It was strange to think that this time next year, she would be almost done with school, ready to graduate. Surprisingly, she wasn’t worried about it in the slightest. She was ready to make something of her life, wherever that may be. A part of her didn’t want to stay in London, though she wouldn’t dream of abandoning her family. Her family, still, was her everything…even if she was upset with her aunt. But a part of her did want to just go travel, letting her mind run free, taking in everything that her brothers would never get to see. Then a part of her wondered if her brothers would prefer her to try out for professional quidditch…or maybe she should be an auror. Well, now the thoughts were just stressing her out, wondering if it was her responsibility to live out her brothers dreams now, simply out of remembrance. Isabella shook her head slightly of her wandering thoughts, knowing that it was happening more often than she preferred.

“Siblings do that,” Isabella sighed, grinning widely. “Sometimes I think Muggle sports are a bit more challenging than magical ones,” she stated, shrugging slightly. Though, she found them equally exciting. “Through and through,” Isabella laughed. “I sometimes go out to the lawn to kick around the ball. You should come sometime,” the Slytherin offered, knowing that it had been quite some time since she actually did. She wondered how difficult it would be to gather enough individuals to try to play a pick up game of football, though she figured she would think about that later. “No, they certainly aren’t,” she agreed with a nod. Though, Evan would certainly be the one to tackle her without a doubt as they both appeared to be equally competitive. “Girls have their moments too,” she added, chuckling lightly.

“Er…what’s an Empy 3 player?” Isabella asked, furrowing her eyebrows confusedly. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard singing in the Slytherin common room, but I’ll keep my ears open,” she stated, trying to think back. No, she couldn’t recall hearing anyone singing. “Yep, ballroom dancing…it’s like…some kind of requirement for parents around here if you grow up immersed in some of the magical community. It’s not so bad…except when the blokes step on your feet. Swing? I’ve never seen that actually done, but from what I’ve heard, it’s a lot of fun. I think I actually like dancing more than I knew,” Isabella commented now that she was thinking specifically about dancing. It hadn’t been all bad, she supposed.

As a fifth year, Kiki would have to eventually meet with her head of house do some sort f course planning to help her prepare for her future goals. Truth be told, she didn’t really have any idea what she wanted to do after graduation. Perhaps she could try to be a professional Quidditch player. Sure she was good, but she wasn’t THAT good. Really though, it was the only thing of interest to her. The good news is she wouldn’t have to figure it out. Poor Isabella would have to decide rather soon she supposed with only one more year left.

When the Slytherin shared that siblings tended to be annoying. Merlin did she know this. Over the years, Shayna had moved in and stolen her muggle friends away from her because she was always home, unlike Kiki who was off at school. Shayna at times could be quite the little asshole as she claimed that people liked her better because she wasn’t some “weirdo that went off to school.” The Hufflepuff knew it was all just stupid lies that were based off of jealousy because at one time Kiki had been the better basketball player. “Yeah, I do think they are harder because you can’t use magic. But at the same time, I think passing a basketball is a lot easier than trying to balance on a flying broomstick,” she said with a smile. When Isabella invited her to play football, her smile grew. “I would love to. Although, I am not the best football player out there,” she laughed. Despite taking ballet and being a dancer, the grace she could demonstrate while performing, did not always carry over into other areas, and Kiki often found herself tripping over the ball when playing football. She giggled at her newfound friend’s comment. “Aye, especially when it is that time of the month for them.” She knew some of the girls in her dorm could turn into real bitches when their hormones seemed out of whack.

Kiki gave a slight smile at the girl in order to suppress a laugh. She had been so used to talking to Caleb about muggle related things lately that she forgot there were a lot of witches and wizards that didn’t have a whole lot of exposure to them. She had figured maybe Isabella did since she seemed to understand a lot about muggle sports, but she supposed that is what she got for assuming. “An M-P-3 player,” she started, making a polite and careful effort to annunciate the “mp3” part, “is a little device that you can use to listen to music. It comes with little things you put in your ears to listen to the music it plays,” she finished, hoping she gave a good description of what the thing did. It didn’t surprise Kiki that Slytherins weren’t going around singing. “Yeah, maybe I am wrong, but I haven’t met many Slytherins that seem like the singing type.”

The Hufflepuff was pleasantly surprised to hear that dancing was a rather big part of the wizarding community. Sure, it wasn’t her preferred style, but she wouldn’t mind learning a bit more about it. Who knows? Perhaps over the summer, she could make an effort to join another class, and it would help her feel like she could fit in more with the magical world. Although, she was completely unsure where she would find the time. With her hip hop lessons, and no doubt, she would probably help teach a few classes like she always did on top of now having a summer job would more than likely make it difficult to fit another lesson in. The fifth year shook her head with a smile that indicated she understood all too well about people stepping on her feet while she was dancing. “Yes, blokes can do that. Even when you’re team dancing, you have the occasional girl that insist on stepping out too far and hurting you.” It was just part of dancing in Kiki’s mind. “Swing is very fun. If you ever wanted to learn, I don’t mind teaching. I’ve done enough dancing in my time to know how to do the guy’s part,” she offered with a smile.

It was good to get to talk to another chaser even if she were from the Hufflepuff team. Isabella really didn’t care to know who had been on the other teams as all she cared about was that the Slytherin would win. She supposed it was her competitive nature to kind of stray from acting friendly with other teammates, though it was also in her nature to be friendly when she wanted to be. This just happened to be one of the rare instances in which she would be friendly without trying to get something from the person. Isabella supposed of all the houses, she really was glad that she was in a house filled with people that didn’t really care to interact with everyone else, not that they wouldn’t. She supposed the hat had been accurate in sorting her in that house after all.

“True, that probably is a lot easier, though I’m not sure I’ve played enough basketball to come to that conclusion. We pass a quaffle, so I guess that’s similar…and I suppose we score similarly too. Have you ever tried any tricks with your broom?” she asked curiously, her eyes lighting up. Isabella loved attempting some of the tricks that she had heard about, though there were some that she wasn’t even certain should really exist. Even if the tricks were mostly useless during an actual game, they were still fun to know just in case they were ever needed for whatever reason. Isabella waved her hand, dismissing the girl’s statement. “If you’re athletic, it’s not too difficult,” she explained, assuming that the Hufflepuff was, indeed, athletic seeing as she played quidditch and basketball. “That will forever be an excuse of girls,” Isabella nodded, laughing lightly. Poor blokes had to deal with their crazy.

Isabella mouthed what Kiki was pronouncing, ensuring that she got it accurately. She had nothing against muggles, and to her that was obvious, but she still only really knew select things…particularly, their sports. Anything outside that spectrum was very basic knowledge. She furrowed her eyebrows slightly, trying to envision the device but unable to really do so. “Interesting. I’ll have to check it out when I’m in London over the summer. Do they sell them everywhere? People like music, so I assume it’s sold everywhere,” she mused, wondering what could possibly make music come into one’s ears. “Definitely not wrong. We’re not really the people type either,” she explained, shrugging. “I’m not against learning new things…what could it hurt? Did your parents dance? Is that why they got you into dancing so much?”

It really was nice to talk to another Quidditch player outside of her own team. Really, Kiki didn’t know anyone from the other teams. She was sure that probably other houses were a bit more competitive than the Hufflepuff team was. Kiki found the sport to be fun and that was what it really was about. Although, to be fair, the Hufflepuff chaser was probably one of the more competitive ones on her team, which came from her background in dancing. Still, there was no reason to not be friendly with the competition. It was part of her nature to be a friendly and outgoing person, which was no doubt what made her a Hufflepuff.

When Isabella asked her the question about tricks, Kiki couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, I tried this one I saw one of the New Zealand chasers do. New Zealand is my favorite team. So anyway, it is this trick where you throw the quaffle up in the air, and you have to time it just right, but you basically stand fall off your broom with it still in your hands and use it as a bat to hit the quaffle into the goal. It looked really cool, so I gave it a try, pretty low to the ground though, just in case I fell… which I did a lot. Anyway, I eventually got it down where I could do a bit higher, but I still need to work on aiming the quaffle where I want it to go. I get too scared of falling to actually aim and think about what I’m doing,” she admitted sheepishly. “But what about you? Do you have any cool tricks that you like to do?” The fifth year thought back to the matches they had against the Slytherin team, and tried to recall if she had seen the chaser do any sort of tricks. It was hard to remember. Plus, she was often so busy with the game itself and playing it to really notice those sort of extra things.

Kiki wouldn’t have considered herself too athletic in the traditional sense of the word, but she was fit. Dancing, basketball, and Quidditch helped keep her in shape. While she considered herself skilled in these fields, it was always hard for her to branch out into new sports. However, the sixth year’s words seemed to be a bit of an encouragement. “Well if you say so. I guess it would never hurt to give it a shot,” the young witch said with a smile. Her fellow chaser seemed like the sort of person she would want to befriend. She liked the girl’s determination and attitude.

The Hufflepuff let out a small, but friendly giggle as she watched the witch mouth the name of the musical device. Really, it was so easy for her to sometimes forget that there were people here that didn’t know a lot of devices that she usually just took for granted and counted as common knowledge. “They usually sell them at any place that has an electronic device like a camera or a computer,” she said trying to think of common devices that even someone who spent their whole life in the magical world may know. “Just out of curiosity, how do you listen to music then?” Kiki had never really thought to ask her father about that as she always had a way to listen to her songs, but it was a valid question. Do they just listen to the radio? Is magical radio better than muggle radio? She shuddered at the thought of only listening to the few songs the radio played.

Isabella asked a question about what got her into dancing, which made Kiki stop and think for a minute. The witch thought about it, and she realized that she had never been asked this question. “Well, my mom does a little. She’s an art therapist, so she really likes creative things and always encouraged us to do artsy activities. When I was really little, I was like every other little girl and wanted to be a ballerina,” she said with a blush. Kiki was a little too clumsy to be the graceful ballerina type. “So, yeah, I did that for a couple of years. Then, I was at the studio practicing one day after class, and I saw the hip-hop dance class. I decided that looked like more fun than ballet, so I asked mom if I could switch classes, and the rest was history.”

Isabella really didn’t know why she and her brothers hadn’t targeted the quidditch players into playing football with them when they were looking for more people to join. It would have been easy to build up teams as it seemed that anyone willing to play one sport, would most likely be willing to play another sport. To her, football took just a bit more of her strength than quidditch in that she had to be running the entire game. Flying a broom wasn’t the same cardio workout as running provided, though she liked them both all the same. They were simply different forms of activity and staying active was something that Isabella was very much interested in. Of course, now with her brothers gone, she really had no desire to play the sport except for that one time that she had played it with Evan. Really, she had been surprised that she even agreed to play as a part of her simply didn’t want to do anything that reminded her of her brothers. If she were to contemplate too much on it, which any form of contemplation was too much, she would realize that her overall interests had begun to change as she distanced herself from everything in her head, not really finding it enjoyable. This, of course, wasn’t going to be something she was going to spend too much time thinking about as it simply wasn’t an answer she wanted to hear.

The Slytherin quirked her eyebrows as Kiki began to explain a trick that she had attempted, deciding between laughing or just standing with her mouth ajar. “You better trust your teammates a hell of a lot before you actually do that in a game,” Isabella laughed, knowing that seeing a girl jumping off her broom during a game would be quite the distraction, but would also cause just enough confusion and panicked hearts, unless she played against Slytherin, to pause the game. Slytherins just typically didn’t care about the safety of others, whereas she was certain at least most people would worry that she would get hurt. “I actually have jumped off my broom as well,” Isabella laughed, shaking her head. She supposed they really would do anything to win. “There’s this move where you stand on your broom and then leap off of it, thrusting the Quaffle towards a goal,” she explained. “My brothers and I used to practice standing up on our brooms all of the time…it’s the jumping off part that I took a while getting used to. I made it in once, but we were all so surprised that my brothers nearly forgot to stall my fall,” she laughed, shaking her head. “I won’t actually do it in a game anytime soon unless I can figure it out to perfection,” she shrugged.

“You’ll love it,” Isabella guaranteed with a nod. Of course, she was partial to the sport so she would be convinced that anyone would love it, and if they didn’t, there was something wrong in the head. “I think football and quidditch have a lot of similarities and I personally find it like a practice for quidditch,” she shrugged. Sure, they were different, but it did help her aim and determination, she would suppose. “Oh, camera, got it,” the Slytherin nodded, wondering if she should just go visit a muggle shop and start looking at everything that they had if only to gain a bit more understanding of some of the things that they invented when they didn’t have magic. “Well, there’s the WWN…you know, the Wizarding Wireless Network…and that plays music. There’s this device that people can purchase that is connected to this network and it’s as simple as turning it on to listen to it and off to not listen to it. Of course, there are other stations, if one desires, but that has the most popular music, I guess. The device comes in many shapes, small and large. Sometimes, different bands, if they are popular enough, will have their own device that people can purchase and listen to all of their songs. It updates as they develop more songs, so it’s better to purchase the device before they become popular or it becomes more expensive,” Isabella explained, trying to put it into words that would make sense as she never had to explain something like that before. Of course, she figured that was the same for Kiki when it came to explaining how that…MP3 player…worked.

Isabella listened as the Hufflepuff answered the question, nodding her head in understanding. “My mom was kind of artsy as well. She worked at The Daily Prophet as a photographer, though she really liked to paint. I never understood it because whenever I tried to paint, it seemed I made the color brown more than anything,” Isabella laughed, forcing herself to act normal as she talked briefly about her late mum. “But what exactly is an art therapist?” she asked, making a face as she tried to envision what that would entail. She supposed maybe it was just working with depressed people and having them do art activities, or something. “And your dreams of being a ballerina are long gone,” she added, laughing. Every little girl wanted to be a ballerina, both here in the magical world and over in the muggle world, apparently. Some things really were just the same overall.

Kiki had never really thought that she could round up enough people here to play any muggle sport. Finding someone like Caleb that loved basketball as much as her was a rarity among the magical folk. Plus, a lot of muggle sports would be difficult to play without the proper equipment. But she did wonder if the professors could be talked into enchanting the lawns temporarily if there was enough interest, hence why she was out in the first place wandering around. Alas, if she, Caleb, and Isabella were the only ones with a remote interest in it, than probably not. Although, the way Isabella talked, there may be more students interested in the idea than Kiki realized. Oh whatever. It’s not that important. Maybe we’ll get a couple of muggle studies classes on it or something.

The Slytherin’s reaction was almost priceless. Kiki couldn’t help but laugh at her response. “Oh, don’t worry. I won’t be trying it at a game any time soon. I don’t want to put the game on the line if I can’t actually get the quaffle in the hoop yet,” she said with a smile. Although, she wouldn’t mind showing the trick to the team at practice. Caleb knew she loved New Zealand and would probably any attempt she saw them do. Although, when the Slytherin chaser described what she had done as a trick, and Kiki’s eyes widened. And she thought my trick was difficult. “Woah! So do you have a teammate hold your broom back in place or just pray you land back on the broom? That sounds like the difficult part of it.” The Hufflepuff debated on trying it, but knew that she would definitely not be doing it higher than a few feet off the ground to start out.

The fifth year couldn’t help but notice how the much the older chaser talked with enthusiasm in regards to football. It made Kiki happy to see actually, as it was kind of like her enthusiasm for basketball. “Alright, I’ll play it, but you have to come play basketball with me sometime in my neighborhood. I just live in muggle London.” The fifteen-year-old considered what Isabella said about football and Quidditch, and she nodded in agreement. Sure, they both had goals and people to block the balls from going into goals. Other than that though, she wasn’t sure too much what the similarities were. At least in football, there aren’t bloody bludgers trying to knock you out.

It was rather interesting though to discuss the technology differences the two girls had grown up with. Kiki suppressed a small giggle when it seemed to click for Isabella on where she could find an mp3 player. She nodded when Isabella spoke of the Wizarding Wireless Network. She knew that such a thing existed, but she was not sure how it worked. She just assumed it was some magical thing she wouldn’t understand, but hearing Isabella explain it, made it better. “Huh, the popularity thing along with it becoming more expensive is kind of how the mp3 players muggles use work too,” she said with an amused smile. It was refreshing to see that maybe the two words had more similarities than she thought.

Kiki listened as the girl spoke of her mom and how she used to work at the Daily Prophet. “I’m with you on painting, but I love photography! That would be a fun job. What does your mom do now? Does she still do photography?” It would be nice to talk to a witch and get some tips on good magical cameras, and maybe Isabella could link her with them. Isabella was not the first person to ask what an art therapist was, but it didn’t mean Kiki had a good explanation of it at all. “Uhm, well, it is someone who helps people with their problems by encouraging them to express it through art. At least that’s what I’ve come to think it is. My mom says some people have a harder time talking about what upsets them, but they need to get it out somehow.” She laughed at the Slytherin’s words. “Yes, I’m not too interested in being a ballerina these days.”

Time was passing, and Kiki knew it was getting later. Caleb would start to wonder where she was if she stayed out too late, and she didn’t really need him doing that. Not after the conversation the two had recently had in the common room. Truth be told, she had been worried about her best friend and just how he had been feeling, so she wanted to spend as much time with him before the summer came. “Isabella, I’m sorry, but I think I should be getting back to the common room. If you want and you’re headed back to, we can walk together until we have to part ways.”

Isabella was glad that she stopped by to say hello to her fellow quidditch player, finding that this conversation was cheering her up. She hadn’t even known she needed to be cheered up, but seeing the bright mood that Kiki was in was making it difficult to have any negative thoughts. It certainly was refreshing to be around, an upbeat individual…though Isabella hadn’t had a clue she would even get along with someone so upbeat. It wasn’t that she thought that she couldn’t get along with someone, it was just that she thought that it might be tiring. Apparently, she was being proven wrong as she found herself interested in having someone like Kiki as an actual friend. There had been times since her parents demise that Isabella had wondered if friendships were even something she had wanted anymore, only to be proven wrong by Evan and Cecilia. It was difficult to turn away completely from people when people were everywhere, she supposed. “I guess there’s no harm in trying potentially lethal moves if it means something that might win a game,” Isabella laughed, shaking her head lightly. “Oh, I just expect for them to pull out their wand quick enough to break my fall,” she shrugged. “If they don’t…well, that’s where I guess Healers come in,” she answered as if it were the obvious solution. It scared her at first, but now getting a few scratches wasn’t something she concerned herself with if it was the result of having some fun.

“Deal,” Isabella nodded happily. She wouldn’t mind going into the city to play some basketball…though, she wasn’t certain she’d be all that great. Then again, she hoped her natural athleticism would help her out to a small extent, but she wasn’t holding too much hope on that. “I’ll try not to embarrass you too much with your friends,” the brunette grinned. “Oh, really? Huh, you’ll have to show me one when I come attempt basketball,” she pointed out, curious to see how this mp3 worked and if it really was similar. If it were, Isabella wondered how both worlds had so many similarities. “Um,” Isabella started, making a face as she tried to think of how to phrase her response without making it sound….well, so…well, she wasn’t sure how it was going to sound. “Well, she died a little while ago,” she shrugged in response. “But she did always encourage photography,” she nodded, smiling slightly. “I’d still much rather be a princess, but I guess there’s time for that,” she joked, glad for the change of subject. “Yeah, I should probably get going as well...ready?” she asked, nodding towards the direction they should go.

While Kiki considered herself to be really friendly, she hadn’t really socialized with many people outside of her house. She really did hate the whole separation that the houses had causes, and to her it didn’t make sense. The Hufflepuff was able to get along with pretty much anyone. However, she supposed the different houses allowed for different Quidditch teams and a little bit more competition that way. With that, she couldn’t complain, as long as everyone could stop and appreciate the talent on the other teams like her and Isabella had done. Really, there was no reason to be hostile, but maybe others would disagree. Maybe that thinking is just what makes me a Hufflepuff.

Quidditch was just something so easy for Kiki to talk about. It was really what made her feel connected to the magical world. When the Slytherin mentioned trying potentially lethal moves if they helped win, Kiki couldn’t help but laugh. She was sure Caleb would give her a stern lecture if she tried some insane move during one of their matches, if she happened to live to tell the tale. “Oh no doubt, but I would like to be really confident that I will live through it before I go for it.” She continued her giggle when Isabella shared that she just would hope her teammates to break out their wands quick enough to break her fall. “You must really trust them, then.” The fifth year figured the only one of her teammates she trusted that much was their keeper.

It was kind of nice to hear that Isabella had agreed so willingly to come play basketball. For some reason, Kiki had thought it may have taken a little more effort to talk her into it, but thankfully, it hadn’t. “Ha trust me. You won’t be an embarrassment. I will take care of that myself. I can get so rusty with being here for the whole school year.” It was true though. Most of her sister’s friends put her to shame when she came home for the holidays. “Sure! I carry mine with me everywhere when I’m home, so it won’t be an issue.” The fifteen-year-old never went anywhere without her music back at home, mainly because she never wanted to miss an opportunity to do some performing for tips.

Kiki leaned forward with an inquisitive look when she noticed the pause the sixth year had made. When the girl finally finished her sentence, the Hufflepuff could have kicked herself. Sadly, this wasn’t the first time this had happened to her. Almost the exact same thing happened in a conversation with her best friend. “I’m so sorry, Isabella. I didn’t mean to pry and bring it up,” the brunette said awkwardly. The good news is that the Slytherin chaser didn’t seem to put off by talking about it and was able to continue on with their conversation. “She sounds like she was a lovely and talented person,” she said, hoping to reassure the girl. It was the truth though. Anyone that encouraged a good hobby for their child like photography had to be a good parent. Kiki laughed at the girl’s comment about being a princess. “I’ll leave the princess bit to you then. I don’t think it sounds like it’s for me,” she said joking back.

Once Isabella confirmed that she too was heading back to her common room, Kiki set in motion towards the front entrance of the castle. “Ready! Oh, and we can stop by the kitchen too if you want. I think that is just one of the perks we have with our common room.”


*****END OF THREAD****