acting like I'm a grimm or something." I chuckled.
"Well good. Sensible man. But I see your point too." She smiled.
The match started and right away everything was soaring by like flashes of light. Carrie was brilliant really. She must be someone who does really well under severe pressure because she was flitting about like a giant hummingbird and stole the quaffle away twice scoring both times in a flawless manner.
I was on the edge of my seat. Isla threatened to strap me down because I kept jumping up when someone would score. Oliver was playing an amazing game as well, nothing was going in, the Romanian's probably had 20 shots on goal without a single one making it through a hoop. I hope he isn't doing this well because of the sexual frustration, because I can't imagine it would increase my game.
Krum was speeding towards something on his broom but the snitch was nowhere in sight and Andrews was on the other side of the pitch not even paying attention.
"He has certainly become the boy who cried manticore" I chuckled.
"How do you mean?" Isla asked.
"He's famous for this move called the Wronski Feint, used it fairly successfully in the '94 world cup. It's where a seeker pretends to spot the snitch and speeds off towards the ground, causing the opposing seeker to follow in hot pursuit, then when right about reach the ground, the original seeker pulls up causing the follower to go crashing into the ground."I explained.
"Ah yes, I've cleaned up a few of the following seekers" Isla nodded.
"Well ol' Krum has played this move so many times no one falls for it anymore" I nodded to Krum who had pulled out of his pursuit all alone.
"Is that guy trying to give him a taste of his own potion?" Isla asked nodding over to Andrews who was diving almost directly in front of me. Almost directly between him and Krum on the pitch was the snitch hovering a few feet above the ground.
"No this is for real!" I shouted as I grabbed her arm and stood to get a better view. I could tell she wanted to scold me but instead she stood up as well.
Krum had clearly seen the snitch and was speeding towards it as well. The entire stadium seemed to be holding its breath. You could have heard a pin drop. The score was only 80-0, whoever caught the snitch right now won and moved on to the semifinals. Each seeker got closer and closer and looked like they were going to collide when the snitch shot up and away from them both. They both pulled up and were neck and neck in their pursuit after the small golden ball. Arms outstretched they collided slightly and then separated and the snitch could no longer be seen. Andrews threw his arm up into the sky displaying the caught snitch and Krum flew to the ground and stormed off the pitch. The crowd erupted into thunderous cheers and gasps. I attempted to leap, which failed miserably, and hugged Isla.
"Alright, I admit it. That was exciting. But literally just that bit with the snitch" She laughed and cheered.
"I'll take it. A lot of people feel that way, and honestly watching it I understand" I laughed.
By the time I hobbled back to the team tent the firewhisky and beers were already flowing. Isla had to go back to the hospital tent because apparently one of the other matches was 'a bloodbath'.
"You did it!" I screamed, coming into the tent and setting off streamers from my wand.
"WE'RE GOING TO THE SEMIFINALS!" Edwards yelled and hugged me.
"Carrie you were brilliant out there, should have never doubted you!" I said as soon as I saw her.
"Oh no, you should have. I was absolutely shitting myself the whole time" She laughed.
"Beers! Bir. biir. B'ir" I was trying to say the word like a Kiwi as I picked one up.
"Ollie!" I shouted at him, arms in the air, beer in one hand and crutch in the other.
"You're killing me, Kates," Oliver laughed and threw his arms down at his sides.
"What? We won and I sat far away out of sight like a good distraction" I chuckled and took a swig of my beer.
"You still have the crutch" He said exhaustively and ran his hands through his hair like he wanted to pull some out.
"Alright, spill," Mica said, hopping over and sitting on a teammate's bed that had been pushed aside for the festivities.
"What?" Oliver and I said in unison.
"You two are acting weird, like even weird for your standards. Something happened or is happening, so spill." Mica said, crossing his legs and taking a sip of his drink.
"Nothin.."Oliver started. "I kissed him," I said.
"Fucking finally!" Mica clapped. I made a slight attempt at a curtsy.
"Why is this causing turmoil, and quit your groaning Oliver I was going to figure it out eventually" Mica followed up with.
"Well you see, Mr. Doxies-in-his-pants is struggling with the fact that he has to keep them on while I am..how do we say….out of service?" I chuckled.
"No! It's so much more than that!" Oliver protested.
"Oh? Do tell" Mica chuckled.
"I don't know, maybe it's that. It's just, just look at her! And she's just always just there!" He whinged.
"He makes a solid point, how does anyone keep their hands off of all this" I said showcasing my hip brace in a very unattractive manner that made Mica laugh.
"No I get it I guess. It's like being locked in a museum and you're told you can finally touch any of the art you want, but if you do it will break and you'll ruin it" Mica shrugged.
"Yes! Wait...I think...What?" Oliver laughed.
"And you say we are the weirdos" I laughed and clinked my beer to his.
"Undoubtedly" He laughed.
A few days later I was finally cleared by Isla to get back up on my broom. She told me to shy away from other extraneous activities, like horseback riding, for a bit longer while Oliver was standing next to me. I saw his cheeks flush and an evil twinkle in her eye. But we were practicing and focusing so much on our upcoming semi final against Canada there was hardly any time to be worrying about anything else. Even Oliver seemed less tense to just be in my proximity again. I felt a little guilty swooping back and taking away any spotlight from Carrie, but she honestly seemed more than happy with the little that she had gotten.
The stadium for the semi final was larger than the others we had been playing in and there were thousands of spectators for it being a match of two countries from the other side of the world. But more and more witches and wizards of all shapes and sizes from all over the globe were coming in droves every day now as we got closer to the final match. Our friends would be here in the next week. Oliver had spotted Ginny and Harry a few days ago and introduced them to the team. Harry was wearing a sort of knit cap the whole time to try to disguise himself but I don't know how well it was working. Mica's mind was blown having met him, even though he was at Hogwarts with us at the same time, he never really crossed paths with Harry. Mica didn't even believe we were that good of friends with Harry until he came around to visit.
Each team had mascots starting at the semis. England had a flock of fairly drab griffins. I guess it's slightly better than just bringing regular non magical lions which is the national animal. Scotland gets unicorns, Wales has dragons, then here we are with lions. The griffins strutted around cawing majestically here and there but were quickly out done by Canada's mascots. They brought a herd of moose being ridden by pukwudgies dressed as the Candadian mounted police. If the win was determined by the mascot, that would be it and we might as well go pack our bags. It was one of the greatest things I've ever seen.
The Canadian team was painfully our equal. It was a good thing Isla couldn't come to this match because she would never watch another one again in her life. Both keepers blocked most of the shots, so each team only got on average a goal each an hour. So far we had been playing for 10 hours straight and I was going to fall asleep on my broom. The score was 110 to 120, there had been zero fouls, and no one had even seen the snitch in three hours. I was pretty sure it died, or something ate it if snitches can't die. I was also pretty sure I was going to die of boredom, maybe that's what happened to it. Oliver called a time out and we all huddled in front of the coaches box.
"Doing well team. Andrews, any sight of that damned thing?" Greg said, he looked like he had recently woken up. There was a crease across his face from something he must have slept on.
"Nothing" Andrews sighed. Looking now the stands were nearly empty. I didn't blame them, it has to be nearly five in the morning.
"Well we are about to the time allotted where we can start subbing you out to get some rest if anyone should need it" Greg yawned. Oh god, I'd come out just to be done with this game. I'd almost take the Portugal game over this one….almost.
"My hip is starting to twinge a bit, I wouldn't mind a sub if they are available" I yawned. It's not an outright lie. Sitting suspended in the air for over ten hours would kill anyone's hips. I was for sure chaffing in places not meant to chaffe.
"Oh right of course, Bell. We'll see if we can get Waters out for you shortly" Tom agreed. Oliver looked concerned.
"I'm fine, just tired" I assured him as we flew back into position.
Minutes later the whistle blew again to announce Carrie subbing me out. I happily flew over to the coaches box and dismounted my broom. I put my broom down and crashed down onto the floor splaying my legs out.
"They actually said we could call you in before the 12 hour mark since you had been recently on the disabled list." Tom explained.
"Praise that" I yawned and pulled my knee up against my chest. My hip was very tight, this was probably a good idea anyway.
"Can snitches die?" I asked up to all the coaches still watching the match.
"They can get lost. But the league has a charm on it that currently assures us that it's still in range of the pitch" One of them answered.
The commentator announced another goal by Carrie.
"I guess it was good to get some fresh blood in there" I yawned. I felt myself starting to doze off a bit.
"Where is Andrews going?!" someone shouted and it woke me up.
I got up and saw Andrews beaming straight up into a cloud that was pink in the sunrise. The score was still only 130 to 120 so I couldn't have been asleep for too long. Andrews disappeared into the cloud and you could hear voices muttering and shouting all over the stands. Everyone was awake now staring up into the magenta sky waiting one way or another for Andrews to resurface. The Canadian seeker was still down by his keeper's posts not even attempting to pursue if it was the snitch. The entire game had sort of come to a stop while all of the players of both teams just stopped to look up and watch for Andrews return. At this point everyone was probably just hoping for the end of the game. There was a lot of time passing. I was starting to wonder if he had just cracked and taken off and was on his way back to England by now. Just as the ref was heading up to see if Andrews was okay, he appeared with the snitch in hand and the entire stadium, including the players of both sides, erupted into applause and cheers. Everyone was just happy that it was finally over. It wasn't until a few beats later that my team seemed to realize that we were headed to the final of the world cup. It probably helped that the commentator just announced it. I hopped on my broom and flew down to hug them all and kissed Andrews on the top of his head.
It was now seven in the morning and the rest of the campground was just waking up for their day and we were trudging back to our tents like we had just seen battle. I decided to stop in the hospital tent just to make sure I hadn't messed anything up.
"What did you do?" Is all Isla said when she saw me. I was still in my team robes and I'm sure looked like the walking dead.
"Nothing! At least I think nothing, that's what I'm here to check. I just played a 10 hour match and I want to make sure I didn't knock anything screwy again" I said gesturing at my hips.
"Ten Hours?!" Isla looked at me like I had just told her I had taken up walking on my hands.
"Yeah, good thing you didn't try to come to this one" I smiled while she scanned me over with her wand.
"Well did you at least win?" She asked, shaking her head.
"We did! We are on to the finals. And maybe sleep for about three days before then" I laughed.
"Well good for you. Also your hip's fine. You know I just threw that bit about the horse riding in to watch you two squirm, eh? Your hip is in fine working order no worries here on out, assuming you don't suddenly go crashing into anything at 80 kph again" She chuckled.
"You're evil, you know that" I laughed.
"It's occured to me a few times. I thought I was your favourite healer" she chuckled.
"Oh you are, both can be true. Alright, I'm off to sleep as though I'm dead for the next 20 hours in order to make up for the last 9" I laughed.
"You sure you don't want to take that hip of yours for a test ride now that you've got the all clear" she cackled.
"It's occured to me a few times" I smiled devilishly and left the tent.
I walked back to our team tent and took a quick shower. Someone had charmed all of the windows in the tent to look like night time and almost everyone was already snoring in their beds. I put my stuff down at my bed and snuck into the boys room. I walked over to Oliver's bed and he was awake and looking up at me.
"What are you doing?" He whispered.
"I wanted to come and sleep with you," I whispered, lifting his duvet and crawling in.
"That doesn't seem like the best idea." He whispered but willingly wrapped his arms around me.
"Especially since you left the game with your hip hurting" he purred into my ear.
"That's what I said, but mostly I just wanted to stop playing and give Carrie some more time in the sun. Apparently literally in this case." I giggled.
"So your hip doesn't hurt?" Oliver whispered as his hands found my waist under the covers.
"Nope, in fact Isla gave me the all clear, she was taking the piss about the horse riding" I said shifting so that I was straddling his chest.
"In that case this is a very poor choice on your part" Oliver whispered with my face inches from his.
"I've made a lot of poor choices when it comes to me and you, this won't be one of them." I had put a silencing charm around us when I got into bed. I put a disillusionment charm over us and showed him just how good my hip was now.