#but from what i heard even the commentators of the last kc game were saying the refs bad calls gave them their 'victory' and if that happens

[kazoosandfannypacks]

saw a post where someone said that said they can't stand the idea of another "taylor swift sueprbowl" and while i love my girl taylor i lowkey agree because if i have to see kansas city at one more superbowl the trout population is going to be affected.

[lifeofkaze]

An Art of Balance #21

Orion Amari x MC

Warning: use of alcohol, underage drinking

A/N: Fabulous Judith belongs to @judediangelo75, KC is the creation of my favourite @kc-needs-coffee and Ira belongs to the queen of OCs @slytherindisaster

Word Count: ~ 3.000

_______________________________________________

Chapter 21: Seizing the Chance

Even behind the closed flaps of the changing room tent, the roar of the crowd was deafening as McNully fired the students gathered on the stands up for the match. Orion had seen the masses of making their way down to the pitch from high up above as the teams had warmed themselves up for what was to come.

It was almost time for the game to begin and Orion gathered his team around the blackboard with their key manoeuvres for their moment of vivification.

“My friends, the time to prove to ourselves of what we are capable of in the face of adversities has almost come. But before I will enlighten you with the wisdom I want you take with you into the air, one of ours has something to unburden her mind from.” He stepped aside and Skye, who had been tugging at the hem of her Quidditch robe while he had been speaking, stood up and took his place.

She took a deep breath before she tried to bury her hands in her pockets as she would often do with her signature jacket; when she realised her robe had none, she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“I’ll make this short,” she said brusquely. “I know I didn’t act the way a teammate is supposed to and I want to apologise. I’m not the only one with stuff on my mind, I see that now. It was wrong to let it out on you guys. Said some things that were not my place to say,” she glanced at Lizzie, who would have had every right to be mad at her, but she just smiled encouragingly, “and I hope that you accept my apology.”

She turned to Orion and rubbed her neck with her gloved hand. “Orion, you are a smashing captain and you’ll know what to do to make us win today. And if anyone is as stupid as I and disrespects you again,” her eyes flickered to Everett and her nostrils flared with indignation, “I’m going to shove a Beater’s bat right up their- “,

“Thank you for your heartfelt words, Skye, I think you made your point,” Orion cut her off hurriedly. Skye glared at Everett one last time before she sat down next to Judith, who muttered “As long as you don’t take mine, go ahead,” under her breath, making Skye grin.

Orion took his place in front of the semicircle of his teammates once again.

“There is little time left before we have to depart, so I, too, will make this shorter than usual. Every one of us knows what is at stake today. I don’t need to set your minds because I can see the fire burning in every single one of you. But beware, my friends, a single flame is not enough to build a fire; I ask you to join our flames together and make our fire blaze brighter than ever before. Let us show Slytherin that our House is not to be messed with.” He gripped the handle of his broomstick tighter as he looked at every single one of his teammates. “Let our fires burn as one, for we are one team!”

“One team!”

*

The team had taken Orion’s vivification speech to heart. Despite all of the problems they had had to deal with beforehand, the Hufflepuff team finally managed what had always been their greatest strength; they moved as one conscient being, every position complementing the others perfectly.

It hadn’t taken them long to carve out a comfortable lead; the tactic Orion had chosen was working splendidly. He had decided to take Skye’s concern into consideration and had assigned each Beater a specific task. Everett was perfectly suited to bang the Bludgers into the Slytherin Chasers with his brutish strength. As soon as they formed anything resembling a formation, he was determined to scatter them.

Judith, on the other hand, had an eye for the flight paths of the Bludgers and was a lot more experienced, so she was set to clear the path for their own Chasers to score.

And score they did; the Slytherin Keeper was known to be the strongest asset of their team. But fortunately for them, he didn’t seem to be in the best of forms today. More than one shot, that he usually would have deflected, found its way past him, the enchanted rings lighting up along with the roar of the crowd.

“And Amari scores with a spectacular off-hand throw!” Murphy shouted from the commentary box, “The score now stands at 100 to 40 for Hufflepuff! If the Slytherin defence doesn’t get these Chasers under control very soon, our chances at a new record score for this season lie at an impressive 68.9 %.”

McNully was right; the rut of their best player had unsettled the Slytherin performance gravely and Orion and his teammates were ruthlessly using their opponents’ disorder to their advantage.

Orion himself had scored quite a few times already. But Lizzie and Skye were a force to be reckoned with today; they were tearing around the pitch on their Comets and every Bludger sent after them was immediately deflected by Judith, who seemed to have her eyes everywhere.

It was unbelievable how well she and Everett were working together despite their differences. Everett had just beaten an attacking Bludger in Judith’s direction, who diverted its flight path into the forming formation of the Slytherin Chasers.

McNully completely lost it as he commented on the events unfolding in front of him. “What an incredible display of teamwork! The Hufflepuff Beaters show off their newest attack: Everett sends his Bludger over to Harris with force; Harris deflects with a well measured swing of her bat! The Bludger changes direction and oooh- “ he winced audibly as the crowd erupted in cheers, “that must have hurt! The Bludger’s change of direction was 82.5 % unpredictable and hits home as it scatters the wavering arrowhead formation of the Slytherin team! A tactical masterpiece if I might say so!”

Orion suppressed a laugh; as if McNully hadn’t made sure Judith and Everett had his new manoeuvre understood to a tee before letting them test it out in a real match situation.

One of the attacked Chaser had dropped the Quaffle and Orion raced towards it, snatching it out of the air only moments before the Slytherin Chaser reached for it again. They nearly collided mid-air, but Orion managed to lean sideways at the last moment; half hanging sideways of his broom, the other player zoomed over him without contact.

He swung himself back into an upright position and gripped the Quaffle tighter as he whipped his broom around on his way to Slytherin goalposts once more. But this time, the Keeper had guessed the ring Orion was going for and managed to block the Quaffle. He sent it back into the game with a well-practised kick of his foot.

It was too far away for him to reach in time, but he saw Lizzie react immediately. As the Quaffle flew over her head just inches out of her reach, she pushed herself off her broomstick and hopped onto the handle without giving it a second thought. Standing up, she was able to interject the pass and claim the Quaffle for herself.

Still balancing on her broom, she ducked under the Bludgers sent in her direction and started surfing back towards the goalposts at ridiculous speed. The Keeper looked surprised at her attack, but steadied himself as she approached.

Lizzie knew exactly what she was doing, though; crouching down low, she shifted her weight just enough for her Comet to change direction at the last moment. She held her stance as she performed a barrel roll, using the momentum to shoot the Quaffle through one of the rings.

With complete trust in her footing, he heard her cheer as she surfed past the screaming Hufflepuff stands. With a grin, Orion remembered how many times she’d fallen when he had taught her his favourite move all those years ago; unbelievable how far the tenacious girl with no idea about Quidditch had come.

“Jameson scores for Hufflepuff, raising the score to 110 to 40! And what a show she’s giving us!” Murphy jubilated as Lizzie zoomed past the commentary box.

“According to my facts, we haven’t seen Jameson score that way for seven House matches in a row. This marvellous feat of flying even sends the master of this technique into daydreams it seems,” McNully’s voice was vibrating with badly contained laughter before it grew serious again, “but they could quickly turn into a nightmare as a Bludger is headed on its way to see whether Amari can hold onto his broomstick quite as well as Jameson.”

Orion snapped out of his musings and had just enough time to dodge the Bludger that zoomed past his head. Judith followed it immediately to get hold of it; however, the Slytherin Chaser she directed it against still had the time to pass his Quaffle onto his teammate.

Before he could set after it, Lizzie shot past him, her hair trailing behind her in the wind. She turned around for a split second, her eyes meeting his.

“Focus, Captain!” he heard her snap at him before she concentrated on bumping into her opponent to relieve him of his charge.

Right she was; Orion cleared his mind as he set after her, catching the Quaffle she passed him with one hand. They had a game to win.

*

It only got worse for Slytherin as the match progressed. Although they did manage to score a few goals against Hufflepuff eventually, with every goal they received in turn, the confusion grew between them. They had been off track before, but trailing so far behind a team they had deemed an easy win had their own players turn against themselves.

Their youngest Chaser, a brutish boy named Marcus Flint, was on the verge of picking a fight with his Beater for allowing a Bludger to hit him, when all eyes on the pitch suddenly turned on Lucy and the Slytherin Seeker, who were in a head to head race for a tiny golden spec glittering in the sunlight below the Gryffindor stands.

“This match could find a preliminary end as the Seekers of both teams appear to have spotted the Golden Snitch!” Murphy exclaimed. The Slytherin Seeker was slightly in advance and if she were to reach the Snitch first, all their scoring would have been for nothing; Hufflepuff had a comfortable lead, but it wasn’t enough to cushion a boost of 150 points.

The stadium had fallen completely silent as everyone’s eyes were glued to the two girls racing for the Snitch. The Seeker in the emerald robes already had her hand outstretched, when all of a sudden a Bludger from Everett hit the handle of her broomstick, knocking her clean off. Luckily, they weren’t high enough to do her much damage as she fell to the soft lawn underneath her.

Lucy didn’t miss a beat as her opponent fell; she was lying almost flat on her broom to get all the speed out of it that she could. When her fingers were only inches away from the Snitch, she pushed herself against the footrests of her broom to give herself the reach she needed.

Orion couldn’t see properly what she was doing but was spared further guessing when Lucy’s scream of triumph carried through the air and the whole stadium went into a frenzy as she presented the gleaming Snitch in her raised fist.

“O’Connell gives it her all and succeeds! The match is over!” Murphy’s voice almost cracked as he shouted over the noise of the crowd. “Hufflepuff gains 150 points and wins with a crushing score of 310 to 70. Dear spectators, if you allow me a calculation on the top of my head, I’d say we have a new contender for the Quidditch Cup!”

*

To nobody’s surprise, Murphy’s calculation had been completely right. They had been able to score so many points against Slytherin that Hufflepuff was back in the game for the Cup. As Gryffindor had been able to rack up a spectacular victory against Ravenclaw in one of the shortest matches Lizzie had ever seen, their last game of the season would simultaneously be the final showdown for the priced trophy.

When the team had entered their Common Room after properly celebrating among themselves first, they had been greeted by thundering applause and chants. Contrary to the last post-match party, everyone was pumped and the atmosphere exhilarated. Tulip and a few other Ravenclaws had decided to join their celebration as well; it wasn’t particularly difficult to gain entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room after all. She and Tonks had wasted no time and had poured some Firewhiskey into the gigantic, self-refilling bowl of punch in the middle of the room.

Lizzie had already drunk more than her fair share of it. They had celebrated with a round of butterbeers in the Changing Room directly after returning from the pitch and by now, her head felt fuzzy and her cheeks were flushed from both the heated air in the room and the Firewhiskey warming her from the inside. She was glad the alcohol numbed the countless bruises and cuts littering her body; it was no secret Slytherin knew how to play rough and the frustration at the course of the match hadn’t improved their physical gameplay.

Ira, one of the other Hufflepuff girls in Lizzie’s year, had lectured Lizzie, about her carelessness when she had patched her up, like she always did. She had a natural gift for Herbology and healing and often took care of the minor injuries all of them brought back from the pitch. Her abilities and Penny’s secretly brewed Wiggenweld Potions had more than once spared Lizzie a trip to the Hospital Wing.

Lizzie and Penny were standing near the refreshment table with Skye and a few other Hufflepuffs. All the attention was fixed on Skye, who was recounting the highlights of the match under full usage of her body; just like Lizzie, the combination of adrenaline and alcohol had gone straight to her head.

She was just now replaying the way Lizzie had scored her goal whilst broom surfing, mimicking McNully’s commenting style as she re-enacted the scene. Feeling embarrassed at the praise, Lizzie dropped her eyes.

“You’re exaggerating, Parkin,” she mumbled.

“Only a little,” Skye shrugged, before resuming the show for her onlookers.

“She’s right,” Penny agreed, “you were amazing today, Liz. Rowan and I were screaming our heads off when you scored that goal.”

Lizzie blushed. “Where is Rowan anyway?” She hadn’t seen her friend since lunch.

“She’s got prefect duty tonight,” Penny answered. “She left before you guys came back.”

To say she wasn’t a little bit glad that Rowan wasn’t here would have been a lie. For whatever reason, Rowan had been in a particularly good mood ever since yesterday evening. And while it was good to see her so happy, Lizzie wasn’t in the mood for her ramblings right now; especially if they revolved around Orion, like they so often did these days.

She hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and was really starting to feel the effects of the alcohol; she felt lightheaded and wondered if it was a good idea to get as wasted as she already was. Lizzie knew she was prone to rambling about things better left unsaid when she was drunk and she had amassed quite a collection of things that had better stay a secret. It took a lot of concentration from her side to not lose track of what version of the truth she had told to whom and her hazy mind didn’t make things easier.

But Rowan not being in the Common Room tonight meant she could relax just a little bit more and Penny was right; she had performed really well today and earned herself a bit of laid-back fun with her friends.

Her eyes scanned the crowd for Orion without really thinking about it. The last time she’d seen him, he had been with Murphy and KC, who had been amongst the Ravenclaws that had arrived with Tulip. A smile tugged at Lizzie’s lips as she saw the red haired Beater sitting on Murphy’s lap, engaged in a little bit more than a heated discussion.

As the door leading out of the Common Room opened, the movement caught Lizzie’s eye. She could just make out the familiar figure of Orion before he vanished in the darkness of the tunnel that connected Hufflepuff House to the rest of the castle.

Penny had seen him leaving as well. “Seems like Orion needs a break from the adoring masses.”

Lizzie only hummed in response, her eyes still fixed to the now closed door.

“Maybe he’d like some company,” Penny suggested with a smirk.

Lizzie tore her eyes from the exit and turned to her. “What do you mean?”

Penny only raised her eyebrows in response.

Lizzie gripped her cup tighter. “I’m not sure that’d be a good idea.”

Gently prying her cup out of her hands, Penny nudged her in the direction of the door. “Just go.”

She stared at the encouraging expression on Penny’s face. It was a bad idea; she should really stay here where she couldn’t do anything stupid.

With an inward curse, she grabbed her drink back from Penny’s hands and downed the remains of it in one go. She shuddered from the strong taste as she put the empty cup down on the table.

Such a bad idea.

Before she could change her mind, Lizzie pushed herself away from the table and through the crowd, slipping quietly through the round door.