On the Pitch Again ((Quinn))

[Cole Waters]

Early on Monday morning the sun rose over the horizon casting light onto everything it could. The dew on the grass shimmered like diamonds under the warm rays. A slight breeze blew over an empty field in northern England. In the middle of the field stood an enormous stadium, leaving a shadow looming in its wake. This Quidditch pitch belonged to the Foulmouth Falcons, a professional team that played in the U.K's Premier League. Like a ghost town it stood deserted and eerily quiet. On game days the stands were packed with fans, cheering and booing. Usually the noises echoed off its high walls, but this early in the morning and in the season, it stood silent. Suddenly a loud pop disturbed the silence. A young man popped up out of thin air carrying a large duffel bag in one hand and a broom in the other. The young man was Cole Waters.

Cole stood in the deserted field staring at the stadium. His dream had finally come true, he was going to play for a professional quidditch team. For some reason this still came as a shock to him though. He had worked his whole life to get here, his father trained him since he was a boy. He played for the house team at Hogwarts and even played with the Falcons minor league team when he was 16. There was no way he wouldn't play as a pro, but for some reason he still seemed shocked. Looking at the empty stadium he imagined it filled with fans cheering him on. He felt a shiver of excitement go down his body and he couldn't help but laugh. Finally after staring for so long he decided it was time to get to work. Walking into the stadium he thought of the day ahead of him. It was the first day of training camp and Cole had just signed with the team. The season started in three weeks to this time was crucial for him to get to know his teammates and their strengths and weaknesses. Knowing that he was a shoe in for the staring Keeper position, Cole tried not to let this get to his head. After all, quidditch is a team sport.

Taking a left after the entrance Cole began walking down the corridor to the team locker room. The hall was quiet, but as he approached the locker room he could hear noise. Opening the door he was greeted by a janitor. "Good morning," the man said smiling. "Good morning," Cole said smiling back, "Am I the first one here?" The Janitor looked around and then said "Besides me you are." Cole laughed and headed towards the lockers. It didn't take him long to find his locker since they all had names above them. Setting his stuff down he grabbed the gray practice robe that hung in his locker and looked it over. It had his last name printed on the back of it as well as his number, 13. Smiling he set it back on the hangar and started unpacking his stuff. Although he had played quidditch so many times before it all felt so new to him. It felt amazing.

A few minutes later people began to trickle into the locker room. Cole made it a point to introduce himself to all of them, but seeing how it was the crack of dawn no one was interested in holding a full blown conversation. Everyone began to unpack their belongings and put on their practice robes. Deciding to follow suit Cole put on his boots and robe. Standing up he looked around the locker room. It was starting to get full as most of the players had arrived by then. Beginning to get full of excitement Cole began to pace back and forth. Then all of a sudden he heard a deep husky voice say "Hey Rook you're blocking my locker." Looking up Cole noticed a man who was almost a full head taller than him and much wider looking down at him. Nervously Cole said "Oh sorry about that," and began backing away. As he backed away though he bumped into another person. Turning around he quickly said "Excuse me." Realizing that it was a girl who he had bumped into Cole felt even worse. "Are you ok?" he asked the dark haired woman.

[Quinn Sinclaire]

It was back! Her life was back, it was quidditch season once again. For weeks Quinn’s friends had been teasing her about keeping in touch and quizzing her on their names to make sure she would remember them in the season to come. Some of them had even gone so far as to get pictures of themselves for her to put in her locker so the guards would let them back with the team after games. Her friends may be characters but Quinn was actually very excited, and quidditch really was her life. Ever since she was little she had taken the game seriously, and when she was offered a position with the Falcons after school it suddenly took on a whole new meaning. Quinn always strived to be her best, be the best in general really, and never took on anything important with half a heart.

So that morning she brushed her hair and her teeth with glee, pulling her hair back in a practiced very tight bun. It was all up and out of the way, couldn’t well see a tiny snitch with a stand of hair in your eyes really. Quinn flashed herself a smile in the mirror before heading out to the door. Three and a half steps out of her flat she suddenly turned on the spot and disappeared. She squeezed herself through what felt like a tiny tunnel and next thing she knew she was standing upright in the middle of the quidditch pitch she knew so well.

Slowly as she breathed in the clean cool air Quinn started to hear voices flooding towards her as her teammates apparate into their various favourite places to arrive. One of the perks of being on the team, the areas you could apparate to were unlimited because sometimes after a match you would need to apparate in and out of the pitch to get the crowd. Calmly, coolly, she walked down the halls toward the locker room where they would all be gathering. It was slowly filling up as Quinn went over to her locker and started checking out her new gear, they never skimped.

As she was pulling on her new tunic Quinn felt herself start to plunge forward and had to brace herself against the locker. She heard an unfamiliar, young, male voice apologizing as she fitted the shirt on her properly so she could see again. “I’m fine, but man you better have better reflexes than that if you want to make it in this team. Unless of course you bumped into me on purpose. Then a simple hello might of gotten my attention just as well, especially if you smile at me with those grey eyes while you’re doing it. I’m Quinn, seeker. And you are? New I gather but more specifically?”

[Cole Waters]

Cole stood perplexed as he listened to this girl talk. She was the first one who actually spoke more than five words to him since the locker room filled up. At 6'1 Cole was a full head taller than the girl and by her statue he had to assume that she was a seeker. Just as the thought crossed his mind she confirmed it. Smiling, Cole was happy to meet someone this friendly. "Cole Waters, Keeper," he said grabbing her hand and shaking it, "As for my reflexes, you'll see those in action in a few minutes." Chuckling lightly he could feel himself relaxing a little more. "And if I wanted to get your attention I probably would shy away from pushing you around. I'd probably start with something like 'Am I in heaven? Because you're an angel.'" Laughing a little more Cole examined the girl a little more. At first sight she was a regular small girl, but upon closer examination he muscle tone showed that she was much stronger than she looked. Her skin was pale and her long black hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. The longer Cole looked at her the more familiar she looked. Then it hit him.

"Hey did we go to school together?" he asked curiously. With so many students at Hogwarts it's hard to remember all of the faces that you see, but Cole was pretty sure he had seen her before. As he waited for her response the loud sound of water splashing on the ground filled the locker room. Turning around he saw a young man standing soaked from head to foot and another man standing next to him with a bucket. Everyone laughed and Cole joined in as the dripping guy looked around. Then suddenly Cole felt his pores scream as ice cold water covered his body. Whipping around he saw another man with a bucket laughing. From behind him Cole heard someone yell "Welcome to the league Rookies." Everyone joined in with the man in laughing and Cole stood shivering and a small smile on his face. He knew that some rookie hazing would occur but he wasn't expecting it this early.

[Quinn Sinclaire]

Quinn grinned and rolled her eyes as Cole gave her some line, that he claimed he would use to impress her. "Oh, so you aren't really into girls then? Because no self-respecting womanizer pulls those lines anymore my friend, they only work with the girls you're paying. But it's nice to meet you at any rate. Don't worry we have some pretty cute boys that join our team parties too, something for everyone you know." She giggled a little bit at her own cleverness, and it really was true, their team following really did contain something for everyone... none of the team members ever went home alone on nights they didn't want to.

Quinn searched Cole's face a little more when he asked if they went to school together, very likely, pretty much everyone in the UK league had gone to Hogwarts at some point or other, and you didn't stay on the pitch for too many years... There was something familiar about him but Quinn was sure they had never had any classes together or anything, so they were probably either close in age or from the same house, likely both. "Likely, I went to Hogwarts; Slytherin house of '97". As Quinn was explaining this she heard a loud splash from somewhere behind Cole, peering around him she noticed another guy she didn't know being doused with what looked like very cold water. She couldn't help but give a reluctant chuckle, it happened to everyone every year, though the girls hardly ever hazed and usually didn't get it as bad in return.

Now knowing the plan Quinn took an involuntary step away from Cole just in time for another bucket, just like the first, to land all over him. This time she really had to laugh, Cole was looking more than a little like a drowned rat with his hair all plastered to his head and his robes hanging all baggy over him. "You know, I think it suits you. It really does, you can be like our master weapon. No one ever goes too near the Falcon's rings to shoot for fear of being splashed by their soaking wet keeper kind of thing."

[Cole Waters]

Cole stood in the middle of the locker room shivering, soaking wet, and yet anger never crossed his mind. He knew that being hazed would come with the territory and he had no problem with it. Hazing was a tradition in sports since they started and he respected it along with every other aspect of quidditch. In truth he was already looking forward to hazing next years rookies. Turning towards Quinn he listened to what she said about the "wet keeper thing" and let out a small laugh. "Yeah I'm not sure how long that would work, how many people are intimidated by soaking wet men while everyone else is dry?" Pulling his wand out of his pocket he pointed it at himself and began blowing warm air all over his body in an attempt to dry himself off. Shaking his head, his shaggy hair whipped around slinging water in every direction. Pointing his head closer to Quinn he shook a little more and said "Ooops did I get you wet?" Laughing he dried out the rest of his robes the best he could and put his wand back into his pocket.

Turning to his locker he made sure he had everything he needed before practice. While fiddling with something on the top shelf he looked at Quinn out of the corner of his eyes. "As a rookie I have a few questions to ask you know," Cole said smiling, "and since you were the first person to talk to me you get the pleasure of at least listening to them." Closing his locker he turned to her and began asking a bunch of questions. "So how long have you been playing professionally? Is it what you thought it would be? And do you ever get worried your good looks will get compromised playing?" He asked the last question with a big smirk on his face. Cole had played with a lot of girls before and a lot of them were very pretty, but he had seen one to many go down with a broken jaw or nose. He always liked to joke with them that Quidditch was a mans sport.