An American at Hogwarts

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Where the hell is he?" I asked.

"I don't know... maybe he got into an argument with Madam Hooch about something?" suggested Alicia. Before anyone else could hazard a guess, Oliver came storming in, looking like he was about to punch somebody.

"We're not playing Slytherin!" he roared, absolutely fuming as he came to a stop in front of us. I swear smoke was about to come out of his ears. "Flint's just been to see me. We're playing Hufflepuff instead."

"Why?" we all asked, our tones ranging from curious to livid.

"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm is still injured, but it's obvious why they're doing it," Oliver explained, grinding his teeth. It was a horrible habit, but this would be the worst possible time to mention it. "Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances..."

Thunder sounded in the background right on cue as the mood in the room darkened.

"There's nothing wrong with Malfoy's arm!" Harry exclaimed. "He's faking it!"

"I know that, but we can't prove it," Oliver snapped. "And we've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff, and their style's quite different. They've got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory—"

Angelina, Alicia, and Katie started giggling as soon as Oliver said Cedric's name. I'd seen him in class a few times, and he was certainly attractive, but I never giggled. It was against my nature and small amount of basic training from several different super spies.

"What?" demanded Oliver, looking confused and upset at the idea of laughter in such a dark time for him.

"He's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" asked Angelina, making no effort to hide the motivation behind the giggles.

"Strong and silent," seconded Katie, and all three of them giggled again.

"He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together," said Fred, scowling at all the laughter. He sounded a little jealous to me. "I don't know why you're so worried, Oliver, Hufflepuff is a pushover. Last time we played them, Harry caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?"

"We were playing in completely different conditions!" Oliver yelled, looking like he was about to have a panic attack. "Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker! I was afraid you'd take it like this! We mustn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us! We must win!"

"Oliver, calm down!" Fried cried. I could tell he regretted speaking at all, now that he was taking the brunt of Oliver's panic. "We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. Seriously."

Oliver tried to take a few deep breaths as he nodded his head, and I decided to step in. I'd gotten pretty good at conflict resolution living with the Avengers.

"Oliver, take a breath. I know this is a curve ball, but panicking is exactly what Slytherin wants us to do," I said, standing and moving next to Oliver to address the team.

"A what-ball?" asked Katie, looking confused by my muggle expression. I kept forgetting people here didn't know some of the slang I did.

"It doesn't matter," I said, waving off the question. "The point is, we can't freak out. We're a strong team. And yeah, maybe we don't have much time to practice for Hufflepuff's style of play, but at the end of the day we work well together. All that practice taught us how to function as a unit, how to anticipate each other's moves and work together like we're one mind. That kind of seamless teamwork can overcome a lot of disadvantages."