𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐒, oliver wood

seven.

07

SLYTHERIN V HUFFLEPUFF

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Louisa looked up at June, they were the only two in the female changing rooms. Juniper was busy stretching her arms and rolling her neck side to side. Juniper hadn't said a single word that morning. She had ironed her own uniform and braided her own hair before she head out to Hagrid's Hut alone. She knew that the rest of the team had snuck off to get their own training in, but she hadn't been invited. So she took matters into her own hands, making a training course out of hay bales and sticks.

Now Louisa watched as the girl tried to get herself in the mood. "So, your first official game of the year. Exciting, right?"

Juniper hummed. 

Madam Hooch poked her head into the changing rooms, "Hawk, you have five minutes."

Louisa took that as her opportunity, patting Juniper on the shoulder. "You're gonna smash it. Don't let the others put doubt in your mind, okay? You're the best thing to happen to Quidditch since brooms were invented. Grab 'em by the quaffles!"

Juniper looked at herself in the mirror as she exited the changing rooms. She met her own venomous green eyes in the reflection and forced the doubt to fall from her face and replaced it with determination. As soon as she exited the changing rooms, she was pulled aside by none other than Oliver Wood.

"Wood, in the nicest way possible-" she started, only for his hand to cover her mouth. She furrowed her brows at him. If she was a child, she would have considered licking his hand.

"You really cannot afford to fuck this up, okay? If you fuck this up, they won't let you play again. And if you don't play, it means that I'll have no competition and that just isn't fun. I wanted to compete for this cup, not take it," his hand slowly slipped from her face, finding home in his jean pocket. 

Juniper nodded at him. 

He went to walk away, stopping once more. "Good luck."

⋆

The game started as any other: the Hufflepuff players creating a crescent on one side of the pitch and the Slytherin players doing the same on the other side. Madam Hooch was getting ready to announce the game and release the snitch, bludgers and quaffle to the awaiting players above.

Juniper was besides Marcus Flint, who, being team captain, was in the centre of the crescent and had Adrian Pucey on his other side. The beaters were notorious for being brutal; Joseph Warren and Angus Teal. Funnily enough, Joshua Warren, Joseph's twin, was on the opposing team, as a chaser. The siblings seemed to glare at each other, one with hatred and the other with fear.

If the rumours were true, Joshua had been disowned by his family through a letter on the night after the sorting ceremony. Juniper doubted that Josh had been home to visit his family ever since, staying at the castle during the holidays and making ends meet during the summer. She had thought about looking into the Hogwarts summer programs for herself, dreaming of the peaceful and stress-free summers away from her parents and having the school halls to herself and a select few other students.

If only her parents could see her now, not focussing on her studies and following their meticulous plan that they had set out for her. She actually feared what they would do. 

She cleared her mind as she listened to the referee call out the rules that she had heard many times and call out warnings, glancing particularly at Joseph Warren who had been known to be a particularly violent beater during the games. Juniper rolled her shoulders back to ease the aching and then readied herself.