Early Birds for a Flight

[J.T. Hunt]

It was a week now that young JT was sneaking out of Gryffindor common room early in the morning. Just before dawn, the muggle born wizard was heading out of the castle, straight for the Quidditch Pitch. He had found a few days ago how free you could feel while mounted on a broom and this sensation had became some sort of addiction. When he had first arrived at the pitch he had found a single forgotten broom left lying on the short grass. Someone should have left it there after the teams' tryouts and JT decided to see if flying on a broom was real. It proved to be more than real. He couldn't believe how naturally he managed to float a meter above the ground and fly a few slow laps around the pitch. When he had to leave the pitch and return back to the castle, he considered of taking with him that broom but the chances of being caught for stealing were high. Instead, he decided to hide it under a Gryffindor stand tower. In this way, he couldn't be accused for stealing and at the same time, he could return back at the pitch to practice whenever he wanted. He preference for an empty pitch was the reason behind this early excursions.

He smiled to himself when he arrived at the pitch and no one was there. The sky had just started receiving the first golden touches of dawn when JT returned back at his secret place underneath the stands to find the forgotten broom. "Up!" he commanded and the broom shot in his grip. He mounted it immediately and kicked the earth beneath him to soar two meters over the ground. With each time he was back there, he was more and more brave. After a few laps and in a matter of minutes, he found out that if you lean forwards you could accelerate. He did so and the cool breeze whispered in his ear. He closed his eyes to relish the moment to the best way possibly. He opened his dark, brown eyes and sighed relaxed. He could be flying around in circles for hours without getting tired of it. As he was flying past one of the stand towers, he wondered if he could fly up to the top of it. It looked quite dangerous but he wanted to risk it even though he would be dead if he was going to fall from his broom. Just when he mustered all his courage to perform this risky endeavor, someone arrived at the scene to his disappointment.

 

[Ailsa Vacarius]

Ailsa had been really loving the quidditch pitch. She liked the fact that she could fly whenever she wanted. Back at home, Ailsa had always had a lot of trouble when she wanted to fly. it was trickier, while they had lived around mostly wizarding folk, if she wanted to practice her flying she had to wait until a few others did and then they would be able to do so. It was annoying. Sure, she had gotten pretty good at it in that manner, but Ailsa just loved the feeling of being up in the air and enjoying the wind rushing through her hair. She loved the feeling on her fingers, and the way it made her feel so free and light. Ailsa's one passion in life was quidditch. Which was why, she spent a lot of her time at the pitch. She knew that she had to wait until next year before she tried out for the team. While she was sure that she could make the team this year, she honestly didn't want to tempt fate, and end up being no able to make it, and embarrassed to try again. Plus, trying out meant asking her cousin, and Ailsa wasn't interested in asking her cousin for anything really. This was a little bit of the problem that she was currently having.

Having struggled to get to sleep, tossing and turning all night in an uncomfortable bed had eventually lead to Ailsa just deciding that enough was enough and that she wanted to fly. That was usually the only thing which made her feel better. Calmer. So it was what, what she decided to do, despite the fact it was just a little before dawn. She sat on her bed for a little while, and rubbed the tiredness out of her light green eyes before she got up and changed into more suitable clothes for flying. Well really clothes that weren't her pyjamas. She smiled happily to herself as she finally put her hair up and out of the way before heading down towards the pitch. She made sure she was quiet enough to not wake up any of the others in her dorm. Walking as quietly as she could through the halls of the school. Though she honestly didn't care if she lost her house points. That would just be the price she had to pay to be able to fly outside. Finally the girl made it outside, and without even being that close to the pitch mounted her broom and flew off towards the pitch. She approached it, she noticed a boy was flying on the pitch already. She flew a little lower and watched him, just noticing that he was perhaps uncertain about something, as if he wanted to fly higher but couldn't.

"Do it" she called to him, as she reached the pitch and just hovered on her broom watching him. "I'll catch you if you fall" she smirked at him as she spoke, seeing if he would actually do it. She remembered him from that Gryffindor welcome party. Gryffindor's were brave, surely this boy would do it.
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[J.T. Hunt]

Just when he was ready to abandon completely the idea of flying up to the top of the tower stand, he heard someone urging him to attempt it. While hovering just two meters above the ground, he turned around and searched for the voice. He spotted a girl hovering higher than him on her own broom. JT could recognized the sarcasm dripping off her words as she told him that she was going to catch him if he was going to fall. This just made him to change his mind and really dig in. "You won't have to." he mattered and leaned and placed his feet on the stirrups and shot in the air like an arrow. The feeling couldn't be simply described by words. The way the wind was caressing his body, it was almost like a breath of life all over him. JT actually managed to reach half a meter over the top of the tower and he slowed down to hover there. "What? Are you afraid of flying higher?" he dared her now that he was getting more comfortable. He wasn't sure if he was going to like this girl but after a week of flying alone, he had figured out that it was better to fly along with someone else. Even if that someone else wasn't really likeable.

 

[Ailsa Vacarius]

Ailsa smiled as the boy who she had challenged actually did it. She thought it was almost a little funny that he had needed the encouragement, but he flew up, and she knew that he would enjoy it. She couldn't help but smile as she watched him, who then looked back at her and challenged her the same. Ailsa rolled her eyes at him, of course she could fly higher. She had been higher than him in the first place, she would fly higher than him now. So, with a smirk she, turned slightly in her broom and flew up to join him. Smiling as she did so. This was a lot of fun really. She knew that she was probably a much better flyer than he was, but that didn't matter when it came to challenging people, you just had to be more daring than the other. "I'm not afraid of flying." She told him with a smirk, "Is this the first time you've flown so high?" she asked him, still smirking. She didn't really care if this was or wasn't, who wouldn't find flying to the top the simplest thing ever. So, with a smile and a small wave, she decided she would dive back down to the ground. So, Ailsa did just that. She pointed her broom towards the ground below them and let the broom dive down. Laughing as the wind blew past her at new speeds. Only at the last moment, did she bring the broom up and stop the dive. She looked back up at the boy, who was where she'd left him. "What?" she called to him, "Scared?" she added in a mocking tone, waiting for him to follow her. There was nothing that Ailsa loved more than challenging people while flying.
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[J.T. Hunt]

JT thought he noticed a smug on the girl's face and wondered what she was up for. Hovering above the tower stand, he watched her zooming towards his way in a more flawless kind of way than he did. The girl almost looked like she was born on a broom. She looked remarkably comfortable flying on it and JT was secretly wishing he would look the same. "I'm not afraid either." he replied back, thinking he had already proven that by flying that high. For a moment, he wondered whether there were height limits while playing Quidditch or if you could fly indefinitely until you could reach the boundaries of the atmosphere. Then you probably wouldn't be able to breath out of there. JT considered to not answer he next question while she was smirking like that but he thought there was nothing wrong admitting it. "Actually, yeah. But I'm planning to do that more often." he answered back with a smirk of his own. Although it felt like he was challenged by someone more experienced, he wasn't going to back up like that. Soon followed the girl's next dare. A jaw-dropping dive that was stopped just in time before crashing on the ground. He hovered up there bedazzled and prepared himself to do the same but with his own personal signature.

He sat up on the broom and slowly stood up using his opened arms for extra balance. Back at Albany he was an exceptional skater. While he couldn't really skateboard in Hogwarts when there were hardly any suitable areas to do so, he could use his tricks on a broom. Flying didn't differ a lot from skateboarding. It was just the height. JT could feel his racing heart trying to pop out his chest as he looked down but he just pressed his foot closer to the handle while retaining his balance and he initiated the drop. He pierced through wind like an arrow and the green wall of grass was coming dangerously closer to him. He carefully retrieved his foot from the spot closer to the handle and stepped back closer to the brush to brake before crashing on the ground. It was an abrupt change of speed and although he managed to stop the broom a couple of meters over the ground, he lost his balance and fell off. His hands however, instinctively searched for something to hold on and grasped the broom just in time to swing from the broomstick. He then locked his legs around it as well to cling there for a moment like a scared moment and recover his nerve. Then he climbed back on his proper position on the broom. This could have ended up really badly but despite the awkward ending, he was safe and sound on his broom to brag. "I guess you've never tried this one." he quirked an eyebrow before actually realizing that their daring game was just going to turn nasty if the girl was going to accept his challenge.

 

[Ailsa Vacarius]

Ailsa stayed near to the ground with her eyes on the boy up above her. She was waiting to see if he would try it. Or if he would be good enough to actually land it. It would be tricky, that much she was certain, she had just gotten pretty good at things like that. With all the practice she did at home with the other people in the village. She was really looking forward to seeing if this boy, whom she didn't know was actually going to be able to do it, or even try to do it. It seemed like it was probably unlikely that he would, the boy was inexperienced on a broom, and she didn't expect that he would actually dare do something that could get him hurt. She ultimately wouldn't really think less of him if he didn't, but the challenge had been set, and she knew from the last few days in Gryffindor, that Gryffindors loved to take people up on their dares. She watched as the boy then seemed to straighten up on his broom, and then began to plummet down the earth. She was really impressed when he actually started doing it thinking that he really wouldn't, but he was. Right in front of her eyes. This she assumed would probably not end well at all, in all likely hood. She found herself just watching, being able to do nothing if this went pear shaped. However, it seemed like the boy had a sort of handle on it.

That didn't stop however, and the boy ended up falling ever so slightly, but still holding the broom. Ailsa flew slightly closer to him, in surprise, concerned about what had happened. If the boy was hurt or not, because for one thing, she didn't want to end up in the hospital wing after only a few days, though it didn't seem like he was. She didn't get too close, but relaxed a little when she noticed the boy swing back up on to the broom properly and then fly over to her. As she listened to his town, she just stared at him, eyebrows raised in surprise. Really that was what he was challenging. "Well, yeah I've never done that. I actually know how to fly and stay on a broom" she told him as if it was the most obvious thing. Of course she knew what this boy was trying to do. But, Ailsa wasn't about to do something that could end incredibly badly just to prove a point. Although, the fact he'd challenged her posed a different issue. "I'm Ailsa, and I'm not doing that. I'm not risking my life to prove a point" she added with a small smirk. "Now, challenge me to do something better. Some thing that requires skill, not stupidity." Ailsa didn't want to step back from challenges, but she also wanted to live out the year, or well all the years at this school. She was keen to actually get on to the team next year, not end up hurting herself.
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[J.T. Hunt]

Narrowed eyes shot a nasty look at the girl when she implied that he couldn't remain on his broom. Few things could really affect JT who was generally a really apathetic individual. One of them was to question his skills on something he liked or he believed he was talented. Despite that, he didn't give her the pleasure to see him too affected by her comment and so he didn't add something to it. "I'm JT." he spoke of his name. Normally, he would say how nice it was to meet his new acquaintance but he wasn't sure if he was pleased about this acquaintanceship. He took a moment and looked around him. The castle somewhere in the distance peeked his interest. "Since you're a chicken and too afraid to try my surfing fall, then how about a race?" he suggested and pointed at the castle's towers. "We start from here, we fly over to the castle and around those towers, then over the lake and we get back here for the end point." JT described the course of their race. "The winner can ask anything from the loser. What do you thing? Deal?" he asked, knowing that he was in a disadvantage but believing that luck favored the bold. "Or it is out of your league as well?" he taunted her to awake her competitive spirit. If it needed a nudge anyway.

 

[Ailsa Vacarius]

Ailsa was surprised when the boy actually proceed to tell her his name. She gave him a much more sincere smile as she responded, "Ailsa". It was strange to tell her his name, since she really didn't know where this would really lead. But she had always been taught to try to be polite in some instances. This was apparently one of those instances. She nodded at his suggestion, choosing to ignore what he'd said, since it was pointless, and really she didn't care. She honestly wasn't going to risk her life to just prove a point of any sort. She didn't have to do stupid things to show she was good at this sport. She nodded at what the boy said then. About flying around the castle, she liked that idea. She wasn't sure about how fast she would be, but she was sure that she would be faster than him. Although as he continued she wondered what kind of thing that he would ask her to do, should he win. Though it was likely that it would be what she'd just declined to do. Which would just be pointless. "Deal" she said to him. She said to him, getting herself slightly better on the broom, and then into a position to go. "You want to count us down?" She asked him, waiting for him to start this. She wanted to win, but she knew that perhaps she needed time to get faster on the broom. Hopefully this boy's clear inexperience would then favour her. She had to hope that.
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[J.T. Hunt]

JT was certainly much more inexperienced than the girl before him. However, he didn't let his poker face get clouded by concern. He had been flying for a couple of days and he had never tried to do that at full speed or fly as high as the castle's towers. His highest record was thanks to this new girl named Ailsa and it was up to the tower stand. For a moment, he hoped she was going to turn down his challenge to a race and he was going to avoid humiliation. Her response was positive though and she accepted his challenge. His hear sunk somewhere below his hovering body but he forced a smirk as they both positioned themselves next to each other, aligned to an invisible starting line. He nodded when she asked him if he was going to count them down but he took a moment to muster all his Gryffindor courage that at the moment he believed he had completely ran out of and wished for some luck. "Okay, with the count of three. One...two...THREE!" he shouted and leaned forwards to dart abruptly higher. His grip squeezed the handle with all the power he had in him and the wind relentlessly whipped all over his body as if he was trying to prevent him from continuing this reckless race but JT had made up his mind already. He was going fast, maybe faster than what he could handle but for now everything was going well. He had to blink to prevent his eyesight from becoming blurry and almost crushed on another tower stand. Fortunately, he tilted his body to the opposite side of the tower stand and he managed to pass inches next to it and fly away from the pitch. He was rushing to the towers with the wind howling all around him. Adrenaline was pumping in his veins. After making sure he wasn't going to crush into something solid for a few meters, he glanced over his shoulder to check where Ailsa was. He had completely lost her after this rapid kickoff.

 

[Ailsa Vacarius]

Ailsa lined up next to him and got ready to fly on the count of three. She really hoped that unlike that other boy she'd raced against, that he would be fair, and not cheat. Which was why she ended up smiling when they both shot off at three. She started slower than this other boy, J.T, she wanted to see how good he was before she tried to overtake him. Which still worked well as she still flew very close to him. Keeping the distance right, and hoping that he would, unlike her, tire himself out quickly. This was a much longer race. Finally as they approached the tower she took this as an opportunity to get faster, to push herself and the broom, She went around the towards at a slightly wider angle that him, and then pushed the broom on, gaining more and more speed until she was finally able to over take J.T and continue flying at this much faster speed. Ailsa didn't bother looking back round to see where he was. That would just distract her from the prize of asking anything of the other person, though she was incredibly curious as to what she would've asked him.

Happily Ailsa pushed the broom further, urged it faster until finally they were back onto the pitch, and Ailsa having urged the broom faster and faster finally arrived back first. She came to a jittered stop. Going to fast to be able to stop in the usual fashion. Before flying back round to look at the other boy. "Woo" she exclaimed happily, elated that she'd managed to win. Considering that he had challenged her to it, because of the fact that she hadn't been about to hurt herself to prove a point. "You flew well" she told J.T, sighing out in joy. Trying to readjust her quick breathing from the nerves of that race. "So, I can ask you anything?" She said, "No limits?" she already knew what she was going to ask him, but it would help to be certain about limits. "What would you have asked me, had you won" she asked him, just curious about what she might've had to do. It would've been interesting, she was sure. And it would really help with her coming up with what she wanted to ask.
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[J.T. Hunt]

JT believed for a moment that he might was going to win the race. However, when he didn't see her somewhere behind him, he heard a sudden rush of air coming from bellow him. Before he was able to check what was that, he saw a blurry figure darting from bellow and disappearing towards the towers. JT leaned closer to the handle and tried to catch up. Ailsa had built up a remarkable speed that JT's school broom was just unable to reach. She had disappeared once again when he reached the towers and flew around them. Ailsa had turned into a tiny dot over the lake as he pushed his broom further in an attempt to close the distance but it was impossible. He watched her reaching first back to the pitch and the only thing he could do was to get there as fast as he could.

He watched her celebrating her victory and he just frowned. "No. I flew terribly." he shook his head slightly disappointed. He was striving for flawlessness when he was doing something he really liked. This race was full of flaws. First and foremost, letting down his guard and letting her to outstrip him. "Yes, you can." he said. He was the kind of guy he was going to stick to his pact. "I'm just not going to jump off the tallest tower or do anything life threatening." he cleared out as he didn't know the girl's intentions. He just paused for a moment when she asked him what he would have asked her in return if he had won. "I didn't win, did I? So it doesn't matter what I would have asked." he responded to her curiosity. He had added this twist earlier to make their race something worth flying for. He hovered on his broom and quirked an eyebrow, waiting for her request.

 

[Ailsa Vacarius]

Ailsa frowned when the boy said that he flew terribly. She didn't like when people did that. He hadn't flown terribly, so why say that he had. It didn't really make sense to her. Even though he had lost, what did it matter really. "Oh come on, don't be like that. You flew great, I'm just better than you are." she told him with an encouraging smile. It didn't really make her feel very good about beating him if he was just going to be stupid like that. He was a perfectly fine flyer, just needed work and practice. Both things that Ailsa already had. She looked at him as he responded, and then stated that he wouldn't do anything life threatening essentially what she had said earlier. Now, she just had to think of something. She didn't really know what she wanted him to do. There were a number of things that she thought he would be able to do. But, she didn't know how good he would be at any of those things. Her pausing to think about it, and the question at him had all been to help her. Though he responded with an annoying answer. "God, J.T., I'm just curious, need ideas. Don't be bitter" she told him smirking slightly, "I know," She then added, now ailsa wasn't sure how interested he would be in this, but she was willing, more than willing to at least ask. "I want you to do my homework for all my classes for rest of this month" she said to him smiling, "Neither life threatening nor dangerous." she wasn't sure if he would actually do it. But if he didn't she would just have to come up with something else that she could ask of him. "What do you say?" she asked, almost hoping that he didn't want to do, just so that she could either come up with something else. Ailsa did take her eyes off him as she waited to see his response.
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[J.T. Hunt]

He rolled his eyes as he listened to her telling him one more time that he flew well. He glanced suspiciously at her, still not knowing what to make out of her. "Look, I started liking you but if you keep patronizing me, I don't thing this would last." he baldly said to her. He might was a bit curt with her but she looked like a tough cookie in return. JT just hated being pitied and he felt she did take pity on him just because he was a muggle born. By stating she was better than him, she was showing off some sort of superiority. She might wasn't meaning it in this way but JT was receiving it like this. "You shouldn't be proud either. It should be like taking candy from a baby." he smirked back. It was obvious it was his first time attempting to fly while she must have been doing it for a long time. He probably wouldn't have accepted the challenge if he was in her position. Regardless, he didn't tell her what he would have asked her if he was victorious. He let her find something of her own and when she revealed it, he remained their hovering while looking at her silently. His expressionless face just twitched a bit in the beginning. It started with a snort but then it turned into uncontrollable laughs. It was a hard task to make J.T. Hunt burst into laughs like that but she had just succeeded. "You're kidding, right?" he said in hysterics. When he realized she was dead serious, he controlled himself. "It was a good one." he said and wiped the tears of laughter of his eyes. "You either want to fail classes or you're just desperate." he shook his head. The laughs were gone but still he wore an amused expression. "You really don't want me to do your homework. Not even for a single day." he said this time seriously. "I'm not doing a good job with mine and if you hoped I could help you with history homework then, I should let you know that I have skipped all classes so far." he let her know that this was the worst favor she could have asked from him. "Ask something else." he gave her another chance and apathy returned on his face.

 

[Ailsa Vacarius]

Ailsa just looked at the boy, frowning as she did so. What on earth was that about. She hadn't meant it in that way at all. She had just been honest. She had practice where he did not, and she had thought that despite this he had flown well. She had been honestly complimenting him. Ailsa hadn't meant to come off as patronising, even if she had been very happy to win against him. "I didn't mean it like that at all" she told him, just as he continued, she shook her head at him and felt a small amount of anger growing inside of her. "Look who's a sore loser" she snapped at him, "You flew well, and I meant that when I said it. You're a little rough around the edges sure, and I'm faster than you, but honestly man, you'll be a great player with a little more practice" she told him, her tone lessening in anger as she spoke. Honestly meaning what she'd said, it had been an unfair race, but he'd been the one to propose it, and she couldn't have turned down a second challenge. She couldn't appear to be the weak one. She had to prove herself. She had to show her worth to everyone. Show she was better.

When she finally said what she wanted, she stared curiously at the boy as he began to laugh. Mostly, she didn't want to have to do it. Homework was boring to her. She wanted to other things. "I just don't want to do it" she told him, not quite understanding why he found it, so truly funny. That was what she wanted from him. But it seemed that he was less focused on classes than she was. She didn't really want anything else, not really. "Kind of just want you to do my homework, I don't really care if you don't go to classes." she told him. But, upon being asked to come up with something else. "I don't know J.T, I don't know what to ask you." she gave an angry sigh. She honestly didn't know what to ask him, after he'd shot down her first idea, she was pretty much out of others. "Just tell me what you would've asked me, give me ideas" she added, hoping that he would actually tell her and not be a d1ck about it.
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