So of course he was here. Good to see the Pitch still looked good, right?He'd been a bit worried about it but it looked fine. West mounted his broom and started to do some easy laps just to warm up.

Right. Homework. Also practicing and things. Derry had headed straight down to the practice pitch once she'd read the term long assignment for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Clearly this was the best homework they were ever going to get - exercise. Exercise that could include flying. Awesome. Also she had to start flying and practicing lots because she was on the teaaaaam now. Hehe. Also awesome, if a little nerve wracking. And she had to be good and stuff... And it was fun. So lots of good reasons to do this homework, you know, on top of the whole house points shenanigans.

Derry borrowed a school broom and took it to the practice pitch, pausing to tie her hair up into something resembling a pony tail, but not quite, since her ginger mane had decided to go everywhere today. Then she mounted the broom and took off, flying straight up and then in random circles and figures of eight, just because that was fun, she could get round to doing something more conducive to making herself better in a bit, she intended to be here at least half an hour...

The following day, Dylan found himself out on the pitch, taking in the afternoon air and enjoying watching the other houses practices. Watching others practice had become the pinnacle of a good time for him lately...That might have just been the Captain in him...but the Slytherin was like a dry sponge...thirsty for ALL THE STRATEGIES AND MANEUVERS...

Ahem.

Today, though...he was out on the pitch for different reasons. Divination homework. It wasn't going to do itself...So, he was bringing it to a happy place. One of his favorite places...Laying out a blanket, Dylan went about getting his stuff out of his bag. The cup, saucer, box of tea leaves, his Divination textbook, notebook and quill...AND...his thermos. Handy dandy, that thing was.

Not wasting time, he put his cup and saucer front and center, pouring the steaming water into the cup. He'd been prepared today! After filling it with the appropriate amount, he dumped some tea leaves in and waited...The waiting...Tick tock. Tick tock...

He idly watched the Ravenclaws practicing...His lovely girlfriend was up there...Her hair flying all over the place. The sight caused the Slytherin to smirk...rather wide, too. She was so beautiful. It kinda hurt his heart to look at her...in weird ways...and for other reasons...

Turning back to his tea, he thought about her some more...and him asking her to travel soon. It had been on his mind quite a bit after he'd actually asked. Beezus had said yes, of course...but he was still nervous. Dylan was the dude...Therefore all the responsibility rested on his shoulders. It was a lot to think about and deal with...Not that he minded.

Noticing the tea was done, he picked it up with his left hand and tossed it back, trying to get this over with as quickly as he could. Leaving the amount at the bottom that he was supposed to, Dylan swished it around three times and then dumped it.

THREE BREATHS.

One. Two. Three.

Picking it up, he opened his notebook and prepared for notes...Merlin, this went better when he was actually awake...and alert.

So...the rim was...SQUINT...an eagle? That had to be an eagle...He absentmindedly looked up at Beezus. HIS eagle.............Right. Clearing his head, he moved on...The middle looked like a broom...and Dylan liked to think he was an expert on what brooms looked like...So, yes, that was a broom. The base was.......a blob of something. Erm...He couldn't really tell...So, he was just going to call that one a camel for giggles. Yes, an eagle, broom, and camel. There.


...And then he was opening the textbook and looking up these....symbols. For his immediate future, he had something that meant 'well-positioned people would be impressed' by me. The Slytherin Captain kinda shrugged that one off, because people always seemed to be impressed with him. They acted that way, anyway. He wasn't the kind to really care what people thought so...Yea...The broom, for the near future, meant....cleanliness?.....Dylan blinked down at it, amused. He was one of the cleanest people he knew....Oh! Maybe it was talking about the Common Room...They had been working so hard to get that place back into order...

....And then the blob that he was calling a camel...That was supposed to be the over all answer to stuff. According to the book...it was about abundant patience and bearing burdens...Dylan blinked down at that meaning, too. Well...that was legit....actually.

Pulling his notebook, the Slytherin quickly began writing things.

It had been a while since Daichi had flown on a broom and he was pretty excited to see that one of the activities was Flying. It was nice being able to fly again and have a reason for it. Normally he would have been flying for practises but since wasn't a chaser anymore he had no reason to be here.

With a borrowed school broom in his hand, the Slytherin walked to the center of the pitch and looked up at the sky. Dark clouds, he hoped it wasn't going to rain... He mounted the broom and set his feet off of the ground.

He flew around the pitch twice before climbing up to the sky. He past the top of the towers on the side-lines and went further up. The air was getting colder and colder the higher he went and when he thought he was high enough he rested for a moment, taking in the view around him.

The view he was not going to see again next year...

With a small sigh, Daichi leaned his body forward and dove to the ground. He leaned a litte closer and the broom's speed went up. He neared the ground and a few meters above he changed his course to fly horizontal again. He past the goals on the right side of the field and zigzagged between them before speeding up to the other side of the pitch.

When he was in the middle, he flew upwards for another time and did a summersault followed by a corkscrew. Hey, he hadn't been chosen as a chaser in his first year for nothing...he had talent for this if he said so himself.

Hearing a bang somewhere in the sky, the Slytherin stopped flying and looked up. The sky was getting darker and darker, he had to quit for now. Flying down to the ground, Daichi stepped off the broom and walked away.

He needed to fix his hair now...

Dora had been spending a lot of time out on the stands, more this year than others since her boyfriend played AND her best friend played, and.... pretty much everyone she knew played really. It was hard not to be out here supporting them. Except today she wasn't here for any of them, she was here for herself.

The snow crunched under her feet as she walked to the edge of the pitch, a broom carried over one of her shoulders carefully. The Ravenclaw was taking a break from her studies (and everyone huddled indoors because it was a bit chilly) by taking a stroll across the grounds alone.

It had been a just-in-case that had her bringing her broom along with her.

Just in case she decided to pass the pitch, and just in case she felt like flying. Standing at the edge of the empty pitch, her head tilted up to get a proper look at the sky. It was a nice winter day for flying.

She kicked at a bit of snow, and started for the center of the pitch.

Wasn't it normal for an ex-Quidditch player to take full advantage of an unbooked practice pitch? James thought so, which is why she had no qualms about venturing onto the practice pitch with every intention of just having a nice flight with an old Quaffle. Maybe she would even find some players practicing their flying skills in their free time and she could help them brush up on their skills. Not that the players necessarily needed it, but surely they wouldn't mind if she offered a few pointers. That was her job, after all.

As she entered the pitch, Erin was pleased to see that there was someone putting the vacant pitch to good use. It wasn't one of her players, though, which was... suspicious. The young girl had her own broom which obviously meant that she enjoyed flying - James didn't recognize her, though, which meant the student likely didn't even try out for her Quidditch team.

Well, why not?

Kicking off on her Firebolt 800, James took to the sky, leveling out with the Ravenclaw but keeping some distance, the Quaffle still tucked under her arm. Upon catching the girl's attention, James smiled and commented, "Looks like we had the same idea. Nice day for a flight, isn't it?" Ah, a Ravenclaw. So... why had James never seen her before? Was she a shy flyer?

Dora ended up mounting her broom and flying to the center of the pitch about five steps in, not too high and at a leisurely pace. It wasn't like she was racing or anything, and going slower gave her plenty of time to think, which is why she liked it when the pitch was empty.

Also, her pockets were full.

It was easy to notice the flying professor approaching the field, but she didn't pay the older woman any mind. After all, there were no practices to be had or any matches, so it was perfectly fine for her to be out here flying. She didn't even expect the professor to pay her any mind until she actually did fly close by on her own broom and speak to her. Her eyes flicked over to the woman and she began questioning herself as to if it WAS okay for a student not on any house team to be flying.

"Yes..." She didn't fly closer just yet, but she did eye the quaffle for a brief moment. Should she be worried about being kicked off the pitch? "I like flying in colder weather." Paaaaause. "Are you meeting other students out here?"

Excellent - the girl liked flying, AND it didn't seem that she was out there to work on beginner's flying skills when no one was around to prevent injury to others. Hopefully that meant they could share the pitch without James worrying the girl would accidentally plow into the stands.

"I do, too, actually. My favorite weather for matches. No falling snow, just cool temperatures, maybe with a soft breeze," James remarked conversationally, drifting around the girl in a wide semi-circle behind her, a genuine, warm smile forming at the corners of her lips and her eyes in amusement at her question. "No, it just felt like a nice day for a flight. That all right? Thought I'd toss a Quaffle around a bit. D'you play?" Obviously she didn't at school, but perhaps she dabbled a bit in her free time.

After just a moment, Erin raised a curious eyebrow and inquired further, "What's your name, dear?" Certainly she would recognize the name if it had been on a Quidditch sign-up sheet. If she had tried out, James would likely feel a bit silly; if not, James was ready to get to the bottom of why. What could hold someone back if they loved flying?

"Cold weather is my favorite weather in general," Dora changed her flying course, without speeding up of flying higher, so that the professor was never behind her while they talked. "But for flying this is best." Not hot and sticky like it could get in some places. It did make her relax a bit internally when she found out she wasn't going to be kicked off the pitch, especially since she was already in the air and all. "It's your pitch, professor. You can fly it whenever you want." A small smile of amusement did tweak at the corners of her lips.

Professor James was nice. Dora had heard it, but she wasn't one to believe everything she heard because it always wasn't true, except for now. "I don't play, but virtually all of my friends play, and my best is captain for the Gryffindors." So Dora knew the rules and everything, but she herself just didn't care for playing, she much preferred to observe and cheer.

"Isidora Miroslava." She supplied, not at all phased at the woman not knowing her name. She would have been surprised if she had known her name, seeing how she never attended any of the lessons and never tried out. "I only come out here for matches, or practices." Cause she was a supportive friend and all.

"It's mine, too, actually," James smiled, stopping to hover a few feet from the sweet girl. This was nice, talking to a student who just enjoyed flying for fun. There was no business involved, no worries in her mind over being 'good enough' for Quidditch. She just seemed to like it. How admirable. "I don't know if I quite agree with that - technically, it's not mine, and I view it much more as belonging to you, the students." They got to use it far more than she did. "But thank you for the sentiment and not minding that I'm out here." Or, at least, for being polite enough not to say that she minded.

"Ah, Miss Fischer? ... Let me ask you, just woman to woman - what is it with her and the biting?" There was no hint of seriousness in her voice; she was clearly amused as the statement passed her lips.

Still, she was curious.

As Dora introduced herself, James gave a nod of recognition - the name sounded at least mildly familiar - before spinning around 180 degrees to sneeze, gather herself, and return to her starting point to apologize, "Sorry - as much as I enjoy the cold weather, I'm always prone to late winter, early spring allergies." Regardless, James composed herself and stuck her free hand out to properly greet the Ravenclaw, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Miroslava. Erin James. And how nice of you to support your friends and the Quidditch program, even..." she lowered her voice, as if someone else might hear her up in the air in the middle of the pitch, "under the circumstances of the turnstiles."

She would always feel bad that the students had to pay. Always.

Dylan had planned it this way. He'd wanted to end up on the Quidditch pitch last...because he wanted to get some flying in after completing stuff. See? He had his priorities right. Homework first...and then flying...and then social interaction. Maybe.

Of course, when Dylan got to the pitch, he wasn't too sure what he was going to actually use to show the Golden Ratio. Couldn't very well use the rings themselves. They were all the same size...Couldn't use the balls...Well, he could...but he didn't want to go get them...

Bleh...

What....could he....use.........

SMIRK.

Clearing his throat, the Slytherin pulled his wand and then quickly sat on the ground. Plucking a blade of grass, he pointed his wand at it...in his hand.

"Geminio!" When the piece of grass doubled, Dylan smirked again. "Engorgio!"

As the one piece of grass grew in size...he set both down on his let and balanced his notebook, jotting this down. The two pieces of grass...having originally been the EXACT same...were still in proportion to each other...even though Dylan had enlarged one.

There. He was a genius.

Just sayin'...

NOW..........the Slytherin was going to do some flyin'......

Dora actually smiled this time. She wasn't sure if the professor was just agreeing with her to be nice, or if she genuinely liked winter almost as much as Dora did (she was leaning towards the second) but she didn't care that much either. She liked this professor. It was a shame she never took flying class or played for that reason. "Thanks for letting me fly out here, even if you technically view it as my pitch more than yours." And for not being annoying.

"I've never actually asked her," Which was WEIRD now that she thought about it. "I just.... accepted the whole biting thing. So long as she doesn't ever try to bite me," Or Theo. Again. "I'm fine with it. But taking a guess.. I say it's cause she really likes her teeth and eating. And she feels they're better than a wand or jarveys." That just made sense, when it came to her best.

Next time she was with Alice, she would ask her about the biting.

Allergies sucked. She didn't know this, but she read things, and also she saw stuff - like this - that caused her to believe they sucked. "No need to apologize professor." She closed the distance between them and shook the professors hand. "And I know who you are. Nice to finally meet you properly." Dora didn't need to leaned in any to hear what the professor whispered, but she did a little anyway and then shrugged her shoulders almost dismissively. "I've sorta gotten used to them now, and I got extra money cause of it from my Gran." Which was always nice.

"Besides, I don't think Alice or Theo would be all that happy if I missed their matches. Even cause of the turnstiles." All of her other friends would probably get over it, but her best friend and her boyfriend? They wouldn't like it. Even if they didn't say. And knowing them they wouldn't at first.

Flying up just a bit higher, but making sure that the professor could tell she wasn't trying to ditch her or anything, she tilted her head to the side and considered the quaffle once more. "Are you going to toss that around?"

Sarah had taken a bit longer then usual to get down to the pitch, she had to go off course to check up on Spring. Spring... that was her favourite season, with cool buds and all. She placed her broom on the ground. "UP" she commanded. She was good at this already, she was on the team after all. She was waiting for Laura now though, so she might as well warm up on her broom until the puff came. OOOH... the blossams and spring looked good from the air.

The breeze was good to, it seemed perfect conditions for a fly, she had to do DADA challenge and it would also help to get practice in for the next time she played chaser. Laura was meant to be bringing something to use as a quaffle.... ooh this will be so exciting. She zoomed through the hoops a few time just for fun. Where was Laura? Oh well, anther ring around the pitch. Not that she minded. She loved the andrenilin flying provided her with.

This was perfect flying weather, no matter what anyone else wanted to say. There wasn't much sun out but that was maybe a good thing? She was less likely to be baked...granted it wasn't that hot even when the sun was out but you got the idea!! This was cool weather, the kind where when the wind whipped against your face it really woke you up.

She zoomed over to the practice pitch (because why walk when she already had her broom).

Ah, she remembered the last time she was here. She and Aidan nearly changed the colour around. Too bad it didn't happen, Professor James would have thought them very creative and helpful for adding some colour to the monotonous pitch. Some other time perhaps but for today she would just be flying, no mischief, honest.

Lex came to an almost sharp stop and looked around as she hovered. Now that she was here, she was beginning to wish she'd asked Alice's permission for borrowing the quaffle. Might as well had made this productive. Eh. Next time. And next time, she'd take Alice with her too.

For now, loops. Those were fun. Penelope had taught her how to do them in her first year and though she'd overdone it then she was fully capable of handling them this time. No injuries, nope nope nope.

There was one flip, then another and another until she was caught in a series of loop de loops. Almost like a roller coaster only she was more likely to fall off and hurt herself while doing this. Not a good thought but she kept going until everything around her began looking funny. Okaaaay, a break, she would take one of those. Alexa settled into a hover again, trying to make everything stop spinning.

OoooOOOoOOooooo.

Laura looked at Sarah and saw her flying around, they didn't have to fly, Laura hadn't flown since her big accident in the summer holiday after Hufflepuff had won the Quidditch cup in her third year, she had brought a football with her to act as a quaffle, well she had brought two one for her and one for Sarah.

Laura looked down at the grown before speaking. "So are you coming down then?" They were racing on the ground right, they were running to the Lake and back they didn't have to fly there did she, she had made a vow to herself never to fly again.

Sarah realised that Laura was there, and she had brought two footballs for them Why two? It was strange, yet even stranger, Laura had bot brought her broom. Maybe somethin had happened it to it or something? There were no school brooms to borrow anyways.

Then Laura asked something that shocked Sarah. "um... no, unless you want us both to start on the ground. Where is your broom by the way? Are we not racing on brooms to the lake and back with a quaffle?" Sarah asked. "if you don't have a broom we could always borrow one"

Laura looked at Sarah and sighed. "I had a massive accident in the summer a few years ago and I haven't flown since." Laura really was telling the truth there, she hadn't realised flying had been involved." Laura looked at Sarah and then ran off and came back 5 minutes later carrying her broom. "It's not been out of my dorm since that summer." Laura didn't know if she really wanted to fly or not.

Laura smiled at Sarah. "I was just going to do a running race but okay then, broom race it is." Laura just stared at her broom, maybe Sarah could give her a nudge to get on her broom. "I have a football each for us anyway." Laura just stared up at the sky.

So of course he hadn't actually paid attention to where they were supposed to be doing this run thing and all. He wasn't super happy about getting up early to do it either, and he was even more unhappy when he arrived at the quidditch pitch, and no one was there. Grumbling, he stood around for a long time before realising that either they weren't coming, or he was in the wrong place. Deciding he should search for them, Kaiden walked off to find the er... team.

When she could finally see straight again she grinned in satisfaction. That was TOTALLY worth it. She would have done it again just for the heck of it but then she remembered why she was here. To get in some flying. Yeah she flew during quidditch practice but it wasn't the same because she was usually rushing to get the Quaffle or flying for dear life to get away from the others when she did have the quaffle as rare as that was. Ahem.

Alexa looked to the other end of the field, trying to judge the distance before simply zooming off in that direction. As she got there she pulled up and came to a some what sharp stop. Needed to work on those, in games she had to be able to stop on a dime or run the risk of running into a teammate or stray bludger.

Once again she headed down the pitch, pulling up a little harder as she got to the other end. This didn't go too well with her balance and she had to swerve to remain seated on her broom.

She blinked, wondering how she'd misjudged that just now. It would have been a good stop...balance was clearly the next issue to work on--

Staaaahp.

She wasn't here for Quidditch flying! Focus Lex! Time to try this again. She drifted higher and higher into the sky until she was overlooking practically the entire castle. This was a brilliant view.

Turning at a 180 degree angle she began taking laps around the pitch. Not practice laps, just laps to let her feel the wind whipping her face. This was good stuff.

He was just gonna lay here.

Mostly 'cause he was bored and also 'cause he was reflecting and stuff. Not about anything girly or whatever, but just about stuff. Like Quidditch and heights and-

Yeah, maybe not about that.

Anyway, he was just gonna sit here and look up at the sky. He was laying on his back and looking up at the sky. Nice weather too.

Practice. That was the only way Derry was going to be able to make seeker next term, and she realllly wanted to. So even though their last match was over, Derry had taken a school broom and a pocketful of her juggling balls to the practice pitch. She figured the next logical step was to juggle whilst flying, right? Maybe.

As she came onto the pitch, however, she spotted a familiar figure lay down on the grass. Hmm. Dylan must have been right about the comfiness of the grass, since a lot of people seemed to use it as a bed lately. She crept up behind him as quietly as possible before poking her head into his line of vision and shouting, "Heeeey!!" in a singsong voice. "Whatcha doin?"

Lots of different clouds up in the sky. And none of them were black or cloaked or any of that nonsense from the last match. Nah, none of that here. It was kind of comforting to look up in the sky at that instead of dementors. Pfft. Not that he had been SCARED or anything. Whatever.

As he shifted through all of the clouds though-- one did look like a piece of cake, yeah-- he finally saw red hair come into his line of vision and some yelling in his face. "Jeez, Derry!" He said with a jump. AHEM, not Derry. Gorgeous. Ammend that quickly, Stark. "Gorgeous. Whatever. You shouldn't sneak up on people." 'Specially not handsome and attractive people like him. Smirk.

Hehehehe she made him jump! Derry burst into giggles and sat herself down on the grass, next to him. "I heard that, that's four." she pointed out with a grin. She was keeping count, since he seemed completely adamant not to call her by her name.

Shouldn't sneak up on people? Pfffffft. "I'm just being slyyyyyyyyy." she tapped the Slytherin crest on the front of her robes. "It's fun you know..." Maybe not for the person on the other end - she knew that, being a generally jittery person - but that wasn't the point. "You okay? Didn't give you a heart attack or anything right?" She prodded his arm just to make sure he wasn't secretly dead or something... He should just be thankful she didn't poke his side and make him all flaily... muahaha.

"You're hearing things again," he stated as he sat up properly on the Pitch. There was NO way he was giving her that satisfaction, 'sides she had snuck up on him. He was frightened and not thinking. Didn't count. Pfft. Not even a bit.

Turning to face her dead on now that she was sitting too, he scoffed, "Sly? You leaned over my head and sang hello at my face." In what universe did that constitute as SLY, Dearest Derry? Yeah, none. Smirk. And then she got even stranger and starting proding and poking him like a mental patient. He brushed away her hands, as he usual did, and gave her the STOP IT face. No need to touch him. This looked effortless, but his looks- Eh, who was he kidding? He just DID really look that good. "M'fine." See?