𝕀'𝕄 𝔸 𝕄𝔼𝕊𝕊 !

           “ who says i can’t have both tates ? “ pippa fluttered her lashes innocently.  “ boys can be cheerleaders too, you know.  there’s no rule against it. “  personally, pippa thought it would be good to have a few blokes  to round up the squad.  “ someone needs to be able to throw the fliers and merlin knows i can’t do it.  besides, we’re not on the ground. ” she corrected him.  “ we have our own stand. safety, and what have you. “  she waved a hand dismissively.  “ either way, it’ll be BRILLIANT. “

     “am i a cheater, or am i just faster and generally greater than you are?” she grinned, splashing back at the wizard best she could.

zach stood frozen in front of the establishment, eyes darting from one colourful, loud, bright thing to the next. he’d never seen anything like it. muggle kids surrounded each other, their screams overlapping the bling-plock-bang of the machines. ″ where in merlin’s name have you taken me to, tate ? ″ he inquired, dumbstruck by his surroundings. growing up in with his pureblooded family in a wizard village, zach had never had much contact with the muggle world, which continued to amaze and somewhat scare him. he was, at that moment, equally scared and amazed. 

                                    ATTENTION STUDENTS

Hogwarts Cheerleading Association is currently recruiting for the 89-90 season.   try-outs will take place on the quidditch pitch this saturday at 3PM.  for more information, please contact captain and founder pippa carstairs!

 with the permission of some of her professors, pippa had posted sign-up information for the new cheerleading association – recruiting members for try-outs on the weekend.  she posted one outside of the great hall as well, wanting to ensure that as many people as possible saw.  it was the first year for the new club and therefore, the most important one.  what if no one joined ?  she’d be mortified, left to revel in nothing but her own failures.  this was a dream she’d been working towards for years.  this was it.  

that saturday, pippa went down to the pitch early. while the club would be meeting in the great hall for practices given the quidditch pitch’s prior engagements, it had been forecast to be a nice day so she’d decided to hold the tryouts outside.  if someone was truly DREADFUL, she could blame the contortions of her face on the blinding setember sun.  she’d transfigured herself a table to sit behind, tapping the table idly.  she’d seen a few gryffindor girls earlier that morning, two of which were perfect for the squad.  aside from her housemates, she’d yet to see a familiar face or any others interested in joining.  truthfully,  she was getting nervous.  when she spotted a figure approaching, she straightened up.  “ oi, you there. ”  she called out.  “  are you here to try out for the cheerleading club ?  “  she hoped she didn’t sound too eager. 

   “  EVEN better.  i like weird things.  the grosser,  the more interesting  !  ”

     “i’m sure it’ll come back to you once you settle into the familiar environment of hogwarts since you’ll really have nothing else to do but focus on it.”

     avalon rolled her eyes, easily transfiguring her clothes. “yes we are,” she ran off to the water, leaving brandon behind. “keep up, tate!”

       goldie grinned.       “       oh,       i’m not part of the cooking club,       mate       !       sorry to disappoint.       i prefer the eating to the cooking myself.       but if you end up joining,       i’d be happy to taste test.       ”

     “i’m doing   …  fine in charms, i guess,”  asher said rather unconvincingly. the truth was that he was doing great in charms    –   though he did exceedingly well in almost all of his classes, charms was his best and favorite subject   –   he just didn’t exactly want to be possibly roped into helping brandon with homework. but of course, being asher, he gave the information freely anyways,  “the essay was just reviewing topics from last year. you know, non-verbal spells, vinegar into wine   …”

     “oh no, i definitely could, but i guess you’re right: on some microscopic level, i’d miss ya. or rather your entertainment value.”

     “you mean that even in the event of your death i’ll have to deal with you? although i suppose if it’s this easy to ignore you now …” avalon trailed off with a grin, clearly teasing the hufflepuff.

    “oh, hey!” avalon greeted the wix that had approached with a bright smile. “wanna join me for a dip? i’m sure the squid will leave us alone   –   seems like a sweet enough creature t’me.”

     “huh?” asher looked up to meet the eyes of the wix that had appraoched his table, adjusting his glasses from where they had been falling down his nose. “sorry, i didn’t quite catch that   –   what’d you say?”

“believe me, i’d be surprised if someone mentioned food and a feast. that people wouldn’t be interested. i think it’d be really great, a good way to keep in touch with people too– i think it’s very possible to get a pretty big group interested. no of course not! we’d have to make it a group effort kind of thing.”

“or,” she giggled, “…you could just be a bit more careful so i have no knowing of what you’re up to. plausible deniability, and all that.”