At The Game

[Deleted]

To say Nina was a huge Quidditch fan was an understatement. She loved it, she watched it, she played it, and her dream was to be a professional player one day. For now, she would settle for going to the games. So, here she was with her father Peter Devoll at a Professional Pitch near London. Peter was able to score them was great seats due to his job in the Ministry. Not up close and personal, but still good seats. She and her dad bought some popcorn and bottles of cold butterbeer and made their way to said seats for what was to be an exciting game.

The players: The Pride of Portree and Ireland's Ballycastle Bats. It wasn't the Quidditch Cup by any means, but the teams were still very talented and thrilling to watch. Nina was backing the Prides, though there were a few Bats she thought were brilliant too. She wouldn't be overly upset if they came out with the win that day.

"Cheers for the tickets, dad," said Nina, kissing her father on the cheek.

"Of course, love," smiled Peter. "See your mate from school... Vincent was it?"

"Not yet, but if he says he'll be here, he'll be here," she said. "Vincent's probably a bigger fan than I am."

@vincent

[Deleted]

Vincent was indeed heavily into Quidditch. He had grown up in a Muggle family, of course, so he hadn't known about the game at all until he had come to Hogwarts. But as soon as he had seen it, he had fallen in love with it. It was fast, it was technical, it was exciting. There were so many different things to watch, all at once. The beaters chasing down the bludgers, the chasers' skill with the Quaffle, and the Seekers staying out of trouble and searching intently for the golden snitch. It was a great game, and one that he had quickly come to understand and follow avidly. He had tried out for the team each year since his second year, and had eventually made it as a reserve in his fourth year and on the team in his fifth. It had been a particular challenge for him to get on the team as he had struggled with a fear of heights - that ws still something that bothered him a bit, but he had come up with ways of countering that so he didn't freak out every time he got on a broom. He loved Quidditch way too much for anything like that to get in the way of him playing.

Through being on the team, he had grown quite close to Nina, one of the girls in his year. There wasn't really anything between them other than friendship - sure, she was obviously attractive, but their relationship was more like two close friends than anything else. She shared his love of Quidditch, pretty much to the same extent as each other. It was great - they could always talk tactics and stuff with each other and would be the only two in a room who would be able to keep up with it, apart from if Jasper was there. But he was graduating now, which threw up a new question - who would be the new captain of the Hufflepuff team? It was clearly down to Vincent and Nina, but in Vincent's opinion he felt that Nina deserved it. Of course he would put himself forward for it, but if it came down to the decision, he felt she would be the right person for the job.

When she invited him along to a Quidditch game during the summer, he had eagerly accepted the offer. He loved going to professional Quidditch games, as much as the house games were great, the quality was always a step up in the professionals, which made sense. When he made it to the stadium, he checked the seat number on the ticket that Nina had given him, and made his way up to the right stand, looking around for Nina and her father. He eventully spotted them and made his way over to join them. "Hey, Nina! And you must be Nina's father, right? I'm Vincent," he said, holding his hand out to her dad to shake. "These are great seats - thanks for inviting me," he said to them both, gratefully.

@ninadevoll

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Nina beamed when her teammate appeared. She placed her snacks down, then rose and gave him a hug.

"Hello love!" she said. "Good to see you. Told you we would get a game in together this summer. With any luck, we'll make it to one of Jasper's games for now that he's gone Pro. I'm anxious to watch him play with Puddlemere United. Wicked awesome team." But that was another game in another place. She certainly didn't want to take away from the two teams that they were to watch today.

Peter shook Vincent's hand and smiled.

"Peter Devoll," he said. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Vincent. Nina tells me you're quite a brilliant player yourself."

Once Vincent took his seat, Nina handed him a bag of popcorn and a cold butterbeer.

"So who are you rooting for today, Vin?" she asked. "Bats or Prides? I'm behind the Prides. They have some serious momentum going for them. They'll need it against the Bats though. The Bats kicked some major backside in their last game."

If there were two people Nina could talk Quidditch for hours with, it was Jasper and Vincent. It was all she and they connected, though they did of course talk about other things... but mainly Quidditch.

@vincent

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Vincent returned the hug after Nina stood up to greet him. She was always very affectionate, so he didn't think anything unusual of it at all. "Great to see you, too! It would be awesome to go and see Puddlemere play at some point, but it will be weird seeing him play with Malfoy and Potter. I still can't believe that all three of them got to be in the starting lineup for a professional team - it makes you wonder what kind of players they had last year if they have three students straight out of school in their starting team," he chuckled. Obviously the three of them were very talented, but he still would have expected that professional players would have been ahead of them in the pecking order. From what he had seen, students often started off being reserve players for professional teams and having to work their way into the team. But there were always exceptions to that, obviously.

"It's really nice to meet you, Peter. And I'm not that great, I'm sure Nina is overplaying it. She can't see how great she is herself, she's the shining light on our team," he replied with a grin. They were probably both around the same skill level, but being Hufflepuffs, they tended to talk each other up before themselves. It was good, it made for a really supportive and encouraging team.

He accepted the popcorn and the butterbeer with a word of thanks. "Oh, I think the Bats will get up. I guess it's good that we'll be supporting different teams," he replied with a grin. "Seriously, did you see the way that their Keeper, Richardson, played in their last game? He was impenetrable. Of course that won't mean much if Portree get the snitch first, but if they can't get past Richardson, getting the snitch early will be their only chance to win," he pointed out. "But the Portree Seeker is a quality player, if anyone can do it quickly, he'd be in there with a chance." He was always interested in seeing how different teams matched up against each other. He was glad that Nina was as interested as he was, as there were very few people he could talk to about Quidditch on this level.

He turned to Peter curiously. "Are you into Quidditch as much as your daughter?" he asked with a fond smile. It would be hard to be into Quidditch as much as her, but there was every chance she could have inherited her interest in the sport from her parents. Obviously Vincent hadn't gotten it that way, but a lot of wizarding families would have brought their kids up with Quidditch. Part of him was a little jealous of this, but he supposed there were benefits of being brought up in a Muggle family as well. His relationship with his Muggle brother definitely wasn't one of those benefits, though, as they really didn't get on well, due to his brother resenting him for his magic.

@ninadevoll

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Nina rolled her eyes playfully when Vincent found James, Scorpius, and Jasper's entry a bit unusual. She then chuckled.

"Three students yes, but three amazing former students," she said. "And you know we have recruiters at our games at school all the time. They'll be watching you and I next year, mark my words, Vin."

Nina blushed at her friend's compliments.

"Stop that," she said.

Peter smiled at Vincent when he was modest, yet complimented Nina.

"I'm sure both of you are amazing," he said. "No one works as hard as a Hufflepuff after all." The man himself was a Hufflepuff alumni. If the Ministry allows me, I'm going to try and come out for a few games this year."

Nina turned to Vincent.

"Dad works in the Care of Magical Creatures Department at the Ministry," she said. "Got my love for animals from both him and my mum though."

Vincent's words on the Bats and Prides were pretty solid and Nina nodded in agreement. Richardson was tough as nails on the Pitch.

"Oh Richardson is bloody brilliant," she said. "But remember in Portree's last game, they thought all was lost, then out of nowhere, the Seeker grabbed the Snitch and it was all over just like that. A lot of people lost some serious galleons on that game. I had to buy Teddy Eastbooth an ice cream."

Peter smiled and shook his head a little when Vincent asked if he was into Quidditch as much as Nina.

"I enjoy it, but certainly not as much as Nina," he said. "Don't think I could ever get out on the Pitch and play her as fast she goes."

@vincent

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When Nina suggested that there would be scouts watching him and Nina in the next year, he shrugged a little and nodded. "I suppose so. The biggest priority for me is trying to bring us to the Quidditch cup this year, though," he replied. "It's our last year, we have to push even harder for it than we have before. I think we'll have the team to challenge for it," he said confidently.

When Peter said he would try and come out for some of the games this year, Vincent gave a warm smile. "That would be awesome. Have you been able to come to many of our games before?" he asked curiously.

It made sense that Nina got her love for animals from her dad if he worked in that kind of job. That meant it was likely he had a similar passion that he passed on to her. It was very clear to anyone after spending any time around Nina how much she loved animals.

Vincent nodded when Nina recounted the last match. "Yeah, that snitch grab was great. Turned the game right on its head." He laughed when she mentioned she had to buy Teddy and icecream. "That little guy and his wagers. It's sounding like an unhealthy habit," he said with an affectionate laugh. Teddy was good value.

"So the game looks like it's about to start," he commented as he saw the players flying up into the air, and the balls being released by the referee. He loved the moment of anticipation at the start of the match, the atmosphere was electric.

@ninadevoll

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Nina sighed in agreement when Vincent said they needed to win the School's cup. Hufflepuffs fell behind big time last year all around. They needed that boost.

"I just hate that Jasper couldn't see us win his last year," she said. "I think some of our teammates just gave up on it all. But either you or I will probably become captain this year, and whoever it is needs to motivate the team big time. And sadly, we may need to cut a few given last year's frequent absences at practice." That upset Nina most. Some of the team rarely showed up to practice, and some not at all, and that cost them games. That would not happen again on her watch. Nina then smiled. "Sorry, dampening the mood here. Just gets my knickers in a bind a bit."

Peter sighed as well when Vincent asked about the games he attended.

"We were swamped at the Ministry last year, so I only was able to make one or two," he said. "But hopefully next year I can make more."

Nina laughed about Teddy and his bets.

"Teddy's adorable, but he's also pretty determined when it comes to predicting Quidditch wins," she said. "Speaking of, how's the band coming along?"

There was no more convo for the moment as it was time to cheer as the players came out. This was when Nina showed her passion.

"GO PRIDES!" she screamed. "CLIP THOSE BATS' WINGS AND SHOW'EM WHAT PORTREE IS BLOODY ALL ABOUT!"

@vincent

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Vincent nodded seriously. "Yeah, for sure. Whichever of us ends up as captain, we'll have to both really drive the team hard. No slacking off this year, that's for sure." They were both very determined, and that was hopefully going to lead to a really solid team this year.

"Well it's great you were still able to make some of them. It'll be great to see you in the stands this year cheering us on," Vincent told Peter with a grin.

He chuckled when Nina mentioned Teddy's determination with Quidditch predictions. "Yeah, the band is going pretty well. We've had a couple of practice sessions at Teddy's place this summer, it's been really good. They're all a really talented bunch, and it's a lot of fun, too."

Vincent laughed at Nina's crazy enthusiasm and loudness. He was cheering as well, but not on the same level as her - she was extremely vocal. "Their pride is going to be dented a bit after this match," he said to her and Peter with a grin once Nina stopped yelling.

@ninadevoll

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Nina then had an idea, even though she doubted it would work.

"Hmmmm... perhaps we can talk the staff into letting us be Co-Captains," she said. "We can really do some damage then." She chuckled at this. But if they could, Nina and Vincent would be a force to be reckoned with.

Peter smiled at Vincent. He was a good guy. He hadn't met Nina's boyfriend Asher yet, but hoped the boy was as respectful and enjoyable to be around as Vincent was.

"I'll try to make it to front row so you can both see me as you fly by like a couple of speed demons," he promised. He actually had a real speed demon in his department once. And those things were fast. Fortunately it didn't escape before they decided on what to do with it.

Nina was glad to hear the band was going well.

"I can't wait to hear you all," she said. "I'm assuming you have some gigs planned for Hogwarts."

Nina darted Vincent a mock angry look when he made him comment about the Prides. Vin was fun to mess around with when it came to them liking opposing teams.

"Yes... because they'll be almost ashamed by how easily they beat the Bats," she said. "Alright, Sunshine, let's make a bet of our own. Prides win... you come to my house and clean my room....... closet and all........." She then waited for his part of the wager.

"Don't torture the boy, Nina," joked Peter.

@vincent

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Vinno thought the idea of being Co-captains would be awesome. "That would be great! We'll have to check with the Head of House. But I think they'd support it, right? I mean, if the team were happy with it," he replied. He thought they would be a pretty awesome team together - they were really close friends, and both had an equal love of the game. And she was awesome fun to be around, as well, so he was sure the team vibe would be really good with both of them as captain.

"Yeah, we do. We are still finalising the details, but there will definitely be a few performances during the year. We just need to get our set list down, first." He was glad that there was some interest in their band, but it made sense that Nina would be interested and support them as she was in Hufflepuff and knew most of the band well. The tough thing would be getting people outside of Hufflepuff interested.

He grinned widely at her angry look. He liked trying to wind her up, it was great fun. "Right! I'm up for this. So if the Bats win... you have to shine my broom after each match we play this year," he decided, hoping that was reasonable. "Does that sound fair?" he asked. The idea of cleaning her room was an interesting one - he didn't know how messy it was, so whether it would be an easy or a hard job.

@ninadevoll

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Nina agreed with Vincent about checking with the Head of House, but then shrugged.

"Well, even if the other one isn't officially captain, it doesn't mean we can't work together on this," she said. "I mean, you and I are seemingly the most dedicated players at the moment. I think you and I both would make Jasper proud."

Nina was happy to hear the band had some performances coming up. From everything she had heard, she liked their style of music.

"Well if you need a dancer for your band......." joked Nina.

"You haven't seen her dance, have you, Vincent?" asked her dad. "You'll find out why she's trying to get you to say yes ahead of time."

"Dad," muttered Nina.

And then the bet was on. Nina extended her hand to shake on it.

"I believe it does, considering the Prides are going to win anyway," she said, giving a playful smirk at that. She then laughed. "Yes, love, it's a deal."

As they watched the game, things appeared even for the time being. Nina wondered what would happen with her and Vin if the game was a tie. But she wouldn't let anyone know that verbally. She rose at one point to show her fandom again.

"You Bloody Beater, are you half blind?" she howled. "Get in the game! If I have to clean brooms because of you for a whole year, I'll hunt you down and kick your bloody arse for one!"

@vincent

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Vincent gave a thoughtful nod. "Yeah, I guess you're right, either way we can work together. I guess we should still ask, though, it would be cooler if we could be co-captains." The idea of being able to work closely with Nina as captains together was one that was appealing to him, as she had a similar passion to the game that he had, and they were also good friends and enjoyed talking tactics together. They had learned a lot from bouncing ideas off each other, and also from Jasper.

Vincent was about to respond to Nina's comment about dancing for their band when he heard Peter jump in with his comment. He grinned at Nina afterwards, understanding the awkwardness she would have felt having her dad there. He found it amusing but didn't want to push her any further on it. "We will definitely let you know if we need dancers... But I think we won't, from what I can tell. But you can definitely help out with things if you want to be involved," he offered.

He laughed at her confidence in the deal. "Right, Nina, whatever you say." he teased as he shook her hand. He did hope her room wasn't ridiculously messy, though, because otherwise that could be a pretty bad bet to lose. As the Ballycastle chasers started to get on top and put that on the scoreboard as well, he leaned over and grinned at Nina. "It's not looking too good for you at the moment- they can't get past Richardson at all, and the bats are really making them pay on the scoreboard." Of course, a catch of the snitch would mean Portree would still win at the moment- the bats had only got out to a lead of 110 points so far.

@ninadevoll

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Nina smiled and offered Vincent a high five at the agreement.

"We'll be unstoppable, love!" she said. "Power of the Puffs!"

Nina was glad to know she could help out, though she was kidding about the dancing. There was a lot of other things she could do for the band though.

"I can definitely get the word out for you all," she said. "I know of a few places where you could play too. It would be small gigs, but it would help get your name out there."

Nina almost had to agree with Vincent about the Bats. They were good in this game... very, very good. The Prides would have to really step it up to win... and that probably meant their Seeker catching the Snitch. Ugh... Nina really wished she hadn't ran her mouth and come up with a bet now.

"This might teach you to clean your own room for once," smiled Peter. Nina rolled her eyes at her dad.

"So are you and Vin are like too peas in a pod now, teaming up on me?" she joked.

"You suggested the bet, sweetheart," said Peter.

Nina then just looked back and sighed. Broom cleaning for a whole year? She hated cleaning her own bloody broom.

@vincent

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Vincent nodded when she mentioned she knew of some places they could play. "Yeah, it's just about asking, I think. I know there's that Gryffindor girl who plays at the Three Broomsticks every Friday - apparently she just asked for the opportunity to do that and they let her in," he replied. Maybe they could try something similar, somewhere else, or even the Three Broomsticks on a different night.

When Peter joined in the teasing about the bet going badly for her, Vincent grinned. "Well, when you make a terrible bet like that, it's only fair that people team up on you," he chimed in teasingly. At that moment, though, the crowd suddenly got louder as the two Seekers had clearly spotted the snitch and were racing after it. "Oh, here we go, game on," he said as he watched the two of them intensely. He had hoped this wouldn't happen for another fifteen minutes or so, so the Bats could get a lead of more than 150, but that didn't seem like it was going to be the case. "Come on Bats, take out their seeker with a bludger! We just need to draw the game out a bit longer," he said, suddenly tense again. Now that the snitch was in play, the match could go either way.

@ninadevoll

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Nina nodded, knowing how he was talking about.

"Oh Maddie," she said. "I don't know her personally, but the girl has an amazing voice. Sometimes I go just to listen to her. And I'll mention your names when I'm about. Who knows, you might get a gig at the Magical Mayhem."

Nina then formed a wicked grin when Vin beginning to show concern for the Bats. Now who was worried?

"Well now, love," she said. "Maybe it wasn't such a bad bet after all." The Prides' Seeker was really getting into the game and was on the verge of catching the Snitch. Nina was now on the edge of her seat.

"Come on... come on... come on....." she whispered. "You're practically kissing the bloody thing."

The Seeker came extremely close, but was then cut off by an opposing Beater and the Snitch escape capture for the moment. Nine then tried her very best not to swear in front of her father.

"Bloody... fudge cake... son of a ... half-crazed ghoul... dragon poop!" she said. That felt somewhat good! Then she was reminded why she was swearing. "This close! This close! The game was theirs!" Nina then buried her head on her dad's shoulder and mock wept. "I don't want to clean brooms."

@vincent