So we meet again (Roxy and Mathew)

Guest

When Roxy had been at home she hadn't had the chance to go flying at all so the first moment she had a day off from school, she had grabbed her broom and literally flew out of the Ravenclaw Tower towards the Quidditch Pitch, her hair fluttering behind her as she released the practice Snitch that she had bought with her to give her a bit of a work out.

Being a seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team wasn't that bad and the female enjoyed playing the seeker position. It was fun and while she probably got more bludgers aimed at her than any other player combined, she rarely got injured due to how lithe she was on the broom, always ducking low and using other players as shields from said bludgers.

She enjoyed the way the wind blew through her hair and the way that it shrieked in her ears as she dived down low for an errant snitch, her hands just shy of touching said snitch before it fluttered off again into nowhere, making her frown in annoyance before she pulled back up into the air, doing some loops and just generally enjoying the time off from lessons and homework, relaxing for the first time in weeks.

Guest

Mathew had spent the summer on his own, or, as alone as you could ever be in a family of aristocrats who loved to entertain at any and every opportunity that there was to do so. But, when his presence had not been called upon for whatever reason his parents could think of, Mathew had been alone.

Coming back to the school was not entirely different. He didn't spend much of his time with people, except when it came to Quidditch Practice and it was insisted he train with his other team members to make sure they played on the same wave length. Mathew did not enjoy this, would not enjoy this, but he endured it.

The infrequent meetings were not enough time on a broom, though, and Mathew found himself practicing at any free moment possible. Today was one of those days, but as he moved out on to the pitch, Mathew paused in an instant. Sensing he was not alone, the Hufflepuff looked up to the skies to see a familiar head of auburn hair.

Roxanne Förstner.

The Hufflepuff hid himself in the shadows of the stadium, invisible to anyone without the sharpest of eyes. Watching. Waiting. Scheming.

Guest

Roxanne giggled softly as she ducked and dived through the air, chasing the fast golden ball, her fingers barely catching the small thing before letting it go again, her broom moving through the motions of looping in and out of the goal hoops before diving down between imaginary opponents.

Being on a broom really gave her the freedom that she so craved every time she was at home with her father who, more often than not, was having her trained up to being the next Head of the family and while she did enjoy the politics and what not, the auburn haired female found that over time it all became mind-numbing and she needed to relax and wind-down from everything but she couldn't really do that at home; she wasn't allowed to fly at home purely because her father didn't want to risk Roxy getting kidnapped if someone managed to break through their wards.

Fingers wrapping around the gold ball again, Roxy leant back on her broom a tiny bit to look up at the blue sky above her, wishing that for once, she was a bird and that she could fly away from all her responsibilities even for a little while; she wondered absentmindedly if her animagus form would be some type of bird or not.

Letting the ball go again, she watched as it disappeared behind the stands, clearly hiding from Roxy and giving her a harder time of finding it; she always enjoyed this part of chasing the snitch, where it made it hard to find it by hiding away in the smallest of nooks and crannies. Shooting off again, Roxy noticed nothing particularly wrong and even though her guard was up, most of her attention was on the snitch that she was chasing.

Guest

Mathew's eyes followed Roxanna around the Quidditch Pitch. She hadn't noticed his arrival, he could tell, as she never let up from her pursuit of the Snitch for even a moment. The tenacity was admirable, to others, perhaps. Mathew could only see it as a given if you were the house Seeker.

Sliding his wand from his pocket, Mathew watched for a few moments more.

Calculating.

He'd noted the attention she'd been getting from other males in the school. Envy, of the smallest degree, had begun to creep in to the Huflepuff's system. Something he could not register for what it was. Impulses, therefore, had been created within him, that he knew only how to act on.

Not moving from the shadows, Mathew's eyes held on Roxanne's movement, and he willed the broom to do just one thing. Throw her off. It was something of a mantra, repeated again and again.

Bringing his broom down from his shoulder, Mathew kept the eye contact he needed, and kept willing the broom to buck the Ravenclaw witch off. He would get there 'just' in time to catch her. But, she had to fall first.

Guest

A sigh left Roxy's lips as the Ravenclaw witch let the snitch escape through her fingers once more, her eyes trailing after the elusive golden ball, feeling slightly bored of this now; with no opponents against her and no beaters to make this harder, the seeking was certainly boring enough but then again she only grabbed the snitch just because it was laying on her nightstand after all she only really came out to fly some to relax from the countless hours of school that she had to endure.

Doing loops in the air, Roxanne held loosely onto the broom, her eyes closed as she could feel the soft breeze ruffle her hair before suddenly, and out of nowhere, one thing snapped her mind back into the present.

Her broom suddenly bucked under her and blue eyes widened in fear as she gripped tightly onto the handle, willing the broom to stop but it wouldn't listen to her and soon enough it was bucking like a wild horse, making her swallow down her fear as she continued trying to control the broom, hoping, praying to whoever would listen that the broom stop and let her down.

However no-one listened that day and before Roxy knew it her hands slipped from the handle, the sweat making them slide on the broom and the only thing she could see was the approaching ground, her eyes wide before they slammed close and she screamed, her mind only having one thought running through it.

'I'm going to die!'

Guest

Watching the broom buck, turn, jolt and otherwise move in an unnatural manner, Mathew could see from his location that she would not hold on to the broom for very long. But, he kept muttering the incantation under his breath, his eyes not moving from the Ravenclaw witch as she held on.

By the time she'd let go, though, Mathew had mounted his own broom and was streaking across the pitch towards her. The scream that broke through the tranquility of the day was one that Mathew would relish in forever. The fear, the impending doom of a free fall from a great height. The helplessness, and the silent plea for help that was so unlikely to be answered. It was like music to the Hufflepuff's ears.

But just before the impending doom of the death of the witch, Mathew caught her from the air, the down force of her weight making him have to adjust for a few seconds before he levelled off, holding her to him before he lowered to the ground. Letting the broom fall away, Mathew held the Ravenclaw up.

"You're okay, I've got you." Mathew told the witch, his voice quite soft as he allowed her the moment to catch up. For show, Mathew looked around the stands, as if trying to find someone. No one was there, though, just the two of them... but Roxanne would not know that.

"I saw a Gryffindor heading off from the stands..." He told her seriously, easily lying about that much in that moment. "I was coming to train when I saw." He added, because his presence most certainly needed one. Subtle manipulation of the truth, this was all he was doing. Roxanne would now owe him...

Reaching a hand up to the Ravenclaw's cheek, Mathew tilted her head up to look at him, taking her in. "You're okay?" He asked, though his question was not as gentle as many might have asked someone who'd just fallen, it was something a little off. Like her well being was a must, not a want, it was crucial, and if she was not okay... Mathew would have to fix it somehow.

Guest

Roxy struggled for breath as she grabbed tightly onto her savior, her hold literally so tight that it was probably cutting of the male's breathing but the near death from the broom just made life flash before her eyes and she wasn't entirely sure she would be able to stand on her own two feet yet. The voice was somewhat familiar to the red-haired witch but the female took no actual notice of it until the two of them had been safely on the floor where Roxy could actually feel the ground, though she wasn't standing on her own two feet yet.

"Th-Thank you." She stuttered, her hands gripping tightly onto the male's clothes before she looked up at her saviour only to blink her eyes. "Ma...thew Howard?" She questioned just to make sure that she remembered the male's name after she had heard it that once during the subtle meeting that they had a while ago.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine... I will be, somehow." The redhead licked her lips and nodded her head to the question, not really hearing the subtle off-ness of the question; in a normal situation she probably would've been weary but at the moment she had nearly died thus her pureblood training hadn't kicked in yet. "A Gryffindor huh..?" She had no enemies from Gryffindor as far as she was aware but then again many people hated her purely because she was a foreigner in their school and while it hurt, it also made making friends impossible sometimes.

Guest

The tight grip on him that Roxanne held was one that Mathew simply dealt with. Fear was, and always had been, irrational, putting the simpler minds of the world in to a panicked frenzy until such point as the fear was taken away from them. Fear was a weakness that Mathew neither understood, nor was consumed by, but he could recognise it.

The sound of his name being spoken by the Ravenclaw was an inward, minute sense of glee. Like younger people did over crushes knowing their name. It was a restrained feeling, though, one that died almost as soon as it had thought of making an appearance in his mind. "Yes." Was all the Hufflepuff replied to those words, enjoying their closeness in that moment.

Memorising it.

For later.

"A Gryffindor. I think I saw enough to find them again. I will find them again."
Mathew told her, though the menacing tone in his voice was underlying. He would find a Gryffindor he could dispose of. Make it look like an accident, No one would know what had happened, but Mathew knew who would be blamed for the incident. It wouldn't be him, though.

Behind the witch's back, Mathew had subtly taken a hair from her jumper, feeling it tickle against his hand. It was subtle, and his hand closed around it before Roxanne could ever notice.

"You should get back to the castle. It's safer inside." Mathew told the witch. Almost, perhaps, it would sound like a caring, concerned idea. Mathew, of course, knew that she was safe with him. Would always be safe with him. But, she would not yet know that she was safe. There was much more he would need to do.

For now, though, Roxanne Förstner owed Mathew her life.

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» The Zenith (Roxy)
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