Wings that Keep Your Heart in the Clouds

Air rushed into her lungs and hesitated there a moment. She paused that moment of her mind and lived there an eternity before breathing out and letting reality continue. Ellery's eyes looked to the sky, soft gray clouds painted into the blue landscape. Her grin pushed her cheeks up. She loved the quidditch field. It was huge and peaceful without screaming houses rooting on teams pining for the winning title. Sure, she enjoyed the game. But it wasn't something that she decided on her own to pursue. She had just happened to be a good flier with her trusty broom and suddenly she was pulled in the direction of the team by her now-teammates. Two more years and she could leave quidditch to her Hogwarts memories.

A soft breeze picked up and pushed her side-braid behind her. Her arm hair prickled with goosebumps as the eagerness to fly made her entire chest feel light as though it were already flying. Ellery smiled like a child as she put one leg over her broomstick. And then she took off.

Her hair was flying in the wind. Strands flailed in her peripherals and into her face as she flew through the air so fast the world was blurring around her. She was not the fastest flier at Hogwarts, but she definitely felt fast. As her broom pushed its way through the air, her clothes danced on her skin and Ellery forgot she was even smiling she was just so happy to be in the air. After a couple laps around the field she shot straight up toward the clouds, but didn't dare go too high. She was fearful of getting lost in the clouds and never bringing herself to come down again.

She banked downward and back up again before bringing herself around the stadium once more before landing back down in the middle of the field. Ellery dismounted her broom and pushed strands of hair out of her face. She took a moment to look up at the sky again, trying to decide if she was done flying or not.

Ducky was feeling every so slightly dejected. Finn and Nora had committed a horrid act of treason - he had found them... studying. Of all things to do on a beautiful day such as today! He had done eveything to tempt them from their sinful ways. He had tickled their feet. He had stolen their chairs (with them still sitting in the seats). He had rolled on top of the table. He had waved stolen chicken legs under their noses. They would not budge. Preaching the ways of light, he promised them damnation as he gave up. Their souls were hopelessly out of his hands now. There was literally nothing he could do for them. His heart ached for his fallen comrades, but he had no choice, now did he?

The Quidditch pitch sounded good. Armed with only his good looks and a pocketful of Sugar, he headed for the grassy area that had featured so many good times for him. He was planning on bringing his little group of friends to the pitch on their last night of Hogwarts for the year at night. A night of Sugar, Spice, some Firewhiskey. He could bring some blankets, and they could stare at the stars. He warmed at the thought of spending the time with his friends, and he thanked whoever it was that orchestrated this miserable little life that he had stumbled upon such a fun-loving group.

He made his way to the pitch, no plan in his typically-empty head. As he approached, he saw another figure. Immediately, his already swagtastic gait became more bouyant with the anticipation of company. Even a stranger would be fun - Ducky thrived on the interaction with people, and he looked forward to making them laugh. He had a knack for it.

He became more pleased, however, as he realized he recognized the figure. Ellery Dixon! OH boy, oh boy, happy day.

He stopped in his tracks and hunched like a cat. He began to step quietly, walking heel to toe through the grass. Her back was to him, and he soon crossed the distance between them. When he was mere feet away, he pounced. And unable to help himself, he clamped his mouth on her shoulder, biting playfully. "I LOVE VEGETABLES!" was the shout heard across the pitch as he tackled his friend to the ground.

When she flinched at what felt like teeth touched her shoulder, Ellery's entire fantasy world about the sky came crashing to the ground. And by that, I mean literally. The presence of another person suddenly invaded her reality that she hadn't taken note of before it was battle crying it's love for vegetables and tumbling on top of her into the earth. She half-wished the earth would have opened up and swallowed Ducky Baker and herself so she and the world would not have to deal with this maniac tackling innocents on sight.

When her world wasn't spinning so much anymore, she realized she was flailing while trying to hit him and shouting curses. Her last curse ended on, "You intolerable bird-brain!" before her body decided to just go limp beneath his weight as she could not get up and no longer had her broom near her to whack him with. That belonging had gone flying (no pun intended) a good few feet away. Much longer than her arm span was capable of reaching.

She glared up at the spawn of some evil drug lord above her. "You are the most insufferable shit I have ever met." Ellery could feel the blood coming to her face with anger. "Now if you would kindly get off of me," she seethed. She had a feeling that if he wouldn't this would soon turn into a game of thrones - otherwise seen as a wrestling game where she envisioned herself on top and free from the hands of Ducky.

The two friends landed in the grass and Ducky found that he had Ellery nicely pinned beneath him, a la Lion King - when they were cubs, though, not when things got all gross and lion freaky. He grinned down at the redheaded girl, completely and utterly pleased with himself to have done so much damage insuch a swift motion. It had not even been planned out. He knew his knee would be hurting tomorrow - he had landed on it funny - but the nurse always gave him whatever he needed if played up a sob story. And boy, could Ducky play up a sob story.

She cursed at him - he would have been disappointed if he didn't. "HA! BIRD BRAIN!" He got right in her face, squishing his face up as he nosed her face. "You're soooo clever." He quickly pulled his head away, fearing for its safety. Ellery could be violent if she so intended too, and he did not take threats lightly. "You know - my species has worked hard for equality, and slurs like that are exactly what is wrong with society."

She kept on, looking as though she might explode. He knew he had to deal with her, and fast, if he wanted to be able to carry on the Baker bloodline. So, before she could crawl away, or hit him, or worse, he suddenly dropped, scooping his arms around her. His mouth was conveniently near her ear... and yet, he still felt the need to scream the words, "BUT I LOVE MY LITTLE PIECE OF CELERY."

His body tensed in preparation for her vengeance.

Ellery was sure Ducky had made a deathwish today. He nosed her face while complimenting her on her meant-to-be insult and she growling something animal like while swiping toward his face to find he had moved it swiftly back. After his next obnoxious comment Ellery muttered, "Oh, I'll show you what slurs are wrong with society."

After her kind request to be freed was denied, all the weight of Ducky came crushing onto her chest as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. She felt trapped. Like a cat when someone thinks it's funny to hold its tail prisoner. Ellery let out a grunt of resistance and tried to squirm free. All efforts ceased though when a shout pierced her ear drum and caused all of her to tense. The breath on her ear tickled and the sound made it ring. The oh-so-not-cute nickname "celery" caused Ellery to scowl. It pricked at her skin like a cactus and she had to act now.

As she quickly plotted in her mind how to turn them over, she placed her hands on his sides almost like how a boy would hold a girl at a school dance. Ellery, though, had something else in mind. "Y'know, Ducky..." she started off sweetly. "I am not... nor have I ever been-" she brought her legs up to his hips and gripped them with her knees like she was riding a horse. Quickly, she pushed with her arms and pulled with her knees toward one side so that they would, hopefully, flip onto his back. "- a piece of celery!!!"

After feeling the ground leave her back and hear the successful thud of them turning over on to his, Ellery smiled something two parts triumphant and one part giddy. "Pinned ya!" she barked in his face. She allowed herself a giggle in her victory and moved some hair out of her mouth - still on top of Ducky though since his arms held her in a tight grasp. That was her next problem. How was she supposed to get up? And secondly, was she actually having some fun? Ellery contemplated this while she caught her breath. Ducky was too heavy and her arms were not toned enough for this work.

It was the last thing Ducky had expected. So suddenly, the entire world was reversed. He was not certain how she had done it, but a sudden pounding and throbbing in his already weakened knee clued him in on to her secret. “You saucy wench,” he muttered, though he felt his grin pricking up, turning into a wry half smile. Sure, she had beat him, but she had positioned herself into a very compromising place. How would she explain this?

“Ellery, I…” there was a touched sincerity in his voice. “I didn’t know you felt this way.” He was certain these words would make her throw a fit, make her escape him, bit might not be enough. He reached for her shoulders beneath her grip, leaning upwards, his eyes closed and his lips puckered. He tensed, ready to be hit or released. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and if he got a kiss out of it, so be it.

[ooc]oops. ignore rhonin right here.[/ooc]

Ellery's triumph coursed through her veins. She had no idea how she turned him over since he was so heavy, but it had worked. And she had the upper hand. When it came to power struggles - Ellery bathed in pride whenever she won. But as Ducky began speaking again, she tensed. What did he mean? And then all she could see was his face, coming toward her's. Lips. Lips. Those were lips. So she reacted how she hoped any girl would react to Ducky Baker.

Thwack!

She quickly shuffled to her feet, holding her forehead with one hand as her eyes stayed squinted. Movies never made smacking someone else's head with your own look as painful as it really was. But that was just as Ellery had done - brought her forehead in full force down to his. And now it was some sort of recoil damage to her own skull. She opened her eyes, squinting against the light of day as the world came back to her. She walked a little uneasily to her broom and picked it up, bringing it around so the sweeping end was facing Ducky.

"I have a right mind to smack you with this, bird brain." Ellery was sure her forehead had a red mark, but she brought her hand down anyway and held the broom with it while her dominate right hand went to her hair. She realized now that in the fray it had come mostly undone and so she took the hair tie out and put it on her wrist. Ellery took a moment to shake her hair out so it flowed around before bringing it over to one side. She glared at Ducky. "You're a pig. Why'd you try to kiss me?"

She brought her hand up to rub her forehead one more time. "Shouldn't you be smoking grass somewhere? Preferably not around me," she said with a sigh in her voice. Ellery had come out here for a good fly and ended up with battle scars and grass stains. But now that she had mentioned smoking, she could really go for a good regular cigarette about now. She smoked tobacco rarely, but when the craving came she couldn't deny. She looked Ducky up and down for the first time since he tackled her. His dorkiness could be seen from Godric's Hollow and probably further. He was just so weird and yet she couldn't bring herself to say "f*** off" and mean it. Ducky was simply insufferable, but what Ellery never considered was maybe she enjoyed having at least someone out there to get angry at.

Ducky was so used to being spurned (always fondly of course) that the impact itself was quite expected so he could prepare for it. He, however, had not expected quite so malicious a blow. But who would have expected anything but a slap, a smack, or even a light punch? But, nooooo. That must not have been interesting enough for Ellery Dixon. She insisted on banging her head against his – and her head must have been full of rocks, so heavy and unpredicted the blow had landed.

She scampered off of him as he clutched his head. “Bleeding balls of ancient glory – what the f*ck was that?!” Though there was some obvious pain in his voice, a bemused smile was sitting comfortably upon his expression. He pushed himself up, still clutching his head as he tried to will the pain away. It hurt, a lot, as she had had gravity on her side. But his personality would not allow him to express the sour or negative feelings. The smile remained screwed on his face, though he knew he would be an unhappy person when he awoke the next morning with a bum knee and a throbbing headache.

She wielded a broom and he put his hands up and shook them, unable to refrain from teasing her even now. “Oooh, scary.” He preemptively ducked, afraid that he actually would take a broomstick to the face – that was the last thing he needed right now. Her question was beautiful indeed, a question worthy of an equally sassy response. “Well… I was trying to get you off of me and, as you can see, it worked perfectly.” He allowed for the smirk on his face to sink in. “What, did you actually think I wanted to kiss you? What would give you such an idea, Celery Stick?”

If that didn’t goad her, nothing would. And if that goaded her, it had to mean she was bit more emotionally interested in him than she admitted. And she admitted to care nothing for him. He tilted his side. “And you very well know that I’m not a pig. Pigs don’t have feathers.”

Her next words made him sputter into laughter? “What are you –a paranoid father from the sixties? Smoke grass?” He plucked a handful of grass from the pitch and threw the fistful at her. “You’re naughty today, Celery. A right pain.” He grinned.

Ellery ignored the pain in his voice. He deserved it, right? So she didn't have to feel sorry. No, in fact she couldn't even see to try. Ducky was outright annoying. And so she ignored that pain. The whole interaction had left her brain spinning. And not just because it hurt. She was annoyed by the fact that she had wanted to be alone. She was annoyed by the fact that of all the people at Hogwarts, it was Ducky that stumbled upon her alone time. And lastly, she was annoyed that she was always so angry as of late.

She rolled her eyes at him taunting the "scariness" of her broom. Ellery was amused that he was already ducking. Good. He should well know that she could be very aggressive. And then he started talking again. Yes, his tactic had worked. She'd give him that. But what Ducky said next brought a scowl to her face. What's so wrong with that? Ellery thought herself at least mildly attractive. What an insult. And so with a short "ugh" sound, Ellery brought her broomstick up and pretended like she was going to smack him with it. She hoped for a flinch. After bringing her broomstick back down she pushed some hair out of her face.

Ellery rolled her eyes again at "pigs don't have feathers" while she started brushing herself off. Then he started laughing. She glared. What. What was so god damn funny? Her glare intensified at his next string of words and she gave an equal glare to the grass he threw at her descending from mid air. She walked toward him, "Oh, har-har-har," she laughed sarcastically until she was right in front of him. Ellery's middle finger came up and she said with a quieter anger than before, "F*ck you." She turned around and started walking away before letting out an angry sound and turning back. "Y'know, what, Duck? You're a pain all the time." Ellery stared at him for a moment. Her face morphed into that of an angry child unwillingly doing something they were told to do. "And I'm... I'm sorry about hitting your big stupid head." Her hand clutched the elbow of her arm that held the broom and she looked away.