Kennedy was rotating, trying to be as alert as he could when heard something from behind him. He slowly turned around and saw a squirrel.

D'aaww.

Could he pet it? Wait...

There was another...and another...and then another...AND many MORE! And they were heading straight toward the group! Kennedy leaned to the right dodging the first one that he did a 360 in the air.

Wow.

Time to get a move on, Escalante.

Kurumi did not like that look on Professor Vindictus' face. Waiting nervously, Kurumi clutche her broom to her chest and eyed the trees in the distance. What was next? Lions? Tigers? Bears?
...


"OH MY!" Kurumi's exclaimed, her eyes wide and a HUUUUUUUUUUGE smile appearing on her face. Bouncing in place, Kurumi mounted her broom the moment the man gave them the signal to do so. Avoid them? Pfft! Why would one want to avoid this super adorable creatures?! Kicking off the ground, Kurumi completely forgot her fear of flying and zoomed into the air.

"Hello all you adorable Pteromyini," she chirped, arms extended and hoping that one would decided to fly into her and give her fuzzy hugs. When none came immediately, Kurumi decided to take it upon herself to get a hug. Spotting an especially adorable looking one, Kurumi zoomed after it. Come here you adorable little thing you...

Eino mounted back on his broomstick and pushed himself off the ground at the sound of Professor Vindictus' whistle. For a moment, everyone remained in suspense. Eino loved this portion of Professor Vindictus' classes, he always enjoyed the crazy stunts the professor would have them pull. This time, it was squirrels. Lots an lots of them, everywhere. Eino was unable to identify them immediately. He could see that it was a small furry animal, but he couldn't decide between mouse, rabbit, or squirrel. It wasn't until he saw one of them in another student's broomstick that he figured it out.

His main worry was hitting them. He didn't want to do that, it would injure the right? They weren't as fast as snitches but they could work for beginners, he supposed. Eino could try chasing them, that was tempting. He didn't know where to begin though. He steered from left to right, then back and forth, but there were just too many and just when he thought he locked on one of them, it got mixed with the others.

Flying squirrels, seriously? He expected a dragon or something. With his high confidence (or perhaps overconfidence), Hades soared higher in the air when he saw a squirrel flying straight towards him. Thanks to his flying experience, the boy managed to steer aside just in time before the flying mammal flew into him. Body leaned forward, Hades zoomed down without the slightest fear expressed on his face and pulled up just before he crashed to the ground, soaring back up in the air.

It wasn't hard for him to avoid flying objects. He had survived the brutal training at Durmstrang forcing them to fly in thunderstorm, thus flying squirrels were nothing bad. When Hades stopped to look at the other students, another squirrel was flying in his direction. With his quick reflexes, he rolled under the broom before getting back up.

Squirrels! And there were a lot of them! Silvia had thought there would only be a few enchanted objects flying around that they had to dodge, but they weren't enchanted objects and there weren't just a few of them. Not that squirrels were scary or anything, but she didn't want to run into any of them, especially if they got a little aggressive.

She quickly ascended as high as she could on her broom, hoping not many of the squirrels would be able to get that high. As she was moving upward, another thought crossed her mind: she would have to dodge squirrels and other students, who might be making sudden and abrupt movements as they tried to dodge the squirrels, and some of them might not be paying enough attention to the other students flying around them because of that. She sped up a little and moved as far away from the trees as possible.

WERE THEY ALL VACCINATED?!

Kennedy wasn't worried about colliding with the squirrels, he was worried that one might bite him if he petted it and thus give him rabies or some other weird disease. He tilted his body to the left when a somersaulting squirrel squeeeed it's way pass him. If he could speak squirrel he would probably translate that as the thing laughing at them.

He thought that maybe asking Professor Vindictus for the squirrels' vaccine record would put him at ease, but when he almost got to two feet above the ground he pulled the broom handle up and stopped.

Squirrel AHEAD.

Instead of going down, the boy went back up. No need to get too close to the furry creatures.

Alex had barely had time to register what Vindictus had said--wait, something flying out at them? WHAT?--when suddenly WHOOSH! Flying squirrels were flying around like kamikaze pilots, making daring loops and turns that Alex would never DREAM of doing on a broom. Little devils.

The sudden appearance of the squirrels made Alex yell out in surprise and screech to a halt, almost unseating himself from his broom. Thankfully he hadn't be going very fast, otherwise he would have flown right off the bloody thing. As he sat there in midair, trying to get his breathing back to normal...

SMACK!

One of the squirrels landed ON HIS ARM and sunk it's nails right into his sweater.

"AHHH! LET GO OF ME!!!" Alex yelled, his voice reaching pre-pubescent levels as he shot forward, trying to go fast enough to get the squirrel to let go.

Gideon mounted his broom once more and took off back into the air as directed. Now to see whatever Professor Vindictus had cooked up for them this time, the man known for his tricks in class. As his fellow students joined him in the air, they didn't have to wait long for soon enough a great load of creatures seemed to explode from the trees and towards them.

Squirrels?...Flying squirrels?!

Now that was something, at least nothing tooo scary. Wait...flying rodents WAS a little ackward and unnerving when they weren't Hufflepuffs. Okay bad joke, he mused to himself with a shake of his head, rebuking his own thoughts. He managed to dodge one as it came near him but the Gryffindor pulled the broom handle back to brake. They were flying a little too close for comfort and he needed to be careful to avoid a face full of squirrel should one soar right in front of him.

Harlow wasn't sure what was going to happen but she did not like the look in Professor Vindictus' eyes. He looked too happy about scaring the pudding out of them. But she took off from the ground and kept her eyes trained on the trees. That's where the rustling was the loudest and she had barely enough time to grip her broom when the SQUIRREL shout pierced the air.

She squealed and banked sharply to the right to avoid and flying rat and she slipped off the handle of the broom. Good thing she didn't have far to fall. Harlow bounced twice and rolled three times from the impact. She coughed a squeak as she lay on the grass looking up at the sky and the flying rats. "Perfect," she coughed again sitting up to look for her wayward broom.

Vickers was hovering on his broom staring cautiously at those trees when he heard the Professor say.... "Flying squirrels?" He thought he misheard until he saw the first set of flying furries in the air.

Well heck he aint gonna be avoiding these. He wanted to study these!

And just like that he threw caution to the wind and zoomed forward for a closer look at the mass of gliding furballs....

Aurora had decided to try flying again. Yup. She might despise it but at least she was determined. She kicked off from the ground at almost exactly the same time as something flew right past her. She squealed loudly and momentarily lost control of her broom. She somehow managed to stay upright and steady herself as more squirrels came towards her. All she wanted to do was land but she didn't want to hit any of the poor innocent creatures. She was swerving to dodge them, her heart beating its way out of her chest, her face losing the little colour that had returned when she was on the ground. Honestly... She was just a danger to herself and others and she couldn't land...

Kurumi continued to chase after this one flying squirrel as it glided through the air. It wasn't moving too fast, so it was the perfect pace for her to keep up with. When she eventually caught up with it, she chose to fly beside it for a bit, hoping that her presence would catch its attention. She smiled when it did and even squealed with glee when the little guy decided to land on her broom. YAY! She was just about to reach out and pet it when...
EEK! Kurumi flailed her arms when she heard Alex shout and pick up speed, noticing the tiny little creature that was clinging to his arm. "Wait! You'll scare it!" she shouted as she leaned forward on her broom to pick up speed, turning her handle now and again to avoid colliding with any other squirrels or students.

The poor thing was probably frightened and tired. Flying squirrels were nocturnal after all. The poor thing probably just wanted to snuggle somewhere soft and warm. What better place to do so than on a Hufflepuff, right?

As soon as she heard the whistle, Gwendolyn began flying. So maybe it won’t be so bad…, the third year thought and looked around. ‘Wait- What?!’ I’ll have to avoid what? Like trees and other people? I can do that…, she told herself and scanned the place. Something was going to happen. For sure.

- - - - - - - - -

‘Squirrels!?!’ YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!, the Ravie wanted to scream, but managed to control herself. After taking a deep breath, she began flying around, just trying to follow Vindictus’ instructions. Noticing how squirrels started invading the place, Gwen swallowed heavily. I’m out of here!!!

Maybe if I try flying slower, I could avoid them…, the girl thought and slowed down her broom, not realizing it would be even easier for those little monsters to jump on her broomstick. ‘AAA! SQUIRREL!!!’, she couldn’t help yelling while noticing one of them coming straight towards her. Oh my!!! It is going to kill me! What should I do? What should I dooo?, she kept asking herself. Quick…

*duck*

Managing to avoid the creature, Gwendolyn started catching her breath. Phew…

S-squirrels?

...

As Nora pushed herself off the ground once again, she knew she would regret it. Not that she didn't like squirrels, they were quite adorable, but not FLYING around in HER way.

Trying not to freak out too much, she decided to lean forward for speed and flew away as fast as she could (and, considering how terrified of heights she was, that was not exactly considered speed), avoiding all the squirrels in her way. Why couldn't professor Vindictus use Pygmy Puffs?

Instead of trying to avoid the squirrels safely, Hades was more on doing stunts that could send anyone shouting. The child who didn't seem to have fear of death hung on his broom when he merely escaped from flying into two squirrels. Of course he managed to get back on the broom. He was maneuvering the broom at a high speed when a rather large squirrel was flying down towards him. Instead of dodging, Hades steered the broom straight to the squirrel direction. Simly avoiding was no fun to him, thus the boy wanted to play chicken with the mindless creature. Lets see who got scared first!

Aurora jumped as something hit her. Oh... One of the squirrels had landed on her chest and was clinging on... CUUTTTEEEE! She wanted to pet it but she didn't trust herself to take a hand off her broom. She let the squirrel cling on to her as she carried on dodging the rest of them. "Um... Hello little squ- Ahh!" CLAWS!!! Okay. No talking then. That's fine too. The squirrel had apparently decided Aurora wasn't a good enough lift because it climbed up to her shoulder, digging its claws in as it went, and took off. Aurora sighed in relief and immediately had to turn around and dodge another of the flying furries. She was pretty sure Krys hadn't meant this when he'd told her she looked like a squirrel...

All she had to do was fly as fast as she could and avoid flying squirrels. Yes. She knew that. Although she much preferred to see squirrels where they belonged, in forests, not chasing them around.

But... something interrupted her from her reverie... as it grabbed her sleeve... and firmly helf onto it. She straightened her back to make the broom slow down, and turned around to see... A SQUIRREL ON HER SLEEVE.

"Getoffgetoffgetoff!" She shrieked, hysterically waving her hand in the air, but quickly grabbed the broom handle as she was about to lose her balance. "GET OFF!" She repeated, this time speeding and hoping it would leaver her alone.

But it didn't.

Why was everyone screaming?! The poor little pteromyini only wanted to get from one side of the pitch to the other. Tree to tree and it made perfect sense that they would want to catch a ride on their brooms. Gliding over such a large distance would be very difficult for them! They were not birds after all.

Kurumi looked at the little guy sitting on her broom and noted that his claws were using the handle as a scratching post. Oh Merlin...now THAT wasn't good. "Pssst! Stop that!" she scolded, waving her finger at the flying squirrel. The fifth year placed both hands on the handle and leaned forward, propelling herself towards the opposite end of the pitch towards the other trees. When she was close enough, she pulled up to brake. "Okay now, go on," she said as she nodded her head towards the tree nearest them. The little creature chirped and leaped off her broom and onto the nearest branch.

Laura wasn't happy with this Professor he wanted to kill them all or well he wanted to hurt them because he'd put something that could knock them off their broom and hurt them, seriously why would a Professor do this too them in their first class.

Laura looked around as she started to fly. "Whaa!!!!!!! I'm not very good at flying." Laura shouted as she hoped that she would be able too get out of this lesson without being injured. "HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!" seriously someone should be in front of the girls protecting them.

So maybe flying slower isn’t such a good idea…, Gwendolyn thought after finally getting rid of that MONSTER! Right then- what should I do?, the third year asked herself and just looked around. Everyone was avoiding those squirrels and Gwen had no idea how they managed to do it. Grrr.

Soon, the Ravenclaw remembered she left Laura somewhere behind. Turning her head, the girl couldn’t spot her. Hmph… perhaps she managed to get away, the third year told herself and continued scanning the place. After a while, she finally decided to give up the search and continue flying.

‘Here goes…’, she mumbled to herself and started flying faster and faster. This way maybe they won’t catch me… ‘Can’t we just use a beater’s bat to knock them down?!!?’, Gwendolyn started to get really upset. I officially hate squirrels.

Noticing a really hyper squirrel approaching her, Gwen leaned to the right and managed to avoid hitting the annoying little creature. Ha! I did it!, she thought and turned her head, just to make sure the squirrel was somewhere way behind.

O_____________________o

‘WHAT!?’, the Ravenclaw said, looking surprised when noticing the squirrel clinching on the end of her broomstick. ‘SHEW!’, she said and gestured with her hand. Go away!!!

The squirrel simply refused to let go. Nora did everything that crossed her mind; hysterically waving her arm in the air was crossed from the list, because she knew she could easily lose her balance and fall, and she was getting quite high up in the air. She was tempted to use a spell to make the squirrel leave her alone, but she also knew that was not an option either. And then she tried to gain speed in the hope it will loosen its grip on her sleeve and let her go, but the faster she flew, the tighter the grip was.

"Please get off me," she begged the squirrel, but it wouldn't listen to her. What was she supposed to do now?!

For Godric's sake, why were they acting like that? The squirrels were all very cute and pretty. No need to be afraid and scream like a werewolf was chasing them because squirrels can nowhere be as scary as werewolves. Oh, reality check Miss Castell, let me remind you that you're still flying. A tiny voice inside her mind whispered loudly. Beezus shook her head and well..remembered that she was still high above the ground, clutching the handle of her school broom.

Then..as she looked around, she saw one squirrel fly and landed clinging on the end of one student's broom. Beezus urged her broom to move forward so she could witness the possible exchange of pleasant nods from the squirrel and the rider. However, when she neared them, she saw that the rider was trying to shoo the poor squirrel away, and that rider was no other than..

"GWEN! No, stop!.." Beezus lunged forward, her hand grasping the broom handle firmly. "Don't move..It'll fall!" she yelled in mid air nervously. What if the cute little creature would lose its hold and fall?

No, she didn't like to think what would happen next.

Ella heard the Professor yell before she saw them...squirrels?! What on earth? She didn't have much time to think about how odd this was as one of the furry little creatures had launched itself right in her path. Ella yelled, "Watch out, squirrel!" as she swerved just in time. She was sure she had grazed the poor thing because it was now looking at her from a nearby tree...well, not looking, glaring. Oh great, now this squirrel is going to full on declare warfare on me! Ella couldn't stop for long to worry about the little fury obstacle because more and more were flying through the air and she didn't want any other close calls. Just keep your eyes peeled and no more trying to talk to them...they're squirrels!

Deep breath.

Stopping about twenty feet off the ground, Nora knew everything she kept trying to do to get that stubborn squirrel off her arm was pointless. The more she tried, the more stubborn it became.

Waiting for a few moments in the air, she wanted to see if it actually wanted to harm her or even chew the sleeve of her robe, but it didn't do absolutely anything, other than just stay there. Not knowing what else to do, she lowered the handle of her broom and approached the ground until she knew she was close enough not to hurt herself in the case she fell off her broom, and then took the squirrel in her hand and watched as it hopped down and made its way on the grass, probably looking for someone else to torment. But she was free, so she took off in the air again.

Harvey kicked off the ground.. and was just there when suddenly all these grey flying things came from nowhere. Then the professor said that they were squirrels. Harvey's eyes went wide... oh! flying squirrels?! yes he had heard of these in the muggle world.. he was looking around as the squirrels were going for everyone else when he didnt realise that he was the next target for one of these grey furry squirrels.. it jumped onto the end of his broom.

He as a scared reaction pushed his broom forward and sped off and looked around to see that one of them was on his broom "Oh its you.. I thought it was something else" he then looked forward "Although what else could it be.. the Professor has released many of you on us.. so why would I think that it was something else.." so then to see if he could lose it.. but nothing "How do I get you off my broom?" he asked himself as he thought of what to do.. suddenly it came to him zigging and zagging like he had practiced before.

After a little while of zigging and zagging he felt the extra weight of the squirrel leave him.. again confused he looked round to see the squirrel jump off him and onto a nearby tree.. since he was flying close to some trees "Good!" he said and he leaned right quickly to avoid another hitchiker.. but not succeeding "Oh come one not another one!" he said in fustration..