Closed Flying High Keith Moore

Colin looked the green clad, green haired boy up and down. He smiled. Another barefoot boy? He nodded as the boy introduced himself. "Keith Good to meet you, then!" He bowed his head slightly. His chest and face turned red as he blushed when Keith mentioned his howling for Clair at the feast. "Aye, I'm the one who shouted out for Clair! I like her, and, well, she's Ravenclaw and I'm Slytherin, so it made sense to give her a shout, right?"

Colin thought back to the sorting ceremony. There were so many new students! But, yeah, a green haired boy stuck out in his memory. Cabbage Head got sorted into Gryffindor! He narrowed his eyes --- nah, this one needs a real nickname. We'll have to see! He gave Keith a wry smile. He teased Keith: "Ye're wearing green and silver, but didn't the Hat put you in Hufflepuff or something?" He laughed. "Just joking!" He gave Keith a playful punch on his shoulder. "What do you think of the place so far? Does Gryffindor suit you, do you think? My cousin Alena got Hufflepuff! Hmf." Colin paused for a moment, thinking back to his own sorting, last year. "I think the Hat plays with us sometimes. I wanted Ravenclaw so badly --- and I ended up in Slytherin. I wish Alena got Slytherin, and well, she's a Badger now!"

He slipped his shirt back on but didn't button it up and asked Keith: "Do you like to fly? Have you flown before or will your lessons here be your first time? It's so much fun, and you can hardly beat the Silver Arrow!" Colin nodded towards the quidditch pitch. "Do you wanna go check it out? I'll race you there if you want!"

@Keith Moore || Mentions @Alena Fernsby

Colin blushed deeper when Keith mentioned someone pointing Clair out to him. He felt a surge pride welling up in his heart! He sighed but had a big smile on his face. He couldn't help but gush: "She's really beautiful! She's a racer too, Keith! But I don't know what there is about her. She doesn't seem to know I even exist! I mean, we've talked a lot. We rode together on the train and everything! I really do like her --- like, a lot!" Colin positively beamed as he talked about Clair. "I'm gonna marry her some day, you know! But --- sometimes I wonder. I know she's really smart. Is she playing a game I don't know about? Or --- I don't know! I just have to figure out how to get through to her."

He smiled when Keith spoke about his family's expectations for him being in Slytherin and his own wish to be in Hufflepuff like Alena. "I know a lot of families seem to expect their kids to be in a certain house. And the Hat sometimes goes along. I know mine expected me and my ---" Colin's voice caught as he remembered the reason why he wanted Ravenclaw so badly "--- my brother to be Ravenclaw... But, if there's one thing I've learned about it, the Hat plays a game of its own. You're not the first student I've met who expected to be in one house and got another."

Colin laughed when Keith said there were too many corridors and hallways! "No way! Laddie, we've got seven years to explore the place! There's loads of places I haven't been yet, but I plan on exploring every place I can get into! Well --- maybe not the girls' dorms. You know!" Colin made a face. "I'm sure they'd hang me from the rafters by my toes if I tried that!"

As Colin picked up his bunched up robe and got ready for the foot race, he said: "You should sign up for broom racing, Keith! It's so much fun! Well, if you don't die or get knocked out, anyway!" And with that they tore off along the slope down towards the practice pitch. Keith was a fast runner Colin discovered, but it was exhilarating to find someone to race with!

Keith was just ahead of Colin and they ate up the distance in no time! And just as they neared the end of the race, Colin's foot caught on something!

"YEEEEEK!" Colin flew through the air, his robe floating away, caught on the Silver Arrow's stirrups, the sleeves and hems fluttering in the breeze of their flight. And the broom itself coasted along about thirty feet before gently impaling itself into the soft earth near the pitch.

Colin on the other hand was not so fortunate! His unassisted flight was rather shorter and less than graceful. It landed him face down and skidding to an ignominious halt in a heap in a patch of wet muddy grass! "Oof! Oh, blast!" he said as he rose up from the mire like some eldritch creature from the swamps, all covered in muck!

He looked up to see if Keith had continued on to victory, but couldn't see anything for the mud and grass in his eyes! This wasn't the spectacular win or even the more than acceptable tie or even the honourable loss to a fast runner that Colin had been hoping for! Oof.

@Keith Moore || Gushes about @Clair Fernandez

Word count:310/200

Interacting with: @Colin McCoire

Colin had smiled when Keith said that maybe Clair just didn't know she liked him yet. It reminded him that there is always hope. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right about that. It's still --- I don't know ---" Colin trailed off. "I reckon I just have to work harder to get her to see me, right? She's worth it!" He looked over at Keith. "That was pretty wise for a first year Gryff!" He almost asked if said wisdom was gained through personal experience, but decided that he'd wait until the other boy volunteered.

As the conversation turned to the girls' dorms, Keith seemed to have a plan worked out already! Colin laughed as the other boy said he could get a girl to tell him what it looked like and then he'd draw it. "Hang about! You can draw? No way --- I love drawing! Blast that I didn't bring me kit with me. We should draw some time!"

After Colin's spectacular belly flop into the mud, Keith said: "Are you okay? Can you see? There's grass and mud all over your face?"

Colin accepted Keith's outstretched hand. "I think it's much worse than that laddie!" he said as he got up. He wiped his face off and looked down. Grass and mud covered pretty much everything from his forehead to his knees! He took off his shirt again --- "Caked in mud. So much for keeping that clean!" He shook his head. "So much for keeping the rest of me clean, too!"

He hung his stained shirt up on the still upright broom and got out his wand. At first, he aimed it at the sods that he'd torn up during his graceful descent to earth: "Reparo! Mustn't leave the Earth scarred, right?" Then he pointed his wand at the poor shirt and said: "Scourgify!" Then aiming at himself, he used the same incantation again. "Those, laddie, are an active boy's two best friends and no mistake!" He looked around to see if anyone were spying on them. "Especially when there might be nosy Prefects around! I'd much rather hop in the lake and wash off proper, but magic will do in a pinch! Come on! Now let's get in the pitch and see how well you fly!"

And with that, Colin gathered up his shirt and robes and broom and headed onto the practice pitch!

NOTE: Now that Colin is reasonably clean, Keith might notice numerous scars --- bite marks, scratches, scrapes and the like all over his torso, arms and shoulders, in addition to the scar across his left eye and the one on the right side of his neck. He'd also notice the wolf fang necklace that hung over his heart-shaped birthmark.

Interacting with: @Keith Moore

Word count:296

Interacting with @Colin McCoire

Colin noticed that Keith flinched when he got his wand out. How odd was that! He'd have to ask about that some time. Kid's only been at Hoggys for what, a fortnight? He can't have been attacked already can he? It's certainly not unheard of for older students to --- do things --- to younger students. Practice minor curses and hexes on them, threaten to turn them into newts if they didn't fetch the mail or make tea or something.

"You didn't break anything did you, that sounded like it hurt. And now it looks like you hit the ground really hard."

Colin smiled at Keith's concern. At least the younger student hadn't been corrupted yet! There were some boys who would mock him or tease him for what had happened. Keith just seemed to be worried. He looked away as Keith checked out his scars. He let him look, then said: "Nah, I didn't break anything! As you can see, I've had worse." He didn't say anything right away, as they walked into the empty training pitch.

"I reckon it's no big secret any more." Colin narrowed his eyes as he looked off into the distance. "Got into a tangle with a young Werewolf before starting school last year." He pointed out the bite marks. "And again this last summer. That was more of a battle --- there were a bunch and Da and our kin fought them off. I ---"

Colin stopped short. Not because of the Werewolf thing. Colin determined a long time ago that anyone who wanted to be his friend also had to be the Werewolf's friend. He tossed his stuff on the warm grass and laid down beside his broom. "My brother, he fought too. Liam. He was my twin." He looked up into the blue sky, remembering deep blue turning to star spangled black of the night a little more than a month ago. "One thing you'll need to know is that I got bitten and scratched by the Wolf last year, so my first year here was spent mostly hiding what I am. But if you want to be my friend, you have to know that I am a Wolf." Colin drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. He let his gaze settle on Keith's eyes. He was pretty sure the boy was a pureblood --- no way of telling how he'd react to Colin's revelation. "It never got any easier to tell people. One of these days I expect to do this and end up being killed or trapped or something. Not everyone is cool with Wolves being allowed at Hoggys. Also, Keith: I --- I understand if you don't want a monster for a friend."

Colin closed his eyes, waiting, half expecting to hear the sound of Keith's footsteps retreating from the pitch.

@Keith Moore

Word count: 305

Interacting with: @Colin McCoire