Allison stared for a long while at the broom on her table. Sure it looked like it could use with an entire make-over, however what was more weird for her, was the feeling that she wished nothing bad had ever happened to it. Growing emotions over an old broom was not her thing. She was proud of being a young practical girl. Nonetheless making sure no one saw, Allison patted the broom stick lightly.

Suddenly with a fever that Allison usually got when it came to any sort of learning--she grabbed the clippers and began clipping the raggedy ends off each of the tail twigs.

Snip.
Snip.
Snippy.
Snippity.
Snip Snip.
Sniiiip.
SNIP!
Snippie.
Snipps.
Snip.

By the time she knew it, she was singing in her head and murmuring nonsense to the broom before her. In Allison's opinion, the person who had allowed the brooms tips to go to heck deserved his or her hair to fry. Discarding the images of how she would to it to the perpetrator she finally realized the mountain of twigs she was beginning to collect. Biting her lower lip in her usual germaphobic way, Allison placed the clipper down and gave a weak smile to the broom. Poor thing yes, but it made her skin crawl to think how many germs the end of the broom had collected over the years.

Gulping, Allison almost sighed of relief when returning the clipper and getting the rags and polish from its kit. No more scary thoughts from germs. Hurray? Listening to Professor Vindictus Allison groaned at the poor brooms that could no longer be used. Seriously? She thought to herself, Allison was sure she'd never maltreat the broom her mother was getting her. At least she swore she wouldn't.

Forgetting every single worry of the day, she stared intensely at the broom as if daring it to run for its life before she got started. Seeing as it didn't grow legs and flee from her, Allison followed the instructions and retrieved a small portion of polish onto the rag. With the care of a feather touching one's skin, she began to polish the broom and also began to hum to herself as she worked. She had no idea that her friends were near her, nor was she aware that she had a few strands of twigs that had been clipped, in her hair. She was focused, and no one could possibly blame her. She had found a love for brooms. Possibly, Allison had no clue that flying and the care for brooms would soon become her new hobby.

Polishing the broom carefully in circular motions twice--of course with the interval of waiting two minutes, Allison paused to scratch her forehead. Added to the sight of a small pixie girl with twigs in hair, wild eyes, and robes with a tad bit of dust, was now a light sheen of polish on her forehead. Not even taking notice she continued with circular motions for the last time to polish the broom handle.

When she finished she noticed the twigs on her hair in the reflection on the broom. Eyes widening and ears turning pink Allison began to pick at them.

Embarrassing! Oh Merlin! Gah! No! Must. Take. Bath. Is that polish?

Having an internal panic attack Allison grabbed the sleeves of her robes and wiped at her forehead only to realize she had now made a dirty trail on her face. Frowning she left it all alone and opted to grin at her broom instead. Cleaning would have to come later...even if the germs she was sure were on there were attacking her system.

Marie just finished putting the second coat of polish on and was waiting for the two minutes to pass so she could remove it. Looking around she sees Evalyn and Destiny. Rrealizing she had not talked to them since the start of term she thought about going to sit with them. Looking back at her broom and everything laying on the table she decided to just stay where she was. No point in packing everything up and moving it, she would just talk to them later.

Once the two minutes are up she starts to remove the polish taking care not to leave any of it behind. Looking it over she is really pleased to see that it is really starting to shine. Looking up at the broom hanging on the wall she hopes she can make hers look that good.

Deciding to do her best to make her broom look as good as the one on the wall she grabs the first rag and puts some polish on it. Knowing this is the thrid coat she very carefully applies the polish making sure not to miss any of the handle. Once she is done she puts the rag down and watches her watch for the two minutes to pass.

Tick Tock
Tick Tock
Tick Tock
Tick Tock
Tick Tock

Finally, it was time to remove the final coat of polish. Very carefully she started to clean the polish off the handle. Wanting to make sure there is none left behind, she goes over it once more. Looking at how shiny it is she is happy but thinks ir could be shinier.

Raising her hand she asks "Professor, is it okay to put on a fourth coat of polish to make it shine even more?" Yes, she wanted this broom to sparkle.

Sidney has covered the broom handle with polish a second time. She's getting hot and sweaty. Sidney puts the broom down on the table, and washes her hands. She also splashes water on her face. Sidney wipes her face and dries her hands. She walks back over to the table and test the polish. Seems dry to me. Should be time to wipe it off and buff. Sidney finds her drying cloth and starts wiping the stuff off. It doesn't seem to need as much axel grease this time. The polish is wiping off without as much effort. Thank heavens! I don't know if this is a job for a twelve year old. My arm muscles aren't as developed as the older students. Sidney smiles as she continues wiping. The broom's surface is shining more than it did after the first polish. Sidney continues to wipe until to wood shows through. It's getting there. Oooh my arms are killing me. I don't know if I'm going to be able to polish and wipe this broom a third time. Oh well nothing ventured nothing gained. I beginning to think I'm going to wait to get a broom. Either that or bribe Harry to do the maintanence on it for me. Sidney finds her jar of polish and her polishing cloth. She starts the process all over again.

Ooooooooh!
OOoh...

Yes, those different brooms had totally been handled...differently. It was sad...whyyy wouldn't anyone want to take CARE of a broom? It was sad...

But now, Miranda would make sure this broom she held in her hand would recieve the best care possible!
She clipped some more twigs to make sure all the bad ones were gone. Because if there was still some there, the poor broom would get in a poor condition sooner. It was almost like a plant...that thing they had learned in herbology, that you had to remove the bad things to get it healthier. That was it! They were HEALING the brooms! Aaaaaaaaaw.

Clippety-clippety-clippety-clip. There. It looked better now. All the twigs were straight, and not too short. Awesome. She picked it up from the table and inspected it before her. Nodding, she decided it was now time for...Dun DUN duuuuuuun - the polishing! She placed the clippers inside the kit and...

Miranda rubbed her hands together, looked at the kit - even though there wasn't really much need to search it since there was only a few things in there - and spirit-fingers all the way till she picked up the polish and one of the cloths. She opened the polish (and SMELLED IT 'ah, sweetness!') and scooped up a small amount with the cloth. Gently, she began to rub it into the handle, in circular motion. Shalalala oh oh oh, shaaaaaaa la la la la oh-oh-oh... Circular circular circular motion. She took her time, because really, this was NOT to be rushed. And then she was done, and inspected it to be sure she'd gotten EVERYTHING covered in the awesome-smelling polish.

And now she waited.

Two minutes passed...or maybe three, but the point was she had waited and now for the polishiiing! She took the other clean cloth and, with her tounge between her teeth, she took to circular motioning. Hehe. She started to rub the cloth against the wood, making the handle alot more shinier than it had been before. Yay!

When she was done, she scooped up more polish and started with the rubbing with polish number two!

Snip snip snip snip snip.

SNIP!

Tiberius jumped, a little startled, as Professor Vindictus got their attention again. Thankfully, the surprised snip hadn't bee out of place. The tail was looking good.

Placing the clippers back in the box, Tiberius concentrated as the professor explained how to polish the handle. Eyes wide at the sample of the properly cared for broom, Tibi couldn't imagine something lasting twenty years. That was... practically two Tibi-lifetimes!

Turning back to the broom once instructed, Tiberius pulled out the clothes and polish and considered the broom. Dipping one rag into the polish, he scooped out about a knuts-worth. Hovering over the broom a moment he took a deep breath before beginning to rub the polish on in precise circular motions. First up one side of the broom, and then, flipping the broom over, down the other side.

Annnnnd wait. Tiberius looked around the room, watching others work as he waited the requisite two minutes. No one around him to necessarily talk to, he drummed his fingers on the table, singing happy birthday in his head four times to mark out the two minutes. As he finished with a flourish in his head, he picked up the other rag and, starting with the side he had begun with, began to rub, once again in precise circular movements.

ONE.

Placing that rag back down on the table, Tiberius once again picked up the first rag. Scooping out another knut-sized portion of polish, he began to rub, focusing intently on his work, tongue occasionally poking out the corner of his mouth in concentration. Placing the rag down once again, he sang in his mind again.

Happy birthday to youuuu. You live in a zoooo. You look like an el-e-phant... and you smell like one too. Annnd again. ... you look like a monkey... annnd again. ... you look like a flobberworm... annnd one more time to mark two minutes. ...like a bundimunnnnn...

With a chuckle, pleased with his wizard substitutions to the jokey birthday song, Tiberius picked up the 'polish off' rag again and rubbed small circles to buff the polish off. Tibi smiled at the sheen that was becoming apparent.

That was... TWO.

Scooping one last knut-sized bit of polish, Tibi gently rubbed circles once more up the broom handle and then back down the other side, humming the birthday tune to himself, now that it was firmly stuck in his head.

Repeating his birthday song counting method, he leaned on the table and looked around, twisting the polish rag in his hand absentmindedly. His hands were covered, but he didn't mind. It felt good to take care of the broom... put some work into it.

Picking up the polish-off rag once more, he buffed circles up and down once more, delighting in the sheen of the handle. Placing both rags down, careful to make sure he still knew which was which, he turned to the professor to await the next step.

QUOTE=demented_death_eater;9063863]Professor Vindictus was the first to enter the Broomshed for the lesson and spent nearly one hour making sure that everything was PERFECT for the lesson.

Then slowly, students began to arrive early and he greeted each of them with much enthusiasm.

"Hello, hello, hello! Grab a seat on one of the benches and we'll get started real soon!"[/QUOTE]

Bella walked into the classroom, "Hello Professor," said Bella. she then took a seat on a bench.



"Ooo Broom Care!" thought Bella excited-ly. She walked over to the broom rack, not talking, and got a broom. She liked the broom because it wasn't too beaten up, yet it wasn't perfect. She then walked back over to her seat, sat down, and waited for the other students.


Bella watched as the tables appeared. Boy did she love magic! She placed her broom on to a table and opened the broom kit.
"Lets see, something silver and shiny," she thought wile digging into the box.
looking
looking
looking
with a small prick on the finger, she found the clippers and placed them on the table.

Bella picked up the broom and put it into her lap with the brussles facing upwards toward her face. She then took the clippers and started to clip the brussles. She was so worried that she was going to cut off so much so she decided to cut off the least amount, still maintaining the shape.


knowing that they could talk, she listened to everyone wile she remained siolent, she wanted a good grade.
snip
snip
snip she then began to pic up the bits and put them next to her.

Finished. She than listened

After the instructions she looked at her broom. It was kind of shiny, but it would be better off shiny. She took a rag and did as instructed.
dip
dap
wip
wait for 2 minutes
and she began to do this three more times.

Melanie had marched off to get a broom. It was a rather dirty looking one, with some grass wedged among the twigs (Melanie had a nagging feeling that whomever had been on the the broom last had somehow had a rather unpleasant encounter with the ground. Poor broom.), but...it was a broom nonetheless.

Shaking it a little in an attempt to get some dirt off it, she'd plopped down on her bench once more. Then she listened carefully to the Professor's instructions, slipping a muggle ball point pen (she preferred them to quills in ink... especially if she didn't have paper with her ) out of her pocket, and scribbling some of the stuff down on her hand, so she could copy it on paper later. After all, if she ever did get a broom, or looking more into the near future, if she needed to know something for homework, it could be helpful to have some notes handy.

Melanie took the broom servicing kit from the professor, sitting it down on her lap and rooting around in it for a moment, and trying to find her scissors before...something pricked her finger.

OW.

Frowning, Melanie wiped her finger off on her robes, to get rid of the blood. It wasn't a big deal though, because....YAAAY. She'd found her shiny silver trimming scissors, the lethal things.

Sooooo, now it was time to get to work. Melanie got off the bench, flopping onto the ground instead, seated Indian style. She then placed the beaten school broomstick on the bench instead, looking at it critically. It could definitely use some work on it's tail twigs. As the professor had instructed them too do, Melanie began to snip away, beginning with the twigs that were obviously too long. Then she moved on the part that required a more meticulous eye, paying close attention, and getting her eyes right up next to the dirty old broom so she could see that she was getting all the uneven twigs trimmed properly.

They looked about right... not quite though. In fact, looking closer, Melanie could tell she'd missed a few of the longer twigs near the center of the back end of the broom. So she continued, to snip and snap away with her scissors...

It was probably a good thing she was distracted from her work as the Professor began to speak of broom polishing techniques, for if she hadn't Melanie may have snipped a little the twigs a tad too short, and her broom may have ended up a twig-less wonder. It wasn't good to dwell on what could have been though, was it? Hehe.

The fourth year listened to his instructions, again jotting notes down upon her hand, which was now becoming rather crowded with her loopy handwriting. She payed close attention, taking the moment to tie her hair into a rather sloppy ponytail. Melanie peered interestedly at his examples, squinting as she tried to catch sight of the "magical sheen" on the brooms. If she looked just hard enough, she could see it. It may have just been the light, but Melanie was pretty sure her eyes hadn't been deceiving her. The polishing of the wood sounded like a lot of hard work, but it appeared as if it was worth it. The Hufflepuff looked at Vindictus's beautiful broom admiringly, a day-dreamy, not all the way there, sort of expression on her face. The Professor's next word's were not lost on her though.

Caring for the brooms would be especially worth it if they got POINTS...and PRIZES! Melanie's eyes lit up and she immediately started scrambling around for supplies at mention of a reward.

She liked this class.

Looking at her work with the scissors, and then around at the work of others she decided that it would do. It wasn't perfect, but it would do. She tossed her scissors back into her broom servicing kit, pulling out two rags as well as a small tub of wax, which she deposited on the ground next to her. Then, careful to get a teeeeeeeny amount of wax, she dipped her rag into the tub.

Biting her lip, Melanie began the tedious process of waxing the broom, massaging the wax on in slow gentle circles, her eyes not leaving the woody handle of the broom for a moment. She kept at it for few more minutes, sitting on her knees now, for one of her legs had now fallen asleep.

When she felt the broom was properly covered in the wax, Melanie backed off for a few moments, massaging her sore arms for a few seconds, sitting there impatiently, and counting off the seconds until she could get back to the broom.

Melanie really didn't like waiting. When she finally felt 2 minutes had passed, she couldn't help but grin to herself. Then Melanie began rubbing the broom with the second rag, using fluid and precise circular movements, just as she had used while applying the wax. She went on like this, her eyes straying to the others curiously as she wondered what sort of progress her fellow students were making on their brooms. Then her eyes fell on the broom Vindictus had put on display, a hopeful look on her face. It only motivated her to work harder on the broom she was fixing up.

She continued to rub, her brows furrowing, as they tended to do when she was doing something that required lots of concentration.

Annnnnnd, then she applied the wax for the second and third time, repeating the exact same actions, she had before. It took her a while, but Melanie could have sworn the broom looked a little shinier... It didn't look brand new, but...

It was definitely and improvement from it's former self. There was only one think Melanie was feeling a little uncomfortable about, and that was the dirt still caked in the broom's tails twigs. So, she raised her hand in the air, sitting up a little taller from her place on the ground so the Professor could see her. "Professor, Vindictus, is there a proper way to clean dirt off the broom's tail? This ones got dirt all over it." she asked him hopefully, a hint of concern in her voice.

Arya continued to sing until her first two minutes was up. Picking up her other rag she began to gently remove with circluar motions. She had finished her song and was now wistling the tune to A Spoon Full of Sugar.It was her favorite tune to wistle while she worked.Once she finished taking off the polish she repeated the whole process three times, whistling merrly the whole time.

Cela had done this whole tail twig trimming thing before. She'd made the mistake one time of offering to help her brother Adri and he ended up lecturing her quite indepth about broom care.

Sigh.

Not that she minded it was just that it wasn't the most exciting thing to do in a lesson. She eyed the poor destroyed broom curiously though and had to raise her hand.

"So professor, do tail twigs grow then? Thats why we have to keep trimming them? But there's a point where if you trim them too far they won't grow anymore? Or will they eventually like... grow enough to be rideable again? Or would there be like... a kink in the twigs or something where the new growth is? Or is it just that after a certain amount of trimming it can't be trimmed anymore and a new broom is needed?"

Questions galore? Yes.

She readied herself with broom and twig clippers and very carefully began to trim the twigs. She was undertrimming it a bit, not wanting to over do it or anything. It was easier to go back and trim off a little more than it was to fix things when you'd already messed up after all. She tried to go with the natural shape of the tail, tried to feel the shape of it among all the scrabbly ends, trying to be as gentle as she would be if she WAS cutting hair.

Though, if Professor Vindictus had asked, Cela would have pointed out that the Flipnsnipwitit charm was far more effective and fun than using tailtwig clipper things would be.


Ohhh more instructions? Good timing too. Cela was pretty sure she was done with the... oh no she wasn't. HELLO stray and scruffy twig! She snipped it carefully, getting it back in to the smooth line of its fellows. It looked even. Cela held it up to eyeball it.

Yes. Tail twigs? done!

She put the clippers back in the kit and took out the polishing stuff like Professor Vindictus said to. She examined each of the brooms he held up and listened to him talk, tipping her head to one side and wondering if she'd ever seen a badly cared for broom up close. Her brothers were either Quidditch fanatics or clean freaks so they'd each always had particularly well cared for brooms.

It was sad though. Those uncared for brooms. Cela's hand flew up AGAIN.

"Can those brooms be restored? Like the charms on them as well as polishing them up new again?"

Cela was preparing to polish the school broom she'd been working on as she asked. She scooped out a smear of polish with one of her rags, smelled it thoughtfully and then smear/rub/polished it onto the broom handle.

A thought occurred to her while she was gently rubbing it on and she tried to stifle the giggles.

And failed.

Teeheee.

Expression innocent, Celandine swallowed the giggles down and bent her head to the task.

"Unfortunately, there isn't anything we can use to hide dents or nicks. The only thing is to dab a bit of wood stain to the nick and polish it up," Vindictus answered and handed a slip of paper to Sabel.




Vindictus smiled. "The Broomshed is always open so that everyone has a place to work on their brooms or practice their broom care skills on a school broom," he said and hoped that the students would start using the shed. He handed her a slip of paper, too.



"Good question! You should polish a broom once a month unless you're a Quidditch player," and he looked at those who happened to be experienced players. "Quidditch players should clean, tune up and polish their brooms within 24 hours of a game." Then he reached into his pocket.

"For asking such an intelligent question, Nina, this is for you." And he handed her a coupon.



"Just three, Marie," Vindictus replied. "If you put more coats on, then the handle will be weighed down and whoever flies on the broom will go slower."

"Did you drag that broom on the ground? The tail was spotless before class started!" Vindictus exclaimed.

Leave it to Cela to ask several questions instead of one. "Tail twigs come from trees, just like the wood for the handle. We trim them because the forces of gravity wreck havoc on them. When a broom tail gets too short, then it's time for a new broom. However, there are certified Broom Specialists, like myself, who regularly inspect and decertify brooms."

Yes, it was a wordy answer from one Ravenclaw to another.

"Restored? Of course. Again, it takes a certified Broom Specialist to perform the complex spell work," he said and rolled his eyes as he handed her a coupon. "Good questions are always rewarded."

Tiberius watched, eyes wide, as Vindictus handed Cela a coupon. Watching her out of the corner of his eye, a little worried about her reaction, Tiberius raised his hand.

"Professor? How does one become a broom specialist?

Might as well ask a question... his polishing was done.

Emily took the slip, sweet a quill... Emily needed one too! she loved school supplies! Emily started on her second polish. She rubbed it hard in the little circles, polish was covering the broom handle. She wanted the broom to look just like the one up in the ravenclaw tower leaning next to her bed.
"Professor, are the more expensive brooms, like the ones used by professionals, better at keeping longer? like what i mean is if you don't polish them will they grow grubbier slower than, say, a comet would?"

Aaaaaaaaaaah... It smelled WONDERFUL!

Miranda had now scooped some more polish and was ready to rrrub-a-dub-dub it on the wood!
With lots of circular motions, she sloooooooly made sure that the awesomeness protectice guck really got in there, so the broom handle would be protected. PROTECTED!

She was done with that, and now waited the neccessary two minutes for the shining #2!

"Daaaa, di dum duummm. Badi diiii..." she sang to herself, when the two minutes were up, and as she took the...more cleaner cloth and started to shine sHIne SHINE! the handle. Ooooooh... It was looking alot mirror like now, but she could see that it needed atleast one more layer of polish.

Wonder if you could like, spit on it, like they did in movies when polishing shoes... Heh, ew.

Miranda turned the broom to see it from every angle, making sure that it had been properly polished everywhere and equal shiny on all places. YEppers! It was. She grinned.

Okay, one more polish and shine, and this baby would look as good as new!

Once...twice more, she scooped up a leetle wonderful smelling polish and began to rRrub it on the wood. Circular motions for the win! This time, she took alot more time because she did not want to rush this last time. Because, really, there was no need to. Hehe.
She was careful not to touch the handle when it was wet, but rolled it around by the place where all the twigs were fastened. Though, she got polish on her fingers, and now on her cheek when she scratched it.

As she waited for the two minutes to pass, Miranda turned her head to the side and inspected the tail twigs - just to see if she'd missed anything. But it looked wonderful! Snort. The time passed and now she picked up the even more dirty cloth (cus of the shining!) and folded it to find a less smeared spot of it. With even more circular motions, and taking even MORE time to get it nice and right, she saw the broom handle becoming more and more glossy and shiny and...beautiful!

Hehe!

Blinking at Vindictus, then the coupon, then Vindictus again, Sabel gave a polite bow of the head. Err..."Thank you sir." There, that was better. Three words and no stumbling mess.

"Do you happen to have any wood stain I could use to fix it up...or does that come after polishing?" If he was going to fix up Horus, he may as well do it right.

Celandine had a smile on her face to start with and she was nodding along, obviously truly absorbing the answer and making mental notes. She was sure she could manage a lot of the spells herself and was just about to ask about them when...

Cela flinched away from the coupon but it was already in her hand. Her throat closed up and all the colour drained from her face, eyes going dull and blank. Her wand was out and she didn't even know it, the tip pointing at the coupon. It suddenly exploded into a million little pieces of confetti, blowing up in the air.

But the feeling wouldn't go away and Cela, who was hyperventilating a little, dropped her wand and began rubbing her hand furiously with the rag in her other hand, as if she were trying to rub away any imprint left by the innocent piece of paper.

Of course the rag in her hand was covered in broom polish, so it wasn't long before her hand was completely shiny and coated in the stuff. Cela kept rubbing at it, making little squeaking sounds as she attacked her hand with the polish covered rag.

Quote:

Originally Posted by demented_death_eater

"Did you drag that broom on the ground? The tail was spotless before class started!" Vindictus exclaimed.

Well. That just wasn't good, now was it? She felt her face heat up, and scratched the back of her neck uncertainly.

"No sir. I didn't." she responded honestly, nodding rapidly from left to right. "I'm pretty sure I didn't anyway. Sorry... if I did." she added, looking at the broom with wide eyes. If she did she didn't mean to. And she hadn't realized she had. EEP.

"Is there any way I could fix it?" Melanie asked him once more, shifting uncomfortably, and hoping he wouldn't like...yell at her or something.

SHE DID IT AGAIN.

Tiberius' eyes went really wide and his mouth went dry as the coupon exploded. He needed to talk to her. Trick her into talking to someone.

Something.

That wasn't... normal.

Oooooooooooooh... Miranda held the broom up and inspected it. She could totally see her silly grinning face reflecting on the surface. Tehe!

Was she done?
She circuled some more motions to be sure.

And...yes...now she was actually finished. "Hehe! Finished with the finish!" Miranda said loudly to no one in particular and laughed to herself. Now THAT was a funny thing. Hm, maybe the polish fumes got to her.

Miranda put the broom down on the table again and without taking her eyes off it, she folded the cloths neatly, closed the finish (well she took a sniff at it first) and put everything in order in the kit box thingy.

Yay. And now she waited for further instructions and listening to the Professor answering the questions and seeing coupons being handed out. Hm, interesting.

Happy




HaPPyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Arya looked up from her broom momentarly when Vindictus awnsered some questions. She had never really thought about if the tail on the broom grew or not but now that she thought about it, the question made sense. She was in the middle of blowing a big bubble when, whats the girls name? Um...Cela. When Cela burned her coupon and started to have some sort of panick attack. Arya just stared at the girl with a blank expression on her face. She didn't know how to react, why on earth would she burn a coupon? Did she have something against them?

"Oh, Cela! Why did you do that?" Vindictus asked and he went over to a wooden box where he retrieved a plastic baggie. Then he walked over to the coupon confetti. "This is easily repairable with some spellotape," he said as he put the pieces into the baggie and sealed it shut. "

Vindictus placed the baggie next to Cela and stepped away.

Vindictus shook his head. "Not for 24 hours because the polish has to set. You'll destroy the broom if you attempt to clean the tail twigs in the cleaning solution after polishing the handle. In fact, the smell of fresh polish interacting with the solution would land all of us in the hospital wing and we'd smell like rotten eggs for a week."

"There is and I'll make sure I have the wood stain container sitting next to the supplies after the lesson is over," he replied.

"The more expensive brooms are made out of higher quality wood, but they last just as long as the cheaper brooms. This is why caring for your broom is important."

"Good question, Tibi. To become a broom specialist, you have two choices. One, is to become an apprentice to a master broom maker at the age of 14 and spend the next 10 years learning the craft. The other option is to attend a wizarding university and graduate with a minor in Broom Magic." And he grinned as he handed Tibi a slip of paper.

Chris was a little taken back by Cela's reaction to the coupon. Was that not the kind she wanted? Did she dislike Butterbeer? Was she frightened of the Hog's Head? Oh well. He may ask her about that later.

Chris listened to Professor Vindictus's explination to Tibi about becoming a Broom Specialist, "So Professor a broom specialist is almost like a wand maker? Well not in the sense that they make the brooms but that they know the proper techniques for caring for them and their characteristics." he asked curiously. His eyes flicking over to Cela for anymore exploding things.

"That's correct, Chris. Thank you for sharing such a comparison with the class," Vindictus grinned appreciatively and handed him a coupon.

So it sounded like polish first, stain after. He gave the Professor a small nod of the head. "Thank you again sir."

Returning his attention to the task at hand, Sabel opened the jar of polish and gathered a small glob on one of the cloths before easing it over the surface of the handle. He supposed it made sense that the stain would come after polishing; every bit of the handle seemed to need covering in order to keep the charms in place, so perhaps it had something to do with direct contact with the wood.

He found it somewhat strange that while looking at the broom, there was no apprehension or thoughts of flying, unlike when looking at an airplane. As he polished and let it dry and then repeated the process, he wondered if it had something to do with the fact that he was firmly seated on the ground. Or perhaps it was that muggles tended to associate brooms with sweeping, which he figured most brooms in the room would take offense too, and so his association with the object was also directed closer to that dosile mannerism.

Celandine's little shrieking noises increased and she fell over trying to get away from the thing, reaching for her wand again though it wasn't in the holster, rather it was on the ground by her feet. She scrambled for it but the polish on her hand was slick and she couldn't get a grip on her wand. She finally managed to grab it with her other hand and sat there on the ground, wand pointed at the little baggie and a death glare of epic proportions fixed on the contents within.

Her expression was still a little... funny.

Evelyn, still polishing the broom handle, raised a brow at the reaction of the Ravenclaw prefect. It was just a little coupon. Why was she freaking out? "Professor? Is it normal to have mental breakdowns while learning about broom care?" she asked, still staring at the older girl on the ground.

Or maybe it was just the prefect job that was getting to her. Okay, so crossing prefect or head girl off her list of things to do was definitely looking good at the moment...