Can't Practice Enough ((Jason))

[Ashley Hill]

Ashley sighed heavily as she climbed the stairs to the girl’s dorm room. She was holding a couple books under her left arm, trying to unclasp the front of her bag with her other free hand. With a loud click, the clasp came undo successfully, Ashley trying to set the books inside without dropping everything. Just as she stepped over the last stair, the tip of her foot brushed the top of the stair causing Ashley to lose her balance slightly. Reaching out to the railing quickly to regain her balance, she watched as everything tumbled onto the ground. The strap of the shoulder bag had slipped off her shoulder, causing everything to spill out from inside out onto the floor. Ashley stared at the mess, cursing in her head silently. Why did she have to have a bad day? During Charms, when everyone was handing in homework, Ashley couldn’t find hers, so she couldn’t turn it in. Sighing, as Ashley tried to stop her mind from ranting, she bent down to pick up all the books. No one else was nearby, probably still in class, or out somewhere in the castle. Gathering everything together, she pilled everything back into the shoulder bag, slipping the strap more securely on her shoulder. Clasping the front closed, Ashley headed down the hall toward the sixth year dorms.

Pushing open the door, Ashley entered the room, throwing her shoulder bag down on the bed. The mattress rocked a bit, waking the sleeping cat. Tigger looked up at her, his green eyes blinking at her. “Sorry boy. It’s just another bad day.” Rubbing the Tabby cat under the chin, Ashley walked to the front of her bed where a trunk stood. Kneeling down on the ground, she opened the top of the trunk. Ashley smiled at all the photos alongside the top. There were pictures of her family on vacations, friends, and animals. She also remembered when taking out the couple of pictures of her and Ryan together. Feeling tears sting her eyes, Ashley shook her head before grabbing a small bag that had all her Quidditch gear. Closing the trunk back up, she stood up from the ground getting ready to get out of the school uniform. Ashley put on warmer clothes for the outside weather, wrapping a Hufflepuff colored scarf around her neck. Pulling her curly hair up into a pony tail, she grabbed her bag heading back out of the dorm room.

The door shut closed behind Ashley, and she headed down the stairs, through the portrait hole until she was outside. A crisp wind blew by, but Ashley didn’t mind the weather much. It wasn’t snowing or anything. She finally reached the Quidditch pitch, where Ashley set her bag down on the stands looking up seeing that someone was already practicing. There weren’t any team practices that day. Ashley made sure to check with Nokomis, the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain. Shrugging, she just unzipped her bag, taking out all the gear inside. Ashley sat down on the bench, pulling the boots on when a red quaffle dropped from the air by her feet. Staring at it for a moment, she stood up from the bench, bending over to pick up the ball looking up when she heard someone say something.

[Jason Blade]

Jason's hair blew backward in the wind as he pushed with all his strength against the handle of his broom. Nearing the quaffle, he reached his hand out and grabbed it, swinging the end of his broom in a circular motion so that he came to gliding stop. "Whew!" he said aloud to himself. He was glad to have caught this particular quaffle. For the past hour or so, he had been doing drills that helped with his flying. It was a basic skill that he needed to perfect before the rest of his game would improve. This particular drill worked on controlling broom speed. He would hover in place with the quaffle, toss it as far as he could in one direction, and then wait a few seconds before trying to rush after it and catch it before it hit the ground. One last try, he thought, before moving to another drill. Kicking up off the ground that was only inches from his last catch, Jason made sure he was high enough to get one last decent throw in. Cocking his arm back, he let out a large grunt as he sent it flying as far as he could. Counting to three in his head, Jason then took off, zooming once more through the air.

Closer... closer... almost there... "Shoot!" he hollered as the quaffle landed on the ground just inches before his finger tips scraped the surface of the terrain. He had to drag his feet a bit as he stopped very close to the ground. The quaffle rolled away a bit from its momentum. When he followed it, it ended up leading him to a girl whom he hadn't noticed until now.

"Oh, uh, hi," he said, somewhat surprised to see that he was not alone. He wondered how long she had been watching, but then made quick to explain himself. "I did ask permission," he said quickly, making sure that he wouldn't get in trouble since he knew that students weren't allowed to just practice whenever they wanted to. "My captain, Jasmine Anderson, approved that I just come out here and do some flying drills." He offered a weak smile and then continued. "I'm Jason by the way. Maybe you recognize me from class," he said, seeing that she was a girl in his year; Ashley, he thought, but waited to see instead of risking being incorrect. "You come to do some practicing yourself?" he asked, noticing that she had what appeared to be Quidditch gear in hand.

[Ashley Hill]

Ashley stared at the brightly colored quaffle, her thumbs slowly gliding over the smooth surface. It looked relatively new, but she didn’t like playing Chaser that much. It was like playing forward in football, she was just a better defensive player than offensive. Looking up at the boy, she smiled at him as he explained his reason for being there. Ashley flicked her wrists slightly, the ball moving up into the air completely one full circle before landing in her hands again. “Don’t sweat it. Not like I’m some kind of Quidditch post watcher who reports students that were practicing to get better on their own to their captains or any teachers,” Ashley told him, the quaffle landing once again in her hands. She smiled warmly at him, continuing to toss the red ball up in the air. “I think the Quidditch post should be open to everyone, even people who aren’t on the house teams. Though, I do understand why not. Someone could come out alone, getting hurt, and then there would be no one around.” Catching the ball again, she nodded her head as he said his name was Jason. She remembered him from some classes, but never really talked to him. “Ashley Hill, though some people like to shorten it, just calling me Ash. Either way is fine with me.”

Tossing the ball back to Jason, Ashley sat back down on the bench, tightening the hair band that was holding her curly hair up into a pony tail. Once her hands were down to her sides, Ashley rubbed her legs lightly, nodding her head at Jason’s question. “Yep, asked Noko a while if I could practice alone sometime,” she answered with a small smile pulling the gloves onto her hands. “I play beater though, but I don’t want to risk taking out those bludgers.” Ashley shivered slightly at the thought of putting those nasty things back into the chest. She would rather work on some other skill then get beaten up by an iron ball. Anyways, hitting the bludger was a lot easier than chasing it down to put back into the chest. Ashley still had to learn that charm she saw someone use for putting the bludger back in nicely. That would probably be quite handy to know. “Do you play chaser?” she asked tying the Velcro straps on both hands. Ashley could kind of guess by the fact he was practicing with a quaffle, but maybe he could be a keeper, and she would know if he was a beater.

Pulling on the last of her gear, Ashley stood up from the bench, zipping up the zipper to the front of her bag. Picking up the broom that was leaning against the bench she turned around at Jason smiling. “Do you mind if I practice with you?”

[Jason Blade]

"That's good to know," he said with a smile as she mentioned that she didn't mind others using the pitch. He watched as she tossed the quaffle in the air a few times and then introduced herself. He was right in guessing Ashley. "Well Ash," he said "it's nice to formally meet you."

After tossing the quaffle his way, she began to suit up, indicating that she was a beater. Then, he did remember playing against her once or twice. She didn't look very aggressive, but he remembered her being rather quick and stronger than she looked. When she mentioned not wanting to get out the bludgers, he laughed a bit. He stayed away from them for the same reason. When you were alone with them, you risked getting knocked out with nobody to find you- especially if they bludger hadn't been out in a while. They got rather feisty after being locked up for a period of time.

"No, I'm actually a beater myself," he said, not faulting her for not knowing since he had forgotten she was one as well. He smiled when she asked if she could join him. "Sure," he said quickly. "What would you like to do to get warmed up?"

[Ashley Hill]

Ashley looked up at Jason, her eyebrows rising in slight surprise. He was a beater? She would have remembered seeing him during a match. “Um…sorry, thought you were a chaser since you were doing well with the quaffle,” she said with a small smile, looking back down to finish tying her boots. Ashley wasn’t all that good with quaffle work, which was the main reason why she was a beater. Her hands would get slippery and drop the quaffle just before she could even catch it. Going around the pitch with a bat in hand, chasing after bludgers was more Ashley’s expertise. When Jason asked what they should get started with first, Ashley tucked her right arm over her head, grabbing onto her elbow feeling the stretch in her arms. “Hmm…” she hummed thinking of what they could warm up with first. Normally, Noko would just release the bludgers and they’re whole practice would be just sort of like a game.

Tucking her left arm behind her shoulder to do the same stretch, and idea came to mind. Smiling, she looked over at Jason, before turning around toward the trunk where all the equipment was held at the further end of the pitch. “Since there are two of us here, we can still practice with the bludgers…”Ashley said bending down to unclasp the front of the trunk. “How about we only release one of them? Save more time at the end.” Flipping the top back she looked over at Jason wondering if he would agree with the idea.