Putting her hand directely over the broom India failing at getting the broom to fly up into her hand at first. Rather sad for a seventh year? India's outstretched hand finally made contact with the broom. Well, it did as it was told? No..asked. Clasping her hands around the broom handle she was ready for the next step.

Listening her head of house began to give instructions on how to mount their brooms. Well, he was saying to mount them. Well, it'd all be good. She wasn't going to be crying for fear of falling off her broom.

No. Not at all. India was tough as nails...well. Not really. Touch as a book's spine. And those could crack. Gulp.

Putting both hands on the broom she glanced down at her knuckles. White as snow. Pausing, she took a deep breath, calm calm calm she thought as she let the sense of calm fill her. Looking back at her knuckles she saw the color returning and slowly presumed to mount her broom. Her right hand in front, as she was right not left handed.

India released her right hand, raising it to answer a question. Now this was why they were still on the ground. "Professor when in the air you must use your muscles in order to steer that is tilting, well...er more arching your body in the direction you want to go while still holding yourself on the broom." At least she'd hoped she'd gotten it right. If not, she didn't want to lose points.

Having successfully managed to get the schools broom up on the third try Jezzabelle smiled and then raised her hand to answer the question, "You lean in the direction that you wish your broom to go." She didn't really feel like she needed to elaborate on it because it was so simple a muggle could have understood her words. She looked at her hand holding the broom to make sure she wasn't holding on too tight and she wasn't.

Ira mounted her broom and gripped it with both her hands, not too lose, not too tight. Making sure her knuckles weren't white, though she was afraid in her mind, she took a deep breath and calmed herself.

Then professor asked a question. How to steer a broom? This had been done last term! Ira knew this! She raised her hand and answered, "Professor, we just lean our body in the direction we want to go. But it must be done slowly or you risk losing balance.." which Ira definitely didn't want!

Silvia managed to contain her excitement for the moment and held her hand over the broom. In a clear, calm but firm voice, she said, "Up!" Surprisingly and to her delight, the broom jumped into her hand on the first try.
--

She turned her attention back towards the professor as he instructed them to mount their brooms. Silvia did so, making sure to have a secure, but not too tight, grip on the handle. I'm actually going to be learning to fly! she thought excitedly as she listened to the other students' answers on how to steer.

Kennedy mounted the broom and relaxed his fingers around it. No need to choke the poor broom.

He looked up when Professor Vindictus asked a question. He raised his hand and said, "To steer your broom you lean toward the direction you want to go." Like, lean right if you want to go right, and lean left if you want to go left. Simple.

Okay the NOT white knuckling of the brooms was proving to be a bit difficult for Mortimer. He was on the verge of a nervous breakdown as he mounted and gripped the broom tightly. TIGHTLY. He did take the Professor's words to heart and attempted to loosen his fingers a bit until he got his feeling back.

Raising one hand (which was still a bit curled in from gripping the broom) he said, "Well sir, one must only lean in whichever direction one wishes one's broom to go. The shift of weight directs the brooms." MAYBE. He was not entirely sure. He WAS sure that he had never voraciously read about broom care... or whatever they were discussing. Feh.

"Very good, Gideon," replied Professor Vindictus. "Three points for Gryffindor."

"If you lean backwards on your broom, you'll end up falling off," responded Vindictus. "Aside from that misunderstanding, three points for Hufflepuff."

"However if you lean too far forward, you'll definitely be zooming towards the moon," replied Vindictus. "Two points for Ravenclaw."

"Yes, that does help you steer your broom. One point for Slytherin," he replied.

"Very good, India. Three points for Ravenclaw."


"That's correct, Jezzabelle. One point for Gryffindor."

"That's absolutely correct, Ira. Two points for Gryffindor," he replied.

"That's correct, Kennedy. One point for Slytherin."

Vindictus nodded. "Well said, Mortimer. Two points for Ravenclaw," he replied and resumed his pacing.


"Leaning forward on your broom will make it speed up. To slow down, sit upright on your broom and pull the broom handle towards you. This action triggers the braking charm. To land, gently nudge the broom handle towards the ground. As the ground gets closer, pull up on the handle - do this gently and your feet will touch the ground at a slow jogging pace. However, if you freak out and jerk the handle upwards so that it hugs your chest, you'll find yourself cartwheeling out of control and spending a few days recovering in hospital."

There. That should scare 'em.

"To take off, all you do is push off gently from the ground. If you push too hard, you'll wobble out of control."

Pause.

"I want you to practice taking off and landing. While you're in the air, practice turning and braking. For those who are scared about heights, these particular brooms have been charmed to fly no higher than 100 feet in the air. Begin!"


OOC: To earn participation points for this part of the lesson, you should have at least 6 RP posts of you flying (posts must be at least 5 sentences in length - describe what's happening!)

It's okay to converse with other students while you're in the air (be realistic about how you'd talk to someone while flying), but I don't want to see any chat-only posts. Chat-only posts will result in a loss of 5 points per post.

I want you to have fun while you're RPing, so please leave the drama outside of the lesson. This means that no one should receive any injury that requires Vindictus's help or the services of the school nurse (this includes performing a healing spell on anyone).

The next task in the lesson will be posted @ 10pm EST tomorrow (Wednesday). When the next task is posted, you cannot go back to perform this one.

Jezzabelle beamed and when she was told that they were going to be allowed to actually fly she couldn't have been more excited. Taking a deep breath she gently kicked up off the ground and hovered in the air just for a moment. Well, the broom seemed stable enough and would just have to do for the duration of her first year at the school. She leaned forward ever so slightly and felt the broom take off. She leaned back a little to slow down some and almost came to a complete stop. "Jeez, could these brooms be anymore sensitive?" She leaned forward half an inch more and finally got to a speed she could handle, at least one that she felt safe going at while on the schools broom.

After having made her broom rise in the air and mounted it, she chose to remain silent during the question and answer period. Just because she was here did not mean she wanted to be an super active participant. She was here mostly to get her cookie cutters and book back from Selina. No offense, Professor Vindictus, but flying should be left to the birds.

When they were told to kick off, Kurumi gripped her broom TIGHT and her knuckles turned white. Palms sweating, Kurumi nervously looked around as other students began kicking off the ground, making it look so easy. Kurumi had been that way once, before her broom had shattered under her hands. Now, well, Kurumi wasn't sure that her intent would be strong enough to actually get herself off the ground.

Sighing, Kurumi bent slightly at the knees and attempted to kick off the ground - and failed. What ended up happening instead was that she simply jumped off the ground a few inches and touched back down.

Awesome. They'd be flying already. After a few set of questions and answers and they'd be doing the practical part. She listened as Professor Vindictus gave them instructions. Bummer though, they were going to do only the basics. Maybe next lesson they'd have more entertainment.

Beezus looked around as the other students had started rushing off from the ground and rose up in the air above them. But one person caught her eye. Kurumi, Gryffindor Prefect and Seeker. Or was it still? Beezus quickly held the handle of the broom tight, sucked in breath and kicked off!

A few more seconds and she was up in mid air. It had been so long since she had flew above the Hogwarts grounds and it certainly felt good. However, she didn't flew too high yet, instead Beezus maneuvered the broom handle and turned it right then turned it again and pulled back slowly until she was above the struggling lioness. "Kurumi! Can we errr--ride together?" she asked.

Kennedy nodded in response to the point he was awarded. He listened to what Professor Vindictus was saying and made mental notes about everything. He knew his skills were going to be a bit rusty since he had not flown for a about three months.

He took a deep breath and pushed off the ground. At first the broom was a bit shaky causing him to wobble. It didn't scare him though, this only meant that he was nervous, which...was kind of often.

His instinct to hold on kicked in and his hands constricted around the handle a bit more tight. Put yourself together, Escalante. He shook his head and breathed in and out. There, that relaxed him a bit more.

Sophie was a bit scared but there was nothing she could do, was there? Oh well. She held the broom a little more tightly than before and pushed off from the ground with her eyes closed. She felt the air going through her hair and there was no more ground under her feet! She were very still, holding the broom tightly and then, slowly, she opened her eyes... She did it! Still a little scared, she smiled weakly and looked around to watch the other students for a little while. She didn't move at all for a couple of minutes, just feeling her feet dangling. That felt really weird...

Messer was listening very carefully what the Professor was saying while he was in the air. Professor Vindictus told the class to kick off so he did what he was told. He gripped his broom tightly. Its not his first time flying but he still feel really nervous. He took a very deep breath before he pushed off the ground. And he was flying in the air, feel he was just 5 feet from the ground but at least he managed to kick off his broom, right?

Ira felt proud to see that she got two points for answering correctly. She listened as professor explained it in more details and nodded. Yup, she understood everything and was now a bit more scared.

That said, now she had to fly. Calming herself, she told herself that being a Gryffindor, she couldn't be scared. I'm a brave girl.. I'm a brave girl she muttered under her breath. She looked at others taking off. It certainly looked easy enough. Besides, this wasn't her first time on the broom, right?

She gently pushed off the ground and rose. Her broom rose! Ira couldn't believe herself that she had actually managed to fly on her first attempt only. She carefully balanced herself and... It felt good!

Kurumi sighed. What would Simon and Carter say now if they saw her and her jumping around the pitch in a pathetic attempt to get up in the air? No, wait, she didn't want to think about that. Just like she didn't want to think about how the brooms were charmed to go no higher than 100 feet.

...

Because THAT wasn't high or anything.

Kurumi rolled her shoulders a bit and tried to relax her hands that were clenching the broom's handle as if her life depended on it. This was her first mistake. The man had even said so himself.
Hearing her name, Kurumi looked up to see Beezus hovering over her. Sigh. This wasn't embarrassing or anything. "Ride together? Do you mean on the same broom?" Kurumi asked, feeling completely and utterly humiliated by the suggestion. "That's alright. This is more of an individual activity. You go on ahead and practice." She said with a faint smile. "But, um, thanks anyway....for offering." She also didn't want to see Professor Vindictus' face if she were to attempt to climb up on Beezus broom. Scary thoughts...

Her eyes went back to the ground again and she bent her knees. She really needed to focus or else she was going to spend the entire lesson hopping around the pitch like a rabbit. She closed her eyes and tried to picture what it had been like when Selina had trained her several summers ago when she had stayed at Selina's home. Back then there had been no expectations and nothing to worry about other than staying on your broom.

Slowly, but with more force this time, she kicked off the ground and was surprised when her feet didn't touch down again. Sure, she wasn't all that high off the ground. No more than three feet to be honest, but her feet were tucked safely in her foot holsters and she was hovering. Progress.

Once Ira was in the air, it was fine. It felt good to be flying around. She wasn't too high up, she would go there when she was a little more confident of her abilities. Remembering last term's lesson, she hoped that giant spider wouldn't make its way here again! That would be horrible!

She gently leaned on the right to move there. She veered of her path and went into a kind of oblong path in air. "Wow!!" she exclaimed, "This feels awesome!" she said to no one in particular.

In her excitement, she nearly lost her balance, but didn't. She controlled her broom and herself and learnt to control her emotions at least when in the air.

WHUT? No. Beezus didn't meant it like that. "Uhm..I was err--suggesting that we ride together not on the same broom but err--just kinda side by side." Clearly, Kurumi had taken into thinking the opposite. There was something bothering her though, Kurumi had been acting strange towards her ever since term started. Like there was something she had done that didn't quite pleased the Prefect.

Sighing, she replied. "Oh, okay.." Beezus shrugged. It seemed obvious enough that Kurumi was struggling and she didn't want to add fuel to the fire and so with a nod she turned her attention back to her broom and pulled it left. Just as she was about to lean forward to fly a bit more higher, she heard the sound of a flight. Looking back to where the Prefect was, she saw that Kurumi finally managed to fly her broom. "You've done it." Beezus commented plainly.

Maybe it was time for Sophie to start moving around now... She looked around and thought about what she could do now. She saw a fellow Hufflepuff, who was also a firstie, rise up not very far from her and decided to go try and talk to him. That should be fun!

She turned her head to face the boy and then made the broom turn in his direction too. She was doing everything quite slowly, it's true. But she was still a bit scared of falling off the broom. When she got close enough, she spoke carefully - no reason to speak carefully, but it felt safer if she did so.

"Hello!" Sophie said smiling at the boy, glancing every other second at her broom and at the ground. "I'm Sophie! I've seen you around but never introduced myself."

Once the broomstick had been placed beside him, Eino stood tall, lifted his hand above the instrument, and firmly ordered it up. "Up!" Like a boss. As soon as the broomstick hit his palm, Eino used his ninja-like reflexes to grasp it tightly. Playing in the quidditch team had been the best practice for his flying career, or whatever it was, since he had no intention of doing much with it. It could come in handy during his magical creatures studies, so he continued to take the classes. Plus, now that he could actually fly with no trouble he could help newer students.

With one leg up and over the broomstick, and he was mounted, seated on the Cushioning Charm. Eino tightened his grip on the handle with both of his hands, then slowly pushed himself off the ground with both feet and found himself hovering in the air. It was usually a lot more complicated for Quidditch, since he had to use one arm to hold the beater's bat. While in the air, Eino searched for troubled first years, or even older students, in hopes of helping them.

Alright. All she had to do was practice a bit, although she was terrified of heights, and the fact that the brooms were charmed to fly no higher than one hundred feet was not helping Nora at all. With the broom already in her right hand, she mounted it and... she couldn't do it. But she did it last term! She knew she could do it.

Deep breath. Trying to think that in case her worst fear will come true and she will fall off the broom, professor Vindictus was there, and hopefully could help. She softly pushed off the ground and watched with wide eyes as she started to hover above the ground.

Since he had no trouble handling the broom, Hades mounted it and pushed off slowly so the broom would soar. As he was several feet off the ground, he leaned forward, intending to increase the speed of the broom. The boy flew against the wind direction which only made him more excited. Nothing excited him more than adventures and perhaps, some life-threatening stunts which he wouldn't attempt in front of the deputy headmaster. After a few rounds of flying at least fifty feet above, Hades slowly pushed the broomstick handle downwards to land.

However, he suddenly saw Nora and flew to her direction instead of landing. He made his way quickly around her and braked his broom just right next to her. "Scared of height?" smirked Hades as he saw her looking pretty scared. There were times he wondered why would someone who was afraid of height insisted on taking flying lessons.

Messer thought to mount his broom higher. He was just 5 feet higher from the ground after all. He leaned forward on his broom in attempt to make it speed up but not to fast. He was afraid that if he was too fast he couldn't control his broom. "Woooohhooo..!!" It feel so good. The wind and everything else.

He heard someone was speaking to him, so he slowly turned his broom "Hello. Nice to meet you, Sophie. I'm Messer." He'd like to shake the girl hand but he need both of his hand in the broom. "You're a Hufflepuff too?" he asked motioning his head toward her robes while maintaining his broom so he won't fall.

Closing her eyes for a moment to calm down while she was still hovering just a few feet off the ground, she finally opened them to see Hades right next to her, smirking. Gasping (well, of course he scared her), she narrowed her eyes a little at him, because she couldn't resist not glaring at the boy. "Is it that obvious?"

Not exactly waiting for an answer, because she was well aware of how terrified she might look, she tried to get her broom to take her juuuust a little bit higher, flying around but still close to Hades because, even if he was ready to tease her, it was better to confront one of her worst fears in the company of someone.

But she couldn't bring herself to lean forward for speed. Not yet. Hovering was good.

After seeing Kurumi being able to fly her broom, Beezus yet diverted her attention back to her own flying session. As she was still hovering not too far from ground, she leaned forward slowly and instantly, her broom and of course, along with her had zoomed upwards. She remembered that the brooms won't fly for more than 100 feet so she quickly pulled down the broom handle and stopped its flight. She wouldn't want to be flying upwards and then be frozen right on stop once she hits the 100 feet limit.

Looking around once more, all other students were enjoying while a few others still seemed to be a bit reluctant at putting over their legs on the brooms. A few more had also been helping those are scared. Beezus grinned and she maneuvered her broom handle downwards, just slowly and when she arrived at her chosen height, she gripped the handle firmly as she swished it off, making a sharp turn mid air.

Sophie made sure she was steady enough and managed to wave at Messer rather quickly, and held her broom with both hands again. "Yeah, I'm a Hufflepuff!" she said happily. She was starting to feel less scared and was learning to enjoy flying. She shook her feet a little to feel again that they weren't touching anything. It was an interesting feeling now. "I think I saw you at the feast talking to older students." other than that Sophie had not seen Messer anywhere else. "How do you like Hogwarts so far?" she then tried and made a few circles in the air, not too fast either, but she was letting the broom go a little faster than before. She went up and down a little before facing Messer again. She was actually having fun with all of this! She didn't expect to like flying this much.