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BOOK FIVE: CHAPTER NINE

"Professor McGonagall gave me a time turner in third year, okay!?! That's how I've been attending all my classes for the last two and a half years! Now would you please shut up about it?"

It had been a few weeks since Veronica first arrived at the Hospital Wing, and they weren't any closer to figuring out what was wrong with her. Madam Pomfrey had run every test she could think of, but they all came back clean. Despite this, Veronica's health continued to worsen by the day, and they had all grown extremely concerned that they were running out of time.

At first, at the request of her team, Veronica had canceled Quidditch practice with the hope that she would only be gone for a few days, and then they would be able to resume when she was feeling better. However, as the days went by with no answer as to what was happening to her, she had decided that they couldn't afford to waste any more time. So she had asked Reggie to be in charge of the practices until she was able to return, but he had made her promise that she wasn't making him the Captain. He hadn't wanted anyone to call him "Captain," and he wanted them all to know that he was only in charge of practices and nothing more.

But things had changed, and with the severity of the situation in her mind, she knew she had to take action. She had been getting more and more confused as time went by and had begun fainting on a daily basis. Plus, the nausea had become unbearable, and the vomiting was even worse. She had to do what was best for her team, even if Reggie didn't like it. But first, she had to deal with his incessant questioning. He hadn't stopped asking her about it since he first found out how many courses she was taking.

Veronica huffed as she shook her head. "And you can't tell anyone, Reg; Charlie and Bill are the only ones that know, and McGonagall would kill me if she found out I told one person, let alone three. Messing with time is a super serious thing, and one fuck up can ruin everything, so she was already hesitant about giving it to me. If she finds out I told you guys, she'll have my head."

"Alright, alright. Who would I even tell anyway? Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"First, tell me how the practices are going. Does everyone have their new brooms now? I know we were still waiting for a couple to come in last time we spoke, including yours."

"Oh yeah, we've all got our brooms, so that's been good. Everyone's gotten a chance to practice and get comfortable with them. Our only issue now is that everyone seems distracted by your absence. They're all very worried about you, and I think it's affecting their flying."

Veronica sighed before biting the inside of her cheek. "Well, Captain, what are you going to do about that?"

"No, Veronica. Don't do that. I told you I didn't want to be called that. And I'm not replacing you, so as my Captain, YOU have to tell me what to do."

"Reggie, come on. We have to face facts. I'm not getting any better; I'm just getting worse, and–"

"Don't! Don't you start saying what I know you're about to say. You're going to be fine, you're going to get out of here, and you're going to Captain this team."

"Alright, Reggie. Alright. But for the time being, I need you to take over–"

"Veronica, no! I won't do it."

"Please, Reggie! I know you don't want to be Captain, but I need you to do this for me. Whether you want to admit it or not, I am not getting better. I need to know the team is in good hands just in case–"

"Okay, stop stop stop. Just stop." Reggie stood from his chair and stomped his foot like a child throwing a tantrum before pacing in front of her bed. "I need you to stop talking as if you aren't going to survive this. Please, Veronica. You can't give up. As soon as you lose the will to fight, the battle will be lost. And you have a lot of people that need you to beat this. So if you won't do it for yourself, do it for all of us." Sitting back down, he took her hand in his. "And if it'll make you happy, then I'll do it. I'll be the damn Captain, but only if you stop talking like that... And I won't have anyone calling me 'Captain' either. You're still the Captain; I'm just covering for you UNTIL. YOU. GET. BETTER."

"Reggie–"

"No, Veronica. This isn't negotiable. These are my terms."

After a moment of silence with the two staring each other down, Veronica relented with a sigh. "Fine. But you're going to have to find another Beater to replace me–"

"No! You're going to get better before the next game. We don't need to replace you."

"Reggie, listen to me! The game is next week."

"So what? You'll be better by then."

Veronica shook her head softly. "No, I won't. We need to be realistic about this now. You have to prepare for the worst case scenario, which is that I won't be able to play. In that case, you have a week to find someone else, train them, and have them practice with the team to get them to be good enough to play in the game. And the team needs time to get comfortable with them. The longer you procrastinate on this, the less time you'll have to do all of that, and the less likely it'll be that we'll be able to win the game. So I need you to do this. Hold tryouts. Find someone decent. Train them up and practice with them." Reggie opened his mouth, and Veronica knew he wanted to argue with her, so she put her hands out to stop him. "Don't. Please, Reggie. Don't argue with me about this. As your Captain, I am ordering you to do this. IF I get better before the game, we can figure out what to do next, but for now, you have to find a replacement."

Reggie crossed his arms and sulked, but he knew she was right, and it needed to happen sooner rather than later. "Fine! I'll hold tryouts tomorrow."

"No. You'll hold the tryouts today. Get Dumbledore to make an announcement at dinner and have it at 7:30. Then you can come talk to me tomorrow about your options, and I can help you make a decision before tomorrow's practice."

"Fine." Reggie stood and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "So, I'll leave you to rest now. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey would kill me if she knew how worked up I just made you."

Veronica smirked. "Well, I haven't felt this much myself in a while, so hopefully I'll get just as worked up tomorrow."

"Great!" Reggie beamed. "If I knew that's all it would take, I would have argued with you much sooner."

Veronica stuck her tongue out at him, and they both chuckled. "Now, get out of here. You'll be late for class."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay." As Veronica watched him walk towards the door, she remembered something. "Oh, and Reggie! Try not to kill Archie when he shows up to the tryouts today. Because we both know he'll be there. And please... we have to choose anyone but him."