Merlin, things were just getting bloody ridiculous now this year. It had seemed her only friend prior to this year decided to drop their friendship simply because she was a pureblooded witch, which OBVIOUSLY meant that she was going to be into Dark Magic. She supposed it didn’t help any that she was a pureblooded witch that was sorted into Slytherin as it appeared that many snakes turned to the Dark Arts. Isabella knew she’d be lying if she said it didn’t bother her any that her good friend and teammate decided she was no good anymore, but it was bloody irritating. Then, she dated Evan…only to break up with him…to date another bloke…to break up with him…to go back to dating Evan. Just thinking that in her head made it sound bloody ridiculous and immature. Isabella rolled her eyes as she sauntered throughout the hallways of the castle.

Somewhere in between all of that, she lost her family to a bunch of people throwing a temper tantrum, so she liked to express it. Then, to make matters even worse, her long lost aunt who abandoned their family gained custody of Isabella and thought now was a great time to try to reconnect, going as far as becoming the Head of her own House. Like Merlin she was going to give that woman a second thought…even though, she supposed she gave her a lot of thoughts. It seemed like Isabella was walking for quite some time before her feet guided her outdoors, stalking into the Courtyard. Glancing about, she smiled as she saw a fellow Chaser. The girl had played well this past Saturday, definitely holding a lot of potential. When it came to Quidditch, Isabella could recognize talent. Though before, she had avoided any type of friendships for the most part, she had been becoming more open to her naturally friendly personality, deciding that people couldn’t be all that bad all of the time...even if they would judge her because of her bloody status, she thought, growing irritated at the thought of Roman again. Shaking her head of her thoughts, she approached the Hufflepuff, smiling slightly. This would hopefully prove to be a decent distraction.

“Hey, it’s…Barlow, right? I’m sorry…I don’t really remember your first name…I’m Isabella…mind if I join?” the Slytherin asked, motioning to the bench.

@kiki

It was no surprise that now the idea was planted in Kiki’s head, she was not going to let it go. Ever since her talk with Caleb, she had been trying to decide exactly where a possible basketball court would go. She was dead serious about talking to a professor about a spell that would allow for one, and the Hufflepuff had figured that she probably had more of a chance of getting a court put in place if she could tell her instructors where she thought it should go. Unfortunately, she hadn’t had much luck.

In reality, she was starting to miss a home a bit. Sometimes, she felt more muggle than magic. Sure, the fifteen-year-old had no issues with being friendly to anyone, but she still couldn’t help but feel a bit out of place. The girl felt her interests more aligned with muggles. She had not really excelled at anything magically, except perhaps flying and a few charms, but it seemed like anyone could do that. It was getting better though. At least she had Caleb as a friend, a basketball loving friend at that. It made her feel a little less different. She hadn’t felt this dissimilar since being in muggle school and finding out she was dyslexic. Hm, well, maybe it is better that I’m here.

Before she was able to get too far into her negative feelings, she was pulled out of them by a voice calling out to her. Trying her best to snap out of her funk, she glanced to find who called out to her. It was a Slytherin girl. Oh, where have I seen her before? Oh! Right, I think she’s one of chasers on the Slytherin team. If Kiki remembered correctly, this girl was good… and fast! The girl had addressed her by her surname and introduced herself, which Kiki was grateful for as she didn’t know the Slytherin’s name. Now knowing someone was here to talk to her she perked up a bit and became the full-of-personality person that a lot of people had come to expect out of Kiki. “Yup! Well done. Barlow’s my last name. Kiki’s my first. Nice to ‘officially’ meet you, Isabella.” The two had of course met on the Quidditch pitch, and Kiki usually referred to her as “that damn chaser” when the quaffle was taken from her, but she wasn’t about to contribute to the conversation with that tidbit. “Oh! Yes, please, by all means, join me. What brings you out here?”

Isabella watched as the girl went from being uncertain to brightening up, for whatever reason that was. It didn’t matter all that much, she supposed, as the girl wasn’t telling her that Isabella was bothering her and to go away. Though, Isabella wouldn’t necessarily mind that since she had been in the same area before of not wanting people around. Anyone who played Quidditch was marked automatically as alright in the Slytherin’s eyes, able to recognize a similar interest. It bothered Isabella slightly that her best friend held such an aversion to something that Isabella loved so dearly, but she supposed she wouldn’t hold it against the girl too much. It was just disappointing when she couldn’t talk to her about her own different accomplishments or whatever, knowing that she wouldn’t hold the same appreciation.

“Nice to officially meet you, too, Kiki,” Isabella smiled, taking a seat. “Just talking a walk, enjoying some fresh air,” she shrugged, figuring there was no need to really say why she was going on a walk. “What are you up to?” she asked, hoping to strike up a conversation between the Hufflepuff and herself. Really, she couldn’t say that she knew anything at all about the girl besides her last name and the fact that she was a Hufflepuff. It wasn’t as if Hogwarts was all that large of a school and really, it was quite embarrassing that Isabella hadn’t paid much mind to anyone previously.

Kiki would have been lying if she didn’t say that having her Quidditch talents remembered made her feel a little bit better. Sure, she didn’t know for a fact if the girl thought she was skilled in the flying sport or not, but she was going to at least pretend she did. Besides, I doubt she would have approached me if she thought I played terribly. Maybe there were a few things she could excel at in the magical world.

When Isabella finished her pleasantries, she stated that she had just been walking. The Hufflepuff had run into a few people that apparently just liked to take walks. For Kiki, this was difficult. She liked to have a purpose to what she was doing or a destination. Walking around didn’t sound too much fun, but then again, she had never tried it. Perhaps I should just walk sometime? Maybe it would get out the energy from not being able to dance. The Slytherin asked her what had brought her out here. “Oh something silly, I’m afraid. A friend of mine had been talking about how we wished there was a basketball court around here, so I figured I would find a good place for one and, well, see if it would be possible to have one built. Or ‘magically installed’ or whatever,” she said adding more snide than necessary to the last bit. She didn’t know if the girl would know what basketball was. Before Caleb, she hadn’t had much luck in finding people that understood it.

The Hufflepuff looked over the Slytherin girl. Isabella wasn’t too much taller than Kiki, so she wondered if they were the same year. She tried really hard to think back to years ago at the sorting ceremony if she remembered the girl being sorted, but that was a wasted effort. The sorting had been years ago, and the fifth year did not remember much of it. “So, since I don’t know too much about you, I guess I’ll start with the basics. What year are you?” She smiled at the girl, feeling her friendly nature start to return to her.

Even if Isabella didn’t like having friends, she was definitely more likely to get along with someone who shared her same love for Quidditch than anyone else. Of course, her best friend was a hater of Quidditch, but she supposed everyone was entitled to their flaws, no matter how irritating. To her, when someone was interested in Quidditch, it meant that they were interested in something challenging and slightly dangerous, as getting hit by a bludger never did feel fantastic. This girl, Isabella had noticed, was one of the best in her actual handling of the ball. It was nearly graceful to watch, which was admirable…when they weren’t playing against each other. Merlin, she supposed it was admirable when they WERE playing against each other, even if Isabella didn’t accept it.

Isabella’s lips turned into a wide smile at the mention of the Muggle sport. Had her father not been obsessed with getting her and her brothers’ active in both the Magical and the Muggle world, she would have had no clue whatsoever what the dark haired girl was talking about. She highly doubted a basketball court would be built, unfortunately, but she supposed it wouldn’t hurt to try. “Any luck yet? And I take it you play? I’m not too terribly familiar with all of it, much preferring football, but what position do you play?” To Isabella, basketball was a bit of a slower sport, watching the games constantly put on pause for fouls, or penalties, rather than letting the players get in a few good hits.

The longer Isabella stayed her, the more she found she liked the girl and her bluntness. It was refreshing to have someone who would just say what was on their mind, seemingly. “Sixth,” she responded simply. “And you?” she asked, smiling.

The more Kiki reflected on the matter, the more she remembered how talented Isabella was at Quidditch. Like Kiki, Isabella was a chaser, so it was no surprise that the fifth year had watched her competition closely. Often when she watched, she would provide her own commentary on how the Slytherin was doing and it was always extraordinary. Isabella seemed to always fly with that sort of grace that comes from learning how to play at a young age. She had a sort of comfort with the broom, which was sadly not found in a lot of muggleborns. In fact, if Kiki were completely honest, while her scrapbook currently housed a picture someone had taken of Caleb blocking one of Isabella’s shots, she also had been given one of Isabella throwing the quaffle through the hoop easily in that same game. She had no doubts she could learn a thing or two about Quidditch from this girl.

When the Slytherin didn’t question what basketball was, Kiki’s eyes lit up. She had not expected yet another person to know about the muggle sport. It was just surprising to her that she had went from finding no one that even knew about it, to finding two people that knew about the game. “Not really. I don’t want to be negative, but one probably won’t be built. I just figured I would have more of a chance arguing for one if I could figure out a good place for it. But Caleb, you know, the Hufflepuff keeper, did say anything was possible and by the sounds of it, has a good relationship with Copeland.” Kiki too was in what she considered good standing with Professor Copeland as charms was her best class, but she had never really talked to him.He seems nice though. She dismissed the thought and continued talking to Isabella. “Yup, I’ve played basketball ever since I was little. My siblings... well scratch that, I guess we don’t know if Ty is magic or not yet, I don’t think he is, but I could be wrong,” she started to ramble, but caught herself, “anyway, my sister is a muggle, so mom made all of us kids get into a sport she could play too. I didn’t mind though. It is actually quite fun. I actually guess I like playing power forward best, but I am not picky on what position I play.” She paused and considered the next girl’s words. She didn’t know which football the Slytherin meant, and she never wanted to assume. “Erm, do you mean American football or European football? Personally, I prefer the European one, but I’m not one to judge, of course,” she said with a smile.


Isabella’s reply was a little disheartening. Damn, all of the awesome people here are sixth years and going to freaking graduate soon! “I’m only a fifth year,” she said casually. Lately, that statement had been followed up with a question about her career consulting with her head of house and what she wanted to be, at least that is what her dad’s side of the family had been doing. Regardless, she wasn’t going to volunteer that information unless asked. “So you obviously like Quidditch. What else?”

Isabella was really glad that she had stopped by to introduce herself to the Hufflepuff, finding great enjoyment out of the conversation. From Isabella’s understanding, there really weren’t many girls that had found themselves remaining interested in Quidditch. In fact, Isabella recalled that some girls tended to drop the wondrous sport around fifth or sixth year, much preferring to become more feminine, or whatever it is they wanted to excuse themselves with. It was quite a shame as some of them had been decent players. Apparently, there were some girls who believed that being athletic was apparently a turnoff to blokes, which was just bloody ridiculous in Isabella’s eyes. Though, a part of her did wonder if that were true, only to shake it off and realize that if blokes actually thought that, they were more feminine than she was.

“That’s true; good to be prepared,” Isabella agreed, though she also agreed that it probably wouldn’t be built. There really wasn’t many Muggle things around here, if any, but that didn’t mean that there never would be. Though, with the world falling apart like it was, perhaps the school would start to mux in some more Muggle activities, trying to get students to realize that the prejudices didn’t need to exist. Maybe there was hope for the basketball court after all, Isabella mused silently. Isabella couldn’t help the small smile that graced her features at the mention of the keeper saying that anything was possible, such a typical Hufflepuff statement. Of all of the other houses, Isabella supposed she preferred the Puffs over the others as they didn’t have their heads stuck in books nor did they walk around like they owned the place. “Well, that’s good. Do you join leagues or whatever during the summer? Or do you just play for fun?” Isabella asked curiously. “European football, most definitely. American football is okay, but ultimately too slow of a game for me to care more for. My brothers and I have played football since we were younger. Our father made us get involved in Muggle activities. My younger brothers did play basketball though, so that’s why I know a little bit about it,” she explained, noticing that she was referring to her family as if they were still around but correcting it would make things awkward so she just ignored it as best as she could, trying to force her mind from wandering. “American football bloody hurts when you’re getting tackled; I’d rather get hit by a bludger,” she laughed.

Isabella thought for a moment before responding. “Anything athletic, really. I like to write, I guess. I like to try out new pranks when I see them in stores and I like to go running…but I guess that falls under athletics. And hiking. I like to camp, too. You?” the Slytherin asked curiously.

Quidditch was something that was going to be part of Kiki’s time at Hogwarts no matter what. It was the one thing in which she excelled in the magical world. Plus, her best friend was also on the team. Sure, some people, particularly females stopped playing as they got older, which the Hufflepuff never understood. Kiki always figured people would want to play more once they were older and stronger. It allowed them to take a good bludger hit because they had built endurance. Whatever though, to each their own.

Kiki noted the bit of realism that crept in the Slytherin’s voice, and she could appreciate that, she supposed. The young Hufflepuff had always been a little bit more on the optimistic side and she always benefited from someone bringing her back down to reality. Of course, she couldn’t be around people that were pessimists, but the realists were fine. In fact, she welcomed them, except in the moments she refused for anyone to rain on her parade. Luckily, this was not one of those moments.

Isabella asked Kiki if she joined any leagues in the summer, and the fifteen year old shook her head. “Nah, most muggle leagues go year round or get more heavily involved in the winter, so it makes it hard to be involved with going here, you know? My sister is though, and she kicks all sorts of ass on the court.” Kiki hated admitting that Shayna was the better player to her face, but she would brag about her sister when she wasn’t around. “Oh okay good. I completely agree about American football. Way too damn slow. European football on the other hand is very exciting. What position do you play?” Truth be told, Kiki had never really played football, but always enjoyed watching it. Hm, I wonder if Caleb ever played. He’d probably be a good goalie. Isabella mentioned the tackling in American football, and Kiki laughed. “Yeah! And it is never like they only tackle with one person. There always seems to be like four guys tackling one person.”

When Isabella listed off her hobbies, Kiki nodded. She sounded very outdoorsy and athletic, which Kiki could appreciate. As a dancer, she found it important to take care of one’s body. “I like to write too. I guess you could say, I’m more of an artistic type. My mom is an art therapist, so she always encouraged ‘artistic expression.’ I like to act and sing, but my favorite thing to do is dance. I’ve taken hip-hop dance lessons since I was little,” she paused to laugh, “before hip hop I was doing ballet, but I thought it was pretty boring. Uhm, no offense if you do it or like it.”

Athletics was something that Isabella valued strongly, finding that to be a healthy way for people to live. It allowed people to remain active and to actually do something fun. It never made sense to her why anyone would be able to sit around doing absolutely nothing, finding that to be quite the bore. People really needed to just get out more and enjoy the weather, enjoy the fact that their bodies could move before they took it for granted. Laziness was one thing that Isabella simply had no patience for. Luckily for her, most people who were in Quidditch were not really all that lazy…at least, that was the hope.

Just hearing Kiki talk, she could tell that she was active and athletic, something that Isabella respected. Her passion about trying to get a muggle sport court set up here was fascinating and spoke volumes about her. “Nothing for the summer? That stinks…but at least you get to watch your sister kick some arse,” she laughed. “I usually play the Center-forward, but occasionally I’ll play Attacking Midfielder,” she explained with a shrug. “I like to score,” she grinned, referring to the preferential position. She supposed the Attacking Midfielder might be her favorite position overall as that position tended to control the ball the most, but she really just enjoyed scoring, using it as a different sort of practice for Quidditch. It was silly, she supposed, since she was shooting with her legs and not a broom, but it was the same concept of learning accuracy. Isabella laughed along with Kiki, shaking her head in amusement. “Blokes,” she muttered, shaking her head still.

Isabella listened as Kiki explained her own hobbies, nodding along. She supposed she hadn’t really pegged the girl to be this artsy, but she supposed she was just pre-judging based on Quidditch. “I definitely didn’t peg you as being artsy,” the Slytherin admitted sheepishly. “I’ve never acted and the only time I’ve sung is in the shower or for karaoke,” she grinned. “And no offense is taken. The only dance I really officially learned was ballroom, but I guess that comes with large families around here,” she shrugged, as if that explained everything.

For Kiki Barlow, sometimes life just seemed too short to let it just pass by without doing anything. Every summer felt so short to her, while her time at Hogwarts felt like it was eating her life. She supposed she could sit around and be miserable about it, but what good would that do? She tried to occupy herself, always finding things to do to entertain herself. Whether it was out on the Qudditch field, trying to update her scrapbook, or even just trying to find a quiet place to burst out some dance moves (although this was rare as she hated dancing without music), she was able to always stay busy and moving. Plus, Kiki loved getting to know people and being just friendly in general. Though, really, she had a hard time feeling close to anyone, with the exception of Caleb. This was just due to not feeling like she had much to offer the magical world, or like she even belonged. Truth be told, with the exception of Qudditch, there wasn’t much she truly loved about being a witch.

“True. She is really talented, when she isn’t annoying the hell out of me.” When Kiki spoke there was an odd tone about her. She wasn’t sure what it was, but if she had to guess, it was a sort of jealousy that her sister got to stay at home and do all of the things the fifth year wished she could do. She laughed when Isabella spoke of liking to score. “Spoken like a chaser.” That was kind of how Kiki saw things too. It was always satisfying to gain some points for your team. She rolled her eyes with a smile when Isabella shook her head. “Agreed. Although, I suppose not all of them are bad,” she quickly added as she honestly couldn’t imagine surviving Hogwarts and being happy without her best friend, Caleb.

The Hufflepuff let out a slight snorted laugh when Isabella said she didn’t figure her for the creative type. “That isn’t surprising. I usually don’t really do that sort of thing here. Kind of hard to dance when you can’t have your mp3 player. Also kind of hard to act when there isn’t really a stage or organization.” She laughed at what the girl said. “Hey, sing when and where you can. I sing all of the time in the common room,” she said with a smirk. The Hufflepuff couldn’t help but be surprised when Isabella said she did ballroom dancing. “Really? Huh. I didn’t realize it was so popular in the wizarding world. I’ve actually only done ballroom dancing a couple of times. Occasionally, my instructor at the studio will insist we learn different types of dancing, other than hip hop. Swing was by far the hardest.” The fifth year physically cringed as she remembered how she had injured herself when she hadn’t landed a flip right.