Closed Training for the Ballet

Was it possible to get rusty at a sport that you had never really played competitively outside of the occasional club meet and family gathering? Liam had no idea. But, regardless, he felt the need to pick up a broom and get practicing - after all, it wouldn’t be long until he started to ready himself for the Gryffindor quidditch team. His training began far before the sight of the practice pitch came into view; his father had told him that the best way to get straight into a work out was to jog to wherever it was that you decided to exercise. And so he did, stretching along the way to loosen the limbs that would soon be under a heavy strain.

As he ran through the crisp autumn air, Liam couldn't help but feel the most subtle sense of excitement and determination. He had always been a fan of quidditch, of course, but the opportunity to finally compete at a higher level was invigorating. He mentally rehearsed the various plays and strategies that he had learned over the years, envisioning himself executing them flawlessly on the field. He knew that making the Gryffindor team wouldn't be easy - it would require hard work, dedication, and a willingness to push himself to the limit. But he was up for the challenge, and he knew that if he got into the right training habits then his skills would secure him a spot without any trouble.

A single bead of sweat rolled down from the boy’s hairline, carving its way down his forehead and over his right eyebrow. Pausing for a moment to wipe the perspiration from his eye, he continued walking, his gaze fixed on the tall posts that rose up above the stands, each crowned with a large, round hoop. Though, as Liam approached his view was overtaken by the seating - only then able to see the goals once more when he stepped into the arena. There was somebody there already, flying up into the sky. It appeared as though taking the time to train today wasn’t an idea that Liam could hold as wholly his own. He watched on as the boy on the broomstick began to make his lap, giving Liam the time to make his way over to the broom shed. A cloud of dust still lingered, coating most if not all of the contents with a thin layer of grime - but the blonde Gryffindor didn’t mind, he had gotten his hands way dirtier when climbing the trees back home, and besides he wanted to get up into the air to start what may very well turn out to be a pretty great training session.

With a graceful swing of his right leg, Liam mounted one of the school brooms, gripping its handle firmly with his calloused hands. He pushed off with both feet, feeling a momentary instability before he managed to stabilize his ascent, rising up to meet the other boy at the same altitude. Once he had achieved a measure of balance, Liam settled onto the broom, tucking his hands into his pockets as he waited for the other boy to approach. It took only a moment for recognition to dawn on him.

"Hey Matt, how's it going?" Liam shouted over the increasing sounds of the wind, which seemed to grow slightly more intense as they soared higher into the sky.

@Matthew Robertson & @Liam Bennet

From hero to zero, that's what Bloom felt like after her last performance in the Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor Broom Race. She, the only sixth year, was supposed to win for the team. Instead, she was knocked off her broom, and even passed out at the end from too many injuries. Bloom didn't even think about healing herself; she just wanted to get through the units and win. What a mistake. This was definitely going to be a game that she was not going to let her boyfriend know about. They spoke more about their accomplishments and were often very competitive about their games. To share a huge loss would not be fun for anyone.

After some collaboration with her team, they decided that perhaps it was time for a new broom. Something that had better resilience and speed. Of course, when they told her that Koldovstoretz uses a broom that was unconventional but had speed, Bloom thought they were joking. It wasn't the case.

Here she was lugging a huge Christmas-like tree-- magically light as a feather-- to the Quidditch Pitch. There were times throughout the week that Broom Racers were allowed to practice on the Quidditch Pitch than just the Quidditch team. Bloom figured, being Broom Racer's turn for practice, that she would use the field to hone in on her skills of speed with the tree she was going to straddle.

As she made her way to the entrance of the field, she saw two people soaring the area. Bloom had no idea who they were. They seemed younger than her. Then again, Bloom never really interacted with those younger than her unless she had to.

"Hey!" she called out to them as loud as she could. "It's Broom Racer's practice!" Bloom dropped her broom onto the ground and crossed her hands. "Don't you guys look at the practice schedule?" she asked, her eyebrows perked up. "Are you even on a team?" she asked, not familiar with any of them. Perhaps the reason they did not know about the schedule was because they were not on a team to begin with.

Matthew's hair was wild as the wind buffeted him up in the air, one moment he could see clearly and the next his eyes were covered in a black mop. He groaned, risking the momentary loss of control as he took his left hand off the school broom to force the waves back out of his face. He would need to tie his hair back next time. Despite the sunny weather, the winds were harsh and bitter at this time of the year. Thankfully Matt was wearing his quidditch jumper under his cloak and so only his face and hands felt the sting.

Thanks to both the wind blowing his hair into his eyes, and the sound of the gale, he hadn't noticed Liam's approach. Caught quite by surprise when he heard a voice call out to him. "Bloody 'ell Liam, scared the daylights outta me" the fright causing him to drop his more pronounced way of speaking in favour of his genuine northern accent. "Are we the only ones today?"

His question was answered for him, as even over the wind he could hear the shout from below. His stomach sank, and his face felt a slight moment of relief from the cold as his ears grew red hot. "Uhh... What?" He asked, rather sheepishly to Liam, pulling on his broomstick as he began his descent back onto the ground, his approach a little wobbly both from the nerves and the unreliability of the school broomstick. His feet touched the ground a few feet away from Bloom and he mustered up all the courage he could, to respond to the clearly older girl. "No, no, this has to be a mistake. It's Thursday today, right?" that's when his stomach flipped and grew heavy. Perhaps he'd got the date wrong in his excitement. That would explain why there weren't any of the other Gryffindor players on the pitch. The eleven year old went red in the face, his head dipping. "I'm... I'm sorry. I just wanted to get in some practice ahead of the Gryffindor game this month. Must have got the dates wrong, or the time, or something... He swung his leg back over his broom so that he was no longer straddling it, running his free hand through his windswept hair.

His embarrassment vanished rather quickly as he noticed the pine tree she was beside. He had heard about these unorthodox broomsticks before but had never seen one in person. "Wait, you're a racer? And you use that thing? Cool!" He was genuinely quite stunned by this, his open cloak revealing his was infact on the Quidditch team as shown by his red and gold jumper.

@Liam Bennet @Bloom Silverton

Even as the wind whipped past him, Liam sat perched atop his stationary broomstick, his hands nestled in the warmth of his pockets as he worked to maintain what balance he was able to. It was good that today was free from rain, this would have been even more unpleasant, but as it was, the weather was tolerable. His deep brown irises watched on from afar as Matthew rounded the corner and began returning back to his point of origin, the point that Liam now occupied with a playful grin. He took a moment to brush a few strands of his golden locks out of his eyes before starting his advance forward to meet Matt mid-air; he could see that his fellow Gryffindor was having a bit of hair trouble too - honestly it would have been quite the disaster if either of the pair needed to look presentable. Good thing for Liam is that he didn’t, plus occasionally the wind was a good stylist, maybe after some flying he’d have a new look to really capture his free spirit.

A boisterous laugh radiated from the blonde boy as he registered Matt’s surprise. “You’ve got to be more aware than that if you want to be a top rated player! A bludger won’t call your name as it gets close, and I won’t always be there to bat it away from ya.” Liam suppressed his laughter down to the state of a chuckle while contemplating the question. “Looks like it’s just us…” He spun around on his broom to scan the almost empty field only to notice the new figure approaching what seemed to be an entire pine tree at her side. “Okay, I stand corrected. Is that meant to be a broom?”

Liam took both hands out of his pockets and felt his calluses press against the rough wooden handle of his broom. He swiftly accompanied Matthew down towards the ground, though stopped a couple of feet higher in the air to continue sitting unimpeded. The wind was much calmer down here thanks to the shielding provided by the stands. Standing before the pair was what appeared to be a rather unimpressed student and, judging by her appearance, she was probably a fair bit older than both the first years, exactly how much older though remained unknown.

He shrugged in response, though it was not cold it did express that maybe the boy hadn't taken the time to check and just assumed everything would be fine. “I didn’t realise that the broom racing teams had the pitch today, guess this must be a regular thing right?” Liam’s right foot gave Matt a quick nudge in the back as he seemingly started to lose his cool at the situation and misunderstanding. “He’s on the quidditch team and I’m just waiting for my position to be confirmed. The field is pretty empty at the moment anyway,” his head flicked backwards for a moment to observe the arena again. “There’s probably enough room for all of us if we just stay out of your way.” He suppressed his own enticement at the rather strange appearance of Bloom’s broom and her implication that she was a racer. Liam descended to the ground and dismounted with a quick circular motion of his leg, and leaving his broom where it was he advanced towards the pinetree with his hands back in their respective pockets. “So how fast can this thing go exactly, I don’t want to assume or anything but it doesn’t look that nimble. But then again you probably wouldn’t race it if it wasn’t good!” It was clearly getting challenging for the boy to contain his interest in the broom itself as he stood there admiring it with a sense of excited anticipation.


@Matthew Robertson @Bloom Silverton

@Matthew Robertson & @Liam Bennet

Bloom looked down at her huge pine tree just chilling on the ground, waiting to be mounted and race around the pitch. But instead of feeling excited that she had this massive fast broom, she was more embarrassed that it was in her possession. Her other broom was a normal one and had the bells and whistles. It was her captain that decided that a new broom would help for the next game.

Didn't the captain realize that it wasn't the broom and that it was just a terrible game play? Now she had to practice and figure out the mechanics of this one before their next game against another house. Who knew who it would be.

"This... Yeah... It's definitely not what I'm used to, but I need to see how it works," she said, shrugging and taking her right foot, slightly kicking the piece of wood gently. It was definitely going to be an experimentation. Bloom looked back at the two young Quidditch player and player-to-be. "Since there doesn't seem to be any more Broom Racers out, I guess I'll share the court," she said, shrugging.

"I did Quidditch when I was a third year. Wasn't for me. The need for speed is much more exhilarating. Why did you guys choose Quidditch?" she asked, wondering what brought them to that sport than Broom Racing. She was always confused about her boyfriend's choice in Quidditch, too. But perhaps, for their sanity, him in Quidditch and her in Broom Racing was a good thing.

Bloom nodded to the official Quidditch player with a smile. "I sure am. I've been Broom Racing since last year and love every minute of it. I'm Bloom Silverton, sixth year," she ended with an introduction.

When the Gryffindor in the sky came back down, his question made Bloom's smile turn to a smirk. "I honestly have no idea, but willing to try it out against you. Are you afraid of riding fast?" Bloom asked. Only within the last few years has her competitive streak been forward. The ongoing adrenaline that made her blood circulate twice as fast throughout her body was what she often itched for. "You, too," she looked at the Quidditch player. "Let's see what you got."

Bloom fixed her posture, summoned her broom and mounted it properly in one easy, clean sweep. It was a routine she was often used to through practice and extracurricular. The pine part of the tree was behind her while she sat on the trunk portion facing the roots of the tree. Slightly bending her knees, she lifted off the ground with a small hop, levitating above the ground. Using core muscles, Bloom kept her balance. It seemed that the 'broom' needed a bit more balance structure than she was used to.

Matt grinned as Bloom rather kindly allowed him to remain on the pitch despite his blunder. He ran his hand through the black waves that were his hair again, nodding quickly. "Thanks, means a lot Bloom. So you're on the proper racing team? Brilliant. I'm only on the bench for the Quidditch team" he said with a slight shrug of his shoulders "But I'm trying to squeeze in as much practice as I can so that when the day finally comes that I'm brought on to play, I don't embarrass myself."

He stopped speaking as Liam descended from the hoops and hovered a short distance above the ground, quickly shoving his free hand into his pocket nervously as he received the kick to his back. He definitely did not want to start any trouble with a Sixth year especially when all he could do is shoot sparks from his wand. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as Liam suggested sharing the pitch rather than escalating the situation.

The panic returned to him almost instantly as they discussed broom speed and then somehow he was being dragged into a challenge. It's not that he was afraid per se, but he was only using a school broom. There was no way he'd be able to keep up with someone riding a broom specifically designed for racing. "I don't know, feels like we'd be no challenge at all. Besides, I'm playing as keeper, speeding around the pitch won't exactly help me in the grand scheme of things. At least not compared to other exercises" he sighed, and gave in. "Though I suppose I'll do whatever Liam decides"

Interacting with @Bloom Silverton @Liam Bennet

Liam smirked as he listened to the sixth year, who swiftly introduced herself as Bloom, clearly she had some considerable experience when it came to broom sports - but it wouldn’t be enough for the blonde boy to back down. His eyes continued to scan the veritable tree as the conversation progressed; it was oddly impressive that such a large object could even be considered as a swift and viable broomstick. Liam certainly hadn’t seen anything like it at any of the games that he watched back home. He was happy to hear that Bloom was willing to share the pitch with the two first years, in reality if she wanted it to herself then there was nothing the Gryffindors could have done. There was no doubt that the boy was relieved, but he didn’t allow that to be shown as much more than a semi-deep exhale while turning to look at Matt’s response to Bloom's questions.

“Could you not reach the speed you wanted in Quidditch? Which position did you play?” It was safe to say that Liam was pretty sure that it wasn’t too difficult to move at high speed in a Quidditch match. But on reflection speed wasn’t the primary objective and so understanding Bloom’s position became a bit easier - even so, how fast did she want to go if Quidditch didn’t fill that desire? Regardless it wasn’t something he could answer without hearing from the sixth year herself. “I chose Quidditch over racing because of the complexity. I don’t know much about racing but I doubt it has over seven-hundred officially listed. Plus, it’s a high intensity sport that I’ve enjoyed watching for years. There’s nothing quite like racing up the pitch with the quaffle in hand while dodging both players and bludgers. Though I have tried out for a beater, that was the only open position. Best to get my foot in the door for it, and I reckon my aim is good enough to take out a few competitors!”

Liam glanced back towards Matt with a confident smile as he heard Bloom’s suggestion that they test out her new broom in a challenge between the first years and the sixth year. Sure their brooms were probably some of the slowest a person could have, but regardless it would be an opportunity to train their manoeuvring skills in a somewhat competitive setting. “You’re on!” He called out while hopping back on to his school broom. He wobbled slightly as he ascended to meet with Bloom in the air, though thankfully it wasn’t too long until he had an element of stability to carry him. “I’m Liam by the way.” He called out over the wind that blew past them when out of the shelter provided by the stands. The boy waited for his fellow Gryffindor to join the pair in the sky at their makeshift start line. “Alright.” Adrenaline coursed through Liam’s veins as he waited, this time with one hand on his broom. “We’ll do three lengths of the pitch. At the end of each straight we’ll have to go through one of the hoops moving from right to left. From here we’ll head to the other side, through the rightmost hoop, do a one-eighty as quickly as possible, head back through the middle hoop, then through the middle hoop at this end, another one-eighty and through the left hoop here.” He paused to take a well needed breath. “Then all the way to the left hoop over there. Do another one-eighty, and then rush back over here. First one to make it back, land, and dismount at the base of the middle pole on this end wins.”

“Does that make sense?” Liam didn’t wait for a reply. “Good! I’ll count down from five and we’ll go on one.” He held his right hand to show an O.K, with three fingers raised in addition which he left lingering in Matthew’s direction for a fraction of a second and winked - making sure to position his head so that Bloom would have a hard time seeing the facial expression. Hopefully he would understand Liam’s meaning. The boy smirked and settled himself in a ready position.

“Five…” His hands tightened around the broom. “Four...” He adjusted his balance and feet. “Three!” Without finishing the countdown Liam shot forwards - it wasn’t exactly fair, but the two first years needed as much of an advantage as they could get.

@Matthew Robertson @Bloom Silverton

(Sorry for breaking the rotation for this one, didn't notice til after I posted!)

Matt remained silent again as Liam asked his questions to the sixth year, his head tipping to the left as he listened quite attentively. He couldn't quite wrap his own head around the fact that Bloom had quit Quidditch. Perhaps it got boring, playing four games a year, perhaps the complexity which Liam spoke of made the game feel like a chore. After all, when Matt played back home he hardly stuck by all seven hundred rules, they played for fun back then, not to win. A strange feeling shot through Matt then, sure he knew most, if not all of the rules from pouring over Quidditch books and listening to his father scream when the opposing team earned a foul, but remembering them all when up in the air with the crowd screaming and cheering? Would he be able to keep up with everything? His thoughts had grown so loud in his head and his eyes had become so unfocused that he didn't actually listen to the rest of what Liam had said. It wasn't until Liam shouted "You're on!" rather loudly that Matt was snapped back to his senses. Seeing that Liam had already shot into the air, he shrugged toward Bloom as if to say well I guess he's decided then... before he flung his leg back over his broomstick, and after a quick kick-off from the ground he soared up toward Liam in the sky, the wind once again whipping through his hair.

Though Liam's rules made sense, Matt didn't see much use in them. Bloom's broom would no doubt dust the pair in this race. Bloom's broom... Matt had a eureka moment. Perhaps due to the unorthadox style of it, and the size, it would have difficulty navigating through the hoops at great speed, perhaps she'd need to slow down in order to make it through. Matthew felt a jolt of excitement at this thought.

Liam began his count, and Matt prepared himself, leaning forward on his broom as he readied himself to start. Even if he lost he knew that this would be rather fun as the excitement didn't cease. Liam got to "Three" and shot off, it took a good half a second for Matt to even register this, and with a loud "HEY!" and without a moment to lose he urged his broomstick onward, his teeth gritting as he flattened himself down against his broom to try and make himself as aerodynamic as possible to regain whatever ground he could as he streaked across the pitch as fast as his school broom would allow him. He was feeling a mixture of glee and fury as Liam cheated right from the get-go, not quite the chivalric behaviour that Gryffindor's were known for, but he had to admit that flying like this felt good no matter the start.

Interacting with: @Liam Bennet @Bloom Silverton

@Matthew Robertson & @Liam Bennet

Bloom's chocolate brown eyes looked over Matthew after his speech about himself on the Quidditch team. He was definitely a second string player due to how new and young he was, but Bloom couldn't help but to shake her head at the young Gryffindor. "With that attitude you'll stay on the bench. Come on, get on your broom," she playfully urged. Bloom was the kind of person who would often think of herself as not good enough in comparison to others. But over time, she came to realize that everyone had potential. She just learned it too late in her Hogwarts career.

"Also, you will always embarrass yourself, even if you practice the most." Bloom took a deep breath and decided to share her story as an example. "I've been winning first for the most of our games, but this last one, I came in last. I was knocked off my broomstick and even passed out. I was flat out embarrassed. You've got to be ready for that," she said, shrugging. It was a sore subject for her, but maybe it would help the guy realize that there's no running from making mistakes on the field.

The other Gryffindor, who is yet to be on a team, however, was more than confident in himself. He not only accepted the challenge, but he also created the terms. Bloom's interest couldn't help but to look at Liam. "I was a Keeper," she said, looking at Matthew with a wink to show that they were one in the same once upon a time ago. "I had enough speed to make sure nothing went through those goalposts, but that was it," she added.

Bloom gripped the best she could of the tree's trunk that she was riding on. Her thighs were rubbed against the hard bark, but she still wrapped them around to keep steady. Liam decided that he wanted to count down. Bloom listened to the numbers go down one by one. However... Before it could even get to one, Liam had started. Alright, so that's how you want to play, she said, with a smirk. Bloom wasn't going to let him win.

New to her broom, she pushed her way towards Liam as fast as she could. Gaining speed as the seconds passed.