It's Really Easy, Trust Me

[Asaiah Murphy]

A grumpy and tired Asaiah Murphy stepped out of bed, rubbing his eyes while doing so. He didn't sleep well that night and had a reason for that; the first year kept having the same nightmare over and over again so instead of going back to sleep again, like he'd usually do, Asaiah stayed awake and work his homework until he eventually felt comfortable enough to sleep. The Slytherin put his clothes on and grabbed his glasses from the nightstand next to his bed before heading towards the Great Hall for breakfast. Asaiah was about to eat his breakfast that morning when his best friend walked over to him to ask him if he could teach her how to play Quidditch. At first he wanted to say no to her and tell her that he'd help her another time because he was tired but then the Slytherin thought about it; he hadn't hang out with Marisol much because he tried to focus more on his school work so perhaps it'd be nice if he helped her.

Asaiah told his friend to go to the Quidditch pitch as soon as she was done with her breakfast and that he would meet her there because he to get his stuff before going to the pitch himself. So after he stuffed the scambled eggs and toast in his mouth, the Slytherin made his way back to the Slytherin common room and grabbed the thinks he needed. He managed to bring a few things with him such as his school broom, own quaffle and a practice snitch he got from his parents as a Chrismas present last year. Once Asaiah stood in the middle of the pitch, he dropped the items in his hand onto the ground and sat down waiting for Marisol to arrive so he could teach her how to play Quidditch. Although he still felt tired, Asaiah was excited to play a little bit with his friend, even though if it was just practice.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Despite all the plans that Marisol and her best friend had made for their second semester at Hogwarts, the Gryffindor had hardly seen Asaiah lately. The last few months her transitions had been particularly hard on her so she hadn't been hanging out and doing stuff for fun. Which is exactly why Marisol had decided to take advantage of their last free weekend before their exams started again. Since they hadn't hung out in a while she didn't want to jump right in to all the adventures they had planned, but she figured him teaching her how to play Quidditch would be easy and fun and not get them in trouble for once.

But when Marisol went up to the Slytherin at the Great Hall during breakfast, Marisol could tell there was something off when he had hesitated to say yes. She didn't know quite what to think about it but she too eager to hang out with him that she didn't want to overthink it, perhaps he was just not a morning person, like she often wasn't. If anything she would just ask him about it later at the Quidditch Pitch.

So when the time came for them to meet at the Pitch, Marisol had to admit she was feeling a little nervous. She borrowed a broom from the school broom shed even if it wasn't the best and made her way over to where she saw Asaiah waiting for her. When she reached him, she smiled from ear to ear and said, "Hey!" She was so excited to see him but his odd behavior earlier was what kept her from outright hugging him. "How have you been?" she asked, going for a safe, subtle approach.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah smiled too when he saw Marisol. ''Hey!'' he replied and hopped onto his feet, then wiped the dirt off his pants. The Slytherin was happy to see her again, even though he still felt a little bit grumpy and tired. When she asked him how he was doing Asaiah hesitated again and thought about what he would say for a moment. He could tell her about the nightmare he had last night but that would mean that Asaiah had to talk about it and he did not feel like talking about it at the moment, so choose not to and just keep is positive. ''Been goofing around the castle, doing some homework, actually paying attention in lessons for once.'' At that last bit he chuckled slightly, thinking it was kind of funny. Since the last time they saw each other, Asaiah had received some angry letters from his parents telling him to be more like his sisters and improve his grades. Normally he would have ignored his parents or tell them that he would, but this time his father had told him that if he didn't, Marisol or any other friend wasn't allowed to come over during the holidays, and since he wasn't up for the most boring holiday ever Asaiah began paying attention in his classes. The first year took a deep breath of fresh air before asking her what she had been up to lately. ''How about you? Have you done anything interesting in the second semester?'' he asked while rubbing in his eyes again.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol was glad that nothing seemed to be wrong with Asaiah after all, if only just a bit tired, but that was pretty normal so she didn't think to question it much. She laughed lightly when he told her what he had been up to and then pretended to be offended. "You've been goofing around the castle without me?!" she said, pouting playfully, but she smile afterward to let him know she was just kidding.

When he asked her what she had been up to, Marisol sighed and said, "Same really. Just trying to pass my classes," she laughed half-heartedly. She couldn't be sure that her effort in lessons was actually helping her pass because she was still struggling with performing magic. It didn't help that she felt like their Transfiguration professor hated her ever since the incident in the Forbidden Forest, so she never wanted to ask him for help. "I didn't want to go exploring the castle without you so I held off on my adventures, unlike you," she said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"But this is our last free weekend before exams start, so I wanted to make the most of it and do something fun for once!" she explained, holding out the broom. "So I figured you could finally teach me how to play Quidditch like you've wanted to," she smiled. "I kind of remember the rules from the game we went to, but maybe you should explain it to me once more just to be sure," she said, remembering how many balls were involved in Quidditch.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah laughed at Marisol's comment. ''You bet your sweet bums I did,'' he said while still laughing a bit, and even though he got that she was joking, hoped that she wasn't being serious because he couldn't do nothing while he waited for her to be less busy with school or whatever she was busy with. ''Though I have to say that it was very boring without having you around.'' the Slytherin smirked and put his hands in the pockets of his Slytherin hoodie.

''Wow,'' Asaiah said with a scoff, ''Are we becoming like those older kids in school? You know, the ones that are always studying in the library?'' He sounded sad as the words came out of his mouth. He didn't want to be like them yet, he wanted to have fun before he would go all Ravenclaw. When Marisol was teasing him again he shook his head slightly. ''Hey! Just because I was goofing around doesn't mean I went exploring without you.'' Asaiah told her with a smile on his face. ''I'd never go exploring without you.. You know, because I know I would get lost on my own.'' Asaiah said grinning. It was true. After almost a year at Hogwarts Asaiah still got lost half of the time, except for the time he was with his friends or follow a few of his house mates to their next less or back to the common room.

Asaiah nodded as his best friends explained to him why she had come up to him and ask him if he could teach her how to play his favorite sport. ''I would love to teach you.'' the boy said truthfully. ''Right, the rules.'' Asaiah began. ''One goal is ten points and catching the Snitch, you know, that little golden ball.'' he said as he pointed at his practice Snitch. ''Is worth one-hundred and fifty points, and it also ends the game, so if our Seeker, Avie, would catch the snitch for Slytherin, the game would end and Slytherin probably win. There's also the Quaffle, it's that big brown ball on the ground, the Chasers of each team use them to score goals in the opponents hoops.'' Asaiah pointed up in the air at one of the three hoops on the left side. ''Then you have the Beaters and the Beaters will try to hit the other, smaller balls you saw with their bats and send them over to someone from the opposite team, and last but not least you have the Keeper. The Keeper defends the three hoops, making sure that the opponents team won't score. Alright, so today I brought with me my practice Snitch because I remember you telling me that you'd be Seeker if you were a Quiddtich player and I brought my Quaffle so that we can pass it over and score some goals.'' When Asaiah was he waited for Marisol to tell him if he needed to explain it to her once more but slowly or if they were ready to give it a try.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol had to admit she was a little jealous of Asaiah going off exploring the castle without her, but only because she had been stuck underground in the cavern for what felt like half of her time at Hogwarts so she was unable to join him. It only made sense for him to have other friends to hang out with while Marisol went missing every month, so she did not hold anything against him. She was just upset she didn't get to explore the castle too and hang out with him more. But the latina smiled when he said it was boring without her around and he would never go on their planned adventures without her. "Good," she grinned cheekily. When he said he'd need her around because without her he'd get lost, she laughed and said, "Yup, I knew I was the brains of this whole operation," while sticking her tongue out at him playfully.

Marisol listened intently as Asaiah explained the rules of the game again, nodding every once in a while. She beamed when Asaiah remembered that she had expressed interest in playing Seeker a long time ago. "Yay!" she clapped her hands excitedly, ready to get started. "What position do you want to play Asaiah?" she asked, wondering if Chaser. Marisol picked up the Quaffle and tossed it up in the air lightly, catching it again in her hands. "Seems easy enough, without the Bludgers flying around at least," she commented, remembering the way the dangerous balls were usually aimed at Chasers. She put the ball down again and picked up the school broom, getting ready to mount it. "I don't have my own broom so I borrowed a school one," she shrugged her shoulders apologetically. "So sorry if I'm a little slow," she joked, chuckling lightly. The school brooms were older than the brooms most of the players on the team and even Asaiah and his family had, but Marisol was fine playing on them because it would help her get the hang of flying and playing at a slower speed first.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah shook his head whilst smiling at her comment. ''Without me you wouldn't be able to do half of our plans.'' the boy said grinning slowly. The grumpiness and tiredness slowly left his mind and face as he was standing in the open air with everything he liked around him. ''Hey,'' Asaiah began, ''What about asking Wyatt or my friend Freya if they want to join us?'' the Slytherin asked his best friend, hoping that more of their friends could join and participate in their plans. ''Don't get me wrong because I'd love to spent all of my homework and free time with you, but wouldn't it be more awesome with more friends?'' As soon as he said this Asaiah regretted asking her this. What if Marisol thought that Asaiah had enough of being alone with her? She was his best friend, he'd never get enough of her.

A look of disapointment could be read from his face when Marisol asked him which position he wanted to play. ''I've already told you that before,'' the Slytherin said, ''Man, those exams are making you forgetful.'' Asaiah smiled, trying to make a joke out of it. ''Please, don't forget our plans, too'' and with a small wink he picked up his school broom and the practice snitch and mounted his broom, ready to blast off into the air. ''I swear that if we both pass our exams I'll buy you your own broomstick.'' he said, ''And don't worry about being slow.'' As soon as he finished his sentence Asaiah kicked himself off of the ground and started flying a lap just to show off a bit. Whilst he was flying he gestured her to join him in the air so that could begin.

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol already knew that Asaiah would have a comeback for her cheeky comment so she was ready for it and laughed. "Correction, without you I wouldn't want to do half of our plans," she smiled, going for a sincere comment instead of more bickering, even though this type of playful banter was her favorite thing about their friendship. She was telling the truth though, while their adventures sounded super fun, it wouldn't be the same without Asaiah there by her side since he had helped plan them too. And then Asaiah came up with an even better idea than all the ones they had so far, and brought up the idea of Wyatt and others joining them. Although she didn't know who Freya was, she trusted Asaiah's judgment and figured she must be a nice enough person. Marisol's face lit up and she said, "Yes, definitely!" Then she added, "Although more people involved in our adventures means more of a chance to get caught, but I'd say it's worth the risk!" She held her head up high as if to say 'Challenge accepted!'

When the subject came around to Quidditch again, Marisol pouted as Asaiah scolded and said, "Yes but you're not the only person I've talked to about this sport!" She crossed her arms over her chest with a scowl on her face. "I remember Wyatt telling me about a position he would like to try too so now I can't remember which one of you said which!" she explained with a small chuckle. She didn't think it was a big mistake to make but then again she had forgotten how seriously Asaiah took Quidditch which always made her laugh. Seeing him get worked up over the sport was so endearing to her. "Don't make promises you can't keep about that broomstick deal because I've been studying hard Murphy, and you just might owe me one soon," she said with a playful smirk on her face.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah laughed at what she then told him. ''Glad you feel that way, Mari.'' He hoped she would've continued with the banter but he understand why she was being honest and he had to admit that he felt the same way; it wouldn't be fun without her alongside him. This honestly made him appreciate her as his friend. Asaiah smiled as he saw his best friends face lit up at the idea of getting more people involved. ''Let's do it this way,'' the boy began, ''We'll continue our Ravenclaw plan just with the two of us - more people would only mean a bigger chance of getting caught indeed, and I don't think that my parents will be pleased if they hear that I tried sneaking into the Ravenclaw common room with my best friend.'' The first year stopped for a second, thinking about new plans, and as soon as he found one he said, ''They could help us find the Room of Requirement! It would be alot easier if we could cover more ground all at once!'' It sounded like a perfect idea to him, hopefully Marisol thought so, too.

Asaiah's smile widened at hearing her reaction to his slight disappointment and Marisol's facial expression made him giggle. ''Take it easy there, Clint Eastwood, your face might get stuck like that.'' he said with laughed. ''Don't worry about it! It's the position of Beater and I think it's also Wyatt's preferred position.'' It'd sure be fun playing against Wyatt if they both got the spot as Beater on the Quidditch teams. ''What?'' Asaiah said with a look of surprise. ''You have actually studied?'' he then asked, still looking surprised. It was not that he was surprised that she did study, he was surprised by the fact that she had probably studies alot more than him because she sounded like she actually had studied more than him - mind you, Asaiah had barely studied for the upcoming exams. ''Pfff.. Please Woods,'' he began as he flew laps around her, trying to hide the fact that he hadn't from her. ''You haven't studied as hard as I have.'' It was a lie, he knew but Asaiah wasn't going to let her know he hadn't or he would surely receive a lecture about it. ''Now get on that broomstick for Merlin's sake and let's practice.''

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol listened as Asaiah seemed to suddenly think of a plan to accommodate the new additions to their future plans. The Gryffindor nodded her head enthusiastically and said, "Yes, sounds perfect!" She agreed with everything Asaiah suggested, which was a little funny to her because the two of them were always arguing over who was most-right; but this time there was nothing to argue about if Asaiah had the perfect plan. "At this rate we'll be the first students to find the Room of Requirement in a million years!" she said excitedly.

As she saw Asaiah mount his broom and fly around her, she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at his Clint Eastwood comment and simply chuckled. Her mother used to make the same comment to her all the time, without the Clint Eastwood bit, every time she had a mood swing, which for Marisol was pretty often. When the Slytherin boy sounded surprised at Marisol studying, she knew he didn't mean it in a bad way but she still decided to make it seem as if she was truly offended and gasped loudly in indignation. "Of course I've been studying!" she protested, affronted at his tone. Of course she wasn't about to tell Asaiah that the only reason she had started studying so hard was because she hadn't been doing well in her schoolwork so she needed to study hard to pass the exams because her homework grades weren't too stellar. Clearly the two students were a lot more similar than they knew, yet both refused to admit the truth to each other, probably out of shame and embarrassment, at least on Marisol's end. She wanted to make a bet to Asaiah about getting better grades than him, but she wasn't too sure she would actually pass, so she didn't want to take that risk.

Thankfully at that moment Asaiah snapped her out of her thoughts about grades and exams and hurried her to get up in the air with him. "Oh yeah, right!" she said as she pushed those thoughts away in favor of doing something actually fun again instead of studying or taking wolfsbane potion or whatever it was that had kept the two friends apart from each other lately. Marisol swung her leg over the school broom and once she was mounted, she kicked off of the ground hard, shooting up into the sky. At first she overshot and flew above Asaiah, but then she carefully had to guide herself back down to get back down to Asaiah's level and hovered there. She held the broom with one hand to navigate her way in the sky and said, "It's going to be a lot harder than I thought to catch these balls with one hand." She hadn't considered that part, where one hand was on the broom so that basically only left the other one free, but she was ready to practice. "Okay so what first?" she looked at Asaiah excitedly, ready for whatever he was going to make her do.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah beamed with happiness when Marisol agreed to the plan he had come up with moments ago. He thought she would find it stupid but much to his surprise, she was agreeing with him. The Slytherin smiled at her comment and nodded his head. ''Oh man, I can't wait to begin!'' Asaiah said excitedly. ''I know it's most likely going to happen next year but still.'' The boy was so excited for it that it made him forget about how he was feeling earlier this morning, which was a good thing if he was to teach Marisol all about Quidditch since being patience was not his strong suit.

Asaiah stopped in midair after hearing the tone in his best friend's voice and quickly thought back to what he had said and if it was that could have offended her. ''Ok, sorry, didn't know you would be offended.. It was just a joke..'' And after that he kept his mouth shut, thinking about what to say carefully next time.

As soon as Marisol mounted her broom he smiled again, happy to see that she had been paying attention in the flying lessons given by the deputy headmaster. He laughed when Marisol failed to fly next to him in her first attempt. ''Allright, that was cute Woods.'' Asaiah began, suddenly sounding pretty serious, almost like his old football coach. ''We are going to start by doing a few laps around the Pitch just to get that feeling, you know.'' Althought he doubted that she knew what he was talking about. ''So just follow me - oh and if you think your ready to go faster than I am going, I encourage you to do so, but just don't kill yourself.'' The Slytherin boy then began to fly around the Quidditch Pitch. At the beginning he kept flying in a slow pace so that she could get used to it if she needed to, but then slowly changed his pace by going faster and faster.

lol this is awful sorry

 

[Marisol Woods]

Marisol had to admit she was used to hearing 'sorry's from her friends, and then having to say 'sorry' in return to them because of her constant mood swings. She was just easily swayed by her emotions, perhaps it was something she needed to work on. She always felt bad when her friends apologized to her because she figured they would know by now that she would get over whatever it was that she got mad about in the next few seconds. So Marisol just laughed and shrugged her shoulders as she said, "It's okay I was just kidding."

Marisol suddenly had the urge to call Asaiah "Coach" from the way he began to explain things to her, but she resisted the urge and instead nodded her head seriously to let him know she was listening. It was a good idea to let her get used to flying again because she hadn't done it since the last semester. "Got it!" she replied to Asaiah after he had explained what they were going to do first. She let the Slytherin take the lead as he began to fly around the pitch and set the pace. Marisol leaned forward on the broom and carefully followed him. She took her time getting used to the feeling of flying and then began to speed up a little, not too fast that she was passing Asaiah yet, but faster than they had started.

The Gryffindor wanted to get comfortable going at a faster speed and then let go of her broom carefully, so she was still guiding it with her knees clamped together, but as soon as she let go of the broom, she stumbled a little and almost took a tumble out of her broom before she grabbed a hold of the handle again and steadied herself so she didn't fall. "Woah," she said afterward, clearly disregarding what Asaiah had said about her not killing herself. Perhaps not holding the broomstick while she was flying was not a good idea. So instead Marisol tightened her grip on it. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she said quickly before Asaiah could ask her if she was okay. Determined, Marisol flicked her loose hair out of her face and began to speed up this time, abandoning her idea to fly without holding on to her broom and instead trying to practice on her speed.