A Race! closed

"Oh no! We have been seen!” Gabriel yelled! Mardella! Follow me! I think I know of a route that can take us back to the Quidditch Field without any more prefects yelling at us! Gabriel shouted towards Mardella.

"Bloody hell!" The girl yelped before tilting her broom to dive after the speeding Ravenclaw. The wind whipped past her hair and for a second she thought she might have seen a teacher peering out too, not just a prefect, and then she was gone - darting after Gabriel.

Mardella's heart was racing in her chest and she was sure any moment now they were going to get caught and hauled in front of the headmaster and oh Merlin! Was this against the rules? Were they going to be expelled? She could feel the nervousness building up in her stomach as scenario after scenario whizzed through her head, faster than her speed on the broomstick, like someone had dropped something heavy in there. She'd never been a trouble maker, per se, but she had always been a little too rambunctious and curious for her own good and now she was going to pay for it! Da was going to laugh in her face!

Gabriel gripped his broom tightly as he swooped around a turret, peering over his shoulder every couple of seconds to make sure that Marcella was still okay. While doing that, Gabriel also was quickly plotting and planning the shortest path to the broom shed. He had lied when he said that he knew of a way, but he would make up one as they flew and hope for the best.

They flew side by side as they passed the Owlery. Gabriel watching out for prefects and teachers and for anyone who could potentially rat them out, and if he saw anyone with such qualities, he would turn sharply around and fly in a different direction, he thought to himself.

Finally, after a lengthy and worrisome flight back, Gabriel reached the shed, with Mardella behind him. When he was within three feet of the shed his broom abruptly swayed and threw him off, and then soared into the shed and slammed into its old post. Gabriel tumbled, brushed himself clean, and looked up at Mardella while laughing. “Now that’s one heck of a landing! Ha!” He said. “come on down, we can talk as we walk back towards the stadium. Or back to the school” He said with his voice getting a bit quieter as he realized that the sky was getting blueish-purple. The sun was slowly setting, probably leaving the two of them only two hours or so until they would miss curfew...

Mardella laughed at the sight she looked to as she began to maneuver herself into a descending position. Gabriel had tumbled off the front of his broom into the wall of the shed, which gave a worrisome wobble. For a few moments she worried it would collapse on top of him, but after a bit it settled, just in time for the boy to right himself, grass shavings scattered in his blond hair and sticking to his cloak.

“Now that’s one heck of a landing! Ha!”

He said with quite a flourish - for having fallen, at least. She guided her broom down beside him and hopped off, slightly unsteady on her feet for a few seconds as they remembered that it was walking and standing time, not flying anymore. Mardella flexed her fingers a bit, wincing as the blood rushed back in them from keeping her grip so tight. She had no idea how she'd managed to follow the speeding Gabriel and not crash!

"That was fun," She said with a grin, as they ducked inside to put their broomsticks away, "Do you think we got away with it? We... should probably head inside anyways, just in case they come out to check." It wasn't going to be pleasant if Da caught wind of this - or Ma for that matter! She shook her head, trying to forget about worrying about him, just for the moment.

Instead, Mardella nudged Gabriel in the side with her elbow, unable to stop the beam on her face, now that the adrenaline rush was waning and the relief at apparently not getting caught was hitting. "Besides, I think you won that - what was it I yelled at you earlier? Loser - " She feigned confusion, although she was clearly teasing. "Loser gets off scot-free?"

“That was fun”

“Yep, that was...” Gabriel said while being quite out of breath from laughing. He looked around and towards the Castle in order to see if anyone had watched their descent or if anyone was coming out to detain them. Luckily, no one had exited the castle in their direction, but if someone had seen them, then there would obviously be a greater timespan between seeing the flyers and apprehending them. “I do not believe that we have been seen landing, but I would not like to take any chances”, He said while starting to direct the two of them towards the castle.

Loser gets off scot-free

”No, I believe it was loser answers a question, any question, truthfully. But because we had to end early, we can both ask each other one question. But we must also both answer it.”

“I shall go first, as I got to the shed first. What are your greatest hopes and goals in Hogwarts, especially in regions of Magic, naming at least two.” Gabriel said, hoping to hear something truly exciting. “Mine are to become an Animagus and Spell Creation, as I believe those are two extremely hard but interesting goals... But what are your goals?”