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"FLINT, I SWEAR to Merlin," Valerie Grindelwald spoke over the harsh afternoon winds, "Try to grab my bat one more time and my next swing will be at your head."
The girl could not be more irritated at their joke of a captain, who had on more than one occasion, attempted to use her Beater's bat to injure an unsuspecting player from the opposing team.
The stands were filled to the brim with students clad in colours of predominantly green and red, cheering for their houses in the match between Slytherin and Gryffindor.
Valerie had spent the last tiring thirty minutes manning bludgers to and away, suddenly questioning her life decisions. Quidditch was supposed to be enjoyable, she gathered that much from the cheeky faces of Fred and George Weasley, the Gryffindor beaters. Her interaction with Peregrine Derrick consisted of chary shouts and subtle glares, as the fifth year insisted that she was being too altruistic.
Subconsciously, they made a rather competent pair, with Valerie's defensive instincts balancing out Peregrine's offensive tendencies. Their performance ultimately shot their team into the lead, Slytherin now ahead by fifty points.
"Grindelwald, behind you!"
Valerie swerved her broom around at Peregrine's yell, sparing herself a few seconds as the bludger soared towards her. Tightening her grip on her bat, she swung it far into the distance, in a direction away from the pitch itself. But, it seemed that the bludger had a mind of its own as it defied the laws of motion, curving around and heading straight for Oliver Wood.
The sheer impact snapped his broomstick in half, sending him falling to the sand below. The bludger simply zoomed past him, narrowly missing Harry Potter as he ducked for cover.
"Nice one, Grindelwald!" Peregrine sneered, to no response from the girl. Valerie grimaced as Harry snapped his head towards her, his eyebrows furrowed in incredulity.
Before she could apologise, the bludger had taken off yet again, peculiarly tailing Harry. The audience watched as Harry dashed around the pitch in panic, trying to outrace the wild object.
"What the bloody hell did you do?" Peregrine asked Valerie, his eyes trailing after the bludger.
"Jinxed it, of course," Marcus Flint replied for her, "Good thinking, Grindelwald."
"Wait—no, but I-I didn't—"
Valerie stopped mid-sentence as her two teammates bolted away. A sharp pain pierced its way to her forehead, one she had become all too familiar with, but she chose to ignore it. Without another second of hesitation, she dipped her broomstick down and followed after the bludger, her bat held firmly in her left hand.
She knew she was not responsible, she knew she would never intentionally hurt anyone, but at that moment she wasn't so sure anymore. Valerie had been feeling indisposed lately, as if she was losing sight of who she was from the views of others.
