The Fine Gentlemen and their Handsome Ladies

Grace looked between Trisha and Baldric excitedly before squealing as she felt Baldric’s arms wrap around her. She squeaked sharply in his ear as she felt her ribs complain of his tight hold and he released her immediately, dropping her back down onto her feet before reaching to rub his hand across her hair.

“Baldric!” Grace complained, grabbing her hat and pulling it forward on her head, hoping to cover the static locks that had shot up at his touch. Grace pouted and looked at Trish despairingly, conveying her playful pity to the girl that she’d have to put up with Bae.

His words stole Grace’s attention, however, and she looked between him and Romeo, curious as to what it was that Baldric meant. He’d bought a jersey for her? Grace frowned for a moment before shaking her head and bouncing forward, looping her arm with Trish’s and playfully shoving Bae out of the way with the same movement.

“You’re going to join the Ravenclaw team?” She asked excitedly. “That’s amazing, Trish. It’s not nonsense, don’t you worry. It’s just not the same as Puddlemere United. Baldric is going to be like his daddy, you’ll see.” Grace grinned. “Are you really good at Quidditch? You should play some games with us again! Nath’s was great!”

After greeting Grace, she followed Baldric's gaze to the additional newcomer in their somehow forming group. Romeo? What an odd name. Trisha, obviously, was a lover of all things literature, and had read Shakespeare a good few times. Ironically, Romeo and Juliet was her least favorite of all of the plays. This likely was due to the fact that the entire point of the play was that, yes, they died for love. Tris just found that she couldn't stand people who claimed the play was so very romantic, when really it was more tragic. Basically, the very idea of reading the play again made her frown.

Instead of showing her dislike for the play, she gave him a smile. This was quickly stripped away by her surprise at Bae's reaction to the other male. Tris wondered if was the only one to hear the under-toned word 'pathetic' since it was right next to her ear as he put an arm around her waist once more. Confusion was quick to bring itself to the forefront of her mind. Not a minute ago he'd released her without care. Baldric didn't seem to be paying much attention to her, though, as he spoke of her desire to join the Quidditch team.

Bae already seemed to be trying to make some kind of point to Romeo. They must know each other, she assumed, doubting he had much other reason to try and use Tris as a talking point. If she was being honest with herself, such circumstances rarely happened, unless she was being used as the victim in a joke. This time, though, he almost seemed to be making her sound better than she was.

Allowing herself a laugh as Grace snuck her way in between herself and Bae, Tris nodded at the girl's question. Knowing that Grace tended to be the type to say a lot very quickly, Trisha waited until she had finished before replying.

"Yes, I like to think I'll make it." Tris said with a shrug. She was half tempted to explain that she had never played with a real team before. She knew, though, that she hadn't mentioned such a thing to Baldric, and it would certainly make her seem like a liar. Rather, Trisha was just too timid to admit it. Instead she settled for, "Granted, I've only played with my friends from school, so perhaps that isn't the best judgement.. But as for the games with you all, I'd love to." She added belatedly.

'Nepotism is for the weak.' Romeo replied to Baldric's comment about playing for the Youth Team for Puddlemere United. A slight grin swept across the Slytherin's face. He didn't know if Baldric would even know what that means, Romeo thought not seeing as he was a Gryffindor - Gryffindor's were usually averaged brained. Nothing more. 

'If you join the Ravenclaw team we'll play some time!' Romeo grinned, tapping her playfully with his elbow.  He dint want to be overly touchy and flirty in front of Grace but what harm was a little nudge, if anything it'd illustrate a playful personality within Romeo. Surely Grace would love to see him getting along with her friends - even if he did retort a slight smug reply to Baldric. 

'So what position do you want to play?' He continued eagerly, his dark eyes flicking to Baldric to signal that he was doing this on purpose and choosing to ignore his remark about buying the shirt for his date with Grace. It annoyed him that the two already seemed to know each other AND he had scored the more attractive girl, who he didn't think had the slightest chance of making the Ravenclaw team, but who was he to say? 

There was a place where no one in their right mind ever wanted to be and that was caught between one’s friend and one’s friends. Grace could feel the animosity rolling off of Baldric in waves and it was matched with Romeo’s thinly veiled iciness. Grace brought a hand up and squeezed at Baldric’s fingers. He granted a puzzled look at the redhead then and Grace smiled for him, her lips spreading wide on her freckled face. Grace felt Baldric return her gesture and Grace’s smile grew placid for a moment as she looked over at Romeo.

Grace stepped towards her Gryffindor and felt Baldric’s fingers twiddle the ends of her fiery locks. She smiled at him over her shoulder and this time he matched her. It seemed as though for a moment, the boys had traded dates. Grace felt Baldric’s fingers slip into the pockets of her coat and she smiled a little to herself as she absorbed the ridiculous amount of heat that the boy was giving off.

“You’ll settle in really well,” Grace assured. “The Ravenclaw team sometimes trains with the Gryffindors, right Bae?”

The redhead might well have been naive but certainly understood the way boys worked. She didn’t pretend to gather herself in the world of men and woman for she was, after all, just a girl and had been spent accordingly in punishment for that. She felt she understood the boys around her though. Romeo was a bit of a befuddling enigma but she gathered that the way he’d deliberately diverted his attention was done to rile Baldric and she found that she didn’t mind all that much and was more curious as to what Baldric would do. If anything, it was probably more sensible to try and divert said Gryffindor’s attention - to prevent a fight.

“Baldric, look! That till is open! Let’s go!”

Before the sandy-haired Wood could so much as reply, Grace locked her long, spindly fingers around Baldric’s wrist and hauled him over to the counter. She ignored the dark look she was fired with and smiled at the cashier who appeared weary and, decidedly, ready for bed. Grace took her purse out of the pocket of her coat and held it cupped in her hands, looking at all of the things she could potentially have to eat.

“What sweets have you got?” She asked conversationally, her smile returning as she looked up at Baldric, hoping something sweet would soothe his temper.

He’d never be rational about Slytherins, ever.

Grace was the Werewolf but Baldric felt more than slightly protective of the girls who had made it to the Quidditch match. They were part of his pack, the rapidly expanding wealth of friends - Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and the odd Slytherin and Gryffindor; such oddities being Sonia and himself. They were supposed to be protected, protected by him, and he knew better than to leave them with Romeo. He knew better than to leave Trish with Romeo but before he managed his retort, he felt himself being tugged at by Grace.

The show of animalistic strength on her part was not to be trifled with, he knew, and he followed - albeit hesitantly and unforgiving. He felt he had an idea of why she did what she did and sighed into her hair as he came up behind her, winding an absent-minded arm around her shoulders. He pressed a kiss to Grace’s temple and tossed his gaze around the shelves boasting a wealth of colours depicting with ferocious displays of advertising what made their sustenance the best.

“Anything you want,” the cashier replied to Grace’s question, managing a small show of friendliness on his downturned mouth.

Baldric leaned forward, taking the purse from Grace’s hands and shoving it back in her pocket. He pulled his wallet out from his own pocket and tossed some galleons onto the countertop.

“Get as much as you like, Gracie.” He assured her before casting a glance over his shoulder at Trish and Romeo.

Who was he to interfere when the conversation was harmless and only about Quidditch? If it became anything else, he had to intervene. It was bad enough not knowing about Grace’s date when he should’ve done and should’ve stopped it. Worse still that Romeo had taken a liking to Trisha who was pale and blonde, his type entirely to Grace’s woody, red and bespeckled features. She was slight and boyish in her bodily functions whereas Trisha was a woman already, it seemed. Oh yes, most definitely Romeo’s type. But that didn’t make neglecting Grace alright.

But she wasn’t neglected, was she? She had him; and as reassuring as that was, Baldric still wasn’t properly contented.

He’d intervene soon, he promised himself. Until then, he had to think about sating his hunger; and Trish’s too.

((OOC: Sorry I've been MIA. School started today and I've been freaking out. My muse is hiding. So I just hope it's my usual level of Trisha-ness.))

While it was fairly obvious to Tris that Bae and Romeo didn't exactly didn't get along, she couldn't say that she understood why that was. Sure, the guy wasn't familiar to her, so she didn't know. That didn't mean that Baldric knew the guy fully. Trisha would be the first to say that people needed time before someone could judge them. When he came over and nudged her, she nearly laughed.

“I'm a touch more competitive than you'd think.” She warned lightly. It wouldn't do for her to show that she truly had a competitive side, she figured. Perhaps it wasn't the best first impression she could give this new person.

When asked what position she wanted, Tris immediately replied, “Chaser.” It wasn't a hard choice for her. Since the first time her friends set up a game, it was the spot she was given, and she position she adored. With a smile at Grace, she watched as her two friends hurried over to the concessions.

Perhaps it only felt strange in her mind when she turned back to face Romeo. It was odd how they had sort of traded companions for a time. What would happen when the match started? Hopefully, if they stuck together, she would at least get on with their companion. Offering the boy a light smile she shrugged.

“Looks like they've abandoned us.” Trisha joked, knowing she might appear awkward. She, of course, didn't believe that Baldric would leave her alone in a place like this. She would never find her way anywhere without someone who had been there before. Unfortunately, she didn't trust Romeo enough to trust he would do the same.

A grin spread across Romeo's face and he raised his eyebrows. 'Chaser? I would have put you down a seeker. Light. Petite. I'm thinking of moving across to seeker to chaser.' Romeo replied conversationally - a note of flirtatiousness ringing through his tone as he described her build. 'I've kind of lost my seeker build.' He added looking down at his body, which was more muscular than it was last year. An entire summer doing constant work out had drastically improved his image - not that he needed to improve his image, but given the chance to optimise it even more Romeo couldn't resist.

His dark eyes flicked back to Baldric and Grace at the confectionary stand. He wasn't having this. First of all Baldric brought the prettier girl, then he had stolen Gracelyn from him and took her to purchase food. That was what they were supposed to do. None the less the Slytherin would simply have to give the Gryffindor a taste of his own medicine.

'It looks like they have doesn't it.' Romeo chuckled, or force-chuckled would have been a better description. 'How about we go and get some together, that stall is empty!' Romeo pointed out a stall two down from where Baldric and Grace were. Indeed it was empty, which was rather unusual seeing as the stall was selling candyfloss and donuts. Surely people would have attracted by the mere aroma being pumped out around the stadium?