stardust ⋮ george weasley

fifteen :

F I F T E E N

⋮✰⋮

Flying had never really been Adeline's thing. She remembered being so excited for her first flying lesson back in first year. All Adeline could think about were the stories she had read as a child with witches flying around on broomsticks, and she remembered envisioning herself flying through the night sky with the wind flowing through her hair and the stars shining brightly around her. Sure, Adeline had a fear of heights. But Adeline thought that given how easily magic came to her, flying a broomstick up high would be just as easy.

The first lesson, however, proved that Adeline and broomsticks didn't exactly mesh. Adeline still persisted and tried her best, however all of that hope and excitement came crashing down – quite literally – when Adeline freaked out about how high she was off the ground during one of the lessons and fell off her broomstick, breaking her left arm in the process. From then on, the girl hated getting on broomsticks and swore that she would never try out for Quidditch. Adeline preferred the safety of the stands and being able to cheer her friends rather than be flying out in the field herself.

Estelle had quite a similar viewpoint to Adeline, however she figured out at a much younger age that she would never be a talented flier. There was even the scar on her elbow to prove it, which Estelle had showed Adeline before their first flying lesson back when they were tiny first year students.

But the flying lessons weren't all bad. The lessons were actually how Estelle and Adeline became friends with Melanie and Ophelia. Ophelia had been in their flying class and was the first one to reach Adeline when she fell off her broomstick. She offered to walk Adeline up to the hospital wing, and the two ended up just clicking. Adeline introduced Ophelia to Estelle, and in turn Ophelia introduced her to Melanie, who she had been best friends with since they were little due to living next door to one another.

But nonetheless, Adeline despised flying on broomsticks. So when Melanie and Ophelia demanded that Estelle and her take a break from their studies for "once in their life" and join them at the Quidditch pitch, both girls were hesitant to say the least.

This nervous feeling only seemed to grow in the pair of them when they arrived at the pitch and were greeted by Melanie and Ophelia, who had matching maniacal grins on their faces and were holding their brooms in their hand.

"What's this?" Estelle asked slowly. "Are you guys making Adeline and I referee one of your Chaser scrimmages again? Because last time you guys had one of those, Melanie nearly broke her leg, and I'd rather not have to drag her up to the hospital wing."

"You're rude," Melanie responded, sticking out her tongue. "I hope I never get hurt in front of you because you'd probably leave me there to die."

"You're incredibly overdramatic sometimes."

"It's my Hufflepuff in me coming out. I refuse to stand for friends who aren't loyal."

"Merlin you two!" Ophelia interrupted, waving her broom in between the pair in an attempt to stop the argument in its track. "Anyways, this isn't one of our scrimmages. We want to take you two flying."

Estelle and Adeline exchanged a wide-eyed look. "You two are mental," Adeline said first after a few seconds of silence. "Your solution to Estelle and I being stressed over exams is to put us in an environment where we have even more anxiety?"

"Oh but you won't be flying on your own!" Melanie told the pair, who were still staring warily at the broomsticks. "Estelle, you'll be flying with me. Adeline, you're with Ophelia."