Chapter 28: The Quidditch Scouts

"There they are," Skye said as soon as we'd entered the pub.

She pointed to a table where there sat two wizards and a witch. I felt immediately out of place, though for once it had nothing to do with being a muggle in a magical environment. I was the muggle studies teacher. I had nothing to do with quidditch at Hogwarts and really didn't belong in this meeting. But Skye dragged me along and I followed, mainly because I didn't want to sit alone in a place I knew so little about.

"Hello everybody," Skye greeted the scouts. "May I introduce my colleague, Professor Katie Harris? She'll be joining us tonight."

The three scouts gave me smiles and nods as Skye in turn introduced me to them. The woman's name was Jane. She worked for a team called the Holyhead Harpies, which Skye explained was a team composed entirely of women. Of the three at the table, Jane seemed the least friendly towards me and I got the distinct impression that she would have preferred that I not have joined.

The man sitting next to Jane was introduced as Oliver, a scout for a team called Puddlemere United, which Skye explained was the oldest quidditch team in in British League. He seemed pleasant enough, though he was significantly older than the rest of us, likely in his forties. Across the table from Oliver sat Jordan, a scout for the Montrose Magpies, one of the most successful teams in the British League as Skye informed me. He eagerly extended his hand to shake mine upon his introduction and as I pulled an extra chair over to the table for myself, I noticed that his eyes remained on me.

"Well, shall we get started with a round of drinks?" Jordan suggested once we were seated, raising a hand to get the attention of one of the waitresses. The number of staff members had increased while Skye and I had been out shopping and there were a few of them milling about amongst the tables.

A waitress came over and everyone began to place their drink orders. Oliver ordered a glass of elf-made wine and Jane requested a hard butterbeer. Jordan then placed his order for a firewhisky, which Skye imitated. When the waitress looked to me, I felt at a loss. If I'd been ordering a drink in a muggle bar, I'd have been fine, but I didn't know what any of these wizarding drinks were.

"She'll have a firewhisky as well," Skye declared, covering for me. I sent her a questioning look and she leaned towards me and muttered under her breath. "Don't worry, you'll love it."

I figured if Skye was having one as well, then it couldn't be that bad, so I nodded to the waitress and she went off to get our drinks.

"Alright, let's talk about your students, Skye," Jane said then, getting right down to business.

"Already?" Jordan complained. "But we haven't even got our drinks yet."

Jane sent Jordan a withering look. "I for one do not want to be here all night," she said.

"There's no harm in getting business out of the way now," Oliver said diplomatically.

Taking this as a sign to go ahead, Skye began to describe the more promising of the seventh year quidditch players at Hogwarts. There were four in particular that she claimed stood out among the rest, two from Gryffindor, one from Slytherin, and one from Hufflepuff. She described them each individually, giving details about their position on their respective teams, their history with those teams, as well as their performance in classes. The scouts each had little notebooks that they produced and they made notes as Skye talked.

"Well the Holyhead Harpies might be interested in that Gryffindor chaser you mentioned," Jane said. Our drinks had arrived at this point, but I didn't touch mine right away, instead deciding to wait until the others partook in their drinks. "I'll have to check her out though. We only have two chasers in reserve this season and the manager would prefer to have a full reserve team."

"Of course," Skye agreed. She passed Jane a list of matches that Gryffindor would be playing in. "Will any of those days work for you?"

"I'll have to check my calendar," Jane replied. "I'll get back to you."

"It's too bad you haven't got any prospective keepers," Oliver spoke up. "Ever since I retired from playing and Wilson stepped up from the reserve team, we've had trouble finding a good fit. The keeper we've got now isn't all that reliable and our manager was hoping you'd have a possible candidate."

"Unfortunately, none of our keepers are in their seventh year at the moment," Skye informed him. "But there is a sixth year on the Ravenclaw team who's really dedicated. If you'd like, you could come to a match to see him play. Perhaps if your manager was willing to keep your current keeper for another year, he could be a possible hire in the future?"

"I'll have to confer with those higher up," Oliver said, taking the list of Ravenclaw's matches that Skye handed to him. "But it's possible. How long has he been playing?"

"Since his third year," Skye said. "He's excellent. He's the hardest keeper to score on between the four teams by far."

Oliver nodded his acknowledgement and slipped the list of match days into his notebook.

"And you, Jordan?" Skye asked, turning to the final scout, who'd remained silent thus far.

He looked at Skye, and then his eyes slid past her to me.

"What do you think about this Hufflepuff beater?" he inquired. "Do you think he's worth my time? The Montrose Magpies only recruit the best, after all."

"Oh," I said, surprised and caught off guard at being singled out. I hadn't intended to lend my opinion at this meeting, mainly since I had very little understanding of quidditch in general and none when it came to these players. "I don't – "

"It's only her first year with us," Skye said, jumping in to help me. "She hasn't had much of a chance to see him play yet."

Jordan shifted and then leaned forward, still focused on me.

"I imagine you've seen a couple of practices by now. So tell me, what do you think?"

I was a little uncomfortable being put on the spot, but I figured that if Skye was confident enough to talk these players up, they had to play well.

"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, you should come see a game. I think you'll be really impressed with – Max, was it?" I glanced at Skye for confirmation on the name and she nodded. "Right, on Max's skills."

Jordan smiled and leaned back in his chair again. "Well alright then," he smiled, still looking at me. "I guess I'll be seeing you then. When's the first match?" Skye slid him a list of the Hufflepuff games and he glanced down, looking mildly displeased at what he saw. "First game isn't until December? I don't know if I can wait that long."

I frowned, deeply confused by what was going on, but determined to help Skye in her mission to get these scouts to come and see her students play.

"You could always come watch a practice," I offered, looking to Skye for confirmation that this was possible. She shrugged and nodded, and I figured I hadn't spoken out of turn.

"Interesting," Jordan smirked. "Well perhaps, if you'd consent to joining me – "

"Oh, well that's really Skye's job," I said then as I shook my head. "I'm just the muggle studies teacher. She's the one who handles all the quidditch-related stuff."

Before Jordan could speak again, Jane spoke up. "What exactly are you doing here then, if you aren't involved in quidditch at all?"

"I invited her to come along as a chance to get out of the castle," Skye replied immediately in my defense. "We had some shopping that needed to get done, and I wasn't going to have her eat dinner by herself while the four of us met."

"Of course not," Jordan agreed with Skye. "That would have been a travesty, to deprive us of meeting the new Professor. I think I will come to visit your school. The Montrose Magpies haven't recruited from Hogwarts for many years, but I think it's time for some new blood."

"Excellent," Skye said excitedly. "I look forward to seeing you all at our upcoming matches. Shall we drink?"

Skye raised her firewhisky and Jordan immediately raised his as well. Oliver too picked up his glass of wine, and Jane reluctantly raised her mug of butterbeer. Belatedly, I raised my drink as well, and after clinking our glasses together, we all took a drink.

The firewhisky burned when I swallowed it, and not just in the way that alcohol burned. It burned like I was consuming actual fire, and for a second, I worried that my throat had caught fire. As it settled in my stomach, I began to feel more comfortable, and I shifted from the stiff and slightly uptight position I'd been sitting in until now into a more relaxed pose. There was no reason to be so stressed out. Skye was with me, and these people were just quidditch scouts.

Our food arrived and as we ate, the conversation turned away from discussions of that various seventh year quidditch players at Hogwarts. Skye and the quidditch scouts all clearly knew each other – it seemed the quidditch world was all rather tight knit – and they asked about their respective teams and talked about the upcoming quidditch season.

As soon as dinner was over, Jane stood and took her leave, thanking Skye again for the information and ensuring her that she would be in touch. Of all the scouts, she'd seemed the least interested in the casual part of the meal and most eager to leave once the business was sorted out. Oliver also took his leave not long after, stating that he had a wife and children to get home to, and that he looked forward to speaking with Skye more in the future.

Finally, it was just me, Skye, and Jordan, and he looked like he was in no rush to leave anytime soon.

"So Katie," he said moving around to take Jane's vacated spot next to me and better balance the table. "Now that we've got all that quidditch talk out of the way, I want to know about you."

"About me?" I asked in surprise. "Oh, I don't think there's anything to know about me."

"Well you teach muggle studies," he commented. "How did you end up doing that?"

I was very aware of the fact that up until now, no mention of my being a muggle had been made. It wasn't that I was hiding the fact, but I also wasn't sure I wanted it known right at this moment. Skye had wandered off to the bar to get another round of drinks and I was now starting to get the feeling that the attention Jordan had been showing me all evening had been more flirtatious than I'd originally realized.

"It was all kind of unplanned, really," I said honestly. "I would have taken any job, and then this one just sort of fell into my lap."

"Hmm," Jordan hummed. "And do you enjoy teaching?"

"Most of the time," I said. "Some students are more difficult than others and some days they make my life harder than it needs to be. But other times it can be really rewarding."

Skye returned with a new round of drinks, and I immediately took a sip of my firewhisky. I was on my third glass of the stuff and was starting to develop quite the taste for it.

"So, when do the Hufflepuffs practice?" Jordan asked Skye as she sat down again. "I'm eager to come and visit the school, maybe see Katie around while I'm there?"

Skye glanced sidelong at me and I looked away uncomfortably. Now that I was aware that Jordan was flirting with me, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to give him the wrong idea or lead him on, but it was also important for Skye and the Hufflepuff player she was trying to get recruited that Jordan come and watch him play.

"Hufflepuff usually practices every Monday and Wednesday afternoon," Skye informed him. "Also Saturday mornings."

Jordan turned to me. "And would you be free any of those times to join me down on the pitch?" he asked.

"Actually, no," I said honestly. "I have office hours on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Saturday mornings I have to patrol the halls."

"Office hours?" Jordan asked then, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe I could stop by your office sometime on my way to watch a practice."

I shook my head. "Oh, I don't think – "

"Katie, I need to go to the washroom," Skye announced them, cutting me off. "Come with me?"

"What?" I frowned and turned to look at her. She opened her eyes wide, as if she was trying to communicate something to me, and jerked her head in the direction of the bathrooms. "Yeah, alright," I allowed. I turned back towards Jordan. "We'll be right back," I assured him.

"I'll be waiting," he returned.

He took another sip of his firewhisky as Skye and I stood up and moved away from the table to the back of the restaurant. Skye stopped me before we got to the washrooms though, and pulled me into a corner.

"Okay, I don't know if you realize this, but Jordan is totally flirting with you," she informed me.

I nodded awkwardly and shrugged a little. "Yeah, I know," I muttered.

Skye grabbed me by the shoulders. "Well?" she demanded. "He's hot! Why do you keep shutting him down? You should go for it!"

"Oh, I don't think – " I tried to figure out how to explain to Skye why I didn't want to encourage Jordan's attention.

It wasn't that he wasn't nice enough, just that I wasn't exactly available. Then again, I wasn't exactly unavailable either. Technically Alex and I had only almost kissed, but nothing between us had officially happened. If I wanted to, I could flirt with Jordan a bit and see what happened. But I also didn't really want to. I also didn't want to tell Skye about Alex just yet, because I knew how she would react and I wasn't ready to play twenty questions – or rather a thousand questions – with her just yet.

"Go on," Skye encouraged me. "I'll say I have to get back to the castle, and you can stay here with Jordan for a bit."

"But I can't get back to Hogwarts alone," I pointed out. "I don't have magic."

"Don't worry, I won't go far," Skye assured me. "Unless of course you want me to." She waggled her eyebrows and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Skye, I have to supervise breakfast in the morning," I reminded her. "I can't stay out that late."

"Whatever," Skye muttered. "Look, just go have some fun, and I'll be back here. You can say I had to take off. And when you're ready to go, just come and find me."

I considered the offer. It wasn't as though I didn't like Jordan, and we didn't need to do anything more than talk and drink and maybe flirt a bit. Maybe I was being too uptight. Maybe what I needed was just to relax a bit and enjoy my night out. Whatever was or wasn't happening with Alex wasn't going to go away regardless.

"Yeah, alright," I agreed. "But you come back with us," I insisted. "There are tons of guys here, I'm sure there's one you can flirt with too."

"I'm with Cameron, remember?" Skye pointed out.

"So what?" I shrugged. "It's like you said, it's just for fun."

Skye considered the offer and finally agreed. "Yeah, alright," she said. "Let's have some fun."