First Match (MC)
A Hogwarts!SOS idea I got Friday: Michael’s first time announcing a quidditch match.
Fluff!
Ravenclaw!Michael x OC
Word Count: 2,283
Michael took deep, slow breaths, calming himself as the stands filled for the first quidditch match of the year. He was excited when the head of Ravenclaw called him into their office on the first day of term, asking if he’d take over the announcer position, the previous announcer having graduated. His three best friends were each on their respective houses’ quidditch team, and he’d been close to the previous announcer, so he knew what he was getting himself into. The stadium filled with the low rumble of chatter as more and more people filled the stands, Michael twisted his wand between his fingers, trying to ground himself as he waited for the signal to start. He heard a shout of his name, and jumped, glancing to the side of the stand, and grinned when he laid eyes on Ashton. The seventh year Hufflepuff beater grinned at him, holding his hand up. Michael stood up, walking over to his friend, giving him a high five. Ashton grinned at the fifth year, saying, “You’re gonna do great, man, you’ve got this.”
Michael smiled, nodding at his friend, “Thanks man.” He waved goodbye, noticing his head of house waving him back to his seat.
Michael hopped back over, getting into his spot, clearing his throat and pointing his wand to his throat, “Sonorus,” he muttered, before starting to welcome everyone, “Hi everyone! Welcome to the first quidditch match of the year! For those of you first years who may be at your very first quidditch match ever, all four houses will be competing against each other for the Quidditch House Cup, which will be awarded before we take finals! It’s based on the total number of points each team gets in their official games throughout the school year, ten for every goal they score, and 150 for catching the snitch. Today’s match is Ravenclaw against defending champs Slytherin!
Each team has some new faces, on Ravenclaw, the third year Johnson twins taking over for the beaters who graduated last year, and in Slytherin they’ve trained up a new seeker, second year Thomas Oliver.
I’ve heard a lot of talk about Oliver’s skill in friendly matches as well as his obvious talent that was noticed during flying class. We’ll see today how his smaller size, natural talent, and the Slytherin captain’s practice matches help Oliver against Ravenclaw’s seeker, Daisy Merriman. She joined the team in the same way as Oliver, but that was four years ago, giving her an edge on experience!”
Michael’s heart fluttered just saying the Ravenclaw seeker’s name, thoughts of her nearly white hair and hazel eyes distracting him for a moment, before movement down on the field brought him back to the present. “And now, what you’ve all been waiting for, here come your defending champs, Slytherin!” He smiled as he watched the green-robed players take off, doing a lap around the stadium before hovering in formation in the middle of the pitch. There were cheers filling the air from the sea of green on the opposite side of the stadium, the side nearest Michael booing and yelling at the opposing team. “And coming in, hopeful to take the trophy back this year, Ravenclaw!”
The team did a lap, hovering by the blue section of stands, waving at everyone who was cheering for them. As they moved towards the center of the pitch, Merriman flew by the announcer’s stand, giving Michael and smile and a thumbs up before the sixth year seeker flew off to join her team for the tip off. “Alright everyone, the match is ready to start, Coach Fritz is here as always to referee today’s match and release the balls. First out, the snitch! Next up, the bludgers, firsties, keep an eye out for those and be ready to duck if they take a turn towards the stands before a beater can get to them! And now here comes the Coach up to join the teams with the Quaffle!”
Michael grinned, the stadium going silent as their flying coach rose into the air, holding the quaffle aloft. He gripped his whistle between his teeth, looking between the two chasers on either side of them before tossing the quaffle into the air, blowing his whistle and flying out of the way. “And Ravenclaw tips off the ball, their captain immediately passing the quaffle to Scamander, and he’s off, dipping below the line of Slytherin chasers, making a b-line for the goal posts as his teammates trail behind him. The keeper is lining up, ready to block a shot and Scamander is drifting past him! Putting that braking charm on his Comet to good use as he prepares to throw the quaffle into the goal...And Scamander fakes out Morris, making the keeper block the wrong hoop and scores ten points for Ravenclaw! That’s a strong start to the match, let’s see how the Slytherin team responds as their keeper retrieves the quaffle and passes it off to his teammates.”
The match continued on for another two hours, Michael’s bright green eyes tracking the movements of the blurs of blue and green flying around the pitch, commentating on every move and strategy both teams employed. “Alright folks, it’s anyone’s game at this point, Ravenclaw 110 to Slytherin 80. Scamander has the quaffle yet again, but Slytherin have clearly decided he’s the one to watch, two of their chasers are pinning him between them, think we’re gonna see a pincer here. And yes, here comes the third Slytherin chaser barreling towards Scamander as he tries to shake the two chasers pinning him in, but, oh! Perfect hit from one of the Johnson twins, spinning the Davies’ broom out of control and allowing the Ravenclaw chaser to finally shake the Slytherins and quickly passing the quaffle over to his captain! And she scores, bringing Ravenclaw up to 120 points! Slytherin’s only hope here is to catch the snitch to bring them victory. And speaking of the snitch I think Merriman may be on it! Oliver is following right behind her, putting on some extra speed, and oh! Great Wronski Feint from Merriman there...wait...no, she seems to actually have eyes on the snitch now, let’s see if Oliver can pull it together from overshooting that dive...he’s on is way back up at a steeper incline than Merriman, but not fast enough! Ravenclaw has the snitch, beating Slytherin by nearly 200 points, 270 to 80, better luck next match guys!
That was absolutely phenomenal to watch and I hope you all enjoyed! I’m sure the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams all have a bunch of notes taken for when they face off with these two houses later in the season, but for now, we will see you all back here in two weeks for the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match! And my fellow Ravenclaws, I’ll meet up with you guys in the common room in a few minutes for the celebration of today’s win!”
Michael was beaming as he held up his wand and murmured “Quietus” after his last statement, allowing his voice to return to its normal tone and turning to face his head of house. The professor nodded at him, trying to contain his own glee at the house’s victory. Michael made his way down from the announcer’s stand, and met Luke, Ashton, and Calum outside of the stadium, all three of his friends beaming at him, giving him high fives and hugs, Ashton opting to ruffle his hair before he led the way up to Ravenclaw tower.
Michael easily answered the raven’s riddle when he arrived at the entrance to the common room, the statue clearly affected by the number of students coming into the tower and the day’s win. The other three boys followed behind him and they took the steps two at a time to join the victory party. One of the seventh years stopped Michael at the top of the stairs, “Great job on your first match commentating, Clifford.” Michael grinned, murmuring a thanks as he was handed a goblet of Firewhiskey, “Welcome to fifth year as well.” The same older student said with a wink, handing Luke and Calum their own glasses of the drink as well.
“Thanks, Orion.” Michael said, leading the way further into the common room as Ashton accepted the firewhiskey too.
A mix of muggle and wizard music filled the room as they all stood around, people talking, dancing and awaiting the arrival of the victorious quidditch team. About twenty minutes after Michael had come in his glass was nearly empty and he was considering just going back to the familiar flavor of butterbeer when the common room erupted in cheers. Michael craned his head to peer through the crowd towards the stairs. He spotted the quidditch captain, holding her hand up as the rest of the team followed behind her, some of the older team members accepting their drinks from Orion as she climbed up onto one of the tables to address the room.
Michael barely heard her speech about winning and plans for taking back the quidditch cup, his green eyes searching for Daisy, heart fluttering when she glanced in his direction.
Soon she disappeared among a crowd of well wishers and Michael sighed, leaning back against the couch. “Give her an hour, I’m sure she’s gonna come talk to you.” Ashton said, catching onto the fifth year’s mood. “Specially with the way she looked at you before the start of the match.” He added teasingly and Michael groaned, shoving the seventh year off of his perch on the arm of the couch.
Ashton scrambled, giggling as he got to his feet. Michael finished off his firewhiskey, rising to his feet, placing the empty cup on the tray on the coffee table and walking over to one of the barrels of butterbeer, pouring himself a glass when someone tapped his shoulder. He turned, grinning when he recognized Daisy, even though the metamorphmagus had altered her appearance to sneak through the rest of the party. She made her own glass of butterbeer before taking his hand, pulling him up to their favorite study nook. They passed the couch where Michael had left his friends, both Ashton and Luke shooting him a thumbs up when they spotted him and Daisy hand in hand. Michael’s face turned pink but he kept his head down as the pair made their way up the stairs.
They both sat down at the table that was situated above one of the bookshelves on the lower floor, encased by more bookcases, providing them a quiet space from the party going on below. Daisy’s facial features shifted to her usual look, her hair remaining a sky blue from her excitement. “You did a great job commentating on the match today,” Daisy said, “just like I knew you would.”
Michael blushed slightly, “You’re just saying that.”
She shook her head, “Don’t think I would’ve convinced Ashton to go with me to Fitz to nominate you for the open position if I was just saying it.”
Michael’s eyes went wide, staring at Daisy in shock. She smiled, scooting closer to him, her hand resting on his knee, a show of gentle affection that they’d been working through since the end of last term. “Don’t tell your buddies down there this, since they’re on their own quidditch teams, but I was actually pulling a feint. Slytherin’s seeker actually spotted the snitch first, but he just got that Firebolt this morning at breakfast, saw the owls bring it in myself. He didn’t even take it for a practice spin before the match, so he was adjusting to it from the school’s Cleansweeps on the fly, that’s why he wasn’t able to pull out of the dive before me.”
Michael grinned, nudging her knee with his, “Still believe you could’ve beat him to it.”
Daisy snorted, shaking her head and grabbing her mug of butterbeer. They both sat there chatting for a while longer, scooting closer and closer, until Calum appeared around the corner. He was the only one of the boys who knew about this little nook, Michael having allowed him up on some non-party days that he snuck him into the tower on, both for studying and for a breakdown or two, especially the big one he had before he and Daisy started talking. The dark haired Hufflepuff smiled at the pair before saying “Team needs you Daisy, school newspaper stuff.”
The seeker gave Michael an apologetic smile as she got up from her seat. Michael rose to his feet too, leaning forward and placing a shy kiss to her cheek. His own cheeks flamed as he pulled away, hiding his face before he felt Daisy take his hand in hers, “You missed,” she said softly, her other hand tilting his chin up before she gave him a gentle kiss.
He melted into her touch, responding gently before pulling away. “Go talk to the newspaper, I’ll be up here when you’re free.”
She smiled, giving him one quick peck before walking off, Calum giving him an approving smile, taking her spot at the table once she was out of sight. “Today’s the best ever.” Michael said, sure of himself as he sunk back into his seat next to his best friend.
“I’m sure it has been.” Calum said, holding his best friend in a tight side hug, “Think this is going to be you two’s year.”
Michael grinned, looking at Calum as he said, “You know, I really think that it is.” He took another swig of his butterbeer as the two friends sat in the quiet nook for the rest of the party.
Tag List: @irwinkitten @dammitbands @gorgeouslygrace
