[Lawns] Going for a fly want to come

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie stared at her pride and joy a sliver arrow. She had been given to her by Ian. Ian had already left and gave her the broom and told her to take his place on the house team if she could. She had. She smiled thinking about the last game. She needed to get flying she would go down the grounds.

She stood up and grabbed her broom. She headed down the staris to the common room where lots where people doing what you did in a common room. Some people called to her. She just waved in answer.

Heading down the staris. She thought about the wind in her hair. The way it felt to be off the ground. She had loved fly sence she was little, when her father used to bring her.

She had reached the grounds. She kicked off from the ground. This was freedom. She looked over the lake and smiled. She could do this all day. Her hair was flying behind her. She felt there was nothing better to do.

[Alice Simmons]

Alice was making her way back from her Brothers hut when she swore she saw something move in the sky. This should not have been too disturbing for the little Hufflepuff as there were many birds that would play around in the skies around them, but this was distinctively bigger and defiantly not a bird. Normal Alice would shrug this kind of thing off and walk back to the Common room to have a game of exploding snap with Marcus and Sam, but today she stopped and watched.

Her mouth was hanging open slightly, one hand on her hip and the other placed just above her eyes protecting them from the glare of the summer sun. It was more then just mere curiosity that spurred Alice to stay glued to that particular patch of grass but more amazement that someone was flying around the grounds when there was a perfectly fine Quidditch pitch only a few meters away.

“Ain’t it against the rules to fly around the grounds?” The Hufflepuff shouted up at the mysterious figure and although she had no clue what the school rules where (did anyone for that matter) in her mind it did not make much sense, but then when did things ever make sense to Alice?

[Sarie Thimble]

“Ain’t it against the rules to fly around the grounds?” Sarie heard some one call up to her. She dived down and landed lightly. She saw a girl about her age. She saw her uniform. She was Hufflepuff. Sarie smiled. "No you can fly on the grounds, just not at night,I think. I was never told you couldn't." She inspected the girl. " Your in some of my classes. Whats your name. You're a second year right?" Sarie thought she was small she was at least three inches taller than this girl.

[Alice Simmons]

The girl on the broom slowly descended and landed next to her, making it look very effortless, landing was still something that Alice had not got the hang on yet. She would either come down to quickly and end up hurting herself or go so slowly that it made a snail look fast. Trying to ignore this small fact for the moment in time the Hufflepuff turned her attention back to the Gryffindor (she could not make out the badge on the girls robes) and listened to the string of questions that was fired at her.

“Oh, yes, Alice and yes.” The small Hufflepuff offered the Gryffindor a rather toothy grin as she tried to keep a straight face. She had answered all the questions that had been thrown at her but in a rather concise way. To anyone listening into the conversation they would have thought that the Hufflepuff had lost it, in fact she was rather worried she would lose the Gryffindor as well so thought she might as well expand on a few of the questions asked. “Am Alice Simmons, second year Hufflepuff and me step bro Dax is the grounds man.”

That was the small fact she always liked to throw in, it was almost her form of a safety blanket as she tried to protect herself from any nasty incidents. This however had failed on many occasions, her last lesson being one of them, but then this Gryffindor did not seem to be as aggressive as the seventh year Slytherin…but then looks can be deceptive.

"Who are you then?" Alice asked rather bluntly. "Here...ain't you that quiet one in lesson who just gets on wif fings? Ya last name starts wif a T right?"

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie smiled. "Sarie Thimble, Dax is your step brother cool I like Dax." Sarie help Dax find things in forest. Once he had saved from demetors "Whats a wif fings then? Yeah I'm kinda of quiet."

[Alice Simmons]

When the Gryffindor said her name Alice nodded her head in agreement, a small smug smile on her face for the fact she had got part of it right, her last name had begun with a T. However the Hufflepuff went on to be surprised even more then the Gryffindor admitted to knowing Dax and how ’cool’ he was. Alice always thought it was only her who saw her brother as this amazing guy and although she would alerter stories about him to make him seem even more amazing she loved him to death even when he was a stuttering fool.

Sarie defiantly seemed nice, if a bit naive for Alice’s liking. The little Hufflepuff was a very strong willed person and when the Gryffindor asked about what a ’wif fings’ was Alice could not help but laugh. Dax would always tease her about her accent being so strong but she never thought anyone would not be able to understand her, this thought made her blush slightly.

“Wif fings.” Alice repeated in her normal manor before putting on a rather fake and posh British accent to make it more understandable. “With things...you just get on with whatever is set without complain.” The accent slipped and Alice stood looking at Sarie grinning wildly. “Sorry about that, me accent can get some people confused, but it ain’t that bad once ya get use to it.”

[Sarie Thimble]

"That's okay. Lots of my friends have accents. I guess I do get on wif fings when a teacher tells me too." Sarie had never seen it that way. She like doing most of the in class. She read about magic at home when she was younger and she couldn't wait to go to school. She didn't know that seem like the quiet type she had seen herself as the rather loud type.

[Marcus Conway]

Marcus has been left on his own all afternoon. Alice had gone to visit Dax and Sam had gone to the library to do some sort of research. Marcus, knowing that he had another three inches left of his Transfiguration essay, told Alice that he would have to stay in and if she had not come back to the common room before he had done he would join her - all three knew that Sam would be in the library till dinner time. Marcus had finished his essay ... though he had gone a few inches over what he had needed to and jumped up immediately to go join Alice and Dax.

Over the past two years, where Alice, Sam and Marcus had become friends they had often gone to visit Alice's step brother and Marcus really enjoyed their visits. Dax was different to the other adults around the castle and he was different to the other siblings Marcus had met. Well, to be honest, Dax was the only sibling of a friend he had met. Sam's siblings weren't at Hogwarts and his own was a nasty piece of work ... even though she had been being nice to him recently, something that worried him slightly.

Never the less, Dax was still great to visit and Marcus was a little upset that he might have missed it. So he ran, as fast as his legs would carry him. He ran up the stairs, through the Entrance Hall and out of the castle. Down the lawn, towards Dax's hut but right in front of him was the very person he had been looking for. Alice was standing right in his path with a Gryffindor who was holding a broom.

Marcus had to stop somehow but he was going too fast and Alice was already too close. He ran into her, grabbing her arms, and the two went rolling down the hill together. Marcus was worried the whole way about his glasses and he shut his eyes tightly.

[Alice Simmons]

Alice grinned at the Gryffindor as she copied her accent and told her that it was not how she saw herself. With a small shrug Alice thought about all the lessons they had shared together and how Sarie was always there and would contribute but she was normally the only one to get on with the work.

“Well I guess you don’t moan about stuff…” the Hufflepuff shrugged yet again and stuck her hands deep into her trouser pockets. “Best way for it ain’t it. Keep ya mouth shut and just do the work.”

That is what her Dad had always told her anyway, it was best to focus on your own thing then bother about everyone else around you. Anyway as a Hufflepuff Alice prided herself on the fact that she was unafraid to work hard to get the grades she needed, she may not have been the sharpest tool in the box but if she tried she could get just as good grades as the Ravenclaw’s in her year.

It would have been most likely that Alice would have raised this point in the conversation had it not been for something moving in the distance. With a puzzled gaze she looked around and Alice would not be able to mistake that red haired boy in a million years. A wide grin spread across her face, although this slowly faded as she noticed that he was getting closer all the time…but not slowing down. She started to wave her hands around at first as if she was signalling a aeroplane to land in hope that he would spot them and stop, but it was too late and before Alice knew it the two Hufflepuff’s were tumbling down the hill together.

Surprising or not Alice was laughing as they rolled down, and the small glimpses of Marcus she caught showed him with his eyes tightly closed. Even when they came to a complete stop at the bottom of the bank and Alice continued to lay on the grass laughing so hard that her sides began to hurt.

“Ya ain’t the most elegant of people huh Marcus.” Alice giggled as she rolled onto her tummy to get a better look at her friend. “But ya know how to make an entrance.”

[Marcus Conway]

Marcus hated rollercoasters. It had always been his mother and father's treat to tae him and his sister to Alton Towers for a day. Naturally Amara loved this, relishing the chance to go to an amusement park and see her brother change colour - usually from his normal pale, to sheet white, to a sickly green. Marcus had never enjoyed it but his parents though it was such a treat he couldn't say anything; how could he? All this came to him as he rolled down the hill with Alice.

They came to a stop soon enough, though to Marcus it felt like they were still going as his head swirled and writhed with distaste for the treatment it had been getting. Marcus lay on his back for a moment as Alice laughed. Her laughter usually made him feel better but he simply couldn't bring himself to open his eyes. Alice's voice carried to his ears and still Marcus didn't open his eyes. He simply couldn't do it with his whole body still feeling like it was strapped to the floor for a pirate ship during a storm.

Despite his shrieking head, Marcus smiled at Alice's words. He couldn't help himself. Alice always made him smile, if not laugh, but for now it was just a smile. One hand moved limply to straighten his glasses, which were luckily not damaged during their tumble. Marcus couldn't believe he had actually been running that fast to carry them down the hill. Slowly, Marcus opened one eye a crack and looked up the hill, it still moving slightly. What a way they had come too!

Eventually, Marcus flopped his head to the other side so he could look at Alice through narrowed eyes. His long fringe flopped into his eyes. "Remind me," he said slowly, "never to do that again. Even if you got a laugh out of it." Marcus looked up at the sky. It was a sunny day, with a few scattered clouds that made funny shapes. There was one that looked like the kneazle in that one lesson of Prof O'Donnell's that they had to name.

"Look," Marcus said, pointing to the funnily shaped cloud, "that cloud looks like Charleston, Professor O'Donnell's kneazle." Marcus's eyes were still not open properly but he managed to roll his head towards Alice and to smile.

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie watched the two Hufflepuffs rolling in the grass. She leaned on her broom. "Hey nothing is broken right?" She knew that most likely not but just in case. "Alice who is this a friend of yours or does he randomly tackle people?"

She like this boy already. He had made life a guessing game. She walked down the hill with her broom over her shoulder. When she reached the hemp that was the badgers.

[Alice Simmons]

Alice was laughing so hard she swore she would just die here and then from not being able to breath, she always thought she would die of something random and laughter would have been high up on her list of deaths. She thought that she had calmed down enough to look at Marcus but as soon as she saw his deathly pale face she burst out into even more fits of laughter.

She was slightly relieved to see him move as for a moment she feared he had died in the tumble, broke his neck or something, but as he shakingly pushed his glasses up his nose and muttered something about not doing that sort of thing again, she actully realised that her imagination had once again jumped way too far ahead of its self and Marcus was still alive!

“Marcus?” Alice called out as she tried to control herself from giggling even more. “Never do that again!”

The little Hufflepuff began to chuckle again to herself and almost failed to hear Marcus compression of a cloud to a Kneazle. Her face screwed up and a frown lines spread across her forehead as she looked at the cloud in question. She could see where he got the idea from, but then Alice had not seen the Kneazle in person, that lesson she was in the Hospital wing with the flu, so this may have clouded her judgement ever so slightly.

She was about to correct Marcus and say how it looked more like a deformed owl when Sarie joined them at the bottom of the bank and asked about who Marcus was. It took a lot for her not to just say it was some random who needed mental help, but for once Alice Simmons told the truth straight off.

“Oh yeah! Sarie this is Marcus he is me best mate!” Alice sat up straight and looked up at the Gryffindor with a wide grin on her face. “So what were ya doin up in the sky Sarie…apart from flyin?”

[Sarie Thimble]

"Just flying and thinking." She said. Shrugging her shoulders. "It's nice to meet you Marcus." She reached out her hand to Marcus. "So you and Alice are close huh?" She looked up to the sky. "There's nothing like the wind in your hair to clear your head you know." She smiled.

[Marcus Conway]

When the other girl came down the hill to join them, Marcus didn't get up. He was quite happy on the ground where he was. It was, after all, very comfortable and he could see the clouds much better from where he was. It was a favourite pass time of the Hufflepuff's, to watch the clouds go by. It was especially fantastic when he had his friends with him and when he knew that he didn't have any more homework left and when the weather was good. How marvelous such times were.

Marcus heard his name come out of the overly used mouth of Alice and he stat up, looking at the two girls as they stood, talking. It was nice to see that Alice was getting along with other people, besides the two silly persons Samuel and he was. Sometimes Marcus wondered why she even hung out with them but it was probably the best thing for him because he didn't know where he would be without her.

Alice called the girl Sarie. Marcus thought it was an odd name, clearly not a British name like Marcus or Alice. His thoughts on this matter though were cut short by his glasses sliding down his nose again. It had been only a matter of time before they had done that as he had sat up so fast that they were bound to slide down. Marcus pushed them up, his eyes going squint as he watched his finger come closer and closer. That made him dizzy and he stopped, instead choosing to stare at a stone near Alice's foot.

Alice began talking to Sarie about flying and Marcus took the opportunity to stand up, brushing the grass off his robes. He didn't know how it was possible for him to be more of a disgraceful sight but he wasn't about to say that out loud: Alice was bound to find a way. Flying? Marcus wondered if that was what Sarie had been doing before Alice came along.

Raising his eyebrows at the same time as when he smiled, Marcus's eyes flicked to Saries. "Same," he muttered and quickly looked away. Strangers were not something Marcus did very well and he was certain Alice could tell that, if she didn't know it already, by how he was sort of hiding behind her, standing just behind her shoulder. Alice was at just the right height that he could quite comfortably look over his friend's shoulder if he needed too.

From his vantage point behind Alice, Marcus could safely whisper in Alice's ear. He couldn't resist. "Is she philosophising about hairstyles?" Marcus asked in a whisper, a half smile creeping onto his face.