The great hall was rather noisy the next day, but the sound wasn't coming from the Gryffindor table. Half of its residents had apparently taken apart in James and Tyler's stupid fake strike. Rose was eating, but Max hadn't taken a bite. She would try to encourage him to, but every Gryffindor had gone hungry when faced with their first match and she knew he would probably throw up whatever he decided to eat anyway.
"I just think this is really cool," said Al during breakfast after hearing about Max's recruitment.
Rose had hardly seen Al or Scor except for in passing corridors after Quidditch practice and dinner. They hadn't been showing up for Library studying, Astronomy tutoring, or hardly even breakfast. Today, though, it seemed, they couldn't resist the first match of the season.
"I still don't understand why Quidditch season starts a month early," said Scorpius. Both boys looked exhausted as they always did when Rose did see them.
"Starting the season a month early makes us finish a month early so we would have more time to revise for our exams," Rose answered before embarking on a delicious looking jam tart. "Apparently, it's the Quidditch teams that have the lower grade scores due to the stress and exhaustion of the season. Professor Kemp tried this early method last year, and it proved effective." Rose glanced over at Max again who had his now green hair in his hands and was staring down at the table as he had been for the past six minutes. "Max," Rose pleaded. "At least have something to drink, some water, you'll get all dehydrated and fall from the sky."
He obeyed and took the water in such small increments it was as though he was drinking scotch. Students were already flooding from the great hall to get good seats in the Quidditch stands, and it was when Rocky stood, that all the rest of the team did as well. The Gryffindor table clapped as they left which only made Max paler, he didn't want praise for something he might ruin.
It was a good day for Quidditch. The ground was firm, the sky was blue, and despite the chilly October air that would undoubtedly grow colder as they sped through it, Rocky was quite pleased. Again, the Quidditch players met up in their dressing rooms, changed into their Quidditch robes, and listened to their captain give them a pep talk before waiting for their names to be called from the outside. The boys jostled each other's hair and barked and boomed, all excited about the game that awaited. Max and Rose sat in silence. She wanted to be excited and celebratory with her friends, but that would only make Max sicker. There was a sudden gasping coming from outside and Watson Trout swung into the room looking excited but stopped to clutch his side and cough.
"Merlin's beard, man!" Ishmael exclaimed. "What are you doing down here?"
"I wanted to see everyone!" he smiled. "Mainly you." He looked at Max. "Look," he started. "You are terrified, but I want you to relax."
"I'm going to ruin the game for you guys!" Max croaked.
"Of course you are with that attitude!" Watson smiled. "The trademark thing for the Gryffindor team that always wins us the match is confidence, pride, maybe a little cockiness as long as you don't let it get to your head." Max didn't seem to be listening. Watson sighed. "If you're too busy thinking you're gonna fail, then you don't have time to focus on things like catching the quaffle, and…" he glanced at Rose then whispered something in Max's ear that made him sit up straight and look confused, but which Rose couldn't understand. Watson smiled and slapped Max on the back before walking out with a grin and a salute to the team.
"What'd he say?" Rose asked sitting beside her friend.
Max thought for a moment. "I have no idea," he replied slowly.
An eruption of noise announcing the intro to the game issuing from the commentators stand told the team that they had three minutes to get ready. They bustled around lacing up boots and fastening their robe strings, ruffling their hair and dancing around to loosen up. The commentators announced the Gryffindor team as everyone within the dressing rooms climbed over each other to get in line, stepping on toes and catching their boot buckles to each other's until they fell from the tent in a perfect single-file line as though the commotion within had never happened.
Max was clutching his broomstick as though his life depended on it. They stopped before the Hufflepuff team who looked cheerful and excited. Illya Vizzini and Rose were face to face with each other, both of them being beaters. He smiled and looked quite surprised that she had made beater and gave her a curt nod that made her stomach do a summersault. She cursed the inconvenient feeling as they were told to mount their brooms. She had not admitted that she had a small crush on this handsome blonde Hufflepuff the previous year and though it was for sure gone, she still got butterflies when he smiled at her.
A loud whistling ripped through her thoughts as they took to the air. Madam Hooch who was refereeing released into the air, the bludgers, the snitch, and finally with the release of the quaffle, the game commenced. Rose swooped down and whacked a bludger away from Isaac as he tossed the quaffle to, everyone's surprise, Max. Max was so startled that he dropped it which was a mistake, but good because it allowed Ishmael to catch in from below and make a discreet shot pass the Hufflepuff keeper and make the first goal of the season. Isaac hit Max on the back as though he had meant to drop it and continued to wrestle the quaffle from Wistle.
"First goal of the season made my Ishmael Stewart! Congratulations, Ishmael!" Fred's voice boomed from the commentator's stand followed his sister's, Roxanne.
"And it looks like Gryffindor had a substitute chaser!" she called. "A second year by the name of Vladimir Everard! But you'll know him as the metamorphmagus with the purple hair!"
Rose tried to watch Max when she could, but she couldn't spare the time to look or else she or one of her teammates could break a jaw. There really was a lot of pressure on the beaters.
She ducked as Enoc's bat made contact with the bludger that was darting toward her and she, in turn, aimed the other at Hufflepuff captain and chaser, Lime.
From what seemed like nowhere, the sky grew dark and thick gray clouds devoured the blue sky. Rose glanced at her watch which had been the baby blue of the sky but which was now swirling into gray. They hadn't counted on rain; they hadn't trained Max for it either. Heavy drops of rain began to fall until the air was thick with it, making it much more difficult to see. Rose's bat kept sliding from her hand even without swinging it. The ground became muddy and full of puddles to the point that Madam Hooch was forced to use her old broom as a bench to watch the game from below rather than standing in the sludge.
Ishmael swooped by with the quaffle under arm and Rose almost tumbled as he flew by, having not seen him until it was almost too late. She swung at a bludger that was heading for Max and found that it was he who now had the quaffle and he who made a pass through the goal hoop. Rose cheered out loud before she noticed that somehow, Max was covered from head to toe in mud.
Rose was freezing and soaked to the bone as she made every attempt to succeed as the first female Gryffindor beater in over two-hundred years, but she wasn't finding the task easy. Twice, she saw bludgers fly by and wasn't able to retrace them though the sudden storm. A whistle blew announcing the end of the game. Rose didn't know who won, she couldn't see the score through the down poor.
"Who won?" she asked Rocky as he swept down into the mud. He grinned and showed her the snitch in his hand worth one-hundred fifty points. "What's the score?" she asked.
"Gryffindor 250 to Hufflepuff 90," Rocky replied.
Rose was shocked that they had only been ten points ahead before the catch of the snitch. She looked to find James hit the ground, sweaty and red.
"What happened?" she barked. "Hufflepuff made nine shots past you!"
He scowled. "And I blocked thirteen! I kept sliding off my broom! And where were you when the bludger hit Isaac? He had to drop the quaffle?"
"Who cares?" came Isaac's excited voice dropping from the sky. He hit the ground, nursing a black eye. "We won!"
"Where's Max?" she asked, now realizing that he was absent.
Isaac cupped his eyes to watch as a blur shoot from the sky. Max hit the ground so hard that a wave of mud engulfed his legs but miraculously, he remained on his feet.
"Max! We won!" Rose exclaimed, punching him in the arm.
"Never. Again." Max said, tense and ridged, handing the broom to Al who had just made his way down to congratulate them.
Rose's gloves were wet but otherwise still clean. She used them to wipe the mud from Max's face and eyes and smiled at him. It took a moment, but it was apparently the fact that she looked so jostled from the game that made him smile too.
"That was incredible!" said Scorpius excitedly. "Four goals you made with only one practice! Makes me think that even I have a shot!"
"Of course you do," Max smiled.
"Merlin's beard, Max! You did it! You did it!" Watson was running toward them clutching his side again and looking to be in much pain. Madam Pomfrey was chasing after him like an angry goose.
"Not so fast, Trout!" she screeched.
"Oh," Watson gasped. "Thank you! Next time I'm unable to play, I'm calling-"
"Ortho!" Max interrupted. "Next time you're unable to play, you're calling someone else."
Rocky clapped him on the back and laughed. "You had me going for a moment there! But you know the drill, Gryffindor victory party, now!"
He suddenly stopped and looked at Al and Scorpius, as did everyone else. An awkward moment passed.
"Uh," muttered Al. "We're gonna walk away now, don't party too hard!" he called behind him.
Rose was excited about the victory party but was also quite discouraged that she couldn't spend it with Albus and Scor; she hadn't seen them in weeks is seemed.
Her discomfort with not spending time with Alcor was wiped clean from her mind with the party raging in the tower above. It was quite peculiar. As always, the parties were full of food and music, music and… more food, but one thing was mostly missing, the voices that usually engulfed the tunes. Half of the Gryffindors smiled and waved glasses, took pictures and celebrated in the same way anyone else would, but no words were issuing from their mouths; Rose felt as though she were in the early stages of going deaf. But for the first time, Max was getting the attention custom to Quidditch players. He got a banner and photos, praise, and a lot of attention from people he didn't know and by the look on Max's face, he liked it.
Two hours later, butterbeer bottles littered the crimson carpets along with cake crumbs, sweet wrappers, confetti and most of the Quidditch team lay sprawled out over the junk. Max was lucky enough to get the couch and Rose stood looking at the mess. She had left the chug game for three minutes to go to the toilet, and this is what she comes back to find? Rose wasn't going to attempt to carry these boys to bed. Instead, she took the throws from the sofas and chairs and draped the exhausted boys. She also thought it would be necessary and nice to pull the custard tart out from under Enoc's head and flip James, so he wasn't face down… then she made for her warm, made-up, crump-free bed in her private dormitory… after snapping a photo with Meredith Creevey's camera of course.