The Times They Are a-Changin' {Harlan}

Casey Regan found herself standing outside of the Griffin’s clubhouse, she was in a tank top, jeans and sneakers a non-de script training bag slung over her good shoulder. It was a weekend, and she was still technically recovering from her fall, but the work never stopped. She had met with Moss Carmody, the Magpie’s keeper coach for the morning, and the pair had focused on everything and anything that didn’t involve her shoulder. Moss had even made her wear a sling to keep her from using the arm, despite her having taken Skele Gro and other potions to reduce swelling after the injury occurred. Casey had stashed the sling in her bag as soon as she was out of the keeper coaches’ sight.

She’d known Moss for ages, but he could fuss over injuries like nobody’s business. Besides, it was mostly just bruising that was left now streaked across her collarbone and shoulder and some residual soreness that was left, since magic was a wonderful thing.

The last thing Casey wanted to do was show up to a sit down with @Harlan Bellamy the current captain of the Gravesend Griffins, and her potential future teammate, with her arm in a sling for Moss’ sake. It was not a good look when scouting and trades across the league were in full swing, and Casey was not about to let something that was already done and over impact her future, even if it stung a little.

The witch looked up at the Griffin’s logo above the doors, exhaled and pushed her way through. She hoped that Tau’s recommendation that she sit down with the Gravesend captain was worthwhile. Tau Idowu was the Griffin’s old keeper, and Casey had known him since her later days of playing youth Quidditch. Tau had been involved in her training then and had apparently followed her career after she’d started playing for Hufflepuff, and then for the Magpies. He’d hurt himself recently, in some freak off the pitch accident, and was working to help the Griffin’s find a keeper to take his place, as he was moving on to other opportunities.

Tau had been pestering Casey for about a week before she’d finally given in and agreed to meet with Harlan. The Griffin’s were the past season’s champions, and even the prospect of a trade made her a little nervous. She had plenty of confidence, coming off of a signing to the league’s winningest team in history right out of school. But she hadn’t expected to confronting the possibility of a trade or move quite so early in her career. In the end though, Casey trusted Tau, and thought she could at least stand to meet with Harlan if nothing else.

Being that it was summer the clubhouse was relatively empty and spotting the Griffin’s captain sitting in what served as the club’s office area was not difficult. Casey offered him a wave in acknowledgement. Casey had wondered if she should be more formal, despite the fact that she referred to most of the people she knew from Quidditch by their last names, but Tau had told her to leave the bells and whistles off and so she had. “Hi, Harlan.” She offered as she made her way over to the table he was sitting at and slid into the chair across from him, her bag hitting the floor with a soft thwump as she set it down next to her chair. She tried to keep her bubbly nature under wraps, knowing enough about Harlan to think it would do more harm than good.

“Thanks for meeting with me” she told him with a small smile, still unsure of how to play this new game, but not wanting to give away the fact that she was nervous. Nerves were rarely good in her position. But after another moment, she added “How many times did Tau owl you?” hoping to find some way to break the ice. If Tau was going to have them meet, then he would have to deal with them talking about him, too.

Harlan scanned the wall of accolades that adored the clubhouse, the private owner's box located in the middle of the arena in perfect view of the pitch. Most were from Griffin's heydey all those years ago— their most recent award was on firmly on display in the main entryway. It had been quite some time since the team had seen a win on that level, the highest level, and the owners weren't shy about showing it off.

It was strange to be in there at all, let alone on his own in the middle of the day during the off-season. It was eerily quiet. Floor to ceiling glass doors opened up to the balcony and gave way to the distant sound of automated sprinklers that kept the pitch lawn green.

Blue eyes flicked outside and scanned the empty stadium before dipping lower as water, like rain, magically fell out of the sky in timed intervals, dousing the impossibly manicured lawn. He thought to himself that it seemed like a waste to keep that up when the pitch was only used for the rare charity event these days. They hadn't even gotten back into regular practices yet.

After the finals, Harlan forced himself to take some time away, attempt to relax. It was a uniquely hard thing for him to do, nothing. It helped that things with the English team were picking up again. Running a hand through his newly sun lightened blond hair (thanks to Croatia), he turned his head at the sound of the door opening and offered a nod in Casey Regan's direction before taking a seat in one of the plush, deep red, chairs emblazoned with the team logo.

"Enough," He said, not unkindly, with a little roll of his eyes before smiling. It wasn't his intention to intimidate her, or fucking interview her or something, but he trusted Tau's judgment and had seen Casey's natural skills during the brief time when their time overlapped with the Magpies. "How've you been?" He asked with his best attempt at small talk but was quickly distracted by the bruising he noticed on her shoulder, not unlike his own from the finals.

"Ouch," He nodded to her shoulder, raising an eyebrow.

Casey laughed at Harlan’s response. Having known Tau for some time the ex-Hufflepuff knew what the wizard meant. “He actually showed up in Montrose” she told the Griffin’s captain with a wry smile of her own. She supposed that Tau’s stubborn and relentless nature was what made him good at being a keeper in the first place. But for those that he turned those tendencies on, it was it’s own kind of annoying.

At his next question Casey offered him a one shouldered shrug “Not bad, McLean has us on two a days every other week. But, that is what it is.” Casey wasn’t sure whether she would get the call for national team tryouts or not, but she sure as shit hoped so as long as her shoulder healed itself quickly enough. She hated just sitting around in general, but especially when it came to Quidditch. Even though the forced break from practice was nice, it was still driving her up the wall.

Ouch was right. It had hurt more than Casey would have ever been able to imagine until she’d felt it. The corner of her mouth turned up in a small smirk all the same though and she nodded “Yeah. It was a short 30 foot drop. Thanks to magic, it was only a 10 foot drop. New save gone wrong. About another week before they’ll let me back.” She told him evenly. It had been worth it, and she was already keen to try it again, but Moss and McLean both were making her wait till she was medically cleared, which she supposed was the sensible thing to do for her career in the long run. But she’d be damned if she wouldn’t nail the save once she wasn’t injured.

Looking around the clubhouse Casey was almost sure it might be nicer than the Magpies, even with all their championships and fancy things. The witch stretched and asked “Biggest improvement between the Magpies and the Griffs?” Casey didn’t need much from Harlan, the Griffin’s seemed to speak for themselves, but because he knew both the clubs, she was curious.

Draping an ankle over his knee, Harlan clasped his hands together where his foot met his leg to steady the subtle, consistent bouncing. As of late there here had been an unavoidable restlessness in him that manifested itself in different ways. "Right, keep off it," He nodded to Casey's shoulder once more, incapable of hiding his captainship he'd taken on since joining the Griffins. Her coach was right to take her out of the pitch to heal; if it were him, he'd give it even more time. His team had learned the hard way with Rob.

Harlan settled back into his chair more comfortably as the conversation went on. He wasn't sure what he'd expected from their meeting, but he had worried that it might be more uncomfortable than it had turned out to be. The two of them, thankfully, had enough in common to avoid small talk.

"Biggest improvement?" He repeated, thinking back before letting out a laugh at the idea. When he joined the Griffins there were absolutely no improvements coming from the Magpies. By all accounts he'd taken a step back, joining a team that had seen their prime decades prior, settled into their place at the losing end of the pack. With an amused sigh, Harlan shook his head. "At first— absolutely nothing," He almost grinned. "It was a tough start," He continued. "Took a lot of time to get the trust of the team," He said more seriously.

"I'm sure no part of this is selling you in," Harlan thought more to himself. Then again, he wasn't in the business of selling anything in.