But Who's the Fastest?
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"At last, a free period! As much as I do enjoy Professor Garlick and her class, I would much rather be in Charms instead." Natty spoke quietly beside Sofiya, making her giggle at her words.
"I couldn't agree more – thank Merlin we have Professor Garlick, and not someone like Professor Binns..."
As the two girls exited the greenhouses, they blended in with the other students traveling the halls to get to their next class. Some traded places with them for Herbology, and some followed them to the courtyard to spend their free period. Sofiya never grew tired of walking the halls in Hogwarts, although it might have been because she hasn't quite gotten used to it yet. Either way, it was just all so magical, the way the portraits on the walls moved and textbooks floated around some students.
Yet despite all the magic and wonder, Sofiya couldn't help but feel a bit down this morning. She thought maybe a fulfilling breakfast would help, or a busy class like Herbology, yet she found an anxious feeling looming over her since yesterday evening.
After her talk with Ominis, Sofiya didn't know what to think. She felt as though she was supposed to feel some closure since Sebastian ignored Ominis this summer as well; however, she was still angry with him since he didn't write to either of his closest friends. Perhaps she was the only one who thought of them as close.
"...Sofiya? Are you alright?"
Natty's gentle voice pulled Sofiya out of her thoughts, and as Sofiya looked back up at her she was met with a face of mild concern. If she was talking, Sofiya must have completely missed it.
"Oh- Yes- Sorry, Natty." Sofiya shook her head, putting on a small smile for the other girl.
"Is everything alright? I noticed you have been a bit distracted this morning."
Sofiya pursed her lips together for a moment. Natty always seemed to have an eye for these things, when things were wrong. It made it difficult for Sofiya to keep this already private situation under wraps – and although she had shared all the details with Natty before, she has yet to tell her about her conversation with Ominis. She has yet to tell anyone, for that matter.
But Natty was trustworthy, Sofiya could tell her anything.
"Well, I've been meaning to tell you-"
"Sofiya! Natty! There you two are!"
Before Sofiya could get another word out, a shouting voice came from behind them. As they turned around, there came Samantha Dale, running toward them with a wide smile on her face.
"Samantha? Where are you running off to?" Natty raised a brow at the Ravenclaw.
"Outside, in the courtyard!" The girl exclaimed as she gasped for air, pointing toward the gate beyond them.
"Garreth and Callum are having a race!"
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The three girls rushed out into the school courtyard and were met with a large crowd of students, majorly filled with other Quidditch players. In front of them, however, stood Garreth and Callum, brooms in hand. They faced each other with furrowed brows and pouting lips, it seemed as though they were arguing. As Sofiya came closer, pushing her way through the crowd to hear them better, their words became clearer.
"How in Merlin's name 's my broom any bloody better than yours?! Don' that thick skull o' yours remember buyin' the same model firs' year?" Callum exclaimed, wildly gesturing with his broom.
"You told me before how often you tinker about with your broom, how should I know you're not cheating?" Garreth retorted.
"Well it wouldn' matter if I won, now would it?"
"What are you two up to?" Sofiya called to the two boys, finally intervening in the odd spectacle. Their heads whipped in her direction, and immediately their peeved expressions brightened into ones of excitement.
"Sofiya! Thank Merlin you're here!" Garreth rushed up to the girl, grabbing hold of her arm and tugging her closer toward the rings floating in the air, "Say, you've got a good eye, don't you?"
"Not necessa-"
"Good! Callum and I are going to race around the castle, and we need someone trustworthy to watch us and make sure I pass through the ring first!"
Callum linked his arm with Sofiya's free one, pulling her a bit closer to him, "When I pass through the ring – and Sofiya, have I ever mentioned I tutor Transfiguration on the side? For you, I shall do it for free!"
Sofiya looked between the two redheads standing on either side of her, raising a brow at their expecting looks, "Why must you see who's better? You're on the same Quidditch team, there is no competition."
"Well for sport, o' course!" Callum grinned, lowering his head closer to Sofiya's ear, his voice hushing into a quieter tone, "And because Garreth hasn' been able to wind his neck in all summer, I believe he mus' be humbled a tad."
Sofiya pulled her arms free from the boys' grip, playfully rolling her eyes. One part of her wanted to relax for the period, yet the other wanted to entertain this competition.
With a smile, she nodded, "Alright, I shall make sure this is a fair race."
The boys, along with the entire crowd cheered at Sofiya's agreement, and instantly Garreth and Callum hopped onto their brooms and lined up behind the ring above them. Sofiya took a few steps back, nestling herself in the crowd to get a better view.
"Ready?" She shouted, projecting her voice over the crowd. When they nodded, her three fingers raised into the air.
"Three, two, one, go!"
Immediately Garreth and Callum took off, the crowd of students cheering them on as they flew forward, eventually making a sharp turn to begin their circle around the castle.
The students around Sofiya began to talk amongst themselves while they waited for the boys to return. Some made bets on who would win, while the rest were simply excited to see the result of all of this, Sofiya included. She didn't quite understand the competitiveness Garreth and Callum had for each other, but she could find some humor in it. If this is how they were with each other, she couldn't imagine how they treated the enemy Quidditch team.
And a mere minute or so later, the two racing Gryffindors turned around the other side of the castle. They were traveling extremely fast now, and the closer they got the more the students began to notice how close to each other they were. Occasionally Callum would slightly surpass Garreth and vice-versa, but they were flying nearly the same speed.
The crowd began to cheer louder the closer they came to the floating ring, and Sofiya found herself joining. The suspense and excitement from the people around her became contagious, and before she knew it she was clapping along with them.
Her sharp blue eyes watched closely as they approached the ring, anxious to see just which of their broomsticks would pass the wooden rim first. She waited... And waited... And..!
With a strong gust of wind passing by, the boys flew through the ring, welcomed by enthusiastic cheers and applause as they landed.
"So? Who won?" Garreth asked, a slanted smile on his face as he approached Sofiya, Callum following closely behind.
"...Well, I believe it was a tie!" Sofiya shrugged, clasping her hands together.
The boys' triumphant expressions immediately fell at her words, staring at her with faces of disbelief. At first, Sofiya wanted to take it back and simply lie that one of them had won, but she couldn't support that lie. The two passed the ring at nearly the same time, and that was the truth.
After a few moments of silence, the boys groaned, "What was the point of all of this then, if we are not even a challenge to each other?" Garreth whined.
"Tell ya what," Callum pat Garreth's shoulder, almost immediately bouncing back from his previous disheartenment, "Why don' we both go agains' someone else? Someone challengin'!"
Garreth's face lit up at Callum's proposal as he placed his arm around his shoulder, "That right there is a bright idea, Callum! This is why we're teammates, aye?"
"Exactly right!" Callum grinned, placing his arm around Garreth's shoulder as well. His dusty brown eyes then looked to the crowd, surveying the several familiar Quidditch players who stood in it. "Now then, who would like a fair race with us?"
At Callum's question, the crowd seemed to shy away. Sofiya glanced behind her, watching as the students simply shook their heads. She couldn't quite tell if it was out of fear, or ridicule.
"Sofiya would like to!"
Sofiya felt a warm hand grab onto her wrist, raising it in the air against her wishes. She glanced over at the source, her gaze meeting with Imelda Reyes.
"What?" Sofiya shook her head frantically, giving Imelda a bewildered look, "I'm not on the Quidditch team!"
"And it is quite a blessing you're not!" The Slytherin let go of Sofiya's wrist, letting it fall onto her side, "You beat all of my time trials last year, and that takes a lot of skill – feel lucky I'm saying this at all!"
"Oh, I remember hearing about that!" Garreth exclaimed, "You must be good on a broom then, Sofiya! Come on! Race us!"
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After quite a bit of struggling, Sofiya found herself in the air.
At first, she had strongly opposed the race. The only reason she beat Imelda's times last year was that she was testing out broom upgrades from Mr. Weeks, and sheer luck. Sofiya never found herself to be truly skilled enough to join the Quidditch team, let alone participate in any races like this one – especially in front of a crowd. It wasn't even that she was shy, yet she still felt embarrassed. Perhaps she and Natty should have retreated to the library for free period instead.
"Ready up there?" Imelda called, taking Sofiya's place as the somewhat coach.
The three flyers nodded, and Imelda nodded in return, "Alright, three, two, one-!"
As soon as Imelda waved her hand down – a signal for the race to start – the two boys on either side of Sofiya rushed forward in an instant. Slightly shocked, Sofiya took an extra moment to take off after them.
She held tightly onto her broom, a bit wary of the feeling of it all now. Last year, she was practically bonded to her broom, but after being away from it all summer, it was a bit foreign. It didn't help that this was Imelda's broom instead of her own.
However, as the three of them turned the corner and started flying down the other side of the castle, Sofiya adjusted. She settled into the broom, the feeling of the wood against the palm of her hands taking her back to last year's flights. The feeling of the wind briskly brushing off past her face and through her long dark hair, the sight of the ground far below her, and the sound of nothing but gusts of wind. She felt free.
Sofiya leaned into these memories, feeling the broom gradually speed up. Slowly but surely she began to catch up with Garreth and Callum, who were once again right up next to each other up ahead – but before she knew it, they were behind her.
The Ravenclaw was shocked at herself, believing she had never gone this fast on a broom before. She glanced over her shoulder, and met with the two boys who were slowly getting farther and farther away, their faces just as shocked as her own.
But at this point, Sofiya didn't care for the race – she cared for the feeling she had uncovered once more from the thrilling ride.
Turning another corner, Sofiya spotted the wooden ring just up ahead, the finish line. As one final stunt, she sat up a bit straighter, hesitating as she let go of the handle of her broom before she finally did, stretching her arms out on either side of her. She let her body blow through the wind as she sped forward, straight through the finish line – and far ahead of Garreth and Callum.
The crowd hollered and cheered at Sofiya's victory, nearly even louder than they did for Garreth and Callum's race. The students gathered around the girl, throwing several compliments and praise her way, even though it didn't feel like a very large feat for her.
The two boys landed shortly after, approaching her with the same stunned looks.
"Here I thought you had barely any experience with a broom – jus' where did you learn to fly like that?"
Sofiya faced Callum with a small smile, giving him a mere shrug, "It's not much! I just... Leaned into it, I suppose."
"Not much?!" Garreth gasped, "You could win any race with skills like that!"
As Sofiya opened her mouth to say more, she felt a light tap on the shoulder. She turned to face the source, meeting eyes with Natsai Onai once more. She had nearly forgotten she had lost her in the crowd, earlier.
"We may have flown on Hippogriffs together, but I have never seen you fly like that!" The other girl shook her head with a smile, "You continue to amaze me, Sofiya."
"Everyone! How about more cheering for the champion?" Garreth lifted Sofiya's hand by the wrist, waving it around in the air.
The group of students once again cheered for the girl with all they had, and the mere energy of it all made Sofiya blush. She's a humble soul and always has been, which made moments like these all the more special.
It was quite strange, since what was only a friendly race to her seemed like a competition to the Quidditch players; however, she felt fulfilled. She felt eternally proud for not only winning, but rediscovering that thrill. The thrill that reminded her of flying on a broom, of sneaking out past curfew, of fighting loyalists.
Oh, how she missed that feeling. That feeling of experiencing new things, of getting in trouble, of being alive.
Perhaps this race was Sofiya taking one step closer to regaining that feeling.
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thank you all for 100 reads !! ^^ i just got home from a short vacation, so this chapter is somewhat filler for me to get back in the groove. but don't worry !! things are all gonna tie together soon c; -jj <3