The sky is my home

Sam went out to the flying field at the time Mary asked - if not a little early. He had a trunk by his side, along with two broomsticks. He had asked Robin to borrow hers, and the one she agreed to smuggle in for him. As he lay down on the grass, he couldn't help but wonder why Dove was making him feel the way she did. It was certain that she wouldn't do it on purpose, because he was fully confident with her, and trusted her to not enjoy making him squirm and getting bloody annoyed - like that Connigan girl did. Well, she didn't make him squirm, just bloody annoyed.

He got tired of thinking, and was beginning to doze off again, so he took his broom, a nimbus 3001 and started doing countless laps around the pitch. The cool breeze collided with his slowly overheating head, cooling it off gently. He closed his eyes and smiled, loving the weather.

He tried doing some flips and tricks. Ones that he wouldn't show Dove because he didn't want to make her feel like he was better than her and bragging about it. He started off with just loop-the-loops and flips, but then he slowly advanced to broom-surfing, which was exactly as it was named. Then, he tried to fly upside down, in a handstand. What he didn't notice was a certain Dove standing on the ground.

Mary had appeared in the pitch only a few moments after Sam, huffing and puffing her way down the hill at a very fast speed, seeing that she had a more busy day than she'd first thought. Or, rather, she'd forgotten to put on an alarm and had therefore had lesser time to get on clothes, sort her homework and clean up after last nights writing. Sighing with relief, she noticed that the clock hadn't passed too much over what they agreed on, and she skidded to a half in the middle of the pitch, looking up at the sky at a small black dot in the sky that was moving at a rapid pace.

Figuring it was indeed Sam, who had seemingly decided to take a round over the Quidditch pitch before she arrived. He didn't have to bore his head off while waiting for me, at least, she thought with a pleased look on her face.

Realising he'd hardly notice that she'd arrived, she smirked and waved her hand. "HEY! Sam!" she yelled out, trying to catch his attention somehow. She really wished she had the ability to form a patronus, like the one she'd read about in the charm book. Good against dementors, and they're really cool! she let her thoughts wander off for a moment, considering what her patronus could possibly be before she yelled "Sam" once again.

"Sam!" a familiar voice reached his ears. And while he wasn't aware of it, he broom-surfed to Dove.

"Good morning, Dove," he told her, grinning as he stood, about a foot above the ground, "did you have a nice rest?"

He continued to smile at her, grinning like a Cheshire cat would do. Trying to get more stable on the broom, he flipped himself, and did a handstand. He then gently flipped again and stood up on the ground. He gave her a loose friendly hug, and smiled again.

Mary grinned at his show-off and glanced at the other broom on the ground. "Sure. Good enough," she muttered, and didn't mention that she'd been awake almost all night trying to finish as many essays as possible. Her eyes were slightly droopy, although she quickly shook it off, grabbing hold of herself again. "I'm going to fly on that?" she asked and looked at the second broom on the ground.

Walking over, she placed her hand over it and said "up", making the broom leap into her hand almost immediatly. She ran a finger down it's side, surprised over how smooth and elegant it was.

Surprised, she looked at Sam again, quite confused. "Where did you get these brooms? They're a million times better than the ones we got from the broom shed! And don't you try to convince me these are over hundred years old," she said and raised an eyebrow. "I may not be very good with Quidditch and brooms, although I know that much," she said and went back to studying it's lines while waiting for a reply.

"These brooms? They're from the broom shed!" He smiled sheepishly when she raised an eyebrow and said, "And don't you try to convince me these are over hundred years old."

"Well," he leaned on his broom, "the one you're holding happens to be my sister's, and the one I'm holding happens to be the broom my sister smuggled in for me," Honesty was the best policy? And she had a broom, she could hit him over the head with it if he was lying - and she would know if he was lying.

"These are nimbus 3001's," he admitted, "but I think with these brooms, we'll get more work done, and it'll be better. For the both of us."

For some reason, he couldn't stop grinning at her.

Mary chuckled mischievously and looked at the broom. "And you're certain Robin allowed you to use her broom? I wouldn't want to risk anything," she muttered, not sure of her skills with a broom yet. She didn't want to break such a precious broom, for anything in the world. As she mounted the broom though, and locked her fingers around the handle, she could tell it was a lot better than the school brooms. Smirking mischievously she kicked off the ground and hovered in the air for a moment.

Her mischievous glint increased even more, and after a moment she swooped forwards and touched Sam's shoulder, before saying "Tag! You're it!" and then loping up into the air as quickly as the broom could take her.

Obviously, the comfort wasn't the only improved thing about these brooms. Speed, acceleration and braking powers seemed to be sharpened to perfection, and Mary smiled broadly as she gathered speed, flying faster than she'd ever imagine possible. She took a spin, leaning forwards to allow herself to go even faster and lessen the air pressing back against her as she spun right through the highest Quidditch hoop, getting through perfectly before she settled back up, wishing she too had the ability to get a broom completely like this one.

Sam quickly mounted his broom and flew after her. "Oh, she let me borrow the brooms," he smiled.

He grinned again when she had this look of satisfaction on her face, as if she was happy to have such a wonderful broom. I'd give anything to make her feel like that all the time, he absentmindedly thought, before scolding himself for thinking about something that... weird for lack of a better word.

As if reading her mind, he yelled, "I'll get you one for your birthday!" He yelled to her. Honestly, he really would be able to get one for her birthday, as his family suffered from wealth.

He went through the biggest Quidditch hoop, taking a sharp turn to the left, where Mary was grinning smugly at him. He leaned forward and sped up and just before colliding with her, he made another sharp turn and grazed her shoulder. He poked it then, "TAG! YOU'RE IT!" He exclaimed, before accelerating to the other side of the pitch.

Mary jolted slightly, and slowed down when he began yelling he'd get her one for her birthday. "You wouldn't! Seriously! These must cost an entire manison, and that's quite a lot! If I'm going to get one, I'm definitly going to get it on my own," she said determinedly, although had a feeling Sam would pretend to not have heard her.

Seeing that she'd slowed down slightly at the shock of his comment, she had got too little speed to dodge and ended up being poked. Biting back a bitter retort, mostly to herself for failing to understand what to do in the right moment, she turned right around and bolted after him.

She tailed him quite far, having gotten the hang of turns without braking too much. She quickly managed to gain a little more speed, and poked him back, almost shrieking in joy. "Hey, what about making a new game? We release the Snitch, and then we'll have first to catch," she said, the wind whistling over her ears. SHe found it a good suggestion, and it would be good practice for later years.

As Mary predicted, he really did pretend to not have heard her. He might as well put his allowance into good use, eh?

"But I'm horrible at catching the snitch," he whined. But as soon as he saw her pouting face, he agreed. He had a faint feeling this wouldn't be the first time she'd be able to do that... "fine..."

He shot down to the ground and took the snitch out. He waited until Dove stood next to him. "So I'll release this, and we'll wait ten seconds before going after it, so it can have time to hide."

He released the snitch and started mentally counting down. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, and then he shot up into the sky again.

Figuring his best option was to stay high, so if he sees a glimpse of gold, he would be able to stay after it, he started circling the pitch.

Mary smiled softly at the time he agreed to play the game, finding it amusing how a simple expression could make someone act like that. "I'm sure you're not. You can't be, after all. You're going to teach me how to catch it, obviously," she said and smiled broadly. "I can't see anyone else around ready to teach off their skills," she commented and pretended to look around.

However, before any more replies could be given the Snitch had been released and she closed her eyes softly, listening to the soft hum of it's wings before it vanished again. A feeling of fear welled up inside of her, afraid she'd fail to catch the Snitch after all, and turn out to be horrible at these things. Convincing herself to try her best, she opened them again when she'd counted to 13, forgetting they only had to wait 10 seconds between the release and the the attempted capture.

She studied Sam for a moment, although couldn't see how the best technique was to fly highly into the air. Instead, she stayed quite low and allowed her eyes to scan the areas around her. At times, she spotted a gleam of gold around the place it had been released, and at other times she could distinctivly hear it's soft humming. She suddenly fixed her eyes on a small beady object that was fluttering just above the ground, and she pushed forwards and fell into a steep dive, her eyes continuing to follow the Snitch's brilliant wings.

Sam glanced at Mary, who only went up a mere three seconds after him. He noticed that instead of what he did, she stayed quite close to the ground. Who knows, maybe her way IS better, he mused to himself, but he chose to use his own way.

He thought he saw a glimpse of gold, but when he saw it properly, the snitch vanished out of his sight, replaced by more of the sun's rays. This happened a few times. Stupid fast snitch, the thought to himself. He took a sharp turn and avoided hitting one of the Quidditch hoops, instead going through it.

He saw a glimpse of gold again, near the ground. He turned his broom to look at it, and found that Mary was rapidly heading towards it. Knowing that this time, it was the real thing, he leaned down and sped as fast as his broom would let him - which was pretty damn fast - towards the snitch. The wind was pounding heavily in his ears, temporarily deafening him. But he ignored it and kept going towards it.

His eyes widened when he realized that if he didn't pull up at this moment, he would plough himself into the ground! Fearing more for his safety rather than getting the snitch, he pulled up quickly, and stopped the speed gracefully and smoothly. He looked back at where the snitch was, only to see Mary holding it with a dazed look on her face.

Mary, as stubborn and strongwilled as she was continued racing towards the Snitch, and since she was rather unknowing about how quickly a broom could pull out of a steep dive, she just continued on, even after Sam had left her side and braked. She could see the small Snitch, just a few inches away from her grip.

When the time for grabbing the golden object came, she did a quick attempt to raise her hand, wobbled slightly and grasped the broom tightly again before trying the move once again. She felt her fingers close around something small and tiny, although didn't bother to look at what it was before she leaned backwards and pulled the nose of the broom upwards, braking fiercly. She managed to stop just before she hit the ground, her toes grazing the grass below.

Once she'd pulled up, she realised the world was completely black. Mostly because she'd closed her eyes so tightly when the ground neared, and she didn't want to see the outcome. When she realised she could still feel her fingers closed around something she opened her eyes and stared disbelievingly at the golden Snitch clasped in her long fingers. She traced a finger around it's lines, a habit she'd got lately. Rubbing her fingers along objects she found interesting and special.

Looking around she spotted Sam, and her eyes gleamed and a smile broadened on her face as she held out the Snitch it's small wings fluttering helplessly.

Sam went towards her with a broad grin on his face, "I told you you were good," he told her. And he felt really proud of her at that moment too, because he knew she accomplished this with no help whatsoever, "And I told you I was bad at catching the snitch - my whole technique was wrong!"

He was unable to keep the grin off his face, because just after one Quidditch lesson, she was already catching the snitch in what could have been record time! He didn't even know how she got that technique from - but he suspected it was her father's genes in her. Thor Swale was actually the reason the Cannons were so high up on the charts for a while. He remembered when the Cannons dropped off the charts in one season, and it happened to be the Season Mr. Swale left the Cannons.

Mary couldn't help but blush at his comments, keeping quite humble about her 'talent'. "Oh, Sam. Your technique isn't wrong! Actually, I think yours were more correct than mine. I kept being blinded by the white clouds, and it'd have been easier to spot it if I'd been high above the ground. It would also let the light from the Snitch be directed in a more correct angle," she muttered and squinted up at the sun. "Easier to see, in other words. I was just lucky," she said and smiled softly, trying feverishly to remove her rosy colour from her cheeks.

However, she had another question unanswered. "Isn't Quidditch a very hard and dangerous game? There's bound to be violence, right?" she asked cautiously, blinking a few times at him with a very puzzled look. With the bludgers almost throwing you off your broom, and with several Chasers who would do anything for their team to win, she could imagine the brutual outcome that could come from it.

Shuddering she looked down at the ground, still holding the Snitch in her hands. "Maybe we should get down to the ground. I don't feel very comfortable hanging in the air just like this. Moving, sure. But just dangling from the sky..? Eh," she muttered and smirked softly. "Race yah down!" she called and swooped around, getting a head start towards the cage where the bludgers and quaffle were laid.

((Maybe he should ask her about what Alena told him in the forest soon? c: ))

Sam waved off her humbleness, "That might be true, but the fact remains that when you're closer to the ground, you could reach the snitch quicker, and it's proven that 78% of all snitches are caught closer to the ground than high in the sky; I just forgot about that..." He told her, refusing to let her be humble. She should just enjoy her talent for once...

"Quidditch is actually quite a brutal game, the bludgers trying to attack you and hey could come from any direction - and then people who really are desperate to win will commit fouls. There a lot of fouls that can be committed in Quidditch," he frowned in concentration, "Seekers are usually the ones most injured nearer to the end of the game, that's why they're usually either really high in the sky, or really low, because beaters tend to aim more in the middle, where everyone's playing..."

"Race yah down!" she called, and swooped around, getting a head start.

"HEY! CHEATER!" He laughed, diving down at a reasonably fast speed, enabling him to get to the intended location quicker than Mary by mere moments.

((Yeah, I think he SHOULD tell her about it soon, but I'm not really sure how to bring up the topic of what he did last night.))

Mary giggled as he heard him continue to ramble on about the various things she'd asked about, a mischievous glint flashing in her eyes. A perfect plan it seemed. Distract your opponent, leave him chattering and then fly off. Though she still hadn't mastered speed, it seemed. Catching the Snitch was one part of the game, although she still had a lot to do with getting up her speed, as well as learn how to be daring.

She ignored his first half, talking about techniques and trying to make it look like she did a brilliant choice to stay closer to the ground. She refused to take praise like that, although her mind stopped to think at his second comment.It's a hard job then, being a Seeker. You risk being knocked out from very many directions, and the game ends when the Snitch is caught. Alias, without a good Seeker on the team a game can keep going for a long time, she figured and frowned. In the moment she'd fallen into a trance, thinking through theory, Sam had already regained her head start, and was flying by her side. Determined to not lose too much this time, she leaned forwards to lacken the air resistance, and bent the nose of the broom downwards, making it go into yet another steep dive.

However, it didn't seem like it was any use, and she ended up falling behind, little by little. Trying her hardest, she urged the broom to go quicker. It seemed it wouldn't though, and with one hand off the handle because she had to hold the Snitch quite tightly, she didn't have much ability to race further away from Sam.

((I don't really know... WHile they're packing or something, he can just say he met Alena Salvin in the corridors (or somewhere else) and that she told him these things about her..?))

Sam frowned when he noticed that Dove seemed to be re-thinking Quidditch, or in particular, the role of being seeker. "Hey Dove," he said softly, "The seeker position is, admittedly hard. It requires speed, and lots of techniques. It's true that the seeker has a really big role in Quidditch, and you'll need a really good seeker to win the match. But you already are a really good seeker, and when I'm finished with teaching you, you'd be pretty damn amazing," he said, "even better than I could ever be."

When he landed, winning the race, he frowned when he saw that even though Dove was quite close to him, she seemed to be struggling from carrying the snitch, and when she finally landed, he took the snitch from her.

"To stay steady and fast when holding the snitch, you just have to wrap the wings onto your finger, and they stay wrapped there until you unwrap it," he demonstrated, and swung his hand back and forth for a minute before stopping and unwrapping the wings off of his fingers.

((I HAVE AN IDEA! I remember in the conversation with Alena, she mentioned Mary, and she said that they seemed to be enemies, so after they put the snitch away, he could ask her what homework she did the night before, then she could answer and then ask what he did the night before, and he could tell her.))

Mary looked at Sam and shrugged, although didn't bother to open her mouth to reply. She was in too deep concentration do anything like that. Instead she waited until she'd landed, and looked at Sam again, brushing some of her hair out of her eyes. "I realize the job is hard. Sure. I just can't imagine I'll be good enough to play one," she muttered and felt a hollow pit open inside her when the Snitch vanished from her fingers. She nodded eagerly when he told her a clue on how to better fly when she'd caught the Snitch.

Although she was just as much puzzled as pleased at the piece of advice and frowned. "Though when I've caught the Snitch, I don't have to fly particularly quickly, do I?" she asked, having an ominous feeling that there had been scenes when Seekers had been clubbed down by their opponents or something, in the aftermath. Her eyes followed his hand as he swung it back and forth, although her eyes were focusing on the Snitch. Blinking out of her trance she rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Sorry. I'm just very tired after last night," she muttered, remembering how little sleep she'd had.

((Great! I made Mary say something that would make it easier for Sam to bring up the theme as well.))

"No, you don't, usually; it's just sometimes, people who really seek revenge tend to want to hit you with a bludger - but it's usually not so bad," he shrugged, "I should know, I got more than a few bludger hits to the shoulder by my sister. She's really serious about Quidditch."

"Tired, huh?" He asked her, amused, "why, what did you do last night?" He asked her, before yawning, "I had a late night yesterday too."

At his yawning, he didn't see the trunk in front of him, and he tripped, his head hitting the wet grass. He wasn't in much pain, but an involuntary moan escaped from his lips and he rubbed his forehead. "Ow," he commented, as if talking about the weather.

Mary raised an eyebrow and stared at him, not able to hold back a laughter. "Really? It's usually not that bad... You just get slammed off your broom and fall quite a lot of metres," she said and watched him with an amused look in her eyes. "Does she play Beater, then? Sounds like you've almost got an entire Quidditch team at your home!" she said and smiled happily, wondering if any more members of their family played Quidditch.

"I told you, didn't I? I was doing homework... And for some reason I decided I'd study a little more than required, just to know a little about our next subjects," she said and smiled, her eyes slightly droopy right now and she looked quite tired. "Why, what did you do last night?" she asked and watched him for a while.

Before he answered though, she too tripped and fell forwards, landing side by side with Sam. She chuckled softly and looked at Sam. "Are you alright?" she asked, although it didn't seem she was in any hurry to get up and move on. Besides, she wanted to make sure he wasn't seriously hurt.

"It really isn't that bad," he chuckled at her playful sarcasm, "Yeah, my sister plays beater, I play chaser, my Dad used to play Keeper, my mum's muggle, but all my cousins from my dad's side play either seeker, beater or chaser. And I have a lot of cousins, so we had tons of matches to play against each other."

Before he could answer her question, she tripped along with him. "Yeah, I'm alright," he said, smiling easily, his face turned into one of concern, and the butterflies in his stomach were back when she made contact with him, "are you alright, though?"

He expected her to wave off his concern and ask about what he did the night before. Truthfully, he wanted to tell her, but he couldn't just say I made friends with this girl who you hate, and made enemies with a sadistic Slytherin girl, because it didn't seem right. His eyes widened when his thoughts were heard by his ears.

Mary smiled broadly and chuckled. "Wow, sounds amazing. I've always known my dad's family are into Quidditch. I'm just the weirdo who never took much notice to it before now," she muttered and looked at the grass she was laying at, before looking back up at Sam. "I've got two twin cousins. They both play Beaters. And are quite fenomenal as well," she commented and smiled. "Maybe we could practice during the summer holidays? I haven't got much to do at home anyway," she said and her eyes glittered at the thought of spending a holiday with a good friend.

"I'll live," she said in an amused sort of tone, watching him closely. Her eyes widened when he began chattering openly about what he'd done, and raised an eyebrow. "Right... Sounds like a really epic night," she muttered and sat up. A girl I hate... Gotta be Alena. She hates me, I hate her. That's how the circle of life is meant to be, she figured, although was slightly dissappointed and saddened that Sam had made a friendship with the girl.

Oh well. I guess it's healthy to have more than one friend, she figured, although couldn't help but be worried Alena would try to 'steal' Sam from her. "What did the happy trio do, then?" her question rang in the air for a moment and she tilted her head slightly to the side.

Sam snorted, "Happy? That night was anything but happy. I went for a run in the forbidden forest. And at first it was okay, with Alena surprising me with some random stuff, calling me brave hearted, proud, intelligent and all that," he waved it off, "But it was okay, I guess; she seemed like a nice friend.

"But what was really weird was that this Slytherin girl came, and she just kept claiming that the forest was hers. She acted like- like she was superior to both of us, and that she didn't care what happened to everything else," he shrugged again, "She kept going on about how she could ruin me and all that, like she was threatening me, but I think they were empty threats. I told her that her parents would be ashamed of her, but she retorted with saying how her mother was weak and she died, and her dad didn't care for her and all that. I felt guilty about it until she said that. Around that time, I did a silent wandless shield charm, because soon enough, she tried to stupefy me," he told her, finding it no big deal, "It rebounded on her and I silenced her and body binded her.

"I didn't leave her like that because I was a much better person, so I undid the spells and quickly ran, but not before Alena set some snakes on her, and leaving her alone in the forest." He paused for a second, "speaking of her, why do you hate her? She mentioned something about you refusing her help for some homework and you bragging or something... But I refused to really believe anything until you tell me what happened between you," he stated firmly.

Mary narrowed her eyes as he spoke of Alena speaking of him, praising every trait that already was so obvious. What is she trying to do? she figured the answer wasn't within her reach, and tried to ignore the sinking feeling she got when he said Alena seemed like a nice friend.

Her thoughts wandered through a list of Slytherins she'd heard of, although none seemed to match the description. "She seems to be out of her mind, anyway. I'd understand it she doesn't have any family though. If my parents and sister died, I don't know what I'd do," she murmured, and looked at her hands for a moment. "Really? I recall that you said you were terrible with charms, and now you're even doing wandless ones," she teased, although didn't push the matter any further.

Falling silent, she listened to the duelling that seemingly happened between them, and gaped slightly when he told her Alena had let loose snakes on the girl. "Honestly! Snakes?! Doesn't she know how dangerous it's out there?! You shouldn't have left her out there, despite how cruel she may have seemed," she commented seriously, astonished Sam had allowed it all to happen.

She shrugged at his question and looked back down at the ground. "We just met in the Owlery... We were both going to send letters. She came up and knew almost everything about me, and it honestly freaked me out. She knew about my... 'ability', and said she'd keep the secret. Really, she seemed nice... Though she began speaking of a Durmstrang teacher like a friend, and I can hardly think that Durmstrang students nor their teachers do anything but Dark Magic. We quarreled for a while, although the real trigger have to be when she asked if I was stuck in potions. It hurt, really badly. My mom was an extraordinary potioneer, and she expects me to be the same. Since Alena's able to see things we don't, I was offended," she muttered, sort of ashamed about the whole happening.

"Alena could have apologized, of course. Although when we got to the common room we didn't exchange anything but hard stares, and we've ended up in quarrels in classes. Once we even had a small duel in the Charms lesson," she murmured, and shrugged gently. "That's it. Sure, I was angry at her that night, but I never expected she'd have such a loating hatred for me in the next days that followed. I didn't see it as such a deep offence," she said and looked at Sam, pleading he wouldn't be angry at her for making an enemy at school.

"The only reason I didn't react to her with the snakes was because I already revived Connigan - the Slytherin's name - and she looked murderous, like she could kill us at that moment in time; I wouldn't put it past her," he said darkly.

Sam looked at her for a moment, "She knew about your gift?" He asked her, "Yeah, she knew I was a werewolf - something about a crystal ball. Who knows?"

"You got offended by the fact that she compared you to a Durmstrang teacher? I can see your point of view, but I don't think all Durmstang people are evil," he frowned for a second, "But I think you were perfectly reasonable! I mean, you grow up learning that certain people are evil, and you find out that they're really not... well, that's completely understandable.

"I can completely see why you go offended, and if I was in that Owlry with you, I would have defended you, even if I didn't know your mother was a Potioneer; you shouldn't be ashamed," he soothed her.

"I dunno why she hates you," He told her, and seeing her pleading expression, "Why would I be angry at you for making an enemy?" He asked her, practically reading her mind, "The enemy I made is probably twice as dangerous."