quidditch
One week later, Alexander and his friends were faced with Quidditch.
Alex knew the basics of it. There was a ball. And then another one. And then a smaller one?
"You are hopeless at quidditch," Peggy teased.
"And you're any better?" Alexander asked.
"At least I can ride a broom," she said.
"Who told you about that?" Alexander's failures at flying lessons was strictly confidential, he told his friends that.
"Hercules. A secret for a kiss."
Typical Slytherin behavior. They would sell you out for a donut, Alexander grumbled in his mind.
"Wait. A kiss?"
"Yes, we're dating, and no, you can't blackmail me with that information because I already told Angelica. Ha."
So Alexander, not trying out for Quidditch. Everyone else in the Revolutionary Crew, excluding Eliza and Alex, were.
Washington, one of the Ravenclaw Prefects, joined the Crew as well. He looked at them (Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, Gryffindors, and Slytherins all sitting together happily) and was curious and sat down next to Lafayette and befriended them. (Alexander and John suspected that he just sat there because of Lafayette, but they weren't going to tell them that.)
"Please call me George," he said at one point, probably sick of Hercules referring to him as Washington.
"You want to be referred to the same name as You-Know-Who," Angelica asked skeptically.
"Er.... Fine ok, just call me Washington," he said.
Angelica had the talent to shut down men so well.
Washington was also the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain.
"Just because I'm your friend, don't expect to get special treatment at tryouts," he said to Angelica and Peggy.
"You can look at us like you look at Jefferson, and we would still be on your team because we slay," Angelica retorted.
Cue high-five between Angelica and Peggy.
The girls, did in fact slay. Alexander, Eliza, Lafayette, Hercules, and John went to the tryouts to support Peggy and Angelica.
There were two spots open, chaser and seeker. The rest were filled by men. Angelica was outraged when she saw this.
"Where are the females? WHERE ARE THE FEMALES?"
"Well, these guys were just better-" Washington started.
" 'Well suited?' " Angelica said, making quotation marks with her hand. " 'Well suited?' No wonder Slytherin won the Quidditch cup for the last 10 years!"
Angelica and Peggy didn't have much competition. The others barely knew how to fly. In the end, Angelica was appointed a chaser, and Peggy was a seeker.
Peggy made a wonderful seeker. Most people underestimated her, thinking that she was too weak or too young to catch the Snitch. Boy, they were proven wrong.
"Wow, you might be as good as Ginny Weasley," Washington remarked. Alexander wasn't sure who that was, but she must be really good at Quidditch.
Angelica made a brutal chaser. She was merciless, yelling out critique of the other players.
"OH, GET ON WITH IT, OR IS YOUR SEXIST MALE MIND GETTING IN THE WAY OF YOU GETTING THE QUAFFLE?"
They were a force to be reckoned with.
Gryffindor tryouts. John and Lafayette were trying out.
"There are going to be so many first years on the team," John said. "The older kids are going to be pissed."
Pissing people off? Alexander's specialty.
Two spots open, yet again. Beaters.
"So what does the beater do again?" Alexander asked.
"Oh, they go in the line of mortal danger and beat off rouge iron balls," said Lafayette. "I mean, I don't have a will written yet, but I trust that you know me well enough to take care of my possessions well and give them to my significant other."
"Lafayette, from what we've heard, your significant other is yourself," John said.
"You wound me."
The Revolutionary Crew went to support the boys, as usual.
"I can't wait for them to get on the team so that we can decimate them on the field," Angelica said.
Quidditch. The game that ruined friendships.
Lafayette and John did amazingly. They knew what to do with the bat and which ball to hit, and they did better than Alexander could ever do.
Alexander was just worried that they were going to get themselves killed. I mean, he knew that people haven't died because of quidditch in a long time, but he was still stressed out. Eliza could fell his anxiety, apparently.
She took his hand. She opened her mouth as to say something sweet and endearing. "Chill fam."
Hercules wouldn't stop laughing for 10 minutes.
Hufflepuff tryouts. Since their only fellow Hufflepuff was Eliza, and Eliza wasn't trying out, Hufflepuff tryouts were ignored by the Revolutionary Crew.
Slytherin tryouts. Hercules and a girl named Maria Reynolds were the only first years to try out. Hercules became the seeker, and Maria became the beater. Their quidditch captain didn't look too happy about that.
"Why does he look so bitter," Alex asked Angelica.
"Slytherins. They hate change. They're the sexist, racist, homophobic ones- kinda like people in the South in America."
"Makes me happy that we're pissing him off."
One month later was the first quidditch game. Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff.
The Revolutionary crew was rooting for ravenclaw. Duh. Even Eliza, a Hufflepuff, was rooting for Ravenclaw.
"You're not rooting for Hufflepuff," Alex asked her.
"Blood before faction," she said.
"We're part of houses."
"I know, but it sounds better that way."
It was a good game. Ravenclaw won ("Well, when you've got Angelica and Peggy on your side, of course you're going to win," Eliza said). Hufflepuffs didn't do too badly either ( "Hufflepuffs are a big fightsy for a house that is prided on their kindness" ). The Hufflepuff beaters kept sending bludgers toward the Washington and the boys on the team ( "SEXIST ASSHOLES," Angelica screamed at them). They soon realized that Angelica was a threat, and started sending bludgers toward her. No one noticed little Peggy, sneaking around looking for the Snitch. ( "Did you see that I TAUGHT HER THAT," Hercules screamed when she pulled off a particularly sneaky move. ) The Hufflepuffs were ahead in points because of their beaters ( John grudgingly admitted that those beaters were really good), but then Peggy pulled in and saved the day. (Alexander would have asked Lafayette's opinion on the game, but they had all eyes on Washington).
"Angelica!" Alex said when he saw her after the game.
"Alexander!"
"Congratulations."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we won- I know- Of course we did. What did you expect? Anyways, you coming to the afterparty?"
"Afterparty?"
"Yeah, you coming or what?"
"Shouldn't that be only for Ravenclaws?"
"It is for Ravenclaws and allies."
"Ok then."
"Great!! See ya."
The afterparty was lit. Well, there was no strong alcohol because Filch would have been on you faster than you could say quidditch, but ravenclaws knew how to party.
The Revolutionary Crew (well, excluding Lafayette because no one knew where the fuck they was) attended the party. There was music (from the Weird Sisters, perhaps?) playing loudly from a disc. There was a table full of butterbeers, and Ravenclaw banners and flags everywhere.
Despite being a party to celebrate the Ravenclaw quidditch team, nobody could find Washington. So instead, the Ravenclaws decided to hoist Peggy on their shoulders and carry her around (did they expect to hoist Washington on their shoulders if they could find them? Was it even possible to carry Washington).
But alas, Alexander dragged the John back to his dorm.
"I have school tomorrow," Alex said.
"You fucking nerd," John said. "Ok then let's go."
"Alexander." John's voice cut through the night.
"What? It's the middle of the night," Alexander said. He stirred awake, sitting up. He looked over at John. He looked worried.
"Lafayette's not here."
"Really? What time is it?"
"Two," John said. "I mean, I know that they can take care of themself, but I'm really worried."
"Hey." Alex climbed out of his bed and into John's. "Don't be worried. You want to go and try and find him?" He took his hand.
"Yea, I mean I want to go and find him, but if I got in trouble and my dad found out....."
"Hey. I don't want you to worry. I've got my invisibility cloak. We can use that, we probably won't be found."
John bit his lip. "Ok, then," he nodded.
"Ok, you stay there, I'll grab my invisibility cloak. I don't want you to worry.
We'll find him."
"Where would Laf be right now?" asked Alex. He held up a lamp.
"I don't know, maybe the Astronomy tower? I know that he likes being up there a lot," John said.
"Ok let's go up there."
They were both huddled under the invisibility cloak. They started climbing up a staircase, when it started moving.
"What is going on?" Alexander whispered harshly.
"The staircases, they move, remember?'
Shit, shit, shit, they were completely fucked.
They were at the third floor now, the banned floor.
"Alexander, we're not allowed to go in there. Unless you want to die a painful and horrible death, remember?"
"Yea, I know I know, but what now. We just wait here for the stairs to move again?"
"I don't know. Wait, are you pacing? You can't just start fucking pacing while we're under an invisibility cloak-"
"Shhhhh."
"What- oh."
There was a cat right in front of where they were standing. Filch's cat.
"Do you think it can see us," Alex asked.
"Probably. Demon cat."
Alexander grabbed John's hand.
"Where are we going?"
"To a painful and horrible death."
"But-"
"Hey think about it: if we die, we'll be dead."
"That doesn't make me feel better."
They entered the room just as Filch appeared. The third floor was gloomy and dark, with spiderwebs everywhere.
"Woah...." Alexander said. He took John's hand, and wandered around. There were statues and doors everywhere.
"This is cool and all, but can we go now? I don't want my dad to find out about this...."
"Ok, fine."
They exited through a door and closed the door behind them. Unfortunately for them, it was the wrong door.
"Alexander?"
"Yeah John? Just give me a sec, I need to make this door look like we've never been in there."
"Alexander."
"What?" He turned around, and saw what John saw.
"I think we found our painful and horrible death."
It was a plant. A really weird plant, with three snapping bulbs. The bulbs had teeth, which looked pretty poisonous. What the actual fuck. It was like the venus fly trap in that muggle game, Plant vs. Zombies. One of the bulbs started snapping at them. Alexander was acting purely on instinct, his mind blank, but he thought one thing. Not. John.
"IMPEDIMENTA," he yelled, pointing the wand at the plant. He noticed that it was standing on something, like a trapdoor.
The plant was immobilized, and they ran for the door, and escaped the third floor.
"John?"
"Yeah?"
"Let's go back to the dorm."
Alexander couldn't sleep. His brain would not stop. He couldn't help but think things over. Where the fuck was Lafayette? Why the fuck was there a mutant human eating plant in Hogwarts? What the fuck was it doing? Was it guarding something? Alexander couldn't help but theorize.
He heard tossing and turning from John's bed. He was probably having a nightmare. Alex couldn't blame him, the events of that night were brutal.
"John?" he said. He went over to his bed and shook him awake. "John, wake up, you're having a nightmare."
"Oh my god. I was there, in the room, and you were there too, and you were being eaten by the plant...." he stuttered.
"Shhhh. It's ok. You're safe." He pulled him in for a hug. "Oh, I should probably go to sleep...."
"Stay?"
"Hey."
"Hey?"
"Ok."
They fell asleep in each others arms.