An Urge To Fly PV River Closed

Tired grey eyes graced slowly over the last page of the blue-binded book in River’s hands. She’d been sitting in the library for too long, and at this point none of what she read would actually stick in her head. The words simply moved across the pages like a running river and made the text unreadable. The young ravenclaw let out a yawn as she snapped her book shut and carefully placed it in her bag. She knew she needed to get through it in two days, but it was unbelievable how slow the reading was going. And she had never had any issues getting through books previously. River would sit hours upon hours in her father's old library back at home, and finish book after book. There was just something about potions that didn’t work well with her.
Some fresh air is probably what I need, she thought as she quickly walked out of the library doors.

The strap of her green bag hung over her shoulder, containing all her necessary school supplies for the day. It’s not like she was finished yet, but doing work outside when the weather is nice will always be superior to sitting huddled up inside all day.
And indeed, today was a nice day to be outside. Well, at least for most people. The sun was out, which for River, would be a bit of an inconvenience. She stopped right inside of the castle doors, second guessing if she should go outside after all. Or at least go back inside for some sunscreen? She shook her head and stepped onward. It’s not like she would have a lot of skin showing enough to burn anyway. At least she hoped so. She was, as usual, wearing a blue long sleeved jumper, well-worn denim pants and her untamed red curls covered her neck and head pretty well.

Going outside with no plan at all was River’s preferred way of leaving the castle. Just letting the grounds take her wherever.
Her eyes fell upon the training pitch. She’d gone there before to relax. And maybe there would be some people there to watch practice as well.
As she stepped onto the pitch she took a quick scan of the area. As far as she could see it was empty. She could feel her nose getting redder by the second, she’d need to sit down in some shade. And lucky enough for her there was a bench placed nicely in a spot shaded slightly. She walked over and laid down on the bench, her hair cascaded down to the ground below.
The redhead reached down and began scrambling through her bag, looking for the book she needed to finish. As she began reading, her eyes grew more and more heavy. Right as she was about to drop the book in her own face from falling asleep, she was startled awake by a shout.
”Reynolds takes off after the Snitch!”, someone had called out not to far from River’s spot. She jumped up and looked for the source. Finding it wasn’t difficult. Her eyes quickly landed on a small person, quickly running around the field, with what seemed to be a stick between his legs? River quickly rubbed her eyes. am I dreaming or something?
”Oh yeah! He’s got his eyes on it! He’s got his hand out. Yes! Reynold’s got it. He’s got the snitch! Slytherin Wins”, the person called out once more. River shook her head perhaps she’d wake up.
Letting her book drop to the ground, she got up from the bench and started walking toward the person. It looked to be a boy, a very small boy with brown shaggy hair. He seemed familiar, she believed she’d met this person somewhere before.
River approached carefully, «Ehm, hello?», she said, her eyebrows furrowed in curiosity.

River instinctively put her hands up as the boy was startled up from the ground by her voice. She was surprised he still had any energy left after all that zooming about as he hopped up-right. He gave her a wave, luckily not holding a grudge at all from her sneaking up on him accidentally. He remembered her name from their encounter in the library, and River was in this moment happy to have a good memory for remembering names too. “yeah, that’s me, and I do believe we’ve met earlier yes”, she said and smiled at Arlo.
What was she doing there? Her head was still recovering from the unintentional nap that had snuck up on her a couple seconds ago. “Oh, ehm, I was just heading down here to finish my book, but I think that plan has gone down the drain”, she said, as she tiredly rubbed her eyes trying to lighten them up a little. She definitely didn’t feel as tired anymore, it was probably a mix of the fresh air, the nap, and the sudden realisation that she was not alone here after all.
River glanced down to the stick he had just run around with. “I see you’ve been flying”, she said jokingly and looked back at the boy. She couldn’t remember seeing him at the quidditch games before, at least not as a player. “Have you thought about trying out for the quidditch teams?”, she asked him curiously. ”If you enjoy flying then it can be a whole lot of fun”. She thought back to the moment she decided to try out for the quidditch team. It took a lot of nerve out of her to actually go for it, but she hadn’t regretted it for a day after she did. Playing the matches were a whole different experience from watching a game. She hadn’t even touched a broom before her first flying lesson here at Hogwarts, and to begin with she hated flying. It came as a surprise to everyone that she even ended up on the team. Sure, only as second string, but that just took away some of the anxiety so she didn't mind.

River quickly rubbed her eyes, getting rid of some of the weight dragging her eyelids shut. Her cheeks turned a light red as the boy, Arlo, mentioned naps. He’d noticed she fell asleep, or perhaps he just went off the tired look on her face. Sleep had been hard to come by these past days. Thoughts had been keeping her up for hours upon hours into the night. And she enjoyed the time to think too, but usually regretted staying up so late the next morning. Well, it’s not like she made the decision to stay up meddling in her own thoughts, it just happened. More often lately too, than earlier. Must be because of everything that’s going on around Hogwarts. All the rumours and everything just swirled around her brain, and theories began popping up.
Apparently, Rivers question concerning quidditch contained a humorous feel, as Arlo burst into laughter. she hadn’t noticed the humor herself, so she figured it could also just be because of his own disbelief in the skills of flying. She smiled and let out somewhat of a forced giggle in an attempt to not stand there awkwardly. In the end it probably didn’t help.
“Yeah, I play for the house team”, she answered him. “You might not have noticed me though. I just play second string so I’m usually on the bench”, she explained. She hadn’t only been on the bench though. There had been some games where she’d played an actual match, from beginning to end. “So, whaddya been up to lately? You know… except from the obvious”, she asked and nodded to the stick he held in his hand with a slight grin. "Been reading any more of that... goldebook... language?", she asked, knowing very well she got the name wrong. There was no way she'd remember that strange name for that strange looking language.