Hanna's favourite broomstick indeed was the Jollyrocket, which her uncle had bought her for her birthday. That broom had just been mentioned by Professor Adara, as well as the Nimbus models.

Hanna raised her hand, thinking of another one she had been on once or twice at the school. "There's the Blasting Star," she offered. Hanna wasn't sure if she believed every broom could be a good one, and that it only needed a user that was skilled. She thought the better brooms would usually be superior. Although it was important to know the specs of each broom, utilise them, and maximise performance.

Malachi looks at the teacher before looking down at the ground, until school started the only use for a broom to him was to get the dirt out of the kitchen, he wasn’t totally sure how to respond so he kept quiet while the others spoke.

Oh. Well...that was sorta a bummer then. He reckoned he was going to have to just wait for the Ministry to release some official statements about it to learn more. But this was always the struggle with this particular class, brooms and thinking about flying in general were incredibly distracting and he wanted them to just hurry through the pleasantries of questions and answers so he could just get on his broom and into the air. It was literally ALl he could think about and he drummed his hands on his thighs as a means to busy himself SOMEHOW from becoming too antsy.

But a broomstick model. Uuuuuuh...he was sorta embarrassed at the first one that came to mind because it was incredibly not useful for quidditch or any sort of practical flying. "There's the, uh, Turbo-Triple...my grandparents just purchased one of those over the summer..."

Abra wasn't too surprised by the topic of question Professor Adara threw at them, what with all the brooms that were laid out around them and the whole assignment she had had them do. He paused for a moment, allowing himself to be distracted by looking out at the models strewn across the pitch, before raising his hand.

"There's the Firebolt," he suggested, though his answer didn't sound like a question, like it usually did in his other classes. He'd known that one for sure.

At his old school when a teacher would ask a question the majority of the students would keep quiet and sink down in their chairs in order to look so inconspicuous that the teacher wouldn’t call on them for an answer. At Hogwarts you literally had to fight in order to have your answer be heard. By the time it got around to you all the good answers had gone and you had to rack your brains for something to say.

It happened on this occasion too. Caolan had stuck his hand up to answer but all the really obvious answers he had thought of had already gone. His heart beat faster as it came around to him and he had to think of a response before he looked and sounded stupid. “There was an old broom called the Silver Arrow that was pretty decent years back.” As to whether they were still good he didn’t actually know. The majority of his knowledge was with his beloved broom that his Da had passed down to him.

Tina felt a little embarassed when Professor Adara said there were a lot of Nimbus fans. She wasn't going to get points off her assignment for giving an unoriginal answer? How was she supposed to know other people would have the same opinion as her? Oh well, it could be worse... At least Professor Adara hadn't read everybody's assignments out loud - or forced them to read their own!

So they were still talking about broom models. Did that mean Tina was right about testing different kinds of brooms? It seemed increasingly likely... She pondered the professor's question for a minute. Sometimes she struggled to think of an answer that hadn't been said, but this time was different. Her mind rattled off the names of so many broom models, it was hard to decide which one to mention. In the end, she went with the most obscure answer she could think of. Her hand went up, and she waited to be called on. "There was the Swiftstick, " she said. "It was made in 1952 by Ellerby and Spudmore, and it had the problem of losing power during ascent... which is why it never caught on with quidditch teams."

Flying. FLYING. FLLLLLYYYYING!

... Now that he'd gotten that out.

SPOILER!!: Assignment!

Aaron Botros
Fifth Year, Hufflepuff

My favorite broom was gifted to me by my friend and fashion idol, West Odessa. It was a custom order crafted by Nikolai Vannacutt, and given to me because I had made West proud with getting into the U17s. He had the mods tweaked and updated for my build, so it's not an uncomfortable ride. It's my most valuable possession, besides my violin.

---

Aaron wrapped his arms around himself, practically vibrating with happiness. Brooms. Everywhere BROOMS... True, the cold was really starting to settle into his bone marrow, but he'd tried thinking ahead with layering heating charms into his school robes. It wasn't like him to catch a chill... Not with his usual body temperature.

He was getting sick. Probably. Most likely.

Also...Were they going to get a chance to test out these brooms? Asking for a friend.

Pulling his legs up, Aaron rested his cheek on top of them. "Nikolai Vannacutt makes custom brooms."

Patrick listened intently as he watched the other students begin to rattle off more broom brands. He was curious as to why none of the students had given specifications or any fact as to the broom. It was a bit odd. He furrowed his brow listening to the others answers, rubbing his shoulder. He raised his hand, ready to answer, “Well there’s also the Thunderbolt which is largely made in Manchester.”

Okay okay, maybe he was the only one who found it interesting that it was locally produced since he wasn’t from the area. But he figured it was worth a shot to mention to the other students. He glanced around gauging what the other students would say.

Oops. She had forgotten all about the assignment until now. But surely everyone could figure out her favorite. After all, it was the one she currently using as a backscratcher, thanks to her itchy back. Her Thunderbolt 6000. And she was about to mention it, too, except that the Slytherin captain had already done so. Though, she could absolutely say that the fact that it was made in Manchester wasn't why she'd chosen it (she, after all, was Liverpool born and proud). In her mind, it was the perfect chaser's broom. Anyway, she had to come up with another type. Or she could just name a spec..... no, she'd just go with the brand.

"There's the Tinderblast, which is known to be ridiculiously slow, ironicly." You know, because with both 'tinder' and 'blast' in the name, you'd expect it to be fast.

Well, that was easy. Lenora patiently waited as others answered the question rather swiftly, while she looked around for a bit. She felt a lot more excited about this lesson than any of the other classes although she didn’t show it. Flying was something she felt extremely confident about.

“Well, there was the moontrimmer as well.” Lenora said, raising a hand. She’d read about it somewhere a while ago but that was all she knew.

Of course Anna had written about her own broom in her assignment. Not only was IT the best broom ever - she was biased, but whatever - and it had helped her get into both in the Gryffindor AND the England U17 teams, it had ALSO already helped her win not one, not five, but SEVEN summer broom races so far. BESIDES. She had gone to great length to raise money to buy it. Her friends would know.

Anyway. It was an amazing broom, that was the point.

HENCE she was only going to talk about IT when she raised her hand. Thanks for the piece of info to introduce the amazing Thunderbolt line, Patrick.

After sending her fellow Captain a cheerful grin, Anna turned her attention back to the cool professor. "Thunderbolts are amazing for broom races." Simple and straight to the point. OBVIOUSLY, that didn't mean anyone with a Thunderbolt would win a broom race - one needed the right set of skills as well, thank you very much! - but that certainly helped. Hence the price she had to pay for her Thunderbolt 6000 a few years ago. Merlin.

PROFESSOR HIRSCH, SHE WOULD ALWAYS LOVE YOU!

Rylee rocked back and forth on her heels hands, hands clasped behind her back, to try to contain some of her energy. As much as she liked standing here discussing the different types of brooms she really just wanted to get on a broom and fly. More specifically she wanted to get on her broom and fly. Sadly it didn't appear like they would be flying right now.

Pulling her attention away from flying and back onto the lesson, Rylee looked at the Professor. Types of brooms? Merlin there was so many that she could list. Including the one she now owned being as how no one else would know what it was since it was a custom. However that isn't what she went with when she rose her hand. "There's the Moonbrusher." It was her previous broom which she had left at home this term but loved. That had been gift and was the broom she had used during Quidditch tryouts, training and in games the past three terms.

Amelia looked around for any more broomstick mentions or comments and waited before continuing. "Sooooo as you can see by just the short list, there are MANY broomsticks available throughout the time that brooms have been first invented up until modern day. The oldest broomstick I have available on the pitch today for you to try is the Oakshaft 79, which Torii mentioned and is one that is not great for speed but will definitely be great on endurance and long broom rides."

"Today we'll be comparing and contrasting the five broom manufacturers I have present and noting what you visually see with the brooms as differences and similarities. But also, after you fly them, to note the differences in their speed and comfort and maneuverability."

"The brooms won't fly more than four feet in the air as the lesson is for you to be able to test drive something that you might not normally ride and while other than the Oakshaft 79, there are multiples of the others available, but please do take turns and share. There are five different ones for you to test ride."


ooc: hi. we suck. don't hate us and please come still play with us here :3 Alsoooo going to go ahead and list both the planned mini activity and main activity at this time since we're sooo late in posting this up sooo feel free to break it up and post at your leisure.... we'll be posting / commenting throughout to nudge ya along and maybe throw some curveballs in you do have a few days though to complete these activities <3

Sooo ultimately before you start flying, compare and contrast - you can do this verbally as a discussion with someone else or write it down if your character is more prone to that - the brooms available (Oakshaft 79, Cleansweep 30s, Blasting Star, Shooting Star 4000s, and Jollyrocket) based on visual differences first and you can add onto that discussion after you fly with some more notes (again, either verbal or written)

Test drive the five different brooms by going for a flight around the pitch. If you're hogging one of the brooms though for too long, then don't be surprised if you're forcibly removed They won't fly more than four feet in the air either.

Any questions, ask either IC in the lesson or OOC questions welcome in my VMs/Skype/Twitter/etc

HAVE FUN!!!!

Oh? So the professor actually had an Oakshaft 79 on hand? That was pretty cool, although, with her profession, it made perfect sense. Also, she made up her mind--that was the one she wanted to ride! She kind of felt a calling for it now that she'd been the one to suggest it and all.

Okay, so were they all set to go now? The professor had never actually said to get started, and so far, nobody else had moved. Torii certainly didn't want to be the first to make a move either. They shouldn't just stand here forever, though, so the fourth decided to make a bold move and get this thing underway.

She moved to sit beside the Oakshaft 79 and took out her parchment and a quill. She took a few detailed notes on what she saw then she put her notes and quill back in her bag. Well, time to ride this thing then! The fourth year mounted the broom and kicked off, taking to the skies---well, four feet into the skies, that is. Her hands gripped the thick handle, and it crossed her mind that no other broom was made exactly like this. It coasted along, more content to take her from place to place than to race her along. She took it for a ride around the pitch, and when she was done, she returned the broom to the place she found it before.

Time for broom number two!

She was still looking for her assignment because well she had a mess already anyway and she knew she had it. Why couldn't she find it though? She was going to find it and listen, yes, that was what she would do. So she listened to the professor talk about brooms as she started putting her things back one at a time. What other brooms where there, did she really ask that question? There were so many Chloe didn't even know where to start. You had the big name brooms and then smaller broom companies that brought out their own. She was actually into those brooms. She liked a little local shop at home.

"FOUND IT!"

Oh whoops, her cheeks turned red, she didn't mean to yell that loud, but she found her assignment. It was there just like she thought, but it wasn't in the right place. Now that she had it she could get started on the rest of the class.




Now that she had that done, she could move on to what they were doing. What were they doing again?

Oh, that was right looking at the other brooms. Her broom was on the ground if they wanted to look at a German made one, but she went over and took the Jollyrocket first. It was an interesting feel. It seemed lighter than hers, but it had a nice handle to it.

Jackson wasn’t surprised that most people picked the same kind of brooms to be honest… There were some that were just clearly superior. At least compared to some of the school brooms. He was grateful that there were some provided just in case, but Merlin they were not for Quidditch! The question posed helped Jackson realize how much studying up he could use because he couldn’t think of even ONE broom that was not present or already accounted for. Lame. He really needed to do more research for his own benefit, but he had been content with the fact that he had a good working broom. He got out a piece of parchment for note-taking and got started.

The first broom available was the Oakshaft 79 and MERLIN was it ancient. If there was anything that could help you believe in magic, it would be hopping on a broom centuries older than you and trusting it would fly you through the sky! Still hesitant, Jackson hopped onto the Oakshaft and tried it out. It was only minutes later when he was fine with never riding this broom again. “That’s gonna be enough for me…” he said as he got off, putting it back where he had found it.

Next up was the Shooting Star.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notes

Oakshaft 79 – HUNDREDS of years old, hurts my bum

Comparing and contrasting. Well. Okaaaaaaay. At least they still got to fly the brooms, even though it sounded like they weren't exactly going to be going very far. It was better than nothing, Abra supposed.

The easy part was first; just sort of... looking at the brooms, noting their differences, all that fun stuff. Well. Abra could do that. He even reluctantly got out his parchment and a spell-checking quill, and sat down on the grass so he could use his knee as a makeshift desk. It didn't matter to him how neat his handwriting actually was, as long as he got his thoughts down somewhere, he supposed.

SPOILER!!: notes

Oakshaft 79: Looks difficult to ride, like an actual antique, which I suppose it is. Doesn't really look like it's fit for much more than sweeping the floor, let alone a long flight, but I suppose that's because I'm used to racing and Quidditch brooms being nimble and everything.

Cleansweep 30: More nimble-looking than the Oakshaft by far. Looks like you could really trust it when zooming about playing Quidditch. If I didn't have my own broom, I'd probably give one of these a go while playing Seeker.

Blasting Star: Not my kind of broom. Looks pretty basic but still more adaptable than the Oakshaft. Apparently a good broom for starting out. Looks like it.

Shooting Star 4000: Sleekest looking tail twigs, from what I can see. That kind of thing is good for speed. In fact, the whole broom looks really sleek and agile.

Jollyrocket: Definitely a broom. Looks like it flies well and has been well-maintained so should be a relatively smooth flight. Probably better for recreational flying than the Oakshaft but I think it has that in common with the Cleansweep and the Shooting Star.

And of course Torii would want to test ride the Oakshaft; honestly Amelia was grateful for that because it WAS quite reliable and truth be told, if she had the choice between that and the blasting star, she'd actually choose the Oakshaft. She nodded at the Slytherin as she came back around after her flight and seemed relatively unharmed. Good. Good.

.... good except Amelia nearly jumped back at the exclamation. Ohhhh... it was just one of the young Ravenclaws who had OF COURSE been stressing because she hadn't turned in her assignment. "I'd say indoor voices, but well, we're outside, sooo thank you, Ms McCarthy," Amelia grinned, taking the parchment and looking it over, nodding at her.

Wait, was Chloe lost now with what to do? Ah, well, she'd keep an eye and nudge her along if she needed it.

Another brave soul on the Oakshaft. Who seemed relieved to be off of it. "Surely it wasn't that bad, Prefect Thomas," Amelia remarked to him as he moved onto testing the next broom.


Descriptions first. Although to be honest, Amelia didn't blame the Gryffindor Prefect since flying was definitely the more exciting task when it came to today's activity. Speaking of which, it was seeming rather dry which meant she was going to have to spice things up.



Glancing around she swiftly summoned a small box. "OKAY. If you're on a broom, stay. If not, mount the closest broom to you. I don't care which it is because it doesn't matter but..." a quick motion and the box was opened, two bludgers zooming out. "Avoid the bludgers. And .... one more thing." A release of charmed white cotton balls. "Use your wands and cast colovaria to change the color to your house color. Yes you can change it if it's already been changed." Hopefully this would spice things up a little. "And of course, still keep note for how your broom is handling with this activity and if you want to switch to one of the others to test, you may do so..."


ooc: just adding to the activity of comparing/contrasting to add more for comparisons but we'll be wrapping up in the next 48-ish hours *crosses fingers* sooo just an fyi . Questions, ask me

The list of brooms seemed to be getting longer and longer and Caolan listened to his classmates keep rambling on until they came to a stop. He hadn’t written anything down yet and glanced around to see whether anyone else had, glad that he didn’t seem to be the only one. The Professor moved on to explain what they were going to be doing in class. His eyes glanced over the brooms that were in front of him of all different shapes and sizes. He had only ridden one type of broom before, in fact he had only ridden ONE broom at all and that was the one that he had written about in his assignment. They were released to do their activity and he waited a few seconds for someone else to move before he did, not wanting to look too eager or anything.

The first broom to get his attention was the Oakshaft 79. This time he actually bothered to get his notepad and pen quill out to make notes rather than talk to anyone else. The handle seemed to be made of oak, the first observation he wrote down, and it was pretty crooked too. From first observation it looked like a pretty hefty and chunky broom too, perhaps an indication of its lack of use as a Quidditch broom.

He moved onto the next broom in the list, the Cleansweep 30. It had a bit of a thicker handle too and appeared to be made of a similar type of oak to the other broom he had seen. He made sure to scribble down his notes before he moved on. You see the problem was that Caolan wasn’t naturally a flyer, he enjoyed it whilst he was out there but he didn’t obsessively follow Quidditch and so his knowledge was a little bit limited. He was going to move along but there was something about the Cleansweep that was begging him to stay. So it was the Cleansweep that he mounted and felt rise up that four foot into the air.

Awesome!

...

At least it was until a bludger came flying towards him and he had to narrowly avoid it with a quick lean to the left. That was close.

SPOILER!!: “notes”

Oakshaft 79
- Handle Material: Oak
- Appearance: Chunky and crooked
- Use: Endurance flying

Cleansweep 30

- Handle Material: Spanish Oak
- Appearance: Chunky but more lean than the Oakshaft
- Use: Quidditch?

Lists were a thing Hanna loved, so being able to do a compare and contrast activity in class was great. And with brooms! Even though they only flew a little distance, it was still going to be something interesting. Hanna had never really flown a broom with the purpose of describing what was good about it, and comparing it to something else. She'd just taken them for a ride and decided if she liked it or not.

Taking a fresh piece of parchment and resting it on a hard-back book, with a freshly inked quill, she wrote down the names of the brooms and began to note down the appearances. Step One.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parchment

Oakshaft 79
Old (?1800s)
Thick handle
Oak
Sturdy looking

Cleansweep 30s
Relatively new (2077)
Looks lighter, less bulky
? Made of oak

Blasting Star
Newer (2086)

Shooting Star 4000s
Not as new (2074?)

Jollyrocket
Newest and best (2090)
Shiny handle
Well groomed twigs

With her quill carefully placed away, Hanna went towards the Jollyrocket, just as Professor Adara announced their next activity. It wasn't a bad thing that what she thought was the best broom was right in her hands. She hooked a leg over and kicked off, just as the bludgers and cotton balls were released. Both trying to dodge the bludgers and get her wand out of its holster, she narrowly avoided being hit. She knew how to ride this broom, being that she owned one. Pointing the handle down, she dove away from the bludger, then tilted it back up, easily avoiding a clash with the ground.

Her wand was still grasped tightly in her hand, and she flew towards one of the white cotton balls. "Colovaria," she said, her wand pointing at it. It turned a Ravenclaw blue!

Hmmm, which broom did Nettie want to try? Her Nimbus was obviously going to be her favorite, because it was HERS. The one she was really hoping to try had been a Firebolt, but that hadn't been one of the options sadly. She'd never heard of the Jollyrocket before, so she decided to go with that one. She waited until it was her turn and then got on.

She examined the quality of the broom first. The seat was very comfortable - much more comfortable than the school brooms she'd had to suffer through during her first term. She also noticed that the broom handle was very slick - but was it TOO slick maybe? Perhaps not if she had her flying gloves on, but for everyday flying...

She then rose in to the air slowly. It turned very smoothly, just as her Nimbus did. She was able to rise and lower with ease, although with the slick handle she felt like she had to grip extra hard to prevent herself from sliding up and down.

Alright, that had been...fun. Interesting. Still didn't hold a candle to her broom! She lowered the broom and disembarked, handing it off to the next person.

SPOILER!!: Broom notes

Jollyrocket
-Very sleek handle - almost too sleek?
-Ease when turning
-Very comfortable seat

Okay, now he was all set with the visual comparisons, Abra was gonna start giving these brooms test flights. Aka the fun part. But no sooner had Abra reached the Oakshaft than had Professor Adara declared the next part of the activity.

Avoiding... bludgers.

Abra looked doubtfully at the Oakshaft 79 in his hand, wondering if it would actually be any good at helping him do such a thing. Somehow, he seriously doubted it, but he still needed to test ride the broom, so...

... Okay. OKAY. He would fly it for THIRTY SECONDS, and then switch brooms. That ought to be enough. As for changing those cotton balls different colours, Abra was going to pass on that, just while he was on the Oakshaft, because he felt like he'd need to put all his concentration into avoiding the bludgers. AND making sure the bludgers didn't hit the broom. Honestly, wouldn't that just actually be his luck.

So, now in a bit of a hurry and wanting to get this part over with, Abra swung his leg over the broom and kicked off into the air. Adara hadn't been kidding; these brooms didn't exactly reach impressive heights. The Oakshaft did seem sturdy enough, and now he himself had experienced getting it into the air, he no longer doubted its flying capabilities. It really didn't feel very agile, though, which was worrisome, given the current activity. Abra urged it onwards as fast as he could, but it didn't reach very spectacular speeds either, not like a racing broom. Dodging the bludgers was a stressful situation, Abra really had to tug the broom this way and that as he heard the heavy iron balls eeeeEEEEEeeeeeing towards him from either side. Maybe it was just that he was so used to his own broom, built in the last few years and finely tuned to him, and extremely expensive (but not because it was an antique).

The thirty seconds were up, and Abra wasted no time in dismounting and setting the broom down in order to exchange it for one of the Cleansweeps. He mounted the newer broom, drew his wand, and kicked off into the air again, this time aiming to change the colours of the cotton balls. After this, he would take a quick break to add to his notes, just in case they were to be handed in at the end of the lesson or something.

Why was she having a hard time following what was going on? She knew they were to be comparing the brooms, but that seemed really... boring? Maybe that was why she was struggling. Looking at the broom in her hand she could tell the difference a little, but she wanted to just get on and fly, so could they just do that?

She wrote down more notes about the broom in her hand before going to the next one. This was lighter in color but felt heavier than the first. Honestly, she didn't really think she'd like flying this in a match. It seemed too heavy to zip around quickly after the snitch.

Looking up with the professor spoke again and Chloe jumped on a broom. She was ready for this part! What broom was she trying out again? Oh yes the Jollything, moving around she dodged a bludger before raising her wand, "colovaria " she watched as a white cotton ball turned blue.

Thankfully, Nettie had been able to avoid the bludgers as she'd been testing the Jollyrocket. Thank goodness. As she got on the Cleansweep, however, and started to take off, she could see one coming out of the corner of her eye. She moved quickly to the right, narrowly missing it, because the broom wasn't nearly as smooth as the Nimbus. Perhaps she was just super biased, but it seemed like ALL these brooms just couldn't hold a candle to her perfect, perfect broom.

What was the point of the cotton balls again? She'd been so focused on taking notes on the Jollyrocket that she'd missed the importance of it - but she did hear the bit about changing the colors. "Colovaria!" she exclaimed, pointing her wand at the cotton ball that flew past her. This was kind of hard to do while flying around...good thing Quidditch didn't require any spell casting.

She finally landed and got off the Cleansweep. Meh. Under impressed. She wrote some more notes down on her parchment before looking for the next one she was going to test.

SPOILER!!: Broom notes

Jollyrocket
-Very sleek handle - almost too sleek?
-Ease when turning
-Very comfortable seat

Cleansweep
-Harder to handle, not so smooth with turning
-FAST

SPOILER!!: Greeting/Assignment + Question 1

During Tessa's month-long punishment for taking Polyjuice potion as a prank, the flying lessons had become some of her favourite lessons because it meant being outside!!! She had been confined to the Gryffindor Common Room, with the exception of mealtimes and lessons, which she had been escorted to, and being inside for so long really, REALLY drained her energy. If the punishment had been good for anything (aside from giving her time reflect and regret, of course) it was that it gave her more motivation to study. She was on top of all her homework and studying!

But still felt guilty about the Polyjuice incident, so she kept her head lowered as she walked across the pitch, only looking up to offer the Professor a small smile and a greeting. "Good morning, Professor." She then dropped off her assignment in the box.

SPOILER!!: Assignment

Tessa Roberts
Gryffindor, 6th Year

My favourite broom is always changing because I need a new one and I keep changing my mind about which one I like the most. The broom I have at the moment is a Cleansweep but I wouldn't really say it's my favourite. It's good, and I'm used to it, but I think I would like a Nimbus 3100.

When Professor Adara asked them to name different broomstick models, Tessa raised her hand, the Firebolt in her mind. But then Abra said that one so she dropped her hand again and kept thinking. She wracked her brain - like, really wracked it - for a model that hadn't been said, trying to remember what was written in Quidditch Through the Ages. "There's the Twigger...Twigger 90, I think?" That was an old one and she didn't think it was that good, either.

They soon moved on to an activity, which Tessa thought sounded very easy and...a little boring. Before she even tried out any of the brooms, she jotted down a few notes about the different brooms' appearances as well as a few general notes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parchment

Oakshaft 79
- unique looking
- thick handle
- sturdy

Cleansweep 30
- they were the first racing brooms
- fairly slim
- agile?

Blasting Star
- good for beginners

Shooting Star 4000
- decent looking
- basic

Jollyrocket
- sleek & nice twigs

Then, as she was about to mount the Oakshaft, Professor Adara decided to mix things up a little by releasing two bludgers. Was this really necessary? Boring wasn't bad! The task had been to compare and test out the different models. How were they supposed to properly think about that while avoiding getting hit by bludgers? And some of these brooms were really SLOW, too. Sure, there were only two bludgers and a larger number of students but....still....

Tessa mounted the Oakshaft - oh, how she wished she had been nearer a different broom - and kicked off the ground, flying a measly four feet into the air. This suuuuuuuucked. She took her wand out its holster and turned it on one of the dumb little cotton balls. "Colovaria!" Pause. "Colovaria!" Both of the targeted cotton balls turned red. Now, could she get off this broom now? She knew everything she needed to know about it. It was reliably TERRIBLE, especially at manoeuvring, she noticed when she just barely managed to avoid a bludger.