starting to fly high - irina

[Deleted]

Irina Rose Krum

well this was going to be an interesting morning. the sun had just started coming up and he was sitting on the quidditch pitch trying to psych himself into flying. he had done it with his brother during the last summer, before his parents had passed and he wanted to do it again. he missed the feeling of being in the air. if only the thought of it didn't scare him. he ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly as he looked at the broom before him. he moved onto his knees and picked up the broom, letting it rest in his hand for a moment before he stood up and he mounted the broom. he kicked off from the ground and gripped the handle of the broom and kept making himself take deep breathes and he tried to keep his hand from faltering on the handle of the broom. after about thirty seconds he lowered back down to the broom, dropping the broom onto the grass and stepping back from it. he'd done it. no horrible feeling that he was about to pass out and he was ecstatic about that.

[Irina Rose Krum]

Though Irina hated the idea of playing Quidditch, she loved to fly. Flying gave her the freedom that running did not, and climbing almost did. With a broom she could soar high into the clouds, way above the treetops she had sat in over the years, and view everything from a birds perspective. Quidditch you were confined to the pitch and the rules; Irina did not want to follow the rules when it came to Flying. She woke early, as she always did; sometimes she wondered if she had a sixth sense on when it was to be a beautiful day. She grabbed her broom and headed up to the Astronomy Tower. It was not the typical place for takeoff, but sometimes Irina liked to live a little. She kicked off and soared high above the castle, meandering close to the Forbidden Forest and ended up over to the Quidditch Pitch. It didn’t look so confining when it was empty.

As she got closer though, she realized it was not empty; there was someone hovering over the ground. She flew over to see Ranger Lloyd drop his broom and step away. “Ranger!” she exclaimed when she was in hearing distance; she hoped she hadn’t startled him. She landed and dismounted and walked over to him with a small smile. “Trying it out again?” she asked, gesturing to the broom. She remembered his accident vividly; she knew it must be incredibly difficult for him to even get this far, so he should be proud of himself.

@ranger

[Deleted]

Irina Rose Krum

“Ranger!” ranger looked up as he heard irina's voice and he smiled slightly, his hands shaking lightly as he folded them over his chest. he couldn't believe he'd flown again without passing out. that had been one of the worst moments of his life when he'd passed out in front of his brother. "hey irina" he said with another smile. “Trying it out again?” he nodded a little and glanced at his broom. "yeah. you can't be an auror if you can't fly" he said as he bent down to pick up the broom and he looked at the one in her hand. "how about you? you practicing?"

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina smiled a little sympathetically as Ranger reasoned one couldn’t be an Auror if they couldn’t fly. “I’m sure they make exceptions Ranger, especially if they knew….well, what happened,” she told him, not wanting to mention his accident out loud. Everyone at the match that day still remembered it, some more vividly than others.

“Flying clears my head, actually,” she admitted with a half shrug. Much to her mothers’ chagrin, she had never joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Organized games just weren’t her cup of tea; she had no problems playing in friendly two-a-sides with Dan and her siblings, and she loved to fly just in general. She knew she probably would have done well on the team, but her heart simply wasn’t in it. “How are you going about your easing into flying again?” she asked him curiously.


@ranger

[Deleted]

Irina Rose Krum

“I’m sure they make exceptions Ranger, especially if they knew….well, what happened,” he didn't want them to have to do that. if he was going to do the job he needed to do all the job. not part of it no matter what the reason. if he couldn't fly he didn't know what he'd do. he had wanted to be an auror for years but now so more than ever. he wanted to do it to follow in his father's footsteps. make him proud, be the son he'd have been proud of if he'd been alive. it was his way of trying to feel closer to his dad. "i can do it. i just need to keep working on it" he said. he'd get there eventually he was sure of it. even if he passed out or threw up every time. he'd get there in the end. “Flying clears my head, actually,” he understood that. it had been the same for him. he had used flying to forget what he didn't want to think about. “How are you going about your easing into flying again?” he shrugged a little and rubbed the back of his neck lightly. he didn't know how it was going. he still couldn't do more than hover a few feet off the ground. "slowly .. really slowly"

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina nodded, and then remembered; Rangers parents had been killed over the summer, Rangers dad had been an Auror. “Of course,” she said softly. She couldn’t imagine losing her parents; even if her mother who she butted heads with. If she came home to find they were both dead….well she’d have to stay away from Dan. Even though he said he wanted to feel everything she felt, she wouldn’t put him through that.

Shaking her head of the morbid thought, Irina looked down at the brooms. “Do you want any help with practicing?” she asked him. “I’m not sure exactly how I can help, but I get wanting to prove you can do something,” she told him with a small smile.

@ranger

[Deleted]

Irina Rose Krum

“Do you want any help with practicing? I’m not sure exactly how I can help, but I get wanting to prove you can do something,” he looked down at the broom in his hands and chewed his lip. he wanted help in being able to do more than just sit on the broom but he hadn't worked up to leaning forward to make the broom move in more than an up and down motion. he supposed if she had a way to help him work on it it wouldn't hurt. it wasn't like she'd make fun of him if he wasn't able to do it. she wasn't that sort of person. "well i can't .. exactly fly at the moment .. i mean i can hover like" he motioned about chest height with his hand. "this high .. but that's about it"

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina nodded, pursing her lips in thought as he gestured to how high he could fly so far. “Maybe we could try mirroring? Like I start at the level you’re comfortable with, then slowly climb a little higher. We can go at the pace you set and if you feel like you’re about to faint then you can go back down,” she finally suggested. If he was concentrating on her instead of the idea of being on the broomstick and flying higher, perhaps he’d be able to conquer this challenge faster. “Just keep your eyes on me and only me. Like we’re just having a conversation,” she instructed, mounting her broom and gesturing him to do the same. “You ready?” she asked, her foot planted to give her a gentle kick off when Ranger gave the go ahead.


@ranger

[Deleted]

Irina Rose Krum

“Maybe we could try mirroring? Like I start at the level you’re comfortable with, then slowly climb a little higher. We can go at the pace you set and if you feel like you’re about to faint then you can go back down,” higher? his palms started sweating at the thought of going higher. he closed his eyes for a second and nodded his head a little. he had to do this. he had to do this. he had to do this. he kept thinking that to himself as he mounted on the broom and gripped it tightly, his knuckles going white as he looked across at irina. “Just keep your eyes on me and only me. Like we’re just having a conversation,” he nodded again and didn't say a word. he figured she wouldn't expect him too, he was too busy trying to work out how to do this and keep his reputation. “You ready?” he nodded for a third time and gave a light kick off the ground as he kept his eyes on irina. "so .. conversation?"

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina kicked off gently from the ground when Ranger did, and then nodded and gave a little laugh. “Yes, conversation. First, to get out the elephant in the...well not room, I am sorry about your parents,” she said, reaching out and giving his arm a quick squeeze. She rose a tiny bit higher, making sure he wasn’t paying attention to it. “Is that why you want to become an Auror? I know that's what your dad did,” she asked him curiously. “If I went with what my parents wanted I would be a professional Quidditch player, and be right miserable. I hate playing Quidditch,” she confessed to him. Again, she went a little higher; she didn’t think he was doing that badly!

@ranger

[Deleted]

Irina Rose Krum

“Yes, conversation. First, to get out the elephant in the...well not room, I am sorry about your parents,” he felt a squeeze of his heart and his chest suddenly felt a little tighter at the mention of his parents. before his week at home and before he'd started to heal over what had happened he would have had to leave. gone somewhere else and dealt with his pain by running. but he could handle it now. the feeling of loss was still there but it wasn't a crushing weight on his chest. he simply nodded slightly, a glisten in the corner of his eye before a small gust of wind blew around them, getting rid of it for him. “Is that why you want to become an Auror? I know that's what your dad did,” he nodded again and lifted his gaze to her. "yeah. i always wanted to be an auror though, even before he passed away. now it feels like something i should do" he said as he, without realizing it, started to move up with her. “If I went with what my parents wanted I would be a professional Quidditch player, and be right miserable. I hate playing Quidditch,” he chewed his lip a little. he knew what it was like to be pushed into something you didn't want to do. "have you told them? i had something like that ith my dad .. after i was just healed from my accident .. he was trying to get me on a broom again. it was awful .. but a few months" he choked up slightly on that. it had been at the start of summer when ranger had finally told his father to lay off. now he wished he hadn't. it hadn't been anything awful but .. he still felt bad about it. "ago i spoke to him about it"

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina nodded as Ranger explained how he wanted to be an Auror even before his parents deaths; it made sense to her that he would be even more determined to join the ranks of Aurors to honor his father now.  "I think it's you, Grey and Albus Potter at the very least this year," she told him, rising a little bit higher but not leaving his gaze.  "I think the only other person interested in Cursebreaking is Loic Rosier, which....well that will be interesting," she said, making a face before laughing.  "I have tried to tell my parents I'm not interested in playing Quidditch; my father is the understanding one - he just wants to see me happy.  But my mother keeps saying how I am wasting my natural talent on the field and that it 'devastates her'," she explained, putting the devastating in air quotation marks.  She rose higher.  "My brother is being supportive of my decision, and Dan too," she added, relieved that she had that down pat at least.  "What about you?  Any romance happening with the great Ranger Lloyd?" she asked, giving him a sly smile.


@ranger

[Deleted]

Irina Rose Krum

"I think it's you, Grey and Albus Potter at the very least this year, I think the only other person interested in Cursebreaking is Loic Rosier, which....well that will be interesting," louic rosier. well he did think that would be interesting. he couldn't say he'd ever had much to do with him. but that could be because ranger had tended to avoid contact with slytherins due to his ongoing hatred of mathieu. "i'm sure he's got a good quality .. somewhere" he said with a slight smile. "I have tried to tell my parents I'm not interested in playing Quidditch; my father is the understanding one - he just wants to see me happy. But my mother keeps saying how I am wasting my natural talent on the field and that it 'devastates her'," he understood that. how many times had he himself been told that. that he was wasting his talent by not flying. he could have been great. like flying was the only thing that would make him great. he'd hated it and he felt for irina, having to keep hearing that. "My brother is being supportive of my decision, and Dan too," nikolai. well that was good at least, she had the support of her older brothers. dan? he tilted his head slightly and lifted his head to look at her. "dan?" he asked. "What about you? Any romance happening with the great Ranger Lloyd?" he grinned a little and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "there might be something happening with helena .." it was at that moment ranger looked down, really looked down at how high they were and his eyes widened and his hands gripped onto the broom. he felt it then. a familiar dizzying sensation and he closed his eyes and swallowed, trying to keep himself centered on the broom so he didn't plummet to the ground. his breathing quickened and in a matter of seconds it felt like he couldn't breathe at all. this had been a bad idea. a really bad idea.

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘really?’ when Ranger tried to comment on Loic’s good qualities. “Well, it’ll be good training to watch my back I suppose,” she said with a shrug, then smiled a little at his next question. “Dan is my boyfriend; he’s from Durmstrang, but our families have been friends for years. It probably seems a little weird because he is Nikolai’s best friend but it just...falls together so well,” she said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She opened her mouth to ask him more about Helena - she didn’t know the girl very well - when he looked down. Oh, no this was not good. “Ranger, hey look up, eyes on me,” she said quietly, firmly clasping his wrists. “So Helena, I know she’s a Ravenclaw student, what else does she like to do?” she asked quickly, trying to get Rangers’ mind off the height they were currently floating at.

@ranger

||MAZE DIRECTION: LEFT TURN #3||

[Deleted]

Irina Rose Krum

“Dan is my boyfriend; he’s from Durmstrang, but our families have been friends for years. It probably seems a little weird because he is Nikolai’s best friend but it just...falls together so well,” he was glad she found someone. it wasn't like he could say anything anyway, he wasn't sure he'd have anything to say but it was something he was happy for her about. "well i'll have to meet this guy. i have a different perspective than a brother" he said with a light smile. he shouldn't have looked down. looking down had been a bad idea. now here he was sitting on the broom feeling like he could't breathe and like he was going to pass out any second which wouldn't be a good thing when they were so high up. “Ranger, hey look up, eyes on me,” he looked up at her as she gripped onto his wrists, his eyes wide and his cheast heaving as he fought for air he thought he couldn't get. he could feel his hear pounding in his chest and he shook his head slightly, closing his eyes. “So Helena, I know she’s a Ravenclaw student, what else does she like to do?” helena? she liked .. oh god what did she like. he couldn't think. he wrenched a hand from her hold and gripped the other on the broom handle as it jostled a little. he rubbed his fingers into his chest, gripping at his shirt he shook his head again. "i c-can't b-breathe .." he managed to get out through the air he was actually gulping in.