Catch The Snitch

Uncharacteristically for Riley she happened to be worried about having the Quidditch pitch all to herself. Usually, she enjoyed coming here, it was a good place for her to focus, to relax after a long day of school and... Sometimes, just sit and simply be. Yet, today the redhead instead of doing laps or tricks was waiting for someone to come. She hovered in an unfamiliar position for her, near the middle of the pitch. She wore her Slytherin Quidditch gear, the familiar garb as comfortable as ever.

Would he come? That was the real question. Her heart beat rapidly with trepidation, it felt weird to be here waiting for someone else who not only was a boy, but also not part of the Slytherin team. Whilst her housemates might have been fine with that, the fact she would be meeting a boy, who was the captain of their arch rival... Well, her house and his would probably gossip about such a thing for many months. Regardless of whether or not they were merely friends or more. Friendly house rivalries were one thing, but at times, the snakes and the lions were far less than friendly.

The redhead found she greatly enjoyed his company, she had a great many friends outside of her house, but with him, for her something felt different. Perhaps it came from the fact he was on what might be seen as the enemy team. She found him funny and besides, there was his agreeing to pose for a photography with her for the ball. The wind ran it's cool fingers through her long fiery red hair, which was currently contained in a braided ponytail. Her blue eyes scanned about her as she wondered if he might arrive, maybe he was late? Maybe he changed his mind? Or maybe she found herself the victim of some immensely unfunny joke? Which would be unexpected from the lions, but with Quidditch who knew?

Unable to sit still, she moved her broomstick from side to side. The keeper was restless, her anxiety over whether or not he might attend and what other may think about them meeting serving only to make it worse. Riley took a deep breath of cool air, attempting to calm her nerves. She had nothing to worry about, he was a friend, who merely happened to be a boy. Sure, she thought him handsome and attractive, but he may only see her as a friend. The crush rumor persisted, him and her alone at the pitch would serve as enough evidence for the gossip seekers. Her blushing, would certainly hinder her attempts to explain anything to convince them otherwise.

The leaves fallen from the trees crunched beneath the feet of the Gryffindor quidditch captain as he strode across the grounds. Normally he'd probably be goofing around with Zeke, but today he made arrangements to meet up with the keeper for the Slytherin team. He half expected he would end up at the pitch all alone, which was perfectly fine with him. In fact, there was a tiny part of them that hoped he would be alone. Not because there was anything wrong with Riley, but because for once he was nervous about being around someone. Typically he didn't get nervous about talking to other people. Besides that, he'd been fine when he talked with her the other night. He pushed it to the back of his mind, maybe he was just catching a cold or something and it was impacting his ....confidence. That happened, right?

As he approached the pitch he could already see that she was waiting toward the middle of the pitch. Rather than call out, he quietly mounted his broom and slowly drifted in her direction. Talk about a strange pairing to be meeting at the pitch. What did it look like to the unaware bystander? Well right now it probably looked like he was planning a sneak attack on the enemy keeper. No better way to get a win than to take out the best keeper on the other team. The wind picked up and as it did his blonde hair fluttered with it. His bright blue eyes scanned their surroundings and then settled back on Riley. It was just a little game of quidditch. He was overthinking things.

"Fine day for quidditch," he said, having stopped just beside her. She hadn't noticed as he eased in, so he thought it would be funny just to settle in and then surprise her with his presence. "What a coincidence to find you here." With that, he urged the broom forward, drifting to face her in the process. In one hand he held a quaffle, twisting it and then letting it spin on his finger before cradling it in his arm again. "Ready to see what a future quidditch pro can do?" He asked, half-teasing, though there was also a seriousness to the pro part.

The petite keeper had been so focused on spotting him that she failed to notice he was already here till he unexpected arrived next to her. She gave a start, though despite jumping maintained her grip on her broomstick. It would hardly have done for her to lose her balance and fall off. Riley suspected he would more than likely try to catch her to prevent this. Whether or not this came to him seeing her as a friend or no one believing his story of the Slytherin keeper losing her balance and falling off her broomstick, she would not have been confident in attempting to predict.

"It is." Riley responded quickly, hoping to cover for the fact she had jumped as a result of his unexpected arrival. Maybe she feared he might not have shown up after all. "I was about to say the same. You know what our fellow students will think." She teased playfully, the two of them were alone and they came from arch rival houses. What more evidence did they need or require for them to suspect romance might be in the air. Instead of merely a game of Quidditch. All be it a two player version.

"Of course. Who knows perhaps in the future we'll be pros on the same team." The redhead suggested though it was equally possible for them to end up as rivals again. She suspected the Daily Prophet would have a field day with that, Quidditch Star Players Laguna and Riley in relationship shocker! The thought brought a significant amount of amusement with it. She rolled one of her shoulders forward, loosening the muscles. "So how do you want to play this? Take it turns to be attacker and defender? Or just throw the Quaffle about for a bit?" The redhead might have suggested using the snitch, but she rarely if ever saw the thing during a regular game, let alone when faced with just the seeker. She shot him a warm and friendly, if shy smile. She was secretly very pleased to have him all to herself and could not have admitted to a reason as to why.

For anyone who thought through in regard to the consequences of their actions, coming up behind someone who was on a broom well above the ground was not the best thought out plan. At least not if they didn't want to send the person potentially spiraling down to the ground. Of course, if she had gone spiraling to the ground he had enough skill to catch her as far as he was concerned. Still, she probably would not have appreciated if he ended up scaring her off her broom. Maybe next time he would do a better job with decision-making. Maybe. Her little jump was an indication that perhaps he should be a little more careful. It wasn't something that came naturally, but he could work on that.

"I say let them think what they want," he winked at her with a grin. "They'll think we are either here to have an all out brawl over some Slytherin-Gryffindor argument," he teased, knowing that it was possible but unlikely to be the narrative people would go with. "Won't bother me what they think, but if you'd rather we can just call a few more people out for a ...friendly-ish scrimmage." It probably wouldn't be very friendly, but he could at least get Zeke and Miral out here. Andie may even join. "I would understand if you didn't want to get your butt kicked by the enemy before we even get to a real match." A devilish grin made an appearance at that. If she was anywhere near as competitive as he was this would be a challenge she wouldn't be able to back down from. She was likely to be more level-headed that he was though, which some would say was sometimes his own downfall. If there was a competition, it could overtake any logical thinking processes he had.

Laguna tilted his head, curious at the thought. "Is that what you want to do after school?" As much as some people shared the love of the game, he found it to be less common for others to be serious about pursuing a pro career. "Maybe we will. Or maybe we'll end up rivals again. 'LESTRANGE TAKES THE CUP AGAIN!'" He shouted out in his best announcer voice. "Just kidding, I'm sure if we played one another it'd be a solid match even in the pros." He thought about her next question. There were only so many ways to play a pickup game when they only had two people. "Hmm..."

"We'll take turns attacking and defending. It'll keep things more interesting than a little shootout." He enjoyed action, and this seemed the most action-packed way to get something fun going with them. His weight shifted toward the front of his broom as he leaned in, returning her smile with his own, this one less mischievous and more genuine in nature. "Ready?" He offered her the quaffle to have the first attack. Despite being the seeker this year, defense was actually a specialty of his.

Riley felt her cheeks grow hot at his wink and she attempted to conceal her blush, by looking away from him. "I mean we can have a fight if you wanted to?" She suggested quietly, trying to sound semi serious but making sure he knew she was only joking. The last thing she desired was for this meeting to go poorly, or worse still, turn to violence. "No no. This is fine." She replied rapidly, too rapidly as her head whipped back around to face him. "I mean." She began more calmly. "It is nice that it is just the two of us. No one else causing trouble or using dirty tricks." Riley had the sense to look a little sheepish as more often than not, her own house happened to be the one using less than fair means to win the games. Even if she, personally played fair and true.

A tainted victory was no win worth having. If she was aware of cheating or found evidence of it, she would have been the kind to march straight to the head of the rival team's house's office to report it.

"Of course!" The redhead explained happily. "It's the one thing I am good at here and I love flying." The world always appeared to make sense when she soared through the heavens. Riley at his announcement leaned over from her broom and gave him a friendly punch on the arm. It would not have hurt. "Maybe we'll start out as rivals and end up on the same team at some point?" She suggested, wondering what it might be like to play a game with the usual opponents now her teammates.

Riley nodded along as he explained his idea. "Aye that sounds like a good game." The redhead nodded in confirmation. "You're quite the gentleman." She teased good naturely as she took the Quaffle from him. "And they say chivalry had died." She mentally kicked herself. The Slytherin Keeper could not help that she liked him, he was funny, charming and she enjoyed his company immensely. But overtly flirting, or what was to her an attempt at it might well ruin that friendship. Forcing her thoughts aside, she abruptly started off towards the goal, pausing to shout. "Go!" At him as she roared past. Riley's skills were great for defense, but as an attacker she was easily predictable. Inaccurate throwing meant she needed to be close to the goal in order to try to score.

"No, no. Don't need it going around that I got beat up by the Slytherin keeper," he joked, clearly having no intention for the meeting to turn sour. "I was just teasing you. You'll have to excuse me, I have a problem with taking things seriously sometimes." This was partly due to his personality, and the other part due to his upbringing in which the world essentially felt like his own little playground. For a moment in her reaction, he swore he saw her cheeks turning red, but she quickly looked away from him. Curiosity had him wondering why she'd turned red. Did he have some sort of effect on her reactions? Come to think of it, hadn't she been blushing a bit at their last meeting. With any sense he would've figured out the meaning behind her reactions, but it just left him replaying the whole thing over in his mind still sorting through what the reasons could be. She was quick to clarify that she was perfectly fine with just the two of them, and in reality he was sort of hoping she'd say that. Maybe it was just the excitement of meeting someone new, earning a friend outside of the ones he was always around...? Maybe it was because she was sort of cute...? He blinked as the thought arose and then shook it off.

"Right. Assuming I am not going to cause any trouble." He gave a serious nod, soon followed by a lopsided grin. "I promise I will try not to use any distractions to take away from the game." Try was the key word there as he couldn't rightly promise that he wouldn't distract her at all.

Her answer to his questioning of the professional quidditch career actually caught him very much off guard, but in a way that made him appreciate her answer. That was the true answer of someone who genuinely loved this game. Maybe he'd found someone who cared about quidditch just as much as he did. His reflection ended abruptly with her playful punch with made him laugh. In turn, he leaned over and gave her his own little shove, very lightly. "Watch it McNeill. I was a beater you know. Keep that up and you'll see what I'm really capable of." Laguna nodded and considered it, "Maybe so." It was an odd thing to think about where he and his classmates would be after Hogwarts. At times, attending Hogwarts felt like its own little world and it was hard to imagine life outside of their bubble. You spent years with the same people. In the same place. Only to have it ripped away and to be sent off into a much larger pond to fend for yourself.

He still had a good year and a half, so there was no point in being anxious over it just yet. His attention was back on Riley now as she teased him. He couldn't help but smile as she did, finding it humorous and endearing all the same. "Why thank you," he responded, giving a little bow after she'd taken the quaffle from him. "You'll find that I have a lot more redeeming qualities that get overlooked." Suddenly she shot off toward the goal, and he reacted nearly instantaneously to her movement, speeding off down the pitch after her. As she flew, he analyzed her movements carefully. As good as she was at keeping, it was rare that keepers got much practice outside of their end of the pitch, so it was fascinating to watch her outside of her normal position.

Laguna, on his end of things was patient. Rushing his moves would just end in a failed attempt anyway. Chasing took a certain level of understanding the mentality of the game that often got overlooked. So he mimicked her movements, playing as a shadow until he saw his opportunity to swoop in. When he did, he came from beneath her and made his move, bumping her slightly as he tried to pry the quaffle from her arms.

"Or the rumor that you beat up the Slytherin Keeper." She chuckled at the idea. "I don't think it would go down with the rest of the Gryffindor House." Though her beating up the captain of their Quidditch team was hardly going to make friends for her in their house. "It's okay." She smiled at him shyly. Riley looked at him curiously, raising an eyebrow at his comment. "Oh? Are you thinking of causing some?" She inquired quietly, imagining him abruptly her and her broomstick closer into an airborne kiss. The redhead wondered how she might react to something unexpected like that. "I'll try my best not to do the same." The keeper promised, though if anyone from her house arrived on the scene... They might decide to take a shot at him, if he got injured or sick then that could only benefit their team and house the most.

She giggled as he pushed back after her had punched him. Riley reddened and straightened up on her broomstick. "Oh? Is that a challenge?" She teased him, wondering what he would plan if she gave him another playful and light heartened punch. Riley did not however push it, especially if he was not joking around. The last thing she wished was for violence to actively breakout. She liked him, him disliking her was not something she wished to bring about.

The petite girl shrugged her shoulders. "You never know." She responded with a smirk. "Afraid I'll end up as their star player?" Riley could not resist teasing him.

"You'll have to show me them sometime." Riley shot over her shoulder at him, before her focus solely switched to the game. He kept pace with her, making Riley wish for a beater or a chaser to come in to aid her. Though if one was present, she would relegated back to her usual posting by the goals. Her ponytail streamed out behind her like a banner in the wind, Riley slowed, preparing to throw the ball at the closest of the available hoops. Suddenly, Laguna bumped into her, the ball popping free. For a heartbeat Riley considered fighting with him for the ball, but given his previous experience and current role she elected to rush back to the defend her own goals. True, she would only have a few seconds to prepare for his throw but it may well be her best chance to prevent giving him an easy goal.

"Big, bad, Slytherin Keeper takes out Gryffindor Seeker." He said, as if reading a caption from the Daily Prophet. "Honestly? They'd probably get a kick out of it. I'd never live it down." Laguna perked a brow and gave her a curious expression. "Well, of course. I'm always looking to cause a little bit of trouble." While she was imagining the airborne kiss, Laguna was just wondering what she was thinking about. Perhaps she was daydreaming of her next visit to Honeydukes or maybe she was just wishing to get on with the game already. Instead he was holding her up from an exciting game of quidditch. "That's fine...though if you did cause a little trouble, I wouldn't tell anyone." Or did she mean that she wouldn't cause any distractions? As if he could be distracted!

"Me? Afraid? No. You see, competition just drives me to be EVEN better." She was teasing him, but he was feeding right into it despite being aware of her actions. "I can see it now--Lestrange jerseys--number one seller at the World Cup." He tilted his head, curious if she'd ever attended? He'd ask her later. They had a match to play.

Laguna smirked and called out after her, "Maybe I will!" If she was lucky.

The movement was smooth as he somehow managed to maneuver his arm between her small frame and the quaffle for the steal. Maybe the bump hadn't been entirely necessary, but it did open up a great opportunity to gain the upper hand. "Gotcha!" He called out, but she was already rushing back to defend.

Maybe it was because he'd caught that she had at least a little interest in him or maybe he just enjoyed showing off (he did), but he was pulling out some of his best moves, swirling, drifting, whatever he could to throw her off of his trail. He was moving into the best proximity for a shot, his eyes rapidly scanning the hoops before he launched a shot in her direction. The quaffle zoomed toward her, and he stopped his flying to watch what happened next. "Not a bad shot for a bea--er...seeker!"

"Big? You're almost a whole extra person taller than me." Riley protested hotly. "Besides beating you at Quidditch I think the only way I could injure you is if you happen to be on the floor above potions." Though she may have joked about it, Riley's potions were a byword for troublesome. She had even managed to send herself to the hospital wing due to more than a few of her attempts at potion making going horribly wrong. "I'm sure you'd survive." She insisted, honestly hoping that his house would not make fun of him if they did come to a disagreement. "What kind of trouble?" Riley asked nervously, she was frequently in trouble for one thing or another. A day without a detention would be something unheard of for the redhead.

She laughed at his boast. "My my you will be busy at the signings then. You'll hardly have time to practice." Riley countered, teasing him some more in what she hoped was playful banter.

"It's a date then!" Riley shot back at his reply, though hope he did not hear her once she realized what she said. She had blushed when his arm brushed her frame to get at the quaffle.

The redhead had barely managed to reach the goal and turn around, he was already on her, launching a shot at the hoops. She darted up and right, she knew she was not going to make it as she was. She relaxed her grip on her broomstick, all but flinging herself off of it, save for her left hand holding onto it. Her right hand just managed to brush the ball enough for a deflection. It bounced off the ring of the hoop before falling away. Had it been a Quidditch game it would have almost certainly been a stupid move, another chaser could easily swoop in for a goal now as the redhead struggled to retain a grip on her broomstick as she dangled in the air. She swung her right arm up and onto the broom, before slowly hauling herself up and onto it. "Piece of cake Gryffindor." She boasted, though sounding breathless.

"One of the perks of my father's genetics," he quipped back. It was one of the things he'd been most pleased with. His father was tall and both of his parents were very attractive and he was blessed in those ways. Further, his build was naturally athletic and so physical things tended to come easier than other things. "Potions?" He looked shocked, "Isn't that like...every Slytherin student's favorite subject?" It was a huge exaggeration and he knew it, but he was just eager to keep her talking. "I am indeed a survivor. No need to worry about me."

The next bit he paused before answering. Then he looked up at her with a smirk, "Whatever kind of trouble you fancy, McNeill." Clearly he was not worried about any consequences for the trouble he'd brought up. "Don't worry, whatever we get into, I'll make sure it's a good time."

As she laughed, he couldn't help but smile. Until he heard her comeback and considered that she actually had a decent point. Then he laughed, "And then you'd surpass me and become the star player after all!" The irony would be amusing even to him, nevermind that it drove him crazy to be bested in quidditch. Even in the middle of stealing the quaffle, he nearly froze at the words from her mouth. It's a date. His blue eyes watched her thoughtfully as he flew. "It's a date." He repeated, unsure if she'd heard him or not.

His focus had to go back to the quaffle. He forced himself to move on from getting hung up on the date thing. If it needed to be worked out, they'd work out the details later. For all he knew it was just a little jest on her part. She seemed rather opposed to any thoughts of dating anyone in their last meeting. As he launched the shot, he mostly expected to score. He knew she was a good keeper, but he was a fine chaser. His shot, however, was deflected, which left his jaw hanging a bit as he watched her haul herself back up. His head tilted, dumbfound. "Apparently so..." He muttered. Then he shot down after the quaffle in a deep dive, scooping it just before it fell to the ground.

Once he'd secured it, he came back up to her level, stopping in front of her. "Not bad." It was a compliment, whether it seemed like one or not. He was at least recognizing that she was a good player. "Your ball...?" He held it out to her. It was almost too nice a gesture for him to openly offer her the quaffle back...

"All I got from my father was bright red hair and a lot of money." Riley countered with a self deprecating joke. Both of her parents had ginger hair and both, came from money. Whatever Riley possessed happened to be the best of something, her father insisted upon it. Rather than it impressing others, it served to only embarrass their daughter. All the gold in the wizarding world could not buy happiness. Some of the best times she happened to have in Hogwarts came from hanging out with students who came from wizard families without so much as a spare galleon to their name. People whose families lacked the ancient manor house. "It's not my favourite subject I can tell you that much. If I don't blow something up, I burn it, I once even melted my cauldron... The professor was not pleased and my father was furious." She sighed shaking her head at the memory. "That was the Howler I got three weeks ago along with the large parcel containing a new cauldron."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "The kind who convinces me to meet him in the ground for some night time star gazing." She suggested quietly, imagining briefly lying watching the stars with him. It would be worth the detention for that, if they got caught. Though she might have a difficult job explaining to the Slytherin team why she was meeting the captain of their arch rivals at midnight, on the grounds for star gazing. "Of course I'll worry about you." She appeared to realize what she said too late and hastened to add. "Who else could I get to act as a boyfriend for a photograph." Riley considered throwing herself off the broomstick to escape her stupid mouth.

"Just try not to hurt your wrist too much on those signatures, need you around to make me look even better." The redhead chuckled at her own little joke.

Unfortunately for Riley, she failed to hear his response to her statement of it being a date. If she had, she might well have fallen from her broomstick.

"Just don't expect me to that mid game as your chasers would have a field day." The redhead informed him, catching her breath. "Not unless someone fancies catching me if things go badly." She did not really want to find out what happened to a person who fell from a great height first hand. Riley grinned at his compliment. "Glad you liked it, to bad I'm not your keeper hey?" Her eyes shone with happiness at his opinion of her rather impressive deflection. "Why thank you, a gentleman as well as team captain." The redhead teased with an attempt at a curtsy on a broomstick. "I say shall we travel to the centre of the pitch for the next round of play?" Riley suggested, she was trying her best to use a posh accent, though appeared to only sound more Scottish to her own ears.

"Both very fine things to acquire, if you ask me." He actually thought her hair was nice. It complimented her eyes. And who didn't like money? That was certainly one of the benefits of coming from his own family. There were many times when he'd realize that some of the luxurious vacations just weren't something most people experienced. Knowing people with power and influence came with perks that even with money were not accessible to the general public, so all in all, it wasn't so bad being a Lestrange. He wondered how she felt. The observations he made so far seemed to point that she was much less materialistic than the rest of her family. Would she think he was a snob? Was he a snob?

At her explanation of potions he couldn't help but laugh a little. "I....am not sure how you melt a cauldron. It's either terrifying or quite impressive that you managed the task." He wondered what his parents would say if he ever melted a cauldron. Maybe disappointed..? "At least you got a new cauldron. Could be worse and they make you use a hand-me-down from a school closet or something."

Her next statement was bold. He liked that. As much fun as some mystery could be, there were also times when being able to be direct was important. He enjoyed the grounds at night anyway. Why not see about some company one of those nights? "Very well. One night of star gazing is official." Fall and winter were some of his favorite times to escape, so this worked out great. If you got a clear winter night, there was nothing quite like it. "What about...next week?" Surely she'd had enough of him in the last few days, so it was probably best to give her a breather. "Just let me know when you want to get into this trouble," he said with a little grin.

"Well, you've a point. I'll be the best fake boyfriend for your photo." He laughed, not noticing that she was even giving her own words a second though. "Your parents will be convinced you've found a nice Hogwarts boy and they won't ever bother you aga--well, they won't bother you until the next big event." His parents would probably be inquiring about his own plans. But so far, he was in the clear.

Laguna squinted his eyes at her little joke, though soon after he was laughing right along with her. "I'll make sure that my wrist is in fine condition. I need it for other things anyway, like holding up the trophy....posing in pictures..." The list could go on and on. Being a household quidditch name came with a whole new set of duties, after all.

"They certainly would!" He responded to her, knowing that his chasers could be intense and they were ready to capitalize on any shortcoming of the opposing team. "I could catch you...." He then thought about it and added on, "But if the snitch is in sight, well..." His words drifted and he gave her a joking look. Laguna shrugged, "Can't have all the good players on one team can we? It'll make it much more interesting to be opposite of you anyway. Don't get too distracted...or do."

Laguna laughed at her silly attempt at her accent and then nodded toward the center. "I say we shall." He entertained her accent with his own, though it wasn't very well done considering that his own accent was sort of thick at times and ...well he just wasn't great at accents. Didn't stop him from a bit of fun though. The blonde flew off toward the center of the pitch with the quaffle still in his possession. He watched her thoughtfully as he waited for her to join him.

She blushed and shrugged her shoulders, Riley had never imagined life without her fiery hair as for money. Well, it might sound strange but she did wish her parents had less of it so they would stop thinking the 'best' of everything was the way to prove something. The young Keeper was not certain as to what they hoped to prove or impress but constantly striving to ensure they remained at the top. That money held a certain importance, there was no escaping it, money was a necessary part to function on a daily business.

"Alas it proved to be quite easy." She shook her head sadly, the redhead honestly could not wait to be able to drop potions. It might prove to be one of the best decisions for her as well as hopefully cutting dramatically down on the time she spent with an injury or three. She chuckled lightly at his words. "You'll never see a McNeill with hand me downs, my parents would positively have a fit." She did have the decency to look somewhat sheepish as she added on. "I mean they also did that shortly after they found out I melted my cauldron."

For a moment, the redhead appeared utterly dumbfounded as if his easy agreement caught her entirely off guard. She eventually nodded. "Sure, next week is great." Though she secretly hoped they would not get into too much trouble. Getting caught at night might well be something even she may struggle to explain away to the other Slytherins.

"Yeah best fake boyfriend." Riley agreed, mentally giving herself a good kicking. "Yeah until they realize you're not a Slytherin." Or from a family they believe suitable, she added on silently. For the McNeill's money and power happened to be hand in hand, a muggle family would never do, even a half blood family was not something they were overly fond of unless they were wealthy or able to ensure better positions and prospects for the McNeill's later. They once, long ago had been a powerful ancient Wizarding family, but the years had not been kind, nor the decision to marry in with some muggles, ending up with the title McNeill. Much of this history was centuries old, but her father and mother were determined to reverse the decline of the house as much as possible.

She laughed with him. "You forgot you're own biography." Riley pointed out, wondering what it might be like to find herself in a book of her very own or even mentioned in someone else's. If in the case of the latter, she hoped it might be complimentary.
She blushed. "Perhaps you can catch me and the snitch? Or just me. Pretty sure the professors might award you some extra points for rescuing a rival player in need." Riley would never had said distress, she was not some damsel in need of rescue. "So long as you don't get too distracted by me saving every goal." She countered playfully, such a move would force him to attempt to catch the snitch early less Slytherin score enough goals to prevent his team from winning even with the snitch captured.

"Quite right, tally ho." She responded, amused by his own attempt at an accent, before following him to the centre of the pitch, her blue eyes were filled with excitement and happiness.

He smiled, noting again how her hair complimented just about everything about her. His observations, however, were kept to himself and he actually kind of kicked himself for losing himself in thoughts that were somewhat foreign to him. Lately it seemed like he was just growing increasingly aware that his female classmates were changing. Or was he changing? Maybe both. Maybe it was this stupid ball that was just bringing these thoughts to the surface. He reached up an rubbed his forehead for a short moment. "Get it together..." He muttered under his breath. Anyway he still had a quidditch match to win. If he was bested by the opposing team's the word would spread. His eyes darted around to see if they'd won any audience. Not that he could see.

His attention was snapped from his own thoughts, which is probably the best thing that could have happened in that moment. "No, and you'd never see a Lestrange with one either." He chuckled and shook his head, "Still can't sort out how you manage to melt a cauldron, but that would've been quite a sight." His thoughts drifted to when he attempted a sleeping potion and Anwen had to save him. "If it's any consolation, I nearly caused an explosion trying to brew a simple sleeping draught. Luckily someone much better at potions was there to save the day."

Her reaction made him curious. Was it actually a joke that she was suggesting the star-gazing? If so, he'd just made things weird? But she agreed anyway, hopefully not just to be polite. "Great, we can meet out near edge of the grounds. Near the gamekeeper's hut?" It was a safe enough spot as long as they didn't alert any prefects. Not many people tended to wander out to that particular area anyway.

Laguna gave her a long, hard look as if studying her. "Do your parents know of my family?" He asked suddenly. Though he knew of Riley, he wasn't all that familiar with her family. Many of the old families in Slytherin wouldn't mind his name, but he didn't know where her own stood. "They won't know the difference," he explained, "My attire for the evening is just a classic look. No flashy colors or house pride." Black and white. It could still be an impressive look when done right.

"Right, right. Biography is a must. I'm not much of a writer though, so I'll need to hire someone to write that for me." He laughed. "Just have to make sure it's not someone out to sabotage me. I'm sure my agent will look over all that," he waved it off as if this was all already set in stone.

After a long pause, mostly for dramatic effect, he nodded, "Don't worry I wouldn't let you fall. I can catch both!" That was wishful thinking but he was sure he could manage it all. It would be a win win situation. "I'll try to keep focused..." The truth was nothing had EVER managed to successfully distract him during a match--would something be different this season?

All thoughts were pushed aside again. They were both in the center of the pitch now. "I'll toss it up and then on your word we'll start." He took the quaffle, pulled his arm back and then threw it high up into the air. He looked to Riley, catching her eye, both hands on his broom, just waiting for the signal. "Good luck, McNeill!"

She laughed abruptly. "By Merlin we must sound rather spoiled. From wealth, fancy or the fanciest of items." The redhead shook her head in disbelief, having missed the comment about him needing to get it together. "I'm not particularly good in exams..." Riley admitted with a nervous grin. "I mean it was a mock one but I kinda... Went to pieces on it." She could fly a broom with the best of them, defend the goals ferociously, but give her something to do in a classroom and chaos usually happened. "How did you almost blow up a sleeping draft?" She inquired disbelievingly. "Says the girl who melted a cauldron."

Riley smiled at him, before agreeing somewhat shyly. "Sure, hopefully the weather is good." The redhead was no stranger to ending up in trouble or detention, but perhaps for him it might be worth the detention. At least sneaking back into the Slytherin common room should be easier with it located in the dungeons. Unlike him, he had to go to some tower from what rumors she had heard.

"I guess so. I've not written about you in any letters yet if that's what you're anxious about." She explained with a shrug. "I don't think putting in that I've got a fake boyfriend for the ball is a wise move. If they ask I'll just explain after, that you asked me out for the ball, since you're the team captain and seeker for the Gryffindor team." She blushed and smiled. "If it weren't a trick to throw them off what girl could resist?" A small voice, tiny but stubbornly insistent all the same wished it weren't fake at all. But it would be too weird now to suddenly change things, he might say no and then the careful plan would fall apart. Besides if she did ask and if he did answer in the affirmative, then were they going to be merely going to the Ball together? Or did inquiring and him providing her with a yes mean they were now boyfriend and girlfriend?

The thought of him wearing house colour made her grin. "As much as I think that you might look great in green, red is more your colour." She pointed out, leaning forward on her broomstick so she could rest her elbows carefully on it. He had already seen her dress, admittedly without her in it, hopefully they might match well enough.

She grinned at his response to her suggestion of a biography. "Just be sure to let me have the first signed copy." The redhead insisted, however before anything like that could take place... They both needed to do the best as possible at Quidditch and then requiring them to be picked by a professional team. The redhead blushed imagining him catching her and the Snitch in front of the entire school, hopefully if such an event did occur it only would end the game, but with a victory for her house. "So long as you don't get distracted by me." She ran a head through her long fiery hair as if she were posing for a picture.

She caught up with him at the centre of the pitch. Riley winked back at him. "Good luck to you too!" She called back to him before shooting up in pursuit of the ball. It felt weird to be operating in a position outside of the Keeper. Would rushing up after it be the right move or should she be better served to wait on it falling back down?

"Well, I am rather spoiled." Laguna admittedly, a little bit of a knowing smirk on his face. "Only the very best will do for me..." He raised his eyebrows, "Which is why you should be warned...I'll have the latest quidditch broom by the time of the first match. Father has a business associate who is related to the lead developer." He shrugged, "You must admit that being spoiled has it's perks from time to time," he stated, then he added on, "By the way, that was told to you in confidence as a friend. If I hear the Slytherin team had a heads up about it, well...it's either you or Zeke and we both know it's not Zeke who'll have told anyone." You could have all the skill in the world, but everyone knew a good broom could very well be the different between two highly skilled players.

"Er...to be honest I hadn't been getting much sleep. I've found myself in a bit of a mess over the last month. But Anwen was wonderful and caught that I'd been putting the wrong proportions of ingredients into the potion. Turns out that when you're functioning on little to no sleep that it can be the worst time to try and brew a potion that you've never dealt with before." Lagune shrugged, "We all have our days where we...er...melt cauldrons." No. Not everyone...or anyone for that matter had melted a cauldron that he was aware of. Whatever Riley put into that Cauldron must have been incredibly strong. "Probably lucky all you did was melt the cauldron."

"Don't worry, if the weather turns out bad we can always reschedule for another night. Or just ...improvise. There are other things we can find to do." He knew the best pathways to sneak out of the tower. The fact of the matter is that he was a rulebreaker, whether that was well known or not was a different story. Even though he broke the rules frequently, he was also very good at covering himself and smooth-talking his way out of things.

Laguna perked a brow and then let out a light laugh, "I'm not anxious about anything at all. I'm just here to help." More than anything he also had at least a small nagging curiosity in the back of his mind that made him wonder what others thought of him and his family. He wasn't sure why he was so curious about it. Part of it was fascination in the extreme differences between people when they learned. Her words after that caused a reaction in him and he looked bashfully down toward the ground. "Ah...I'm sure plenty of the girls could resist." This was the most time he'd spent with a girl outside of his teammates and Miral. When he peeked back up toward her, there was a faint pink in his cheeks and he wore a small, shy smile.

"You think?" He wondered how she'd react to knowing that essentially everything in his room at home, and really his home in general, was more suited toward the green theme. "Ironically I owned absolutely nothing in red until coming to Hogwarts." He chuckled.

"You'll be the first. I'll even hand deliver it." Laguna tilted his head and then shrugged, staring a little longer than he normally would as she ran a hand through her hair. "Can't promise I won't be distracted by you at least a little bit." His heart fluttered differently for a moment and he wondered if he should go swing by the hospital wing after this just in case something was wrong.

Her movement was the right one though. She'd either go for the ball or she'd need to set herself up in a defensive position to tackle the other. Normally he would have waited for the tackle, but since it was just the two of them he thought it would be more fun for a true one on one fight for the quaffle. Laguna sped after Riley, squinting as he focused on the ball. He'd almost caught up to her but the quaffle was just within her reach.

Riley had been about to make some remark, potentially funny about him and her being spoiled when he jaw dropped open from the fact he revealed he would be getting a new broom. He either sought to impress her greatly or trusted her incredibly to not let her fellow Slytherins' know about this particularly crucial piece of information. "What broom?" She inquired, utterly failing at trying to hide how impressed and eager she was to know this fact. Armed with a particularly fast seeker, the game could be over in minutes.

"That's a difficult spot you've put me in." Riley admitted awkwardly, knowing what she knew and not telling her team may well be seen as treachery in their eyes. But... If the roles had been reversed, Riley would not have wished for him to tell anyone either. "I guess you really needed the sleeping draft." She pointed out with a smirk. But on the plus side he survived the experience or otherwise she was hanging out with his ghost. "Aye that is what everyone says." Riley shrugged her shoulders at him, she had become used to people questioning just how she achieved it.

"You're right, I'll let you think of some." She suggested, wondering what he might come up with if the weather proved to be rather poor.

Laguna perked a brow and then let out a light laugh, "I'm not anxious about anything at all. I'm just here to help." More than anything he also had at least a small nagging curiosity in the back of his mind that made him wonder what others thought of him and his family. He wasn't sure why he was so curious about it. Part of it was fascination in the extreme differences between people when they learned. Her words after that caused a reaction in him and he looked bashfully down toward the ground. "Ah...I'm sure plenty of the girls could resist." This was the most time he'd spent with a girl outside of his teammates and Miral. When he peeked back up toward her, there was a faint pink in his cheeks and he wore a small, shy smile.

"Yeah." She insisted. "Really? Maybe you would be more at home in my house." The redhead teased him playfully with small wink, reddening even as she did so. She grinned at the thought of his own book. "I will give you one of mine in return." She promised, though she wondered what she would even put in it. Riley blushed at the thought of him being distracted by her. "Just don't crash. I might have to leave the goal to check you're okay." She cautioned him, though such an action would hardly go down well with her own house. They would probably expect her to laugh, not rush to see if she can help.

The redhead beat him to the Quaffle, tucking under one arm before coming about on her broomstick, aiming to dive straight down again.

Laguna noted the jaw drop and wondered, for a moment, if tipping her off had been a mistake on his end. Either way, it wouldn't have mattered aside from the surprise on their faces when they saw it. Maybe they could shift their gameplan based on the knowledge. Perhaps it was unfair to put her in a such a positions, so he chose his next step carefully. "Afraid I can't reveal the details just yet. Broom hasn't hit the market." That would narrow down the options as there were only a few well-known brands that were in the works of marketing new brooms. He smiled, "If you have to tell them, then you do."

If put in the same position, he wondered what he might do. Lucky for him he wasn't in that position. Laguna nodded, "Yeah, it's been a lifesaver." That was putting it simply as he hadn't been functioning normally at all prior to having it. She probably got enough grief over her knack for having issues in potions, so he'd let it slide for now.

"Wonderful. I'll come up with something fun, don't worry. What other sorts of trouble can I get you into after dark...?" There were plenty. They could go on a ghost hunt within the depths of the castle or maybe find a game to play. Perhaps they could search for the Room of Requirement. He'd only heard of it, but it was on his Hogwarts bucket list. "Any preferences on the type of activity?"

She probably had a point there even if she was teasing him, "Maybe so!" Her wink caused a color in his cheeks again. He blamed it on maybe his adrenaline from being in the pitch. "Great, make sure you sign it: To Laguna, the best quidditch player I've ever known." He chuckled. He caught her eye and raised his eyebrows, "Careful, you might tempt me to fake a crash."

The game was on! Riley caught the quaffle before he could get to it and was in a dive down toward the ground. Laguna decided to dive, though his height would be just above her. "Not a bad catch!" He called out, weaving his broom below her now. His eyes were scanning the positioning she held, but he didn't want to steal just yet. In fact, he was curious to see what she could do with her flying in open air, so he simply followed her movements here and there, then when he thought it would be a nice little opportunity, he went side by side with her and gave her a bump to knock her off course.

"Learned that as a seeker," he stated, proudly. "Never realized just how much of a battle the seekers had going on until this year."

Riley looked uncomfortable however, she did not want to betray a secret entrusted to her even if he was on her arch rival team, nor did she wish to keep something which might enable her team to win. Quite the conundrum for her. Keep the secret of the guy she realized she liked or use it to try and help win the game. "Thanks but... Since you have not told me the make of the broom, me telling them that you have a new broom coming but I don't know what will not be breaking your secret." She suggested, true her team might be on guard but they were not going to be fully aware of what he might be bringing to the field.

"I find history of magic sends me to sleep." She added on, trying to throw out a joke to lighten the conversation again. Who knows, if he was good or at the very least decent at potions then she could ask him to show her what he did.

"I'll let you plan it out." Riley offered before adding teasingly. "Just don't expect me to try and sneak you into the common room. I think the Slytherin team would be more than happy to not let you out again." Of course, no one would be particularly enthused with her having let him into the common room in the first place. "Haha well you've got to become that yet. I need to see you catch the snitch on that fancy new broom of yours." She abruptly flipped upside down to look at him, a broad grin on her face. "Make it impressive enough and I might even write in it the book." She promised coyishly.

"If only there were witnesses to hear that. A Gryffindor player resorting to tricks to pull me out of position." Riley teased playfully, if anybody would use tricks to win the day, it would be her team. The redhead might play fairly, but not all on her team shared her moral convictions.

So far so good, she still had the ball though she was well aware he was keeping pace with her. Riley attempted a few sudden jinks and turns, but somehow doubted they would be very effective against someone used to catching the unpredictable snitch. Abruptly he bumped into her, though Riley only just managed to keep a hold of the ball. Rather than counter with a bump of her own however, she attempted to be unpredictable. She slowed sharply hoping he would shoot past, before she dove further towards the ground. "I'll ask the beaters to send a few more bludgers your way to make it more interesting for you shall I?" She suggested tauntingly, though clearly meant it in a playful manner.