AMOR FATI . . . fred weasley

VIII. LEE AND LOLA, COMMENTATING 101

(Also, if she spends too long looking at Zacharias Smith's face across the Hufflepuff table it will put her in a... um, really lovely mood.)

So she's pacing up and down in the changing room, getting her knickers all in a tizzy. Ivy wanted to come down to keep her calm, bless her, and Pyotr as well (technically, being a Slytherin, he isn't allowed in the Huff changing rooms, but he claims he needs the gossip to survive), but Joey said no. Politely, obviously, but she really needs to be on her own right now.

Twenty minutes to go.

Hufflepuff have really tried to decorate their changing rooms - well, when she says Hufflepuff, she means herself - and they're super-duper cute. Plants everywhere, cushions strewn over the floor, and posters of all their favourite players adorning the walls. A technicolour dream, Joey's locker decorated with dried flowers and the birth charts of all her players. (Well, how else is she meant to understand their every move?)

Her eyes find the posters of their favourite Quidditch teams, instinctively drawn to her favourite team ever, the Montrose Magpies. No joke, Joey would give the twins to be friends with any of them. Alright, maybe not. But she just loves them! Especially their Chaser, Isla Aster, with radiant eyes and wide smile of sun.

Joey's so obsessed with her that one summer she wore a flower crown of asters every day, their lilac petals and golden centres shining amongst her tangled hair. She would've worn it every night, too, staining her pillow sweet, if Molly Weasley hadn't said no!

Seeing Isla wave and wink at her, from a poster doodled all over with flowers and hearts, makes her feel strong, almost. Like she actually can do this match. She can do Ced proud - and she will. She will.

Right?

So when her team come bursting through the doors, Joey's smile is only half-forced as she greets them. 'Hi guys! So we're playing the lovely Gryffindors today...'

'Duh,' Zacharias mutters, which she chooses to ignore, although her Beaters, fifth-years Martha Meadow and Angus Grassie, shoot him daggers.

'...so that's Spinnet, Kennedy and Johnson as Chasers, Potter as Seeker, Weasley - aw! - as the new Keeper, and Freddie and - um, Fred and George Weasley as Beaters. Any questions?'

'Yeah,' Martha pipes up, tossing her long purple hair out of her face and winking at Angus. 'Can you get me Alicia Spinnet's landline number?'

She and Angus, a burly blonde Scot, high-five triumphantly. Zacharias snorts, to which Martha promptly replies, 'Listen, Zacharias, you wanna actually play or go back to the Hospital Wing today? Because I'll gladly deck you, so don't even tempt me, motherfucker.'

Joey's heart lurches as she remembers: Cedric and Martha used to duel in the Hufflepuff common room, both cackling as they tried to outsmart the other. She would be lying in the corner, using her tarot to predict who would win, practically weeing herself with laughter.

Laughter's replaced with nervous butterflies and desire to do him proud now. 'It's time,' Joey says, taking one last deep breath. 'C'mon my loves, you're all going to do brilliantly!'

'Let's go kick some Gryffindor arse,' Martha says happily, dancing out of the changing room with the other two Chasers, two mischievous third-year twins by the names of Tallulah and Delilah Appleyard.

Only Claude Honeybee, Joey's new Seeker, is left in the changing room. Claude had screamed blooming murder at Zacharias the first time she trialed for the team, and Joey knew she had to have her. Warm, elegant, grinning and vivacious, Claude Honeybee is twice as confident as Fred Weasley and could give even Pyotr Zalewski a run for his Galleons!