Breathe In - OPEN

[mia katie warrington]

Whenever Mia told people that she played Quidditch she always received the same look of sceptical doubt and raised eyebrows, as if they thought she was telling tales. Mia couldn't understand why it was so hard to believe. One friend, a boy, had said it was because she was a girl, a girly one at that. Mia had simply scoffed and said that he was being sexist. Another friend had said it was because she looked like a delicate flower, soft and fragile. Too soft and fragile to be zipping around the pitch with bludgers flying around after you. Mia had rolled her eyes at that but admitted that maybe they were right, if only a little. Quidditch could be a dangerous sport and she hardly looked the type to get muddy or take a battering. Mia loved proving the doubters wrong though, and she did, over and over again.

Dressed in her Quidditch gear, Mia was sat in the middle of the pitch, toying with the snitch in her fingers. Hufflepuff had just lost against Gryffindor and rather than head back to the lockers with the others, the brunette had chosen to stay outside to clear her head. The game had been brutal, Mia had a bandaged wrist after she was hit on the arm by a deflected bludger. It hadn’t hit her full on, just skimmed her, but she’d had to drop down to the ground to have it seen to. The second it had been repaired and bandaged (just to be safe), she was back up in the air. Gryffindor, as usual, had been winning, this time by a long shot. If Mia hadn’t caught the snitch, the score would have been devastating. She knew they wouldn’t have been able to pull the game back so it was better to catch the snitch to end the game before Gryffindor got too many points ahead.

Holding out her palm, Mia watched as the snitch slowly unfurled it’s wings and then lifted into the air. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips as it floated around her head, zipping from side to side playfully, as if taunting her to try and catch it. Her brown eyes darted after it, never letting it out of her sight. Being an artist meant she had an eye for things that others didn’t and that sort of skill was brilliant to have as a seeker. It meant that she had an edge, that she was one step ahead of other seekers who might not be as skilled. She wasn’t the best flyer by far but she was an excellent seeker and no one could deny it. Not that she’d ever brag about it. Not that it changed the fact that Hufflepuff were having a terrible season so far. With a frown Mia, pulled her knees up so that she could fold her arms across the top of them. She then rested her chin on her arms and glanced down at the broom sat at her side. Mia could be the best seeker in the world but unless she could catch the golden snitch within the first minute of a game, unlikely but possible, (she’d caught it in the first three minutes once, effectively winning the game) then they weren’t going to win because her team-mates weren’t playing up to the standard they usually did. Well, with the exception of Remy, who played like a professional. Mia felt bad that Remy had a team that didn't quite match the skill of their biggest rivals, Gryffindor.

The majority of Hufflepuff’s best players had been seventh years and had finished school at the end of last year. Mia liked to give everyone a fair chance but the newest members just weren’t cutting it. Mia wasn’t a huge Quidditch buff by any means, she played because it was fun and exhilarating, but that didn’t mean she liked to see her team lose all of the time. Sighing, Mia straightened out her legs and plucked the pencil and pad she’d left discarded at her side, from the ground. She’d summoned them from her room earlier. Drawing was something she loved to do and something she felt helped to clear her head. Shifting so that the pad was rested on her lap, Mia began to draw sharp lines and soft arcs, sketching them into the shapes of players flying through the air during a match.