It was both interesting and kinda eh taking so many lessons with your family members. Though, she and Katty had no real outward animosity, there was always the urge to compete. Just because that was the sort of girl Liv was. She enjoyed competing with things like Dueling and spellwork. It was the only thing that properly motivated her...

... Kinda like how easy it was for Kat to summon her broom up. HMPH. Well, if she could do it that easily, Olivia could ALSO.

Dropping her broom back down to the ground, the blonde resolved to try again. She could do better! And blast it, she WOULD. So, taking a few deep breaths and shaking out her hands, she leveled her palm out over where the broom now lay, motionless.

With fierce determination, Liv very firmly commanded, "UP!" In the next second, the broom had sailed upward into her awaiting hand, causing, her to BEAM BRIGHTLY. Hmph, better.

Okay.. this was okay..

Azura took a deep breath and she closed her eyes and tried to center herself for a moment. Everything was all right. She needed to clear her mind and put all that was bothering her behind her.. okay.. she could do this..

She went still for a moment before she put her hand out and then called to her broom.

"Up! she said and then grinned as the broom flew up into her hand..

Ahh.. that was more like it

Looking satisfied the first year grinned and thought about something she never had tried before and she concentrated hard on her broom, willing it to stay in the air without her holding it and she removed her hand but, the broom fell down immediately! Sighing she outstretched her hand again and said; "Up!" again and the broom flew up, right into her outstretched hand. She repeated this a few times and by her third time she was able to keep her broom hanging in the air! Grinning again she looked satisfied around her to see if she was the only one who was trying this.

So the Gryffindor Ace listened to the Professor outline what was needed to know when flying. He knew what they were, by heart even, but its good to hear it spoken out loud and to the group. Makes everything he's learned since childhood seemed legit yeah?

But oh yelling out a battle cry to calm the nerves.... that he didnt know. Or at least he didnt think it that way when he was wont to scream his lungs out in sheer joy. But screaming is legit here so huzzah!

He extended his arm over his broom that lay beside him, and before he could even say Up, the broom swooped up with a flourish onto his waiting hand. Hehehe thats his broom!

... The difference between an unfamiliar school broom and his own broom was incredible. Too bad the previous flying Prof couldnt see this now.

Oho, a question. "This is just a test on your ability to relax with knowing what is coming ahead. There will be many things to watch out for while in the air and it's important to get a feel with your broom before taking off." That should cover it.

Now for the meat of the day, as everyone was right on track. "Alright everyone, it's time to mount onto your broom. Just swing your leg over the broom and keep a steady grip with your dominate hand over your hand. Like so." The Groundskeeper demonstrated for them. "Now first thing we'll be doing is taking off. Once you're fully mounted you are to face in the direction of the air before kicking off the ground with a single jump into a hover." That sounded like a good way to start...

But that was not a lot of fun to Justin, who then grinned from slightly above all once he kicked off. "So once you're hovering, you'll be able to do a little task that'll get you to keep your balance." And with that, he aimed his wand at the occasionally giggling trunk to unlock it, revealing floating fireflies. "They will be floating around this area only, so all you have to do is keep following them through these hoops." With another flick of his wand, there revealed the many hoops some were high and some low near the ground around the Pitch. The highest ones didn't reach the height of the stands, but high enough to get one shaking from the distance.

"Once you've kicked off and found your balance from a short hover you can take off after the fireflies and fly through ten hoops. If you wanna keep a firefly, it's fine by me if you decide to grab hold of one." Taking his whistle out again, On my whistle you can begin. Three, two..."

*TWEEEEET*

---
OOC: Another task, all you need to do is just hover enough till your character is comfortable enough to take off after the fireflies through the ten hoops. This should take no more than four labeled posts. You'll have two days from this post.

Its time to fly awwyea!

Ok so Sir McLeod is teaching them the basics, or at least those that needs a bit of guidance. Tenacius on the other hand, although listening, had already mounted his broom, hands positioned to where he was comfortable with. With a sure stomp of his foot against the ground he rose a couple of feet into the air, hovering just as McLeod said they would.

He may be an old hand at flying with his prized possession, but it sure still feels awesome flying with it in a place that they haven't flown over before. That feeling of giddy excitement is palpable and its very clear on his face.

Time for some action! Grinning excited she swung her leg over her broom and sat on it, next she placed her dominant hand over her other hand, like the professor showed them and she placed her left hand over her right one, because she was left handed, of course. Now that she had followed the professors example she watched him to see what she needed to do next.

Following the professors example again she faced in the direction of the air like she was told, not that she already didn’t knew about it, this wasn’t her first lesson after all. So she made a little jump and started hovering. Oh, she loved flying!

It was hard to concentrate on flying, something Junia knew how to do, when there were so many still learning how. She wanted to watch, observe the way they interacted with their brooms, note who was hesitant and who wasn't. You never knew who you might be up against in a BIG pro quidditch match someday and this moment might be a good way to taunt an opponent! Always thinking ahead, she was.

It was only when Mr. McLeod revealed the next part of their activity that Junia realized she hadn't even taken hold of her broom. ...Whoops.

Hand raised over it, the second year smiled a little and said, "UP!" Her voice was clear and her tone was firm, firm enough that the broom flew up into her hand with no trouble at all. See? This stuff was easy!

Now came the fun part!

Now sitting stable on her broom she looked around her, which firefly would she follow? Hmm, taking a random one she started moving and flew forward, following a very small but bright one and when the firefly flew higher and higher she followed without complaining, she had been totally terrified while flying on the back of a flying horse but flying on a broom wasn’t a problem at all, a broom was something she could control and a flying animal, let alone a scary horse wasn’t! Flying higher and higher she looked down and saw that she was flying toward one of the highest hoops and with a excited laugh she flew thought one! “Yes!” She grinned satisfied and followed the firefly toward another hoop, one a few meters away and lower toward the ground. So she brought the point of her broom down and she started to descend. The firefly started to flew faster so she followed too, without a problem and flew thought the second hoop.

Junia was positively giddy as she mounted her broom, swinging her leg over the handle and adjusting her hands to ensure she had control. She took a look around at the others and her smile was immediate. This was it, they were taking to the air! She couldn't really think of anything better.

Eyes focused on the sky above, the twelve year old kicked off from the ground. It took a moment to find her balance but once she did, she was ready to soar. Those fireflies were calling her name.

Azura looked at Professor McLeod as he told them what to do.. this would be no trouble really.. she had mounted her broom and taken off hundreds of times.

The purple eyed girl swung her leg over her broom and put her hand where they were supposed to go..Once she had gotten her stance ready and was comfortable where everything was.. she gave a push her with legs and rose into a hover..

This was nice.. even though she wasn't going anywhere yet.. it felt good to be in the air and all of her worries that she had trudged down here with, flew away from her like her was doing at the current moment..

She smiled as she turned her broom into the direction of the fireflies.

Boys were a horrible distraction, just like her mother said, and if you ask her later if she meant this statement she would tell you no. Little did she was just as boycrazy as her mother once was. Besides the poiant though. See she had seen the whole scene play out with Liv and that Jacen boy. Though who wouldn't get distracted by whatever the boy said, Kat would have if she knew the boy, maybe.

Raising her eyebrow at Liv. She adored her cousin she really did. She also knew some competitive she was. So Kat in the most lovingly way grinned at Liv. Nothing like a little motivational push from her cousin right. come on Liv you could do it. Romalottis' were like bees to honey when it came to brooms. The third year still had no doubt that Liv would have gotten it the first time but boy distraction.

Anyway....

It was time. With a big grin on her face she mounted her broom, throwing her leg over her broom. Kicking off, and Hooving. It took a few adjustments, moving her hands up on the handle and getting her feet on the foot rests.

Now where were those fireflies. She was ready to fly with them.

Now that Azura was hovering, she turned her dark head towards where the fireflies were.. her eyes widened ever so slightly as she saw the hoops and she grinned! This looked super fun!

What an amazing way to spend the afternoon.

She wasn't really paying attention to anyone else as she steered her broom towards fhe fireflies and flew towards then, she grinned a bit as she approached them..

"Well looks like you are my guides."" She said with another grin..as she looked at the hoops.. "You ready?" She said with a soft laugh as she stared to speed off towards the first hoop!

Weeeeeeeeee!

------------------
Jonas was finally in the air. He hovered around for a moment or two. Considering he lived in a muggle household, he hadn't flown all summer the year before...so he was a bit rusty when it came to certain things, like flying for instance. Getting the feeling in his air legs, he took off at a steady pace scanning around for the first firefly. Why were they chasing fireflies? You could hardly see them in the daylight. He sighed. Now he knew how seakers felt trying to find the snitch.

Of course it was. What better way to shake off the nerves, right? But then again, if he was being chased by a beast and the broom was his only way of escape, there was no way he’d do the first steps. Nodding in understanding, Jace went on to mount his broom by swinging his leg over the handle and paused for a moment to get a feel of the broom. Will it throw him off as soon as he hovered? Will it know that it isn’t Jakub who is riding it?

One thing is for sure, however. There was no turning back at that point. He’d ask Jakub to give him his spare broom, and his older brother had made an effort to send it to him as soon as possible. There was no way he’d step down and not give it a try at least.

Relaxing his shoulders again, he steadied himself first, and when he was ready, kicked the ground with his right foot.

Fffwwooop!

Jace leaned a bit forward, and slowly straightened his back as he found his center of gravity and tried his best not to pay attention to the fact that he’s a few feet off the ground now.

And fireflies? And…hoops? Well, this was just like in their first year, yes?

This should be easy.

((let me know if this is okay. I think I'll have my character get injured...nothing major))
Finding the fire flies and actualyl understanding what the professor meant, Jonas started to zoom through hoops as he went faster and faster...too fast!

WAM!!

Jonas had hit a side of the castle and fell, fell, fell, down,down, down to the ground.

Az giggled happily as she flew towards the first of the hoops, following the fireflies as she easily zoomed though it. The hoop had been set pretty easily and a normal height so it wasn't a problem for her..

Thankfully she wasn't scared of heights!

The second hoop was set just a little bit higher than the last and she easily tilted her broom upwards and made it through the second hoop with no issues at all. The firefies kept moving away from her so she sped up and climbed a bit higher to zip through the third hoop with ease..

Now the fourth and fifth were placed up quite high so she leaned back a bit and started to gain altitude, she zipped though the fourth hoop at an angle and headed up even more to maneuver her way through the 5th hoop..

It was pretty high and she hovered up in the air as she looked around at the view from up high.. it was so pretty up here.. especially with the fireflies around.

Tenacius was already zooming about for a bit, because it’s the best way for him to get a feel of his broom and the current conditions and his own balance. Although he is still listening to the Groundskeeper give instructions. Awareness of surroundings yeah? A good flyer is always aware of that.

But he zips to a halt and hovers in mid-air when McLeod finally opens that trunk-- oh! Fireflies! Up goes the illuminated bugs , dancing in front of them all. It was then that he caught some more movement in the background-- hoops. There be lotsa hoops Cap'n!

And there goes the fireflies zipping around his head as if taunting him then zoooomed for the hoops. Catch me if you can....

Oh yeah, the game is afoot!

Lots of youngins in the air flying, with some clearly were more experienced than the others. It was bound to be this way since there were more than just first years attending. Anyways, as Justin floated up higher to get a nice view, he could see one student flying off course.. way off course, which got him to start flying after him until-WHAM!

Not that the collision stopped him, with quick reflexes the Flying Groundskeeper aimed his wand at the boy to slow his descent enough to grab ahold of him by the arm. "I gotcha Master Emery." Tugging him onto his own broom before they descended down to the ground. "You alright kid?" He then asked before checking for anything broken. Had to be sure before giving him the okay to continue or not.

There goes the bright yellow dots zipping through the air….. and red streak coming in close behind them.

Up and down the pitch they went, round and round the hoops, like they were dancing to the tune of Flight of the Bumblebees that only they can hear. Tenacius, with jaws clenched, bore down on the illuminated insects. Man these things were fast! He pressed forward to make his broom go faster, trying his darndest to close the gap. Can he reach them now? He spares a hand away from the high velocity broom, clenching his other hand to try to keep it stable. Reeeeaaaaaccchhhh…….

-- and they zoomed into a hoop… and another hoop….. and another hoop… maybe just MAYBE he can grab a handful right?

But that’s the thing with velocity and wind resistance. It has a tendency to mess with things that’s not aerodynamically designed for flight-- you know like robes.

---------- Y A N K ! !

Flop goes the Gryffindor Ace, hanging onto a hoop by the end of his robes like yesterday's laundry, his broom spiraling out and away from him.

Flails flails!

Awww nuts.

Jace's hair flapped in the wind as he busied himself with his position, and the way he gripped the broom's handle. The Ravenclaw could hear his brother shout in his ear, telling him not to give it a death grip and just...relax his arms and hands. Of course, how else will he be able to manoeuvre the broom if he's too stiff with it, yeah?

Releasing the handle a bit, Jace breathed through his nose and exhaled through his mouth as he calmed himself further, allowing himself some time before moving forward.

Eyeing the fireflies, Jace slowly leaned forward, and as expected, he started to move. He glided with first years in a steady direction and anticipated the twists and turns ahead. So far, so good. The Japanese made broom was doing its things quite superbly.

Looking up at the firefly she was following she saw to her disappointment that it stayed flying low and that while she liked some excitement. But, sadly, there was nothing she could do about it so she tried to fly faster in a attempt to chase the firefly, hoping that it would start flying faster too and she was lucky, as soon as she was close the firefly suddenly flew up right at one of the hoops! Following the firefly she too flew thought her third hoop and followed the firefly while it flew through a fourth, a fifth and even a sixth hoop! But this was boring, the firefly was really flying slow now, was it getting tired? Hmm, maybe she could start chasing the firefly again so that it would do something exciting again...

Jonas blinked his eyes vaguely hearing the grounds keeper ask him if he's alright. That fall had seriously knocked the wind out of him so it seemed like ages before he was able to come up with a somewhat clear answer. Jonas got up into a sitting position before answering.

"Uhuh, think so," he muttered his right arm supporting his hurt left one. "Arm just hurts," he said and blinked his eyes looking up at him from his spot on the ground.

Azura hovered in the air up near the top of the stands for just a bit longer before the fireflies started to move around she head, making the third year giggle as she watched them swirl around her.

"All right I'm coming. " She said with a smile as she watched them fly towards the sixth hoop, which was down and to the left. So she leaned forward a bit to get her broom moving and banked down to the left to go through the Suzy hoop..

A sharp turn to the right and down brought her to the seventh and she zipped through it easily. A happy smile on her face,. This was so much fun.. if she wasn't going out for music school, she might try out for an international team like a few of her classmates had..

She pushed forward and moved her broom down to easily slide though the eighth hoop.. she looped back towards the ninth hoop and made it through that and stared to follow the fireflies towards the tenth... she easily made it though that one when she saw Tenacius hanging from a hoop and she watched his broom go flying off..

"Hang on Tenacius! I'll get it!" She said with a smile as she shot off after the boys broom.. she managed to get a hold of it and then she moved back towards her friend.. She came to a stop by him.. and handed him his broom..

"Here you are.. now let's work on getting you unstuck!"

Hanging still for a few minutes high in the air she looked around, enjoying the view. Looking down at the ground she saw that some of the other students weren't flying that high but she wasn't thinking bad about them, she herself had been scared to death while sitting on the flying horse earlier that year so no, she didn't thought that it was stupid. Looking up again she spotted her firefly and followed the small thing toward another hoop, this time the hoop was a simple one, not that high but not low either. Quick she flew though the hoop and while she did it she tried to touch the hoop but that wasn't such a good idea, because the moment she let go of her broom she lost her balance slightly and she needed to grab her broom quick again to not fall.

Taking a deep breath because she didn't had expected this she took some time to get her heartbeat back to normal again. Maybe one minute later she was herself again and with new energy she flew after her firefly again toward the seventh hoop, she made a quick dive and flew through another hoop and she saw with some joy that the firefly didn't seemed to be tired anymore, it flew actually really fast now!

Following the small thing she flew through another hoop and this time she kept both her hands on her broom, not trying to be brave or *stupid*. But the firefly slowed down again and with some reluctance she followed. The firefly flew through a hoop really low to the ground and she followed, guessing that she had done everything the professor wanted because why else was the firefly slowing like that?

Landing next to the firefly she looked at the professor for more instructions.