SOME KIND OF DISASTER ─ oliver wood

[ 034 ] win some

By the time they were on their brooms and climbing in the air to take their positions for first serve, lightning cracked against the sky like a bright whip and the rain only grew heavier with the altitude, cold droplets stinging their skin like icy bullets. The gloom of the afternoon dulled the colours in the stands, made the aggressive crimson of the Gryffindors appear a darker, more muted red, and washed out the sun-bright yellow of the Hufflepuffs into the colour of piss, but their spirits were undaunted. Something about the weakest team going against one of the most powerful teams seemed to rile them up enough to keep the wet mood influenced by the bad weather at bay. Somewhere in the Hufflepuff crowd, Jeremy, Rio, and Marcus had been forced into yellow scarves by Quinn. With that reminder, Sawyer pulled her water-repellent goggles over her eyes. She didn't like them on her face because they felt obstructive, but she didn't have a choice. It was either this, or no visibility. As destructive as she was, she didn't think she appreciated the idea of playing a Quidditch match blind.

All six Chasers assembled in a circle at midfield while Sawyer and Violet backed towards the sidelines on their home goal. Both Seekers were small figures in the sky, keeping out of the action. Their job wasn't to fight for the goal, but to secure a win. On the Gryffindor's home goal, one of the Weasley twins pointed his bat at Sawyer, but she ignored it. Ignored all of it. All the noise, the commentary, the racket of the crowd, the dark shapes of the Dementors lurking just on the outskirts of the stands, far from the action but close enough for Sawyer to feel their gutting presence. All around them, the crowd was dead silent, but their anticipation screamed louder than the thunder rolling over their heads.

The Bludgers were released first. Sawyer heard them before she saw them, their sonic roar as they popped out of their container and tore across the pitch with a savage vehemence, circling the players like sharks. Sawyer kept her eye on both of them. The moment Madam Hooch pitched the Quaffle in the air, the Chasers descended like wolves. Irene broke away from the chaos with the quaffle tucked under her arm. The crowd roared, but it was lost to the gathering storm.

Inside the first minute, the match got violent.

Angelina and Katie flanked Irene relentlessly, boxing her in so she could barely manoeuvre. Violet let out a shout as she slammed a Bludger towards Sawyer, who caught it on the rebound with a powerful swing. It caught the tail of Katie's broom and she was sent spiralling out of control. Free of one mark, Irene pitched upwards to shake Angelina off her back. In a fell swoop, another Bludger crushed against Irene as she darted towards the scoring line and she went down. In a flash of red, one of the Gryffindor Chasers snatched the Quaffle and shot off towards the scoring line. Shaking off their outrage, the Hufflepuff Chasers hounded her. Despite the weather hellbent on disorienting Sawyer's senses, her focus was unwavering as she surged after the first Bludger in her line of sight and sent it careening towards Alicia, who was almost all the way across the pitch. It struck her in the shoulder with an audible crack that might've been thunder or the sound of her bones dislocating. Alicia was carried off the pitch instantly, but she grinned at the crowd and threw up a peace sign with her uninjured hand.

"Thanks a lot, asshole," Oliver drawled, a tad derisively, shaking his head at her from the goalpost. Sawyer couldn't decrypt his expression, but she'd drifted far from the home goal enough to be level with the scoring line. Oliver's territory.

"Don't point fingers," Sawyer said, even though he'd just witnessed her near-cripple his teammate, costing them a player on the lineup. "You wanted to see me play."

Then she shot off just as the Hufflepuffs regained possession of the Quaffle.

With one less Chaser to worry about, the Hufflepuffs seemed to have generated enough hope to push forward with an intensity Sawyer hadn't seen from her team before. Still, enraged by the loss of a teammate, the Gryffindors struck back with an intensity that bordered on bloodthirsty. A Bludger nearly singed Irene as she passed off the Quaffle to Florence, who dropped it like a nuclear bomb into Sanchez's waiting hands directly below her when she realised she couldn't get Katie off her in time to make the shot at the goal. Sanchez raced forward, a yellow blur illuminated by the flash of lightning, as she dodged Angelina, who was hot on her tail. As they approached the goal, Sawyer had a clear shot at Angelina. With a violent stroke of her bat, Sawyer sent the Bludger rocketing towards Angelina. Angelina was too distracted trying to catch Sanchez to notice. Seeing what was happening, Violet screamed at Sanchez to roll clear, and she did, just as the Bludger took out the Gryffindor Chaser. With a furious roar, Angelina shook off the impact. Knowing she was in trouble, Sanchez passed off the Quaffle to Florence, who shot into the scoring area.