Both Sherlock and John woke early, it was still dark and the wind could be heard screaming around their respective towers, thankfully the hail sounded as if it had turned to rain, it wouldn't be quite as painful but it was certainly going to be a wet one.
Sherlock dressed quietly, grabbed his broom and copy of Numerology and Grammatica, and sprawled over a chair in the deserted Ravenclaw common room immersing himself the book. In the Gryffindor common room, John sat hunched in the armchair closest to the grate. He stared into the embers feeling sick with worry and wishing the game would be cancelled. The rain beat down mercilessly on the Castle and it's grounds.
Later, when the rumblings of students waking up echoed overhead, Sherlock looked up from his book. The common room was still dim but the world outside had changed from black to dark, dull grey. He stood up, stretched and yawned, then tucking his broomstick under one arm and book under the other he sauntered out of the room and made his way down to the Great Hall. He thought he'd have some toast, for energy, and he should have finished digesting by Eleven as it was, he checked his watch, Seven o'clock in the morning. Hopefully, seeing as it was early, he would be avoiding meeting John as well.
By Eight o'clock, the rest of John's team-mates had joined him in the common room. Harvey, their seeker was staring out the window at the rain lashed grounds miserably and tapping his fingers nervously; Ashton the captain sat gazing at his own hands, his face as white as a sheet. In contrast, the three chasers seemed quite at ease, Molly and Courtney had initially grimaced at the weather but were now chatting quite happily about the available boys on the Ravenclaw team. John pricked up his ears at the sound of Sherlock's name.
'Ooh yes… He's definitely one of the hottest, I mean just look at those cheekbones.' Courtney said dreamily.
'Yes but he's just so… you know, scary almost.' Mumbled Molly. Courtney didn't seem to hear her.
'And he's so tall, and lean, with his cute little curls. God, I wish I was in Ravenclaw.' John almost smiled, the thought of Sherlock's expression when John would tell him what the girls had said was highly amusing, then he remembered they weren't really on talking terms at the moment and felt the nerves and worry swallow him again.
Hugo the third chaser and Greg, John's fellow beater were discussing tactics, Hugo seemed perfectly at ease but Greg kept glancing at the window anxiously. He gave John a look.
'You alright John? Not looking too good.' Asked Greg. 'Is it cos of Holmes?' He added sympathetically.
John gave a funny movement between a nod and a shrug, not trusting his voice. Greg seemed to understand, turning to the Captain he said, 'Should we go down to breakfast?' Ashton nodded and leapt up, shaking slightly. The team filed out of the common room and went down to the Great Hall.
The Great Hall was almost completely deserted, only a few early birds and a couple of the Ravenclaw team were there. It took up all of John's resolve not to look for Sherlock as he sat down and attempted to eat some toast, today he had to think of Sherlock as nothing but an enemy team member, this was the deciding game and he was determined not to mess it up. After half an hour or so, people began trickling down from their respective common rooms, the noise level increased rapidly as excited spectators chattered loudly. John barely heard the 'Good Luck's or the felt the pats on his back, the rest of the team also seemed oblivious and were staring nervously around themselves. Finally, Ashton stood up with a clatter of cutlery and announced, 'Team! Changing rooms now.'
The Gryffindor's trooped out to a mixture of cheers and boos, John couldn't help glancing at the Ravenclaw table but either couldn't see Sherlock in all the crowd or the Seeker wasn't there. In the safety of the Changing room the Gryffindor's removed their clothes which were completely drenched after just the run down from the castle, and stepped into their Quidditch robes.
'Ok.' Ashton cleared his throat and looked around at the team meaningfully. 'This, we have to win. There is no problem with point margins, it's going to be a clear-cut race for the snitch. So you all know your jobs. This game will probably have the most fouls of the season because we are going to do anything, anything we can to stop that boy getting the Snitch.' He took a deep breath then let it out rather shakily.' Hugo, Molly and Courtney, score as many as you can to try and reach the 150 mark as protection. But also keep your eyes on their Seeker, block him, foul him, knock him off if you have to, but don't let him catch that Snitch.' The three chasers nodded seriously, John's stomach clenched painfully.
'John and Greg. Hit every single bludger you can find at Holmes. This is going to be a very dirty game but on no account must you chicken out of a hit. Is that understood?' Ashton looked at John closely, calculating. 'John. Do you know anything about how Holmes flies? Does he have any key moves or tendencies? We need anything that might give us an advantage.' John swallowed nervously and tried to think. He was just an enemy Seeker, it wasn't betrayal, it was using knowledge to ensure a win.
'He…he dodges downward. And relies on speed over tricks, he'll be most vulnerable to group attacks, if two of us go to block him he'll have trouble.' John blocked the guilty part of himself in a corner of his brain and walled it off, then thinking tactically it became a lot easier to describe Sherlock's flying patterns. 'Watch for his feints, and Harvey,' He pointed at the seeker, 'If you stick close to him he'll get annoyed, hopefully that will distract him and if we're lucky make him sloppy.' John grinned. 'Oh, and he'll be off-guard around me as he expects me to avoid him and shy away from any conflict.' He laughed grimly. 'But he's got that wrong.' John's mind-frame had changed, if Sherlock was going to play it like this then John was going to bloody well play it like that too, there would be no weakness, and god was John ready.
In the Ravenclaw Changing room the Captain was briefing his team, he pointed at Sherlock. 'They know that you're better than their Seeker, therefore they'll be playing dirty. So our top priority is to protect Sherlock, it's going to be a race for the snitch and we need to win.' He glared around the room an unearthly glow in his eyes, 'We need to win.' He repeated. Sherlock was staring out of the window looking bored. He wasn't sure what John was going to do, it was so frustrating how he somehow always managed to do what Sherlock hadn't expected. He was fairly sure this time that John would be split, he was always a loyal type so it seemed natural that he would be struggling with which side to stand. To be completely honest, Sherlock was slightly nervous now; with the pounding rain, high winds and the knowledge that every player out there was going to be focussed on him for good or bad he was feeling quite tense. The likelihood that he would be in the hospital wing tonight was hovering around 74% and you couldn't ignore numbers.
The rest of the team was getting up around Sherlock, it must be time. Keeping his face carefully blank he stood, gripping his broomstick until his knuckles showed white. He felt a gentle pat on his back, and scowled momentarily, he didn't need any sympathy, he was fine. They stepped out into the storm. The change in temperature was like a physical blow and almost instantly Sherlock felt thoroughly drenched, he could see the Gryffindors staggering toward the centre of the pitch and could even tell which was John so the visibility didn't seem too bad. But John didn't look worried at all, in contrast he looked happy, in a grim sort of way. Sherlock's gut lurched anxiously, the Ravenclaw closed his eyes for a moment, he wasn't scared, he didn't get scared, he was going to win this match because no one could stop him, Sherlock was ready for this and he was the best. His eyes flew open and he smiled wickedly; The Game, was on.
A.N: The game is next I promise! I just was writing what was happening before and it ended up as like a whole chapter…But I'm almost finished the match so it will be here very very soon! Please Review!