High in the sky

There was nothing better than being outside after classes were over. Especially when the day was warm and sunny, like it was today. Sapphire Nicolette Ivanova stood in the quidditch stadium looking up at the sky. She gripped her broom tightly as she looked up. Sapphire hadn't had the best experiences with flying in the past, and right now she was a bit frightened that something would go wrong if she tried.

But she was a determined person and she wanted to try again. The girl looked down, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After almost falling off her broom when she was ten years old, Sapphire had been too scared to try riding her broom again. She hasn't ridden one in four years but she loved Quidditch. She wanted to play on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, but she would have to get over her fear first.

The recently turned fifteen year old hesitated for a moment as she stared blanky at her broom. Biting her lip, Sapphire slowly mounted her broom and she nervously looked around. She was sure that she would do horrible since she hadn't ridden in so long, and she didn't want anyone noticing how she did. Assuming that no one was there, Sapphire kicked off the ground and she hovered in the air for a moment, with her eyes closed. She slowly opened her eyes and sighed. At least she could do that right. The girl slowly began to fly higher and she began to move around the stadium at a gentle pace.

Serena had grabbed a broom from the broom closet and was walking into the Quidditch Pitch wishing to fly which she hadn’t done in forever. She loved flying and she had since the first time she had seen someone flying. When she walked in she was expecting to be alone but she was disappointed to find another student there. The girl that was already flying looked older but Serena was too far away to tell for sure, and she had bright red hair. She narrowed her eyes before climbing onto the broom and pushing off flew in the opposite direction of the girl.
For the moment Serena could forget about the other girl as she flew but as she turned around the end of the pitch she caught a glance of the fiery red hair. Without thinking she flew over towards the person coming to a stop midair not too far away. “Hey!” she shouted trying to get her attention. The tone in her voice sounding all ‘I’m-little- and cute-pay-attention-to-me’ which exactly matched her attitude every day.

The wind hitting her face and blowing through her hair were definitely welcomed. Sapphire had forgotten how much fun it was to fly. She had just been so shaken by her accident that it blinded her and she had become too afraid to even ride a broom. But she was glad she had decided to again. It was so much fun, she realized just how much she had missed it and she remembered how much she had loved it. She couldn't believe she had ever stopped riding.

The redhead stopped moving when she heard someone say hey. She glanced around, not seeing anyone, until her gaze finally reached the girl not too far away from her. It was obvious to Sapphire that the girl was younger than her and she smiled. "Hello!" she called in a happy voice. Sapphire flew a little closer to the girl and grinned happily. The little girl looked like a little doll and she was just so cute! "Do you need anything?" she tilted her head to the side as she asked this, her bangs falling in her eyes.

“No,” she said narrowing her eyes. Sure Serena was getting the attention she always demanded but she wasn’t satisfied yet. “What are you doing here? There is never anyone here unless there is practice or a match.” And she truly believed her statement because there was never anyone there when she was. When the girl’s bangs fell in her eyes Serena rolled her eyes thinking how stupid it looked and flipped her own hair over her shoulder and away from her face and its curls flowed down her back as the wind picked up the ends of it. Her eyes sparkled in the light of the sun as she looked toward the girl. All of those factors made her look like the perfect little doll most little girls wished and hoped for their entire childhoods.

"Mm..." Sapphire said in thought as she thought about the girl's question. Her head went back to its original upright position as she thought. Just before she answered the younger girl, Sapphire made a popping noise with her mouth. A chill ran down her back, and she realized what kind of person she was speaking too. A Slytherin. This little girl wasn't dangerous though, she was obviously a first year. Which meant that she didn't know much yet.

Sapphire relaxed at this realization and grinned slightly. "I just wanted to ride. I haven't done it in a little while." she explained. A little while ... Sure it was. Four years was a little while, right? The redhead flipped her bangs to the left side of her face where they usually resided and sighed. She looked up at the sky and remembered that she was still in midair. She had completely forgotten, flying was just natural for her again.

“”Flying is fun” Serena agreed. She was now looking down at the ground where she noticed familiar looking cat smiling slightly she turned her broom and started flying toward it calling the cats name “Socks! Come here boy!” that morning before leaving the common room Serena had dressed her cat up in a big fluffy pink dress that would really need some cleaning this summer. When she got close enough to the ground she reached down and picked up her cat holding him in one arm as she slowly flew back up toward the older girl. “Socks, how could you get your dress so dirty? And what is that? Is that a tear? She asked her cat in a childish scolding tone and she babbled to her cat.
Unlike most little girls she had never need a plastic baby doll she’d always had either socks on one of her younger siblings to treat like a live baby doll. She always dressed them up and brushed their hair and feed them. The only thing she had ever refused to do was change her younger sibling’s dippers. In her old childish words they were yucky and smelled bad. “You don’t like flying Socks, do you?” she asked rubbing her nose against the cats, “Well we are too high for me to put you down and for you to jump so don’t try it.” And then she held her cat closer to her.

Sapphire nodded and watched as the girl called her cat. Sapphire loved animals, all kinds, even those kinds that most people called icky. She was just an animal lover, no matter what kind of animal. She sighed softly as she watched the girl fly back up. Her cat seemed terrified to be up in the air, and that made Sapphire giggle. She knew all too well that frightened look that the girl's cat had. After all it was the same one that her own cat usually had when she brought her up into the air.

Of course that hadn't happened for four years, but now Shailey would have to get used to it again. She highly doubted that though. After four years of being planted firmly on the ground, It would be hard for the tabby cat to get used to it again. Sapphire focused on the pink dress the cat wore and she giggled again. "That's a cute little dress." she smiled at the girl. She thought it seemed like the cat didn't like the dress, but whatever. It really didn't have a choice in what it had to wear. Only its owner chose that.

“I know he doesn’t like it though,” Serena said, “but he wears them because I make him, though I’m his human and he’s not my cat.” She looked up from her cat at the girl, “Do you have a cat? If you do we could have a kitty play date! Socks loves kitty play dates with Ashton’s Kitty. Dukey and Socks have been friends for as long as Ashy and I have been had them. Just like Ashy and I have been friends since he and I were born. They met though us and we met though our parents,” Serena said almost giving this girl her whole life story. The young girls eyes gleamed as she talked about her best friend who she hadn’t seen in forever. Then they grew sad and filled with wonderment. Where was Ashton Charming? Was he sick to? Was this sickness what kept him away from her? Did he not want to be her friend anymore? What about her brother Prince? Where was he? She hadn’t seen him since this past summer and she missed her big brother. She held her cat closer as she though these sad questions, and a few tears gathered in her eyes. How much longer would she have to go without seeing her two favorite people?

For a long time it had just been Serena and her cat it was nice talking to someone who wasn’t completely covered in fur, someone who could respond to her and give her the attention she wanted. ‘I’m going to have to write a letter to Mummy and Daddy and Uncle Brian tonight before bed,’ she thought to herself. Possibly they knew the answers to all of her questions. Maybe this girl new, maybe she would be her new friend.