She was so annoying!

“Nice as a bludger to the face maybe.” He muttered, giving her a nasty look as he caught his breath. It was too hot for this!

And he was so onto the innocent act. Acting all nice in front of her dad but deep down she was a feather brained brat with a superiority complex. Just proving his point with her bad attitude! “Nobody likes a bad sport Feathers!” He grinned, happily slipping into her spot as he fiddled with the ball.

He didn’t wait a second before throwing the ball past her shoulder, any complaints about him not giving her a chance to get ready would just be met with a smug shrug and grin. There were a few times she almost got it, Elsian had even needed to start getting a bit more creative with his throws, moving a bit to different sides when she crowded him or faking a throw just to make sure she couldn’t simply smack it down and grab it before he even had a chance. It was…kinda fun?

He booed good natured, teasing, when she ducked out, her dad taking her place. With a roll of the eyes he threw it towards the bird brain. Apparently she had no plans on actually playing nice though, it took no time for Elsian to end up getting out again when he fumbled with the ball, scrambling for it when she threw it off target on purpose. The Gryffindor threw a look at her when he went back to the middle. “You did that on purpose.” He accused. But either through luck, or her dad taking pity on the boy he actually got ahold of the ball rather quickly.

If she wanted a fight then he wasn’t gonna play fair either.

“Think fast!” He called, throwing the ball as hard as he could to the left of her. It probably looked like he was just trying to pull a fast one on her dad, throwing it as far as he could from the man when in reality he was just hoping it would start rolling downhill and force the girl to chase after it.

After a bit though it became painfully clear just how outmatched they were against her dad…

“No wait!” He scrambled for the ball on one of the throws she aimed a bit too far to the left, throwing himself to the side just as the ball began to roll downhill on the slight arch of the surrounding grass. Why did Sam's dad have such long legs? It totally wasn’t fair! His knees skid against the grass, and he tripped with a little yelp, hands fumbling to hug the ball to his chest right before her dad was able to grab it from him. He sighed in relief, flopping to the grass for a moment in triumph before slowly forcing himself to get back up, hair all messed up and bits of grass clinging to his clothes. “I got it!” And then almost like an afterthought, “what the heck feathers you almost let him win again!” he called out, hugging the ball protectively as he eyed the man, calculating, judging.

“You’re too tall.” He complained childishly, far more childishly than he cared to admit.

And then the moment the man's back was turned. The moment he was nice and gave Elsian an opening, with Elsi slowly walking back to his spot-

He threw a look at Sam, raising an eyebrow at her with a grin and threw the ball without so much as a word. An easy shot right past the man.

Samantha was only partly able to hear what words the boy muttered under his breath. Something about a bludger in his face? If he wanted, she would happily throw the basketball in his face, his annoying ugly face that couldn't stop talking. A little smirk appeared on her face when she imagined throwing the ball in the boy's face.

Almost immediately after the idiot had taken her place, he threw the ball, giving her no time to prepare. "Hey! I wasn't ready yet!" she snapped. The boy's only reaction was an unbothered shrug and a stupid smug. As the game progressed both Elsian and Samantha became more competitive, while her dad was taking it slow. The fully grown man didn't need to work very hard to catch and throw the basketball while keeping it away from the two kids. It was clear he enjoyed the game a lot, as a childish grin stayed on his face during the whole game.

After the boy accused her of purposely throwing the ball badly, she looked at him in shock. "I would never!" she told him, followed by a little evil smile.

Like the idiot Elsian was, he threw the ball way too much to her left. Either he was really bad at this game or he had done it on purpose. Samantha expected the first one. Hoping not to become the lummel, she quickly ran to the ball which was rolling further and further away from her. There was absolutely no way she was going to way this race from her dad but she still tried. For some reason, her dad took pity on her and allowed her to keep the ball. Once she picked up the ball from the ground she yelled over to Elsi: "WHY DID YOU DO THAT? ARE YOU AN IDIOT OR SOMETHING?"

After a dramatic save from the boy's side, he yelled back at her, something about her letting her dad win. She gasped dramatically, she would never let her dad win! Her dad had the habit to tease her every time he won something from her and the brunette wasn't willing to listen to his teasing during dinner that day. "Okay, from now on I will make sure he doesn't win!"

When Elsian complained about Samuel being too tall, the man let out a little laugh. "Am I too tall or are you too short?" he asked the boy, before gently patting him on the head. It seemed like Elsi had been working on a plan because as soon as her dad turned around, the boy threw the ball right past him. Samantha had already noticed Elsian's raised eyebrow and caught the ball perfectly. "Nice one, Elsian!" she told the boy proudly.

The dad:

Tibits Reducio Name: Samuel Salwis Age: 48 Eye color: blue Hair color: brown Length: 1.85m

Speech Reducio "English" "Dutch"

Outfit: Reducio

Faceclaim Reducio John Dallas

‘I wasn’t ready yet!’ He mouths back, irritatingly and with a wide smirk when her dads not looking. Served her right, she shouldn’t have been a brat at the start!

He snorted, shaking his head. “Liar.” He couldn’t help but laugh as she raced her dad, a sense of victory even when the man decided to take pity and let her grab it. Maybe because of how hard she’d raced on her tiny, stubby legs with how short she was. He remembered how horrible that had been when he was a 1st year up to 2nd year, but there was no mercy in his tiny shriveled heart. No no, he’d suffered, it was only right other kids suffered the struggles of being little shrimps in their first year or two.

Either way, it was sweet music to his ears as she raged. He smiled broadly, waiting for the next throw.

This was way more fun than he’d given the game credit.

“TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE FEATHER HEAD!” He threw back with a laugh.


From his spot he’d rolled his eyes, shaking the ball at her dramatics. Suuure she would. Elsian wasn’t quite willing to fall for that one again, they’d see if that little offer of truce against the greater foe of an adult's height would hold up for longer than one round. “Suuure you will.” He drawled out, but there wasn’t any heat to it. There was however, a bit after as his face flushed when her dad ruffled his hair and threw his own height in his face, lighthearted as it was said “I am not- '' Narrowing his eyes at the others back he willed down the small blush; that so wasn’t fair! He’d finally hit a growth spurt at the end of 2nd year, he hadn’t had to deal with anyone calling him short since then and now found he still was sore about it a year later.

He scoffed, only half serious and good natured. “I am not short.” He grumbled, floundering a bit after throwing the ball with a dramatic huff of his own, not even able to fully appreciate the irony of Sam's compliment as he defended his honor. “You-! You’re just a giant.”

And he definitely wasn’t pouting. Nope. Not even a little.

The game was getting more and more heated and so was Samantha. The warm summer sun and physical activity didn't go too well together. It had been way easier to deal with the heat when she was just throwing a basketball in the air and letting gravity do its work bringing it down. Even throwing the shoes into the tree, climbing into it, and falling out of the tree had been easier. Eating the ice cream had been fun, despite all the banter from Elsian. A few strings of her long dark hair had escaped the elastic that tied the hair in a low ponytail and were partly blocking her view. With the back of her hand, she wiped away the sweat that had formed on her forehead and removed the pieces of hair from her eyes.

Apparently, her father had noticed that she started struggling as she heard his voice. "Are you okay, Sammie?" he asked her with a caring tone in his calm voice. "Yeah, I am fine," she replied shortly. Her fast-moving chest from the quick breaths, the sweat forming on her forehead, and the exhausted look on her face told a different story. Admitting she was worn out would mean a win for the annoying boy across from her and she couldn't have that.

When the boy reminded her it took one to know one, the brunette couldn't suppress the little smile that lit up her face. The guy was pretty funny. Maybe he wasn't too bad after all. No, she reminded herself, he had done terrible things! She couldn't like him. He was supposed to be her enemy, somebody she glared at in the hallways. Somebody she gossiped about with her friends and they could laugh about. He deserved that. During their first meeting, she had just tried to protect herself from his horrible pet. For the young girl, it was impossible to understand how her dad could fancy such an awful monster. Admittingly, her father wasn't aware of the trauma Samantha had endured during her first year at Hogwarts, as the girl had cleverly kept it a secret.

Her previous white socks were covered in dirt, while her shoes lay next to the bench, far away from their owner, who was running around after a basketball. The fighting between the two kids had become more lighthearted as the day progressed. Not so long ago they had been blissfully unaware of the other's presence and now Samantha was cheering for Elsi. "Compared to you I am definitely a giant," her dad told Elsian with a big grin.

The dad:

Tibits Reducio Name: Samuel Salwis Age: 48 Eye color: blue Hair color: brown Length: 1.85m

Speech Reducio "English" "Dutch"

Outfit: Reducio

Faceclaim Reducio John Dallas

Competitive. Smug. The pure venom that’d originally been pooling between the 2 giving into something…less horrible. Bickering shot back at light speed, all sarcasm and smug grins at getting the other out just as quickly turning into yells and very bad encouragement in the form of insults in what was possibly some of the worst teamwork ever.

“Oh so you’re just bad at the game?” He shot back with an innocent look. It curled into something sharper and superior, “oh it all makes sense now!” He teased.

The mock innocent look returned as she raced for the ball in a fury, but you could practically see the stolen halo melting into a pair of devil horns when she began yelling at him. “My hand slipped,” he lied boldly with a grin, “just has a mind of its own the ball does!” Obviously he was full of it. But it was just so fun to mess with her! Granted it seemed they would need to finally put aside their differences to fully compete against her dad. Giant that he was…

This was fun, today had been fun, and it hadn’t been long before the yells and fighting had fully melted into the 2 cheering each other on and friendly jeering as they finally, fully teamed up against her dad. But even kids had limits and Elsian was slowly beginning to find his as the lingering heat slowly cooled with the sun beginning to set. Somewhere along the line he’d ended up with grass stains and dirt covering the knees of his pants, shoes covered in dirt and marks from his tumble down the tree with feathers earlier, and now? Well he was pretty sure there was a twig or two stuck in his hair with the leaves from where he’d tumbled down the hill and into some bushes in a brutal last ditch attempt to keep the ball from Feathers dad after they’d messed up.

Said ball was protectively tucked into his arms, shoved against his chest where he’d flopped onto the ground after dragging himself from the bushes. “Can that count as us winning?” He asked whined from his sprawl on the ground.

He was dying. Perishing. Tired, so so tired…

And a little hungry.

But that was less surprising when you thought about how much they’d been running around. “I don’t think I can take fighting another bush for the ball again...”

For some reason, the boy seemed less horrible than before. Of course, she still didn't like him. His pet tried to kill him, what did he expect?! The young girl still remembered how terrified she was when she spotted the spider in the owlery. The only thing she had tried to do was protect herself from the horrible pet and the annoying boy had disarmed her. But that was a while ago, maybe he wasn't so bad after all. Well, he was clearly bad at this game but that was okay. That just meant it was easier for her to win.

"I am not bad at this game!" she screamed back childishly. "You are bad at this game!" she stared at the innocent look on Elsian's face. Her voice carried a joking tone and in her eyes, a small sparkle could be found. It felt more like friendly bickering than real fighting, something they had done before. Honestly, the only thing they had been to each other was rude, so this was a very interesting turn of events.

Giggling softly, she watched as the older boy hugged the basketball while laying dead on the grass. Her father was closer to the boy and towered over him as he checked up on the kid. "Are you okay?" he asked with a soft grin. "Are you ready to surrender and admit I won this game?" As the Ravenclaw watched the two others, she couldn't help but feel a little left out. As fast as her little feet could carry her, she made her way over to her dad and Elsian. She was just in time to hear the wand thief complain about fighting a bush and couldn't help but smile.

"Seems like you are giving up," she commented, extremely satisfied with herself. "It does seem like that," her dad agreed with a grin. As she looked up at him, their eyes locked and she could see the mischievous look in her father's eyes. Without saying anything, she knew that her dad wouldn't let Elsian off the hook easily. "I guess we won, Sammy!" he said cheerfully. "Yeah, I don't think he can get up anymore. He seems pretty dead," she commented. "Maybe we should just leave him here. That way he has some time to process his defeat." Samantha nodded in agreement, "Sounds like a plan!" she added jokingly.

It wasn't something she would admit, but she was pretty exhausted as well. She sat down next to Elsi on the grass, not caring about getting her clothes dirty. Slightly tilting her head, her eyes narrowed, as she inspected the boy. "Are you alive?" she asked in a sing-song voice. As she was questioning him, she softly poked him in his side, trying to get a reaction.

"Also, papa?" she turned to the grown-up who was still standing beside the kids. When looking at him closely, it was clear that he was out of breath as well. Not that Samantha noticed that, she was way too occupied with her own thoughts. "I am hungry, when are we eating? What are we going to eat?" she was quiet for a second. "Can we have pizza? I want pizza," she added. Before her dad could even react, the girl was already trying to find her shoes.

The dad:

Tibits Reducio Name: Samuel Salwis Age: 48 Eye color: blue Hair color: brown Length: 1.85m

Speech Reducio "English" "Dutch"

Outfit: Reducio

Faceclaim Reducio John Dallas

He was actually pretty sure they were both terrible at this game. He’d already long accepted the natural order of things, mainly him at the bottom of the food chain if for whatever reason it came to blows between fighting a dragon, outrunning a dragon, or just letting the dragon eat him for a quick death.

Because at the end of the day there was a good chance he’d pick option 3.

Which should have hinted at how this game would inevitably end. The problem was Feather 4 Brains over there obviously couldn’t understand the natural order of things. Like her dad being a giant in disguise. And how their mediocre teamwork could only last so long as the heat made the boy practically wilt underneath the strain of…exercise.

It was diabolical really.

So even as the youngers of the two Hogwarts student's dad leaned over Elsians poor, prone form…well it was a testament to how ready he was to nap then and there when all he did was attempt a weak throw of the ball in the general direction of feathers and glower at the girl's dad from his spot on the semi cool grass. “You cheated,” he grumped without much heat, “with your stupidly tall tallness.” Yes, that ought to show the man.

And he was dead.

How dare they talk ill of a dead man right over his own grave?

The slander. The nerve of some people!

“I’ll haunt you,” he mumbled to himself as they chatted, “hide all your spoons.”

He huffed, giving a haughty look at the other, or as haughty as one could one collapsed on the ground. Hands neatly crossed over his chest like an odd mix between an old person and a vampire from a cheap muggle horror film. “No, I’m in the process of decaying.” He sassed, making a tired swipe at her fingers.

And hungry. Kinda.

He was hungry and in the process of dying.

And…he stared at the sky tiredly, Salwis’s words reminding him of his own plans for later. It was getting later, late enough he should probably head back to that restaurant, diner or whatever it was called to order some food and eat before his parents met up with him.

With a groan, he sat up, gathering what little willpower he had to drag himself to his feet.

“I have to go,” he began slowly. Wincing as he tugged a stray stick outta his hair in his attempts to dust the leaves from his head thanks to the tumble in the bushes. “And hopefully meet with my parents at the diner down the street,” he mumbled more to himself as if a reminder than anything. Hopefully they didn’t lose track of time too badly.

But he had manners. Kinda. So he wasn’t about to leave without saying his goodbyes and thank yous. He wasn’t a monster after all.

“It was nice to meet you. And thank you for the ice cream,” he offered to Sam's father with a small grin. He…didn’t really know what to say to the feather head, but this hadn’t been the worst. It’d actually been…fun?

“Bye feathers,” he settled on with a wave towards Samant- Salwis, “see you at school.” A safe bet. They still had to pretend that they hadn't been at each other's throats all year and ready to hex the other into next week at the 1st opportunity.

When the boy accused him of cheating, Samantha's father acted extremely offended. "I just have good genes," he said as he performed a fake her flip. His hair was way too short to actually flip it, but he always found it funny to do. Especially because Samantha's older sister had had a period in which she did it a lot. It had become a running joke in the family, but in that moment the young girl was just embarrassed by her father. "You being short is your own problem," he said teasingly. "Maybe eating your vegetables will help."

Her blue eyes scanned the boy she had hated so much. It seemed like he was slowly dying. The exhausted look on his face made her giggle, despite knowing she wasn't looking much better. Sweat was dripping of her face and she was desperately trying to catch her breath. "Just the process of decaying? I think you already did, you look awful!" Maybe he wasn't too bad.

"Hopefully?" Samantha's father asked worried as the boy seemed unsure if he would or wouldn't meet with his parents for dinner. "You can also join us and eat some pizza with us?" he proposed, much to the dislike of his daughter. She had just survived a whole afternoon with the wand thief and now her dad invited him for dinner?? At least, they were eating pizza. "I would want your parents' to make sure Samantha got some food as well if she was hungry, it is no big deal," her father insisted. He gave the boy a questioning look to check if he wanted to join them for dinner. Samantha couldn't help but to roll her eyes.

The dad:

Tibits Reducio Name: Samuel Salwis Age: 48 Eye color: blue Hair color: brown Length: 1.85m

Speech Reducio "English" "Dutch"

Outfit: Reducio

Faceclaim Reducio John Dallas