The day of the match was one of sunny skies and few clouds. Almost miracle weather for mid-November Scotland, but no one was going to jinx it. It was the perfect day for a quidditch match. Greta Maverick had woken up at six thirty that morning with too much excitement and nerves to sleep any more. Roger Davis was frantically reading through his plays by seven, and Cedric Diggory was pacing around his common room half an hour after that. Josie had woken up at nine, slipping into the kitchen to ask the house elves to prepare some sandwiches for her friends, Merlin knew they ate very little before a game. And Margo... well, Margo woke up at nine forty with a headache to the symphony of Greta's excited screams.
"Margo! Wake up! Wake up! It's game day!" Greta ripped open the curtains of her bed and excitedly pounced upon poor Margo's still half asleep body.
"Okay... okay.. I'm going!" The burnette groaned, "Just be careful, you're gonna crush my wand."
"A wand that shouldn't be in your hair," mumbled Eleanor from her bed, "Honestly we should have a seminar or something about inappropriate wand use. Merlin knows you'd benefit from it."
Heather let out a laugh in the background, "Merlin knows Margo putting her wand in her hair isn't the worst thing someone has done with a wand."
"Heather! Why would you put that image in my head?!" whined Ellie
"Because that is what a best friend does."
"Oh shush all of you! My wand will be fine. As long as Greta gets out of my bed so I can change for the game. Which is in..." pulling the wand from her hair and casting a tempus Margo's eyes widened in surprise, "Twenty minutes!" Jumping from her bed Margo quickly got into her quidditch uniform and grabbed her broom and bat.
"Don't forget the pastry pouch!" screamed Heather tossing it at a scrambling Margo,
"Thank you!"
They managed to make it to the tent on time, to the surprise of the whole team, and everyone got a taste of Mrs.S' lucky blue velvet cookies (because c'mon, they are the ravenclaw team after all). Margo looked around the tent observing this year's team. Cho and Greta looked terrified. Brooke, their keeper who was in seventh year, was reading a novel, and the chasers... well, they were doing fine. Except for Roger's constant rambling.
"Uh-hum... Margo..." the girl swerved around to see Josie standing behind her with a water bottle,
"Here you go, I knew you would forget it." The hazel-eyed girl gave her slytherin friend a smile,
"Thank you Josie! You're always looking out for me."
"Anyways I just saw Davis glaring at me so I'm going to split. But good luck ok? And don't tell Diggory I said this but... you are so gonna win." Josie gave her a quick hug and then walked out the tent, probably in search of some decent seats to watch the game with the other Slytherins.
As the whistle for the five minute mark sounded, Margo could feel the nerves clawing at her stomach. She was feeling weak and her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, however Roger assured her it was just nerves and Margo felt too drained to oppose him. Not even her mom's cookies had helped, and her mom's cookies always helped.
"You ready partner?" Greta exclaimed, an anxious ball of nerves beside her as she kept adjusting the grip on her broom. Margo gave her a quick nod.
"Come on guys, huddle up!" Said Roger, preparing for his pep talk.
"Don't worry we'll be great." Margo whispered to her friend. Greta mumbled something in return but she couldn't quite catch it.
"Okay team, this is it! First game of the season. Now, we have the best strategy out there. Everyone knows their play and we know our technique. The puffs will be relying on a quick catch from Cedric so I need Margo and Greta on him. You both have amazing aim. Use it! I do not care if the Puffs are nice even on the field, understood?! We are going to beat their asses! Eagles on three!"
"ONE, TWO, THREE, EAGLES!" They all roared. Grabbing her broom and bat and giving her captain a wink Margo flew out into the field.
"Okay I know you won't give me as much trouble as the other teams, but I still want a clean game! Understood?" Both teams nodded and Margo gripped her bat tightly. She was so concentrated on making sure she was ready she didn't see Cedric's worried look.
"And we are off!" Lee Jordan screamed. Shaking herself out of her thoughts Margo raced towards a bludger hitting it with as much force as she could towards one of hufflepuffs beaters. The game had begun and with the adrenaline rushing, Margo almost couldn't feel her headache.
The key point being almost.
She weaved in and out of players, and hit bludger with an aim only she was capable of achieving. Even the Weasley twins had admitted it. Everything was going great for Ravenclaw. Cho just had to catch the snitch.
Twenty minutes into the game there was still no sign of the snitch, Davis called the first time out.
"How is everyone holding up?" The team all nodded, no one had been injured so far, "Okay, Margo and Greta excellent job, keep going at it! We got a chaser and a beater out, so our chasers are breathing more freely. Greta, you are now on Diggory watch, Margo stick to the others." Margo nodded, taking a big gulp from her water bottle. Weirdly it only made her feel more woozy. Shaking it off she got back on her broom.
"C'mon eagles, let's go win this!" Finished Roger, and they were off once again. Margo's concentration was on the bludgers and only the bludgers. Ravenclaw was up by fifty but if Cedric caught the snitch they would lose. And Margo didn't like to lose.
"It looks like Mr.Puff Perfect has spotted the snitch!" Lee stated through the comms. Instantly Margo swerved intending to go aid Greta, as the strategy was. She turned one hundred eighty degrees leveling her chest to the broomstick to be able to sprint. Out of the corner of her eye though she saw a bludger heading her way from the sole Puff beater left standing. Margo expertly reached to her bat leveling back up and slowing her speed to aim at the bludger better. However, just as she was getting ready to swing at an oncoming bludger her bat flew out of her reach. It was as if someone had spelled it out of her hands.
"And.... he almost had it! Diggory loses the snitch! Wait did Chang just spot it?" The crowd's eyes were only on the seekers. Even her team members were staring intensely at the petite second year and the third year hufflepuff behind her. Suddenly though, it was as if her world had muffled and everything was bright white. The screams sounded as if they were a thousand feet above her with an ocean between them. Her hands tingle and her limbs felt like lead. She couldn't keep a grip on her broom or muster a scream out of her chest. Margo almost didn't feel it when the bludger hit her straight in the head. She definitely didn't hear the screams of the crowds and the teachers who, enthralled by the persecution of the snitched, failed to break her fall.
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Incendiary Love | F.W. Story
Fanfiction"Would you have done it?" The man asked, his eyes misted over as he focused on the past rather than the present, "If you'd known everything you would have to endure? Everything you would lose-" "Knowing everything I would gain, I would pay to do it...
