It was finally the season for getting into the stands and cheering Al on as he raced around various Quidditch pitches in Britain, competing with national teams from all over the country.

Spring was in there air on the crisp March morning the gang arrived to watch Al's first game of the season.

The Tutshill Tornados warmed up by racing around the pitch and doing a few drills with the quaffle, while their competing team, the Falmouth Falcons stayed in the locker rooms out of respect to the home team.

Rose still had a scarf wrapped around her neck, but delighted in the feeling of the breeze playing across her shorn scalp around the back of her head and playing with the curly ringlets of her fringe, draped across her forehead.

Rose maintained it really was one of the world's greatest travesties that so many people lived their whole lives without the joyous tingle of the sun and wind on a bare scalp.

.

Aaliyah didn't have any particular passion for Quidditch but she soon realised that Rose's love for the Chudley Cannons was superseded only by her love for a good game, so she tagged along. She took a deep breath in, enjoying the smell of freshly cut grass and flowers blooming - and let's be frank, it never hurts to have a few extra Healer's onsite at a Quidditch game.

She sat with Corey on one side and Rose on the other, they'd gotten quite chummy since his birthday party and the moment they shared stayed between them - a little secret whispering through their blossoming friendship.

Aaliyah had always thought that her compassion for her patients was what made her such a great healer, and it served her well in friendship too.

Without alerting anyone else, Corey whipped out a stash of slightly squished pumpkin pasties and shared them with Aaliyah, as they settled in to watch the game.

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"Fred, move ohhhh-ver! I want an actually decent view of the game."

"I'm trying, but we have very limited space up here and I'd prefer not to fall out of the stands thank you very much."

Jen and Fred were knocking they're way over to the seats, attempting not to fall over the edge of the stadium with how aggressively they were funneling their way through the crowd.

They finally made it to Greg, Bee, Annie and Adam, who were sitting in the row behind Rose, and Jen huffily sat down, but seemed to shift closer to Fred when he took the seat beside her.

Rose giggled and leaned over to Sam, who was sitting next to her, whispering, "Well they obviously haven't sorted themselves out yet, have they?"

Sam smirked, "We cannot talk Rose, not until they've surpassed the 7 year mark."

Rose rolled her eyes good-naturedly, "Oh look, Alice has come out to watch too."

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Alice had just made her way to the group and took the seat next to Sam, "Good morning you lot. How's the home team looking?"

She blushed slightly as she sat down, which Rose ignored externally but internally resolved to get to the bottom of...

"The Tornados are looking great - oh look, the Falcons are coming out," Rose tapped Aaliyah excitedly.

As the opposing team filed out of the locker rooms clad in dark grey and white robes, a cheer came up from the stand opposite Rose. The Falcons supporters were clearly making their presence known.

.

The next moment, the starting whistle was blown and the players speedily lifted off the ground and began their fight over the quaffle.

While bludgers and players whizzed around the pitch Rose decided to dig a little deeper into Alice's unassuming blush.

"So Alice, are you just here to watch Al or are you here to scout the competition?"

Alice was a reserve chaser for Puddlemere United and had quite a competitive streak that she hid behind her cheerful and pleasant manner. Anyone who knew her knew she loved Quidditch, but mostly she loved winning at Quidditch.

Alice laughed, "Rose, can't it be both? Albus always goes on and on about how glad he was to sign on with the Tornados and how I was a fool to join Puddlemere, even though they're the best team in the country. Just because I play reserve doesn't mean I'm not an important player in the team, and my salary gets paid either way."

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"Well Al got so used to being in the limelight at Hogwarts he probably didn't want to step back out of it again. If only being famous and a professional athlete could actually land him some progression in his personal life."

Alice blushed again, and Rose knew she'd said exactly what she needed to, "Well maybe that's just the problem, being so famous, I guess it's hard to know who's being genuine and who's-"

"10 POINTS TO THE FALCONS"

"Yesss", Sam whispered under his breath.

"You're meant to be supporting Al, Sam," Rose laughed.

"We'll the Falcons have been my time since childhood, it's hard!"

"Bally bastard!" Jen called out daringly to the Falcon chaser who had just scored the goal.

Annie pulled Jen back into her seat and muttered a warning to her about inciting a fight with the opposing team's supporters.

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"Anyway, you're quite right Alice, but I also think Al's always been a bit risk-averse, you know? Not when it comes to Quidditch obviously, but when it comes to love. You wouldn't happen to know if he's seeing anyone would you?"

Rose sounded far too innocent to actually be innocent, with all her leading questions. Sam had noticed, but he was too intently following the path of a Tornado bludger to intervene with the conversation happening over him.

Alice simply stuttered and blushed even more, "Well… I, urm. I can't say - I can't say that I do-"

Rose put the poor girl out of her misery with a cheeky giggle, "Relax Alice! I'm not going to tell anyone. I'm just very happy about it."

Rose leaned her arm across Sam and gave Alice's hand a squeeze.

.

Alice merely sputtered some more, but she knew she'd been caught out.

She and Albus had always had a special kind of friendship, and recently they'd been spending more time together.

She leaned behind Sam and whispered quietly to Rose, "To be honest, I've been dying to tell someone because he kissed me last night and it was… quite marvellous."

Rose held in a squeal, a grin splitting her ear to ear, gripping Alice by the shoulder.

"Just because you say it behind my head and not in front of it, doesn't mean I can't hear you two! Gross!" Sam complained as he leaned forward, trying to focus on the game and block out their whispers.

Then he leaned back and gave Alice a hug around the shoulders, "I'm very happy for you, Al and Al has such a great ring to it - you'll never know who's talking to you ever again."

Then they all snorted and returned to the game, Rose very much satisfied with her gentle prying.

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"10 POINTS TO THE TORNADOS"

They all settled into watch the game without any distractions, until Bee almost choked on a fly and Annie was too busy laughing to help, then Corey spilled a stash of butter beer on the person next to him and Aaliyah couldn't stop apologising while Adam cuffed Corey on the back of the head from the row behind, and Fred and Jen wouldn't stop muttering but everyone could see how close they were getting but no one was allowed to mention it obviously, and Greg and Bee were surreptitiously holding hands and it was all rather a mess.

It was then that Rose realised, she rather revelled in the chaos of her wonderful friends and the hilarious moments that made life interesting, and the joy of discovering wonderful secrets like Alice's.

Even when the Tornados lost the match (250-100 from a point for point tie!), Rose wasn't disappointed. It still felt like the day had been a win, surrounded by so many people she loved.

The chaotic calm before the storm.