Afternoon Practise

It was a grey Friday afternoon and the sky was breathing out a constant supply of snowflakes that fluttered playfully in the air. Hallie had the afternoon free of lessons and so had decided to do something she'd never done in all her time at Hogwarts: Fly in the snow.

The main reason for this is because Hallie had never been part of the quidditch team. She did like flying although her technique was not quidditch team standard, the most that she could do we take off and, well, fly. No wronksy-feints or sloth grip rolls, just basic flying. However today Hallie was going to do something daring.

Stepping out into the quidditch stadium her feet soon began to sink into the carpet of snow. Despite this Hallie mounted her nimbus 2001 and attempted to kick off the ground - which proved to be difficult seeing as she could barely move her feet anyone. Hallie was, quiet literally, stuck in the snow.

Fridays.

The most wonderful day of the week. The final day of classes before the weekend and Mariposa was going to spend it with her young Ravenclaw charge. She had agreed to pick her up just outside of the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower and that was where she was headed at this precise moment. A few steps away from the tower, Mariposa spotted the young Ravenclaw, already in regular clothes, and she whistled in a high pitch tone. Jeimy smiled and returned the whistle jumping up and running toward Mariposa.

Mariposa extended her arms and smiled, hugging her tightly for a moment. "Mariposa, que hacemos ahora? No tengo clases." Jeimy said in Spanish. "Ay Jeimy. Nadie tiene clases. Es el fin de semana mamita." she told Jeimy laughing, and ruffling her hair. "Ay Mariposa! Stop!" Jeimy exclaimed. "Ha! I got you to speak in English!" Mariposa laughed. Jeimy laughed with Mariposa and then they left Ravenclaw tower.

Jeimy was dressed in basically the same clothes as Mariposa, except she had kind of different colors than her. Mariposa wore black and blue and Jeimy wore purple and black. "We'll go to the Quidditch Stadium okay?" Mariposa asked Jeimy and she froze. "But I don't know how to fly good." Jeimy admitted. "Who said anything about Flying?" Mariposa smirked and opened the bag she had with her. A soccer ball was inside the bag and Jeimy giggled. "We're playing soccer not flying, Jeimy." Mariposa put her arm around the little girl and they walked out to the stadium.

When they reach it, Jeimy frowned. "How are we supposed to play in the snow?" Jeimy asked sadly. "Well, we could kick upward and send the ball up into the air, remember what I taught you during the summer?" Mariposa asked. Jeimy nodded, and the ran out into the stadium. Their feet sank into the snow, but they were very agile and they were able to move around easier than a normal person would. Mariposa sent the ball into the air first and it went up pretty high, before coming down toward Jeimy.

Across the stadium the sound of fellow students invading the stadium was almost lost in the session of snow falling, however Hallie could see across the pitch a young girl, a ball - of which she had no clue as to what it was - and a girl whom she recognised from her own house of Gryffindor. She believed that girl was in her year although they'd never actually spoke from what Hallie could remember.
Hallie thought back to when she first saw the girl and mistakes her for a boy. Laughing quietly to herself she attempted to kick off from the ground hard, holding her nimbus 2001 securely in her hand. WHAM! Hallie went flying across the snow and landed face down, her broomstick about half a meter protruding out of her snow.

I really could do with some help melting this She though to herself and glanced over to the other students. Hallie hadn't spoken to the girl (who Hallie was pondering on whether she was called Maria or not) and had no idea how she'd react but being a Gryffindor Hallie believed that she must be alright and she seemed to be having fun playing whatever it was and thought it was worth a shot.
'Excuse me!' Hallie shouted, not expecting the girl to hear Hallie grasped her broomstick and yanked it out of the snow before slowly wading across the pitch her hair now looking as though it had been hexed to produce an excessive amount of dandruff.

A jump came first, then the ball flew toward her. Jeimy was getting better, Mariposa had to admit to that. She was a fast learned and a hell of a good witch. Probably why she was sorted into Ravenclaw a year ago. Either way Mariposa was proud of her, and soon Jeimy would be not her sister, but her daughter. Mariposa's parents were working on helping Mariposa adopt Jeimy. It would be a difficult task for a seventeen year old, but Mariposa wouldn't be alone, and soon neither would Jeimy.

"Nice kick, Jeimy. You're getting very good!" Mariposa exclaimed from across the 'field', they had set, to Jeimy. "Thanks. I learned from the best." Jeimy exclaimed back. A sudden call from across the pitch came, and Mariposa trapped the ball under her foot. She turned her head to see a fellow Gryffindor coming toward her and Jeimy. The way the girl looked seemed to scare Jeimy, since she was now hidden behind Mariposa, peeking out just a little from behind her.

Mariposa blinked a couple of times, and stifled a giggle when she looked at the girl's hair. She cleared her throat casually and smiled at the girl. "Hello." she said, trying to be polite. "Que pasa?" she asked the girl, subconsciously asking her in Spanish. "Uh... I mean what's up?" she repeated in English. She felt a slight tug at her shirt and Mariposa looked down. "Oh, it's alright Jeimy. She's another Gryffindor." she explained to the younger girl, and Jeimy stepped out from behind her. "Hello." Jeimy said softly, almost in a whisper.

Hallie looked down at the younger smiled and beamed a friendly smile at her. 'Hi!' She said before brushing her hair out of her face and suddenly recieveing a cold chill from the collection of snow that had rested on her head.
'Eeesh!' She let out before deciding to pull her gloves out of her pocket and put them.
'It's Maria isn't it?' Hallie asked, praying that it was and wasn't going to make a fool of herself, which she often did. Not that she minded too much when with other Gryffindors. Although she despised being made a fool of in front of Slytherins. Hallie detested Slytherin's and their smugness, especially first year Slytherins that walked around the castle as if they owned the place.

Not waiting for the girl to reply Hallie went into a verbal frienze: 'Okay, so I decided to come out and fly in the snow although I am finding it so difficult to take off!' (Putting a lot of emphasis on the 'so') 'And I was wondering if you knew a spell that'd clear the snow? I'd transfigure it into sand although that wouldn't be useful and after dropping charms I can barely remember anything!'

Jeimy stared at the girl, and once again hid behind Mariposa when the girl said hi to her. "Oh Jeimy. Sorry about her, she's really shy." Mariposa apologized. Mariposa took a hand, that was covered by fingerless gloves, out of her pocket and put her hand on Jeimy's head and smiled down at her. Jeimy smiled back and looked at the girl again, her hold on Mariposa's pants tightening.

A small laugh escaped the dark haired Gryffindor girl's lips and she shook her head. "No. My name is Mariposa." she said with a Spanish accent. She smiled at the girl and sighed, looking down, when she felt Jeimy hide her face behind her. What am I gonna do with her? She has to warm up to others. Mariposa thought. She shook her head slightly and looked at the girl again.

The Gryffindor blinked a couple of times before she understood what the other girl had asked. "Oh yes. I can help with that." she smiled and she took out her wand quickly. "Maybe the hot air charm will work?" she said, aiming her wand at a small patch of snow near them, highly doubting that it would actually work. "Fervenus Aerus." she said softly, trying to heat the air enough to melt the snow.

Hallie flushed slightly as she the girl said that her name was Maripose. Well, Maria was kind of close. Hallie said in her head attempting to reduce her guilt for not getting her name right.

'Fervenus Aerus' The girl spoke aiming her wand at the snow. Hallie watched as the snow began to melt slowly, although her sudden rush of delight soon condensed into a slow stream of devastation. Despite the effects of the hot air charm working the snow was falling that fast that as soon as the snow had felted it's sister snowflakes falling from the sky had replaced them, it appeared that Mariposa was simply recycling the snow back into the air for it to fall again.

'Hmmm. Well this doesn't seem to be working. Maybe if all three of us used the charm?' Hallie suggested smiling at the little girl, who apparently was called Jeimy. Hallie could tell she was only young and might not be able to help but it seemed a better idea than letting the poor child shiver in shyness behind Mariposa. Hallie didn't like to see people frightened, or appear cowardly, being a Gryffindor though this would be predictable that she'd want to break peoples fear and help them to be brave and stand up and be who they are.

The spell worked for a little bit. But it wasn't strong enough to keep the snow off of the ground. Just as the snow on the ground melted away more snow just fell on top of it. Mariposa flicked her wand quickly and stopped the spell, a slight groan going with it. "You're right." Mariposa said to the girl. "I'm not strong enough by myself." she added. Mariposa knew it was starting to get very cold, her face was beginning to feel very cold and if she was cold she knew Jeimy must be freezing.

"Uh... me too?" Jeimy muttered, pointing to herself. "Yes Jeimy. But only if you want to try. I know you probably haven't learned this spell yet, or you're just not experienced enough." Mariposa said. "But you can still try. So do you want to try?" she asked the little Ravenclaw. Jeimy nodded and pulled her own wand out. "I'll try." she responded and Mariposa only nodded.

The two girls got their wands ready and Mariposa looked at Hallie. "So you ready?" she asked her. A quick glance down and she knew Jeimy was ready, so Mariposa nodded. "Fervenus Aerus." the two of them said together. The hot air began to stream from their wands at the same time, although Mariposa's was stronger. "Nice keep going like that Jeimy." she told the little girl.