#jato

Judith walked down the halls, cloak swishing around her ankles. The amount of times in a day she was mistaken for a Weasley was incredible. Not every ginger person was related to them. 

She’d finally get to go play Quidditch. Her captain, Oliver Wood, had booked the pitch especially. It was good conditions, being early autumn- the air still crisp but with warm summer notes. 

However, as she peels off her uniform in the changing rooms in order for her quidditch gear, she thought of anything that could possibly go wrong. 

Last year, the Slytherin team had booked the court at the same time with Snape’s permission. Oliver had probably been talking too loud about practice and the Slytherin team would kick them off the pitch again. 

Merlin it was freezing- she pulled on her ‘Mayblood 3’ cloak but was still shivering, knees knocking together as she stood there, teetering from foot to foot and waiting for the rest of the team. So far it was just her, Oliver and Angelina Johnson. 

But obviously, the familiar emerald of the Slytherin kit rocked up onto the pitch. Oliver made this sound halfway between an indignant squawk and an outraged huff of protest. 

“Sorry, were you practicing here today? Only, we have Professor Snape’s permission…unless you have anything of the sort?” Sneered Marcus Flint. He was no longer captain, that role belonged to Cato Hadley. But they all knew nobody could get under Oliver’s skin quite like Flint, hence why he was doing the talking. 

Judith used to  absolutely loathe that particular group of Slytherins. Not the pure blood supremacists  like Malfoy and his lot. However, most of these guys were pure blood too. The Hadley’s and Belcourt’s were one of the sacred 21, but they didn’t whine like Malfoy and get everything they wanted because of their title- they worked incredibly hard for their position. Hence why Cato often bullied the younger boy, because he’d hear that sneering little snake make some snide comment or a single ‘my father will hear about this’ and get the urge to throttle him. He loathed nepotism.

The Kentwells and Sanford’s weren’t particularly notable but they were still established and fairly wealthy half bloods. Cato, Glimmer, Clove and Marvel had apparently known each other since they were quite young, and had somehow survived 7 years cooped up in this school together. 

But the key word was that Judith USED to hate them. She had a begrudging respect for Cato, after he’d saved Lucian from the Whomping Willow. And it was quite hard to hate your boyfriend. 

But on the pitch, all attachments were off. It was war, as Oliver liked to refer to it. 

“Practice match?” Oliver proposed with gritted teeth. It was the best he’d be able to get considering both captains were too stubborn to give up the pitch. 

The rest of the team arrived, carrying the crate of balls and we set up as fast as they could. Cato flashed Judith a smirk right before the game and she promptly mouthed “You’re going down”. What made their relationship more heated and arguably more exciting was the century long rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin.  

3…2…1… lift off. Judith always loved that feeling. The air resistance pushing her down yet she’s still being shot up in the air. 

Even though it was just a practice, Lee Jordan liked to commentate anyways for whatever reason. 

“Mayblood passes to Johnson who passes back to Mayblood- oooooo foul, Crabbe you can’t fire a bludger at someone without the quaffe ya dirty cheat. Gryffindo’s ball! Mayblood passes to Bell and Bell scores!!! Malfoy and young Potter still dart around for the snitch. Ouch, some colourful language exchanged between Mayblood and Hadley.”

Cato had just hit a Bludger at her. 

“Fuck you, Hadley!”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you!” He sneered back, his taunting distracting her enough for Crabbe to hit the back of her broom, knocking her off balance and causing her to drop the quaffe. 

“Slytherin is in possession after a sneak attack from Goyle- but can they get past Wood? OF COURSE NOT, fantastic save by Gryffindor keeper, Oliver Wood. Weasley and Weasley have yet to hit a bludger at the Slytherin team as Hadley seems to be keeping tactical possession- not sure if that’s allowed-.” 

Eventually, it ended up being 90-40 to Gryffindor, Harry having caught the snitch fairly quickly. 

It was just a practice, nothing that deep, but Oliver insisted on hoisting Harry into the Weasley twins shoulders in celebration, just to rub it in the Slytherin’s faces. 

Judith was fully immersed in the cheering but she glanced away and caught Cato’s eye. 

“Locker room?” He mouthed. Her gaze lingered in her team and then she nodded, slipping away. 

She was halfway changed before Cato finally reached her, coming up behind her and pinning her against the shower. 

“You played good today…” he captured her lips in a brief kiss. 

“You too.” Her hands rested on his chest. “My teams gonna be here in a minute…” she said quietly against his lips but didn’t pull away. In fact she got closer, tugging by his “Hadley 5” cloak. 

“We still have a little time though, right?” He said between kisses, fingers beginning to work their way up her jaw in a familiar way. 

“Oliver is going to come in for a team meeting and pep talk…” but she wanted to keep kissing him so bad because he was ridiculously handsome when he was flushed from quidditch and the cold. And the fact he lost to her made it even better because it meant he had some frustration to vent. But Oliver scheduled practice all week and if she allowed Cato to have his usual outlet she likely wouldn’t be able to sit on her broom. 

Whispers followed her in the corridors. Why, she had no idea. 

Until Katie pointed it out. 

“Judith, what are you wearing?” She raised an eyebrow. 

“My uniform?” 

“No, the tie!”

It was emerald green and silver. And judging by the golden ‘C.H’ elaborately embroidered in the corner, it was Cato’s. 

He was sat with his friends and glanced over at her, barely holding in a laugh at pulling off such an elaborate prank on her. As if his tie wasn’t red and gold. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t worn his clothes before- hell, she wore his scarf frequently when they went on walks back from duelling club together or just to hide hickeys last minute. But this was the first time it was blatantly his stuff, considering it had his initials. She kept most of his stuff though. She’d return the scarf tomorrow though because she’d had it on her pillow all week and it was starting to loose the smell of him.

“Judith…c’mon bug.” He pouted, pissed at the lack of attention that Judith normally would have indulged him with, arms around her waist while she tried to focus on potions. She was fantastic at it, as she was always so meticulous with measurements. Cato would be lucky to get a pass on his potions NEWTs but he needed them to become an auror. 

She was ignoring him, had up to ask professor snaps a question. 

“Sir? Theoretically, would there be any substitutes for these ingredients?” 

Judith was the only gryffindor he didn’t utterly loathe, because she showed, from the moment she entered the classroom, a true skill at potions. But she wasn’t an ‘insufferable know it all’ like Granger, who was afew years below them. For gods sake she wrote an extra 15 inch essay about different flowers used in pagan healing and how they translated into potions. 

“I know you like sucking up to teachers, so I could teach you a thing or two and you can su–”    

Her cheeks flushed a bright, burning pink, the heat creeping up her neck and begrudgingly pooling in her abdomen. 

“Oh my Merlin, shut *up*.” She hissed, hitting him over the head with her textbook.

“Come on, Jude. We could just leave y’know. A detention would give you some street cred.”

“First of all, you have detentions every other day, I’m not adding to that. Second of all, I don’t want my ‘street cred’ to be getting red rubbed knees from kneeling and scrubbing cauldrons!” 

“Miss Mayblood, Mr Hadley, do I have to separate you?” Snape sighed in a monotone, his hook nose lowered towards them. 

“No sir.” Judith said quietly. 

But as usual, Cato blabbed her ear off about stuff in the common rooms, fights, the latest, infuriating thing the little git Malfoy said, some drama about Marvel…

“Miss Mayblood, detention!” Snapped Snaps. 

“Hey! What the hell you yelling at her for? I was the one talking, she didn’t do shi-.” She elbowed him hard in the ribs so he didn’t curse at the teacher. But he was willing to take a detention for her, which made her heart flutter a little bit. Her fingers laced with his under the table and flicked her wand to cast a silencing charm around them, so Cato could now talk freely to her.