A Journey At Hogwarts

XIV. Double Trouble

Warnings: none

September managed to turn to October before anyone had realised it. Orange Halloween decorations covered Hogwart's stone walls, as the regular desserts were pumpkin pies and juice. Juniper had slowly gotten used to having Quidditch on her schedule, classes, and practising her spells. Still, she wasn't used to Ben missing for over a month now.

Rowan had assured that -in theory at least- shrinking and enlarging herself should be safe enough, but when was anything in Hogwarts truly ever safe? It was all just madness, really.

"As a team, we need to establish balance before we begin practicing. To achieve this, we will be balancing on our brooms."
Juniper snapped her attention back to the Ravenclaw quidditch captain, Orion Amari. His balancing techniques were rather peculiar and continued to be so ever since Juniper had met him. Their training sessions typically started with broom balancing before they actually hit the actual practice.

"Thank goodness, it's over. That was longer than the last time." Skye looked relieved and ready to bolt out through the fields.

"Aye, no ma favourite part," Juniper remarked.

The girls only have spoken to each other during practice apart from a few words and their run-in outside the hospital wing.

"My thoughts exactly." Andre chimed in.

The new players had this zeal to prove their worth; it was proving themselves worthy of their position or demonstrating that they were just as talented as the regular players. Juniper played a more cautious game, hoping never to see the inside of the hospital wing again. Fifteen minutes into their practice, dots of green and silver entered the pitch.

"What's the Slytherin team doing here? Orion made sure to book the pitch for us." Juniper could hear the disgust from Skye.

They all flew down to see what the fuss was. The captain of the Slytherin team, Fallon Firethron, was arguing that they had scheduled this field the same day.

"I didn't know that the Slytherin team had reserved the field."

"Well we have it signed here by Professor Snape." The Slytherin captain waved the papers in front of Orion.
Orion didn't blink once. "I see; that is most unfortunate indeed but I already have Professor Flitwick's permission. I can suggest that you use the pitch after us."

The Slytherin captain scowled. Their fight went on, with him getting redder in the face.

"Blooming hell, do you think he'll burst at this rate," Andre commented.

"I don't care if he bursts or no. He's taking up too much of our precious time. We have a match against Hufflepuff in November to prepare for." Skye growled, her fist clenched so tightly around her Shooting Star that Juniper could hear the leather tighten from her gloves.

"Let's hope they leave soon," Juniper observed all the Slytherin players. One, in particular, was the tallest blonde girl. She caught the glare of her, which caused Juniper to quickly look away.

She noticed that Skye was glaring back.

"Do you know who she is?" Juniper whispered in Skye's ear.

"Aye, that's Erika Rath." Skye didn't bother lowering her voice. "Slytherin's beater. Be careful of her. She's taken out many quidditch players with a bludger."

Erika seems to have caught Skye's comment but refuses to react. Juniper struggled to get a read on Erika. She decided that Erika was the least of her worries instead of that pesky Slytherin Captain.

After the round of one-sided arguing finally settled, they continued with their practice, but the mood soured significantly. As Juniper undressed and packed up, she noticed Skye approaching her.