exceptionally ordinary // calum hood + hogwarts

3. quidditch practice

it was the next day.

elena brushed off the worry that stemmed from her and alison's conversation yesterday, and finished her first day back to school. it was now a new dawn, and she wanted to remain positive.

after eating breakfast, elena, calum, alison and luke met in the hallway to walk to class together as usual.

"are you excited for quidditch today?" elena asks her boyfriend, holding her books to her chest.

"yeah i guess. i mean it's just practice." calum shrugs.

"it's not just practice when it's ravenclaw you're up against. you better take it seriously. bruise michael's ego for me." alison tells him.

"a bit competitive, are we?" luke chuckles, holding the divination classroom door open for his friends.

"just a little." alison smiles, walking inside.

"i'll be studying after class, but i'll see you at practice, okay?" elena says to calum before they take their seats.

"oh um, you don't have to come. it's just practice." he tells her, fiddling with his fingers.

"i know, but i always watch you practice." elena smiles.

"you should really take the time to study. besides, i'd much rather you see me in a real game." calum urges.

"oh okay, do you want to hang out after then?" she asks, her smile dropping a bit.

"maybe. hooch said she's keeping us later than last year though, so i might not have time."

"right. well, if you do, you know where to find me." elena says.

calum nods then walks off to join pansy at their table. elena sighs and sits down beside susan. she always supports calum during quidditch, whether it be a practice or a game. why would he suddenly change his mind about wanting her there? it had been a few months since he last stepped foot onto the quidditch pitch, so elena concluded it was probably just so he wouldn't embarrass himself in front of her. he wanted some time to master his moves again. that's all. right?

the second day of classes went by fairly quickly. elena tried her best to focus on her school work instead of her relationship trouble. she spent her time after class studying in the common room, like calum suggested. trying her best to remember the base metals that turn into gold for her alchemy class, elena thought's ran wild with memories of her and her boyfriend. memories of when they were happily in love. when everything was good between them. when she had no worries at all.

"come on, babe. you know this." elena giggles, shaking her notebook. the two sat in the floor of the room of requirement, open textbooks and highlighters scattered around them.

"the most important ingredient in draught of peace is... moonstone?" calum asks.

"yes! and what does the potion do?"

"relieve stress and anxiety!" calum answers proudly, leaning his back against the couch.

"yes! good job." elena smiles, giving him a quick kiss.

"hey, you said a kiss for each correct answer. that was two correct answers so I get two kisses." he pouts.

elena giggles, kissing him once more. "there. happy now?"

"very much so," the boy smirks. "let me quiz you now." he says, taking the notebook out of elena's hands. his eyes go wide, scanning over the multitude of color coded and annotated notes.

"do you think you've written enough down?" calum chuckles, raising his eyebrows.

"these are the o.w.l.s, cal! the most important test we'll ever take. i'm going to be as prepared as i can." elena insists.

"you sound like that ravenclaw who got mad at us for whispering in the library." calum chuckles.

"to be fair, we were also laughing, and your laugh is quite loud." she teases.

calum's jaw drops in disbelief. "it is not!"

"it's not a bad thing," elena giggles, cupping his face with her hands. "i happen to love your laugh." she tells him, giving him another kiss.

he kisses back, holding her chin with his thumb and pointer finger. "and i love you." he smiles as he pulls away from her lips.

"i love you too, calum."

"there you are!"

elena snaps out of her daydream and looks up, seeing alison and luke coming into the hufflepuff common room.

"why didn't you come watch michael and calum at quidditch practice?" alison asks, walking over and taking a seat on the yellow couch in front of elena. luke follows, sitting down beside her.

"i just thought i should study." elena tells her, shrugging and looking down at the textbook on the floor in front of her.

"it's the second day of school. what is there to study for?" luke asks, laughing a little.

elena sighs. "i don't know. calum said he didn't want me to watch his practice today."

"but why? we always sit in on practices." ali asks.

"that's what i said. i guess it's just so he can show off his perfected moves during a game. it's been a while since he's played so he's a little rusty." elena reasons.

"that didn't look rusty to me," luke says. "he scored almost every goal. he even faked out michael a couple of times."

"which is incredibly hard to do!" alison adds.

elena knits her eyebrows together in confusion. "so if that's not the reason he didn't want me there, what is?"

"you said he was acting suspicious, right?" alison asks.

"yeah, on the train. and to add on to the anxiety, it doesn't help that he's divination partners with pansy." elena says, rolling her eyes at the thought of her boyfriend with that girl.

"hmm." alison thinks, squinting her eyes.

"sounds fishy to me," luke says. "but that might just be the fishy smell going to my head. why did they build the hufflepuff common room right next to the kitchen?!"

"luke, this is serious." ali tells him, hitting the side of his thigh.

"ow! fine, what do you think is going on then?" he asks, rubbing his leg.

"I don't know," she says, looking back and forth between him and elena.

"but we're gonna get to the bottom of it."

———

what do you think is going on with calum? leave your predictions in the comments!

thanks for reading :)