solo Highs and Lows Closed

They/She

The sky had clouded over and it was now almost dark on the pitch, but Pax had remained out there. There was nowhere else they wanted to be. They didn't want to see people.

Their broom lay next to them as they lay on the grass, staring up at the sky painted in streaks of midnight blue, stars scattered across the scene. On any other day, Pax would have been honoured to see something so beautiful in nature, but today was not any other day.

It was stupid. They knew it was stupid. But they couldn't help but want to punch a hole through a wall. Sitting upright, drawing their knees up to their chest, they rubbed their eyes to stop any tears from falling. That would be too far.

"Shit," they muttered under their breath, feeling tears fall down their cheeks. "God fucking damnit."

That was when Pax broke down.

The tears streamed down and now Pax made no attempt to stop them. Their sobs echoed in the empty arena and they cursed themselves over and over. Everything had been out of their control, and yet they still managed to find a way to blame themselves for it all. So consumed with their own sadness, Pax failed to hear the footsteps growing closer.

"This is a sorry state you've found yourself in."

A familiar face would sit in front of Pax, and they didn't need to look up to recognise the unbearable sarcasm of their brother, Nico.

"Piss off, would you?" they said, wiping the tears from their face frantically. "I don't need your BS right now."

Pax waited for Nico to sigh and leave. It was standard for him, after all. So it came as a surprise when he shuffled round to sit beside them. "So, are you going to talk, or am I going to have to force it out of you like normal?"

That earned him a small laugh from Pax. "It's just so shit," they began."Everyone was counting on me to captain Gryffindor to victory and I failed. Hugely."

"It wasn't so bad."

"Three hundred and sixty points difference, Nico. Three hundred and fricking sixty."

"Ok, so it's pretty shit. But you'll beat whoever you're up against next."

"Nico, that isn't the point." Pax sighed, rubbing their eyes. "The point is that I needed to prove that I wasn't too young and too naïve. That I could lead a team to victory- my team to victory- no matter what anyone else thought about my abilities. That I'm not useless..."

Pax raised their eyebrows as their brother rolled their eyes, sliding a little closer. "You're not useless. However much me and Jason may say it. It takes guts to captain a team as vicious as Gryffindor, and you're doing a pretty fricking good job so far. Yeah, you may not have won this game, but it doesn't mean you won't win others. New team dynamic and such, of course it's not going to go exactly how you'd like it. Besides, now you have an excuse to be even better next time. Not that you even needed one. It's not every day you see someone go out there and hit almost every single shot with a bludger, right?"

Though it was hard to extinguish in the dim light, Pax reddened with a small smile. Their brother only pulled out compliments for their absolute worst days. "I suppose I didn't do too bad."

"No you did not, you did great. Now, get your shit together and get inside before you catch a fricking cold in this weather. I don't need Mum screaming at me because you couldn't take care of yourself."

With a laugh, Pax wiped the remaining tears from their face, though most of them had dried by now. "And you had me thinking you actually cared about me for once."

"Don't get used to it." Nico rose to his feet, offering them a hand up, but Pax shook their head lightly. "Give me a sec."

"If you're staying out here to actually catch a cold, I swear-"

Pax laughed. It felt like the first in a while. "Jeez, Nico, I'm not that stupid. Just give me a second, I'll be there soon. Promise."

With a tart nod, Pax watched their brother walk out of the pitch. With a sigh, they cast one more glance up at the sky. It really was a beautiful view.

Reducio

Word Count: 740

Mention: n/a

Date: October 14th 2022