Until Your Eyes Glaze Over SOLO fin.

Date: Friday, 9 May 2024
Time: After dinner
Location: Hogwarts Library

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As the year came to an end and exams began to finish, the library slowly had fewer and fewer students cramming inside of it. Of course, the usual studious children remained at their seats, books in hand, but the less-academically inclined, such as one Koko Riddle, usually couldn't be caught near the library on a Friday night.

Usually did not mean never. Sometimes, circumstances prevailed.

Quidditch, Through the Ages was not the only book that was open on the table that Koko sat it. The sixth year had a few stacks of books sorted erroneously around her. They were all slightly similar to one another, though; each book had something to do with Quidditch.

She had been poring over the books since she had finished eating dinner, and armed with nothing but her mind and the cup of coffee that had accompanied her dinner, Koko had taken as many Quidditch-related books as she could find, and she had sat down to read them.

She hated reading almost as much as she hated failure. With every word she skimmed, her brows drew further together, and the frown on her lips deepened. She knew most of the theory in these books, but the way the letters blurred made her head hurt only half an hour into her reading. She glanced up, away from the words, and sighed.

The notepad next to her was blank. The inkwell's lid was still screwed on tightly. The quill sat next to it, unused.

She closed one book and opened another.

Their game against Hufflepuff was tomorrow. They were so close. As long as Koko had done Quidditch, first as a Beater and then as a Keeper, Slytherin had never won the Quidditch Cup. They had to do it this year. For Erin. For Dan. Even for herself.

Koko had never wanted something so much as she wanted this stupid Cup. She was usually fine with fending for herself, and if not for her taste in clothes and makeup, she would consider herself low-maintenance. But she couldn't explain the way her resolve hardened in Quidditch, couldn't explain the way her stomach clenched every time she even thought of failure. She had always despised failure, true, but this was worse. This had to be worse.

She glared down at the book and grit her teeth as she read one of the first words wrong. This was an arduous task. And it wasn't as if she didn't know Quidditch; the sport had practically been her life for the past few years. But she could always learn something new, and it was with that understanding that Koko huffed another sigh of annoyance and began reading in earnest.

Slowly, she began to formulate new thoughts about strategy. Even if they didn't help her tomorrow – Merlin forbid that, she hoped – these ideas, these opportunities, they would help sometime. Her fingers brushed against old parchment as she scoured page after page. Mournfully, she opened her inkwell and dipped her quill into the ink, jotting down chicken-scratch notes on the parchment she had set next to her. If nothing else, she had ideas.

But she would not allow failure tomorrow. Slytherin would win the fucking cup if she had to pry it out of their opponents' hands herself.

Of course... good sportsmanship came first. Morality came first. But when push came to shove, Koko would not hesitate to shove her morals aside – for the greater good.

She closed one of the last books with a small, cold smirk on her face. They might not perfect, but Slytherin would win tomorrow. They would win the game after that if Koko had any say in the matter. Whatever luck fate had in mind for them, they would face their circumstances head-on... unless things required subterfuge. Then they would face things like true snakes.

But for now... Koko stacked the books in piles on the table. For now, she would sleep. She would prepare.

Tomorrow, they would give it their all.

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