Open Bouncing Balls

[Lina Olaf]

Everyone was so obsessed with Quidditch and after Beauxbatons had come to play them, Lina thought was somewhat of a step too far. There were so many other interesting things that people overlooked, and after taking a basketball out into the courtyard, the fifth year thought she’d try and let off some steam. Her lessons were tense as always as it made a change from always being cooped up. Remembering how their dad used to play balls games with her and her siblings, Lina was bouncing the ball between her hands and off the castle building wall. It was sturdy enough, so she couldn’t imagine anyone would care.

 

[Aodhan Kaelen]

Aodhan didn't like Hogwarts that much without his best friend there to keep him company. He found himself wandering through the castle quite often whenever he wasn't busy studying for the upcoming exams. He didn't know why he even bothered with exams anyway. He still hadn't found a career that interested him in the slightest other than going pro in basketball, but his uncle was against him wasting his magical abilities for a Muggle sport. As the Gryffindor entered the Courtyard he stopped and listened. A thumping sound caught his attention - a sound all too familiar to him. Aodhan stepped forwards and looked around the Courtyard to see where the sound was coming from. He watched a girl bouncing the ball between her hands and then off the castle wall. He frowned at realising what kind of ball it was and walked towards the girl. He hadn't seen one of those at Hogwarts during the seven years that he had been a student here, in fact, he didn't even know anyone who played the sport here. ''Where did you get that?'' Aodhan asked curiously as he approached the girl and gestured at the ball bouncing between her hands. Had he known that he could bring his basketball he wouldn't have been so bored throughout the year.

 

[Lina Olaf]

Lina hadn't expected anyone to turn up and talk to her, after all no one had for the last few years. Other students in the school seemed to just accept now that she was part of the background noise, and many just let her do her own thing. Her brown eyes shot towards a voice however when she thought she was being addressed, stunned that anybody would be talking to her. The Slytherin didn't recognise the boy, he wasn't in her year. She squinted in his direction, still bouncing the ball off the ground as she stared at him for a moment. If her sister was here she'd tell Lina to try and make a friend for a change, after all she needed more company since moving out of the family home. "It's mine," she said wryly, catching the basketball between two hands, and throwing it at him in a pass. Perhaps it would be worth it. Technically it was her brothers but this kid didn't need to know that. "Not your average Quaffle though I'm afraid," she admitted before he could tell her it was just a muggle version.

 

[Aodhan Kaelen]

''I wasn't questioning whether or not it's yours,'' he replied and caught the ball. He wondered whether or not his parents knew that he was allowed to bring a basketball with him to Hogwarts as both of them had taught at the school at some point whilst he was younger. Was this Eryk's way to have him lose interest in the sport? If so, he'd need to talk to him once he would be home for the holiday break. He dribbled the ball through his legs and smiled widely, thoroughly enjoying the rubbery feel of the material of the ball in his hands after not having been able to play since the last holiday break. ''I know what it is,'' Aodhan told the girl. ''I was just surprised to see one at school.'' he continued, passing the ball back to her.

 

[Lina Olaf]

Lina felt no inclination to reply to his retort, of course it was hers and there was no doubt about it. ""Well duh," she smirked, "Pretty sure everyone knows what a ball is, and besides you have to make your own entertain when the school is stuck in the dark ages," Lina put out her hands just in time to grab the ball back from him, secretly glad he hadn't tried to run off and steal it. She wasn't the best runner and would have been out of breath very quickly. "Wasn't exactly hard," she added quietly, knowing how Ilija had just packed it in with the rest of his belongings. The Slytherin bounced in a few more times on the floor before aiming for a small mark on the castle wall that she'd previously been practising on, missing it by a metre or so and watching the ball bounce away in the other direction.

 

[Aodhan Kaelen]

He chuckled at the comment she made about the school being stuck in the dark ages and could not agree with her more. ''I just didn't know we could bring a basketball with us,'' Now beginning to wonder if she knew with what kind of ball she was bouncing off the castle wall with. He watched as she was trying to aim one particular spot and when it bounced in another direction quickly stepped sideways to catch it before it could wander off into the Courtyard. ''How come you're here bouncing balls off the wall?'' Aodhan asked. It wasn't often that he came across someone doing that at Hogwarts so was intrigued to know how come this girl was doing what she was doing.

 

[Lina Olaf]

Lina gave out half a laugh, clearly this boy hadn’t tried much if he hadn’t even brought a muggle toy with him to school. “Lack of imagination?” She teased, tapping one side her head with a grin. She folded her arms over her chest, watching to see if he would attempt the same shot and over score her efforts entirely. “Well, people don’t tend to respond well if you throw it at their head,” it was true, not that she’d tried but she figured the wall was a safer option. “Quidditch is over rated, there’s way more sports out there than these kids give credit for.” Sure they didn’t all involved fancy flying broomsticks, and Lina’s favourite games usually involved electricity, but it wasn’t all bad.

 

[Aodhan Kaelen]

He snorted at the girl's comment. She definitely had a good sense of humor. "More like having parents as teachers and not wanting to immediately get into detention for bringing something to school which might possibly forbidden to bring along," Aodhan replied. He rembered not wanting to get into detention during the first week of his first year of school over something he wasn't sure yet he could pack in his trunk. If he had seen someone else with a basketball sooner, however, he would've packed his own one years ago. "They don't?" he said jokingly, raising a brow. She was in the minority when it came too disliking the famous sport, but the Gryffindor found himself agreeing with the girl once more. Although Aodhan had enjoyed watching Quidditch occasionally, he would have preferred for the school to focus more on other sports also. Like her, Aodhan aimed the ball on the small mark on the castle wall, only missing it by inches.

 

[Lina Olaf]

The Slytherin narrowed her eyes at the boy, “Who’s your parents?” She didn’t feel like getting into trouble if someone in his family was a professor here, it would just mean she’d have to and play by herself, somewhere else. She couldn’t imagine either of her parents watching over her every move at school, it would have been embarrassing and humiliating. Lina watched as he tried to throw the ball and smirked when he also missed, “You tell me,” she replied, grabbing the ball before it could run away from them, and turning to lob it straight at his head.

 

[Aodhan Kaelen]

He grinned at the girl and said, ''Wouldn't you like to know?'' She couldn't possibly be worried that he would tell them what she'd been doing here. Luckily for her, his parents had left the school ages ago. He supposed that he was also lucky to no longer have to worry about what Liberty might say to Eryk. Aodhan definitely hadn't behaved like a proper student during his first year and he couldn't imagine coming home for the winter holidays to find himself being grounded because he'd done something which was against school rules. She had told him about his poor grades, however, which he hadn't liked one bit. Whatever the Gryffindor thought she meant with her response certainly wasn't this. ''Fuuu-... Holy mother of Merlin, are you nuts?'' Aodhan groaned, his head in his hands. It hurt like hell.

 

[Lina Olaf]

In actual fact Lina would have loved to of known, but not wanting to start a fight with this boy as soon as she met him, shrugged off the question and hoped she would just catch his surname soon for inspection instead. If he enjoyed sports too she wasn’t sure he’d throw her under the bus, then neither of them would be able to play. The Slytherin couldn’t help but give out a chuckle when he groaned about being struck. “Maybe you should have caught it, and besides you you did ask.” she didn’t think she’d thrown it hard enough to actually do any damage, she didn’t even expect he’d get a bruise from it. “So what are you doing round here? Stalking girls by themselves?” She asked, one hand resting on her hip.

 

[Aodhan Kaelen]

He rubbed the place where the ball hit his head and looked at the girl. ''For someone with a decent sense of humour, I'd figured you would have known that I was joking,'' Aodhan answered. While she hadn't thrown it at him that hard, it did still hurt a bit. If only he could've seen it coming at him. He grabbed the basketball that was now lying motionless against the wall and bounced it between his hands a couple of times. ''Oh, you know, just the usual. Stealing basketballs from girls who hit me in the head with it and then running off again.'' the Gryffindor said with a smirk.