Daisy walked into the broomshed sleepily, still asking herself how she had managed to get up this early for flying. The only answer she could think of was that it was her passion. She grabbed her new broomstick, which was an early 13th birthday present, for her birthday was only a couple of days away now, and looked round.
She looked at all the other brooms, her brother had been right, it was a good idea to bring your own if you were into quidditch. Thinking longingly of finding the bludgers she could practice with, before anyone else, Daisy turned round and left the shed.

Maybelle walked into the broomshed and looked around. What on to chose? She thought. Grabbing a broom and making sure it wasn't like, broken, she walked out of the broomshed and began to walk back to the pitch to practice...and hopefully not fail.

Tayla wandered to the broom shed, wanting so much to practice flying and prepare for the Gryffindor Quidditch team try-outs. "I wish first-years were allowed brooms..." she thought, longing for her Mum to get her, her very own broomstick.

Tayla looked around and tried to find a broom that didn't look too uncomfortable. There wasn't much choice though. After a few seconds, she chose one that didn't look as old as the others and dashed out, excited to be in the air again.

-------

After some time practicing, Tayla returned the broom and ran to the castle. She had to get to class quickly.

Ariella glided into the broomshed, excited to get flying again. She picked out a nice looking one, studied it for any flaws, and then proceeded out into the practice pitch.

The girl entered the Broomshed quickly and picked the first broom she saw. What difference could a broom make?, she thought and then rushed out.

Simon had sent an note to Kurumi to have her meet him in the broomshed at about 3pm, knowing there wasn't to be any classes at the time. He had simply said it had something to do with the team figuring she might think he was offering some more flying or playing help. Meanwhile he himself had arrived almost an hour earlier with a long bundle under his arm for he needed to take care of what he held before the third year arrived to make their appointment. As time progressed he started feeling sick again, glancing at his watch to see it was almost time and the captain took a deep breath doing his best to push it away until he looked pretty normal.

Kurumi had almost broken out into hives when she had found Simon's note. Well, more Walnut had found it, chewed on it, and then batted it across the floor when she had finally found it. While Kurumi knew it was an honor to have been selected for the team, Kurumi was still surprised that she had been. Perhaps it had sometime to do with her managing to not fall off her broom. She had been surprisingly good with a bat as well. Still, she didn't even have her own broom! She would look even more out of place riding around on a school broom.

Maybe Simon was telling her that he changed his mind?

Kurumi slowly opened the door to the broom shed and saw Simon standing there, looking a little bit paler than usual, holding something...large.

"H-H-Hey Simon," she squeaked as she shut the door behind her.

The broom he had been working on was now back in its package...the same package Selina's gift to him had come in seeing as it fit perfectly anyway. Simon smiled as Kurumi appeared, unable to help notice that she appeared nervous like she was whenever quidditch or flying was involved. The boy hoping perhaps his gift would help her with her confidence in some way not wanting her to feel so self-conscious.

"Hey Kurumi," he greeted friendly motioning her to take a seat on the one stool that he had found within the broomshed. "Have a seat."

Kurumi gulped and her throat made one of those awkward noises that sounded like a frog was being squished by a large rock. "O-Okay," she nodded as she grabbed a stool and climbed onto it. Leaning forward a bit, Kurumi's hands gripped the front end of the wood in front of her and she bit her lower lip.

She studied Simon for a moment and realized that the slight discoloring of his features had not just been a simple trick of the light. Something was up.

OH MERLIN! He had bad news! That is why he was looking so sick! He was either going to tell her she was off the team or that she had been made Seeker.

"Y-Y-You wanted to see me?"

"Yes I did," Simon replied confirming that he had sent the note for a reason and then taking in her continued nervousness he added a reassurance. "Its nothing bad and needing worry Kurumi...I assure you." Turning back around he went to pick up the package again talking all the while. "I want to thank you again for all you did for to make the party special. I was quite touched by everything and meant so much." The captain swallowed, fighting the uncomfortable feeling that had been bugging him before turning back around to face his friend.

"And well you see after the party I seem to have found myself with something that I no longer need," he mused holding it out for her to take so she could open it on the counter beside her. Inside lay his broom...well the broom he had had since 4th year and had brought to school intending to use to play all term. It was still in fairly decent condition due to his great care and probably had a good few years in it.

Kurumi gulped again. Wasn't that exact line the same thing doctors and nurses used before they gave you a shot? Sure, there really wasn't anything to worry about, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt! "It was nothing, really," Kurumi said waving her hands in front of her face when Simon turned his back to her - not that he could see her flailing around unless he had eyes in the back of his head. One one of those enchanted glass eyes. "I-I ...we all wanted to make sure that your last birthday at the school was a memorable one."

Her eyes bugged out of her head when Simon turned around holding out a LARGE package for HER. It didn't take a Seer to know what was underneath the wrapping. "T-T-This isn't your...." she stammered slowly taking it from him and pealing back the wrapper just enough to see the handle of a broom. "Simon! I can't accept this! This is your broom! You've had it for so long and I...I...I am hardly worthy of something like this..."

In fact, she was pretty sure that the school brooms groaned whenever they saw her.

Kurumi removed the remaining wrapping and looked down at the broom in her hands now. Clearly, Simon saw something in her. Some sort of potential that she didn't. Selina saw it too.

"Thank you, Simon. Really...I-I don't know what to say..." she chirped looking up at the captain and her cheeks flushing a deep pink. "I-I-It's my first broom..."

As if that wasn't already obvious.

"Well that it certainly was," Simon replied before chcukling at the reaction he was getting from the younger girl in front of him. He nodded as she figured out what it was even before opening it fully. "Uh huh it is and of course you can because I'm giving it to you," he said leaning against the table himself.

"With my family's and Selina's generous gifts of new brooms I certainly dont need all three for my personal use and this one still has some life left in it. I'd rather you have it so you have your own broom to use. I figured you might be even a little more comfortable with a more responsive broom then one of the school ones," Simon admitted having been giving it all a lot of though before making his final decision. The captain watching as Kurumi finally decided to unwrap the rest of the package to actually handle the broom he had cleaned up and polished for her just moments before making sure it was dry as well.

"You're welcome Kurumi," Simon said, "and you dont have to say anything your reaction was answer enough. Just put it to good use...and even if you never pick it up after I graduate I'll at least know it was of some use to you," he added with a smile.

Kurumi probably looked like a cross between a fish with its mouth open gasping for breath and a deer caught in the headlights as she looked down at the broom in her hands and back at Simon. His slight enunciation on the word WAS did not go unnoticed and she chocked on her own breath for a moment. "S-Simon..."

Kurumi turned it around in her hands and set the bristle part facing the ground and hugged the handle to her chest. "I love it...thank so you much Simon," she blushed throwing her arms around Simon while still holding onto the broom. She probably almost smacked him in the head with the handle. She had to admit that she was already feeling more confident about flying. It may be a bit corny, but the fact that she was using his old broom made her feel like she was going to have a little miniature Simon guardian angel with her. She supposed she wouldn't be whacked in the head with a waffle, erm, Quaffle now.

"I-I don't know much about taking care of broom," she admitted blushing a bit. She supposed she could read about it in her textbook and ask Professor Vindictus for some pointers. Although, the man frightened her and he always seemed to be on a short fuse. Kurumi frowned a bit when Simon mentioned graduating. It hadn't hit her until just now that he was a seventh year and...that she may never see him again after the end of this term. She hugged him a bit tighter before jumping back and tugging on her hair, broom still in her hands. "It will be more than SOME use," she giggled looking at the broom. "I'll do my best to make this broom and you proud." She did have some big foot hooks to fill.

Simon watched as Kurumi slowly came to terms with his gift to her, tracing the broom's form before hugging it to her. He could almost see her brain analysing it and thinking it over, his thoughts brought back to the present when she said his name the first time before breaking off. "You're very welcome," he answered finding himself hugged as well, careful himself to narrowly avoid the handle of the broom that now lay between them as he returned the hug.

"Well I'm sure any member of the team would be willing to show you including myself," he said, the names of both Carters poping to mind as well as Josh and Carter were friends of Kurumi as well. The seventh year caught the younger girl's frown as they remained close and it took him a moment to realise what exactly had caused it. Her tighting of her hold around him even for a moment and without any words confirmed it ...she was gonna miss him when he left Hogwarts for the last time.

"I'm sure you will," he replied with a bright smile knowing the young Gryffindor and how when she put her mind to it, she wasn't backing down.

Nika walked into the broom closet with a smile etched on her face. She needed a dance partner and quick, but she couldn't find anyone she knew at the moment. So why not improvise. She had concocted a plan that seemed genius when she had created it, but now not so much.

Why is she in a broom closet? To dance with a broom that's why. So the broom would be her make-shift dance partner. Is there anything in the assignment rules that says you can't do that. No there isn't. SO Nika found a way around it and she should get rewarded for her genius. Hehe.

So she grabbed one of the school brooms and hummed a tune and began to twirl around. It could be considered dancing if your vision was blurry and you could barely see it happening. Nika can't dance okay. She has two left feet, but it's not her fault she's trying!

When she was done she put back the broom and ran out of the closet hoping that no one saw her.

Hands feeling the smoothness of Simon's broom, no, HER new broom, Kurumi smiled up at the older lion with a slight hint of confidence. "I'd appreciate all the help and practice I can get," she half laughed. This time, it wasn't a nervous HOLY-MERLIN-I-HOPE-I-DON'T-FALL-OFF-MY-BROOM-AND-DIE! sort of laugh. No, it was a laugh that glistened with curiosity and the need for adventure. It was a laugh that implied that she had been spending too much time with Selina.

Kurumi bit her lower lip for a moment and looked back at Simon. "T-This may seem like an odd request," she said swaying back and forth a bit. "B-But would you mind signing my broom?" She giggled at herself for actually calling it her own.

The older Gryffindor was glad to hear the change in tone Kurumi spoke with as she talked once more. The third year seemed to have even just a little more trust in herself and in her abilities when she allowed herself to do so. It probably didn’t hurt that those around her, her friends and her housemates alike, repeatedly assured her that she wasn’t as horrible as she assumed herself to be.

Simon was slightly taken back as Kurumi made her request, making it his turn to feel a little bashful. The captain tended not to think of himself as anything special despite his staff-given title that he possessed the last two years. "Well I can't say I've been asked that before...but sure," the older Gryffindor said with a smile offering his hand to accept the broom back for a bit so he could do just that. In his mind trying to think of the best way to write on the wood.

"Well, perhaps it will be the first of many times," she chirped as she handed him the broom and allowed her fingers to slip off the smooth wood and watched as it dropped into his hands.

She watched him for a moment waiting for Simon to begin signing. She was rather curious as to how wizards signed autographs. "Are you going to use Intaglio, like what we did to carve runes into our desks last term with Professor Truebridge?" Kurumi asked eagerly. That spell seemed easy enough. Just say Intaglio followed by the name of what you wanted to say until it was carved. She had even tried with her name back in the dorms on her dresser. It had taken a few tries, but she had managed well enough.

The broomshed is rather dusty. Aiden is not good with dust. It often makes her sneeze.

Looking as sour as always, Aiden walks into the dusty broomshed. She missed a tryout last time, thus she is determined to try for the next term. She looks around for a not-so-worn-out broom she could use to practice. There is obviously no hope for a Firebolt or a Nimbus.

Aiden gives a heavy exhalation.

After the grey eyes catch the best broomstick so far, Aiden quickly grabs it and walks out of the broomshed.

The older Gryffindor didn't have the heart to say there wasn't much chance of him signing very many brooms. Unlike a few of his fellow school quidditch player including Jacob, Simon wasn't entirely interested in playing quidditch professionally. It had always been the more fun part of his life, not what he hoped for in the future...thats where his grades and interest in defense and other subjects came in.

Simon was broken out of his thoughts and couldn't help but laugh as Kurumi suggested an option he probably should have thought of himself having attended the class in question as well. "I almost forgot about that option," he admitted with a smile as he moved to a place where he could rest the broom down to rest steadily while he worked. He had to be careful lest he do something wrong and ruin the broom in the process so his left hand held it in place.

"Intaglio...Simon Bennett," he finally cast, using the correct wand movements and focusing for long enough for the spell to do its work. The final product actually looking quite handsome in the polished wood of the handle. "There you go...one Bennett original" he said with a smile handing it back.

Kurumi took the broom and ran her fingers over the freshly carved wood. She wasn't sure if the spell actually released smell like it did when you craved real wood, but she swore that she could smell fibers from the white ash handle in the air.

"Thanks Simon," she chirped looking back up at him with a slight twinkle in her eyes. "Now let's just hope I don't fall off it." She rested the brush end on the floor and leaned the handle against her.

Looking around the shed, Kurumi was beginning to wonder how long they had been in here, not that she minded really, she was glad that she had come down her now that she knew Simon was giving her such an important gift.

"I...I guess I should head over to the pitch and test out my new broom."