Janice took a bucket and a broom and put it on her side. She then filled the bucket with concentrated cleaner. She held her breath from the start, since the smell of bleach had always succeeded in making her dizzy and hurting her eyes, so she never actually mopped the floor with strong bleach. She took out her wand, said "Aguamenti" and waited until the bucket is half full. "Finite," she said afterwards. She breathed out, and inhaled the once-the-strong-smell-of-bleach. She knitted her eyebrows and practically ran to take a sponge.

On his way back he grabbed a red rag and took the Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish from the kit. He examined the jar. If Professor Vindictus said this was the best polish in the market then it must be, right? After all, this man new more about brooms than any professor at Hogwarts...RIGHT?

Clamping his hand over the jar cap he gave it a firm twist and heard a small popping sound that informed him that the jar was open. He set the cap on the table and dipped the rag into the polish jar and scooped up a Knut's size worth of polish. With his free hand he twisted the cap back on the jar.

He worked up the polish just like the professor had said and waited for the two-ish minutes to be over.

It seemed he had managed to finish up just as Professor Vindictus was about to move on to the next set. So much for having a breather but oh well. Now they were to take care of the overall appearance of the broom starting with the tail twigs. So taking out the clippers from the kit he had borrowed, Gideon went to look looking for any bent or broken twigs, snipping then carefully off. He made sure to not effect the shape of the overall tail at all as Vindictus had warned them not to.

No sense effecting the broom's flying.

Hearing Kurumi's call for help, he was about to get up and lend his clippers since he was done with them but another willing student stepped in to assist before him. So he simply nodded and put the clippers back away in the kit, ready to move onto the next step.

Once he felt he polish more soluble, he began to rub small circles on the broom handle. He did this from top to bottom and from bottom to top. There was absolutely no hurry in his rubbing. Kennedy wanted to make sure that by the end of the day he'd be able to see his reflection off this handle.

When he had finished polishing the handle, he looked down at his notes and waited on the five minutes that had been instructed to wait. He stared at the broom handle and noticed that the wood was a bit hazy. That was normal, right? He hadn't messed it up? Nah, it probably just needed the other round of polishing.

Sweeping up the twig bits into one of his hands, Gideon got up from his place and headed to the fireplace, sprinkling them within before dusting his hands and turning back. He picked up a red rag on his way back and taking his place once more to start on the wax. Opening up the container, he dipped the rag inside and took out a small bit of the wax, the steps reminding him of his previous ventures into broom care. This part he remembered, well other then the trick about warming it.

That was new.

Doing it as directed, Gideon handled the wax within the rag and his hand for a couple of minutes, warming it up and feeling it change a bit. Now with that down, the chaser went to work, slowly but surely applying it to the broom handle. His actions working on one section at a time before moving onto the next.

Lewis had figured that now that he was on the Quidditch Team - - he should probably know all about cleaning brooms and stuff. He had even got his own broom for Christmas! So he could practice cleaning a broom on a school broom today so he could do it correctly on his own later. Which he was going to treasure like a...well, a treasure.

Nodding to himself he went to the front to get a bucket and poured a cup of the concentrated cleaner into it. He then walked back to where he had left his bag and one of the school brooms, set the bucket on the floor and sat down next to it. Right, water next. "Aguamenti." Lewis said with his wand pointed into the bucket. Half way, half way, half way, half wa-

OOOH, that was a little too much! "Finite!" He said forcefully, pulling his wand out of the bucket again quickly, splashing a little bit of water onto his pants before the spell stopped it coming out of the tip of his wand. Great, now his pants were wet. At least it wasn't as cold in here as it was outside.

After five minutes Minerva went and got a clean blue towel and picked her broom back up. It was looking kind of white from the polish setting in. She began doing a circle motions pushing harder on the broom to make sure she got all the polish off the broom. Once she was completely finished she put the dirty towel in the basket and the polish back where she had gotten it from. She found her work space and waited for more instruction from the professor.

Using the blue cloth to grip the broom shaft, Vickers dipped the tail twigs into the bucket and gave the solution a swirl, counter-clockwise first, counting with each pass. After the 7th turn he paused and held the broom twigs submerged glancing at his watch and waited before turning the broom the opposite direction and counting each turn again. After the 7th pass the Ravenclaw waited for another 2 minutes before raising the broom and let the water drip off as much as it could into the bucket.

Putting his wand back into its holster, Lewis patted his pants absently a couple of times as if this was going to make them any less wet. Oh well, hopefully they would be dry again when the lesson was over. He did NOT want to go outside with wet patches on his pants. Because then he would be even more cold than he was already.

Anyway, back to the whole cleaning the broom thing. Quickly getting a sponge from the pointed-out bucket, Lewis hesitated for a moment and then took one of the blue towels and one of the red rags too. So he wouldn't have to walk up to the front again later. Those items were part of this class too, right?

Once back, Lewis sat down again next to the school broom and the bucket again with his legs crossed. Setting the other two items next to him, he put the sponge into the water and gave it a squeeze so it wasn't dripping anymore. He then reached for the broom with his left hand and held the handle up a little for better access.

Wiping over the handle to get the dirt off, Lewis reached up with the hand holding the sponge to push a strand of hair off his forehead, not even realizing that he was getting them all wet. He continued to clean the handle by repeatedly putting the sponge back into the bucket, squeezing it and then wiping the handle again.

Once it looked to be completely clean, he dropped the sponge into the bucket and reached for the blue towel to dry the handle off. Patting it softly on all sides until all traces of wetness were gone, Lewis then placed the broom across his lap and the towel on the floor next to him.

Gideon continued to polish the broom, rubbing the polish into the wood until he had made his way all around the handle. When he had finally finished, he knew he had to wait on it to dry so he rested it on the table careful not to smudge anything too much. While he waited, he made sure the cap of the polish tin had been properly screwed on, having had simply closed it previously and grabbed a clean cloth as well. Glancing at his watch, he kept time and when 5 minutes had passed, the quidditch player picked up the cloth and began buffing the foggy layer of wax that now adorned the broom he was working one.

Circle...circle....buff....buff....buff.

Pulling the cloth away, he checked its condition, the broom certainly looking better. Still with more work to do, Gideon when back to work until he had managed to finish the whole job.

When the dripping has all but stopped Vickers ran the blue rag one last time over the broom shaft before having his other hand grip the tip and dropping the rag onto the floor. This time he hovered the broom over the discarded rag then took hold of the second rag he set aside earlier. The Ravenclaw then tried patting off whatever excess water still clung to the broom twigs.

Satisfied that it was as dry as it was gonna get without using magic, he set the broom on the table and proceeded to clean up. Picking up his wand again and scourgifying the bucket clean. He picked up the used rags and wiped off any water-- and even dust-- off his work area and deposited them at the towel bin, then tossing the sponge into the basket next to the fireplace.

Right, now onto the tail twigs.

For that step he got up off the floor, taking the broom with him by holding on to it tightly with his right hand. Okay, now caaaarefully plunge it into the water and now stir. Like in potions class. After having stirred it counter-clockwise seven times, Lewis just held it still and glanced around the broomshed for a moment at what everybody else was doing.

2 minutes. Had that been two minutes? About that, right? He didn't have his watch on him so he could just guess. With a shrug he started stirring the broom again seven times, this time clockwise. He then submerged the tail twigs again fully for another 2 minutes. Or what he thought was two minutes, anyway.

Seriously?! They would need a second towel? Couldn't he have told them that before? Would the broom stay like that if he let go of it? Eying it for a moment he quickly let go of it and dashed back to the front to get another towel. Already almost back at his desk, Lewis could only watch when the weight of the broom tipped the bucket over, spilling all the water on the floor. Crap!

Spreading the already wet towel on the part of the floor which was not full of water, Lewis picked up the broom again, careful as to not step into the spilt water. Holding the broom upside down over the towel so the water dripped down on it, he then started to pat the twigs repeatedly until they stopped dripping. Now, onto the mess on the floor.

Oakey decided to go grab the red rag from it's basket for later use and he walked back to his seat. Pulling the clippers from the kit Oakey set them down beside the broom and began inspecting the tail twigs for any that were sticking out. This broom looked to be okay, aside for a few twigs here and there. Taking the clippers Oakey clipped them off carefully making sure not to cut them to far down. Once he finished with the tail twigs he picked them up from the floor and tossed them into the fireplace and watched them quickly catch fire. He headed back to the table for the next step.

After getting a clean towel Kennedy gently ran it against the wood in circular motion. He wondered why it had to be circular. Even his mother made him do that when he cleaned the tabletops. A CIRCLE, Kennedy, she would say. Was it because everyone loved circles and they wanted to clean stuff by doing cicular motions?

Meh.

When he was done buffering the broom handle repeated the polishing step again. Circle. Circle. Circle. Why not square or triangle? Triangles were cool, too. Then, for the second time he buffed the wooden handle. A grin streched on his lips when he saw the room around him reflect off the wood. He peered into it and found a mishapen Kennedy grinning back at him.

Broom polishing was done!

Oakey set his clippers back into the cleaning kit and removed the High grade polish that Vindictus was proud of. It's just handle polish, Harvey's got buckets of this stuff back at home He unscrewed the bottle and set the lid to the side. Oakey was about to dip his red rag he had retrieved earlier into the polish when he noticed there were a few spare tail twigs on the floor. Being the good Hufflepuff that he was he bent over picked them up and tossed them into the fire with the rest of the tail twigs.

As he returned to he table he popped himself back onto his stool and scotched it in. The bottle of polish had other plans though, as Oakey's knee bumped into the table the polish decided to jump from the impact of Oakey's knee to the table. The open bottle spilled itself over Oakey's work robe and Oakey caught it before it hit the ground. He took a look at the damage that was done. Nothing serious, Oakey was lucky to be wearing his work robe. Taking his rag he blotted it on his robe and took about a knut size of the polish into the rag. He rubbed the stuff together until it worked itself in.

Ella grabbed a red rag and opened the can of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish. She looked at the can curiously, wondering what was so special about that particular brand. She then dipped the rag in the jar and tried to scoop out enough of the polish to adequately clean the handle. She got about a knut's size and replaced the lid on the jar carefully. Her hands were a little slippery and it took a couple of times to screw the lid back on. She worked the polish in the rag as the Professor had instructed, hoping to warm it up so it would go on easy. She hummed to herself as she worked, giving herself something to do while she waited for the polish to warm.

Vickers picked up the twig clippers and paused to examine it.... it looked sharp enough, then again he knew the true test is always in the execution. He reached out for his broom and lay it across his knees, then reached for his vest pocket and brought out his glasses.

Detailing. He needs better eyes.

He angled his head this way and that spotting the errant twigs and putting the clippers to work

SNIP

SNIP

SNIP

He turned the broom over and honed in on other twigs sticking out or are otherwise just broken, clipping them off until the broom looked fairly decent. He lay the broom aside again and collected the snipped off twigs with his hands and stood to toss them into the fireplace.

After Oakey finished rubbing the red rag together for almost two minutes he stopped and screwed the lid back onto the polish. Taking the polished red rag he began rubbing the wooden handle going up and down in circular motions for a good 5 minutes. When he finished he looked at the handle it did indeed have a hazy look to it. He got up from his stool and grabbed another red rag and started going across the handle with it. removing the polish from it.

Finishing up her humming, Kurumi checked her pocket watch to double check that five minutes had past. Seeing that it had, Kurumi inspected the handle, taking not of the hazy finish, and then went off to grab a clean towel. Merlin they were using a lot of towels this lesson. Who was going to...have to wash all of these? Kurumi looked up for a moment and eyed Professor Vindictus. She wasn't going to ask...

Taking the fresh towel, Kurumi repeated the circular movement from before, this time softly chanting 'wax off' under her breath. Now...she had to polish it again. Kurumi's arms were getting ridiculously sore and the prefect had the sinking feeling that they were not going to be done after this part. Groaning softly as she continued to apply a fresh coat of wax to the handle. She began to hum the same song from earlier to try and pass the time. Now to wait another five minutes...

Kurumi used this time to stretch her arms and begin to pick up her things and clean up her work space. And not time to buff again...which meant another clean towel, right? How many towels were they up to now? It seemed like a billion right now. Buffing the handle, kurumi held her breath as she looked down to examine the handle. Pleeeeeeeeease let me be able to see my reflection...please let me be able to see my reflection...

"Oh thank Merlin," Kurumi said under her breath when she saw her own violet eyes looking back at her in the wood of the handle. Kurumi folded all her towels up and put them in a neat stack on the table and rested her broom on it as well. Now what, Professor?

After clearing off the first coating of polish Oakey looked at the handle. It was shiny but no reflection. Taking another dab at the polish spilled on his work robe he rubbed it into the red rag for two minutes then applied it to the broom. Once again going up and down in a circular motion making sure to evenly coat the handle with the polish. As he finished he removed the rag and the handle had the hazy look.

Taking his other rag he wiped it down and starred into the handle. He was looking at his own face smiling back at him

He peered into the broom-care kit and picked up the polish, reading the label closely. Not that he doubted his HOH, but Vickers has always doubted brands that claim to be "the best". He never believed reviews, and even when he would give his friends and acquaintances the benefit of the doubt, for him nothing would ever be listed in the superlative category unless it has the Vanderbilt seal of approval.

He reached for a new rag this time-- a red one-- and struggled with the jar's cap for a moment before it finally gave way and came off. He dipped the red rag into the jar and scooped about a knut's size of polish, the resealed the jar.

He peered at the dollop of a polish before folding the rag into it, then worked it into the cloth. After a while he reached out for his broom again and started swiping the rag against the shaft, the polish coating every surface it came with contact with. Vickers worked the wax into the wood from top to bottom, then allowed the polish to settle.

Now he waits for the buffing.

Zhenya had just finished cleaning her broom and now it was time to clip the tails. Well, she had an inspection of them, but she didn't think they were too bad which was good. She picked out the tail twig clippers and began looking through for ones that needed to be clipped. The clippers worked superbly, and she had no trouble whatsoever. She needed to spend a little time trying to find the ones that looked like they needed clipping, after clipping the ones that were obviously in need. Then she did one last glance through the tail twigs and saw that they all looked great.

She placed the clippers back into the kit and scooped up all the bits of twigs and put them into the fire.

It might have been unbearable to some, but Vickers actually didnt mind watching the polish dry into that hazy finish the Professor said would happen. He then reached out for another cloth and started buffing the wood, first in circular motions as his HOH demonstrated, then later with his own technique of twisting the towel around the shaft and alternately yanking the ends, providing a continuous buffing surface all around the diameter of the shaft.

He reached the end of the shaft and the wood has begun to give off a rich luster. The Ravenclaw ran his hands down the shaft, testing for its smoothness. It wasnt a bad job at all. But given that he could still spare a bit more elbow grease, he reached for the rag that had the polish and after a few folds and twists, got enough polish to come out as Vickers re-applied the wax for a second time.

Now that Sierra's broom was properly cleaned, it was time for her to trim the tail twigs. She'd cleaned her own broom tons of times, so this task was more like routine for her and less like a learning experience. Oh, well. At least it was easy points.

She retrieved a pair of tail twig clippers then turned her broom around so that the twigs were near her right hand. She assessed the broom first, looking to see what needed a good trim and what didn't. She knew that reshaping the broom, like Vindictus had mentioned, could change the broom's ability to fly a certain way.

*snip snip snip*

Sierra trimmed away all the jagged twigs then returned the clippers. On to the next step now...

Now that Ella had the polish on her rag she needed to start on the broom handle. She slowly began to rub the polish onto the broom handle, making the circular pattern like the Professor had told them to do. She thought this was quite similar to how her mom washed the kitchen counter after cooking, making the large circles with her towel. She looked down at the handle, wondering what she was forgetting and searched her notes. "Right, overlapping the areas..." Ella continued on making wider circles now so that all areas of the handle were covered in the polish. She looked down at her watch to check the time and sat back with a sigh knowing she'd have to wait five long minutes before she could move on. She wasn't the best at waiting patiently so she started drumming her fingers on the table in front of her, making a nice little dance beat for her and her classmates to listen to.