Closed Every Friendship Starts With a Crash PV Avery Gray

Interacting with: @Rafal Devereux Mentioning: N/A Date: 04/26/25

Word Count: 425

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Avery was nervous as she walked down to the pitch. Red and gold Quidditch robes flowing in the wind. Today would be the day that she took a leap and actually trained for her upcoming match in a few weeks. She knew that she was only the backup seeker, but she had to be ready in case something happened and she needed to step up and be the Seeker. In Quidditch, outcomes like this were fairly frequent, so she had to know what to expect. She was happy to find the stands empty. Even though it was still early in the morning, the pitch was usually filled with her fellow Quidditch players working hard to prepare for the final match of their season this year. Avery was also happy to find that only one other student was watching her today, and he didn't seem too interested in what she was doing. She let out a small sigh of relief. Her nerves were already high, and she didn't want to mess up. Especially in front of another fellow student. Avery let the snitch she had borrowed from the Quidditch supplies out of her hand and into the air. The little golden ball fluttered before disappearing into the air. Avery was ready. She kicked off the ground and felt the power in her Nimbus 1001. It was still so new and amazing. Way better than the rickety old school brooms Avery had to ride until she finally got enough money to buy her broom when she joined the Quidditch team. Avery looked around. She was calculating where the snitch may be. Suddenly, she found it and pointed her broom in the direction she had seem it before shooting off to chase it. Since her broom was still fairly new and she had barely ridden it, she wasn't completely used to how fast it stopped and started. She just hoped that she wouldn't accidentally fly off of it and hit someone or something again. That would be bad and very embarrassing. Avery was chasing the snitch down when it veered sharply to her left. That's when things went wrong. Of course she had turned too sharply for her to be able to handle on her new broom. Luckily, she was close enough for the stands to break her fall, but it was at that moment she realized what was about to happen. She wasn't just going to crash into the stands. She was going to crash into the only other person on the pitch! "Watch out!" Avery screamed.

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It all happened so fast. One moment Rafal was sitting on a bench, engrossed in the textbook laid across his lap - the next, he was groaning in pain amongst the wreckage which had formerly been that bench, a heavy weight pinning him to the ground and something rather pointy poking at him.

His skull very much hurt, along with every other part of his body. Holding his hand up to his head in an attempt to make the ringing stop, Rafal tried to make sense of his predicament. There was… a distinctly red and gold shape right in his field of vision. And had someone yelled something before? He couldn’t recall. Trying to push aside his grogginess for a moment, the Slytherin slowly extracted himself from the wreck and stood up.

Rafal immediately regretted that decision. The rush of dizziness that followed almost made him fall down again, and he’d had enough of that for quite a while, thank you very much. Dropping onto the ground unceremoniously, he squeezed his eyes shut and took deep breaths, in an attempt to calm his racing heart.

"What the bloody hell was that?" He said loudly. His tone was more than slightly irritated, but Rafal was so far gone from caring about that.

Interacting with @Avery Gray

Interacting with: @Rafal Devereux Mentioning: N/A Date: 04/26/25

Word Count: 226

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Avery groaned as she rolled off whoever she had crashed into. Her head pounded as her vision swam before her. She hoped she didn't have a concussion. That would be bad. She immediately felt terrible. What had she done? She hoped that whoever she had crashed into was okay. Though, nothing was straight in her mind at the moment. It wasn't just her vision swimming. "I'm. . . so. . .sorry. . . Are. . .you. . .okay. . .?" Avery rasped out. She could barely even form complete sentences. All she hoped was that she wouldn't pass out. She didn't know if she would be able to wake back up if she did. Avery attempted to sit up, but instead her whole body became jelly and she fell backwards again. Ouch. She gave a silent groan as she rubbed her eyes. She didn't know what to do. Both her and whoever she had crashed into were probably both not too great since Avery could hear groaning nearby. Avery tried to focus on one thought. Were they going to be okay and how were they going to get to the Hospital Wing? If her head would just stop swimming, she would be able to drag both of them to the wing. If only the pounding would stop. She couldn't even remember hitting her head, but it must have been hard since she could feel it.

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A Gryffindor. Of course.

Maybe Rafal ought to have been tipped off by the red and gold earlier, but he wa really too busy possibly getting concussed to fully register what it meant. Normally, he tried not to stereotype houses - the general consensus of his own house was hardly favourable, after all, however accurate - but maybe he would make an exception just this once. Shouldn’t that lot be off rescuing prisoners or battling monsters? Not injuring poor innocent Rafals. Though the whole crashing part was really so fitting.

A few raspy apologies hardly made up for things, and the Slytherin looked on impassively as the dark-haired girl who was his assailant visibly struggled to gain her bearings. Served her right, honestly, and maybe this would teach her to be less impetuous in the future.

Though as the seconds passed as the girl did not appear to be any closer to getting back up, Rafal felt his anger fade away, replaced with concern. She wasn’t actually seriously hurt, was she? He was the one who got crashed into, and was fine apart from a headache and some sure-to-be-soon-formed bruises.

Rafal cautiously inched closer to the girl's frame. "Hey, are you actually all right?" He tried for a softer tone. "Can you sit up?"

Interacting with @Avery Gray

Interacting with: @Rafal Devereux Mentioning: N/A Date: 04/26/25

Word Count: 227

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It seemed whoever she had crashed into had regained his bearings from the sound of his voice. Avery slowly turned her head and tried to squint an see who she had crashed into. The sun was way too bright and her vision was still swimming, so all she could make out was a flash of green on her robes. A Slytherin. Avery had many friends that were Slytherins, but she didn't recognize this Slytherin. "Yeah. I'll be fine. Besides the fact that my head's spinning right now, I should be fine. I just need a couple minutes." Avery sighed as she continued to lay on the floor of the stands. Not quite ready to risk nearly passing out from standing again. Avery shook her head when he asked if she could sit up. "Maybe in a sec. I tried once already and nearly passed out again." She laughed a little. Of all the times to have a broom problem it was now. She was never going to live this down. "Sorry again for this. This was pretty much my second time riding this broom, so I'm completely used to how it works. I know this isn't an excuse at all, but I just wanted to clear the air and say that I wasn't planning on intentionally hitting you." Avery sighed and rubbed a hand over her eyes.

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The girl was fine, so that was good. Rafal doubted he could drag her up to the Hospital Wing, nor did he particularly want to.

The ringing in his head had mostly stopped at this point, so the Slytherin struggled to his feet, swaying slightly. Well. This was his last time coming down here, at least until Rafal learned a good shield charm. He ought to have just sticked to the classic spots - what was wrong with the library? Or common room?

He sighed, running a hand through his now disheveled hair. "Yeah, I know that." Gryffindor she may be, Rafal doubted even they would intentionally crash into someone on a broom, at full speed. "Just… be more careful in the future, all right?"

There was nothing more for him here, so Rafal set about gathering up his things. Luckily, nothing had been seriously damaged. True, the first year's DADA textbook might have come off a little worse for wear, but not to the extent that it would affect his studies in any way.

Once that was finished, Rafal turned to the girl, satchel slung over his shoulder. "See you around, I guess." He didn’t feel great about leaving her on the ground like this, but she had assured him she should be all right. So he turned and set off down the weathered dirt path.

Interacting with @Avery Gray

Rafal has left the thread.