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Flying Lesson 1: Dive & Pull Up The doors to the Training Grounds are open for the afternoon's Flying lesson. It is a clear, breezy day and you may enjoy the invigorating fresh air after spending the morning hours in stuffy classrooms. When you enter the area of smooth lawn where the lesson is to be held, you instantly notice an unusual set up: there is a giant inflatable pool in the middle of the lawn, complete with diving boards of varying heights. The pool is reasonably deep and filled with water; dozens of ping pong balls float on the water surface. |
uhhhhh.... what. Ash walked into the training grounds. "Professor." She nodded. Ash glanced at the pool. "Are we supposed to jump into that or are we supposed to avoid jumping into it?" Yay flying. Ash was reasonably good at it, but she didn't enjoy quidditch too much. She kneeled on the ground. "Hello," she said to nobody, not really noticing that she was the first one there. She had a very nice broom too. Not that she particularly wanted to fly, but if she wanted to and could afford it, might as well fly safely. |
This was going to be fun, right? She hoped at least, but if she was honest she had no clue how to really ride a broom. All she really knew was what she learned in her lessons and she really wasn't that great at it. It wasn't something she cared to do or tried to do at all. So coming to flying made her extremely nervous. "Hello professor" She said as she entered and read the board. Diving? They weren't really going to have to dive were they, because that was scary to even think about let alone do it. She gave Ash a little wave and found her seat to wait for class to start. |
Avalon was particularly excited for today's flying lesson. With everything going on, she was itching to feel the brisk autumn wind in her hair. Flying was the one thing that still made her feel free, even though they were basically held captive at Hogwarts. Her expression was puzzled, though, as she approached the training grounds, her own Nimbus 4000 in hand. A pool? Since when did flying class involve swimming and diving boards? If she had known they were going to get wet today, she would not have worn her thick socks. There was truly nothing worse than wet socks. "Good day, Professor Aguilar," Avalon said with a nod as she took a seat on the ground, using the time before class to rub off a few smudges from her broomstick handle with her sleeve. Although her broom was a few years old now, she still was obsessed with keeping it in tip-top shape. That thing cost a bloody fortune, and she had saved up every penny for it. She was determined to keep it pretty. |
Quinn walked to class decked out in his flying gear, but.... the pool in the middle of the training grounds made him think they might not be flying today. Quinn was fine with swimming—definitely more than flying—but he wasn't expecting to get wet today. And he didn't like getting wet in regular clothes. "Hello, Professor," Quinn said as he passed the professor, picking a spot in the field and sitting down. |
Flying.. What would normally be her favourite class was somehow making the fifth year dread it a little. She had no idea what to expect or what could possibly conspire, but decidedly put on a brave face as she properly prepared for today's lesson. She would soon make her way down to the training grounds, broom in hand, seeing that she had been one of the early students to arrive. Faye's eyes immediately taking note of the giant inflatable pool in the middle of the lawn with diving boards of different heights. Raising an eyebrow already puzzled, wondering if this was going to be some form of a pirate situation where they might have to jump off or something. Trying to already piece it together in her mind as to how this is going to go as she neared the Professor and the other students that had already arrived. "Good morning Professor", politely bowing her head in her usual fashion as she picked an area to to wait for the lesson to begin once everyone was present. It was then that her blue eyes had taken note of what was written on the blackboard in capitalized writing. Diving? What in Merlin's beard could that possibly have to do with flying? The confusion continues..... |
TODAY WAS THE DAY! Eden had been eagerly anticipating her first flying lesson ever since reading that line on her Hogwarts letter that said she wasn't allowed her own broom. She was DETERMINED to get good at it so she could play Quidditch and fulfill her sporty-witch fantasies. While avoiding further injury if/when the Inquisitorial Squad showed their hooded not-faces. Appropriate flying attire? Eden didn't know exactly what that meant, but she arrived in a plain pink t-shirt, a pair of grey sweatpants, and some trainers. Broom? Check. The school broom wasn't the best, but Eden didn't know anything about brooms and was happy to be using one at all. So, feeling prepared as she could be, she walked onto the training grounds. "Hi, Professor Aguilar!" There was a lot of unexpecteds right away. A pool, for starters. And ping pong balls. The combination of "diving" on the board and diving boards. What were they doing? She couldn't wait to find out. Eden sat near Quinn and Ash, figuring she should stay in her own age group for this one. She gave a little wave to both of them. She knew Quinn wasn't too keen on flying, but maybe he'd come to like it. She hoped so. |
Um. Uh. Nope. Emmerson began noping the MOMENT she walked out to the training grounds and saw the giant pool. As a general rule, Emm hated quidditch. She hated flying. She hated brooms. Her talents were in the sphere of dancing and gymnastics. Note, neither required maneuvering on a flimsy piece of wood with the chance of falling and breaking every bone in her body. As it so happened, she ALSO didn't feel like getting wet today. "Professor." The 12 year old said, moving to join the others. "I'm allergic to diving, and water and like I told you before, brooms." This would not have been the first time the Gryffindor made this clear but it became all the more important with this giant pool and diving board business. Consider her unamused. |
He wasn't great at flying on a broom, but he also wasn't terrible at it. He had always been somewhere in the middle. Good enough to not get himself in an accident but definitely not good enough to make it in to a Quidditch team. Just average. He didn't have his own broom either so before he walked to the class outside, the Hufflepuff had grabbed one of the school brooms. Did he know which type he got? Nope. it was a broom. It flew. Hopefully... "Hey professor Aguilar" he greeted with a nod of his head as he joined the others, holding his broom over his shoulder and looked at the giant inflatable pool. |
Aboli didn't have a broom, so she was hoping there would be some provided the veeeeery new Professor Aguilar. She couldn't figure out here feelings for the professor yet because it was still too soon to do so. But here she was because flying would probably be a peaceful, relaxing class compared to her NEWT level ones, right? RIGHT? "Hello, Professor!" she said with a wave in his direction. She knew he went by MR. AGUILAR but it felt soooOoooo weird calling him that that Aboli usually just said PROFESSOR out of habit and stuff. |
Claudine wasn’t that into flying though she was passable at it. For this reason, she didn’t own her own broom and had to borrow one of the School’s ancient Nimbus’. Yes, she had remembered to dress appropriately. “Good afternoon, Professor,’’ she said, addressing the man whom she thought handsome. You read right. Claudine Blaze, for the first time ever, found a professor to be handsome. Mhmm. “Interesting set up you’ve got here.” Were they actually there for a flying lesson? The fifth year chanced a glance at the man’s face once more before following his instructions. She pulled up a patch of grass away from the pool and next to Avalon. With the Nimbus beside her, the girl decided that she wouldn’t be telling Heath what she thought of Aguilar in case she hurt his feelings. Then she remembered… they weren’t exactly talking much. “Hi, Avalon. That your own broomstick?’’ |
Given his family history, one might think that Apollo was naturally interested in quidditch and flying. Except Apollo wasn't sure about it. Sure the first lesson had happened as well as one could expect for his first official time on a broom, albeit the stinky school brooms. The professor seemed alright enough too, one he was sure his older cousins Approaching the grounds for today's lesson was surprising though as he hadn't expected to see a swimming pool. At least he was wearing athletic attire, but was he meant to wear swimming trunks? He hadn't recalled seeing that addendum. Diving into a swimming pool, not into air? Weird. But if it meant not having to be on the school brooms for long, Apollo was all for it! "Hello Professor. Is the pool heated?" you know, just curious cause fall weather was kind of chilly for a swim in Scotland and he didn't really know any warming spells yet. |
This might be the ONLY thing Bernie agrees w/Claudine on This class always, without fail, made Bernie feel ill, and not just because she didn't like heights nor trust brooms. Okay, actually, those were the two exact reasons. She ALSO felt ill because now she was going to look SUPER Muggleborn in front of the cute new professor. AND what were the chances those hooded observers were going to show up too, to judge her and point their wands at her and laugh and/or curse her? Bernie leaned around her classmates, peeked in the pool, and then hid in the back of the group. She just had a bad feeling about this lesson. It didn't help that the branches on her school broom were sticking out every which way as she dragged it around with her. She could almost place money on the fact that those hoodie wearers were going to pop out of the pool at any moment. If she had any money to bet, that was. That would be just like them, to ruin a kiddie pool with their creepy presence. "Hello, sir," she dully greeted the professor, taking a seat where he told them to. It was a shame he was so cute and yet taught such a silly subject. Couldn't someone make him teach a cooking class or something? She could see him wearing an apron. He'd make the kitchens a real hot place to be. All puns fully, embarassingly intended. |
Violet was still using one of the old school brooms--her grandfather said she didn't need one of her own until she showed more skill and interest in flying. She had pointed out to him that she was unlikely to develop either using a low-quality broom, but he was not impressed with her argument. Violet hated flying, because being high up in the air scared her, but mostly because she wasn't much good at it and she hated to look stupid in front of others. When she arrived at class and saw the pool and the word on the blackboard, she hated flying class even more, because she also hated getting wet and was afraid that that was what was going to happen shortly. Sighing, she took her place with the other students. |
Flying was the absolute worst subject on earth. Who wanted to go and get themselves all up in the air and potentially die? Yet she was trying to do everything in her power to not draw attention to herself in front of the new headmaster. No need to get liar or something worse scrawled across her forehead. Broom in hand she finally got closer realizing there was water. This lesson went from bad to absolutely worse. Ugh why did this have to happen. Trying to change her demeanor she smiled “Hello professor.” she tried to find a familiar face to stand by.... but that was short supply yet. |
The term had been very trying thus far, but Camryn hoped that today would be different. She was excited about flying. The thought of being in the air and hopefully away from any scary people mad her feel hopeful. If anything could make her feel free, this was it. “Hello Professor”, she said as she arrived for class. When she saw the pool, she was a little confused. She wondered what it would have to do with their flying lesson. This could be a good thing or a bad thing and Cam wasn’t sure how it would work out. Choosing to be optimistic for a change, she sat down and waited to find out the plan for the day. |
Kinsay didn't hate flying as much as Emmerson hated flying. Actually, Kinsay didn't hate flying at all. It was nice and fun and her dad was a quidditch LEGEND. Did Professor Aguilar know? Probably. Kinsay made it a point to remind people often when it came up. What? She's a proud kid, okay! So Kinsay didn't hate flying, but she had to pretend to hate it just a little bit on principal. That stuffs important when you have a best friend to please. Exceeeeeeeeeept the moment she saw the pool any and all determination to pretend to hate flying went straight out the proverbial window. "Hi Professor. Are we swimming today?" It would have been a silly question to ask any other time, but there was a POOL. A whole POOL. "I can hold my breath for longer than a minute." Was he impressed? Because it was one of Kinsay's most special talents (next to her round off triple back handspring). |
Were they going to fly or swim? Or both? Lilith eyed the inflatable pool with narrowed eyes. This term has brought on too many surprises already, she didn’t want any more. She cautiously made her way towards the group of gathering students. Pausing with her broom at her side, she checked her surroundings, making sure there were no hooded figures. She felt like a cat on edge. One of these days she was going to snap and claw someone. Relieved she didn’t see any of them, Lilith greeted the professor while at the same time eyeing his arms. She bet they gave nice, warm hugs. Eh. “Hello, professor.” She wanted a hug. Instead, she went to sit down. SIGH. |
It was a beautiful day outside and the breeze was running through her light brown hair. She would have to tie it up later as to not get in her way. The fresh air was a nice change and Delany was taking big, gulping deep breaths of it; taking a chance to try and calm not only her nerves but the underlying fear that had seeped into her bones ever since the welcome feast. She had her brother's old broom broom clutched tightly in her hand. He had never been very good at quidditch and only took it out flying a few times so it was in very good shape still. She was very excited to learn how to fly for real. But she did not have a very good feeling about the large pool "Good afternoon Professor! Do we need bathing suits today?" She did not remember that on the packing list... |
School broom in hand and sneakers on her feet, Mamie made her way to flying class. She was both looking forward to it and terrified of making a fool of herself. So, a normal day at Hogwarts. "Hello, Professor!" she said as she arrived. She was definitely intrigued by the inflatable pool. She took a seat as instructed, plopping herself on the ground and propping the broom on her knees. She hoped it was a well behaved broom and wouldn't do anything to make her flying more embarrassing than it already was. It had been the best looking one left in the storage place, though she wasn't sure how picked over they already were. She also wasn't sure if appearance indicated whether a broom would try to buck her off or not. |
Fiona made her way to the outdoor lesson, carrying her Jollyrocket 2200 broomstick in her hand and wearing the appropriate outfit. "Good afternoon, Professor!" she greeted the Flying instructor. The fifth year headed over to where Claudine was and sat near her. |
Atlas was neither here nor there about flying, even if he grew up with a couple of quidditch icons - like Alice Odessa - as close family friends of sorts. Auntie Alice had mostly tried to teach the blonde the importance of biting and had taken him and Aries on a couple of flybys before...but nothing ever on his own. So, school broom in hand and his Gryffindor tracksuit on, the Gryffindor hurried over to where class was taking place and was relieved to find that the Wannabe Dementor Squad was no where in sight. He also noticed But first. "Hello, professor," he greeted the man with a wide grin and bounce to his step before scampering over to the flock of first years and plopping himself down riiiiiiiight beside Quinn and likewise greeted him with a grin as well before a chipper, "Hey!" The diving board and ping pong balls was puzzling, especially in light of the class announcement not listing swimwear for the suggested attire. Atlas had to wonder if they would be jumping off on their brooms and into a nose dive and then trying to pull up at the last second to snatch a ball or...just canon balling into the pool to get used to the sensation of falling. Because falling off your broom was a really real thing. He knew. He had seen plenty of quidditch matches. He was just about to voice some of this to Quinn when he noted another Ravenclaw girl on the opposite of his friend, perhaps the girl Quinn had mentioned to him. So he offered her a small smile as well before his attention was back to his fizzing popcorn friend. "It feels a lot like riding a rollercoaster," he offered by way of explanation. "Only instead of sitting with a bar across your lap and being a passenger ...you are in control of the journey." He sounded like he knew what he was talking about. He only half did. ...and it was safe to talk like this here, right? It was just the professor and none of The Hoods™ present. And, thankfully, his polyjuice conspiracy theory was forgotten in the excitement of the moment for being outside. |
The tiny first-year made her way out to the training pitch with her scratchy uniform and tatty school broom. She was particularly excited for this class, uncomfortable uniform and splintery broom aside. She was just annoyed she couldn't bring her own broom this year, stupid rule. "Afternoon, professor!" Professor? Mister? Regardless, she grinned toothily at the man and threw up a peace sign. He seemed nice enough, she observed, and she was thankful for it. After the particularly harrowing experience in Rosier's class earlier an adult who didn't look like he was about to hex everyone and their grandmother for even looking at him was a breath of fresh air. She took a seat next to Ash, smiling in greeting and raising her eyebrows at the inflatable pool. Was she supposed to bring swimwear? "Are we...swimming?" |
Flying… ugh! Aside from DADA, this was the class Heath dreaded most. It was nothing against Mr. Aguilar! He just… had a thing about heights. He didn't even like being on wires or catwalks for plays! Like the time he played Michael Banks in Mary Poppins (one of the first plays he ever did), and there was one scene where he was on wires… it still made him shudder to think about it. Nonetheless, he arrived at the training grounds, school broom in hand. "Hello, Professor," he greeted, nodding politely. His dark eyes scanned his surroundings, and he spotted Avalon, Claudine, and Fiona. He almost beelined for them but stopped himself just in time. Sure, being near people he trusted would make him feel a lot less nervous about flying, but he worried it was only a matter of time before the hooded guys turned up. He didn't want to inadvertently give them something to write about! Besides, he was supposed to be staying away… He sat down on a patch of grass where he'd be alone and out ofvthe way, staring intently at the pool. For once, he didn't even try to riddle out how it might fit into the lesson. Instead, he was strangely reminded of the inflatable pool in Professor Schmoe's class a couple of terms ago, back when he was just starting to… Never mind. Could they start soon, please? He needed a distraction! |
This was her class. ...well okay, actually it was Professor Aguilar’s class, but she was made for it. She’d flew before she’d even walked and it was one of the best feelings she knew. For this reason and this reason only (given everything going on this term), Cece actually wore a smile as she joined her classmates, broom in hand. ”Hello Professor.” This was going to be fun, huh? She needed some fun. |
Flying! Did Dahlia know how to fly? Absolutely. Was she incredibly great at it? Absolutely not. She was nowhere near the level of some of her fellow peers. Never been to a camp, not largely into playing Quidditch but she could fly. That was enough for her. Plus this lesson meant she wouldn't be sitting inside a classroom on a hard chair the entire time. This had to be one of the very first times she arrived at a lesson, besides CoMC that she had a true smile on her face. Getting to pretty much wear what she wanted for this class had helped with that. Sporting some black athletic pants, her favorite pastel tie-die shirt with a pygmy puff on it and her comfiest sneakers was the way to go. Her hair was pulled back into pig-tails which she had french braided to keep her hair out of her eyes. Unfortunately being a firstie meant she hadn't been allowed her broom so a stop had to be made before the lesson to get one, which she was carrying in her hand. Bright blue eyes took in the large pool first thing. Well that was curious. The next thing she noticed was the professor and the blackboard with the word 'Diving' written on it beside him. Maybe the pool had something to do with that? "Hello, Professor Aguilar. Is the pool to break our fall in case we slip off our brooms?" Couldn't hurt to ask! Plus she wasn't afraid to hit the water if anything went wrong. |
Text Cut: Hello, welcome! “Alright, let’s get started.” Aguilar said loudly to get everyone’s attention. “Welcome back to Flying class! A quick recap. We covered some basic techniques in the past month: broom summoning, mounting, liftoff and landing, as well as proper broom care and maintenance. Experienced flyers, you were given additional tasks to hone your reflexes and improve your flying skills. Today, you will be learning a more difficult manoeuvre.” He pointed at the word on the blackboard. “Diving! When would you ever need to dive? Think about flying as a method of transportation, as well as a component of sports like Quidditch. If you are not sure, then have a think and make a guess.” Essentially, be creative! OOC: The lesson has begun YAY! We will move on in 24 hours. If you are late, feel free to still jump in and pretend that you arrived on time. |
See, the reason Ash couldn't be a QUidditch player was not her flying ability. She was well above average. She was just, very afraid of bludgers. So naturally, when the teacher said 'why would you need to dive', her mind went the immediately. "Ummm... if someone hit a bludger at you, or if they were trying to physically run into you, you would need to dodge it." Imagine someone trying to kill you like usual, but in THE AIR. Scary. |
Lia grinned widely. Wicked! Knowing the pool of water was there for that very reason may have took the edge of broom 'Diving' in the air a little bit. Getting wet didn't faze her in the least. Not that she wanted to fall off her broom or anything like that. "Well you could dive in order to catch something? Like the snitch during a Quidditch match," she answered, her hand raised in the air. It wasn't something she herself personally had ever done while playing with parents and siblings for fun but she had watched a few of them do so. Honestly she couldn't wait to give it a try herself! It looked like that scary sort of fun that gave you a super quick adrenaline rush. |
Was she inwardly sighing when the class started and he jumped right into diving. She really didn't want to do any diving. She just wanted to go fly around and look at the clouds and the birds. You could watch birds so much easier in the air, but she certainly rather do it on the ground. Staying where she was Gemma listened to the answers start and she wasn't shocked it was all quidditch. Quidditch, quidditch, quidditch, was that all people ever thought about? She was glad she wasn't all that into it and didn't care about teams or the obsession of the sport. Lifting her hand she waited for the professor to call on her, "If you are flying to a destination you might dive to head back to the ground if it is a quick down before you land." With floo and apparation she didn't really understand why people would even use a broom, but she hoped her answer wasn't bad. |
Quinn felt really good to be surrounded by his friends. He gave a wave to Eden as she sat, and then Atlas came and eagerly sat next to him as well. Both of them gave him the warm fuzzies. "Hey, Atlas! Oh, and, um..." Quinn gestured to Eden, "this is Eden. Eden, this is Atlas." Quinn hoped they would get along well. Quinn smiled a bit awkwardly at Atlas's description. He knew he was just trying to get Quinn excited, and Quinn did like rollercoasters, but... he liked his rollercoasters with the lap bar. "Sounds... exhilerating..!" Quinn turned his attention back to Professor Aguilar. "Well, if you were flying somewhere and something were to get in your way—like, uh, a bludger in Quidditch or some birds in the sky—you would have to dive pretty quickly." |
Valencia was going to say birds when someone beat her too it. She thought for another moment. "If you're using it for travel, you may be in a place with trees you may quickly need to avoid." Of course, she couldn't imagine using a broom for travel. Cars existed. (Not that she'd mention anything muggle right now). And there was also aparation and floo. |
Little did Claudine know that the ex best friend was thinking along the same line as her in terms of Aguilar’s exotic, sizzling looks. Such a nice face it was to look at. What a side profile to look at :eyebrows: Ahem. Right. She shouldn’t daydream. Instead, there was another friend beside her now. Hi again, Fiona. Naturally, the two had seen each other many times the entire day. As for Heath… she pretended not to see him though she didn’t really want to. Then again, she had suggested they stay away from each other for now because of the whole blood status issue. It was a decision she was starting to regret. Thankfully, the lesson was starting. This meant a welcome distraction as well as finding out what the lesson would entail. Ah, diving. The Snakette listened to some of her peers’ answers in amusement. Birds, like Quinn had mentioned, was the first thing that had come to mind. Her Hand went up a moment later. “If you dropped something fragile, like glass mugs, and you really don’t want them to break then a dive would be useful.” |
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And while she was standing there thinking that, he started the class and it was too late, and--gosh, even his voice was good looking. Maybe Flying wouldn't be so bad after all this term. Quote:
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Bernie couldn't help the faint pinkness that spread on her cheeks from Aguilar's greeting; he had such a cute little wave. But if anyone asked, she'd just be like...it's cold outside, with a faint wind.... or some other lame excuse. Her first thought about diving? Why would you be traveling by broom when they are so many easier methods of transportation? Her second thought? You dropped something you were traveling with and had to go pick it up. Her third thought? You have to duck to avoid something. But she didn't want to repeat anyone's answer, so her mouth tightened into a thin hard line as she thought up a different response. "Maybe you're in an exhibition flying match demo thingy," Bernie offered after a long think, "so you're showing off a new broom with.... great brakes, or something, and you wanna do a woooooo." She made a whistling sound and drew a tornado-like looooooop-de-looop spiral in the air with her finger. Yeah, great answer, Grantham. That was sure to impress the adorable professor. |
Diving? Cece’s face lit up. Diving was the best! The thrill of it, the wind in your hair, the little somersault your stomach did. She was a fan, okay? And with this in mind, she came up with her answer. ”Maybe you just want to have a bit of fun while you’re flying to wherever you’re flying.” No one said traveling by broom had to be boring. |
Class had begun and Faye was very attentively honed in on the Professor immediately as he addressed the class. He was mentioning almost immediately what was written on the blackboard and asked his question in regards to what might diving be used for in terms of flying. Students began answering left and right, so she patiently waited for her to have a chance to answer raising her hand until it was her turn. When her turn had arrived she answered, "Well Professor, in terms of diving, might it be useful to use this technique where perhaps a certain scenario there could be a flying creature attempting an attack?" Defensive maneuvers, you never knew what could be waiting to strike, always best to be on your guard. "As someone mentioned, certainly diving into some trees would be extremely helpful.." |
Diving? They were learning to dive on a broom? Aboli regretted coming immediately. She knew had to apparate and had her license, thank you, so why had she even considered this class necessary?! Her heart was beating so rapidly from the nerves of even THINKING about diving on a broom. Um. She raised her hand. "To scare unsuspecting muggles. Sounds fun," she said with a firm nod. IF anyone were listening, that would sound good and ALSO ALSO it was neutral enough that in her heart of hearts, she didn't feel completely guilty about saying it aloud. Thirdly, though, it actually did sound kinda' fun. "You know, if the statute wasn't a thing." Which...if their new LEADERS of this school had anything to say about it, she was sure they did not believe in the statute. Hadn't she really YELLED at Cambridge for saying anti-muggle stuff last term? Sure. But things had changed. And this wasn't necessarily ant-muggle, more...it could be TWISTED that way if she needed it to be for the sake of her survival. |
Hah. That was a joke, right? OF COURSE Emm was ready and rearing to let the Professor know the MOMENT her "allergies" got worse. They would get worst, too. If Mr. Aguilar thought the little girl was placated by the false concern, he had not been paying attention thus far. For now, Emmerson nodded. "Will do, Sir." Green eyes moved back to the large pool momentarily. Diving. Broom tricks. A pool of water. She already had a bad feeling about this but DID have an answer. When did they need to dive? Her hand shot up nearly immediately. "When you happen to be sitting next to an idiot who actually thinks it's a good idea to provoke the hoodie wand slinging squad. You gotta get ready to dive real quick so you don't end up in the line of fire of the hex that everyone KNOWS is coming." It was a pattern and she was a fast learner. It was why she no longer stood too close to certain people. She would survive this term. |
Mamie was not really that concerned about her school broom, she truthfully grateful she could always use it as a scapegoat if she embarrassed herself flying in front of everybody. She wasn't sure why you'd need to dive outside of Quidditch, but she did some thinking, trying to get some ideas from other students' answers. They all had very good ideas and Mamie had none. Oh! She had it! Mamie raised her hand. "Professor, if you're flying and there's a surprise bridge or a...Muggle communication wire that you didn't see soon enough, you might have to dive to avoid it," she said. |
Any and all disappointment (which was quite a lot at first) that Kinsay had felt over the prospect that they would not, in fact, be swimming today had quickly evaporated the moment their professor declared her talent to be impressive. She nodded her head vigorously because YES, REALLY! And smiled bashfully. ”Thanks.” Before scurrying off to find a place to stand. Diving! Kinsay raised her hand in the air.... Just before lowering it again. And then raising it again! ... And then lowering it again. And then raising again! ... And then lowering again. Everyone else had stolen ALL the answers her answers!! So she thought that maybe she'd keep her answers to herself this round. Except. Actually maybe she did have an answer. So for what must have been the fifth or sixth time now, Kiz raised her hand again. Um. "Maybe if you're in a contest and need to show how well you can control your broom when you're flying." Kinsay wasn't so sure, but she offered her answer confidently anyway. That's half the battle. |
As the class began, Heath looked to Aguilar, hanging on to the man's every word with rapt attention. Not because he was particularly interested in the subject but because the lecture kept his mind off… other things going on in his life. So anyway, they were talking about diving, in the flying sense at least. That still didn't explain the diving boards or the pool, but whatever. If the professor didn't say, he probably didn't need to know what they were for yet. There was only one reason Heath could think of in which he'd ever use diving: avoidance. Animals, objects, other people, you name it! Apparently he wasn't the only person who thought along those lines, as a lot of his classmates' scenarios were basically avoidance in one form or another. Was saying essentially the same thing really necessary? He didn't feel much like talking now. He didn't feel like getting injured or disfigured either, and he didn't trust those hooded guys not to appear out of nowhere and hex him for not speaking! So he raised his hand and kept his answer as short and to the point as possible. "Birds," he said. "You could dive to avoid them." |
Surely no one will die in this class. Aries had hope. And despite the dismay, he was very excited about this class. Something about being in the air made Aries very happy. Naturally then he had lots to say about flying and all things related when the professor posed his first question. His hands went up in the air and he could barely wait his turn before giving his answer, "this one time, I was up in the air, and I got into a fight with a bird, and he wouldn't move away from my face, so I tried diving toward the ground to dodge him but then I fell really hard" His life was really interesting outside of Hogwarts. |
Text Cut: Great answers! Time to move on! “You all have a good understanding of when it is necessary to dive while flying. Diving is, in a nutshell, the technique used to descend sharply. Easy definition, not so easy to accomplish. You can dive to avoid an object, creature, person or turbulent weather. You can dive to catch something, such as the Golden Snitch in a Quidditch match. Or you can dive just for the fun of it and show off your awesome broom handling skills at the same time. The Wronski Feint is a Quidditch tactic where a seeker dives suddenly to deceive the opposing seeker into following, then pulling up at the last second and leaving the unprepared seeker to crash.” He was surprised no one mentioned this - it was a popular, but controversial, seeker move. “Other variations of diving include the D’Orazio dive and Dionysus dive, which involve jumping off of brooms and doing somersaults. They are performed by chasers to steal the Quaffle and score a goal respectively.” He tapped the blackboard with his wand as he spoke - the word “DIVING” was erased and multi-coloured lines and arrows appeared instead. They wiggled over the diagram to demonstrate each tactic that he described. “We will be focusing on the ah, normal diving manoeuvre in this lesson, known as ‘dive and pull up’. Some more questions before we begin practising: What are the risks associated with the dive and pull up? How can we perform this manoeuvre safely?” OOC: We will move on in 24 hours! |
Why was everyone staring at the professor.... ohhhhhhhhh. Was the professor ATTRACTIVE???? Ash thought that was really funny. She smirked a little, and said nothing. "You could crash into the ground. Also, if you pull up, that only affects the broom, so you could also smack your face into the broom on your way up. Objects in motion remain in motion or whatever." Physics and stuff. Diving could be dangerous. "I guess to dive safely, you shouldn't come in too steep or fast."Ash had a question and raised her hand. "How many seekers get hurt after getting tricked by a Wronski Feint?" |
So he had been right and this was Eden. He really did not have time to react otherwise, however, as class began and Atlas was taking a moment to ponder over the question about diving...until he heard his brother bring up THAT story. Was it bad that the Thankfully Andromeda had found them before they followed through with the master plan. But his little trip down memory lane cost him the opportunity to answer, though he really did not have anything particularly insightful to add that was relevant to the topic of flying. When he thought about diving, his thoughts went to whale and dolphins...maybe a few species of birds who would dive into the water to catch fish. Penguins. But...right. Diving. Controlled falling, was basically the definition Atlas was going to stick with. He was also feeling particularly pleased with himself for coming to the correct conclusion for today's training - though it was a bit of a bummer that the technique did not have an alliteration for a name like the other two. The inconsistency with names was a bit annoying. And, well, there was the obvious answer in that you did not pull up in time and went crashing into the ground, breaking both broom handle and bone in the process. Which is where he assumed the swimming pool came into play. "Newton's first law of motion," he muttered under his breath at the Ravenclaw's ~whatever~. This was the wrong Gryffindor to ask about performing the maneuver safely and without injury...because his initial thought was simple: don't do it. |
Dahlia's blue eyes were trained on the blackboard as Aguilar spoke. She was watching the different colors arrows perform the stunts that were currently being described to them. They looked like fun! Heart stopping, stomach in your throat, 'I might go SPLAT!'.. kind of fun. Even so, Lia knew better then to attempt something she wasn't ready for. Which unfortunately were those. At this current point in time, given her current flying abilities, she would be more than happy to pull off a successful Dive and Pull Up. Back to the questions at hand though. Lia raised her hand. "It might also help to trust yourself and your broom. If you're working with a much older broom or a brand new broom that you're not used to it might react differently than you'd expect it to." Which could cause potential issues for those involved. |
catching up Text Cut: with claudine before class! Ah, suddenly the diving boards made sense. Avalon had never attempted an actual dive into a pool, but she figured she'd be up for it if she was on her broomstick. She raised her hand to answer the first question. "In Quidditch, chasers can use a dive to quickly get away from the opposing team. Or to get an opponent off their tail." One of Avalon's personal favorites was a fake dive, where she made the motions as if she were going to plunge, but then pulled up on her broom at the last minute. It was a great tactic for confusing the opponent. But she had her fair share of failed dives, too. Plenty that ended in bruised bones and whoozy heads. "Whiplash, Professor. Any sudden jerks or changes in direction can be really disorienting," she answered to the second question. And it was quite difficult to fly properly if you were dizzy. |
Quinn was not happy about this lesson. When given what the lesson would be about, he figured out why there was a pool full of ping pong balls, and he let out a defeated sigh. Quinn knew he would be getting wet this lesson. While he now did know the first thing about flying, he was not prepared to dive—he was finding it hard enough as is to get in the air without falling off his broom. Quinn wouldn't be surprised if he managed to crash into the ground instead of even in the pool, so he didn't think he could properly answer the Professor's question. |
Devin was more than ready to throw off his outer layers of robes and cannonball into the pool whenever the professor said it was time to use the pool. That’s what it was there for, right? Surely there wouldn’t be a pool here if they weren’t going to be allowed to swim in it. Unless the pool was acting as a sort of a safety net so people didn’t run their brooms straight into the ground. Either way, Dev was ready to get to the fun stuff. Enough of sitting around and talking about diving, he was ready to get practical experience! Admittedly Devin understood more about the mechanics of flying of dragons than how the principles of flight applied to broomsticks, but the risk of hitting the ground in a dive was an obvious one here. ”To safely perform the dive and pull up, it’s important to understand how fast your broom is going, how close to the ground you are, and how quickly your broom can respond to changes in direction so you can pull up before hitting the ground.” Wouldn’t want to wait too long to pull up on some janky old broom that took forever to respond. |
Valencia nodded as some of the other students spoke up. Well, all except Aboli. That was... dark. Thanks new management. "There's also a possibility of falling off the broom or flipping over it." Because gravity and going down quickly. Then kersplat. That didn't seem fun. |
The Wronski Feint sounded very scary to her. Claudine suddenly had an image of her trying the move but ended up splattering all over the ground. Poor Heath would be heartbroken… yeah, she wouldn’t ever attempt that Feint. Nor would she ever be attempting jumping off brooms or somersaulting. This Slytherin valued her life, thanks. The fascinating multi coloured arrows captured her attention. They provided an excellent demonstration of the mentioned tactics. Up went a hand for the second question. “Being aware of your surroundings, or rather, the ground. One should try as best as they could to keep an eye on the distance between themselves and the rapidly closing in ground. It can help to know when to pull out of the dive.” |
!!!!!!! :omgomg: !!!!!!! :omgomg: !!!!!!! :omgomg: He liked her stupid answer!!!!!!!!!!! Even though it was wrong!!!!!!!!! He even did the finger-noise-thingy too!!!! Bernie let out a girlish giggle, like an actual, "Hehehe," and then threw her hand over her own mouth. Who was this possessing her and what had they done with the REAL Bernie OG?! She tried to concentrate on the professor and his chalkboard of squiggly lines, but honestly, she was mostly just seeing little red hearts on the board. Maybe someone had put a love potion in her cereal this morning. UH. HEHE. What was the orzo dive and dionsaur dive? SOMERSAULTS? Could she see a demo of those, please? Huh??????? What was the question now? Oh, right. How to dive safely. "Well until you're good and comfortable with it, maybe you should only attempt it really, REALLY slowly," Bernie offered, offhandedly, blinking a few times to bring herself back to the ground. She was having SUCH a tough time focusing, gosh. But she would, for sure, be attempting any broom maneuvers today at a literal snail's pace. |
Merlin take her now. Why did they even have to learn diving? It wasn't going to help them takover the muggle world or whatever else the alliance wanted. Of all the classes for Rosier to dip his hands into, he chose to leave flying as it was. If there was a suggestion box outside his office, it would be stuffed with nothing but requests from her. "You could dive and not come back up so the only really safe way to go about it is to not dive at all." Standard Arithmancy. 2 + 2 = 4 Diving could lead to death. Remove the diving and there was no death. Gawd, that hat could've made her a Ravenclaw. |
Diving and pulling back up...sounded like a roller coaster. Her brother always got sick on roller coasters, especially if they had just had lunch. She had never got sick on a roller coaster. Her hand went up. "If you get motion sickness, diving and pulling up could make you throw up!" she informed the group. "Make sure you don't eat too much beforehand." Mamie figured that was probably the only advice that was similar between flying and swimming. |
Catching up Once class started, Camryn was so excited about flying that she was a little bit distracted. She almost missed the first question. They were going to practice diving today? That was cool. As for when you would need to dive, well all Cam could think of was someone diving to catch the snitch in quidditch. Of course someone had already given that answer, so she kept quiet for now. When the second question came along, Camryn was determined to give an answer. What bad things could happen with the dive and pull up? She had an idea and raised her hand right away. “If you’re doing the dive and pull up, you have to make sure that there is nothing in your way. If you are diving, you don’t want to hit anything on the way down or the way up. You could really hurt yourself if you are not careful.” |
Kinsay was, yet again, disappointed. While she was excited to get on her broom and start flying, she wished they'd be doing the summersault move instead. Gymnastics AND flying? Talk about the BEST combination! She did try to pay attention as everyone else offered answers, hoping that no one stole hers this time. "That's Newton's Law." She chimed in after Ashley because it wasn't just ~whatever~. It was real science. And Kinsay felt smart for knowing. Other things that made her feel smart? Answering questions in class. Lots of people had already answered about the risks though, so Kizzy ignored that one and skipped to the second question about safety instead. "Practice makes perfect, so you should practice diving above something soft. Like... a giant mattress! Or..... A swimming pool! That way if you fall you won't get hurt." Is THAT why Professor Aguilar brought a pool to class today? |
Delilah had yet to join in on the discussion about diving. For one, she was too hung up on the fact that first years weren't allowed to bring their own brooms. Why? Did the school think that being just one year younger than the second years would cause the first years to do something stupid? ... Probably so. Even still, never in a million years did she think she would a broom that she'd be flying on anyway. A broom...yes. A broom to fly on? Nope. Hearing the next question, the Gryffindor decided to finally speak up. She raised her hand. "I'd say the biggest danger would be if you didn't remember to pull up in time," she offered. She winced just thinking about the painful face plant that would follow. As far as trying to avoid that happening? "Maybe we need to take it slow at first and get a feel for it before giving it a real go." Delilah also agreed with the people saying they shouldn't try it at all. Just being in the air and flying around had taken about all the bravery she had in her. Then to dive along with it? |
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Or don't do it at all... |
Hah. This was an easy one. Aries' hand again shot up, and when his turn finally came, he admitted VERY proudly, "I can say with EXPERIENCE, you call the bird's bluff and pull up because the bird won't stop and you will crash and break your nose" In short, - just pull up in time. |
”I’m with Kinsay, Professor.” The fifth year offered her younger pseudo-sister a grin. ”The only way to really master a dive is to keep practicing it until you really know what you’re doing.” In Cece’s case, she’d had a few NOT so fun interactions with the ground, but it was tooootally fine and she was okay and still loved flying. Practice was the answer. |
Text Cut: Excellent answers again! “Now, I will show you the dive & pull up. Watch me carefully,” he spoke to the class and, finally, soared into the air on his Nimbus 4000. “First, mount your broom and kick off from the ground. You should rise to a height you feel comfortable diving from - I recommend at least 15 feet above ground. When you are ready, grip your broom firmly with your hands and legs and lean forward. Beginners, you may want to point your broom handle down at a small angle as this will slow your descent. If you want to challenge yourself, you can gather speed in a steep dive. Remember to stay focused.” He demonstrated a medium-speed 45° dive. He was falling … and falling … (not so fast, you see) … and pulled up at the last second to hover before the students. “As soon as you achieve your purpose, whether it’s to catch something you dropped, feint, whatever, pull out of the dive by pulling the broom handle straight. Keep in mind that a steep dive requires much more strength to pull up than a slow one.” “Now it’s your turn to practise … over the pool!” As many of them correctly guessed from the set up. EXCITING, right?? “Take turns to climb up to a diving board of your choosing,” 10 feet, 15 feet or 25 feet above water, “kick off from the board and practise the dive & pull up. Your goal is to catch a ping pong ball from the water surface without getting wet. You can try as many times as you want and vary your height and gradient each time, as long as you queue up. You can work together with a partner or in a group and give each other feedback if you wish to do so.” Oh right, he promised Apollo that he would warm up the water. When the students were getting ready, Aguilar quickly sent a heating spell into the giant pool. He had a feeling that quite a few of the kids would fall into the water, hehe. OOC: Diving time~ We will move on to the main activity in 72 hours. |
kind of catching up Why on Merlins earth would they want to dive while flying? A slow steady decent was one thing, but avoiding all of these wild and crazy things.... that was just ridiculous "I wouldn't want to dive in the first place, slow and steady going down. Or just choose a different method of transportation." she mumbled to herself after most of the answers had been given and before they moved on to the actual diving. A pingpong ball off of the water? Glancing at the other classmates she really wanted to know who was excited for this cause she sure wasn't. did Professor Aguilar not see how perfect her hair looked today? Groaning with broom in hand she walked over to the 10 ft board, no sense in getting slopping wet with higher speed, right? But she absolutely didn't want to go first, where was a little first year to give it a try first? |
Violet smirked to herself at his speech about catching Snitches and winning points--that was extremely unlikely to ever be a concern of hers, and in fact, she would be lucky to get out of Hogwarts with a passing grade in Flying. She couldn't wait until she was old enough to learn to Apparate, and once she was out of school, she vowed never to get on a broom again. Quote:
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Violet wasn't even sure this old broom could manage a dive. She dragged her feet as she headed slowly toward the diving boards--which one? Not the tallest, that's for sure. Her inclination was to try the 10' board, since it was the shortest, but maybe that wouldn't give her enough time to pull out of the dive. The middle one it was, then--that was the height the teacher had suggested, after all. Violet glanced around to see what the other students were doing. She really didn't want to be first. |
Gemma just listened to the others not really wanting to answer anything about diving, especially crashing. She just wanted this class to be over and not have to think about flying again. She wished she wasn't even in the class, but her mother made sure she signed up. Having a mom as a professor was a pain when you wanted to not take certain classes. Needing to be well balanced and blah, blah. It was just all annoying. Getting up she went for a broom and kicked off the ground. Easily making up high enough to dive, but did she really have to dive? She just wanted to float, float and watch the others. Looking around she realized it was her turn and sighed. Still trying to figure out why, she leaned her broom and started the dive pulling up in time to start going up again. |
Two hooded figures lurked in the shadows watching. One holding parchment and feverishly writing as the other looked on towards the brooms and the class. They stayed back, but they were there. As the students started to gather brooms and lift off the two glanced at each other and the one holding the parchment wrote more. For the time being they stayed where they were, but the parchment was getting filled in just the first few minutes of class starting. |
"So what you're saying is that the seekers crash 2/3 times? Because if it works..." She didn't enjoy thinking about it. Anyway. Ash climbed to the highest diving board. She dived fast, caught a ping pong ball, and pulled up just in time. She had done very well, and Ash didn't enjoy it. It was scary, and even if she did it perfect, it was still scary. She got off and stood shakily to the side waiting for the next go, where she hopefully would do just as well. She took some deep breaths. The worst that could happen was that she would get a bruise from belly-flopping the water. Right? It wasn't bad it wasn't bad it wasn't bad... Also, Ash KNEW what Newton's laws were. But she didn't want to bring up that muggles were smart, because she didn't want to die. |
bit of catch up After Faye's response to the Professor's first question, she realized it probably did sound dangerous using trees to evade an aerial attack from a creature, but it sounded better than being a meal to her, so if it were her, she certainly would take that chance if it ever came to such a scenario. The class was progressing onward until it was finally time for them to practice their diving, which completely made sense to the fifth year as to why the Professor had a giant pool filled with ping pongs. She watched as he demonstrated for the class and couldn't help but applaud him for his fine execution when he had finished. Being a pretty avid flyer her entire life thanks to her father, she had absolutely no complaints about this. Sure, she did feel some concern about the possibility of getting wet but that would only happen if her timing wasn't right and if she wasn't focused enough. The redhead pursed her lips as she eyed the different levelled diving boards and shrugged her shoulders as she decidedly would go for the tallest of them all at the 25 foot height. Mounting her broom, she kicked off the ground ascending into the sky with ease until she was levelled with the diving board. It didn't seem like too many students were willing to go first, which she could understand it did seem like a lot of calculating to do this properly. She hovered there for a few moments as the breeze blew through her fiery locks until she took a deep breath pointing her broom downwards back towards the pool below. Narrowing her eyes as she made the steep plunge never loosing her focus. She was moving very fast but didn't let that worry her as the ping pong balls were becoming more visible to see. As she was rapidly approaching the water, in one very swift motion, the fifth year extended her arm out quickly snatching up a ping pong ball and pulled up her broom completely evading the water in time. It was then that a bright smile was plastered across her lips completing this successfully and not to mention still dry. Should she go again? |
Watch me carefully. As if she hadn’t been doing that on the sly. Claudine chanced a look guiltily at Heath. It probably was best not to let him see her staring so intently at Aguilar. This was easier said than done. Her attention returned to the diving demonstration. Fifteen feet didn’t seem too bad but gathering speed in the dive? No, thanks. At least practising over the pool was better than the actual ground for now, she supposed. Broomstick in hand, Claudine stalked up the fifteen feet diveboard. She kicked off after readying herself. That was pretty much easy for her because of the number of times she’d done it before. Her heart was thudding in her chest, and she wasn’t even sure why. Whatever. Claudine let the broomstick get a tad higher so that she was about sixteen or seven feet above the pool. Eyes down below, she selected a target ball. Right. All that was left to do was to dive and grab. |
open to a partner Oh my goodness they got to try it now?! Mamie hopped up immediately and made a beeline for the 15 ft diving board, because Aguilar had recommended 15 feet. While she waited her turn, she tried to go over the steps he'd done. Lean forward a little bit. The more leaning, the steeper the dive. That...yeah, that made sense. She nodded to herself. And then lean back and straighten the broom handle to stop diving. It...kind of made sense? She supposed one leant back on a bike when trying to go more slowly down a hill. She wondered if that was for the same reason. When it was finally her turn, she climbed up to the diving board. Whoaa fifteen feet was more than she thought. She was pretty sure she could see the ping pong balls bobbing in the water, though. She mounted her broom and hovered just off the end of the board. There. That was her ping pong ball there. She verified her grip on the broom, then leaned forward, trying to dive less steeply than Aguilar had when he demonstrated. Once she was within five feet of the water, she started pulling her broom handle back up slowly, then grasped for the ping pong ball. Biiiiiig miss. Mamie leveled off too far above the pool--she'd managed to avoid getting wet, but hadn't caught the |
Fiona was rather excited about attempting a manoeuvre such as this and awaited her turn with miraculous patience. Thankfully, soon it was her turn. Her ambitious streak kicked in so the teenager chose the highest diving board. Fiona launched from the diving board and firmly gripped the handle as she angled her broomstick at a 45 degree angle. She was within reach of one of the ping pong balls and felt a sense of pride as her hand closed around the object. Fiona carefully pulled back up. |
Violet's turn came all too soon. She climbed up to the 15 ft. diving board with dread and leaned over the pool. Beginners point your brooms down at a slight angle, he said. So she tilted hers down a very little bit and leaned over slightly, and before she was ready, she was heading downward. But she hadn't aimed down far enough and wound up skimming over the pool, not even close to a ball. |
Devin couldn’t help but smile back at the professor. Couldn’t have said it better myself was pretty high praise. He tried his best to listen to what his classmates were saying, but his mind kept wandering back to the pool and when they were going to use it. As the professor flew up on his broom for the demonstration, Devin jolted back to keeping his full attention on the professor. He watched closely as the professor demonstrated proper technique for the maneuver. So the pool wasn’t for swimming in? What a shame. He quite fancied the idea of splashing into the pool from that height, even without a broom. Perhaps he should get into the swimming kind of diving as a sport for exercise. It would be fun to learn all the fancy flips and tricks. Devin chose the 15 foot diving board for his first dive, and climbed up when it came to his turn. Kicking off from the platform on his broom he pushed forward to about a 30 degree angle. As he neared the water, instead of pulling up when he thought he should he subtly waited just a little too long to pull up, and totally on purpose but trying as hard as could to make it look like a total accident hit the water with a SPLASH and rolled off his broomstick. Hey, the water was actually a pretty nice temperature. Could he splash around in here for a while? No, he would be getting in the way of all the other students who were waiting for their turn to dive. He wouldn’t want to be a hazard for anyone who didn’t wait for him to get out of the pool. So, he made his way over to the edge of the pool, climbed out, and grabbed his broomstick. A huge grin spread across his face as he walked over to get in line again, still dripping wet from head to toe. This was fun! |
They were all doing brilliantly! Those who caught the ball, those who didn't, and even Mr Horton (who clearly splashed into the pool on purpose hehe) all received a thumbs up and words of encouragement from Aguilar. A few students looked shaky after the dive, and he decided to give them some time to calm down before checking on them. With a proud smile on his face, he turned around to see - Quote:
Aguilar stared at the two tall figures for a moment, then turned his back on them without a word. He will not ask them to leave. They can take all the notes they want, but they will not find anything to criticise. Well ... okay, the giant inflatable pool idea might be a bit childish, dive & pull up is slightly advanced for first years, and about two thirds of his students were internally screaming "I HATE FLYING", but in terms of anti-Muggle curriculum - come on, it is not possible to fit Muggle hatred in this class and HOW were they even filling that entire roll of parchment??? He had glanced back at the duo once more and was shocked to see the scribe writing so feverishly. Flying is meant to be fun, please let it stay that way. |
A small smile tugged at her lips at Aguilar's reply. If she trusted and respected the broom she would be okay. Well she also had to trust in herself and have some sort of skill and practice in flying as well. Only, this wasn't her broom. It was a school broom. One she knew nothing about. Despite that little fact, diving downwards on that broom over a large pool of water to grab a ping pong ball was happening. After watching Aguilar demonstrate the proper maneuver and technique, Lia joined the line to give it a try herself. Climbing up to the 15 foot diving board when it was her turn, she moved carefully towards the edge. Got herself ready on the broom, adjusted her grip and her leg hold, angled the broom downwards slightly and before she even realized it she was diving straight towards the water. Lia could see the water getting closer and closer. Reaching out her arm she prepared to grab a ping pong ball. Her fingers skimmed over one, trying to close around it as she pulled the broom upwards a bit to level out, the ball slipping from her fingers as she did so. SO CLOSE! With a small sigh the first year rejoined the line. She would try again. Maybe from a higher diving board this time. |
"Well. Naturally." There were lots of things that shouldn't be done. Gryffindor as she was, Emmerson wasn't the reckless let me do stupid things that are blatantly dangerous sort. She was more the....I didn't think this through because it seemed so fun in the moment and how could this cute troll POSSIBLY be dangerous sort of Gryffindor. Flying was not cute. Dropping into a pool of water was not adorable or cuddly. When the hooded figures arrived, Emm thought for sure class was going to end. Surely they didn't want young witches and wizards wasting time prancing around on brooms. Unfortunately, the longer she waited for the interruption was the clearer it became that none would be coming. Right. She'd better get her broom ready then. Having no personal interest, Emm never had her mother buy her one and that meant using a school broom. Were this almost anything else, Emm would've felt all types of ways about having a dingy broom while some others had high tech ones, but the little girl was too busy thinking about how much she didn't want to do this activity. Emmerson got in line, trying to locate Kizzy to see how brave she was being. If the bestfriend was fine with this, then by default she would have to be too. Ugh. This was way too complicated for her liking. |
The hoods being present for class didn’t even surprise him anymore. If only his fear of seeing them around would change as well, that be great. But it didn’t, they always seemed to send a shiver down his spine and the Hufflepuff did his best to ignore them. He didn’t understand why a class like flying needed monitoring. There was absolutely nothing ‘ muggle like’ about flying on a broomstick. Or did they think the class would fly away the moment they got a chance? Minjae turned his attention back to the Professor as he began to demonstrate the activity. He made it look so simple but the seventh year knew how much one needed to focus in order not to crush to the ground. Deciding on diving off the 15 foot diving board , Minjae walked over to the line of students who had chosen the same place and waited with a school broom in his hand until it was his turn. Standing on the edge, the teenager looked down at the water and his stomach did a little flip. But it wasn’t the type of stomach flip he had whenever he saw one of the Hoods. It was an exciting type of flip and he couldn’t wait to show off his SKILLZ. Mounting his broom, Minjae kicked off of the diving board and soared in to the air for a second or two before he bend forward and with his hands he pushed down. He dove down, not knowing which angle he had but not caring either as he watched the water getting closer. The Hufflepuff pulled up at the last moment and letting go with one hand his fingers brushed the ping pong ball he had tried to catch. Grumbling that he had failed his first attempt, Minjae flew to the side of the pool so that the next person could attempt the dive. And as he got to the ground and stepped off of his broom he realized that the twigs at the end of the broom were dripping water. Maybe second time was the charm. |
Watching all of the other people go she figured she should finally go ahead and try retrieving the ping pong ball. Flicking her wand to tie her hair back she climbed up to the platform. Ten feet wasn't that high, but when you were having to think about grabbing a pea essentially, that was brutal. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Kicking up into the air felt horrid, seriously flying was a total disaster on your hair. She needed to put that out of her mind in order to actually grab the ball off the water. Grabbing the handle of the broom and pointing down she began to dive toward the water. Her eyes stayed on the ball atop the water, she was getting closer. Closer. ClOsEr. CLOSER. She should be in the water. Well she shouldn't be in the water, but she wasn't wet. At least not totally wet, the knob of her broom had splashed water in her face as she grabbed the ball and pulled back up to level out. A huge grin spread across her face before it faded, the hoodie squad did not need to see her glee. |
Okay, playing it safe hadn't worked out that well. With some effort, Violet rather clumsily circled her broom around and landed with only a minor bump. Determined to get through this lesson one way or the other, she dismounted her broom and walked back over to the line for the 15 foot diving board. When it came her turn, she quickly mounted the ladder, wanting to just get it over with this time, and walked out on the board. She hadn't leaned down far enough last time, she wouldn't make that mistake again. So she leaned out and tilted her broom handle down at a good angle this time, then, before she was quite ready, lost her balance and hurtled downward. Pull up! Pull up! she mentally shouted to herself. But she'd angled too far downward this time and couldn't bring her clumsy old school broom up in time, and so she entered the pool with a big splash. For a few moments, there was silence over the face of the pool. Then Violet's head suddenly broke the surface of the water and, gasping for air, she swam over to the side of the pool and pulled herself up. Great--now she had made an utter fool of herself, was soaking wet, and what's more, her broom was at the bottom of the pool. She got shakily to her feet and stared down a few moments into the depths of the water, wondering if she should go back in the pool and try to swim down to get it. Then she suddenly remembered that she was a witch and pulled out her wand. "Accio, broom!" she called with authority--she might not be able to fly very well, but she could do a Summoning Spell as good as anyone. And sure enough, her broom, now as soggy as Violet was, splashed up from the surface of the pool and flew to her waiting hand. |
Diving was so much fun. Not. The pool was closing in rapidly. Too rapidly. Should she start pulling up now? What did Aguilar do? Oh no… A hint of panic seeped into her because her mind had gone completely blank for a moment. Perhaps it was instinct that reminded her to start pulling up. Only… it was too late. With an almighty splash, Claudine landed in water and among ping pong balls. Ugh. Talk about failing miserably. She hauled herself out of the pool, refusing to look at Aguilar so he wouldn’t have to see her embarrassment. Soaked to the bone, the girl headed back to join the line at the dive board she had originally chosen. It was determination to succeed that was driving her to try again. While she waited, magic was used to dry herself off. |
Now WHY would you put a pool of water RIGHT OVER where the kids were supposed to dive? If they weren't doing Muggle diving? WHAT KIND OF CRUEL, BEAUTIFUL MONSTER WOULD ASSIGN SUCH AN ACTIVITY?! AND???! IF THEY HAD BROOMS??? WHY DID THEY HAVE TO CLIMB UP TO THE DIVING BOARD?????!????!?? Bernadette's giggles were all gone now as she steeled herself to do a number of things she absolutely despised. She would NOT be going up to fifteen feet in the air, she would NOT be catching a ping pong ball, she--- she would NOT! SHE REFUSED! BUT ALSO! SHE WAS SURE SHE COULDN'T ACHIEVE THOSE THINGS EVEN IF SHE TRIED! She swallowed the lump in her throat and gripped her broom, absolutely lollygagging around and waiting as long as possible until it was obvious she was dodging the assignment and she became afraid that she had attracted the attention of the hooded figures. Nervously, she kicked off, FROM THE GROUND, because she was NOT climbing ladders (an activity she hated for any reason whatsoever) and levitated approximately six feet above the earth. Then Bernie swooooooped, down leaning to the side far too much, and slipped off her broom sideways. Over the ground. NOT over the pool. She landed on her bum, dry, irritated, and incredibly grumpy. Someone please tell her those stupid hooded people weren't writing all of this down?!? Meanwhile, her school-issued broom danced off to the side, well away from her. Great, it was mocking her too? |
Catching sight of Cece’s grin, Kinsay gave her one in return. Even though Kiz missed her parents more than the world, friends like Cece were like family too. Unfortunately, however, with the arrival of the hooded figures, Kinsay's attention shifted away from the older Gryffindor. She knew to expect them at lessons by now, but it still made her nervous anytime they appeared. Nothing good ever happened when they were around. Made focusing on the lesson all the more necessary. And unlike, Emm, Kinsay was SOOOOO excited to hop up on her broom! She mounted and waited in line for the diving board that was the HIGHEST above the water, but only because that one seemed like it’d be the easiest to start off with. Once it was her turn, she kicked off the board and down, down, dooooooooooooooooown she went with her hand stretched out before her. |
This. This class. This lesson was exactly what she needed right now. She didn't need to think or worry about flying, it was just something she did. It was like walking to her and so she jumped right into the queue, making her way up to the highest diving board. It took longer than she'd liked, but once her feet met the board, she smiled. She had this. Mounting her broom, the blonde kicked off and dove down, gathering speed. Just at the LAST second she straightened out, her hand dragging through the water to collect a ping pong ball as she did. Holding it up triumphantly, she flew out of the way of the next diver, feeling better than she had all day. She couldn't wait to write her dad and tell him- ...but she couldn't tell him, could she? Ouch. The realization hurt. |
They’d had enough. The two hooded figures exchanged a glance once more, then emerged from the shadows. The one without the quill raised a wand (cherry and dragon heartstring, 9 inches) and shot a quick series of spells that forced all muggleborns to drop their brooms, following a hot stinging sensation on their palms. The writer, who had also replaced their quill for a wand (chestnut and phoenix feather, 13 ⅔ inches), flicked it at the brooms zooming toward them. Explosions ensued, and soon all that remained of the mudblood-contaminated broomsticks were bits of splintered wood and twigs. Both figures then turned their wands on the filthy mudblood that called himself a professor. This was a final warning. If he wouldn’t teach the ideals of the Neo-Alliance in his lessons, he would face the same fate as the brooms. |
Seemed like the second try wasn't the charm either. In fact his second attempt had been worse. He had gotten back in line, waited till it was his turn and dove down on his broomstick. He had leaned forward, had more speed than he had wished he had and started to panic. Resulting in him pulling up far above the water as his feet dangled above it, not even reaching. He let out a sigh and flew away from the pool to give it another attempt. At least the Hoods were quiet this lesson. He had only seen them writing something down in the shadows which was an improvement he'd say. And then it happened. The broom he was on gave a sudden jerk and the Hufflepuff who was unable to stay seated, fell to the ground and landed on his back. The fall didn't hurt as much as he had already been close to the ground earlier or maybe he couldn't feel the pain in his back because a sharp stinging pain on his palms were overwhelming it. He let out a yell in pain the moment the curse had hit him but after that he bit his lower lip tightly and told himself not to cry. He would NOT give them the satisfaction! He hadn't even done anything either ! He rolled over to see where his broom had gone when he heard an explosion and whipped his head around to see a couple of brooms being destroyed in mid air. Why? Just... Why?! That was what he wanted to know. W. H. Y?? |
See, Ash was going in for a second try when the spell hit. She was about 7 feet off the ground when her broom swerved and knocked her off. She did not land in the pool. Instead, she landed on her arm funny, and it hurt a lot. Maybe it was broken. Vaguely, she was aware that her broom had exploded, but it didn't much matter. She could buy a new one. Her arm though. There was something wrong with it. She didn't scream. But it was kinda obvious. Ash stood up. Painedly. Without moving her right arm. Hopefully, the professor wouldn't do anything stupid and die. She liked him. He was nice. |
Aguilar passed his broomstick from one hand to the other, trying to calm his nerves, as he continued to watch the students practise. Although the sound of the quill scribbling away behind him was distracting, he focused on assessing each dive & pull up attempt and nodded approvingly at each student. Except uhhh how did Bernadette land on the ground? "Are you okay, Miss - ah," he let out a gasp as his Nimbus 4000 suddenly flew away from him, leaving him with a painful hand as if a layer of skin was peeled back too. His eyes followed the path his broom was making and ... Oh ... "Right, okay," he muttered angrily. Unable to look at the shattered remnants of his once beautiful broom, Aguilar glanced back at the students instead and saw that all Muggle-borns received the same terrible treatment. He clenched his fists: how could they do this to children who had done nothing wrong? He wanted to check if their injuries were serious, but was aware that there were two wands pointed at him dangerously. He had to comply with their order first, then he would check on the students. "Listen up," he began, not quite sure what to say. "As you all know by now, those who are born to non-magical parents are undeserving of the magic they stole from real witches and wizards. So, the Neo-Alliance did us all a favour by taking brooms away from M ... Mudbloods. You lot should dive into the pool WITHOUT a broom, like your undignified Muggle ancestors did." "The rest of you, continue practising. Ten more minutes." There. Could the hooded squad lower their wands now? OOC: Welp. 23~24 hours left to practise the dive & pull up or (NEW!) diving into the pool without a broom. xD |
Ash said something softly. "I'd be happy to jump into the pool without a broom professor, but not with a broken arm. Unless, of course, you want me to??? For the benefit of wizardkind and umm... as proof that being a muggleborn is bad?" Because that would be bad. Could she be excused? She had said it sincerely and everything. She really did want to jump into pool. But her arm really wouldn't permit it. Did she have to??? SHe trudged over to the pool. Apparently she was jumping in, unless someone told her otherwise. Couldn't let the professor die. |
Merlin, they had to retrieve the ping pong balls from the surface of the water? That was going to be tricky. Avalon was a chaser, not a seeker. Catching tiny objects was never something she was skilled at. Diving on her broom, on the other hand, was. Just to be safe, she selected the medium diving board first. When it was her turn, she leaped off, breaking into a grin at the woosh of air on her face. Just as she started to see her reflection in the pool, she started to pull up on the handle, reaching her other hand down. It skimmed the surface of the water, and she was able to grab one of the balls. Okay, not as bad as she thought. Perhaps the higher diving board would be harder. She climbed up the tallest ladder and repeated the process. Avalon was about halfway through her dive, however, when a loud BOOM stole her attention. Her jaw dropped in horror as she saw the hoods. Blowing up a bunch of brooms. Distracted, Avalon missed her moment of opportunity and forgot to pull up in time. She plunged into the pool instead. As the Ravenclaw resurfaced, a scowl on her face at this obvious discrimination toward Muggleborns, she held her own broom a bit tighter. Her robes dripped as she clambered out of the pool. Suddenly, flying class wasn't much fun anymore. |
Fiona watched in stunned silence as two hooded figures made their presence known. She kept her face impassive though her eyes glistened slightly in fear as the Muggleborn students and Professor Aguilar all experienced the sentiment of the Neo-Alliance. Fiona listened carefully to the flying instructor's words and bit her lip. It was time for her to focus on practicing her diving. She had a feeling that even Purebloods might be targeted if they didn't toe the line by doing such things as feeling sorry for any Muggleborns or even Halfbloods. Fiona's head was void of emotion as she climbed atop the highest board and performed another dive but this time she failed to grab a ping pong ball. |
Quinn had been just about too scared to use his broom, anyhow. He had dived a couple times, but he always pulled up too early to successfully get a ping pong ball. And then there was the stinging sensation on his hand, and the broom flew away from him. And then exploded. He was just about sick and tired of the treatment he was getting from these Alliance freaks, but he couldn't actually do anything about it right now. He was over crying about it, now he was angry. He had no interest in diving into the pool fully clothed, but he wasn't taking off... most of his clothes. Quinn sighed and slipped off his shoes and socks, leaving them on the dry ground, and then any outerwear so he was just in his shirt and pants. Then he climbed up to the diving board, faced backwards and let himself fall in. Happy? |
Dangit Kizzy was excited. Things couldn't be worse. Her bestie was all for this activity and that meant.....she had to be all for this activity, too. Couldn't...couldn't be the one freaking out in this pair. Couldn't be replaced by someone who liked flying and would try to bond with her Kinsay. Reluctantly, Emm moved over to the diving board Kizzy had jumped from. Her heart was beating furiously in her chest but the little girl drew for her bravest expression in case anyone was looking. This was the worst, flying class was the worst. If they needed them getting exercise so badly, why couldn't they have dance classes instead? Just as she was about to climb up for her turn, she noticed many brooms around her disappearing. Didn't take long to realise the connection with who those brooms belonged to. Welp. What a time to be a pureblood. Emmerson turned her attention to their professor, careful to keep a neutral expression despite how unfair she thought it was the muggleborns got out of this activity. They had to keep practising. The Gryffindor gave a soft huff, put out her broom hadn't been taken. The thought crossed her mind to offer it up but didn't wanna be the next thing turned to dust so.....up the board she went...and there she stood....looking down.....without actually jumping. Um. Someone get her down please? Emmerson was frozen. |
Minjae pushed himself up off of the ground and stood upright, his hands were still stinging painfully but he refused to let it show that it hurt. It seemed that his broom wasn’t the only one that had exploded because as he looked around at his classmates he noticed that some others had no broom as well. Even the Professor had no broom with him anymore which could explain only one thing. He was a Muggleborn like him. So when he said the word ‘Mudbloods’ it hit differently and it just made him sad instead of angry. The professors were victims just as them and he couldn’t hate them for complying with the crazy rules when their lives were on the line. The unfair treatment just made him want to hurl the ping pong balls in the Hoods faces and for a second he grinned as he did so in his mind . Jumping off of the diving board without a broom? Minjae raised an eyebrow at this. That ….that wasn’t so terrible? Everyone knew he was Muggleborn anyway so it wasn’t as if he was going up there to shame himself. Beside, he had a swimming pool at home Without a broom in his hand, he climbed up the stairs and once he reached the top and it was his turn, he didn’t even hesitate. He ran to the edge and as his feet were at the end of the board he pushed off. At first he planned to simply jump off and fall in to the water. But if he was going to be discriminated against, he was at least going to have a bit of fun. In his movement of jumping, the seventeen year old moved his upper body forward and down like he would if he had a broom but this time he let himself fall finger tips down first . The dive wasn't olympic gold worthy but he didn't care. There was a small splash as he landed in the water before he turned his body again and began swimming up to the surface. |
................ Anger flooded the Gryffindor's senses, the grip on her broom handle tightening as she watched the brooms of her classmates reduced to splinters. It wasn't right. None of this was right and hearing that word come out of her professor's mouth made the fifth year want to throw up. She knew why, it didn't take a genius to know they were all expected to fall in line, but she hated herself more and more every time she complied. If her mum were in school now she'd be one of the ones suffering this treatment. What would she think of the way Cece was just standing by? What would she want her to do? She wished more than anything that she could talk to her... Coming up behind Emmerson, the fifth year gave her shoulder a gentle shake. "Emm, you gotta move. Don't call attention to yourself." She didn't want her to get hurt. She'd already seen too many friends suffer at the hands of these hooded followers. "You can do this, okay?" |
Mamie was exciting to trying the dive & pull up again, she really wanted to grab one of those ping-pong balls. But then, OUCH her hand really hurt, and then her broom was flying away and exploded. Tears immediately filled her eyes. She wasn't the best flyer, but she was definitely better than some of the students who got to keep their brooms. And, and she was going to get better! She just needed to practice. How could she practice without a broom? It wasn't fair! She gingerly cradled her hand to her chest. Maybe they'd...get new brooms? Her heart fell as she glanced and saw Professor Aguilar had also lost his broom and the scary people had their wands on him. His had been a fancy broom, too. She was even sadder as he told them all they'd somehow stolen magic from the purebloods? That...didn't even make sense. She'd been born with magic. Babies couldn't steal things. Grab things? Sure. Steal something intangible from a stranger? Nope, no way. Her magic was a gift, not a crime. Those Neo-BadPeople were wrong about her, and probably about the other Muggleborns, too. But still...despite her painful palms, diving into the pool without a broom didn't sound so bad. She'd jumped off the high dive before, at swim practice. Still trying to keep the tears in her eyes and not falling down her face, Mamie awkwardly climbed (one-handedly) up the 10 foot diving board. She waited until the pool below was clear, then dove in, fingertips first, as shallowly as she could. She'd never been good at vertical dives...always more of a "diving start" kind of kid, here. When she emerged from the water, there were definitely tears mixed with pool water, but now at least you couldn't tell! Sniffling slightly--she wanted to learn how to fly, not swim--she clambered out of the pool. Brrr had it been this chilly outside all day? |
Much, much better. This was the relief Claudine was feeling after drying herself. Soon, her turn came once more to take the dive. But so many things started happening at once. Being usually silent and observant, she was able to notice the happenings almost immediately. First, quite a bit of students dropped their broomsticks. A quick check told her they were the Muggleborns. This told her who caused this to happen, sure but the next thing she knew were the broomsticks once in the Muggleborns’ grasps were burning. The fifth year stared. Good golly! Wasn’t that a little extreme? And then The Hoods were pointing their wands at Mr. Handsome Face. Oh no. Poor Aguilar. He really didn’t have a choice of saying those words, did he? But it was ridiculous that the Muggleborns would have to continue the activity without broomsticks. She felt sorry for them. Even Bernadette. With a sigh, Claudine kicked off from the board, soared to a little over fifteen feet then started to dive. This time, the girl was determined to do better for Aguilar’s sake. Eye on the prize, the ping pong ball, her hand stretched. Claudine leaned forward, snagged the ball {her fingers skimmed the water in the process} but this was an improvement over her last performance, right? A successful pull up left her feeling awfully pleased with herself. |
Camryn watched as the professor demonstrated what they were supposed to do. She was anxious, in a good way for a change, to fly and dive. She wondered if she could practice taking off from the ground and then diving before she tackled the diving board. Discretely watching her classmates, she figured that the answer was no. Getting a broom, she decided to go with the medium board. While she was waiting, she went over what she was supposed to do and visualized everything. She was going to do this. Well she was going to dive and pull up. Grabbing the ping pong ball.....that would remain to be seen It was time, so Camryn went to the 15 foot diving board and took her place. Taking a deep breath, she kicked off and went into the air. Flying was so awesome and Cam wished she could just keep flying all the way home and away from this horrible school. Unfortunately, that was not an option. So, she began her dive. The Gryffindor headed toward the pool, making sure not to have too steep a dive. When she got close, she began to pull up. She also tried to reach for the ball, but clearly her timing was not right. Dive-ok-ish, ball retrieval-nope. Oh well, that’s what practice was for. Camryn had not seen the robed men before, but when students started falling and brooms exploded, she couldn’t miss them. Why did they have to be there? They were ruining everything. For the first time, she was having fun in class. Now that had been spoiled, not to mention the fact that her classmates were hurt.......again. |
Valencia did her best to hide her shock as she went in for a dive and people around her started losing control. That... ugh... she thought Hogwarts would be safe... at least for a little. It made her worry that the next things to be taken would be muggleborn wands. She caught a ball, fingers skimming the water, as she shuddered at that thought. She then went back to queue up while she watched the hooded figures, ducking slightly and using an arm to shield her eyes from splintering wood. |
No no nooooo, cute professor, don't come over here! Bernie's bum was aching but she was fine, just fine. She scrambled to her feet, not wanting to chase down her broom yet, when suddenly it--- just---- POOF! Bernie stared dumbly, open-mouthed, at the brooms exploding left and right. Even the professor's broom exploded?!?! What, was he a Muggleborn too?! This was like watching Wimbledon on the telly. Left, right, where to look, who knew? Was someone winning? What was the score? Bernie shook a little at the professor's warning; he was clearly not comfortable saying the word Mudblood. Guess he had too, though, or they'd explode him next. But you know what, hoodie brigade? They just did Bernadette a YUGE favor. Because she HATED brooms ANYWAY. And she hadn't even been holding on to hers when it went off, so she missed the welts on her hand TOO. HAH. She could jump off a diving board, oh sure, as long as that pool was deep enough. Bernie stalked over to the lowest board, the one that was only 10 feet off the ground. She didn't really CARE to TRY to snatch up a ping pong ball, because once again she was sure that she wouldn't be able to, but she did do a cannonball into the water, and resurfaced with a bit of a grin on (though it also could have been a grimace). Bernie doggie-paddled to the nearest ping pong ball and snatched it with her hand, paddling then to the edge of the pool. Yep, she was wet, and looked more like a mutt than a mudblood, but heyyy. Swimming > flying, for sure. |
Ivy wasn't too worried about the whole diving thing. She'd had a broom to fly for as long as she could remember. She wasn't quite as passionate about it as her mum, but she did enjoy Quidditch, both watching and playing. Keeper was her favorite though, so definitely no Wronski Feints here. But still, this activity was exciting to her. She climbed the ladder up to the tallest diving board and, after mounting her broom, kicked off into the air. For a moment, she appreciated anew that feeling of freedom that flying always provided, especially this term. It was only an illusion, but at least Ivy could pretend it wasn't. At least, not for long. Because she had a task to do. She took the dive at a medium speed like the professor had. Quickly, she was approaching the surface of the water - she reached her hand out, grabbed one of the ping pong balls, and pulled up. Her hand was a little bit wet, but otherwise mission accomplished! Not that she could celebrate for long. As soon as she'd landed, the hooded creeps had acted out, destroying the brooms of some of the students and even the professor. And then they were threatening him and forcing him to say those words and... Ivy's grip on her broom tightened, her knuckles turning white. It was all just...so unfair. And wrong. And... And the fact that she couldn't do anything about it was endlessly frustrating. She wanted to lend her broom to one of them or just help in any way at all, but she knew it would only make things worse, not better. Feeling so powerless over it all was just... She forced herself to get back into the queue for another round of the activity, though she no longer felt any excitement about flying. |
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