InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Are you in love? No? Wanna be?"

Maggie had said that she'd be by after her shift, and Amir hadn't yet put away all of the practice equipment, so he'd asked her to drop by the pitch. Hitting that bludger around might do something to calm his nerves, or so he hoped. And it wasn't as though it was a complete emergency.

He didn't think.

But the way Ainsley had acted, and even looked for that split second didn't sit right with him at all. He felt mental just thinking about it, really, like he was losing his mind, questioning whether or not he'd seen anything at all.

And part of him was afraid Ainsley was going to show back up on the pitch. Why he was afraid, he wasn't sure. It all felt irrational and surreal. So he was just going to keep hitting that bludger until Maggie showed up and maybe she could make it make sense.

The last hour of Maggie's shift felt like it took twelve, but she apparated at the pitch as promised as soon it was done, so quick to leave St Mungo's that she was still in her mediwitch robes. She made an ear-splitting whistle to notify Amir of her arrival and busied herself with the ancient art of kicking the grass to pass the time.

Hearing the whistle, Amir spun around and saw Maggie. Bloody hell, thank goodness it was her and not Ainsley. He chased down the bludger and flew straight to the case, calling out to Maggie as he did so, "I may be mental, I don't know anymore."

As the sky had darkened out on the pitch, so had his thoughts, even as he grew more uncertain of himself.

Maggie followed along to the case. "Doubt that, Khoury. Ye're one of my good eggs an' I'd like it ta stay tha' way."

"Yeah well this is gonna sound bloody ridiculous, but I'm going to tell you what happened even though you might think I'm mental," he started. "Cause Ainsley and I were out here practicing, and she seemed tired but that's normal, right? And then she was being reckless and I knew she was tired and I was afraid she was going to get hurt and so I kind of snapped at her and I didn't mean to and then she was just really…"

His words had been jumbled, spilling out rapidly but here Amir paused.

"Off," he said. "I don't know how to explain it. But it was like ... "

It sounded mental in his head, it was going to sound mental when he said it.

Maggie's face remained neutral (if serious) and the only thing that betrayed the unease in the pit of her stomach was how she chewed on her bottom lip. She'd hoped that Ainsley's last meetings with the cursebreaker and healers had fixed things. ... Apparently that was premature. Well, possibly it was premature. Maybe her thinking it was premature was premature. ... Merlin, curses were a fucking headache.

"I need tae ken precisely wha' happened," she replied. "Did she try tae do anythin' ta ye?"

"No, that's what makes me sound mental," Amir replied. "She didn't do anything. It was the fact that she wasn't anything like herself. She looked… off. Kinda, maybe? I may have imagined that and her smile being weird but when she talked to me? Suddenly more Scottish. Like Ains doesn't really have that strong accent… And then she did. And told me I was a fine player like she…"

That was what had really struck him as odd and his voice trailed off again.

"Like I was a stranger? Or she was? I don't even know and I realise I sound completely mental and I just made you apparate straight from Mungo's didn't I and you probably think I've lost my mind… I'm sorry. It sounds stupid just saying it," Amir said, again, stammering out his words feeling completely uncertain and like he might be coming unhinged.

"But it was real enough to me to write to you."

"Naw, yer brain's braw as ever. Cheers fur comin' tae me, it was the right thing." She pushed down the urge to sigh, and the one to run her hands through her hair, and the one to immediately run off and find Ainsley, and settled instead on the one where she exhaled a long, hopefully-steadying breath. It only sort of worked. "How'd she act? I need specifics. Ye say 'reckless,' but if she might be a danger t'hersel', I need more."

“Well we were practicing so it wasn’t too weird but she was obviously tired… And cut it close with the bludger which is when I snapped and then she got weird but that was it.”

Amir shrugged but was relieved that Maggie didn’t think him mental even if he still didn’t understand everything that he’d witnessed.

"Weird how? 'Specifics' means 'details,' dinna leave a thing out."

"I don't remember everything," Amir said. "It was just like for a moment she looked at me with this expression that looked… hollow. Like if she showed up again looking like that my first instinct would be to run. And then she was like, 'I’m sorry about that. It willnae happen again. Yer a fine player." He echoed the accent back to Maggie, clearly far more defined than normal with an odd smile plastered on his face.

"Then, and it's gonna sound awful but I just wanted her to leave so I was like, I'll put everything away. And she was like, 'I'll pop on home then.'" The smile returned to his face as he imitated Ainsley again. "And I watched her disappear then went to check the offices hoping someone was there then I wrote and owled you and I've been afraid she might show back up. Because I'm now mental."

That was all he had to tell Maggie, but it was clear he still seemed spooked by it.

It was... honestly, she'd expected something more drastic than 'she spoke weird and she looked weird.' Which should be a good thing, right? But Amir had barely said a peep to her all season and now suddenly he was spewing paragraphs about her and in visible distress. While it was clear that Ainsley wasn't necessarily herself, it wasn't enough to immediately pull her from the roster.

Once again: Fuck. Curses.

"Can ye tell me anythin' about what ye meant by 'reckless'? All ye mentioned was dodgin' bludgers." (Read: dodging bludgers irresponsibly in a way befitting most of the professional quidditch players she knew.)

"That was it," Amir said, sounding rather defeated. He was mental. Maybe he'd imagined it all. But that damn hollow look, the voice, that smile…

It was the start of a bloody horror film, no wonder he was spooked. Or maybe he just watched too many scary films and his imagination was running wild. "Look, I'm sorry if I've wasted your time," he said, but then with a certain amount of defiance he added, "But I know Ainsley. That wasn't her."

Maggie sighed — it sounded more exhausted than she'd meant to let on, but she was too tired to care. "No. Naw. Ye're not wastin' my time, it's my job to be on call for this sort of crap." Well, usually it was only for broken bones or nutrition consultation. "I appreciate yer lettin' me ken about... this–" unhelpful hand wave "–whatever it is."

Her expression softened the tiniest bit because, yes, the beater in front of her was a little spooked. And maybe she's expected to exercise some bedside manner. "Are ye alright, though? Not bein' harmed aside."

"I mean, besides the fact that you think I'm mental now, sure, I'm fine," Amir replied, the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice. It had been a long day and now he got to finish putting away the targets and could go home to think about it some more.

"You weren't there. I can't describe it. But if I ever act like that I've probably lost my mind. Or maybe none of this happened at all."

"I don't," she insisted, "Things are– shite can be weird, or confusin', or scary, 'cos tha's magic. Ye're not mental." Will she still call him into her office in the morning so she can check him out, just to make sure he's fine? You fucking bet she will!

Maggie did sigh this time, though it was more for the hour than anything else. "I'll let ye get hame, but if ye think of anythin' else, tell me as soon as ye can. Alright?"

"Right," he said, eyeing the targets. "See you tomorrow, Maggie."

She nodded, then hesitated—just for a split second—before she made one last request: "Can ye keep this between us fur now? I promise I'll handle it. Hell, I'm goin' tae my office now ta figure out wha's goin' on, but anythin' about a player's health shouldn't be shared with anyone else." Hopefully the whole Meaghan debacle made that clear.

"Trust me, Ainsley's my friend. I'm worried about her," Amir replied. "Why I came to you. I'm not gonna tell anyone else." Not that Ainsley looked weird and sounded weird so they too could think he was more off than she was.

"Just… take care of her," he added quietly. "I don't really know what's been going on but I know it's not good."

And with that, he flew off. He needed to clean up and get home as it was far later than he'd ever intended on staying on the pitch.