A Season Warm-Up

Damnit damnit damnit. It was better for everyone to think you had a weak team when you really had a strong one, so there was no reason for Jack to lie about working things out with Andrew. They really must've patched it up, which meant Jack would be flying for Gryffindor with no reservations or stirrings of dissent, and Lucy was still stuck looking for decent players.

This wasn't over. She squeezed her feet in her broom's stirrups and shot off after the Gryffindor to continue the conversation. Getting hit by an engorged tennis ball wasn't the threat Jack seemed to think it was; for one thing, tennis balls hurt more when they were smaller, faster and preferably wetter. The other thing was that you didn't grow up in the Weasley family without developing some really good reflexes.

James chose that moment to give a brief display of aerial acrobatics, followed by his own opinion of Andrew Thompson. Lucy tried discreetly to edge her broom away from his. The guy was creepy.

"That - doesn't surprise me at all," she told him before turning back to Jack.

"So everything's peachy keen between the two of you now, huh?" she asked. "I just wouldn't want anything unfortunate to happen if one of you did something stupid under pressure. You know, in a quidditch match or something like that."

Jack had just flattened over her broom, ready to shoot after the ball since she usually got impatient of waiting for things to come to her, but Lucy had returned, asking more questions. James had said something to her, what it was Jack could not hear, but Lucy had edged away after giving him a strange look.

Jack smirked at Lucy's words and said pleasantly, "Hopeful, are we?" She chuckled and said, "No, I think everything is fine, peachy keen." She grinned and shrugged at her. "Then again, you never know." Jack flattened herself over her broom and shot off after the tennis ball, intent on getting it and releasing nothing on the status of Gryffindor's team.

"Hey Jack, hurry it up. I actually have other things to do," James said, having caught his breath. He actually did have to get back to his duties as the Imperium Squad member. And his homework. The best part of the day- Homework. Sad? Maybe. But Homework presented the only time James had when he was free to do as he truly pleased. READING. How long has it been since he had last sat down with a book?

He watched the girl as she turned towards the ball. The other girl did not appear to show any interest in knocking around the giant tennis ball. She seemed more intent on asking about Andrew Thompson. Why would she ask HIM about Andrew? They merely fought, and talked on the rare occasion. James had actually been one of the few men that had fought his brother and lived through the entire ordeal. How odd that he would know Danny's brother as merely a fellow student. Still, what interested did the Hufflepuff have in Andrew? Andrew was the captain of the Gryffindor team, from what James recalled. Surely Jack would maintain a good relationship with her captain. So, perhaps in the hollow hope that Gryffindor could be splintered, the girl could be investigating the team cooperation.


So why did she ask him about his relationship with Andrew? They would of course be something like enemies on the field.

Jack grinned at what James said and flattened even closer to the broom, her knuckles starting to go white as her short, red hair whipped behind her. The ball had gained momentum from all of the blows it had taken and was rocketing forward at quite a great speed, and it had the advantage of an early start.

She pushed her practically-ancient Comet 260 and it gave off a burst of speed, wind buffeting her face. She was gaining on the ball, right behind it, level with it... She shot past it and tilted her head to keep it in her sight. She turned hard with her broom, hefting the bat in her right hand as she swung around. She reached back and smacked it. The ball turned and headed right for James. "Heads up, Wake!" She called, deep in the game so she used his surname.