July 7, 1889 - Bixby Home, Bartonburg, Hogsmeade

In the months since Rufus had married Fortuna his family had slowly come around to the idea. None of them were exactly happy by his impulsive decision and in the first month or two they had shown their displeasure in a variety of ways. But slowly it had begun to thaw, the rumors that inevitably come from such actions had been proven false and with it came a bit more kindness toward both parties involved from the respective families. By the time summer had rolled around the couple had begun to be invited to Sunday dinners at the Bixby family’s home.

These Sunday dinners were comforting. Being home to have a meal with his siblings, to let his family really get to know Fortuna, to be able to have a pick up game of quidditch in the backyard, it meant the world to him. Even Sloane seemed happier on afternoons like these.

This afternoon Sloane, Alvin and himself had thumped their father, Wally, and Harry in a match and now Rufus was helping Sloane practice. He had enchanted a training snitch to dive and loop around the backyard and was watching Sloane follow its course. Below Fortuna happily chatted with their parents and Alvin. Rufus’s eyes caught on his wife as she met his gaze a smile on her lips, distracting him entirely from the snitch zooming past his face - and his sister right behind it.

Sloane Bixby

  

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BEE-utiful set!

Though Sloane was still not a fan of Tuni's (what a ridiculous nickname!), the rest of the family seemed to soften to the whole idea that Rufus was married, so Sloane just played nice whenever they came around. It wasn't miserable, as she wasn't much fun and didn't play with them, so Sloane could easily ignore her existence.

At least tonight Fussy had gone so far as to help her practice her seeking skills tonight. With the school year coming up and Gryffindor having done abysmally last year, she needed to up her game. Hopefully after a year together the team would finally start playing more cohesively. They were young and would only get better with time. Needless to say though, Sloane was determined to be the best and that meant practice.

If only Rufus was taking it as seriously as she was! Chasing the bewitched snitch around the yard, Sloane was making headway, starting to predict a movement here and there, when the silly thing suddenly took a sharp left, right by Fussy's face and Sloane corrected too late to adjust fully and slammed right into him. She went spinning to the dirt, landing hard, though thankfully they hadn't been far off the ground to begin with.

Sloane lay flat on her back for a moment, the wind completely knocked out of her before she managed to sit up, spewing some unladylike comments her brother's direction. "Honestly Fussy!" She'd tried to avoid him, but he wasn't even looking! Who was the professional here anyway!?

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Suddenly the strength of a small body slammed into Rufus and the two brooms spun toward the ground. Rufus grabbed his own and directed course last moment, already trying to grab Sloane, but she did the dirt. Bloody hell. Rufus’s zoomed toward her, hopping of his broom and heading toward the girl, half surprised at her language, but more concerned if she was okay.

Sloane’s annoyance was directed right at him, stinging as her words demonstrated just how distant they had become since his marriage. But Rufus tried to let it slide off him. “Are you alright?” Concern coated his voice as he knelt down beside her reaching for her arms to make sure she was okay.

  

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BEE-utiful set!

Taking a few deep breaths, Sloane simply lay there for a moment eyes closed against the evening sunlight as she tried to control both her breathing and her annoyance. Unfortunately the latter was harder to hide as her hair slowly turned a deep shade of red, signaling her anger.

Damn that.

Then Rufus was above her, she could tell by the shadow cast across her face, and she looked up at him with furrowed brows. "Fine." She answered, pushing herself of her own determination off the ground without his help. The disappointment at how drastically their relationship had changed hit her then and her hair slowly dimmed a little, but was still distinctly red instead of its normal brown.

"I'll try again." She sighed, dusting herself off and reaching for her broom to check for damage.

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When it came to Sloane red hair was not a good sign. Rufus could still remember her tantrums when he was younger, her hair as red as an apple. Right now it was almost exactly that shade. Shit. As if he couldn’t feel worse about the situation. Sloane was right though, his head was not in the game.

Sloane pushed herself up, which, while Rufus didn’t like it, demonstrated that she hadn’t broken anything. The red locks dimmed slightly, but remained red. A dead give away that he wouldn’t be easily forgiven.

“Perhaps collision training wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Rufus knew how to spin out of a collision, but many students didn’t learn that. Worried about how she might react he added, “It’ll give you an edge of the team.”

  

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BEE-utiful set!

The retort of not needing collision training, as she didn't often run into idiots, died on her tongue. She may not run into oblivious brothers very often, but there were players on the pitch whose sole job was to try and knock her off her broom somehow.

"Sure, that would be useful." And probably not something she'd learn in practice. If she got good enough at it herself, maybe she could pass it along to her teammates. She'd have to swallow her pride for this one, but she could do it. Maybe.

Picking up her broom, Sloane dusted the last of the dirt from her robes and shook off the soreness in her limbs. "What do I have to do first?" Her hair was slowly dimming even more, just the ends a little red now, but she wasn't completely over it yet.

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For a moment it looked like Sloane was going to fight the idea, but instead the red of her hair receded further and Rufus felt a bit more comforted by this fact.

How had Rufus first learned this? He thought back. “First I’m going to fly at you.” He could control his broom better than her and if she didn’t dive in time he’d be able to steer away - so long as he didn’t let himself get distracted again. “You are going to dive out of the way at last second you can. You’ll want to maintain control as best as possible.” Start with dives, then spins, and perhaps even have her fly upside down if they had time.

  

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BEE-utiful set!

Mounting her broom once more, Sloane kicked off to hover in the air near her brother. She was still mildly miffed, but determined to channel it into the practice instead of turning into a teeny tiny rage monster. His directions left her wanting a little more information, but she shrugged and watched him move off, waiting for him to come at her.

This was going to be interesting, to say the least. When she thought she could no longer make a move, she ducked out of the way, but the speed at which she did so had her careening downward and struggling to maintain her control of the broom. She hit the ground with another resounding smack and an audible "Oof," She landed awkwardly on her side, skidding a little, no doubt earning quite the abrasion in the process. 

Nope, nope, nope. She was done for today.

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The two resumed their places as soon as they did, before Sloane could gain too much comfort in her space of air, Rufus dove forward. The air rushed passed him as he kept his eyes on his baby sister. She held steady, looking fearless until she darted downwards. Rufus pointed his broom after her, watching as she again hit the ground. He hadn’t even stopped the broom as he neared the ground before he jumped off and ran the few steps to her. “What happened?” She had looked in control, handled the dive well enough. Worry coated his words more than the sternness of a coach.

  

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BEE-utiful set!

Sloane laid curled up on the ground for a moment, sucking in the air that had been knocked out of her. Once that was under control she eyed her brother in annoyance. Slowly she sat up, rubbing the arm she landed on tentatively. It would be bruised for sure, but nothing felt broken. At least there was that. The last thing she wanted to do today was head to the hospital for some potions.

"I lost control, alright?" She really wasn't in the mood for this. It would be smart of her to walk away now without making too much of a scene that to try and stick it out much longer. Sloane knew herself better than that. She'd turned into a moody third year overnight and that was that.

Hauling herself off the ground, she winced, but bent to grab her broom from the dirt slowly. "I'm done for today." She announced. It was time to clean up and take a nap, or just straight up go to bed. Merlin what she wouldn't give to just disappear for a little while. Maybe she'd head over to Calla's for a little while. Her friend never shied away from hosting a grumpy Sloane and with a myriad of sisters around, they were likely to understand her mood better than idiot brothers.

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Sloane’s tone indicated that it was anything but okay, her words biting her older brother. Sometimes he forgot she wasn’t just another of his little brothers, forgot that for the past almost year she had turned into a teenage girl and with that seemed to come a dislike for her older brother. He’d been treating her gingerly, trying to wait for things to find an equilibrium but that hadn’t seem to come yet. He’d even mentioned it to Tuni, who had reminded him that teenage girls could be a breed of their own. He wasn’t ready for Sloane to be a teenaged girl, she was still his baby sister, the one who followed him around with his broom dragging from her hand. The part of him that wanted to deny what was in front of him made him want to tell her to dust herself off and get back out there. The protective older brother part had him glancing over her for any injuries. She picked up her broom fine with the arm she had landed on and Rufus found himself again letting out a sigh of relief.

“Sloane -” He started, lost for what to say. What had happened to them? She had always been so excited to see him, how she seemed to barely tolerate his presence. He followed her a few steps. “Look, I’m sorry.” He threw his hands out in placating motion entirely unsure just what he was apologizing for.

  

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BEE-utiful set!

Sloane stretched her neck side to side tentatively before shouldering her broom. There would certainly be bruises and soreness to have tomorrow, bu that was a Later-Sloane problem. Now-Sloane was just in the mood to slink off and be a grumpy, hormonal, teenage girl somewhere else without idiot brothers, watchful parents and intruding sisters-in-law. Yes, some solitude was what she craved after all.

Sloane had every intention of excusing herself to go clean up and hide, when Rufus' unexpected apology came out of nowhere. Guilt and annoyance washed over her all at once and she grimaced at the thought of both and the overwhelming feeling that if he pushed her right now, she'd snap. "It's fine." She managed, tone as even as she could muster in the situation. Honestly she didn't even know why she was so out of whack lately. It was frustrating to say the least and the last thing she wanted to do was take it out on Rufus, but she was wound tight and would break at any extra tension.

"Nothing to be sorry for," She assured him quietly. His sincerity was obvious, Sloane could see it in his face- or would if she could actually look at him, but the tone of his voice was enough. What exactly he was sorry for Sloane didn't know either, which was why she felt the guilt outweighing the annoyance. Still, she didn't want to get into it or get all emotional on him right now, so it would be best if she just made a quiet exit and skirted into the house undetected.

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