Breathing heavily, his hands on his knees, he couldn’t help but take a moment to catch his breath, the sun only now coming up from behind the castle. Going for an early morning run had become an essential part of his daily routine at Hogwarts now, despite it being forced upon him by one of the previous heads of the school.

Standing next to the water fountain, sweat dripping from his curls, spurts of condensation shot from his mouth like a geyser erupting as he did his best to recover from the intense sprints he’d just done up and down the grounds of Hogwarts. Despite the fact he now felt as though his lungs were on fire, he was proud that he’d woken up this early and blown off some steam and boy did he need to after the first few weeks of school. Sure, it hadn’t been extremely bad but everything just seemed to be annoying the sixth year Ravenclaw there days. From the surly headmaster to the snotty first years, his patience had run thin and sooner or later, he was going to take a note of the headmasters book and just end up hurling someone out of a room somewhere.

With the quidditch pitch back to being unusable, the literal only saving grace was that Carsyn had OWLs and Prefect duties this year which meant she would be plenty busy enough. Despite having two back-to-back morning classes there was something about a leisure activity that had Carsyn outside for the sunrise. Or maybe it was that her body had gotten used to being awake at this time. Or she had to get out of her dorm because the stench was starting from a certain Cora Dredworth who decided showers were outside her limits.

Sprinting up the path she smiled when she saw her fellow prefect, honestly the vision was one that could not be recreated. It was almost tempting to just stare for five minutes to try and hold the image like that in her mind for long after it was gone. Except she shouldn't. And so instead, she did the only logical thing she could think of ....

Run at him. In a tackle.

Fiona didn't want to spend her free time cooped up inside so she had decided to spend it sitting in the courtyard. She had found a bench to sit on and was busy reading her copy of Quidditch World. Disappointingly for her, this was as close as she was going to get when it came to Quidditch this term.

Tom was just checking out the castle, when suddenly he was outside and in a courtyard, now how huge was this place, seriously it must have taken years to build the place, like at least one hundred years if not more. He was just about to head back inside to continue exploring when he noticed Fiona, he smiled as he waved and then headed towards her. "Reading anything good?" He asked.

Fiona had briefly looked up from her magazine when she noticed Tom smiling and waving at her. When he reached her and asked about her reading material, she quickly held the magazine in front of her and replied with, "I'm reading the latest Quidditch World magazine. I get them delivered by owl post."

Tom had never head of this word before. "What is Quidditch?" Tom would love to find out more about this new word, it sounded so strange to him, with him being muggle born. "Is it like football, I'm a huge Liverpool Fc Fan." He loved football and before he came to Hogwarts all he wanted to do was play football but now he didn't know what he wanted to be when he was older.

Fiona closed her magazine and placed it back inside her bag. She then patted a spot next to her, inviting Tom to sit next to her.

"Football? Is that a Muggle thing? Sorry, I'm a Pureblood so Muggle things are not really discussed outside of Muggle Studies class. Maybe you could explain football to me and I'll try to see if I can relate it to Quidditch."

Tom sat down next to Fiona, a huge smile on his face, it was weird how he hadn't realised that she was sat in the compartment on the train but at least she didn't hold that against him.

"That would be awesome, yeah football is a muggle sport game, you have to try and score more goals than your opponent, it's one of the biggest games in the muggle world. I used to go to games with my parents on a weekend." Tom loved talking about football, but he was so interested in this new word she had mention. "So what is Quidditch?"

Fiona nodded thoughtfully when Tom explained the fundamentals of football. "I suppose Quidditch is like a wizarding version of football. Quidditch is played on broomsticks. There are two teams of seven. A team consists of the following types of players. There are three Chasers who try and score goals using a large red ball known as a Quaffle. Then two Beaters use these type of clubs/bats to hit two black balls known as Bludgers. A Bludger tries to knock players off their brooms."

She paused and then continued. "There is a Keeper who tries to prevent the opposing team's Chasers from scoring goals. Finally, there is the Seeker who probably has the most important role. Their role is to catch a tiny golden ball that flies known as the Golden Snitch. When the Golden Snitch has been caught by the Seeker the game concludes and the team is awarded 150 points."

Some people hated to exercise and he could really see why as he stood there, his eyes on the floor and his hands on his knees as he was still bent over, still recovering from his early morning escapade. That was until, out of nowhere, he was tackled out of nowhere by a small bundle of brown hair.

“What the…” cut off before he could finish his sentence as the girl landed on top of him, the both of them now in an unceremonious pile of limbs, arms and legs sticking out in every direction. Taking a deep breath on the ground now, Ewan carefully did his best to extract himself from the girl without hurting either of them anymore than what had already happened, his head already sore from colliding with the ground. As he did this, he noticed the brown fluffball that had tackled him had a prefect’s badge on. So she was a prefect…and then the penny dropped. “Carsyn… what…are you doing?” laughing a little now as he scooted back, still on the floor, looking at the blue-eyed twin in front of him. “I know I’m bigger than you but you can still knock me over” laughing now as he rubbed the back of his head, checking for any blood or lumps from the fall. Thankfully, he wouldn’t need the grace the new nurse with his presence so soon.

He wasn't exactly sure why she'd knocked himm over. Maybe he'd done something wrong? Highly unlikely because he'd actually been holding it together pretty well this term so far, all things considered. Maybe she wanted to touch his 'fluffy' hair? Because apparently that was a thing now too. Or maybe he just had one of those faces that just screamed 'tackle me to the floor! I deserve it'? Who knows. He certainly didn't.

Tom listen to Fiona as she explain Quidditch, it sort of sounded a bit like Football except less players and it was played on a broom and something funny called a Bludger tried to knock people of their brooms, only the players could knock other players of the ball in football.

"That sound interesting, a seeker getting 150 points for catching a golden snitch." He didn't know any games where you go so many high points or end the game by catching one object.

Rowan was having an off day.

He was excited to finally be at Hogwarts... but only a few days had gone by, and today in particular he was feeling extremely homesick. And he couldn't sit in his dorm all day and needed a bit of fresh air. So, the boy found himself in the courtyard, sitting on the edge of the fountain. He stared blankly into it. Perhaps if he had made more friends he would feel more at home... the boy glanced up, taking in the students around him. Looking back down, he shook his head. It was still too scary to first approach someone. He was still extremely shy.

Fiona decided to change the subject. "Are you enjoying your first-year at Hogwarts thus far?"

Tom smiled at Fiona."Well, at the moment, I'm trying to explore this place." He had been on a walk around when he had bumped into the older girl. "You see this is a huge castle and I feel like I'm going to get lost a couple of time." His eyes lit up as he said the next phase. "Do you know they're are so many staircases and floors at Hogwarts." He couldn't wait to explore them all.

Fiona nodded. "I've nearly gotten lost thanks to those moving staircases. That's why I tend to leave my house common room early. That way I'm not late for classes."

Tom laughed. "I know right, who designed them, seriously they could move all over the place." He really didn't like them staircases. "I wonder if you were late to a lesson and explained to the Professor it was the staircases, would they listen to you and not be cross with you?"

"Remember our Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson regarding duelling? Curtis Fuller was late and he was thrown out of the classroom rather creatively I thought. I'm certainly not going to risk being late unless something major happens which I plan to avoid."

"Oh that freaked me out, those spider hands dragging him out." Tom had been so scared of that, he too was never going to be late if he could help it. "Do you think that everyone can do that?" Tom was really scared of it happening to him.

When Tom expressed his opinion about Curtis' punishment, Fiona smiled but it wasn't due to the younger boy's reaction. "I thought it was hilarious. He deserved it with the way he acted. He doesn't get special treatment from his father who is my head of house which is good to see. I think I'd be really upset if someone got special treatment because of who they're related to."

Fiona looked at Tom slightly confused when he posed the question. "Are ya wondering if all the teachers have their own type of punishments if a student is late? Guess so. It is a rule to be on time for the lesson."

Carsyn realized AFTER the tackle that this definitely wasn't the most logical of decisions that she made in how to get his attention, which as she rolled herself off of the Ravenclaw she just laughed. And then cried. "I'm ... I'm ugh ... I literally ... what ..." she glanced over at him and shook her head. "What am I doing? I'm not ... I just saw you... standing there ..." Ugh, she was an idiot. What WAS she thinking?

"Guess momentum works. I'm ... did i hurt you?" How could she explain that she was literally struck by awe and lust and feelings??

Ewan just couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer randomness of his fellow prefect, still not completely understanding why she tackled him but honestly not minding too much. He wasn’t hurt all that much, except maybe his ego, but that was fine. “I’m okay I think…” getting back to his feet now, holding his hand out to Carsyn now to help her up like the good little gentleman he was. “Are you okay?” giving her the once over, making sure she wasn’t hurt either, although that would have been karma. As he did this, he had the strangest sensation in his stomach, one that he couldn’t quite describe.

Averting his gaze now, the curly haired Ravenclaw stretched on his tippy toes, his arms up high as he shook the soreness out of his limbs, or was he simply trying to distract himself. “So why are you out here this early?” eyeing her curiously now. Was she running too? Had he just found a new person to join his early morning running club? Somehow, he doubted it but he could hope.

Well his ego would possibly be blown up if he knew the real reason behind her tackle. Something Carsyn wasn't apt to tell so she was just going to keep being awkward and stammering and making it seem like she didn't know what she was doing. Taking his hand she casually rubbed the back of her head with her other hand. "Mmhm... I think so... Did I.. I really knocked you down?" Sure she wasn't the smallest of students at 170ish centimeters but she wasn't bigger than her fellow prefect either. This physics stuff was mind-blowing, truly.

"Honestly, after two back to back days of early morning classes, it seemed silly to waste a quiet morning before responsibilities and such began? And my body was already up so..." she shrugged. She did enjoy running, but wasn't super hardcore with it. "Is this a .. normal routine for you or you couldn't sleep either?"

"I was wondering, if all Professor did that if you were late for lesson." Tom replied because he seriously didn't want to have that treatment and if that was the case then seriously he would make sure that he was always earlier for lesson, like he would actually set his alarm clock for five am if it saved him from being dragged out of class like that.

"True, I see where you are coming from." Tom smiled, he was glad he had become friends with Fiona because she seemed to be extremely knowledgeable in all things Hogwarts.

HA HA! Freedom! The portrait frame was no longer a match for the likes of him. It had been a long battle, one he did not know he would have been able to win. They said he was crazy. They said he was just a painting.

HA!

Godric Gryffindor was giddy with triumph. He could hardly believe that he was once again walking through the place he had helped to erect. He had broken the barrier. Or more like the barrier had loosened but he liked the sound of his own victory much MUCH better.

Gryffindor sauntered out to the courtyard, saluting nearly all he passed, embracing a few that wore the scarlet and gold as well. It was such marvelous news!

[b]"You there!"[/n] He boomed to those currently in the courtyard. "Come! Celebrate with me! It's to be a grand event! Quickly! Quickly! We don't have time to waste! Prepare yourselves for a new era!" There was so much to do with his new found freedom.