After classes, but before dinner

---

Chloe walked on to the pitch, a confident gleam in her eye. "Come on, Luca. I wanna see what you've got!" She called, with a smile. This might be her favorite place in Hogwarts. It was amazing, and perfect for practicing, and always open, and just, ugh. The best place. The sky looked like it was threatening rain, and it was cold, but not too cold. A little above freezing. This was her favorite weather to fly in. It was cold, and prevented you from being over heated, and you rarely sunburned. Even if it did rain, it'd be still be good.

Under her arm she held her Quaffle, and on her shoulder sat her broom. Mommy dearest desided that she still deserved some of the family money, even if she was a witch, and would send her a variety of muggle items, as well as some money. Well, she'd get that changed over to galleons and boom, shopping days appeared. She had a good enough broom, and a great quaffle. She didn't have the whole quidditch set. She didn't need it. Just a quaffle.

Chloe kicked off the ground on her broom, hovering, and looking down on Luca. He was about the age of John, but not a little pompus git. That was nice. She had kind of taken him in as a little brother. She could tolerate him. Most of the time. And he let her doodle him when she was bored, so that was good as well. They kind of just worked. And now, he was interested in joining the Quidditch team. Oh boy. She had to see this kid's skills first

Luca trailed after Chloe as she walked onto the Quidditch pitch, a bright smile plastered on his face. He loved flying and when he had expressed interest in perhaps joining the Quidditch team (if she deemed him good enough) he was ecstatic when Chloe offered to give him a lesson and see what skills he had. She was the Quidditch captain, so to say he was just a little nervous wouldn’t be a lie. Sure, they knew each other well and had a comfortable friendship, but Luca wanted her to be honest about his skills and not just say nice things because they were friends.

It was cold outside, the chilly air making his cheeks and nose turn a slight shade of pink. Luca followed Chloe who had a Quaffle under her arm and her broom on her shoulder. They had borrowed one of the schools brooms since Luca didn’t have one with him. He had one at home, but he didn’t feel the need to bring it to school since he didn’t really get the chance to fly very often. If he did get on the Quidditch team, he’d have to get his parents to send it over so he could use that instead of the old one he had in his hand now. 

"Come on, Luca. I wanna see what you've got!"

Luca smiled at Chloe and nodded his head. “Yeah okay, I’m coming!” He called back, watching as she kicked off of the ground and hovered in the air above. Luca was quite adept at flying and he knew the rules of Quidditch, he just never really thought he could be on the team. He was quite light so he was quick, but he wasn’t the strongest thrower there was. His family thought flying was an important skill to have, so Luca learnt how to fly a bit before going to Hogwarts.

He mounted the school broom and kicked off the ground, hovering next to Chloe and smiling at her. “Okay, what do we do now?” He asked, glancing up at the clouds above them. He hoped it wouldn’t rain, he didn’t want to be soaked to the bone at the end of this.

She watched his nervous glance at the sky, and smiled. Chloe was in a good mood today! It was a good day! Smiles came easier, and they were good things. "Don't worry, Hayes. If it rains, it rains. But with my help, you'll be so sweaty it'll feel good." She laughed, tossing the ball without warning. "Always be ready." She said, when the ball left her hands. They needed a chaser on the team, and so, she'd be testing him today mostly for chaser abilities. Chaser was an easy roll to play, but it was easily, the most crucial part of the game. Maybe that was only her own take on it, being a Chaser.

She flew over to the hoops on one end. "We're doing a simple practice today. All you've got to do is get that red ball past me. Throw it into one of these hoops, and you'll get a point. If I block it, I get a point. Whoever gets more points wins. Or something." She shook her head. "I don't really know. I'm coming up with this on the spot." Chloe rolled her neck. "Just get the ball through the hoops."

She was playing Keeper. Chloe wasn't much of a keeper at all, but she was going to try. She was light on a broom, and was able to make quick movements back and forth. She didn't have much experience playing Keeper. Realistically, she should have gotten Norling down here to help Luca, but she didn't want to bother Norling. He was busy. This was more fun too. She never got to play Keeper. And honestly? She didn't know how horrendous she'd be.

Luca laughed at Chloe’s comment about the rain. He didn’t mind if it rained, but he’d prefer it not to. It was already cold enough and if it started raining then he’d just get colder. Luca didn’t really like the cold, but he’d put up with it if he had to. Such as in a time like this. He wanted to show that he was good enough to be on the team, and complaining about the weather was not going to score him any points in his favour.

Not realising that Chloe was going to throw the Quaffle, Luca fumbled a bit but caught it anyway. It wasn’t the most graceful of catches and he laughed a bit when he realised how shocked his face must’ve been from the sudden action. But, if he was going to be on the team, he’d need to be ready for any situation, like Chloe said.

Luca smirked at Chloe when she explained what they were going to be doing. “You better be ready Harris,” He said loudly so she could hear. Tossing the ball a few times in the air to get a feel for it, Luca nodded his head and moved forward towards the hoops where Chloe was hovering. He tossed the ball, with some force, but probably not enough to get it past the girl. It went in the direction he aimed for, but it wasn't nearly fast enough. He knew it was a bad throw, but he was a bit nervous and he hadn’t really thrown a Quaffle before. It was oddly shaped and was a bit awkward to hold, so hopefully he’d just get better in time. “That was a practice one!” He called, shaking his head slightly and laughing.

[1]Chloe hovered by the hoops, watching as Luca got used to the Quaffle. She remembered the first time she held her Quaffle. It was awkward, and sort of heavy. She couldn't really get used to it for a while, but now, now she flew with it like a pro. Now it was her baby. Now it was one of her favorite items. It just took time to get used to.

So say she expected Luca to get the ball through the hoop on the first try would be a lie. Chloe knew he'd be a diamond in the rough at this point. But that could all change. She dove after the ball that had fallen a little short. She knew Luca had flown before, which was comforting, and he'd get it down. Chaser was tough to play. She picked up the ball mid air, flying back up, and tossing it back to him with a smile. "It's alright, give it another try. It's a bit tricky, but you'll get the hang of it." She flew to block the left hoop, purposefully leaving the middle hoop open. She had made it too hard in the beginning.

"After this we'll try some passing down and up the field, okay? Half the game is scoring, and the other half is passing, or, well, for a chaser it is." She momentarily lost her balance, as she tried to right herself. She wasn't the best at staying still on a broom. She was always moving, and staying still was hard enough. She righted herself finally, with a smile.

1.	I'm really sorry! I've had a crazy past few days, sorry this too so long to get you a reply!!

Luca knew it would take a little while to get used to the Quaffle, it was heavier than he expected and the shape was a bit awkward to handle. After spending a bit of time playing around with the ball, Luca was sure he’d get the hang of it soon enough. If so many people could handle it with such skill then it couldn’t be too hard.

The Quaffle fell short and Chloe was quick to retrieve it, tossing it back to Luca. “I’m sure if I practice some more, I’ll be much better,” He replied, catching the ball that was thrown to him without fumbling this time. Chloe flew back to the hoops, taking her position in front of the left hoop this time. Luca played loads of Muggle ball games back at home, so he wasn’t foreign to sports involving a ball. But, Quidditch was different. The Quaffle was odd shaped and they were on brooms, making it harder to concentrate solely on the ball part of the game.

Luca nodded when Chloe told him they would be doing some passing when they were done with this component of the practice session. Smiling at the girl as she righted herself on her broom after losing balance, Luca pitched the Quaffle in the direction of the middle hoop, this time with much more force and precision than last time. It wasn’t a perfect throw and it wouldn’t be difficult for Chloe to intercept it, but it was much better than his first try. Luca was a quick learner, and although he didn’t have the strongest throwing arm, he was quite good on a broom.

[1]

1.	No worries, take your time (: