Closed Rolling Along

[Emily Madison]

In her third year at the school, the weather warming up still hadn't gotten any easier for Emily. New Zealand summers were freezing, but even as it was, as soon as the sun began to shine, Emily started to feel the itch to get out onto the water. It felt wrong not to be surfing when the weather began to allow, and more and more Emily was growing to almost resent the Hogwarts lake, for not being an ocean, not having the tide and currents she wanted so desperately. Charlie, at least, had a land based solution, and after what Emily considered a reasonable amount of pleading, she had managed to borrow Charlie's skateboard. It had been a while since Emily had ridden, but she was definitely a decent skater, so Emily had set out to see what she remembered. She had chosen a fairly abandoned corridor, one people rarely passed through, and had started simply skating up and down, getting the feel for the board. After a couple of laps, Emily slowed down, trying to remember how to do a kickflip. It took a couple of attempts, but she was pleased when she was able to manage the trick, whooping in celebration.

 

[Abian Hunter]

Lately, Abian had taken on a new habit of carrying his toad around in the front pocket of his hoodie. He liked having his pet around when he didn't have classes to go to, and Angus didn't seem to mind. Abian wandered around the castle, resisting the urge to talk to his toad as he passed a few interesting paintings. He had never been quite convinced his toad couldn't understand him (it was probably magica, he thought) but he knew that he would get odd looks if he did such a thing. He was distracted by a familiar sound of rolling wheels, and turned his head to see where the noise was coming from. He spotted a girl on a skateboard, and he watched as she managed to do a kickflip after a few attempts. He grinned, heading over almost automatically. He hadn't seen anyone besides him and Vader on a skateboard around here, and he was very much intrigued by the pretty blonde girl riding a skateboard around. He recognized her from his classes, and waved. "I didn't know you skated." He said with a small smile. "That's cool." He added, suddenly realizing he didn't know what else to say. He had never been shy, but he suddenly felt like saying the wrong thing would be very bad. He smiled hesitantly at Emily, really noticing her for the first time.

 

[Emily Madison]

Emily had been so focused on her attempts at the trick that she hadn't really been paying much attention to her surroundings, and she was surprised to hear someone watching. Looking over, she recognised the boy quickly from classes, smiling in greeting. "Hey!" Emily said cheerfully, putting one foot on the ground and tipping the board up with the other. "I only skate a bit, I borrowed this from my sister. Do you skate?" Emily asked curiously. Abian was one of the classmates she hadn't gotten to know very well yet, and Emily was keen to find some common ground with him.

 

[Abian Hunter]

Abian gave the girl a small smile, trying to ignore the strange fluttering in his stomach. Somehow, he was reminded of Jacob, though he didn't really know why. This girl looked nothing like him. "Oh, that's cool." He said as the girl said she only skated a bit. He nodded, then shrugged. "Yes. I mean, I guess I do." He said, shuffling his feet and glancing around. "I haven't done it much inside since a girl summoned my skateboard from under me and I fell." The story slipped out, and he immediately regretted it. Why couldn't he have said something cooler? Something that would impress her? "But it didn't hurt that much." He added hurriedly. "I mainly stick to the courtyard, I like being outside. It's better than the lawn, at least, you know?"

 

[Emily Madison]

Emily skated closer to Abian as he spoke, her smile slipping slightly at his story. "Oh what?!" She exclaimed, frowning a bit. "That sucks! Do you know who it was? That's so rude. You should get revenge." She said firmly, picking Charlie's board up for the moment as they spoke. She nodded when he mentioned the courtyard. "Oh, that's a good idea! I didn't even think of there, I just went 'huh, can't skate on the lawn, better do it inside', but that's way smarter." She smiled warmly. "We should skate together sometime, do you know any cool tricks?"

 

[Abian Hunter]

Somehow, Abian was fixated on the girl's long blond hair. It looked pretty, and he wasn't sure he had ever really noticed a girl's hair before. He wondered how it would look if she was skating faster, he bet it would look pretty nice in the wind. That was definitely a weird thought to have, and he was glad the thought didn't somehow come out of his mouth the way his words sometimes did without him meaning to. He kind of wished he hadn't told the girl about the embarrassing thing that had happened last year, but her sympathy was pretty nice. "Nah, I don't think revenge is the best way. Besides. I think she graduated, maybe." He hadn't seen her around since last year, and had been glad about that. He felt his cheeks heat up as she suggested they could skate together. "I do!" He said enthusiastically as she asked if he knew any cool tricks. "I could teach you some, if you'd like?"

 

[Emily Madison]

Emily's expression softened very slightly when Abian said the girl had graduated, but she still felt angry on his behalf. "Well, that still sucks." Emily said firmly. "Nobody should trick someone else like that, you totally deserved to get back at her." Emily knew what Mum would say about revenge, but Mum wasn't here, and Emily's drive to stick up for others was kicking in. She was glad to see Abian perk up when she talked about skating together though, grinning as she nodded. "Sure! I don't really know anything cool, I'd love to learn some tricks!" Emily could do a few basic things Charlie had taught her, when they were kids, but it had been a long time since she'd had any practice, and skateboarding was probably the closest she was going to get to surfing at Hogwarts.

 

[Abian Hunter]

Abian shrugged, feeling almost glad now that the girl had graduated. If not, he'd probably had to take some sort of action in order to impress Emily because she clearly seemed to think doing nothing was pretty lame. "It's fine, I'd rather avoid that sort of stuff." He said a bit hesitantly. "But maybe if I'd had more time. But it's fine. My friend Vader stood up for me." He wished he hadn't said that now too, why was his mouth working without his permission? Now he looked even more pathetic. He was glad he could focus on showing her a skateboard trick, and took the girl's board from her.

He was planning to start with something really simple to get into it, a simple ollie before moving onto something more impressive. Mostly so he could get the feel of the board. But the scrutiny of a pretty girl and an unfamiliar board proved a bigger difficulty than Abian had anticipated, and he messed up the simplest trick immediately. His face flushed, and he realized he had to get out of here. "Sorry, maybe another time." he said hurriedly, pressing the board back into her hands. "I have to go, I just remembered. Bye!" He practically ran away from her, embarrassed by this entire mess.

 

[Emily Madison]

Emily's smile brightened when Abian mentioned a familiar name. "Oh! I know Vader, he's awesome!" She said cheerfully, thinking back to her conversation with her housemate over photographs. It always made her happy when people she liked also liked each other, and Emily was glad for the connection. She watched with interest as Abian prepared to do a trick, curious to see what he would do. She hadn't expected him to stumble on something so simple and couldn't help a small giggle, though she regretted the noise at once. "Are you oka-?" Emily started to ask, but Abian was already returning the board and she was cut off by his hurried exit, feeling terrible about the involuntary laugh. She would have to track the boy down again sometime and ask him to show her a trick again.