Songs:
For the quidditch match - watch?v=V1VUFEjd978
For Muggle Studies - watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ
Also, note that the Hogwarts quidditch cup is awarded to the team with the most quidditch points at the end of the season gained from all the different matches, not the team that wins the most matches.
Chapter 19: Quaffles & Karaoke
June, Fifth Year
Every movement ached more than the last. The extra hour of training I had to do every day on Professor Sylvester's orders as well as all the other hours of quidditch practice she was insisting on for the rest of the team were straining me more than I thought possible. Every day I woke up more tired than the last, but I couldn't risk missing any classes with OWLs coming up as well. And then there was the added pressure of Professor Sylvester's hints that I might make captain next year – so long as we won the cup and she didn't have to completely overhaul the team. It was way too much pressure, and by the time I fell into bed late every night it was enough to keep me awake from worrying even though all I wanted to do was sleep.
But the thing that made everything worse was Brittany. She wouldn't come near me. She wasn't there to tell my worries to, she wasn't there to give her amazing massages that always seemed to fix the aches in my body, she wasn't there to fall asleep with. I wanted to stay angry, because the image of her and Artie in our room still wouldn't leave me alone, but… I couldn't. I needed her. I needed her to reassure me that everything was okay, that we were still friends even though we'd had a bit of an argument. But it was getting harder and harder to convince myself of that when she was always with him or Becky or Quinn, but never me. She was laughing now, at something Artie had said, like she didn't have a care in the world.
"Santana, you have to speak to her."
I snapped my eyes away from Brittany to find that Quinn was now sitting beside me at the Slytherin table. I rolled my eyes and took another bite from the bacon sandwich that was now cold. I carried on eating it anyway.
"Santana," she repeated. "You're miserable! So is she!"
"She doesn't look miserable to me," I commented sourly, hearing her laughter float across the room again.
"You know she's putting it on just as much as I know it. Why won't you just try and make things right?"
"I have more important things on my mind right now," I lied. "I have a quidditch cup to win today, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the pitch to get ready for that." I dropped the remnants of the sandwich onto my plate and swung my legs around the bench to stand, marching away as quickly as possible so I wouldn't have to listen to any more of Quinn's whining about how I should say sorry. I had a match to win and a captaincy to grab, I needed to get my head in gear. I didn't need to be getting all sentimental with apologies - especially since Brittany should be apologising too! - when I was about to face her on the quidditch pitch. We were going to win. All this training was going to be worth it, and we were going to knock Hufflepuff off their pedestal so someone else could have a chance at quidditch glory.
Reaching the pitch, I entered the girls' changing rooms and got dressed quickly into my uniform, then made my way to the Slytherin meeting room, intending to go over some of the tactics Jason had decided on. My legs were still sore from the manoeuvres we'd been practicing yesterday, but that would be fixed soon enough.
Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one to get there early. Puck was lounging on one of the benches with his eyes closed, apparently asleep. I kicked the bench solidly as I passed it, rolling my eyes when he jerked up.
"We've got a match in half an hour, Puck. You need to go over tactics, not sleep."
He scowled at me, twisting to sit on the bench properly.
"I happen to know all the tactics properly, I don't need to go over them again because I'm too busy with other things to learn them."
"Yeah? How about formation ten, huh? You basically knocked Azimio off his broom yesterday messing that one up."
"Well I could think of worse things I could be doing, maybe like you-"
"Hey!" We both turned to see Jason in the doorway, arms folded and glaring. "We're on the same team! I don't care what shit you two have got going on, sort it out! We won't win the cup even with our head-start if you won't pass to each other." Puck shifted to lay back down on the bench with a sigh, but Jason knocked it just like I had. "No sleeping now Puck, the potions are coming. Go over tactics." I smirked, but then he carried on speaking. "Both of you, together, go over the tactics. You're two of the best players on the team, I need you to work together on the pitch if we're going to win."
I stared determinedly at the ground, only risking a glance towards Puck once I was sure Jason was gone. He was looking up at the ceiling, his back on the bench again, and I sighed. I really did want to win this. And we needed as many goals as possible before Brittany caught the snitch - because that was almost a certainty. It was why we had a chance at winning the cup, because she caught the snitch so quickly in the other Hufflepuff matches before they could score many goals. Our seeker had got lucky in the last two matches; she didn't stand a chance against Britt.
"He's right," I said after about a minute of silence. "We need to score as much as possible."
"I know what we need," Puck snapped back.
"Okay, so let's just forget you hate me until the end of the match, yeah?" I didn't think he was going to agree at first, but then he nodded and climbed off the bench to come towards me. I pulled one of Jason's formation maps from the pile on the table. "This one's kind of obvious-"
"But it's the quickest," Puck filled in for me with a nod, stepping closer to look down at the two-man scoring plan. "We need speed, and that doesn't involve Alex," he added, naming our fellow chaser.
It was surprisingly easy to slip back into normal quidditch conversation with Puck. We'd been on the team together since fourth year, and since then discussing tactics had become one of the few topics that wouldn't lead to an argument. We didn't have long though - soon the rest of our teammates arrived, and Jason was back with the pepper-up potions we always took before matches. I was more grateful for it than usual as I felt the aches in my body subside after swallowing it, but I couldn't avoid thinking of Brittany.
"Alright everyone, gather 'round!" Jason called.
Ugh, no, I couldn't think of Brittany right now. Until this match was over, she was just the Hufflepuff seeker. We were going to win. We were going to beat the Hufflepuffs. And I was going to make captain.
The short time we had left before the match passed in a blur. Jason repeated what he'd said a hundred times already about how our focus was on scoring and how we needed a sixty point lead, but then the bell summoning us to the pitch was ringing. My fingers were digging into the wood of my broom as we marched out to stand opposite the Hufflepuffs. I stripped away all the other worries I had at the moment, ignoring Brittany stood further down the line, and instead stared down Monica who was opposite me. She was glaring back just as intensely. She knew there was a good chance of Hufflepuff losing the cup, for the first time since she'd been made captain. This was it. This was what the weeks of training had led to. We were going to win this thing. Professor Beiste's whistle blew once and I mounted my broom, hovering with my eyes now trained on the box below. The bludgers and snitch were released, and I was vaguely aware of the cheers all around the stadium.
Then the quaffle was in her hands. I readied my broom to swoop forward. It was flying up, and my thighs were trembling with how hard I was clenching my broom between my brooms. It was going up, up, and I couldn't touch it yet… and finally it started falling and I zoomed up to grab it. Monica was to my left and I lashed out with one foot to kick her out of the way before throwing it over the circle of fighting chasers to where Puck was waiting. He flew off towards the Slytherin goals, dodging a bludger and scoring easily past the unprepared keeper who had only just reached his hoops.
I didn't take the chance to celebrate as the score was announced, instead flying swiftly towards the Hufflepuff chaser who now had the quaffle. I flew straight at her, gathering speed. She was trying to fly me down, but I wouldn't back up now - she was going to move, or we were going to collide and she was going to be in a lot of pain. She got closer than I thought she would before finally dropping, right into where Puck was waiting to snatch the quaffle from her hands. I continued towards the goal and when a bludger came his way the ball soared right into my waiting hands. The keeper was more prepared this time, but I didn't care, I'd ram him down if I had to. It was unnecessary though - a quick feint to the right fooled him and the quaffle spun easily into the left hoop.
We continued like that, all the manoeuvres we had been practicing for weeks coming out easily. It took five more goals before a bludger came accurately enough in my direction that I was forced to slam into the side of the stadium to avoid it. The collision with splintered wood burned through my whole arm and made me drop the quaffle into Monica's waiting hands.
"Shit… ugh…" I groaned, gripping my broom with just my legs as I clutched my injured arm. My uniform was torn despite all the magical protections on it and my arm was throbbing with pain.
"You okay Lopez?" Puck yelled.
"Fine, get the quaffle!" I shouted back. He flew off obediently as I hovered next to the edge of the stadium, taking a few moments to get the pain under control. I was distracted by a yellow figure zooming past, soon followed by a smaller green figure, and I felt a drop in my stomach that completely overruled the pain when I realised it was Brittany, gaining on the snitch. She couldn't catch it yet! We were only fifty points ahead! I searched for Karofsky and Azimio, but they were both by the goals, and obviously weren't keeping an eye on Brittany like they were supposed to. There was no more time. I ignored the pain as best I could and flew away from the edge of the pitch, down to where the snitch was now zigzagging across the pitch. Our seeker was doing her best, but she was no match for Brittany. I zoomed down so I was flying just behind Brittany, still not sure what I was going to do. She was getting closer and closer, her hand reaching out already, focused on nothing but the snitch. I had to distract her.
"Hey Brittany, got any pepper-up potions?" I yelled as loud as I could. She faltered for a moment, enough for me to catch up with her and slam into the side of her, spinning her broom out of control and away from the snitch. The whistle blew almost immediately with Professor Beiste bellowing at me for so obviously intending to foul, but I was more focused on the intense scowl Brittany was sending my way. I'd never seen her so angry before. I couldn't tear my eyes away - even when she looked away from me and flew away to restart her circling of the pitch, I kept watching her.
"Lopez, snap out of it!" Puck shouted as the quaffle flew from him towards me. I caught it on instinct, and then I was back in the game.
Three more goals came easily with the tactics Puck and I had worked out - even Alex managed to score a couple. The wind hitting my arm kept stinging it, but after a while it started to go numb. I just clung onto my broom with that hand so I didn't have to move it much, catching and throwing with my left hand. I was pretty sure we had enough of a lead, but that didn't stop me trying to score even more. I dodged around Monica's tackle and a bludger took out the keeper, allowing me to throw the quaffle through the centre hoop without any difficulty.
"Pierce, no!" someone shrieked behind me, and I spun quickly to see Brittany chasing the snitch yet again. I glanced up at the tower where the scores were displayed, but it was too far away. We had enough points now, didn't we? "Stop!" Monica shouted again, looking desperate. But Brittany wasn't listening - she was focused on the snitch, just like she always did when she chased it. In the corner of my eye something moved, and I jerked my head to see Monica speeding towards the Slytherin goal with the quaffle.
"We need to stop her!" I shouted. I had no idea how many points we were ahead, but we couldn't let her score any more for Hufflepuff. "Karofsky!" I yelled, beckoning him away from the Hufflepuff goal to follow me. There was no point in him lingering there any longer, we needed to keep our lead. Puck was flying ahead, getting closer to Monica, but a bludger spun towards him. "Puck!" I shouted, trying to warn him, but it was too late - the bludger slammed into his shoulder from above and he was knocked straight off his broom, falling through the air. I averted my eyes, increasing my speed as much as I could and letting out a sigh of relief when Jason blocked Monica's throw. It wasn't over yet, though - there had been no cheer signalling the catch of the snitch. Azimio's bludger missed and she had the quaffle again. I dived forward, careful not to foul as I knocked it out of hand from behind, but it just went into another Hufflepuff chaser's hands and he threw it towards the lowest hoop, away from Jason.
I was suddenly deafened by the cheers and the screech of the whistle, a moment before the quaffle went through the hoop. I spun on my broom, checking first that Puck was okay - he was staring up from the grass - and then searching for Brittany, constantly alert for the announcement of the final scores. She was grinning with the snitch held high, but her smile dropped when Monica flew to her and started shouting just as the commentator announced the scores.
"Hufflepuff win the match 200 to 120, but with a massive 610 total points to 590, Slytherin win the quidditch cup!"
We'd done it! We'd won! Jason slammed into me from behind with a yell of victory as I tried to process it. We had just won the quidditch cup! I hugged Alex tightly when he approached then dropped down to Puck. He was punching the air as best he could with one arm and I laughed loudly as I grabbed him from behind, careful to avoid his bleeding shoulder as I hugged him.
"We did it!" I yelled in his ear and jumping off my broom as he turned, grinning back as he returned the hug.
"We won!" he shouted in response, his eyes bright and last week's party apparently forgotten. Jason joined us a second later, and then the rest of our team was swooping down for a massive group hug. My arm started burning again as the adrenalin faded and Jason pressed into it from the side, but that didn't matter. Who cared we hadn't won the match, we'd won the cup!
"Excuse me - I, um, excuse me!" a voice called from the side. The others started to pull back and I saw Madam Pillsbury to the side, looking very nervous at the sight of eight dirty, bloody and bruised quidditch players. "I… uh, Noah, let me have a look at that shoulder. Then I'll check your arm, Santana," she said, hesitantly stepping forward with her wand out. I stepped back, my face aching from how much I was smiling. My head turned to see Brittany standing alone, Monica marching away from her. Quinn was right, I should just reach out to her. The match was over, there was no reason to avoid it now. I hurried over, the wide smile falling off my face when I realised she was crying.
"Brittany!" I called, to get her attention. Her eyes snapped towards me and she quickly lifted a hand to scrub at the tears on her face. She was still clutching the snitch
"What?" she asked sharply.
"I… uh, look. Can we be friends again? I miss you, Britt. And it was a good game."
"It would have been a better game if you hadn't fouled me. We would have won!"
"It's quidditch, fouls happen," I replied, trying to defend myself.
"Not like you did it, mentioning… you know what. It's not fair. You're not fair, Santana, you never play fair," she snapped. The cheering in my ears buzzed and faded as she walked away from me, not looking back.
3 days later
"Alright class, listen up!"
The chattering class silenced almost immediately when a loud, slightly crackling singing harmony sounded from the front of the room. I perked up when I recognised the music after only a few words - my dad was always playing this song from his old CD player when he did gardening. With a tap of her wand on the record player, Professor Holliday fast-forwarded the music to the best part. I could see Quinn staring at it in shock in the corner of my vision as I tapped my foot along with the tune.
"I see a little silhouette-o of a man, scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the fandango…" I sang quietly to myself, then grinned when several other people - all with at least one muggle parent - joined in. "…galileo, galileo, figaro, magnifico-"
The music stopped abruptly when Professor Holliday tapped it again, grinning cheerily at us all. "So, who can tell me what song that is - someone without a muggle parent," she added with a wink. I put my hand down in disappointment. Muggle Studies was the one class I knew almost all the answers to without having to try. Santana had convinced me to take it in third year, saying the teacher was legendary, and I was so glad I had. It was a class of watching films and listening to music and learning to drive pretend cars. My eyes flicked to where she was sat alone at the front of class, slumped back in her chair. "Rachel, yes?" Professor Holliday asked the only remaining hand in the air.
"Bohemian Rhapsody by the rock band Queen, one of the best-selling muggle singles of all time and one of the most revered songs in-"
"Thanks Rachel, that'll do," Professor Holliday interrupted her cheerily. "So, today we'll carry on looking at muggle entertainment, especially music! That was a recording of a live performance, because muggles love live performances. I've been to a few myself - Glastonbury was especially fun, the rivers of mud just make it that much more special," she mused. I giggled, continuing to watch Quinn's face. I should sit next to her in Muggle Studies more often, she looked so confused. "So, who else can name a muggle entertainment that relates to music?"
Rachel's hand shot up in the air again before anyone else's and it twitched slightly as she raised it as high as possible. Thinking for a moment, I put my hand up as well.
"Yes Brittany?"
"Carolling at Christmas," I suggested. Her wand knocked the board, and an enchanted piece of chalk began scrawling 'carolling' across the blackboard.
"Good. Anything else? …Kurt?"
"Musical theatre! West End, Broadway-" He was interrupted by Rachel's huff and glare sent in his direction as she dropped her hand.
"Come on now Rachel, you've got to let other people answer too," Professor Holliday teased. "You're in the muggle music club, can't you think of something else?"
"Well there's karaoke, but it's really not a very formal-"
"Karaoke! Excellent! Has anyone here not experienced the ear-bleeding joy of karaoke?"
Half the class slowly raised their hands, most of them looking a bit nervous. Professor Holliday was known for springing surprises on people who didn't know what something was. Today was no exception, and she pulled back the cloth from her desk to reveal a karaoke machine – that was apparently hooked up to a bubbling cauldron.
"Karaoke is sort of a music game, where you're given the words and have to sing along in time with the music. Now we've had to adjust this a bit because Professor Figgins has still not allowed me to take you out of Hogwarts to experience true electricity, but it should all be working well. So, who wants to go first?" The hands in the air dropped as one, except for Rachel's which flew up. "Really? Santana, how about you?"
I tensed a little at her name. She did, too. Her back straightened and I could picture the look on her face perfectly. She could sing, I knew she could. When we were little she'd sung songs for me to dance along with. But she never sang in front of anyone else. I'd tried to persuade her to one time but she'd flat out refused. Maybe she would this time. Maybe she'd get the courage to do what someone else wanted to for a change. But no, she was shaking her head. Of course she was.
"No? Never mind. Okay Rachel, up you come."
She almost ran to the front of the classroom and I leaned back in my chair, playing with the bottle of ink on my desk. Quinn nudged me just as Rachel burst into song and I looked over at her. She had that look on her face again. The one that made her look guilty and confused and worried at the same time.
"Won't you speak to her?"
"She's a cheat. We would have won if she hadn't distracted me," I replied quietly, looking away again and back at the ink bottle.
"Brittany, since when did you care about winning? I thought you only joined the team so you could play more often?"
I shrugged, not wanting to agree with her because then she'd know I wasn't mad about losing. It was easier to say I was mad about losing than to say I was mad because Santana used our code language against me. She told me off for taking Artie to the Room of Requirement, but then she did that because she knew it would distract me.
Quinn kept trying to convince me for the rest of the lesson. While Professor Holliday was explaining how muggle microphones worked, Quinn was whispering in my ear that we were both miserable and we just needed to talk to work things out. But I didn't think that was it. If we talked, things would just go back to normal. And normal was too hard. Normal was kissing her and touching her and pretending she loved me back.
"Well guys I hate to dash, but I have to run to Hogsmeade to pick up some lovely gas stoves. The fourth years are cooking muggle-style!" Professor Holliday announced as she packed up the karaoke machine. I started to put away my things, but before I'd even put my quill in my bad Quinn's hand flew out and knocked my ink bottle onto the floor where it smashed.
"Oh I'm sorry, Britt! I'll help you clean it up, just give me a sec," Quinn apologised quickly, darting around my desk to the front of the class. I dropped to my knees as everyone else filtered out of the room, fumbling in my pocket for my wand to siphon the ink off the floor.
"Ugh, no Quinn-"
I looked up and sighed when I realised the classroom was now empty apart from me, Quinn and Santana, who was being blocked from the exit.
"Come on, you guys. It's exhausting dealing with you not being friends. Just try to talk, please."
Santana had her arms crossed and was glaring at Quinn standing in the doorway, but Quinn wouldn't move. I sighed, picking up the broken ink bottle and walking to the front of the class to drop it in the bin. Turning, I put my hands on Professor Holliday's desk and pushed myself up from the floor to sit on it.
"Fine."
Santana looked back at me, then at Quinn, and dropped into one of the seats at the front of class. "Fine."
Quinn looked between us, and I looked back at her. What was she doing? Didn't she realise we had to talk alone?
"Alright, I'm going. Please try and sort it out. You're both miserable," she said with a sigh, turning and closing the door behind her.
The room was silent. I looked down at my feet, watching as I bounced the heels off the side of the desk. I didn't want to speak first. The silence continued.
"I'm sorry I fouled you," Santana eventually muttered. "But you know how much I needed to win, with the captaincy and my parents, and you never cared so much about winning-"
"I don't care about you winning," I interrupted her. I really didn't. Maybe her parents would be proud of her this summer, rather than point out everything she's not so good at. "But you said that stuff about pepper-up potions because you knew it would get to me, and that's what I hate. Even though you pretend it's not true, you know how I feel. You know, even though you wouldn't let me say it. I love you, Santana."
She tensed and glanced at the door, but I carried on. I had to tell her this, and she had to listen.
"I love you, and you know it, but you still do things like use pepper-up potions to distract me, and go off with Gabe, and tell me off for sleeping with Artie when all I'm trying to do is stop loving you. But you make it so hard!" I had to make her understand how hard it was. Every day I liked Artie more and I thought it was working… until I'm in the same room as her and I don't care that I have a boyfriend I care about. Couldn't she see that I was trying? That I didn't want to love her, just the same as she didn't want me to?
Tears were gathering in my eyes again and I wiped them away quickly. I hated crying, I'd been doing far too much of it lately. I sniffed, trying to speak again. "I want to be friends, Santana. I really do, but you've gotta stop hurting me. I miss you so much," I said, trailing off again as more tears fell. I heard the scrape of a chair and looked up just as she stepped up in front of me and wrapped her arms around me. I relaxed into her straight away, slipping off the desk so I wasn't so much taller than her and burrowing my head into her neck. It felt so good, having her near me. I'd forgotten how good it felt.
"I'm sorry, Britt-Britt. I never meant to hurt you," she whispered to me. "I miss you too. I need you with me, Britt, I do, and I'm sorry for shouting. I'm… I'm sorry if I led you on," she added, in a whisper so quiet I could barely hear it.
"I… I just…" I murmured, trying to get my thoughts in gear. I pulled back a little so I wasn't so overwhelmed by her touch, but that didn't really help when I was just inches away from her face. "I need to be friends. Just friends," I added, my voice quivering a little. "B-because… every time I'm near you…" I trailed off again to lift one hand to her face. I brushed a lock of hair back into place behind her ear, then drew my fingers slowly down the contours of her cheekbones, and nose, and lips… She was so beautiful. My fingers skimmed over her jawbone and down to her neck, resting there lightly. She shifted, leaning in, but just in time my fingers snaked back up to cover her lips before they could touch mine. My heart was beating so fast in my chest. "That," I whispered. "I can't do that. Or the other stuff. Just friends, nothing else."
She looked surprised, and pulled back straight away. My hand dropped back to my side.
"Oh, uh… okay. I guess that's fine," she said slowly, looking confused.
"It's too hard. You can get that anywhere, from Puck and Gabe and any other guy in the school. And… there's Artie. He wouldn't like it, would he?" That was what Quinn had said.
"Maybe not," Santana replied uncertainly. "But… but, Britt. You can't take him to our room again, okay? Please. Please don't take him there again."
I hesitated, then nodded. I'd just have to find somewhere else to go with him. Some of the tension in her shoulders dissipated and she gave me a small smile.
"So… friends?" she said quietly. She lifted one hand hesitantly, then offered me her little finger.
"Friends," I agreed, trying not to smile too widely as I took her proffered finger. My stomach rumbled loudly. "Lunch?"
She laughed, then bit her lip like she wasn't sure if she should or not. "Lunch sounds great."