RP: The British National Pastime

[shh_cedric]

Date: 17 March 2005
Characters: Katie Bell, Cedric Diggory
Location: St. James' Park, Exeter, then dinner
Status: Private (albeit in a public place)
Summary: Cedric & Katie go to a football game, rather than a pub, for St. Patrick's Day.
Completion: Complete

Comments

[shh_katie]

When Cedric had mentioned 'the stands' she'd started to have a reasonably good guess where they were going - in as much as she'd started to think 'muggle sport. Katie was examing the crest on the end of the scarf when Cedric wrapped his arm around her, startling her, and apparated them to an alley in what she assumed was Exeter. Exeter City FC? It meant nothing to her.

Katie was staring curiously the muggles around her when Cedric mentioned where they were going. She'd been in the area once or twice before, but never paid attention to anything notable in the area. Glancing up in surprise, she couldn't help but ask, "Really?" Not that it was shocking exactly, but it hadn't been one of the possibilities she had brainstormed he might be planning for the afternoon.

The arena they were coming up on made a lot more sense now. When she'd been in the area before, that had been well before she had discovered what football was. She'd seen enough of the actual field to think briefly that it had some similarities to a Quidditch pitch, but had never really thought extensively on it. Grinning now, she took in the crowd of people around her again, many wearing similar scarfs to the one she had on, and certainly similar colours. Laughing, she added, "That's a justification if I ever heard one - deciding you need to 'learn' - but I'll accept any excuse to be here."

Really, she knew that wasn't true. That he was doing this primarily because she'd expressed an interest. "Well done Cedric, well done," she told him approvingly with a smile. "Perhaps it wasn't a mistake to trust you afterall. I assume they sell tickets? Perhaps we'd better hurry and get some before they sell out - there are certainly enough people here." It hardly seemed muggle yet though, outside of the dress of the people. The atmosphere was nearly identical to crowds filing into Quidditch stadiums, even with similar scarfs. Not that she'd been on that side of the division often, but she had an idea.

[shh_cedric]

Pulling the printed tickets from his pocket, he handed her one. "No tickets needed. I got them Thursday, to make certain we had them. This isn't, I fear, exactly a good team so there were tickets left, if not the best seats." He grinned.

"And yeah, any excuse to go to a game -- of some kind. I miss it, the excitement." He glanced down at her as they merged with the walking crowd. "I reckon you miss it more.

"And I'm glad your trust didn't turn out to be misplaced." He grinned and pointed through the iron gates. "Since we don't need to buy tickets, we can just go in. Show the blokes your pass, and then we can find our spot in the stands. I think these are sit-down seats, instead of the standing ones. I didn't want to stand for two hours."

[shh_katie]

"Not exactly a good team?" Katie raised her eyebrows as she accepted the tickets from Cedric, "You're talking to the girl who played on a team with Galvin Gudgeon as a seeker for, fortunately, a single season - I'm used to some level of disappointment."

Heading in, they handed their tickets to the security guard, who checked them before letting them in. "I miss the excitement, yes," Katie admitted, her tone slightly distracted as she spent the time looking around, "but even from Hogwarts, you know it's a different kind of thrilling when you're the one being cheered on, versus doing the cheering."

They found their seats quickly - fortunately literal seats as Cedric predicted. The area around them was filled nearly to capacity, despite being still a little bit until game time. "This sport must be popular with mug...people," Katie amended the last part, lowering her voice when she talked to Cedric since there were quite a few of those 'people' in the near vicinity, "if a hapless team can sell this many seats. They can't be as old as the Canons were - at least we had a stellar history to go on for the years of disappointment."

"Do you think we can get by without quite understanding all the rules?" she wondered, glancing at the layout of the field. This was much larger than the stadiums in Bend it Like Beckam. Like she expected, the goals looked huge compared to Quidditch rings, but it was still odd to see them on the ground versus in the sky. "Unless you're knowing a bit more than you let on. Most of what I understand? Ball goes in goal, and you can't touch it with your hands. Beyond that..."

[shh_cedric]

"I think we're on about the same level for knowledge," he replied. "And yeah, it's pretty popular, I'd say." He was also looking around, startled by the crowd. "A bit like Quidditch, for us." His voice dropped even lower. "Put together three wizards and you get four opinions about Quidditch teams, yeah?" He shot her a wide grin.

Turning back towards the field, he checked his watch -- they still had half an hour -- and said, "I think there are three positions. Goalie, striker and defender. And yeah, aside from the obvious one can glean from that, I don't know squat about the rules. Maybe we can sort it out as we go?" Voice dropping again, he added, "Or we can find some Muggle-born friends to teach us later, watching on the telly? I wonder if Harry or Lee know anything about football? I know Ernie doesn't, Megan might, and Justin, but I haven't seen either in ages. Otherwise, most of the people I know are in our shoes. You know anybody? Would Angelina maybe? Without Quidditch going at the moment, I'm going to have to learn to watch football."

A new thought occurred to him. "World Cup's next year. I don't even know where they're holding, do you? Not that England's got any chance at going." He sighed.

[shh_katie]

Katie pondered his suggestion, "I don't know if Ang would know - but I can check. She's always been quidditch obsessed though, I don't know if football would have made a dent. I'd say Lee is our best shot out of people I know, but I'm not even sure about him."

"And I'm sure we can get the gist of it as we go along though today," Shaking her head, she added with a smile, "Cheer when the rest of the crowd cheers, jeer at the referees when they do - and we should be good. We don't actually have to understand what penalties are for, just that they happened. And that if they were called out the team we are cheering for - they are horribly unjustified." Shifting her legs when another couple slid into the row beside them, she waited to continue, "And yeah, the lack of Q....that sport leaves a bit of a hole in terms of entertainment."

Cedric had forgot to be slightly more discreet when he wondered about the Quidditch world cup, and their words piqued the curiosity of a balding gentleman sitting the row in front of them. Turning around in his seat, he looked at them incredulously. "Have you two been living in a bloody hole? The world cup's in Germany next year. And of course England's going! We've got the most talented squad set up since 1970. We'll be lifting the trophy this time next year, mark my words."

The woman beside him, obviously his wife, shook her head in bemusement, "Don't be daft Hugh, as we learn every year soccer is 120 minutes of chasing the ball, and at the end, England lose on penalties." Snickering to herself, she cuffed the other man on the arm, causing him to roll his eyes, but he turned around when she pointed out some friends of theirs nearby.

Katie bit back a laugh, looking at Cedric as she spoke under her breath. "I take it the naming of the major tournament is another things these two sports have in common. Merlin, we're going to have to really watch what we say. And, no, I've not heard word at all about the Quidditch world cup - I wonder if they can get a team up to snuff by then, it's a bit away."

[shh_cedric]

Cedric giggled at her comment about refs and penalties. Surely that was no different in football than in Quidditch. "We can pounce on Lee at some point and see what he knows. Or I'll buy a bloody book or something, but I don't do well with learning sports from books. I need somebody to show me, 'Yeah, that's .... ' you know, whatever."

When the couple in front of them turned around to correct them on the World Cup, Cedric felt his face flush from embarrassment. "Oops," he muttered under his breath when the man was distracted, and rolled his eyes at Katie.

"Wait a minute -- watch this," he told her, and bending to the man's wife, tapped her arm. Startled she glanced around.

"Actually," he began, "we lived in Canada -- Toronto -- for almost fifteen years; we were born here, of course, but we've been gone a long time. We came back for uni recently and this is the first match we've been to since we were kids. I don't suppose you might be willing to tell us, during the game, when something important happens? Sort of help us refresh our memories?"

"They don't have football there?" the woman asked.

"Not so much -- hockey and baseball, and you can get American football on the telly, but no, not really soccer." He deliberately used the American term.

She patted his wrist. "You poor things. Of course we'll help you along a bit once that game gets started."

"Thank you," he said and sat back, winking at Katie and bending to whisper. "If she asks, you're my sister, got it?"

At her comment about the coming World Cup, he lifted brows and said softly, "Do you really think we could pull together a team? Maybe that's something Bagman could look into, yeah?"

[shh_katie]

Katie smiled serenely as Cedric pulled the wool over the other woman's eyes, not giving away her amusement at Cedric's blatant lie. Shaking her head when he leaned back, she asked, "You couldn't have modified the lie a little bit to make me not be a relative of yours? Not of course that I'd be insulted to be a Diggory, but know we're going to have to watch ourselves even more carefully. I bet he at least is a bit of an eavesdropper." The last of course was said with a smile, as she muttered it under the other couple's level of hearing.

She had to giggle however at the other woman's attitude though - like football was life. 'Poor dears'. She had to wonder what the Americans thought about those who weren't able to see their version of football. "Horrifically nationalistic - another similarity," Katie added in besmusement, becoming more careful about using the 'Q' word.

Katie sat up straighter in her seat when the teams jogged onto the field, and the crowd started to rumble. But they weren't quite starting yet, and she turned back to Cedric, shrugging, "I don't see why not - at least in terms of training and time. The only drawback would be convincing people that they want to play - some people think they've grown past it, others seemed to have developed an honest aversion for it. And since that's a delicate job, I'm not sure Bagman is the one for the task."

"But beyond that?" She thought about it for a moment, "I don't see why not. To put it completely indelicately, we've had enough quality players survive to make a good showing. And, it's not like they've grown lazy and fat over the last few years."

[shh_cedric]

Cedric chuckled at her comment on being related and threw an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her obnoxiously against his shoulder, "Aw, come on, sis." And more softly right in her ear, "I know a charm for nosies. Drop your scarf and I'll fetch it ... and cast it."

Her assessment of getting a team in line by the following year made him nod. "You know, we probably could -- get one up, I mean. You saw how many people came out just for Oliver's little shin-dig. You're also right about Bagman."

Abruptly, he grinned at her. "Well, Katie, you were telling me you were looking for a new project. I don't think you were contemplating this but -- why don't you organize it? Or light a fire under the right people? You've certainly got more common sense than Bagman, and I know you can be charming when you want to be." He pinched her cheek lightly in fun -- but he wasn't entirely teasing. Katie probably had just the right amount of enthusiasm, tact and plain drive to do it, if she wanted to.

[shh_katie]

Katie shivered a little when Cedric whispered right in her ear, but rolled her eyes, pulling her scarf so it was hanging precariously from her neck, and let it fall to the ground with an exaggerated, "Oops!" She pretended not to look while Cedric pulled out his wand, casting the charm.

She swatted his arm away in annoyance when he pinched her cheek, but stopped short at his words. She let herself contemplate the idea for a moment, but shook her head. "I've not even successfully opened this first project yet - probably best not to go for another one yet, yeah? Besides, I think I may fall under the category of people who've outgrown it." But her earlier qualification of people who thought they'd outgrown it rang in her ears.

It was hard not to contemplate it though, and have her mind start racing at the possibilities. If one really loved the sport, could they leave it completely behind? Her justification for not caring before was valid, after all Quidditch was hardly important in the grand scheme of things, but she was opening a cinema - hardly an example of serious and helpful. It wasn't like she would be taken away from something serving the common good.

"You need to stop joking about things like this, and planting ideas in my head," she told him crossly, shaking her head. Even if she thought about it - which she wasn't - she'd be stepping on too many toes to make it a good idea. Bagman first off, and Angelina. The former didn't bother her, the latter did. Maybe she'd talk to Ang at least, try to prompt something, because if someone was going to start things rolling, it shouldn't wait too long. "Besides, you're the bloody diplomat - I bet you could convince anyone to sign up again."

"And," Katie added loftily, turning her nose up, "I'll have you know I'm always charming."

She was cut off from saying more, when the Exeter City mascot who had been kicking around a ball with some little kids left the field, and the main players left their benches to line up and begin the game.

It took about five minutes of play for her to comment, "Okay, I think this may be more fun to play than it is to watch."