𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒 // George Weasley

𝟏𝟎𝟏. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦

It didn't.
The weight of the rain mixed with the horrendous state of the team made this day one of the worst days Elle had ever experienced. They used an Impervius charm to keep the rain flying off their faces but that didn't help them to see when the bludgers were flying towards them or when they were being passed the quaffle.

To be fair, the rain did lighten up about an hour in enough for them to see what was going on. However it was still heavy meaning no ones spirits were lightened.
Ron wasn't improving at all. He managed to block the hoop fine if no one was looking at him. Maybe if they politely asked if everyone in the stands could close their eyes they might have a better chance of winning.

Sloper and Kirke were worse than Ron mainly because being hit by a bludger was one of the most annoying and painful parts of quidditch.
After Elle had been hit ten times in one hour she assumed she must be absolutely covered in bruises. She kept yelling at the two beaters so much that even Angelina started to sound less angry.

They decided to call it a day shortly after Sloper had gone to hit a bludger, proceeded to let go of his bat and sent it flying directly into contact with Angelina's face.
They left the pitch with Angelina close to tears, and not just because she'd been hit in the face. She was completely and utterly frustrated. At the beginning of the year it seemed like the team were in a high chance of winning the cup. Now however it didn't seemed so likely.

They squelched back to the common room feeling tired and beaten. Elle felt cold as ice. Her hands were so red that she forgot what colour they had naturally been.
The twins were already sitting by the fire planning out some new merchandise for their shop.
"How'd it go" Fred called, after looking at the sodden team he decided not to question that further.

Elle collapsed onto the chair beside George,
"You've looked better" he pointed out,
"Thanks a lot" Elle smirked slightly. She placed her hands out in front of her so they would be closer to the fire however this did nothing to help.

"Here" George muttered as he took her hands in his. George's hands were usually quite cold however in comparison to the frozen state of her own, they felt like fire.
"Better?" He laughed at the relaxed look ebbing over Elle's face,
"Much better"

"So you think you've got any shot of beating Hufflepuff?" Fred muttered as he rolled up the product plans discreetly,
"No" Elle stated plainly,
"We'll just have to wait and see won't we" Angelina called from the other side of the room. Surely she didn't think they could win.

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The day of the match rolled around quicker than Elle would have liked. They'd managed to squeeze in one more training session that hadn't gone any better. Even Angelina had basically no hope now however the weather was fairing up which was definitely a relief.
"All we have to do" Angelina spoke to Alicia and Elle "is keep the Hufflepuff's away from the goal and dodge bludgers"
"It's up to us girls" Alicia stated as Ginny nodded in agreement.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle and the fourteen players swooped into the air. Elle had a small glimmer of hope as she spotted the twins cheering them in from the stands however as soon as she saw Kirke holding his bat upside down the feeling soon left.
The quaffle flew into the air and the game had begun.

The lucky thing was that the game only lasted twenty minutes, Elle wasn't sure she could endure much more than that. It had started off alright, Elle had the quaffle and passed it to Alicia who passed it to Angelina who passed it back to Elle who almost scored but was blocked. It was five minutes before anyone got hit by a bludger which was a good sign.
However Kirke pelted one in the complete wrong direction and nearly hit Ginny off her broom, luckily she rolled to dodge it.

Shockingly the main problem wasn't Kirke and Sloper (although they definitely were a problem) it was Ron who let them down. By the time he'd let in the fourteenth goal Elle had completely given up. Ginny was darting round the stands trying to find the snitch but Elle was sure that by the time she had , it would be too late for them to win.

At some point Sloper yet again injured Angelina by swinging the bat hard into her jaw while aiming for a bludger. She tried to yell at him but she couldn't seeing as her mouth had filled with blood.

Kirke had nearly fallen off his broom when Zacharias Smith had zoomed towards him holding the quaffle.
What felt like an eternity later, Ginny caught the snitch from right under the Hufflepuff seekers (Summberby) nose. However this didn't mean that Gryffindor had won it just meant they hadn't lost as dramatically as Elle had expected.
The score at the end was 240-230 to Hufflepuff.

There was no celebration in the common room that night. Everyone sat round looking disgruntled and students would occasionally shoot the team harsh glances. Every time Elle saw someone glaring at her she would kindly stick her middle finger up at them and smile sarcastically.
"I'd like to see them play" Angelina sighed after a group of third years walked past her muttering.

The night definitely wasn't a good one. Elle went to bed early saying she wanted to use her two morning study periods the next day to study rather than sleep in like she usually did.
She retreated sadly up to her room and collapsed on the bed.

As soon as she slept the dreams started immediately. It was the same as last time, the dark corridors of the department of mysteries, the sunken room with the archway shielded by a flowing veil and a room filled with what she now knew to be prophecies.
She woke up sweating like she always did after one of those dreams. Theo had told her to go to McGonagall if she'd seen anything but she decided against it. It wasn't as though she had seen anything new, the order couldn't do anything about what she was seeing. She therefore decided to ignore it.

Eventually she fell back into a relaxing dreamless sleep and forgot all about he vision she had.

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