Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(34) Distractions & Misfortunes

It was a marvelous afternoon for practices, as Oliver Wood put it. Every afternoon was marvelous for practices for him, even with a thunderstorm, or gray skies, heck, even an afternoon with hail would still be lovely for him. Fred groaned, slumping on his seat as his fingers tapped anxiously against his beater's bat.

He listened, or he was merely hearing their team captain drawling on and on about team effort and crushing Slytherin to pieces, and don't get him started on how many times Oliver had said Quidditch cup in the first hour. Even if they hadn't started their mock games yet, they were all sweaty from the lapses that they had done.

Fred's mind was wandering far away from the topic of Quidditch, gazing up at the gray skies as he wished to be in bed and napping. A sharp blow of Oliver's whistle snapped him back into reality, George beckoning him over to help release the bludgers.

"Good grief, can't we just use regular balls today?" Fred groaned as George gave him a look, "Did you not just hear Oliver repeat what he said about the bludgers three bloody times?" he asked him incredulously. George ultimately regretted his timing in telling Fred that he knew who his protean buddy was, seeing how far from focused he was acting that afternoon.

Fred frowned, "No? That's why I'm asking you about it."

His twin brother huffed, taking his bat out from a basket, "He wants us to get used to the real thing. He said, and I quote, this is going to be my last and final moment to see the Slytherins fall." George released a bludger, which went soaring up to the air, Fred doing the same to the second one.

They were divided into groups, Oliver the Keeper for the first group, and Alicia acting as the keeper for the second group. Katie went with Oliver, and Angelina to Alicia. Fred was in charge of batting the bludgers away, while George aimed them at their teammates.

He mounted on his broom, taking off alongside George as soon as Oliver blew on his whistle again. He caught a glimpse of the snitch for a moment, before he dived towards Katie, the bludger heading her way. "Duck!" Fred yelled at her, before using all his strength to swing the bat, the bludger soaring away.

"Nice one," Katie grinned, before catching the quaffle that Angelina had dropped. Angelina swore, taking after Katie who was flying in zigzags in attempts of getting away from the other chaser. Harry was flying about, his eyes focused intently as he looked for the golden ball.

"Freddie!" George yelled, he was currently in pursuit of a bludger. It was very unlike Fred to just hover in one spot, he would usually be flying around. "Focus!" he told him, before aiming a bludger towards Angelina.

He was able to arrive in time, his bat barely colliding with the bludger, but still managing to set it far away from the Chaser, who was able to fly to the scoring zone, gaining a point for her and Alicia's team. Oliver grunted in displeasure, picking up the Quaffle and chucking it at Katie, who headed for Alicia's goalposts.

Goals were being scored from both teams, Oliver and Katie on the lead this time. Alicia had somehow lost her luck at being able to catch and prevent the Quaffle from going in to the hoops, and the look on her face when Oliver threw a smug smile to her direction made it evident that she would much prefer being a Chaser.

George was constantly checking up on Fred, hovering around him and helping him get back to his focus. He was most definitely going to ask him about it right after their practice.

Another bludger went Katie's way, the girl managing to duck it it in time. Oliver glared at Fred, who didn't act quick enough to bat it out of her way, the bludger soaring back up and was in Harry's direction.