Written for Hogwarts Assignment 7 - Paleontology Task 1 - Write about someone who feels at home in the air.


He slammed the door shut to the dormitory and sat down at the windowsill, trying to calm his breathing. It was fine. Everything was fine. It wasn't the end of the world — no. But how could they do that?

"Oliver?"

He hit his head against the stone wall as he fidgeted with his hands on his quidditch robe sleeve. He wasn't ready to speak again for a moment so he glanced over at his roommate.

"What's wrong? The last time you slammed the door was because you got a T in potions."

The thing about Percy was that he didn't have great timing. And this was one of those times. He stared blankly at him until he got the message. As Percy's eyes widened, Oliver rolled his own and stared back out of the window.

"Alright, sorry. But what happened?"

He groaned internally and finally spoke. "I wouldn't bother supporting your brother's today, Perce. The match has been cancelled."

"Oh, no. It's the end of the world," Percy joked.

He placed his head in the palm of his hands and groaned again; he knew he had a reputation of not being able to live without Quidditch but this wasn't about that. It was about sticking to schedules. It was about not being scared if one of his friends was next to be petrified. If the school was going to close down.

Merlin, he needed his brain to shut up.

He felt a supportive hand on his knee.

"I know you, Ollie. What's this really about?"

"Scared to even start with what it's really about. Don't you need to go somewhere, you look like you need to go somewhere," he rambled as he picked at his sleeve some more, looking at his friend's attire, it seemed like he was dressed to go to the cancelled Quidditch match.

"Not anymore. Stop trying to get rid of me, I'm not going anywhere. Now, what's wrong?"

He loved this side of Percy, the one he rarely let the world see. The caring, friendly, gentle side of him that just worried about everyone he cared about. Oliver let out a sigh and glanced down as he explained. "Everything. If they cancel one quidditch match it'll throw the rest of the games off completely. And who knows when they'll be able to reschedule it? Now my day has been ruined too. I knew I had a match today, I should have had one. What am I going to do without flying? I can't start anything else without doing that first. Don't get me started on being worried about everything else happening right now, the chamber, Harry and his friends at the centre of it…"

"Breathe, Ollie. Breathe. There's only one of those things we can fix today."

He looked up, blinking away the tears that were threatening to fall. It was very overwhelming saying what was on his mind.

He watched as Percy stood up and he held his hand out. Oliver swallowed as he joined him, taking his hand.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."


The Quidditch pitch was empty, clearly everyone had cleared out long ago. The sun was shining through the clouds and he managed a smile. This was where he should be. All the time.

He glanced at his friend with a look of adoration and care.

"What, you wanted to fly. Here you are, a Quidditch pitch all to yourself. It's not the same as a match, but…"

"Thank you," he blurted out with a huge grin, and without thinking he kissed Percy on the cheek before getting onto his broom and flying up into the air.

The wind blew through his hair and he sighed contentedly.

Home.