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The November wind was bitter, her broomstick, the newest model and primped to perfection, was clasped firmly in her right hand, and Allison Reynolds was here to fucking win.
Slytherin had dominated them in the last match, and like her father had told her, Reynolds never lose. Sure, he'd been smugly smiling from the Daily Prophet, underneath a bold headline announcing his latest accomplishment as he said this, but he rarely talked to her in person, she figured it counted.
To her left, Neil, newest addition to the team, was rolling his eyes at some crude gesture Nicky Hemmick was making from the other side of the pitch, and on Allison's other side, Matt was scanning the stadium; no doubt he was looking for Dan, chaser and team captain, who, to Allison and the Gryffindor team's dismay, had ended up in the hospital wing last night. They'd just sprained their wrist after a risky dive at quidditch practice, but as a result wouldn't be playing the match.
It was only when Wymack, Hogwarts' quidditch referee, raised his eyebrows expectantly at the Gryffindors that Allison recalled that, as vice-captain, she was expected to shake hands with the Hufflepuff captain, and marched forward to the centre of the pitch, where the Hufflepuff captain was patiently waiting.
Renee Walker was somewhat of a mystery, to Allison at least. She'd only spoken to the girl a handful of times, and they shared few classes, but she seemed too... Nice. Hufflepuffs, her now ex-boyfriend has shrugged it off, and Neil had just commented that according to Nicky, Renee was a sweetheart.
Allison just didn't understand how someone could go through the day without reacting when Jack Karofsky told you a night with him would make you straight. Apparently, he'd said the same thing to both of them. Renee had calmly told him that her sexuality wasn't any of his buisness. Allison had punched him.
And then there was the matter of Renee's friendship with Andrew Minyard, Hogwarts' resident psychopath. Rumour had it that
the two had a habit of sparring weekly - wands or muggle weapons, nobody knew.
"Hi," Renee said serenely, extending her hand. "Good luck!"
Allison blinked. She was used to watching opposing captains stare each other down and attempt to crush. Renee Walker was something else.
"Thanks," Allison replied, extending her own hand, and shaking Hufflepuff's keeper's, studiously ignoring the butterflies the simple action caused. Yeah, that could wait until Gryffindor had won. "You too," She added, a little surprised to realise her own words were sincere.
Then Renee looked up, just enough that Allison could see past her startlingly white hair, blending into a variety of pastels at the ends, and into the keeper's eyes.
And then she couldn't look away.
She was distantly aware that Wymack was still standing there, that she was at a quidditch match, that she probably wasn't supposed to be feeling like this about the opposing team's captain, but damn it, when Renee Walker was looking at her, she felt invincible.
Then Renee smiled, and Allison's knees went weak.
Shit.
Wymack cleared his throat loudly, and pointedly stared at the girls' hands, startling Allison.
Said hands that, she realised, they were still grasping, and had been for the last few minutes.
Which meant at this point, they were just holding hands.
The two girls let go of the others' hand somewhat reluctantly, and headed back towards their respective teams.
Meanwhile, Nicky leaned over towards the Gryffindor stands, where Dan was sitting in the bottom row, and, smirking, proclaimed, "Five galleons they'll have made out by midnight."
"Make it ten, and hooking up instead," Dan replied, not missing a beat, eyes fixed on their team.
"You're on, Wilds."
Less than ten minutes into the game, it was painfully obvious that Hufflepuff were crushing them. The score was 60-10 to the opposing team, and while Hufflepuff's score seemed to be constantly increasing, Gryffindor's was unmoving.
It had started raining, they were a chaser down, forcing them to use the frustratingly unexperienced sub, and luck wasn't on the lions' side.
When Jeremy Knox, Hufflepuff's best chaser, scored his fourth goal, Allison saw Matt's shoulders slump, and, as she flew dangerously close to the stands to intercept the quaffle, Dan's frown growing more pronounced. Neil seemed to be the only of the seven still determined that they could win, scanning the stadium for the briefest glimpse of gold.
Allison pitied him, she really did.
She pitied him, and the team, more when, without warning, Scott Faramund plunged into a steep dive, and, a second too late, Neil saw why, flying in the same direction, a futile gesture.
Neil was on the other side of the pitch, and the heavy rain, now coming down hard enough to sting, and obscuring the view, was enough to counter his speed.
Allison, scowling down at the quaffle she'd just intercepted, and threw it anyway, with more force than perhaps necessary, and watched detachedly as it sailed through the left hoop.
"Hufflepuff win!"
Allison flew to the ground, glowering, amidst the cheers originating from the yellow and black decorated stand, and a few boos from the scarlet and gold.
The ground was soft and slippy after the sudden influx of rain, and Allison had to steady herself when she landed; that moment was just enough for Renee m to catch up with her.
"Great game," She said happily. "You were really good, Allison."
There was something about the way Renee said her name that caused a smile to break out on Allison's face, a rare occurrence after she'd just lost a game.
"Thanks, and, um, congrats. You're a great keeper. It's an honour to lose to you."
"Reynolds!" Nicky Hemmick said cheerfully, appearing on Allison's other side, and slinging an arm around her shoulder. "Allison? Can I call you Allison? Reynolds just makes me imagine your dad with that moustache - ugh. Like, no offence, but ugh."
"I'm sure Allison's dad's moustache is fine," Renee spoke up.
Allison personally thought her father's moustache made it look like a rat had crawled there and died, but whatever.
"Anyway," Nicky drawled. "We're having a party tonight, to celebrate. You should come, and tell your team to come too. Even bring guests if you wanna. It starts at 10, yeah?"
"You're kidding, right?" Allison asked. "You slaughtered us and now you're inviting us to your celebratory party? What the fu-"
"We'd love to come," Dan interrupted gaily, appearing out of nowhere.
"We would?" Allison repeated, bemused.
"We would," The chaser confirmed, smiling tensely, and taking her arm in what appeared to be a friendly gesture, but the nails digging into Allison's skin said differently.
Was it just Allison's imagination, or were Dan and Nicky kind of glaring at each other?
"Great," Nicky said, his smile forced.
"Wonderful," Dan replied through gritted teeth.
"Amazing."
"Delightful."
"Splendid."
"Magn-"
"Well, I'm going now," Allison said, narrowing her eyes at the two.
"Me too," Renee smiled brightly. "So, you're coming tonight, yeah?"
Allison hesitated. Normally, and, if anyone else asked her, she'd automatically say no, but when Renee was asking her she couldn't find it within herself to reject the offer.
"I'd love to."
And that was how Allison Reynolds found herself attending a party celebrating her losing a quidditch match (well, Hufflepuff winning a quidditch match, but same difference, in Allison's eyes.)
"Why are we here again?" Allison complained.
"Because," Dan said emphatically. "It's good to make new friends, and we need to socialise with other houses."
"Yesterday you told me to scowl at at Kevin Day with you because all the allowing of him hanging out in the Gryffindor common room might make him think we liked him, and weren't going to beat his ass in quidditch."
"Do as I say, not as I do, rookie."
Allison wanted to protest that Dan was, in fact, only older than her by three months, but by that time they were already clambering into the Hufflepuff common room.
Her first thought was that they really needed to get some plants in the Gryffindor common room because they were aesthetic as fuck. Her second thought was, where the fuck did Dan go?
"Stay safe," The brunette had yelled teasingly, before disappearing into the mass of people.
Then the crowd - made up of mostly sixth and seventh years, though, surprisingly, not all Hufflepuff - shifted just enough for her to see Dan and Matt making out enthusiastically, on the other side of the room.
Not even bothering to try and figure out how the ridiculously cute couple had found each other so fast, she was used to it by now, Allison decided she might as well get pissed, if her friend had abandoned her, and made her way over to the liquor bar.
Four shots and half an hour later, Allison felt much happier with the situation, and the fact the room spun when she first took a step was just an annoying side effect.
"You know we've got an early practice tomorrow, right?" Neil asked, when he saw her, but Kevin was already tugging at him in annoyance to come pay attention to him again.
Was that an annotated map of the quidditch pitch in the Slytherin chaser's free hand (the other, of course, clutching a shot of firewhisky)? Addicts. She was starting to see why Andrew got so annoyed at his boyfriends over their obsession.
"Fuck off," She rolled her eyes at the seeker, and carried on.
Then Allison caught a glimpse of pastel pink and blue and green hair, and a head being thrown back in laughter, and her heart skipped a beat.
Later, she'd blame her intoxication or the way Renee made her feel for her sudden bravery, as she walked (okay, almost stumbled) over to the girl.
"Are you a snitch? Because you're the greatest catch here."
Renee looked a little confused, a little stunned, for just long enough for Allison to regret every decision she'd ever made, before her lips quirked into a grin, and her eyes crinkled.
"Apparently, I'm a keeper. And not just on the quidditch pitch."
They both smiled, then, and the somewhat awkward tension was broken.
"Do you want to go into Hogsmeade sometime?" Allison blurted out, and, the next day, would cover her face in shame when she remembered how obvious she'd been.
"Like... a date?"
"If- if you want it to be."
Renee smiled, again, and she had one of those smiles that lights up a whole room, that you can't look away from, that leave you feeling content.
"I do want it to be."
Leaning on a wall on the other side of the room, Dan, who had broken away from Matt, with much reluctance, watched the exchange with narrowed eyes. Next to them, Nicky was frowning.
"They haven't even kissed," He complained. "They're just talking. Oh my God. Neither of us are going to win this bet. I'm ashamed of us both."
"Drama queen," Dan scoffed.
There was a long pause, as the two watched Renee and Allison talking enthusiastically, and, though neither noticed, gravitating closer and closer to each other.
"...Twenty galleons they go to Madam Puddifoot's on their first date?" Nicky spoke up.
"Allison's addicted to butterbeer, they'll go to The Three Broomsticks."
Dan won.
Nicky got five galleons for guessing they'd end up kissing in the carriage back to Hogwarts.
Allison smacked both of them when she found out.