Winston blinked as Vindictus flew around in front of the class. Then he blinked again. They had to fly already? But, but...no, Winston could think of no excuse for them to put off the leaving-the-ground part. Merlin's pants. He was friends with the ground. What if the ground got offended? Winston had just convinced himself and the broom and the ground that he wasn't scared, but if he left the ground the ground would think he was scared of it, and running away.

Then again, if he hesitated too much, all of his classmates might think he was scared. And he couldn't have that. His da would hear of it.

Taking a deep breath, Winston went over the instructions in his head. Pick up feet. Lean forward to go forward twenty feet, then turn around and come back. Sit straight and pull the handle back a little to stop. He could do this. He could. It was all in his head. He knew the theory of how flying worked. Sort of. And if he knew the theory, he could do it just fine. No worries. Winston took a deep breath.

But what if he fell off?

No! Winston couldn't think of those what-ifs or he would never get off the ground. His da always said, 'what-ifs are for people who aren't impressive enough to be comfortable with the way things were already going.' Winston didn't need what-ifs. That's right. He took another deep breath, and lifted his left foot up and stretched his leg back until his toes just barely reached the stirrup thing. Quite off-balance, Winston quickly did the same with his right foot before he could think about how silly it was to pick up both your feet and rest them on something you were holding.

Winston let out a sudden sigh of relief. He was flying! Sure, he was barely off the ground, but he wasn't on the ground! Winston grinned and leaned forward--a bit toooo much. His broom sped forward several feet before he remembered to sit up straight. His broom jerkily stopped. Winston shuddered. That was scary. He leaned his head forward, then his shoulders, then his torso, ever so slightly. In fact, he looked as though he were still sitting straight, but he was in fact leaning forward. The broom did nothing.

Winston leaned forward a teeeensy bit more, and held that position. There! The broom was inching forward at the pace of a snail. Winston was okay with that. He gripped the handle tightly and tried to keep going straight for twenty feet. This was going to get boring rather quickly, though, so...Winston leaned forward more, until his broom was carrying him forward at about the same pace as a walking horse. When he thought he'd gone twentyish feet, Winston sat up straight again and hovered in place.

Now how did he turn?

Nika kicked her feet over her broom once she felt comfortable she Lifted 5ft in the air at a time. Nika got up to what she thought 20 ft by this method. When she was up that high she started to practice going forward and back at one point she started to loose her balance "woah, this is a lot harder than it looks" she said to no one in particular. Her hands were sweating because she was so nervous and so they started to slide up and down the handle. However before she could fall she got a hold of her grip and moved down to where she started.

I can do this, Rowan thought to herself. She kicked off the ground just ever so slightly. Sliding her feet back to the stirrups she carefully leaned forward, keeping the broom level, and started to move slowly forward. Because she was barely moving, Rowan leaned forward a little more and increased her speed, but only a little, afraid of repeating last year's incident. After moving forward twenty feet or so she carefully shifted her weight, turned her broom, and went back to her spot in line.

Alex gave Lux a quick grin, they'd have to catch up later. For now he would actually enjoy a Hogwarts lesson, and perhaps be slightly amusued of Lux in the air, on a dirty broom. Heh.



Alex gawped and exchanged looks with his best friend Fee. No way, their house had just lost fifteen points because of a firsties who had a bad day. Gritting his teeth together not to glare at the firstie because really who can glare at a firstie? They're all small and adorable! *squeal* he focused his gaze on the soft grass in front of him.

Man, the firsties were feisty!



This was actually a class he could do good in. He might blow everyone up in potions, he might fall asleep and drool all over the Ancient Runes book but this? This he knew. With a grin he looked down at the broom next to him. It wasn't as cool as his own one but it would do, as long as it would keep him in the air. "Up." he said firmy placing his hand over it.

It protested! Whaa! Giving the broom a stern glare it floated up into his hand reluctantly. Mwaha! He was the master of the broom, it would just have to accept the fact that they would be working together.

Watching the professor demonstrate he nodded once and did as he was told. Shoes there, weight there... Grinning like a mad man he mounted the broom. Oh man the sensation of flying was-oooh! Almost hitting a little firstie he steered away, so had gotten a bit carried away. Keeping the broom just above ground he flied a little naturally.

He had been flying for a while but never in Hogwarts...

Alex flied back slowly to where he had started and gently touched back down on the ground. Success! Even though the broom worked against him, grumble, grumble. Now what? Now what? Now what? He looked at the teacher excited.

Emily took longer than the rest of the class to get started. She was too nervous!
She leaned forward over the handle. Oh no! She was off the ground.
She went about 15ft before she lost her balance and fell. Good job she wasn't that far off the ground!
'Right, again' she told herself.

She leaned forward and tryed to keep her broom straight.
She was doing it!
She slowed down, then returned to the start.
"I did it!" she squealed. She was very impressed wih herself!

Wait! What? He had to fly now. He didn't really want to do that. He wanted his restraint now. He wanted to be certain that he wasn't going to hurt himself. With a deep breath he took he feet off the floor. How was he floating? How was this even possible? The gravity. He was defying it. He couldn't do that. It was against the laws of Physics. Ok he wasn't going to go anywhere. He was just going to sit here and float.

Oh, wow.

Suddenly, Sierra was unsure whether or not she should have actually come to this class. Had it been required? She thought so. Hmm...

Nevertheless, she'd had her first Quidditch tryout already, so she was fairly confident about flying, especially at such a low height. She stretched her feet backwards until she felt them come to a rest in the stirrups of the broom. Leaning forward, she took off, flying forward for a good twenty feet.

Once there, she sat upright, pulled back on the handle, and then slowed down so she could turn. Once facing the white line, she leaned forward again and flew back to the starting point.

"Plastic brooms are too light," Vindictus answered, "And the charms placed on a plastic broom aren't that effective. In fact, plastic brooms are highly dangerous and should only be used for cleaning purposes."


He continued watching the students slowly inch around the area. Time to move on.

"Very good! Now place your feet firmly on the ground and listen carefully," Vindictus began. "To make your broom go faster, lean closer to the handle. Steering your broom is easy and many of you did it without being told how to do it - all you do is nudge the handle in the direction you want to go. Up, down, left, right."

"Landing, however, is a little more tricky because you won't come to a hovering stop like you just did. As soon as the ground is near, stick your feet out so that you have control once you touch the earth. It's common to see fliers jogging a few feet after landing."

Yes, some of the students were nervous. Thank Merlin he used a height limit charm to keep the students from flight too high, and a cushioning charm (different than the one found on brooms) on the pitch to soften any fall.

"I want everyone to have fun flying today - some of you will start fast and some of you will start slow. Some of you will fly high in the sky and some of you will fly low to the ground. The objective is for you to become comfortable flying a broomstick in a safe environment. Do not let obstacles, such as the older students in the stands watching, distract you. FOCUS. Be the master of your broom."

"On my whistle, I want you to push off from the ground and you'll be airborne," he said and held his whistle up to his lips.

TWEET!

When the professor blew his whistle, Edlyn nervously kick his feet from the ground. The broom immediately rose. Edlyn flew higher and was soon doing a great job. She perfected the stirring, and how to make a turn.
"Professor! Am I doing great?" she asked happily to her professor.

Obstacles?!

Older students in the stands watching?!

Eyes suddenly wide open, Sierra glanced into the stands, spotting a few figures she may have recognized as Evelyn and Marie. Oh, and a rock.

Or, at least from where she was standing, the faraway figure stretched out at the bottom looked like a rock. At least she could be sure the rock wasn't watching her. Then again, she had a feeling that rock may be a Hufflepuff. Or someone. Hmm? Eyes narrowing in thought, she turned her head to the side as she studied the figure.

Oh, hey, Jake Morgan in a lounge chair watching like this class was a show!

...was that also someone eating...popcorn?!

The sound of a whistle blowing drew her attention back to the actual pitch, and she promptly kicked off the ground and took off, remembering to stay low to keep her speed as fast as the professor would allow. She flew straight ahead until she reached the end of the pitch, and at that point, she steered her broom to the side and circled around.

Jaina was in awe of her friend! She had managed to get into the air and was fine. Now, it was her turn. She leaned forward a little bit to check that nothing was in front of her and the broom went forward. Jaina fell forward a bit, then leaned back quickly to stop the broom. She leaned back so far, she fell on her bum. "Well, that didn't take long!" she laughed. "Hey, Belle, you should have taken the bet!" she giggled even harder. "Ok, let me try THAT again too!" She once again placed herself on her broom and gently lifted her feet up and placed them on the rungs. She looked over at Belle. "I'm doing it Belle! Look it! I'm flying!" She was so excited!

"Yes, you are!" Vindictus replied and gave the girl a thumbs up.




OOC: Have fun RPing your flying skills in the air. I've been keeping track of who's been posting since the instruction was given to say 'Up!'. You can earn up to 10 more points for your RP posts of flying around (1 point per post; chat-only posts do not count). Please do not double-post.

I'll post occasionally until around midnight EST tonight, and around 9pm EST tomorrow (18 JAN), I'll give the next set of instructions for the lesson.

Nika looked around and saw the older students watching. Well this is just great she thought to herself, Now if I fall and make a fool of myself the whole school will know. Nevertheless she hoped unto her broom again and took off at the sound of the professor's whistle. She hovered around the same spot for a few minutes when she got bored and decided to take a risk. Nika leaned closer to the handle to go faster, like the professor said. Soon enough she was going pretty fast. Nika did a couple loop-de-loops in the air and was having a lot of fun. "Woooooohhhooo" Nika zoomed around in the air. She didn't fly to high, but she went fast. Nika realized how fun flying was and couldn't wait to buy her own broomstick.

Nika loved everything about flying, the wind in her hair, the rush of making last minute turns when almost bumping into other people, the light feel of the broom. Nika knew that flying had to be the best feeling in the world. She quickly looked around while zooming across the sky, in hope of finding a friend to talk to.

"Morning Professor" Raven greet, Raven place himself in the ground, he has no broom, the the professor may provide for him.

Raven stood up, walk toward the broom rack, get a ancient looking broom, so many dust. And he fall behind the white line, the professor has conjured. "Time for flying" he murmured

Raven do what professor say, "UP" nothing happen, once more "UP" the broom move but didn't up yet, another one "UP" firm and commanding power the voice, the broom is up enough to ride the broom, waist level, Raven grab it immediately.

Raven grin, this was easy, flying with broom, just follow the instruction, and I'd be safe" Raven says.
Raven pick gently to ground, he is now mounted to the broom, come on broom fly, the broom up maybe 18 feet , the professor say twenty before going down but, Raven decided to get back. he feel something he didn't understand in the midair, Going down to the ground is more hard than take off. but yes, Raven do it safely, with a slight unbalanced in landing.

"wow", Raven say, time to fly within the Hogwarts grounds more than twenty feet.

Raven be ready, "UP" he commanded the broom, in Raven wonder the broom is simply hit his palm gently.

Raven kick the ground gently, and he became at midair, he lean forward, the broom fly slightly upward, "whoooh, like riding as horse" Raven shout, it's okay it's an open ground

Luin mounted her broom as instructed and put her hands on the handle, she was right handed and so did exactly as the teacher showed. She gripped a little too tight at first and saw her knuckles turn white as she was a bit nervous and so she loosened a bit.

Luin watched as the teacher flew back and forth in front of them. Ok, so they weren't going super high so far so she could do this for now. She carefully lifted her feet off the ground and leaned forward. At first she went a little too far and shot forward somewhat fast, but recovered and slowed down in time to turn around and go back. She made it to the line and put her feet down quickly, staying mounted over the broom though.

Luin listened to the teacher and swallowed abruptly, knowing they would be going higher now. She quickly calmed herself down, knowing that she just needed to relax. She was never that comfortable with heights so she didn't need to go too bar up. At the tweet she pushed off the ground a little bit, going up in the air about 10 feet or so as she put her feet back. She stayed there for a few moments and then started going forward a bit. She went about in circles at first at the same height, getting used to the way the broom handled, and then started other ways of turning at the height, doing little figure eights. She then started going up and down as well, going as high up as 20 feet but no further at the moment and dropping back down to 10 feet. She was feeling better as she continued to fly.

Jenny kicked off the ground softly. The broom she grasped in her hand did not try to raise itself. Ugh, Jenny thought, I've done this before! I should be able to do this! She kicked the ground a little harder; soon her broom was hovering in the air, wobbling every few seconds or so. She flew in small circles ten feet above ground, before she leaned forward and moved her broom a bit higher. Okay, got to take this slowly...

Selina watched the occurrence between her two best friends. First the library, now this- so far they were shaping up to be the Golden Trio. Points being taken left and right with little wrong being done. So what that they had been in the library doing research on the Gervik character? So what if they had brought their own brooms. Oh yeah- it was against the rules. Ah well, live and learn right? But for some odd reason she knew they would not stop. They had to do what was right, right?

Fortunately for Selina she had been flying since she was two and was quite gifted at it. At his call she said up and it flew up in her hand. Then she mounted her broom and flew around with ease still watching her two best friends. Awaiting them to join her she said, "If we keep getting in trouble like this, our houses are going to hate us."

Heather was good at doing things when instructed. And now it was time for free flying. YAY!! A few days prior she had made an attempt and injured herself. Today would be different though. She kicked of the ground and flew up higher than most of the students. She loved feeling the wind in her face and the thrill of being up in the air. She swiveled for a second but Haines control again.

She sped dowager the ground, gaining speed as she went. She pulled up at the last minute and she she swooped back up her feet almost hit the ground. She laughed. She spun around an flew from side to side. She even did a flip once, though she almost fell off when she did. She carefully landed back down and skidded a few feet before coming to a complete stop.

Eino placed his broom on the ground beside him, very carefully, and took a step away from it. Then he raised his right hand, so that it was hovering directly above the broom and commanded the broom to raise, but nothing happened. "Up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up up... pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase..." Eino said weakly and exhaustingly. What a rude broom, not to respond to please! He looked at Hugo, who was standing right next to him, and he already had his broom on his hand. "Listen to me," Eino began kneeling next to his broom and picking it up, "all the other kids brooms listen to them, you ought to do the same, you know. I should like to learn how to fly, but I won't be able to unless I use a broom because owls aren't strong enough to carry me, and I can't afford a Hippogriff on four sickles and six knuts a week." And very well said, indeed. He placed the broom on the floor and repeated the same process, but it didn't work. Then it finally hit him, he knew what the problem was, the broom didn't have a name. "How rude of me. You shall be named..." He looked around for some inspiration, "Vindy!" In honor of his Professor and Head of House, of course. "Up, Vindy!" He said after he had repeated the set up and hand position. This time, the broom obeyed, but Eino didn't grab it quickly enough. After a few more tries, he finally caught it with a tight grip and listened for further instructions.

Kurumi nodded. That made sense. Flying on something made out of plastic would probably be very dangerous considering wind. Kurumi had a hard enough time keeping her balance on a regular wooden broom as it was. She would probably manage to snap a plasctic one in half running into the castle wall or something. "Thank you, Professor," she nodded as she continued to slowly glide forward. Ah, this was nice and people seemed to be flying at their own paces...

for now...

Oh...right...fly faster...

Kurumi looked around nervously as the Professor instructed how to make their brooms go faster. Yeah, she had tried that last term and ended up hanging off of it. Not exactly her finest hour.

At the sound of his whistle, Kurumi kicked off the ground, this time with much more force than she had done the first time and found herself at a comfortable altitude of about 10 feet. Okay, she could handle this much.

Leaning forward just a tad, her broom when from a snail's pace to a turtle's pace. Well, at least it didin't take off like a jack rabbit. Deciding that she could handle a little more speed, Kurumi leaned forward and ended up slipping a bit from the sweat from her palms. She fell face forward onto her broom which, like all brooms would, thought that this meant she wanted to go faster RIGHT NOW. Kurumi's broom took off like a shot across the pitch with her hair flying in all sorts of directions so that she couldn't really see what was in front of her.

"OOoooOOOOoooooOOOOooooH!" she chirped as she tried to steady herself enough with her right hand to use her left hand to brush her bangs out of her face. Good thing she did so, because she was about 5 feet away from making friends with a wall.

Isobel kicked off the ground and flew up a little. She flew around randomly, unsure what to do. Isobel nudged her broom to go left, and left, and left. she spun around in a circle before coming to a stop. Hehe, that was fun. But it made her dizzy.

Annabelle was excited for the airborne part. She pushed off the ground. It was a feeling like no other. She felt the wind through her air, she moved the broom nudged to go right, and it made a direct movement. "Wow this is amazing and easy." she said. She loved flying soo much, and she made a dive to see if she can and she could!. Her older brother's practices paid off. She was smiling so much.

Belle looked at her "You are flying!" she said happily. "I am soo proud of you!" she yelled. "Now fly with me in the air!" Belle said as she landed near her. She kind of tripped a little but she can work on her landing soon enough.

Just as Sierra flew near the area where the spectators were seated, she heard the sound of someone calling her name, almost as if the voice was being carried to her by the wind itself.

Hmm, whaaa?

She glanced around, finally spotting Jake Morgan, still lounged out in his chair, but now cheering for her as she rode past. Well, at least there was cheering and not laughing. Or maybe Jake was trying to alert her that a bird was about to poop on her head? Her attention turned from Jake to her immediate surroundings as she checked to make sure no bird was about to use her to do its business.

Safe from any possible poop, for now, Sierra glanced ahead and rounded another corner, making sure to properly steer her broom in the right direction. She lowered herself toward the handle, adjusting her speed just a little. Her broom carried on, and she tried out a few position changes by turning the handle slightly to the left and then to the right. She was trying to get a feel for how it'd be out on the field during a real Quidditch match, when she'd undoubtedly have to dart from left to right to dodge bludgers.

Reaching the opposite end, she steered her broom around and headed off in the opposite direction.

Jamie had stood her ground and listened patiently to everything he had said. When he blew the whistle she though, finally. She pushed off hard from the ground and went soaring up. She zoomed off and laughed enthusiastically as the wind whipped through her hair. "Oh if only I had a tennis ball to throw and chase,"She thought aloud. She did that often at home when with her dad. So she just contently circled the field at a height of about ten feet.

Pandora mounted her broom and pushed off from the ground. She quickly soared up high. When she got up high enough, she stopped rising. Then she started to fly around for a bit as she waited for the next set of instructions.