Dirt covered her shoes' pretty embroideries. Ginny frowned. Harry had gotten her these as a birthday present.

It had rained the day before and some folks had partied overnight. The place around the Quidditch pitch was full of mud and trash. But the disposable cups weren't the only remains from the party. Three drunk men were clustered around a campfire, empty beer bottles in front of them. Ginny scrunched up her nose.

After her training with two teammates for around an hour, a few men claimed right for the pitch. Ginny recognized them, it was the three who had stayed back from the party. She didn't know if the others recognized them too, but they sure had seen the dark shadows under their eyes and the awkward way they walked.

"This is our pitch. Leave!" One of the men yelled.

"Why is this your pitch?" Ginny replied, appraising, "You don't own it, we can train here as long as we want!"

"This pitch is for people with skill," He said. It was like a slap in the face for Ginny, who had now landed. She couldn't believe that idiot thought she was incapable without reason! Or better, with the reasoning of her being a woman.

"Oh really? Well, you got me underrated," she replied, her voice just as quiet as his, but the double the intimidating.

"You're a confident one! But trust me, you're no better than we are."

"What's wrong with being confident?" She turned and got onto her broom, beckoning her friends to do the same.

Her hair was whipping into her face, the speed roaring in her ears when she grabbed the Quaffle, sped to the other side of the pitch and scored.

"10:0, guys. You maybe want to watch out for your defence. Or are the women without skill too much for you?"

The tallest of them angrily summoned their brooms, but the spell was a bit unsure and one of the firebolts crashed into the stands, one landed right in a mud puddle and the last nearly knocked his owner over.

Puddlemere United had more money than the Holyhead Harpies, all the players' brooms were better, and Ginny had known that, but it didn't matter. She remembered Harry and the other Gryffindors beating Slytherin even though they had all had Nimbus 2001s. - She had also known that those guys were talented players of their rival team. But the party and the alcohol had lowered their reflexes and their game intelligence.

And then the match started.

Ginny sped to the Quaffle as soon as it was thrown into the air, her fiery red hair like a flag promulgating her determination.

Her hand gripped the well-known leather and she missed the tallest of her opponents by inches, building up speed into the direction of the goalposts. When one of the idiots tried to stop her, she gave the Quaffle to Kylie beneath her. She and Jenna had no trouble playing out the last of them, scoring their first goal.

The men's breakaway was next, the one with beard had the Quaffle. Jenna tried to stop him, but he cartwheeled. He was already taken on by Kylie. He gave the Quaffle to the guy on his right, making Ginny the only one between him and the goalpost. They sped at each other, she intended to take the Quaffle from him, an action she loved. He turned on the side to get past her, she quickly directed to flying headlong. She took one hand from the broomstick and grabbed beneath.

But she missed. Her fingers got caught on his clothes for a second. Then he was gone. He flew at the open goalpost, scoring easy ten points.

Kylie and Jenna looked at him in slight disbelief, then at her. She felt that she was going red as a beet. Heat filled her head and chest, she looked down, letting her hair hide her, giving her the opportunity to rest for a second. She had missed. That should not have happened. She felt shame overtake her, but she had learned a long time ago how to use that.

She looked up again, more determined than ever to win this match. Her friends must have seen the fire in her eyes because they bent closer over their brooms, made them go faster. They were a team, and they were going to win this.

Their determination didn't easily win them the game though like it usually did. The men on their firebolts were quite the opponents and the game went on and on. They played with street rules. Whoever had a lead of 40 points first, won. But no team was able to break away.

Kylie fooled them once, doing a really nice fake. The tallest of them did an impressive movement to get rid of Jenna. Ginny shook off all the three of them. And so it was going on. There seemed to be no end, the sun was low already.

Ginny and her friends had another attack, one out of so many, Jenna was carrying the ball. She flew forward until one of the men came. Ginny was blocked for passes, so Kylie was her choice.

She reached for the ball, the leather was just inches away from her fingers when the heaviest man bumped into her. He had been really fast and the collision's power pushed the woman of the broom. She fell, then crashed to the ground with a haunting thud. She didn't get up, she groaned. Her leg was stretched away unnaturally.

Her friend was hurt because of those drunk idiots and now they'd also have to surrender. Anger shot through Ginny's veins, her knees nearly gave away because of the power of her landing. She could hear the blood pumping in her ears. Kylie smiled at her, but her face was pale and scared.

There was no point in continuing. They had to give in for their friend's health.

***

As always, leave a vote or comment if you like it! :)

Feedback is greatly appreciated but you can also just comment and say hi. ;) I hope you enjoyed it, especially my portrayal of Ginny. She is a hard character to write because she has so many different sides and is very confident on the one hand, but also shy sometimes. Moreover, many people love her and are very nitpicky with her portrayal so I'd love to hear what you think of my work on her, it would really help. :)

Other than that, just thank you for reading and I hope to see you next chapter.

-Tonks