Up the coast looking
for something different

All along you were there but I missed it
I don't know what it is
But I feel good about this

Quidditch was a passion. Not just some hobby, or something he played to help pass his school years by, but an honest to God passion. Ever since he had been small he had been flying, if not on his own then with his brothers or his father. Mum, of course, could never fly. A very little part of him had been terrified as a child to end up like his mother. A muggle. No magic, no flying, no...anything. Once he had started showing signs of magic that had changed. Before long he was on his own broom tearing after his older brothers without a care in the world. As his love for flying grew into a love for Quidditch he had expressed interest in playing and in seeing a match. Since then he'd been to....pff, it felt like hundreds.

Never in his life had he seen anyone fall out of the sky like Emanuel Delaney had last Saturday. Not in the umpteen million scrimmages, matches, and practices he sat through. He had heard about it happening to the seeker of the Magpies but he hadn't seen it. Somehow it seemed so much less...scary to hear about it than to see it. All morning he had been replaying it in his head. Over and over, that unmercifully slow plummet to the ground. Had it even been slow? Or was that simply how it had felt? Watching everyone rise, everyone screaming, all the wands drawn but no one able to do a damn thing... It had to have been fast.

All morning it had preoccupied his mind. He had even missed meeting Vet to go breakfast. He never missed that. The Gryffindor seeker, though, he would be alright... But what about the next person? It was so clear that whatever was plaguing the wizarding world had finally come to Hogwarts and he was afraid of who would be next. They had a game today....would it happen at their match? Instead of meeting Vet for breakfast he had went and found Zoe instead. Talking to her and getting sucked into their own little world was better than letting himself stew over what might happen. Though, it was obvious that the two quidditch players were both a bit nervous over what today's match would bring.

As the time drew closer for Dima to make his way to the pitch he thought it was probably best to get breakfast. It was fuel, after all, and he'd be needing it for the match whether he was hungry or not. All the worry swarming around in his gut had made it hard to feel like he wanted to eat at all, but once he got to the Great Hall that slowly began to change. The smell of breakfast seemed to perk up his stomach and he could only help it would perk him up too. "Morning," Dima greeted as he sat near his Captain. Lyla had been one of the ones who had gone down to the pitch when Delaney had fell; he could only imagine what was going through her mind when it came to their match today. Dima grabbed an orange and began peeling it, casting a wary look at the older girl. "Ready for the match today?"  

@lyla | Outfit: Robes | Notes: Sorry if this reads like crap my brain isn't working but he demanded this today whether my brain was working or not

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0

ALL ALONG YOU WERE THERE

BUT I MISSED IT

I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS

She didn’t want to do this. Lyla loved quidditch, it wasn’t that. It was that last matched she had watched her… Emanuel, come crashing down out of the sky. And she didn’t think that she wanted to get back up there and play again. She had conducted practice from the air this week, like normal, but she had been wary the whole time. She had been careful. Because falling was a very real possibility, for her especially. She knew that there were others that were starting to show signs. She knew that she wasn’t technically eighteen yet, but neither was Em. His birthday wasn’t until the end of the month, and he had fallen.

He had fallen, and what if she fell next? If she had gotten whatever it was that he had… They had banned her from the hospital wing, after she had snuck in there on Sunday. She had gone in there, without caring a bit about whether or not she was going to catch it. If she was going to get it right now, she already had it. There was no way around that. She was just going to have it anyway, and so she had gone. She had wanted to make sure that he was going to be okay.

That fall… That fall had been terrifying. She had heard about what had happened last fall, but she hadn’t seen it. And even Dad worrying about it hadn’t seemed to make it sink in like watching Em fall out of the sky. Lyla didn’t think that her heart had ever beat that fast in her life. There had only been one thought in her mind the entire time, and it was to get there. To get to him. She had been moving before she had even really thought about it. Flying through the stands, flying through the locker room, and onto the pitch.

No one tried to stop her, no one pulled her away from him. She had had to make sure that he was alive. That he wasn’t dead from a fall like that. Because she didn’t think that she could have borne it if he was… That would have been too much. If he would have fallen and hit his head… Lyla didn’t even want to think about it. And she knew that there had been some precautions taken today. She knew that there were those that were going to watch for that, to make sure that they were okay.

But she also knew who was coming. She knew that her mother was going to be in the crowd today. She had told her that she was coming. That she had volunteered, knowing that it was Lyla’s match. Knowing that she was going to be there, it should have been comforting. She should have felt better knowing that her mum was going to be here, but somehow it was making it worse. It was making her feel like she had to do more. That she had to play better. Or something ridiculous. Her mum didn’t care if she won or lost. She knew that. But still.

Lyla was pushing her fruit around her plate when someone sat down next to her, and she looked up. “Hey Dima…” She knew that she had to perk up. That she had to give a pep talk to all of them. They needed her to be able to do this. They needed her to not worry about them. That they were all going to be fine. But Lyla was worried. She wanted to go and see Em before the match, but she didn’t know if Lady Greengrass would let her in or not, and she knew that she didn’t have a whole lot of time before she had to go down to the pitch. “It’s going to be great.” There was some fake positivity in her voice, but she knew that she had to be that way. They didn’t need to see her worry.

@ dima • 665 • lyla's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

UP THE COAST LOOKING
FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT

ALL ALONG YOU WERE THERE BUT I MISSED IT
I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS
BUT I FEEL GOOD ABOUT THIS

It was going to be great. It had to be great. Things like what happened to Emanuel...they didn't happen twice. Not if anyone could help it. There had been plenty of speeches given by staff lately about the signs and symptoms, what to look for, what to notice in peers. Dima felt fine. He was going to be fine. A part of him was still hopeful that he was too young to catch the sickness. Emanuel was nearly of age to catch it. A few months, weeks, whatever early...those sorts of things happened. But years? Dima hoped not. He hoped that he and the rest of his team were safe. Hell, he even hoped the opposing team would be safe today.

Being hopeful wasn't exactly something that Dima was good at. He always tried to think optimistically. He envied people that could. Really, he did. He just... It wasn't easy for him. The thoughts could cross his mind and Gods be damned if he didn't try his best to make them feel sincere. He wanted them to be. He wanted them to be meaningful and he wanted them to come true. But he knew that so much of optimism was placed into wishful thinking.

He was a Ravenclaw. Not always the smartest or brightest wizard of his age, but he had logic. He had common sense. Not everyone did. Some of the people he went to school with made it abundantly clear that not all people were blessed with forward thinking. But he was. He knew statistically that there were five starters on his team that were in his year. Some already crossing into being seventeen. He knew that Lyla was the eldest of them all. She had been close to Emanuel. She had been there when he had fallen. And if age didn't mean anything to the sickness anymore, if anyone who was seventeen, or even close could catch it.... Then nearly all of them were at risk.

It was something he didn't want to think about, but something that refused to leave his mind regardless. He had hoped that sitting with Zoe would calm his nerves, and for a while it did. Once he left her side they came flooding back and he needed them to go away. He needed them to stop so that he could focus. The game needed to be priority. Not falling off his broom needed to be a priority. The only thing keeping him from going completely insane was the knowledge that at least this time there were people on the sidelines looking out for this exact thing. Volunteers were coming, too. If anyone was going to fall, Gods forbid, he hoped they were ready.

"Hope so," Dima said trying to sound light. The smile that had formed on his face was half-hearted at best but he was trying to stay positive. Same as her, same as any of them. "They've won their last two games," Dima started, immediately wishing he hadn't. Of course they 'won' the last one. Of course that one shouldn't have counted. Good lord, man. "Maybe they are on a winning streak." The Beater raised his brows with the same half-hearted smile as before. Merlin, even talking about Quidditch was hard. The subject was heavy, as was his stomach, and he found himself hardly even wanting to eat the orange he was pealing in his hand. 

@lyla

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0