After all these years she finally understood what it meant to feel like him. She felt bad for teasing him so many times as well, if she had only known what it was like...She could never have imagined the stress which came with it, and how you suddenly watched every finger catching the ball, searching for the miniscule good and bad points, or how you wanted to scream when one of them nearly fell from their brooms when they weren't paying enough attention. It was enough to drive you crazy, and after a training match or a real game you head was just so full of where they went wrong and what they could improve on, it was enough to make it throb! No wonder Oliver had tried to drown himself so many times.
Most of it though was how she now saw that the team wasn't trying their hardest all the time. A few hours every so often wasn't too much to ask was it? She couldn't remember anymore what it was like to be on the other end, receiving critism from the captain of the team. Now that she was captain she saw how lazy they all were, how they didn't listen to her encouragement or the plays she set out for them...Poor Oliver...Now she understood it all too well.
She'd beat it all into them, Oliver hadn't seen the Cup in his time there, but she'd win it for Gryffindor and send him photos. Not to spite him, no, just to show him that they could do it, that the team was good, sme of the best, just like how he'd always thought...
Angelina prepared a stack of toast which would serve as her breakfast and then made her way down to the change rooms, and more specifically, the captains office. It was more like a broom closet, but it was where Oliver had left his diary of thoughts and plays, and it was big enough to read the book so that was good enough for her. She curled up on the desk which was built into the wall and leaned against the wall, her Quidditch robes hung on the hanger on the back of the door. The light was dim and dusty, coming from the small window at the top but it set the mood perfectly and made her feel like a pioneer of Quidditch. They would win this game, she knew it.
As long as Harry could keep his mind on the game.
As long as the twins didn't mess about, or get into a fight.
As long as the others could damn well catch the ball and score goals with it!
"So, this is the life of a captain...oh Oliver, how did you ever put up with us?" Angelina sighed to herself then turned back to the start of the chapter she was concentrating on, biting into another piece of toast. Ahh, toast, the food of Quidditch Kings and Queens.
<--- 041. Ersatz ||
043. Different --->