Not me, Not Hermione, You

Montfort L’Amaury, Califordaho, home to the best High School basketball team in the country: The Wizards. Hermione Granger was the team's shining star and point guard. Her lay-ups were godly, her crossovers broke ankles, and she could make 3- pointers with her eyes closed. Balancing school and sports was tough but she managed, of course. Nothing less was expected from the school's valedictorian after all. Not to mention, her beautiful, curly, ginger hair caught the eye of anyone who walked by her. Athletic, smart, pretty, Hermione Granger was "perfect." However, she always felt something was missing. Was she happy? Decently, yeah. School was okay, she had plenty of friends, but everything was just so monotonous sometimes. However, she had to put these thoughts aside. Basketball season was about to begin.

Hermione was getting ready for the first game of the school year. Fresh out of the locker room, she walked onto the courts to warm-up and get a sneak peek at the enemy team. Tying her shoes, she dribbled a ball around, glancing over at the opposite side of the court to see if the other team even stood a chance. A short brunette caught her eye. Hermione watched this brunette girl for a few minutes before she would start practicing herself. "She seems to be getting quite a few passes...she is also commanding a few of her teammates...she has got to be their captain. And my opponent today on the court" Hermione would begin her practice before the start of the game, taking three-point shots and doing passing drills with her other teammates.

The ref blew his whistle and called for both captains to come to the center of the court. Hermione walked over and came face to face with the girl she had seen earlier. "Hi! My name is Ochako Uraraka! I hope you have a great game today!" She said with a joyful smile crossing her face. Hermione was taken back by the kind words of this girl before their game. Every other school usually had rude students trying to pick fights.

"G-good luck to you too..." Hermione replied while having a light rose color showing on her cheeks. Uraraka took slight notice of that but walked away before saying anything. It was time for the jump ball and both of the school's centers stood in mid-court, ready to grab the ball from the air. Hermione and Uraraka stared at each other from opposite sides of the court. A weird feeling could be felt between them, but neither of them knew what it was yet.

The ref threw the ball high in the air and the game had just begun. Hogwarts had gotten the ball first and Hermione was given the ball. She took it down the court and met with Uraraka at the three-point line. "Let's see what you got" Hermione said while staring into Uraraka's eyes, getting lost in thought before having the ball stolen away from her.
[12:44 AM]
The Hogwarts audience all gasped in unison as they had never seen a ball get stolen so easily from Hermione. The ginger simply stood in shock for a minute as Uraraka swiftly drove the ball past her towards the other end of the court. Hermione ran after, thankfully watching as Uraraka's pass to a teammate was intercepted by Hagridia, the second best player on the team. She let out a sigh of relief. How the hell was she doing this badly already? She couldn't fuck up the first game of the year. This was THE Wizards for god's sake. She needed to get her head in the game and step it up.

The game continued on, both star players on opposite sides battling neck-to-neck. Hermione had honed in and focused, scoring lay-ups after lay-ups, 3-pointers back to back, she was simply unstoppable in the first half. She was actually doing better than she usually did, which was surprising considering how the first few seconds of the game started. After her team discussed with the coach during half-time, Hermione left for a quick water break. She walked over to a nearby water fountain and saw Uraraka taking a drink. The slightly shorter girl, who was about 5'1 while Hermione was 5'5, turned around from the water fountain and took notice of her. "Hey!" She waved enthusiastically. "You're doing awesome out there. No wonder they hype up the Hogwarts basketball team so much." She giggled, garnering a red tint on Hermione's cheeks. Her face felt hot. Uraraka noticed and held the back of her hand against Hermione's forehead. "You look a little red there number 11. I noticed it earlier at the start of the game too. Are you okay?" She asked, genuinely concerned. This made Hermione blush even harder. The ginger gently swatted away Uraraka's hand. "L-Look, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. Just get back in the game." She said, the sentence coming out a little harsh. Half-time ended, leaving both parties a little dissatisfied with the interaction. Hermione felt like an asshole for being so rough and Uraraka was concerned yet worried she crossed a boundary.

As the second half started, both star players weren't doing the best they could. UA High started to close the gap and Hermione was falling behind. The score was nearly tied. 42-40 with UA winning.. All Hermione needed was one last three pointer to win. As the timer counted down, Hermione found a perfect opportunity to shoot from the 3-point line. Getting ready, she got into her stance and made the shot.

Thinking about the interaction from earlier, Hermione's hand slipped, the ball hitting the rim and bouncing out as the time ran out. Fuck.