way to go, tiger | Lorenzo Berkshire

࣪𖤐 Y4 | 8 . The Moon

MOON SONG — PHOEBE BRIDGERS
'And if I could give you the moon, I'd give you the moon.'

Cassie meets Theo and Mattheo on the pitch after her and Blaise finish revising for their upcoming Charms exam on a cold September morning. She asks Blaise and Enzo to play as chasers alongside Mattheo when he tries out, otherwise it's pointless. She's yet to make final decisions with tryouts, but she needs to hand in her clipboard by this evening.

That won't be a problem, Cassie thinks. She's pretty confident Mattheo and Theo will end up back on the team.

Cassie gets in the air with the boys. Pansy and Draco are in the library studying for their Arithmancy assignment. The pitch is desolate this time of morning— it only being half nine. The sun is up, but it's not particularly warm.

"Right, whilst Theo is in goal now, anything he misses won't go towards his final impression. I'm focusing on you, Mattheo, and how you pass and throw the quaffle. You know the drill by now." she explains, hovering beside Blaise, Mattheo and Enzo. "Blaise and Enz, your job is just to catch the quaffle and pass it to Mattheo when you get it. It's all on him, okay?"

Once they nod, Cassie flies to the side with her clipboard and quill. "Alright, keep your eye on the quaffle, you lot. Off you go!"

The three of them soar towards the hoops on the other side of the pitch, tossing the quaffle between them. Cassie studies the way Mattheo catches it, yet keeps his gaze on the hoops and invisible bludgers. Blaise chucks it at Enzo, who catches it with ease. Cassie furrows her brows.

She twists the quill by her lips, watching both Enzo and Mattheo now. Theo is doing well in goal— of course he is. Mattheo alone has won Slytherin about seventy points by now.

But Enzo... he's won at least fifty too. She watches as he focuses himself, immersing into the moment. He's quick, and has brilliant coordination. Blaise is a little messy with the quaffle because he's used to having a bat in his hand— understandable.

Cassie has always known Enzo isn't half bad at Quidditch. They all used to play when they were younger, and Enzo was always a good chaser.

Good enough to be on team? Cassie wonders. She reckons he's better than most of the players that tried out on Friday all-together.

"Good, Mattheo!" Cassie shouts, as he gets the quaffle straight past Theo in a beautiful throw.

They continue doing this for another ten minutes and Cassie scribbles down notes on not only Mattheo, but Enzo too. "Right, now we're focusing on you, Theo. All you have to do is stop these quaffles from getting in, yeah?" she shouts, too far from him to speak any quieter.

"Yeah!" Theo replies.

"Alright, you three." she says, turning to Mattheo, Blaise and Enzo in a quieter volume. "You're doing basically what you just did, but aiming to throw him off. Focus on Theo. You need to test him— Blaise and Mattheo, you know these techniques." Cassie says. "Enzo, just follow their lead and you'll do just fine."

"Alright." Blaise replies.

"Good luck pretty boy!" Mattheo teases Theo, which only ends up in a flipped bird in response.

"Come on, focus!" Cassie orders with a clap.

—

Cedric and Cassie stand outside of the Infirmary doors, facing eachother. He puts a hand on each of her shoulders as if to give her a pep-talk. "You're going to be fine, Cass. Do you know how I know that?"

She shakes her head.

"Because you're the strongest person I know. You've got this. I'll be there the second you wake up— bruise or a broken leg, yeah?"