There were school broomsticks lined up against one wall. Others were hanging from the rafters overhead. "Each of you needs to select a broom," Vindictus said and pointed to the brooms lined up against the wall. "Once you have a broom, find a place around the work table." As he said the final words, what looked to be a large stool at the center of the room grew into the size of a large work table - the size that one would find in the Greenhouses. The benches seemed to disappear, too.

The sixth year hufflepuff stood up and walked over to where the broomsticks were lined against the wall. She never liked the school brooms, and was much more comfortable with her own, but they were just caring for them and not flying. Once she selected a broom, she carried it over to the work table and waited to begin. As she was waiting though, she could have sworn she felt something move in her pocket and jumped back slightly.

Xana had been under the impression that they should bring their own brooms to this class and so had her Firebolt 500 with her... She supposed it'd be better to practice care on school brooms, though. She leaned her own broom in a corner and selected a school broom, joining the hufflepuff prefect at the work table. She smiled warmly at her as she took her place next to her, wanting to say hi but not willing to risk a points deduction on pleasantries.

Vindictus noticed the Hufflepuff jump. "Is something the matter, Amelia?" he asked as he watched the students select a broomstick for the lesson.

Josh moved to grab a broom as he found a workspace on the opposite side of Amelia and the hunchback. He inspected the broom for its condition before waiting for further instruction.

Anna had finally worked her arms through her work robes and grabbed a broom. Looking around the room for a place around the work table, she finally squeezed in between a Slytherin girl and boy.

Clifford examined the different broomsticks lined up against the wall when Vindictus pointed them out. The school brooms weren't very attractive that was for sure, good thing they were here to care for them today.

He picked a particularly old looking broom, and decided he would make it a mission to make it look as good as new again.

When he was ready, Clifford found a place around the work table, ready to get messy.

Hermy picked out a school broom, and frowned at it slightly. There was certainly a difference in the quality between hers and this. The main being that hers was custom and brand new. She dreaded to think how old this one was, and was trying to avoid getting a splinter.

She found a space on the work bench, and waited for intructions.

Amelia looked up, startled by the Professor's comment to her. "Huh? wha-? No, everything is fine..." she started, before realizing that it might be best to tell the truth. "Well, wait. Not exactly. I just thought I felt something move in these robes, but probably nothing, just my imagination."

While the students selected their broomsticks, Vindictus levitated a few crates of supplies onto the center of the table - jars of thick, gooey brown handle polish, shiny silver tail twig clippers, and cream colored towels. "Each of you needs to grab a jar of polish, a pair of clippers, and five towels."

There was a scuffle of feet, and everyone seemed to be moving at once to get their materials. Anna reached towards the middle of the table, but being the little one in the bunch, the materials were a little hard to reach. Finally, an older girl knocked some materials off to the side while collecting her own polish, clippers, and towels, and Anna quickly picked up the materials. "Jar of polish, clippers, and...four towels," Anna counted to herself. She needed one more towel. Gathering together her strength she reached with all her might to the middle of the table and pulled up a fifth towel.

"Ooooooh.." Clifford exclaimed excitedly, his eyes lighting up as he grabbed the equipment Vindictus had instructed. A jar of polish, a pair of clippers and five towels. Why they needed so many towels he wasn't really sure. This awesome looking, gooey polish couldn't be that messy could it?

Amelia took the movement for granted, shrugging it off as just her imagination, while she walked over to grab the polish, clippers, and five towels. She was curious why they needed so many towels, but decided not to question Max's request.

Just as she set her things on the table near her workspace, she felt the movement again. This time she was sure it wasn't her imagination. Carefully prying open the robe pocket, she looked and didn't see anything. Weird... she thought, looking back up at the Professor to wait for the next set of instructions.

"Oh," Vindictus said as he pulled out some buckets and containers of cleaning solution. "I almost forgot that critters love this broomshed."

Critters love this broomshed, she repeated over in her mind. It took the hufflepuff a minute to comprehend what the Professor said, but then she looked up sort of perplexed. "W-what kind of critters?" she asked, a mixture of anxiety and interest in her tone. Growing up with two older brothers, critters didn't bother her as much as many girls her age.

Anna's eyes briefly widened at the critter comment. Instinctively, she checked the robes she was wearing for said critters, but thankfully found none. She looked back up to the professor, waiting for the next set of instructions.

Vindictus laughed it off. "Oh, it's probably just Tag," he quipped and got back to the lesson. "Now, today you are going to learn proper broomcare techniques. Each of these brooms works fine but after the first flying lesson and sitting around all summer in this shed, they've become dirty. Each of you needs to take your broom and a towel or two, and come stand directly in front of a bucket." He picked up a broomstick himself so that he could demonstrate and stood over to one side of the room where the buckets were already full with water and cleaning solution.

"Before we immerse the tail twigs in the cleaning solution buckets, can anyone tell me how dirty tail twigs can affect the performance of a broom?"

Amelia raised a brow when Max just laughed it off. Somehow she didn't think it was a laughing matter, otherwise he would not have brought it up. Regardless, she put it in the back of her mind for now and raised her hand to answer the question. "Dirty tail twigs can slow the broom performance down, and may also make the ride seem 'bumpier' rather than a nice smooth feel."

"Would it cause the speed of the broom to be greatly reduced? ...Or, perhaps, cause the steering of the broom to be off some?" Anna questioned.

"Because somehow, the dirty tail twigs can slow down the broom?" Willow said tentatively, as she mentally prepared herself to get dirty. Grreaattt

"Good answers - five points each to Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor," Vindictus said and swore he saw Amelia's pocket move again. "Dirt does affect a broomstick's flying capability - too much can weigh the broom down. For that reason, the first step in cleaning a broomstick is to clean the tail twigs. You need a bucket half full of warm water and you add one-part of the Broom Twig Cleaning solution to it." He pointed to the buckets that were already prepared. "As you can see, everything is ready for us. Gently submerge the tail twigs in the bucket. Wait one minute and gently stir the broom clockwise ten times."

He demonstrated without sloshing any of the water out of the bucket and waited for the students to follow.

Approaching a bucket, Anna dipped her broom into the bucket and began to count. After exactly one minute, she began the process of stirring the broom clockwise, trying her best not to slosh anything from the bucket, "...eight, nine, ten," she counted to herself.

"Erm, professor, do we remove the broom from the bucket after stirring ten times, or what?" Anna questioned.

Rapunzel had been quietly following instructions for most of the class, but now she stepped up to a bucket and dunked her broom inside. She held it still for a minute, letting the twigs soak up the bubbly broom bath, then she started stirring. One, two, three, four...she was quite proud of herself for not spilling any of it yet...six seven eight....and then a little water sloshed on the bottom her robes...nine ten!

"Done!" Rapunzel announced, pleased with herself. She still kept the broom submerged in the bucket, however, as she waited for furthur instructions.

Willow made her way quickly, to the nearest bucket, took the old school broom she was planning to use for this class, and sumerged it carefully inside the water. Carefully again, Willow began stirring the broom clockwise direction. Thankfully, this was not the messy part. Maybe she could find a way to avoid getting dirty and messy. Mmmmmmm...

"Let it sit in the solution for another minute, and then you stir counter-clockwise ten times. Let it sit for a minute and then carefully remove it from the bucket,' Vindictus said as he lifted his broom out of the solution. It was dripping but he kept it over the bucket. "It takes a few minutes for the dripping to stop."