Pitch of White PV Saskia Nicholson Closed

Within a day or so of returning back to Hogwarts, Saskia had already set off on her broom to practice her flying skills. She had the break to rest, but now she had to get back to work and make up for the lack of training she did in the past weeks. She still had to train hard for the upcoming game within a few months, and she didn't want to slack off now. She hadn't actually played against the Ravenclaws, but she had seen them play against other teams. She had to admit, their players were very talented. The Hufflepuffs definitely had to be careful when they finally played against them. And so, Saskia had taken it upon herself to practice even harder this time. Next time, she would have practiced her beating skills, along with her flying skills, but for now, she would have to focus solely on flying.

She didn't know how long she had been up here for. It was only until someone called out her name that she realized it was at least an hour since she first started. Turning around, she flew a bit forward until she got a better look at who it was. It took a while for her to figure it out, but the red hair made it easier to figure out who it was.

"Hey, Katrina! Are you here to fly, too?" she asked, greeting the girl with one of her usual smiles. It had been a while since she saw the girl, or at least talked with her. It was odd. They haven't talked much since summer camp, and now she was suddenly here, flying with her in the sky. Still, she had been wanting to meet up with her again for some time. It might as well have been now, rather than later.

Katrina got close enough to determine that it was Saskia after all. It was refreshing to see someone with such a big smile. The smile echoed on her own face. She was steady and talented in the air unlike Katrina who was unsteady and worried. She had to not look below at the ground far below her. Saskia was magnificent in the sky and no one could deny that.


"I suppose am flying now aren't I?" Katrina smiled a silly smile. The day had been long and it was refreshing to see someone so happy in the sky. She had seen an array of emotions today, and joy was one of the first. She found the letter still in her tight grip.

"I, uh, have something for you. Two somethings to be exact." The more Katrina reached out, the more she realized she already had friends here. She had thought that se was alone and without people. Now she knew that there were plenty of people who had her back. She only had to open her eyes and look.

She handed out the letter and the wind took it. It began spiraling down. Katrina instantly dived after it and reached out with a steady hand. She grabbed it once again and dove harder after the quickly falling candy cane. Several feet before the ground, she caught up to it and grabbed it. She pulled up just in time. With a shaky hold she returned to Saskia.

"Um. I did not know I could do that," she was out-of-breath and had wide eyes. She dipped over to Saskia and held out the letter and candy cane afraid she would drop it again.

Saskia let out a laugh, her eyes twinkling with amusement. The last time she talked to the girl, she remembered the Gryffindor had been shy and less likely to talk directly to her, let alone look at her. But now she was up in the air with her, talking with her like they were long-time friends. Maybe she changed during the months she hadn't talked to her. Or it might have been the fact that the circumstances were a little less awkward this time around. "You're right. I fell right into that one," she confessed, her smile widening.

"Huh? What are they for?" Saskia craned her neck to the side to take a closer look at what the girl had mentioned. In the Gryffindor's hand seemed to be a piece of paper. There were many possibilities as to what it could have been. Maybe it was a poster or advertisement for something. A letter, even. What else could it have been anyway? And was it that important that she had to give it to her while they were still flying up in the air? What if it fell and-

Yep. The piece of paper fell down. The Hufflepuff's eyes widened, but before she could move her broom towards the falling item, Katrina already zoomed after the paper. Saskia watched as the girl grabbed the paper, but not before going after another falling item- not that she knew what it was. It was too far for her to tell. Fortunately for them, the girl also managed to catch the second item from just a few feet from the ground, eventually flying back up to where Saskia was.

"Merlin, have you considered trying out for Quidditch? That was amazing," she said, beaming at the girl before glancing down to see the two items she had just rescued. Surely enough, the piece of paper was a letter, but the candy cane wasn't something she was quite expecting. Christmas had passed by some time, after all, but she supposed it wasn't entirely out of place either. "Oh, thanks." She reached out to take the two items before giving the Gryffindor a sheepish smile. "Now I feel bad. I should have given you something too."

Katrina hid a blush as she handed the objects to Saskia. It was touching to be complemented. More than her face flushing, Katrina was shocked beyond belief. Not only was she far up in the sky, she also just dove down. The worry caused her broom to shake a little.

The Gryffindor was glad that the gift giving had finally finished. Now she could begin to rebuild friendships. This was the time for Katrina to make up for lost time. She could do it. Everything seemed tight within her reach.

"I haven't really thought too," Katrina hastily added, "I think I will head down," she didn't want to admit how terrified she was of the ground so far below. She slowly dropped down until she was about three times the hieght of herself.

Katrina looked up at Saskia and her broom tipped. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. Th broom began to fall and Katrina was falling too. Her satchel dipped out of her grip. A frightened glance down rewarded Katrina with more fright. The ground rushed up to her. Katrina hardly registered the piercing scream that came out of her throat.

The 12-year-old squeezed her eyes shut and felt tears threaten. She was so scared.

Reducio

Feel free to godmod her falling or (if you want) catch her. Planning on having her faint either way.

It happened so fast, and yet it seemed that everything was moving so slowly. One minute ago, Saskia had to watch as Katrina gathered the falling items from the sky, and right when things seemed to be back to normal again, the Gryffindor had fallen as well, along with her broom and satchel. One single misstep was all it took for her to tumble down. It didn't even seem real at first, but the girl's scream was a sure sign to Saskia that she was, in fact, about to faceplant on the ground if she didn't do something quickly.

What the hell was she even doing standing around like a moron anyway? There was absolutely no time to lose. With no second to spare, Saskia had already bolted downwards, willing her broom to move faster as she caught up to the falling girl. From a mile away, she could spot her satchel. Great. Now she had to save both the satchel and Katrina. Katrina was definitely more important, but she didn't want to let anything else break that might have been important to the other girl.

Fortunately, a plan quickly formulated in her mind. If she could catch the satchel first, that would give her some time to catch Katrina when she was roughly at the same level as her. It seemed simple enough. It was like catching her teammates in Quidditch when they got knocked off their brooms, except right now, she was dealing with someone who was probably scared to death. She could do this.

The Hufflepuff continued to speed towards the satchel until she was close enough to grab it. She might not have been a Seeker, but it still wasn't extremely hard, considering it was rather large and it was falling at a straight direction. With that part was done, she had to focus on saving the girl before she had to get dragged down to the Hospital Wing. That part would have been easy enough. She just had to time it right.

The girl flew a bit forward and positioned herself so she was right below where Katrina was falling. She had to admit it felt odd to try this particular method, considering how she was normally expected to catch people mid-flight as opposed to staying in one place. Still, it was the most she could do in this situation.

Eventually, the Gryffindor would find that she had not plummeted to her own doom, but instead, she would see that she was on the other end of the broom behind Saskia. "You'll be okay. Just hold on tight and don't let go," she assured, turning around to face the girl before she turned back and attempted to drift back down to the ground.

Once they both landed, Saskia stepped off her broom and looked over once again to see how Katrina was doing. "How are you holding up? Do you need a minute?"she asked. It was clear that what had happened today was probably extremely frightening for the second year, and she wasn't sure whether she would have needed any further guidance or if she was going to be fine on her own. But now that they were back on the ground, they could rest a little easier knowing that they weren't going to be falling down any time soon.

Katrina shut her eyes and felt the wind whip across her face. She was falling fast. Her heart was beating out of her chest and she could hear it in her ears. Every muscle was tense and she had to fight to keep it relaxed, she knew that landing tense was a recipe for disaster. She continued to fall.

After what was far too long, she realized that she was no longer falling. The lioness cracked open her eyes and saw she was moving forward rather than down. The Gryffindor looked down to see that she was on a broom. Saskia was sitting in front of her carefully guiding the broom.

Saskia spoke over her shoulder and Katrina had to strain to hear it. In response Katrina only mumbled an 'mm, hm'. The sound was lost to the wind. She gripped the broom handle so hard that her fingers went white from blood loss. The only think keeping the lioness from going total freak-out mode was her internal dialogue. Just hold on. Just hold on. Just hold on. Just hold on.

The chant continued in the not-so-brave Gryffindor's mind until Saskia drifted back down. The skilled Quidditch player just slipped off the broom while Katrina struggled getting off. Going so high up was a very bad idea. That scare was enough to keep Katrina from getting on a broom for a long while.

The first few steps were wobbly. She felt like a newborn deer trying out her legs. To prevent herself from falling, Katrina put her hands on her knees and bent over. Bile coated her mouth and she made a face swallowing it back down. Her head was spinning and her heartbeat could be felt all over her body. A shiver ran up the poor 12-year-old's back. The girl squeezed her eyes tight and willed the world to stop spinning.

"How are you holding up? Do you need a minute?" Katrina stood up slowly and attempted a smile. The result was a slightly disturbing grimace. She took a few deep breaths before adding, "Uh, huh" Her voice seemed to be caught in her throat; the lump there causing her to take more deep breaths before attempting to speak again.

"Th-thanks… I do-on't know what w-would have happened to me if you ha-hadn't caught me." Her stutter, which she had been working towards eliminating, came back. Katrina took more breaths before looking Saskia in the eye. Her eyes caught on her satchel in Saskia's hands.

"Oh, and…" she paused for breath trying not to stutter, "the letter and candy cane are yours," Her smile was faded and worn out, but it did the trick.

No more broom-flying was in her near future. Maybe in a thousand or so years…