Orphic » Sirius Black

Chapter 2 - Subjects and Victims of Time

The bright moonlight reflected on the stained glass of the Ravenclaw's common room windows, scattering the floor and walls with spots of different colours of light. At night was when the room was loaded with students, all doing different sorts of activities, but not very much noise was heard.

Juniper was sitting on the table beside a large window that elegantly framed the thickness of The Forbidden Forest. She tried to write her Potions essay, but the darkness and mysteriousness of the forest pulled her sight from the parchment. And, evidently, it was more interesting than her schoolwork.

Occasionally, she'd pretend to be writing something down, just so Judson wouldn't notice. She didn't worry much about Maverick, who was sitting in front of her, because just like Juniper, he'd lock himself in his own world, imagining and thinking deeply. But the main difference was that he drew his thoughts and dreams. Sometimes she wished she could do that too, instead of keeping most of hers inside her mind.

"Mav, I think you should start preparing your essay," said Judson, yanking Juniper out of the forest and making her grab her quill, alarmed. Maverick almost didn't move.

"Mhm," he mumbled back, with his eyes still on his notebook, concentrated on the portrait he was sketching.

"What are you even doing?"

"Doodling."

His disinterested answers always made Judson restless, which caused Juniper to snort out of laughter. Maverick was aware of both things, and was amused by them. He sometimes managed to pull them with a straight face, but most of the time he couldn't help but laugh too.

"What, exactly?" Questioned Judson, sitting up straight and fixing his posture. "Hope it's the Porlock drawing Kettleburn asked."

"Not quite," Maverick said, quickly passing the page and beginning a new drawing on the next one. "I'm just thinking of some moves I could try when I have the team set."

"You didn't even have your tryouts yet, captain," replied Judson. It made Maverick blush and roll his eyes comically at the nickname, as he had recently been appointed as the captain of the Ravenclaw's Quidditch team. "Try focusing on that first, and then worry about the moves for the matches. It'll be easier to plan the moves once you know the strengths of your team."

"Do the other teams have strong Chasers?" Juniper said, completely ignoring Judson's suggestion.

"Judging from last year's teams, just Slytherin," answered Maverick, scratching his jaw, "Gryffindor just two, and Hufflepuff's team relays on their defence."

"You could try the Wollongong Shimmy against them. Y'know, fast zigzagging across the pitch," she said, doing zigzags with her hands through the air. "If they're not fast enough, then they won't catch your Chasers."

"Never heard of it," Maverick said with genuine interest, resting on his elbows.

"Or maybe the Porskoff Ploy," continued Juniper, locking herself into her thoughts again. "That one requires more practice, I reckon, but Dawn could pull it off easily."

"Sometimes I forget how much you know about Quidditch, to be honest," Judson said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"It's just general knowledge," she mumbled, looking down and playing with her quill.

"I don't think so. My dad likes Quidditch too but I don't know that much about it," said Judson. Juniper just nodded, not wanting to speak more of the subject.

"Callister, you should go to tryouts!" Maverick stamped his hands on the table. "I'm hosting it Friday afternoon. Please, I need you on my team," he finally begged, putting his hands together, and pouting.