PRANKSTER [1] ↝ C. DIGGORY

seventeen

"Alright, you lot." Oliver said, pacing back and forth down the line of where the rest of the Quidditch team stood, brooms at their sides and awaiting the beginning of what was already set to be a grueling practice. He looked as if he had gone mad, with bits of his short hair sticking out at odd angles and his eyes looking a bit bloodshot, as if he hadn't slept in days. "After the Quidditch match on Saturday, Professor McGonagall gave me some good news that I think you'll all enjoy. Since Slytherin beat Ravenclaw, if we can beat Ravenclaw at the match this weekend, the chances are good that we'd make it into the final against Slytherin."

At Oliver's words, cheers incited from the other six members on the team, eager to go up against the snakes in the Quidditch final, and finally take home the cup for Gryffindor. After all this time Oliver had spent devising and re-devising strategies and having the team practice, and the amount of blood, sweat and tears that were going into the team, they all wanted to see victory for themselves, and knowing that this past season would have been worth it.

As Oliver explained the new strategies and drills he wanted to run during the practice, Clary couldn't help but look over at where Vasantha stood next to her, eyes planted firmly on the ground in front of her instead of looking at Oliver. This came as a shock to Clary, and to her brothers, who were also watching the girl, as Newton's words from earlier rang through her head. That during Christmas, Vasantha and Oliver had seemed to spend every free moment together, but now she avoided all eye contact with him. Even as they took flight, testing out Oliver's new strategy, she never looked directly at the boy, but merely just to the side of him, as if to let him know she was acknowledging his words and his presence but never quite seeing him. Even as the girls headed back to the castle, on their way to do homework in the library, Clary decided not to press the girl for answers just yet, knowing that when the time came, she would talk about it.

"Do you think we've got a chance?" Vas asked as the girls took their seats in the library. "Of beating Ravenclaw?"

"Chang's a good Seeker." Clary admitted in a whisper, glancing back every few seconds to make sure Madam Pince wasn't about to scold the girls for being too loud. "But I think Harry can do it. We just have to hold off Davies, Stretton and Burrow, and make sure we attempt to score in the process. Maybe Fred and George can catch them with a Bludger at some point, give our offense the upper hand."

"Well I'm sure you can distract Stretton, anyhow." Vasantha said with a small chuckle. "Didn't he have quite the thing for you back in third year?"

Clary rolled her eyes, thinking back to the time Jeremy Stretton had been extremely eager to try and persuade her to accompany him to Hogsmeade for a weekend throughout the whole of her third year. Even a harmless prank of tying his shoelaces together didn't sway the boy away from Clary's side. The then-fourth year asked the girl every chance he got, until she finally caved in for the last weekend of the school year.

"Don't remind me." she said, shaking her head. "Don't get me wrong, he was a nice bloke. We went for a Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks, but he's just so... we had nothing in common, that's all."

"Still had your eyes on Cedric even then, did you?" Vasantha asked, causing Clary to groan and put her head down atop her Herbology textbook.

"Nope," Clary groaned. "Nope-ity nope, nope."

"Oh, come off it, Clary." Vas pressed on, eager to finally make her best friend see reason. "You can't deny things are happening with you and Cedric. Usually you'd just prank him and that would be the end of it, but you two have actually spent time together this year, even if Newt isn't around. That's never happened before. So what's happening there?"

"Nothing's happening there." Clary insisted. "We've just managed to actually become friends this year. I don't care what you or Newt have to say about it. He's with Cho, remember?"

"See?" Vasantha asked. "Even Newt's noticed it too."

"Because you two are twins." the redhead concluded. "You basically share a brain. Twintuition, or whatever it's called. Fred, George and I have it too."

"And forget Cho." Vasantha continued. "When was the last time you even saw the two of them together?"

Clary sat back for a moment, thinking back to the last time she saw Cedric and Cho together after one of the Quidditch matches earlier in the year. The last time he'd even mentioned her name was well before Christmas, when he took Clary to the Hog's Head while Cho was off with friends, and that was the only time her name had really come up in conversation. 

"Just because we haven't seen them doesn't mean they don't still see each other." Clary reminded Vasantha. "Cedric and I are just friends, that's all."

"If you say so," Vas said, finally turning to her Herbology homework.

"And what about you and Oliver?" Clary asked then, causing Vas's quill to freeze in midair, the drop of ink falling and splashing onto the table below as the girl tensed up a bit.

"Nothing," Vas said, regaining her motion and putting her quill to the paper, and using her free and to ball up the sleeve of her robes in her fist to wipe the ink off the table. "there's nothing happening with me and Oliver."

At Vasantha's words, Clary knew not to press it any further, deciding that it still wasn't the right time. Instead, Clary turned back to her Herbology book, opening it up to the page about water fungi.

"If you say so."