early practice — eira

[Katherine Dankworth]

It was early in the morning, and Katherine had made plans to meet Eira at the Grand Hall as soon as they opened for breakfast. She could survive with just a coffee, but she guessed her friend didn’t feel the same way about training at the same time the sun rose, so she compromised.

“Good morning, Eira. Ready for training?” She said as soon as she saw her coming down the dorm stairs. “Come on.”

The breakfast transcurred quickly, as neither of them wanted to lose time before getting to the pitch, and then off they went, holding her brooms and chatting about classes. Kate had her broom in one hand, and a quaffle in the other, and seemed eager to start. “It’s the first term you play? Let’s practice our passes first. It’s the easier part, I guess.”
Then she went up, kicking the floor and darting towards the sky for a moment. She loved the adrenaline of being in the air at high speed more than anything, but she stopped herself around ten meters high to look at her friend. “Did you notice Lorelei and Rocío don’t like… even look at each other anymore? Do you think they broke up? That would be so hilarious.”

Then, she reminded the talk she had with Caius, sighing. She had promised she would at least try to tone... herself just a little, especially when it was about his friends. So she added something more. "I mean, not hilarious. But it's weird."

[Liliya Eira Zdravkova]

Exactly why Eira had decided to sign up for Quidditch this term, she couldn't say. Maybe it was the desire to be more a part of what everyone else was doing, wanting to be seen and recognized. And maybe she had just really wanted to send a Bludger Wyatt's way. Unfortunately though, they were now on the same team. So that wouldn't work. But maybe she'd be able to accidentally hit one the wrong way during practice. She would think about it.

For today though Eira had agreed to meet up with Kat to practice a few passes and get a better feeling for the whole broom flying thing. Eira had obviously done it before. After all she had been at Hogwarts for three years now and once in a while an opportunity or rather necessity had arisen where she had had to fly. It definitely wasn't her preferred means of transport but she didn't hate it either. Mostly because she simply couldn't get enough of the wind blowing through her hair, the fresh air streaming into her lungs and the feeling of the whole world stretched out underneath her.

She definitely wasn't the best when it came to flying though. So, in prevention of an embarrassment in front of the whole school, Eira needed to practice. Something she would have to squeeze into her already tight schedule.

Eira nodded at Kat's suggestion and kicked off into the air as well, mulling over what she was telling her. "I never even knew they were together." She had in fact considered them to be just best friends. "I did see Rocío run from the common room though." Eira shrugged and did a little turn mid air, holding out her hands for Kat to throw the Quaffle to. "What about you and Oliver though? You were screaming your head off the other day." Eira wondered weather Kat would willingly give away the reason for their argument.

[Katherine Dankworth]

Contrary to what she thought when Eira first told her she was going to try quidditch this term, it seemed like it wasn’t her first time around a quaffle. That made her feel better, because winning was always the most important thing to her and an inexperienced teammate could turn the tables for the worst in mere seconds. Still, she didn’t plan on going soft on her friend, believing the more they practiced, the easier it would be to actually win.

“I mean, it’s not like one of them told me they were together. But I have eyes.” Katherine replied, not even realizing the comment could come up as a little rude. She passed the quaffle again to Eira, aiming without noticing towards the ground instead of the girl, distracted by what she said about the common room. It was a piece of information she didn’t have until that moment, and it was interesting enough to make her think about it in more depth. “You did? That’s interesting.”

“What about you and Oliver, though?”

The question caught her off guard, and threw her off enough to prevent her from hiding her face when her cheeks turned red. The night Eira was talking about was probably the one when they first kissed, because even if it was not uncommon for them to be screaming at each other for the tiniest reasons, that was the only time they probably woke up more than one of their housemates.

At that point, they haven’t even decided to be a proper thing yet, and even though she really liked him she’d rather crash her broom against Karina Ivansko’s stand than admitting it to anyone. Even if that someone was Eira. “He’s always trying to get me to do his homework and I got fed up. Did we wake you? I’m sorry.”

Changing topics abruptly would just give her away. So after asking, she just smiled in the most nonchalant way possible, looking her friend in the eye like she had nothing to hide. “You’d scream at him too if you had to put up with him not only at school, but at home too. Our parents are kind of close and I never seem to get rid of him.”

[Liliya Eira Zdravkova]

Eira felt a little naive now after Kat's comment about having eyes. Had it been that obvious? Eira had never noticed Lorelei and Rocío to be anything more than friends. Had they just hidden it well or had Eira really been too blind to see? She'd have to pay more attention to her classmates' relashionships.

Her pondering was cut short though as the Quaffle came flying back but at a downward angle instead of into her outstretched hands. Eira dived towards it with a second of delay and the Quaffle landed on the grassy ground with a thud before she had any chance of catching the thing.

Eira landed briefly to pick up the ball again before returning to Kat's hight, having completely missed her blushed cheeks and instead only caught her explanation. But still something about the way Kat was speaking sounded a little off, leaving Eira to wonder if there wasn't more to the story. Especially because Oliver's grades were good enough. Eira doubted he had to ask anyone for help on his homework. Particularly someone like Kat. Or maybe he just did it to annoy her.

Instead of prodding though --Kat wouldn't give her anything more anyway-- Eira only shook her head. "You didn't wake me. I'm usually up early like that." She would definitely keep an eye on those two though. It was always better to know about what was going on between her classmates.

With her right hand Eira threw the Quaffle back towards Kat and rolled her eyes in amusement. "Gotta play better than that if you want us to win anything." With a grin Eira flew off a little to increase the distance, laughing in response to Kat's remark about Oliver. "Urgh, I bet! I couldn't imagine having to put up with any of these people at home." Why, thank god she didn't have a real home. Maybe being an orphan did have its advantages.

Well. Maybe not. After all Eira had to put up with some of her peers during summer now as well, with Ren and Benji living there too. She really had to take up her search for her heritage and potential leftover family again before too many people found out about where she actually lived. So far she had been able to avoid most questions about where she came from - usually Eira would come up with some evasive answer or the excuse of not having time right now. But with people now knowing, however few it were (Benji would start talking soon), Eira needed to figure something out. Especially considering how important bloodlines and heritage were to many of her Slytherin friends.

"How do your families know each other?" Eira was genuinely curious, still set on finally learning and understanding the wizarding world's politics and movements.

[Katherine Dankworth]

"Sorry about that." Kate apologized, seeing how Eira was unable to catch the quaffle.

"That's good. I honestly thought we were going to get in trouble." She said then when Eira affirmed they didn't wake her up. She then catched the ball with ease. Years and years of crazy amounts of practice gave her a sense of naturality when it came to Quidditch. She didn't have to think much if she didn't want to, just play. Sometimes she even thought that if her father wasn't so demanding, she'd make a pretty damn great professional player.

"We will win, Eira." She then said, confidence flooding her voice. "They've got nothing on us. Pure strenght with no strategy doesn't get you anywhere."

She passed her the quaffle again, laughing when she heard Eira's comment. "Imagine how I feel, I can't escape that boy even when I'm supposed to be on vacation."

Katherine actually had heard some things about Eira's living situation, though. But on the contrary of what it could be expected from a person like her, she didn't say a thing. She had grown to be fond of the girl. And considering she didn't know how to aboard the topic with empathy, she figured it would be better to just avoid it completely. It wasn't a perfect system, but it showed that she cared. On her own ways.

"My dad and his dad are business partners. I've known him since we were learning to talk." She said. For someone who claimed to hate Oliver Min, she couldn't stop talking about him. "I once pushed him into a river when we were nine. I'm just hoping to repeat that happy occasion when I have the chance."

[Liliya Eira Zdravkova]

Eira wasn't half as sure as Kate seemed to be about winning. Could be her lack of experience with the sport or simply her pessimism speaking. Or maybe she just didn't trust in her own abilities. If she got lucky, she'd end up on the bench.

She caught the quaffle, barely, making a swerve for one of the middle hoops. With whatever strength she could muster, Eira hurdled the ball in the general direction and surprisingly, scored.

All the while Kate was rambling on about Oliver Min and how much she didn't like him. "He's not the worst though", Eira remarked. Maybe he could be a little reckless at times. But at the same time, Eira was feeling rather reckless herself lately. That started with simply hanging out more often with a greater variety of people, continued with playing quidditch, and ended with her attitude during lessons. And either way, there were worse guys out there. Some of them Eira didn't even want to begin to think about.

Feeling a little reckless right there and then, Eira grinned at Kate and asked, "So who are you into then?" She knew there had to be someone. Kate didn't strike her as the prude type.