[Courtyard] Such Great Heights

[Eliot Moss]

Eliot stared curiously out of one of the castle's tall windows. After wandering through a seemingly endless amount of corridors that entire afternoon, he had somehow found himself in one of Hogwarts' highest, most looming towers. The view he faced was simultaneously magnificent and terrifying, and as Eliot stared at the green lawns below him, a crooked smile slid onto his face.

Leaning over the ledge carefully, the Ravenclaw studied the numerous small dots scattered about the grounds as wind snapped at his robes and hair. It took him a minute to grasp his resolve, but soon enough Eliot was ducking out the window and taking slow steps over the ledge and onto the balcony.

As soon as his feet hit the floor, he glanced over the stone wall enclosing the tower and estimated how dangerous the fall would be. After a brief study of the drop, he quickly decided that falling was definitely not an option.

With that settled, Eliot looked behind him to make sure no one had entered the tower while he was occupied before holding his arm out in front of him and pulling back the sleeve of his robe. His lips quirked upwards roguishly as he stared at the words inked onto his arm while his other hand gripped his wand.

The spell he had been practicing was closely related to any normal levitation charm aside from one important fact. Its strength. Eliot had learned after thorough amounts of research that it was one of the prominent charms used on rugs to make them fly.

That information had ultimately led the Ravenclaw into believing he could easily assemble his own magic carpet, and convinced, Eliot inhaled sharply before all but shouting the words scripted elegantly onto his forearm at one of the rugs still snug inside the castle.

Magus Volaticus!

For almost a minute, the only movement around him was the skittering of rocks as they swiveled in the aggressive winds. Then, almost hesitantly, a bronze corner curled up and bristled for a moment, before the rest of the fabric followed suit.

Though his eyes danced with delight, Eliot received no time to congratulate his efforts. Not two seconds later, an enchanted rug was barreling toward him at a speed even a broom couldn't accomplish.

[Astrid Nash]

Astrid snorted awkwardly as she stirred from her dream, one where she had been flying high above Hogwarts on a strange, black cloud.

She rubbed the corners of her eyes and squinted sorely, glancing around the empty classroom as she recalled where she was. “Hello?” She murmured dryly, pushing herself into a sitting position. What had woken her? She had heard something strange, like a soft thump near her head, but all that lay there was the corner of the rug she lay on...

Swallowing thickly, Astrid climbed to her feet with difficulty, sweet wrappers and her copy of Witch Weekly tumbling onto the floor next to her. How long had she been asleep any—

Astrid lurched forward as the rug suddenly shifted, a pair of invisible hands pulling it out from underneath her feet.

But as one end curled up like a tongue, the whole thing thrusting off the stone floor with a strange exhale of air, Astrid knew whoever was trying to trip her up wasn’t even in the room. “Hang on a minute!” She exclaimed as one of the tasselled corners reared up like a cracked whip, catching her sharply as if in encouragement to take a seat – it had no intention of hanging on for even a second, and Astrid was coming with it apparently.

Across the classroom, the tall windows were shuddering against their clasps, the panes rattling impatiently with the same strange wind that had lifted the dusty carpet into the air. It was shuddering in anticipation and Astrid dived down onto her stomach, flattening herself out like a starfish. Two of the tassel corners curled up and offered Astrid something to hold onto – begrudgingly she accepted.

“Oh, how thoughtful of you.” She mumbled flatly before tightly closing her eyes, the windows flying open...

Like a jet taking off, Astrid felt the strain of the rug’s swift ascent press against her neck and shoulders, fighting to peel her away like loose skin. “Where are we going?” She shouted into the wind as she peered reluctantly over the edge, spying the vegetable patch and greenhouses far below, their roves glistening in the sun. Thin clouds and gigantic circular towers curved by as Astrid and the carpet zigzagged between them, and as they levelled out Astrid pulled herself up carefully, gaining her balance.

In the distance a lone, spindly tower loomed, rising away from the others like a cancerous branch. As the cold air stung Astrid’s eyes, she thought she could see a solitary gargoyle perched on the crumbling balcony, but as the rug began to gather speed towards it Astrid soon came to see that it was not a stone statue but a student – Eliot, in fact.

“Look out!” Astrid screamed as the carpet curled, charging its velocity, aiming straight for the other Ravenclaw. Eliot’s surprised expression greeted Astrid like a quaffle to the face, and in a painful, confusing collision the carpet scooped him up, racing back up toward the sky. It had not been a skilful catch on the rug’s part though, for Astrid and Eliot had been forced to cling onto their unnecessary ride rather precariously now – by the fingernails from the hem, in fact.

“Did you call for a flying carpet?” Astrid asked as they were dragged higher and higher, the threads unravelling from between the fingers...

[Eliot Moss]

It seemed to Eliot that everything had decidedly gone into slow motion. The rocks still skittered back and forth but did so with less vigor - or maybe it was all relative, overpowered by the force of the rug soaring toward him. One thing was exceptionally clear to him, however: The atmosphere was heavy with magic.

Eliot felt his heart pound against the wind that was whistling, anxious and disturbed by the carpet that had brazenly begun to ride it. He felt small stones being hurled at his arms and legs, but still refused to move. That carpet was his. "Slow down!" His voice was hardly audible over the violent rustling that surrounded the tower and Eliot had a horrible feeling that the thing wouldn't have slowed down even if it had heard him.

In fact, it accelerated, and Eliot's neck suddenly snapped up curiously when a scream chorused through the air. He had been careful, he knew he had, so it was a shock to see Astrid peering at him from between the woven fabric. "A - Astri --"

Eliot knew the collision happened before he felt it. The rug was most unceremonious as it curled around his form, the tassels acting almost like arms as they shoved him forward. Before he could adjust to the shaky platform, their ride shot up into the sky vertically, and both he and Astrid slid down its length. Eventually they found themselves hanging onto it, feet dangling into the evening sky, with not much more than threads gripped between their fingertips.

Exhaling a fog of air, Eliot twisted to face Astrid and found he had to keep his eyes half-shut against the dust sweeping off the rug's back. "Yeah, I might have made that mistake..."

The rug, seemingly impatient with them, curled itself inwards until they both toppled onto it in a heap. When it flattened itself once more, Eliot shakily readjusted himself so his shoe was no longer making prints across Astrid's forehead. It was exceedingly cold up as high as they were, but at least the carpet was now horizontal and not as much of a hazard as it had been.

Panting a bit with his hair mussed over his forehead, Eliot bunched up the fabric in his hands, reluctant to slide off again. His eyes were still wide open in alarm, though there was a thrill skyrocketing through his veins at completing the spell successfully. He knew he must've looked comical on all fours, grinning broadly with huge irises staring up at Astrid, but couldn't quell the surge of feelings.

"What I don't remember asking for however, was Astrid Nash as a driver... albeit a very poor one." His smile faded into a thoughtful frown, an expression that he was often caught wearing.

[Astrid Nash]

When it seemed Astrid’s fingers had all but run out of anything to hang onto, the rear end of the carpet bucked like an angry horse, catapulting Astrid and Eliot into its threadbare centre. Astrid’s cheek burned as it grazed across the rough material, although Eliot’s foot squashed against her forehead was a much more obvious distraction.

The two of them scrambled to spread their weight out, despite the carpet having already flattened itself taut, and Astrid patted herself down briskly, paranoid the adrenaline pumping against her skull was disguising the pain of a very important missing limb.

Her body trembling – but all there nevertheless – Astrid turned to look at Eliot sprawled on his side behind her. Predictably he was inappropriately thrilled. “Look at you, you stupid junkie.” Astrid smirked forgivingly, secretly deciding she would go properly mental at him when they weren’t two hundred feet above the ground. “I know you said you’d get me back for telling Poppinda Humphreys you fancied her, but I thought you’d just poison a house-elf with love potion or something and send it in my direction...”

The carpet tilted threateningly as it was buffeted by an unexpected gust of wind. Changing to a cross-legged position opposite Eliot, the two of them pretended their current situation was perfectly normal. “Eliot, why do you need a flying carpet? Did you really do this to annoy me or what?” She asked with raised eyebrows, wobbling as the carpet shot round another tower. The colourful dots of House robes were appearing down on the grounds and through corridor winds as they flew by, indicating it must have been lunchtime – something that was rather unhelpful seeing as any non-broom flying apparatus was strictly prohibited, especially carpets and any other classroom furniture...

“Now that you’ve completely owned me, shall we get down?” She suggested in mock-politeness, wondering if she should push him off early or wait until they were in a dark corridor before rewarding him. “You could’ve waited until I was in bed or something. This thing is a bit naff, look –“

As Astrid stuck her finger through a frayed hole, plucking at wiry fabric as she did, the carpet slammed its breaks on with such force that Astrid and Eliot were nearly thrown headfirst over the front. For a moment they simply hovered there, the wind howling around them, carrying up the sounds of the Forbidden Forest, now directly beneath them . “What’s wrong?” Astrid looked at Eliot, perplexed, slowly bracing herself. The thin tassels on the rug’s corners curled like talons now, as though it were balling its fists in anger. Beneath them the material began to tremble, arching its back like an angry cat, and Astrid swore she could almost hear it hiss...

“Ugh!” The wind was knocked from Astrid’s stomach as she and Eliot were suddenly slammed together, the rug tipping vertical in an attempt to chuck them off. “What did I say!?” Astrid shouted at Eliot as she grabbed onto his hand, , nothing between their feet and the ground, the rug suddenly snaked around their bodies, binding them together until they were squashed poker-straight inside it, rolled up like sushi.

It gave Astrid and Eliot no time to feel safe, of course. Astrid squeezed her eyes shut as her stomach hit her throat, them and the rug beginning to plunge. As they tipped and spun Astrid caught fleeting glimpses of the forest rushing to greet them, and she wriggled her arms helplessly, unable to reach her wand. “I didn’t mean what I said!” She offered the rug uselessly.

[Eliot Moss]

"Oh, you have worse coming to you, Nash," Eliot smirked wryly, momentarily ignoring the puzzlement at seeing Astrid perched on the rug in the first place. He would save the questions for later, when he really wanted to annoy her. "That howler Poppinda's dad sent me was demeaning. And it doesn't help your case that you failed to mention the fact I haven't fancied her since third year."

The carpet was reckless as it sped past the castle in clear view, making Eliot believe it was impossible that no one had seen them. He carefully leaned forward to look over the edge of threaded embroidery and was nearly flung off as the carpet came to a sudden halt. "I don't know," Eliot caught Astrid's bewildered look with one of his own. "This thing is supposed to be running on commands..." Remembering them, the Ravenclaw shoved back the sleeve of his robe, scanning his arm for anything helpful.

The rug was not impressed. Neither was Eliot once he found himself knocked against Astrid, her blond hair whipping against his face and obscuring his vision. "Wait! Hold on..." Eliot clawed his fingers against the fabric as the rug once again left them in a precarious position.

There almost seemed to be a deathly pause as the rug's levitation charms held them in the air for a moment. It ended quickly, gravity taking over, and Eliot gasped as the forest ground rushed toward them. The only indication that his wand actually existed was the painful jab against his ribs every time the carpet became particularly temperamental and spun them around.

The fall didn't last long. If it was trying to kill them, the rug had horrible judgment. There were a few exceptions, but the canopy of the forbidden forest wound together leaving no spaces for them to fall through. Darkness immediately closed in on them as they were thrown into a cluster of trees and Eliot winced as sharp twigs and branches cut into him so often that he was sure it was on purpose.

He finally managed to open his eyes when the carpet unraveled itself and left them stranded on the high branches of a weeping oak tree. Unable to see in the pitch black that had enveloped them, Eliot reached out both his hands and trailed them down thorny branches trying to locate Astrid. He let out a sigh of relief when she was found, immediately taking hold of one of her elbows.

"Always late with your apologies, aren't you Astrid?" He sent her an unsure smile, trying not to grow nervous when the branches they were on creaked dangerously. "I doubt we'll be seeing our carpet again," his voice was forlorn as if the thing hadn't just tried to murder them.