Title: you burn me
Fandom: harry potter
Rating: teen
Length: 602 words
Author notes: also for the femslash100100 sappho table, 7. you burn me

Angelina is eight years old when the local youth quidditch league has a spot open for a chaser. While people as young as five are allowed to apply, for the past two years the Selwyn triplets took all of the spots. (At five Angelina tried out and didn’t do half-bad, but a nine year old getting 4/5 goals was better than her 3/5 plus baby bludger to the shin.)

This is her chance. With the triplets finally off to Beauxbatons, there’s no way she doesn’t get the coveted position. And three years of quidditch before Hogwarts means in her second year she’ll get on the team. By her fifth, she’ll be captain. Angelina has a plan.

Unfortunately, Kelly Brown is not aware of her carefully constructed plans. Kelly Brown thinks it’s better to take the oldest two Weasleys, and then have all the remaining chasers fight over the last spot. Her and Alicia Spinnet make it to the last round. They’re both near exhaustion, dripping sweat, and every other position has been taken. A parent comes up to Brown then, murmurs something, and he calls them both back. He apologizes for wasting their time and says he wasn’t aware the third spot was previously filled and wishes them better luck next year.

Angelina and Alicia leave the field together, grumbling about the unfairness of it all.

In another world, that might have been the beginning of a beautiful friendship. They could have started their own team. But in this one, they part ways until next year’s tryouts for Nasty Nixies and Angelina gets the coveted spot. It’s a year late, but she had been flying out in the backyard nearly constantly, it isn’t too big a deviation. It’s a wonderful year, but then Brown retires and everyone- including returning kids- has to tryout again.

Alicia Spinnet steals her spot.

Angelina swears she’ll never forgive her.

(…not to her face of course, that would be rude. A rivalry, all good quidditch players have at least one, and she is going to be the very best.)

.

It’s petty, but she’s still a little disappointed when Spinnet follows her into Gryffindor. She wanted to play against, not with, her and three other girls in the dorm means she can ignore her for the most part. It isn’t until her fifth year in Transfiguration, a mandatory assigned partner project that she gets to know Alicia. It’s kind of remarkable that they lasted so long at arm’s reach, being on the same team and all. Vanishing spells are the worst though, and it’s impossible not to form some camaraderie after so many hours spent in an empty classroom, just the two of them, sweaty and frustrated.

There’s an odd argument about wand movements that dissolves into flying critiques, and the two of them nearly yelling in each other’s faces. Anger, anger, anger and then they’re kissing, but the frustration only builds at that- and if Spinnet thinks she’s winning, she’s so mistaken. Her mouth tastes like a hygiene spell and bubblegum, and Angelina kisses her until she the air between them is stale, until the anger in her breast has calmed.

Alicia grins, pointing her wand at her own robes, “Evanesco!”

Her wrist does a slight twitch at the end, one that Angelina had been positive wasn’t necessary, and then her outer robe disappears, a jolt of heat shooting through her.

“I suppose you were right,” Angelina murmurs, fingering her own wand.

Alicia shrugs, “You just have to want it.”

And Angelina’s too amused to keep a smile from her face, pulling Alicia in for another kiss.