Sioni heard the whistle and thought someone must have been injured, so when he dropped down to the turf, he was a bit taken aback when Hooch called the teams over and announced a time out for recovery. He’d never heard of a play being stopped. But then he’d never heard of a Quidditch match where you couldn’t see anything, so he wasn’t going to complain. In fact, he didn’t say anything on the way back to the Dressing room. Standing in the doorway, looking around at his team, collapsing around the room he couldn’t help but smile.

Sioni walked around the room, stopping briefly by each of his players. T.J.’s hair he ruffled and softly said, “Hang in there, fach, you’re doing great.” To Max he smiled and said, “Great match. I’m proud of you.” Shane he gently punched on the shoulder and said with a nod, “Keep shouting, Shane, I need to know where you and the rest are, so I can make sure I don’t send a Bludger your way.”

He walked over to Shanley and smiled. Slowly he put his arms around her and gave her a hug. “It’s out there somewhere, Shanty-town. You will find it. Trust yourself, fach; I trust you,” He whispered. Stopping by Skrumpkin, Sioni knelt down beside the Keeper’s slumped form and quietly said, “Grand job. Any other Keeper would have missed twice as much in the fog. Just hang in there, Skrump, and help me win this one. Hang in there, mate.”

Then he made his way to his fellow Beater and said, “Right. You and me have work to do, Lindsay. In this fog, normal play won’t work it. So we’re going to double team, flying a slow spiral in the center of the pitch.” He paused and continued, his voice barely audible, but tense. “The Bludgers are drawn toward the players. Keep within sight of me, which is… what? Three yards? Five max? Whoever sees a Bludger tips it to the one closest to the skrum. Then if we hear our players, send it wide. If it’s Gryffindor, give it everything you’ve got. I don’t care who it is. You’ll probably miss in this mess, see, so don’t worry. But shake ‘em up. I’ll take anything passes between us, like. Got that? I’ll keep talking to you up there, so just stay close and be ready to let fly, hard, if you get the chance. Break their broomsticks. Rattle ‘em. What ever it takes. We have to win”

He walked over toward the table that had been set up with refreshments and took a class of pumpkin and downed it. Turning and looking around at his team mates he said, “Alright, I know we are all tired. So relax, stretch, and get a bite, like Lindsay, says, see? But remember this. Gryffindor are tired too. But we have an advantage. We’re Hufflepuff! We don’t give up. We won’t give up. We never give up. They will break and we won’t. Lindsay and I will keep them so busy they won’t know where to turn. Shanley, you just find us that Snitch. Skrumpkin? None shall pass.”

Sioni picked up another glass and drank. “We’re gonna win.”

 


Not Getting Any Younger