Open Outlet for Anger

[Louis Alcott]

It had been months now since Louis had been rejected for the Quidditch team, but there were still moments it made him incredibly mad. He had been thinking about the upcoming finale of the Quidditch season next semester and how Gryffindor would face off against Hufflepuff. From what Louis knew about the teams, that would mean Gryffindor had an almost guaranteed victory. And he wouldn't be a part of it. At first, when he had been rejected, Louis had tried to convince himself Quidditch was a stupid and overrated sport anyway, but it was impossible to keep that up. He liked Quidditch, always had. He'd kept up with the games from the moment he was old enough to listen to the radio. It stung, not being able to participate in it. Not really, anyway.

So today, for the first time since those disastrous try-outs, Louis had grabbed his quaffle and a broom and headed to the Quidditch pitch. He had too much energy and needed some way to get it out. His frustration as well, as he kept thinking about how René would be part of the final match and he wouldn't. There was no way René's team would win, but that was besides the point. Louis flew up to the hoops with his quaffle and threw it with all his might. It sailed through, but it wasn't as satisfying as he had hoped. Making goals without a keeper there wasn't that hard, and the way the quaffle slowly fell didn't really satisfy his urge to throw something out of frustration. Louis sighed, then swooped down to grab the quaffle again.

 

[Caleb Thorne]

Caleb was glad the weather was finally warming up and being outside wasn't a pain. He tossed an apple into the air and caught it as he walked out to the quidditch pitch to get some fresh air. He had managed to lull himself into a trance with the steady slap of his palm as he caught the apple over and over again, and he almost missed the familiar shape flying around the pitch. Caleb held up his hand to shield his eyes as he looked up and realized it was Louis up there flying around by himself. With a grin, Caleb climbed up to the stands taking the steps two at a time before staking out a spot to watch. He waited there for a while to see if the other boy would notice him. That plan lasted only a minute before he grew bored and got up to lean against the railing. "I didn't know you made the team!" he called out, grinning, as Louis got close enough that Caleb knew the other boy would hear. He was fairly certain Louis wasn't on the team but he couldn't be sure since he hadn't bothered to go to any of the actual games. But he was sure if Louis had made the team he would have heard about it one way or another.

 

[Louis Alcott]

Louis had grabbed the quaffle and was trying to imagine playing in an actual game, he flew with the quaffle for a bit, imagining he was avoiding players on the opposing team. When he flew close to the hoops again, he heard someone call out. Louis frowned, then looked down to see Caleb there. He scowled at him. “Oh, very funny.” He snapped, sure Caleb knew he hadn’t made the team. Instead of scoring with the quaffle, Caleb threw the ball at Caleb’s head, hoping to hit him for his stupid comment. Why was he here, anyway?

 

[Caleb Thorne]

A nervous laugh escaped Caleb's lips as he noticed just in time to see Louis toss the quaffle at his head. He didn't even try to catch the thing and simply ducked out of the way. "Watch where you aim that thing!" he called out. "No wonder you didn't make the team." he teased and stuck his tongue out before throwing the ball back to the Gryffindor. Caleb tried to aim for him but he figured if he missed it would be good practice for Louis if he had to chase it a bit. "At least you have a good arm." he said trying to sound mildly encouragingly. He didn't get why people thought quidditch was such a big deal but Louis obviously cared so he would try, at least right now, to be encouraging.

 

[Louis Alcott]

Louis grinned. "I was watching!" He called to Caleb, though his grin faded when he joked again about him not making the team. Didn't he get that wasn't something to joke about? Louis glared, giving a rude gesture. "Oh, shut up. At least I tried out." He snapped back. "I bet you can't even sit on a broom right, let alone fly." He said, rolling his eyes. Caleb's comment about his arm mollified him a bit, but he was still grumpy from his earlier comment. "I know." He said.

 

[Caleb Thorne]

Caleb shrugged. "If you say so." he teased, and couldn't help but laugh as Louis shot him a rude gesture. He didn't understand why people thought quidditch was so cool but obviously it meant something to Louis. "That's true." he said sincerely and held up his hands in a mock surrender. He didn't want to make the other boy actually mad at him. "I can fly just fine, thank you very much." Caleb insisted. He didn't have a lot of flying experience but he was comfortable enough on a broom to get around if he needed to. "Why don't you prove it? Show me how good you really are." he challenged and leaned against the railing, grinning widely.

 

[Louis Alcott]

Louis scowled down at Caleb, who seemed to be making fun of him. Though as he held up his hands, Louis relaxed a bit. When the other boy said he could fly just fine, Louis grinned at him. "Really? Prove it." He said, gesturing to the broom shed. Caleb told him to prove himself as well, and Louis flew lower to pick up the quaffle. "Fine, if I score a goal you'll come fly with me and we can have a race." He decided. Though scoring a goal without a keeper there was incredibly easy.

 

[Caleb Thorne]

Caleb smirked as Louis seemed to be lightening up a bit, finally. He scoffed as the other boy gestured to the broom shed. "I just climbed all the way up here." he groaned. But he also was wary to trust any of those second hand brooms for anything more than heavily supervised lessons. "Fine." he said stubbornly and crossed his arms over his chest. "But it has to be through the center hoop!" he called out as Louis flew off to prove himself. It wouldn't be that much of a challenge if he could throw it through just any of them.

 

[Louis Alcott]

Louis laughed. "I can grab you a broom and you can fly from the stands, if you prefer." He said with a grin, wondering if Caleb would dare to do that. He grinned when the other boy called that he had to throw the quaffle through the middle hoop. He nodded, then he tossed the Quaffle into the air and caught it before flying up to the hoops. He couldn't help showing off a bit, doing a bit of a tricky shot that looked more impressive than it really was. But he still grinned proudly as the ball soared through the middle hoop. He caught the quaffle again, then turned to Caleb and bowed mockingly.

 

[Caleb Thorne]

“I can do it myself.” Caleb grumbled and rolled his eyes. But as much as he was ‘offended’ by the offer he actually didn’t want to risk kicking off from the stands. He did consider himself an ok flyer but it wasn’t like he had practiced all that much. Caleb found himself holding his breath as he watched Louis approach the hoops and hoping he'd miss. But of course the show off managed to score, right through the middle hoop as promised. He scowled but a bet was a bet and he wasn't about to chicken out now. He did however take his sweet time making his way down to the pitch and digging through the supply shed to find the best quality broom he could. Maybe he would have to ask his parents for one of his own for Yule this year? "You can't push me, ok?" he said firmly before kicking off the ground and met up with Louis in the air. He held out his hand for the quaffle. "You have to let me try now." he said smugly. "So I can see if you're just exaggerating how hard it is."