Never Trust the Irish

A rustling noise distracted Blaise from her subtle observations of the way Seamus's trousers clung to his bum.

Larry the quintaped let out a low growl, and scooted in to walk closer to Seamus. Orla stopped in her tracks, looking around with her sharp eyes. Seamus paused and grabbed a better hold on Larry's leash, peering into the underbrush. Ginny already had her wand pointing into the shadows, a watchful, anticipating look on her face.

The rest of the team stopped, so when the rustling noise came once more they pinpointed the ruckus to an unusually large tree with bushes growing close around it.

Blaise jerked her head backward, and the entire team began to back up slowly, but spread apart from each other at the same time, intending to circle round the tree and close the animal in.

A small squirrel ran from the bushes, pausing to look at them curiously before darting into the trees.

A collective sigh of relief ran through the team, and Blaise relaxed her taut muscles and let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

Seamus grinned at her. "Nervous?"

"Oh, don't tell me you weren't," she shot back.

"Not at all," Seamus replied equably. "I'm never frightened."

"Oh, that's complete hippogriff dung," Blaise spat.

Their argument was effectively cut off when a large quintaped ran out of the trees, heading straight for Seamus and Larry.

Blaise, not having time to think, reacted on pure instinct. She dove towards Seamus, knocking him out of the way just as the quintaped's horns reached the place his stomach had just been.

Orla was shouting something, but Blaise didn't hear what it was. She landed on top of Seamus, bracing herself for teeth, horns, and all matter of painful things.

Surprisingly, nothing happened. She opened her eyes to see Seamus's bright blue ones staring up at her in astonishment.

They both shifted and looked over Blaise's shoulder, where the quintaped was making angry noises.

A shimmering rectangle of light enclosed it, obviously a barrier. Orla still hadn't lowered her wand, she was breathing hard and gaping at the quintaped.

Ginny was looking round as if expecting another quintaped to burst from the trees. The rest of the team was staring at Blaise, who abruptly realized that she was still laying on top of Seamus.

"Thanks," he said.

"Anytime," she replied with a smile. Then she rolled off him and sat back on her heels, looking at the imprisoned quintaped with interest. Seamus sat up, leaves sticking out of his blonde hair, and raised his eyebrows at her.

Larry, however, was hurling what was obviously insults at the other quintaped in quintaped language, which seemed to consist mainly of grunts and growls, interspersed with louder howls.

"Lay off, Larry," Seamus barked, and Larry obediently backed off, still glaring mistrustfully at his larger counterpart.

"What are we going to do with it?" Dean asked, addressing the most obvious question.

Orla spoke up. "If we can build a cage, I can cast a containment charm on it."

"How strong does the cage have to be?" Williamson asked.

"The stronger the better," Orla said. "But my spell will help a lot."

Seamus nodded. "So, where are we going to put this cage?"

Blaise thought of something. "We need to get away from here right now."

Everyone else looked at her.

"Come on," she urged. "That containment spell is giving off magic."

"And quintapeds are sensitive to magic," Seamus groaned. "Move out, everyone."

Blaise glared at him.

"Erm, that is, if our lovely boss says so," Seamus amended.

"Let's head out," Blaise said. "Seamus, I don't think Larry's going to be leaving us anytime soon. Take the rope and tie the other quintaped up with it."

"That thing's vicious," Seamus protested. "How am I going to get the rope around it?"

Hannah was prepared for just such an occasion. "Calming Draught?" she offered, pulling one from her pack.

"Hannah, you're my hero," Seamus said in mock awe. "Now give that here."

He took the vial of potion from her, and made his way determinedly over to the quintaped, which was still glaring around at them and muttering darkly in quintaped-speak.

"Now, angel, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," Seamus said in an even tone obviously meant to calm the animal. "I'm just going to give you this wee bit of potion, which will make you nice and cooperative. It'll wear off soon, I promise. I'm just going to hold it to your mouth and let you drink it."

The quintaped's noises increased in volume, and it didn't look at all as if it was considering cooperating with Seamus. In fact, it looked surlier than before.

"Now, just play nice and this'll all be over in no time, sweetheart," Seamus continued. "Orla, when I give you the signal..."

Orla nodded, a quick, sharp affirmation. She raised her wand.

"There's a nice furry darling," Seamus said, maintaining eye contact with the quintaped. "You're going to be very helpful with this endeavor, aren't you? You and I are going to get along very well. Orla...now."

Orla made a slashing motion with her wand, and the shimmering box around the quintaped disappeared.

The quintaped, being sensitive to magic, immediately realized that it's magical barrier was gone. It rushed at Seamus, who dove on top of it and held it tight. He sustained another bite, and it looked so painful that Blaise winced.

"A little help here!" Seamus yelped.

Dean was already on the job, and rushed over to take one of the quintaped's five flailing legs. Blaise, Kevin, Williamson and Ginny ran and took the other four, successfully pinning the animal while Seamus poured the potion down it's throat.

Panting and out of breath, the six of them were grateful when the quintaped slowed it's struggles and eventually stopped.

Seamus grinned triumphantly. "There now, I told you we'd get along."

The quintaped let out what Blaise assumed was the worst of quintaped curses, but Seamus seemed unfazed. He turned his grin on Blaise, who found herself smiling stupidly back at him.

"We've still got to get out of here," Ginny said quickly. "Let's see if we can't build that cage without magic, shall we?"

*

"Damn it all, Seamus," Hannah sighed as she disinfected Seamus's newest bite. "Can't you spend one hour without getting viciously mauled by rampaging beasts? It would make my job a lot easier."

"It makes my job a lot easier to have that thing sedated," Seamus replied.

Although, he reflected, it was a lot more fun to have Blaise rescue him. The lovely red flush on her cheeks, when she'd realized what a compromising position she'd been in, would be something Seamus would remember with amusement for years to come.

"Thanks, Hannah," he said as she finished wrapping his arm and began to change the bandage on his hand. Until they found out whether quintaped bites were poisonous or not, they weren't taking any chances.

"Anytime, Seamus," she replied, tucking a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. "Just try not to piss the things off anymore."

"Larry didn't mean to hurt me," Seamus said defensively, putting his free hand on Larry's back. Larry was currently sprawled in his lap, fast asleep and making noises Seamus took to be snores.

"You are too attached to that quintaped," Hannah said with a small smile. Then she looked at Seamus with an expression he wasn't sure if he liked. "That's not the only thing you're a bit too attached to."

"What are you trying to say?" Seamus demanded.

"Just that Blaise is my best friend," Hannah said calmly. "If you break her heart, I'll break your kneecaps."

Seamus didn't doubt her for a minute.

Before he could reply, however, Blaise herself walked up, hair flying, trousers torn, shirt dirty, and looking a general mess. Seamus rather thought she resembled an Amazon warrior.

"You guys stay here and watch Larry and the other quintaped," Blaise said in a no-nonsense tone. "Seamus and I are going to get building materials. Ginny, you're in charge."

"Aye aye, captain!" Ginny said.

"Seamus," Blaise said. "Put the quintaped down and come with me."

Seamus set Larry down with one last parting pat. "See you later, Larry."

"You are way too attached to that animal," Blaise sighed as they left camp.

"You're just jealous because he likes me better," Seamus accused.

"Am not," Blaise groused.

"Or maybe you're jealous because I like him better," Seamus said in a smug sort of voice.

"Are you always this irritating?" Blaise asked.

"Yes," Seamus replied, loving the way her eyes lit up when she was annoyed.

"I'm going to murder you before this operation is over," Blaise predicted.

"As long as I get to kiss you first," Seamus replied.

"Get used to being disappointed," Blaise said dryly.

*

"Cedar," Blaise said.

"Pine," Seamus replied.

"2 inch nails," Blaise said.

"2 ½ inch nails," Seamus argued.

"Why must you contradict everything I say?" Blaise moaned.

"Because you have a short fuse," Seamus said. "And I've got designs on lighting it up."

"You're impossible!" Blaise yelled.

*

"Hallo!" said Oliver Wood as they flooed back through his fireplace.

"Sorry for the interruptions, Oliver," Blaise said ruefully.

"No problem," Oliver said. "Pretty girls are free to drop by anytime."

Blaise laughed. "I'll remember that."

"Next time, just lose the Irish lad," Oliver said with a wink.

"I sure will," Blaise said, as she and Seamus made their way to the front door.

"No she bloody well will not," Seamus growled. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

Blaise raised her eyebrows at him as they left Oliver's house. "Who's jealous now?"

Seamus gaped at her. "You did that on purpose," he accused.

"I'm a Slytherin," Blaise said, as if that explained everything.

Which it did.

Those tricky Slytherins.

*

A few hours and a lot of sweat and muttered oaths later, they had their cage. Seamus, as the official expert on methods of muggle construction, was eyeing their masterpiece with a calculating eye.

"It'll hold probably three quintapeds," he decided. "Any more and we'll have to build another one."

"Well, let's take care of the one quintaped we have," Blaise sighed.

"Wait," Tracey said. "I have an idea."

She ran back to her tent, and came back with half a dozen hair ribbons in assorted colors. She then walked over to the quintaped, which was under the influence of regular administrations of a Calming Draught, and tied a green ribbon firmly around one of it's ears.

"That way we'll be able to tell it from the others we might catch," Tracey explained.

"Good idea," Blaise commended her. "Keep those in your pocket or something."

Tracey stuck the ribbons in her pocket, untied the quintaped, and lead it into the cage. She pulled the rope from around it's neck and walked out, shutting the door firmly behind her.

"Well, that's done," she said. "What now?"

"There are more quintapeds to catch," Seamus reminded them grimly. "We're not finished yet."