[sep mp] faster & faster { benny & donna }

It was clear, upon observation, that Tomie was the alpha dog here; though Donna was, in the spirit of being Benny’s mentor and not Tomie’s, attempting to speak mostly to Benny, Tomie was still doing most of the talking. Donna heartily approved. But -- she had to remind herself -- she was Benny’s mentor and not Tomie’s, so she couldn’t encourage this. Tomie was a guest.

“Well, I’m a Chaser, so,” she said. “It’s just as well you’re going for Seeker first, though -- last year’s is a lot bigger than you are and it’s good to be small -- and I reckon if you wanted Beater you’d be hard pressed to get it.” She propped one trainer on the chair in front of the desk she was leaned against and added, “Well, sometime this week I’ll take you lot to the pitch and throw a Quaffle around, see how your aim is. That sound good?”

The conversation then took two turns: Tomie boasted about her own flying skill (again: Donna heartily approved) and Benny boasted about her having punched Matthew Maverick in the face at camp. Donna’s jaw dropped.

“What, that was you!” It shouldn’t have surprised her, in retrospect -- of course nearly everybody at camp had heard about it, though Donna’d spent most of her camp days telling her little brother not to bother her with his second-year gossip. What a fool she’d been.

“Well, good for you, throwing a punch is about the best skill I could ever teach you,” she said, and then, “Do not tell Ajay I said that.”

Was he not supposed to mention the fight to Donna? Benny caught Tomie's look and swallowed, a little nervous now, as she finished the story by informing his mentor that Maverick was fine. Benny thought it was so impressive how Tomie had stood up for Hazel, they weren't even really friends, but she'd still done it anyway because it needed doing. That was the kind of Gryffindor he hoped to be one day. He assumed Donna was already that sort of Gryffindor; she was older than they were and, by default, way cooler.

Benny's short legs brought him to another desk that he could sit on. The voice inside of his head, the one that sounded an awful lot like his mother, told him to pull out the chair and sit properly in it, but he pushed it back. Instead, the small wizard climbed on top of the desk to somewhat copy how Donna had been sitting. His legs swung off of the desk, sneakers kicking the portions of it and not coming remotely close to touching the ground.

Still feeling some anxiety for possibly telling Donna something Tomie didn't want him to, Benny chewed on the inside of his lip. The older witch had seemed impressed, but still. "I've never thrown a punch," He told her with a shrug. Unless playfighting with your brother in the living room counted, but something told the second year it probably didn't. "I think I'd want to be a chaser, too," He then added, returning to what they had been talking about shyly.

Tomie nodded about the beater thing. She knew she wasn’t strong enough for the position, she was just very enamoured with the Gryffindor tradition in recent years of having so many girl beaters, and she liked hitting stuff. Flying was her number one skill – she was comfortable, and had basically no fear – catching was next, and then throwing way down, much lower. She thought her Hitting Stuff With A Bat was probably better than her throwing, but one day she’d work hard enough that she was even better.

What, that was you!

“Uhhhh,” Tomie said again, trying to work out if Donna was impressed or disapproving. “Yeah,” she said, scratching her cheek, a sheepish expression on her face. Donna didn’t seem unimpressed though. Another look at Benny, and another best-friend, near-telepathic noted to talk about later comment sent from her brain to his. Well, hopefully. At least that’s how she imagined it.

“We won’t,” she said, even though she was sure the request didn’t need an answer. Tomie smiled – to herself, mostly, and leaned back on the desk behind her again, content. She smiled proudly when Benny said he was going for chaser. She’d almost had to make him promise her he’d try to get him to commit to it.

Benny had never thrown a punch before -- disappointing, but Donna was sure he’d pick it up someday. She tilted her head -- “Well, Vos could probably show you,” she said -- she felt like her showing him would be less adorable and girl-powery than if she’d shown Tomie, but she supposed she was his mentor, and what else were mentors for?

Other than Quidditch advice.

“Chaser!” said Donna -- now that was something she could work with. She grinned broadly -- “Excellent choice, Rivera. Best position on the team, if you ask me.” Which, of course, they hadn’t -- but (she thought) their not having left already spoke to their willingness to hear her talk about whatever she wanted to talk about. “I’ll definitely take you out, then, and show you a few tricks.” She clapped her hands together, having made the decision, then kicked her feet and frowned, running mentally through the itinerary of things she’d meant to talk about.

“Er… anything else about Quidditch you want to know?” she said, and raised her eyebrows. “Strategy… tryouts… Blevins… secrets… gossip…”

Benny caught the look from Tomie, and he'd seen it enough times to know what she was thinking or to assume so, and he nodded. They would talk about it later. He'd been telling the miraculous tale of Tomie Vos and the Bullying Bully since literally ten minutes after it happened, and it had never been a problem before, so the tween was a little unsure of why she didn't want Donna to know. Maybe she didn't want to be put on the spot; either way, Benny had never meant to upset his best friend, so he'd fix it later. Apologies to Tomie always came with snacks; it was a foolproof plan, really.

Wiggling where he was, Benny smiled when Donna said he had made a good choice. He hoped he would be good enough to make the team, but even if it not, he'd still be at every freaking game. There was no way he'd miss it! "Hmm..." He answered, what else did they want to know about?

"Got any suggestions on how to deal with Peeves?" Benny squeaked, not because he was ashamed, but because he was half convinced if he said the name out loud three times, the bloody poltergeist would show up to torment him some more.

Gossip? Secrets? Tomie’s smile shifted into something like a smirk without her even realising she was doing it. She felt very lucky to be here suddenly. Lucky that Benny had gotten Donna, and lucky that he’d insisted it would be fine if she tagged along (lucky that he was correct, too). “If –” Tomie and Benny started talking at the same time, but she stopped first, and nodded at him quickly, letting him speak. Peeves though? The brunette glanced at Donna for a response, but she was skeptical; she didn’t think the poltergeist was more interesting than quidditch.

She leaned back against the desk she was leaning on, not wanting to seem impatient. “Also gossip,” she tacked on at the end of Benny’s sentence with a smile, trying to be chill and subtle but unable to resist. What kinds of things happened behind closed quidditch locker doors? Probably a lot, she thought.

Benny didn’t have anything to say about Quidditch anymore -- disappointing -- and Donna bit her lip, furrowed her brow at his question. There really wasn’t any way to deal with Peeves, but she felt like she had to at least say something. She was, after all, meant to be mentoring these kids.

“Well, people will tell you not to let him bother you, but that’s tosh,” she said decisively. “If you act like the bigger person he’ll keep doing it -- you’ve got to fight fire with fire. Or, I dunno, put your bag over your head if he’s throwing things. It’s your call.” She hesitated, but she figured she may as well add, “You can threaten to talk to the Bloody Baron if you really have to, but that’s a last resort.” The Bloody Baron freaked her out.

Tomie wanted to hear gossip -- that was more like it. Donna rubbed her hands together, held them up to her face. “Hm,” she said -- “Well, rumour had it that last year the Hufflepuff captain was crushing hard on the keeper. But -- you know, they’re graduated now, that’s probably not so interesting to you lot.” She regretted saying anything -- what would interest two twelve-year-olds? Surely they didn’t care to hear her musings of which of her own classmates liked which of her other classmates. And surely she wasn’t supposed to give them the dirt on her own team, even if her captain had had that thing with that weird older boy Dennis.

She fell back on Quidditch.

“Well,” she said. “Ravenclaw spends every year falling completely apart on the pitch ever since like, Roger Davies graduated in ninety-whatever, so you never have to worry about them. And Hufflepuff only won last year out of, like, beginner’s luck.” By now, it wasn’t properly beginner’s luck -- they weren’t really beginners anymore -- but Donna couldn’t quite believe that their team was actually that good.

Benny wasn't as interested in gossip as Tomie seemed to be, but he nodded anyway when she added to his request. At least, he thought he wasn't all that interested, but when he heard the types of things Donna was telling them, he changed his opinion quickly. The bit about the keeper and the crush wasn't very appealing, but the stuff about Ravenclaw's team and Hufflepuff's winning one was undoubtedly useful. Benny soaked it up, wondering if he should be keeping notes, but decided that would be a lame thing to do, and he wanted Donna to like him. Instead, he committed what she had said about Peeves to memory and began to dig his teeth into the Quidditch tidbits.

"Beginner's luck?" He questioned but realized halfway through what she must have meant. "Because their team was mostly new players last term?" Benny had heard the stories about half the team being brand new fourth years and the fact that they had won the cup anyway. Maybe it was because they all knew each other and ended up playing well together? The thought made the Gryffindor turn to his best friend and smile. Perhaps they would have some Beginners Luck as well.

Ravenclaw being useless was no surprise at all to Tomie, who had two Ravenclaw brothers. She nodded, thinking of her Ravenclaw friends and how she’d probably demolish them in a game.

Well anyway, if beginner’s luck was actually a thing – and Tomie didn’t make it her business to decide otherwise – then she was planning on talking full advantage of it. What could be more beginnery than someone who hadn’t ever played a proper high stakes game of quidditch in her life, trying out for seeker? And, preferably, catching the snitch in her first game? Her heart felt a little fluttery just imagining it.

Benny glanced at her and her smile turned a little smirkish without her meaning it to. She just knew he’d been having the same thought she had. “Oh,” she said to Donna, nodding as she zoned back into the conversation after drifting away in her own head for a fraction of a second. Donna was right that she didn’t care so much about students who’d already graduated, but she did her best to seem interested anyway.

“And Slytherin?” Tomie prompted eagerly, catching up with the threads of the conversation. Ravenclaw, useless. Hufflepuff, beginners. What about the snake house? Hazel certainly wouldn’t mess up her hair for anything, but JR’s skills were no joke, and as much as she hated to even think it… MatMav wasn’t half bad on a broom either.

“Almost entirely, yeah,” said Donna, “Their Beaters had played before, maybe.” She raised her eyebrows at the two second-years -- if anybody needed beginner’s luck, it was them -- “But they’ve graduated now, so you’ll both be fine. It wouldn’t be the first time Gryffindor fills its team up with kids -- mind, it might take a bit before we start winning anything, but once you’re good, you could be undefeatable.” There was definitely precedent for that, at least -- she thought back to the post-Charlie-Weasley era.

She put her hands on her knees, pressing her shoulders up -- “Slytherin’s good. Unfortunately. But Slytherin team tactics have always involved a lot of foul play -- at least, traditionally -- so if the referee isn’t too biased, we do well enough on penalty shots. Unless we foul them back, which… also happens,” she admitted. “Don’t know about any of the little ones -- you know, your age -- but the captain, the co-captain, Hackney, all competent fliers, and none of them graduated last year.”

She shifted in her seat. “Er… any other Quidditch questions, then? There anything about flying that scares you?” Again she directed this mostly to Benny, but she was perhaps a little more curious about Tomie’s answer.

"-you could be undefeatable." Benny sighed, settling into where he was sitting on top of a desk, his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. Undefeatable, that was the dream. Head still, Benny's eyes slid toward where Tomie was, and he could almost picture it now. Tomie was Captain, he was Co, and they were on top of the world. Donna had reminded them that it would take some time, but Benny was already living in the future. His imagination was flying high, right past reality, and straight into his daydreams.

"Do you... foul them back, often?" Benny asked, chin still in his hands but head tilting up slightly with the question. He had heard that Slytherin played dirty, that things often got rough on the pitch, but he tried to pretend like it didn't worry him one bit. Quidditch was a demanding sport, and he knew he'd need to toughen up if he wanted to play on the house team. She listed off the names, and Benny just nodded until a thought occurred to him, and he blurted it out.

"Maverick is going to try out for Slytherin, Jr told me so."

Tomie cringed a little internally at being called a kid, but she made sure not to let it show on her face. Donna wasn’t wrong! Exactly! …But they were second years now, and that was far more mature and grown up than teeny baby first years. She nodded vaguely at the idea of undefeatable. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t woken up thinking about for like, her entire life, or whatever.

Little ones. Internal sigh, again. Easy smile, again.

The idea of Slytherin committing all kinds of fouls on the field filled her with a kind of righteous frustration. The idea of committing fouls — in retaliation, of course — filled her with smugness. Donna’s descriptions of everything made her feel like she knew her already. Benny interjected and Tomie looked his way, eyebrows raised. Her expression collapsed into a very teenage sort of disapproval, eye roll and all. “Ugh,” she said. “Of course he is.” She wouldn’t mind knocking him off of his broom. Couldn’t he just stick to academics? Did he have to be good at both things?? “There are a couple of decent Slytherins in our year,” she admitted reluctantly, this part aimed at Donna.

“I’m not scared of flying,” she boasted, bringing the conversation back to what the older Gryffindor had originally asked, before Benny had done his usual meandering thing and taken them off track. “Flying’s the easy part,” she added, using her hands as she got more excited, as she always did when talking about quidditch. “Like, the balancing and the dips and spins—“ she made down-pointing swirly motions with an index finger, “—are fine, the hard part is like, keeping track of everything else? Like, other people, all the balls…”

Donna had heard a little about Matthew Maverick from her brother, though -- presumably -- he had less of a grudge to hold than Tomie and Benny seemed to. At twelve, or whatever, Donna had thought this sort of drama was the most important thing in the world, and so she couldn’t begrudge them their pettiness, but she was tempted anyway to roll her eyes. No way was little Matty Maverick a threat on a broom, she thought.

Not that she was in the business of underestimating piddling newcomers -- she’d made that mistake last year. She nodded seriously -- “Well, we’ll keep an eye out,” she promised. “Don’t worry.”

Being afraid of flying would have been a pretty serious handicap for a Quidditch player; Donna grinned. “Good,” she said anyway. Tomie’s next words were more encouraging -- she’d clearly thought a lot about the game, about how it worked and what to keep in mind. “If you’re going for Seeker, you only have to worry about the Snitch and the other Seeker,” she said, “And I guess, keep from getting clobbered. The only time you need to pay attention to the score is, at the end of the year, if we need a certain margin of points to take the cup -- but either I or the captain would let you know if that was the case.”

They were fortunate, she mused (not for the first time), that they played the last match of the year. It would be miserable to be in Hufflepuff or Slytherin and have no shot at redemption, to have to wait and hope that Ravenclaw and Gryffindor didn’t surpass their last scores. Not -- of course -- that she felt sorry for them. She was just a little bit bitter toward both houses’ Quidditch teams.

“You ever play before?” she said curiously. “Pick-up games, even. Just sounds like you know a good bit about what you’re doing.” By now she was speaking mostly to Tomie.

When it came to Quidditch, Benny had always felt like he was in third place. JR came from a Quidditch family, and Tomie was the most motivated person he had ever met, but that didn't mean Benny was less enthusiastic, or more importantly, less knowledgable. The little wizard knew every rule and the names of at least one hundred different types of fouls, but learning how to play and making the team were two very different things. Benny tried to remain realistic; Second-Years rarely made the house teams.

Head resting in his chin, the wizard's brown eyes flicked back and forth between Donna and Tomie, listening to every word they exchanged. "I'm not scared, either," He inserted and then returned to sitting quietly. Benny was relatively comfortable on the broom, so long as he didn't get the house broom engraved with the initials S.L. that had tried to decapitate him during his first year flying lessons. Tomie was right, though; flying was the easy part; it was everything else they needed to prepare for. As a keeper, he had to worry about guarding the hoops, watching out for bludgers, and the most challenging thing: staying focussed even when nothing was happening on his side of the pitch.

As the girls continued to talk, Benny began picking at the bit of his sneaker that was coming loose, dropping little bits of rubber on the floor. He knew not to pick the rubber off, that it would just start a hole in the bottom of his shoe, but he kept doing it anyway.

“Yeah,” she said, nodding, straightening up just a little under the older Gryffindor’s gaze. She liked the attention, and wanted to meet it the right way.

Tomie wanted so badly for Donna to think she was cool — or at least like her. Or if not that, then she supposed she would settle for Donna having the impression that she was at least cooler or more likeable (or both!) than most other twelve-year-olds. “We've played, but just in our common though,” she added casually, glancing at Benny for a brief moment of reassurance before looking back at the other girl.

“We don’t have fourteen brooms, so it’s never like, a proper game,” she continued, not adding that they rarely ever had a full set of balls, either. Or that the brooms they played on were probably better for sweeping than playing quidditch, these days. “But yeah, we play. A bit” she finished with a nod and a bit of a smile, first at Donna, then at Benny.