Made For This (Ian)

Astoria panted as she came to another stop. Something about meeting her half-sister had made her want to change herself, not being someone she's not but to not be so weak anymore. And so she was doing the one thing that she could think of to start in the right direction. She planned to at least be able to run a substantial distance without fainting before she asked her friend, Cinnia, for some tips. That girl was far from weak, though she was rather quiet. Finally slowing to a walk, Astoria lowered herself onto the ground and tried to catch her breath, sipping water from a bottle as she did so. "I was not made for this," she muttered as she let her head fall back to lean against a tree.

It had been just a week since he had broken up with Sydney and the whole thing was still weighing heavily on his mind. He had a long conversation with his friends and had decided to take his mind off the other Hufflepuff for now, just focus on his studies for a while. Today, though Ian followed his friends to the quidditch pitch and watched them train for a bit before going for a walk around the lake on his own. He enjoyed the quiet of the winter for over an hour when he heard someone approach him. "Hello?" he called out and walked around a tree to see a Slytherin girl. Ian did not usually hang out with people from this house, but he also had no prejudices due to being friends with Artemis. "Oh, hi, are you alright?"

Astoria groaned when she heard footsteps, and raised her head so that she could see the person who had interrupted the silence. Pushing a few damp strands of hair from her forehead, she locked her gaze upon the Hufflepuff. He was vaguely familiar, but she knew that they had never met before. A small smile touched her lips and she nodded. "Yes, just worn out. I don't think that running is my thing," she said, a light laugh escaping her lips as her breathing returned to normal. Upon closer examintatuon, Astoria noted that the boy was in the year above her, which explained why they shared no classes. "Don't tell me that you're out here to run aswell? If not, I wouldn't suggest it. It's torture," the Slytherin said, her lips forming a grin as she rose to her feet. "I'm Astoria," she introduced, holding a hand in the boy's direction.

Ian chuckled warmly at her words and shook his head at her question. "Oh Merlin no! I mean it's good to stay fit, but I prefer Quidditch training to running myself." he commented, still smiling slightly amused. Running was not something he liked to do either, it was boring and he loved to excercise with his friends rather than alone anyway. it was much more fun and he still had the goal to make it on his house's Quidditch Team which gave him the right motivation for the hard training. He shook her hand and quickly introduced himself. "I'm Ian, nice to meet you. I think I know your sister, Daphne, right?" Ian had been sharing some classes with the Slytherin girl and she looked very similar to Astoria. "Why are you torturing yourself like that anyway?" he asked curiously.

Astoria smiled slightly at the mention of Quidditch. "I always wanted to try flying, but my parents won't let me. They say it's a boy's sport. Apparently it's not elegant enough to be flying around in the air on a piece of wood," the girl said, laughing as she made to take another sip of her water. Her parents had always been strict, though they were worse on her older sister, being the eldest child. Unfortunately, they still pestered Astoria and although she wished she could simply ignore them, she wasn't willing to risk anything when it came to them. They wouldn't hurt her, but they would probably do anything in their power to stop her doing such a thing anyway. Her smiled widened at the mention of her sister, and she released his hand with a nod, "It's nice to meet you, Ian. And yes, Daphne is my older sister. We're very close in age, but I just scraped out of starting school at the same time as her." Looking around, Astoria sighed and shrugged, "I'm making a lame attempt at strengthening. So far I've managed to run probably half of the lake without almost dying. Persistence, perseverance and patience. That's what Cinnia says, anyway. How about you? What's brought you outside today?"

Ian snorted and shook his head. "Parents can be so boring! We have several very good girls on the quidditch teams as well and they are just as good us boys. And I'm sure you will be a perfect seeker, you're light and not too tall, you would be perfect." he said, grinning at the idea. In his opinion everyone should be learning how to play Quidditch, after all it was the best game in the world. "If you want to I can teach you a bit, my parents send me a new racing broom for my birthday last year and it's super fast." Ian told her, smiling sheepishly when he realized how much like a show-off he sounded. But his broom had been the first huge present he had got from his parents and he valued it greatly; it really was his most important possession.
"Oh, okay, well training is very important, you always should be able to defend yourself even without a wand, that's what my father always says." he agreed, nodding to himself, even though he still could not imagine anything that would get him to start running. "I just needed some time to think, some peace. I just went through some problems with ... my exgirlfriend and I really enjoy walking through the snow, it is very calming, don't you think?"

Astoria listened to Ian's opinion on her words, and she found herself half amused and half impression by the views he was expressing. "They really can. But they're not the worst parents I could have. I just wish they'd let me do my own thing, you know?" Glancing at the Hufflepuff for a long moment, Astoria realised that he wasn't just teasing, and she chewed on her lip. Maybe she could try out for the team the following year. Though, she would have to at least learn to play a little first. Tilting her head slightly to the side, she thought about his offer for a moment before offering a genuine smile, "That would be really great! I only know the very basic rules of the game. I can also fly a whole two feet off the ground for about three minutes." Laughing lightly, she pushed her persistent fringe back again. "I bet that was a brilliant gift," the girl said, remembering how her last birthday had been spent doing very little with her family and a whole lot with people she hardly knew who attended a charity ball. It was so much fun.

"I believe your father's right," Astoria said with a nod, "I'm just not very good at it." Raising an eyebrow at the boy's answer, she considered submitting to her pesky curiosity and asking further questions but instead she simply paid a small smile. "It's definitely calming. I love the snow, and the cold. Though, I'm sorry to have interrupted your quiet."

Ian crooked his head to the side, pondering her words for a few moments before nodding calmly. He knew that parents could be a bit overprotective and especially pureblood families often expected their daughters to behave like a lady and he could understand that Quidditch might not fit into that role very well. "I'm lucky that my parents are rather easy-going then." he said, grinning sheepishly. "Though I'm sure that if I had a sister, my parents would treat her different as well. But I think even a lady should be allowed to play Quidditch." Ian winked at her, his smile widening when she agreed to train with him. "Awesome! Well that's a start, I guess. I tell you, by next year you will easily succeed in the try-outs for your team, though I don't know if I really should help someone from the enemy..." he bit his lip as if he was actually considering their house rivalry to be a problem before breaking out into a grin again. "Nah, I think my consciousness can handle it." Ian was really the last person to care for such things and if he could have fun by helping her a bit that was a win-win situation.

"Trust me, when I see some of the other guys training, I feel absolutely foolish for my work-out, but I think everyone should just do what they feel comfortable with." he said with a shrug. "It helps that my friends like to train as well because I'm better working in groups anyway." Ian smiled slightly at the Slytherin and shook his head at her apology. "Oh never mind, a good conversation helps even better to get my mind of things, so it's cool. And meeting nice people is always a great reason to forget about silence from time to time."

Astoria noticed the air of intelligence about the other student and she couldn’t help but think about his words yet again. The expectations of her parents tended to be rather ridiculous, and even other families that her’s spent time around believed the same. Then there were a few others that were even worse than her own. “Most of even the most ancient families have loosened the reigns of certain things. I sometimes think that mine must have been locked up for many decades. They’re so stuck in the old fashioned ways, while the rest of the world moves on. It’s not bad, I just think it’s silly.”

Ian was an unusually pleasant person, Astoria thought, but she was definitely enjoying their conversation. There was nothing worse than talking to someone who wasn’t interested, or someone who was as dumb as a post. “It’s okay. Slytherin were going to win anyway, and we both know it,” grinning in return, Astoria spoke in a voice that was more cheerful than her usual one, “though, I will need to somehow find myself a broomstick..”

The girl threw her now empty water bottle at her bag, landing it just inside the zip. She then lowered herself to sit on a rock, crossing her ankles and resting her chin in her hand. “Well, the only friend that I’ve managed to make doesn’t run anymore, she just flat out trains, so I have to wait until I can join her with that. Until then, I’m on my own,” Astoria smiled as she spoke, since she wasn’t really annoyed with Cinnia. The girl was rather advanced in such things, and apparently ‘needed to practice more intricate things’. “I’m glad that you don’t mind. Sometimes company really is the best medicine. I just hope that things get better for you soon.”

Taking out his wand, Ian cast a warming charm on the rock the Slytherin was now sitting on and on a tree stump where he then sat down as well, so they would be a bit more comfortable in the cold. He pulled up his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them, as he calmly thought about what she was saying. His own family, though pureblood as well, was very open-minded and so it was hard for him to understand how some families could still cling on to the old ways. "Sometimes I have the feeling that especially those pureblood families that are opposing our relations with the muggle world, use their old traditions to distance themselves from the others." Ian said thoughtfully. "Not that I think it is a bad thing per se because I think it's important that we don't become too much like muggles, but I also think that we should try to use their inventions to our advantage instead of living in the past. As you said..." he nodded to the Slytherin. "It is quite stupid. But maybe our generation will be able to manage to build a bridge."

As always, Ian was one to look forwards and think positive of the future. At her next words, a grin broke out on his face and he laughed heartily, shooting a smirk in her direction. “Yeah right! We will see about that. All houses always underestimate us Badgers, but that only gives as the chance to take you all by surprised and beat you!” he said, still grinning. “I could ask one of my friends to burrow theirs, or we just take one of the school brooms, I’m sure Professor Shadow won’t mind if we do that.” Ian quickly suggested; before he had got his broom from his parents, he always had to take a school broom as well, even if they weren’t as fast as the newest models.

When Astoria told him that she did not have many friends, Ian’s smile fell slightly, as he could not imagine living without his own friends. "You're friend sounds really determined if she trains so hard. For what? I mean, keeping fit is all good, buy why go through a hard training?" he asked, not really understanding why some people bothered with that. Except Sirius Black being on the run, as far as he knew their country was safe. "But some of my friends do that as well, so I just tag along sometimes. If you want, you could train with us? Maybe that will make it easier for you? And for me it will take my mind of everything a bit." he shrugged with a slight smile. Even though he still felt hurt by what happened with Sydney, Ian did not really miss her anymore and just wanted to move his life along.