Months before the contracts had been signed, the dates confirmed, or even before the players had been chosen, the staff members at Label Magazine were more than excited to get started on the summer issue. It was a new topic for their magazine but not something that had never been done before. It had been a topic that came up randomly at an important issue about summer fashion trends. While Piper could hardly remember whose voice she had heard quietly mumble something about Quidditch and men and fans, she could remember throwing said person a very pointed glare. Their boss was present and while in general she was good at what she did, nothing peeved Nancy Purdue more than someone who brought up new topics in meetings. It created unnecessary drama and needed extra time and her schedule was bursting at the seams.
In the end, it was a quick conversation. Everyone had been in the loop except for Piper and the editor-in-chief but it all came down to readership. If Label Magazine wanted to cross boundaries and go a little more mainstream, they would have to interest someone else other than fashion forward teens and young adults. It was not Piper’s kind of topic, she would much rather focus on the inner workings on fashion, at least that was something that she was good at. While she was a definitely big fan of Quidditch, she had gone years without seeing a match and was not particularly interested in having a conversation in which she would have little say. But like almost every other major project at the company, it landed in a big pile of paperwork on her desk two weeks after one of the new girls had messed up and Piper had swooped in to save the day.
While she would never admit it to herself, the project started growing on her after it had been approved and while in the back of her mind she wanted to be assigned the project, Piper reminded herself that there was not enough time in a day to do what she needed to do. There was even less time in a day to do what she actually wanted to. But getting to meet some of the most popular players in the world of Quidditch was a fans dream and she would have jumped at the idea of getting to meet them all several years ago. At least her friends would have definitely been jealous.
It was a silly, childish thing. Piper and her friends, meeting up once a month, going to cafes and discussing their lives briefly before moving on to a more interesting topic: the men they were interested in. There were only a few people—three to be exact—that she felt comfortable sharing her teenage fantasies with.
Did you spot the chaser on the team last week?, one of her friends would start,
the one with the blond hair? He was beyond fit, I’d definitely be up for that and they’d all giggle in a fit of laughter. They would have a running list of favorites in a team—each was allowed to pick their favorite players and interestingly, their interests would rarely overlap. Then, they would attend matches and hold up custom banners to cheer on their favorite players.
Today she would have the honor of meeting Mateusz Dabrowski, captain and beater of the Czestochowa Crossroads and the Polish national team. She was a huge fan, well more of a secret fan, it was not something that she would have openly admitted outside of her group of friends. She found him talented and attractive and while she obviously knew little of him, assumed he would be equally charming and polite. At least that is what she conjured up. In her field of work, the last thing she wanted, was to come off as a fangirl. So, while she may not be able to control how much she smiled in inner excitement, she would be as professional about it as possible.
The weather in Poland was unforgivingly cold but she had decided it was best to change it up, shooting everything at the magazine was too boring, seeing a player in their natural habitat would be exciting. She had insisted on meeting at a non-descript café to start and they would later move on to a photo shoot somewhere outside. Spotting him at a table in the far corner, she made her way over.
“Hello! You must be Mr. Dabrowski, I’m Piper Morel with Label Magazine,” she said, probably a little bit more excited than she meant to, “I’m so happy that you’ve agreed to meet with me under such short notice. We are working on a big spread for the end of the summer that focuses on an in-depth view into the lives of Quidditch players in and off the field. So, I want to start with the image you have of yourself versus the image the media has given you. At Label Magazine, we prize individuality and want to know who you are. So, can you tell me about yourself?” she asked. It was not her best moment; in fact it was a pretty hardball question to begin with.
She had just sat down, hadn’t even thought to offer him a drink, take her coat off, or her notepad. She laughed at herself, “I apologize,” she started. “before you answer that, can I offer you a drink? This is my first time in Poland so I am not even sure if this café is worth the hype, a friend from school recommended it to me,” she said. Piper hoped that he would see past this faux paus and many others that she was sure to come.
@Mateusz Dabrowski 
