Simon unconsciously winced when the professor bellowed again, this time the yelling directed at him for his question. He raised an eyebrow as Vindictus said the brooms were cursed, wondering what had happened and figuring that he had noticed or heard something when he had walked off. Following directions, he walked over to the broom rack and placed his borrowed broom back where he had taken it from.

But when Vindictus mentioned having to burn the brooms, he spun around and walked back towards the older man. ''But Professor...surely there are other ways...perhaps better ways to deal with them should they been cursed," he spoke his position putting him between the professor and the rack.

Wait what??!?! Burn the brooms! Professor, How are the brooms cursed?!?! Oakey asked. They were riding just fine Oakey thought real hard on this. Well maybe, I felt a little off on mine.

Wait!

They weren't going to use Incendio? Why? That was fire and he wanted FIRE. Peyton cocked her head to the side confused. What were they supposed to use then? She didn't have a proper DADA class so she didn't know. This was just great.

She was about to cross her arms when...

WAAAAAAAAA!!!

Why was she being hugged? If the person wanted to be Peyton's personal shield they were more than welcomed to, but hugging wasn't necessary. She tried to squirm away from this person.

National what?

O_o

When the girl pulled away P saw her robes. UGH! It was a Hufflepuff.

SHE WAS HUGGED BY A HUFFLEPUFF!!!

A frown covered her forehead. "What was that for?" she said as the girl ran off.

NOT COOL!

"Who said you can just go up to anyone and give them a hug? There's no hugging in Flying Class!" exclaimed Vindictus. "Five points from Hufflepuff for . . . for . . . for, uh, hugging someone without permission!"



Vindictus then spun around to face Simon. "Y-yes. There are. But cursed brooms can't fly or respond to commands."

Silence.

WHAT?!

Cursed Brooms?! That was Absurd. But Vindictus was the boss.

So without even landing Jacob jumped from his broom 20 feet in the air, hit the ground in a roll, and jumped back to his feet.

He quickly brushed himself off, and saluted Professor V.

Well That was fun. Now What?

"Professor." he started. "They don't really NEED to be destroyed. This could be a good learning experience." If Jacob was going Pro, he needed to know the different signs of a cursed broom... Crazy fans. You Never know what they would do.

He couldn't believe that another captain was standing up to him.

"Are you defying me?" asked Vindictus as he walked towards Jacob. "Destruction is the only way."

Maybelle looked from the girl, then to Vindictus. "But..it's National Hug A Slytherin Day..." She whispered to herself, it's not like the whole thing was her fault...the girl didn't have to shout...it could've been just a friendly hug...but oh well...all Maybelle knew was a lot of Huffie's were probably going to be veryyyy mad at her now.

Mhmm... just as he thought. Professor V couldn't stand being wrong... just like himself.

Hell with it. He's already being given detention tomorrow... whats the point in sucking it up. "Yes professor. I am." he said. "I just feel like we should know the signs of.........." Wait. Maybe the brooms weren't cursed.

A small smile crossed his lips. Was the man doing this just to get new brooms? It could be.

He moved closer to the man and in a hush whisper said. "You know. There are other ways of getting new school brooms." he could just request it from the Headmaster.

Oakey gave a quick glance over at the girl who had hugged points from their house.

He gave a nice big smile then a thumbs up.

If they were gonna lose points giving Slytherin's hugs then it was worth it. The Slythies really needed them.

"This has nothing to do with getting new brooms," Vindictus replied rather loudly. Why were the kids suddenly wondering why he wanted to harm his beloved brooms? All he did was tell the class to land and put the brooms away. "These brooms are brand new! Perhaps I should feed you to the Snargaluff."

He held out his right hand, palm side up.

"Give me your badge."

Maybelle looked up to see a Huffie smiling and giving her a thumbs up. She smiled back and responded with with a thumbs up back to him. "Thank you." She whispered, somewhat to herself.

Simon stood there as Vindictus spun towards him, the professor confirming he's thoughts. The Gryffindor captain was about to suggest that trying to fix or remove the curses would be better when Jacob spoke up agreeing in sorts to what he was thinking.

Ok worlds gonna end...we're agreeing.

The seventh year shook his head to get the thought out of his head and go back to more important things, fully prepared to stand his ground. His mouth opened to say something when Vindictus suddenly did something he hadn't expected....asked Jacob for his badge and he closed his mouth, swallowing in shock.

Oh....this is sooooo not good.

Oakey just saw what had happened... Maybe it wasn't the best time for him to be here right now(It wasn't the best time for Oakey to be Oakey right now). He took a few steps back from the rest of the group that was crowding the Professor. After all he was the Snargaluff's food.

If Oakey were anywhere near Jacob and he saw him.

Oakey might not survive the night.

Brielle almost fell from her broom as a loud yell came from the Professor below. "Wh-what?" she exclaimed, confused, but decided it was best to follow for now. Leaning down, the broom zoomed to the ground below, and she jumped off as soon as it was safe enough for her to. "What's wrong Professor?"


Like most of the students around her, Brielle looked to the Professor in confusion. "Th-then what are we supposed to use Professor?" she asked anxiously. Incendio seemed to be their best option so far. Unless... unless there was a way of burning the brooms without physically harming them? was there?

Jacob looked at the man for a few seconds like he was completely crazy. He then unpinned the captains badge from his robes and placed it in the mans hand.

He backed off a few feet and said "So what? Another detention. Maybe some point loss. Suspension from Quidditch. Never going to play Professionally in my life. Come on, hit me with your best shot. What you gonna do Max?"

Oh Merlin. What was he saying?! That did not just slip out.

Jacob gulped, and looked guiltily at his shoes.

OOOPS!

Maybelle looked between the Ravenclaw captain and Vindictus...

Uh-oh...

Well...I guess the Ravvie team without a captain should be EASY to beat. At least they didn't lose any points.

His fingers curled up around the badge and he shoved it into his robe pocket. "You're lucky that you weren't expelled for your antics," Vindictus replied. He opened his mouth to say something else but he forgot what it was he wanted to say.

Odd.

Well, not that odd - there was a dull ache behind his eyes and he sighed.

"Make sure that you put your brooms away. Class dismissed!"

And he had a dazed expression as he looked at the captains, including Jacob. "Can you guys make sure that the brooms are put away? I think my Ministry dealings from the past few weeks have finally caught up with me."

Maybelle walked up to the broom shed and put her broom away, storming off as she did. Passing Isobel she said, "I'll see you in the common room." And ran off, hopefully nobody would see her tears...

Oooooooooh!

For a minute Peyton had forgotten all about the cursed brooms. The Ravenclaw Captain was getting his badge taking away. It was like...like clipping the feathers off a bird, but for a Quidditch player. She knew that feeling from witnessing her daddy. She gulped, the Ravenclaw Captain didn't sound too certain of himself. Well, she knew that feeling all TOO perfectly.

Her eyes then traveled to the broomshed. Had the professor forgotten about the demon brooms? 'Cause if they were going to blow up she wanted to know ahead of time so she could sprint to her common room and hide under her bed.

Wait!

They could leave? Wooo! But, before she left her eyes were on the professor. That was a random change of mood. She walked by him and nodded her head in goodbye politely. Turning to where the Gryffindor guy was she waved. "Thanks, for everything, Simon," she said, smiling.

Weird things were happening at Hogwarts.

Weird, I tell yah!

"Fire, fire, fire, fire" Eino chanted while clapping his hands, until nothing happened and the professor dismissed them. "Aw..." He sighed in disappointment. Maybe Professor Vindictus was saving them for a bonfire! Eino would like to see how cursed brooms are dealt with but at this point his Head of House seemed to be in a really bad mood to tolerate further questions, so Eino decided he would be best left alone. He helped put the brooms back neatly then said goodbye to the Professor and ran back to the castle before something else happened.

We could leave! Good! Oakey didn't want Jacob to see him at all, but Oakey also didn't want to leave the Pitch this was his perfect place... So he ran to the nearest bush and dove into it.

Okay, Zara. Class dismissed. Luckily during all that chaos about the brooms, she was already safe on the ground. She remained silent all the time as she watched the professor take points from this girl, shout at her captain, and take off the badge of another captain. Also he wanted to burn the brooms, was the guy crazy? Oh well, better keep quiet and not say anything at all. Really, cursed brooms? Hers was working just fine, and as she has seen, all the others' brooms have as well.

Zara sighed, well better go now before she get something taken from her.

Expelled? This was worse. He had to walk around school with the shame of being the only captain as far as he knew to be removed from his position as captain.

It was degrading. Jacob grabbed at the robes where his badge had once laid, and bit his lip. Fighting back the emotion of the moment.

Oh the shame, the disgrace, the humiliation.

That was it. He didn't need Vindictus to help him get on a pro team. Jacob could make it all by himself. And once his career as beater was over, he would be the forgotten old lump that Max was. Jacob's name was going to be forever famous.... And people would say 'who's Max Vindictus?'

Yeah. Jacob was going to be the best beater the world had ever seen. With Out Vindictus' Help!

Simon looked to Jacob when the younger boy chose to speak back to not only a professor and the head of quidditch who had already removed him as captain, but his head of house and deputy headmaster. Ok so maybe that was part of the reason he himself had backed down figuring the man could do sooo much harm to him, he mused to himself as he looked back at the older Ravenclaw.

A though that was confirmed when Vindictus spoke about expulsion but simply changed his tune back to a more calm nature causing Simon to blink to make sure he was seeing things right. "Oh...um..oh course Professor," he said hesitantly with a nod once his voice returned. He continued to stay in place though until Peyton brought him back more and he turned to the Slytherin.

"You're welcome Peyton," he added watching her leave before moving closer to the broom rack, ready to help put it away once the last broom was back. His gaze returning once more to the fallen captain.

Professor Vindictus completely ignored everything happening around him and began to walk off the pitch.

What just happened?

Whatever. My head hurts.

"If anyone needs me, I'll be in my office," he said as he exited the pitch and headed towards the castle.