Flounder still couldn’t believe he had played part of the game yesterday and even scored some points. Quidditch was exciting! He had never been a sporty person -- or rather, fish. And even as a human here in Atlantis he had stuck to swimming, which is what he thought was best at. But ever since he joined Quidditch, he had been more into trying other sports and discovering new things.
Even though it was Sunday and there was no practice, Flounder decided to go to the Quidditch pitch to train a little more. It wasn’t the same as training with the team, but it was a good workout and it helped him to get more used to the broom and get more confident on it.
It was cold. Callie was wrapped up in her red hat and scarf, the collar of her thick, black woolen cloak turned up for added protection. Her gloves, however, were stuffed into her pockets; her poor fingers were nearly blue with the cold but it was almost impossible to use her camera with fingers doubled in size by the soft, red, knitted wool. She had braved the cold to try out various exposure settings down at the Quidditch pitch. The light here was different to everywhere else on the island, probably due to all the tall stands and the long shadows they cast. She hadn’t expected there to be anyone else around. She’d checked that no teams were due to practice today - understandably, the team captains didn’t like the idea of her taking photos while they were going through their game strategies - so she had been quite surprised to see a lone flyer weaving about, high above the pitch.
Normally she liked to get people’s permission before taking their photographs, even if she didn’t intend to do anything with the shots, but she didn’t think she’d be able to communicate to the flyer what it was she was there to do, even if she could get their attention. She decided to make the most of the moment and practice a few action shots while they were in the air, before trying later to catch up with them. Trying her best to grip her camera firmly despite her numb fingers, she lifted it to her eye, peered few the viewfinder and began snapping away.
It took him a while to notice he wasn’t the only person on the pitch that Sunday. And when he did he almost fell off the broom. Great job, Flounder. Stupid fish, he thought to himself as he balanced himself on the broom.
He kept practicing for about half an hour more before he decided his fingers were too cold to grip the Quaffle properly anymore. And also he was very aware of that other person on the pitch and he had to admit it was making him a little nervous. He wasn’t really used to the crowd just yet. Even if it was one person.
He flew down to the ground and got off his broom.
As soon as Callie saw the flyer heading for the ground, she stooped to pick up her camera case off the floor and clumsily began packing away her equipment. She was hurrying as much as her cold fingers would let her, hoping she’d be able to catch the flyer on their way out of the dressing rooms.
As soon as the camera was safely stowed away, the case slung over her shoulder, Callie pulled her gloves back on and hurried down the steps of the stand she’d been sitting in. The door at the base of the stand led out of the stadium and Callie had to hurry around the perimeter until she reached the doors to the teams’ dressing rooms. She waited a few metres away, shuffling from foot to foot to keep warm, hoping she hadn’t taken too long and missed the player.
Flounder took a quick shower and changed into warm clothes and headed out. This cold was going to kill him one day. He wasn’t used to it and no matter how many layers of clothes and scarves and gloves he put on, he was always cold.
When he walked out of the dressing rooms, he noticed a girl waiting outside a few meters away. He didn’t want to stare, but the girl seemed vaguely familiar. “Hey,” he said shyly with a small smile.
“Hi,” Callie replied, startled, roused from her own thoughts by the sound of a male voice from the direction of the dressing room door. Her eyes ran over the person walking towards her. She recognised him from the games but she didn’t really know him. She thought his name might be Flounder, although she might have got that wrong.
“Hi. I just wanted to grab you before you left,” she carried on, remembering why it was she’d been hanging around out here in the cold in the first place.
“You probably saw me up there taking photos,” she said, motioning with a red, gloved hand up towards the stands that loomed overhead.
“I just wanted to check that you don’t mind me developing them. They’re not for anything, per se. I just wanted to practise getting some shots of someone in flight.” She’d been trying lots of different ways of capturing pictures of people playing Quidditch ever since the league had started in Atlantis and she thought she was finally getting somewhere. It wasn’t just the shots themselves but the way she set up her camera and the potion she used to develop the pictures - it all added together to create something complicated but with stunning results. Her trials today, with different degrees of exposure, would hopefully help her perfect the technique even more.
“I can give them to you when I’m done,” she offered meekly.
Oh great, she was the one who saw him almost fall off his broom. A little embarrassed, his cheeks, already rosy because of the cold, turned a brighter pink. “Yeah, I did,” he said with a small nod. “I mean, I didn’t know you were taking pictures, but I saw you on the stands,” he added. He seriously hoped she hadn’t caught him almost falling off his broom. That would’ve been even more embarrassing. And captured forever in a picture.
“Oh, not at all. I mean, I’m totally cool with you developing the photos. Yeah,” he said a little nervously. “Sure, if you want to,” he nodded. It’d be kind of cool to have pictures of him practicing Quidditch. “I’m Flounder, by the way. I don’t think I’ve said that.” He offered and glove-covered hand for her to shake.
“Brilliant,” Callie said, smiling widely. “I might not get round to it straight away, because of school and everything, but I’ll try and have them done by next weekend.” She was hoping she’d be allowed to use the dark room at the High School during a few of her lunch breaks. It made it so much easier than if she had to try to set up a makeshift one at home.
“Callie,” she replied warmly, shaking his gloved hand with her own.
“And don’t worry,” she added. “I definitely didn’t see you almost fall off your broom…” She grinned.
“No rush,” he offered with a smile. “You play Quidditch too, right?” He couldn’t remember which team she played on but he was sure he had seen her on the pitch a couple of times.
When she mentioned his almost-fall, his cheeks turned bright pink again. “Yeah, you saw that, uh? I can be clumsy sometimes,” he admitted, chuckling softly.
“I’m a reserve for the Wombats,” she nodded, purposefully not saying any more about his little wobble so as not to make him feel any more uncomfortable (despite how cute his pink cheeks were). It still felt strange for Callie, being part of a Quidditch team. Even though she’d played since she was little - Alicia and her friends hadn’t given her much of a choice - she’d never been driven to join a team. Now, though, she was one of a fairly limited group of people with experience of playing Quidditch and it made complete sense for her to make up the numbers.
A shiver ran through her and she pulled her camera strap up on her shoulder, hunching her shoulders against the cold wind.
“I think I might go to the Three Broomsticks to warm up,” Callie said after a short pause, deciding on the spot that sinking into a comfortable armchair by the Three Broomsticks’ fire with a butterbeer sounded a lot more appealing than returning to her cold, empty house.
“Would you… like to join me?” she asked a little hesitantly.
Flounder nodded. “Reserve for the Corgies,” he said, pointing at himself.
When she mentioned the Three Broomsticks Flounder’s brows raised with interest. A nice a warm place with a hot drink sounded wonderful right now.
“I’d love to,” he replied maybe a little too fast. He cleared his throat. “I mean, yeah, sure, why not?” He gave her a nervous smile and blushed a little more.
Callie couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face as Flounder replied immediately before trying to recover and play it cool. It set some butterflies fluttering in her stomach and she was glad that her own cheeks were already flushed from the cold.