Sleepless | Katherine

[Nael Al-Azma]

December 8th, 1973
11:30pm

A thick layer of snow covered the benches of the Quidditch stands. It had stopped snowing some time this afternoon, but no one had bothered to clear the benches. There was no game and no one watched practises in these temperatures.

Nael stalked through the white powder, brushing it off one on the benches to take a seat. From up here, he could see down to the pitch without really getting seen himself. His wand was tucked away, even though it was dark. Nael was used to the darkness by now, his eyes adjusted to the little light that was there.

Patrol time was almost over for him and that meant he could slip off into the forest. Sleep would not come for him for another several hours, he knew that. The past months he had survived on the minimum of sleep aside from the nights his father had forced that damn sleeping potion on him. Sleeping sucked, more so than being awake.

There was a cigarette in his hand, unlit, just being rolled through his fingers. He had seen Hank with a pack tonight and had just asked for one. The 7th year had been surprised, but had shared with him. It wasn't that Nael wanted to smoke it, but tonight was one of those nights he felt like he needed it. That letter he had received today sat heavy in his pocket. He'd only dared to look at it after dinner in the common room. He shouldn't have.

His ears picked up snow getting crunched underneath feet. Footsteps. Down on the pitch. Without making a sound himself, he leaned forward slightly to look down on the pitch. If it was a Professor, Nael would be quiet and hide himself. It looked too small for a Professor though unless it was Kara. He had not seen the Divination Professor out on the pitch before though. It was unlikely.

"You are not supposed to be here," he finally called down calmly to whoever was walking there, probably scaring them still. Looked like a girl. "Go back before you get frostbite." Nael had come across a few students on his patrols, but usually he just talked briefly and then let them go do whatever they were out to do. He probably wasn't the star prefect that Ivansko wanted them to be.

[Katherine Dankworth]

Kate hated sleeping.

She hated it enough to be roaming the pitch that late at night, snow covering every single centimeter of the place. With her broom in one hand, she thought she could maybe fly a few laps, distract herself for everything that has been on her mind lately.

"You're not supposed to be here.Go back before you get frostbite."

The voice of a boy she could easily recognize snapped her back to reality, as she tilted her chin up to look at him. "I can be here, Al-Azma. I'm a monitor, too."

It wasn't completely true. She was a monitor. But she was pretty sure Ivansko's especial permits didn't include midnight flights. Still, maybe Nael didn't know that. Or maybe he could cover for her, if she was nice enough.

The truth was that, as much as she could dislike the boy, she did respect him. She had spent a great amount of time thinking Nael was where he was because he was related to Nabih, but the fight on the dungeons had showed he did deserve being considered strong.

That she could respect. Even admire.

"Why don't you come down?" She asked, her usual tone that mixed flirtiness and unnerving teasing gone. "I don't think anyone is coming anyways. Or are you still mad at me?"

[Nael Al-Azma]

That voice he knew. It was one of those voice he would never be able to erase from his memory even if he wanted to. Katherine Dankworth - Slytherin Queen. Not that Nael thought her to be a queen at all, but that was the word around the castle. Did she know this? It would just fuel her ego most like. Nael got up from his seat and peered down at her.

A monitor? Those students who played hall police for Ivansko? "It's called hall monitor for a reason, Dankworth. Don't bullshit me." It was too late for hall monitors anyway. While they walked around the school and reported people breaking the rules, they did not do patrols outside like prefects and Professors. At least not that he knew. It didn't matter. She could be out here for all he cared.

"Why don't you come down? I don't think anyone is coming anyways. Or are you still mad at me?"

That would be the polite thing to do. Nael just wasn't sure if he wanted to be polite with her. She was probably just playing it safe because her little boyfriend wasn't with her. Was Min her boyfriend still? It had sounded like they had broken up after the bloody Halloween Party and Nael had not paid any attention on these with Benji's accident on the pitch.

Slowly he made his way down the stairs of the stands and walked out onto the pitch in the darkness. He stopped in front of her, briefly eyeing her broom. "No, I'm not still mad at you. Are you?" Of course Nabih had made him apologize to the girl and Nael had felt sorry about how things had gone. Not because he had to feel sorry, but because he hated when he lost control like that, no matter how much she had deserved getting kicked off that high pedestal she seemed to live on.

The cigarette disappeared into his pocket and he pointed at her broom. "Wanna go for a  ride?"

[Katherine Dankworth]

Instead of getting mad, Katherine couldn't help but laugh when she got caught. "I wasn't bullshitting you!"

"Okay, fine. I was." She admitted, amused. Kate then followed him with her gaze, narrowing her eyes as the pitch was too dark to clearly see him until he was in front of her. She then noticed what Nael had in his hand, and she raised her eyebrow. "Was that a cigarette?"

If it was, it didn't really surprise her. Nael just seemed like the type to sneak out and smoke, but she did wonder what would Nabih think about the topic. Still, it didn't seem like she was planning to rat him out. She normally would've, but this time she was in no position to threaten anyone, considering she was also breaking the rules in the name of a title that didn't gave her the authority she claimed she had.

Also, there was the fact that she didn't feel like messing with Nael. For once, she wanted to be nice.

"I am not." She answered then. She had spent a few days mad about it, but in the end, it just wasn't that deep. It was all part of the game. It would be stupid, even weak, to go around crying for how people reacted when she provoked them.

"You aren't planning to push me from the broom, right?" She joked then, lightly. "But yeah, sure."

She offered him the broom, a little thoughtful before speaking again.

"I always come here when I have too many things on my mind. The cold air helps, I guess." She confessed. "Don't you think?"

[Nael Al-Azma]

"Was that a cigarette?"

Nael's lips curled into a smile and he shrugged slightly. "Why? Do you want it?" Maybe it was better if he got rid of it before the night was up. While he was very sure his father wasn't patrolling the pitch today, one could never be sure with the man. Sometimes he just showed up unexpectedly. A cigarette and that letter were two things Nael did not want Nabih to find.

It was good to hear she wasn't mad at him anymore. Nael had not really thought that she was. Kate did not strike him as a girl who got hung up on something like this. He had hurt her pride that evening, but he had not wounded her physically. Besides as someone who dished out a lot of snark as she did, it probably had not been the first time someone had actually put her in her place.

Her joke made him laugh a little and he shook his head. "I got no plans like that. Honestly." He was rather direct when he actually wanted to hurt someone, which was rare to begin with. The fact that she had been on the receiving end of some of hexes from him was just unfortunate. In any case Nael was not all that sneaky about things like this. He just lost control sometimes and then things got bad. Direct and rough - no hidden agenda.

Nael took the broom from her and mounted it. "It helps to not think, yes. Get on!" He gestured for her to get on behind him and when she did, he reached back, took her hands and placed them around him. "Hold on tight. Wouldn't want you to fall off by accident either." There was a playfulness in his tone that even surprised him. Even putting her hands around him was surprising to himself. Something was wrong with him tonight. That letter had messed him up more than he already had been.

Pushing the thought aside, Nael pushed them off the ground and pulled the handle up, rising into the air, first slowly but gaining speed quickly. Now, Nael had not really planned for a broom ride and while he was dressed for the weather with warming charms in place, the cold wind still found its way into his clothes. It didn't matter though, because flying through the air like this did exactly what he had just told Kate. Stop him from thinking too much.

"You ok?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at the girl who was holding on to him. "Wanna talk about the things on your mind? I can go slower?" He didn't really want to, but he would if she wanted that. Nael rounded the Quidditch hoops with ease and then steered the broom in the opposite direction, higher up into the air. "You ever did a freefall?" Were Slytherins brave? Nael was ready to find out.

[Katherine Dankworth]

So it was a cigarette. Katherine had no choice but to smile back at him, but then she shook her head softly. "I don't smoke. I happen to enjoy my lungs not being the same color as coal. You do you, though."

"Well, that's a relief." She joked, knowing Nael was not capable of such thing. She was, if they pissed her off enough. Still, this situation called for no such thing, as Katherine was quickly finding out that Nael could be quite the good company when she was actually nice to him.

"I know that!" Katherine said, slightly offended at Nael's instruction. She was there on the first place because she wanted to fly, wasn't she?

Nevertheless, she did not protest when Nael put her hands around him. "You are talking to the girl who flought most of the last game with her face covered in blood. You do know that, right? I won't fall."

Confident as always, she didn't even flinch when they started to gain altitude. Instead, she started to feel like she was leaving behind all her preoccupations, just as she knew it would happen when she first decided to go down to the pitch. Flying and music. There were the only two things Katherine didn't do because they had told her to. And they were also the only two hobbies of hers she actually enjoyed.

"There a lot of things of my mind." She admitted, finally, clearing her throat a little. "Mostly my father. He's being weird-er. I have to admit he had never liked me too much, but lately he's been acting like I did something to him, you know?"

She then noticed she was maybe talking too much and she blushed, something that did not happen to her very often. Katherine was not used to feel embarrassed about anything she did.

"I didn't mean to vent." Kate whispered, making a little effort to reprise the playful tone of voice she used to refer to Nael, most times to annoy him. "I'm probably much better than you at flying, pretty boy. Of course I have."

She tightened her grip on Nael, unfazed by the challenge. "Do it. Just try not to get us killed—I'd hate to have to save you."

[Nael Al-Azma]

Is that what happened to the lungs when you smoked? Nael should have paid more attention to the posters that were popping up around the castle now. Some anti-smoking campaign had been started. If he wanted to keep doing sports, smoking better did not become a regular thing. Also he would just get in so much trouble that it was not even worth it.

"Oh I'm sorry Quidditch Queen." His tone had just a slight mock to it, but he did remember her last game. She'd been bleeding and still continued playing. Not many players did that, but she was a captain like him. They just had to do these things sometimes.

Nael had slowed down just a little bit, but she was pressed close to him and her mouth was practically at his ear when she spoke. Her father was on her mind. Parents were difficult sometimes. A lot of times. Nael was not the right person to give advice here, but then she also had not asked for any.

"Did you do something then?" Often it was little things that set things off and as a girl there were different expectations pushed on her by her family. Maybe they had been notified of Kate snogging boys. This could always be a problem.

She must have realized who she was talking to, because she apologized the next second and provoked him right after. Nael laughed into the cold air and sped up again. "Better huh? And yet you let me drive. I think you like being flown around all cuddled up." As unusual as that probably was to her, Nael was quite capable of playing along, and using that same tone she used with him.

"Do it. Just try not to get us killed—I'd hate to have to save you."

The faith she had in him was quite something. Nael pulled up even higher, and then let them fall backwards as he pulled the broom towards him. They went straight down, gaining speed so rapidly and just falling through the darkness towards the ground. He felt her hold on tighter and had to grin. In the dark it was difficult to see, but thanks to the white snow, Nael saw the ground come up fast and finally steered the broom, pulling the handle up sharply again.

Both their feet brushed through the fresh snow on the pitch as he leveled the broom again and sped along. "You liked it?" Nael slowed down, and then let go of the broom, throwing himself and the girl hanging on to him to the side and into the snow with a laugh. It was so very cold, but a soft landing still and Nael just remained on the ground on his back for a moment and looked up at the sky.

For a moment he had forgotten his worries and problems. The flight had felt good, and maybe Katherine Dankworth was ok to be around as well. She was different when she was alone. "I can walk you back. In case..you know." There was no need for her to get into trouble.

[Katherine Dankworth]

The nickname made her raise an eyebrow, but she couldn't help but laugh. She was sure that Nael remembered that game as well as she did, because Kate liked to think everything she did was memorable.

"Don't be sorry. As long as you admit I'm better than you." She replied, jokingly. Kate was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, spending time with Nael wasn't as bad as she thought.

"Did you do something then?"

The question made her tense, and she unconsciously tightened her grip around Nael. Opening up about it didn't seem wise, especially when it involved her father. She didn't even really know why she chose to answer, but she did. "I didn't do anything. I do everything right. He should be proud, but he never is."

That was true. Katherine was —at least, as far as William knew—, the perfect daughter. She excelled on almost everything she touched, she was hardworking, and was pretty good with getting away with her bad attitude behind her teachers' back. And it was never enough for her father.

Still, it didn't explain why he was lately acting like she had committed some crime.

"I don't know. He's angry at me. I just can't figure out why." She confessed finally.

As they flew towards the ground, Kate inevitably held even tighter to Nael. But she wasn't afraid. On the contrary, the cold air against her face and the dizzying speed made her feel alive. That's why she chose to go there on the first place.

They fell into the snow and she started laughing too, tilting her head just enough to look at Nael's face. "I did like it. I like adrenaline."

The offer surprised her, though it shouldn't have. She knew Nael was usually polite to girls. Just not to her, mostly because she was always provoking him. "So now you care if I get in trouble? That's new."

A moment passed before she actually replied to his question, but when she finally did, she gave him a rare bright smile. "Okay. Let's go together. If a teacher finds us I can say you bullied me into leaving the castle."

[Nael Al-Azma]

If Nael actually thought Kate was better than him at flying (which he didn't), he wasn't going to admit that to her under any circumstances. She was the kind of girl to rub that in his face for years to come, so he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction. He just smiled and waved her off. Silence was gold in that case.

Funny thing about parents and them being proud of you. Nael had that feeling a lot. Last term it had been horrible, getting punished for everything, even just being a little too slow with his wand. There had been plenty of bruises from training and not one word about the man being proud of him. Nael understood Kate without having to know more. "I think, sometimes they don't even know themselves why they are angry with us. Maybe we remind them too much of themselves as kids," he said quietly, the thoughts just finding a way out of his mouth.

Their laughter took away some of the serious mood again and Nael winked at her. "Who says I care? I just have to make sure that you don't tell anyone I just let you walk away." If that would get her off the hook and him in trouble, she would probably do it without blinking.

"Okay. Let's go together. If a teacher finds us I can say you bullied me into leaving the castle."

Nael shouldered her broom and started walking as he shook his head. "Surey that's believable Kate. We can just say I caught you outside and taking you to Leighton. Not that I actually would. But that would be believable, you know." He kicked some snow at her and waited for her to catch up. Once he delivered her to the dungeons, he would go back outside.

The night was still young.