He nodded as there was not much one could do about the fact the pitch was rather visible. As unless one was careful enough not to fly above the stands in their practice one could be observed from any place that looked over the quidditch pitch. The idea of holding ones practice in the awkward space below the tops of the stands seemed plain silly to him and probably more dangerous than using the whole pitch. As when one was lower to the ground a natural dive would land one on the ground. Plus there was the whole probably of the hoops being high above the stands.

He chuckled after Trent mentioned how accusations were made when someone straight out sat in the stands during another teams practices. Dakota said " It is always amazing how often the obvious is missed and common sense is tossed to the side." As it was obvious to him that there were better places than the stands of the pitch to observe other teams practices. Unless one actually cared what was said as the minute the other team saw you what you were observing was worthless. The accusations in his opinion boiling down to the simple fact the other team was jelous that they did not think of it first.

Dakota paused slightly before saying " In professional quidditch there are more games to observe the teams on than here at Hogwarts so that translates to observing practices. Not that I am really observing just looking out and saw some rather entertaining moves that caught my attention. " With the second part of what he said spoken slightly faster than the first part as he realized he had to say something to downplay the fact he had been watching the practice.

He raised his eyebrow slightly when Trent mentioned that he had managed to get a fight with his own brother in the library. Then his housemate mentioned that he was considering trying out for the team. The fact that he had come to a similar conclusion in his head only seconds ago was the first thing to come to mind to say. Thankfully his tendency to think before speaking kept him from mentioning it. Instead he said " Slytherin could really use some new people on the team next year. "

However since it was his own houses team he had no intention of naming names. As any name mentioned could come back to haunt him, leaving seventh years as the best options for him. Options that considering they would still be in the same castle for some time he had no intention of taking. Dakota said " So what position are you thinking about?" Mostly as he was curious if his housemate was considering the same position he was. Though the two of them being beaters would probably work out well. Except for the simple fact that two new people going after two spots that were already taken would be a challenge. As one person could be picked off much more easily than two that were used to working together.

off-hand answers are often rather deceiving.
as there is usually a reason they were not washed away