Closed Sticks With Hay PV Illowy

It should have been a quiet afternoon. Then again, its never quiet at Hogwarts. All the chittering of students and the patters of shoes echoing through the great stone corridors; one should never try to expect actual quiet. However, it all had, eventually, become white noise in its own special way that even a hermit like herself missed when she was away from the school. Already, she wondered how in the world she was going to cope knowing that when she finally left these halls, she'd never return to all the mindless noise that she'd grown so fond of. Once upon a time, she itched to know actual quiet and solitude like she'd known at home, but now the opposite was true. Holidays home were never short enough now, and it never felt like too soon to return to the castle that felt like her actual home.

It should have been a quiet afternoon as she started back towards the Slytherin Common Room now that classes were finished for the day. Yet, she found herself amused as she watched a familiar First Year from one of the commonways make her way out to the grounds with her broom, looking pensive at best. She wasn't entirely sure what it was about this particular First Year that piqued her interest so much. After all, they'd shared barely a proper conversation on a train, and they weren't even in the same house, but she couldn't help being reminded of herself in the girl. Something about that stoic, aloof exterior that Illowy wondered was only a protective armor, akin to her own.

Against her better instinct, Illowy made to retrieve her own broom; well, it wasn't really her's, it was her cousin's, but that was another story entirely that she did better not to think on too long. Regardless, battered Nimbus 2001 in hand, Illowy found the girl down on the grounds, mounted and ready for take off. Sort of. The child seemed frozen stiff in her stance. If Illowy didn't know better, she'd think the girl was some sort of strange statue, "Your feet are still on the ground, Eglet." she observed, her tone flat and objective; devoid of judgment, or any other emotion for that matter. Though well hidden inside, she was a little amused.

There had been a time one couldn't pay her to willinging mount a broom outside of class. Even inside of class, she was deeply reluctant and rarely rose more then a few feet off the ground on a good day; and not without shaking like a leaf and gripping the broom white-knuckled the entire time. It wasn't until Fifth Year she'd gotten over it.

Avis hadn't noticed the older girl arrive and jumped at the sound of her voice. "Your feet are still on the ground, Eglet." Though Avis tried not to let it, a short laugh escaped. It wasn't that funny, and she didn't even know what Eglet meant, but its monotone sound was so like Avis. She could just see herself saying that to a kid when she was older. Then, of course, she glared at the girl. After all, a laugh and a smile were much too much to give to one person.

She recognized the girl from the train. She had defended her, so Avis softened her glare to a simple stare to show her immense appreciation. She really hoped the girl wasn't here to mock her for the failure to fly, that would be highly disappointing, not to mention embarrassing. Avis scanned her surroundings, looking for the best places to quickly escape to if the girl became hostile.


"Yeah, they do seem to be, don't they? Someone should really give my feet a scolding, they don't like to listen." She dismounted her broom quickly, as sitting on a broom was certainly not a good defense pose, and folded her arms across her chest. There is an interesting fact actually, that crossing your arms is less of a defense position, instead is a way to comfort oneself. Avis chose to ignore that fact.

The older girl was carrying a broom. Wonderful. Maybe she could show Avis all the possibilities for students not afraid of flying a broom. Not that Avis was afraid, of course, just...well...She just wasn't.

@Illowy Magnard

It took quite a measure of self control to keep her face neutral as the girl quickly hid her initial outburst behind a glare directed straight at Illowy; and even that only seemed to last a moment. Then the girl dismounted, commenting about her disobedient feet refusing to leave the ground. The girl seemed ready to abandon her endevor entirely as she crossed her arms over herself.

Illowy considered the sight for a moment before looking at her own broom, contemplating her approach under a plethora of assumptions she was steadily building about the Ravenclaw before her, "Its a ridiculous class, isn't it? Flying. Truly, the worst means of transportation I can personally imagine. But I must admit, sometimes it is handy in a pinch." she mused casually, "When I started here, it nearly took a divine miracle to get me to even mount a broom. Its never been my strongest subject; that was always my cousin's talent. He literally flew circles around me; even upside-down."

The older girl went on talking casually as she laid the broom in the grass, "I tried everything to get over it, but I could never bring myself to go very high. Not that I'm afraid of heights. That's a silly thing to fear, don't you agree?" she asked, passing a casual glance for a moment, "After all, heights can't hurt you. Now falling; that's another story. Falling is quite scary."

Illowy then took the typical position they learned in flying class, even if it wasn't totally necessary for herself anymore, and raised her hand over the broomshaft, "It took being afraid of something worse for me to get over the fear, if I'm being honest; but I doubt you'd need such a thing, right? After all, you aren't afraid; just your feet." her attention then turned to the broom at her feet, "Up." she commanded, the broom lifting effortlessly into her hand as she mounted.

She then offered her hand, "Come along." she coaxed, still maintaining a neutral, matter-of-fact voice, "Perhaps with a more practiced person, your feet will learn they will come back to earth just fine." her train of thought was that perhaps the girl had never even been on a broom ride before. If that were the case, it only made sense she'd be uneasy about it. Especially if you're only use to seeing other First Years jerking about, or Quidditch players zooming like they'd been doing it their entire lives.

...Its never been my strongest subject; that was always my cousin's talent. He literally flew circles around me; even upside-down." Avis shied away at just the thought of it. Upside down? That was a terrible idea. She stole a glance at her broom. You would be on the broom purely by your grip strength, which was something Avis had little of.

After all, heights can't hurt you. Now falling; that's another story. Falling is quite scary." Yeah, falling could hurt. Falling could really hurt, and not just physically. Avis knew that. But it wasn't the falling necessarily. "It's not the falling that's scary, it's the ground after the fall. Not that I'm scared." She matched the older girl's neutral tone as best she could, though a small tremor of fear crept its way in, and she pulled her cloak tighter around her, her heart racing.

"After all, you aren't afraid; just your feet." Avis snickered. That had to be sarcasm. It was true, of course, but entertaining nonetheless. Her feet were indeed afraid of leaving the ground. Her snickering calmed her racing heart a bit. After all, laughing at someone else makes it quite difficult to be scared.

She crossed over to the offered hand and gave a stoically masked nod of appreciation. She didn't think it would work, but if it could...if she could get over this stupid fear that she didn't have, then maybe she wouldn't feel quite so stupid either.

A small smile played at Illowy's lips as the younger girl commented that it was the ground that was scary, not the physical falling part, "That's a fair assessment." she agreed with a short nod.

When the girl agreed to take her hand, Illowy guided her gently to mount the broom behind her, taking care to maintain a plain and neutral expression, "Now, just put your arms around my waist and hold onto me. As tight as you need to." she instructed, not that the planned on doing anything terribly intense with such a timid rider.

Once Avis would settle herself securely, Illowy turned her attention to the task at hand, "If it gets too much, you tell me." she added before leading her broom to rise slowly until their feet were just off the ground and let themselves hover there a moment, trying to gauge Avis' comfort level, "We're going to move now." she informed, starting forward around the grounds at an easy speed; hardly faster then what would be considered a brisk walk.

After a minute or two, Illowy checked in again, "Are we still alright?" she asked, "Are we ready for higher, faster, slower, stop; what do we think?"

Avis nervously mounted the broom behind the older girl and latched her arms around her waist. Her eyes were open for now, but they would latch shut as soon as the Illowy hovered. When the broom started to move, she buried her head in the older girl's shoulder. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Her heart was beating so fast she was sure the older girl could feel it. As the girl continued to slowly fly about the grounds, though, her heart began to slow, and she risked a peek. Crazily enough, it was still the courtyard, nothing exciting. She was happy, however, not to see the ground flying at her. Keeping her death grip on Illowy, she began to look around a little bit.
"Are we ready for higher, faster, slower, stop; what do we think?" Avis startled. No no no she was absolutely not ready to go higher, this was plenty high enough. No need to add consequences for a fall. More people died from horses than lions each year, and that was because people fell off of them. But faster? The ground wouldn't be any further away, it wouldn't hurt that much more. So through gritted teeth, she hesitantly muttered to the older girl. "Faster?" Don't go much faster though, she wished. She could only handle so much.

Illowy chose not to comment on how tightly the younger girl clung to her, hiding her face in the Seventh Year's shoulder like a boggart was on their tail. Not that she'd say anything. Once upon a time, she'd also had a death grip on a peer who saved her from a rogue broom; so to tease the other would be hypocrisy. Just as well, should she have felt a shudder of breath or the girl's heart practically pounding against her spine, she'd deny notice.

When the girl murmured they could try faster, Illowy would oblige. Only slighter faster, like an easy jog. Here and there, they made some soft turns, "Alright, we're going to try something a little more." she warned calmly before smoothly taking her right hand from the broom shaft and reaching directly behind her as though to support the underclassman, "We're going to try a sharper turn. You'll have to trust me that I won't let anything bad happen. Just lean when I do."

Maintaining their pace, trying to stay hyperaware of her passenger for the sake of making sure Avis didn't panic and risk both of them falling, Illowy waited for confirmation before she'd follow through with the turn. If it came, Illowy would lead the pair into a slightly sharper turn, only tilting their weight about 60 degrees to the right until the turn was complete and return them to their original position, "How was that?" she'd ask.

"Alright, we're going to try something a little more." Avis sucked in a breath and instinctively her grip tightened, but the hand that reached behind gave her a bite of confidence, as though it was a railing keeping her on. She found herself leaning a little bit towards it, a little bit towards the safety it offered, whether or not Illowy realized it, giving a barely perceptibale whisper of confirmation.

She tried to trust the older girl, she really did, but she had learned long ago that trusting people was a sure way to get betrayed, and combine with her ever gripping fear of flying, she squeezed her eyes tight once again as Illowy pulled them into a turn. Avis almost shrieked as they leaned sideways, only her fear of judgement kept the fear barely reined it. She didn't lean. Her body wouldn't allow her to. Only her tight grip on Illowy pulled her sideways with the older girl and leaning into the turn.

Once the turn was over, however, Avis opened her eyes, and her grip instinctively lightenen, though Avis didn't notice, and if pointed out, would resume her iron grip. Turning really was the scariest part, having nothing to shelter you from the ground, and looking back on it, it became a bit less frightening. Plus, the turn made normal flying a bit less scary.

"How was that?" The small amount of fear having exited Avis' mind made room for a snippet of sarcasm. "Well I might as well join a quidditch team now."

Avis would continue to take deep breaths, and give permission to where ever Illowy took her, but a nagging voice in the back of her mind reminded her that it would all be different once she was on her own broom.

As they came out of the turn, Illowy smiled faintly to herself feeling the girl's grip on her lighten and some of the tension falling from the other's body against her back. After checking in again, she was met with a small bite of sarcasm, which only told Illowy that she was at least doing a decent job trying to coax the fear from the younger girl, "Maybe next season." she quipped back, "Ravenclaw might need a new Seeker by then."

Illowy guided the broom this way and that, occasionally leaning them in again to similarly done sharp turns before pulling the broom to a halt and bringing their feet back to the ground, "Alright. I think you've got the feel." she decided. Perhaps now she could encourage the girl further. After all, she wasn't going to be able to simply ride behind another person during flying class and depend on them to do all the work. Though even she had to admit, it might be too big of a step for the Eglet yet, but there was no harm in trying, "Now, how about you take the front seat? Still slow and low to the ground." she suggested, adding on, "I'll still have control of the broom from behind."

A beat later, she alternatively proposed, "Or, I can stay in front and we can go a little higher." that seemed a fair compromise. Of course, there was always the third, unspoken, option of stopping altogether for the day if that was Avis' choice. Illowy wasn't going to pressure her in any direction for something the child didn't feel ready for.