Delicate | James Potter

1.09

~

Of course it was raining; the one day no body wanted it to. The one day that everyone had been looking forward to. The one day in which the gods thought it would be amusing to drench the entire student body.

The first quidditch match of the year was always the most exciting event of the first term, no matter who was playing. Students from all houses would gather early in the stands to get a good view of the game, even those who often skipped the usual ones. Faces were painted, songs were sung, banners were held high; however not as enthusiastically on this particular Thursday afternoon where the weather decided it would happily ruin everything.

Alice thought it a bit strange to hold the match on a weekday where they'd all have to be in class tomorrow, but June had guessed it was because the teachers didn't want to deal with victory parties from any of the houses, and hoped by placing the event on a weekday people would have their usual early nights. Clearly this would not, nor would it ever be, the case.

"Ready Lissy?" Gideon and Fabian marched past Alice with happy smiles. She'd been stood outside the changing room, unmoving, which she quickly realised would look very weird to anyone who wasn't her.

Coughing quickly she answered. "Oh, um yeah. Just a bit nervous."

"What you doing stood out here for?" Fabian raised an eyebrow as his brother leaned onto one of the doors.

"Uh, bracing myself?"

"Oh Merlin aren't you adorable." Alice fought at her blush. It was not a very unlikely thing to hear from Gideon, but she still didn't exactly know how to take it. They'd been comparing her to cute, little puppies and kittens since forever, she was beginning to wonder whether it was actually a compliment or not.

"I am?"

"Yeah, you've played quidditch a thousand times before. Whats the worse that could happen?" It was perhaps not the best thing to ask, for suddenly she had a million mental videos playing in her head of dangerous accidents involving broomsticks.

She inhaled sharply. "It's rather wet."

"Pshht." Fabian shrugged. "And? What's a little water gonna do? You're a Gryffindor, you can brave the rain."

"Now go get changed before Bell has us all for being late."

"But we still have ages-"

"We know that, but he doesn't. You've seen how he gets before games." And with a quick wave they vanished into their own changing room, leaving Alice stood alone once more.

"Get it together Winters. Come on." She muttered to herself, eventually pushing her own door open and changing into her gear.

Her broomstick, which she was very fond of, was clutched tightly in her hand as she made her way to the rest of the team stood at the entrance to the field. Currently they were sheltered and dry, but clearly they wouldn't be for much longer. The rain had only gotten worse, and now looked, if anything, more like a storm. When the final three players joined them, Robert Bell pulled them all into a circle.