A Trip to France

Abbey nodded and sipped her water. "I'm a beater for the badgers." she replied proudly. Abbey thought she was one of the best beaters at Hogwarts; this was probably due to the fact that she had been taught to play Quidditch at the age of eight. Her dad was a huge Quidditch fanatic.

"Yeah, I'm excited to try something in France, even though all I got was a salad." Abbey said laughing. "Maybe French salads are different?" she questioned jokingly.

A beater. That was a very dangerous position at points, and she looked no more than 15. He wouldn't say anything, due to the fact he believed that anyone could play it, yet wondered how well she was on the field. He would probably see her actions sometime soon when they headed back to Hogwarts for the next year.

Andrew smiled lightly once she said that she was getting the salad. "I'm pretty sure they all taste the same," he said, his smile still etched onto his face "but probably have been seasoning or something. Seems like a good deal either way!" He didn't get her jokingly sense of tone at first, then realized it afterwords. He wasn't too good around people he didn't know, and it showed it a lot at times like this.

Abbey saw the look on Andrew's face when he first heard she was a beater. She didn't though; many people thought that only boys could play beaters, given the fact that it was one of the most dangerous of the spots on a Quidditch team, and because it required much physical strength. Most of the time people didn't think Abbey was a very good beater because she was on the skinny side and her arms were like toothpicks. But it was her favorite thing to do in Quidditch, and she was actually quite good at it.

She could see that Andrew was awkward when it came to people he didn't know. To lighten up the mood Abbey thought it would be best to maybe ask him a few questions about himself. "So how old are you? Fifteen's my guess." she said smiling.

At first Andrew felt a little awkward, but then began to feel comfortable talking with Abbey, someone he had met a little less than an hour ago. It usually toke him a while to talk to new people everyone once in a while, and this was no exception. But he felt himself begin to calm down, not worrying much about the first impression anymore, which was one of Andrews faults when it came to be social. He tended to overthink things, and it showed.

Andrew felt himself surge back into reality as Abbey asked the question about his age. He said in his regular voice "I just turned 16, but I still get that a lot," he said a smile on his face "How about you? I would have to guess and say maybe 15? Also, how much practice do you have with Quidditch?" At that point, Andrew knew muggles wouldn't even take interest in him, so it seemed safe to talk about wizarding stuff to a mininum.

Abbey smiled. "Sixteen's cool. One more year and you can use magic!" she said, grinning. Abbey personally couldn't wait till the day when she would turn seventeen and be able to use magic outside of Hogwarts. It would be nice to not have to do her chores by hand...

"I'm fourteen. But good guess!" Abbey said, answering Andrew's question. "But I actually get told that I look older than I actually am." Abbey sipped her water and wondered where the waiter was, she was starving. "I guess I've gotten quite a lot of practice with Quidditch." she said. "I was on the team for about two years, and hopefully I'll be returning once term starts again. And my dad taught me Quidditch when I was pretty young, he's a total Quidditch-freak." Abbey laughed, remembering how her dad used to get steamed over the way Quidditch tournaments turned out.

Andrew thought at that moment on how it would feel to use magic freely. Frankly, he already was breaking the law by using it outside of Hogwarts ground, yet no one complained. Most of the spells were just healing and stunning spells, nothing like the Dark Arts. He nodded his head at Abbey and smiled saying "Yeah, I can't wait for when I can use magic...although I have to wait until next April."

He looked back at Abbey and blinked a couple of times when she said her age was fourteen. DHow could she have been a beater at such a young age? The captains usually never allowed underage players for a beater position, so she must've been very good. He almost couldn't wait to play that match when they were versing each other, feeling like he had been seperated from Quidditch way too long.

"Yeah I've already got a couple people for the team," he said, more as a challenge actually. It was a friendly sort of challenge, yet still one. "A lot of them are under 5th years however." He wondered if that was a smart idea, placing people on the list like that. Yet there was hardly enough students, due to the sudden overturn of authority at Hogwarts. "I can't wait 'til our teams play," he stated "I've been dying for a challenge lately."

Abbey smiled. "Well I'm definitely up for the challenge!" she said, raising her eyebrows. She had a natural competitive nature whenever it came to Quidditch. A lot of people doubted her skills, being only fourteen and playing one of the most physically demanding spots on a Quidditch team. But Abbey had never thought for once she wasn't a good player, which usually ended in good results when she played, normally always hitting a target with the bludger.

"I 'm not sure how many people from last year are actually coming back to the team." Abbey said, frowning. "I'm not quite positive I even know who the captain is." Last year it had been Mari, but Abbey didn't know if she was still going to accept the position this year. "I'm pretty sure I can get on the team again. I've been practicing everyday this summer."

Andrew nodded his head, a small smile on his face. He could tell that she was having one of those feelings where the challenge was almost beckoning. Yet he wanted to relax at that moment. He had heard that other interns were signing up for the St. Mungos project and was nervous. He heard that Nick had signed up as well, making him even more nervous. Nick had nearly killed him on several occasions, and didn't feel like working with him. He shook the toughts off his head though and focused on Abbey.

A moment later, the waiter returned with their food, setting both their plates down in front of them. He stared at his plate, not recoginising the type of food. He could not even remember what he had ordered, yet noticed something that looked like a carrot. "Uhmm.." he said staring at the mysterious food.

Abbey waited for Andrew to say something, but instead sipped her water. Right then their food arrived carried on the hands of their French waiter. He placed their glossy white plates in front of them and handed them each silverware before speaking something in fluent French; unfortunately, Abbey hadn't heard any words she recognized. She looked down at her salad, glad it seemed normal enough. It was topped with all of the ingredients included in any American salad, like lettuce, tomatoes, and crotouns, luckily also coming with ranch dressing, her favorite.

Abbey opened her silverware and picked up the fork, digging into her salad as her stomach growled once again. She looked over at Andrew's food and suppressed a giggle, making her choke slightly on her salad. Abbey gasped and took a drink of her water again before coughing and bursting into laughs. "What did you order!?" she gasped. It didn't look like anything Abbey had ever eaten before.

Andrew raised an eyebrow at the food that had been layed out before, staring at it like it was some sort of alien. He had never seen such food before, and lost his appetite. "Well..." he said scracthing his forehead questioningly "I have no freaking idea...I feel less hungry though..." He grabbed the fork and poked the food, causing it to move slightly. Did he order some sort of special or something? It seemed like he had gotten some sort of mystery food, and if he ate it, they would pay HIM just for the laugh.

He looked around, trying to see if anyone else had ordered the same food that he had, noticing no one did. He turned his head back towards the food in front of him and blinked a couple of times. "I will give you 10 bucks if you will eat this..." he said softly, hoping no one else had heard him.