Spinning Softly

[Dinah Jamison]

With her beaten and well-loved Comet Two-Sixty swinging by her side, Dinah scooted up towards the Quidditch Pitch, eager to get some practice in before the teams headed on for the morning. It was quite early but she was dedicated enough; flying lessons had turned out to be less-than satisfying to her flying urge, and for the past week she had been sneaking out every morning to get in a fly before breakfast time. Once, Dinah had almost gotten caught by one of the older students and had to sneak around the back of the broom shed and squat in the mud for ten minutes before being able to make a getaway. After that, she planned more meticulously. It was a cool Spring morning and she reveled in the dewy grass and low mist on the ground, never having felt more alive than she did, then. The air was deliciously cold. Dinah grinned to herself and swung her leg over the already hovering broom. In the back of her mind she wished she could have been flying with someone else; but who? It didn't matter. She could still have fun either way.

Suddenly the wind was roaring as she rose higher and higher, swinging her legs happily for a moment before tucking them into the foot hooks at the back of the broom. With a grin, she flattened herself out along the length of the wood and shoot off in a straight line. The roar of the wind became deafening and she shouted her joy as if trying to match its volume. This was what she had been waiting for all week. The end of the Pitch was approaching fast, and Dinah abruptly slowed long enough to let go of the boom and swing upside down acrobatically. It was a move that she certainly wouldn't show anyone else lest they forced her to stop. It was dangerous, but Quidditch was a dangerous sport anyway. It was her favourite trick and it was a fine day to try it. Rolling herself upright again, Dinah raised her arms into the air triumphantly. "And the judges give her ... a ten! That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Dinah Jamison has done it! A perfect score for a perfect flier ... and the crowd goes wild!" Cupping her hands around her mouth, she imitated the roar of adoring people and collapsed into giggles thereafter. Damn, if anyone saw her now, she would be mortified.

 

[Daichi Hiroto]

Daichi loved the cool crisp spring mornings and, thinking that no-one else would have the same idea, he headed down to the Quidditch pitch, a borrowed Cleansweep Eleven, gripped in his hand. He smiled into the bright sunlight which had just found it's way into his eyes.
Daichi had reached the Quidditch pitch but found himself, rather than soaring off into the air, making his way up into the Gryffindor stands. He sat down, laying the broom beside him and looking up at who was flying. Whoever it was, they were doing a pretty good job but their techniques seemed too advanced for a first year.

Daichi watched as the figure performed a brilliant trick and then they were close enough for Daichi to see who it was. The corners of his mouth stretched into a knowing smile and when he heard Dinah imitating the crowd, he began clapping. But slowly. Almost mockingly but not in a negative way. "Bravo, miss Jamison, bravo." He smirked at her. It was a very flirtatious smirk with a small wink at the end.
He doubted that she knew he was there, just as he hadn't known she was.

 

[Dinah Jamison]

All of a sudden her antics were disturbed by the sound of real clapping; unless her imagination had taken a turn for the worst and she was experiencing aural hallucinations. Dinah nearly fell off her broom and did a very obvious fumble as she gripped her broom tightly and turned to see who it was. It was only Daichi - Dinah scowled at him. "Ah, er ... I mean, what are you doing out here at this time?!" she blithered. If her skin had been any lighter her blush would have been obvious, but as it was she could have been entirely composed if it weren't for her outraged clumsiness and stuttering. She planted her hand on her broom and propped herself up haughtily, sitting up straight and trying to look regal. It only made her look ridiculous. Dinah didn't necessarily like the smile he gave her. On any other day she would have grinned back, but she was sure he was mocking her this time. "And what are you doing lurking around the stands like that? Come up for a fly!" she called over to him, which was her way of begrudging forgiveness.

Dinah thought that the two of them had a strange relationship. Sometimes they would get on each others nerves, other times they were the best of buddies and sometimes there were strange moments where they got just that little bit too close for comfort. She didn't mind those moments, but they made her nervous. He might smile at her when their faces were too close, or she might have wrapped an arm around his shoulder and he would put his around her waist. Dinah would ruffle his hair playfully and wrestle him off then, but there was a secret smile hidden at the corner of her mouth then that she didn't know what to do with. The twins were cute; but Daichi was different.

 

[Daichi Hiroto]

Daichi's smile became more cheeky at the sight of Dinah's scowl. He had to admit, her facial expressions were very cute. However, he would never mention that to her face. Not in a million years. He stood up on the bench, mounting his broom. This was incredibly dangerous if he fell. His broom might not take off properly and he would fall to his death. Yet, Daichi still kicked off confidently, the broom lifting into the air a little way. He flew over the end of the stands and now he was high above the ground. He looked up at Dinah with his good eye, smiling. Suddenly, his expression seemed to fall and the front of his broom tilted forwards, heading for the ground. He was in a nose dive at break-neck speed.

Daichi was approaching the ground fast, getting close and-
He tugged the front of his broom upwards, hard. Immediately, the broom began speeding back up into the sky at probably the fastest speed Daichi had ever flown. He managed to steer the broom, turning sharply to the direction of Dinah, slowing down and stopping beside her.
"Only joking." He laughed, always one for pulling pranks.

 

[Dinah Jamison]

Dinah gave him a satisfied look as he flew up to meet her, taking her hands away from the broom long enough to plant her hands on her hips. He was going to be in trouble when he got up to her, though he didn't know it yet. Daichi smiled at her then and she couldn't help but smile back, but her expression turned to one of shock as his broom began to fall. Dinah shouted out his name as he fell. He's going too fast! she cried out inwardly and flattened herself against her broom again to shoot after him. Oh my God-. Luckily for Dinah, though unluckily for Daichi, he had only been joking and he laughed as he came to meet her once more. She was relieved, but he was dead. Narrowing her eyes at him as he rose to hover beside her, there was not a single bit of humour in her eyes as she regarded him menacingly. "Well done," said Dinah, pursing her lips slightly as she spoke. "Very nice trick, that."

Seconds later, something red, indented and very firm knocked into his head as Dinah threw her miniature quaffle at him, having removed it from her robe pocket while he wasn't looking at aimed it at his head. She had done a neat swing in the air and hit the ball with the tail end of her broom to do it, but her aim was true. "Goofball!" she shouted at him, amusement softening the effect of her anger. "Dude, you could've gotten killed!". Dinah was smiling now at her well-placed shot, and suddenly she was laughing and speeding away from him. If he was out for revenge, he'd get quite a chase.

 

[Daichi Hiroto]

"Ow!" Daichi exclaimed at something hit him in the head with a rather comical noise. He glared at Dinah. But it was playful. "Right," He said, leaning forwards on his broom, "That's how you want to play, is it?" He watched her sailing away and Daichi immediately followed suit, chasing after her. He followed her as they headed downwards but then back upwards, round in circles, towards the keeper's hoops.
"Oh, when I get hold of you.." Daichi said, pausing in the air, not too far from Dinah, to make a gesture of punching his fist into his palm.

Now the chase was heating up, getting faster and faster. She was directly in front of him. Daichi reached out an arm before him- but leant too far forwards, the broom attempting a nose dive again which he managed to pull out of in time. Now she was above him. Laughing a little at his idea, Daichi curled his legs around his broom, gripping tightly. He swung round, now hanging from his broom. A dangerous maneuver, yes, but since when did Daichi care about danger? He managed to steer the broom upwards..
Daichi was flying just beneath Dinah, smiling up at her. "Surprise!" he smirked, speeding forwards and flipping the correct way onto his broom, popping up before her. Many dangerous things could have happened but Daichi had no real fear. He had a lot of self belief. He was also a little foolish.

 

[Dinah Jamison]

Dinah laughed every time she glanced behind her, but the smile died on her face as she could see him getting closer and closer. "Come on mate, don't die on me now," she muttered, patting her broom as it struggled to go faster. Suddenly Daichi was right behind her and she gasped, just managing to yank the tail of her broom away from his outstretched hands. His broom toppled then, and she craned her neck below to see where he had gone. What on earth? Then, just as suddenly as he had disappeared, he reappeared not ten feet in front of her. Dinah could almost hear the car screeching sound effect as she pulled her broom sharply to the side and stopped just before she collided with him in mid air. Dinah grinned at him, only a foot of space between them and having given him a good scare for tricking her like that. "Surprise, indeed."

Well, since they were floating so close to each other she might as well stay like that. Dinah was a strapping good flier, but she wasn't going to risk his broom giving out on him again. It was time to tone down the danger. She gave him a lilting half-grin from the side as she could tell he was looking at her, just as she was looking at him. "So ... are you going to fetch my quaffle or do I have to drag you down there to get it?". Well, it was just something to say. She knew that it was her fault her quaffle was on the ground right now, but she just wanted to alleviate the tension of the sudden closeness. Dinah did not move away from him, however.

 

[Daichi Hiroto]

Daichi found himself studying Dinah's face. Every soft curve, every slight mark, every tiny detail. And now his eyes were locked onto hers.
He forced himself to snap back to reality and listen to what Dinah was saying. "Oh.. Right, yeah." He cleared all previous thoughts from his head and tilted the front of his broom towards the ground, landing by the little quaffle and picking it up. Only moments before he had seen Dinah in a whole new light. It had been just seeing her as a friend- a close friend who loved Quidditch too- but now he could feel butterflies in his stomach.

Daichi re-mounted his broom and kicked off, sailing up into the sky to meet Dinah again. He held the ball out in his hand, his eyes on hers again but.. Daichi wasn't going to let her know what he was thinking or feeling at the moment. He gripped the small quaffle suddenly, flying a short way from Dinah. "Let's have a shoot-out," Daichi called to her, holding up three fingers, "Three attempts each. The winner gets.." He looked about for inspiration before finally thinking of something. He snapped his fingers. "The loser buys the winner a chocolate frog."

 

[Dinah Jamison]

What an odd moment, mused Dinah as she watched Daichi's decent onto the ground. It hadn't been necessarily uncomfortable, but it felt like something hadn't happened that should have. Or perhaps the other way around. She decided to dismiss it for now and to just have fun. Daichi was a great flier already, and he would be a worthy opponent. She liked his idea for a shoot out, as well. That way she wouldn't have to look at him too much. Dinah grinned and nodded at him, feeling more at ease as they focused on the game instead. "Alright. But I'm going first!". With that, Di shot towards her Gryffindor friend and attempted to wrestle the quaffle off of him, laughing. She began to tickle him and shrieked when he reciprocated, rolling in the air and taking opportunity to steal the quaffle from him then. Ah. This was how friend ought to act; Dinah thought back to the strange awkwardness and grinned to herself. You're stupid, girl.

---

"...and five sisters. So yeah, there's a lot of girls," laughed Dinah. Their competition had lasted for a good ten minutes, only ending when Daichi managed to put Dinah through the hoop as well and winning by default. She could just imagine him pulling a move like that in a game and she laughed at the mental image. It was strangely sweet the way they were hovering in biggest hoop at the end of the Quidditch Pitch together; but Dinah didn't see it. They'd been chatting for a bit when the conversation had turned from family to friends ... and boys. "My dad always says I should have been a boy," Dinah told Daichi, grinning. "But it's Papa's fault we were all girls, anyway." She smiled at this, and looked up at him. "I dunno really how to act around boys, since I didn't grow up with one. I kind of wish I had a brother. Maybe someone like you." Well ... nah. Daichi's not brother material.