Jimmy managed to keep his faux-thoughtful look as she turned slowly – he wasn’t afraid of a glare; people glared at him so often they really did nothing to him but amuse him – but he pouted at the words. Some people (the girls particularly) played up being offended, and other people gave as good as they got. Miss Dursley was the latter.
So she might be insulting him (cleverly, to boot), but being insulted made him beam rather than put him off. “How dare you,” he said, the beaming rather undercutting his complaint; but his real victory was in having someone fun to talk to, and from having pulled her from her reading, even just for a moment. “I’m as sharp in the head as I am on the quaffle, and that’s why Gryffindor’s going to win the quidditch cup again this year.” Pure and baseless boasting, of course – it was much too early in the year to tell, but as new Captain, Jimmy felt obligated to espouse the belief at every opportunity. “If you were astute you’d know that. But then, if you were, you’d probably be in Ravenclaw,” he teased. “Besides, I can catch anything. Try me.” He didn’t expect she would go for this, and start throwing things at him for him to prove his quick reflexes, but it was worth a shot.
So she might be insulting him (cleverly, to boot), but being insulted made him beam rather than put him off. “How dare you,” he said, the beaming rather undercutting his complaint; but his real victory was in having someone fun to talk to, and from having pulled her from her reading, even just for a moment. “I’m as sharp in the head as I am on the quaffle, and that’s why Gryffindor’s going to win the quidditch cup again this year.” Pure and baseless boasting, of course – it was much too early in the year to tell, but as new Captain, Jimmy felt obligated to espouse the belief at every opportunity. “If you were astute you’d know that. But then, if you were, you’d probably be in Ravenclaw,” he teased. “Besides, I can catch anything. Try me.” He didn’t expect she would go for this, and start throwing things at him for him to prove his quick reflexes, but it was worth a shot.
