The fog was going to hurt Hufflepuff’s chances of winning, but Max was not entirely upset about it. After all, he could hardly see the others, so chances were that the hundreds of eyes in the stands couldn’t see him either. That made him feel more confident already. And he rather thought that Sioni’s plan was a good one. Of course, he felt that way about all of Sioni’s plans. He nodded along as their captain explained how they were going to be doing things, and he laughed as Shane started making ridiculous noises.

It was nice to see everyone so upbeat and positive. Something like this could easily get them down and depressed; he thought that would have a greater impact on their playing than the fog. He just hoped he didn’t do something stupid, like getting turned around on the pitch and trying to throw the Quaffle through their own goal posts. That would be soooooooo embarrassing. He’d probably have to drop out of school, become a hermit, and never show his face to anyone ever again. Or he could get that classic surchey thing the Muggles did and pretend he was someone else.

Hmmm. Best clarify a few things before starting… that would hopefully lessen his chances of messing things up and needing the surchey thingy. “Er, is it just Shane who’s making noises? What are we supposed to say?” he asked, indicating T.J. and himself. While he hated to contradict the captain, there seemed to be a glaringly obvious hole in the whole plan. “Are… are we going to use the same noises all match?” he asked, hesitantly. “I think they’ll figure it out. What if some Gryffindor shouts Ting-a-Ling or whatever to confuse us?” That’s what Max would do if he figured out the opponents’ plan. 

"Shouldn't we... switch things up a bit?"