Closed Just the Ropes

[Sawyer Carnahan]

It had been a few years now, but December was always a weird time of year. As glad as Sawyer was to be home, he was starting to feel all pent up inside, catching himself staring too long at the piano or the door to Mum's old workshop and getting himself stuck in a weird mood all afternoon. Grabbing his broom, Sawyer clomped down the steps, stopping by the front door. "I'm going to fly around a bit, anyone wanna learn some pointers from an official Hogwarts Quidditch player?" He called over his shoulder, trusting his voice to carry to where ever the rest of the family were. He'd left his actual broom at school, not expecting to need it, but they still had some older family brooms and a little kids one that Thistle could probably safely use as long as they kept her away from the lake. Content that the invitation had been heard, Sawyer scooped up an old football from by door as well as he went past, sure that would work as a replacement quaffle or bludger in a pinch.

 

[Felix Carnahan]

Felix was bored. The initial excitement of Sawyer and Theia coming home had worn off already and now all that was left was the painful wait for Christmas. This afternoon he found himself hold up in the living room. He found three objects roughly the same size and started tossing them in the air, trying to see if he could teach himself how to juggle. It wasn't going well. After the millionth time dropping everything he heard Sawyer shout from the front door. "Me!" he exclaimed leaving his mess to deal with later. "Me me me me me!" he repeated as he pushed past Sawyer into the front yard. He was nearly out of breath from the chanting and the running when he stopped a good distance away from the house and waited for his brother. "I still can't believe you made the team!" he called out. Felix had been excited when he found out but he had a hard time imagining Sawyer actually playing.

 

[Theia Carnahan]

As usual for the past few years, Theia felt conflicted over spending Christmas with her family. It was a time to return home from school and spend quality time with her siblings who she loved and felt so protective over, but it was also a reminder of the fact their mother was no longer with them. The emptiness and sense of weirdness lingering in the atmosphere of the holidays had Theia feeling on edge, and pressured to keep the holiday happy and normal despite all the differences. She felt obliged to make every Christmas a happy Christmas like the family was used to and to allow some of the usual chaos her dad caused for the sake of the holidays, just so everyone was happy and wasn’t reminded of the reality of everything. Theia was therefore a bit critical of the idea of Sawyer flying around and inviting everyone to join him, and of Felix’s enthusiasm to be part of the commotion as it echoed through the house. As much as she wanted the fun to be carefree she felt she couldn’t let a backyard game of quidditch unfold without someone to look after the players. Theia sighed from where she was laying on one of the sofas and dog-eared the page of the book she was reading before placing it on the coffee table. “I can be referee.” Theia said bluntly, before following Sawyer and Felix outside. She paused when her siblings did and looked over her shoulder to see if dad or Thistle would join them.​

 

[Thistle Carnahan]

The longer her older siblings were away at Hogwarts, the more Thistle felt the emptiness of their home most of the year around. Sure, Felix was always fun, but sometimes he was annoying, and where was level-headed Theia to take care of her when that was the case? Where was Sawyer to cause mischief with when Dad's jokes got too much? It felt like the family was incomplete, even more so than after Mum had died, and the longer this went on, the more she was beginning to realise the family would never really feel complete again.

Except for holidays, of course, and Thistle had taken to using the holidays to spend as much time as she possibly could with her lost older siblings. So when Sawyer called out that he would teach them how to fly, Thistle was out the door right away. "ME ME ME!" She yelled in time with Felix, jumping up and down. "I wanna fly SO HIGH!" Thistle yelled, jumping up and pointing at the sky for emphasis.

 

[Sawyer Carnahan]

"What's that supposed to mean," Sawyer said to Felix, giving him a nudge with one of the old brooms they had before passing it to him. Though privately he had to agree, making the team had been a bit of a surprise; Sawyer had always been a Quidditch fan, but he had really imagined himself playing it in any serious capacity.

He was unsurprised when Theia joined to keep an eye on them, giving her a nod that he hoped conveyed that he was going to at least try to be careful. Felix would be fine, it was probably Thistle they would need to keep an eye on. "Wait how high?" He asked Thistle, holding a hand above her head. "Like, this high? This high?" He said, bobbing his hand up and down by her face. "Let's just start with getting in the air first, aye," Sawyer said, grabbing the kids broom for Thistle. He'd learnt to fly on this one and was pretty confident she couldn't get up to too much trouble on it. As long as they stayed away from the lake.

 

[Felix Carnahan]

Felix was glad that the rest of his siblings had decided to join, but he had kind of hoped he would get a chance to do something one on one with his brother for once. His sister’s were cool but he never had a chance to have boy time. “Ow!” he whined as Sawyer nudged him with a broom but took it eagerly. It didn’t really hurt but he played it up anyways and held his arm. “It’s not like you have a lot of practice.” he said and rolled his eyes. He laughed as Sawyer teased Thistle and wondered if she was big enough to learn to fly. At least Theia was around if things got too crazy. “Yes! Let’s gooooo!” he exclaimed and waved his broom around impatiently.