chapter 13
06 11 1988
October passed by quickly. Kinsley had Quidditch training three times a week, which was both extremely enjoyable and also absolutely killed her. Kinsley and Tate handed in a perfect blood-replenishing potion and essay to Snape, receiving an Outstanding. And, Kinsley finally found a transfiguration task to challenge her outside of lessons.
Soon enough it was November, and the first Quidditch game was approaching. Charlie started training the team four times a week, and then five in the lead-up to the game. The team consisted of two second years (Kinsley and Oliver), and five sixth years (Lucas, Riley, Elijah, Bryce, and Charlie). Kinsley was starting to find her place as the only girl on the team and felt that she had grown as a player immensely in such a short time. Herself, Elijah, and Bryce worked incredibly as a trio, and the two older boys had swiftly accepted their younger, female counterpart with open arms. The entire team seemed to work together smoothly, and they were all more excited than nervous going into the game against Slytherin.
Kinsley woke up on the morning of the big game and rushed straight to the boys' dorms, shaking Oliver and Percy awake. Once the two bleary-eyed boys got up out of bed, Kinsley ran to the sixth-year boys' dorm and knocked loudly on the door.
“Get up, get up, get up!” She yelled. Simultaneously, the five boys groaned and told her in no polite terms “fuck off Kins, we’re sleeping.”
“We play Slytherin today!” She exclaimed and waved her wand, summoning all of their quilts. More groans and foul words ensued.
“Hey, do any of you find it funny that almost our entire Quidditch team is in one dorm? If someone bombarda-ed this room then the Gryffindor Quidditch Team would be two second years and that’s it.”
“That’s a really nice thing to be thinking about, Kinsley. Someone bombarda-ing our dorm.” Bryce rolled his eyes and got out of bed.
“I was just thinking out loud Bryce. Anyways, get up boys, and come have breakfast.”
Eventually, the entire Quidditch team sauntered down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Kinsley was in the lead in her Sirius Black Hoodie, and Oliver and the rest were following excitedly on her heels.
It was 7:06 am when they finally took their seats at the Gryffindor table, Kinsley having woken them up at 6:30 for an 11:00 game.
Kinsley filled her plate up with yogurt, granola, fruit, and raisin toast, and watched as the rest of the boys wolfed down plenty of eggs, sausages, and toast. The Slytherin Quidditch Team eventually walked into the Hall, and Kinsley gave Tatum a salute from across the hall. He smirked back and started to walk over to the lions, but Kinsley got up and met him halfway. No need to start any unnecessary fights.
“Morning, Nott.” Kinsley grinned.
“McGonagall.” He nodded, fighting a smile himself. “Feeling ready?”
“Born ready.” Kinsley countered. “More than you can say. I expect you to fall off your broom before the game even starts.”
Tate smiled for real at that. “How about a bet? Hm? Most goals scored wins.”
“Wins what?” Kinsley asked, a smirk growing on her face.
“How about… Wins a favour from the other person.”
Kinsley's smile dropped and she raised an eyebrow. “A favour?”
“I swear on my life it won’t be anything illegal. But I reckon it’s a high-stakes bet, that way.”
Kinsley nodded slowly. “I won’t lose, so. Sure. A favour. Nothing illegal, nothing that will upset someone considerably, nothing that will lose me Head Girl points.”
“Nothing that will lose me Slytherin points,” Tate added.
“Deal.” Kinsley nodded and stuck out her hand. Tate shook it twice with a grin before it quickly faded into a more serious expression.
“Don’t hurt yourself, Kinsley.” He sighed and then added a quiet “please,” but Kinsley felt that she was just hearing things.
“I won’t, Nott. The same goes for you.”
The pair nodded to each other and separated, walking back to their respective tables.
“What was that about, Kins?” Oliver asked her.
“Just some snakey shit talk, Ollie. Nothing to worry about.”
Oliver nodded and went back to his food, but Kinsley noticed Charlie raising a suspicious eyebrow. She shook her head at him and started eating again.
Slowly more people started filtering into the Hall, and Penelope, Bodie, and Indie all plopped themselves down at the Gryffindor table.
“Look!” Indie said excitedly, pointing to the red and gold scarf around her neck. Bodie had a matching one, and Penelope had braided her hair with red and gold ribbon.
“Thanks, guys! You all look so much better in red and gold.” Said Oliver.
“We’re expecting the same from you when Ravenclaw plays,” Bodie told Percy, Kinsley, and Oliver sternly. The trio nodded.
Lots of people came over to wish the Gryffindor team luck, including one of Charlie’s best friends - Tonks. The badger sat down at the table almost on top of Kinsley and grabbed herself a piece of bacon off of Charlie's plate, while simultaneously telling everyone in the vicinity to compliment her hair. “If you guys win, I’ll leave it like this for the next week,” Tonks promised, gesturing to her half red-half gold mohawk.
“I love it,” Kinsley announced. “I want red and gold hair.” She waved her hand at her own head before pulling at her ponytail, noting that the once dark brown hair was now red with golden streaks.
“Did you just do that wandlessly?” Percy questioned, eyes wide.
“Erm, yes? It’s no big deal. I just practice a lot.” Kinsley replied, brushing him off. She was trying so hard to hide just how advanced at transfiguration she was becoming.
To get away some of the growing attention, she rounded on the rest of the Quidditch team mischievously.
“Tonks and I feel really left out right now because we’re the only ones with fancy hair.” Kinsley pouted exaggeratedly.
“Yeah.“ Tonks nodded, catching on. “Somehow me and Kins are the only ones who actually care about Gryffindor. I’m not even from Gryffindor.”
“I-I don’t really need red and gold hair.” Elijah stuttered, trying to avoid whatever the evil look in both of the girls’ eyes signaled.
“Too bad, Bailey.” Kinsley grinned, turning his hair gold with red streaks.
“My hair is already red.” Charlie tried.
“You’re right.” Tonks nodded. “It is already red.” But she had a mischievous jilt to her tone that made Charlie question her intentions.
“So… you won’t change the colour?” He asked suspiciously.
“Oh, Charlie. Sweet, gullible Charlie. Kinsley’s already turned it gold.”
The entire table roared with laughter at Charlie’s gold locks, and he glared jokingly at Kinsley and Tonks. The pair began to change everyone else’s hair as well, under varying levels of protest.
Finally, Charlie called for the team to make their way to the club rooms for game talk and preparation. Everyone changed into their Quidditch robes quickly and then sat around the room on various benches while Charlie paced back and forth.
“Alright, team. Our first game is today. We have to show everyone what we’ve got. Even more, we’re playing Slytherin. Slytherin! We have to show them what we’ve got. Losing is not an option. Do your absolute fucking best and don’t let me down, lions like us eat snakes for breakfast.”
Everyone cheered.
“McGonagall, Bailey, Carter, you’re gonna have to protect whatever chaser has the ball. As we all know from last year's games, Slytherin plays tough. Offer other options, and keep their chasers away from the quaffle. Elke and O’Brian, your job is to make sure the bludgers stay away from our players. They’re gonna be targeting vulnerable players, and they’re gonna hit hard and fast. Don’t let them. Wood, that quaffle should not be entering the hoops if there’s anything you can do about it. We’re a team, it’s not everyone for themselves, it’s everyone for the team.”
“Aye Aye Captain.” Bryce nodded.
“Aye Aye.” Everyone else saluted.
The next half hour was spent in various tactical discussions, Slytherin player breakdowns, and hype-up sessions.
Kinsley found out far too much about the activities of the female chaser on the Slytherin team, and devised a plan to help Riley to piss off a Slytherin beater.
“What did Henrick ever do to you?” Kinsley asked Riley.
“He beat me up on the train here. I figure the least we can do is either make him play bad or get him sent off. This is his last year at Hogwarts so I’m sure he’s hoping he’ll get scouted. I hope he doesn’t.”
“Fair enough,” Kinsley replied.
Madam Hooch finally blew her whistle and signaled for the teams to emerge. The Gryffindors mounted their brooms, said a final ‘good luck’, and shot out onto the pitch. They circled around the stands once, and Kinsley made sure to fly extra close to her Mum, Pops, and Sev.
Charlie flew down to the ground to shake hands with the Slytherin Captain, Ainsley Jones, before taking to the skies with the Slytherin seeker. Ainsley joined her counterpart beater, and the rest of the players took their positions.
Riley and Kinsley locked eyes. She knew it was time to put their plan into action.
“Ten bucks says Henrick White falls off his broom within the first minute,” Riley called over to Kinsley.
“I’m not taking that bet. You’d make easy money.” Kinsley replied, looking Henrick dead in the eye. She smirked.
He visibly bristled.
Just as Madame Hooch was releasing the balls, Riley went in for the (unplanned) kill.
“I’ll knock him off myself. He’s a pretty replaceable player. Can’t think of anyone who’d be upset about losing him at all.”
“BEGIN!” Yelled Madame Hooch, and Kinsley went straight for the quaffle to escape the Slytherin player’s retaliation.
“McGonagall with the quaffle!” Boomed out across the stadium as Sally Berchman, a Hufflepuff girl who had been a commentator for the last couple of years.
Kinsley swerved around Flint and straight towards the goals but was quickly cut off by Tate.
“McGonagall gets cut off, passes to Bailey, back to McGonagall, and she scores!”
Kinsley locked eyes with Tate and smirked at him. He smirked back, and quickly grabbed the quaffle.
“Nott takes possession, passes to Flint, Knightly, Flint, Nott, Nott scores, and Oooohhhhh!”
Kinsley screamed and dove for Oliver, who had been hit straight in the head by Henricks‘s bludger. It had been aimed at Riley as retaliation for his comments, but Riley had seen it coming and dodged out of the way. Oliver was too focused on an incoming Tate to notice the bludger heading straight for him and wasn’t as lucky.
Oliver hit the ground before Kinsley could reach him, and she launched off of her broom and dropped down to land next to him.
“You’re okay, Ollie. You’re gonna be okay.” She whispered. There was an unnatural amount of blood pouring from his forehead and Kinsley started to hyperventilate. Above her, gameplay had resumed, but for Tate who flew quickly down to Oliver as well. He jumped off of his broom and knelt next to Kinsley, then wrapped an arm around her in a slightly stunning act of affection.
“Heal him, Kinsley.”
“H-h-heal him?”
“Cmon. He might not have much time left. You’re a natural healer, so you gotta at least close up his forehead.”
“Okay. You’re right. Close up his forehead.”
Kinsley nodded to herself and reached her hand palm first over Oliver’s head, straight onto the cut. She focused all of her energy on closing the cut and making him better.
“Please survive, Ollie. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Please heal.” Some sort of warmth began to spread through Kinsley’s body, beginning at her heart. It spread down to Kinsley's palm, and she felt it leaving the tips of her fingers and spreading through Oliver’s body.
“Kinsley. Hey, look. It’s working.” Tate whispered, squeezing her shoulder encouragingly. “Keep trying.”
Kinsley squeezed her eyes closed and kept pushing the warmth over to Oliver, feeling it slowly drain out of herself. The Quidditch match continued over their heads as Tate continued to whisper words of encouragement to Kinsley.
“Oh! Well done Kinsley, dear.” Madame Pomfrey finally appeared and was running towards the three children at a fast pace. She knelt over on the other side of Oliver and gently lifted Kinsley's hands off of him, inspecting his wounds well.
“His forehead is closed up. Was that you, dear?”
“Yeah, Pops. I-I think I healed him up.”
Poppy grabbed both of Kinsley's hands in her own small ones and looked her dead in the eye.
“You did wonderfully. That was very brave and kind of you, and I’m so proud of the effort that probably took. Now go and rejoin the game, dearie. Oliver wouldn’t want you to leave as well.”
Kinsley nodded to herself and sniffled. “You’re right. Love you, Ollie. I’ll come see you after.”
Then she got up and pulled Tate up with her.
“Thanks, Tate. Really. That was really kind of you.”
“No worries McGo- Kinsley. Couldn’t have you forfeit our bet, could I? It’s one-all, now.”
Kinsley huffed out a laugh and grabbed her broom, jumping on it and rejoining the game quickly.
“Flint scores!” Boomed out over the stadium. “70 to 20, Slytherin up by 50 points!”
Kinsley shot off towards the action and received a pass from Bryce, then started heading towards the goal. She noticed that her limbs felt particularly tired and when she went for the goal the Slytherin Keeper easily snatched it up.
“Fuck!” Kinsley exclaimed.
Tate picked up the quaffle and sped off in the other direction.
“Nott to Flint, back to Nott, Nott scores! The Gryffindor chasers are trying to fill in as keeper but to no avail.”
Kinsley kicked into a second gear and bowled through all of the Slytherin chasers, ducking a bludger and catching the quaffle from Elijah. She scored a quick goal even though her arm felt seven times heavier than usual, but was quickly up shown by Flint, who threw a goal from almost halfway across the field.
“Slytherin are 60 points up! Gryffindor are really feeling the loss of their keeper.” Sally cried.
The game continued much the same as Kinsley pushed through her sudden tiredness and scored a couple more goals. She kept getting more and more frustrated, though, as it seemed that every goal Gryffindor got, Slytherin would counter it easily.
The score was 100 - 220 when Charlie finally dove towards the ground in hunt of the snitch. He pulled up with the ring gold ball securely in his hands and everyone except Slytherin cheered.
The players all flew to the ground and shook hands (some respectfully, some like Flint or Henrick tried to crush their opposition's fingers).
All of Kinsley’s friends ran over and congratulated her.
“You flew brilliantly!” Indie said. Everyone else nodded.
“Thanks, guys!”
“Party in the Gryffindor common room!” Charlie yelled out to the growing crowd, and he was answered with a flurry of cheers.
“You guys coming?” Kinsley asked.
“Of course. We’ll go get ready and see you there. Your Mum told us that Oliver would be unconscious for the rest of the night, so we’re gonna go see him in the morning.” Bodie responded.
“Sounds good.” Kinsley waved at them, and turned around to see one of her favourite Slytherins.
“Good game.” Tate held out his hand to Kinsley.
“Good game, Nott.” She smiled at him. “And thank you. Y’know. For everything back there.”
“It was no problem.” He replied.
“It seems I owe you a favour, then,” Kinsley said begrudgingly. Tate had scored one more goal than her and therefore had won the bet.
“Look, your friend was knocked unconscious and I think you were a bit shaken up. Don’t worry about it.”
“A bet is a bet.” Kinsley shook her head. “I’m honouring it.”
Tate huffed but didn’t argue.
Suddenly, Charlie walked over to Kinsley and wrapped her in a hug.
“Good work, Kins. I’m sure Wood’s okay. You coming to the party?”
“Er, yeah, probably. Good catch at the end there, Charlie. Saved our asses, that did.”
“Haha thanks, Kins. The snakes were not doing too badly, even though they had a wide-open goal. Good flying, Nott. You’re quite good, even if I hate to admit it.”
“Thanks, Weasley. Same goes.” Tate replied.
Charlie walked off and Tate put his arm around Kinsley’s shoulders.
“Did you hear that? A compliment from the Gryffindor Captain himself.”
“Haha. Well done. Are you coming to the party?”
“Yeah, I reckon I might. I’ll walk you up there?”
Kinsley nodded at him and the pair began to make their way inside the castle.
As they were just walking through the door, Kinsley began to feel faint.
“Hey- hey, Nott. I don’t feel too good.” Kinsley muttered.
“Don’t feel too good?” He asked, pulling her to a stop. “You do look a bit pale, Kinsley. And, hey! I thought you were a natural healer. You have a scar on your forehead.”
Kinsley's eyes widened. She’d never had a scar her entire life - all injuries healed back into seamless skin.
“A-a scar.” Kinsley’s vision began to be obstructed by black spots and her eyelids felt heavy. Tate watched worriedly as she swayed from side to side, looking closer and closer to fainting. Kinsley blinked tiredly at Tate.
“Wh-what’s happening?” She whispered, before her vision finally went black.