Come Out and Play Open

Third year. The boy had said third year, and he hadn’t seen much football played in that whole time??? That was awful. Silas hoped that the boy was just really unobservant, but, either way, Silas was going to have to change that. There was no way he was going to not play football while here. He would need to find some people to drag into it, too, though, because there was also no way he was going to play by himself for the entire school year. Surely there were enough people who had been raised in the same world as him and had grown up playing. Silas had at least summoned his own mini crowd now just from practising, and this was only day one of playing. There was still hope yet.

He listened to the boy’s description of magical sports and wondered if he was joking before he remembered what Oonagh had told him. He rubbed his forehead briefly. There was a lot he still had to learn about the magical world. Silas considered what Callum had said — “you forgot to mention the ‘fall off your broom and almost die’ part” — and the girl’s agreement, but he only grinned. What was life without a little excitement? He had a feeling he was going to like these sports. The idea of being in the air — actually flying — sounded awesome, and Silas certainly wasn’t going to debate the first boy on the feeling being irreplaceable when it seemed like it would be something he’d enjoy, too.

The boy introduced himself as Aston shortly thereafter and Silas raised an eyebrow when he called the sport “soccer”. “Ya mean football. Don’ know if ya ‘ave no’iced, but you’re in Britain now,” he commented lightheartedly. Callum muttered something about kicking a ball around being unexciting. “It’s no’ my faul’ if you can’t recognise the superiori’y of football. Bu’ Quidditch sounds dead fun, actually; ‘ow can I try it?” Callum said that he’d never played football — Silas still couldn’t believe that there were people who genuinely didn’t even know what a football was. “If ya ‘ave never played football, ya’d know nothin’ abou’ ‘ow exciting it can be,” he pointed out. Callum laughed nervously and said that football did look kind of fun, which was rewarded with a surprisingly encouraging smile from Silas. “Consider givin’ it a try, then. I could show you the basics, maybe.”

The girl, Avis, said that she didn’t play either but she at least knew how. “Not ideal, bu’ tha’ll do, I spose. ‘S a be’er star’ than the res’ of them.” Maybe she didn’t play regularly or for a team, but so what? She seemed like she could possibly be convinced to play with him. Now focused on the group, Silas was paying little attention to the other people nearby, not really noticing the other girl that was a short ways away, since she wasn’t interacting with them. This also meant that he didn’t see the girl sprinting at him from behind, remaining blissfully unaware until the ball was being yanked away from him and his arm flopped against his side.

He spun around to face the culprit, but she was already well on her way. “Oi!” he yelled, but he was grinning as he ran after her, abandoning the others without a second thought. He was finally feeling a spark of happiness — an emotion that had been so rare during his brief time here. He soon caught up with the girl and went in for the tackle. Even if she managed to keep the ball away from him for now, she certainly wouldn’t be able to forever. Football was one of the few things Silas was actually properly good at, and he definitely wasn’t going to back off any time soon.

The blond boy looked kind of confused, can't exactly blame him to be honest, this was probably his first time hearing about football, “Though, you forgot to mention the ‘fall off your broom and almost die’ part” "Oh yeah, don't know how I forgot about that, best part of the game really, thanks Callum!" Aston said with a grin, he had to give Silas a good impression of quidditch, he always like seeing people play and as the new Ravenclaw quidditch captain he definitely needed to put a good word in for it. Aston always liked sports and now as captain for multiple sports at Hogwarts that love only grew.

"Everything growing up? Can't imagine that really, I grew up in the middle of nowhere with my family so we couldn't exactly play team sports haha." Aston always guessed he was among the outlier for wizards who grew up in the muggle world, he liked to think he took to broom and flying easily, the fear of flying he overheard from many was unfamiliar. The feeling of wind in his hair and the freedom he feels up in the air is simply irreplaceable. "The bludgers are the best! I am a beater so I'm biased, still though, quidditch would be so much more boring without them." Still just a second-string beater despite spending most of his time at Hogwarts on the wait list, Aston loves his spot on the quidditch team, being a beater was the most physical part of the game for him, with the most thrill as well.

“Ya mean football. Don’ know if ya ‘ave no’iced, but you’re in Britain now,” Oh yeah, American English, perhaps it was the many conversations with his father but Aston's time in Britain and at Hogwarts did not change the way he talks, not even one bit. His American accent was a stubborn one, something that made him stood out all through his time here. "Eh, soccer, football, what's the big difference, let's just play!" Sure it was a bit deflective but whatever, and Silas talking about wanting to check out quidditch made Aston perk right up. "There's multiple games in a year, next time there is one you should totally go watch it at the quidditch pitch, you can probably sign up for the team if you ask the captain for your house. Causal quidditch games aren't run really often but they exist! Heck I might run one eventually."

The sudden shout of "FOOTBALL!" made Aston completely yank his head in the direction of the voice, just in time to see a blond girl run up and take the ball, dropping it on the ground and starting a game. Her maniacal laughter cause some minor confusion but that quickly got pushed to the back of his head. Aston was quick to run after the girl and Silas after her, he caught up but his lack of skill with soccer also caught up to him, stopping him from intercepting the ball off of anyone.

"Football!" Avis barely saw the blur as the little lass streaked past the group, snatching the football straight from Silas' hands and zipping off into the distance. Avis' gaze followed her, as she pulled her hands behind her, resisting the urge to clap for the sharp steal. This girl not only knew how to play football, but she, like Silas, was practically dying without it here at Hogwarts.

The rest of the group seemed to have all together decided to bolt after the thief, and as the two boys dashed after the girl, Avis frowned, hesitating. If she was going to play football, she was going to be a goalie or maybe a defender, one of the positions with at least some less running. Unfortunately, it seemed their group of five didn't quite have enough people for a designated defender, so with a slight shrug, she took off after the already running crew, her flats barely finding purchase on the dirt to shoot her off. The girl had a good head start, but Silas and Aston seemed to be keeping up fine.

This was not true in Avis' case; she never really was a runner. Nor was she one for the offensive side of games; she preferred to wait until the other person made a mistake and turn her defence into a slippery offence. A very good strategy that, while it worked wonders in yard games against her sister, did not seem to work when she was chasing someone else down. She gave it her all, sprinting behind the crew, but she always seemed to lag just a few steps behind the rest, her feet seeming to slap against the ground with a weight unique to her, as the other practically galloped away. "Hand Ball!" she shouted, hoping to at least get them to pause for a moment so she could catch up. The sooner this game began, the sooner Avis could switch to defence.

@Aston Beckett, @Callum Alistar, @Silas Norwood, @Teagan Quinn, @Ottilie Thompson