Between the Cracks // 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓦𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓵𝓮𝔂

67. Harpie and Homies

Chapter 67: Harpie and Homies

The morning moved slowly, in the most comfortable way possible. Most normal days were filled with small pieces of stress – whether that be faint reminders of times to catch, or larger moments of sprinting to avoid being late. But this day, like so many days which just happened to occur during the holidays, had instilled some kind of peace into the air. Suddenly you had time to spend 10 minutes talking about the coffee, or delve into the history behind that one specific mug which had been purchased during someone's travels. Suddenly there was room to live again – to add context and fullness to yourself and others. To cushion up your lives and make it all a bit more bearable for just a bit longer.

The morning indeed moved slowly, and Leigh found herself trying to make the most of it. That is before a certain someone leaned over her shoulder, like they had done so many times before, and cheerfully announced only one word:

"Quidditch."

Leigh turned around in a brisk movement, moderately embarrassed by having had a conversation with Ginny interrupted by Fred's proximity. However, the words she had been planning to utter got stuck in her throat at the view of Fred, who had snuck away minutes before to (it seems) retrieve some of his quidditch clothes and equipment.

Ginny gaped at the view of her brother, replying quickly before Leigh had the chance to. "I thought you'd never ask!" she spoke excitedly before close-to jumping out of her seat and running up the stairs to change into quidditch clothes. Fred grinned after her, eyes twinkling just as hers had.

"Quidditch?" Leigh mumbled, leaning back to be able to fully take in the view of his outfit. His gaze slid over to her, accompanied by a comfortable smile.

"Yep. Want to join?"

She gave him a knowing smile. "You know I don't."

"You could've changed your mind," Fred said with a slight shrug. He glanced down to see her lips maintain their soft curvature, her teeth faintly scraping over her bottom lip in thought. He quickly looked back to her eyes.

"I'll cheer you guys on."

-

"You're not joining then?" Harry asked as they all walked in a crowd towards the designated quidditch spot, carrying all equipment necessary with them. They had sorted everyone at random into one out of two teams, and every one of them, except Leigh, now carried a broom they had gotten from the garden shed. Ginny hadn't brought her competitive broom, which everyone else was quite happy about, even if none of them had said it aloud.

Leigh gave him a slight smile and a shake of the head. "You know I suck at quidditch. Flying in general."

Fred immediately butted in, planting his hands upon her shoulders as he walked behind her. "Not true. She's definitely lying."

"Am not," Leigh chuckled, glancing over her shoulder at him.

Ignoring her completely, he continued. "I've seen it with my own eyes. Even her tackle was on track."

She rolled her eyes at his words. "I think it's best – for us all – if I stay on the sidelines today," she replied knowingly, thinking back to the moment she faked an injury to get back at Fred. "And it's probably better for the ribs," she added, hoping it might further divert Fred's thoughts of getting her involved. "Do you play together a lot when you're home?" she asked instead, hoping the attention would be off her.

"Quite often, yeah. Although we're not all here very frequently," Charlie spoke up, causing Harry and others to nod their heads in agreement.

"We did play a fair few times this summer before term started, but not much before that," Harry added.