The Practice Pitch
 

For anyone :)
 

Home.

It was so good to be back and one of the first places Ella found herself going was the practice pitch, broom in hand. She'd been waiting to return to the pitch all summer and now that the moment was here, the blonde couldn't wipe the grin off her face.

Stopping half way across, Ella just stood and looked around, taking it in. The quiet was nice and the weather was beautiful and just perfect for a fly. BEAM. This was going to be a great term. She could feel it.

Minerva really wanted the term to start out better. She wanted to be having fun and enjoying being prefect, but the fact was she wasn't. She missed Ethan horribly, she felt super out of place, and now she felt like one of her closest friends hated her. This term was already starting off bad and she had no where to go to hide from it. Either there was couple cuteness going on around her or the places just reminded her of the person that was not there.

Trying anything to get her mind off of things she grabbed her brand new broom and headed toward the pitch. She figured she would need to get on it and practicing if she was going to play this term. Plus she really had to figure out which place she was going to try out for.

Walking across the grounds she made her way into the pitch and stopped blinking at the sight. Ella was standing in the middle of the field. Not only did she not run away from her problems but the biggest upset of the past few days was standing right in front of her. She wasn't sure whether to sneak back away or just try to be friendly like nothing was wrong. But everything was wrong Ella was mad at her maybe even hated her now. That she wasn't right a frown swept across the seventh years face. "I.. Umm.. I can come back another time.. "

Truth be told, Ella hadn't heard anyone else come on to the pitch. She'd been lost in thoughts about recruiting and tryouts so when she heard someone's voice, she jumped a bit, startled. Some spy skills she was exhibiting. Merlin.

Minnie wasn't who she'd expected to see and so the blonde bit her lip, unsure of what to say. She wasn't very fond of the older badger at the moment but that didn't mean that the girl couldn't fly. "Don't leave on my account. There's more than enough room for the both of us, yeah?" Shrug.

Minerva was usually pretty good at reading body language, but she just couldn't with Ella. Her words said to stay, but Min just wasn't sure. She knew her friend was well she wasn't even sure if she was a friend anymore. How did things get like this. Great job Minerva epic person as usual. She looked at the ground and fumbled around with her broom. "I.. I was just wanted to test out my new broom that Ethan had bought me since my other broke in that fall last term."

Why did she just say all of that like Ella cared. Walking near the girl she frowned, "umm Ella.. I won't stay, because I know you want nothing to do with me and I don't blame you, but I am sorry." She bit her lip trying not to get to upset and turned. "I can just fly later it's not that big of a deal." Plus she couldn't focus now anyway, she just needed to get away from here before she cried in front of her. She was done crying in front of people about anything. She was tired of being emotional and upset. She was going to be happy even if she faked it.

"It is important to break in a new broom." And it was nice of Ethan to buy her one but she didn't say as much. She really just wanted to fly at the moment, y'know? Her grip tightened a bit on her own broom and she debated mounting it. It'd probably rude to just fly off, though, so she stayed put.

Wait, what? Blink. Blink. Stare.

"Just...because I don't like how you acted doesn't mean I don't want anything to do with you." She'd never said anything close to that if she remembered correctly and was a little baffled by the assumption. Ella had never been the type to write someone off. As for her flying later, "That's up to you." But seeing as she'd come all the way to the pitch, it was sort of a waste to go back.

Minerva just nodded, "Yeah I know I do. I really want to get some practice in before tryouts. I'm still not sure exactly which position I want to tryout for. Honestly I'll be happy at either place." She hoped she'd make it again, but she always had that worry. She looked at her broom smiling a bit, "It's just a newer version of my old broom. So I hope it won't be to much different." No she loved that old broom and it was because of the person that gave it to her she was so attached to it. Knowing that same person spoiled her again she figured it wouldn't take long to be attached again.

Looking up she saw the look she was getting and fidgeted. "I.. just figured.. I looked for you for awhile and couldn't find you and then left the cookies on your bed, but you never said anything so.. " fidgeting uncomfortably more and wibbling a bit "I just assumed you didn't want anything to do with me so I've been trying to stay away." She looked away. She really hated when people were upset with her especially someone she cared about as much as Ella. "I know I wasn't the nicest the other night and it just wasn't me. You know that. It won't happen again.. I promise... " Well she would try to make sure she never acted that stupid again.

She really did want to fly, but she knew she'd never be able to fly well with the tension between the two blondes.

Playing a different position could be nerve-racking, Ella knew. It was good, though. She'd recently been thinking about how she needed to try new things so she'd never discourage someone else from doing the same. As for the model of her new broom, the blonde glanced at it and nodded. "That's good. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it quickly, then."

"I had stuff..." Going on with Alec, that is. She didn't want to talk about it, though. She actually didn't know what to say even if she did want to talk about it. "In my experience, avoiding only makes things worse." The blonde said thoughtfully, taking a seat on the pitch. If she wasn't flying, she might as well get comfortable. "Listen, I'm...not the boss of you, okay? You can act however you want but I just..." How was she supposed to put this? "If anyone ever talked like that around my little brother I'd be just as mad and Tobias was there and listening and it wasn't right." Shrug. "I'm just not sure I like that Min but it doesn't mean I'd ever not want to see you or talk to you."

Just so they were clear and everything.

Minerva hesitated before putting down her broom. She went and sat down near her captain. "Is everything alright?" For a moment she forgot about their disagreement all she cared about was if Ella was alright. Her protective side for her friends coming out and her need to help and fix whatever was going on. "You know you can talk to me if you need something." She placed an arm around Ella for a hug, but then awkwardly removed her arm. Well that was probably not the right time to hug the sixth year. "Sorry"

She fidgeted with the ground a bit. "But avoiding helps stay out of the others hair if they really don't want them around and I guess that's what I thought." She frowned knowing she had disappointed her friend she hated disappointing people and really couldn't handle it well. "I know that now, but at the time I just wasn't thinking." She frowned towards the ground and picked at her bag. "I haven't been myself since the train station. I feel like a mess, but I'll be better. I'll be a good leader from now on." She sighed, "What a horrible choice for Prefect, right?" She knew she was and this just proved it.

Well huh, that was weird. Usually West was the first person down at the pitch at the start of term. Hufflepuffs though. Look, there they were. Badged ones. Badged badgers.

Well great.

They seemed to be talking pretty intently so West didn't bother them, just took his broom, mounted it with a running step, and began flying as high as he possibly could. Up where the air started getting thin, where you could taste the clouds and life and nothing mattered and all the bad stuff stayed behind on the ground. The bad things couldn't fly, but West could.

So he did.

Yeah, Ella wasn't in a hug mood. Shocker of the century, right? She appreciated the gesture, though, so she smiled faintly at her housemate. "Don't worry about it." Really. "And I'm okay. Just thinking too much. Flying helps." Which was why she was here.

"I get it but...you never know for sure until you ask." And now she knew. As for the other stuff, the stuff about being a bad leader, Ella shook her head. "If you're looking for me to help you talk badly about yourself, it's not going to happen." And she nudged Minnie in the arm before reaching for her broom. Her attention was momentarily taken by the other person who'd walked on to the pitch. She recognized his hair immediately and watched him take off, wanting to fly too. Anyway, back to the badger. "They pick people for a reason, Minnie." Nodnod. "And like I said, flying helps with over thinking so let's fly."

Minerva shrugged she was still feeling the tension between them and hated it. "Well if you ever need anything just know I'm here, alright? " Of course flying helped, flying seemed to help with a lot of things, frowning though she realized she wasn't helping. She always was the helper and hated not being able to help.

Seeing someone else she glanced over and waved to West, but wasn't sure he saw her. Oh well maybe he had things on his mind as well. She looked up and watched him get higher and higher before coming back around to Ella's voice. "I'll remember that for now on. I just hate when I disappoint people. I know I have issues, but it's just who I am. " She couldn't change that about herself, so no trying. Her eyes looked up at Ella from the ground, "No not looking for anyone to really. I think I do a pretty good job on my own." One of her biggest flaws, she knew that all to well. "Just feel like a failure already is all."

Getting up she grabbed her broom. "Alright.. I would love to do some flying. I'm thankful for the broom to occupy my mind once in awhile. It's odd being here without him ya know." She knew Ella knew what she was talking about. Even just being on this pitch was bringing pictures in her head, but pushing them out she gave a small smile to the captain, "Ready?"

Lemawn! <3
 

You know what had always been a dream of Abbi's?

Flying. Uh uh. Ever since she was a little girl, well at least smaller than she was now, Abigail Campbell had always wanted to fly. Not in an airplane, not in a hot air balloon. She physically wanted to fly on her own and feel the wind in her hair preferably with fairy wings. Lucky for her, her imagination was grand and jumping down seven chairs made her feel like a flyer and she was totally pleased with her chairs until somebody mentioned real flying.

That was it. She NEEDED to learn and the sooner the better. Therefore putting on some tracksuit pants and a jacket, WITHOUT wings for a change Abbi made her way to the pitch. It was very sportsy and she didn't understand the hoops much but she hoped her educator could explain it all, even if she was a scary witch eater.

Abbi was officially ready to fly. Mhhhhm. BRING IT ON WIND.

Every day was the same.

Up at 5:30am, without so much as the need for an alarm clock, for a jog around the grounds, try and work up his fitness and stuff. Shower and all that stuff before lessons and then an hour to get ready. Then it was breakfast. The days were devoted to lessons, homework and extra study that he had decided on, and Tobias focused on these things until about 4pm every day. At the end of the day he went and fetched his broom and headed straight out to the practice pitch to do as much flying as he wanted, both for fun and for actual serious practice. Usually about two or three hours. When it started to get dark, Tobias would go back to the castle for dinner. He'd go for a quick walk around the inside of the castle (because he STILL had energy) until the curfew, at which point the Hufflepuff would give himself free time to do what he wanted until he got tired and passed out at 11pm every night. Without fail.

Sometimes he flew in the morning and jogged in the afternoon, but not today.

It seemed that plenty of other people were getting some flying practice in too, for when Tobias reached the practice pitch he could see several other people, including a few Hufflepuffs.

Deciding to warm up before he started being all social, Tobias mounted his broom (grinning, because he was still so happy to OWN a broom) and flew up into the air. He took a moment to see if there was anyway in the way of where he was planning to fly, but it was all clear.

When he was about 50 feet off the ground, level with the highest goal hoop, Tobias started doing laps around the pitch. Slow at first, but gradually getting faster and faster, so as to test out both his speed AND his agility.

Forrest really didn't know what was wrong with him. Today, he got up normally, did normall stuff, participated normally in classes, ate normal food, read the normal letter from his mother, then found his abnormal self at the edge of the Quidditch pitch while holding a broom. A broomstick, to be exact. One that people flew on. The kind that people rode at Quidditch matches. Something he must have got with same intentions too, but he didn't look like he was riding it any time soon. On the contrary, he looked at it as if it was an object from some other planet. It was an object from some other planet. He honestly had no idea how he'd ended up there with a broom in his hands in daylight. But there he was. Standing confusedly. Staring at it blankly.

Last year it was ice-cream. This year food had it?

*snaggity snag*
 

Faster.

And faster.

And FASTER.

ANDFASTERANDFASTERANDFASTER.

Tobias was exhilerated... and also started to lose his coordination a bit. The broom was FAST and it was easy to get carried away, so he slowed right down to a leisurely pace.

Hold on a minute... was that... it WAS. FORREST!

With a BEAM on his face, Tobias flew towards the boy, fighting the urge to speed right up, just in case he lost control. No, it was a steady decent, and he even did a big ol' WAAAAVE so Forrest knew it was him and not an unidentified first year (not gaining any height over the summer was such a pain).

"Hi Forrest!" the Hufflepuff called when they were within shouting distance of each other. When he reached his friend he came to a complete stop and hovered a few feet above the ground. "You gonna fly?!" BOUNCEBOUNCE.

Tobias was EXCITED. He would get to fly with the person he considered his best friend. He had NO idea if Forrest thought of HIM as a best friend, but it didn't really matter because they were FRIENDS.

A flying/approaching object registered with Forrest's eyes, but it stopped there. His mind didn't notice it. It was still too busy trying to come up with a sane explanation to his acts. Flying. Him. With a broom. See? They didn't even fit in the same sentence.

The object took the shape of a person that resembled his best friend, but he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure of anything, anymore. It was hazy. He just remembered his mother's encouraging letter about flying and trying out, but... this was nonsense. Real Tobias or not, it wasn't logical. Forrest. Fly. Broom. They were still too irrelevent words to make a meaningful sentence.

Tobias was talking. He was doing funny expressions and asking a question.

What? Fly? Him? On a broom? Since when was it not strictly limited to planes and birds?

"Fly..." He repeated it slowly as if he'd heard the word for the first time. Define 'fly'? He met his gaze, then eyed the innocent looking broomstick in his hands. Could he? Really? If he made Tobias promise he wouldn't laugh?

Fly, Forrest, broomstick.

Hmm.

Um.

Yes.

Fly.

Tobias' head tilted in confusion, and slightly in concern. Maybe Forrest would need to take it a little bit slower. He HAD always been hesitant around the topic of brooms and Quidditch and whatever so... yeah, maybe that was it. Tobias lowered his broom down a little more, enough that he could climb off of the thing. He was glad he'd shed his outer robes earlier; it was still pretty warm out for late September.

"D'you know how?" he asked Forrest, holding his own broom beside him. "I can go through it with you if you want?" Again, Tobias was worried that he might be too pushy, but he'd said it now. Plus he was sure Forrest would like flying once he'd practiced it a bit.

Knew how what? Flying? Haha. Hahaha. Him, know, flying? Aren't you funny, Tobias.

"I've never..." y'know. "But I don't want to... y'know, "...hinder your practice. I'm--I'll be fine." Cue an uncomfortable chuckle-choking.

He certainly didn't plan to run away as soon as Tobias turned away. But he was tempted to.

And we see you, badgers
 

"I know you are. Thanks, Min. I appreciate it." But yeah, she didn't want to talk just now. Clearing her mind was the better option.

"I think everyone has issues. Nobody is perfect." Except maybe Alec but she wasn't going to say that out loud. Nope. She'd just keep that one to herself. She agreed with the hating to let people down thing, though. She hated doing that too. "I think you've got time to turn things around so don't beat yourself up too much. The terms only just started." Panic didn't need to set in for ages yet, yeah?

"I know," The blonde said quietly as she too got up and took hold of her broom. She really did feel bad that Ethan wasn't around for Min. It had to be hard not seeing him. The blonde smiled back and nodded her head, she was so ready.

...

That was until she saw some of her favorite younger badgers on the pitch. Captain was proud, y'know? She approved of the flying practice a ton and she also approved of Forrest giving it a go. Did he still need help or?

Motioning her head in the direction of the boys, the blonde headed towards them and hoped Minnie would follow.

"Hey, you two! Great day to go flying!"

and you guyyyys :3
 

"I don't mind, Forrest," Tobias said with his KINDEST SMILE EVER. "I practice every single day. It'll be fun to fly with a friend for fun today." 'Cause, y'know, he practiced technical-ish stuff every day.

Then something struck him. He was being too pushy. "Oh... unless you don't want to fly with me?" He should probably stop assuming these kind of things. Toby smiled anyway. "I don't mind, you only have to say. But I'd like to fly with you at some point."

And they were boy here.

At the practice pitch.

With brooms.

Hearing a voice, Tobias turned to see the other two Hufflepuffs who had already been on the pitch. He gave them a grin and a wave.

"Hey guys! Sure is." A great day. For flying.

So that's what they should doooooooooooooooo.

She had promised the fairy kid she'd teach her how to use those 'wings', hadn't she? And Alice never broke promises, no matter how ridiculous. The sixteen year old had made her way out onto the pitch bright and early that morning, making sure that it was clear and free of people for Miss Abbi Campi's little lesson.

Already there when the first year toddled out onto the grass, she lowered her broom in the air a bit and hung upside down off of it by her knees to bring herself to eye level with little one. "You ready to fly, fairy girl?" Because Alice was ready to teach. And hopefully Abbi was a fast learner, because the sixth year most definitely didn't have the patience of a saint.

Her ponytail swung around as she did, waiting for an answer. C'mon, Miss Campi, she didn't have all day.

And Ella&Minerva//He'll fly in the next post I promise
 

He didn't mind? Forrest wanted to believe him. His reason sounded... reasonable. He looked pretty honest too. Forrest smiled a little--only to frown afterwards.

"No, of course I want to fly with you!" Who wouldn't want to fly with him? He was so talented! "It's just... just..." He looked at the ground. "I'm... horrible." He was just going to humiliate Tobias too, since they would be flying together.

Then Ella came. The captain. Forrest bit his lip. This was going to either end horribly or gloriously, and his money was on the first.

:3
 

Tobias tilted his head slightly, the other way this time, and glanced over at the others before looking back at Forrest again.

"Horrible? But I thought you haven't flown before?" Unless he HAD? GASP! Sneaky Forrest. "And I don't believe anyone's horrible. I know a lot of other people find this really hard, but I always like to find a bright side. In this case, even if you aren't that good at flying, you have the opportunity to practice and get better, and I don't know a single person who doesn't like seeing themselves get better and better at something, y'know?"

Forrest was someone who had to be eased into things, Tobias could see that. And whilst Tobias loved having a go at everything despite being almost certain that he wouldn't be very good at it and would make a right prat of himself, Forrest seemed to always be worrying about failing or not doing good enough. Legilimancy was the only NEW thing Tobias had witnessed Forrest having much excitement over. Maybe just not been there for other things, though.

Mounting his own broom again, Tobias pushed off slightly, like he was doing a little jump. Instead of returning to the ground, like in a regular jump, he remained in the air right at the highest peak of his bounce. He remained there, one foot on the foot-hold, the other slightly skimming the grass.

Rather than hover there staring at Forrest, Tobias smiled and leaned back a little, staring out over the pitch. Nothing gave him more pleasure than to be out here, and he was quite happy taking in the view whilst Forrest decided what he was going to do.

"I really like the view of the castle from here," he said without really thinking as he stared over at Hogwarts. He decided not to say about how the view was even more awesome from higher up, because he really didn't want to be pushy, and he was worried he'd start to sound it anyway.