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The sky is dark, covered by clouds, and the rain hits the grass like bullets. The air hums with electricity and magic, no one knows which one will strike first. Minghao can taste it on his tongue, feels it buzzing under his skin as he steps onto the field, broom gripped tightly in hand even as the wind threatens to wrench it from him. It reminds him of where he is, after being away for so long, remembering why he never truly feels like he’s back at Hogwarts until this very moment. The first match of the year.
The Slytherin steps up past the referee to shake hands with the Gryffindor captain, Kim Mingyu, star seeker and Minghao’s greatest opponent. “It’s a pleasure to meet you on the pitch again, Xu Minghao,” Mingyu proclaims over the noise of the rain, smirking.
“Your privilege, I’m sure, to lose to me, yet again” Minghao quips back, a cocky grin gracing his features. He is absolutely confident, and rightfully so. Any fame Mingyu could boast of as a seeker, Minghao equalled it in his position as keeper, leading his house to victory time and time again.
As Minghao mounts his broom and takes his position, his confidence grows. He knows the weather is in his favour, and while Kim Mingyu would be fighting to find the snitch through sheets of rain, Minghao would work his magic with the quaffle. Then the whistle blows.
Immediately, Mingyu and Slytherin’s own seeker are out of sight, and Minghao focuses all of his attention on the task at hand. Before he can blink, the quaffle is whizzing towards him, and he snatches it out of the air easily, swooping down to send it back to his chasers halfway across the pitch. Before he can blink again, Slytherin has 40 points.
The Gryffindors start to attack in full force then, but Minghao is easily blocking the shots coming from every direction. He doesn’t pass up the opportunity to show off as well, soaring and turning with grace and agility, passing the ball precisely and with lightning speed, even batting a few with his broom straight across the field and into the goals. He knows they have to be fast in order to make more than 150 points before Mingyu catches the snitch, but his team isn’t letting him down so far today, and he’s not worried. Knowing the teachers can’t hear him over the storm, he screams into the sky, “Fuck you, Kim Mingyu!” As Mingyu zooms past him with a cackle, Minghao notices his rude hand gesture, and that Slytherin’s seeker is nowhere to be seen.
Minghao blocks 6 more attempts by the Gryffindors while the quaffle flies past their own keeper repeatedly, and soon enough, they’re up to 140. He hasn’t had much trouble with the bludgers so far; he knows that one of his beaters is hovering nearby, watching his back while his focus is needed elsewhere. However, a quick glance downwards allows him to see two things: Mingyu, chasing the perimeter of the field with the snitch just out of his reach, and Gryffindor’s beater, Soonyoung, sending a bludger straight for him.
Minghao’s body moves on instinct as he swivels his broom in the air, bludger and quaffle both barreling towards him from opposite directions. He turns with a massive force and the balls hit either end of his broom, flying off in the same direction they came from. He twists his head to follow the path of the bludger, knowing without looking that he had just scored Slytherin’s 15th goal. He sees Mingyu once again closing in on the snitch, oblivious to the malicious object headed in his direction, and with a single blow, it knocks Mingyu clean off his broom.
A collective gasp goes up from the crowd, all watching intently to see what happens next. Minghao smiles wickedly as Mingyu rolls over and stands up slowly, but his smile instantly disappears when Mingyu raises his arm triumphantly, the small winged ball between his fingers.
~~~
The next morning while Minghao sits at the breakfast table, a group of four or five first year girls come up to him, whispering and giggling. He smiles around a mouthful of toast and swallows before greeting them charmingly, “Good morning, ladies. What can I do for you?”
There is some more giggling as well as whispering before one of them speaks up, “We just wanted to say that you were so great during the match yesterday!” The others confirm this with earnest looks and vigorous nodding, which just makes Minghao smile even more.
“That move you did near the end, it was amazing!” another girl blurts, much to her own dismay.
The first girl speaks up again and saves her friend, “Yes! You should’ve won, not just tied.” She adds a pout for dramatic effect.
“Don’t worry, girls,” he offers confidently, “It was only the first match! We’ve got plenty more to go, and as long as you keep cheering us on, we’ll keep playing our best for you.” He throws a charming wink at them and they dissolve into giggles and whispers yet again.
When they turn their attention back to him, a new girl speaks, a sad but curious tone to her voice “But Minghao, is something wrong with Mingyu? Why do you hate him so much?”
Minghao nearly chokes on some of his food at this, and he struggles to reply even after he’s swallowed, “Hate him? I don’t hate Mingyu, what would make you think that?”
She looks pensive for a second before responding, “You and Mingyu are our top two favourites, of all the players, but the way you talk to each other and stuff on the field-“ As if on cue, before she could finish, Mingyu appears at the door and makes his way straight over to where Minghao is.
The girls freeze, their eyes stuck on the tall Gryffindor and following his every move as he plops down next to Minghao with a “Morning, babe” and a quick peck on the cheek.
Minghao turns red as a tomato, casting nervous glances to the group of girls across from them which Mingyu had failed to notice as he shoveled food onto his plate. However, when he received a hard nudge to his side from Minghao’s elbow, his eyes shoot up and, seeing the group, he puts on his winning smile, “Hello, girls. How are you all doing this fine morning?”
Minghao regains some of his confidence, then, as he turns back to the group of girls who are still waiting on an explanation. He smiles somewhat shyly and shrugs, “Um, actually, Mingyu is my boyfriend.”
He thinks one of them faints.