May the Power Protect …the Quaffle?
Disclaimer: I wish I owned them but I don't; I'm just borrowing them for the duration of the story.
Chapter 4 ½: the Leadup
"Okaiy, jest sou everybody's cleah, this match is strictly exhibition, roight?"
"Don't worry, Zander, no one will think less of you for not being 'up to form' out there," Vida said, and patted him on the shoulder of his newly-conjured arm. Harry had let Udonna place him in hypnotic regression to find out what spell Tom Riddle had used to create a new hand for Peter Pettigrew, and the Mystic Mentor had put the strange spell to task to form Zander a replacement limb. The Green Ranger flexed the metallic fingers cautiously, still fascinated.
"All right, you lot, let's get padded up and grab our brooms!" Charlie Weasley, the token 'ringer' on their team, gave Vida and Chip resounding claps to the back, grinning. "Godric's galleons, it's gonna be good to get in the air without a firebreathing menace two seconds behind me."
Ginny, overhearing him through the partition between the teams' changing rooms, just yelled back "Move out of Romania, Charlie!" The others all chuckled at the now-familiar joke.
"Alright, I will, Gin!" he yelled back. "But you have to break it to mum I've gone to America on a California Gold Rush!"
Ginny Weasley apparated two centimeters in front of her brother, glaring out through the sleeve of the Red Quidditch robe she was only half-way into. "You wouldn't dare, you … you … Dragonchaser!" Clare burst into giggles and Maddie and Nick ducked out into the corridor leading to the Pitch. The pair's laughter was impossible to miss.
"Sadly, an incurable one, sis," Charlie said with a smirk as he reached out and tugged her robes the rest of the way over her head. "Now get back to your own team before we tie you up for spying." He spun her and gave her a shove back out the door. "Nick! Maddie! Get your arses back in here!" Once the whole of the Mystic Force was gathered around him, he lowered his voice. "Now, what say we switch this up a little, and give them a real surprise, eh? I know you wanted me to try at Keeper or Seeker, with my experience, but I've seen you lot practicing, and I've got an idea …"
Quidditch
"Seriously, Bill, you ought to take Keeper. You're loads better than I ever will be." The other two Weasley brothers exchanged glance behind Ron's back.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think Ickle Ronnie-kins' nerves were crashing and burning again." George shook his head. "C'mon, what'll it take? Need a verse of 'Weasley is our King' to work you up to it? 'Cause if it is, I've been working on new words all morning." He waggled his orange brows threateningly until Ron just folded, laughing.
"You know you're incorrigible," Bill muttered to George, who just beamed back.
"Of course! I learned from the best, didn't I?" They got their robes straightened out, and clapped forearms. "Beaters' best!" the two brothers intoned together, as Ginny came back in with a sour look on her face.
"I think he may mean it," she said sadly, looking back over her shoulder.
"Wotcher, Ginny?" Harry asked, standing up from the bench where he'd been retying his trainers.
"You haven't seen the looks he's been giving Clare, have you?" She wrung her hands in a fair imitation of her mother for a second, then stamped her foot and glared up at her boyfriend. "How'd you like to move to Briarwood, Harry?"
Floored by the question, Harry could only gape at her like a landed merman. His expression got her to laugh, so he considered his job done for the moment, and grinned down at her. "I love your laugh, Ginny Weasley," he said, and leaned down and kissed her.
"OY!" her brothers all yelped, seeing their sister swapping tongue-space. Never mind if he was the Boy who Lived …
'Ahem.' Fleur, Katie and Hermione were all by the lockers, and the three gave their hypocritical boyfriends saucy winks, with obvious 'Leave those two alone' nods.
"Are we all set?" George asked, grabbing the crate with the Quidditch Balls in it. The weight reminded him. "Hey, Hermione, what was your solution for the Bludger prob?"
"Open it up," she answered, pulling her wand out.
To everyone's astonishment, Hermione tapped the lone Bludger twice and intoned "Addadenda." With a faint 'pop', a second Bludger made a sudden appearance in George's arms, and he staggered under the sudden additional weight. At the look of naked avarice gleaming in Ron's eyes, the bushy-haired young witch just shook her head and said, "Sorry, but it'll only last a few hours."
"You really are the smartest Witch ever, aren't you?" Ron pulled her in for a 'good luck' kiss of his own, and when he let her go, her cheeks were as red as the Weasley's hair.
With that, the two teams headed out onto the new Briarwood Quidditch Pitch.
* * *
