Chapter Two - Hitting the Pitch

"Alright, Ashley, you'll be workin' with James for a bit. I need the rest of you to start running drills! I want everyone in top shape for our opening match next week! I know it's the Cannons, but we still need to start off the season with good momentum!" Oliver shouted at the group of assembled players. They had just finished warming up and were getting into the main part of practice. Jamie nodded and took to the air, coming to hover in front of the hoops as the chasers lined up not far off for shooting drills. It could get fairly repetitive and boring, but Coach Wood swore by the drill when it came to training Jamie. Though Vane, Jakes and Wills were known to get mischievous, coming up with various angles and moves to try and throw him off, occasionally placing bets or using a few jinxes when Coach wasn't looking.

"Say, Wood, you still up for going out tonight?" Wills asked, grinning. Jamie chuckled as the blonde man juggled the red quaffle in his hands. He had been pestering the keeper all summer to go out for drinks as they were two of the three remaining single ones on the team - the last being Elizabeth Jakes. Though he was reaching his mid-30s, Jamie was certain Wills would never settle down.

"Ehm, I suppose. Chris is still on for it," he shouted back. Wills' grin widened - if that was even possible.

"Good! It'll be a nice night out for the lads, then," he said.

"WILLS! QUITE YER JABBERIN' AND SHOOT THE DAMN QUAFFLE!" Oliver shouted from where he was talking to the beaters. Vane and Jakes started laughing, with Jakes nearly falling off her broom.

"Alright, alright, you old codger!" Wills shouted back before lining up for the shot. While Oliver was a strict coach, Friday practices - when they didn't have a match the following day - always seem to be a tad bit more relaxed. Wills whipped forward, quickly zig-zagging left and right, before sending the quaffle to the middle hoop. Jamie easily blocked it, tossing it over to Vane.

"Come on, Wills, give me something a bit harder than that," he shouted.

"And are you ever gonna grow up and settle down?" Jakes asked, tilting her head slightly to the right, her auburn ponytail swinging behind her.

"Never," Wills said as he pulled up behind her. "There are far too many ladies out there to settle on just one. Unless I finally manage to woo Pixie." Jamie laughed as Vane shot forward then spiraled towards the hoops before attempting a shot through the left hoop. Jamie easily stopped that one as well and tossed the quaffle to Jakes.

"Good luck with that. Even before she took up with Kingfisher, she was immune to your wiles," Jamie shouted.

"It's just a matter of time," Wills quipped back. "I'm in it for the long game, Wood. Mark my words, someday you'll be calling me brother-in-law."

"WILLS! THERE'S NO CHANCE IN HELL I'LL LET YOU MARRY MY DAUGHTER! NOW STOP TALKIN' AND GET TO WORK!" Oliver yelled again.

At the end of practice, the team took to the locker room. Jamie pulled his jersey off and was was starting to work on his pads when Wills jabbed him in the back with his wand on the way to his locker.

"Meet at your flat at half past eight?" Wills asked. Jamie turned and looked at him.

"Sounds good," he said, silently hoping he wouldn't regret going out with the chaser. While it was likely nothing major would happen, with Wills there was always a chance. If he wasn't flirting with some other bloke's girl, he was running his mouth - both activities which got him into a fair amount of trouble in the past.

"This has disaster written all over it," Ashley said with a smile as she pulled on her robe. "You should know better, Jamie." Jamie chuckled and shrugged.

"Suppose it wouldn't hurt to get out more - meet new people," he said. "'It's either that or spend Friday night at the flat with John and Daisy and half the Arrows."

"They still hanging out there all the time?" Vane asked. Jamie glanced at the dark-haired chaser and nodded as he wrapped a towel around his waist and started to head to the showers.

"It's like they all love to congregate around Pix," he said. "Can't seem to go a day without a few or all of them over."

"Maybe I should start hanging out at your flat more often," Wills shouted from the showers. Jamie rolled his eyes.

"Not too keen on seeing your mug more often than I have to…" he said, walking in. Wills grinned.

"As I said, get used to it, Wood. Someday you'll be best man at mine and Daisy's wedding," he said. Jamie rolled his eyes again. What was he thinking by agreeing to go out with Wills?


Later that night, Chris and Jamie were waiting in the living room for Wills to arrive. Daisy and John were in the kitchen cooking while Kelly, Wright and Cunningham were lounging on the sofa, beers in hand. Bray had a date and Campbell's wife said he had already spent his allotted two nights a week out with the team.

"Where's Lucy?" Jamie asked, noting it was odd to see the Arrows captain without his girlfriend. Granted, as his cousin, Lucy had long been a fixture at the Wood flat before she started dating Kelly.

"Working late," he said. "Got deadline coming up."

"Things still going well with Dominique?" Jamie asked, looking at Cunningham.

"For the most part. She's been trying to get a special assignment, but they overlooked her again. Victoire took her out tonight to blow off some steam," he said. The Arrows chasers were closely watching some entertainment show. Jamie sighed and walked to the fridge. Wills wouldn't be there for another 20 minutes at least.

"Beer, Abbott?" he asked, looking over at Chris, who had been watching the show from one of the arm chairs in confusion. Coming from a pureblood family, he was still getting used to muggle entertainment.

"Sure," he responded, not taking his eyes from the screen as the three chasers started laughing hysterically, causing him to frown in confusion even more. Jamie chuckled to himself. The young auror had spent his first three years out of Hogwarts so dedicated to training and the job that he hadn't had much of a life. Now that he was through the worst of it and assigned to Teddy's team, his schedule had become much more relaxed, allowing him to become more social. Perhaps going out with Wills would be a good thing for all of them.

"No, you're supposed to put that in after the water boils," Daisy said, scowling at John. "It says so here." She pointed at an open cookbook.

"Daisy this is not like potions class. Putting the pasta in before it starts to boil isn't going to cause it to explode," John said.

"But it says-"

"Oi, would you two stop arguing? I'm starvin'!" Kelly shouted from the sofa. Both John and Daisy turned to glare at him.

"Remind me why I'm not allowed to jinx him?" Daisy asked.

"He's our captain," John replied.

"Not good enough," she said, reaching for her wand.

"Daisy…" Jamie warned as he grabbed two beers from the fridge.

"Fine," she huffed and turned back to cooking. Jamie chuckled as he took in the disaster of the kitchen. While Daisy was getting pretty good - at least taste-wise - she still hadn't manage to cook without destroying half the kitchen. It was typically better when John helped as he would try to clean up while they went. Jamie walked over and held the beer out to Chris, standing next to the chair.

"Where are we going again?" Chris asked before taking a drink.

"Some new bar in the Alley," Jamie said. "This looks alright, yea? Not too casual or anything?" he asked while looking over at Daisy, who had paused in cooking to turn around and look over at her brother, her head tipped to the side. In the absence of Remus and Alan, Jamie had deferred to Daisy, who possessed more fashion sense than himself.

He was in a pair of dark wash jeans with a thin grey sweater over a white button-up shirt, and his nice corduroy sneakers. He wasn't sure what to wear, to be honest, considering he didn't go out often - not out to bars or clubs anyway. Normally it was just out with the team, siblings or other family to the same sports pub in the Alley. Dressing up there meant making sure he was wearing a clean t-shirt.

"I think it's fine," Daisy said after a moment. She turned back to cooking.

"Hoping to meet some chicks?" John asked with a grin. Daisy elbowed him.

"We don't like bein' called 'chicks'," she said emphatically, looking up at her boyfriend.

"My apologies," John said, smiling down at her then looked over at Jamie. "Are you two going out to become better acquainted with members of the opposite sex?" he asked more formally. Daisy rolled her eyes, causing Jamie to chuckle.

"I reckon that's Wills motive," he said. "He and I are the last two single ones on Puddlemere. Well, last two single blokes, anyway. Jakes and her guy broke up over the summer, though we're all waiting for them to get back together. Again."

"It's Wills, why else would he invite you out?," Daisy said, the sarcasm heavy in her voice.

"Or, it could all be part of my elaborate plan to convince you to marry me," Wills said as he walked into the apartment - dressed in his usual impeccable style that read famous quidditch player on the prowl - with a grin on his face. He stepped towards the kitchen and winked at Daisy. "How is my future wife today?" The redhead glanced at him, eyebrows raised.

"Even if I wanted to, Da'll never let you marry me, Wills. He knows you too well," she said, continuing to cook.

"Don't worry, Pix. I'll win him over… eventually," Wills joked. John laughed and shook his head.

"Good to see you too, Wills," he said.

"Ah yes, the boyfriend. Hope things are good with you Kingfisher," Wills said. He then looked over to Jamie and Chris. "You lot ready?" Chris stood and finished his beer as Jamie nodded.

"Keep him out of trouble," Daisy said from the stove.

"Of course I will!" Wills said. Daisy looked up at him.

"I wasn't talking to you," she said, rolling her eyes. The Arrows chasers laughed from the sofa.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Jamie said as he and Chris walked up to Wills.

"Gentlemen, let's go!"


I've gotten almost half of the chapters down on paper, so thought I'd gift everyone with a new chapter. Hoping to get enough done over the weekend that I can start posting more often by next week. Still need to go through and clean and polish and make sure there are no consistency problems, but I'm happy with what I've got done so far. Helps that a couple of the chapters later in the story I actually wrote for Life & Times and am just fixing them up to fit this one. Playing with Fire is coming out much more quickly now, though mostly because I'm not including as many quidditch scenes in this one. I know, I know, but those were super hard to write in the last one and they aren't really important to the story. Plus rather than going until the end of the quidditch season, this story will end about halfway through the second half.

I might even be able to start work on More Than Just a Pretty Face soon... At least planning out the specific chapters.

twilightlover427: I'm glad you like it! I'll admit, it's been fun writing and developing some characters that were mostly on the sidelines in the other stories.

Thank you for reading and reviewing and special thanks to the folks who followed and favorited the story - tinlawia, HannaNotHannah & JulPer12!

Also thanks to the folks who have added me to their favorite/followed author lists - Savvy-Maddi and Hanalei!