Practicing Early PV Maison Pritchard Closed

@Quinton Lee

Maison awoke to the sound of murmuring amongst some of the other boys in his dormitory. Through heavy eyelids he squinted up at the clock, groaning as he read the time. God, he hated mornings. He rolled to his side, half-tempted to fall back asleep, until he noticed that the bed across from him was empty and a folded piece of parchment lay beside his head.

Remembering his conversation with Quinn from the previous night, he shot up and began to read the note. His eyes glistened as the realization sank in. In just a few minutes, he’d be riding a broom for the very first time. This was more than enough to coax Maison out of bed. He tossed the note aside and proceeded to change into his school uniform.

It had occurred to him that what they were doing maybe wasn’t technically allowed, though he supposed that was what made it so exhilarating. He considered himself to be rather experienced at sneaking around. The key was to walk with purpose, to act like you’re supposed to be going wherever it is you’re doing, or doing whatever it is you’re doing.

Maison fastened his tie around his neck and slipped his crimson-accented robes over his shoulders. He gathered everything he would need for today’s classes into his satchel and slung it over one shoulder. Without a word to any of his dormitory mates, he set off for the grounds.

The journey there was rather uneventful. He hadn’t seen a single soul, though he supposed it was a bit early yet for students to be coming down for breakfast. Once outside, Maison’s gaze scanned the grounds, panic immediately boiling inside of him when he realized his friend was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t really sure where to look, either, as the other boy hadn’t given explicit instructions on where to meet him. He just figured that Quinn would be in plain sight somewhere.

“Uhhh… Quinn?” Maison called out in the hope that his friend was hiding somewhere. It was really the only possibility he was willing to consider, as he would feel downright awful if the other boy was lost or in trouble.

@Quinton Lee

“Boo!”

Maison let out a shrill cry as his friend’s upside-down figure appeared suddenly before him. The shock had been enough to knock him completely off his feet. Maison looked up at Quinn from where he now sat, butt planted firmly in the dirt. Quinn was dangling by his legs from the tree in front of him, wearing a cheeky smile as if to say, ‘Gotcha!’

“Sorry! Hope I didn’t scare you. Well, actually I hope I did. That was the point.”

“Bloody hell, Quinn.” His lips had initially furled into a slight scowl, though it quickly began to fade as his heart rate slowed and he began to recover from the initial shock of the incident. He genuinely wasn’t upset with the other boy. He loved a good prank, and generally didn’t mind being the prankee, though he may have been a bit too unsuspecting on this one. Realizing the sheer ridiculousness of the whole situation, Maison started to laugh. It began as just a quiet chuckle, but quickly developed into full-blown, roaring laughter. “You really… got me… there…” he managed to let out in between guffaws.

Once the laughter had settled, Maison scrambled to his feet, wiping the dirt from his trousers. “That was a good one, really. Very impressive. But mark my words, Quinton Lee. I’ll get you back when you least expect it.” A puckish grin had now formed on his features as he tried (and failed) to stifle his laughter. It felt good to already have a friend he could joke around with. “Let’s get you down from there and get started, yeah? I didn’t get up at the crack of bloody dawn for nothing.”

No need to apologize for length! I'm not picky

@Quinton Lee

The other boy seemed to be exceptionally amused with himself, and rightly so. But Maison was already dreaming up ways to get revenge. He considered himself to be rather experienced in the art of prank wars. His friend group back home was frequently causing mischief at one another’s expense. What was friendship without a bit of (mostly) harmless fun, anyway?

"Great! Right! But you see, we have a predicament here. My legs are going numb and I can't pull myself up, you're gonna have to catch me."

Maison gave the tree a once-over, worry stitched into his brows. Quinn was up rather high, and while the other Gryffindor boy was a great deal smaller than Maison, it likely wasn’t a large enough difference for Maison to be able to bear his weight without toppling over. It was definitely less-than-ideal, but it wasn’t like they had much of a choice in the matter. He briefly considered leaving the other boy hanging there as payback for scaring him, but that wouldn’t have done either one of them any good. Maison was going to fly today. Whatever it takes.

“Right… okay,” he spoke warily, “Just… try not to crush me, alright? I reckon it’s pretty hard to fly a broom when you haven’t got use of your limbs.”

In preparation, the lion slid his satchel from his shoulder and wriggled out of his robes, tossing them both aside before moving closer towards his friend. He readied his stance, arms outstretched towards Quinn, hoping he might be able to grab the other’s hands and pull him down that way, but he was just barely unable to touch them. “Alright, whenever you’re ready.”

@Quinton Lee

"You're acting like you're catching a baby.” Quinn’s attempts at reassurance were proving to be rather futile, as his words were not calming Maison's nerves in the slightest. “Yeah, well, I reckon a baby would be a bit easier to catch than an eleven-year-old boy,” he retorted. “Don’t be so nervous. Besides, I’m not that heavy!” True. But he wasn’t necessarily that light, either. “Easy for you to say! You’ve got me to break your fall.”

“I’m ready! On the count of three…” Maison sucked in a deep breath as Quinn began to count. “One… two… three!”

Almost instantly Maison could feel the other boy’s weight pressed up against him. He had managed to catch the other boy by his underarms, but the sheer force of the impact was enough to knock the wind out of him and send him stumbling backwards. Luckily, he managed to fall back against the trunk of the tree and use his upper body strength to prop Quinn up.

“You alright?” Maison asked, waiting for the other boy to help himself to his feet before moving away from the tree. He heaved a sigh of relief at their success. Quinn had been quite a bit lighter than he was anticipating. “Well. That was fun.”

His eyes flickered towards the horizon where the sun was peeking up a great deal more than it had been when he’d arrived. “Shall we get started, then? We haven’t got much time until breakfast.”

@Quinton Lee

“Yeah totally, I’ll have to put myself in danger again sometime.” Maison couldn’t help but to giggle at this particular statement. “I’d expect nothing less.”

It was now time for the moment Maison had been eagerly awaiting since he rose out of bed that morning. He was as excited as he was nervous, and while he could feel hunger beginning to grow inside of him, he was particularly relieved that he would be doing this on an empty stomach.

“Okay, so here’s how this is gonna go. I'll be sitting behind you, you'll be controlling the broom. In case something goes wrong, I can help steer. But I want you to try.” Maison’s gaze was locked on the broom. It was a hundred times better than he could have ever imagined. A long, varnished wooden handle with a wad of tightly packed stiff fibers at one end. For the most part, it resembled a broom he would find in his cleaning cabinet back home. There appeared to be nothing magical about it. Yet, somehow, it was so sleek and shiny and wondrous.

“So come and sit in front, then grab tightly onto the broom handle. Then once you’ve adjusted, kick up off the ground. And don’t worry, two people won’t weigh it down.”

Good to know, he thought. Maison moved towards the outstretched broom and straddled it, gripping the handle firmly with his hands. It felt awkward, to say the least, and they weren’t even in the air yet. He waited a moment for Quinn to ready himself and grab onto Maison before sucking in a deep, nervous breath. “Ready, mate?” Once he had received final confirmation from his friend, Maison pushed against the ground… perhaps a bit too aggressively.

@Quinton Lee

So sorry it took me so long!

Maison’s heartbeat quickened at the realization that they were rising upwards far faster (and higher) than he would have wanted. He was now wavering back and forth as he struggled to maintain his balance, though Quinn’s grasp was helping immensely to stabilize him. Overall, it felt a bit awkward. The feeling of sitting on a broom truly was, as his friend had described, like having a stick up his arse. And what was he supposed to do with his legs? They were just dangling aimlessly beneath him, seeming to serve no purpose. Where was he supposed to put them?

Despite his overall discomfort, he had to admit there was just something so invigorating about levitating in the air. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how it would eventually feel to actually fly the thing. He could almost see it now. Maison Pritchard, star of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, fastest flyer at Hogwarts.

The Gryffindor boy leaned slightly to his right and glanced over his shoulder at the ground below him. This in turn caused them to rock back and forth quite vigorously, sending Maison into a panic once more. “Woah woah woah, Maison keep it steady,” Quinn was encouraging him. “You can do this, you got it.”

“Right. Okay,” Maison’s voice quivered. He centered his gaze directly in front of him, trying to focus on slowing his breaths and keeping both himself and the broom as still as possible. “I’m doing it, Quinn!” he exclaimed as the broom began to stabilize again, “D'ya see that? I’m actually doing it!”

@Quinton Lee

Quinn was right. He would need to reign in his excitement, lest he lose focus and send them tumbling. It wouldn’t look good for either one of them if they ended up spending their first day of classes laid up in the hospital wing. Not to mention the consequences they would likely face for being out here in the first place.

Maison sucked in another deep breath to calm himself, diverting as much focus as he could to keeping himself and Quinn steady on the broom.

“Now, slowly lean forward. We should start moving, and only lean forward slightly.” Maison bit the corner of his lip, unsure of himself. His instinct so far had been to lean back as much as he possibly could so that he was pressed up against Quinn. He felt safer that way, more secure. Keeping them steady while stationary was one thing, but would he be able to keep that focus while moving? “We’re gonna go a bit fast.” Oh god. “But not so fast that you might panic. Trust me.”

Maison was quiet for a moment as he tried to ramp himself up for the task ahead. He had fallen out of trees before and had taken footballs to the head. Even if they did end up falling from the broom, surely he would be able to survive that, too. “Alright. I’ll trust ya, but you’d better not be wrong about this…” Not that Maison suspected he would be. “Ready? Leaning forward on the count of three. One… two… three.”

The lion braced himself as they lurched forward, letting out a small yelp at the realization of how fast they were going. Once his pace steadied a bit, however, Maison was able to truly appreciate what was happening. He was flying. He was actually flying.