| Details for Post-Practice Palaver |
| Summary: | After Quidditch practice, Claire and Hephaesta come back to the common room to hang out with Ophelia. |
| Date: | December 12, 1937 |
| Location: | Ravenclaw Common Room |
| Related: | Eagle Radio logs. |
| Characters |
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A few hours after dinner, with a couple more still to go before bed. Ophelia pushes her way into the common room, plopping down on the first chair she finds to wait for the quidditch players to return from practice. As she waits, she kicks off her shoes, which are thrown to one side along with her socks, so that she can tuck her feet up in the chair and wait, nearly bouncing with anticipation.
Claire is going over a roll of parchment when she enters the common room. She stops suddenly and turns to brace the parchment against the wall, scribbling additional notes in the margin. With a pensive mutter, Claire tucks it into a folder labeled Quidditch and scans the common room for who is still up.
Hephaesta is soon on Claire's heels, along with half the Quidditch team, chattering and praising each other on their first big practice. Hephaesta is at the back of the crowd, a wistful smile on her face, head way up in the clouds. Though limping as usual, she may as well be floating into the room on that broomstick clutched under her arm.
Ophelia watches Claire curiously, her head tilting as she considers the girl. But when the rest of the team comes in, her gaze instantly goes to them, scanning intently until she finds who she is looking for. "Phae!" Jumping up the moment she sees the seeker, she pushes her way through the crowd to the back, beaming, "Phae, that was brilliant!"
Claire meets Ophelia's gaze, and tilts her head back in return. Before she can say anything, the rest of the team comes in and Ophelia is distracted. Claire rolls her eyes, she's not exactly thrilled with spectators during practice but until there's a disturbance she can't actually do anything about it. "Remember, team," she says, raising her voice to be heard over the babble, "Next week is bludgers so be ready!"
Hephaesta lights up when Ophelia appears in the crowd, and throws her arms around them. "That was incredible! I actually caught it! I caught the Snitch!" Last year, Phae never got off the bench. "Cameron is a brilliant Captain. She even told Julian to cheat against me!"
Ophelia leans in to give Hephaesta a quick kiss on the cheek and a squeezing hug, but pulls back quickly. "She did? Well, that's… brilliant, you caught it even with someone cheating!" She waits for the crowd to disperse enough for Hephaesta to move more easily before pulling her over toward a chair, glancing worriedly at Claire, "Do, um… you wear any… protective clothing for bludger practice?"
Claire grins when Phae calls her brilliant. Ah, but she does love to hear that. "No more than usual. Don't worry, I'm not going to let her get hurt." She drifts after the other girls casually. "It's important to practice under game conditions when you can. Speaking of which, what were you saying about those googles of yours and the Ministry?"
"Com-PLETE-ly brilliant," Hephaesta agrees. "I thought it strange, but obviously, she was preparing me for other teams cheating against me. It's strange, you know. Being a Seeker…sometimes you're totally on your own up there. Oh, right! My goggles." She tugs them off of her forehead, holding them up for Claire to see. "They help me see better through rain and fog and such. And they do a lot more than that. But…Madam Hooch says they're not regulation. So if I want to use them in a game, I have to get them approved by the M.G.S."
As Hephaesta gushes, Ophelia turns once more to watch Claire. She's smiling brightly, happy to see her sweetheart so excited, but that curiosity is back as well. "They're fantastic," She quickly adds, "You really should see if you can get permission for her to have them. No doubt it would improve your, er… numbers?" That's right, Ophelia knows next to nothing about quidditch.
Claire takes the offered goggles and turns them over in her hands. She holds them up to look through the lenses. "Definately not regulation," she says with approval. Returning the goggles she adds, "Do you need them? Actually, where did they come from? Can we get them for the whole team? Though if that happened, almost certainly everyone else would want them too, which would negate any advantage to us." She catches Ophelia looking at her again, and raises an eyebrow, an unspoken inviation.
Hephaesta smiles, trying not to look too proud. "I made them. They're unique. I could probably make some for the team, though it would take awhile. Some of the parts for these were hard to find."
"That's an excellent idea!" Ophelia beams, reaching over to squeeze one of Phae's hands. "If I can, I'll help. At least with the simple parts?" She drops back down into her chair, then, catching the raised eyebrow and offering a sheepish grin in reply, "Sorry, just… I keep hearing how brilliant you are. Its made me curious."
"Well done," Claire says, with a sincere note of praise in her voice, much different than the jollying, cheerleading tone she uses to encourage the team in practice. At Ophelia's reply, she breaks into short, barking laughter. "Really? Who's spreading such rumors?" She drops into a chair, a smug grin on her face. "Not that I'm not, of course, but I didn't know I was garnering so much attention."
Hephaesta giggles softly, thrilled at all of the praise going around. "Ophelia's a genius, too, Cameron. Did you know she studies wandlore?" Her jaw drops to demonstrate just how amazing that is. "She can tell things about you by looking at your wand. Go on, let her see it." She encourages Claire excitedly.
Ophelia laughs softly, flushing a little at all the praise from Phae. "Really, its just a simple thing. Nothing like gaining fame through the dueling competition." She glances up at Claire again, trying to remember, "I think it was Gabriel who first mentioned you to me. And then Maeve, and possibly Gareth and… Llewellyn?" She's less certain about the last few, but her focus is often taken up with her studies of late.
"We're Ravenclaws, aren't we? Geniuses, every one," Claire says, leaning back in her chair and just enjoying the post-quidditch atmosphere. "The sorting hat checks." She's bemused by Ophelia's list. "Gabriel's a good kid. How's his radio coming along? I've been meaning to help but there's been so much schoolwork."
Hephaesta sighs, nodding along with Claire. "I want to help as well. My class schedule just hasn't given me much time for it with all of my other projects. Oh! Ophelia, I almost forgot. I have the buffers all ready for you."
Ophelia grins. "I suppose. Gabrielle and I are coming along with the case, we're just working on the idea she had to charm the details into place. She wants to use Brill so Professor Mopsus can read-oh! Wonderful!" She turns a beaming smile to Hephaesta, leaning over for another quick cheek-peck, "Just in time!"
Claire averts her eyes, studiously thinking happy quidditch thoughts and not being visibly repulsed by public displays of affection. "Putting braille on the case is a nice reminder of how we made it though, isn't it?"
"Brill," Hephaesta corrects Claire (or so she thinks). "I think that's a wonderful idea. Do you know when they'll be working on it next? I haven't even gotten a chance to look at it."
Ophelia tilts her head as Claire calls it Braille as well, and leans over to whisper to Phae, "Are you certain its not braille? Maybe we should look it up." She nods to Claire, then, "Yes, definitely. And he'll be able to use it more easily as well. We just need to get the charms right, and to make certain we're using the correct, ah, dots."
Claire lets the point go, not wanting to be the Muggle expert in the room. "Let me know if you want me to take a look at it, I'm a pretty fair hand at charms. I'll speak to Gabriel tomorrow about it. Phae, good practice today. Keep it up," Claire says, standing up. "I'm going to take a walk, have a good night you two." She heads for the entrance to the hallway.
"I will, thank you!" Ophelia smiles brightly, offering Claire a wave. "I'm certain he won't mind, though. But then… I was rather the one who started spreading the idea of others helping out… " She bites her lip, showing some of her worry for how she'd just stepped in and done that with Gareth and Gabriel's idea.
Hephaesta beams under Claire's praise, waving as she heads out. "Good night, Cameron." As her Captain leaves, she stifles a yawn, obviously tuckered out from the intensive Quidditch practice. She leans into Ophelia, sighing contentedly, and murmuring "It's definitely Brill…"