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Ingrid was not a morning person. She preferred sleeping in and having her mornings slow with a big hot cup of red berry tea, staying in her comfortable, soft bed and listen to the world outside her bedside window waking up to a new day. While many others enjoyed wandering around the grounds in the morning mist, Ingrid waited the sun to touch the peaks of mountains before she took a moment for herself outside the castle. Most of the times she could be easily spotted on the Quidditch pitch, flying on her broom and enjoying the wind in her burning red hair - and, as the Quidditch try outs were just around the corner, every moment she could spend on her broom was valuable. That being so, this Sunday morning was different from all others, and while everyone else was still curled in their tight sleep Ingrid grabbed her broomstick and Quidditch equipment, and headed to the pitch.

The grounds were quiet as the sun was slowly rising from behind the hills. Ingrid looked around as she entered the pitch, not being very surprised for it being totally unoccupied at this hour. She hopped on her broom and slightly kicked the ground below her, rising up to few feet - she decided to warm up first by flying around a couple of rounds, and then go to get the Quaffle after a little while. She was not in a rush, as she knew that no one would show up to bother her for a long while. As she rose even higher, the wind blew through her dark green high-collared jumper and played with her slightly messy hair that was tied up in a half bun. Ingrid closed her eyes and a little smile crossed her lips as she flew and just enjoyed the feeling of being free of all everyday burdens.

She didn't get to enjoy the feeling for more than a fleeting moment as it was interrupted by a girl - a Gryffindor - who Ingrid did not yet recognize. Her typical reaction would've been to roll her eyes and tell her to leave her alone, but the girl's ability of reaching her in the sky and her way of flying a broom like she had done it more than once in the Flight Class made Ingrid think twice - if a person knew how to fly a broom, they couldn't be a total fool. She nodded acceptably and slowed down a little, waiting for the girl to reach her side. "Winterwood," she answered shortly and quickly measured the girl with her eyes. "Ingrid Winterwood."

Ingrid looked behind her shoulder, making sure the girl hadn't brought a whole bunch of Gryffindors with her to practice in this beautiful morning. It seemed like she was accompanied only by herself, which was good as Ingrid didn't have a slightest intention to go anywhere and willingly let a whole team take over the pitch. She turned to look back at Rhea. "Did you come here to practice - I could see it's not your first time on a broom?" Her voice was confident yet friendly as she tilted her head a bit and looked into the girl's blue eyes.

Rhea could see that the girl did not particularly want her presence, but she ignored it. She wanted to get to know this redhead who would wake up so early in the morning to practice Quidditch. A girl like that was ambitious, and would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. Rhea wanted to get to know people like that. In fact, she respected them. Rhea thought of herself as ambitious, yet for some reason she was sorted into Gryffindor. Perhaps her bravery, which Rhea did not know existed until that faithful Sorting, out shined her ambitiousness. But the redheaded girl didn't care. She'd learned to love Gryffindor, even if her parents would not, when she would tell them. Rhea dreaded that time. 

But finally, the girl introduced herself. Rhea dropped her hand, thinking that the girl hadn't seen it (hopefully, she hadn't deliberately ignored it.) She introduced herself as Ingrid Winterwood. Winterwood... Rhea could swear she'd heard the name sometime before.

And she had, in fact. After some pondering, she finally realized that the Winterwoods were a powerful pureblood family that the Bishops had had the pleasure of knowing. Rhea grinned when she realized that she'd met Ingrid multiple times before - they'd even formed a casual acquaintanceship.  Before Rhea could point out that fact, Ingrid spoke.

"Did you come here to practice - I could see it's not your first time on a broom?"

Rhea shrugged and nodded. "I figured I'd get some extra practice outside of the team practices. I want to make sure I stand out enough to the professor, and what better way to do that than to be the best on the team?"

She said all this with a grin, remembering just how passionate Ingrid had been about flying. She was good at it, too. Rhea had no doubt that the Slytherin would make the team. The Slytherin team. A small pang shocked Rhea, but she quickly pushed it away. There was no reason to dwell on the 'what-ifs.' What's done is done, and Rhea had no way of changing it. 

"Anyway, remember me? We met at one of those weird parties our parents dragged us too, and had a Quidditch game? A really intense one, which I totally won?" Rhea had no idea if, in fact, she'd won the game, but she probably did. That, or they ended on a tie.

It was only now Ingrid noticed the hand Rhea had extended towards her. She quickly took it and shook it slightly, then let go as they kept slowly gliding forwards. She tilted her head a bit and asked if Rhea was here to practice, to which the girl replied with a short nod. A short accepting laugh escaped from Ingrid's lips as she listened to the girl speaking out loud the exact same thoughts that had been crossing the Slytherin's own mind for many days now. So she was a Quidditch player. The fact made the situation - and this another redhead - much more interesting. "You're right. I think that is the only way - or well, I wouldn't even consider being anything else but the best." Being the best. That's what Ingrid aimed for herself as well, and as raised by her demanding parents, nothing less would be accepted. She grinned back at the girl whose red hair and clear blue eyes began to look more familiar. Ingrid was certain she had heard the last name before too, yet still she couldn't figure out where exactly. "I don't think you need to worry about that, though, as I can see you handle the broom really well!"

As Rhea then came up with a short memory they shared together from their childhood, a little surprised look crossed Ingrid's face. It only lasted for a fleeting moment though, as she then could indeed recall the day they had met. She smirked slightly and turned to look back at Rhea. "Ah, of course, that was quite an afternoon! You did really well against me and my brothers - but I'm afraid I don't recall the part where you won." She didn't let the small grin go from her lips as she spoke. If Ingrid remembered correctly, they didn't get to finish the game as their parents had demanded them to get to the dinner table when the numbers were still even. The girl didn't give that too much of a thought though, as she was more curious to know how Rhea was doing nowadays.

"So you play for the Gryffindor team now then, huh?" Ingrid asked and turned to look at the three hooped Goal posts they approached slowly. Rhea playing for Gryffindor and Ingrid for Slytherin - well, that was still remained to be seen - would mean that in the future they would run to each other on the pitch more often. Seeing Rhea flying on her broom now, Ingrid could tell that the Gryffindor team had at least one strong player and it would not be a piece of cake to beat them once the games would start. She gave her a glance as they flew around the hooped posts. "What position do you play? I didn't notice you bringing any equipment with you so I couldn't tell." Maybe they could pass the Quaffle few times with each other after warming up a little while, or share another kind of practice together - after all, Quidditch was a team sport and practicing together with someone was always easier.

"Hmh, should we go and see if we find the ball box?"

The other girl shook her hand, and Rhea finally let go with a small smile. They exchanged some kind words about Quidditch practices and such, and Ingrid said something about being the best. She wasn't wrong. When Rhea had come to Hogwarts, she'd expected to be nothing but the best. It was why she strived to become prefect, then become a Quidditch player, as well as writing for the newspaper. She thought that if all her accomplishments stood out to her parents, they wouldn't notice the fact that she was a Gryffindor. Or, at least, they wouldn't care as much. Although Rhea knew that wouldn't be the case.

She hovered near Ingrid, looking over the pitch. The Slytherin mentioned something about the match against each other, and something about brothers. To this, the redhead looked up. Ingrid had brothers? She didn't recall that... maybe her memory was failing her.

"So you play for the Gryffindor team now then, huh?" the conversation soon switched to Quidditch, which made sense, as they were hovering above the court. Rhea nodded in answer, but when Ingrid continued on it seemed as if it was a rhetorical question. Instead, she asked about what position Rhea played. 

"Hm? Oh, I play Chaser. How about you?" Rhea looked over Ingrid, aiming to find something that would clue her in. She shrugged when she couldn't find anything, but when the other suggested they go look for the ball box, Rhea assumed she was a Chaser. How else could they practice only one ball if the other was not a Chaser?

Rhea flew down, taking the lead as she landed gracefully on the ground and turned to look behind her at the Slytherin. As she looked behind her, however, it seemed she missed someone running as fast as they could from the box that held all the balls. But perhaps Ingrid did...