WE'LL TAKE ON THE WORLD ; h.j.p.

23 | Valentine's Day

With so much to worry about and so much to do - startling amounts of homework that frequently kept the fifth years working until past midnight, secret D.A. meetings, and almost daily Quidditch practices - January seemed to be passing alarmingly fast. Before Allison knew it, February had arrived, bringing with it wetter and warmer weather and the prospect of the second Hogsmeade visit of the year.

Unfortunately, Angelina had announced a full day of training for the weekend, but Allison could not say that the team did not need it. She had not much to complain about Allison in particular; to be honest, she hadn't much to train for as a Seeker and was often bound to help throwing the Quaffle at the three hoops alongside the three Chasers - Ron still had problems holding it.

Besides accidentally keeping the ball from flying through the hoops a few times, he merely dropped it, mixed up his right with his left, or almost slipped from his broom when trying to reach for the Quaffle. The Beaters Angelina had chosen were no better; only once had they hit the Bludger with their bars and then, it had hit Alicia fully in the back that she had had to pass the training for the rest of the week.

A loud whistle echoed over the pitch.

"Alright, that's it," called Angelina, and they all flew down towards the foot of the stands, soaking wet from the rain. The grass was a squidgy, brown-green mass, making it almost unable to properly walk on it without sinking in a few inches.

Four hours had passed since they had started practising this noon. They had done a tour de stade - an exercise where they had run up and down all the stairs of the stands since the pitch was too muggy to run on there -, had passed Quaffles back and forth - first on the ground, then in the air on their brooms -, and Allison had practised on her own with one of the stolen Snitches, while the Beaters Slope and Kirke had gotten a lesson from Angelina.

All in all, Allison was done for today. Her knees were sore, her legs hurt from running, and she was too tired and hungry to listen to what Angelina was saying.

"Hey!" barked Angelina. Allison saw that the others were already walking towards the showers, and she was about to follow, when Angelina pointed towards the pitch. "You can collect the balls."

"No. No, no, no, come on, I can't - look at me!" Allie gestured at her wet, muddy training robes and her red cheeks, but Angelina stayed stone-cold, crossing her arms. Allison sighed. "Fine..."

As fast as she could, she collected the various, more or less shabby looking Quaffles and carried them inside before dashing through the changing room into the shared bathrooms where she was met with hot steam and the smell of soap. All cubicles were taken.

"Will you hurry up please!" she said over the loud noise of the running water, slipping out of her boots and rummaging through her bag for some shampoo and a towel. There was a large pile of homework waiting for her and she also did not want to miss dinner for once.

"This is grand," said Ron, sounding like he was planning to spend the next thirty minutes in there.

Allison wanted to say something back when Katie, Slope, and Kirke emerged from their shower cubicles, towels wound around their bodies and heads.

"Thank you!" said Allison and slipped into one of the free showers, turning on the hot water and feeling her shoulders relax. She heard Angelina's shower getting turned off a few seconds later, but Ron was still in his when Allison stepped out.

"Don't drown yourself."

"I might when I think about all the homework we still have to do...now get out!" said Ron, and Allison shook her head at him. The changing rooms were empty when she entered; the others had already left.