There Will Be Blood

[Zelda Fisk]

@'Rhys Cadwallader'
@'Hannah Echelon'

Zelda was officially one of Hogwarts' new commentators, and she had spent the entire morning elated about it and loudly informing anyone who spoke to her or looked at her for too long. (She wasn't sure if she'd irritated the rest of the cete, but she didn't care. All of them except for Frank got to play Quidditch; she could at least be obnoxious about talking about it.)

The one - very slight! - downside about her new appointment was that she had a co-commentator. She had never actually spoken about Rhys Cadwallader, but he was a fifth year and a Slytherin. That was not a winning combination. That was a murderous combination. Zelda tried not to have much house bias, but she loathed fifth years on principle, and she had not heard anything promising about Rhys from Gwyn. 

She had decided very quickly that she had to assert her dominance.

She caught the Slytherin during her study hour, taking a break from reviewing for Transfiguration to ambush him in the hallway. "Cadwallader!" Zelda shouted down the hallway, waving her arms emphatically at the brown-haired Slytherin. "C'mere!"

  

[Rhys Cadwallader]

If it was even remotely humanly possible for Rhys Cadwallader to become even more of a smug asshole than he already was, it had happened the minute he found out he had been appointed quidditch commentator. It still wasn't quite as good as being prefect, but the prospect having to work with Abby had soured him on the whole thing. Besides, you actually had to sort of care about other people's problems as prefect, and that had never been Rhys's strong suit. Now he just got to be snarky while he watched quidditch, which was really what he always did anyway.

Of course, he had to share his post, but he didn't foresee that being much of a problem. He didn't know much about Zelda Fisk, except that she was always hanging 'round half the Hufflepuff quidditch team. She probably just had a thing for quidditch players and that was why she even pretended to care about the sport; she might even be glad that someone more knowledgeable would be there to cover her. It was a win-win situation, as long as she understood the arrangement.

Rhys had been on his way to Charms, an extra spring in his step, when his co-commentator shouted him down from the other end of the hallway. Rhys couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he lazily closed the distance between them; he supposed that was one way to grab someone's attention, if one was raised in a barn.

"Miss Fisk," he replied pointedly as he approached. "Congratulations on being picked. I daresay that voice of yours will be quite the asset in being heard over the crowd."

  

[Zelda Fisk]

Oh good, they were two sentences into their first ever interaction and Zelda was already sick of him. Miss Fisk. Heard over the crowd. She was trying very hard to keep from wrinkling her nose at the apparently opinionated Slytherin, and just barely managed to refrain - though she could not help raising her eyebrows at him in an 'are you for real?' sort of gesture.

"I try," Zelda said, reverting to the vague cheeful sarcasm that she usually used on frustrating people. "Congratulations as well! I don't believe we've met before -" if they had, she had clearly very determinedly forgotten all about it "- but I'm very good friends with your cousin Gwyneth."

Rhys was probably very good friends with the devil himself, or (more likely) other very ridiculous and very frustrating fifth years.

  

[Rhys Cadwallader]

Miss Fisk’s expression was not lost on Rhys, and he raised a brow right back at her. How disappointing that Gwyneth would be friends with such a boorish girl. Then again, he and Gwyneth had never seen eye-to-eye on much, come to think of it. They were Hufflepuffs after all -- one could only expect so much out of them.

"Lovely," he replied, mimicking her cheerfulness. "I seem to recall Gwyneth being friendly with much of your house team. I suppose you must be, too? It's so rare to see ladies take such an interest in Quidditch."

Not that Miss Fisk was anything remotely resembling ladylike.

@'Cassius Lestrange'

  

[Zelda Fisk]

"You could say I know them pretty well," Zelda said brightly. She was sure that she could get Cadwallader to submit to her through the use of cheerfulness. Soon enough he would be going along with whatever she said, and he wouldn't even know how it happened. Probably.

  

[Rhys Cadwallader]

Ugh. Two minutes talking to her and she was already exhausting. No matter.

"I suppose they've taught you quite a bit about quidditch then!" he replied. "It's so important to be knowledgeable about the sport one's commentating. Of course, I should be more than capable of covering any holes in your understanding," he said pleasantly. At least, as pleasant as he was capable of being.

  

[Zelda Fisk]

Zelda's gaze sharpened. There it was. "I could out-Quidditch you in my sleep, so it shouldn't be a problem," she said, forcibly light and highly confident. Certainly she knew more about Quidditch than an obnoxious fifth year, regardless of her gender. 

  

[Rhys Cadwallader]

"You think so?" Rhys asked, vaguely amused, arching his brows at her impertinence. "I suppose that remains to be seen."

  

[Zelda Fisk]

Bristling with anger, Zelda turned on her heel and stalked off down the hallway. She'd show him.