(5:30pm)

Another long week finished and, with the few waning hours of daylight, it was time to get some practicing done.  Team tryouts were tomorrow.  Sasha had managed a few warm up practices since the summer but he still wanted to get one last one in.  Especially given the debacle of the Quidditch Cup, Sasha figured he had to really impress to maintain his spot as chaser.  Of course, given the massive game-ending fouls his fellow chasers (and beaters) had achieved, he couldn't be that bad off. 

After classes and a quick salad, Sasha had changed into some muggle sweats and had set out for the quidditch pitch.  With the box of practice balls hovering in front of him, Sasha trekked out of the Ravenclaw locker room with his Cleansweep Aero over his shoulder and a pair of trainers in his free hand, Sasha set the crate of balls along the edge of the field and set himself down in the grass.  With his broom propped against the field wall next to him, Sasha slipped his loafers of and started tugging his feet into the trainers. 

There were voices coming from the far side of the field, near the door leading into the locker rooms but Sasha paid it little mind.  The pitch was open for free practice this evening and, between his full schedule of classes and his additional studies, his opportunities to sneak down to the field had been minimal.  Others could practice on their own if they wanted.  If they were other Ravenclaws, they could practice together, even. 

But, unfortunately, as the two figures came into view, to Sasha's disappointment, they weren't Ravenclaws.  Hopefully, though, they'd leave him to his own devices.  It was a large pitch, after all.  Determined to keep a low, quiet profile, he turned his attention back to lacing up his trainers. 

It was, indeed, not a pair of Ravenclaws. Broom slung casually over one shoulder, Erin strolled with Callum toward the pitch. Tryouts were coming up and Erin wanted to practice something new this time- he wanted to be Seeker. As for Callum, well, Erin didn't know him that well, but he wasn't half-bad company.

It was just their luck that they ran into Sasha on the way there. Sasha, the prefect, the only other person currently on the pitch. Erin knew him, of course. He spotted the other boy as he bent to tie his trainers and started to grin. He glanced toward Callum, canting his head to one side, still grinning, like he was asking a silent question or including him in his amusement. In this case, it was both.

Callum had always been a fan of quidditch, especially of playing beater when practicing with friends or when he was goofing off at home on his broom. Then the position of beater had opened up on his house team and Callum had decided that it was just the position for him, thank you very much.

He had been in the common room, broom in hand when he had spotted Erin Harper heading int he same direction. Harper wasn't the sort he could pal around with on a daily basis- wasn't pure enough, really, to be in Callum's (very small) inner circle. Still, he was decent enough, and Callum saw now harm in joining him on his trek to the Quidditch field.

They strolled onto the field, and naturally it couldn't be devoid of others. But, Callum supposed as he recognized the other figure, at least it was someone who might prove to give the both of them a bit of entertainment. The wicked grin that Harper tossed in his direction seemed to agree with him. "Oh look!" Callum called out to his friend, much louder than was necessary. "It's Schlagenweit. All by his ickle lonesome. What do you suppose, Harper, causes people to have to come out to practice quidditch all by themselves?" He arched an eyebrow, and barely paused before providing an answer to his own question. "Oh! That's right! It's because people like Schlagenweit don't have friends. Because no one wants to be friends with a nancy boy." He chortled loudly at his own incredibly lame joke. Always the fall back for Callum- call another boy a sissy or a nancy. Fergie and Sasha had to be sick of it by now.

"Know what the perfect solution is to get rid of a nancy boy?" Callum asked Erin, still speaking incredibly loud. "Three flushes. That's how I got rid of Amherst!"

Keep your head low and maybe they won't see you.  Sasha repeated to himself, keeping his gaze fixed low on the tops of his trainers.  Of course, all hope of actually peaceably sharing the field had formally and thoroughly been dashed.  There was no hope of that.  He'd just have to come back later.  Or hope what he remembered from last year would be enough to get back on the team.  Right now, his only goal was staying low, not being noticed and getting back to the common room unscathed. 

But, he'd always suspected - or, perhaps, simply imagined - students like Knight and Harper were very much like the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal.  Huge, (though, at least for the last year or so, many of them were shorter than Sasha.  Not necessarily smaller - just shorter), brutish, cruel and vicious.  But, so mind-boggingly stupid that they might believe if you can't see them, they can't see you.  On many points, they seemed to fit the description quite well.  Whether avoiding eye contact would really be sufficient camouflage, though, might be too optimistic.  And, of course, this was the type of observation one kept to themselves.  Though, most of them were pureblooded enough to never grasp the reference.

The amount of attention Sasha had payed his shoe had, quite thoroughly, bypassed the level of obsessive.  And, when Knight's voice carried across the field, Sasha became painfully aware that his efforts had proved ineffective.  Which, obviously, left one option. 

Sasha pushed himself to his feet and took hold of his broom and school loafers and, his head still low, started for the Ravenclaw locker room.  His long stride carried him across the field as quickly as it could manage while remaining in a walk.  He didn't want to run - doing so would probably just prompt them to take chase.  He knew better than to respond to any of Callum's insults.  After all, he was used to them.  And, it wasn't like logic would work, anyway. 

But, he couldn't avoid flinching and grimacing sympathetically when Callum mentioned flushing Fergie.  "That's so crude," he said, shaking his head.  There was, however, an obvious shift in his path.  Perhaps, the locker room wasn't the best refuge.  Sasha had learned quickly enough in his first year to only use the bathrooms in Ravenclaw tower.  But, retreating to the castle meant going through the exit.  Which lay beyond the newcomers. 

"Look.  I'm sorry," Sasha offered.  It seemed unlikely the apology would appease them.  But, it was better than saying anything that'd anger either of them.  "I was just - I can practice ... another time."

Erin, who had no problem with nancy boys if they were tough enough (and Sasha Schlagenweit wasn't, not to his mind, only some meek-mannered little twat), responded with another grin and a low purr, "Oh, no, I'm sure ickle Sasha can be lots of fun." He raised his voice to carry, laughing, "Wet or not!" Personally, Erin thought flushing Schlagenweit was a bit of a waste. Knight had a very nice grasp of maliciousness and spite, but he wasn't very imaginative. Erin would have fun no matter the outcome, but there were so many things they could do with the Ravenclaw first. After all, above all, Erin detested boredom.

Lazily, he threw a leg over his broom and shot across the grass to hover in front of Sasha, his entire body swinging sideways  for a moment with the suddenness of the stop before the broom reinstated its own solid sense of gravity. He leaned forward on his broom, propping an elbow up, chin in hand, as he stared at Sasha. Usually a few inches shorter than the prefect, on his broom Erin could look him in the eyes. Which he did, rather intently. Now he was between Sasha and the Ravenclaw locker room, while Callum still stood between Sasha and the castle.

Erin smiled. It was actually a nice smile, and rather jarring considering the situation. "Come on, Schlagenweit. Don't you want to practice with us?" He wasn't far away enough for Callum to have trouble hearing him. Hopefully Knight'd catch on. "We promise to play nice! 'Cepting for accidents, of course."

What was it with Schlagenweit? Callum didn't understand why the boy was always apologizing, trying to back out of everything. A real man would stand up for himself and fight people head on. That was what Callum did, and as such, he thought that was what everyone else ought to be doing as well! "Oh no! Please! Don't go on account of us!"

The Slytherin watched as his housemate hopped on his broom, skidding to a definite halt in front of the Ravenclaw. "Play nice?" Callum asked. He didn't intend to play nice at all. Surely Erin and Sasha both knew this. Still, it wasn't as though he could just look at Sasha and announce he was going to pulverize him without some sort of reaction he didn't want to deal with. "Yeah, we'll play nice."

He grinned evilly when Harper mentioned accidents. Oh, accidents could be quite fun! Especially in relation to quidditch! "We'll even be careful, to avoid causing any accidents." Lies, naturally. But what was a Slytherin if he wasn't a liar? All of them had mastered the art. Callum just didn't seem to be able to lie and be believed.

Callum mounted his own broom, and flew over to where they were, stopping on the other side of Sasha. "C'mon, Schlagenweit! You afraid to play with us or something? Don't want to be schooled? Is that what it is? You're just afraid we'll show you what a pathetic player you really are? How rich would that be? Two against one shouldn't be so hard, should it? And if you don't want to be at a disadvantage, I can be the bigger person here, and offer to play on your team." Callum grinned again. If he played on Sasha's team he definitely wouldn't be helping him out any at all. Surely the Ravenclaw boy was smart enough to figure that out on his own.

There was no doubt in Sasha's mind that these two boys' idea of fun was very different from his own.  It mattered little that, under normal circumstances, Quidditch could have been a mutual interest.  But, he knew their offers for fun had nothing to do with friendly practice or scrimmages - they were merely taunting him.  But, he also knew it was unlikely they'd be content to let him sneak away. 

A waft of air tugged at his sweats as one of the boys - Harper, it became apparent - rushed by on his broom and hovered between Sasha and the locker room.  Sasha immediately stopped and turned but Knight was still behind him.  "I don't want any trouble," Sasha told Knight, after the other encouraged him, mockingly, to stay.  He was fully aware it was probably a pointless statement.  Harper's voice drew his attention back to the Slytherin. 

"I'm not an idiot," Sasha said as both boys taunted him, shaking his head slightly.  When had they ever 'played nice' with him?  "No.  I don't want to practice with you.  I don't need to learn to cheat."  Which, after all, was what Slytherins did best, wasn't it?  Playing nice wasn't in their repertoire. 

"Leave me alone," Sasha demanded, keeping his head low as he tried to step around Knight towards the entrance of the Quidditch pitch.  "The pitch is yours." 

"Play nice? Yeah, we'll play nice." Oh, for Merlin's sake. Although most of his attention was on the boy in front of him, Erin spared an extremely dry, extremely exasperated look in his housemate's direction. He'd forgotten what a horrible liar Callum Knight was. No sense of subtlety at all. And if Erin thought that, then Knight had to be really bad.

Well. Erin supposed he made up for it with the rock-hard muscles and the winning smile and all. Not that Schlagenweit would be able to see such sterling attributes though, would he? Erin grinned and turned his attention back to the prefect.

Then, of course, the other boy had to go and insult his house. Supposedly it was meant just for the two of them, but Erin had heard that sort of thing directed at Slytherin long enough to recognize the intent. His eyes narrowed. "Cheeky little thing, aren't you. We don't need to cheat," he said coldly, and tightened his grip with both his hands and his thighs as his broom slowly rose.  Then he flipped, surveying Sasha from upside down, his blond hair falling away from his face. " 'S not our fault all our competition's bloody boring. We'd beat you any day, Sasha darling." He wiggled his pinky finger at Sasha, a motion completely indecipherable to absolutely anyone who wasn't in his mind at the moment, where he was thinking something vaguely along the lines of his having more Quidditch talent in his little finger than a twat like Schlagenweit had on his entire team.

Schlagenweit turned to go, and Erin watched him idly, presuming that Knight would stop him. As if either of them were going to let him leave now. "Oh, noooo. We wouldn't dream of depriving you of the field; it's not like you'll ever get another opportunity to feel like a winner. Although I think maybe someone should tell you at this point that outsmarting bludgers is really not that difficult to do." 

"Cheat?" Callum repeated in mock offense. "I would never dream of such a thing as cheating! Especially not in such a respectable sport as quidditch." It was lies, of course. If Callum could figure out a way to cheat in house games, he definitely would. Problem was that he would get found out and not only would he be punished, but his whole house would suffer, and he couldn't betray his house like that. Callum's since of right and wrong was very touch and go sometimes, and his code of honor was entirely unfathomable by anyone other than him.

He chortled loudly when Erin called Sasha darling. He had a feeling Sasha really was a darling. There were far too many non-manly boys in his school if he said so himself. Really, it wasn't difficult to live up to the standards of being a man. In actuality there was nothing other than his non-confrontational attitude that Callum found particularly offensive. (Minus the questionable blood line and house placement, of course.)

Callum was slightly disappointed that Sasha wanted to leave instead of hang out and prove himself. He wasn't even willing to fight for respect or to prove his house wasn't inferior? "Really Schlagenweit, where is your sense of loyalty?" Callum asked. "You'd willingly walk off this field just because a couple of Slytherins want to play a little game with you?" He shook his head sadly. "What is with people these days, Harper? They don't even want to fight for their honor! To think, I thought Ravenclaw was at least tolerable. I suppose I was wrong. Unless, of course, they're not all as spineless as Schlagenweit here. He might as well go dig a hole and hide in it, just like the badgers."

He flew in a few circles around Sasha, laughing quietly as he did so. "Ickle Birdie is afraid to play wiff the big bad snakes," Callum taunted in a baby-like tone. "Don't worry, Sassy, we aren't going to kill you. If we did that, then we wouldn't have anyone to torture when we were bored, would we? Really, it does get old bothering Amherst all the time. Even that fop can take it like a man. I didn't think it was possible to be less of a man than he..."

Any hopes that Sasha would be able to enjoy a peaceful, relaxing evening on the quidditch pitch after a long week had been thoroughly and completely dashed.  Now, it was just about salvaging what he could - which meant getting away with a minimum of damage.  He didn't trust either of these Slytherins - they'd given him very little reason to trust them. 

"I'm not cheeky," he said, glancing between Harper and Knight.  He tried to force himself to look up at the blond Slytherin but couldn't force himself to do so.  The best he managed was to look off to the left of Harper's ear at a Hufflepuff banner ruffling on the wall of the pitch.  Perhaps now would be a good time to keep his tongue - he knew there was no way he could say anything without getting in more trouble but ... well ... Slytherins cheating was a sore point after the last quidditch cup.  The cup would have been there's if it hadn't been for Ava and Vienna's humiliating cheating at the game.  Despite his better judgment, Sasha said, quietly, "but, we wouldn't know if you can win without cheating." 

"We'd beat you any day, Sasha darling."

Sasha flinched away, slightly, from the wiggled pinky and color rose, briefly in his face as he tried to ignore Knight's chortling.  "That's inappropriate," Sasha said, referring to the rather out of place and unnecessary form of address.  "But, why not just leave me alone to practice so you can prove that?"  Would the reasoning work?  Probably unlikely.  He hesitated, only briefly, in his retreat, though, looking up at Harper.  He knew the boy's offer to let him continue using the field was just the Slytherin toying with him.  Shaking his head, he turned to continue if retreat.   

But, Knight blocked his path.  "I'm not an idiot," he said.  "You don't want to play a game.  I - just leave me alone."  He shook his head - he didn't understand what 'honor' there might be in fighting over a quidditch pitch.  It made no sense.  "We have different definitions of honor," Sasha said.  "I'm not going to fight you," he said, moving to continue towards the entrance, doing his best to ignore the Slytherin circling him.  Sasha cringed, slightly, sympathetic of anyone being put in a position to 'take anything like a man' from Knight.  Oddly, if his step-father wasn't a muggle, Knight and Gerhard would probably get along.  "You're ... you're crude," Sasha said, shaking his head.

"What is with people these days, Harper? They don't even want to fight for their honor!" "Shame," Erin agreed mock-sympathetically, never taking his eyes off Sasha. "Despicable. Really... despicable." Considering Erin would fight for any number of things having nothing to do with his honor, and some number of things having nothing to do with anything at all, this was not difficult for him to agree with.

Knight was flying circles around Schlagenweit while they talked, and Erin could see it out of the corner of his eyes without turning his head or letting his gaze stray. He approved of this gesture. It put him vaguely in mind of a vulture circling over its meal, and less vaguely in mind of someone who handled their broomstick well. That was something Erin could admire, no matter who the person was. He flipped upright again to join his housemate, both of them circling Sasha now, although Erin's orbit was considerably lazier, almost taunting in his deliberately slow pace.

Now, so far Erin had kept his temper. Sort of stupid to lose it to a wimp like Schlagenweit, wasn't it? But the prat insulted Erin's team, and since Erin was a part of it, he took it as a personal insult against his own flying as well. He was in Sasha's face so quickly he nearly knocked the other boy backward with his broom. "Why don't you find out," he hissed, his grip going white-knuckled on his broom, and wheeled away again with a snap that did hit Sasha with his bristles. He began to circle Sasha faster- oh, look, he'd made the bloke blush. Wasn't that just darling. "You think everything's inappropriate, Schlagenweit." A thought occurred to him, and Erin continued, viciously, "Tell me, the Ravenclaw team gets changed in the locker rooms like everyone else, don't they? What do you do, Schlagenweit, avert your eyes like a proper little prefect? Or... do you watch?"

He laughed and wheeled away again, watching intently as Sasha tried to get away, was blocked by Knight, called him crude. "Who said we wanted a fight? We just want a little competition. It's no fun to play on an empty pitch..."

Ava made her way down to the quidditch pitch, her broom slung over her shoulder and her boots squelching in the mud. Squelch squelch sque- she stopped in her tracks almost skidding on the mud as she tried to halt her feet. She squinted into the distance and saw the unmistakable figures of Erin and Callum flying circles around...was that Sasha?

Ava chuckled. Oh, this was too good. Far too good. She shook her head and tutted. "Poor little Sasha." She cooed to herself as she hitched her leg over her broom and pushed off the ground, gaining speed as she neared the trio.

"Now, now boys." She chastised mockingly as she came to a halt in mid-air in front of Sasha. She leaned forward slightly a smirk on her lips. "Little Sasha was just hoping for seconds, weren't you?" She winked at him as a slight breeze weaved through her limbs and blew some of her hair out of her ponytail. "Because my kiss was so more-ish."

"Fight me?" Callum asked. "Who said anything about you fighting me? I'm on a broom, you're on the ground, that would give me an entirely unfair advantage. My father always told me that an unfair fight is no fight at all..." He grinned wickedly. "As long as you have the advantages of course. And, I suppose for the rest of your life you'll never know what that's like. Being so inferior to everyone always puts a person at a disadvantage."

He watched as Erin joined him in his circling, and was surprised to hear the jab about Sasha watching people change in the locker room. Callum wondered exactly how that would affect the peace-loving prefect standing on the pitch. He struggled for a witty addition to Erin's stab, but couldn't think of one. Probably because, although Sasha did claim that he was crude, he generally wasn't. At least not quite so blatantly. Unless, of course, he was speculating about Amherst's lifestyle, but that was different. Amherst at least tried to fight back.

Callum peered at Ava when she joined their group, arching a brow in her direction. Was she coming to ruin their fun? He hoped not. But her very presence called for his behavior to alter at least a little. Men were to always act with pride and dignity in the company of the fairer sex. And the game had to be played differently, of course, because if Ava got accidentally hurt in the process he would be violating his own particular code of honor.

Adopting a lazy, lounging position on his broom, he tossed her a friendly smile. "Come to join the fun, Miss Grosvenor?" he inquired. "Perhaps you could help us convince Schlagenweit to quit being such a boob and practice with us. Poor fellow is delusional. Seems to think we have dishonorable intentions. Certainly we would never put him in a dangerous position, would we?" Yes, yes they would. Well, he would at least, and he knew that Erin would as well. At the moment Callum was growing exceedingly impatient with this game of cat and mouse.

"You really don't have a choice," he finally added. "Either you get on your broom and join in, or I'll bloody your nose, knock you out, tie you to the damned thing and watch it fly around with you dangling from it. Being conscious for the duration of our interaction would likely benefit you greatly, Schlagenweit..." And then, as an after thought he added, "Forgive my language please, Miss Grosvenor." Not that damn was a particularly bad word, but he was supposed to watch his swearing around girls. His mum would murder him if she found out otherwise.

Sasha shook his head but didn't comment.  He had never understood how there was 'honor' in getting pummeled instead of walking away.  Especially when the odds were stacked highly against him in the first place.  Not that the odds were ever, really, even.  But, really, Sasha had gotten used to name calling.  If being called 'despicable' was the worst that would happen - well, he'd survived much worse.  And, it wasn't like either Harper or Knight's assessment of him was that important.  But, Sasha couldn't help pausing and turning towards Callum, confused.  "Inferior?" he repeated in confusion.  Sasha had always figured he had quite a few advantages - but it took a moment for him to remember what Callum was referring to.  Blood status.  That was all it was about.  "You're just a bigot," he replied, simply, shaking his head. 

They were circling him like a pair of buzzards looking for an easy meal.  Or, perhaps, like an annoying bunch of flies.  "Leave me alone," Sasha muttered, his pace picking up speed.  But, his comment about Slytherins cheating must have struck a nerve.  Without warning, Harper flew his broom at Sasha, blocking his retreat, forcing Sasha to take a step back.  Sasha flinched and shook his head, opening his mouth to offer an apology - or some sort of defense but Harper had whipped away, the bristles of the broom tugging at Sasha's sweatshirt. 

Harper's question registered in Sasha's ears just as Grosvenor came flying towards them.  Color flooded Sasha's face and he looked down at the ground, shaking his head.  "I ... you're - that's ... you're sick.  Piss off," Sasha spat, shaking his head.  It didn't even deserve an answer.  This couldn't get any worse.  But, actually.  It probably could.  Speaking of cheating...

"No - I don't want ... I didn't want firsts.  I'm just ... please.  Look.  There are three of you, now - plenty to practice with."  Sasha turned, hopefully, towards Grosvenor.  She'd been unfair in the game but, other than that, she'd always seemed rather reasonable.  She'd enjoyed a bit too much fun at his expense on the Hogwarts Express at the end of the year but, really, given the current collection of Slytherins, she was his best hope.  Surely, she'd find Callum's offer less than honorable and would intervene.  Believing Grosvenor would intervene, Sasha shook his head. "I'm not playing with you," he answered Callum.  He would walk away but at least he wouldn't give in to their threats.  That amounted to something, right?

Inferior. Erin's eyes flicked to Callum too, his mind immediately leaping to his own family's less-than-sterling history, but he didn't say anything. That bait wasn't for him.

But at least he had the satisfaction of seeing Schlagenweit sputter as his jab hit home. Erin laughed at him before doing something really obscene with his tongue, the color rising to the prefect's face and his sharp retort easing Erin into the best of moods. The implications seemed to have gone right over Knight's head, but Schlagenweit certainly hadn't missed them. Of course, now Erin was terribly curious to know just how true said implications were. If he'd had his way he would have needled Sasha, taunted him, tried to coax out of him something certain or incriminating or funny, but then someone else flew up. Erin banked suddenly to face the new person, having only seen the flash of movement from the corner of his eye, but it was only Grosvenor. He knew her too, of course- besides being in his house, she was on the team. He liked her, and she wasn't going to present them with any problems. In fact, she seemed rather eager to join in. He smiled at her, an easy, appreciative curve of the lips that made his blue eyes crinkle at the edges.

Ah, but Knight was so heavy-handed. It was a good thing Sasha appealed to Ana, and not to Erin, but Erin would have been the next viable choice for an appeal to reason. While in the end Erin wouldn't save him from a single blow, at least he'd have been less direct about it than Callum was.  Erin rather liked playing cat-and-mouse, but it was clear his housemate didn't; what a very great shame. He made a much more psychological bully- he'd have liked to play with Sasha some more, a few insults, a sing-songy sort of taunting, nothing concrete enough to be certain but implied enough to make Schlagenweit sweat. But to come right out and tell the other boy what they intended to do- well, that wasn't very imaginative. He'd have liked Sasha to speculate and dread, and then be left thanking Merlin that that was all they'd done to him. Oh, well. There were always compromises in teamwork.

"That's really disappointing, Schlagenweit. I've looked forward to playing you ever since that last match." Erin grinned at him, and turned his next words into something less-than-innocent, just to see if he could make the guy blush again. "You know how I like Quidditch players. And Callum here, he loves cowards."