Closed Where the Boasting Brought Us

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah had come up with a good enough spot where he and his new friend could play the one on one match against each other. He used to come here with his family sometimes to hike and had come across this particular spot when he was playing hide and seek with his brother and sisters. It was surrounded by loads of tall trees which would make it hard for people to see what was going on if they would hear them. He was excited to meet up with Ferrah again after the Ministry picnic. She had been a lot of fun to hang out with and he certainly did not mind seeing more of her. He sent his owl Axel to her with a note saying that Asaiah had found a spot for them to be safe and play Quidditch together. As he waited for his new friend to arrive, the former Slytherin was sitting on the ground, watching the practice snitch zoom about.

 

[Ferrah Corvus]

Ferrah had certainly enjoyed the Quidditch picnic held by the ministry. While she may not have met many of her teammates that day but she did instead make a new friend. Between their egos it was clear they both believed they were the better player, but ultimately there was only one way to find out. A few days after the picnic she’d received a letter from Asaiah, a grin spread on her face as she realised he had been serious about meeting again, and she’d gotten herself ready for some friendly competition.

It wasn’t too far from where she was staying in New Zealand, although it took her a little while to find the right place. Dressed in a white shirt and pale blue dungarees, Ferrah located the boy she aquatinted, quietly making her way up behind him. Getting low, the seeker inched her way forward, quickly covering both his eyes with both hands, “Guess who?” She giggled.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

As Asaiah watched the tiny golden ball zoom around his head, he thought of the chance he'd have of catching it before Ferrah would. It was slim, very. It had been seven years since he last properly practised the position. He had been helping his friend get acquainted with the sport and said position because she had the ambition to the play for the Gryffindor team. He bought a new broom, however, not too long ago so hoped that it would give him some sort of advantage against the girl. His mind full of strategies he could implement during the match, Asaiah hoped that there would be a clear sky soon. If he could manage to blind the Seeker with help of the sun then maybe he'd have another advantage over her. Although she was probably thinking the same thing.

He focused his concentration on the snitch only and was about to reach for it when two hands covered his eyes. It startled him as Asaiah had not heard the girl sneak up behind him. Since his new friend was the only one the Beater had to come here, it wasn't a difficult guess. He grabbed her hands and removed them from his eyes whilst he turned around to face Ferrah. ''Merlin's sack, you got me there,'' he said, chuckling softly as he let go of her hands again. ''Hi,'' Asaiah added with a small smile on his face

 

[Ferrah Corvus]

Ferrah had always been a friendly person, and some used to say of all her mums children, Ferrah shared the most similarities. Her older brother was more cautious and protective, and their sister Bella followed more in the footsteps of their mums Hogwarts best friend than anyone else. The former Ravenclaw however was most outgoing and was quickly comfortable in new social situations, so spending time with Asaiah felt like the most natural thing in the world. Of course, she had an urge to beat him too and show up his ego, but that came from her desire to win any and all competitions she took part in.

She let out a laugh when she realised she’d managed to make him jump, amused with her own actions. “Won’t be the last time today that you’re caught out,” she joked, making her way past him and towards the clearing, admiring the space he’d chosen for their game. “How do you know this place?” She asked, scouting the area for spaces she could later fly between.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah pushed himself off the ground as she walked past him and laughed at the joke she made. ''You won't be so confident about yourself once we're in the air,'' he retorted. If the weather would hold up he thought he'd have a solid chance to win from the girl. ''I used to come here with Mom and Dad,'' Asaiah replied. ''We would often play Hide & Seek not too far from here.'' It had been such a long time ago since he last went to the clearing that it had been difficult to find it at first as the landscape around it had changed quite a bit throughout the years. ''You ready to do this then, or would you rather stand here and talk some more?'' Asaiah said with a grin on his face. He wouldn't actually mind talking to Ferrah for a bit, but that wasn't the reason why he had invited her to come today - they could talk afterwards. Once he had caught the tiny golden ball. He wondered if he should make this more interesting by asking if she wanted to make a bet on it too but with his very slim chance of actually winning from the Seeker, and his past of losing almost every single bet with his best friends, Asaiah wasn't sure that would be such a good idea to put out there.

 

[Ferrah Corvus]

Asaiah wasn't giving up yet, but it only made Ferrah more determined to win and crush his ego into tiny pieces. She had to keep reminding herself that she was the seeker here, so very much had a better chance of winning over the beater, even if he had a bit of experience. "It's a nice place," she commented, party wishing she and her siblings had had somewhere similar, asides from the upstairs of a muggle pub to hang out in. "You want to put it off some more?" she mused, raising her eyebrows. As nice as talking was, she couldn't help but wonder if he was nervous about finally getting his ass handed to him. "I think you've had plenty of time to prepare," Ferrah grinned, snatching the snitch out of the air as it hovered, waiting for them to play, and with her broom in the other hand she moved out into the clearing.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah smiled at her comment. It was a nice place and the fact that he had completely forgotten about it until a few days ago was something he'd definitely beat himself up over later - this part of the forest held such good memories of his youth that he couldn't believe that he and his siblings hadn't visited this place after the death of his parents and sister. ''If you're done joking around,'' Asaiah replied, grinning widely. ''Or is this just you winning more time to prepare yourself?'' He watched as Ferrah snatched the ball out of the air and tilted his head sideways. ''Didn't know we had started yet,'' Asaiah said as he picked up his broom from the ground. ''Why don't you release it and we'll start.'' the Beater added. He mounted his broomstick and kicked himself off the ground, flying past the girl and hovering in the air as he waited for Ferrah to do the same.

 

[Ferrah Corvus]

Ferrah grinned when he grabbed his broom and flew past her, knowing the game was finally on. Mounting her own, she pushed off from the ground and flew up towards him, arm stretched out as she opened her hand, the tiny golden ball instantly breaking free with a flap of its wings as it took to the skies itself. The Seeker glanced back at the boy with a smile, giving the snitch a moments head start. She couldn’t possibly let herself lose to another player, let alone a beater who thought he could. “I guess we have now,” she noted, leaning forward on her broom and turning to dart off in the direction the snitch had flown. “Loser buys the lunch,” she called out behind her. Lunch wouldn’t be the only thing the loser lost.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah couldn't let her win this, not after all the boasting he had done back at the picnic. Leaning forward on his new broomstick, instead of following Ferrah as she flew the direction the snitch had flown, the Beater went the opposite way in the hope that she would eventually fly in circles around the clearing whilst following the tiny golden ball. If he could meet her at the other end of the clearing and feint a collision in order for her to lose tail of the snitch then he would have a little more time to search for it whilst she was forced to do the same thing. If he wanted to win this then he would have to think smart and perhaps a little dirty. As he made his way to the other end he continued to watch Ferrah's every move. He was so used to smashing bludgers towards the seeker whenever they would move even a tiny bit that Asaiah had already raised his arm in an attempt to aim for her. He quickly realised, however, that there was nothing to hit towards her and sped up to meet up with her sooner.

 

[Ferrah Corvus]

Ferrah had pretty much left Asaiah in the dust, her eyes locked onto the ball as she was carefully creeping up to it in the sky. Of course the guy had every chance of over taking her, but she noticed he headed off in a totally different direction. Either he was playing with her or he was trying to meet it. Not willing to let him get the edge on her, she crossed over to the other side of the field, essentially cutting off a large portion that she would be flying around if she followed its path directly. The Seeker grinned when she got into speaking distance of him once more, "You'll have to do better than that!" she called out, darting lower towards the ground as the snitch shot off towards the grass.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

He figured that she'd notice what he was trying to do sooner or later though hoped that she would've noticed it when it'd be too late for her to do anything. As Ferrah cut off a large portion of the field he pressed himself forward even more and followed her. If his current strategy was not going to work then he'd move on to use his body to get her off the snitch's tail. Asaiah sped up to fly beside the seeker and once close enough bumped her out of the way. ''Try to fly straight,'' he retorted.

 

[Ferrah Corvus]

Ferrah had thought she was doing quite well, until she felt someone slamming into her. It was hardly fair given that she was so small, but that didn't mean she wasn't strong and she was able to cling on. "Hey!" she called out, seizing an opportunity to distract him from the snitch. She quickly lent even further to the side, her broom rotating a full 360 degrees as she was "knocked" from it, hoping the sudden scare would have caused him to drop his concentration. Just as fast as she had gone down, Ferrah was back up on her broom and shot after the snitch once more.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

He knew that he hadn't slammed into Ferrah's shoulders with such an impact that it would actually knock her off her broom, at least he didn't think he had done so. Just to make sure that he hadn't accidentally knocked her off of her broomstick for real, Asaiah looked over his shoulders to see what was happening. She was quick, he had to give her that. Asaiah turned his head back around and sped up after her once again. ''You think you're clever, huh?'' he muttered to himself as he tailed her. He had to act again soon otherwise she'd catch the snitch before he would ever have a chance to extend his arm to reach for it.

 

[Ferrah Corvus]

The seeker wasn’t quite sure whether not or she’d managed to fool her new friend, as she was too busy inching ever more closer to the snitch. She know she couldn’t let Asaiah win or she’d never hear the end of it, and she’d rather be doing the boasting herself instead of being on the receiving end. She leant forward, using what little speed she had remaining in her broom, not caring for a second where the other guy was at. This was her chance. After a moment she began to slow, head turning over her shoulder with a grin towards the beater. “Thought you were going to win?” She asked, before producing the tiny ball that sat firmly between her thumb and index finger, admitting defeat.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

It happened so fast that Asaiah wasn't sure whether or not she had actually managed to catch to snitch or if she was faking it to distract him again. He let out a deep breath, annoyed over the fact that now he wouldn't hear the end of it. If only he hadn't boasted about his abilities so much at the picnic. He stopped mid-air as he was closing in on Ferrah and took a moment before saying anything. ''Congratulations are in order, I guess,'' Asaiah replied, stretching out his hand for her to shake it. He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of being a sore loser so didn't make a comment about how she had momentarily distracted him or anything. Next time they'd do a one-on-one match she should let Asaiah play his position - the first one to do their job wins. That'd be easy, really easy.

 

[Ferrah Corvus]

Ferrah couldn’t stop the grin that had formed on her face, turning to face her opponent on the battlefield. “Thanks, and hey maybe next time you’ll have better luck,” she added cheekily, shaking his hand as they would in a professional match. She would have challenged him again but she wasn’t convinced his ego could take a second smashing. “I’m sure, you nearly had it there,” she teased with fake encouragement. It was a refreshing change to be able to joke and be herself against those she played with, instead of on her best behaviour all the time.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

He knew that she'd rub it in regardless of how professional he was being. He never liked losing a match, especially back at Hogwarts where he would have to endure the constant teasing of his two best friends whenever Slytherin lost. And this felt just like that with all the teasing Ferrah was doing. He didn't find it as annoying as he had done in school, though. Asaiah knew that he would have zero chance to catch the snitch so had been mentally preparing himself for what would happen when he'd lose the one-on-one. ''F#ck off,'' he said, though a grin appeared on his face. He was not even close to the tiny golden ball at all when she had caught it. ''What do you want to do now?'' he asked, as there was no point in staying in the air anymore. He didn't think he could handle another round.

 

[Ferrah Corvus]

While Ferrah may not have known Asaiah too well, he’d seemed to take her jokes pretty well up until this point, and she was pleased for it. “How rude!” She exclaimed, realising she sounded like her mother for a moment. Not believing though that he actually meant it, the former Ravenclaw raised her eyebrows, pondering on the next move. “Well, you do owe me lunch,” she mentioned. While it had been half a joke earlier on, she could have some with some food given she’d been up a while since she had her breakfast, and besides, she would have like to continue their conversation instead of calling it quits so soon.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah tilted his head sideways at the girl's response and chuckled. For a moment she sounded like his mother whenever someone said a bad word around the house. ''I won't happen again, m'lady,'' the beater said with a smirk on his face. He didn't think that she had been entirely serious when she said that the loser was going to buy them lunch but did not mind it as all, as all of this had made him quite hungry himself. ''I guess we could to go to Leaky Cauldron and have lunch there? Or does the lady have a favourite place she'd like to have lunch at?'' Asaiah asked, thinking that he might as well have his own fun with it.

 

[Ferrah Corvus]

It had been years since Ferrah had been to the Leaky Cauldron. What with her dad owning a pub in France she didn’t exactly go to many other places, but for once she was pleased with the idea of doing something a little different. “I wouldn’t say the lady has a favourite place, but the lady could certainly do with a drink with her lunch,” she grinned, glad that he still hadn’t decided that after she showed up his ego he was ready to leave. “So, how old are you anyway?” She asked, picking up her belongings. She knew they were similar of course, but it would have been good to know.

 

[Asaiah Murphy]

Glad that she was going along with it, Asaiah smiled. ''Old enough to order us drinks with our lunch,'' Asaiah replied cheekily. Like her, he picked up his belongings and stowed the practice snitch away in his pocket. ''I'm twenty,'' he said. It would be quite a walk from here to Obsidian Harbour so held out his arm to her. ''I hope you don't mind side-along Apparition?'' Flying to the shopping area wasn't possible either, as they would have to fly above several Muggle settlements.