A/N: I just want to apologise for the ridiculous wait for this chapter, life has just been crazy over the last month. I hope you all enjoy this, and know the next few chapters are already half written so expect lots of Christmassy updates! Happy holidays! :)
"Please, please, please, please, please Ted!"
"No! I won't do it!"
"You don't even have to play, you just have to sit on the side-lines, while we play!"
"You could literally ask anyone else in Hufflepuff, I swear even Mar would be more up for this than me!"
"Trust me, you're our last choice-"
"Not helping me come around to this idea…"
Frank looked at Ted with his puppy dog eyes and no matter how much he huffed and puffed, Frank wasn't going to give in. It was a freezing afternoon, the Semi Final between Hufflepuff and Slytherin was about to commence, but that morning one of their best chasers had been put on probation for sliming up the Slytherin broomsticks the previous night.
"Look, Max is playing for Hettie, we just need to have a reserve, otherwise we can't play! We can't bend any more rules after Hettie's stunt, we need 7 players and one reserve! And everyone's rooting for us to win, otherwise Slytherin will win the house cup in July! They're that far ahead!"
"I don't care, okay?!"
"Ted, look…" Frank began to pace frantically, he was already in his golden Quidditch robes, his broom discarded to the side of the changing room. "Please, I know everything went tits up with Black, but that was nearly a week ago and we need you, your house needs you."
"Frank…"
"I'll… I'll do your washing for a month!"
"Frank, I'm not-" Ted broke into hysterical laughter as Frank got down on his knees and held his arms out pleadingly.
"I'll do your essays, I'll give you pudding every night at dinner, I'll do anything, anything, please!"
There was a silence as Ted threw his head back with a groan before jumping on the spot slightly. "Okay fine."
"YES! THANK YOU, MERLIN!"
"But, you are doing my essays and I want your pudding every dinner."
"Fine, it's all fine!"
"And, you have to do whatever I say for the next week at least okay?"
"Yeah, okay, just put these on!" Frank chucked a golden Quidditch uniform at Ted and he sighed as he stripped from his jumper and jeans.
"I don't even have a broom!"
"You don't need one! I told you, you don't even have to play!"
"Frank! Has he said yes already?! The match starts in five!" a voice called from outside.
"Yeah, we're just coming!"
"I hate you."
"Well, I love you, now come on!" Frank began dragging Ted towards the door even as he was pulling on his last shin pad.
Lucius just finished his 10 minute long motivational speech when Andi finally snapped back into consciousness as a hand met her back.
"You've got this, Andi."
"Thanks, Craggy." She tied her hair into a high ponytail and stood, before pacing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth all the while picking off her dark green nail polish. Even she would not wear Gryffindor's colour on her nails during a match, just in case it brought bad luck, and she could not deal with any more upset.
The only girl on the team, the other six boys were surprisingly acute to Andi's mood swings, and every single member had picked up on her sombre mood and were concerned. Not necessarily for her wellbeing- no, they were boys purely driven to win whatever game they played after all- but they definitely were all concerned for her because, whilst they hated to admit it, she was their best player after Lucius.
"What is up with her?"
"No idea." Lucius muttered hesitantly. All the boys, (minus Hughsworth who was doing his routine press ups) were huddled in the corner, watching on as Andi milled about. "Not even Cissa-"
All the boys groaned before pouting lips and battering eyelashes at their captain.
"Fuck off." Lucius snapped. Andi hadn't even looked up.
"We're fucked."
"No, we're not." Lucius stated, his arms loosely folded over his muscly chest. "It's a bloody good thing that Hufflepuff bitch tried to screw us over, 'cause without her, this will the easiest match of the term."
"Not without our top Chaser…"
Lucius glared, "I mean, except you boss."
"Gorgovitch, just stick to the plan, take out the seeker. Hughsworth!"
The broadly build man stood, he was an obvious choice for a beater, and sauntered over to the huddle. "Yes, boss?"
"You, take out their keeper. I'm relying on you two. Without their keeper and seeker, we have this in the bag."
The whistle blew from outside and the team all grabbed their broomsticks (freshly polished and pruned after the trick slime had been removed) and emerged from their tent to the roar of the crowd.
"Get your head in the game." Lucius muttered as they mounted their broomsticks, it was standard routine for him to say so, and for once she was glad of it, she needed the reminder that this was a game and not practise where her mind could wander...
She couldn't pick Ted out from the crowd of Hufflepuff in the stalls. (Noted they were all very far away, but she had a knack for picking people out and had already found Cissy and Bellatrix among the sea of green.) She would have expected Ted to be there, he was not one for playing the game but it surprised her that he wasn't there to support his friends, and… to boo her.
There was that tense moments silence as they kicked off the ground to hover mid-air, Andi's eyes focusing in on the quaffle that currently rested in the hands of the referee, Madam Hooch. A woman around her sixties, maybe even seventies (her age was as much of a speculation as Dumbledore's whom was reckoned to be at least ninety by now) Madam Hooch still had a surprisingly sharp eye for foul play and would pick up on any Slytherin funny business. She always seemed to eye Andi and Lucius up before a game as if to say "I've got an eye on you both."
That never phased Andi though, starting a match was second nature. She felt her senses become heightened as they seemed to click into another mode; her eyes would pick up anything from a the slight lip-quiver or beads of sweat rolling down someone's brow. She observed how Lucius' lips slowly began to curl into his infamous smirk as he eyed up the competition, they looked scared, unprepared, tense. Their breath was hot and steamy on the cold winter's air, her own remaining slow and steady compared to some of the players, who were beginning to pant. Their fingertips were gripping tight on their broomsticks, except for hers- loose as always and ready to grab that quaffle-
They were off, her fingers pulling the quaffle into reach, tucking the ball safely into her chest as she darted towards the hoops on the far side of the court.
She threw and scored within seconds their keeper baffled and angry already, the commentator announcing her goal and more boo's and hisses meeting her ears than the cheers of her house.
"They're faster than usual!" She heard one of the Hufflepuff chasers frustrately cry.
"We're not ready for this! Specially without Hettie!" cried another.
She could see Lucius' sneer from where she was hovering and she knew they had this.
The game was truly underway, about twenty or so minutes in Slytherin were still holding their own, the possession of the quaffle was (90% of the time) theirs, 70 points up- 40 scored by Andi, 30 by Lucius and both teams didn't think anything could stop them.
Lucius whistled and the team all smiled, knowing it was time to make their move. Andi allowed herself to be boxed in by her competitors as they attempted to wrestle the quaffle off her, the commentator making a snide remark causing the keeper to become distracted, watching to see if they would gain possession, and sure enough they did as Andi let the ball go at the very moment Hughsworth had lined up his shot.
As the crowd roared at the potential of Hufflepuff's first goal, Hughsworth sent a bludger hurtling towards the brown haired, sticky out eared, keeper.
Not seeing till too late, Frank Longbottom's swerve was in vain as he was clipped on the chest and knocked off his broom, falling his way down into the sand below. Of course the ground of the arena was enchanted to slow the falls of players as they got close, for often that was what did the most damage.
The crowd gasped and screamed as Frank fell, a distinct cry from a Gryffindor girl in the stand nearby was particularly noticeable to the players on that end of the pitch.
Andi herself couldn't even hold her smirk back. Rarely was a game this easy, rarely was it such a clean sprint towards the finishing line, there was always something that changed, made a player react differently, made the ball fly differently, be it wind or a change of heart for the former example. But she was having none of that; she felt like herself again in this game, Craggy winking from across the way. For the first time in a while, Andi felt like the tactical, smart and powerful Andromeda Black that had the reputation as a winner. This was the reputation she had gradually felt slipping away over the last week or so and she decreed it no more. This was who she was, this was who she was meant to be. A winner.
But then, completely out of the blue, the change came.
The change that always came to throw her off balance. A voice that was so familiar even at such a distance. The whisper of her name even seemed to echo in the cries of his friend's name.
For he wasn't calling her name, no he wasn't, "Frank!" he cried, "Frank!".
That dirty-blonde haired boy that she felt free of for just one moment had thrust himself upon her again. Andi felt sick; winded at the sight of him running full pelt across the pitch towards the falling body of his best friend.
Note that this (whilst it may seem unlikely) had all happened in less than a minute, Hooch blew her whistle, causing all players to stop mid-air, but that didn't stop the smiles on the Slytherin faces, nor the cheers from their home supporters.
There was a sigh of relief from three quarters of the crowd as Frank stood, obviously woozy but seemingly okay. Andi heard Lucius swear loudly and the Slytherin team re-group of their side of the pitch, but Andi seemed fixated in mid-air. Ted wrapped his arms around his friend, laughing at him, saying something that Andi couldn't make out. She could make out Madam Hooch however, who, after checking Frank was okay, mounted her broom and darted off with a stern look towards the Slytherin huddle.
She couldn't quite fathom what happened next, there was a cry of "DUCK!" either that or "FUCK!" both of which would have been appropriate as Gorgovitch (who had never re-joined the huddle and had been trailing along the ground for most of this with a wicked twinkle in his eye) sent the same bludger back to collide with Frank just at shoulder height.
Andi cried out and darted down nearer the scene as Ted jumped in front of Frank who had his back to the pitch. Ted stood firm, both hands outstretched in front of him as if to catch the bludger and protect Frank.
"NO DON'T-"
Only Ted was too stupid to know that a solid ball of iron wasn't going to stop for anyone. The bludger collided with Ted at full pelt and Andi swore she nearly fell off of her broom at him cry.
Blood was pouring down his arm, white ivory bone protruding from just below his elbow, the force of the collision additionally driving his shoulder backwards and leaving it to hang unnaturally out of its socket.
Madam Hooch turned at the cry and the gasp of some of the crowd, immediately throwing an accurate spell at the bludger that burst into tiny fillings. She then grabbed Gorgovitch by the scruff of the neck (in any other situation Andi would have laughed for he looked like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar as he was dragged towards the tent) and called Lucius down to the ground. She blew the whistle three times, twice quickly and the last sustained and then silence fell over the stadium as Dumbledore's booming voice echoed over the grounds.
The game had finished and every student was order to return to the castle immediately and either to the great hall for an early dinner or to their dorms. The results of the match would be announced later, prefects where to assist with clearing the pitch blah blah blah, it all went in one ear and out the other. Andi was shaken, she remained on her broom, staring at the scene unfolding before her eyes.
Ted was trying to hold it together, but tears were streaming down his face as Professor Grubbily-Plank (Head of Hufflepuff house) helped him to his feet. He needed immediate attention she said, conjuring a floating stretcher which Ted sat upon, still in floods of tears as it darted off towards the castle at the speed of light, Grubbily-Plank and Frank Longbottom in tow. She wished more than anything to fly after them, to see if he was okay, but what was she thinking, of course he wasn't okay, he had just had his arm broken and dislocated by a member of her team.
"Andi! Are you coming?!"
"Yes…" She muttered as she turned her broom and darted towards the Slytherin changing rooms, awaiting the consequences their whole team would be facing.