It's always in that split-second AFTER Zack takes action that he realizes that he's an idiot.

"Whoa!" There was ducking. A narrow miss even.

Yep, that was a dumb idea, He realized as he reached up to catch the broom that connected with his palm with such force that he was pretty sure it would bruise. Witches be crazy.

And that Hateya girl was freakishly strong and explosively violent.

"YEeoww!" Zack yowled. "Taking lessons from... I don't know, OW!"

Why someone would duck something, only to try and grab it, she didn't know. If you'd successfully ducked, you should just leave it at that. That was the smart thing to do.

Though she didn't try to hit him again. Instead, she tugged the broom away from him and set it on the table, "How long have you been in here, anyway?"

She didn't think she'd seen him in... well, pretty much all year.

Zack let the broom go. The initial idea was to take it away from her but there were some flaws in that plan:

1. There were at least four other brooms in arms reach.
2. She MIGHT have broken his hand.
3. It could lead to melee-style combat using brooms and Vindictus would not hesitate to disembowel him for that.

Instead, it was better to wriggle his fingers, checking for broken bones. None found. "I dunno, not too long."

Zack's new strategy was to pretend like the last 2 minutes hadn't happened. He hadn't been injured by a little slip of a (psycho) girl. And he was still quite the fine example of Gryffindorness... roar.

"Just wanted to say thanks for wiping the floor with my house. That makes falling nearly 1500 points behind the leaders much easier to take." Not that Zack was a huge asset to Gyffindor at the end of the day, but... really? Ouch.

If he was going to ignore the fact she'd hit him, she would too. It didn't really seem worth dwelling on, anyway.

"Any time." She grinned at him. Maybe she hadn't seen him in quite a while, but he'd been at the match, so obviously he knew how awesome her team was. "It's not all about points, you know."

At least, it wasn't all about points off the pitch. When they were on it, it was totally about points. And hitting bludgers at people.

"If you mind so much, why didn't you try out? Then I could hit stuff at you all the time!"

Honestly? Zack had thought about it. He liked Quidditch; he liked flying and he really enjoyed practicing with his cousins when they had the time. The only thing that had stopped him from trying out this term was the fact that he'd slept through tryouts. He'd regret that, but it had been a GREAT nap.

"Maybe I will. Maybe I'll become a beater and hit stuff at you." Of course that could go so badly for him; it would be an endless loop of hitting bludgers at each other until one of them was failed by their reflexes. "Maybe it will be an epic Quidditch battle that will go down in Hogwarts history."

Or maybe he would sleep through tryouts again.

"Oh! You should!" Hateya wasn't at all upset at the thought of a boy hitting stuff at her. It was all fair game, as far as she was concerned. She looked back at her broom, and absently started polishing it, "I don't know if it would go down in history, though. This school has a lot of stuff happen to it."

Like house elves failing to do their jobs. That still irritated her, and would until either they started doing them again, or she went home for the summer.

"That's what I've noticed," Zack commented dryly. It was a big blow to him when the House Elves locked down the kitchen. Growing boys need energy to go through their daily lives. They need FOOD for that. They need LOTS of food.

"Hogwarts seems like flypaper for... insanity."

It probably would have helped if Hateya had any idea what flypaper was, so instead she just nodded and finished up on her broom. The fact that it wasn't even missing a twig from hitting the boy was a testament to what Quidditch position it was used for.

"Do you want to go get something to eat? Maybe pick around parts?" They could probably turn it into some kind of contest. She wasn't one for playing with her food, but if it was going to be bland and awful she could make an exception.

Zack's stomach rumbled. "Hogsmeade is open." Less fun if he's not breaking rules, but Dona, not to mention Caroline, would KILL him if he got tossed from Hogwarts for sneaking off the grounds.

"There is the Three Broomsticks for somewhat better fare." He took the quality of his sustenance rather seriously, and he was really quite peeved at the House Elves.

It was probably all that Hermione Granger's fault. She started something, and where is she NOW? Actually Zack didn't know what happened to her. Was she even still alive? She had to be OLD. "I could use a butterbeer, I think."

"Is it?" Hateya didn't usually pay a lot of attention that that, unless one of her friends was going. There was something about walking through a 'mysteriously' empty castle that appealed to her quite a lot.

"Okay! Let's go!" And just like that, back her broom went onto the rack. They could only hope that the Three Broomsticks didn't employ house elves too, or that would be a gigantic letdown. Good exercise, though.