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]

Katie broke away her attention from the field, the players having left for the locker rooms just a moment before. The people down at the end of the row beside them were standing impatiently, waiting for her to move so they could get out. "It all sounds good," she grinned, although she had no idea what a hotdog was, getting to her feet and following Cedric out of the aisle, "I'll come with."

She was rambling as they walked up the steps to the area where the canteens were, "Okay, the sport itself isn't quite as exciting as...the one I used to play. I mean, they're running and kicking - it's excessively simple. But it doesn't stop it from being exciting, although part of that is the enthusiastic crowd. The little things become more meaningful, especially since there is so little scoring - the steals, the particularly nice footwork, hitting it off the top of their head....I still maintain this would be better if you were playing it yourself, but it's been brilliant to watch too." Laughing, she added, "Maybe that's just a part of my mindset - it would be the same with my sport. Wanting to be out there on the field being the one cheered instead of in the crowd, as fun as cheering can be."

When they reached the front of the line at the canteens, Katie studied the options, deciding finally on a chicken and mushroom Pukka Pie, especially since it seemed to be the most popular food being chosen by the others wanting to order something. "This hardly seems like an appropriate food for a stadium snack," Katie told Cedric as she dug out her coin purse, counting out the appropriate amount of money and handing it to the canteen worker who looked a little annoyed at her observation. Accepting the pie and drink she had ordered, she stepped away and let Cedric get what he wanted, "Chips, yes, I can see that. The rest sure. But this seems too much like - I don't know - a meal."

Perhaps with everyone wanting to eat them, she was missing out on whatever seemed to make this an ideal snack. Shrugging, Katie didn't bother to wait, stepping off to the side away from the crowd gathered around the canteen, taking a bite while she waited for Cedric.

[shh_cedric]

"I tend to agree," he said as she evaluated the experience of watching the game. "I like to play. I kept finding myself twitching, up in the stands." He grinned. "I think I need to buy myself a football -- kick it around in the yard in back of the Bookworm." Abruptly, he laughed. "But I think I'll avoid the trick of hitting it with my head. The last time I hit something with my head, I was out of commission for a week and a half.

"But yeah, we should do this again sometime, maybe once we know a little more about what we're seeing, but I wanted to see what it was like."

He waited while she bought a pie. He considered getting one himself, but finally settled on a hot dog and crisps, which seemed more like stadium food to him. Joining her, he held it up. "I'm afraid I've been a bit too well trained by the ballpark. Hotdog. Follow me; I need to go and put stuff on it." She followed him to the condiments then they made their way back to their seats. The game was already getting started (there had been lines at the canteen, of course), but some of the people around them were holding up their pies and singing -- or really shouting:

Who ate all the pies?
Who ate all the pies?
You fat bastard,
You fat bastard,
You ate all the pies!

"What the bloody hell?" But he was giggling. "Maybe I ought to have bought a pie after all. How is it?"

The players were preparing for the second-half kick off. Cedric frowned. "Er, weren't they in opposite places before? Our goal was on this end and theirs was on the other? Why are they changing goals?"

[shh_katie]

Katie shook her head when Cedric held up his hotdog, "Whatever I was expecting, I can assure you that was not it. Not that I assumed you'd be literally eating a dog anytime soon, but that name seems completely unrelated. And despite not being shaped like an animal, it looks a little," she broke off to eye it more assessingly, deciding saying 'disgusting' would put Cedric off his food, "interesting."

She leaned against the stand while he tackled the ketchup and mustard pumps, resisting the urge to grab her wand and have it applied in a much neater fashion. "You should," she told him, taking another bite of her pie while she waited, "and I mean that for reasons other than the fact I'd be more than happy to join you. I mean really, moving unapposed to whatever 'goal' you set up is hardly fun."

Back at their seats, she joined in Cedric's laughter at the chant, then getting into the spirit and joining in on the yelling. The cheer, if one could call it that, seemed to be directed at the ref who had called the (supposedly) undeserved penalty earlier in the game. To Katie's eye, while possibly chubby, the man was far from fat - the keeper, well goal-keeper for the Exeter City Club himself had even more meat on his bones, but that didn't seem to deter the crowd.

"The pie's fine," she told him, finishing it off, "I'm not sure I'd be quite that upset if that ref actually did eat all the pies."

They had yet to recast the privacy charm, and the couple in front of them heard yet another observation in ignorance. The woman was the one who tackled the questions this time. "It's just like in American football that you know," there was enough of a derogatory hint in her voice to suggest what she thought of that sport, "they switch so nobody can claim field advantage. You know, wind blowing in one direction effecting only one team, bad field conditions for one of them. Like that."

Most of the half went by quickly, nothing significant happening except for the visiting team scoring a goal in the dying minutes of the game. In the silence that fell over the stadium for a moment, Katie swore you could hear a pin drop.

"Tie game," she whispered to Cedric, "this is where a snitch to catch would come in handy. How do you suppose they break it?"

[shh_cedric]

"Ha! You're on. Maybe we can visit a sports shop before we leave town. I somehow doubt we'll find a football in Stoatshead, although I could be wrong. Then again, it's more likely to be found in somebody's closet or garage than in a store."

Back in the stands, and in reply to Cedric's query about the goal switching, the woman in front of them explained wind and field conditions, and he just nodded. "Same thing in baseball. Wrong wind and nobody gets the ball over the wall, and pitches that should hit the strike zone turn into balls."

"Just so," the woman said, as if pleased he wasn't completely clueless, even if he didn't know football.

By the fourth quarter, Cedric was starting to get a bit bored -- or really impatient because he still wasn't clear what they were doing besides knocking the ball up and down the field and stealing from each other. It reminded him of his attempts to watch basketball. He didn't understand the rules of that either, and it was just so many really tall blokes bouncing a ball around a court.

When the other goal was scored, however -- that turned things interesting. He nodded at Katie's comment. "Overtime?" he suggested. "It happens more in Muggle sports."

Apparently it was a bit more complicated than just overtime. They did that -- five minutes -- but of course, it got nowhere. So the number of players on the field was cut to five each and they started taking penalty shots -- or that's what the couple in front of them explained. It didn't take long at that before Exeter managed to score a goal and the stands erupted.

Cedric had been leaning forward, elbows on knees, hands gripped between, tense as he watched. Even if he hadn't really been a fan of the team before the game, they'd sort of grown on him. He liked rooting for the underdog. So when they managed their goal, he was just as happy as anybody else in the stands -- and just as loud. He grabbed Katie and gave her a tight hug, released her for a moment, then hugged her again, just for a few moments, but it felt nice. She was warm against him and soft in all the right places, her head fitting just under his chin ... and he wasn't going to let his mind go there. Kissing the crown of her head quickly, he released her and just grinned.

"Let's go and find a football, shall we? And maybe some real food?"

[shh_katie]

Katie was already nodding when Cedric explained what was going on, "I think I've heard of that happening about once in Quidditch. I mean with the snitch ties are incredibly rare. But, I think there was a game back in the early 1900's, maybe Puddlemere vs Holyhead? Anyway, the Harpies had been massacring United, goals left and right, but when the seeker for United caught the snitch, they ended in a tie. They contemplated giving it to United since they had caught the snitch, and this was a bit unprecedented, but the Harpies were upset to say the least."

"The decided on ten minutes of game time - base it on goals - and if it was a still a tie after that they'd release the snitch and whoever caught that would win," Katie broke off when the overtime ended in a tie, going to penalty shots, only adding, "and that is my history lesson of the day.

When Exeter won by scoring the last goal of the penalty shots, the place erupted, and she found herself as jubilant as the rest of the crowd, getting caught up in the atmosphere of it all. She knew nothing about this team, but she was as excited as she had always been when the Canons won. Gleeful, she returned Cedric's quick hug enthusiastically, and was about to go back to cheering with the rest of the crowd when he hugged her again, kissing the top of her head. It meant nothing, but for a minute the crowd noise seemed to recede. For her part, she held on a little longer than was neccessary, and blushed slightly when they pulled apart.

"Yes, let's get out of here before the rush starts," she told him - the crowd was still celebrating. "Maybe food before football? I'd feel odd carrying that ball into a restaurant."

They were walking up to the exit when things began to die down. Katie was slightly startled when a song began to play, but watched in amusement as some members of the crowd sang enthusiastically along as they began to make their way out of the stadium. With people pressed in close around her, she couldn't understand most of the words they were singing, but she could make out the chorus easy enough.

Three lions on a shirt
Jules Rimet still gleaming
Thirty years of hurt
Never stopped me dreaming

When the man walking beside her broke into a baritone version, she could pick out part of one of the verses.

So many jokes, so many sneers
And all those 'oh so near's
Wear you down, through the years

It sounded more like a song for England than Exeter itself, and part of it made little sense to her, like the names of the players, and exactly what three lions on a shirt meant - although she was willing to assume it was their logo. "Thirty years?" she raised her eyebrows at Cedric, "They have it easy. They should have been a Canons fan. Jokes, and sneers, I'd heard them all when I joined." Over a hundred years, and no championship. She'd had expectations for her last season playing for them, but then the attack had happened and the Quidditch league had been shut down.

Once they were out of the stadium, they paused, getting bumped a few times by the crowd piling out around them. "Where would you prefer?" Katie asked, zipping her sweater up agains the chill, "That Ethiopian place you mentioned - or something a little more casual."