Written for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments) Term 14 and Quidditch League: Wigtown Wanderers as Seeker

Quidditch League: Wigtown Wanderers, Seeker - Round Five: cowardice (restriction: you cannot write about someone who shows this flaw in canon)

Hogwarts Assignment 8: Futurology - Task #4: Hoverboards - Write about someone with their head in the clouds.

Challenges listed below

Ginny loved flying. That was her thing ever since George left his broom in the courtyard when she was seven years old, and she decided to see how it worked. Her mum was not exactly pleased when she saw her tiny and perfect daughter on top of a broom flying a couple of feet off the ground. Nothing serious would happen if Ginny fell, since she was not that high up, but Molly's screams and arm waving made her feel like she would die if she fell from that broom. She didn't, but it didn't keep her from being a little bit more cautious around brooms and things that could get her high up in the sky.

Ginny loved flying. She wasn't doing it when she was eight and they went to visit Auntie Muriel, and she decided to climb a tree to get the most beautiful apple she had ever seen. Since she couldn't do any magic yet, she would have to get it with her bare hands. She had seen Bill and Charlie do that countless times and nothing ever happened to them, so she could do it too. She was so close to the fruit, but then her mum came running out the back door and started yelling at her tiny and perfect daughter. Ginny looked down and saw how high she was. It was higher than she had gone on that broom a year ago, but she was holding on tight to the branches. She knew she wasn't going to fall, but Molly made it seem like she would. So Ginny got down, with no apple and no desire to climb another tree.

Ginny loved flying. When Hagrid introduced them to the hippogriff, all she wanted to was climb onto his back and fly around with it. Surely there was nothing wrong with mounting a giant animal. She wouldn't fall from its back and she was sure that Buckbeak, or Witherwings as they called him these days, would never let anything happen to her. So she did. She got onto his back and flew around with him, just like Harry had done two years ago. Ginny felt free. Until the letter came. She could feel her mum's distaste on it, she could hear the screams and could see all the arm-waving. Ginny could clearly picture her very red face because her tiny and perfect daughter had been at risk one more time. So Ginny never dared to fly with another hippogriff again.

Ginny didn't think about flying anymore. She was fine with her feet on the ground, although her head was in clouds more often than not. She wasn't the most focused student in Hogwarts, and she was doodling on Luna's notes during third year Transfiguration one morning when something went zooming past the window and caught her eye.

"Did you see that?" she whispered to Luna, pointing at the window.

"Yes," she replied, clearly not knowing what it was. "My dad once told me about this creature that…"

Ginny zoned out immediately. She loved Luna, but she couldn't care less about her creatures. Especially when Ginny knew it wasn't any creature.

The clock on the wall told her that it was nine o'clock, and she immediately knew what that meant. Gryffindor Quidditch practice. Her thoughts were confirmed when a familiar head of red hair made a stop by the window, hit a bludger that was about to collide with the glass windows and make McGonagall very cross, and waved hello to her.

Ginny smiled at him. Fred loved flying. He had always been so good at it, and he felt so comfortable up in the sky. Their mum didn't mind him doing that much, even though one of his hands was always busy with a bat, and he didn't have as much support as he would have with both hands.

That image didn't leave her mind for the rest of the day. Fred, George, and his teammates on their brooms going up and down, sideways, and being the freest they've ever been.

By the time dinner rolled around, Ginny was restless. She wanted to at least feel the wind on her face, with the ground firmly beneath her feet of course. She wasn't looking forward to another disappointed letter from her mum, that was more Ron's thing.

Quietly, she slipped away from the Great Hall and onto the Quidditch pitch. It was empty, which was almost a miracle. She took off her shoes and felt the grass under her feet, itching her soles. She wasn't sure why people liked that feeling. It was wet and she knew that the dirt would soon turn into mud.

"Are you alright?" asked a familiar voice behind her.

"Yes," she told Fred. "Just taking a stroll. You?"

"Taking a stroll on the Quidditch pitch? Barefoot? At night?" he asked her. "What's troubling you?"

"Huh?" Fred knew her. She knew she wouldn't be able to hide things from him, so she just said it. "I missed the wind."

By the look on his face, Fred immediately caught onto what Ginny meant. He had been around every time their mum caught her up in the air, and he saw what it did to both Molly and Ginny.

"I can take you if you want to."

Ginny's face lit up, but her jaw immediately tensed. She wanted to be back in the air again, but she wasn't sure if she should. Fred wasn't the type to care about the things one should or shouldn't do, so she took him up on the offer.

As Fred came back with his broom, Ginny's legs were shaking. Her breath was heavy and her cheeks were flushed. She was sweating cold when she mounted the broom, and she gripped Fred's shirt so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"Three, two, one," he counted down for her. "Here we go!"

Fred didn't go slow like Ginny hoped he would. A mere second after they had left the floor and Ginny could already see the clouds from much closer, and they all had something in common. They all looked like they were yelling at her. They looked like angry faces and flailing arms. Suddenly, Ginny was terrified of flying. Her head spun and she felt like throwing up.

"Fred, get down!" she yelled at him. "NOW!"

Fred turned around to look at her, and Ginny couldn't control the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Are you sure?" he asked, touching her leg.

"Please. Take me down," she begged.

Fred took a little longer to get down than he had to get up, probably to not scare her even more. Ginny's legs felt like they were made of jelly, and she couldn't get out of the broom. When Fred helped her out, she collapsed on the floor.

"I can't do this," she cried, hiding her face into her hands. "Not anymore. I can't do it."

"Do you want to do it?" Fred sat down next to her.

Ginny knew she did, but as she stared up at the angry clouds, she made her decision.

"No."

Ginny didn't like flying anymore. She hated it. She feared it. Her mum's yells and images filled her mind every time she even looked at a broom, and she couldn't bear those thoughts. Ginny was done with flying. For good this time.