A Morning Run PV Closed

Howie walked across the grounds of Hogwarts, making his way towards the Quidditch Pitch. Oh no, he was not going to be participating in anything Quidditch related. Crazy witches and wizards, flying through the air on brooms tossing balls at each other, no thank you. Didn’t they teach the laws of gravity here at this crazy school?! However, Howie had grown into the habit of taking daily runs around the field, preferring to go early in the morning before the pitch got too crowded.

The cold morning air stung his eyes as he squinted against it, grateful he had dressed warm in a fitted gray sweatshirt and black track pants. Reaching into his pocket he slid on a white sweat band to hold his hair out of his face, and made his way onto the pitch. Howie had stretched in the common room of Hufflepuff, allowing the warmth from the fire to loosen his muscles, but now jogged in place to get his blood flowing and to shake off the chill of the early Scottish morning. Satisfied that he was ready, Howie prepared to set off.

A flash or red in his peripheral caused him to turn his head. What a pleasant color to break of the dreary gray of the Highland morning. A young girl was running the pitch too. Excited to see another student out for a run, Howie took off after her. His morning runs were always solo, which was nice most times, allowing him to to get to a meditative state as he burned off his excess energy and emptied his mind. However, the thought of a running partner sounded great.

He started off with a sprint to close the distance, slowing to a brisk jog as he came closer to her. “Hey! Mind if I run with you?” Howie called out to the girl in red, however she did not respond, not even in the slightest. He first thought of headphones, but then he remembered that much to his annoyance, muggle devices did not work on Hogwarts grounds. She must not have heard him. “Hey!” He raised his voice a bit. “Can I run with you!” Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Why on earth was she ignoring him. If she wanted to be left alone she could at least say so, or dismiss him with a look! Howie dug in deep, running full out again. It only took a few moments to run right up beside her. She had to acknowledge his presence now. 

As she ran, Kalani tipped her head up to the sky. She knew that it wasn't really the way to do it - and she could feel it, it really hurt her neck if she did it for too long - but it made the light breeze hit off her jaw just right and it cooled her down. Not that she was in any danger of overheating. If she could, she'd close her eyes too, but when you were missing a sense it wasn't a good idea to take another one out.

As her feet hit off the ground, she thought that she could feel someone nearby doing just the same. Someone must have been running with her, someone maybe a little taller, a little bigger. They must have been close, or maybe they were really big and far away. What if it was a creature? A centaur, or a werewolf!

She threw her head over her left shoulder, funnily enough just as the mystery creature pulled up on her right. She turned her head to check her right, and her face popped open in surprise. She felt her heartbeat rocket, and she laughed a little out of shock. This must have been the creature-slash-centaur-slash-werewolf. A friendly looking boy, with fluffy brown hair and kind eyes. She smiled up at him, but the determined look on his face showed her that she'd clearly missed something.

When she'd left the common room, she'd thought, for a moment, about taking her bracelets off. Surely, they'd just get in the way. They were annoying and scratchy and they'd get sweaty and gross and then she'd have to clean them. But she brought them anyway, just in case. Now she was very glad she had.

She slowed down a little as she fumbled with the left sleeve of her Gryffindor-given sweatshirt. She pulled the sleeve up and up until it caught on her shoulder. Underneath the fabric were her dozens of bracelets, their red-and-gold beads glinting in the clouded-sun. She held her arm steady with her right hand, holding it out to the boy with a smile. She tapped a couple: 'I AM DEAF', 'KALANI ANDERSON', and 'LIP READER'. She then pulled her sleeve back down, and turned to the runner boy with a smile. She rolled her hand at the wrist, showing him the best way she could that she wanted him to repeat whatever he'd said.

Howie couldn’t help but smile back at the young Gryffindor as she laughed with a wide eyed look, a bit shocked by his sudden presence at her side. Surely she must have heard him coming, but her smile was infectious, wiping the thought from his mind. He allowed his pacing to slow, matching hers as they came to a gradual stop, taking a few deep breathes to steady his pulse. 

Howie was just about to speak to her again, but stopped short as she broke eye contact to fumble with her sleeve. It was a bit of an odd interaction, for he would have expected her to speak, to explain why she hadn’t responded to him or why she seemed so shocked to see him next to her. She rolled up the arm of the bright red sweatshirt, revealing a number of decorated bracelets. Upon further examination Howie realized that the beaded bracelets weren’t some fashion statement, but spelled out words. He leaned in closer as she held out her arm to show them. 

She tapped the first one. “I AM DEAF.” His eyes widened as it dawned on him. He had never met a deaf person before. This of course was the reason why she hadn’t responded at first. A pang of guilt rushed through him, feeling sorry that he had been slightly frustrated by her lack of response. She tapped the next one, “KALANI ANDERSON.” Her name, and a very pretty one at that. He had never heard it before. She went on to tap the third, “LIP READER.” A sense of relief, for he would have had no way of communicating with her otherwise.

Howie made eye contact with her again as she rolled up her sleeve. She graced him with another smile, in which he returned. Kalani then motioned with her hand, rolling it over like one would if you wanted them to go on with something. He hadn’t spoken, so maybe she wanted him to repeat what he had said. Howie did his best to speak clearly. “Hi. I’m Howie. Sorry if I scared you. I was just wondering if I could run with you?”

Kalani watched the boy's face change, from plain cheer to a flash of guilt to a 'thank God' smile. It was a standard reaction, and a lot better than a few of the rarer ones; the ones that looked disappointed, or annoyed, or disgusted, or pitiful. The latter was the worst, in her honest opinion. She'd gotten sick of pity a long time ago, somewhere between baby groups and nursery. But most people in Hogwarts had just been shocked, then determined to be as nice and accommodating as possible. She appreciated it. It showed her the difference between Hogwarts and Hawaii.

She was glad that the boy could pick up on her cues. When you can't speak, weird gestures are all you can manage, so it was always easier when someone could get what she was trying. She immediately saw the exaggerated movements of his lips, and smiled a little. Another nice, accommodating person. Would Hogwarts ever run out of them?

It took her a moment to catch his name. 'How-ay'. 'How-ee'? ...'Howie'. It had to be Howie. It was a funny name, but it was a British name and all of their names were either funny, boring or embarrassing, so it was best to be funny.

She considered the offer for a couple seconds, even though she knew in the end she'd say yes. She could never deny company. But what did you do when you run with someone? Were you supposed to chat? And then what even about? But it didn't matter what the subject was, even, because she couldn't do it anyway. She wondered for a second if Howie would have asked if he knew she was deaf, but brushed it aside because she wasn't really one to think about 'what if?'s.

She looked up at the boy and nodded, same bright smile on her face as before. She looked around at the Quidditch pitch - she was around half-way through her first lap. She pointed to herself, then pointed her finger around the edge of the pitch. She then held up ten fingers, followed by five more. She was trying to tell Howie how much she was planning on running, and it seemed like something easy enough to understand. To get them going again, she started on a light jog. She pointed her finger around the circumference of the pitch again, and this time pointed to Howie himself, wanting to know how much he was planning on running himself.

Howie returned her smile as she nodded in agreement, grateful that she had accepted his offer. It had been forever since he had had a running partner as most kids only did it when they had to and not for fun. He also felt that it made it more fun to run with someone else, giving him the chance to push himself or even race. Howie wondered how fast she was. He had long legs on his side, but she may have more stamina. 

Kalani then pointed to herself and then motioned around the pitch. Howie made sure to pay close attention, hoping he wouldn’t have to have her repeat herself over and over. Ok, she’s addressing herself, and motioning around the track. She then held up ten fingers, and then five more. Hmm...herself, pitch, fifteen...oh! “Fifteen laps? Is that right!?” He asked a bit excited. Howie had never communicated with anyone like this before, it was almost...fun. Yikes, another pant of guilt. He shouldn’t have someone else’s disability be fun for him right? Although, maybe she didn’t see it as one. He would have to ask her, maybe after the run.  

The young Gryffindor suddenly set off at a slow jog, he kept pace beside her, glancing over to her frequently to see if she was trying to talk. After a few moments she motioned around the track again, Howie assumed she was speaking of laps, and then motioned to him. Ah ha, she wanted to see how many he planned on. “Fifteen sounds good! Keep up!” Howie increased his pacing pulling ahead slightly.

Kalani loved to see the gears turn in people's heads. As long as they didn't turn for too long. But the time didn't drag on with Howie; he snapped to realisation almost instantly, eyes brightening, teeth flashing, words a bit quicker on the lips. Kalani beamed back at him, giving him a nod that synchronised with the steady rhythm of her feet pounding off the dirt. She was heavy footed - a lot more than you would expect someone of her size and weight to be - and didn't do much to stop it, since she couldn't hear how bad she was. It wasn't like she could know; she knew you didn't want to be too weighted on your feet, but it was more difficult to tell when you could only feel it.

She could see, as they were running, that Howie kept on glancing over. She'd heard about awkward silences, and she guessed that maybe they were going through one of them right now. That was new. She was normally too loud for one of them. She broke the 'silence' by asking Howie about how many laps he was planning on, and was pretty excited at the fact that the two of them would be running for the same amount of time. Neither of them would end up lonely.

He pulled ahead, and Kalani could read the competitive nature on his lips. She felt the mischievous grin split her face as she took wider strides to try and overtake him. She was faster on the surface, she was sure of that, but he was taller and stronger, with legs even longer than hers. Maybe they'd be evenly matched. But she laughed internally and thought to herself, 'unlikely!' as she pulled ahead of Howie, arms pumping in time with her legs.

Howie laughed as the adrenaline coursed through him, his long strides putting her behind. It felt good to put his excess energy into something positive. The rhythm of running always calmed his mind, bringing him almost into a meditative state. It allowed for any of his stress and anxieties to wash away, leaving him feeling fresh and recharged.

The sun had risen a bit higher in the sky, threatening to break through the dull gray clouds. It just may turn out to be a nice day, but he knew not to trust the weather up in the Highlands. A rhythmic thudding caught his ear and before he knew it she flashed past him. Her feet were pounding against the ground as her pace quickened. She made a lot of noise for her size, but then again, she couldn’t hear it.  

“Little bugger!” He called out as she passed, then laughing at himself. She can’t hear you silly! 

Man, was she fast! His long legs allowed him to cover a lot of ground but he definitely wasn’t a sprinter. Howie put everything he had into his strides, hoping that if he kept his pace he would be able to close the distance. He would have to rely on his stamina to have a chance in this impromptu race. It took a few laps but he was slowly gaining on her.

Jeez, it was difficult to stay ahead of him! Was it was because he was taller, or maybe he was faster than he was letting on? He wasn't going easy on her, was he? The thought of it made her want to puke. Whether it was because she was deaf or because she was little or because she was a girl, she hated people going easy on her. Fuelled on by this idea, she kept pushing on.

After the first lap, she could feel her lungs complain. It was like when you stayed underwater for a few beats too long, and then you came up for air. Except the only way she could have come up for air was to slow down - in other words, 'let Howie win'. Letting someone win wasn't exactly something that competitive Kalani did. Ever. So, she kept pushing on.

As the second lap rounded, her lungs felt fit to pop. Her water bottle lay on the ground where she'd dropped it when she started running, and she watched it longingly as she ran past. Despite the chill, she could feel the sweat building on her body, and she wiped her brow with the back of her hand. Her lips were already chapped from the cold, and the thirst wasn't doing much to help it. But when she glanced over her shoulder, Howie was still quite close behind her. With a huff like a moody horse, she forced her soon-to-ache legs to push forward.

As she passed her water bottle for the third time, her feet lost their grip on the tight-packed ground. She didn't fall, just stumbled on the heels of her feet. She stuck her hands out as if to catch herself, but managed to stay upright. She kept running, but definitely lost a bit of her speed. As she looked over her shoulder, she watched Howie pass her. Had she had the breath, she would have let out a shout to tell him to stop, but she had no choice but to push ahead. She reached out and grabbed him by the elbow. She lifted one hand to tell him to stop. "I'm tired," she signed, sluggish pinky fingers trailing down her torso. She pointed to her water bottle, then turned and dragged her feet back to the drink.

She picked screwed the top off her bottle and drank half the bottle in five seconds flat. She gasped as she moved the drink from her lips, hands falling to her knees as she tried to get her breathing back to somewhere near normal. She extended the bottle to Howie, shaking it a little as she offered him the rest of the bottle.