A/N: This is set during the fifth book, somewhere during the Quidditch season was going on but before anyone got kicked off. I just made up this practice, so sorry if it doesn't fit perfectly. Please review, tell me what you think!
DiScLaImEr: alright so I am REALLY sick of writing these, but so I don't get sued or anything, here it goes.
I DIDN'T WRITE HARRY POTTER AND I DON'T OWN THESE CHARACTERS! Happy now? Good, not go read my story and let me know what you think.
Reason to Believe
Practice was ridiculous. That was the only word for it. Ridiculous. They had all been excited when Angelina was named Quidditch captain, figuring no one could be as bad as Wood. Well then they met Coach Angelina. They came to fear her more than they ever had Wood.
"Aw man, we have practice today!" whined Fred, putting on a pouty face and sinking down in his armchair.
"Come on Fred, she's YOUR girlfriend, stop complaining." Alicia snipped.
"Yeah I know," he said, running his hand through his flaming hair. "I mean I love her and all, but she's bloody obsessed. Scares me a bit to be honest." He laughed.
"I always figured Angelina would make a great captain, I mean anything's better than Wood though right?" said Katie encouragingly.
"I miss Wood." complained George in a whine echoing his brother's.
"I don't," stated Alicia. "I mean he's not really gone. I'm pretty damn sure he died when he started playing without us all, and then was reincarnated into Angelina so he could further torment us." She declared. They all nodded in agreement.
Practice didn't stop for anything, even the worst storm in Hogwarts history. The wind blew them into each other, and it was raining so hard that they were soaked to the bone in seconds. But Angelina was determined.
"Ow Kates, you don't throw the quaffle at my HEAD!" screamed Alicia.
"Sorry Leesh! I thought we were by the goals!" she apologized.
"There are goals? I thought they took them down! I can't see SHIT!" Alicia shrieked.
"ARRGH the bloody snitch just tried to fly up my nose!" hollered Fred agitatedly.
"Even it doesn't know where it's going." said George miserably.
"Ow Harry!"
"Sorry didn't see you there Katie!"
"AHH! GEORGE that's my head you great prat!"
"Sorry! I thought it was a bludger!"
"Where'd you say the snitch went?"
"Nope, that's my foot!"
"Sorry Leesh."
"OW! Who was that?"
"Harry?"
"Katie?"
"Alicia?"
"Fred?"
"Me?"
After about two hours of that, Angelina finally called it quits and herded them into the changing rooms.
"Everybody listen up!" she yelled, crossing her arms and glowering at them all.
"Oh no, I know that stance." said Alicia.
"Me too, this is going to be a while." agreed Katie.
"So before you rant, we are putting on dry clothes." declared Alicia.
Angelina frowned at them, but finally agreed to allow three minutes to change.
"Generous" announced Fred, "that's two more than usual!"
Speed changing was not only a way of life for them, but a necessity. A talent truly. They all returned in two minutes fully dressed, they guys even brushed their hair (a rarity for a few) and the girls put on a touch of makeup. They were a marvel, and had Wood to thank for it.
They waited the last minute with Katie muttering words to try to find a drying spell for her soaked robes, Alicia absent mindedly re-braiding her dripping hair, Harry convincing Ron not to run away, and the twins banging their heads on the lockers behind them. The sound of a squeaking wheel caught their attention, and the returning players all sat up straight instinctively. They knew that sound too well; Oliver's old chalk boards for diagrams.
Outside the storm grew steadily worse, and the team sat in a daze as Angelina talked about some new play or something. No one really knew. But they came out of their daze at the sound of the retreating chalk board. Alicia yawned and looked out the window into the storm, and froze mid-yawn.
"Aw bloody hell." She groaned.
"What's up Leesh?" slurred a sleepy Katie.
"I left my shoes out on the pitch!" whined Alicia. No one was surprised at this news. She wasn't fond of wearing shoes of any kind for an extended period of time. Practicing barefoot was one of her favorite things, but she couldn't run barefoot, so she often left her shoes in the pitch on accident.
She leapt up and ran towards the door.
"LEESH WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" hollered Angelina. Alicia turned on her heel and looked nervously at Angelina.
"I left my shoes outsideā¦" trailed off Alicia.
"Well you're certainly not going out there! You'll get blown away!" Alicia glared at this stab at her height. She wasn't short exactly, a proud 5'4. But compared to Angelina and the twins, she was a shrimp.
"Yes I am! Those are some of my best shoes!" called Alicia as she ran out into the storm.
"WELL? DON'T JUST SIT THERE!" screamed Angelina, looking around the room expectantly. Here eyes fell upon George, who was closest to the door. They all avoided her eyes strategically, but George felt her eyes upon him and caved. Looking sheepishly up at her she hollered,
"I SAID GO GET HER!" George jumped at her voice, and trudged out the door. He had just gotten dry and now he had to go running out in the storm after a crazed Alicia.
"ALICIA!" he yelled, but she was no where in sight. He couldn't see two feet in front of him. He was already soaked through, and couldn't believe what he was doing.
"ALICIA!" he called louder. He saw the slightest outline of a figure a ways away. He ran towards it, yelling her name and praying it was her.
"WHAT?" Alicia yelled, turning to look at him.
"COME ON! WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE BEFORE WE GET KILLED!" George yelled through the downpour.
"NOT WITHOUT MY SHOES!" she screamed back over the wind. A gust of wind whistled in their ears and shoved her forward.
"Leesh come ON!" George cried, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards him.
"But those are NICE shoes!" she whined back, trying and failing to wrench her hand away from his grasp.
"Who cares if they're nice? You'll never find them in this bloody storm Ali!" he called back.
"Yes I WILL!"
"NO YOU WON'T! BESIDES, THEY'RE NOT WORTH IT!" he tried to convince her.
"YES THEY ARE, THEY'RE NICE SHOES!" Alicia repeated.
"THEY'RE NOT EVEN THAT NICE LEESH!" George nearly screamed.
"YES THEY ARE! HOW WOULD YOU KNOW ANYWAY? I WANT MY SHOES!" she yelled angrily. He finally found himself laughing. There they were, standing who knows where in the middle of one of the worst storms he had ever seen; arguing about Alicia's lost shoes. As much as he wanted to go back to the warmth of the castle, he couldn't leave without her.
"You are coming with me, whether you like it or not!" he declared, and with that he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
"GEORGE WEASLEY LET ME DOWN!" she shrieked, kicking frantically but to no avail. At that point he realized he had no idea where the castle was. All he could see was a distant outline of a small building of some sort. He wasn't sure what it was, but at least it would block the wind for a bit. He carried her to it, and found that it was the old broom shed no one used anymore. He brought her in and yanked the door shut behind them. Alicia instantly made a move for the door, but George blocked her way. She glared up at him, and he grinned back from his nearly foot high height advantage.
"Fine." She said in defeat. He smiled again and sat down on the floor of the shed. She paced around a bit, before settling down by him and stretching her legs out across his lap. She leaned back against the wall behind her and looked disappointedly at her ruined braids. With a huff she started to slowly undo them and shook the first free, letting her soaked blonde hair fall just past her shoulders. George smiled at her, and started to laugh to himself. She smirked at him.
"What?" she asked, arching her eyebrows.
"It's nothing" he dismissed with a wave of his hand. She frowned, and made her eyes go wide and sad looking.
"Please?" she said, just barely smiling. He laughed again. He could never stand it when she did that.
"Just remembering, that's all."
"Remembering what?" she asked again.
"You had your hair that way the first time we met." He said, looking down at her knees. She grinned happily, and shook out the other braid.
"You remember how I wore my hair over six years ago?" she asked in slight shock.
"Well yeah, I remember more than you think." He said smirking.
"Really? What else do you remember?" asked Alicia, not bothering to hide her grin.
"Um, well this shirt." He said, pinching the fabric of her t-shirt between his fingers. "You wore it over the summer when we fell in the river and went swimming.." She laughed out loud and tilted her head back remembering. She looked back at him, meeting his gaze. He didn't want to stop; he loved to make her laugh.
"And these jeans," he said, patting her knees, "You were wearing them that day we fell asleep together by the lake." He smiled and looked down.
"Yeah, we missed potions that day." Alicia laughed. He laughed too and smiled at the fact that she remembered too.
"Anything else?" she asked eagerly.
"Sure," he replied, "These earrings." He said simply, twisting the studs gently. "You wore them when we went to the Yule ball, you looked so perfect." He said almost in a whisper. Alicia let out the tiniest of laughs.
"There's no such thing as perfect George." She stated, but was still smiling.
"Not true Leesh, you just got to believe it." He replied, sounding sure. She just laughed again, shaking her head.
"Well I don't" she declared, and leaned back on the wall. George just shrugged, clearly not believing her either.
"Hey I think the wind is dying down!" exclaimed Alicia, twisting to put her ear against the thin wooden wall. She leaped up and grabbed his hand to pull him to his feet, then ran to the door and flung it open. Without a second thought she ran into the downpour happily, and still barefoot. George followed to her to the door and stood in the doorway. She was right; the wind had calmed down. He leaned his head against the door jam and smiled, watching her dance. Alicia turned to him and put her hands on her hips.
"What are you doing over there? Get over here!" she called to him. He merely shook his head in response. He didn't really want to stop watching her yet.
"Oh come on, I know you actually love the rain you big FAKE." She said grinning. She started spinning around in circles with her arms stretched out, singing some tuneless song he had a feeling she made up.
George smiled, and without warning set off at a sprint. He ran straight towards her, and before she knew what hit her he lifted her up above his head. He held her high and spun her around in a circle, then lowered her into a hug and spun again. She laughed loudly, causing him to grin and laugh too. Alicia then grabbed his hand and started to run, nowhere in particular apparently. She just wanted to run; with him. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, and Alicia screamed loudly. She went into a sprint, dragging George behind her. They ran up the steps into a corridor and Alicia collapsed against a wall behind her, both beyond soaking wet. George landed next to her, still holding her hand, both breathless.
"Not a big fan of lightning then, eh Leesh?" George asked sarcastically.
"Yeah," she panted, "not especially, no." they laughed simultaneously between breaths.
She looked up into his eyes and noticed a silver chain around his neck. She held it between her fingers and grinned.
"You know, I remember things too." Alicia whispered. George looked down at her curiously.
"You started wearing this in fourth year." she said quietly, moving the metal between her fingers. "I remember the first time you wore it, it was back in fourth year; the first time you asked me to go to Hogsmeade with you, since all of our friends were chasing each other around all the time."
George laughed softly, and brought his head closer to hers; resting his forehead on hers.
Alicia looked into his eyes, and held on tighter to the silver around his neck. She pulled on it gently and rose up to meet his lips with hers. She felt his body stiffen slightly with surprise, but immediately ease into her. It was a match, and that's the only way to describe it. The two didn't know such a feeling existed; it was a moment indescribable in words. She pulled away reluctantly, but left her face gently against his. Even though it had been a short, sweet kiss, they were both left completely out of breath. Her forehead was still against his own, but he couldn't stand even that distance, and kissed her again, and again and again until they were both left panting for breath.
"See? You were wrong Al." George said quietly. Alicia looked up at him and met his gaze. He grinned as he looked back into her bright eyes.
"This, is perfection." And he kissed her again.