I'll be Beating You!

((Sure, we'll just do one more practice run with all the players involved. The three chasers will practice different formations, trying to score against Vance while beaters and seeker do their jobs. I think it'd be fun with the whole team, kind of expand on their personalities. That is, if we're worried about character development for NPCs.

BTW, I've been kind of assuming that James is Captain of the team if that's okay with you. Figured I'd better let that be known, since I never actually said anything about it, lol.))

"Huddle up and show me a good game between you guys, then we can leave for the afternoon," Coach announced after Jack had spoken to the Athletic Director.

Feeling energized by the presence of a decent beater on his team, James was ready to take advantage of the raised moral of the team.

"Let's give a performance that not even coach can't criticize," James said to the team at whole, "Maybe he'll let us skip evening practice."

"Now, there's a long shot!" Laurie laughed, clapping his hands together, "Coach's practices are like a religion for him!"

James grinned his agreement, but said nothing. He had a feeling that a skipped practice would be more of a punishment than a reward for Jack, who seemed very excited to be on a broom again.

"Okay, here's the plan," he said, lowering his voice so that it'd be a surprise to coach, "Walsh, Faye, Laurie: You three practice Woollongong Shimmy tactic. That will make you harder for our bludgers to hit, and harder for Vance to keep an eye on you and where the quaffle is. Dyllan and Murphy: use any move you know to hit the chasers, and force them to keep passing the quaffle. Keep the bludgers after the chasers as much as you can. Don't let them drift to far from the target area, and practice the Bludger Backbeat. Makes it harder for the Chasers to know where the bludger is being aimed. Vance: Just stop the quaffle. Try the Double Eight Loop. I'll be practicing the Plumpton Pass. It would be nice if I could learn how to hide that snitch in my sleeve without the ref or other team seeing it. That way the game ends when we want it to end. Suppose I'll practice bringing the Snitch back out of my sleeve without being seen as well, and the easiest way to do that is probably during the Wronski Feint, so I'll be practicing that as well."

James looked at each team member to be sure they understood. Then, with a fist pumping into the air, he signaled to start.

(It is really hard to type when listening to 'Without You' by Eminem. lol)

Jack turned as she noticed the team gravitating around James. She quickly sped towards them, pulling up on her broom handle so that she ended up right between Laurie and Murphy in the little huddle they had going on.

She listened patiently to James, and it really began to sink in. She was playing Quidditch professionally. Kids at Hogwarts would put up posters that had her and Murphy spiking Bludgers around; she would be playing against some of her role models; she was going to be paid to play Quidditch.

"Maybe he'll let us skip evening practice." Jack looked a tad shocked, taking James seriously. She glanced at Murphy, muttering, "That doesn't happen does it?" Jack knew the Falcons well, and she knew their opponents. Jack would never think they had practiced enough.

Murphy just laughed, shaking his head. "Maaaan," he said. He tuned back in to James as did she. She grinned as he mentioned the Backbeat. He must've noticed her do the move earlier. She made a note to tease him later.

James signaled the beginning and Jack told Murphy, "I take high?" Murphy nodded, and dove down, while she pulled up, circling just above the level the chasers typically remained at, looking for openings. She dove down as she saw Faye attempting to line herself with Laurie for a pass, swinging her bat a Bludger crossing her path. Murphy had noticed Faye too and had already sent a Bludger her way, but she managed to dodge it. She did not manage to dodge Jack's and the ball hit her square in the back, causing her to drop the Quaffle she had just caught.

Jack zoomed past her, targeting Vance again.

Ignoring the rest of the game, only keeping an ear out for the tell-tell whistle of a bludger, James soared through the Quidditch pitch, his eyes peeled for the Snitch. He hoped to see it near the ground, because it would be easiest to pretend that he had missed at a snatch for the Snitch.

A yell from Vance brought a small smile to James' face. The keeper wasn't used to being targeted in practice, and he enjoyed that the man would be brought down a peg or two. He was more of a braggart than James himself was, and that was saying something.

James paused in his search for the Snitch to get a glimpse of how the team was doing. Laurie passed to Walsh, who was hit by a bludger. She dropped the quaffle and it was picked up by Faye, who went in for the goad, while the other two sacrificed themselves to a couple of bludgers to give her a clear shot for the goal. Faye shot, but Vance saved it by hanging off his broom with one hand and kicking the quaffle. Laurie did a very quick loop-de-loop, however; and snatched the quaffle before it had gone too far. He passed to Faye while hanging upside down, and she made another shot. Vance hadn't been able to get back on his broom in time, and wasn't able to block that goal.

"You'll need to work on that, Vance!" James called, relishing the look of utter contempt he received in reply.

Circling around the goalposts, James' eyes searched for Jack and Murphy to see how the two beaters were faring before resuming his search for the Snitch.

Jack zoomed from Vance, flying right past the Chasers, who seemed to have fallen into a steady rhythm. Jack could appreciate it more, had it not been her job to interrupt that rhythm. She passed Walsh and then passed the Bludger, throwing her arm back and glancing over her shoulder again, making sure her Backbeat was successful. Murphy hit another towards Laurie, and Jack made a quick swing for Faye, but she had already shot. She quickly rolled away and Jack turned, re-evaluating.

She glanced back in time to see the Quaffle sink into the posts. James was on it though, harshly criticizing Vance. Jack dove, spotting a Bludger, and decided to add her own disappointment to the fray. She swung her bat in a motion akin to swinging your arm while bowling, she sent the Bludger spiraling up towards Vance. She darted past Murphy, hurrying to take on the other Bludger.

Vance saw the bludger just in time to dodge it, then turned his attention back to the Chasers, his eyes following the quaffle's every move.

James finally spotted the Snitch, and his tunnel-vision kicked in. This was the most dangerous time for him, as he paid no attention to bludgers or other players. This was between him and the Snitch.

James dove for it, as it was fluttering near the bottom of the goal post where Vance was flying as sentry. James snatched it, making sure to swing his right arm towards the left, so that he could deposit the Snitch up his left sleeve. After completing this maneuver as quickly as possible, James rose into the air, putting on an air of irritation; pretending to have missed the Snitch.

He figured coach had seen it from the stands, but audience wasn't able to reinforce rules. Only the referee and the other players mattered, and as there was no referee....

James watched the other players, trying to decifer whether or not they had seen him hide the Snitch or not.

A pleasant ache was setting into Jack's Beating arm, and she felt a surge of excitement over it. She missed that feeling. She missed that ache that told her she was pushing herself. She was a bit out of practice- she could only do so much hitting around a long Bludger and enchanted rocks. She knew she would get into a rhythm and then push herself again, and then fall into a rhythm, and then push. Jack was never fully satisfied with her performance.

Jack saw James go for a dive and she turned around, watching him with squinted eyes. He appeared to miss the Snitch- which was strange. He had been right on top of the Snitch and she knew his game. He rarely, if ever, lost a Snitch that close. Jack narrowed her eyes thoughtfully and then kicked forward, deciding to find out.

She pulled up to Murphy and hissed, "Take James from the right. Have you ever played a Pong play?"

He looked at her with confusion.

Jack said, "We always did it at Hogwarts, as a drill. Two beaters hit Bludgers toward a target and then ride alongside the other flyer, hitting the Bludgers back and forth between each other, so that the Bludgers never stop and the flyer is constantly dodging." She figured it would shake James up and give Jack a chance to figure out why he had missed the Snitch.

"Let's do it!" Murphy said, speeding after a Bludger to knock it towards James. Jack did the same, speeding after him and bunting Murphy's Bludger back to him. She pulled up next to James, a few feet separating them, and she gripped the broom tightly with her knees, hitting another Bludger. Soon, the two Bludgers were in a rhythm of ricocheting between Murphy and her own bat.

"What in the world?" James thought to himself as Jack and Murphy ganged up on him, "Did they see? ...or are they just guessing?"

James began to dip and weave on an invisible roller-coaster as he began to dodge the bludgers. He kept the sleeve in his left hand tightly gripped, so as not to lose the Snitch. A swift breeze raised the hairs along his neck, telling him that he had barely been missed by a bludger. He suddenly braked, kicking his right foot out to deflect one bludger, but found himself upside down again to avoid the second. James slipped, and in his effort to keep from falling, his left sleeve shook loose and the Snitch flew out. Cursing, James dropped his legs and snatched for the Snitch, hanging from his broom, in a very vulnerable position, with one arm. James managed to catch the Snitch....barely.

Murphy and Jack's faces morphed into a strange mixture of pleasure and concentration, both too focused on executing the move to show much emotion, but much too pleased with the success thus far to keep from looking proud.

James slipped, and the concentration broke. Their Bludgers rocketed towards each other. Murphy yelped as it crushed his fingers against his bat, and Jack threw up her arm and hit the oncoming Bludger from the fray, spiraling it back towards the Chasers and away from the three of them. She twisted around and saw the Snitch in James' hand. She shook her head, smirking. "You sneak," she said.

The whistle sounded. The Snitch had been caught. The Chasers and Vance whirled around to see what had been done, while Murphy shook his fingers from pain.

James roared with laughter as Murphy shook his crushed fingers, trying to throw the pain out of them.

"Pierced by your own swords!" he crowed, delighted that Murphy had been hit basically by his own attack.

James turned his hand palm up to look at the Snitch.

"I'd say that was a success then," he said as he closed his fist back over the Snitch, "aught to come in handy if we need some more time to score points in the game."

"Shall we hit the showers, then?" James asked the team in large, "We can all go out for a drink afterwards to congratulate our new team mate."

There was a communal outburst of agreement as everyone began to sink to the ground.

"You ladies are more than welcome to join us in the showers!" Laurie piped up, grinning goofily.

When Faye and Walsh shook their head, and gave Laurie a look of disdain, he turned to Jack.

"How 'bout it, Jack? You wouldn't mind gettin' your back back washed by 'ol Glen, would ya?"

James groaned in sympathy to Laurie's plight. The man had just done something akin to poking a sleeping dragon in the eye.

Jack smirked at James. "I had a feeling you were up to no good." Jack jerked her chin at Murphy. "Tell your fingers to bear their pain with pride- they sacrificed themselves for a just cause." She grinned.

James dismissed the practice and she hung in the air a tad longer than the others, considering the idea of hanging around and continuing. However, James seemed to be honoring her with a post-practice drink, leaving her no choice. She followed the team down and grabbed her duffel bag, an old Gryffindor one, putting her bat away in it. Showers. Well, she hadn't brought a change of clothes. She figured once she got into the changing rooms she could summon a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a sweater.

When she tuned back in to the conversation around her, her ears welcomed in the opportunity to let her sunny personality shine. She looked at Laurie, blinking once. She glanced around and a wry smile formed on her face. "Do you guys want to hear a riddle?"

She glanced around. "Once there was a Quidditch Chaser. He had a loose tongue and he went up to the chemically unstable Beater to offer himself to her. What he didn't realize is she had access to fire-breathing dragons, and explosive fireworks. One ended up in bed with him and one ended somewhere he had to have surgically removed. Want to guess which?"

Murphy roared with laughter and Jack grinned, pulling her duffel bag on her shoulder. Walsh clapped a hand on her shoulder, giggling. "C'mon, I'll show you where the showers are."