Arya trudged wearily into the broomshed, how she was supose to pass this final she didn't know. Who knew there was a final for flying anyway? She almost didn't come, but the disturbing images still filled her head and she needed another distraction. Plus, geting another chance to fly didn't sound so bad, even if she was still a bit sore. Without acknowledging anyone's pressence she took a seat in the back and began the final.

Reese wandered into the broomshed, not looking forward to the exam today. Especially a writing exam. She sighed deeply, and then she sat down in one of the splintery desks near the front of the room. WHY did these desks have to have splinters? It was torture! She shifted in the bench slightly, but that didn't help the fact that it had splinters. Nope, not at all.

After seconds of trying to get comfortable on the bench, she gave up and finally picked up her anti-cheating quill, and then she began her flying exam.

OOOHH!!

Candy hadn't known you took a WRITTENNNN test for Flying. But then she hadn't known a LOTTTT of things until she had come to Hogwarts. Soooo she just took a seat and eyed the paper a bit and then decided she could DO THIS!!

Picking up a quill she started to write.

YAYY!!

Tiberius made his way into the broomshed, feet dragging behind him. His flying this term had been a disaster. A stomach full of muddy water? Running into a goal hoop?

He was simply glad that it seemed this part was written. It seemed the only harm that might come to him was from the splinters in the benches. He wriggled uncomfortably as he sat down and looked over his test paper.

Sigh. Time to get to work...

Writing....Writing....Writing. Yes this was going well. Going over her parchment and making sure everything was right. Yes the broom part looked good. She loved her broom. So wrote about that. Ok, The game part. Yes she thought it was good too. Picking her quill down, Kay got up and took it up to the Professor and layed it on the desk. Smiling at the Professor she turned and went back to sit. The flying part was next and she would love this part. Yes flying what could be better.

Suddenly, the parchment, quill and inkwells vanished along with the desks. Part one of the Flying Final exam had ended.

*Any written responses PM'd after this post (and established deadline time) will not be graded*

A sign on the Broomshed door instructs everyone to report to the roped-off Practice Pitch area for the practical portion of the Flying Final Exam. Upon arrival, you notice a broom rack and three crates stacked with supplies. Professor Vindictus stands nearby and points to a blackboard containing the instructions for the first task.

PRACTICAL EXAM, TASK #1 (worth up to 5 points)
Proper broom maintenance is crucial for those who prefer flying on a broomstick. Select a school broom from the broom rack, collect the necessary broomcare materials from the three crates, and perform the necessary steps in broom maitenance*.

Once you finish with this task, you must demonstrate proper taking off and landing procedures.

Grading Rubric
5 points = At least five creative posts in which you accomplish the task
4 points = Four posts in which you creatively accomplish the task
3 points = Three posts in which you complete the task
2 points = Two posts in which you complete the task
1 point = One post in which you complete the entire task


*Lesson threads from this term do provide the proper steps, just in case you've forgotten how to maintain your broom

FYI: Do not post that you arrived late. Just have your student character arrive and begin RPing the task. This task will remain open until 3pm EST on Sunday, March 28 and at that time, a new task will begin.

Booyah!

Chris finished his written exam just as Professor Vindictus summoned them away. He then motioned for them to begin the first task of the practical exam. They were caring for their brooms now. He stood up and retrieved a school broom from the area that they were at and then walked over to the crates to retrieve the cleaning and matenence supplies. He put them in a bucket and caried the supplies and broom back to where Vindictus had set up the area.

First he conjured some water into the pail with a non-verbal Aguimenti charm, then he added the correct amount of broom tail twig cleaner. (Amount prescribed on the bottle) He slowly lowered the bottom of the broom into the cleaner solution and allowed the twigs to begin soaking. As he waited he readied his twig cutters.

Kay walked down to the part of the pitch that was roped off for the final. She looked around and saw the brooms and the other supplies. She started to read what they were going to be doing. Broom care. Ok, she could do that. Walking over she grabbed a broom and looked it over. Not made, should be easy to clean. She grab the other things out of the three boxes and went to the area they were going to use from the cleaning. She put the bucket down and put in the cleaning solution. Putting the broom tail into the bucket, she need sure that all the twigs were wet. Kay took the broom out and layed on the work table. Now she had to wait for the tail twigs to dry.

After allowing the broom tail twigs to soak, Chris pulled the broom out and balanced it on his stool to dry in the sun. Without a stool Chris sat on the warm grass and began to read all the directions and labels on the polish and other supplies, double checking all of their uses.

After a few minutes had passed, and the prefect felt the broom and its tail was dry. He sat back on his stool with the broom layed across his lap. Pulling the empty pail forward to act as a temporary wast bucket, he grabbed the clippers to begin the second step in his broom matinence. He ran his fingers through the tail, searching for any bent or extra long twigs, at last he found one. He slowly put the blades of the clippers agaist the twig at level with the others and snipped, it was now even. He continued to do this until the bucket's bottom was almost covered with bent and split twigs.

Setting down the clippers, Chris turned to the stuff deciding on what to do next.

Jacob walked over to the practice pitch after the written portion of the exam. It really wasnt that bad, well at least that was his opinion. He reached the pitch and saw broom maitenance supplies, brooms,a chalkboard and a Vindictus pointing to that chalkboard.

Jacob read the instructions on the board. Why couldnt they just fly, this was flying class it isnt supposed to be so much work. Jacob went over to the supplies and grabbed a container of handle polish, rags and tail twig clippers. Oops he had taken too many rags, jacob took the 2 extra rags and placed them back. Then he went and grabbed a school broom, ugly things. No wonder this was part of their final exam, these things definantly needed some taking care of.

Jacob found a nice soft patch of grass and sat down, and layed the broom across his lap and looks around...NO! Bad Jacob Thats Cheating!, good he hadnt...Was he supposed to be using the solution? It really didnt matter, jacob didnt know how to do it. Vindictus hadnt taught them to do that part...did he? Maybe he was asleep during that part, so he decided to skip that and hope Professor Vindictus didnt notice. Instead Jacob took his clipper and started clipping then ugly twigs so they looked good again, He looked up every so often to make sure Vindictus wasnt staring hat him. He didnt do good under pressure, and he knew he would mess up if Vindictus started watching him work too much. wait...Did Vindictus see him looking around? Hopefully not, that would not go down too well. It wasnt cheating if he didnt do what the others were doing , right? RIGHT?!?!

Feeling the twigs at the end of her broom, they felt dry. Smiling at the broom Kay reached over to her supplies and pulled out the pair of silver tail twig clippers. Looking carefully at all the twigs, she made sure that none of them were loss or falling out. Starting to clip the twigs, Kay made sure that she was only taking the tips off. Clipping....clipping.....clipping......When finished with one side, she turned the broom to continue on. clipping and clipping and clipping.....after that side turning the broom again. clipping......clipping.....clipping....Yes it was looking good. checking to see if any were missed. No. on to the next side. Turning the broom she started once again. Clipping....clipping.....clipping..... Turning the broom all the way around she thought that the broom was looking very good. She didn't see any of the tail twigs not clipped and so it would be time to go on to the next step. She put the silver tail twig clipper away.

One small hand covering a yawn, Ivory shuffled her way to the practice pitch. She had to snap out of it. She'd been running as very few hours of sleep lately because of the horrible nightmares that plagued her dreams but now was not a time to dwell. As it was she'd completely zoned out on the written part of the exam and if she had any hopes of passing then she really had to make an effort on the practical part.

Shaking her head in an effort to clear it, she took a few deep breaths as she read the instructions on the board.

Broom Maintenance...Well she could do that right? She just had to remember way back when to the first lesson on Broomcare.

But first thing was first. Picking a broom.

Normally if it was for a flight on the Quidditch pitch, she'd take her time picking the broom that had an even tail and polished handle. One that looked as if it promised a good ride. But now, she made sure to pick the one that brought out her sympathy. If she was going to stay awake then she was going to have to give it her all and she had to choose one that needed it.

Finally her eyes fell upon one that had seen many better days. With its ragged tail end and dull handle she felt an almost instinctive compulsion to help it.

Her hand grasping the warm wood she murmured reassuringly about how it should trust her to bring it back to tip top shape as she made her way to the crates and looked through the contents.

Evelyn dragged herself towards the roped off area of the quidditch practice pitch, and the first thing she spotted were the brooms. YES! Do they get to be flying for this part? But, on closer inspection of them, even from the distance she was at, she could see that they definitely were in no condition to be flown around on.

Sooo, what were they doing? Finally noticing the blackboard, she stopped in front of it to read what it said, her happy expression turning into a frown at each word. They were going to be fixing up a broom. That was it? Oh wait, no. They were aloud to demonstrate taking off and landing at the end. Well, it was better than nothing she supposed.

Glaring at Kay as she went to the three crates, she took only what she needed, and then went to a part of the area where it was far enough away from the others, but close enough to hear the Professor speak if he was going to be doing that at all today. Were the twigs on the brooms already cleaned like the Professor did at the lesson? Frowning, she peered down at the tail twigs and snorted. Of course not. Why would he clean them? Rolling her eyes, she fixed up the cleaning stuff, noticing a lot of other people doing the same thing, before slowly lowering the end of the broom into the bucket (which was harder than it looked since some of the twigs did not want to fit into the bucket), turning it from side to side to make sure it had an even coating.

Why were these brooms in such bad shape anyways? He was the Flying instructor! Wasn't he supposed to take care of them or something?

After a few minutes or so, she took it out, holding the broom over the bucket so the excess liquid and such was able to drip down into it instead of making a mess on the grass before laying it down into her lap. Now to just let the twig end part of the broom dry...

Jacob held the silver clippers in one hand and with the other hand he held the broom steady. He kept working on his tail twigs trying to make them perfect. Snip snip, ooh your an ugly one,snip...and now you look good again. Jacob got ready to clip another, then looked over to see if Vindictus was watching him. His hand accidentally closed and snip...looking back he saw a small slit in his robes. Oops...oh well, all that really mattered now was getting a good grade on this exam. Jacob kept working hard between snips, checking Vindictus wasnt looking and making sure that the small cut in his robes didnt get any bigger. Wouldnt he look silly if his robes looked like he had been attack by a a wild ferocious cute kitty.

Shifting through the contents of the crates, Ivory picked out a bucket, Fleetwood’s Cleaning Solution along with Fleetwood’s Handle Polish, two clean rags and a pair of nice sharp looking silver twig clippers.

Trying to carry everything in her arms proved quite difficult until finally the young girl got the bright idea to put it all in the bucket and carry that and her chosen broom to the nice little spot of grass she’d picked.

Sitting down she inspected the bucket with great scrutiny. She remembered in the first lesson that the Professor had already done what he deemed ‘the messy part’ but it seemed he’d left it up to them this time.

Sighing slightly, she scrunched her eyes in memory. The night before when she hadn’t been able to sleep she’d leafed though her Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broom Care but the only problem was she couldn’t remember how much cleaning solution was added to how much water.

Praying to whatever was listening, she turned the small bottle of cleaning solution around in her hands until she happened upon the back label. Fortunately and to her great relief there were measuring instructions there.
Her tense shoulders relaxing a bit, she brought out her wand and aimed the fiery tip at the bucket.

”Aguamenti!”
Water streamed into the bucket and she stopped it at about the three-fourths mark at about maybe 10-11 liters. Reading the label, she measured out two cap full’s of the solution and mixed it thoroughly into the water. Grasping the broom handle she slowly maneuvered the tail end into the liquid making sure none of the twigs bent or snapped.
Humming to the broom and herself as she used her hand to scoop the liquid to the top of the twigs and make sure each one was properly soaked, before she then brought it out to dry in the sun while she examined the twigs to see which would need clipping.

As she waited for the tail twigs to dry enough where she could start clipping them, Evelyn decided she at least could start with the other half of the broom so she could be doing something. The handle, looked horrible. Did she get the worst of the brooms from the rack or something? Probably; Just her luck.

Clearing her throat, she held up the polish container and opened it before taking one of the two rags she picked up. Scooping out a small amount of the polish, she moved the broom to where she could reach the handle without having the tail end of touch the ground. Definitely slighter harder than it looked, but she did it anyways! That was an accomplishment seeing as she wasn't able to do that before. Perhaps she was growing? Wouldn't that be nice. As she started to apply the polish gently in a circular motion on the handle, she took a deep breathe, finally feeling herself relax.

This wasn't all that bad, and it certainly was a good stress reliever. A small smile made it's way onto her lips as she continued to apply the polish to the broom, glancing at the tail twigs every now and then to see how they were doing. It looked like they were starting to get dry, thanks to the warm sun of course. Soon she would be able to start clipping, and by then she would have been done with the polishing. If only there could be music playing and Tiki was with her, and everyone else including Josh, Destiny, and Marie, this would've been like, the perfect day.

Once she was done applying the first coat of polish, she placed the rag down on her knee before moving the broom so she could check the tail part. Yup, starting to dry, that was good. Now she just had to wait a few minutes before taking the polish off and starting over again.

Marie made her way to the area of the pitch that was roped off. She really wanted to fly but it looked like that was going to have to wait just a little longer. First she needed to clean and care for the broom she was going to be using.

She went to the broom rack and grabbed the first broom her hand touched. She didn't even look to see if there were any in better shape than the one she grabbed, she just grabbed one so she could get it cleaned and cared for. The faster she got it done the faster she could get in the air.

With broom in hand she went over to the crates to get the supplies she would need for cleaning and caring for the old broom. Finding everything she needed she took her things to an area of the pitch...within the ropes...where she wouldn't be bothered by others and got started.

First she laid everything out just to make sure she had all she needed. Bucket, cleaning solution, polish, rags, clippers, broom. Satisfied everything was there she conjured some water in the empty bucket then added the required amount of cleaning solution. She carefully put the broom twigs into the solution then sat back to wait for the soaking process to take effect.

Jacob looked down at the broom. It looked good, well as good as he could do. Jacob gave a huge sigh when he finished with the clipping and snipping. He set the broom softly on the grass and got up and looked quickly at Vindictus. Then he brushed him self off from all the twigs. Then Jacob looked down at the cut in his robes…there were two now. There were two bigger cuts in his robes. How are there two cuts now? Well I guess that’s what happens in broom care. Jacob took another long sigh, and started massaging his hand, which hurt from all the clipping. Jacob sat back on the ground and started on the handle, opening the container of handle polish, and taking the first rag he scooped onto it some polish. Then he started to apply it to the handle in, wait…how was he supposed to apply it again. Bad brain! Work properly.

After a few minutes of racking his brain to remember the professors instructions from that lesson. He finally remembered and started to apply the polish in that ‘circular motion’ thing.

Finally finishing, he looked at the broom which was completely covered in polish. Now he took the other rag…wait…no. Jacob dropped the rag quickly and looked down at his broom. He had to wait 2 minutes. didnt he? He started to count in his head 1...2...3...why couldnt they just have timers, or something 4...5...6...7...

As Kay worked on her broom, she looked up to see where everyone else was. Making eye contact with Evelyn was different. Why was she watching her. Looking away she checked her broom twigs one more time. Thinking of the flying part put a smile back on her face. She bent down and pick up the Fleetwood handle polish and one of the rags. This part came in three steps. Opening the polish she poured just a small amount on to the rag. It was only about the size of a knut. Holding the broom she started to rug in small circular motions. Taking her time to make sure she got very spot. Knowing that she had to wait two minutes, Kay looked around once again. She saw that Marie had came and had started. Still she wondered about Evelyn and why had she been stairing at her. She put the broom down and waited.

After making sure all the broom twig clippings were in the bucket, ready to be thrown away, Chris reached down beside him and grabbed the Broom handle polish. He brought the rag to the mouth of the container the Prefect remembered that you had to use a small amount, about the size of a bronze knut, for each layer.

Polish on the rag, Chris began to rub it onto the broom handle in small but pressured circles covering the entire thing. It took a little bit, but he didn't try to get it all done in one step; it would take two more coats to be finished.

Finishing the first coat Chris began to wait the two minutes before he could go on.

Once enough time had passed Marie took the broom out of the bucket of cleaning solution. She made sure to shake out all the excess water so it would't take as long to dry. It was a good thing it was a bright sunny day. The sun would definatly speed up the drying process.

While waiting for the tail twigs to dry she got rid of the water in the bucket. "Evanesco" she said pointing her wand at the water which instantly disappeared. Now to just wait for the broom to dry so she could trim the tail twigs. She sat there on the grass soaking up the sun and watching the others as she waited.

Finally after about twenty minutes passed she checked the broom. Yep, totally dry. Now to get the clipping of the tail twigs out of the way. She started on the twigs that looked the most broken up....and boy were there a lot of them. Snip, snip.... She carefully clipped twigs here and there dropping the pieces in the now empty bucket. Turning the broom over she found some more twigs that needed trimmed. Snip, snip.....more bad ones out of the way. She ran her hands over the twigs feeling for any that may be splintered or broken. Only finding a few more she carefully trimmed them making sure not to get them too short. Once she was satisfied with the way the tail looked she laid the broom down and cleaned up the twig pieces that had fallen to the ground.

Next step....polishing the handle.

Two minutes were up and Kay started the buffing. She used small circles to make sure it was nice. She put down her buffing rag and pick up the other one. The second coat of polish went about the same way. She used small cirular motions all the way up and down the handle. She took her time making sure to get all of it. Back to the waitting. Two minutes to look around at everyone. It looked like they were all doing the polishing part. Kay looked to where Evelyn and Marie were and they looked set to their work. Looking out over the pitch she remember the Quidditch game. She had fallen off her broom. Well knocked off her broom. She had never fallen before it was so maddening. How could she have done that. Picking up the buffing rag, Kay checked the time. Yes it had been two minutes and she buff out the brooms handle. As she buffed out the handle she thought about lossing the game. 'While next year would be different.'she thought as she finished the buffing. Dropping the rag back to the table it was time for the last coat of polish.

…115...116...117...Man this took a lot of brain power…118...119...120. Alrighty that was two minutes…give or take a few seconds. Jacob took the rag in one hand, then started thinking if he could remember anything else that needs to be done before wiping off…Nope nothing. Jacob placed the towel on the broom used the same circular motion to wipe off, trying to remember if this was the way they had to wipe. He looked around at Vindictus once again to see if he was being watched too much. Because Pressure plus Jacob plus Test equals a Failing Grade…well at least he knew that he was good at math if he could do that in his head, but then again thats not very difficult math. It's more like common sense, well to him at least.

Jacob finished, one down two to go. He took the first rag again and took another small scoop of polish, then as before started applying it in small gentle circles. This was really becoming tedious and his hand was cramping. He already does this with his own broom, sure not as carefully not to make mistakes, but he isn’t graded when he does it on his own. He finished the coat of polish and turned it over and over making sure he didn’t miss any spots. Then he waited two minutes…so very tedious. Jacob started humming a song that was close to 2 minutes, which is probably better then counting 120 seconds.

Finishing humming the song Jacob looked down at the broom again. He picked up the wiping cloth and started the small gentle circles. Jacobs hand was cramping again, and it was not fun...Not fun at all. He hated cramps, no matter how bad. Okay so he's done 2 he needs to do one more, right? or was it 4 coat, or maybe 2. No it was 3, it just had to be. Jacob took the polishing cloth and took another small amount of polish and coated the handle once again, trying to get every last spot.

Once finishing the written part of the exam, she slowly made her way over to the practice pitch. As she got closer to were Vindictus stood, she began to read what the next part of the final was. If she was in her normal mood the girl would have a big grin plastered on her face, she enjoyed cleaning the brooms! But since she wasn't all she did was walk over and quietly gather her supplies. Taking them to her workspace she went and carefully choose a broom before taking it back to her workspace.

First she started on the tail twigs. Placing her bucket on the ground, she filled it water and the correct amount of cleaning solution. Then she gently lowered the tail end of her broom into the solution until they were properly soaked. Once they were done soaking she placed her broom on the table and waited for them to dry while getting out the rest of her supplies.