Quidditch, Darts, and Insufferable Gits

Chapter 2

"I have to tell Irina."

"Not part of the deal," James chimed back in a sing-song voice.

"I'm absolute rubbish at lying, she'll see right through me, Po - "

"James," He interrupted. "My name is James, and you're my girlfriend, so you can't go saying Potter this and Potter that anymore."

"There's no one but us here!" Eleanor protested.

"Might as well practice."

"Fine, you ignorant, obsessive piece of -," The brunette girl spat, her comment trailing off into angry muttering.

"As I was saying, James…" She pronounced the word like it was poison on her tongue, but he grinned nonetheless. "I'm a horrible liar. Irina's my best friend, she'll be able to tell instantly that it isn't real, and she'll be completely peeved that I even tried to lie to her."

"She'll forgive you."

"If I tell her, she can help me sell the story to the school, not to mention that family of yours," She tried.

"No. It wasn't part of the deal, and I'm perfectly capable of helping you tell a perfect lie," James said firmly, propping his chin up on his hand as they slouched in the bleachers, waiting for the rest of their Quidditch team to arrive at the pitch.

"Fine," She glared. "But when your sister, your brother, and all those cousins of yours see right through me before the week is through, I'm not going to have you blaming me for it."

"Fine – but they won't," He grinned at her.

Silence fell; an awkward, unnatural silence for two Seventh Years that were not at all the quiet type. The tense charge between them remained stubbornly in place for the ten minutes they waited together, during which time Eleanor stalwartly ignored all of James' attempts at conversation. She was struggling not to give a sharp-tongued rebuke to his purposefully insulting comment about one of Puddlemere United's signature plays when someone yelled her name.

Eleanor looked up just in time to get a mouthful of hair the color of butter as a shorter girl enveloped her in a hug.

"I heard you got Quidditch Captain, Ellie, congratulations! You've wanted it since you were a little girl, haven't you?" A bubbly voice gushed, but Eleanor had gone stiff in the other Gryffindor's embrace.

"Eleanor? What's wrong, did I say something?" Cynthia Davies asked, pulling back with a worried frown.

Eleanor jerked her head stiffly in her supposed-boyfriend's direction, her face stoic.

"I'm not Captain. He is."

"Oh… Oh. I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to - "

Eleanor didn't say anything to the Fourth Year, who was now staring resolutely at her feet, face flushed with embarrassment.

"Ellie's my Reserve Captain, isn't that right, love?" James said, coming up behind Eleanor and throwing an arm around her shoulder.

The brunette stiffened, itching to duck away and hex him into the next century; instead, she ground her teeth and made a stiff, miniscule nod, replaying a mantra of, "Don't blow it, don't blow it, don't blow it," Over and over in her head.

Mental mantra or not, it took all of the girl's considerable willpower to stop from punching James when he planted a quick kiss on her cheek.

Eleanor hid her clenched fists behind her back, shoulders quaking with the effort not to jerk her wand out of her boot and curse the messy-haired boy half-draped across her shoulders. The fake smile on her face had vanished, and her right cheek felt like someone was holding a burning coal there, then holding her hands back to stop her from scratching at the spot.

Cynthia was openly staring at them, mouth open to reveal perfectly straight, pearly-white teeth. Her cornflower blue eyes were wide and round as she stared at the duo in front of her, completely oblivious to the rest of their teammates coming up behind her.

"Jeez, Cyn, what's up with you?" Lily Potter asked, leading the group of four approaching them.

"James… James and Eleanor - "

"- are dating," Fred finished, smirking. "Where have you been? The whole school's been talking about it since they came to breakfast together this morning. They even ate side by side without Eleanor dumping her cereal on his head."

Cynthia still looked like she'd seen a ghost, but the others were all watching the brunette pair with various levels of curiosity and apprehension. The Gryffindor Quidditch Team was comprised of Eleanor, James, Lily Potter, Fred Weasley, Cynthia Davies, Hugo Weasley, and Ethan Taylor.

Lily was, of course, James' younger sister, a Fifth Year. She served as the team's Seeker, having inherited a short stature and twiggy build from her father's genetics, but she had the pumpkin-colored hair and brown eyes of her Weasley mother. Those same brown eyes, identical to James', were narrowed suspiciously at Eleanor, obviously in disbelief at the rumor of her brother's new girlfriend.

James and Fred, the troublemaking duo, served as the team's beaters; James with the lanky build, the eternally messy dark hair, and Fred with his taller stature, brown eyes and hair, and the darker skin tone he'd inherited from his mother.

The team's Keeper was the freckled, brown-eyed Hugo Weasley, with the ridiculously curly red hair and the massive height he'd inherited from his father. Hugo seemed to take after his father in almost all aspects, but, from what Eleanor had gathered throughout the years, was much more confident than his father before him.

Next came the Chasers; Eleanor, Cynthia, and Ethan. Ethan was a quiet, sandy-haired Sixth Year who rarely spoke at practices and followed his orders to a tee. Cynthia was the daughter of Roger Davies, a former Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, having inherited his good looks. Despite her overbearing father, Cynthia was a very well-liked, cheerful girl, but her experience and skill set was the least out of all the team members – she was the weakest link.

"James, why are we meeting tonight?" Hugo asked, leaning up against the outside wall of their locker room and folding his arms. "This is the second full day back at school. We haven't even started classes yet, much less Quidditch Season."

"Chill, Hugs," James said, ignoring the dark scowl that crossed his cousin's face at the silly nickname. "It's just to get things straightened out to get the year rolling. Ellie here got Reserve badge, which I'm sure nobody has a problem with. Practices are the same as last year, Tuesdays and Thursdays at Six O'clock, I've already got it scheduled.

Pretty much all of Hufflepuff's team graduated last year, so they're stuck with brand new players and reserves. Ravenclaw's got Wilson, and they've always got strategies, but they don't have talent. Slytherin is the only threat this year, especially with Al as their Seeker.

I don't care what we have to do to do it, but we're kicking Slytherin's arse this year, got it?"

A recap, just in case you missed it:

Beaters – Fred Weasley, James Potter (Captain)

Chasers – Cynthia Davies (OC), Eleanor Wood (OC, Reserve Captain), Ethan Taylor (OC)

Keeper – Hugo Weasley

Seeker – Lily Potter

Also, I thought I'd throw out how I imagine some of the characters… Hailee Steinfeld is obviously Eleanor, and I imagine Skandar Keynes with a bit more muscle as James. Roshon Fegan is more or less how I imagine Fred, and a young Karen Gillan is how I see Lily, except for the brown eyes and her hair being a bit more orange. Logan Lerman with greener eyes is how I see Albus. As for the others, just use your imagination. ALSO, there is a POLL on my profile about chapter length, I'd love it if you'd vote! Reviews are also LOVED! :D