the midnight match

[frank alexander longbottom]

It was kind of insane, the hold that Alice Logan had on Frank Longbottom’s life. She could tell him to jump through a hoop of fire and Frank would ask her how much the bet was for. She could tell him to drink a barrel of fire whiskey and Frank would ask how much the bet was for. She could get him to jump off the school’s bridge down into the cliffs below and Frank would probably do it if the stakes were high enough. So, the fact that they’d talked themselves into something as insane and mischievous as a midnight quidditch match really wasn’t all that surprising.

He started down toward the pitch around 11:30 that night alone, waiting for James and Sirius to catch up and talk last minute strategies. The alone time was necessary though. Frank needed to get his head into the game. He also needed to get Ace out of his head, a task that he’d been attempting for a while now. He kept wondering if she’d be as competitive even though she was an awful flyer. He wondered how she’d look and if she’d care that it was a freezing cold night. He wondered if they’d get caught or if their other team mates wouldn’t show. Frank ran a hand through his messy blond hair as he came to a stop in front of the Gryffindor changing rooms.

”Mmk Ace, you can show up any day now.” He murmured with a hint of impatience. This was it and he couldn’t really believe he was the first one on the spot.

[alice josephine logan]

Alice pulled the dark sweater over her shoulders. It fit loosely, it was the biggest piece of clothing she owned. She was already beginning to show. She decided to show up, she at least owed that to her friends, but really, she wanted to see herself be happy for once. It had been awhile since she had been happy. She felt like she couldn't do anything for her sister, even though she knew she was upset. She made her way down to the pitch alone. It'd probably be better that way.

Alice grabbed a broom from the supply shed nearby where all the school's spare brooms were. She was nervous, as she wasn't the stronger flier and hadn't really played much quidditch. Marlene was kind enough to teach her and Lily, but she didn't think it would be anywhere close enough to let her be an even halfway decent seeker. She walked up behind Frank, who was standing there, mumbling something into the wind that she couldn't understand. Alice walked forward and tapped him on the shoulder. "Spacing out already, Longbottom?" she teased. So what? She was feeling great right now, and she was going to do the very best she could to win this bet.

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[marlene edith mckinnon]

Marlene had broken into the changing rooms well before the midnight match. Armed with her trusty firewhiskey, she was doing shots with some of the other girls. Boys, of course, had to get their own alcohol. Being the opposing team and all. The beater had refrained from placing an actual bet with Patrick Bones, but she was expecting the boys to win. They had actual players, and the girls had Alice and Lily. Mar had shown them a bit, but you couldn’t make up for years of experience in a few days.

Hearing a sound outside the changing rooms, Marlene took one last shot. “Guys, I think people are here! Let’s go!” Without waiting for a response, Mar took off for door. “Frankie! Alice! Ready to go? Alice! Where have you been? You missed shots! Want one now? There’s still firewhiskey!”

[olivia beatrice mckinnon]

Ollie stumbled around in the changing rooms. She had the alcohol from Marlene of course, and a whole mess of potions surging through her blood, a smoke or two from the hufflepuffs earlier in the evening had eased her spirits and now she was ready to win. That week or so that she had spent at the circus had been exhilarating but jumping on her broom was exhilarating in a whole new way. She smacked Marlene on the shoulder and grinned, dragging her broom behind her, and danced out onto the pitch. In a swirl of madness she was mounted and soaring into the pitch black evening air. She went twice around the hoops on her end, checking for any pranks set by the boys, and when all seemed clear she zoomed down to land next to Alice. She had seemed to be missing just as much as Ollie had been lately, and Ollie only wondered what secrets she was hiding. Rumor had it that Emma would be appearing to night too, and Ollie tensed up at that, but at least she didn't have to fly against her. But even with all of these worries, Ollie's alcohol content assured her a fulfilling win tonight.

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[sirius black]

Sirius was standing in the broom closet, having basically decided that he was insane.

Actually scratch that, he had decided he was insane a long time ago, but the last few days he had basically been telling himself in no uncertain terms that he was about ten kinds of stupid and this was going to end badly. Maybe. Possibly. If he didn't fall of his broom.
He didn't think he'd actually fall off- he had flown before after all. One of his uncles in the country had let him and his brother play on old, rickety broomsticks in the backyard... but most of that experience was limited to a) push his brother off and b) not fall off himself. (But isn't that one of the grander goals to begin with? Not fall of the damn broom?) But that had been long, long ago... before he had started at Hogwarts. Sure, James had let him borrow his broom on occasion and they had tossed the quaffle back in forth but that wasn't actual experience. Regulus was the one who was into quidditch and flying and with the desire to fly... not Sirius.
"My god." He grumbled aloud, running his hands over broom handles. "I sound like a woman."
Maybe, he traitorously thought back to himself, but better to sound like a woman then dead of a broken neck because you were an idiot.
He had downed one shot of whiskey for liquid courage, nearly drank a second before thinking better of it. Flying completely wasted would be a sure way to fall off and break his neck and die. On the other hand, he probably wouldn't feel it as much. Now he wished he had drank the second shot, the third, hell the whole damn bottle.

[ryan daniel willis]

Ryan started to get ready to get on to the pitch. He tried to get everything he needed to together and then rushed out. The boy was rather excited about the match that was about to happen. Unlike his counterparts, he was completely sober that night. He would not want to get drunk, not for this. There was no point in it. He looked around at the other people that are around and grinned. This would be one of the most fun nights ever.

[lily anne evans]

Lily could feel the fluttering sensation in her stomach reaching its maximum capacity. She often felt this feeling right as James Potter would lean in to kiss her. But James wasn’t standing there as Lily stood on the long, stretching lawns of Hogwarts that night. She had decided to sneak down alone in her school robes, her Prefect badge gleaming on her chest and shaming her with every step. How could she do something like this? This was like that night when her friends had convinced her to drink up in the common and she’d played that ridiculous game of truth or dare! Sure, it was all normal teenage rebellion, but Lily had always felt above it all until she’d actually taken part!

Worse yet, she was an awful flyer! She could hardly tell up from down once she sat herself down on a broomstick! In addition to her mediocre flying abilities, she had some broom that looked almost as old as Hogwarts itself. She wondered if Godric Gryffindor flew this broom in his first quidditch match! It seemed likely and she had debated whether or not she should cast a speeding up charm on the broom for an hour before starting toward the pitch.

After this internal debate, she found herself there on the ground, inching closer to the pitch and worrying she might be late. She was doing this for Alice, her closest friend and someone she cared for greatly. This was all about Alice, not her and her stupid broom that only ran at snail speed.

She sped up slightly and found herself peering into the changing rooms nervously. She instantly gravitated toward Alice as a security mechanism. She smiled shyly at her friend and took her arm without a word.

[ludovic aurelius bagman]

Drinking and quidditch did not mix. Ludo liked to party as much as the next person, although truthfully he didn’t get to party much thanks to quidditch. But he was too professional to show up for a match drunk! Any match. Even a pretend match where half the people didn’t play quidditch. His competitive spirit wouldn’t let him! Besides, it was one of the only times where Ludo and Vinnie were going to be able to play on the same team. Which was why he agreed to the match anyway... Plus, he would never miss an opportunity to beat his McKinnon cousins in a quidditch match.

Ludo entered the pitch, broom over his shoulder, as Ollie was landing. “’Lo everyone,” he nodded, his characteristic grin in place. “Ready to be flattened, ladies?” The grin turned predatory as Ludo switched into competitive mode. He was an amazing beater, but had never played keeper. But surely it wasn’t too difficult? Ludo had skills, he would be fine.

[james potter]

James was attempting the last of his gear; the alcohol wasn’t exactly helping his task but James was determined to get his last boot fastened. He focused all his drunken attention in a final effort and the clasp was fitted. James smiled to himself in triumph, standing too quickly and watched the room make a 360 in front of him. “Maybe I took in a bit too much for this.” James took an experimental step forward and found the floor. “good enough for me!” James started picking up momentum and grabbed his broom deciding he would fare better flying. He took another few steps and leapt onto his broom and flew out the door.

[hunter caspian rein]

hunter giggled as he made his way onto the field, the widest of grins spread across his face. alright, this was going to be a good night, he could feel it. it had been so long since he'd been out and about on a night like this. as it was, he had kick started this event with a shot. just one, very quick shot when he saw it being passed. he whistled towards marlene, his ears perking up as he heard marlene's mention of more firewhiskey. "i'll take some, you look fantastic by the way" he winked towards her. hey, he was sort of a free man right? he reached the pitch, kicking off from the ground as he swung one leg over his broomstick and rode up beside sirius. ahh, this might be the worst part. having to be team mates with that... guy. not to mention james, but for some reason sirius bugged him more. not that sirius had ever personally offended him, but hunter just had this weird aversion to the guy. just the entire fact that he existed made him annoyed and want to bug the hell out of him. "i thought you were a woman, black" he replied, coming up beside the guy and feigning innocence mockingly.

[kyndrick carmilla laurent]

Nobody did drunk flying like Kyndrick Laurent! No one! She was a goddess of drunk flight and everyone knew that!!!! So, the midnight match was no exception. Kyn pulled on her entire Ravenclaw quidditch uniform, painted dark blue lines on her cheeks, and brought her lucky beater’s bat with her as she strode confidently down to the changing rooms. Given, her confidence was slightly inconvenienced by her intoxication, but Kyn was used to this life style.

Kyn held her magically re-filling flask in one hand and her bat in her other. She had her game-face on and she was ready to play. It wasn’t until she made her way into the changing rooms and spotted all her favorite people all gathered together that Kyn began to get emotional.

”Ohhh, look at us all!!! This is going down in the history books the same way Dumblie’s Undies did with Remus and I. I cannot wait to hit the pitch!” Kyn began. She held out her flask to Mar absently out of habit and wandered closer to Ludo whom she stood on her tip-toes to kiss on the cheek. She then proceeded to wrap an arm around Alice’s shoulders and smile gracelessly. ”Oh Ali, have you gained weight? Watch out. People might think your eggo is preggo.” Kyn winked. Everyone knew Alice was a goody goody. No bun in that oven!!! ”When do we start? I’m so so so excited!!!!”

[vinnie edmond kentwood]

The secret midnight match wasn't so secret to most of the student body. Of course there were those that wouldn't dare show up, with the likes of Lily Evans flying on the girls team, he was sure that she might have easily let it slip to some other prefect or worse the Head Girl..and they'd all be busted. Even the onlookers. So with just the players and the bookie, they had become the elite rebels of Hogwarts. Vinnie was all for rebel spirit, but what mattered more than that was extra quidditch practice..and even more than that, a chance to beat the infamous Mckinnons while flying next to Ludovic. What was this madness? He booked it to the pitch.

"Ludo!" He jumped onto his broom and hovered next to the guy who was just like, you know, huge and tall...and a hufflepuff. His best friend. He looked around at the other players already gathered and grinned. The competition wasn't too tough. This would be a piece of cake.

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[emma elizabeth logan]

Emma couldn’t help but feel extremely awkward. This would be the first time she’d be around Ollie since returning from the circus. Things had been rather shaky since the return to school. Emma had been feeling down again and things hadn’t been the same between her and Sev since her suicide attempt. The only person she really felt comfortable around anymore seemed to be Alice and Emma couldn’t help but wonder if her sister was keeping things from her lately. She wanted to think that a rebellious game of night time quidditch was a good distraction from reality, but Emma knew better. This would be weird. This would only increase her wonder about Ali and would leave her facing Ollie without any kind of game plan.

She actually made her way down to the changing rooms in a decent amount of time and entered to find the crowd already almost entirely formed. Her eyes darted around at the strangeness of this lot of people. Hunter Rein, playing beside Gryffindors? Had Frank Longbottom drugged him or something? Emma was curious, to say the least. She glanced from person to person until her eyes met Olivia’s. There it was, the moment of awkwardness. This was a moment so excruciatingly awful for Emma that her insides were actually spinning like a laundry dryer. All her feelings were still there. All the false comfort and desire and need. And all of it wasn’t welcomed anymore. They’d returned to school and everything had fallen back into its place. Emma hated her place. It was stupid.

”Let’s go. Enough with the drinking. We’ve got a match to play. Is Potter already out there? We can’t inflate his ego any more than it already is! We’ve got to get moving!” Em insisted. She flung a leg over her broom and took off with such ease and carelessness that she wondered if she’d been slipped a drink earlier as well.

[callie rose moran]

Callie felt completely and utterly amped up for this. She wore a pair of worn out jeans and a Hufflepuff tee shirt. She had drank an entire bottle of rum by herself before wandering through the entrance hall and out onto the grounds. Callie hadn’t bothered walking. She hopped on her broom and soared a staggering flight toward the changing rooms. She watched as several people came wisping out onto the pitch in the night. She just thought she could make out James Potter and his pompous air of leadership. Why didn’t Frank just push him off his broom? Callie didn’t know. She only knew one thing for certain. This night wasn’t about quidditch for her, it was about fun. She was going to sweep the skies with Ollie, Mar, and Kyn. They’d be drunken ducks making their migration across the stars! Callie often wondered her mind became so wacky this late at night and under the presence of alcohol.

She swept down lower so she could hover in the doorway of the changing rooms. ”Bitches, we fly or I’m out. Don’t play like wimps. Oh yeah, and Ludo, it is sooooo on! Mar, fly with me a minute!!!!” Callie commanded of the group. She wasn’t in charge, but her mood seemed to think she was at that moment.

[frank alexander longbottom]

Frank gave Alice an indignant look as she spoke. ”Yup. Just evening out the play field here. If I keep spacing out, maybe you’ll stand a chance and have a possibility of winning.” Frank grinned as he said it, secretly having fun messing with her.

The room filled up fast and Frank accepted a drink from the lovely Marlene Mckinnon. The room was divided up into teams that were mixed with drunk and sober players. And then Kyn had to open her mouth about Alice. ”Oy, Laurent, shut up.” He mumbled before taking charge again. ”I’ll release the snitch and…” Frank stopped as Callie Moran hovered in the door. James was already in flight and things seemed to be starting without him. Apparently the Moran girl thought she could run both teams tonight. She was wrong.

”Fine, get up in the air everyone. I’ll let everything out. James can toss the quaffle and we can go.” Frank sounded frazzled and itched absently at his lavender socks as her mounted his broom and took off toward the middle of the pitch where they’d left the chest of quidditch balls. He released both bludgers and the snitch and then tossed the quaffle up at James. ”Go ahead James.” Frank called upward. If they all seemed to ready, he could show them preparedness.

Callie was more than ready to play this out. She was in the sky like a shot. She fluttered around James Potter and eyed the quaffle recklessly. It was time for trash talking like never before. ”Don’t drop it Potter. I know it’s long past your bed time, but this is a match, not a playground game.” Callie teased casually as she did little loop-de-loops on her broom. She waited for Mar to come closer and fly beside her. "We've got this. If only we could always play for the same team."

Kyn stared after Callie with a grin, her beater bat in hitting position and ready to go. ”You are too adorable!!!” Kyn snickered obnoxiously.

Lily flew closer to James, unsure what she was supposed to do. She smiled over at him anxiously. She waited until she was just close enough to lean over and whisper in his ear. ”Good luck. If I fall off my broom, you’ll catch me, right?” She asked him with her nerves taking over. She kissed his cheek gently and waited for him to reassure her. Sure, everyone else could be competitive, but she and James weren’t quite the same.