"Remember I told you...that I tried out...well, I had to quit...my injured hand...started to bleed again and sting..." She said.

"I am sorry you couldn't tryout." he said to her.

"No big...I mean, I was going to have this trouble...all year long, so...I will hold my excitement, just for the matches..." Melinda said, smiling to Chris.

"Well, I guess I will have fans in the stands when I playm right?" Jason asked Melinda and Chris.

"Yeah...lots of fans..." Melinda said, smiling.

"Yeah I will be there every game." he told Jason.

"Cool, I love it" jason told them both. "Of course, Melinda , I will understand if you root for RavenClaw against Gryffindor" Jason tells her.

"I have to show my pride during that game...though, I will always cheer you up..." Melinda said, smiling.

Before Vindictus could even devote his time to his captains, he noticed a few other students enter the shed and they began to socialize as if they were hanging out at the Lake. "This isn't the Lake or the grounds. This Broomshed is for prepping your brooms only and the boys just finished a broom care class so I'm a bit curious as to why you lot are in here." He raised an eyebrow and waited.

"Grab yourself a snack and have a seat next to Mia," Vindictus grinned and stretched in his chair. Yes, having the captains here was helping him calm down. "So, tell me ladies - how are things going up at that . . . place."

"Mia - is it that bad? We're a bit curious." In Max-speak, that meant that he needed details that he could share with Fabian who was clearly going out of his mind since work had separated him from Macadrian.

Alexis gave Amelia a funny look. No need to be loud? Yeah right, who did Mia think she was talking to. Plus the 7th year had it coming, she had been awfully annoying before. Now was payback. "NO!" Alexis yelled in her ear again then grinned. "Now...how are your tryouts going?" She asked with a innocent look.

"It's alright." Alexis said slowly to the professor. "I mean as alright as you can get for a weird, wacko place controlled by the ministry." She said then nodded and took a cookie. A COOKIE!

As Melinda heard Professor Vindictus warning, she just stood up and said. "Umm...do not worry professor, I was just here, polishing my broom, though, I finished and know I should leave...so, enjoy your day and go Quidditch!" She said, with her arms up, really meaning it.

She started to walk out the door of the broomshed and waved her hand a good bye to her friends. She smiled and began to wander out to her dormitory.

Vindictus nodded and reached for a cookie. "Isn't my wife the best baker? She made these this morning," he grinned and took a bite. "Nofing beats 'er cookin'." He swallowed. "Ministry dolts, eh? So, um, how are the regular professors handling it?"

Amelia was about to reply to Vindictus and his 'curious notions' when Lexi yelled back at her. She frowned and shook her head. "Not now Lex. I think our er... quidditch official wants to talk with us," she said quietly, nodding curtly at the Gryffindor.

Gulping she turned back to Vindictus and started talking before fully realizing what he had said. "Er well, where to begin?" she said hesitantly. "Wait a minute... 'we' are a bit curious? Who exactly is we?" The seventh year frowned narrowing her eyes. The last thing she was going to do was give information if it would come back to bite her.

Jason finishes polishing him broom for the tryouts.

"Poffesso Cwark," Vindictus said with a full mouth and was trying his hardest not to laugh. Fabian would strangle him if he knew what he was up to.

Alexis nodded at Prof V. "Yeah! her cookies are awesome." She said as she took another. Looking from the professor to Mia she wanted to reply to the girl but caught on. "Professor Clark? Why do you two wanna know?" She asked staring at the Professor. "And why would someone have a class in a broomshed?" Ok maybe that question was a little outthere but it needed to be asked.

It took Amelia a minute to figure out who Vindictus was referring to in his garbled language. Cwark? Who's that? she thought, desperately racking her brain for some recognition of the name. "OHHH!" she sighed in relief at understanding. "Clark! Hmm well I suppose there is no harm in talking a little bit then..."

Not that she wanted to eat it, but she picked up a cookie and started fumbling with it as she tried to find her words. "Well which part would you like to know about? The part where my common room looks like I've moved into a dollhouse or the part about our flying professor being a total nutcase?"

Vindictus swallowed his cookie this time and reached for another one. "Broom care classes are always held in the shed," he said matter of factly. "But Professor Clark is an utter mess." He took a bite of cookie. "He if miffin the company of a cerfain perfon." He swallowed and washed the cookie down with some milk. "Any of the female professors having difficulty adjusting?" Please say Shackleton...please say Shackleton....

It had been a long day, and tryouts were really taking a lot out of Ryan. He just needed a spot to rest, and he figured the Broomshed would be the best place to go. Although, there had been quite a steady commotion going on down there, he might be able to nestle himself under some cobwebs or something for some peace and quiet.

However, and much to his surprise, Ryan entered the broomshed only to find Professor Vindictus with a mouthful of treats and the other captains. He immediately suspected gossip about the girls school. Excitedly, he froliced over to the small group and plopped down next to his fellow captains. "Hey, everyone," he said cheerily. All of his fatigue had gone.

"Hey, there Ryan! Help your self to some treats my wife baked and relax. The girls are telling me about that other school," Vindictus grinned and eyed the platter of brownies.

"Hi there, Professor," Ryan said, already reaching for the goodies. It seemed Ryan and Vindictus both were suckers for a good baked good. "Don't mind if I do," he continued, half the brownie already in his mouth. "Oh! Tell your wife thanks for us, please. These are delicious!" Yummmm. Ryan sat back and waited to hear about going ons at the school. He had been feeling a bit detached recently. Nom nom nom nom.

Once he had successfully given himself a crumb-stache (a nice compliment to the infamous chin hairs), he reached for another brownie.

Amelia looked up from her cookie fingering as she listened to Vindictus' garbled talk of Clark missing someone. It didn't take too much of a brainiac to figure out who that someone was. Female professors having difficulty adjusting? That was a tough question.

Thankfully another visitor entered the shed at that time to distract her thoughts some. "Ryan!" the seventh year exclaimed. Unfortunately Professor V had spoken to him first and said what she didn't want him to say. Biting her lip she realized she had little choice.

"Er well, I think that Professor Rae misses her husband," she suggested, not really sure she had spoken to many other professors on the subject. The ministry professors all didn't care and sadly she hadn't really spoken to Shackleton.

Vindictus nodded. "Professor Branxton is hiding in his Potions laboratory, if that's any consolation," he said. "When things bother him, he immerses himself in work and avoids human contact. He did it when we were students." He looked over at the girls. "Mia, what did you say about the Ministry person who's supposed to teach flying?"

Mia nodded and couldn't help but smile at Branxton's stress relief; if that's what you could call it anyway. Somehow she could picturethe ex-charms professor and Ministry employee shying away from it all though. She fiddled with her cookie some more, staring down at it with great pretend interest as he addressed her again. Not with the ministry professors... Sighing she swallowed hard not willing herself to look up. "Er Wys- Professor Wystan?" she asked rhetorically. "I didn't really say anything... other than she's a nutcase." ...and took five points from me at the start-of-term-feast for being 'friendly'...

Vindictus shook his head. "You do know that the League suspended her - she tried to curse a player three times during a game. I was there watching and I know the athlete she targeted," he said and sighed. "I'm on the rules committee and was one of those who wanted a harsher sentence, but the team owner wanted her to take anger management courses." He straightened up in his chair. "Just keep your mouth shut around her and do as she says - that alone will drive her crazy."