Fly High

[John Humphrey-Mavis]

Hogsmeade Weekend, Oct. 25

Jack had been looking forward to the Hogsmeade Weekend. He had heard about a new shipment of Quidditch goods that had been put up in Quality Quidditch Supplies and wanted to go check it out. He had asked Oliver along on this mission. He also had an ulterior motive in his plans. He wanted to discuss the Frank-Zelda rumor with him and see what the other boy thought. Jack personally thought it was true. Frank and Zelda! He was quite sure they fancied one another. Or it was one sided. Either way, there was some fancying going on within their merry cete of badgers.

"What do you think of it?" He asked, handling one of the newest shipment of brooms. If he liked one well enough, he might buy it. For now, though, he was thinking his old broom was good enough. It served him well and he felt slightly superstitious on what would happen should he get a new one.

@Oliver Trask

  

[Oliver Trask]

The Hogsmeade trip was just what Oliver needed, what with the increasingly dreary weather keeping most of the students cooped up indoors in recent days. And window shopping for Quidditch supplies was one of his favorite ways to spend the trips, never mind that he couldn't dream of affording many of the goods in the new display until he came into his inheritance. One could always appreciate fine craftsmanship regardless of the galleons in their pocket!

Oliver picked up one of the brooms Jack was eying and inspected the weight of it. "Feels a little heavy in the tail, don't you think?" He was mostly used to the older broom his father had bought him when he first made the house team, but liked to think he had some idea of what made a good broom. "The Nimbus over there is more balanced, I thought."

The rest of the cete of badgers had agreed to meet back at The Three Broomsticks for butterbeer later that afternoon, but Jack and Oliver had left the school earlier than the others. "What do you suppose the others are up to?" he asked idly as he picked up a quaffle and passed it from hand to hand. "I thought Zelda would have jumped at the chance to look around here." Though her father would never allow it, Zelda would probably kill for the chance to play quidditch.

  

[John Humphrey-Mavis]

Jack considered Olivers opinion and hummed in agreement. Balancing it midway on his hands, the broom slightly favored its tail end. Walking over to the Nimbus that Oliver had indicated, he did the same balancing on the hand trick and he found Olivers opinion to seemingly be quite correct. Still, none of these brooms were tempting him to a broom change. His old one would serve well enough for years yet.

"Who knows?" He said thought he was thinking about it. "Maybe Frank and Zelda wanted aloooone," he suggested with a slight wag of his brows before laughing to show he wasn't serious. Well, not completely anyway. "If one is to believe what is whispered nowadays."

  

[Oliver Trask]

Oliver raised an eyebrow at Jack, intrigued. He was usually too busy studying or rushing back and forth between clubs and Quidditch to pay much attention to gossip; in fact Jack and Ced were most often his sources for these things, when he cared to know them. Oliver liked to pretend he was above all of that, but, well... he would have to be quite hurt if they had kept something new from him!

“What do you mean?” he asked, glancing around to make sure that neither of the friends in question were around to hear his prying. “You don’t think they fancy each other?” Of any of his little cete of badgers, Zelda was the last person he would imagine having a crush! And Frank had always seemed too busy worrying about his scholarship to care about girls.

  

[John Humphrey-Mavis]

"That is what I heard. And I don't know about you but I could see it happening. Franks a nice lad, I'm sure more girls admire him than we know." As far as he was aware though, Frank was always hard at work with something. But he tended to make time for them. And Zelda. It could definitely be a case of becoming attracted to the girl nearest to him, he was sure. Jack thought of his own crush before stopping that with his next question.

"What if it is true, though? It would be odd."

  

[Oliver Trask]

"Odd is right! Like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs," Oliver joked, setting the quaffle back in its spot on the display.

He scrunched up his nose, considering the possibility of the thing. Zelda had made it known a long time ago that she would never marry. Could she have changed her mind? More to the point, was Frank really captivating enough to be the one to do it? Not to insult Frank, he was indeed nice enough. It was certainly a more likely choice than, say, Percy. But still, he would have pegged Zelda as falling for someone more strong-willed like herself. Besides, her father would probably never allow her to marry someone from a lower class, no matter how nice he was... that train of thought hit a little too close to home, so he promptly derailed it. Maybe it was one of her new little rebellions?

"Maybe Frank likes her, but I don't think she likes him back," Oliver said finally. "He's a good friend to all of us, of course, but I feel like Zelda would want someone more... eccentric, you know? If she ever fancied anyone at all. She's always on about knights in the stories -- granted, she's usually the lady knight, but still." A new, terrifying thought occurred to him. "What if things get... weird between them? If one doesn't fancy the other, I mean. Would they stop being friends?" Oliver couldn't imagine a worse outcome than their little cete breaking up over something as foolish as fancying each other. It simply couldn't be allowed!

  

[John Humphrey-Mavis]

"Maybe but sometimes it can't be helped who we like, I think," he considered. After all, for him, his suitable bride that would be met with the most acceptance by his family was bound to be at least a couple of years below him. Certainly not a yearmate, or even a year or two below him, which were currently the females that tended to catch his eye. Pity, really. There was at least a girl or two in his own year that he wouldn't mind having to be married to when the time came. Oh well, nothing that could be done about it.

Jack gave Olivers question some thought before making his reply. "No, I don't think that would be enough to break years of friendship," he assured with absolute certainty.