An Art of Balance

Chapter 29: Unbalanced

A/N: Julian Bennett is not my own OC

With the school year drawing to an end, the amount of attention spent in Professor Binns's classes had dwindled even further. Half of the students enduring the dull droning of the ghost alongside Orion were asleep, the other was using the time to catch up on neglected assignments, so they could spend their afternoon outside. For all that Binns cared, they could have chucked their inkwells through the classroom.

Like the rest of the students, Orion's mind was anywhere but on the Witch Trials of 1692. He was bent over a piece of parchment, drawing and crossing out lines and circles as he tried to come up with a decent match plan. The last game of the season was only a few days away and he still didn't have the slightest idea how to let his team play against Gryffindor. He had been trying to think of something for the last two weeks, but nothing good would come to him.

The Gryffindor team was known for their speed and dexterity, both qualities combined in their seeker and captain, Charlie Weasley. Orion had either watched or participated in every game Charlie had played since he had joined his House team and he knew raw talent when he saw it. When Charlie set eyes on the Snitch, he was always the one to catch it, no exceptions so far. They would have to make sure to keep him out of the game as well as possible.

Having an idea about what strategy Charlie was going for would have helped Orion design an appropriate counterpart, but the Gryffindors had taken care. As of late, they had started training at odd hours, often at the break of dawn or just before sunset, so no one would watch their manoeuvres.

Being friends not only with their captain but some other players as well, Lizzie usually could provide at least some insight into the Gryffindor team's plans; but since she and Charlie had stopped speaking to each other, she was as clueless as the rest of them.

Maybe Orion's own strategy would have come easier to him had he known how to incorporate the newly changed dynamic in their own team into his thoughts. But the way Lizzie, Skye and himself were working together these days still felt foreign to him.

He knew Skye and Lizzie were practising on their own a lot; as a result, their playstyle had become attuned to each other and they had developed some new moves that only worked between the two of them. They did include Orion in their manoeuvres of course, but the perfect balance between them had shifted.

Tearing his eyes away from the playbook he was writing in, Murphy looked over at Orion's notes sceptically. "I hate to break this to you, but with that strategy your chances of winning against Gryffindor sink to a discouraging 22.4 % at best." He tilted his head and squeezed his eyes as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. "If I interpret it correctly, that is... is that even a strategy chart?"

"Our thoughts need room to unfold before they can evolve into ideas," Orion explained airily, although he knew full well his work certainly wasn't what he would call productive. "It is no good judging a diamond before it is cut and polished. However, true wisdom only comes to those who know how to listen, so if you have any idea how to improve our odds, I'm all ears."

Murphy chuckled at Orion's long-winded admittance of being stuck. "Let me finish the design of my new move and I'll think of something." He snorted as he glanced at the confusing array of lines and arrows once again. "Anything's better than that."

With a sigh of relief Orion dropped his quill and let his gaze wander out of the window towards the Quidditch pitch. It was good to know Murphy was too involved with their team's success to let them down; not that he would have anyway. Even though their philosophies couldn't have been more different, both of them knew the other would always have their backs, no matter if it was about Quidditch or anything else.