The Reckoning of Emmie MacKenzie

Another Try at Hogsmeade

Emmie glanced over at Oliver nervously as they walked towards the village, keeping a bit of distance after they had bumped shoulders a couple times. The contact had sent the butterflies going again, so she was attempting to maintain some sort of control over herself.

The last thing she wanted was to start stuttering again even though she hadn't done so in some time. Even though she was still a bit confused on what to do about the whole Oliver issue, the last thing she wanted was to stutter through the entire afternoon.

"So... did ye catch the Puddlemere match the other day?" Oliver asked, glancing at her.

"Aye, thought it was brilliant," Emmie said a bit too cheerfully. Reel it in, MacKenzie, she warned herself. "Though Williams almost didnae get the snitch in time. Wondered if he would there for a minute..." Oliver frowned.

"But he did get it," he said.

"Of course, but Reynolds almost got the one up on him," Emmie said, smiling slightly, knowing she had obviously hit a nerve. She had teased about him his undying love for Puddlemere when they were children and couldn't resist. Oliver rolled his eyes.

"Almost," he said emphatically. Emmie snorted.

"Heaven forbid someone outfly yer precious Puddlemere," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Almost," he said again, causing her to chuckle. "They're still one of the top teams in the League."

"Aye, ye only say it all the time," Emmie replied. "The Arrows are also one of the top teams in the League. As are the Wasps and the Wanderers. All of which are gonna give them a hard time should they make the play-offs..."

Oliver just huffed slightly as they kept walking.

"Thought of some other charms we can work on, by the way," he said, changing the subject. Emmie chuckled a bit but let him have this one.

"Really?" she asked, looking over at him.

"Aye... sort of put together a curriculum, actually," he said, his cheeks turning pink.

"A... really?" she asked.

"After we met up the other night, just... got an idea for more spells and then... kind of spiraled after that," he said sheepishly. "The team says I can get a wee bit obsessed whenever I get on an idea..."

"Dinnae need the team to tell me. I remember that well," Emmie replied. "Ye were like that in Little League."

"Ye remember that?" he asked. Emmie nodded. "Now that I think about it... Ye were probably the only person who didnae complain..."

"'Cause I was the only other one already going through rather rigorous private training and used to it," Emmie said. "All because of Da. But everyone still liked ye despite it... pretty sure the only reason they liked me was because of Da..."

"I doubt that. Everyone's always liked ye," he said immediately. "Sure, they thought it was cool that yer dad played professionally, but they've always liked ye because ye're... nice... and friendly..."

Emmie stared at the ground in front of them a bit under the pretense of watching where she was going on the rough path, but truly it was because she could feel the heat filling her cheeks.

"Suppose that's why I ended up in Hufflepuff... well, that and I've always been deathly shy," she said with a nervous laugh.

"I dinnae think everyone's under the impression that all Hufflepuffs are shy. And ye've got loads of other good qualities... loyal and... ehm..." he trailed off slightly, his face scrunched in concentration. "I sort of forgot what else..."