Lionesses- Harry Hampton

Can you imagine?

"You ready to go?" Hannah asked, knocking gently on her brother's door.

"Yeah," he replied, opening it with his suitcase behind him. They stood in silence for a second, unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry for raging. I need you Hannah. I really need you. I just hate that I've got everyone stressing over me. That's the last thing I want," Harry said. Hannah smiled at him. That's what she'd wanted to hear.

"I'll always be here. Anything you ever need. I've got you bro," she reassured him.

With all the tension put aside, the two of them went down to get ready to go. Harry wanted to find Ella. He felt bad for blanking her.

"Alright Tooney?" he asked, sliding up to her. She seemed to have forgotten about earlier and the two of them chatted loudly until it was time to board the coach.

The flight back from Switzerland involved Harry and Georgia successfully winding up Leah. That was the usual dynamic of their relationship; Harry and G being annoying and Leah just putting up with it.

"Shut up, she would so be a woolly mammoth," Harry said.

"Are you stupid? She's such a dodo," G argued back.

"Can you two stop debating what extinct animal I would be?" Leah said, exasperated with her head in her hands.

"Having fun over there?" Lucy joked, laughing at the scene in front of her.

***

The 6th of July 2022. England vs Austria. Old Trafford. The opening game of the Euros. The summer that could change everything.

Harry felt sick.

He hoped beyond anything that this went well. They deserved it so much.

Almost 70,000 people were packed into the stadium. 70,000 people all together wanting to win.

As they waited for kick off, Harry's leg bounced up and down. How on earth were the girls not collapsing with nerves?

The deafening roar that went round the ground as the teams first walked out was a moment that would forever be engrained into his brain.

To see just how far women's sport had come was mad.

As the first note of 'Good Save The Queen' began to play, Grandad wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulders.

Harry smiled. This is what football was all about.

Fifteen minutes in and Beth chipped the ball over the keeper. It was hard to tell from where they sat if the ball had crossed the line or not.

There was a brief panic before the ref signalled that it was in fact a goal. The stadium erupted. Harry jumped up and down and gripped his Grandad tightly.

They separated and the game resumed.

"Are you crying?" Harry asked.

"Don't be daft," Grandad said as he turned away and wiped the very obvious tear off his cheek.

Right at the end of the half Lauren had a shot that was very well blocked by Zinsberger.

The second half went under way and Austria were playing a higher line. Mary was forced to make a spectacular save to keep the advantage.

When the final whistle blew, everyone seemed to relax a little. Austria had played well and it was a close game.

Harry ran down to stand by the pitch and he stood singing and soaking up the atmosphere.

"Get right in there," Georgia shouted as she came over to the side.

"Not too bad. You didn't get a yellow card, I'm well shocked," Harry told her. The two of them were giddy and laughing together when Sweet Caroline began to blare out in the stadium.

"Reaching out, touching me," Harry said pointing at himself.

"TOUCHING YOU!" he screamed pointing at Georgia.

"SWEET CAROLINE!" the two of them screamed, absolutely beaming.

***

The next day and all of them were still buzzing from the night before.

"Can you imagine?" Harry said, allowing himself to drift to the thought of getting to the final.

"We take it a game at a time," Leah told him but allowing herself a little smile at his joy more than anything.

He was meant to be doing schoolwork as technically he was yet to break up but he kept distracting himself by talking to the others. Even Hannah had given up. He could learn a lot from the girls anyway.

"Did you know that pigs don't sweat?" Georgia asked, looking around with a shocked expression on her face.

"Weird cos I've definitely seen you sweat before," Harry replied, ducking to dodge the pillow that G had thrown at him.

He might not have been learning anything useful but he was learning never the less.

That evening they all sat down to watch Norway versus Northern Ireland. It was a lot of fun and they spent more time laughing than paying attention to the match.

"What if she just two footed the ref right now?" Harry asked, thinking aloud.

"What?" he added as he realised all the girls were looking at him with bemused looks on their faces.

"Why do you think like that?" Lotte asked, laughing.

"Come on, you can't tell me that you've never debated two footing a ref," he said to even more confused looks.

"No. I've never felt like that," Lucy told him.

"Seriously? Never? Georgia you must've," Harry said in an attempt to prove that he wasn't weird. G shook her head.

During that evening they spent so much time laughing that Harry's ribs began to physically ache.

***