Scherzando: playful; sportive.

July 9, 2018

"Come on, Al! You throw like a bloody girl!" James yelled, chucking the Quaffle (the one Ginny had gotten signed by the 2015 English team at the world cup, actually, but as their mother had a fair collection of these signed trophies, they thought a few of them ought to be played with) as hard as he could across their makeshift Quidditch field at his brother.

Albus caught the ball in his gut with a winded grunt and scowled at his brother. "I'm a Seeker James, not a Chaser," he complained, tossing the Quaffle lightly to Lily swooping below him.

"You won't be anything if you can't handle passing a Quaffle for tryouts," James told him, shooting an apple in place of a bludger at the back of his brother's head. It hit its mark, too, and Albus yelped and swiveled around angrily.

James dodged the retaliatory kick Albus aimed his way with a derisive laugh. "Pathetic," he muttered, steeling the Quaffle from Lily, who'd been floating in midair, watching her brothers fight with a frown.

"Is it just me, or is he being more of a git today than usual?" Lily muttered to Al, shooting up to hover alongside him.

Albus ducked quickly to avoid another apple to the head and ground his teeth. "Definitely more of a git," he grumbled.

The game only got worse from there on out. Ten minutes later, after James had called Al a girl in several creative ways, almost knocked him off his broom twice, and 'accidentally' elbowed Lily in the chin, his siblings had had quite enough of him.

"Fine!" James shouted as together the two of them landed, climbed off their brooms, and started for the shed. "I can practice better without you klutzes messing me up anyway!"

"I'll show you who the klutz is!" Lily yelled shrilly, turning around, but Albus grabbed her shoulder and dragged her out of the grove of towering trees that hid their field.

"Why is he being such a… argh! Such a James?" Lily fumed as the two of them heaved open the heavy shed doors.

Albus shrugged, scowling. "Mum says it's 'cause he's a teenager now," he explained, rolling his eyes. "I heard Hermione telling her the other day that if James got any more than just Dad's looks, she might want to start using Mufliato, whatever that's supposed to mean."

They squeezed their way into the dusty gloom of the cluttered shed. Lily scampered nimbly over the heap of spare motorbike parts their father insisted he would get around to using on Sirius's old bike, which accounted for most of the clutter, and stretched on tiptoe to hang her broom on the back wall. Albus made to follow her, eyes watering from the dust, but halfway up the mound of rusted rims and handlebars he sneezed and slid to the ground in an avalanche of scrap metal and yet more dust.

"You alright, Al?" Lily asked, peeping over the junk pile and trying to muffle her snickers.

"Yeah… great," Albus groaned, sounding as if he had a bad head cold. He sneezed again, rolled over, and was about to try for a second round with the spare bike parts when a piece of paper, crumpled and tossed into the corner of the shed, inches from his face, caught his eye. There might be a lot of useless nuts and bolts lying around in here, but everything else was pretty organized. He reached for it on an inbred impulse of curiosity.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lily asked, this time more sincerely as her brother still hadn't gotten up from the floor.

Albus sat up and that was when she noticed the piece of parchment he was reading. He held it out to her. "I think I know why James is in such a foul temper."

It was a letter. From a girl.

"What's 'uncouth' mean?" Lily asked, furrowing her brows.

"It means James isn't getting his date," Albus told her, taking the letter back and tearing it up.

XxX

It was raining by the time James stormed into the kitchen, muddy and dripping. Lily eyed him from behind her mug of hot chocolate at the kitchen table. Albus looked around from the stove where he was minding the kettle.

"What d'you want?" he growled, casting them each a surly look.

"Think fast," Albus said suddenly, whipping an apple from the fruit bowl across the kitchen at his brother.

It bounced off James's shoulder and he dropped his broom as he fumbled for it.

"You catch like a girl," Albus informed him, leaning casually against the counter. James opened his mouth furiously, drawing back his arm to chuck the apple back as hard as he possibly could. But then he caught the smirk playing around his brother's mouth. He still chucked the apple as hard as he possibly could, but it hit Al in the chest rather than the face.

"Prat," James muttered, but there was a smirk tugging at his lips, too.

He turned to Lily and shook like a dog, splattering her with flecks of muddy water. She shrieked obligingly and leapt off her chair onto his back. James tried to shake her off, but she had a stranglehold around his neck.

"Oh no, I'm losing control! Can't stop!" James cried, spinning around like a top and purposefully staggering into Albus.

It didn't take long for the three of them to end up in a heap on the kitchen floor surrounded by a puddle of icy water from James's soaked clothes.

"You choke like a girl," James gasped.

"That's because I am one, dillop," Lily said sweetly, tightening her hold.

"Can we please get off my esophagus," Albus wheezed, shoving at James's elbow.

"Pathetic," James muttered, but his tone had completely changed from that morning.

"You're the pathetic one."

"At least I don't throw like a girl."

"I'm a Seeker, James! A Seeker!"

"Excuses, excuses," James grinned, grabbing his brother in a headlock as Lily leapt on both of them.

"You two fight like boys!"

"Ow, Lily! Not the hair!"

"Say it!"

"Never!"

"Say it!"

"Alright – fine –"

"You win!"

"Girls rule!"

A/N: Ahaha, they always do ;) My brother never thought of that move. Not that we fought very much…. Anyway, this is a long over-due birthday gift for Katrina Roxanne! Hope you like it! Thank you all a million and a half for the awesome reviews! Keep 'em comin'! Please? :)