Quiet

[Ford Harkonnen]

Ford walked down to the Quidditch pitch quietly, the heat of the last days of summer beating down upon him. There was no breeze in the air, and Ford in his long black hair was burning up in the sun. It was unusually dry for New Zealand, which was a traditionally rainy land.

Ford had his Emerald Streak swung over his shoulder and he had left his robes in his dorm, and replaced them with some muggle khaki pants, old beaten shoes, and a white t shirt. Upon reaching the center of the pitch, which was vacant except for him, he threw himself over his broom and launched into the sky. He flew upwards until he was well above the castle's towers and began circling lazily. It was quiet up here. Not even the sounds of the birds could be heard from this height, and the view was spectacular. On the horizon, he could see the curviture of the earth, and mountains and dense forests spread across the emerald world below him.

It's so peaceful up here, Ford thought, a good reprieve from the drama and chaos below. He needed a break from everything, and flying was the one thing in which he could clear his mind and commit his whole body and mind to.

There was a very slight breeze that ran across him, which felt like winter's frozen blasts in comparison to the baking heat at ground level. After a few moments of floating along in the winds, Ford pushed the front end of the broom down ninety degrees, so that it was perfectly vertical, and kicked his broom downward as quickly as possible. He accelerated at a blindingly fast rate, and barely pulled up in time to miss the ground by a few centimeters. He flew around the pitch a few times at a startlingly fast velocity, then slowed down to a hover five meters above the pitch.

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary went onto the Quidditch Pitch hoping to get some practice done before school started. She was totally oblivious that anyone else was on there until she was already on her broom and then noticed Ford hovering just above the surface. "Oh hi Ford, I didn't see you there" she said with a nice. "How's it going?"

 

[Lily Drage]

Lily saw Hilary heading to the pitch with her broom so she decided to join her in flying around. Maybe she would get a few hints from the "opposition" or just have fun with her friend. She grabbed her Streak and made a run for it, jumping on her broom when she got on the pitch and headed up into the air. She jumped a little bit when she realized that there was a boy there as well. She thought about just leaving, then didn't want to be rude.

"Hey Hilary. Am I interupting anything?" She looked at the boy, realizing it was Ford. "Hey Ford."

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary smiled seeing Lily come on to the pitch, atleast she wasn't alone here with Ford, she didn't want questions asked. "Hey Lily, nice to see you, oh and I always welcome interuptions from my friends even if on this pitch they are opposition." Hilary gave her another smile.

 

[Ford Harkonnen]

Ford, floating about lazily, was broken out of his reverie by the arrival of two others. "Hello Hilary, Lily." He greeted, drawling. "I'm just flying around for a bit," he said as he wiped his brow, which was sweating profusely in the dead heat.

 

[Hilary Grace]

"Sounds like a pretty good time Ford." Hilary said almost sarcastically. "Do you mind if we join you?"

 

[Ford Harkonnen]

Ford cocked his head at the girl, sensing the sarcasm. "If you desire to," he said, "you may." He gave a pseudo-bow on his broom, with his hand extended to his side as an invitation. "Mind you, I am not playing quidditch." For Ford, quidditch was the method through which he flew. He did not care that directly for the game itself, solely for the experience of flying.

Ford lowered himself to the ground, mirages grew from the ground from the intense heat baking the grass brown. His jumped off his broom and pulled his old leather shoes off, at one time they were quite nice looking. However, now, they were cracking and dry looking. He pulled his socks off and stuffed them into the shoes and threw himself onto his broom.

 

[Lily Drage]

"Great! I was looking to just mess around on my new broom and not really play a game so that works for me!" Lily said as she headed up in the air, doing a loop on her Scarlett Streak. She grinned devilishly before dropping down to the ground again where Ford and Hilary were.

"TAG YOU'RE IT!" she yelled as she tapped Hilary on the head and took off again up to the sky.

 

[Hilary Grace]

"Hey no fair Lily.." Hilary reached over for Ford and touched his shoulder "Your It.." She said hoping he would be a good sport and join in.

 

[Lily Drage]

Lily laughed as she flew up and away from Ford and Hilary. She hoped that they might be able to bring Ford out of his shell a little bit. She really didn't know Ford all that well, just quidditch and one time in Scrivenshaft's, but she wanted to try to get to know him better. He seemed like he would be a good friend to have on her side.

"Uh oh, I better get moving if Ford is it!" she yelled.

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary flew a little bit away waiting to see if Ford would chase after her. She hadn't played tag in quite a while but compared to some of the stuff Courtney had them doing at practice this would be considered normal. She just hovered about 3 metres away from Ford smiling.

 

[Ford Harkonnen]

Ford gazed at Hilary impassively, and cocked his head. Then, as if revving a car's engine, he kicked the rear of the broom out as if doing doughnuts. When he was in a straight line towards Lily, he kicked his broom forward at full speed.

((I'll let you evade or get 'caught in the headlights', it's up to you. ))

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary saw Ford looking towards her and was sure he would start chasing her and so when she saw him move she started flying away just out of reflex. She turned her head to see how far away he was and saw that he was in fact chasing Lily instead. She was by this point quite far away from them and just hovered looking over to see what would happen.

 

[Lily Drage]

Lily watched as Ford looked like he was making a move to tag Hilary back. Then she realized that he was shooting right for her!

"Oh, crud! I better get moving! NOW!" she yelled, mostly to herself. She took off with a sqeel and started flying quickly around the pitch to get away from Ford.

 

[Courtney Potter]

Courtney walked out onto the quidditch pitch, with her Sapphire Streak in hand. She hovered in the air for a few seconds, but was nearly knocked off of her broom when Lily swooped by her. She grabbed onto her broom just incase another student decided to fly by in a similar fashion.

"Hey, Lily," Courtney called, not sure if she could be heard.

 

[Lily Drage]

Lily realized at the last second that she was heading right for Courtney.

"Hey Courtney! Sorry bout that!" she cried behind her as she continued to fly, trying to get away from Ford. She almost knocked her friend off of the broom she was on.

 

[Hilary Grace]

Hilary suddenly registered that not only was she not being chased but also that Lily was and Courtney was now on the pitch. Hilary flew down just above where her former captain was and then hovering a few metres away called out "Newcommer plays It". Not sure if that had made any sense at all she just flew around quite absent mindedly seeing who would react.

 

[Courtney Potter]

Ahh, so they must be playing tag, Courtney thought to herself. She smiled for a few seconds as she decided that she would mess with Hilary.

"What? What do you mean by IT?" After questioning Hilary, Courtney slowly made her way closer to where Hilary was hovering a few metres away. When the distance between them was less than one metre, she sped up and tapped Hilary on the shoulder.

"HA! Look who's it now!" She squealed as she bolted in the opposite direction, and nearly rammed into Ford.