A Budding Friendship PV Willow Anderson Fin

"We can use mine, it might be a little better," Aaron offered. In truth, all the school brooms sucked except the one he was using. After a lot of trials in flying class, he had located probably the only stable school broom. He took a fair drink of his own water and nodded along with her offer, figuring it made sense for him to be in the front. This was keeper's choice, of course. Whatever made her happy. He offered Willow the quaffle to hold onto before they mounted the broom.

"You settled all right?" he asked this and waited for confirmation before pushing off the ground. "We can just go around the pitch a couple times to get a feel for- y'know, both of us on the broom. Keep the quaffle in hand and, when you're ready, you can throw it ahead of us and I'll give us some speed so you can try to catch it," he instructed. This seemed like the best way to practice getting used to tandem riding. As he spoke, they were getting higher and higher, but he quickly realized that since they were doing this for the first time, safety was priority. He flew a little lower so if either of them did fall, it wouldn't be too bad.

"Ready?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at the blonde. Aaron had a confident grin on his face as he gained confirmation. He then set to work doing exactly what he described. First was laps around the pitch, so they could become comfortable. The added weight to the broom was easy to adjust to, but it was the communication between them that needed to be worked out. He couldn't turn too sharply or speed up at inopportune moments, and Willow had to tell him when she would throw the quaffle. It was a definite learning curve, but it seemed like they were both up for the challenge.

@Willow Anderson

Interacting with @Aaron Jones

Willow comfortably tucked the quaffle under her arm as they mounted, keeping her dominant right hand gripped onto the broom to steady herself with this new experience. "Settled is a strong word. It feels like being back on a broom for the first time, its definitely weird." A small nervous giggle escaped Willow's lips. She hoped her nervousness would just be written off as trying to try a maneuver for the first time, rather than catching on to her incredibly strong fear of not being in control of a broom ever and suddenly plummeting to their death. It was a fear that she hadn't revealed to anyone in fear of being kicked off the Quidditch team. It was a liberating, yet terrifying experience.

She was at the mercy of Aaron's flying, not that she didn't trust him. But, she would barely feel comfortable doing this with their current captain. As they slowly ascended, Willow ended up closing her eyes and taking a couple deep breaths. She could do this. Aaron was obviously skilled, and there was no way he would just let her plummet to the ground. Right?

Her eyes snapped back open when he turned around and asked if she was ready. A nervous smile made it's way onto her face and she quickly nodded. "Yeah! Of course!" She definitely wasn't. But she couldn't show weakness now. After some small squeaks of communication around the laps, she felt that maybe she should finally gear up for the quaffle throw. Her white-knuckled hand slowly released from the broom and positioned itself to throw the quaffle forward. "I'm going to throw it in 3... 2... 1!" On one she chucked it high up and in front of them. It was quite an impressive throw.

As Aaron lurched forward to give them more speed she started to tilt back since both of her hands were off the broom. She definitely should've known this was coming but was so impressed by her throw that she forgot to brace herself. She quickly threw her arms around Aaron's midsection and braced her head against his back. "I'm sorry! I don't think I can do this!" She yelled over the wind whipping next to them. She felt like a coward, and tears pricked her eyes from his foolishness of pushing herself to far. As he hopefully lowered them down to the ground she would quickly jump off to get herself grounded once more. "Not being in the front is terrifying." She shook her head, quickly wiping the wells of tears out of her eyes. "I'm sorry Aaron, I thought I could do it."

Aaron felt very confident up in the air - he always did. The feeling of the broom in his hands grounded him in a sense, so as he navigated, he felt stable. With him and Willow both on the broom this time, Aaron felt more grounded if anything. The touch of another person at his back meant that he wasn't alone in this. It was definitely an adjustment of course - the broom was carrying more weight, which meant that he had to lean further and command it with more solid movements. But in his mind - they were doing amazing!

After a few laps, it came time to throw the quaffle around and start attempting to catch it. Aaron being at the front would continue to focus on steering and keeping the broom steady. Willow would have to be in charge of throwing and catching, which is how it would be if she ever had to defend the goals with two people on the broom. No one but the keeper was allowed to block goals.

As soon as Willow had counted down and the quaffle left her hands (a very impressive throw!), Aaron shot forward to chase after it. He needed to get Willow into a position where she could properly catch it. Before he made it a few seconds into the chase, he was surprised to feel his friend's arms thrown around him and hear her yell to stop. Aaron almost instantly came to a stop, but had the sense to make it more gradual rather than scaring her even further. What in the world was happening? "Are you okay?" he asked, slightly panicked and concerned.

As they gradually came to a stop, Aaron urged the broom to go down. It began to lower while they stayed sitting upright, hopefully the easiest way to get them to the ground without Willow freaking out even further. Aaron's expression was one of great confusion and concern, but she wouldn't be able to see that considering her face was buried into his back. As soon as they were on the ground, the blonde girl hopped of and explained that not being in front was terrifying. Aaron dismounted the broom as well, holding it in one hand as he nodded understandingly.

"No, no, don't feel bad! I'm the sorry one," he said, feeling really lousy as she wiped away tears. What was he supposed to do? What should he say? "I shouldn't have suggested that move - I really didn't mean to make you scared," he said, feeling incredibly underwhelming with his apology. He averted his eyes to the ground, feeling really guilty and not wanting to witness her tears - as if that might make him feel a little better.

@Willow Anderson

Interacting with @Aaron Jones

Willow couldn't fathom how she got into a sport that involved heights. She was terrified of heights, more so falling from them. Quidditch was both of those things combined. While the keeper wasn't exactly a position that people on the other team would exactly target, it wasn't out of the question. Even on her own broom she didn't feel completely safe no matter how many practices and flying classes she attended. So what came over her to do this move with Aaron?

Maybe she didn't want to to disappoint him. A friend who loved Quidditch so much. She wanted to put on a brave face and show him how cool that she could be in this position. But when it came down to it, it all went wrong. He called out a question to her about her state of mind as he came to a slow stop. "I-I'm fine, just please get me down." She wasn't fine. But she couldn't let this stupid front go away. He wasn't forcing her to do it. He even gave her another option to ditch out right before they practiced it. Perhaps she took the idea of Hufflepuff Loyalty too far, to her own detriment.

What she didn't want to do today, was cry. Honestly, it wasn't in her agenda. Not that she ever scheduled crying, that would be silly right? She shook her head as Aaron apologized to her, he didn't need to. She gave no indication that this could've gone bad. She should've know her own limits. "No, no. It's fine. You couldn't have known." She took a deep breath, she hadn't told anyone on her team about her fear of heights for worry of being kicked off. "You have to promise not to tell anyone about this. Especially Saskia and Quinn." She huffed, looking around as if there could be any one listening in. "I'm terrified of heights, like bloody terrified. It took me so long to get used to flying just on my broom. And just... I should've know I wasn't ready but I forced myself. I wanted to do better. But I shouldn't have forced you to do that. I'm sorry Aaron, really. I didn't want you to see me like this." She tried to meet his eyes, a look that was a mix of fear, concern, an apology melted within her blue eyes. "P-Please don't tell anyone."

Willow said it wasn't his fault, but the feeling of guilt was still there. It was only when she said to promise not to tell Quinn or Saskia - the Hufflepuff Quidditch captains - that Aaron raised his ashamed eyes from the ground. Now he was really curious what was going on with her. The blonde girl looked around - as if checking to make sure no one was eavesdropping - and it only made him more curious about what she was about to say. And what she did end up saying made Aaron's eyes grow wide.

"Scared of heights," he repeated, as if double-checking that he had heard her right. How was she able to fly at all if she was scared of heights? She must love flying a lot and be super brave to have made it this long with a fear of heights.

"No, no, you don't have to apologize," Aaron insisted. He felt bad enough as it was, and he didn't want her to feel bad too. They should both just stop feeling bad, because it had been both of their ideas. "It's really brave of you to have even considered it!" he pointed out, his voice in slight awe of her. "I definitely won't tell anyone - I'll share with you too," at this, he also cast a look around, "I'm terrified of falling, too! I mean - being up high doesn't bother me, but if I ever fell off my broom? I think I would pass out just from being scared." This admission did not come easily, but it was the honest truth. He was not scared of flying at all because he was confident in his flying abilities that he would not fall. But if he was ever knocked off? He was terrified of embarrassing himself in front of everyone by crying or screaming like a girl.

"Do you wanna go get lunch together? I think I'm done flying for today," Aaron said next, offering Willow a kind smile. He knew she would not want to continue either, and food was always a comfort after a scary experience.

@Willow Anderson