Loving Enemies

The Match

A.N. It's been a while, but we're finally at the Quidditch match! Enjoy!!!!!!!!!! ^-^

Thursday, the day of the Gryffindor/Slytherin match, was finally here. Alfred swallowed down the nervous butterflies he always got when he woke up to a match day, and put on a grin instead. He didn't want to look scared in front of his teammates. They were already in the common room, ready to head downstairs together for breakfast, when the American finally headed downstairs.

"Took you long enough," Elizabeta said with a sigh. It was basically a Quidditch tradition, waiting for Alfred to wake up.

"Your hero has arrived!" Alfred said, and they all went down to the breakfast hall, flaunting their scarlet and gold Quidditch robes. Alfred had decided he'd sit with Gryffindor today, since the Slytherins were all cheering for their team. He caught Arthur's gaze, and although he didn't expect a "good luck" from the Brit, he was a little surprised when Arthur smirked, sticking out his tongue at the Griffindor.

Right. He forgot how competitive Slytherins were against Gryffindors. So he decided to wink, since it'd confuse Arthur. After feeling a rush of satisfaction of making him blush, he sat down and helped himself to a giant plate of bacon, eggs, and whatever else he could fit on the plate.

"So you're gonna make sure that we win today, right?" Matthias said, elbowing Alfred.

"Of course! We always win, remember?"

"Except for last year against Slytherin..." Matthew murmured. He looked up, smiling weakly when he realised what he'd said. "I'm sure we'll win today, though."

"Yeah, I'm gonna make sure we win! After all, now that they have Ivan, it'll be easy!"

***

It was windy on the pitch today, and everyone's robes whipped out around them. They looked like kites in the breeze, flying around and waiting for the game to start.

Professor Hooch went over the expectations, blew the whistle, threw the quaffle up, and the match began in a flurry of green and red. Alfred flew up over the main part of the field and looked for the snitch, Ivan doing the same across from him.

Usually he'd be teasing Ivan on his size, but now he was just focusing on finding the little golden orb that almost always meant victory.

About five minutes into the game, a ding over by the stands and an announcement that Gryffindor had scored a point made Alfred pretty happy. For a moment Gryffindor cheers overpowered the Slytherin's booing, and then the focus went back to the game.

As time went on, the game was pretty uneven. Gryffindor had scored 160 points, due to Slytherin's poor keeper, and Slytherin had scored 20, but the snitch was still nowhere to be found. Gilbert had hit a fair amount of bludgers at Alfred, trying to unseat and confuse him, but in the end they were easy to dodge.

Ivan finally sped down the field, and Alfred, realising this, tailed him. Overhead, another point was scored for the Gryffindors, which only encouraged Alfred to speed up. His broom was booking it, and he'd almost passed Ivan. Until the bludger hit his way forced him to stop. It'd grazed his head, and Alfred knew it'd be hurting like a bitch until he could go to the infirmary, but he blinked away the pain, trying to get his bearing. He looked for Ivan, and to his dismay, he was about two centimetres from catching the snitch. And...he'd caught it.

"Ladies and gentleman, the game's over. It was really close, but Gryffindor WINS!!"

"..What?" Alfred looked at his teammates in shock.

"Alfred, we had this planned. We'd score as many points as we could while you tried to stay focused on the snitch. It worked pretty well, didn't it?" Matthew said with a grin. "It's really thanks to Elizabeta we scored so many points."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"We did, but you weren't listening. It was during practise," Antonio explained.

"Oh, well...we won!" Alfred cheered, clapping his hands and grinning. He looked up at Arthur, who had on a slight frown. Normally he'd mind that upset look on the Brit's face, but today he was going to enjoy the sweet victory against Slytherin.

The cheerful team quickly changed out of their uniforms and ran out to socialize and celebrate with the rest of their house. The slytherins were being broody off to the side. Many of them had actually left the field already, heading back to their house and avoiding the brash and cocky gryffindors.

Through all the commotion, Alfred had managed to lose his sight on Arthur. Alfred wondered where he was. Did he go back to his house to sulk over their loss with the rest of the slytherins? That was something he would do. Alfred hoped he would be at Hogsmeade later.

Time flew as the day wound down, all the gyffindors pooling into the warm shops and cafes at hogsmeade. All the shopkeepers had put up a little banner with the gyffindor colors on their door to welcome the winning team into their stores.

Soon, Alfred was a little bit drunk at honeydukes. His fellow teammates were much more drunk than he and were loudly chanting his name.

"Alfred! Alfred! Alfred! Gryffindor! Gryffindor!" The pub was lit with a champions cry as nearly everyone there shouted gryffindor at the top of their lungs. They hardly heard the door swing open, hardly heard the disgruntled noises coming from the tiny bunch of Slytherins that had entered.

"Arthur, maybe we could go somewhere else?" A shy Slytherin muttered. "This place is awfully crowded, and most of these people are drunk gryffindors." Arthur shrugged.

"Go where you like, I have someone I'm looking for here. Ill meet you guys later at the candy store?" Arthur suggested, already scanning the sea of gold and red for Alfred.

"Alright, Arthur." Was the response, and with a rush of winter air, the rest of the Slytherins left.

Arthur moved into the little pub. It was lit with candles and a fireplace was blazing against the far wall. It was warm and the atmosphere was cozy.

"Alfred!" Arthur called over the noise. He sat down at the bar, right next to Alfred. He was in the corner, against the wall, somewhat close to alfred, but he didnt mind. It was the only open seat and he felt better with Alfred separating him from the rest of the wild Gryffindors.

"Heyyy, Arthur! Didn't expect to see you here!" Alfred smiled widely at his blond friend. "We sure kicked your ass, huh?"

Arthur frowned. "I'd hate to say it, but... yes. Congratulations on winning."

"What was that?" Alfred put his hand to his mouth in mock surprise. "Did Arthur Kirkland just congratulate me on beating his team?" Alfred laughed and held up his glass of butter beer. "I must be more drunk than I thought!" Arthur cracked a small smile.

"No, you just like to act like you're more drunk than you actually are. Not to mention you're a fucking lightweight and can't handle English spirits. Give me that." Arthur took the mug from Alfred and took a sip of it. The butterbeer was warm and sweet, like always.The heat pooled in his belly, making him feel warm and cheerful.

"Well thanks for asking if you could drink some of that." Alfred said sarcastically.

"You're welcome." Arthur said, and he drank some more as if he could a prove point. He set the glass down on the table with a smirk. "You wont stop me."

Arthur's eyes were gleaming, and Alfred could feel heat rising on his face as he held eye contact. Those eyes...

"hey, Arthur. How about you say we get out of here?"

"And go where?"

"Anywhere. Just come with me." Alfred found himself saying. He was enchanted by those green eyes, he wanted to take them far away, make Arthur all his own.

"Okay," Arthur agreed. Alfred blinked.

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's go somewhere together." The heat of the pub and the warmth in their bellies only furthered their excitement and they could feel a reckless abandon growing between them. It was hard to even put into words, but this feeling they shared wasn't easily ignored and was hell to resist.

The two of them quietly slipped out of the pub, unnoticed by any of the Gryffindors. Sure, they would notice their star player was missing eventually, but that didn't matter. Not then.