Through the Hoop

Angelina toweled herself off and began pulling on her street clothes. She'd gotten over her irrational fear of the women's shower room after Elwood had gotten too close to the door on the way in and had been flung halfway across the room - clearly the "women-only" charm was working perfectly. Angelina had to fight down a grin at the sight of Elwood dragging himself to his feet, wincing.

She knew the press was waiting outside, and was resigned to talking to them again - that was, if any of them were still around when she finally came out. She wasn't planning on making herself too accessible. And she wasn't exactly in the mood to be civil.

She was mostly disturbed by the reaction she'd gotten from the crowd. They'd been practically silent when she'd taken the pitch, and when she'd scored the first goal of the game there'd been some half-hearted cheering - certainly nothing compared to the reaction a score against the best Keeper in the league should have rated. But as the game wore on with few scores on their side, most of them from Kendall, the crowd had grown hostile. Not to the rest of the team; just to her. At one point a blast of magic had been fired at her from the stands as she'd flown too close, and she'd barely managed to avoid it. The game had been halted by the referees while the responsible wizard had been escorted out. But what scared Angelina the most was how some of the crowd laughed and even cheered at her almost getting blasted off her broom!

Angelina was frustrated. Fans of the Cannons were notorious for their rabid loyalty to their team, which meant that the antagonism she'd had directed at her was almost certainly because she was a woman - despite the incredible game she'd flown on Saturday, and the fact that the Cannons won this game as well.

The win had been a narrow thing; their own Keeper Dennis Basil hadn't played nearly as well as Oliver, and when the Cannons' Seeker Galvin Gudgeon had caught the Snitch they'd still only pulled out the game by twenty points. The Chasers had broken Oliver's infamous streak with eight goals, three from Angelina, but it was obvious the fans didn't consider it enough. It was beyond frustrating, it was depressing, bewildering and infuriating.

Probably the worst thing about the entire night had been Oliver's reaction; he scowled at Angelina and refused to shake the hand she offered after the game, flying past her and into the visiting team's locker room without a backward glance. That had hurt more than she'd thought it would; Oliver had been a friend as well as a teammate at Hogwarts, and she'd never seen anything but good sportsmanship from him until that moment. Angelina had started Quidditch at Hogwarts admiring Oliver, but apparently he'd let his success and the fame of professional Quidditch go to his head. He wasn't the same person he'd been. Angelina had been hoping that Oliver's praise of her would help get her accepted, but now she realized she couldn't count on him for any assistance.

As Angelina sat down to pull her shoes on she sighed. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she might as well resign herself to the situation for the time being. The attitudes of the league and the fans weren't going to change instantly - they would take a long time and a lot of great flying to bring around. Angelina hoped fervently that she proved to be strong enough to last.

Angelina collected her things and headed for the front gates. As she passed a particular office she hesitated, and then stuck her head in; two wizards were going through the night's receipts. "Excuse me?" Angelina said tentatively.

Both of the men looked up. One of them gave Angelina a very ugly look and returned to his work without a word. The other gave his co-worker a glance, and then said "What is it, Ms. Johnson?"

"I was just wondering - I gave my free tickets to someone, do you know if she made it tonight?"

The man flipped through a few pages of the ledger he'd been working in, and ran his finger down one particular column. "No," he said finally, "those tickets weren't redeemed. Sorry."

Angelina frowned. Alicia might be busy, but she'd never turn down free tickets to a Quidditch game! "Thanks," she said vaguely, and walked out.

The press was almost as hostile as the crowd inside had been. They seemed to think Angelina was responsible for holding the other Chasers back; it appeared they had completely forgotten that Angelina had kept to her promise to break Oliver's streak. Angelina made her excuses and got out of there after just a few questions, since she could feel a snarky retort fighting to get past her lips.

Angelina Apparated to her flat and dumped her few things; then she stepped out the door and Apparated to a Portkey station, where she quickly got a Portkey to London. When she arrived she quickly Apparated to the apartment complex where she knew Alicia was staying. She knocked on the appropriate door and waited, but no one answered. A bit more worried, Angelina was debating about whether to check at the Ministry, to see if Alicia's training was just running late, when Alicia stepped out of the lift. The two women saw each other at the same time. Angelina smiled in relief; she opened her mouth to say hello, but before she could Alicia's face twisted in rage, and she Apparated away.

Angelina stared in shock at the spot where Alicia had just been. What the hell was that about?

There was nothing Angelina could do; she had no idea where Alicia had Apparated to, so she couldn't follow. With no other options, Angelina Apparated back to the Portkey station and returned to Chudleigh. When she trudged her way into her, lost in thought, the first thing she saw was the owl waiting for her. After shutting the door and locking it magically, and kicking the things she'd dropped off earlier after almost tripping over them, she accepted the letter from the owl, gave it a few coins and sent it off.

Plopping down on her couch, Angelina studied the letter. It wouldn't be from a fan, or a hate-letter; all mail for Quidditch players was automatically sent to the team's stadium for screening (Angelina realized she'd have to check the next day for any mail she'd gotten). Anyhow, Angelina thought she recognized the handwriting, although she couldn't place it and there was no return address. Shrugging, she tore open the envelope and practically swallowed her tongue when she saw that the letter was from Oliver. He's got some flipping nerve, she thought angrily, but as she read the letter her opinion grudgingly softened:

Angie,

Hi, it's Oliver. I hope you realized I was only brushing you off and acting pissed off after the game to stomp on any potential rumors about us; it occurred to me after our little press conference that all those reporters were snapping their quills in excitement on how we were involved. I figured you had enough to deal with without that, so I pretended to be more angry than I was - although I am pretty tonked! Anyway, hope it worked.

Want to get together and catch up before the team moves on tomorrow? What kind of friends are you guys, anyway? I haven't heard anything from any of you since the Quidditch World Cup! And even then all I got was a few tidbits from Harry, Ron and Hermione. I want to know if all the terrible things I heard about that new professor Umbridge were true. I also thought I might be able to give you a bit of advice on how to handle certain people in the league who might give you particular trouble.

If you can, owl me back and I'll make sure there's a spot for us at a restaurant I know; I've been going there since I entered the league and no reporters have found me there yet.

I didn't say so before, but congrats on making the big time.

- Oliver

By the end of the letter, Angelina had to admit that Oliver had a point. Knowing the way the press was acting, they probably would have implied that Oliver had let her score the three goals that made the difference in breaking his streak. But by acting so furious, Oliver had pretty well stomped on that idea. And he's right - the last thing I need is rumors that make it more plausible. Hell, one of the reporters before the game even suggested we'd go easy on each other. No sense giving them more ammunition.

Angelina stood up and walked over to her desk. She sat down, pulled out a quill and parchment, and wrote a short reply:

Hey Ollie,

You gave a damned good performance - I didn't get what you were doing until I read your letter, I was all set to have Gred and Forge personalize to you some complimentary Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes products. It was a good idea though, and from the way the reporters acted after the game I'm pretty sure it worked. But just in case it didn't, you better be prepared to find some floozy for a one-night stand to finish off the rumors once and for all! And as for actually being pissed that we broke your streak - nyeah nyeah!

I'd love to get together; I'm free tomorrow, just let me know where. But you're the big Star, Best Keeper In the League, so you're buying!

- Ang

Angelina sent Archimedes off with her answer, and then collapsed on her couch again. She still wasn't sure how much of Oliver's apparent cockiness was real, and how much was an act; was he really angry about having his streak broken? The Oliver she'd known wouldn't have cared; he had only cared about what was best for the team. But she didn't know whether he was still the same. Well, I'll just have to see if Oliver takes my teasing him about the broken streak with good humor.