Gryffindor 1st Years

"Alright then Figarooni." Willie said as he sized up the wee little lass. "Professor King says that you like to spend time out here on the pitch, so it looks like you'll be spending the afternoon with me. You can call me Willie."

Willie looked down at his "To Do List" and then grimaced a little. "Looks like we'll be painting the shed, lining the field and spreading some manure. Got any preferences where we start?" he said with a chuckle.
 
Andy looked at the man and smiled. He didn't seem so bad after all.
"Fiorelli... if we're going to work together can we get the names right?" she asked him, knowing even as she did that he wouldn't take much notice.
"Well Willie, maybe at it's just my opinion that we do the painting first so it has time to dry? then the manure and last but not least.. keep the easy and decent job for last, lining the field!" she smiled.
 
Willie listened to the girl. She seemed to make good sense, although personally he wished to save the manure til last so he didn't smell for the rest of the day. "Fair enough, why don't we start with the painting like you said and see how it goes." Willie grunted as he trudged across the field and opened the doors to the shed. He pulled out a variety of paints, brushes, rollers, and paint trays.

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"I'd like panels painted one color and the trim a different one, nothing too girly but otherwise I'll let you pick the colors. Now get to work and I'll be back in a few. Anything else you need Fibonacci?" he asked, but didn't wait for an answer.
 
Andromeda was about to comment on the misuse of her name again but the groundskeeper walked off. She looked after him, she had been of the impression that she was to help him not do it all herself. She sighed, this was turning out to be such a Tom Sawyer adventure.
She looked back at the pots and chose white for the panels and a deep brown for the trim. She dipped a large brush into one of the tins and began.
She moved the brush up and down rythmically. this was going to take her hours she thought. She hoped he didn't think she was going to do the manure by herself?

Andromeda painted and painted. The weather had cleared considerably and she was getting a little hotter as the day progressed. She would never be finished she thought. Then on further inspection, she realised that she had only half a panel left to do.
"Thank Merlins Whiskers for that much!" she said loudly.
 
Willie returned after getting the supplies they needed for the next two jobs, knowing that the girl would probably figured he'd just taken an extended coffee break despite his hard work. Oh well, he thought to himself...she was serving a detention afterall.

Willie surveyed the shed, it appeared that the girl had done a good job at selecting the paint and completing the work. "Nice work Fillarolli!" he said as he picked up a brush and applied a few of the finishing strokes. "It looks good."

Willie opened up a basket and pulled out a few sandwiches and a pitcher of cold lemonade. "Here, have something to eat and drink.", he said gruffly. "Can't have you passing out on me before the work is done."
 
Andy smiled as Willie complimented her work but raised her eyes as he and she was convinced at this point, got her name wrong intentionally. She out of sheer stubborness smiled when he offered her something to eat and drink, said,
"thank you Willie and it's... FIORELLI!" she pronounced it as clearly and slowly as she could for him.
"Can I sit down while I eat?" she asked him creaking her neck from side to side.
She picked up a sandwich and began munching her way through it. She looked at him with a wide smile.

"This... is a bloody great sandwich!" realising that she had sworn infront of him, she blushed and bit her lip, "sorry" she muttered.
 
"Mmmmm." Willie grunted, his mouth full of food. It wasn't evident whether his response was in acknowledgment of finally learning her name, giving her permission to sit down, the quality of the sandwich, or some combination of the three.

"So, where you from Red?", he muttered between bites, ignoring her little language slip-up. He was a working man and had heard much, much worse.
 
Andy smiled, 'Red' she could cope with not a mish mash of her surname. she let him have this one and refused to correct him.
"From Ireland" she told him as she took another bite of her sandwich, she picked up a glass of the lemonade and drank as if she was dying of thirst. Painting sure was hard work.
"I'm half Irish and half Italian, but I grew up in Ireland" she smiled. He may be rough and seemingly set in his ways but she was used to that, her mothers family were hard working farmers and labourers and were never ones to mess about with their words or their meanings.
"Where are you from?" she looked at him properly for the first time. He wasn't as old as he first thought he was, though he was still pretty old in her estimation.
Anything over 20 was old to an 11yr old she figured.
 
"Here and there...", Willie replied non-commitally. No one here knew his background and he valued his privacy too much to start revealing details to some young girl, no matter how much he admired her spirit.

"So, you still want to tackle that manure next?", he asked, knowing the shovels, wheelbarrows, and pile that awaited them.
 
Andy smiled and finished her sandwich. She stood up and looked at him.
"Sure, lead the way", she held up her two hands grinning, "today these get put to some good use. My grandfather would be so proud!"

She hadn't minded that he didn't reply to her question, she felt she shouldn't have asked it of him in the first place. Mind your own business silly, she reprimanded herself. She was here to work not to make small talk. Andy smiled to herself now that she was here, she was still glad that she had flown late at night. This punishment was worth it, every bit.
 
Willie finished his last mouthful of sandwich and then washed it down with a healthy gulp of lemonade, some of which trickled lazily down his stubble covered chin, prompting him to wipe it on the sleeve of his work shirt. "Alright, let's go..." he said reluctantly. He led the girl to a mound of manure with two shovels and two wheelbarrows beside it.

"This needs to be moved to the gardens near the entrance to the pitch. I figure it'll take us about 10 loads each. Don't make 'em too big and tip your wheelbarrow, got it?" Willie stated as he began shoveling manure into one of the wheelbarrows.
 
"Got it Willie" she said and bent down to pick up her shovel. She turned to the manure and breathed deep. "Good country air!" she grinned it was what all her family said whenever they cut the silage or had to shovel manure back home. It was alot easier than complaining about it.
She shoveled a few loads into the wheelbarrow but not too much like he had said. Andy knew that by that he meant she wouldn't be able to move the wheelbarrow otherwise.
She stood up straight, laid her shovel across the wheelbarrow and tipped it like he had said. She waited to follow him.
 
Amy watched as Bruin hit the ball approximately 50 feet to her left. She quickly spun her broom in that direction and urged her firebolt on, knowing she would have to be quick to get it before it fell too far.
She looked at its position and calculated quickly where it would be when it started to fall and aimed for that place. She could see it was going to start to fall if she didn't hurry up and she tried to get her firebolt to go as quickly as possible. She stretched her hand out, hoping to get it and when she felt the soft amterial of the ball in her palm she quickly shut it and spun her broom room to show Bruin that she had got it.
However when she turned round she saw that he was with someone else and so she made her way back down to the ground.
Telling them that practise was over she threw the tennis ball lightly at him with a smile on her face and began to make her way back to the common room with everyone else, except Andy.

((Sorry sorry its late, HNZ wasn't working for me last night))
 
Jolly traipsed back to the Gryffindor Common Room with the other first years when their groundskeeper interrupted them. She was not completely satisfied with today's practice and she wondered that by the pace they were going, she would be even good enough at try-outs. She watched Andy being left behind, speaking to Willie, and shrugged and went on her way.

[ooc; same here. i haven't been able to get on for 2 days! <_< ]
 
Willie watched as Andy efficiently filled her wheelbarrow, she was obviously not a stranger to a little bit of hardwork and Willie was pleased that King hadn't sent him some dainty little thing that was useless. He filled his wheelbarrow until it was brimming with manure and headed off across the pitch towards the entrance gates. At the rate they were going, they would finish early.

"Come on, don't be dawdlin'!" he yelled over his shoulder, but knowing that it was unnecessary with this spirited little filly.
 
Andy walked after him as fast as her legs could go, she tried her best to keep the wheelbarrow tipped so it wouldn't capsize on her. She followed him and laughed as he told her not to be dawdling.

"Couldn't we levitate the stuff there?" she smiled, knowing it wouldnt be half as much fun. She was enjoying herself immensely and a twinch of guilt overcame her, she was supposed to be on a punishment not out enjoying herself. But she couldn't help it, she grew up on a farm a huge estate with one attached at any rate. And the entire family pitched in everyday.

'Good honest days work is balm for the soul' her grandfather used to say to her more times than absolutely necessary. But she smiled now, she had gotten way too used to using magic already and understood exactly what he meant now.
 
"Ay, we could use magic, but just because you can take the easy way doesn't mean you should." Willie replied with a grunt. A normal person would likely go on and explain what they meant, but Willie was a man of a few words, although there was often wisdom hidden within the few he uttered.

In Willie's unstated opinion, too many magical folk spent so much time strengthening their minds that they often neglected the body that was responsible for carrying it around. He arrived at the destination and dumped his wheelbarrow with enthusiasm, turning quickly and heading back for another. Willie stole a glance over his shoulder to see how the girl might fair with emptying her first load, a rare smile on his face when no one was watching.
 
"I hear that!" she smiled as she continued to follow him.

Andromeda hoisted her wheelbarrow up slowing so as not to tilt it the wrong way. It was hard this part as she wasn't the strongest person in the world but she certainly ranked up with the most determined. Once her load had been dumped on top of Willies she proceeded after him like an earnest shadow. Ready to jump when he asked her too.
 
Willie continued to work away in silence, watching as the plucky little redhead battled away with him. She certainly had spirit and determination, but he wouldn't let her know that directly. Willie was not one to show affection or acceptance easily, preferring the quiet solitude of his life on the grounds. The pile disappeared quickly as the two of them worked along together and at the completion of their eighth load the work was complete. Willie collected the shovels and returned with his wheelbarrow to the shed, neatly storing the tools in the shed.

"Well then, looks like we've got some lining to do Red." Willie said with a subtle wink. "Ever used a chalk liner before?" he asked, pointing to a something that resembled a short torpedo standing on its end with small wheels on either side.
 
Andromeda had to admit that by the sixth load she was getting tired. Their loads were big and cucumbersome and she somehow thought they would be done in more than ten loads. By the eighth and final lot, she was ready to drop but wouldn't show it. This was after all supposed to be a punishment and it was about time in her opinion that she began feeling the pinch somewhere. Her hands were slightly calloused from her grip on the barrow, wishing she had worn gloves but it couldn't be helped really.

She waited as Willie tidied away the shovels and wheelbarrows, catching her breath and taken a momentary rest. When he returned he had the funniest looking contraption with him. She smiled as he explained what it was then shook her head happily. Lining the quidditch pitch, how cool was that!
"Never used one Willie but eager to learn, sir!" she smiled at him.
 
Willie proceeded to load a thick white liquid to the top of the cannister and then sealed the lid. "Alright then, basically you grab these handles and push the machine in front of you. When you want to line the field, you squeeze that hand trigger there and the white stuff comes out the bottom." Willie said with a smile.

"Two things though. Keep moving if you've got the handle squeezed 'cause I don't want any big blobs of goo on the pitch, just nice straight lines. The second is to make sure to stick to the proper pattern. One kid tried to spell their name with that thing and I made them paint the whole lawn green by hand and then do it again." Willie said in a stern tone, but a little twinkle in his eye might lead one to believe that this had never happened.

"Alright, there should be enough of the old lines left for you to simply follow them. Any questions? If not, off to work then." he added gruffly, sitting down on a large rock to sip some lemonade.
 
Andromeda nodded her head as he spoke trying to take it all in. 'Right, hold handles, push machine in front squeezed trigger and white stuff comes out'.
She repeated it again in her head to make sure she had it right, she certainly didn't want to mess up her beloved pitch. Andromeda couldn't help but smile when he mentioned about the boy and his name. She took it with a pinch of salt but just to be on the safe side she made sure she would keep to the lines.

"No questions sir" she smiled at him and proceeded to follow the oval lines around the pitch. She had seen Willie walk off to the side to get a drink and wished she had asked for one before she started the lines. Now she was so afraid in case she made a mistake, it took every ounce of her self control just to hold the machine in a steady line. She continued to push the machine in front of her until the entire oval was done. Then without waiting to be asked she unsqueezed the lever and moved the machine into the centre where the other markings were, once these were done as well. Andromeda stopped the machine and sighed, she wiped her brow and looked about her.

Thankfully not a crooked line in sight, but her back was killing her now and she was really thirsty. She looked back to where Willie was sitting and called out to him.
"All done!"
 
Willie looked up at the sound of the girl's voice and poured the girl a glass of lemonade, taking a leisurely walk towards her as she surveyed her work. He had to admit that the girl was better than most, at least in terms of her attitude and work ethic. "Well, nice job Red." he said plainly, handing her the glass of lemonade as his only outward sign of approval. "I hope that the next time I see you out here that it's for practicing and not serving a detention." he added in a fatherly tone.

"I suppose you can go once you finish yer drink." he stated as he grabbed hold of the lining machine and headed off towards the shed. Willie had enjoyed the girl's company for the afternoon, not realizing just how isolated his life had become in recent years.
 
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