Outfit

The skin of Grace's face felt cool from spending roughly an hour practicing for quidditch in the breezy air. Most of it was just spent on her own chasing after a golden snitch, hoping that the routine of doing so would would improve her acumen in catching it during matches. She was still more determined than ever to prove to everyone that the switch from Sebastian to her was the right one.

That determination was hard to quell, even as she marched back to the castle from her "light" workout in the Quidditch Pitch. She was just coming up the path to see the grey stones of the building when her attention was captured by a smattering of first years on their brooms above her. She checked her watch and noted that she must be catching the tail end of the first year flying class with Madam Hooch.

She glanced up and followed the figures of a few of the ickle ones, impressed by their abilities at their young age. Some looked wobble-lier than others or struggled to maintain ultitude, but overall, there were a few that with enough practice, would be very skilled flyers. Grace's attention was naturally drawn to any students wearing Gryffindor colors, because she was well aware that their house team consisted of primarily seventh years. In fact, with the exception of Gabriella and Joshua, at the end of this year, with the departure of Nina, George, Sebastian, Michael and herself, the Gryffindor team would be decimated. The other teams might only lose one or two key members at most.

Well hell, Grace lamented. My poor lions are going to need some rebuilding!

As if someone had read her very thoughts, one speedy little Gryffindor zoomed by her. Grace quickly took note of the girl's size and her command of her broom relative to her classmates. Intent on doing her part to work on replacing herself on the next year's team, Grace rushed forward to where the class seemed to be returning to the ground to be dismissed by their flying instructor.

As they were leaving, she called out to the pint sized firstie that she had already determined would be her seeker protege. "Hey! You there!"

As far as Mairead was concerned, Hogwarts had things totally backwards when it came to scheduling classes.  She was forced to spend three hours a week in boring and utterly useless classes like History of Magic and ... ok.  So, potions was pretty fun and all of those wand-y classes were fun when they avoided things like book-reading and essay-writing.  And homework.  But, she only spent one hour a week in flying classes and that hour seemed to fly by even faster than she could make the school brooms go.  (Which, granted, wasn't saying that much)

And ... AND!  Just because the short, once-a-week class wasn't cruel enough, they had to go and make it even more unfair.  Old, cranky Miss Lumpkins - or whatever her name was - could give them as much homework as she desired but Mairead couldn't do homework for flying, even if she wanted to!  She'd do homework every day for flying if she could get her hands on a broom. 

They were practicing turns that day and Mairead had lost herself in zig zagging across the grounds.  The finicky school broom still gave an occasional, jerky buck whenever Mairead tried to make a sharp turn but it hadn't managed to unseat her once that day.  Class was drawing to a close; Mairead had, intentionally made a particularly large loop (and, for once, was going slower than everyone else - well, everyone other than Eirene.  She'd have to be asleep to go slower than the Ravenclaw) to draw out the last moments of class as much as she could.  In the space of a single circuit, she'd gone from being persistently in the front of the pack to being one of the last to hop down and (reluctantly) relinquish her broom. 

Her only gripe about brooms, so far, was they were far too long and unwieldy to effectively hide under one's coat.  And, Mairead had gotten the suspicious feeling that Madame Hooch was always keeping a close eye on here - as if expecting Mairead to try that very thing. 

She needed to learn that shrinking charm!

Mairead had just been dismissed and had started trekking across the lawns towards the Care of Magical Creatures paddock.  She had a short break before dinner and she lifted her fingers to her lips, giving a loud, sharp whistle just before hearing someone calling after her. 

She turned towards the voice and crossed her arms over her chest.  "What?" she asked, the question punched with impatience.  Usually, when older students came calling after her, they were bent on telling her she'd done something wrong.  Or to, somehow, ruin whatever fun she was having.  What this girl could want was beyond Mairead - she wasn't even, really, having fun, yet.  "What'd ye want?  I haven't done nothing wrong." 

As soon as she had called out to the young girl, Grace realized that she might not take kindly to being called "Hey you". But that was often how the prefect operated--act first and deal with the consequences later. Even if the consequences weren't really that traumatic.

As Grace expected, the younger Gryffindor responded curtly to the greeting. Grace quickly closed the gap between them and stopped just in front of her. It wasn't often that Grace hung out with the first years, but in that moment, she became acutely aware of how tall she was in comparison. And this one made her feel like a giantess.

Suddenly Grace felt self conscious about her height, and wished there was someone else her size around to help make her feel less like she was Dorothy stepping smack dab into Munchkin Land.

Before her little companion could get impatient as to why Grace had detained her, Grace quickly said, "I'm sorry I don't know your name. Usually by this time of the year I do know most of the newbies." Realizing that was more information than was needed, she got to the point. "Anyway, I didn't stop you because you were doing anything wrong. In fact, I didn't stop you for anything to do with me being a prefect." After a beat, she said, "I stopped you because it's about your broom flying.....and to see if you had any interest in playing Quidditch."

Generally, Mairead's reading was still slow and she still stumbled over a lot of the longer words.  Especially those long and not-normal words that magical textbooks seemed to be filled with.  Despite that, Mairead had learned to quickly recognize that telltale little "p" on certain older students' badges.  As she turned towards the older girl, it took Mairead less than a fraction of a second to notice the sign of authority on the girl's shirt. 

Her shoulders slumped with a deep, exaggerated sigh of annoyance as she glowered up at the older girl.  Surely, the arrival of such an old prefect could only result in a drastic decrease of fun. 

"Mairead," she offered when the older girl confessed she didn't know Mairead's name.  "Me name's Mairead ó Fearghail.  Well, I don't know yer name, too.  But, aren't prefects supposed to know the first years?" she asked, without blinking just as, from behind her, a tall, grey wiry-haired dog came loping up towards them with long strides. 

"I ... you didn't?" she asked, surprised to hear she wasn't in any kind of trouble.  "I'm not ... in trouble?"  She was relieved, but a little suspicious at the same time.   The suspicions lasted about as long as it took for Mairead to hear the girl say the words "about your broom flying."  Like a jacket falling free from it's hanger, the suspicious tension slid from her features. 

"Ye ... ye were watching me?"  Mairead asked, her eyes brightening.  She reached out and scratched the dog's head.  "Ye saw me fly?  I just started - me parents are muggles so I never flew before but  ... it's pretty fun!  I love it!  I can't wait until I can fly whenever!  I mean ... I know I have to wait until class is over, unless..."  Mairead glanced up at Grace.  She wasn't allowed to be a-broom on her own.  But ... if someone else was around.  A mischievous grin settled on her face. 

On a few occasions, Madame Hooch and some of the older students had mentioned this game Quidditch.  It seemed obvious this game had something to do with flying - the details, though, were still shady to Mairead.  "I might," Mairead admitted.  "I don't know much about it, though.  But, if it means I get to fly more, it sounds like it could be fun.  But, they say I can't play until I pass this class."

The dog

Grace flashed the younger girl a semi-sheepish smile after she pointed out the bit about prefects knowing the names of all the first years. It indeed should have been something that Grace had spent more time on, and she did have the actual names all memorized in alphabetical order. But the problem came in matching the names to faces and even though a little more than a month had gone by, she still had a ways to go before she'd be perfect at it.

"You are right. I should know who you are," she confessed. "But I'm sure now I will always remember who you are, Mairead." After a pause and a tiny smile, Grace glanced down at the dog that approached. She then introduced herself. "Anyway, I'm Grace. And yes, I am a prefect, but reprimanding the younger students usually isn't top on my list of things I like to do." Grace bit her lower lip to keep from grinning too broadly as she watched relief flood over Mairead's face and then a bit of excitement at the realization that it was positive attention she was receiving.
 
Grace took a moment and knelt down beside the girl and the dog, bringing the free hand that didn't hold her broom to graze over the dog's shaggy coat. "Yeah, I was watching you fly. You were doing pretty well...for a first year," she was sure to add at the end. Once again, it was hard to hide her smile at the girl's exuberance. "And it definitely is fun to fly whenever you want."

Grace met Mairead's gaze as the girl's voice trailed off, leaving an open ended suggestion that the elder Gryffindor seemed to pick up on. She glanced down at the broom in her hand and her lips curled into a smirk before she returned her gaze to Mairead's adorable face.

Don't let that fool you, Grace Eddy, she silently scolded herself. It's liable to get you into trouble.

Still petting the dog, Grace spoke of Quidditch. "It does mean flying more," Grace assured her. "And no, you wouldn't be able to play until you pass the class...and even then, the class really doesn't teach you to how to play it. That takes extra practice. Of course, once you do learn the game, you might not get to play on the house team because the roster is full, but--" She paused dramatically, keen on seeing if she had the girl's full attention before continuing. "It's not always going to be full. Like next year. Next year it actually might be very empty." Grace could feel her heart drop at how pathetic that sounded. But she tried not to let that show and forged on, finally announcing her plan. "If you're interested...really interested in learning...well, then....I'd be really interested in teaching you about the game. I think you'd be good at it."

With an impatiently arched eyebrow, Mairead watched the older prefect.  She had it right - the girl should have known who Mairead was.  Goodness knew all the professors knew her name - somehow even the ones that taught electives knew who she was.  And, it'd be another three years before she was in any of their classes. 

But, Mairead nodded her head.  At least she was agreeing to not forget Mairead.  It would have been preferable to not have to introduce herself but Mairead couldn't get greedy.  And, this Grace wasn't looking to reprimand her.  Talk about brooms that didn't include chores or cleaning was an entirely novel concept for Mairead.  But, already she was learning to look forward to that very topic. 

"Really?"  Mairead asked, her eyes brightening further.  This ... this was fantastic!  Now, someone other than a teacher was complimenting her performance in class!  Hearing a teacher compliment her was grand but they were still paid to do what they do.  The wolfhound mix seemed as eager for the attention as Mairead and stepped towards Grace at the apparent promise of petting. 

"Ye ... ye think I'm good?  Really?  I mean, I never ridden before.  Well, ridden a broom.  Back home we only ride brooms when we're pretending they're horses.  Not that I really did that much," Mairead added, quickly.  Just in case this Grace thought Mairead ran around pretending brooms were horses everywhere.  "I mean, we got plenty of real horses and I been riding since I was three.  So, I don't need a broom to be a horse.  But they're just for brooming - I mean, sweeping.  Brooms I mean.  Not horses." 
 
Mairead bit her lip, forcing herself to stop talking.  In the moment of silence, Mairead watched the older girl's gaze slide from her to the broom and back.  So ... Grace had picked up on Mairead's meaning.  Still biting her lip, a wide, mischievous grin tugged at the corners of Mairead's mouth.  Slowly, her lip slid free from between her teeth and Mairead added, in feigned laziness, "Madame Hooch said we aren't supposed to fly the brooms on our own."  Just to clarify things.

The dog was now sitting next to Grace, leaning against her leg.  Mairead was listening closely to Grace, drinking in all the information about the when and where of Quidditch.  "Ye wanna teach me Quidditch?"  Mairead asked, excitedly, just to make sure she understood properly.  "I ... yes!"  Mairead exclaimed, excitedly, nodding her head.  "I wanna learn!  I never really played a sport before but I ... am sure I can learn!"  After all, if she could fight her way through History of Magic essays she could get through anything. 

"What do I got to do?"

"Really," Grace acknowledged with a tepid smile, still trying to contain her own humor at the small girl's exuberance.  Grace supposed the novelty of many things had worn off with her progression in years at Hogwarts. She forgot how fresh and exciting so many things could be. Well, the fun stuff anyway. Surely she was experiencing a fair amount of the not-so-fun stuff as well. Clearing her throat and still lightly patting the dog's fur, she continued with some constructive praise. "You show a lot of promise for someone your age. And some natural flying skills and your size could make you a really good Seeker on a Quidditch team. Usually the smallest or lightest person is the team's seeker." Grace had been about to that it was all a part of conventional game strategy, but she realized that Mairead needed layman's terms about the sport. She was still young. Maybe eventually she'd be a junkie about the game like Grace was, but all in due time.

Despite the girl's babbling about horse riding and "brooming", Grace was not deterred from her goal. She glanced at her broom in her hand and then back to Mairead's face. It seemed as if they were engaging in a little dance about their respective intentions and when Mairead subtley mentioned Madame Hooch's stipulations about flying, Grace nodded. "Yes. And that's a good rule. Can't have inexperienced flyers getting into accidents and what not."

Again, Mairead's excitement was contagious and Grace was already getting ahead of herself, imaginging a triumphant return to the school as a spectator to see her beloved Gryffindor's unveiling a new secret weapon next year. Again, she nodded. And when Mairead asked what she had to do, Grace pursed her lips. "Well, we can practice together. I have a spare broom that you can use. I mean, I'm sure if I spoke to Madame Hooch she'd let you use one of the school's, but sometimes it's nice to use one that's not quite so beaten up or tempermental." She paused and thought about her spare back in he dorm room. Perhaps it was a little beat up too since it had been her very first broom. She had saved up all her money since the dawn of time to buy it and it had served her well. Even after Cadan had bought her a new one after she aced her OWLS, she had kept it in case anything flukey happened. And she was sure it would be a nice starter broom for Mairead to learn as she did.

"I'm glad you want to do this and you seem serious. I'm serious too," Grace told the girl, her face finally losing some of its amusement. "And I want you to do well and have a chance to make the team. But just because you're doing this, doesn't mean you can slack in classes. So if you don't think you can handle it...."

Beaming, Mairead took in every syllable of praise.  She was good - she showed promise at something!  Something that was all magical and stuff.  Enough so that an older student had noticed!  Mairead couldn't wait to go home and tell her parents and Tito all about this flying stuff and Quidditch - well, at least, once Mairead found out all about it. 

"I'm good a finding things," Mairead added, just in case that little bit of information might help her case.  Not everything worked so logically in the wizarding world (Mairead was quickly discovering that!) but it sounded like seekers would ... well, seek.  So finding was, well, good too.

"Yer broom?"  Mairead asked, her largely ineffective effort to hide her excitement causing her voice to rise by several intervals.  The temperamental nature of the well-used school brooms didn't bother Mairead that much - she'd dubbed one particularly beat up broom 'hers' largely because of its habit of bucking when first asked to go anywhere.  But she could see how such a reluctance to work properly wouldn't be conducive to playing games.  Or, more importantly, winning the games.  "When can we start?" Mairead asked.  The eagerness to her voice made it quite obvious that 'right this very moment' would have been an entirely acceptable answer. 

The conversation had been going great.  They were both serious, they were making progress (and plans).  And, then, Grace had to go and spoil the whole bloody thing.  For a split second, the exuberance and excitement sat frozen on Mairead's face before sliding off.  "I already slacked off in class before this," Mairead said.  Which meant, of course, she wouldn't be slacking because of this Quidditch stuff.  "I mean, it's not that I slack - not on purpose.  It's just all hard.  It takes me forever and most of it's just stupid anyway."  At least, the stuff that seemed too hard was bound to be stupid.  Like, really, this whole "History of Magic.  I got to write all this stuff about these goblin things and I never seen a goblin before.  What do I care?  And, even if I did, I can care without writing about it!  If they were so important, there'd be songs and stories, right?  And, we haven't heard even one of those in class.  It's just stupid." 

"Finding things is certainly a big part of the position," Grace assured the younger girl with a nod. "There are a lot of other strategies that you'll need to know as well, but there's plenty of time for you to learn." Again, Grace needed temper her visions of grandeur. No sense getting too far ahead of herself before she could bring herself back in case...

"Yeah, it's a pretty decent broom if I do say so myself," Grace said with a bit of pride. my broom. She laughed lightly when Mairead all but demanded to know when they could start the lessons and she was about to cave and say that they could head right back out once she ran to grab the aforementioned broom when the first year dropped a bit of news that seemed to bring all scheming to a screeching halt.

Mairead seemed as disappointed by the news as the prefect did and seemed to reluctantly divulge the information about her performance in classes to that point. Grace listened, her mind reeling with ways to counteract what she had just heard. This was what she got for getting ahead of herself. Shaking any negative thoughts away, Grace tried to focus on what Mairead was saying about not intentionally slacking. The older girl had to remind herself that not everyone was a skilled student and even the ones who applied themselves 24-7 still struggled. Even she had areas she struggled with, like DADA. So she couldn't really fault the girl completely.

Instead, Grace decided that she couldn't let that little road block prevent her from the prospects of molding a future school Quidditch star. Pursing her lips in determination, Grace asserted, "Alright, so a slight setback. But we can work with this." After a pause, she said, "How about this. I am willing to practice with you and also help you study as long as you try your very best." Quickly realizing that an open ended offer like that could easily be taken advantage of, she stood to her full height, looked down at her pint sized housemate and made sure to add, "I don't expect you to be perfect, Mairead. But it is important to me that you show consistent improvement." With one final spark of an idea, Eddy threw out, "If you do well--for you--in both school and practicing, you can have my spare broom for your efforts."

Even though the words had come out with ease, the offering of her first broom was hardly something Grace did lightly. It had sentimental value. But desperate times did call for desperate measures. Her brown eyes eager for Mairead's response, she held out her hand and asked, "Do we have a deal, short stuff?"

"Ye mean, I can't play this Quidditch unless I'm a good student?"  Indignation was ripe in Mairead's voice as she glowered - not necessarily at the older student.  Just - scowled at whatever, in general.  But, it was just not fair!  It wasn't like Eirene had to be good at moving  broom faster than a worm could crawl in order to be a student.  Why did Mairead have to be good at being a student to get to do this?  It was impossible - she was sunk. 

Surrendering to the inevitable seemed imminent.  There was no way Mairead was about to turn into a good student.  Sure - she did alright in potions (essays aside) and her wandwork had improved considerably.  But, homework and essays and quizzes were all dragging her down.  She was, barely, keeping her head above water.  She whistled, calling the dog to her, ready to go sulking off and complain to anyone that would (or could be forced into) listening about how unfair it was when Grace spoke again. 

Mairead looked up, suspiciously.  This had to be a joke - maybe Eirene had set this up.  Random people didn't just simply offer to help Mairead.  At least not that she was used to.  "Why?" Mairead asked, peering up at the girl.  She left the question vague though what Mairead wanted to know was why was she offering to help her? 

If Mairead did well in school and practice she ... could have Grace's broom? While random kindness was a novelty, bartering was not.  She recognized the tones of a good deal with ease.  Mairead's eyes lit up and she nodded - there was no doubt she could try.  If that's all Grace was asking - it might even seem plausible. 

"Yer - yer serious?"  Mairead asked?  "Ye mean it? I ... I mean, yeah!  Of course."  Mairead took the extended hand and gave it a firm shake.