Magical Hogwarts

Xtreme Magic Games, Ilvermorny grounds  ||  June 2005
at last the thawing has begun
come trade your darkness for the sun
melting the chill of winter's turn
so celebrate and let your fires burn
the lords of summer have returned

This. Was. Freaking. Awesome.

Ryleigh could hardly believe her eyes at the absolute glory they currently beheld, which was a combination of two of her favorite things: skateboarding and magic.

She’d bounced with anticipation while she’d (somewhat reluctantly) waited for her friends, had proceeded to skip all the way down the path leading away from the castle – and now she was positively chomping at the bit, stuck behind a gaggle of slow-moving students at the annoying bottleneck at the end of the path that led to the main part of the grounds. But now that it was all right there in front of her…

Cackling gleefully at the sight of enchanted hovering skateboards on the half-pipe, her self-control had exceeded its capacity: the thirteen-year-old broke into a sprint down the gently-sloping hill, trying to leap over any roots or big rocks so she didn’t twist her ankle and ruin the entire day.
“C’mon, c’mon, hurry up!” she called over her shoulder to her friends once the ground leveled out, then began dodging in between groups of her peers milling about as she cut the most direct route to the pop-up skate park. She would have turned a cartwheel, had there actually been enough space to do so without accidentally kicking anyone – which was a sign that her spatial awareness was improving and so was her rational thinking. Her Head of House would sure be glad about that!

Slightly out of breath as she reached the half-pipe, she couldn’t help but sigh audibly at the (very short) line that had formed. Too many people were out at the moment, apparently… they’d run out of enchanted skateboards. She wanted to ask if they’d just enchant hers if she ran back up to her dormitory to get it (why hadn’t she just brought it anyways?!), but the attendant was too far away at the moment and she really didn’t want to lose her spot in line.

Turning abruptly to see where on earth her friends were (she hadn’t stopped talking about the enchanted skateboards all morning so they knew exactly where she was headed) and also to gauge how many people had lined up behind her, she was a bit overzealous in her movements and collided with someone standing behind her.

“Aah, sorry!” she cried, rubbing her nose where it had smushed against the other person’s arm.

The fact she had never been on a skateboard in her life until two days ago didn't deter Isis in the least from taking part in the Xtreme Magical Games. Several of her friends were practically experts and she hadn't found it difficult to borrow a non-magical one to try out and just check she could keep her balance before signing up to take part. She was only trying elementary moves, of course, but even as she reached the skate park she was already wondering if whether she mightn't be able to try out some of the more advanced stuff later on.

First things first, though. Knowing nothing about what she was doing beyond 'don't fall off' and certainly having no idea what a half-pipe actually was, Isis had swallowed hard at her first sight of the structure. She was glad there was already a line of people waiting to try it out, so she could spend a bit longer watching how it was done. She leaned out a bit from the line for a better view, mentally taking notes. The most important thing seemed to be not to slow down, and she gasped as a boy did exactly that and promptly fell off his board. He didn't seem hurt, just annoyed that he had to stop and let someone else have a go.

Maybe she should try with something simpler, she thought, looking round at the zig-zagging path that a couple of first years were slowly manoevring along, arm raised to shield her eyes from the sun, but at that moment something collided with her with enough force that she had to take a step backwards.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" she asked her younger housemate, rubbing her arm where they'd collided and then stopping so the other girl didn't worry that she'd hurt someone "We started healing charms in mana class last week...uh...it was theory, but I could try something..?" On second thoughts, that probably wasn't such a good idea.