Baseball Slash: The Sixth Inning
Sep. 8th, 2006 04:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mijanTitle: "Baseball Slash: The Sixth Inning"
Author:mijan
Rating: PG-13 (some foul language)
Previous Installment: The Fifth Inning
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... OMG, it's a PLOT! Well, not much of one, but every so often, bizarre things like plots appear in stories. Even crack. It can't be helped. So, you might as well enjoy it! *grins*
The top of the sixth was almost over by the time Harry flopped back into his seat. He was still feeling the effects of the beer, but it didn’t quite feel pleasant anymore. In one act of inebriated stupidity, he’d jeopardized himself, Draco, and… well… everything. Nothing much would probably come of it. How many wizards watch baseball? Still, it was nerve-wracking. He tried to relax, but it wasn’t working.
He was pulled from his thoughts by a sharp poke on his shoulder.
“Hey, I asked if you were okay?” Michelle was giving him a very pointed quizzical stare.
“Oh… yeah, er… fine. Sorry about all that.”
“What was ‘all that’ about, anyway?” She frowned. “You hiding from someone?”
“I… well… it’s a long story.” He put his hand to his forehead. Either his scar was tingling, or he was just getting a plain old headache. Bets were on the latter. “I don’t want to seem ungrateful for your concern, but seriously, I’d rather not talk about it right now.”
Michelle pursed her lips. “I can accept that. As long as you’re not some brazen criminal on the run from the law.”
Harry barked a laugh. “Not hardly.”
“Harry,” Draco cut in, “you know there’s still a game on down there, and we’re only one run behind now.”
Harry felt himself brighten. “We are, aren’t we? And you’re paying attention!”
Draco smiled. “I try. Sometimes.”
Harry snorted at him.
“Actually, you know, I think I was in the process of getting you some Cracker Joes –”
“Cracker Jacks.”
“Whatever. I was going to get you some Cracker Jacks, when you turned this entire place on its head. Still hungry?”
“Not really,” Harry answered honestly.
“If you want to get a snack, you should probably go before the 7th inning stretch,” Yvette suggested.
Draco cocked his head. “What’s that?”
“Between the top and the bottom of the 7th inning, everybody stands up, stretches, and sings ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’. And a lot of people make their last run to the concession stands.”
Draco nodded. “I think I’ll do that, but I’ll wait until our team has finished batting this inning.”
Yvette started to nod, but then her eyes went wide. “Doth my ears deceive me? Did I just hear you say ‘our’ team, in reference to the Red Sox?”
Draco gritted his teeth. “I did just say that, didn’t I? I have been shamed. I’m no longer fit to wreak havoc wherever I go.”
Harry punched him lightly on the arm. “Don’t worry, you do that just fine anyway.”
“Yes, well you know why I’m waiting until after the inning is over, right?”
Harry flushed and looked away.
Draco laughed. “Can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I?”
Harry glanced at him sideways. “Usually, that’s what I say about you.”
And with that, the crowd roared as Jeter popped a ball easily into the Everett's glove, and the Sox cleared the field.
Still riding high from the gorgeous home-run, fans around the park stood up and began cheering even louder. They were all chanting “Let’s go, Red Sox!”, followed by a series of claps. For the first time since he’d arrived, Draco took a good look around. Thousands upon thousands of people were on their feet, all clapping and chanting in unison, producing an exhilarating roar. It was pretty impressive. The pitch itself was a bright emerald green, the dirt around the bases – the infield, his memory told him – was a rich russet. All around the stands, people were cheering, and the enthusiasm was positively infectious.
So this is what Harry sees in it. You know… it’s not so bad. Not that I’ll ever admit it to him. Of course, I can still smell the peanuts…
The first batter of the inning for the Sox stepped up to the plate, but something else caught Draco’s eye. At first, he ignored it, but some gut instinct made him look again. Some piece of glass was reflecting the sun at him at a very peculiar angle, especially considering that they were facing the sun from the bleachers.
“What the…?” Draco reached below the seat for the Omnioculars and quickly adjusted them.
“Still can’t see the field without prosthetics?” Yvette joked.
“Yeah,” Draco said flatly, not looking back at her. “Something like that.” But when he’d focused the Omnioculars on the spot where he’d seen the flash earlier, it was gone. Paranoid. You’re going paranoid, Draco. For good reason, sure, but damn, I should take my own advice and relax.
With the crowd still roaring, the count at two and one, Carl Everett cracked a hard line drive to left field for a base hit. Draco looked at Harry, who held up his empty hands innocently. Grinning, Draco joined in the cheering. A few minutes later, on the full count, Dante Bichette sent a ball sailing over center field, back… back…
In the corner, almost directly below their seats, the Yankees center fielder caught the ball, but Everett kept running. He dove for the ground and reached second base with plenty of space to spare.
“Sacrifice fly! I’ll take it!” Yvette whooped.
“A what?” Draco asked. “I thought if they caught it, the batter was out, and… never mind. This is one of those weird rules that only makes sense if you’ve followed this game for years, right?”
Yvette pressed her lips together as she considered this, then pointed to Harry. “Ask him to explain it after you’ve seen a couple more games. For now… you’re probably better off just absorbing as much as you can.”
“Okay, but may I ask one question? Why are they booing their own player?”
The tone of the crowd had changed to a low sound which seemed peculiarly like booing.
Michelle chuckled. “They’re not booing. They’re Lou-ing! That’s Lou Merloni up to bat. Trust me, it a good thing.”
O-kay, Draco mouthed to himself.
The excitement built as Lou slammed a hard line-drive that flew past Jeter and skipped into the outfield. Everett started from second but turned and dove back to the bag as he was held back by a quick fielding play in left field. Lou easily took first base.
“They’re gonna load the bases! They’re gonna load the bases!” Michelle was practically bouncing in her seat.
“DON’T JINX THEM!” Yvette yelled and elbowed her.
“I’m not! Just watch!”
Harry was just about bouncing in his seat, too, and Draco couldn’t stop himself from sliding a bit closer to the edge of his seat.
“Draco, this is what I wanted you to see. It’s awesome! Who cares if they’re Muggles, right? Oops! I mean –”
“They didn’t hear you over the crowd,” Draco said in his ear, “but until that beer is out of your system, you might be better off not talking.”
Harry nodded, pressed his lips together, and resumed bouncing in his seat. Draco grinned. Harry was so happy. This was everything he’d wanted for his birthday. Tomorrow, they’d be stuck back in the apartment, but just for today, he was free.
A foul ball, a ball, a swing and a miss, and another foul ball. With the count at three and one, Trot Nixon went down swinging.
“I will not panic, I will not panic, I will not panic,” Yvette chanted to herself.
“Everyone will please, not panic!” Harry mumbled, which caused Draco to snort with laughter, remembering too clearly Dumbledore’s statement when the troll was lose in the dungeons during their second year.
“What’s so funny?” Michelle prodded him.
Realizing that nobody would ever take him seriously for saying it, and feeling just reckless enough to mess with the Muggle, Draco turned around, looked her square in the eye, and said, “Troll, in the dungeons. But please, don’t panic.”
Harry was reduced to uncontrolled giggling. Michelle looked at Draco as if he’d grown a second head. “Uh… yeah. Okay.” And she turned back to the game.
Next to her, Yvette had her hands pressed against the sides of her face, staring bleakly at the field. “Fuck, fuck, fuck…”
“No, no, no!” Michelle said. “Wait for it! Tek is gonna hit a grounder that will get past the second baseman to load the bases.”
“DON’T SAY IT! YOU’LL JINX THEM!”
Draco, for his part, was as amused by the antics of the Muggles as he was by the game. Harry, on the other hand, was staring fixedly at the field, as if his life depended on his catching every last detail of every play. After they’d been only partially attentive for the majority of the game, it was amusing to see them so suddenly fixed on every nuance. Draco had to wonder at the flow of events.
STRIKE ONE!
“C’mon, Tek. Come on, Varitek! Don’t let us down, buddy!” Yvette was mumbling to herself. “You can do it… swing… swing… DON’T SWING!”
BALL ONE!
Yvette collapsed backwards against her seat. “This game will be the death of me.”
“Relax, kid. It ain’t over till it’s over.”
“Isn’t that statement rather redundant?” Draco asked over his shoulder.
“Yogi Berra,” Michelle said, as if that explained everything.
“Yoga-what?”
“I’ll tell you when we get home, Draco,” Harry said, patting his arm, but still staring at the field.
Draco rolled his eyes towards the sky and breathed a long sigh. “Maybe there are some things I should just let go.” He peered down towards the exit to the concessions. There was almost no foot traffic. “Maybe I should go get those snacks now, rather than later…”
He started to stand up, but found himself pushed bodily back into his seat by the Loud One behind him. “DON’T MOVE!”
For a moment, Draco actually feared that something terrible was happening, but he looked around and couldn’t see any sort of threat. “What?! What’s wrong?”
“Don’t move until the play is over! You’ll ruin the momentum!”
Glaring briefly at the insane Muggle woman, Draco shifted uncomfortably in his seat and stared back out at the field. According to the scoreboard, the count was now three and two.
“Foul ball,” Michelle mumbled, just moments before the ball went sailing into the right field grandstand.
“I could have called that one,” Yvette said flatly. “They foul off the ball on a full count ninety percent of the time. I still haven’t seen… holy crap!”
On the next pitch, Varitek had nailed a grounder that zoomed mere inches past the glove of the second baseman. Everett rounded third, but was held up by a quick throw-in to the pitcher. Bases loaded.
Yvette looked at Michelle. Draco looked at Michelle. Harry finally came out of his trance to look at Michelle.
Michelle shrugged. “Lucky guess.”
“And on that note, I think I shall take my leave to the concession stand.” Draco stood, stretched, and made his way down the stairs before the Loud One could stop him. Just as he went through the doorway to the concession stands underneath the bleachers, he heard the thunderous groan of 35,000 fans. Whoever had been up to bat after Varitek had obviously… lost momentum.
Draco shook his head with a sigh and made his way down the ramp. He found a vendor with “Cracker Jacks” listed on the sign, along with peanuts. When in Gaul, he thought to himself. The line was fairly short, and when he stepped away from the counter, he was toting peanuts, cracker jacks, two bottles of water, and a “Fenway Frank” for himself. They seemed to be a local favourite. He got to the doorway back into the stadium to find himself going against a massive tide of people flooding into the concession area.
Good thing I came down when I did. The lines are going to be atrocious in about ten seconds.
Judging that it was better to wait than to fight the flood, he stepped back and tucked himself against the wall. As he waited for the crowd to clear a bit, he felt something hard and blunt jab into his back, and a voice hissed in his ear.
“I didn’t know you Brits were baseball fans, Malfoy. Nice of you and the Boy Wonder to drop by. We can do this the hard way, or the easy way. If we do this the easy way, maybe your new Muggle friends will survive the afternoon.”
With the wand digging painfully into his back, Draco knew he was trapped. Still holding the snacks and drinks, he let himself be led away from the stands, and further away from Harry.
*********
Author:
mijanRating: PG-13 (some foul language)
Previous Installment: The Fifth Inning
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... OMG, it's a PLOT! Well, not much of one, but every so often, bizarre things like plots appear in stories. Even crack. It can't be helped. So, you might as well enjoy it! *grins*
*********
The Sixth Inning
The top of the sixth was almost over by the time Harry flopped back into his seat. He was still feeling the effects of the beer, but it didn’t quite feel pleasant anymore. In one act of inebriated stupidity, he’d jeopardized himself, Draco, and… well… everything. Nothing much would probably come of it. How many wizards watch baseball? Still, it was nerve-wracking. He tried to relax, but it wasn’t working.
He was pulled from his thoughts by a sharp poke on his shoulder.
“Hey, I asked if you were okay?” Michelle was giving him a very pointed quizzical stare.
“Oh… yeah, er… fine. Sorry about all that.”
“What was ‘all that’ about, anyway?” She frowned. “You hiding from someone?”
“I… well… it’s a long story.” He put his hand to his forehead. Either his scar was tingling, or he was just getting a plain old headache. Bets were on the latter. “I don’t want to seem ungrateful for your concern, but seriously, I’d rather not talk about it right now.”
Michelle pursed her lips. “I can accept that. As long as you’re not some brazen criminal on the run from the law.”
Harry barked a laugh. “Not hardly.”
“Harry,” Draco cut in, “you know there’s still a game on down there, and we’re only one run behind now.”
Harry felt himself brighten. “We are, aren’t we? And you’re paying attention!”
Draco smiled. “I try. Sometimes.”
Harry snorted at him.
“Actually, you know, I think I was in the process of getting you some Cracker Joes –”
“Cracker Jacks.”
“Whatever. I was going to get you some Cracker Jacks, when you turned this entire place on its head. Still hungry?”
“Not really,” Harry answered honestly.
“If you want to get a snack, you should probably go before the 7th inning stretch,” Yvette suggested.
Draco cocked his head. “What’s that?”
“Between the top and the bottom of the 7th inning, everybody stands up, stretches, and sings ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’. And a lot of people make their last run to the concession stands.”
Draco nodded. “I think I’ll do that, but I’ll wait until our team has finished batting this inning.”
Yvette started to nod, but then her eyes went wide. “Doth my ears deceive me? Did I just hear you say ‘our’ team, in reference to the Red Sox?”
Draco gritted his teeth. “I did just say that, didn’t I? I have been shamed. I’m no longer fit to wreak havoc wherever I go.”
Harry punched him lightly on the arm. “Don’t worry, you do that just fine anyway.”
“Yes, well you know why I’m waiting until after the inning is over, right?”
Harry flushed and looked away.
Draco laughed. “Can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I?”
Harry glanced at him sideways. “Usually, that’s what I say about you.”
And with that, the crowd roared as Jeter popped a ball easily into the Everett's glove, and the Sox cleared the field.
Still riding high from the gorgeous home-run, fans around the park stood up and began cheering even louder. They were all chanting “Let’s go, Red Sox!”, followed by a series of claps. For the first time since he’d arrived, Draco took a good look around. Thousands upon thousands of people were on their feet, all clapping and chanting in unison, producing an exhilarating roar. It was pretty impressive. The pitch itself was a bright emerald green, the dirt around the bases – the infield, his memory told him – was a rich russet. All around the stands, people were cheering, and the enthusiasm was positively infectious.
So this is what Harry sees in it. You know… it’s not so bad. Not that I’ll ever admit it to him. Of course, I can still smell the peanuts…
The first batter of the inning for the Sox stepped up to the plate, but something else caught Draco’s eye. At first, he ignored it, but some gut instinct made him look again. Some piece of glass was reflecting the sun at him at a very peculiar angle, especially considering that they were facing the sun from the bleachers.
“What the…?” Draco reached below the seat for the Omnioculars and quickly adjusted them.
“Still can’t see the field without prosthetics?” Yvette joked.
“Yeah,” Draco said flatly, not looking back at her. “Something like that.” But when he’d focused the Omnioculars on the spot where he’d seen the flash earlier, it was gone. Paranoid. You’re going paranoid, Draco. For good reason, sure, but damn, I should take my own advice and relax.
With the crowd still roaring, the count at two and one, Carl Everett cracked a hard line drive to left field for a base hit. Draco looked at Harry, who held up his empty hands innocently. Grinning, Draco joined in the cheering. A few minutes later, on the full count, Dante Bichette sent a ball sailing over center field, back… back…
In the corner, almost directly below their seats, the Yankees center fielder caught the ball, but Everett kept running. He dove for the ground and reached second base with plenty of space to spare.
“Sacrifice fly! I’ll take it!” Yvette whooped.
“A what?” Draco asked. “I thought if they caught it, the batter was out, and… never mind. This is one of those weird rules that only makes sense if you’ve followed this game for years, right?”
Yvette pressed her lips together as she considered this, then pointed to Harry. “Ask him to explain it after you’ve seen a couple more games. For now… you’re probably better off just absorbing as much as you can.”
“Okay, but may I ask one question? Why are they booing their own player?”
The tone of the crowd had changed to a low sound which seemed peculiarly like booing.
Michelle chuckled. “They’re not booing. They’re Lou-ing! That’s Lou Merloni up to bat. Trust me, it a good thing.”
O-kay, Draco mouthed to himself.
The excitement built as Lou slammed a hard line-drive that flew past Jeter and skipped into the outfield. Everett started from second but turned and dove back to the bag as he was held back by a quick fielding play in left field. Lou easily took first base.
“They’re gonna load the bases! They’re gonna load the bases!” Michelle was practically bouncing in her seat.
“DON’T JINX THEM!” Yvette yelled and elbowed her.
“I’m not! Just watch!”
Harry was just about bouncing in his seat, too, and Draco couldn’t stop himself from sliding a bit closer to the edge of his seat.
“Draco, this is what I wanted you to see. It’s awesome! Who cares if they’re Muggles, right? Oops! I mean –”
“They didn’t hear you over the crowd,” Draco said in his ear, “but until that beer is out of your system, you might be better off not talking.”
Harry nodded, pressed his lips together, and resumed bouncing in his seat. Draco grinned. Harry was so happy. This was everything he’d wanted for his birthday. Tomorrow, they’d be stuck back in the apartment, but just for today, he was free.
A foul ball, a ball, a swing and a miss, and another foul ball. With the count at three and one, Trot Nixon went down swinging.
“I will not panic, I will not panic, I will not panic,” Yvette chanted to herself.
“Everyone will please, not panic!” Harry mumbled, which caused Draco to snort with laughter, remembering too clearly Dumbledore’s statement when the troll was lose in the dungeons during their second year.
“What’s so funny?” Michelle prodded him.
Realizing that nobody would ever take him seriously for saying it, and feeling just reckless enough to mess with the Muggle, Draco turned around, looked her square in the eye, and said, “Troll, in the dungeons. But please, don’t panic.”
Harry was reduced to uncontrolled giggling. Michelle looked at Draco as if he’d grown a second head. “Uh… yeah. Okay.” And she turned back to the game.
Next to her, Yvette had her hands pressed against the sides of her face, staring bleakly at the field. “Fuck, fuck, fuck…”
“No, no, no!” Michelle said. “Wait for it! Tek is gonna hit a grounder that will get past the second baseman to load the bases.”
“DON’T SAY IT! YOU’LL JINX THEM!”
Draco, for his part, was as amused by the antics of the Muggles as he was by the game. Harry, on the other hand, was staring fixedly at the field, as if his life depended on his catching every last detail of every play. After they’d been only partially attentive for the majority of the game, it was amusing to see them so suddenly fixed on every nuance. Draco had to wonder at the flow of events.
STRIKE ONE!
“C’mon, Tek. Come on, Varitek! Don’t let us down, buddy!” Yvette was mumbling to herself. “You can do it… swing… swing… DON’T SWING!”
BALL ONE!
Yvette collapsed backwards against her seat. “This game will be the death of me.”
“Relax, kid. It ain’t over till it’s over.”
“Isn’t that statement rather redundant?” Draco asked over his shoulder.
“Yogi Berra,” Michelle said, as if that explained everything.
“Yoga-what?”
“I’ll tell you when we get home, Draco,” Harry said, patting his arm, but still staring at the field.
Draco rolled his eyes towards the sky and breathed a long sigh. “Maybe there are some things I should just let go.” He peered down towards the exit to the concessions. There was almost no foot traffic. “Maybe I should go get those snacks now, rather than later…”
He started to stand up, but found himself pushed bodily back into his seat by the Loud One behind him. “DON’T MOVE!”
For a moment, Draco actually feared that something terrible was happening, but he looked around and couldn’t see any sort of threat. “What?! What’s wrong?”
“Don’t move until the play is over! You’ll ruin the momentum!”
Glaring briefly at the insane Muggle woman, Draco shifted uncomfortably in his seat and stared back out at the field. According to the scoreboard, the count was now three and two.
“Foul ball,” Michelle mumbled, just moments before the ball went sailing into the right field grandstand.
“I could have called that one,” Yvette said flatly. “They foul off the ball on a full count ninety percent of the time. I still haven’t seen… holy crap!”
On the next pitch, Varitek had nailed a grounder that zoomed mere inches past the glove of the second baseman. Everett rounded third, but was held up by a quick throw-in to the pitcher. Bases loaded.
Yvette looked at Michelle. Draco looked at Michelle. Harry finally came out of his trance to look at Michelle.
Michelle shrugged. “Lucky guess.”
“And on that note, I think I shall take my leave to the concession stand.” Draco stood, stretched, and made his way down the stairs before the Loud One could stop him. Just as he went through the doorway to the concession stands underneath the bleachers, he heard the thunderous groan of 35,000 fans. Whoever had been up to bat after Varitek had obviously… lost momentum.
Draco shook his head with a sigh and made his way down the ramp. He found a vendor with “Cracker Jacks” listed on the sign, along with peanuts. When in Gaul, he thought to himself. The line was fairly short, and when he stepped away from the counter, he was toting peanuts, cracker jacks, two bottles of water, and a “Fenway Frank” for himself. They seemed to be a local favourite. He got to the doorway back into the stadium to find himself going against a massive tide of people flooding into the concession area.
Good thing I came down when I did. The lines are going to be atrocious in about ten seconds.
Judging that it was better to wait than to fight the flood, he stepped back and tucked himself against the wall. As he waited for the crowd to clear a bit, he felt something hard and blunt jab into his back, and a voice hissed in his ear.
“I didn’t know you Brits were baseball fans, Malfoy. Nice of you and the Boy Wonder to drop by. We can do this the hard way, or the easy way. If we do this the easy way, maybe your new Muggle friends will survive the afternoon.”
With the wand digging painfully into his back, Draco knew he was trapped. Still holding the snacks and drinks, he let himself be led away from the stands, and further away from Harry.
*********
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-09-08 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-08 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-08 09:36 pm (UTC)Very entertaining. Can't wait for the rest of it. :) Yay!
no subject
Date: 2006-09-08 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-08 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 03:22 am (UTC)I am really loving this fic!
*Hugs*
no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 04:31 am (UTC):)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 04:32 am (UTC)*eats*
*burps*
no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 04:33 am (UTC)LOL.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 04:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 04:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-09 04:47 pm (UTC)Poor little ferret! *sigh*
Can't wait to see what happens next!
no subject
Date: 2006-09-11 02:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-11 03:14 pm (UTC)Anyhow, here's a link to the first installment, "The Pre-Game".
http://mijan.livejournal.com/42140.html
At the bottom of that, there's a link to the first inning, and that will take you through the series. Enjoy!
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 05:01 am (UTC)Sorry it took so long to respond. But no power, therefore no internet. So glad to see this when I got back online. Made my day. Thanks!
*big hugs*
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 11:43 am (UTC)Why did you have no power?
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 12:52 pm (UTC)We had a huge, nasty storm last Friday. It only lasted about 20 minutes but....It started at the end of my street, a mini-tornado/thunderstorm and my street was hit REALLY hard. In about 1/8 of a kilometer we lost about 9 trees and 2 hydro poles, including the one in my backyard (to a direct lightning strike). I was without power from Friday afternoon to about 5AM Monday morning. Huge mess, it is still being cleaned up. I will be putting some photos up on my LJ later today, hopefully.
*big hugs*
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 12:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 01:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 04:53 pm (UTC)*big hugs and cuddle*
no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 08:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-17 04:28 pm (UTC)