All The Small Things (Harry Potter) *Fred/OC*

09. Gryffindor vs Slytherin

The next morning, Tee was shook awake by Katie Bell. "Whassa' matter?" she groaned, rubbing her eyes.

"Wood's just decided we're gonna have an early morning Quidditch practice," said Katie.

"What?" said Tee disbelievingly. "Why couldn't he have decided this when we were all awake?"

Katie shrugged. "I dunno, but if you don't hurry he's gonna throw a strop. I'll meet you in the common room; I've gotta go wake Ginny."

Tee got up and dressed at top speed, then grabbed her broom. Rose was still fast asleep so she left her a note on her bedside table. Katie and Ginny were waiting for her in the common room. Ginny didn't look particularly happy about her rude awakening either.

"Where's the rest of the team?" asked Tee. "Don't tell me Wood's just picking on the girls."

"Nah, he's already dragged them down to the pitch," replied Katie. "So let's go."

The three of them trudged slowly down to the Quidditch pitch. Well, Tee and Ginny did. Katie was several steps ahead of them. She was obviously used to being unexpectedly woken up for early practice.

"Slightly regretting this now?" Tee asked Ginny, though she was grinning.

"Just a bit," laughed Ginny. "If they'd given me another hour's sleep I wouldn't mind so much. I went to bed really late last night."

"Tell me about it," agreed Tee. "We stayed up even later. I don't even remember going to bed, I was that shattered."

They found the rest of their team sat on a bench at the near end of the pitch. Fred and Harry were both tousle-haired and heavy-eyed. George was actually asleep against the wall behind him. Wood was stood in front of them next to a large portable board.

"Good morning, everyone," greeted Wood brightly, as the girls sat down.

"Is it?" muttered Fred.

"Now as you all know, it's our first match next Saturday," announced Wood. "And it's against Slytherin. So we need to get through as much practice as we can, because we know that Slytherin like to play dirty. So I've came up with some tactics..."

He began to explain the diagrams on the board. The whole team sank into a stupor. It was like being in History of Magic. Even Katie was subdued and she'd been wide awake just a few minutes ago.

"Stay there," Tee whispered to Fred, resting her head on his shoulder. "I want something to lean on." Fred didn't even bother to protest.

It took Wood over an hour to explain the tactics on the diagrams. By now George was snoring, Tee kept drifting in and out of sleep whilst still leaning on Fred and Katie was sat forward with her head in her hands – none of them could tell whether she was asleep or not.

"Right then!" Wood suddenly clapped his hands together. The others all jumped to attention, apart from George, who had to be nudged awake by Harry. "Let's get started. On your brooms, everyone."

The team grumbled and mounted their brooms. Wood was undeterred by their lack of enthusiasm. But even he could see that tiredness was affecting the practice. It was a wonder they were all managing to stay on their brooms without falling asleep.

Altogether, it wasn't a very successful session. Everyone's reactions were slower, the three Chasers kept dropping the Quaffle, Harry had absolutely no chance of finding the Snitch, and George very nearly hit Fred around the head with his Beater's bat instead of the Bludger he was aiming for.

Wood wasn't too happy. But he agreed that it was a bad idea to make them practice so early, unless they'd had a good night's sleep.

Throughout the week, he kept them all busy during their free time with constant practice sessions. It didn't seem to bother him that it had been raining every night, so they came back from every practice soaked to skin and, more often than not, covered in mud.