"It should be illegal to wake up at five in the morning." I groan as I turn off the alarm I've set on my phone. James' alarm goes off a few seconds later and he groans really loud before getting out of his bed.
"It should be illegal for you to wake other people up at five in the morning. Get the fuck out." Kevin mumbles from his bed.
I change out of my flannel pyjama pants and into a pair of black jogging pants and fumble through my trunk to find my dad's old Gryffindor alumni sweater, class of '96. Something that mum doesn't think he should have because 'you didn't even graduate Weasley!' That's why I have it honestly. Mum gave it to me when it was bigger than me claiming that dad doesn't deserve it. Course he just went out and bought another one from the Hogwarts apparel store in Diagon Alley.
James, Timothy, and I walk out of the dorm in silence. There's soft murmuring coming from the common room below and someone's already got a fire going.
"Mmm hey baby," James says to Hannah when he sees her. She giggles before they start making out heavily. Rose looks at me and pretends to gag which makes me laugh.
"I'm starting to think that joining the team wasn't worth it," Rose says to me when I go over to her.
"What? You don't like getting up at the ass crack of dawn to run laps around the castle?"
Before Rose could say some sarcastic comment, Kate comes down the steps from the girl's dorms. "Let's be off then. I've got sandwiches and tea and shit from the kitchens so we can have all of our meals out in the fields during our practices. I swear to Godric if we lose this game I'll kill you myself."
"Don't use my name in vain." The portrait of Godric Gryffindor yawns from above the fireplace.
Kate ushers us out of the common room and together all seven of us start down the stairs and out the front doors of the castle.
"Look who finally decided to show up!" Dominique says. Her and the Slytherin team are already standing on the front steps of the castle stretching out their legs for the run.
"You sure you're up for this Weasley? You look a little tired." Kate says, trying to get a rise out of Dom.
The two of them start bickering and the Gryffindor team starts to stretch out with the Slytherins.
"Ready to lose guys?" Leah says to Rose and me.
"Leah I don't think I've ever seen you run," I say back to her which makes Rose laugh really hard.
Leah stands up straight and pulls her hair into a ponytail, "And I haven't seen you score a goal in quidditch before."
"Leah, can you braid my hair?" Rose asks her.
"Yeah come here."
Leah starts braiding Rose's hair and I finish warming up.
"OI! Weasley this is not beauty school!" Kate shouts at Rose.
"Yeah, I know. If it was, you wouldn't have gotten in." Dominique says. Even though they are on opposing teams right now, Dom still stands up for Rose, and if that isn't the most Weasley thing you've ever heard then I dunno what to tell you.
Once Kate is sure that we are all ready she orders us to form a single file line beside Dom and the Slytherin team. "Let's go lions!" She shouts before she starts to jog, each of us following close behind her.
Now I know that I've been at Hogwarts for a couple of years now, and yeah, the castle and the grounds are massive. But you don't really think about just how massive they are till it's half an hour into your jog and you're only about halfway through. Kate won't let us take breaks either. Her and Dom are jogging side by side, the teams following behind. Every so often Dom picks up her pace and pulls ahead of Kate, but that just means that Kate starts to run faster to keep up with her, which means that I have to run faster to keep up with the team.
I know that the Cruciatus curse is the torture curse or whatever but if you really want to torture someone just make them run a lap around Hogwarts, it probably hurts more.
"Try out for the, fuck. Try out for the Quidditch team Rosie. It'll be great." Rose huffs from behind me, "Last time I listen to Dad."
I laugh as I try to catch my breath. We're almost done now, I can see the pathway back to the front of the castle. "What? You don't like running before the suns even up?"
Rose makes a noise and I can't tell if it was a laugh or her trying to cuss me out. Once we get back to the front of the castle, James practically falls to the ground and groans, "That was abuse. Real, live, literal abuse."
Kate is catching her breath pacing back and forth in front of all of us who have got sweat dripping down our faces and making puddles on the ground.
The Slytherin team seems to be in much better shape than we are which is surprising honestly. Ophelia is sipping on some water talking with her teammates as I struggle to breathe. Asshole.
"Let's go Lions! Grab your shit get onto the field." Kate barks at us.
James groans from the ground and Hannah helps him stand back up. Rose huffs and looks at me, her face is as red as her hair and I know damn well that I look the same.
Not going to lie, it was the worst day of my life. By the time the dinner bell rang for the Halloween feast, I could barely walk back up towards the castle. My legs are stiff, I can't move my shoulders. And I'm telling you, that no matter how uncomfortable you may think sitting on a broom is when you're a guy, it's far worse than you imagine.
"All of you need to have an ice bath after dinner so you're not sore for tomorrow's game. If I hear one person complain about being too sore to move I'll cut off your big toe and make you eat it." Kate calls as we shuffle out of the changing tent, groaning at our aching limbs.
"This is going to be my first and last year on this team Freddie I swear to Merlin." Rose groans.
I'm not really listening to her though. Instead, my attention is on James and Hannah who are walking hand in hand in front of me. Hannah's got her hair tied up in a bun on the top of her head exposing the back of her neck. And I know that I'm going to sound creepy right now but the back of her neck is really quite attractive.
I hate myself for thinking like that. I've got a girlfriend and Hannah's got a boyfriend. Yeah, I might hate James but he's family so I've got to love him. I can't do that to James, flirt with Hannah. She's officially off-limits. Besides, I've got a girlfriend.
"Freddie!" Leah comes up beside me with a big smile on her face, "You look disgusting."
"How the bloody hell are you not exhausted?" I say back to her.
Scorpius laughs, "Leah and I have been doing that lap around the school nearly every night before bed. It started in Leah's first year when she was practicing to get onto the team during her second and we've just kept up with it."
He and Leah high five and Rose groans, "You two are barking mad you know that? Voluntarily running that every night?"
"I wonder how Cassie did today," Scorpius says randomly.
We all look at him with our eyebrows raised in confusion. "What did Cass do today that you're not telling us about?" Leah says nudging him.
"She and Darcy had plans is all."
I sigh out of relief, "It's just Darcy. Why'd you go and make it sound like she had another date or something."
Leah looks at Scorpius again and he makes sure to be looking anywhere but us. "Holy shit." Leah breathes.
It takes me a minute to put two and two together. "You're not sitting here and telling me that Cassie and Darcy had a date today are you?" I say to Scorpius. We get to the castle and Rose pulls the door open for all of us.
"Well, technically I'm standing here and telling you," Scorpius says awkwardly.
Just as he says that we see Cass and Darcy walk through the corridor a little ways ahead of us. Both of them are laughing and there walking very close together.
"Great. Cass has got a boyfriend. Fucking Freddie has got a girlfriend. Am I the only single one left?" Leah groans.
I ruffle the top of her head, "Course not! Theo and Annie are still single, you've got time."