Just... Flying Around? Finished

Ruka had tried to read through his school books in the common room, but he had just not managed to find te right light for it.
Having grown up without a roof over his head, had made him strangely sensitive to all sorts of light that didn't come straight from the sky. Most of the Common Room light came from fire, and while Ruka loved fire, to him it symbolised either the time to sleep, or the time to perform with his dad; neither of those lent themselves to te proper reading mood.

Thus, Ruka had gone out to the Grounds, his book about Magical Creatures under one arm, and found himself a nice spot close to the Quidditch Training pitch.
Quidditch, he had learned by reading through some books in the library, was a wizarding sport that was clearly far too complex for him to really understand yet, but he was eager to watch his first match so he could see what it was really all about.

As he perched his book on top of his knees and slid a finger along the pages, he mouthed along to every single word, snickering here and there when he found a particularly funny one to pronounce.
It was difficult for him, in a way; Sure, his dad had taught him to read and write, but he still wasn't the most practiced reader, not even for his age, and some of those magical creatures had the funniest names.

He was so caught up in trying to correctly read his book, that ge startled a bit when a voice called out to him. Disoriented, he looked around until his eyes fell on a boy with a head full of black hair and a broom in his hand. "Me?" he asked, a little dazed and confused. He had never been on a broom before and for all the love he had for risky street performances, he felt like he wasn't exactly cut out for flying. "I'm, uh... I really don't think I should. I'm not exactly... a flyer..." He stretched his legs and put his book next to him on the ground. "If you want someone to cheer for you, though, I'm pretty good at that!" He chuckled meekly and smiled up at the other boy, shrugging his shoulders. "I've always had my feet firmly on the ground, I'm scared to think what would happen if I got up in the air!"

The day was breezy, and Donnovan couldn't believe he wasn't already in the air. It was quite a strange urge, but he just felt like... well flying! He saw the students, doing all sorts of tricks, and loops on their nimbus two-thousands and fire bolts. He fixed his collar as a buff slytherin player passed clutching a nimbus 2001. He gave her an disapproving look, and flipped up his collar. Donny turned back to the boy, listening as he spoke. 

Donny frowned slightly at the boys response. Sure, books were great and everything, but on a day like this? He didn't know much about the boy, but he thought better than to tease him for his lack of interest. He dropped the broom beside him, and smirked. He began to think about what he should say, or do rather. It was quite difficult, seeing as the boy had a completely different idea about leisure. "Have you ever seen a Quidditch game?" he asked the boy, disbelieving.  He had never met someone who'd never as much as seen a Quidditch match! He sat next to the boy, relativity smaller than he was, under the shade of the bleachers. He looked into the boys eyes piercingly, awaiting an honest answer...


 

Ruka was constantly reminded that he knew nothing of the world, but rarely was he reminded as strongly of it as when he was talking to other students.
There were kids, he found out, that grew up surrounded by magic, like it was second nature.

He assumed that was what his life would have been like if his mother had stuck around to raise him.

Ruka shuffled around a little as the other boy sat down next to him, trying to make him some more space. "N-no," he stuttered, feeling his cheeks go red with embarrassment. "I've read about it! I mean, I wanted to know what it was, so I flicked through some pages in the library!" He had to seem like the biggest bookworm to this boy, like all he did with his life was read about stuff. "I don't usually read this much," he added quickly, feeling more embarrassed by the second, his pale cheeks flaming red. "I've just... never had this many books before."
He shuffled his feet around awkwardly and looked across the pitch at the various students swooshing through the air. "Anyway," he said quietly, green eyes focusing on a patch of grass next to his knee. "I can't wait to see my first match. I don't really get the rules just from reading about them." He curiously cast a glance at the other boy and then at his broom.
It seemed to be a school broom, but the way the boy was holding it, meant he knew what he was doing all the same. "Do you play?" he asked, straightening his back in interest. "My name is Ruka, by the way." he added quickly, to make sure he didn't seem rude for not introducing himself. "Really nice to meet you!"

Donny felt relived that Ruka was not quite as adamant at reading as he thought. He smiled a full smile sat back, relaxing on the stands. "Well, my name is Donny- or people know me as don, or whatever," Donny said politely. "But, I think it's cool that you like to read about stuff! I like to read sometimes as well, but Quidditch for me is the best!" he said dreamily. Donny thought about back a while, trying to answer Ruka's Question. "And, yes I have seen a Qudditch match!" he replied. "I went with my Nan back on my tenth birthday... Chudley Cannons vs. Appleby Arrows!" he remembered, jumping weirdly as he said it. He really did miss his grandmother.

Donny sat and reminisced after the question. He thought about the first time he'd flown a broom when he was six, and the first person who told him about quidditch, his ma, and the first person to buy him a broom-his dad. His dad got him a broom when he was just two, in the hopes he would use it one day. His father is in Azkaban prison. Donny snapped out of his mind as a golden snitch nearly knocked him in the face.

"Uh... well, would you like to see a quidditch game? I mean, I could show you how to play?" he asked Ruka hopefully. Donny had taught all of his cousins how to play last year, and he was adamant at teaching his new acquaintance- and, soon friend...   
   

Ruka shuffled forward a little bit, his interest sparked as Donny started talking about Quidditch.
It was easy to see that his new acquaintance was passionate about the topic and, eventhough Ruka didn't really understand any of it - Cuddly Canons against Apple What? - he still felt the excitement pass right through him.
"I heard it's kind of dangerous," he pointed out, not scared, just curious. In the Non-Magic world, he couldn't really think of Ny popular sports that were actually considered dangerous, but Quidditch seemed to be about the most popular sport in the Wizarding World, and he'd already read about people going missing and in some cases even dying during a match.
He eyed Donny curiously as he offered to teach him, and part of him wanted to decline, to point out that he was very steady on his feet and didn't know what he would do once he lost the ground beneath him.
The other part was the one that took control, putting his book to the side and standing up. He quickly brushed the dust and grass off his trousers and ran a hand through his light hair in case he had any leafs or branches stuck in it.
"You could teach me?" he asked, excitement in his tone. This seemed to be turing into a great day; he was going to make a new friend AND learn how Quidditch worked. "That would be great," he said, grinning brightly at Donny, and laughed when a small golden something almost flew straight into his face. "I'm warning you, though, I'm pretty sure I'm better on the ground than up in the air!"

Donny felt Ruka's excitement flash through him, sharing energy in a sense. Donny didn't look like it, but he could sure play some Quidditch! "Of course!" Donny replied earnestly. He was so excited at not only having a flying buddy, but a friend he could talk to! "Well, you first have to understand the basics.." Donny said, trailing off as he looked for some sort of example. "Aha!" he said, picking up four different sized rocks from beneath the stands. Although it was not quite the material he had wished to start with, he was completely adamant at showing Ruka, his friend. 

He placed the stones in the dry palm of his hand, inching closer to Ruka as he did so for a better look. "This," he said happily, "Is the Quaffle,"  he said, pointing to the biggest of the stones. "The Quaffle is the ball used to make goals, the main ball that scores points-except the snitch" he added, jumping at the chance to teach someone Quidditch. He pointed at the biggest stone 'The Quaffle', and tossed it.  The stone lifted into the air, and shot towards an empty refreshment cup. "Score!" he said, way too consumed at playing quidditch with stones as he was in real life. 

He looked at Ruka for a second, and then walked towards him. "You do know what this one is, right?" he said, pointing to the smallest, most crucial stone...      

Ruka could feel Donny's excitement coursing through him, and he felt himself getting happier by the second.
He watched curiously as the other boy picked up a few rocks, pointing at the biggest one of them.

The Quaffle.

Ruka had read about the types of balls in Quidditch, so he could imagine what the rock would look like if it was actually the Quaffle. "And the goal posts are the three rings," he added, nodding along as Donny tossed the Quaffle rock before turning his attention to the smallest of the rocks.
Ruka knew which one that one was supposed to be; The Snitch!

"It's the golden one!" he said excitedly, grabbing for the rock and making it swoosh through the air between his fingers. "The flying one. The Golden Snitch, right?"
He had also read about that, and he felt proud to have remembered at least a few basic parts of the rules.
"When it gets caught," He dropped the rock from the air and caught it with his other had, proudly holding it up as if he'd just caught the Snitch in a real game. "The game ends, right?"
He grinned and looked at the two left over rocks, tilting his head as he thought about what they could be. "And these could kill you, no?" he asked curiously.
He had read about people being severely injured by being hit by one of the two wild balls in the game, and he assumed that those were the two rocks in Donny's hands. "I heard people have died playing Quidditch, is that true?"

Donny was surprised at Ruka's intelligence. He knew pretty much all there was to know about the golden snitch, and the goalposts. "That's right!" he said, surprised. He listened as Ruka talked about the bludgers. "There, bludgers by the way," he continued. "And if you have bad beaters then yeah, you could get hurt." he said honestly. "But they can be used in good ways to! Like if you want to stop the other teams seeker-Who catches the snitch- from winning the game!" he said, quite surprised by his own fluency with the knowledge. 

"Now, Have you ever flown before?" he asked Ruka, weirdly hoping he'd say no. He really wanted to teach Ruka how to fly! It felt free, like you could go anywhere, do anything! He remembered the first time he flew a broom, a bluebell. He got it when he was only six, and his mom recalls him flying off into the neighbors garden patch. Ruka didn't quite seem like the right the a boy who would ride a broom, but he had to give it a try. "Before you say anything," he interrupted, "You must know, it's really cool, flying." He said in the hopes that Ruka would give in...   

Ruka listened intently as Donny explained the use of the Bludgers and the Seeker and Beaters. He was dimly aware if having read about all of it before, but having it presented to him with so much enthusiasm made it a lot easier to understand and remember.

He swallowed heavily when Donny asked him if he'd ever flown before, and shook his head, cheeks red with embarrassment. "Never," he said, smiling a little bit when Donny assured him that flying was great.

Ruka was adventurous and loved trying new things, but his strenght, as far as he knew, was on the ground. His footwork was swift from years of practicing performance routines, his weight light enough to allow him to swirl around on his tiptoes, his arms free to twirl flaming torches between his hands.
Up in the air? He was going to be completely out of his element for all he knew.

However, Ruka was nobody to throw in the towel before a fight, and for all he knew he may as well turn out to be a really good flyer.

"I'd like to try," he finally said, feeling brave and encouraged by Donny's obvious excitement about the matter. "Could you teach me?" He knew he was probably supposed to actually learn to fly in class but he was also aware that a lot of kids with magic parents came to Hogwarts already knowing how to fly, so if Donny was able to teach him, why would he really say No to an offer like that?