A Lifting Experience Closed

“The world is dark, and light is precious.
Come closer, dear reader.
You must trust me.
I am telling you a story.”

Flight is... such a terrifying yet familiar concept. Memories of summertime spent laughing as brooms whisked above his head tickled at his thoughts as he overheard students chatting about a day out on the sticks. What is a mouse without his sword? A wizard without his wand? A boy without his broom?

Warren had finished his morning routine of gussying up his unruly blonde hair. A finger twirled a long strand of stark white hair on the left side of his head. Eyes narrowed at the reflection of the bathroom mirror, his glasses following the trail of milky white. Sighing, he quickly tucked the silver piece behind his ear, a small smile gracing his lips as he dropped from the tips of his toes back down to his soles. Unfortunately, Warren was an incredibly short first year! It made bathroom mirrors a bit of a hassle.

How else is he supposed to know if he looked a right mess or not?!

"Drats. Wish I was a tad taller. Would make this a hell've'a lot easier," he murmured to himself as he adjusted the large lens over his nose. With a flip of his robe and a slight adjustment to his tie, Warren wandered out of the bathrooms and out into a wide corridor. Today was the day he'd finally take on the task of flying without the pesky aid of his overly pushy older brothers. Today it was about him doing something on his own.

... or so he had hoped.

After finding Professor Barnaby as well as the rest of the ragtag group of various housed students, Warren quickly discovered that there would be no solo flying, but group efforts. A slight adjustment, but not a bad one. A friendly smile rose up as he busied himself with looking over the shoulders of taller students, his nose poked high in the air as he watched the Professor nestle a threat in his speech.

"How charming. Consider it a challenge, Professor," Warren mumbled mostly to himself. A daredevil was bound to rear his head, or perhaps he was standing front and center. The young boy no taller than a child took note that the students were beginning to spread out in their own little groups. A small bead of sweat dotted his temple as he tapped his chin a few times and took steps in two different directions. Left? Right? Those boys looked mean... Those girls didn't look exactly nice... Ah, they're all so much bigger than I.

His thoughts ran rampant, but he eventually calmed down and took a brief second to recollect his thoughts. Hands rose upward and then down, his thumb pressing into the opposite palm as a means of calming his nerves. Once settled, Warren raised two fingers and pressed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, his sights set on a pair of girls quietly engaging over a shared broom.

Thankfully his robe was a bit on the larger side. Two boots, heavy and slightly buckled for style, crunched on the grass as Warren approached both Abigail and Illowy. A hand rose upward in the air as a sort of wave before he clasped both hands behind his back. Teeth shined in a bright grin, and the petite Slytherin leaned forward eyeing the two taller girls with a curious lit in his bold green eyes. Softly, he asked, "Afternoon, ladies. Busy yourselves a group of three, perhaps? If not that's fine, but I'd rather not wrestle with the other boys over a broom. I'd surely lose and without a doubt never see the light of day again."

Propping his hands down on his hips, Warren tilted his head, the short strand of white hair peaking from his ear and ghosting along his cheek. Nodding, he points at the broom and offers a laugh, "When the chance arises, I'd love to give her a go! Each'a my brothers claim flying is the greatest thing since, well, since forever."

"How peculiar," Warren muttered to himself, his eyes tracing the outline of Abigail's bangs. What caught his careful eye, however, wasn't the stark snowy texture of her hair, but the vibrant pools of green that held an air of uncertainty. That vivid springy hue was one he knew all to well; he shared the color after all. Noting her nervous blossom of color on her pale cheeks, Warren merely winked and offered a small bow.

"Absolutely brilliant! You've eyes like mine! Should make us quite the pair in the future wouldn't you agree?" His smile grew tenfold as he waved his hands and chuckled. For a child of such a young age, Warren upheld a sophisticated lit to his words. Being raised around boys who were so much older than himself made for a vastly different learning experience. Especially when two of said brothers currently upheld a root in Ravenclaw.

Turning with his cheek pressed to his collar, Warren blinked a few times as he registered the boy that had grabbed a broom to the side of their group. Gasping, the boy reached up and held the rim of his glasses to adjust them, his eyes sparkling as he pointed a small finger at the broom in Finn's hand. With a low whistle he said, "Best listen to the Misses. Finn, was it? Pleasure to meet you, so on so forth, but please tell me you know how to ride this! It's a bit intense, innit?"

Jogging over, the smaller of the two boys reached over and tapped at the end of Finn's broom. Holding the end, Warren offered an incredibly friendly grin as he jostled it and patted the back of Finn's hand. Raising a curious brow, Warren nodded toward Illowy.

"Wizards of magnificent wands aspire together? A cheeky remodel of birds of a feather fly together. Should listen to your housemate lest we all find ourselves with grass in our teeth and a supper full of dirt," he chortled and clasped his hands together. A small glimmer of hope twinkled in his bright eyes as he turned to Illowy.

Urgently, he addressed her, "Fancy yourself a leader? I'm all ears! Oh, oh."

He paused briefly to kick out a boot, his robe dragging along the toe. His small hand pushed the peculiar strand of white behind his ear, and he grinned. "Warren Ronald Kirkland! Warren is fine, though, or War. Either or it's not a fuss for me. It's nice to officially meet the three of you and I hope we can work together to tackle this flying mumbo-jumbo, yes?"

Though he had seen Illowy meandering about the common space of the Slytherin lair, he had yet to properly introduce himself. He wouldn't be surprised if none of them had particularly seen him, either.

He was quite small. Like a mouse.

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Barnaby sighed, it sure was a timid bunch of students that had come. He let them talk among them self for a bit. But soon got impatient as this was turning into a tea party, not the practice session he had planed. Barnaby was not spending his day off watching children talk.

“About time to get on them brooms, don’tcha think children?” He puffed out some smoke from his cigar as he spoke, clapping his hands together to get the students attention. “The ones holding the brooms go first, two or three of you in the air at a time is fine, its a big courtyard.”

Barnaby crossed his arms, assessing the children, he had hoped he had gotten the fear of flying out of them already, but a couple of them seemed to still have reservations about going up in the air. “Don’t act like you haven’t seen a broom before, you lot know what to do. Why do you look like that Mister Valois? Don’t get stage fright, do like we have practiced in class already, mount your broom with both hands on the shaft, and kick off from the ground, make sure not to jump too high though, your feet should only be a few inches above the ground, we want to rise in the air by controlling the broom, not by jumping it higher.” Barnaby scratched his beard, a bit stunned he had to explain it to the students again. “When you get in the air its all about how you lean and position yourself, its all about confidence, let instinct kick in and move with the broom, not against it.”

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Truth be told, flying was a bit more than faith, trust, and pixie dust.

Small eyes narrowed onto the broomstick that Finn was sat upon. Go ahead and go why don't you, he thought to himself. What he wouldn't give to snatch a stick and free fly through the air like a true hellion! However, not everyone was on board with quickly taking up the mantel. Tilting his head, the young boy eyed Illowy curiously, but opted to leave her question as a rhetorical thought.

"Grass, dirt, bugs, the like; it's not so bad after a few mouthfuls," he cheered, a hand slapping at Finn's back as an encouraging 'go get 'em'. As the booming voice of the Professor called out toward their ragtag group of misfits, Warren whisked his head toward the towering man and pursed his lips. Pansies, are we, the boy thought curtly.

Raising his hand up in the air, Warren bowed toward the group of three in front of him and winked. He spoke with a grin, "Yes, yes, if we're talking experience then by all means allow me!"

Instead of trying to weasel the broom into his hands, the young blonde headed Slytherin took to using other methods of acquiring a stick of his own. There were several brooms yet to be grabbed, but limited as this wasn't a lesson but a nice day out. As Illowy began to order Finn around like a brainless squirrel, Warren busied himself by charging for a vacant broom yet to be jostled.

With an impish smirk flashed toward the shy and quiet Abigail, heavy boots dashed along wet grass. Warren flicked his wrist; a bubbled and long wand dropping down into his palm. Amidst his run he'd pass by a few chatting students who had yet to pick their groups, and took advantage of his tiny size by squeezing behind a large boy and flicking his wand at the broom in his line of sight. He was only a meter or two from his original group, but it was plenty space to snatch up the vacant flier.

Both hands snatched down onto the nose of the broom as he swung his leg up over the center of the stick. With a small start, Warren hopped up into the air like a bunny, a gleeful cackle following as he whisked upward before twirling and floating... upside down!

He was several feet above the ground, legs crossed, and his wand waving toward Finn, Abigail, and a sly smile sent to Illowy. Swinging from side to side quickly set him upright, and he kicked both feet out, the soles of his boots flashing the gaggle of students as he swung his fist in the air.

"Fancy that, Professor! A Kirkland who cannot fly is a dead Kirkland! Come on, now, up, up! What's a bit of air gonna do to ya', lad," Warren would address Finn as he bumbled about the air like a tiny bee. His flying was erratic, sharp turned, but the boy had a sense of balance to him that felt correct. He was by no means the best, or even good, but when a boy had so many older brothers that thought it was funny to drag him through the air on their brooms, well...

The sky certainly wasn't as scary as it used to be.

After a moment of twirling, Warren turned his broom upside down a second time. Legs locked, and he swung his arm under his head and bopped his palm at the back of Abigail's silvery white crown. Laughing, he smiled kindly toward the young Hufflepuff, "A bit of courage goes a long way don't you think? The air's perfect for an afternoon game. We should play toss the tie or something ridiculous! Maybe I should take off my shoe and we play with that! It'll be so much fun!"

Unfortunately, Warren was a boy full of energy, risky ideas, and bad timing.