okay, so this fic is completely AU – it’s set in Harry’s time, but there’s no Harry (sacrilege, I know), the Gryffindors are the reigning quidditch champions, and everyone’s in the same year just to keep things simple. Its complete fluff, but…who doesn’t need a little fluff now and then? enjoy! (and don’t forget to review!)
Let’s Say….
‘I’m telling you, I haven’t seen anything that nice since we went to that Muggle football game and all the blokes had their shirts off,’ Angelina grins, dropping her quidditch lot at the foot of her bed and tugging her boots off.
Katie and Alicia giggle. ‘Was he really that fit?’ Katie asks through a laugh, her eyes dancing.
‘You wouldn’t believe,’ Angie sighs, dropping onto her bed and motioning us closer. ‘I mean, the twins aren’t bad, but they’re nothing compared to him – he’s got arms – and a chest – and abs - oooh,’ she shivers, closing her eyes and grinning widely.
Alicia and Katie are still giggling madly, and Alicia reaches out to swat me on the arm. ‘Don’t pretend like you’re not interested.’
‘Please,’ I sneer, rolling my eyes. ‘I’ve known Wood had arms and a chest and a stomach for awhile now…since, I dunno, I first saw him. It’s hardly surprising.’
‘Oh, come off it Yssy,’ Angie calls, sitting up and shaking her head at me as I peel off my nasty quidditch kit. ‘Just because you think Wood’s a total wanker doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate that he’s a hot total wanker.’
I shake my own head and grab up my towel. ‘I just don’t see it,’ I shrug. ‘Besides, he’s a Hogwarts boy – how “hot” can he be?’
They all groan, and Katie throws a sock at me. I snap her with my towel, flip my fingers up at all of them, and dash off to the showers. ‘Stubborn cow!’ Alicia calls after me
I have to laugh. They’re my best friends, see, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinet. Add me, Ysolde Verity, and you’ve got the Quidditch Queens of Gryffindor. We’ve been best mates since first year, when we all met on the train – sort of the typical Hogwarts friends – for – life story, but its completely true. We had originally thought we’d be the first all – female Hogwarts quidditch side, but that dream died when the twins (that’s Fred and George Wesley, in case you’ve been living under a rock for the last six years) showed up at trials second year. And Oliver Wood, our current captain, but we’ll get to him later.
The thing about Katie, Alicia, Angelina and I, is that we’re good. Really good. The three of them are superb chasers – Katie’s got more steals than any other player in Hogwarts history, and its back and forth between Alicia and Angelina as to who has the most goals. I’m the Seeker that’s never lost a match in five years of school play. The four of us have a sort of group motto: "Quidditch - it's what we do". We've stuck by it for the five years we've been on the team, and the name Gryffindor's been inscribed on the Quidditch Cup five times as a result. I guess the twins and Wood are contributing factors too (alright, I know they are and I adore the twins for it) but more than anything I'm glad I've got three friends who are girls who think like I do - i.e., about important things, like quidditch and...quidditch. Not dates and clothes and make up and how nice Oliver Wood looks wearing a towel.
‘Oy – Yssy!’ Alicia calls, interrupting my reverie.
‘Yeah? Oh shit!’ I leap out from under the shower spray, which was warm about two seconds ago, shaking like a leaf.
‘Ahhhhahaha – gotcha!’ Angie screams, her laugher joining with Alicia’s and Katie’s. They’ve Charmed my shower pulls so that nothing but ice cold water will come out.
‘You stupid slags!’ I scream, launching myself out of the shower and tackling whoever’s nearest, which happens to be Katie, taking her to the floor.
‘Ah – you’re soaking wet – gerrof!’
I grab up Katie’s wand and point it at the shower, making the water shoot out and spray the other two, who are shrieking with laugher, huddled against the sinks. ‘Oh leave off - you deserved it!’ Alicia yells, still laughing, wrestling me for control of the wand.
‘Truce! Truce!’ Angie yells a few minutes later. We’re all sprawled out on the floor, sopping wet, the entire bath covered in water. I’m wrapped in my towel, which isn’t going to be fit to dry anything off for a long time, and the others are wearing dressing gowns.
‘This is foul,’ I gasp, clutching my side where Angie elbowed me.
‘We might as well clean it up while we’re still dirty,’ Katie yawns, pushing up onto her elbows and glancing round.
‘I’m not cleaning nofink,’ I grin cheekily. ‘I’m not the one who made the mess.’
‘Yeah right – come back here and –‘ I laugh, slide across the slick tile on my bare feet, and dash right out the door. By the time I’m dressed, they’ve all got out of the showers and I’m starving. ‘Hurry up,’ I groan. ‘Dinner started twenty minutes ago!’
‘Well then go down and tell them we’ll be a bit late – we’ll meet you there,’ Angie promises. She’s standing in front of her wardrobe with her head cocked to one side, like she’s actually pondering what to wear.
‘Take your bloody time,’ I grumble, heading for the door.
‘We’ll be down soon,’ Katie calls after me, and I wave over my shoulder to let her know I’ve heard.
I trip down the stairs to the common room and glance around. Over by the fire I spot two heads covered in brilliant red hair – twins. ‘Oy,’ I call as I walk over. ‘They’re taking forever – they said to go on down.’
‘You’ve been up there for almost an hour,’ Fred says, staring at the stairs. ‘How are they not ready yet?’
‘They’re girls, mate – the longer they take, the better they look. Hence Verity being the first one down,’ Wood replies smoothly, standing and smirking at me.
‘Wow – really original,’ I sneer, rolling my eyes. But that’s Wood – forever on me for not being a girl off the field, and then when we’re playing, for acting like one. I turn my back on him to look at the twins and Lee Jordan. ‘Right enough – I’m starved, lets go.’
I try to think that I’m not an overly arrogant person, but I have to admit that it’s nice to walk into the Great Hall and know that lots of people are looking my way. And to know that its not because I’m pretty, or because of some guy I’m dating – its because I’m good at what I do. Everyone knows the twins, coz they’re always up to something, and everyone knows Wood coz – well, coz he’s really good – looking, and everyone knows Lee coz he’s funny. And everyone knows me coz I play quidditch. I’m not going to lie – I rather like my life.
Sitting down at the Gryffindor table, we’re immediately surrounded by people – third years hoping to buy some joke stuff off of Fred and George, a fifth year wanting to ask Lee about being his assistant announcer, and loads of girls fawning over Wood. There are even a couple who come to me, wanting to know if I can come to the dueling club meeting, since they’re trying to get it off the ground and they need “established students” to attend if they want to make anything of it. One girl wants to know if Wood currently has a girlfirend. I tell her he's actually a eunich. She looks a bit confused so I make some explanitory hand gestures, her eyes go wide, and she hurries back to her friends who whisper actively for the rest of the meal.
One of Wood’s admirers is sitting practically on his lap, and I give her a once over, not bothering to hide my derision. Wood says something in her ear that makes her giggle idiotically, and she totters off, giving him a little finger wave. ‘What’re you looking so superior about?’ Wood asks, eyes narrowed.
I smile – this is one of my favourite dinner activities: needling Wood. ‘How is it possible not to feel superior when you’re sharing a table with six girls whose collective IQ is in the double digits?’
His eyes narrow further, his mouth pouting a bit, his cheekbones standing out. If he wasn’t such an arsehole….don’t even got there, Yssy. ‘You’re talking about Celeste, right?’
‘You know her name?’ I gasp, affecting shock.
‘Of course I know her name –‘ he begins hotly, but breaks off when he gets a good look at my face. I can’t help it – I’m grinning madly and there’s no way he can miss that I’m having a go at him. He leans back, puts on his smirk, and crosses his arms. ‘You know, Verity, just coz you can’t get attention from the opposite sex doesn’t mean you have to begrudge other people their fun.’
It’s my turn for narrowed eyes and flushed cheeks: Wood knows that I know that I’m not that good – looking. His favourite insults center around the fact that I couldn’t get a bloke’s attention even if I wanted to. Which I don’t. Obviously. I’m just opening my mouth to tell him off again, when Fred leans over. ‘Oy, give it a rest – you two had enough of a row this afternoon.’
‘Yeah – have some trifle, Yssy,’ Lee presses, scooping some onto my plate.
‘You three think you’re so clever, breaking us up,’ I grumble, picking up my fork.
‘Oh pipe down and eat,’ George grins.
We’re almost done with our first plates when the girls show up, all looking a little…different than usual. ‘I was beginning to think you’d died up there,’ I yawn, leaning back and making room for them. Usually the four of us pile up together, but tonight George slides down the bench a bit, making room for Katie, and Angie sits down next to Fred.
‘What took you lot so long?’ Lee asks as Alicia slides in next to him.
I expect them to say “getting ready” but instead Angie (Angie – my Angie, who NEVER giggles) gives a twinkling little laugh. ‘We, er, got into it a bit with Yssy.’
‘Eh? But she was first down, wasn’t she?’ Wood points out.
‘Yeah – coz she left us to clean up all the water,’ Katie laughs.
At the word “water” the blokes all perk up. ‘What’s this about water? You weeing your bed again?’
I roll my eyes at Fred. ‘Not likely – these cows thought it would be funny to charm the water freezing on me while I was in the shower.’
‘And,’ George prompts, rolling his hand around.
‘And Yssy thought it would be a good idea to start a wrestling match while she was soaking wet, so she tackled Katie, and started spraying the water everywhere, and then when it was time to clean up, Yssy just ran off.’
Angie finishes and looks up from her plate, expecting laughs. Instead, she’s greeted with slightly slack faces. I feel someone’s eyes on me and look up to see Wood looking me over, wearing a wide grin. ‘What?’
‘Just imagining,’ he says smugly.
I roll my eyes and turn away. Typical Wood, laughing at me. ‘What’s got you all so…quiet?’
A grin similar to Wood’s is spreading across Fred’s face. ‘The four of you, wrestling around in a shower? Quiet isn’t the right word, love.’
‘Ugh,’ I groan, afraid that if I roll my eyes again they’ll get stuck in the back of my head.
‘Fred!’ Angie practically squeals. I wince: since when does Angie squeal? Must have had loads of sugar today or something. No use worrying about it. Instead of encouraging conversation about the icy shower, I turn to Lee and pick any other topic.
But I don’t get so engrossed in his story about his pet tarantula that I miss George leaning over to Katie and smiling in a disturbingly artless way. ‘You look nice,’ he says with a grin.
I’m waiting for the punch line – no twin comment is without one – but to my surprise nothing comes. Katie just shakes her hair (it’s down for once – usually its in a braid) back off her face and smiles at him, her cheeks pink. ‘Thanks,’ she says.
‘….and then is just sort of ran across the kitchen like, and Mum was on the counter, screaming – are you even listening?’ Lee asked, eyes slightly narrowed.
‘Yeah, yeah, sorry – um – just remembered I didn’t wipe my broom down after practice.’
‘Oh, yeah, you should probably go and do that,’ he nods. ‘They really start to smell if you don’t get all the mud off,' he adds with the air of one who knows. And he should - he has to share a room with the twins and Wood. Yech.
‘Er, right – I’ll just go do that then,’ I mumble, my eyes now on Fred and Angie. Normally, Angie’s wearing jeans and a comfortable top – tonight, she’s got on a vest top and big, funky earrings. And lipstick. Who wears lipstick? And Alicia – I lean around Lee and give her a look. She’s looking well tonight too, got a bit of makeup on. And she keeps glancing at Lee and me.
‘Er, Yssy – you all right there? You’ve sort of…been sitting there for a minute…and your mouth’s hanging open…’ Lee is saying slowly, waving a hand in front of my face.
‘Oh she always looks like that,’ Wood smirks from across the table, tucking into his trifle. ‘Nothing to worry over.’
‘Piss off,’ I murmur without my usual venom, standing, still staring round in confusion. I just sort of nod once, waiting for them to notice I’m leaving, but they’re all sucked into conversation – Alicia’s just tapped Lee on the shoulder and they’re talking about Potions. What is going on?
A/N- read and review please!!!!
Write a Review Let's say...: Everything changes eventually
Printer Friendly Version
