Giddy Brew

Chapter 3: Quidditch Quandaries

By: Jondy Macmillan

A/N: Hmm, this is a cute chapter. gags Anywho, we know the disclaimer drill, but I better repeat it to be PC. Hogwarts, Professor Binns, Harry Potter, Professor McGonagall, and any other of JK Rowling's creations DON'T belong to me. Why any one would develop the half brained idea that they did is beyond my tiny mind. So please be good; read and review.

"Guys, I've got a problem," Serendipity started earnestly, "January Farrigan asked me to the fancy masquerade, and I said yes, of course." She blushed.

Elanore gushed, "January Farrigan? He's that completely hot seventh year Hufflepuff, isn't he?"

Serendipity nodded, "He's on the Quidditch team too. That's how I got to know him."

Prue grinned, "So what's the problem? Don't have a costume for the fancy dress ball then?"

Both girls cast her cold glares.

"Serendipity's trying to be serious Prue." Elanore admonished. From their position on the two beds nearest the door, Seprie and Antoinetta giggled. Elanore cast them nasty glances too, just for good measure.

"Antoinetta, I think we're not wanted here," Seprie told her friend. Prue nodded her head, muttering 'bloody right'. Seprie ignored her, clambering off her crushed velvet sheets, where she had been staring at the moving images of Orpheus Vaughn, Polaris Morgan, and Noah Weslen on her Dark Symphony poster. Antoinetta followed her, "Let's go down to the common room."

When they were gone, Serendipity continued, "Anyway, before this stupid cow interrupted me," she swatted Prue on the head fondly, "I think January might want to…you know."

"Isn't it a bit early in the relationship for that?" Elanore asked, scratching her chin absently.

"No!" Serendipity blushed, "Not that! It's just, you know. I've never really snogged a boy before."

"Oh!" Prue exclaimed loudly, "You should have said so!"

"Not like you have either, Prudence," Elanore replied pointedly. Prue blushed and decided to abruptly find the intricacies of Serendipity's The Black Orbit poster very interesting all of a sudden. It was intriguing, if she really looked. She could see Casey, and his gorgey big brother, Cerulean prance around on the stage, while little Cherridy Hargrove beat his drums in the background. She'd never realized how much Casey looked like Cerulean and Cherridy. Then again, she supposed all the Hargroves looked similar, inbred relations and all. The rich were like that, even in the wizarding world.

"You've never kissed anybody either?" Serendipity asked, astounded, "I thought for sure those rumors about Casey and-"

"Stop right there! Casey Hargrove and I will never, ever, ever, ever become anything more than friends. Less than that, yes. More, no."

"If you say so," Serendipity shrugged, "although I don't see why not. I mean, he's kind of an amazing guy, isn't he? In a band…"

"A complete moron."

"Completely gorgeous."

"A total prat."

"And absolutely crazy about you."

Prue reddened, "That's not true. He's just teasing."

Elanore and Serendipity exchanged looks, as if they weren't quite so sure about this.

"I've got a solution," Elanore exclaimed suddenly, "You know Rufus is in Hufflepuff, right? Well he has this friend that he was telling me about."

"Wait, you guys actually talk? I thought it was all snogging and touchy-feely stuff between you two lovebirds."

"Please, Prue. A relationship is built on other things besides snogging. Anyway, as I was saying, Rufus's friend is a seventh year. Name's Leonardo Quince, I think. Yes, that's definitely it."

"The Hufflepuff seeker?" Serendipity asked.

"Yep, that's 'im," Elanore mumbled through a bit of chocolate frog. Serendipity had smuggled them out of Bobby's supply when he wasn't looking, "'e's a pro. Professional snogger, that is. I'm sure if you pay him a sickle or two, he'd be happy to teach both of you before the masquerade." She swallowed the frog's legs in a very unfeminine gesture.

"I can't believe you, of all people, recommend we do that!" Shaking her head, Prue rolled over on the bed, pulling her eyes from The Black Orbit poster, "Ellie, I'm almost ashamed of you."

"Yeah," Serendipity echoed, amusing herself with a shiny card containing the moving image of the great witch Circe. The woman wandered in and out of the metallic frame, attempting to turn random things into pigs.

Prue made a face, "Also, it's not like I want to snog Bobby Stone, so why bother learning?"

"Well," Elanore replied in a reasonable voice, "Maybe Noah will dump his date and decide he's fallen madly in like with you. It could happen."

"Madly in like? Don't you mean love?"

Elanore replied reasonably, "No, I mean like. It takes a long time to fall madly in love with a person."

Rejoining the conversation, as well as the planet earth, Serendipity cut in, "What about love at first sight?"

"That only happens to very special people," Elanore replied wisely. Serendipity and Prue made the appropriate 'ooh'ing noises.

"Right then. How do you get to be special?" Serendipity inquired, looking very interested, "I suppose you have to be born that way."

"That's no bloody fun!" Prue exclaimed, "And I don't believe you. Rufus has likely poisoned your mind with that realism bologna, because if love at first sight wasn't real, why would writers go on and on about it? They can't all be nutters!"

"Realism is a hunk of meat?"

"Shove off Sere, it's a muggle thing."

"Oh. In that case, you do know that all muggle writers could in fact be nutters."

"I hate you."

"No need to get shirty with me. I was just pointing out that you muggle types never have been conventional," Serendipity pointed out. Then she giggled, "I didn't know Seprie's poster did that! I might have to get one."

On Seprie's Dark Symphony poster, Orpheus Vaughn was shaking his booty to a song no one else could hear. Poster-Noah and Poster-Polaris were staring at him as though he had gone daft, "And this is the guy you're in love with?" Prue asked, wondrously.

Personally, she preferred Noah Weslen. He was her dream guy, as well as a Gryffindor beater. The first time she saw him was when he got a bludger past her club. That was the reason poor Matilda Robin's nose was a bit smashed in near the sticky out bit. But, Prue had reasoned with the captain, chaser Whitney Vedder, little Matilda had known what she was in for when she agreed to be a beater. Anyway, if the bludger had gotten past Prue, it was only because she thought Matilda would have had the sense to hit it with something other than her face.

Serendipity grimaced, "You know as well as I do that he's not always like that. Unless you've seen him dancing like a mad chicken around the common room. Say, I wonder where Seprie got this poster."

"Probably the fetish shop in Knockturn Alley," Elanore put in.

"There's a fetish shop in Knockturn Alley? Wait a second. One, how do you know what a fetish shop is? Two, how do you know there's one in Knockturn Alley?" Prue demanded.

Elanore shrugged, "Our old next door neighbor, Mister Reeves, owned it. He was a bad wizard. But, on the plus side, he always sold Daddy magical panstick and lippy. Oh, not for him! For mum." The last part was said a bit unconvincingly.

Serendipity grinned, "Hold up. Imagine Mr. Kingston walking around in hold up stockings."

"I'd rather not, thanks," Prue couldn't shake the mental image Serendipity had just put into her head. Elanore's father was not the kind of guy given to walking around wearing women's makeup and clothing. Then again, Prue had thought that about fifth year Mortimer Smudge, right up until she'd caught him wearing a dustbin on his head, attached to a rather attractive yellow summer dress, as well as some of his sister's muggle makeup. She had smuggled it into Hogwarts from Boots, in London. Lucky witch. Getting to dress her brother up and all.

"Hey," Elanore always had to be the sensible one, "We should get some sleep."

"But Antoinetta and Seprie aren't back yet!" Serendipity whined, "They'll come stomping in around one, with no consideration to the beauty sleep I require."

"Well, we could lock them out," Prue suggested. Elanore made a face.

"Prue, that's mean."

"Yeah, so was calling me Prudence earlier. But I didn't get all uppity about it, now did I? Anyway, they can go sleep in Franscesca's dorm." Franscesca was Antoinetta's big sister. She was a Hufflepuff.

"What if Antoinetta doesn't know the password?"

"It's probably yellow cod, or something boring of the sort. I bet if we had the will, we could figure it out in minutes. Unfortunately, I can't bring myself to care." She clambered off Serendipity's bed, pushing Elanore off in the process. The smaller fell to the floor with a grunt and a glare.

"It's decided then." Elanore grinned and flicked off the lights with a simple chant.

"So, what about this professional snogger? Quince, did you say?"

"GOODNIGHT Prue!" Elanore and Serendipity exclaimed simultaneously.

"Ah! Bright, sunny, beautiful day!" Serendipity exclaimed, raising her face to the brilliant light in the sky. The rest of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team was not so enthused. Captain and chaser, Whitney Vedder, had large black circles beneath her eyes, and Prue was leaning into Bobby's shoulder, attempting to stifle a large yawn. Matilda sat chatting amiably on the grass with a very worn out looking Cherridy Hargrove. Their seeker, Radovan Glass, was leaning against one of the giant golden hoops on the Quidditch field shielding his eyes.

"Great day for practice, isn't it?" Whitney mumbled aloud, trying to inspire her team to wake up a little. The action was marred by her own weary voice, "Come on guys, this is the first major practice we've had. We've got to have a little more team spirit!"

She was a pretty muggle born girl, with long black hair separated into a million tiny braids and skin as brown as tree bark. Her keen sloe eyes always managed to catch sight of the golden snitch, even before Radovan Glass's, but she hadn't been better than the seeker before him, so she was chaser instead. Back in muggle school she'd played footie.

Radovan grunted something incoherent in reply. He was a large, stocky guy who didn't seem the right type for the seeker position at all. But he had speed, which is what they counted on. Amusingly, he wore glasses, and one night the team had stayed up putting all sorts of charms on them; unbreakable, rain repelling, glare free, and the like.

Cherridy was like a miniature Casey, red hair, blue eyes, and freckled skin. Actually, he had so many freckles that they all connected and he almost looked tan. Or spotted, depending on what angle one looked at him with. Matilda, who was in his year, had short, dark brown hair that flipped out and was tinted ruby beneath the sun. She was a rather pretty girl, except for the tip of her nose, which had that rather large dent in it.

"Whitney, I hate to tell you this, but you're a great sopping cow. This is quite obviously one of the most moronic ideas you've ever had. Practice at six a.m." Bobby informed her.

"We had to do it sometime. And wouldn't you rather do it before Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff have their go? They might sabotage the field!" She protested, waking up a little.

"What are they going to do? Rig the air to electrocute us?" Prue asked incredulously.

"Enough arguing, more practicing," Whitney replied firmly. Her dictator side had finally surfaced, "Matilda, Prue, get up there and practice tossing the bludgers back and forth, over the other player's heads. Serendipity, guard that hoop with your life! Radovan, you know what I want from you."

"I don't suppose it's my body?"

"Supposing is not your job. Get your lanky arse out there. Bobby, Cherridy, we'll go over a few plays, like the Hawkshed formation. Everyone know what they're doing?"

"Yeah boss. We got it down," Cherridy mock saluted her.

"Don't get smart with me Hargrove," Whitney commanded, kicking off on her old Nimbus 2010.

Soon they were zooming about in the blue skies, each team member up to their own assigned task. Whitney had Cherridy and Bobby attempting reverse passes, trying to amp up their accuracy, while Serendipity was practicing double eight loops with an imaginary quaffle in mind. Radovan was zipping about, searching the field for the snitch. Every once in a while he would try a Wronski Feint or a Plumpton Pass, just to make Whitney happy.

As for Prue and Matilda, they were having great fun passing the bludgers over the other players' heads. When Whitney yelled, they would show her their aptitude for performing the famous Dopplebeater Defense or a tricky Bludger Backbeat, but otherwise they fooled around.

Half an hour into practice, Gryffindor showed up. Their captain was Frank, but a golden haired young god, appropriately named Apollo Hasbring preferred to act as the team voice. Like Whitney, he was a chaser, "Hey Vedder!"

"Hasbring, Wakefield," Whitney replied formally, lowering her broom so that her feet were just skimmed the ground, "What are you doing here?"

Prue, Serendipity, and Matilda laughed at this point, because Frank was making dirty faces behind Apollo. They missed the next few words said. It was boring business anyway. Whitney was arguing that it was their time on the field, and Apollo told her that was fine. Why should she mind if he watched the competition?

"Because," she replied indignantly, "I might have a secret play you can't see yet."

"Well, do you?"

"No, but I might've. It's the principal of the thing, you see." While Whitney and Apollo argued, Prue examined the said competition. There was Frank of course, and Noah, both of whom were technically the only two she and Matilda had to worry about. Noah was a tall boy with sandy brown hair and eyes the color of burnt cinnamon. Next to him was Polaris, Dark Symphony's third band member. Prue never was used to seeing Polaris. He didn't like the sun much, and usually dressed in high black turtlenecks and slacks that blended in with his hair. His skin was a pale, sallow color. Really, he looked like a tall, skinny vampire.

Aside from Polaris, the other chasers were Apollo, and Dana Wingate from her Muggle Studies class. Prue liked Dana, she was nice. Rowan Yetings, a willowy sixth year girl who really did resemble a tree was their keeper, and Helen Carter, who was basically a valkyrie in disguise, was their seeker.

"Hey, Prue," Frank whispered loudly, ignoring the rest of his team, "Have you seen Casey today? I was looking for him before we so rudely interrupted your practice."

"I have," Cherridy chipped in, "Outside, near the front courtyard. He was having a fag. Or, well, attempting to. You know how that works, the whole no muggle operation working in school thing. I think he was trying to charm it into lighting."

"Casey smokes? Where did he get cigarettes anyway? They're a muggle creation."

Bobby blushed, "I can be held responsible for that. I stole them from my little brother. Told him I didn't want him smoking around mum. I forgot they were in my suitcase, and Casey asked, so…"

"Great. Look at it this way. He can't light himself on fire unless he remembers the right charm. And we know how well my big brother does in charms," Cherridy laughed.

"You don't seem too worried," Prue observed.

"If he lights himself on fire I have seven other brothers to amuse myself with."

"There's nine of you?" Bobby was shocked.

"Not including mom, my stepdad, and my three stepsisters, yup."

"I don't believe it. Name everyone," Frank demanded.

Cherridy shrugged, "Okay. Arcadia, that's mom, and Chrystan, that's my step dad. His daughters are Florence, Ruthie, and Marigold. Then there's us. Cayan's the oldest, followed by Cerulean, Casey, then me. My little brothers are Corbett, Conrad, Chauncey, Cattigan, and Chestral. Conrad and Chauncey are twins, they're seven. Corbett's going to be in Hogwarts next year, he's nine. Cattigan just turned five, and Chestral is two. Cayan's twenty two. Florence is fifteen, Ruthie is eighteen, and Marigold is twenty. They all went to Beauxbatons. Oh, my aunt Haterii lives with us too. There's Nana and Nonny as well."

Frank whistled, "Wow. Casey showed me a picture of that big mansion you all lived in, but I never imagined there were," he counted on his fingers, "Seventeen of you living there."

Cherridy smiled innocently, "There are still forty-five unoccupied bedrooms."

"Oh, go on then," Frank waved him away, "Stupid rich bastards."

"Jealous, are we?" Prue giggled. Whitney and Apollo had finally finished arguing. Whitney, of course, had given in. It was time for them to get off the field.

footie: short for football, which is soccer

panstick and lippy: panstick is foundation, lippy is lipstick.

·with the brooms; even though Harry's first book took place in nineteen ninety, Rowling called his broom a Nimbus 2000. Now this takes place in 2008, thirteen years after the fifth HP book. So if we go ten years in advance, the Nimbus series would be up to 2018. But Whitney's broom is eight years old, thus 2010. shrugs Quidditch logic.