A race around the castle((Cassandra))

[Pyro Blackfire S5]

It was early morning. The sun was just barely starting to crest over the horizon. The morning due was think in the air. Slowly the earth began to stir and wake up from its nightly routine. Birds were beginning to wake up and go on their hunt for the morning worm. Pyro floated thirty feet above the ground. Seated on his broom watching the steadily rising sun. His breath came out in foggy wisps. Pyro's arms were crossed as he sat atop his firebolt. It was Quidditch season. This both made Pyro happy, and also made him angry. Pyro was one of the Slytherin Chasers, was. Rumor had it that some older player had slipped in and taken Pyro out of his spot.

Pyro wouldn't take it lying down. He'd been working twice as hard during practice. He stayed late every practice and also woke up early every morning. All the added training was wearing down on him a bit, and he was getting far behind on his homework, but he didn't care. He wouldn't let some older player just take his spot because he was older. Pyro was just as good, if not better than, a lot of the older student's. With a sigh Pyro reached down and grabbed a hold of the handle. He quickly did a back flip in the air and than took off across the sky. He decided to work on speed and maneuvering today. Pyro raced toward the castle, pushing his firebolt to incredible speeds. He weaved in and out among the many spires and towers protruding from the castle. One false move, one slight hesitation and Pyro would crash into the stone walls of the castle, and at these speeds, he would be in dire trouble. Pyro took a few laps around the castle and than slowed to stop in the center of the courtyard to catch his breath. Still hovering a few feet above the ground.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass Blackfire wasn't quite sure what she was going to do today. In fact, looking at her schedule, she had a rather empty day. Normally, hours of time would be blocked out for different subjects, then normally another hour for Quidditch practice, and then at least one more for something along the lines of writing home or checking in on Mom. Looking at the blank page, Cass couldn't believer her luck. Throwing down the journal on her bed, Cass could hear it utter some sort of motivational phrase as she rumaged through her closet next to her bed. Pulling out her Nimbus 2001, she smiled. It had been a while since she had been flying, and the weather was perfect for such an adventure.

Hurrying down the seven flights of stairs to the the Great Hall, she hoped secretly that maybe a few of her friends from the Quidditch team were out practicing on the grounds. However, as she pushed the large oak doors that led into the courtyard, she discovered something other than her Gryffindor housemates. Cass' cousin, Pyro Blackfire, hovered a few feet off the ground. Rumor had it that he had been kicked off the Slytherin House team, but she would never rub that into her cousin's face. She would of been devestated if that had happened to her, and she did not want him to think she was taking pleasure in his misery. However, she couldn't help but poke around and see if that was the truth.

Walking up beside him, she cleared her throat. " Ahem. Well, you look like someone just took away your favorite stuffed dragon. So, how does it go, dear cousin? You look like you have been giving yourself quite a workout this morning."

[Pyro Blackfire S5]

Pyro was just about to take off once more when a sound behind him forced him to stop. "Hmm?" Pyro turned his broom around and spotted someone walking over to him. He smirked as he easily recognized the girl now approaching him, carrying her own broom. His cousin stepped up to him and he looked down at her. He scowled slightly, but luckily he managed to not loose his sense of humor. He smirked, "Fortunately, Pooky is still sitting on my bed in my dorm." He lowered his level and than climbed off of the broom and stood in front of her. "It goes, normally. I have been re instituted into the Blackfire family, but I have also been placed on the reserve team in Quidditch."

He said this last part with an obvious sneer. He turned and looked back at the castle and sighed. "But, it won't stay that way for long." He turned to Cassy and arched an eyebrow. "So, muggle." He said dripping with sarcasm. "How goes it with you?" Pyro crossed his arms loosely across his chest. Letting his broom lean against his side.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass arched her eyebrow at her cousin's distateful use of the word muggle. In fact, she arched her eyebrown quite like Pyro just did. Giggling devishly, she addressed him. " Muggle, maybe, but I'm still on the Quidditch team." Cass said the blatently stabbing remark in such a way to rub it into Pyro's face. " Anyways, things are going quite all right. Mother is pushing me to go to some fundraiser for St. Mungo's. Rumor has it, our mother's are about to start squaring off in the charity ring." Cass pulled her long, black locks into a ponytail. " However, I don't much give a damn. She seems to think that any victory, no matter how small, against your parents is a victory."

Cass threw her Nimbus into the air, and it hung there as if being held by invisible strings. Cass pulled her Green Day tshirt over the top of her jeans so her back would not show while flying. " Mother nearly had a cow the other day when she saw me flying dressed like this apparently." Mocking her mother, " I remember the olden days when women flew side saddle in long dresses. You would never see a respectable witch flying in jeans in a tshirt." Shaking her head, Cass pulled up on the handle of her broom. Cass flew lazily around her cousin in wide loops, " So, you up for some travelling. Maybe a languid flight around the castle?"

[Pyro Blackfire S5]

Pyro hardly flinched at her biting comment about the Quidditch team. Without missing a beat he retorted. "Yes, well unfortunately. The Gryffindor team has just about as much trouble as my team when it comes to recognizing talent." He smirked. He couldn't help but arch an eyebrow when Cass told him about her mother. "Victory? I don't see how volunteering time at the hospital can be considered a victory." Pyro stretched his arms. "I suppose I aught to give you a warning. No matter what your mother says. You are in a severely bad position. That house in Hogsmeade must cost a fortune. I wonder how your mother is paying for it all. Considering my father has blocked your mother's access to the Blackfire vault, and when your mother and father fled the family they didn't have much of a chance to take much fortune along with them."

He grinned and looked slightly amused as Cass suddenly mounted her broom and took to the air. He slowly mounted his own broom and hovered next to her. He arched an eyebrow at her. "Languid? The look in your eye seems to suggest the complete opposite of that." He grinned. "Lets race instead." He leaned foreword on his broom. Bringing his body lower. "Ready. Set. Go!" Pyro took off.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass grimaced at her cousin's words. Yes, it was true that her family was barely making ends meet, but all families struggled at one time or another. She remember one time when her mother didn't have money to put food in the fridge, but she still ate. Of course, Cass had never noticed before that she went without. In the muggle world, her friends were very supportive, and they would never mention the fact that she had holes in her pants or that she had to buy off brand food. Those differences were only revealed when she went to Hogwarts. In fact, a Slytherin had made a comment during her Sorting about her faded robes. That was when she knew that she would never be a Slytherin.

Cass was taken off guard by the sudden challenge to a race. Pyro sped off in front of her, and Cass was following soon after. Whizzing around the North Tower, Cass soon caught up. " Pyro, do you just celebrate in trying to beat me? We are close matches in most things. Oh, except in magic. I've always been better than you at that." She smiled, trying to rub in the fact. " Of course, I do have to admit you are a better martial artist than I. I learned everything I know from Craig, but I was never really that into it. It was mostly something to do after school for me. Speaking of which, how did you get into it? I mean, I thought it was a mostly muggle thing to do."

[Pyro Blackfire S5]

Pyro zoomed around the spires of the castle a few times before Cass finally caught up to him. He slowed down and hovered in front of her. He sneered slightly as his mind was brought back to the duel that they had had last year. Pyro had lost to Cass in that particular duel, but he was confident that if they were to have a rematch. He would come out as the victor. He smirked. "Oh don't tell me you actually beat me with that fluke?" He laughed. "It was an off day. That's all."

He shrugged at her next question, and thought back to when he was around 5 years old. Not many people had many memories of that age, but Pyro could still remember quite a few. "Well, at the time. My father was working with the ministry out in the field. Him and the other Ministry workers were living out in the Muggle world and monitoring them to see the effects that Voldemort had left behind on their world. I came along with one of his assignments. We were living in a martial arts Dojo at that job and I fell into the training along with the monks. My father couldn't pull me out for fear of looking suspicious. By the time we left the dojo I was old enough to pursue the training on my own terms and my father wasn't able to stop me."

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

" An off day? Well, you seem to be having a lot of those lately." Cass smiled smugly at her cousin as she listened to him talk about how he had gotten into martial arts. " Really? That's interesting. I'm surprised that your father would actually work with my muggles let alone let you associate with them in any manner. He seems to be a stickler for such things." Cass made a loop around her cousin on her broomstick. " Well, you know how I got into it. Craig ran that dojo in Birmingham, but he's no longer teaching. He still owns it, but he says he doesn't have time for it anymore. In fact, Craig doesn't have much time for anything anymore."

Pushing her broomstick to its limit, she was able to pull out a little ahead of her cousin. She knew she couldn't beat a Firebolt, but there was no way she wasn't going to give up without trying. " So, how did things go with your homecoming? Speaking of weird things, it seems weird that your father would welcome you back with such open arms. When he disowned you last year, you were frantic. I was for sure it was a permanent thing." Cass could feel her broom start to slow down a bit. It was a second hand broom, and sometimes it didn't want to work right. She probably needed to take it to Quality Quidditch Supplies so they could look at it, but that wouldn't happen anytime soon with Quidditch season coming up.