Closed Of Most Dangerous Heights PV Jack Burnett

Jack thought he knew a thing or two about broomless flight. After all, his favorite sweets were Fizzing Whizzbees which made you float a few inches off the ground. However, when he passed by a window and saw a girl floating outside, he wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first.

Had she eaten too many Fizzing Whizzbees? Gotten stung by billywigs and had an allergic reaction to them? He'd read that too many stings could cause a victim to hover uncontrollably for days on end and that sometimes, a severe allergic reaction could cause permanent floating. But then he saw evidence of some splashed liquid on the open window ledge and thought maybe it might have been something else. Whatever had happened, however, it seemed the girl needed help judging by her plaintive cry.

When Jack leaned out the window, he thought he recognized the girl as she was in his year. It was a Ravenclaw; one his Slytherin quidditch team had played against during one of the two games he had been involved in. Aly Salinger her name was if he recalled correctly.

"Accio Firebolt," he called after taking out his wand and making the correct wand movement for the Summoning Charm. "Oi, Salinger! Need some help?" Jack asked while he waited for his broom to arrive. As quick as the Summoning Charm was, his broom still had a ways to travel from his dormitory in the dungeons of the castle. Hopefully it didn't collide with anyone or anything on its way to him.

"What did you do to get all the way out there?" As he watched, he noticed she seemed to be falling slowly, but who knew how long that would last? Whatever method she used to float could have faded or stopped working at any second.

@Aly Salinger

@Jack Burnett

Luckily, the grounds stayed fairly empty as Aly continued to float helplessly towards the ground. At least, if she continued to do so, her eventual fall wouldn't be quite as devastating as it had originally shaped up to be; still, the Ravenclaw was well-versed in the trials and tales of the Hospital Wing, having been an intern there since March of her third year, just over a year ago. (Granted, she'd been away from Hogwarts for a fair part of that, but... still, she'd spent enough time in the medicinal-smelling room on the third floor to know that she would rather not have slunk in with six broken bones needing to be a patient rather than an intern.) And she would have much rathered ending up there instead of in the Headmaster's office, so... if that wasn't enough to describe her lack of want to get in trouble for this incident, she didn't know what was.

So hearing her name be shouted from somewhere, with completely empty grounds beneath her, came as enough of a shock to Aly that she almost jumped clear out of her skin. Perhaps she would have actually jumped, too, if her feet had had something solid from which she could have leapt. Head darting wildly about, her curls thrashing round her face, Aly searched for the source of the voice, her green gaze eventually landing on a boy leaning out the half-open window out of which Aly had climbed in the first place.

She squinted, trying to place the face, for he did look really familiar as he yelled her surname and offered assistance. Thin features, messy ginger hair... oh, she did know him, didn't she? Aly wasn't always the best with recognising people, especially after having been away for nearly six months, but she had made an effort to pay attention to the other Keepers on the Quidditch teams she had faced, back when she had been on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team as a Keeper herself. Times long gone. She'd be lucky if they ever even let her back on the team as a second-string, and then again, Aly wasn't sure if she wanted to play Keeper ever again. But that was a black hole of anxious thoughts for another day.

Jack something. Burnside, maybe?

Though his surname was escaping her, Aly was pretty sure her potential rescuer's name was Jack - lots of them at this school, weren't there? - so her face broke into a relieved grin, complete with a short exhale that was almost a laugh; thank Merlin someone had come along who wasn't a prefect or, hopefully, a snitch of some sort.

"Help would be great," she called back, a gust of wind buffeting her to one side. Aly reached a hand to her face, shoving the hair out of it. "Uh, let's just say this Floating Potion worked a little... too well? D'you have any ideas on how exactly you could give this help you're offering?" The Ravenclaw glanced around, not quite seeing any gigantic ladders or anything nearby. "I'd prefer to get out of this situation sooner instead of later, if you get my drift."

Despite how slow Aly seemed to be falling, Jack noticed she seemed to be at the mercy of the breeze and hoped it wouldn't blow her toward the Forbidden Forest before he could get to her. Who knew what nasty creatures and other things she might run into there if that was where she ended up. She might even potentially encounter some hags, but not if Jack could help it. He knew quite well by now what those beings did to students of Hogwarts.

Aly certainly appeared relieved Jack was trying to help if the sudden grin on her face was any indication. She confirmed that she would appreciate his assistance and explained a little of how she had gotten into her predicament in the first place. Ohhh...so it was a Floating Potion. That was interesting. He'd never tried such a thing before.

"Well, I thought I could fly over and catch you on my broom," he replied when the brunette asked if he had any ideas on how he could help. "Definitely before you ended up in the Forbidden Forest or somewhere else you probably don't want to be. Any objections?"

Just then, Jack felt the handle of his Firebolt slam into his waiting hand and he grapsed it tight, mounting the broom immediately. With a determined look on his face, he pushed himself out the half-open window, careful not to look down, and trained his eyes on the Ravenclaw girl. Then, careful to keep his balance as he flew out to her, he gingerly extended a hand to help her onto the broom. "You don't think anyone else saw you, do you? Sounded like a fun idea, but I'd hate to see you get into trouble for a little experimenting."

@Aly Salinger

@Jack Burnett

As Aly floated helplessly in midair, her rescuer bravely pushed off from the windowsill out of which he'd been shouting to her and flew steadily to meet her; meanwhile, she kept drifting slowly towards the ground, doing her very best to not accidentally turn away from Jack. He was exactly the kind of person Aly had hoped would find her: no commitment to the law that she knew of, no personal stake in this situation, no nothing. Just pure chivalry, and perhaps a bit of curiosity. Anything else she could deal with as soon as her feet were securely on the floor once again.

She definitely had no objections, though the curly-haired teenager did have to wonder why he'd had his Firebolt on him in the first place. (Ooh, a Firebolt. Her green gaze roamed over the sleek ashwood handle and finely groomed tail of birch twigs, imagining such a lovely piece of charmwork and carving pushed to its full speed of one hundred and fifty miles per hour. She'd never ridden on such a broom before, sticking almost exclusively to her Silver Arrow, and to be quite honest, it was almost a dream that someone with a Firebolt had ridden to her rescue.)

Still, Aly wasn't going to complain about what seemed to be an ideal solution to a less-than-perfect situation. "No objections here," she agreed, reaching out a hand as her would-be rescuer did the same. Her first attempt at a grab of his fingers failed as the wind slammed into her like Dauncey's paw towards a toy or ball of yarn, moving her just out of reach - but a second gust from the other side shoved her back within range, as well as shoving all of her hair over the crown of her head and into her face. She spat a lock from her mouth and shook her head to clear the rest of the curls from her vision, then tried again to grab Jack's hand, and this time her palm slapped securely into his. "I don't think anyone else saw me, but still. Thanks for the rescue."

Wrapping her fingers tightly around the boy's wrist, Aly used the momentum and her own minimal strength to pull herself closer to him until she could grab on to either his body or the back of his broom. She chose the broom - more familiar territory - grabbing the back with her free hand. She was less free-floating now, and could swing one leg over the side of the handle. Though Aly could still feel the effects of the Floating Potion wanting her to hover away at the wind's fickle mercy, feeling something solid in her grasp relieved the helplessness somewhat. Letting go of Jack's hand, she instead wrapped an arm about his waist - a harder thing to float away from, and probably not as straining to the joint of his wrist.

"Sorry - I just don't want to float away," she explained, somewhat lamely. Truly, she was very grateful, and any amount of awkwardness caused by the sharing of the broomstick was worth it compared to the idea of floating into the Forbidden Forest or getting caught by a prefect/professor and subsequently, either way, being prescribed a healthy dose of detention. "Merlin, I dunno what I would've done if you weren't here. Er, your name's Jack, right?"

In terms of alignment charts such as those used in certain muggle tabletop games, many might have been surprised to find that Jack was True Neutral; at least at that point in time. That meant that while Aly was right about the Welsh teen not having any 'commitment to the law', she was unfortunately mistaken about him having any sense of chivalry whatsoever. Chivalry, after all, was a trait of Gryffindor and Jack was loathe to have any association with the lion house whatsoever. In fact, he was vehemently against the notion of chivalry itself, so it was probably a good thing he had no idea Aly thought he was practicing it. If he had, there would have been words to say for sure.

Naturally, there were still going to be words, as he hadn't earned the nickname 'Chatter Fox' by an upperclassman in his first year for no reason. However, there were quite considerably less than there might have been otherwise, especially because they were still in the middle of the rescue. Jack was so busy considering Aly's situation, he didn't notice her eyeing his broom. Would she be able to get on his Firebolt or would she continue to float rather than be able to sit on the handle? If she held on, could he pull her toward the ground gradually, but quicker than it would take her to get there on her own?

When Aly told him she had no objections, he nodded and tried to grasp the hand she reached out to him in turn. They missed the first time due to the jealous wind attempting to shove her back, but he adjusted his position in the air and flew closer, keeping one careful hand on the handle at all times while his other remained extended out toward the brunette. Eventually, while the wind had been the one to blow his schoolmate away initially, it just as quickly blew her back toward him and her hair in her own face. It just had to be one of those fickle weather days, hadn't it? Jack felt like he was trying to catch a kite with how weightless the Ravenclaw's body behaved.

The second time they tried to make contact, it was a success. He gripped her hand firmly and pulled her toward him, not even bothering to concern himself with shyness. Guys and girls were all the same in his eyes. And intimacy...well, he just never allowed any such thoughts to ever enter his head if he could help it. Really, it made interacting with everyone simpler and easier.

He worked with Aly to draw her close enough to grab the back portion of his broom handle and allowed her time to try to climb on properly. Once she swung one leg over and he felt her let go of his hand, he immediately took out his wand with it and turned partway in his seat to aim it at her. Hoping to be quicker to cast his spell than she could be to suspect he was going to do something detrimental to her, Jack performed his intended magic as precisely and speedily as he could manage without compromising either his precision or speed. "Scourgify." Perhaps his go-to general counter spell might not have worked on a potion, but he was willing to bet that a cleaning charm would. After all, it worked in Potions class all the time when students needed to clean up spills or even just empty their cauldrons of failed concoctions. Why not on a potion that had splashed on someone?

It was only after he had performed his spell and put away his wand that he became very aware she had wrapped an arm around his waist and hoped its grip would ease up once she realized gravity had her in its thrall once more. At least she seemed aware of the awkwardness of the situation, however, since she apologized and explained her practical reasoning for her action. He had to grin in response.

"It's alright. You should be fine now, though," Jack told her, glancing briefly back over his shoulder at her before scanning the ground below. Should they head back into the castle through the small window...? Nah. Better, easier, and less incriminating to avoid the remains of the splashed potion and to simply land on thr grounds outdoors somewhere below.

The pair of ex-keepers descended gradually in a large, lazy, slow spiral downward as Jack again thought back to why Aly might have attempted such a feat in the first place. Surely she must have been trying to do something...but what?

Her voice suddenly entered his thoughts through the familiar door of his first name; a door he wished most people wouldn't use. Flinching involuntarily a bit at the sound of it, he offered her a weak smile and a single nod. "Jack Burnett; that's me. I'm surprised you remember. But it must be from quidditch because outside of that, most people know better than to call me by my first name. Just 'Burnett' will do."

When they eventually got within a foot of the ground, Jack politely waited for Aly to release him and get off before moving to do so as well. "Yeah...maybe it's best not to think about what-if scenarios for this particular situation," he advised, gazing warily again in the direction of the dark trees that comprised the edge of the Forbidden Forest. "...Mind telling me what happened to lead you to that chain of events just now instead? Were you trying to play Peter Pan or something?" he asked with a teasing grin, tucking his broom under his arm as he crossed said arms over his chest. Peter Pan, after all, was another name he'd been called rather frequently by certain students who claimed he bore a resemblence to the Disney version. It hadn't helped that he'd worn the costume for his first Halloween party at Hogwarts, nor that he'd managed to convince Ruka to wear a Tinker Bell costume after his now-adopted-brother had lost a bet to him and had him ride around on an invisible broom spreading 'pixie dust' glitter over everyone. Ah...those had been the days.

@Aly Salinger

@Jack Burnett

When the Firebolt-riding saviour turned his wand on her, Aly's first reaction was to flinch back. Sure, she hadn't actually been hit by very many spells in her lifetime, and those with which she had been struck had been mostly in classes whilst partnering with other students to practice - she was no duellist, after all. But that didn't mean that she hadn't seen her fellow fourth-years throw enough dangerous magic to make her nervous to be on the receiving end of a wand-tip. Luckily, it was just a cleaning charm, and Aly felt her odd lightness begin to dissipate as Jack siphoned most of the Floating Potion off of her. Well - that wasn't a bad idea in the slightest, and Aly felt a bit of shame wash over her at realising that she hadn't thought to do that in the first place. She couldn't remember the boy's House, but he definitely wasn't in Ravenclaw - she knew all of the Eagles in her year at least on sight - and yet still had a quicker reaction time than she had.

Slytherin, then, maybe. Clever boy.

Though she still felt a smidgen of that unnatural buoyancy running through her veins, for the most part Aly seemed to be more firmly seated on the Firebolt than she had been before, so her awkward grip on Jack's waist did lessen. Hopefully it hadn't been too uncomfortable for him, though he had said that it was alright, so she wasn't too worried about it. Seeming rather comfortable on a broom, the boy guided the two of them back towards the ground, though Aly didn't miss the way he, too, flinched at the sound of his name. Looks like I'm not the only one who can't hide their emotions. It made sense a moment later when Jack explained that he would rather be known by his last name, which forced an involuntary chuckle out of Aly - she'd never gone through that phase herself, but she knew plenty of other students who went by their surnames. "Okay, Burnett it is, then," she agreed with a grin, even though he couldn't see it. "And Quidditch, yes, that must be it. I knew I knew you from somewhere. I haven't played since... well, since October, though." She bit her tongue on the rest of the matter. No need to go opening up to strangers on why she'd suddenly left the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and with it, Hogwarts itself.

By the time they were within reach of the ground, and Aly's feet brushed grass for the first time in what felt like forever, she felt much more - pardon the pun - grounded. Lifting one foot off the broom and swinging her leg over, the Ravenclaw found that she was able to stand on both feet without floating off, and she heaved a loud sigh of relief. "Oh, that feels good," she muttered to herself before turning back to Jack - sorry, Burnett, who had too dismounted the broom. Whilst she still felt as if she was a bit lighter than usual, she now couldn't tell whether it was because of the solace of being on the ground or any leftover effects of the now-mostly gone Floating Potion. "Sorry - I overthink sometimes. Really glad for the rescue, though. I owe you one, mate."

Unsurprisingly, he was curious about how she had ended up in the air with no plan B on how to get down, and this time when she cracked a sheepish smile he could see it. "Yeah - well, believe it or not, getting lost in the sky on a windy day was not my intention," she joked, glancing at his face to see his reaction. "Let's just say I've got a... healthy interest in unaided flight, and I thought that all those stories about Floating Potion being uncontrollable were just people being idiots about how to use it." She let out a bitter laugh. "Clearly, I'm one of the idiots now. Next time, I'll make sure I do it inside... at least until I figure out how to control it. That way, I won't need a Quidditch player coming to my rescue again." That last bit was accompanied by a grateful wink.