Minerva decided it was time to stop flying. She slowly leaned forward and pointed her broom to the ground. Once she was close enough she pulled up a bit and landed on her feet. She smiled thank goodness it wasn't on her face like last year.

Professor Vindictus had been watching the students flying overhead and he pulled a shiny silver object out of his pocket. He brought it up to his lips and . . . .

TWEET!


"Everyone please land and gather around me," he announced loudly.

Nate pointed his broomstick toward the ground and landed by the professor. He got off of his broom and found a spot in front of her.

Taylor walked over to the professor, since she already landed.

Hearing the blow of the whistle, Gideon turned and looked up at Vindictus to listen to what he had to say. Since he was already on land, he simply walked over to the professor to be close as directed and await what was next for the class.

Kennedy looked down to see Professor Vindictus blowing the whistle. Time to go down then. He slowly made his way down and when his feet touched the ground he unmounted the broom. What was next now?

He straightened up at the sound of the whistle then turned around, just in time to see Vindictus call them back towards him. Broom in hand, he walked back to his usual spot and waited for the Professor's next instructions.

Silvia heard the whistle and began to descend. She reached the ground and landed slowly and safely. Dismounting the broom, she walked over to where everyone was gathering for further instructions.

The sudden sound of the whistle made Hades startled and almost fell down from the broom. His eyes widened when he quickly grabbed the broomstick handle just in time before he slipped off the twigs. Nudging the broom handle downwards, the boy straightened his back to let the broom slow down. Once he landed, Hades held the broom in hand and headed to where the deputy headmaster was standing.

Kurumi jumped when she heard Professor Vindictus blow his whistle. At least she had already landed so she didn't fall off her broom and hurt herself or anything. Holding her broom in her hand and leaning it against herself, the fifth year stood by the professor and awaited further instruction.

Please let there not be something big and scary they were going to have to fly around...

"Before I explain your next task, let's discuss the dangers of flying," Professor Vindictus began. "Why should you be aware of your surroundings at all times when flying?"

At the sound of the whistle, Beezus leaned forward, turning the broom handle face down. Afterwards, she was zooming towards the ground. She pulled the handle back up a bit for the braking charm to take effect then it halted and she got out from the broom. She then carried it to where Vindi was.

When the next question was raised, Beezus also raised her hand and answered. "Professor, it is vital that we should be aware of our surroundings when flying mainly to avoid accidents." Because that often happened. "Awareness together with concentration is the key to hinder any injuries from taking place."

Dangers of Flying....oh there were many. Gideon raised his hand to answer the question that was raised. "So ye can be able to react in time should something or someone come to the point to cause harm to ye or others," he replied remembering how that was quite useful when avoiding or at least trying to avoid bludgers in quidditch.

After Professor Vindictus asked the question, Kennedy raised his hand. "It's important to be aware of our surroundings so that we don't crash into people or other things, and so that we don't lose our balance." Yeah, because if someone is about to crash into something and notices at the last minute...well, that could end up bad.

Standing lazily with the broom supporting him, Hades raised his hand to answer the Professor V whatever's question. "Well, we don't know what else might be up there, flying. We shouldn't keep our guards down or we might get knocked off our brooms," or being hit by a massive muggle aeroplane.

Kurumi leaned against her broom when Professor Vindictus spoke and had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from saying the first thing that came to mind. So that you don't die?

Waiting a moment, Kurumi raised her hand as well to offer up an answer. "On top of whatever one else said, if you scan your surroundings and know what is going on around you at all times you are that much harder a target, especially on the Quidditch pitch. Also, knowing your surroundings will help you determine what the best route to fly is."

And, you know, prevent you from dying if you fell off.

Professor Vindictus nodded at each student after they gave their answers. "Two points for each of your answers," he said. "Your classmates have explained the reasons quite well. However, there are occasions when you'll be forced to react to a situation when in the air. Try your best to keep your wits about you and not freak out." As he was speaking, a loud rustling noise could be heard in the trees.

"On my whistle, I want all of you to take to the air and fly around but you need to be on alert. Something is going to appear out of nowhere and it is your task to practice your reactionary skills. If you break too quick, you'll be thrown from your broom and risk getting hit by other fliers. Try not to collide with each other when trying to avoid the objects." The rustling noise in the trees became louder.

"No spell work. None. Cast a spell and you lose mega points in addition to being dismissed from the lesson. Do I make myself clear?" he asked. After several seconds of silence, he brought his whistle up to his lips.

TWEET!


OOC: Take off and begin flying . . . and get ready

Taylor took off from the ground on the professor's orders. She was a little scared. Taylor started flying around, careful to look out for anything coming at her.

Kennedy gave a firm nod. No spells. Got it.

He mounted the broom once more and got up in the air. Then he heard something coming from some trees. What was it? Trolls? More spiders? Pixies? Enchanted sweets? The last one he would protest to, but the others...he'll be ready for it. Maybe.

Taking a firm, but not too tight hold of the broom handle, Kennedy readied himself, but was paranoid as to where the thing or things were going to come from.

Two points. Good. Very good start.

She listened as Professor Vindictus gave them some short explanations and hinted them about something going to appear once they were in mid air. Concentration would be needed, she thought.

As he continued telling them about the rules for their activity, Beezus quickly ponytailed her waist long hair. She wouldn't want that to interfere once she was already up above.

Then..once the whistle blew, the young eaglet pivoted back to her broom, inhaled deeply and kicked off from the ground. Be aware of the surroundings Beezus, she kept reminding herself as she began to fly upwards.

Silvia kicked off at the sound of the whistle and rose into the air. She turned to face the direction she thought the rustling was coming from. What could it be that we're supposed to dodge? she wondered. She began to get a little nervous; she didn't think she had very fast reactions, not that she had ever really had her reactions tested or anything, especially not with flying. Silvia tried to clear her mind and prepare herself for what ever it was that was coming. No use worrying about it, surely the professor wouldn't release anything too dangerous. Best to concentrate on flying. And she pushed her broom forward and began to circle around.

She took back off in the air and kept her eyes and ears open to her surroundings.

Vickers shifted his eyes at the ominous rustling amongst the trees. Wait did the Professor essentially say this is a test of their reflexes? WITHOUT A WAND??????

Can he sit this one out?

He turns his eyes back at his Head of House. Scratch that. The question would be what will happen to him if he ASKS to sit this one out.

And there goes the whistle. *Gulp*

Vickers scrambles to his feet and mounts the broom. Just before kicking off he looks back at those trees. Why does he have a really bad feeling about this? He launches himself towards the skies, as far AWAY from that ominous rustling as he can.

The rustling in the trees got louder and louder. Suddenly, something burst out of the fall foliage and launched itself directly in the path of the fliers. Then another one followed. And then another and another!



"SQUIRRELS!" shouted Vindictus and he counted at least twenty of them in the air.



OOC: The objective is simple. Avoid hitting the harmless flying squirrels as they attempt to fly from one section of trees on the school grounds to another. Beware of a few of them - some like to 'hijack' rides on unsuspecting fliers.

Have fun and be CREATIVE. Yes, that means you can have a flying squirrel land on you and you can RP freaking out! To earn points for this final task, you should have at least 6 RP posts (at least 5 descriptive sentences per post; chat-only posts do not count). Extra points will be given to those who are extra creative with how they RP this task. At 8:30am EST on Friday, this final portion of the lesson will end.

"Yikes!" Beezus exclaimed as a few numbers of squirrels came flying towards them. Quickly, she maneuvered her school broom to the left. Carefully avoiding the squirrels. Why, it was starting to get fun. "Professor!" she called out. "Are we.." giggle..because they were so cute. "..supposed to catch them? Or just play tag with them?" she asked offhandedly with a small chuckle, then she pulled the broom handle back as another squirrel came flying towards her direction.