Out Of The Wing

Andy left the castle feeling elated. He was finally out of that blasted Hospital Wing with a full bill of health, well... As long as he stayed out of fist fights, he should be fine.

He unlocked the cupboard that held the school brooms (seriously, locking cupboards at a school for the magically gifted?) and hoisted it over his shoulder. He knew the Healer would frown upon him flying and Professor Hunter would probably castrate him if she caught him flying when he wasn't on the team, but Andy was beyond caring. He needed to feel something other than the utter boredom he was forced to feel after lying in the Hospital for the past week. Andy knew that he missed his Hogsmeade trip that was scheduled with Brianna because of it. He wondered how he was going to make it up to her.

Andy reached the middle of the pitch, but spun around when he heard his name being called.

James woke up with a start. He blinked his eyes a couple of times to decipher what had just happened. Pulling back the curtain that were around his bed, James stepped to the near window. It sounded as though a bird had ran right into the glass, but as James looked around, he didn't see anything to suggest such a thing happened. Curious but not about to lose sleep over it, James went to turn back to bed, when his eye caught a familiar person walking towards the Quidditch Pitch. James rolled his eyes knowing as well as Andy did that Flying probably wasn't the best thing to be doing after being healed in the Hospital Wing for a week.

James pulled on some proper clothes and made his way down to the Pitch, more just for the opportunity to chat with his best mate, than to scold him for flying.

"Oi! Andy!" James called when he was close enough and watched as the Ravenclaw turned around. James ran the small distance that remained, grinning.

"What are you doing?" he asked, though he was bleedingly obvious what Andy was about to do.

Andy raised an eyebrow at James question. "I'm about to discover a lost and ancient Rune, what does it look like I'm doing?" Andy shook his head; the Gryffindor was getting stupider by the minute.

Andy glanced at the sky. "James. It's not noon yet. Why are you up already?" he asked, jovially. It was no secret that James loved to sleep, even more so than Andy did. Andy did love his sleep, but he couldn't sleep the hours that James seemed to with ease.

"You should have grabbed a broom on your way here. I left the cupboard open."

James stared blankly at the Raven. He knew he'd come up with some smart aleck remark.

"You know what I mean. I thought you weren't supposed to be flying. Don't think I'll save your sorry arse if you fall off." He shrugged, nonchalantly, but knowing full well that he would try his best to not let his friend die if push came to shove.

James laughed halfheartedly, not about to admit that he would have snoozed though Andy's little Quidditch Pitch rendezvous if that bird hadn't hit his window.

"Yeah, well.. I'm an early riser now," he blatantly lied. "Sometimes I even get up just to admire the sunrise." James laughed at his own attempt at being an early bird. It would never happen.

"Yeah.. that's not me. I didn't mean to get up, but I saw that you from the Tower," he gestured to the Gryffindor Tower with his hand. "So, I'm up now."

James smiled. He hadn't even noticed the open cupboard on his way here, but that made sense. Andy wouldn't have had his own broom without telling James that he got one. The two of them had decided that they'd go to Quality together and get a broom over the Summer Holidays anyway.

"So you're actually going to fly, huh?" he asked. "I would have thought Hunter put the fear of Wizard God into you. Sure as hell scared me enough to reconsider midnight joy rides."

Andy shrugged. If James made to actually stop Andy from flying, he'd have to seriously reconsidered his friendship with the Gryffindor. Andy needed this, and he thought that his best friend would at least understand that.

"Haven't been out for ages, mate. Seriously. Don't you just crave it? The rush?" Andy knew that James loved flying as much as he did.

He snorted at James' sunrise comment, nodding as he corrected the lie. "Sheesh, I was gonna say, that sounds so far from you it's not funny." He didn't ask as to why he was spying on him from the Gryffindor Tower. Somethings were better off left unanswered.

"Hunter doesn't scare me," Andy replied, not one hundred percent honest, but James didn't need to know that. "You're just intimidated by strong woman. Like Walker. I bet you avoid her in corridors, don't you?"

James had to nod. He really did, and they didn't get much of a lesson in first year. James really should get around to trying out of the house team.

"Yeah, I get it. Are we still on for getting our brooms this summer?" It was something they discussed a while back, but James hoped he still remembered about it.

James took in a breathe of air at a rather inopportune moment as, as James heard what Andy said, he began to cough and splutter.

Andy gave James a solid thwack on the back and James' coughing stopped abruptly.

"Thanks," James managed, breathing normally again, clearly seeing Andy's raised eyebrow at the reaction James had at the mere mention of Alli's name. Bugger.

"No. I don't avoid her," James said, and then mentally kicked himself. He really was in a difficult situation. Either he mention that he does avoid her, and let himself seem like a wuss, or he could say that he doesn't avoid her, which would then lead Andy to question him as to why he wouldn't avoid her. James sighed, but stuck with what he said. It was easier to change the subject away from Alli and he kept his manliness in tact this way.

Andy grinned. "Yeah! Wouldn't miss the chance at a new broom for anything. What do you reckon the odds are of my parents letting me get the Firebolt?" he asked, knowing that Hell would free over before his mother and father would allow him such an superfluous broom; even if it was the most amazing superfluous broom ever created.

Andy looked at James as he started to choke on his own breath of air. He gave him a hard thump on the back, his eyebrows raised in inquiry. James wasn't being entirely honest about something. He had known the boy for three years now, and knew when he was lying or keeping something secret.

"You don't avoid her, hey?" he asked, wanting to stay on the subject of Allison Walker for a tad longer. If James' prior reaction was anything to go off, this could be very interesting.

James' breathing returned to normal and he glared at Andy.

"No," he reiterated. "Why would I avoid her? She doesn't scare me. Guess she scares you then." James grinned, hoping that the taunt that his girlfriend scares his best friend would distract Andy from interrogating him. James didn't know how Andy would react to the news that they were together. It wasn't like he enjoyed keeping something so monumental from his friend, but he didn't want this to ruin their friendship.

Andy laughed as if this was the most hilarious thing he had ever heard.

"Scared? Of Allison Walker? Seriously? That girl is all talk and no action, if you want my honest opinion. So many people are scared of her and I bet she's loving it. She didn't have to really do anything for them to be afraid of her, and now, she's just living off the rumours circulating around." Andy dropped the broomstick he was still holding to the ground. It didn't look like he'd be flying anytime soon, seeing as James didn't have a broom. Andy wasn't going to taunt him by flying whilst he still remained on the ground.

"Reckon she'll have a hard time being nice to anyone, even if she wanted to. Anything she'll say will sound sarcastic and patronizing. Guess she's in the right house."

James gritted his teeth as Andy spoke. He had a feeling a conversation like this would arise, and he really couldn't blame the Ravenclaw. What was he to know? It did still irk James to no end.

"You'd be surprised," James managed to say. "I was partners with her in Potions the other week. She's not half bad." James felt bad for not just outwardly saying the truth, but one had to prepare oneself for such a conversation. It wasn't like he could just say, 'Oi! That's my girlfriend you're bad mouthing there!'... Yeah... That wouldn't go down well, at all.

Andy raised an eyebrow.

"Really? What that the time you were so late to class I had already paired up with Bri?" Andy had felt bad for the Gryffindor when he say that he had to pair up with Alli. He wouldn't have been comfortable if that situation happened to him. Andy knew he shouldn't listen to rumours and he knew that he hadn't actually spoken to the girl himself, but he still didn't like her.

Andy looked at James. "So, how come I haven't seen you around very often?" It was true. Andy barely saw his friend anymore. It was hard, being in different houses, but even so, they still made time to hang out in previous years. Andy just surmised that they were both busy with school work and the like.

James nodded. He had slept in something major and was paired up, as Andy said, with Alli. He didn't know it at the time, but that was one of the first moments the two of them had actually held a proper conversation.

James shrugged at Andy's question. "Same reason as always I guess," he suggested. "Different house, different timetable." Different friends, his mind added for him, thankfully not aloud. He was given permission from Alli to tell Andy about her, he just didn't know exactly how to do that.

"I heard that you and Bri are an item. That true?" Perhaps talking about Andy's relationship would be a segway into his own complicated tryst.