Freaks: Year Two

Midnight Chats On The Staircases

Jasper stayed out on the pitch for a little while longer, watching as the All Star team had their quidditch practice. Now that he was over his panic, the fresh air calmed him and he watched as the American team tossed quaffles back and forth as a quick warm up before playing out a fake game. Jasper had to admit that all the players were quite skilled and the seeker was wicked fast. He sort of wanted to ask her for tips, but then he thought about how America viewed those who were not purebloods. What if she refused him if she found out he was a muggleborn?

The thought saddened him as he thought Meg was quite a nice girl. Everyone had been so forceful for him to go to the quidditch dinner even though he had said no repeatedly. All except her. She immediately could see how nervous he was and reassured him that it was okay to go. There would be plenty of other times, she said. Jasper hoped there would be but with this new information arising he wondered...

Later at dinner, Jasper was talking to the twins about a topic in science that Gifford and Jonathan were interested in (however Jon always liked talking about matter and only matter). Jasper was explaining that chemistry and potions were both pretty similar classes and that if Gifford ever wanted to try it out, he should get one of those kid friendly chemistry kits.

"Quinn will probably know where to get one, yeah?" Jonathan asked.

Gifford nodded. "I think so."

"You can blow things up!" put in Dorothy.

Jasper let out a sigh. "Kid friendly is the key word." Although, knowing her, Dorothy would probably figure out a way to make anything considered kid friendly a hazard.

"Why is matter everything?" asked Jonathan.

"Jon, stop asking that question," Gifford complained. "It's always about matter with you!"

"Well, I like matter, do you have a problem with it?"

"Yeah, I do!" Gifford exclaimed. "Because you always misuse the word, it's stupid!"

"You're stupid!"

Jasper sighed as the two brothers continued to argue about matter. Matter! He wondered if Harry ever regretted teaching them about it. Jasper wondered what exactly purebloods learned before Hogwarts. He was about to ask when he noticed Christopher passing by, a bookbag so full that it was overflowing. That was something Jasper never thought he would see, but it was his OWL year. He said goodbye to the Puffs and made his way to follow him hoping to ask him a few questions about Operation Pygmy Puff.

He exited the Great Hall quickly only to see no Christopher in sight. How had he disappeared so fast? He sighed, disappointed and was about to try to go to the Ravenclaw common room to seek him out when he saw someone sitting dejectly on the stairs.

Jasper stood there,awkwardly, unsure of what to do. His mind went back and forth from doing what he had set out to do and staying and checking to see if the person was okay. He slowly approached the girl knowing that if he just left without asking if everything was alright he'd hate himself for it so he let go of what he had wanted to do to check on her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jasper asked, caution in his voice.

The girl looked up. It was the American seeker. Meg Johnson.

Jasper had not expected it to be her. She had seemed so confident when they had first met, but he remembered her words...about how she was nervous too...maybe she was homesick and Jasper was all too well familiar with that feeling – in his own, little messed up way.

"I...I saw you on the pitch," Jasper said because he was unsure what to say. "You were really good!"

"Thanks."