Kick Off PV B. Collins Closed

@Illowy Magnard

There were many things Bridget had missed about Hogwarts over the summer, flying among them. To her, at least, being on her broom and zipping through the air provided a rare feeling of escape. While she was up among the clouds, the ground far below, she could forget about her black veins and about Vladimir and all the other worries and questions that normally plagued her mind, often keeping her up late into the night. Here she was free. Fearless. Perhaps she should have been more afraid of being up this high with no one around--magic could fix broken bones in an instant, but if she ended up with something worse than a break, and no one was around to get help... well, that would be bad. But she wasn't scared. She'd fallen before and she'd been fine, so why would it be any different if it happened again?

She was quite pleased with how quickly she'd shaken off the summer's rust. The first time she'd gotten back on the Nimbus had been a little shaky, but she'd quickly gotten back most of her former speed and grace. She wasn't at her peak yet, but still, it would be enough for try-outs.

Through the windblown strands of wavy brown hair that had come lose from her braid, she noticed a figure emerging from the castle. Bridget almost ignored the person, since if she stopped her practicing for every distraction she'd never get anything done, but noticing the outline of a broom-shaped object in the person's hand, decided at least getting a closer look couldn't hurt. Circling towards the ground, she was glad she'd taken the time to investigate; the figure was Illowy Magnard, fellow Slytherin 3rd year and one of her few friends. There was something nice about even just seeing her, perhaps a feeling of being comfortable around the other girl, of trusting her, that brought a smile to Bridget's face.

The Slytherin touched down on the grass, dismounting her broom and tucking her stray hairs behind her ears. Illowy matched her smile, although looked a little nervous. She wondered why. For the time being, though, she returned her friend's greeting. "Hey, Illowy, how are you doing?" Her light brown eyes darted to the school broom Illowy held. Was she going to practice her flying? The other snake wasn't on the Quidditch team, but memories of Flying class surfaced. It was... not Illowy's best class, to say the least. Perhaps she wanted to get better at it. Not wanting to assume her intentions incorrectly, she didn't bring it up; she was sure Illowy would if she wanted to.

@Bridget Collins

@Illowy Magnard

Illowy was radiating nervous energy, something that didn't go unnoticed. In fact, Bridget gripped her broom a little tighter, more on edge. She didn't yet know the source of Illowy's apprehension, but she'd been at Hogwarts long enough to know it was entirely feasible something horrible had happened while she was practicing. Illowy didn't look frantic enough to have come from some attack, but you could never really be sure.

And then the flood of words came. If words could trip, they would be doing just that. Well, there hadn't been an attack, that was for sure. Her original assumption that Illowy had come out to practice was closer to the truth, with one notable mistake--Illowy was here for her help. She could feel a bit of a blush creeping along her cheeks, a reaction she couldn't help when she received the rare compliment.

Bridget tapped her leg with her free hand, taking a moment to think. It wasn't that she didn't have time to help Illowy or that she didn't want to, but rather that she wasn't sure how. "No, I have time. I'd be happy to help you," she told Illowy. Okay, now for the rather important how she needed to address. The best way to help someone was to figure out where to start, right? So in order to help Illowy get better, she'd have to see what she could do.

"Um, okay. So, how about we mount and you show me what you can do? Stick with what you're comfortable with for now." Bridget mounted her Nimbus, kicking off so she could hover above. She figured she'd have a better vantage point from up above. "Ready? And don't worry about it, okay? I won't judge."

@Bridget Collins

@Illowy Magnard

Bridget watched as Illowy mounted her broom. She felt a bit bad asking her friend to demonstrate since she so clearly didn't want to, but she wasn't sure how else to help her. Getting better at flying required, well, flying. The other snake pushed off the ground and shot up into the air... actually, she wasn't sure 'shot up' was the right way to describe it. Illowy hovered barely off the ground, flying through a few basic maneuvers they'd learned in flying class.

She dropped from her position above when Illowy finished. Noticing Illowy's flushed face and the way she avoided looking her way, Bridget bit down on her lip, trying to think of how to react. "No, not awful," she assured Illowy, partly to ease her embarrassment and partly because it was true. Bridget didn't make a habit of lying outright to reassure people, except in the case of her parents where telling the truth would result in them not letting her come back to Hogwarts. "You're just... scared. But you could fly better than that if you weren't." She looked up to meet Illowy's eyes. It was a fear that made sense--zooming through the air high above the ground when there was a chance of falling and getting hurt wasn't something she could see many people wanting to do, especially logical people like Illowy. Bridget was able to push such thoughts to the side once she felt the feeling of the wind on her face, but not everyone knew how to do that.

Just as she'd hoped, seeing Illowy fly had given her a place to start, if not in the way she'd originally anticipated. "You are... well, you're really not going to like this, but I want you to fly up to me." She pointed to a spot much higher up than she assumed Illowy would ever think of going. The best way to overcome your fears was to face them, right? "I know it's high, but I swear I'll catch you if you fall. I do it all the time for Quidditch. I haven't let anyone fall so far and half the time I'm not looking to catch people in games, but I'll be ready if you do. Okay? Just... trust me." At that, the brunette rose back into the air, a good fifty feet off the ground. Hopefully Illowy would follow, although honestly, she wouldn't be surprised if she didn't. Hopefully she wouldn't think Bridget was some insane, reckless, illogical person after this. But she knew what she was doing... probably.

@Bridget Collins

@Illowy Magnard

Illowy, to her surprise, followed her. Up, up, up, probably higher than the other snake would have ever dreamed of going otherwise. Which meant she trusted Bridget to cast her if she fell. Even though she felt a little bad, she couldn't quite smother the smile that had crept onto her face. Trust was important to her. Bridget trusted Illowy, and she was glad the feeling was mutual.

Of course, now was not the time to marvel at how nice it felt to be friends with Illowy. Right now, she needed to make sure she didn't ruin whatever trust she'd earned and figure out what exactly she was going to have Illowy do beyond flying up really high. Nothing crazy, that was for sure. This was one of her crazier ideas, but she still was far from idiotic and reckless.

Forcing her features back into a more neutral expression, she noted the way Illowy's refused to look at anything but her. Bridget figured if the other girl looked down, she'd lose whatever bravery she'd mustered coming up this far. She, however, could risk a downwards glance, so she did so. She wasn't entirely sure why; maybe she was just curious, maybe she wanted to know how far up they were. Maybe she was gauging how long she'd have to catch her friend if she did fall. While Bridget wasn't scared of heights, even she felt the sensation of her own mortality, the rush of fear she'd fall and that would be it. But she was fine. She trusted her flying skills and, after all the times she'd been this high and flying ridiculously fast, had reason to.

Looking back at her friend, the brunette settled on something similar to what Illowy had been doing before; if her friend could manage those same maneuvers at this height, it wouldn't be a problem closer to the ground. "Okay. So just do what I do." With what she hoped was a reassuring nod, she flew through the simple turns and loops, going a somewhat slow so Illowy would be able to both see what she was doing and have time to follow suit.

Bridget was really not cut out for this whole training thing, and she knew it. Still, maybe she was doing okay. If Illowy came out of this a little less scared of flying and a little better at this, she'd have a sense of accomplishment. It would be nice to have a win about now, however small.

@Bridget Collins

@Illowy Magnard

Bridget had to admit she was a little scared. It had nothing to do with her own flying, of course, but more with Illowy's. She kept glancing back to make sure her friend was doing alright, or at the very least not plummeting to the ground. Bridget knew school brooms paled in comparison to brooms you could buy and had first-hand experience with them throughout her first year, but Illowy's seemed to be trying to knock her off. Of course, it wasn't actually trying to knock her off... right? Sure, the school brooms were in poor condition but they weren't that bad. The alternative wasn't great either; was Illowy really so unnerved by flying she managed to make her own broom jerk?

Despite the shaking of her broom and her obvious fear, Illowy managed to complete the maneuvers Bridget led her through. Not well, but that wasn't the point. The point was that she was doing it, that she was facing her fears. Or maybe this whole thing was pointless and Bridget was making Illowy fly ridiculously high off the ground because she simply didn't know how to teach someone terrified of flying how to fly. There was no way she would voice that uncertainty, though. Her friend didn't need the added worry of having an incompetent teacher.

"Okay. So, do that whole thing again and this time I'll just watch so I can give you pointers." That made sense. Bridget couldn't exactly demonstrate a sequence of moves and concentrate on every little thing Illowy was doing at the same time, so this would give her a chance to really see what was throwing off Illowy's performance beyond just her terror.