Quaffles and Brooms, oh my! (Hunter)

The wind was blowing, the autumn leaves where starting to fall from the trees. Ari bunndled up in her coat, house scarf, gloves, and hat, and decided to go for a run. She never usually liked to run, but this time she ran into an open field. This field had three goal posts. Three on each side. She was suddenly curious. She had never seen this before. Was it some sort of game? If so, she wanted to learn how and be the best at it! She was always the best at everything!

She bundled up tighter, as it was chilly. She walked to a near by shed, and saw brooms. Lots of them. Where they there to sweep the field? She was really confused and Ari wanted her questions to be answered. She picked up a broom and started twirling it around and pretended to sweep the floor. She probably looked like an idiot. And if somebody saw her... She didn't know what she'd do. But with just her luck... Somebody walked in. And he was kind of cute!

Growing up in the Netherlands, Hunter was no stranger to cold weather - in fact, he preferred it. The brisk chill of the air just before autumn turned into winter was refreshing. Now was no different, and Hunter only bothered to pull his Quidditch sweater on before taking off for the Quidditch Pitch. Gloves and scarves were too much, and he knew if he wore them he'd be sweating before he even reached his destination. A grin spread across his face as he escaped the castle onto the grounds - some things just never really changed.

He crossed the expanse between the castle and the pitch easily - by now, he could do it with his eyes closed. The pitch seemed empty when Hunter got there. He'd been hoping it would be, so that he wouldn't have to worry about getting in anyone's way while he practiced. He headed quickly to the storage shed to grab his Nimbus - only to find someone already there. For a moment, he hesitated in the doorway and stared at the back of the girl's head in surprise - she had long red hir. From behind, she could easily be Aoife as a first year. But then he saw what she was doing.

She was playing with one of the brooms. And not just any broom. His broom. She was sweeping the floor with Hunter's Nimbus. Getting over his surprise, Hunter rushed forward before she could do any damage to it. "Hey, easy!" he said, too concerned for the state of his broom to be angry. As soon as he was close enough, he reached forward and eased the broom out of the girl's grasp as gently as he could - more to keep his broom safe than to avoid upsetting the girl. "These aren't for sweeping," he informed her, holding the broom up to eye level so he could inspect it. A few broken twigs, but nothing more. Thank God.

The cute OLDER boy grabbed the broom from her. She batted her eyelids and decided to play dumb. She asked, "Well...if they aren't for sweeping...What are they for? Sorry, I'm a muggleborn.. So, I don't know much. I'm Ari by the way. And you are?"

She twirled her finger in her hair, something she had learned from watching muggle movies with her cool Aunt Evelyn, she decided to bat her eyelids as well. Maybe this boy would like her. OF COURSE HE WOULD! Ari was just plain likeable, in all sorts of ways. As a friend, as more than a friend...She could only hope this boy wasn't complicated like most boys where.

Well..She didn't know many, but from her Aunt's stories, boys where complicated. She was only hoping that this one was different.

Hunter used the sleeve of his sweater to wipe some of the fingerprint smudges from the handle of the broom. After leaning it carefully against the door frame, he stepped into the shed past the girl to fetch a quaffle. He was going to release the bludgers as well, to work on maneuvering around them, but since there was an annoying first year girl running around the area, he figured he'd better not. He didn't feel like stopping his practice to take her up to the hospital wing.

The girl was asking what the brooms were for then, and Hunter answered her question without looking up, still digging through the back of the shed for a quaffle. "They're for flying," he told her simply. "You'll learn how in one of your classes." Finally finding what he was looking for, he tucked the quaffle under his arm and turned to head out of the shed. But when he glanced back at the girl, he raised an eyebrow. "Do you have something in your eye?" he asked, looking at her strangely. She was blinking like mad.

"Er, I'm Hunter," he told her, still a bit thrown by the obnoxious blinking. "And I know what you mean, I'm muggleborn as well. But you'll catch onto things quick here, you'll see." It wasn't until then that Hunter noticed her attire. "Slytherin, huh? How do you like it?"

Flying? You could actually FLY here?! This place was getting better and better! AND there was a class for it! AWESOME! Ari hoped he took this class. But what if it was for only kids in her year? Then she'd be disappointed. Uh-Oh. Was she not flirting right? She instantly stopped and said, "Umm...Yes. But I got it."

Hunter... That was his name. She said it in her head a bunch of times until she was sure she would never forget it. He said something about catching on quick, and then talked about Slytherin! Was he a Slytherin too?! If he was that would make her day. She answered his question, "Yeah, I like it! I've already made a best friend! You can be a best friend too if you want! I'm actually really nice once you get to know me."

Was that too sudden? She already wished she hadn't said that. An older boy her best friend? She blushed a little bit. This was getting more awkward by the minute.

Hunter gave the girl another strange look when she stopped her obnoxious blinking right away, but didn't mention it again. He had long since stopped bothering to ask crazy redheaded girls why they bothered to do anything. It was a waste of time. Instead, he tried to keep up with what she was saying. First years talked too fast, and it was annoying. Did Hunter talk like that when he was a first year? Hopefully not.

"That's good that you've made a friend already," Hunter responded, doing his best to keep himself from being too annoyed at this girl. Though so far, she had quite a few strikes. She was a first year - strike one. She was sweeping the floor with his broom - strike two. And now, she was keeping him from flying - strike three.

When Ari went on to tell him that he could be her best friend, too, Hunter just stared at her for a moment, a bit thrown off by the familiarity of it. It was definitely a deja vous kind of moment, looking at this red-headed first year who decided on their first meeting that he would make a good best friend. A small smile formed on his face at the thought of it, but quickly faded. "No offense, but the last time I decided to be best friends with a redhead, it didn't turn out so well for me. Has nothing to do with you, of course," he added quickly. He wasn't a fan of first years, but he didn't want to be outright rude to the girl, either.

Didn't work out? But...She was different! She was better than that other red-head! She would make sure it didn't end the way his friendship with the other red head did. So, she stated just that, "Just because it didn't work out with the other red-head doesn't mean it won't work out with me. You can't judge a book by it's cover. I'm pretty awesome you know."

She smiled. There. Sure it was conceded, but she couldn't help it being the truth. She was the best red-head around. Well, her Aunt Evelyn was the best, she was second best! Ok. Tied for first. There, that seemed fair. She said, "I don't want to wait for class to learn. Can you teach me now?"

Hunter gave the girl an irritated look - he'd been plenty nice about informing her that he didn't want to be her best friend, but she seemed to be annoyingly persistent about it. Despite her Aoife-like features, Hunter was reminded a bit of Seren in first year. At least that meant that she might get a bit less annoying as she got older. Hunter wanted to tell her that she was too annoying to be best friends with, but lucky for the girl he was in a decent mood, so he didn't. He just shouldered his broom, tucked the quaffle under his arm, and walked out past her, calling over his shoulder. "It's probably not a good idea. Your current best friend would be jealous."

Why was she following him? Hunter was starting to compare her in his mind to Aoife's stupid cat, which sometimes glued itself to his leg and followed him around, meowing obnoxiously. He wasn't sure how he'd managed to refrain from kicking it on so many occasions. Unfortunately, it was completely unacceptable to kick annoying first year girls, so Hunter just had to suck it up and deal with it.

"You want me to teach you how to fly?" he repeated, looking over at her. Honestly, couldn't she see that he was trying to practice? For Quidditch, which was a serious thing. Much more important than teaching some stupid first year how to fly. But maybe if he taught her, she'd leave him alone. "Fine," he sighed exasperatedly. "But not on my broom, I don't want you to break it. Hang on." It only took Hunter a moment to duck back into the shed and return with an old, inexpensive school broom. He tossed it on the ground beside her. "Hold your hand over it and say up," he told her, doing so with his broom, which shot into his hand instantly.

HE WAS GONNA TEACH HER TO FLY!!! SHE COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! Her eyes got all big, and her palms got a little sweaty. She would have to write her Aunt to ask if this was normal. She said, "He won't be jealous. I promise! He's nice just like you!" Was that weird to say? Ari didn't know.

She didn't care what broom he taught her on, as long as he taught her to be the best ever. She said, "I want to be the best! Are you the best? I want to be better than you!" She smiled a little wider, but was confused when he threw the broom to the floor beside her. This wasn't right. She wanted to FLY. But she did as instructed.

She placed her hand over it and said, "UP."

It didn't do anything. She said, "Up." again.

Still nothing. Getting frustrated, she said it one more time, "Up!"

And the broom obeyed. She smiled, and looked up pleased with herself. She was going to master this thing. She was going to be better than him, and the best player out there. So, she excitedly said, "What's next!? Do we get to fly!?"

Oh, so her so-called best friend was a he. Hunter snorted in amusement at this particularly enlightening fact. Maybe he should do whoever the kid was a favor, and warn him about crazy redhead first year girls. But to each their own - the kid would just have to learn his own lesson. After all, Hunter had to. Still trying to shake the best friend topic - because Hunter really didn't need a first year best friend - he focused only on the last part of what she said. "Most people wouldn't consider me all that nice, actually." Most people considered him a git. They weren't exactly wrong, either.

This girl was way too enthusiastic, and it was annoying. Was he like that as a first year? Hopefully not. "I'm not the best, but I'm pretty good, yeah," he told her nonchalantly, a half-grin pulling at the side of his mouth. "And you'd have to spend a lot of time practicing before you were even close to the best." For some reason, Ari didn't seem like the type of girl who would be able to focus on something like Quidditch Practice long enough for it to make any difference.

"Not bad," Hunter said when she got her broom to raise on the third try - though those with a real knack for it usually got it on the first. "Now just put your leg over it and hold on with both hands. I don't care if you try flying but don't fall off, because I don't have time to take you to the hospital wing - actually, here - " he said, stepping up beside her. Just push off a bit from the ground, he said. Hunter waited for her to kick off, ready to grab her broom if she pushed off too far - he still hadn't forgotten his first flying lesson, where Willow had lost control of her broom and fallen off. "Just lean forward a bit - I'll just grab your broom if you start to go too high."

HE WAS TEACHING HER TO FLY.... Her heart started racing as he got closer to her so she wouldn't fall off, or go to high. She was going to become the best quidditch player in the world. It was destiny. He was here teaching her, so maybe that was destiny to. She didn't know much about destiny. She'd have to write to Aunt Evelyn about it.

She realized that she was actually in the air. She smiled and said, "This is so cool!"

She decided she wanted to land, and landed just the way he said to do it. She smiled proud of herself. She said, "I did it! Are you proud of me? I'm proud of me! I want to go out on the field now! Can you teach me on the field to!?"

This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

This girl was way too excited and shit - Hunter was pretty sure she was one of the more annoying people he'd met so far. Though not as annoying as Vanessa, or that Ryan bloke who thankfully had disappeared. But as it turned out, she wasn't so bad at flying - in the sense that, when she pushed off the ground, she didn't go shooting into the air or fall of her broom or anything. "Not bad," Hunter commented with a grin as she landed back down without his help. That was good, because it meant that he wouldn't have to worry as much about her breaking something.

Hunter raised an eyebrow at her when she started going on about wanting to fly around the pitch. "Sorry, kid, but I have to practice. I'm on Gryffindor's team," he added, as though that would make her understand the importance of it. "You can fly around if you want, but I can't help you." With that, Hunter bent down to snatch up the quaffle, threw a leg over his nimbus, and pushed off. "Just don't get hurt! I don't feel like taking you to the hospital wing!" he called back over his shoulder before rising higher and heading toward the goalposts.