Professor Vindictus watched as the students practiced and his ears perked up when he heard someone asking how to land. "Point your broomstick towards the ground - just push the nose down - and you'll go downwards. When you see the ground approaching, pull back on the broom handle and sit upright on the broom," he called out loudly. "This will slow you down and your feet will touch the ground."

"If you're ready to land, go ahead and try it!"

Rafe felt more and more relaxed and comfortable on the broom and just began to fly in the air. He crossed his legs under the broom and got a tight grip on his broom with his thighs. He slowly let got of his broom with his hands and stretched his arms out to his side. He felt like he was flying, as he slightly leaned in and the broom continued to go forward. It was an exhilarating feeling. It was like he was a bird. The wind blew through his arms and hair. He leaned more and more and went faster and faster. It was all about balancing. Then, he was going to fast and quickly grabbed hold of his broom by the handle with his hands and leaned backwards coming to a stop.

He then heard the Professor speak below him. He wanted them to practice landing, something he already was practicing on his own, but a little extra practice wouldn't hurt. He pointed the handle towards the ground and then pulled up before he was feet away and then hopped off his broom. But, he still wanted to fly while he could and mounted his broom once more and kicked off and went soaring into the air.

Bella fallowed the instructions, and was happy to be back on the ground, for since she was still some what terrified on lifting into the air.

She just stared at Tibi and Keeley






She then decided to get back on her broom and go over to them.

"just push the nose down - and you'll go downwards. When you see the ground approaching, pull back on the broom handle and sit upright on the broom," Bella told them in the same words as the teacher, hoping it would help.

Flying around speedily on the broom, Evelyn was beginning to feel much better after awhile. Flying was one of the stress relievers she used and boy was she stressing. She pointed her broom to go even higher than she was, tightening her grip on the handle and then made a sudden stop in the air, hovering. It looked even more beautiful up here! Smiling, she flew towards the class and then pointed the broom handle down, rolling and maneuvering between the other students, leaning closer to the broom trying to get it to go as fast it could.

She barely heard the Professor speak when she flew past him. 'Stop? He wants us to practice stopping and landing?' Frowning, she made one last quick turn before slowing down and landing gently on the ground. 'Well i have that down.' she laughed in her mind, before kicking up and zooming off again.

Carter continued practicing. He'd fly a few feet, then stop, then fly a few feet and stop. Then he'd land, kick off, and start all over again. He was really enjoying this and getting the hang of it.

Without realizing what she was doing, Marie was flying higher and faster. 'What was I so scared of, this is such a great feeling being up here with the wind blowing through my hair' she thought as she took one complete lap around the pitch.
Just as she completed her 1st lap she spotted the professor and heard him telling someone how to land. Landing, that was something Marie didn't even think about doing. She was so worried about how she was going to get in the air that she completely forgot about landing.
The professor had said 'point your broomstick toward the ground' so Marie did just that and just as quickly she was heading toward the not so soft looking ground. She quickly pulled up on her broom as she sat up right causing the broom to come to a sudden stop. She was only a few inches from the ground, low enough that her feet could touch once she lowered them a little. 'That was a close one, I think I need to practice my landing a little more' she thought to herself.
After catching her breath she gently kicked off to take another quick lap around the pitch.

"Yea, hey." she whispered, feeling as though if she said anything loud enough, they would both tumble down. But, once hearing te combined advice of Bella and the professor, an idea popped into her head. "Ok, this is te last thing that either of us want to do, but you have to unstrap yourself from the harness, and get onto my broom." Even as she whispered this, it sounded impossible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aussiegirl

Marcus slapped his hand against Plymouth's and grinned, well at least he didn't seem to be the only one that had absolutely no idea what he was doing. "Looks like it mate. Just...you know take it easy on me okay?" He had leaned over and spoke in a low voice so that none of the other students could hear him. "So what am I supposed to be doing exactly?" Yep someone hex him right now!

Plymouth looked around then leaned into Professor Lawson to answer, "You just try to LOOK real busy until the end of class and hope Professor V doesn't MAKE you go up." Which was exactly what Plymouth was doing. "Hehe."

Quote:

Originally Posted by demented_death_eater

Max heard the whistle and hurried over to Plymouth who gave him a high five. "Erm, you summoned me. What's the problem, Plym?" he asked and his eyes were focused on the students flying around above them.

Hmm? "HMMM? Nah. Nah. You're hearing things, ole man," Plymouth grinned, despite Tibi telling on him. He reached over to needlessly adjust Professor Lawson's harness, appearing to be quite busy and helpful.

It was becoming abundantly clear to Tibi that no one was coming up here to get him. Rats. Well, except that other terrified Ravenclaw who was saying something at the moment. Tibi turned his head, eyes still clenched shut to try to hear her better.

If all the blood wasn't rushing TO his face at the moment, all of it would have drained out of it. "Are you out of your mind??" he squealed. "Nuh uh, no way. Harness stays on, thank you very much. I'll just sit here... er.. hang here. It's quite enjoyable, actually." Tibi would say anything to not have to unhook his harness high up in the air. But how was he going to get down??

He tried to think, but it was beginning to get difficult as he head throbbed from hanging upside down. This was JUST like that time he got stuck in that tree after the neighbor kids forced him - well, dragged him - up it and then left him. Wait.. he'd gotten himself down that time! His Mum had found him, but she wouldn't climb up, so he had to get down himself.

Maybe he could do this. Opening his eyes, Tibi looked down at the ground, heart racing, and then over at Keeley. First things first, he needed to get his hands back on the broom. His legs were starting to ache, even though the harness was holding most of his weight. Grasping upward, Tibi tried to stretch to reach the stick, but failed, falling back into his hanging position. The broom swayed and Tibi closed his eyes again.

Taking a deep breath, eyes still closed, he lunged forward again and.... WRAPPED HIS HANDS AROUND THE BROOM!

"Haha! I did it!" He squealed, opening his eyes. "But now what?" he said more to himself than to anyone else. He was, after all, still upside down.

Zoe decided to go ahead and practice landing and taking off over again now that the other students seemed to be safe. It certainly couldn't hurt to practice.

Leaning down towards the ground she pulled up at the last moment and let her feet touch the ground. Setting it down she called it back to her and took off again. Repeating the process over and over again she got faster and faster at her takeoffs.

"No, I'm not." replied Keeley, not knowing what else to do. She frowned a bit at his stubborness, but thought about how she's react is they switched places. But, he did look like he'd pass out if he hung upside down much longer, but what was she to do? Once she snapped out of her thoughts, she noticed that he had gotten a hold of his broom. He did it!! She wantd to jump up and down and hug him, but seeing as neither of those were possible at the moment, she just tried to coach him through it. "Well, pretend like you're doing a chinup." she said, pretty unsure of her response. "And then you could just pull yourself up."

Tibi was lost in his own head, trying to figure out what to do; he barely noticed that Keeley was still talking to him. What to do, what to do.

He'd heard Vindictus say to point the broom down to land, so Tibi pushed the stick down. Except, he was upside down, so it was really UP. The broom rose sharply, jerking him away from Keeley and higher into the air. Tibi clenched his eyes closed. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die.

But as he straightened out the broom, he felt the blood drain out of his face. Slowly, he opened one eye, and then the other. The world wasn't upside-down anymore. He'd turned in a circle! He was right-side up again!

Grinning that he'd managed to do something to fix his problem, Tibi smiled, despite realizing how high off the ground he was. He knew the harness would keep him from falling. Now, how to get down.

Looking down to the ground, Tibi suppressed the urge to vomit. His sights on the space of ground near Vindictus, he gingerly pushed the stick down and began to descend rather shakily. Every few feet, he'd pull back and stop, and just sit. Taking a deep breath, he'd mutter, "I can do this. I can do this," before starting back down.

He was getting closer.. closer. Closing his eyes, he just went for it. He pushed the broom down, stuck his legs out to hit the ground, and clenched his eyes shut. He felt his feet hit the ground... and then leave, as he pitched forward and somersaulted to a stop, still attached to the broom.

"Ground! I'm on ground!" Tibi half-laughed, half-cried as he opted to just stay sprawled on the ground. "Beautiful, beautiful ground!"

Thank God! He did it! Keeley grinned happily, although she was a bit irriatated that he had ignored her. Oh well, it's not like he needed her. But, she had a bigger problem to worry about. She had to get sown as well. Hm. She knew just how to do it, but she just couldn't. Great! She would've reminded herself not to look down, but that was pretty much what she had to do. So, taking a deep breath, she turned down the front of her broom and plunged toward the earth.

This wasn't so bad. It was like flying! But, she was flying, duh. As she made a rough landing, falling about a foot off of the broom, her hair turned a short, spiky blonde for no good reason. As much as she had a teensy weensy bit of fun mixed with the fear, she didn't plan on going back up. So, she walked to the opposite edge of the stadium, without waiting for a thanks (although Tibi had done everything by himself) and sat own, wathing the others zoom around like pros.

Bella had then decided to go onto the ground too. Ha! Keeley thought she was being ignored! well they didn't even listen to bella at all, even when she tried to help. It was just like muggle school all over agin.

bella gave a sign

((um..Keeley used your info, but was a bit too busy to reply. sorry if i offended u!!))

Rafe decided to challenge himself more and more and test how quickly he could land. He would zoom swiftly the ground and hop off his broom, but sometimes the force made him run forward a little bit and threw him off balance. So, he would kick off from the ground once more, do a couple of laps around the pitch and continue practicing landing.

Sometimes he would hop off early, it was like when you jumped over a fence, but it was his broom instead, but the same concept and motion. After awhile, he finally got it down so he could stop on the spot. He decided to zoom off and just relaxingly fly around the pitch. He started to daydream a bit imagining playing at the Quidditch World Cup and people shouting his name..."Ray-afe...Ray-afe...Ray-afe!" It was a magical feeling.

Marie was really starting to get the hang of flying, there was no other feeling like it in the world, she felt like she was floating on clouds. Now if she could just figure out how to stop without almost throwing herself off the broom things would be great.
She took a couple more laps around the pitch then decided she better try stopping and landing. Pulling up slightly her broom she started to slow down. 'OK, got the slowing down part, now to get the landing part down'. Pointing her broom towards the ground she starts to slowly descend. All of a sudden the ground was getting closer very fast. Not realizing what she had done she was leaning forward causing the broom to speed up. She quickly sat up causing the broom to jerk to a stop almost throwing her off the broom once again. Hovering there in the air she tries to catch her breath and slow her racing heart down. 'OK Marie, you can do this, concentrate on what you are doing. Broom down but don't lean forward.' Wow, it was working, she gently glided to the ground coming to a complete stop just inches from the grass. This was great, she was finally getting the hang of this. She took another lap around the pitch so she could practice stopping and landing a few more times.

His affection for Plymouth Morgan just went up a few more notches. Marcus slapped the young man on the back and grinned appreciatively. "Plymouth, YOU are the MAN!!" Oh yay, he wasn't going to have to get on the broom after all.

When Max, walked over Marcus just merely nodded and let Plymouth adjust his harness and tried to look as though he was having the time of his life.

Tori Kicked off again and was flying with near perfection style. She was such a natural at it that it felt like she had been doing it all her life. Around the pitch Tori flew, it was what she loved.

In the distance, LouAnn heard the professor tell the class that they were free to attempt a landing when they were ready. Since she knew her landing would be alright, LouAnn opted for a few more laps around the pitch. She leaned forward, causing the broom to dash straight ahead and lead her down the pitch. When she reached the end of it, she turned the broom to the left and steered it around a sharp curve. Another sharp curve later, and she was zooming back down the pitch. It felt really good to be flying high once again. LouAnn simply flew forward for a while, cutting around curves when necessary. When she was ready to try another landing, she pulled the broom to a halt, then headed down. She came to a stop in a rather thick patch of grass, but stayed mounted on her broom. She was prepared to take off again, unless the professor called time.

Rafe quickly snapped out of daydreaming when what appeared to be a large flock of birds flying his way. He quickly turned his broom to avoid any contact. And began practicing more of a zig-zag pattern through the air. He took all the opportunities he had to fly. Practice makes perfection after all.

He decided he should probably continue with the landing, but this time instead of hopping off to the side to remain mounted on it. So, he soared gracefully and with ease towards the ground and let his feet touch the ground to make him come to the stop and did a little trot. He pushed oof again and flew a ways up and tried it again, this time he was able to stop on the spot. He was pretty proud of himself, but not at all surprised.

He wished there was some sort of obstacle course or something to do, something a bit more challenging like flying through moving hoops, but then again this was the first flying lesson, hopefully there would be more.

Rafe decided to take a break waited for further instructions. He would set his broom beside him and shout, "Up!" in Romanian because he preferred it that way. And the broom seemed to respond more to his native tongue and would zoom up into his hand more quickly than in English. After a few minutes of that he mounted once more and zoomed up into the air. He decided it was better to fly when he had the chance because he had a feeling you didn't get to fly much unless you were on the Quidditch team. And although he did think he did well during tryouts, he did have a few major mistakes that could cost him a place on the team.

Michelle heaved a sigh of relief when Professor Vindictus finally responded. Okay so now was her chance to practice landing. She did as he directed: she pointed her broom towards the ground and felt herself going downwards. Okay, the ground is nearing... She stretched her legs and felt the ground beneath. As soon as she reached the ground, she got off the broom. That was the most thrilling experience I've ever had!!!

While the students practiced flying around the area and finally landing, Professor Vindictus occupied himself with his trusty clipboard on which he recorded each individual student's mark for the lesson.

"Well done, each of you! Please place your broomstick on the broom rack before leaving. Class dismissed!" he exclaimed.

Tori pointed the handle down and as the ground approached she slowed down her landing and touched down with her feet. Smiling to herself she placed the broom back on the rack and slowly began making her way back to the castle.

Zoe was caught mid take-off again when the Professor announced that the lesson was over. She stuttered in the air a bit before gaining control again and bringing her broom in for the final landing of the day.

She placed her borrowed broom back in the shed and headed back up to the castle. This had been a good day. 'I wonder what is for dinner tonight,' she wondered to herself under her breath. All of that flying had worked up an appetite.