Disclaimer: I own nothing except my characters.
Note: I apologize if these last few chapters dragged on. I know there's nothing crazy happening or sex or "strong" connections but I really want this to read like a story so I need the "filler" chapters. You are welcomed to skip or skim over them. But I promise things will pick up around Christmas (in the story).
Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff
I woke the next day, dressed and packed my things for the day, hurrying to go to Ravenclaw Tower to give one of them a surprise package for Melinda's birthday When I got to breakfast it was easy to tell something had already gone wrong, even more apparent when I noticed Melinda was not at her table. There were a few heads that turned their attention on me, a few whispers, but I know I hadn't done anything so I ignored them.
"Tammie, good, you're here" Abby said with relief as she sat next to Fred.
"What happened already?" I asked as Ron spun around, quickly going into story. From what I gathered from Ron, Hermione and Harry Melinda had woken up to a beautiful bouquet of flowers from George but then was cornered by Draco who had given her a present. No one seemed sure of what it was, but based on Melinda's reaction it seemed very personal, just the package itself since I guess she didn't open it. George happen to get wind of it and suggested she get rid of it, but before the two could start arguing Matt separated them, though this only seemed to worsen George's mood. At least it answered my question about whether or not George was okay with Matt.
"Hey" I said slowly, quietly as I sat next to Melinda.
"It's my birthday" she said quickly as I nodded. "It's my birthday and I'm supposed to have this one day to be happy. Just one, one" she said, her voice on edge. "I don't get it, I just don't understand why I can't one day. Two if I'm lucky, Christmas and my birthday, that's all I ask for" she continued as I sat silent, unable to say anything comforting.
"Happy Birthday?" I tried as she shot me a look.
"Why, why your cousin and why on my birthday? How did he even remember? He doesn't remember those things, he doesn't care about me" she said as I closed my mouth tight, careful not to mention anything about the day I saw him crying in the corner.
"He does remember because he still cares" I said though it seemed to do little to comfort her.
"You're not keeping that present are you?" I asked quietly as she gave a heavy sigh and shook her head.
"Probably not, I mean, he only gave it to me to make me feel bad and you know, split up me and George" she explained. I nodded in agreement, that was exactly what Draco got the present for. But probably not.
"What does it mean anyway? I mean, I kinda figured out what the faucet meant, but the rest of it I don't really get." I leaned closer to my paper, pretending to furiously take notes as Professor McGonagall walked past.
"The flowers, they're my favorite; he picked them for me for our first official date, back during third year." I nodded, alright, so the complete gift was a sentimental overpriced Malfoy gift.
"What about George's gift, Fred said he didn't know what it was about and George wouldn't tell him? Did you figure out?" I asked looking around for Professor McGonagall who was thankfully on the other side of the classroom.
"He gave it to me last night, before I went to bed, but no, I don't know, I mean, I set it up on the nightstand, and well, I pressed the coin, just to see what happened, and sorta went down, into the middle and turned into a heart. Not big or anything, but medium sized, it was white, and it just slowly spun around and around…" she looked off, almost as if confused. I know I was. It was one thing for George to give a gift that had a hidden catch, but for that hidden catch to be something so, plain was almost insulting.
"You don't think there's more to it than that?" I asked but she shook her head. "I mean, maybe you gotta turn it upside down or look it underwater or, I don't know, put far away?" she shook her head again.
"I tried all those things" she said a bit frustrated.
"You put it under water?" I asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, in fact I did. I got up way too early this morning and decided to take a bath, so yes, I may have brought it with me" she said blushing.
"That's brilliant…" I replied. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. Granted, you could always just ask him," I said though she merely shook her head once again.
"I'll figure it out." We didn't say anymore about it.
In fact we barely saw each other for the remainder of the week. She remained in the library studying or occasionally in the Great Hall with George but most times she stayed in her common room. At least to my knowledge, I was busy with Quidditch practice Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. Our first match was against Hufflepuff and though none of us believed with needed the extra practicing Alicia kept us to it. Ron got a bit better, he blocked one of my throws, and I was going at top speed. He also blocked Charity's, though it looked like she had slowed down a bit. Charity remained silent toward me every practice, only catching my eye when she had to throw the Quaffle toward me or when I to her. If it wasn't her complete dislike for me I wouldn't have known how good she was at knowing exactly where all her team members were.
Saturday morning took all my efforts to get out of bed. Abby greeted me with an ear splitting cheering cannon-horn she bought off an older student. It took most of breakfast to get the hearing back in one ear. "You'll have to make due" Alicia told me she shuffled us up from the table.
"Tammie, I'm really sorry, I thought I only put it on medium," Abby said running over to me and showing me the cannon-horn.
"It's really okay Abbs, I'll be fine" I told her giving her a pat on the back. "Make sure Matt gets you a good seat, okay?" I said kindly nodding over at Matt who seemed to know exactly what I was talking about.
We quickly changed and were listening to Alicia talk over the game plan once more before we went out when we heard a knock on the door. "We'll be right out Madame Hooch" Alicia exclaimed turning back to us. "Now, you've got to—" There was another knock. Alicia, annoyed got up and went over; only upon seeing Matt did her annoyance seem to dissolve. "What can we do for you?" Alicia asked, completely taken in by Matt's smile.
"I was looking for Tammie" he said politely. My ears perked up—at least the one I could hear out of—upon hearing my name.
"Um, can't this wait? We're about to start the game" Alicia said following Matt over our bench.
"Well, if you don't want all the Chasers to hear correctly, then yes, it can wait" he joked. I looked at him in surprise.
"You know how to fix my ear?" I exclaimed as he pulled out his wand.
"Hermione does too, though, I didn't see her at breakfast, she might already be out in the stands, or something—"
"She came out early, so she could stand in front, for moral support and all" Harry interrupted, though he only sounded helpful.
"Tell her not to cheer to loudly, it will only be a distraction" Ron added trying to sound nonchalant about it.
"Don't worry Ron, we'll have the whole crowd silent, just for you" Fred joked as he scooted a bit closer.
"Are you going to fix her ear or not? We don't have much time. And the rest of you, shut it" Alicia said glaring at the rest of us.
"This won't hurt" Matt said pointing his wand at my ear. "Sonitusearus" he said clearly. I felt as if my ear popped, making me winch a bit as I held my hand to my ear, lightly rubbing it.
"Well?" Alicia asked, looking concerned but mostly anxious.
"Fine, I can hear out both ears. Thanks" I told him. He nodded then nodded at the rest of the team.
"Good luck everyone" he said with a short bow before walking out.
"He's so good at magic…" Alicia said trying to draw her attention back to us.
"He's good a lot of things" Charity said beside me with a giggle. I glared at her but only Fred seemed to catch it as he pulled me to my feet.
"People!" George shouted. "Mates!" he shouted again as he stepped up on the bench. "This is our time to—" Alicia pushed him away, as we gave a laugh.
"Ignore him. Now, we can do this, we've practiced over and over…"
"And over and over and over…" George whispered to Fred.
"And over and over and over…" Fred whispered back. I nudged him before bringing my attention back to Alicia.
"…so now we need to just get out there, give them a taste but not strain ourselves and obviously we need to win. You all know you're jobs, so c'mon!"
"Now we're talking" Fred said grabbing his broom as we headed to the doors. I sucked in as much air as I possibly could before mounting my broom as I looked around at the crowd. Anxious, anticipation, excitement, mostly excitement ran through me. I gave Fred an excited squeal and gave an obnoxious one back. I shook my head and looked over George—who was doing the same thing—then ahead at Charity. For the first time, she smiled at me as she rolled her eyes. "No hope for them…" she mouthed with a laugh. I nodded in agreement.
We were in the air and around Madame Hooch in a matter of seconds. I looked around at the Hufflepuff team, they didn't look nervous or anxious, more like tired, they probably wanted to get this over with as much as we did. So far they had lost all their matches to us or the Ravenclaws. The previous year though, they won against Slytherin. Cedric was dating Melinda at the time and he was over determined to prove Malfoy had absolutely no skills in Quidditch. He told me beforehand, and I probably could've told Draco, but it wasn't like Draco was terrific at Quidditch to begin with.
"Alright, on my whistle!" Madame Hooch said, bringing my attention back. I locked eyes with the blonde girl across from me. I saw her at tryout, she was good, she was going to be the one we had watch out for, or the twins would have to take out. I looked over at Charity who had been looking at the girl too. She nodded at me and I nodded back. For this time we got to put our differences aside, for this time, we were friends. Madame Hooch kicked the box, the Golden Snitch and Bludger flying out of sight, neither of which I had to worry about. Then she threw up the Quaffle. I watched it come down, faster and faster. The blonde girl watched me, I could feel it.
As the Quaffle got closer the blonde girl came at me, her shoulder slamming into mine. "Ouch and that's gonna leave Allen feeling swore in the morning! Right at the beginning Claudette tries taking out a Gryffindor!" I heard Lee's voice shout. I ignored it and looked around; Charity had the Quaffle, just like we practiced. For a moment Claudette looked surprised, she was truly expecting me to go after the Quaffle. Everyone expected that. Most players knew my possessive tendencies which only seemed to show during games, so therefore we had to change our strategies.
"You okay?" I heard Fred ask as he slammed off a Bludger in the opposite direction. I nodded, moved my shoulder and quickly zoomed toward Charity. People were clapping, the Gryffindors especially. I moved closer, Charity was happy too. "First goal goes to Gryffindor, thanks to Charity Barnes!" I heard Lee Jordan shout. She zoomed pass me, giving me a high five in the process. I turned around to go after the Chaser who now had the Quaffle, the blonde girl. Alicia got to her first, kicked the Quaffle from out of her arms and then threw it to me. I weaved around another Chaser, passed one of the Beaters but changed my mind, realizing I was too far away to shoot and threw it to Charity. She got it, she scored. I yelled in excitement. "Gryffindor up to twenty points!" Lee shouted.
The game continued like this for another hour. I managed to get two goals while Alicia got another two as well. Charity went to catch the Quaffle I had thrown at her but missed by a hair, the blonde girl caught it. Charity looked as surprised as I did. Alicia was on the other end of field, closer to our goal, waiting for one of us to bring it to her. Quickly, I shook my head and raced after the blonde, Charity at my tail. "Fred—" I shouted, spotting a twin above me.
"I'm not Fred—he is!" the twin said pointing the other twin down by Alicia.
"George!" I shouted but he only laughed.
"I'm only joking—"
"Don't make me strangle you!" I shouted at him as I hit the closest Hufflepuff Chaser who was trying to hit Charity off course. "Whichever one you are, knock her out!" I shouted pointing at the blonde who had the Quaffle. I instantly stopped, noticing a Beater above Ron. Ron, who was completely focused on the upcoming Chaser didn't seem to notice.
"How about him?" Fred said now drifting next to me, spotting the player above Ron too. I shot him a look but he merely winked as a rush a wind whistled next to me. I hardly saw the Bludger Fred shot at the Beater above Ron, who came down so fast it almost made me laugh. The blonde girl aimed, but Ron, who seemed to be shaking, hit it back, not hard, but enough; Charity caught it and zoomed back toward the other end.
"Yeah Ron!" I shouted pumping my fist in the air. He gave me a nervous wave before I turned to help Charity; spotting George zooming ahead above me. I went to look back at Fred but he was already gone. "Amazing Bludger attack by the Weasley twins and an excellent save—probably the best I've ever seen—from Ron Weasley himself!" Lee Jordan shouted. "Trio Weasley moves today folks!" he added excitedly.
By time I made it back over Madame Hooch blew her whistle. I looked around; wondering if something bad had happened, but then noticed Harry lowering himself to the ground. He had the Golden Snitch. I cheered loudly as I joined Charity's side. Not sure whether to hug or her give a high give I gave her broad smile as I clapped. She leaned over and held out her hand and shook.
"Well done" she said just as Lee started shouted excitedly again. I only heard a few words here and there, most of the crowd were still cheering. That's how it always was. The first two games, whoever won, would show the real promise. Like the last two years, Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were the most hopeful.
