People Watching (Parker and Tess)

Climbing up the last stairs she finally reached the ideal level of the bleachers. Currently, there were two professional Quidditch teams that had taken over the field. She looked wide-eyed as the Appleby Arrows were playing against Wimbourne Wasps.

She was a big fan of the Appleby Arrows and wrinkled her nose as some people had sat on the other side towards the Wasps. Part of her was excited that they allowed them to play here but another part of her wished they would be allowed to play too. She trailed the Seeker longingly and sighed.

Taking Zara's advice, Parker had been trying to keep his eyes and ears open for when a next game or practice would be. From the little bit he had seen of Quidditch, it looked a lot of fun, though he never wanted to play it himself. He had caught news of some professional teams having a go at the school and he was ecstatic. He'd made his way over around the time of the game and wandered his way over, seeing that things had already begun.

He made his way up to the stairs, climbing up the stairs of the towers. He smiled at he got up, the wind blowing. It was relaxing, and he really needed to relax. He looked around to find a place to sit and caught sight of Tess. He mad his way over to her and sat down, smiling. "Hey, Tess."

During the game, she had stretched lazily on the bleachers, a comfortable position. The Appleby Arrows were ahead by ten and she was confident they were going to win. So confident in the game, was that she had paid no notice of someone walking up the bleachers until she heard someone say her name.

Seeing him, she let out a wide grin and smiled.

"Hey Parker! The Quiditch bug caught you?" she teased.

She didn't dwell on the fact that their prior meeting wasn't as cheery as both had wanted, so she smiled.

Parker smiled seeing her very relaxed looking position and nodded to her question. "Yeah, I suppose so. I finally thought I'd come by. I've always wanted to."

He sighed feeling another wind brush by and he looked at the people zooming by on their brooms, "So, who are these teams? I heard they were professional. why are they playing here of all places?"

He then proceeded to get comfortable himself, the benches certainly weren't the most comfortable thing ever.

She closed her eyes as she felt a breeze move her hair to the side. She slipped the free strands of hair behind her ear and laughed softly. A curse slipped from her mouth as the Wimbourne Wasps hit a point. The students on the other side began to buzz as the wasps did.

"Shut yer gobbs!" she screamed.

She looked at Parker ashamed a bit and felt herself flush at her enthusiasm.

"It's Appleby Arrows, the blue were playing against Wimbourne Wasps. The Appleby Arrows have the pale blue, emblazoned with a silver arrow robes. And those loud tacky and idiots support the Wimbourne Wasps. They wear the horizontal yellow and black stripes with a wasp on the chest, and do the stupid buzzing!"

She glared at them and sighed as they went on break.

"Their stadium is going through remodeling, they talked about it in the Sports section of the Daily Prophet" she explained. "Not a fan?"

Parker looked around as the stands erupted with sound at the score of the point. He looked over at Tess, his eyes a bit wide, and a smile still wide on his face. He laughed a little bit. "Enthusiastic, aren't you?"

He looked at the teams, and nodded as she explained them. He laughed a little. "They're just being enthusiastic too. It's kinda funny, I think." He watched as some of them lowered to the ground as break was called. he could see how sweaty and worn out they were, Quidditch must be really intense.

Parker shrugged. "I don't read the Daily Prophet, actually. I don't get it and I never really bothered to ask anyone to read. The moving pictures are interesting though." He paused, watching them. "I've just never really heard of any professional teams."

Tess nodded enthusiastically.

"'Course I am! Any good witch is enthusiastic about their Quidditch. And no, they aren't being enthusiastic, they're being idiots. YES YOU IDIOTS" she called out as they threw curses at the pair.

She sent them a few cursing remarks back and slipped them the finger as they did back at her.

"You we we have some rivalry going on since the 14th century" she explained, not looking away from the game that once again began on halftime.

She clapped as they were once back in the air.

"Quidditch is fantastic, equivalent to Muggle sports, or so I've read" she commented. "You're missing out Park you really are"

She hoped he didn't mind her nickname for him, but she felt comfortable around him enough to give him a nickname.

Parker smiles at her then looked back out and at the people shouting on the other side. "They might think the same of you know- with the way you're yelling too-" he laughed a bit.

He rose his eyebrows again and looked between the two sides, still laughing a bit. The environment of this was so lively and rejuvenating and he figured he should come out more. He patted her arm. "Watch yourself before a teacher sees you!" He glanced behind them looking at the other people sitting in the stands with them, then back to the game which had started again.

"Well, I hope I don't miss out on much more, this seems so fun. How long does a match go for anyways? Just until someone's caught the snitch? Or is time eventually called if no one catches it?"

Tess stuck her tongue out and hearing a comment towards her she glared.

"SO'S YER MOTHER!" she yelled back.

She huffed and tried to behave as soon as Parker told her a professor might see. That would be very terrible and she flushed a bit in embarrassment. She oftentimes forgot how competitive she could get, and no one had actually seen this side of her, she was so aggressive here, so outspoken and plain mean.

"I must look and sound ghastly" she said. "Sorry"

Looking at the game, her eyes trailed the Seekers staring at it intently. She looked like a cat staring intently at those infuriatingly teaser toys. She bit her bottom lip and winced as both Seekers missed the snitch.

"Hm? Oh no, no the match continues until the Snitch is caught."

Seeing that nothing was currently interesting, she turned to face him and smiled gracefully.

"Did you know that the longest Quidditch game lasted six months?"

She leaned down on her bag and shuffled through her books to find one of her guilty pleasures.

"Here it's called 'Quidditch Through the Ages' " she said and opened the book to show him the pictures briefly. " It teaches you the rules, and the history behind it. Personally I learned through my own experiences on a broom, but it's almost as nice"

Parker laughed a little. "It's fine. Kind of funny actually. 'Ve never seen this side of you."

Parker turned his eyes back to the game, following Tess' gaze. Smiling, he watched the two seekers. He'd read up about them, and that position seemed to be quite desirable to people. Though it was a great responsibility. He looked at tess and rose his eyebrows in surprise. "Six months?? Wow, no way! How did they pull that off?"

He watched Tess dig into her bag and pull out a book. He leaned closer to get a better look as she flipped through the pages. "Oh, wow, that's really cool. Would it be okay if I borrow it for a day or two? I've give it back next class or something." He smiled and just then a gasp came from the crowd.

His attention shifted up and to the other side of the field where a bludger was hit very hard by the opposing team into the other teams chaser, knocking her right off her boom as she plummeted to the ground.

Parker's eyes widened in horror as she seemed to fall faster and faster to the ground. But as she neared it, one of the refs had pulled out his wand and the woman came to a halt, lowering gently to the ground.

Tess looked at him good-naturedly and smiled cheekily at his comment.

"Well, no one has actually seen this side...besides Victoria, a bit" she said.

She smirked seeing that he was being entertained too. And nodded at his question.

"Yes you can borrow the book, take as much time as you need, I've read that left to right, top to bottom, bottom to top, and bottom up" she said shaking her head with amusement. "Honestly I could do without it. And as for the six months? I would tell you but...you'll see in the book" she winked.

Her gaze returned to the Seekers, but hearing the gasp, her eyes widened and she shot up leaning towards the rail pushing herself to get a better look.

"Bloody Wasps!" she cried out.

The poor Chaser was floating down and she covered her mouth in shock. Abigail Jenkins, the best damn Chaser that Appleby Arrows had so desperately wanted to keep in tip-top shape. Gripping the rails tight, she glared at the other team that were high fiving.

"Bastards" she growled. "What I'd do if I was in the game"

"Well, I guess that means I should be honored then?" He commented back a bit cheekily.

He smiled and took the book from her, "Thanks. I might not read it that much, but I hadn't bothered to really look up about Quidditch so I'll definitely look through it a few times." he held the book, resting his elbow on his knee as he leaned forward trying to get a good look at the field.

He stood up after Tess did, and glanced at her when she cried out. "Is she going to be okay??" He looked over at the other team again, frowning. "That has got to be against the rules or something..."

She smirked at his comment and nodded. She enjoyed the times when Parker had a bit of a bite, light and painless but it was great. She found it amusing.

"Yeah, you should be" she began.

She saw that the judges said nothing of the Wasp who did that. Aaron Adkins was the worst of the worst when it came to being a fair player in that team. She greatly disliked them, and she was not at all biased. That's what she told herself but she didn't even believe herself either.

"It is illegal, that's Bumphing and cobbing!" she told him as she turned back to face him. "Both illegal, and yet they seemed to miss it. That's the trouble with Quidditch, often times they don't notice the fouls" she replied pouting.

Another break as made to evaluate the Chaser and she sat down trying to calm herself.

"I'm being a bad friend" she said trying to cool herself down "How have you been?"

He grinned, and bowed his head slightly toward her. "Well then, I suppose I am honored."

Parker looked at her, giving a slightly confused looking expression. "Bumf and ca- what?" he'd never heard those words before. He looked at the book he was still holding, figuring they were some weird terms he'd find in the book when he looked through it.

"Well, doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a ref then? If they don't keep an eye out to make sure the game is far, then it's anything goes and then it's just no fun-"

Parker stayed standing as Tess sat down, and he stared down at the field where the chaser was getting looked over. "Do people often get badly hurt during games? It seems pretty...brutal."

He looked over when said she was being a bad friend. That certainly came out of nowhere. He shrugged and looked back to the field. "I'm fine. I'm having a good time, I really should come to watch games more often.."

Tess shook her head.

"No, sadly referees don't usually manage to catch everything in the whole area. It's oftentimes...well I'd be lying...it's very dangerous" she explained "She was lucky at the fact that she was caught, many times have people had terrible accidents. Still many do it because of their passion"

She smiled noticing that he wasn't as...gloomy? Yes that's a nice way of putting it, and she was definitely glad about it.

"That's good, and yes you should, honestly I wish we could play Quidditch ourselves. What I wouldn't do to play a good game, and crush those other teams!"

Parker sighed. "Well, I guess I'm glad I realized I don't like flying. I wouldn't like getting so hurt... I can imagine- all on those high falls... do people die often in these professional games?" He couldn't help but be curious was still standing, looking over the field, he wondered if the professional games had healers on the sidelines to help out. He couldn't spot one, though it wasn't like he knew what would make them any different.

Down on the ground, the chaser seemed to some back to consciousness and she took a few moments to stand up. "I think she's okay- just the speed of the fall from so high up knocked her out I'm guessing."

He smiled a bit. "Hopefully when you do try out, cause I'm guessing you would, that you get on the the spot you want. I'd be fine just watching." He couldn't help but laugh a little at himself. " You know, I've never flown actually...I chickened out during flying lessons first year."

She frowned at him saying that he didn't like flying. She couldn't really imagine that, for her flying was freedom. The idea of feeling the cold wind in your face, the freedom of flying, she couldn't imagine not experiencing that. It made her feel spontaneous, and outgoing.

"No, not always, the team always comes with a group of Healers. They are the best of the best really, and any healer wishes they worked for a team, I know I would" she explained.

She saw the Healers working on the witch as fast as they possibly good ,and she knew there was hope.

"Oh Parker, I will get the spot I want" she said confidently.

She lifted her head high showing a nature very much known to a Slytherin, but soon the arrogance disappeared with a cheeky wink.

"At least I hope I do. And Parker really you gave up?! One of these days I'm taking you flying with me."

Parker finally broke his gaze from the field and turned back slightly to look at Tess. "Whoah, really?" He then sat back down next to her again. "Hmm, I always thought healers wanted high positions art St. Mungo's...though with all the action here, I can imagine."

He smiled "They probably get into all the games free too." Parker had never thought of that before, and he had to admit, if it turned out he did decide on wanting to be a healer, and with finding an interest in watching quidditch, he would definitely keep this choice open.

Parker couldn't help but laugh a little bit in the way Tess held herself so much like many of the arrogant Slytherins did before she winked. "I'm sure you will, Tess. I mean, considering how well you know that game and how enthusiastic you are. Whoever picks those for the teams would be making a mistake not to place you right."

Parker nodded a bit and looked down, shrugging. "Yeah, I did. I mounted the broom then ran off." He looked at Tess when she said she'd take him flying and the smile he had dropped of his face. "Oh, no, really. I'm surprised I can even look over the edge of these stands with out feeling sick. I- I really don't think me and high places mix well together..."

She smirked and nudged him.

"Well aren't you a charmer" she teased.

Parker was so sweet, it was amusing really. He was such a good friend, and oftentimes she found herself getting a cavity at either his innocence or his kindness.

"You're sickeningly sweet sometimes" she said with a smile.

His kindness and her amusement disappeared a bit when he looked as if she tried to kill him. She chuckled and patted his shoulder.

"Calm down, okay so you aren't a flyer, but one day, I swear, even if when we're old enough to give you some fire whiskey I will make you fly. I swear" she said lightly.

He smiled when she nudged him, calling him a charmer. "What? I'm sure it's true. Though I'd have to see you fly to be absolutely sure, I suppose." he nodded.

He tried to shrug off her other comment, still smiling a little. "Oh, please. No I'm not. I'm just honest." He realized it felt a little bit weird to be complimented, even if the two of them were just being a bit playful.

He sighed when she patted his shoulder. "I really don't think I ever could be a flyer. I'd much rather learn how to do that disappearing thing I've heard about."

He tilted his head a bit when she mentioned fire whiskey. "It that some sort of...magical whiskey or something?" he asked, looking a bit amused. "I mean, I've heard of butterbeer, which sounds weird enough. So does pumpkin juice now that I think of it...hmm...Well, even then, I don't think I'd fancy myself a drinker either." he said, looking from her and back over to the field.

"You shouldn't limit yourself you know. I feel like often times that can be your biggest downfall. And Disappearing? Do you mean disapparating?" she said giggling.

Hearing him trying to find out what firewhiskey was. She shook her head and chuckled amused.

"Good deduction skills Parker" she said laughing. "Correct! It's called fire whiskey because it is known to cause a burning sensation when you drink it. It heats up your whole body, and this part might interest you, it fills the body with courage!"

She pouted at him disliking Butterbeer it was one of her favorite things.

"Have you even tried butterbeer?! It's delicious, it's liquid butterscotch" she said dreamily at the thought of the sweet drink.

"Well, I don't want to get killed or anything for being too reckless..." He frowned a little, though not too seriously. "I've learned my lesson with that already."

He nodded at her correction. "Oh yeah, that. It sounded pretty interesting. Though I don't get how it works."

He looked at her curiously when she described fire whiskey. "Why would anyone drink that if it burns??" He asked, confused, thgen shook his head a bit. "Yeah, no thank you. That doesn't sound very fun, not the drinking or the doing things I wouldn't normally do-"

Parker shook his head. "No, I haven't. Never really bothered to try it actually. Sounds...interesting though-"

Tess shook her head at his shifting responses and shook her head in amusement. He was so uptight sometimes that it was very amusing to her. He was so goody, and that often times made her feel as if she was bad or too reckless.

She figured it was the good nature in him.

"Get out of the uptight barn and play in the hay" she said amused. "Try something fun, don't be a Hufflepuff man"

The game began to start once more and she saw that everyone was back and the Applebys were ready to win against those Wasps. She wrung her hands in excitement and smiled brightly.

Parker let out a short laugh. He felt like he hadn't laughed so much in a long while and it was nice. Tess could be really funny when she wanted.

"Oh, hey, now that's rude." He said light-heartedly, knowing she was just joking. "I'll have you know Haley is a lot more fun than I am!" He commented back with a small smile, trying to joke back.

He looked over as Tess did, seeing the game was starting up again. "Sometimes muggle athletes give out autographs if you manage to get to talk to them." he glanced at her. "Do Quidditch players do that?" he asked looking back down, watching the teams take position as the whistle blew.

Tess smirked and felt victorious as he laughed. It wasn't often that she managed to be funny, for her type of humor was dry and very sarcastic. Victoria got her humor and her humor was lighter. Parker took it in stride and she found it funny as well.

"Oh dear....if Haley is more interesting than you....you might be a Ravenclaw...ew" she said wrinkling her nose. "I heard they are the stuffiest characters, never have any fun!"

Hearing his comment, she tilted her head.

"Of course they sign autographs for you, if you're lucky. And did you say Muggle sports? What would that entail?" she asked.