Where'd me suncream go? ((Matt))

[Melody Bang-Bala G6]

The last game against Ravenclaw had been somewhat disappointing for Melody. Although Gryffindor had won, it hadn't been Melody who'd caught the Snitch, and she hadn't even been playing in the game at the point when it ended. She supposed she'd had her chance, and she knew that Cassandra hadn't substituted her out because she'd done badly. She hadn't really been feeling all that well so she maybe hadn't been quite as quick as usual, but still... she did feel that it was a shame she hadn't been able to play for more of the game. Also, save for managing - thank goodness - to catch the Snitch, her team hadn't played all that well. Scoring a few goals could have taken them almost out of reach of the Slytherin and Hufflepuff teams playing today.

As it was, the outcome of today's match was of utmost importance for the Gryffindor team. Neither team must score too many goals as well as catching the Snitch, or Gryffindor would be left only second in the Quidditch Cup. Melody wasn't really sure which team to support. Hufflepuff, she supposed. After all, her house had a long-standing rivalry with Slytherin so she would probably be betraying it if she were to support them. And besides, Hufflepuff were probably the underdogs. The Slytherin team had enough players for two teams! Gryffindor had still beaten them earlier on this year, mind, she remembered with pride, smiling slyly to herself.

Melody leant down, rummaging in her school satchel for her sunhat, feeling herself getting jogged while she was doing so. She brought it out and placed the broad-brimmed straw hat on her head; she'd felt dehydrated whilst playing the last match and she had no intention of becoming dehydrated while just watching one! When she looked around in the direction where she'd felt herself getting bumped into, she saw that the row she was sitting on had been filled up. Four rather rowdy Gryffindors sat on the end of the row, but the person next to her was a tall, pale and slightly scrawny Ravenclaw. She didn't recognise him which probably meant he was younger than her, even if he was taller.

At this point she realised that the tube of suncream she'd had in her lap had gone missing. She supposed it must have slid onto the ground when the younger Ravenclaw bumped her as he sat down. She bent down, looking on the ground between her legs, but didn't find anything and soon realised that she must seem a bit strange and, worse, fidgety, to her new neighbour. So, sitting back up, she tapped him sharply on the shoulder.
"Oi!" she said to get his attention. "'Ave thoo seen me suncream? Ah think Ah've dropped it."

[Matthew Dorm R3]

Matthew lay there limply, submerged in sleep, and, most comfortably, the plummeting depths of the large cushiony sofa. Even with the afternoons hot, glistening sun, shining through the common room window and hitting him full in the face, he still didn't wake. Perhaps if a leprechaun were to jump out of the fireplace and start tap dancing on the table, he would maybe stir, just a little.

But it wasn't a mythical native creature from Ireland miraculously dancing on the common room table that woke him, it was the sudden realization of what was happening that afternoon. As his brain clicked, and projected the bold word - "Quidditch" - across his line of sight, Matthew woke, and sat bolt upright. Firstly, he immediately noticed the odd loneliness of the common room, and then, with a sudden shock, he noticed some angry looking person from a few years above, standing inches away, glaring at the spot where he lay. Noticing that he must have been taking up the whole of the couch, he quickly spun round, leapt from the seat, pulled his bag over his shoulder and left the common room; silently noting that the deserted common room was a result of the quidditch match now about to take place down in the quidditch stadium.

10 minutes later, Matthew stood just outside the large front doors, stopped running, and, panting and gasping for breath, momentarily set his eyes out for the quidditch stadium ahead of him. Glimpsing the slow increase of black dots filing into the stands, he started to run across the grounds, panting slightly as he clutched at the stitch on his side and cursed the blistering sun hovering tauntingly above him.

He glimpsed up into the stands, and, seeing a row that didn't seem to be absolutely packed, he begun to walk up the wooden steps, quickening his pace rapidly as a group of rowdy Gryffindors, shoving anyone that got in there way, reached the start of the stairs just below him. The row seemed to be empty, until he noticed, blushing ever so slightly, that a girl was sitting, apparently by herself, at the end. He walked, shyly, right up to the end of the row, and, cursing himself in his head as he accidentally bumped into her, he took a seat. He focused almost straight ahead, concentrating on the pitch ahead, and wondering if his audition for the ravenclaw team would work out, but, at the same time, risked a glance towards the girl. She was pretty, was his first thought, probably a few years ahead of him, even though he was taller than her. A couple minutes went, and, after the sound of rummaging, and almost silent muttering as the girl seemed to have lost something, she spoke to him.
"Oi!" she said, and Matthew, nervously, turned in his seat, and looked straight into her bright green eyes.
"'Ave thoo seen me suncream? Ah think Ah've dropped it.", she spoke.
Matthew, briefly scanning the floor below him, thought he noticed a glimpse of a tube. Reaching down and grabbing it, he lifted it up to the sky, smiled as his brain confirmed that it was, indeed, suncream, then handed it to her. There was a brief silence, then Matthew spoke.
"Erm, hello, I'm Matthew Dorm." and then, smiling, he continued, "I'm in Ravenclaw." Noting that they were both sitting in the quidditch stands, he timidly asked,
"Do you play for your house team?, I'm planning on auditioning after the summer, probably to be a chaser, once I'm in second year."

[Melody Bang-Bala G6]

Melody wondered if her neighbour intended upon saying anything, as he just looked down and away from her gaze. She supposed he might be wondering whether she was a bit loopy, although really it was rather rude of him. She was almost inclined to say something! Just as she'd opened her mouth to do so, she realised that he had in fact been looking for her suncream, and she closed it again. She must look like she was imitating a fish now. But he'd found her suncream, and she was very grateful for that! It would seem that chivalry did exist after all...

"Thanks a lot!" she said, taking her tube of suncream off him. "Ah'll try not to lose it again." She held onto it this time, rather than putting it in her lap. She nodded in acknowledgement at his introduction, and then returned the favour.
"Melody Bang-Bala," she announced, putting out her hand to shake his. "Gryffindor. Ah'm a third year. Though Ah would be in fourth year, except Ah'm not, if thoo see what Ah mean. Ah dunnot suppose thoo do!" she concluded, laughing at her own silliness but omitting to expand any further on the subject. It had been a bit careless of her to bring it up, and although she didn't mind discussing it, she didn't normally start off conversations with the fact that she'd been attacked by Death Eaters in her first year at the school.

"Aye, Ah'm a Seeker fer Gryffindor!" she responded happily. "Ah play as Beater sometimes, too. Ah prefer Seeker though; Ah dunnot really like hurtin' people wit' Bludgers." She squirted a large dollop of suncream out of the tube, making what she found a very satisfyingly wet noise, and started smacking it over her arms.
"Oh aye?" she replied as he stated that he planned on auditioning for the Ravenclaw team. "Chaser?" she asked, sounding surprised. "Why not Seeker? Thoo seem good at finding things!" she told him with a grin. "Though Ah suppose it's not easy gettin' on the team as a Seeker when thoo're in the lower years. Ah didnae get to play as Seeker until Ah'd been on t'team fer at leas' a year, Ah think. And Ah were only a reserve at that, too. Ah'm on t'main team now, though," she added, smiling happily at the thought. "Still as a Beater, come to think of it, but Ah get to play as Seeker jus' as often now. It's good fun, but it can get a tad lonely an' frustrating at times... even boring but dunnot tell anyone that!"

As the first players trickled onto the pitch and began their warm-up laps, Melody applied splodges of suncream to her cheeks and nose, making her look slightly ridiculous, especially as the suncream was a pale blue colour (for some reason). She paused to speak to Matthew, forgetting that she hadn't rubbed the suncream in yet.
"So do thoo play Quidditch at home, then? Ah'm a Muggleborn so it's not really practical fer me to practice at home... Ah might give me neighbours a heart attack if they saw!"

[Matthew Dorm R3]

Matthew felt slightly less shy as they continued to talk, and begun to feel more relaxed. As Melody begun to talk about how she was meant to be in fourth year, but was in third instead, Matthew got the feeling that it was connected to something distressing, and so, in a brave attempt to lighten the mood, he pushed his messy hair down, over his eyes, and begun to look around him in a slight panicking manner, as if he suspected himself of receiving sudden blindness. Quickly wondering if she would find this funny, or an ample opportunity to have a reason to give him a good hard kick, he quickly stopped his performance and sat cross legged on his seat.

They continued to talk about quidditch, and Matthew was impressed to find that she was on the main team. After she questioned him trying for chaser, he gladly started launching away at why he loved the position,
"You know, its just the energy, i don't think any other position can match that, unless of course, you send a bludger to someones face, or spot the snitch, or save a goal, but, you know, with a chaser, its constant, constant adrenaline." He stopped, suddenly realizing that he may seem like a ranting lunatic, and proceeded to look directly into her eyes, listening to her speak. She asked him if he practiced quidditch at home, and he quickly went into an explanation again,
"Well, I'd never heard of it before i started Hogwarts, being a muggleborn and all, but, my Mum bought me a broom before i came here, and, ever since then, ill come down here every night, just before curfew," and, with a mischievous grin, he added "or sometimes after, and the basics just come really easy to me, as if I'm simply reminding myself of something I've learned before."

He felt comfortable around Melody, found her easy to speak to. It wasn't long before the conversation had moved on from Quidditch.
"So, whats Gryffindor like, everyone seems friendly from there," and then, after a glance in the direction of the rowdy Gryffindors at the end of the row who were now chucking stink pellets at the people below, he added "well, most of them, anyway."

He looked back into Melody's green eyes, and shook his hair, making it even messier, and laughed.

[Melody Bang-Bala G6]

What was he doing? Surely not paying attention, but... well really, how odd. Melody bit her lip, staring at her companion dubiously, a puzzled frown creasing her forehead. And then he stopped as quickly as he'd begun. Well. She really didn't know what to make of it all. She eyed him warily even after he'd stopped, unsure of whether he was going to start being inexplicably weird again, but happily he plunged back into normalness and Melody's eyebrows lowered as she became animated in conversation and started smiling again.

She thought that his argument for why Chasers had the best position was quite convincing, but she did find it necessary to add her own defence of the positions that she played in.
"Aye, it takes a lot of patience, being a Seeker. Chasers get most o' t'excitement. But I wouldna said t'good bit aboot being a Beater is smashin' people in t'face wit' Bludgers. That's the worst bit! Ah'd feel really bad if Ah got someone smack in the face... that'd be a bit o'er t'top. All it takes is a whack to t'funny bone where it really hurts... so that they can't concentrate, or a direct hit to t'Quaffle so's they can't hang onto it. T'Beater's there to turn things to their own team's advantage, not for the sake o' hurtin' people... that's just an unfortunate side effect."

She tilted her head to one side, pondering what she'd said, and then laughed a bit nervously. "Ah suppose that sounds a bit callous. Hmm. Ah dunnot really mean it that way! Being Beater is interesting... thoo've to plan tactically, an' wait for just the right moment to swing thy bat at t'Bludger. But the moment of satisfaction don't come because thoo've hit someone... it's more if thoo're sure thy team's gained some advantage from it, like if they get the Quaffle or manage to score. An' o' course thoo feel some pride when thoo manage to defend thy own team mates!"

Unlike Matthew, she had little restraint in talking about a topic she loved to a willing listener, so she had given him rather a lecture. However, she did shut up to reciprocate the willing listener part as he began to answer her question. She immediately started to look surprised.
"But... thoo're in first year, right?" she asked, suddenly feeling the need to clarify that. "How'd thoo get away wit' bringin' thy own broom into school? It's against t'rules if thoo're in firs' year..." she wondered, as much to herself as to Matthew. "Haven't you ever been caught?" she asked, wide-eyed. He hadn't looked the type to break school rules; to Melody it seemed daring but a bit pointless. However, she supposed it did at least prove that he loved Quidditch.

Melody shifted in her seat, but felt her comfort zone returning as Matthew changed the topic. She smiled and laughed at his comment about their less than pleasant neighbours. "Aye, Ah suppose most of 'em would sum it up quite nicely. Ah think we're a mixed bunch. Some people are really kind, but others... not so. An' some of 'em are really annoying!" she told him, wishing that the older Gryffindors next to them would stop making a nuisance of themselves. It didn't help that one of them had just reached over and snatched her sunhat off her head. She glared at them and retorted quickly.

"Oi!" she protested. "Give me 'at back." The boy holding her hat apparently found this hilarious, and he and his friend began mimicking her. Melody drew the line when he was about to put her hat on his friend's head. She didn't want any icky grease or dandruff from his head on her lovely new sunhat! She whisked out her wand and with a quick jinx compelled him to drop the hat. Calmly, she leaned over and picked it up. The boy didn't look too happy that she'd made a fool of him, but she heard another one of his friends mutter to him to leave them alone and that seemed to resolve the matter. She was glad of it - she wouldn't have wanted the confrontation to go any further. Melody put her sunhat back on her head and leant back in her seat with a little 'Hmph'.

"So, where were we?" she asked. Her nose was itching and she reached up to give it a little scratch, only realising at this point that she still had the blue suncream on. "Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise, and quickly began rubbing it in. "Thoo might've told me that Ah'd forgotten aboot t'suncream!" she admonished Matthew.

[Matthew Dorm R3]

Her argument on beaters rather changed Matthews opinion on the position. Sure, he had thought, maybe pelting a good bludger into a Slytherins face would be fun, but her argument of how there were other benefits to it rather convinced him. He had just begun thinking to himself if he should apply for beater as his second desired position, when his thoughts were snapped straight back to the present, with an inquiry from Melody on the breach of rules committed by Matthew. Blushing deeply, he hurried to explain himself, not wanting her opinion of him to change from good to worse, that is, if she even liked him at all.
"Oh, well, i haven't been caught, at least, not yet, its just, erm, its kind of a release, at the end of every day, just flying up into the air, with no one around ..." his explanation caused him just to blush even further, and as a result he sat back in his chair.

The topic was quickly changed, and Matthew once again felt comfortable to turn in his seat and look straight into Melody's eyes, listening to her every word.

Just as the conversation was set on the manners of some Gryffindors, almost ironically, one of them leaned over and pulled Melody's hat from her head, and had soon launched himself into a full out, bullying, attention seeking, mimicking assault. Matthew felt himself redden with anger, and, just as he was about to pull out his wand and fire every curse he knew at the four of them, Melody neatly and calmly jinxed one, swiftly grabbed her hat back, and sat back down, with a neat little 'Hmph". Matthew, surprised by this somewhat calm display of defense, finally withdrew his attention away from her eyes to properly look into her face.

He blushed even deeper as he noticed just how pretty she was, and quickly begun hurriedly attempting to cover his face with his messy hair to hide it. She soon spoke again to Matthew, assaulting him for his ignorance of the suncream on her nose. Blushing so much that his appearance was most presumably taking the form of a tomato, he decided against defending himself with the excuse that he had been to preoccupied by her eyes.
"Oh, erm, sorry, i never noticed.", and, grinning in an attempt to hide his own foolishness, he quickly moved on the conversation.

He pondered for a few minutes, staring up at the bright blue sky, blotted in occasional places by a few wispy clouds. He wished that some marvelous interesting idea would float into his head. Nothing happened.
"So, I'm um, muggle born, what about you?" he asked Melody, vividly kicking himself for not saying something more interesting. Regardless of his paranoia that she may well just jinx him for being a boring little sod, he resumed to calmly smile and look into her bright green eyes once again.