Show Me The Ropes ((Scott))

[Trinity Bleu]

Trinity scrutinised her reflection with care. Hazel-green eyes stared back boldly; heavy dark make-up was applied. Her white-blonde hair, which was straight and fell loose past her shoulders, was streaked with black underneath. Black was the only colour she could use in school; brown, the other option, was a horrid colour. She preferred shades of fire-red, lime-green, neon-blue, electric-pink and so on; they helped you stand out. Black would do in school, though. Trinity disliked having completely blonde hair, however much she was proud of the rare colour; it was boring, plain, which was why hair dye spruced it up rather nicely. She was so used to dying her hair it seemed unnatural not to, similar to her fetish for nail varnish. At the moment she wore glittering silver, which she had so far carefully hidden from professors' sight. She had been caught by Professor Snape once, and it had given the man an excuse to put her into detention for a week. To this day the Potions professor harboured a thorough dislike of Trinity Bleu, and the feeling was utterly mutual.

Trinity was satisfied with her appearance. She was not vain, but she took pride in her exterior - especially in her hair, clothes and make-up, which screamed her individuality. She was wearing Quidditch robes, though, so her loose hair was no doubt going to get in the way when she began practice. A quick flick of her wand had her long hair twisted into a messy ponytail at the top of her head. Grabbing her broom, Trinity left her dormitory and headed for the grounds to practise. She had recently joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but even if she hadn't, she used to practise often when she could because she loved the exhileration of flying. Anyhow, Trinity was content to have made the team. Her friends had been nagging for her to do it for a long time and after watching Gryffindor lost to Hufflepuff, Trinity hadn't been able to stand it; she had to do something. Watching powerlessly from the stands wasn't going to get her competitiveness anywhere, so join the team she did. She had quite a few classmates on the team as well: Casey, Riley and Rosaliz, to name a few.

So the Gryffindor Captain was evidently a bit mad (jumping off your broom to try to take out the opposing team's Seeker was not only crazy, but cowardly), but Trinity held enough respect for the Vice Captain, Oscar Flynn. Admittedly he was quite a looker too. Not that Trinity was looking for a boyfriend; boys were always better off as friends and nothing more. Striding along the grounds towards the Quidditch pitch, Trinity noticed, coincidentally, another one of her new teammates heading towards her - Scott Ryder. He was another Sixth Year and he was a very good Quidditch player in both the Chaser and Seeker positions. Trinity remembered watching him lead Gryffindor to a win the year before when he had caught the Snitch. As she neared him, she held up a hand to catch his attention. "Scott Ryder," she stated, stopping and noting the broom in his hands. "How're you doing?" He was quite a quiet boy, but with prominent features and he was a lot taller than her, like most boys were. She didn't know him very well at all, they had rarely spoken. Trinity flashed him a smile. "Tell me you're free." Without waiting for an answer from Scott, she grabbed his hand and began dragging him along. "You're a damn good Seeker. You can probably teach me a trick or two, or show me the ropes." As they neared the pitch, Trinity added with a grin to herself, "I haven't got permission to use the pitch. But I'm sure you won't tell."

[Scott Ryder G7]

The indecisiveness of spring; it was enough to irritate Scott to the point of frustration. One day, he'd be outside with a few light layers of clothing, just enough to shield him from the cool breeze, and then the next, he required his scarf and gloves just to prevent his hands and face from freezing. Seriously, Mother Nature needed to make up her mind. Scott was tired of the weather whiplash. Today though was fairly acceptable, a nice middle sort of temperature to go between the summer heat and the winter cold. It was an average spring day, one that Scott could tolerate with his Quidditch robes overtop of some casual clothes. There hadn't been an official Quidditch practice, but Scott had gotten permission from Professor Hardy to use the pitch for an hour or so, just to loosen his muscles as he prepared for the next match of the year. He hated to have a repeat of the Hufflepuff game, and he was going to do what he could in preparation for the upcoming match against Ravenclaw.

As he was walking back from the pitch toward the castle, he was a bit startled by the sudden shout of his name. He cocked his head to the side, noticing a girl who was waving at him. Odd. "I'm fine," he said cautiously, his eyes hinting at his uncertainty. It wasn't everyday that a girl approached him randomly. He knew this girl though, Trinity, but their interactions were few. She was a year below him, and he knew that she had just recently tried out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, making a spot on the reserves. The girl spoke in such a brief and demanding manner that Scott didn't even have a chance to protest, not that he intended to, and he felt a firm grip on his hand as he was being marched in the direction he had just come from.

"Uh... thanks, I guess," he stuttered, casting a look of doubt as Trinity so boldly seemed to jump from one thing to another. She barely took a chance to breath as she announced having no permission to use the pitch. Scott knew that he had been given permission, so it shouldn't be a problem if they were to use it now. But still, he had just spent a good hour flying around on his own. Trinity didn't seem to be open to his refusal though, and so he pondered his response for a second before letting out a laugh of defeat. "Alright then... what do you want to know? Are you primarily a Seeker?" Scott had never really seen Trinity play. A tryout was hardly indicative of one's true skill in a match. It was a good predictor, but there were so many other factors.

[Trinity Bleu]

Trinity heard Scott's question as they stepped onto the pitch and turned around, dropping his hand and leaning nonchalently against her broomstick. "What can you tell me about being a Seeker?" she demanded straightforwardly. "I would ask the Captain about Beater but she's obviously gone nuts. I don't even know who else plays Beater on the team." She cocked a questioning eyebrow at Scott, expecting him to provide the names. "Oh, there's the Vice, right? I could ask him." Then she shrugged. "Anything. Anything that'll help me. You're obviously really good and I know you usually play Chaser, but you've won the game for us before." Trinity was confident in her belief in Scott; she had watched his game before, knew he was capable even though he seemed to prefer playing Chaser. Personally she didn't have a preference between her positions of Seeker and Beater. With the former she could experience the glory, the rush of adrenaline and the chase, and with the latter she was able to channel her aggression towards the opposition into her bat and defend her teammates stalwartly.

To Scott's second question, Trinity shrugged again. "Not sure. It depends on where the Captain wants me. I play both. Don't have a favourite. Does it matter?" Trinity stared hard at Scott's face for a moment, before mounting her broom without a word. "Why don't I show you what I can do?" she suggested - or rather, decided. "You weren't at the try-outs and you want to gauge my skill. That's fine by me. I'm up for a performance." Sending Scott a cocky smile, Trinity threw herself into the air, somersaulting first before hovering two metres or more above Scott's head. "Come on," she called to him loudly. "Get your ass up here, Scott."

Trinity waited for Scott to mount his broom also and rise into the air to hover opposite her. He looked at her as though to ask what she planned to do. Grinning, Trinity reached into her pocket and withdrew a small gold ball. "I think we should have a match, Scott. The first one to catch this baby wins. How about it?" Trinity twirled the object between her fingers. It was a Snitch. "Don't underestimate me. I'm younger and I have less experience, but if you want to truly see what I'm made of, this is the best way, doncha think?" Trinity flashed Scott a confident, challenging smile. As she tapped the Snitch to cause it to unfurl its tiny wings, she added lightly, "I stole the Snitch from Hooch. I don't think she miss one of these... They must go missing all the time. It's good for practising, so try not to lose it." As though awakened from a deep sleep, the Snitch suddenly became alert and darted off and away from Trinity's palm. She watched it go with sparkling eyes; the challenge was on. "Ready, Scott?" she asked, glancing at her opponent. She extended a hand to shake with him. "May the best Seeker win," she laughed. Taking her hand away, she counted down. "On the count of three... One... Two... Three!"

In a flash Trinity was steering her broom after that elusive little Snitch. It hadn't gone very far and her narrowed eyes could make it out in the distance. However, Scott was hot on her tail. Urging her broom faster, Trinity felt her competitive spirit truly awaken like a caged lion. Grinning, she chased after the Snitch. The pair of them followed the ball, neck in neck, side by side, until a particular strong gust of wind blew their way. Trinity, being physically small and light, felt its impact immediately and swayed on the broom. Dangerous! her mind screamed, for he was leering towards Scott. "Scott, get out of the way!" she yelled a warning, but it was too late. Her broom collided with him and she gave a sharp scream of surprise. The two of them barrelled across the sky, coming to a rest in the centre of the pitch in the air. Trinity was hanging on the edge of her broom, almost falling off it altogether. Grasping it tightly, she pulled herself into a sitting position again, gasping for breath and swearing. "Sorry... Damn, that wind is strong. What is wrong with the weather in England?! It's freaking spring, for crying out loud!" She turned to Scott in concern. "Are you hurt?"

[Scott Ryder G7]

He suppressed a laugh whenever Trinity provided her reasoning for not going to Cass for instruction. It made him realize just how crazy she must have seemed when she attacked Finn the way that she did. And to think, she was their bloody leader. What message was that sending to the Quidditch hopefuls who were in the Gryffindor stands. Apparently it hadn't stopped Trinity from trying out, yet it caused her to seek help elsewhere. Scott was slightly honoured by this fact. Then again, it seemed it had mostly been that he was in the right place at the right time. It was all in how you looked at it.

Trinity wasn't the most subtle of people either. The way she spoke and carried herself was very forward and unafraid. Clearly, she was a Gryffindor, the boldness of a lion showing through. As one sentence after another was thrown at him, Scott had little time to reply, though he wasn't so sure she was looking for a reply in the first place. She hardly gave him time for one. In an instant, she had mounted her broom as she called for his 'ass' to join her. "Golly, I'm coming already," he said under his breath, hopping onto his broom and gliding to join her. It was really amazing at how much his flying had improved since joining the team. Nobody else probably noticed, but Scott sure did.

"Well isn't this just turning into one rule-breaking after another," he said in regard to the Snitch that she had pulled out. Scott simply rolled his eyes though. She could be doing worse things. And, as she had so simply put it, Hooch would hardly miss the little guy. She probably had a few dozen of them at any instance. "Alright, you're on," he said with a small sigh. Scott had to admit, he was slightly amused by this whole thing. And, to top it all off, it couldn't hurt him. If anything, it would help his own playing and also provide Gryffindor with another capable player. They'd need that once Cass left, though her capability was questionable after the last match. He was hoping that her lapse in judgment was just a one time thing. Hopefully just a fluke.

Soon, Scott watched as Trinity counted down. She then flew off, chasing after the stolen Snitch. He didn't get moving as quickly as she did, but he wasn't too worried. The fact that this wasn't a match lessened the pressure on him, allowing it to be more fun than worrisome. As he flew after her, he wondered if she even saw the Snitch. Scott was simply following her lead, watching the way she flew, and trying to find a way or two that he might be able to help her in the end. That was what she wanted, right?

While watching her flight, Scott was a bit surprised when she screamed for him to get out of the way. He wasn't sure what was going on, but then he felt their bodies collide, sending them sideways out of control. He managed to stay in the air though as he pulled away, enough that Trinity might be able to stabilize herself as well. She looked about ready to fall to the ground, but at the last second, Scott watched as she pulled herself back onto her broom. Then, he laughed. "I'm fine," he said between bouts of laughter. "You're quite the fireball, aren't you?" He shook his head. Maybe she had been taking lessons from Cass. "Are you alright?"

When it seemed Trinity was ok, Scott did a quick scan of the pitch. If they lost the Snitch, then the fun would be over. Plus, if the thing stayed hidden, the next Quidditch match might prove to be interesting when there were two Snitches around. Scott could only begin to imagine the chaos that would bring about. Finally seeing the streak of gold, he darted off after it, certain that Trinity would now be on his tail as opposed to him chasing her. Maybe that would be a good experience for her as well, to see what it was like to be the Seeker in the back.

Scott weaved and turned, following the gold trail almost perfectly. He got off course a bit, with the wind still blowing just as hard, but he managed to keep the Snitch in sight. When it got to the point where he was able to catch it, he contemplated letting Trinity grab it instead, but then he decided against it. With a steady swipe, he snatched the golden ball from midair, just as Trinity's hand flew past his view to where the Snitch had been just a second before. That was close.

Scott lead his broom to a halt, circling around to face Trinity. "Good go at it," he said, holding out his hand to give her back the Snitch. "I'm not sure what else I can teach you that you won't learn by simply experiencing it like you just did." He shrugged, waiting for her imminent reply.

[Trinity Bleu]

"I don't let things like rules stop me from doing what I want to do," Trinity stated stubbornly as she released the Snitch. It was true she did not in any way adhere to the rules; she did what she wanted, and if they happened to coincide with what the rules demanded, then all the better, but if they didn't, then that was not going to deter Trinity. She was much too stubborn as well as rebellious to care about rules, which were, in her opinion, much too constricting of society. If everyone followed the rules then where would the fun in life be? It would be boring. However, that was not the only reason Trinity was prone to ignore rules. She was also extremely passionate about individuality. If she adhered to rules, she would be like everyone else - oppressed and held back. Trinity didn't want that. She wanted to be herself, she wanted freedom, to have the right to choose what she wanted to do. Perhaps it was a rather selfish thought, since often, breaking the rules meant putting other people at risk, but Trinity did try and look out for other's safety. She wasn't selfish; just adventurous and indifferent to boundaries. Rules were made to be broken in her dictionary.

Trinity was relieved that Scott wasn't hurt after their collision. She herself was barely bruised, thankfully, though she was used to gaining quite a few sore bumps due to her knack for finding trouble and involving herself in unnecessary fights. A grin lit her face at Scott's comment and she laughed. "That's right. A fireball is accurate. I've had worse. Much worse." Smirking, she then shook her head. "I'm good. Not a scratch on me. I'm made of harder stuff than that." She patted her arm to prove her point. Trinity had suffered much worse in the past, having broken a leg and her arm in a skiing accident once in Canada. That had been her most disastrous accident, which had been three years ago, and her mother had almost passed out from shock. Thankfully, Felix had remained extremely calm and the friendly Canadian doctors had taken good care of her. Annoyingly, though, she had been confined to crutches for weeks and couldn't eat or write properly. Trinity had tried to be more careful since, because she had almost been driven mad by boredom.

They were not hovering for long. Before Trinity could say another word, Scott had shot off, having seemingly seen the Snitch. "Oi, get back here!" she yelled, immediately swinging her broom around and tailing him. "I wasn't ready!" Despite her protests, a relishing grin danced on her face; the chase was back on and Scott was more fired up than ever, which sparked Trinity's spirits once more. He was a worthy opponent and certainly lived up to his reputation - fast, agile, smart. Trinity knew this would not be an easy battle, but rather than be disheartened by it, it buoyed her spirits. Here I come, Scott. Bending forwards, Trinity pushed her broom to fly faster until she was nearly neck in neck with Scott again. She could see the Snitch flittering in front of them, a short distance away, and spared her opponent a quick glance. "Don't go easy on me, Scott!" she yelled with fiery determined eyes. "If I win, I want to win fair and square!" They were both steadily gaining on the golden ball and Trinity's arms were outstretched, eyes diverted from Scott and trained fully on her goal - the Snitch. C'mon! She bit her lip as she tried to close the last stretch of air between her hand and the elusive object, but just as she was going to swipe it out of the sky, another hand grasped it firmly and it disappeared from sight under flesh.

Trinity swore under her breath. Her eyes darted to the face of Scott, who was holding the Snitch triumphantly in his hands. Her face quickly split from an annoyed frown to a grin, though, and the two of them soon came to a halt in the sky, the Snitch still struggling between his fingers. Trinity looked at it longingly with regret, but a grin was still very much stretched across her face. "You got me," she chuckled, shaking her head in half disbelief. "You are good. You don't just look it. I thought I'd got that in the bag there." She gave a small sigh. "Looks like I've got lots of practising to do if I want to make the team proud and follow in your footsteps." The loss was a blow to Trinity's pride, but she was also determined to come back fighting, stronger than ever. "I want a re-match," she demanded, smirking as Scott handed the Snitch back to her. "When I've learnt more, I want to fly with you again. I'll show you what I can really do if I put my mind to it." She tapped her head, her tone playful and cocky. "I won't lose to you again, Scott." After curling the Snitch shut and placing it safely back in her pocket, Trinity stuck a hand out to her teammate. "Good match. Thanks. You've taught me a lot just from that... Now I know what I need to work on."

Trinity then began to sink her broom back to earth. She hopped off before it had even touched the grass, landing neatly. "That felt great," she grinned, throwing her arms out to stretch and patting any dirt off her clothes. With Scott landing beside her, she turned to address him again. "Whatcha doing now?" A glance up at the sky told Trinity it was still pretty early in the day. "Want to kill some time with me?" she invited casually, leaning on her broomstick again. "I'm not forcing you," she added with a grin. "Not everyone wants to associate with yours truly. Apparently I have a big mouth and I don't know when you shut up. I'll say anything that comes to my mind. I don't care what they think. So if you don't care too, you can come with me... I'll probably head to Hogsmeade... Secret passageways." She winked mischievously. "It's nice to get out of this place. I can't stand the same scenery all the time."