On her way back around, Selina leaned into the hilt of her broom a bit so she could fly faster. She wanted to get some speed but also be conscious of all of the ickles flying about. The last thing she needed was a collision so close to try outs, which that in itself WAS WEIRD. She had not tried out for the team since she was a third year. Now she was a seventh year. It was going to be awesome and scary. But she was so excited to see her ickle Alice run the try outs. She would be brilliant.

Once she reached the other end of the Pitch, she turned her broom sharply to move away from the goal post because she had been distracted. The tail end of the broom brushed up against the goal post. It nearly threw her from her broom, but she was a vet at this kind of stuff, so she just swerved her broom a bit and was fine.

Well, that was close.

And now onto the blue hoop. It was bobbing up and down. It reminded Jory of a buoy at sea. Once again, he slowed down as he neared it. He noticed occasionally it would shift to the right. Feeling he had gotten a good idea about the hoop's movement, he leaned forward and headed straight for it. The hoop shifted- up, down, up, down. Knowing that it would be to the right soon, the boy leaned forward on the broom and angled the handle slightly to he right. No sooner had he done this, than it suddenly went to the right, allowing him to go cleanly through it. "Yes!'' he thought. "Just one more!''

The Puff eyed the purple hoop looming nearer and nearer. This one was only moving from left to right but it changed directions ever so quickly. Currently it was at the right. He headed in that direction just as it changed to the left side. Closer he went and the hoop went back to the right. "Let's go!'' Jory thought leaning forward and increasing his speed. He made it through just as the hoop was about to go to the left, narrowly avoid hitting the broom. "Yes!'' He had done it! What a bummer it would have been if he hit that last hoop.

Minerva heard him say three and leaned forward. She was moving quickly around the poles still trying to make sure that back end of her broom wasn't going to hit, so it was making her slower. She really needed to practice this more so it would come easy. Watching as Ethan got ahead of her she couldn't believe how easy it looked when he did it. She knew he would get on the team so easy. Zipping around the poles she glanced ahead at him only to make eye contact with him and then watch him it a pole.

Trying not to laugh to much, she wanted to make sure he was alright of course, but her competition side had come out and she finished the poles before turning and going back towards him still giggling a bit, especially since she saw him laughing. "Are you alright? You are really good at the poles, well until you get distracted.." Laughing she pulled her broom away from the poles to let others have their turns. "Want to go again, or try the hoops?"

Two more to go. Ella could totally do this. She just needed to keep her pace and pay attention to how the hoops were moving, yeah? And also to make sure she paid attention the differences in height. Like the next hoop, the blue one? This hoop was much higher up in the air.

She continued to fly, heading up towards the blue ring and keeping an eye on where she might be able to enter. Timing was quite important, right? Right. As she neared the opening, she grew a bit more nervous as it seemed to be a bit windier up here too. No matter, she was going to make it through this hoop. She tightened her grip and saw her chance as the blue ring moved a little again. Zoooooooooooooooom. Right through the center.

Last hoop was purple and it was beneath her so Ella angled herself towards the ground, slowing down a bit. She could do this, only one more hoop to go. As she got closer she noted that this one seemed to be changing direction quite frequently. Her eyes darted from the left to the right each time it moved, wondering how she was meant to get through it cleanly. Sheesh. She couldn't fail on the last hoop, that would be awful!

Inching closer and closer, she bit her lip and looked for her opportunity. As the hoop swerved towards the right, Ella angled herself so that as it went back towards the left she could slip through...hopefully.

Zooooooom

Thank Merlin. She did it. BEAM

It was once again Peyton's turn. She was eager to prove to herself she had bonded with the broom enough to go all crazy on it. Okay, not necessarily crazy, but just close enough to have fun like she did on her own broom. After the last person had finished their lap, Peyton wasted not time to go into the activity. This time she wove through the poles faster, pushing the broom little by little.

She loved going fast. That and she wasn't patient enough to go slow. Slow was for snails and she didn't like those either. They were slimy. So fast it was for the redheaded Baltazar. She swerved, dodging the poles, her brows knitted in the center of her forehead in concentration. With a hissing wooosh! Peyton finished her lap, feeling quite accomplished. She nor the broom had hit any of the poles.

*BEAM*

Ethan was still laughing when he pulled out of the course and watched Minerva finish with no problem. He grinned as she came over and shook his head. "I guess you're my distraction," he said with a wink, remembering several times she said that about him last term. "I'm fine," he chuckled as she giggled at him. "Just need to make sure I'm a little more focused." As in, stop being so worried about what your girlfriend is doing.

He glanced over at the hoops. Those seemed interesting and he was somewhat eager to try his flying skills on those, besides he wasn't sure how much class time was left before they'd be dismissed. "Let's go try the hoops," he said with an eager grin. "I think those are a little harder." And might be another good practice for skill. "Race you over there," he said suddenly with a wink and leaned forward to take off, headed for the red hoop, and dodging several fliers in the process.

Belle felt confident about going through the hoops. She knew she needed to be more assertive and concentrate harder. She took a deep breath. She kicked off from her broom and was ready to go. Her hair was blowing in the wind. She felt the breeze on her face.

Belle took a deep breath and was ready to take on the hoops. Belle went through the Red ones with no problem after a few of practice. Then she went through the organe and yellows. Then she faced the green ones. "Hmmm we met again green ones." Belle smiled and was ready to tackle them. Belle took a breath and went up in the air a little bit then descended. Then she did a loop and backflip. She felt so much adrenaline!!

Belle then went through the Blue and Violet ones. She actually made it through. Zooomm! then Swish! the Twist and turns. Belle felt so free! She finally made it through the hoops! She was done with the activity!

She the checked off all the hoops offf R.O.Y.G.B.V

Minerva laughed, "Well I guess I better stay away from the claw tryouts then." She winked at him and looked at the hoops. They looked harder then the poles. She didn't want to make herself look dumb in front of Ethan, but she wanted to try them. "Let's go.. " but before she could get anything else out he had already left, she zoomed towards the other side of the pitch laughing and trying to catch up to him. "Hey, that's cheating." She yelled joking at him.

Once near the hoops she stopped and got in the line. Now what did they have to do again. She watched her classmates, "This looks hard." She said to Ethan has she came up beside him. "So we just go through the hoops?" That was the concept right, but they were different sizes so it was going to take some skills.

Looking at the first hoop she waited until it was her turn, moving in front of Ethan with a little grin, "Ladies first..." She winked and went towards the hoop. Hmm this did seem a little more difficult. Trying to make sure she centered her broom she eased into the hoop and got through it without touching. First one was done...

Back in line, Sierra tried to come up with some sort of strategy to make it through these hoops. For one, she didn't need to underestimate them. She'd nearly made a Puffer out of herself the first time she'd tried it. Yeah, that would not be happening again. She'd at least make it halfway through, although, preferably she'd make it to the end.

When her time came, she eyed her goal and focused on making it through the hoops. She could do this. She lowered her position, causing the broom to start moving forward. Pretty soon, she'd made it through the first hoop. Good. At least she wouldn't be making a fool of herself this time. She made it through the second one just fine, too, and then the third. On the fourth one, though, she mis-judged the lefthand side and bumped right into it.

With a hiss and then a growl, she turned around and joined the line once again.

Peyton stopped what she was doing when she heard Professor James' voice. For a second there she thought the lesson had ended, in which her lips had fallen into a pout, but soon followed by a smile when the next activity was announce.

Hoops! They were going to play with hoops! Peyton mentally squealed and when Professor James was done explaining, Peyton zoomed off to the next station. Oooh! Those seemed challenging, she LIKES! Peyton was probably a bit too excited about this activity. Which may be a good or bad thing.

She took off from her spot and headed toward the red hoop, keeping her eyes on it as it moved from side to side. Okay, here goes nothing...and she slowed. Just as she was about to enter the thing it moved to the side, and not wanting to miss it she slowed just a biiit, keeping a tab on it, until finally, Peyton spotted the right time to pick up her speed and zoomed through that hoop. She did this little happy shoulder jiggle and flew toward the next hoop, repeating the process and passing it.

She applied this to the other hoop, the green one, and on the blue one. She began to get too excited, didn't pay attention and bumped into the hoop. More like it grazed the top of her head.

O___O

Merlin, she was lucky she didn't lose her head there. Though it had BARELY grazed the red hairs on the top of her head, Peyton felt she had just gone through a near death experience. Her excitement was getting the best of her and her concentration, it seems.

That little snake!

"Odessa!" Dylan laughed, taking off after the younger boy. West was fast, yes...even with the school broom, darting through the red hoop first and then quickly making it to the orange one...Bugger these school brooms.

For the Captain, the red was more easy. It wasn't that high up and he was able to barrel right through it...He trailed Odessa, pulling the handle of the broom up to slip through the orange...It was a bit of an angel...and Dylan was worried about being bigger than his chaser. That could have effected stuff.

The yellow was next.........and it was going to be a steep upward curve...

Gah! He pulled hard against the handle...

Ethan laughed as he heard her words behind him. "Not cheating.. I gave fair warning," he yelled back with a grin as he glanced over his shoulder. Well, sorta.. at least he said what he was doing before he took off. And she was coming up on him fast.

He leaned back just a little to slow around the turn, then leaned back to hover in mid-air as he came upon the red hoop. The boy gave Minerva a little grin as she pulled in next to him and he glanced back at the hoops at her words. Yes, fly through each of the hoops.. He nodded and said, "I have every confidence that you can do it."

Ethan watched the fliers ahead of them just to get an idea, then.. oh, she was going? He grinned as she flew away.. ladies first was only fair. "Alright, I'll be right behind you," he said as he leaned forward to accelerate a bit and steered his broom in through the center of the hoop. Okay, that wasn't so hard, but how would varying the heights of the next ones go?

Peyton was glad she had not succumb to temptation and worn the hat Professor Elwood had given her or the hoop would have knocked it off. So with a fluff of messed up hair on top of her ponytail -- and without noticing that -- Peyton waited in line once again. She was not happy she had almost died, but she was still excited to keep trying. This is probably why her father worried lots about her. Peyton was almost always excited. Must of have gotten that from her mother's side of the family. Not.

It was her turn once more, not really. The student before her was nearly done, but Peyton couldn't wait any longer. She zoomed off and mimicked the style of flying she used before, going through the red, orange, yellow and green hoops. This time she was determined not to get distracted. She flew up, up to where the blue hoop was moving from side to side, pulled the broom handle upward and took her chance.

The redhead zooooooomed right through that blue hoop without a graze, all the while giggling like mad because she had been daring. Gosh. That sounded a bit Gryffindor-ish, no? Nope. Peyton decided it was her ambitious side that took over. She wanted to finish and be able to show off that SHE went through ALL the hoops.

Repeating the same with the purple hoop, though she added a bit of more speed, Peyton finished that round and fist bumped the air with a victorious smile on her face.

Seeee, she did it!

He could hear Dylan's amusement from behind and it just egged West on more and more. He had to, in his steep descent to the green, bank hard left to line up with it, and he looped through it with millimeters to spare, using the momentum of the dive to help him pull sharply up again and once again climb steep and high to aim for the next, the blue hoop.

THAT one was tight, since the school broom lacked the speed he was used to, and it wasn't nearly so able to turn on a knut as his custom broom, but West managed it, whooping happily as his tailtwigs passed through. He was close to the handle, almost laying against it to coax as much speed out of the sturdy broom as possible, so when he dropped down for the final hoop a surprising burst of speed resulted and the third year catapulted through the final purple hoop where it moved at 25 feet.

Both fists up in celebration! YUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS and the crowd goes wild! HAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!

Why was it suddenly taking her three tries to get everything right? She wasn't am amateur at this. She was a pro...who would be going pro in less than a year. Well, hopefully. She wondered if any of the pro players had trouble with this sort of thing, too, or if they just expertly whipped through the obstacles as if they weren't even there at all.

It was her turn again, which meant that everybody else was either whipping through this in record speed or failing faster than they could get started. Again, she lowered her position and took off, soaring through the first few hoops with ease. It wasn't until she got to the hoop she'd failed at last time that she started worrying again. She could do this, though. She was born to fly. She focused on the center of each hoop, knowing that was her best chance of getting through them without running into them. Maybe it would help if she pictured that bludger again? So she pretended as if a large bludger was just hovering at the end, taunting her and waiting for her to smack it. She just had to get to that bludger.

Then finally she flew through the last hoop! She'd done it! Victory was again hers!

TWO MORE. TWO. Alice just needed to go through the blue, and then the purple. The lioness waited until the people in front of her were finished before continuing, 'cause she wanted the area free. Finally, they got out of the way and the place was free. The blue hoop was easy, as it was pretty low and slow. She shot through it with no problems-- no, not even the tail twigs were an issue this time-- and almost smiled.

Until she saw the last one.

It.. it was FAST. Moving even faster that the green one, it looked a little blurry. But she could totally get past it, right? Right. It would be simple. When it went right, she dove left, knowing that it would be over there soon enough. But the hoop seemed to SENSE that she was over there. She tried a couple more times, but was only rewarded with the same results. When was it going to move?

She could TRY feinting. It wasn't the easiest to do, though. She dove left again, but tgen swerved at the last moment, shooting through the hoop. Her tail twigs narrowly missed the edge of the hoop again, and Alice made a slight moue of distaste because of it. But at least she had gotten through.

It was no time for a victory lap, though.

Odessa was showing off...Dylan thought that was okay, of course. He just hoped the other Quidditch players on the field were taking notes. You know, because West WAS best...and all that.

...The Captain pushed forward, pulling the handle of the broom up hard, trying to refrain from touching the hoops in any way. Gah, and he noticed that after getting through the yellow hoop, the green was going to be a rather steep dive.

Flattening himself against the handle, Dylan maneuvered the school broom with as much finesse as he could, given his size and the lack of speed. He BARELY made it through the yellow...pushing down on the handle to slip into a dive.

...but something went wrong. Dylan had almost lost control of the broom when it started to shake.

UGH.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Trying to correct the movements...he slightly OVERcorrected...but got away with it as he'd fell into the hoop. He hadn't TOUCHED them...at least...

Dylan struggled to not be shaken off the broom. He muscles tensed and twisted...but he clamped on...

She could FLY FOR REAL! and could do something that well.. most of the class couldn't do.... or at least not well and that was to fly sharp. setting her feet on the ground she kicked off and glided up and intt the air, holding on with her left hand and using her right to brush some hair from her eyes she ZOOOMMEDDDDD over to the posts and got in line.. and waited...

waited ... waited..

ocassionally giggling at the people who would hit a pole with just a teeny tinyyyyyy bit.. heh weird.. ariana didnt think it was that hard to keep your broom in line.. was it?

SPOILER!!: ProfJames

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grangerfn1

Text Cut: Elwood, Melody, Ellura

Professor James took flight and glided through the air between various new flyers in the center of the pitch - including Elwood. The Divination professor was endearing, wasn't she? She was getting out there and trying her best amongst students - if that wasn't a spectacular display of courage, James didn't know what was. "Keep up the good work, Callie - remember to breathe and relax. You're airbourne and that's all that matters!" Erin encouraged in passing, offering a smile to her colleague just before a student very nearly lost control of her broom.


Professor James took off in the direction of the Slytherin girl with the intention of helping her slow down, but pulled back with a smile when Melody straightened herself out. "Excellent job of correcting yourself, dear," she called to her. "Remember, brooms are sensitive - slight movements - you'll get the hang of it in no time! Don't be discouraged! Practice makes perfect!"



Another student had a lesser problem, she saw, but offered gentle advice to the young Gryffindor regardless, "Happens to the best of us, dear - we've all been there. Try to use less strength with your turn - your broom will respond to the gentlest of guidance from you, all right? And always do your best to be mindful of your surroundings." The advice came a bit too late, perhaps, but it was good to reiterate what the girl had probably just learned.

Text Cut: Lex and Alyssa

Though Professor James was beaming in the direction of the beginner flyers and their wobbling, she did catch the end of what was almost a nasty collision during what seemed to be a race. Luckily, the older one recovered well, significantly reducing the professor's blood pressure. Thank Merlin. She did not want any accidents in her first class. Please.

The Hufflepuff continued back to the beginning of the exercise with determination, earning her brownie points and a smile from Professor James. "Nice save over there!" Indeed.

Professor James alternated her attention and shouts of encouragement between the flyers weaving through the poles and those who preferred to work at their own pace in the center of the pitch. It was all about learning styles; some of the students needed time to gradually work things out on their own while others needed to be able to dive right into a challenge.

And then there were the more advanced flyers, who... were tiring of the weaving activity quickly. Very few had made it through the poles without touching them on their first try, but enough of them did that Professor James found herself smiling. Good kids, they were. Vindictus had trained up a good bunch of students for her.

Stopping to hover between the two groups, Professor James brought her silver whistle up to her lips and gave a quick TWEET! to get everyone's attention. "You are all doing wonderfully! If you'll all look down at the other end of the pitch, you'll see today's other activity," she announced brightly, waving her wand to reveal multicolored hoops at various heights, slowly moving horizontally back and forth within a twenty-foot span.

Text Cut: Visual

OOC: The hoops would be moving side-to-side in the diagram. The various altitudes of the hovering hoops are listed near each hoop so you can RP specifics, if you wish!

"For those of you who have been flying around the center of the pitch, I encourage you to fly a little bit out of your comfort zone and attempt the weaving poles!" That meant you, Elwood. "For those of you who are still having a bit of trouble not bumping into the poles, feel free to continue working at it - but for those of you who would like something new, head on over to the other side of the pitch. For this task," she gestured toward the hoops, "you will test both your ability to make turns and ascend and descend as you fly through the hoops in order by color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. This exercise will heighten your awareness of your own being in relationship to your broomstick, strengthen your agility, and increase your awareness of your surroundings!" After all, navigating smoothly through a moving hoop was not a walk in the park.

...But it would certainly be entertaining. "For those who wish to give it a shot, please fly on over, create another line, and have at it! The same rules apply: if you bump the hoop, you'll have to start over! Keep up the good work, everyone!"

OOC: Your character can continue general flying practice, the weaving through the poles activity, or move along to the hoops challenge; whatever your character decides, six total posts (three from the last activity and three from this one, in theory) are required to receive full participation points for this lesson! If you haven't completed the three posts from the first activity, no worries - you can still go ahead and catch up. You will have approximately 20 hours from the time of this post to complete the total six posts!

Amelia looked up at the hoops and just smiled. Hoops were cool except when they were earrings. Then they were just tacky. She was actually excited to try and fly through a moving hoop.

When it came to her place in line she aligned herself with the hoop and leaned forward. Tugging the broom handle up it shot up to the level of the wrong hoop.

Nudging it down again she was halfway to the right level. Darn it - broom. She needed it to listen. "Please" she kindly spoke to the broom and with confidence she aimed it downward and swiftly flew through the red hoop.

She was so proud of herself. Flying through the red hoop felt awesome because she'd managed and hadn't hurt herself any more than she already had!

Rachel was obviously enjoying the wind on her face while flying since she couldn't stop smiling. The feeling of freedoom was too good to be true, and she didn't want it to stop anytime soon.

The girl turned, ascended and descended through the hoops, as if she had been doing it her whole life. Wich was half true, since she had been flying since she 6 years old.

Weaving in and out of the poll was harder than she though. In the first few tries, Melody had bumped into the polls in the beginning. This required her to go back to the start. Melody this this for a while till she was perfect at it. She grinned to herself. GREAT!

After practicing with the polls. Melody used her broom to fly over to where the rings where at. She smiled as she studied the course. So this was based on ascending and descending. That seemed simple enough.

Wait...if you tilted the broom handle slightly up while leaning back to slow down... how does one go higher with out stopping... or falling off your broom. This was now the question of the day. Melody started to different things to make the broom go up. It looked like she was rocking back and forth making it go faster and slower at the same time.

What did father say ... what did father say She questioned herself. How beyond embarrassing. Slytherin girl can't even get the broom to go up. I won't give up. Melody was diffidently confident, but prideful unwilling to just ask for help.

West turned around to look.

"They do that sometimes, school brooms, if they get overwhelmed. Tell it you appreciate it, it might relax a bit." West advised sagely, and watched because, lulz, funny.

But also.... what if his captain FELL? West flew over there just to be nearby just in case it shook Dylan off. Then he could be the HERO and save him and Dylan would owe him a life debt.

Ellura heard a voice calling out to her and the girl turned her head to spot the professor as the source of the encouraging words. She had just barely managed to not turn her whole body in the process and repeating her earlier mishap. "Yes, Professor," she replied with a nod to acknowledge the woman's advice handed her way.

As some of the class moved further on to another activity, Ellura decided perhaps it was time she at least attempted the first activity. How hard could it be...right? And the woman had mentioned it being helpful to prepare for quidditch so it might be good to work towards if she was indeed going to try out. So slowly by surely, she sent her broom towards the one end of the pitch towards the poles they were supposed to be weaving around.

"Okay Ellura...slow and steady...and avoid the poles," she told herself as she started out. The third year flying past the first one and turning gently as she flew to go between it and the next one. Ellura hadn't been sure of making it but she let out a relieved breath when she was through.
One and two complete.

"MY TURN!" Ariana casually jumped ahead of the group of firsties in front of her who were arguing over who to go next and she took OFF ZOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooMMM! She flew weaving innn and outtt of the poles and casually pushing the hair out of her face, cause you know she was awesome..

whoooooooooooooshhhhhhhhhhhh fsssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh zooooooooom

she zoomed in and around each and every pole with ease.. she wasnt a chaser/beater for nothing you know oh and hai there was the rest of the team... over thereeee.. ariana just stuck to herself Meh.. weirdo

STARES for you, Odessa...

Ahem.

"Okay, broom...I need you to stop spazzing...I...appreciate you." Merlin, Dylan felt ridiculous talking to a broom. A broom that wasn't even his, mind. It seemed to work just a tab, though...because the next thing he knew, it was calming down...a smidgen.

The Slytherin was STILL having a time pulling the handle up and angling...UGH. COOPERATE WITH MEEEE, BROOM!

With force, he jerked it up, UP, UPPP...barely making it through the blue hoop before he was made to dive AGAIN for the purple. Angling the thing, he threw a look at West. This was awful! He wanted HIS broom.

"Hush, you!" Slipping through the purple hoop, he sighed.

SUCCESS!!!!

Gah. He was done with this for today. The Captain's muscle's were screaming at him for their abuse. "Are we done? Because I feel done...."