Claudine would have liked nothing better than to thump Victoria in the head. Gosh, that girl was annoying! As it was, the older Snakette was trying to be a decent human being, so she would not be taking revenge for that ball throwing. Instead, she did what she did best and ignored the problem child. “Forget her, Lisa. She’s just immature.” Unlike this nerdy, little Ravenclaw whom Claudine liked a lot. At that moment, she caught Heath looking in their direction. Claudine flashed the boyfriend, and the real Violet, a huge smile and a thumbs up then checked quickly on Kinsay. “You okay?” Didn’t need a Healer or anything, right?

It was unfortunate that Slytherin lost five points but Claudine thought that Victoria having a talk with Kazmi after the lesson served her right. The sixth year cruised over to Kazmi, ready to move onto the next phase of things. Her attention half trailed over to the net as the man explained all the things.

She thought that her heart had stopped when she heard what they were to do. What a crazy activity! Now Claudine was back to staring at Kazmi, wondering if something was broken in his head. Still… she knew by now that he wouldn’t purposely have an activity that would hurt them and not provide property safety measures. Besides, it all sounded kinda thrilling.

Well, here went nothing.

This Snakette would start off at a height that wouldn’t scare her; a height that she would be comfortable falling from. And so she collected a fake wand then took off to a height she deemed fit. Claudine flew over the net, hesitating. It was so intimidating, knowing that she’d have to drop from this height.... But since she never backed down from a challenge, well, she might as well get it over with.

Just give her a few more seconds while she figured out how to get off the broom, okay?

Having successfully rolled out of the way of Dahlia's returned fluffy bludger, Mamie tried to ignore the childish behavior of the first years. Really, V and Lisa. She thought they were smarter than fighting about...whatever they were fighting about. Fight on the ground, not in the air. It was safer.

She listened intently to Kazmi's instructions. They were supposed to fall on purpose? She supposed it was better to learn how to fall? And then falling by accident would be less dangerous? It didn't...it didn't quite make sense, but she was pretty sure that's why people took swimming lessons, so...it made a little sense.

She got herself one of the fake wands, then anxiously waited her turn before flying up above the net. Once she was above the net, she rolled over to hang under her broom and...let go with one hand...then the other...and then leg go of the broom with her legs.

She squealed as she started falling, scrambling to get the fake wand out of where she'd tucked it away. "Accio, accio!" she started shouting the phrase even before she had the wand in her hand. Obviously, it did nothing, her precious broom didn't come back to her and she flopped into the net. She quickly clambered off and went to fetch her broom from Kazmi, still gripping the fake wand as though her life depended on it. It didn't. "Professor, if we fall for real and nobody is around to accio them...where do our brooms go? Do they keep flying forever?

V KNEW she had big reactions to things, all right? But was she working on it?

Not exactly.

She hadn't MEANT to hit Kinsay James, but it was a foam ball - how hard could it really hurt? Then again, as she thought about it, she would have been BIIIIG MAD had she been hit like that. So she called out, "SORRY KINSAY!" as she flew past, trying to keep up with Claudine and Lisa still.

Had she called Claudine the wrong name???????? She didn't even remember that. But that was mean anyway. So Claudine had done it on PURPOSE. Her eyes SQUINTED at the way older Slytherin before she heard Lisa's words calling her MEAN????????!!!!!!11

AND THEN PROFESSOR K TOOK POINTS AWAY FROM HER???

This was the worst day ever.

She didn't even want to continue. When they landed to wait their turn, she waited near the end, and didn't even pay attention to the DIRECTIONS because she was reflecting. Thinking. She was in trouble ;___; If you don't LIKE getting in trouble you just shouldn't GET in trouble, dummy - she heard herself echoing in her brain.

And now she was panicking because she felt lost. She hadn't heard what they needed to do..so...she just sort of tried to get the gist from what others were doing. Ugh.

Remy had been too focussed on herself to notice the drama happening around her, despite most of it being with her friends. She had decided to try again at the activity before it had moved on and flew under the net a little more. The balls were flying everywhere, and soon enough, one was hurtling towards her. Still, Remy was too scared to take her hands off of her broom, so instead, she used the tip of the broom to try and wack the ball away.

And it... had worked?!

It had, however, caused a little bit of a wobble and Remy had to spend a few seconds adjusting herself. Once she had, the professor was moving the activity on. She managed to hover as he explained, still wobbling here and there. The next part of the activity sounded like so much fun, albeit a little terrifying.

After a rocky landing, Remy fetched herself a fake wand and had a good think about what spell she'd practice when falling. She was good at the Summoning Charm, but she didn't fancy the faff of having to sit back onto her broom whilst in the air. Seemed like too much to remember, so Remy had decided to practice the charm she had mentioned earlier on. She knew the incantation and wand movement already, although she'd never actually performed it before. She was kinda glad that they didn't HAVE to perform them today.

Flying above the net was easier than Remy had anticipated, she clearly was getting the hang of this flying lark, so she pushed herself to new heights. Looking down to make sure there was space beneath her to fall, and that no unsuspecting students would be underneath her, Remy let go of her broom and hurtled towards the net.

It felt AWESOME.

Pulling out the fake wand, Remy said, "Arresto Momen... oof" BOUNCE. Oops, perhaps accio would have been a better option for quickness of incantations.

Claudine was right about the immaturity. That’s how both Daniel and V acted that day and continued to act. She liked them both but didn’t like their behaviors…… But Lisa, herself, was also immature…. BUT she was very happy not to be lumped into the immature category.

She gulped as she heard the Professor’s voice as he took FIVE WHOLE POINTS AWAY away from Slytherin because of V’s actions. Lisa felt conflicted. Sure, V deserved it because she was misbehaving but she still felt bad for her friend for getting into trouble. Lisa glanced sown at her hands on her broomstick as she listened to their next set of instructions.

They were flying above the net and then falling to their doom? to the net?

Lisa gulped again and felt her heart begin to race. Sweaty palms, racing heart, and she felt stuck IN PLACE. No, no, no, no. She did not want to give this ago. She bit her lip, following Claudine and deciding not to say a word to V for fear of getting them BOTH in trouble.

She flew slowly up a little higher and waited, watching other students give it a go. Wow Remy looked so cool as she did the activity. She wished that she had her bravery when it came to heights……. Oh! She forgot to grab a fake wand. She had no intentions of using her own ESPECIALLY considering HOW dangerous Professor K was making it sound. She skeddadled to go find one and then returned to her place.

Soon enough, it was her turn.

Trying to actually off the broom was less easy than what she had imagined but she figured it out relatively quickly. She did have her fake wand already in hand as she fell. She didn’t want to bother having to find it in her pocket or worse having it fall out of her hand as she plummeted to the net.

The falling sensation was terrifying at first and it took all of her power not to yell out or flail her arms. She tightened her grip on the wand and yelled, “Arresto Momentum!” on her fall. She couldn’t tell if it had worked because she felt as if she was still going at the same speed. She shut her eyes as she BOUNCED onto the net.

Quickly getting to her feet, she checked herself all over for any bruises, breaks, or strains. She was alive. She let out a little laugh and bounced of excitement. That wasn’t so bad. This was like the stopping before the mat exercise that they had done before in a prior class. Instead of horizontally like that was, this task was VERTICAL.

Okay. She could do this. She’d have to keep trying until she perfected it.

She readied herself and headed over to Professor K for her broom. “That was… better than I thought…” she told the Professor as she retrieved her broom. Her cheeks flushed from both embarrassment and the wind.

Then she flew back up to the sky.

Alright, so Claudine thought that she had this figured out. Her method? To tilt herself on the broom until she could let go. It took her a few tries honestly, and she literally felt the pressure on her to complete the task because 1. she feared Kazmi was going to shout at her for taking so long 2. she could imagine the impatience of some of the students waiting below for their turn. Anyway.

Sometime later, the Snakette was falling, falling, falling with the fake wand in her hand. She figured the old School broom was safe as Kazmi would have taken care of it by now. Since she wasn’t using her wand, she practiced using the Cushioning Charm.

“Molliare,’’ Claudine muttered, twisting her wrist about to do the wand movement. Naturally she winded up hitting the net. She bounced a few times, doing her best to reach the edge of it so that she could climb off without tumbling. She’d had enough of that for now, thanks. Overall, Claudine was pleased with herself and her performance just now. She bustled off to Kazmi to collect the broom again. On the next round, she’d aim for improvement, maybe even drop from a higher altitude.

Violet was itching to try real magic with her own wand, but given her track record on a broom, she decided not to risk the damage--her grandfather could afford to replace it, but she'd become rather attached to her wand. So she took off with a fake wand in her hand, feeling a little naked without a real one.

Falling--surely this was a lesson she could manage, goodness knows she'd fallen enough by accident. She went up a reasonable distance--she wanted time enough to practice the spell--and when she was ready, tipped herself to one side and off the broom. It was harder than she'd expected, letting herself overbalance on purpose, but she steeled herself to letting go and concentrated on holding her wand.

"Arresto momentum! she called, waving the useless stick in her hand in the familiar movements. She was pretty sure she'd done it correctly, but of course, it did nothing, and she continued downward into the net, landing with a bounce.

So...intentionally falling, huh? It was interesting, and it really didn't seem too bad, considering the net. And it was all about practicing their reaction to falling too, of course. Thankfully without risking their wands or anything else too.

Ivy liked the idea of actually trying the spells but didn't want to go for it in reality. The risk of breaking her wand and then having to deal with that for the rest of the term was...not appealing in any way. So she grabbed one of the fake ones to practice with instead before taking off again.

It probably would be easiest to just float above the net and let go, but she wanted a little bit of a challenge.

She directed her broom higher, higher...and then moved it down, diving toward the net. This part, she needed to concentrate, consciously loosening her grip on her broom, before veering sharply. The change in momentum and refusal to hold on did, in fact, knock her off balance and off the broom.

The sensation of falling was oddly thrilling, but she fumbled a bit with pulling out the fake wand. "Arresto Mo- OOF!" Yeah, that was the net. She definitely needed to be faster since she hadn't left herself much falling time to reaction.

It was kinda fun though! Ivy was more than willing to give it another go.

Kamran was not liable for any broken wands, as he'd already established, but the brooms were something he had to keep an eye on. Also the students, and those somewhat fragile bones of theirs, but he mostly kept watch for particularly awkward falls, and largely focused on summoning wayward brooms back to him.

"Not so bad after all, is it, Miss Blaze?" Kamran said to the Slytherin with a small smile, as he returned the school broom to her. Because, yes, he'd noticed her stare earlier, and surmised that she had been perhaps a little apprehensive about the activity. "Keep working at it." Really, couldn't get enough practice with something like this.

He handed Turov's broom back to her as well as she came to retrieve it. "Good work. Try not to start an incantation until you have the wand just about drawn, could be wasting time and energy otherwise." And, as to her question. "Not forever. Most brooms will drift until they hit an obstacle or someone retrieves them, or come in for a natural landing. Some brooms have been known to fly themselves along a familiar route, usually if the rider falls while travelling, and some are designed to do one thing or another." Kamran just wanted to keep these brooms away from the Whomping Willow, and prevent them from flying off into the sunset, leaving him to pay to replace them. No thank you.

Listen. Kamran didn't like to judge kids by their houses or anything, it just sort of happened sometimes. As a result, it was mostly the Gryffindors he expected would have the most fun with this, or at least throw themselves (literally) into the activity. Not kids like Cambridge maybe, but most of the others. Gaeltheos was in that category; a little shaky on a broom still, but quite willing to part ways with it up in the air. She almost did it too. "Nearly, Miss Gaeltheos," Kamran called out encouragingly, retrieving the broom with an Accio ready for her to take it back. "Keep at it. You'll get there in no time."

Nam was one of a handful of students Kamran was unsure about. Not regarding her ability to do the activity, but her willingness to try it. For kids who had issues with heights, willingly parting from an airborne broom went against every instinct, net or no, but he had been careful not to linger on the point, or to coddle any of them. If fear stuck them to their brooms, he required them to communicate that to him. In the end, he need not have worried about the first year. "The first is always the hardest. Seems less daunting now, doesn't it?" Kamran said to her as he returned her broom. "Try it in a way that you need to draw your wand this time. You won't always have it in hand when you fly."

He was pleased to see Blackthorne getting on with things too, and, from what he could tell, she'd done a good job of it. "Very good, Miss Blackthorne," Kamran called out, summoning the broom she had been flying so that he could return it. "As that went so well, you could try shaking up the flight before you fall." More speed, perhaps, or more sudden turns, or a simulation of something closer to a real-world experience. Once these kids had dropped onto the net once, he was sure they'd recognise it was safe to do so, and be more willing to go a little more wild in the build-up, which meant more real-world application. "And draw the wand as you fall."

One thing Kamran was interested in seeing was how the students attempted the fall itself, or rather the run-up to it, and then how easy they found it to bail or fall. It would have been easy to get caught up with watching, if he wasn't also aware he needed to watch more than one student at a time. Grimm was particularly bold on her first go, Kamran privately noted as he summoned the wayward broom back in order to hand it over. "Excellent effort. Keep trying, Miss Grimm." All he ever asked for. Commitment and effort.

Or. Well. Okay. Maybe he asked for a little more than that, but still.

Gellar seemed a little out of sorts. Hopefully not dwelling on what had happened or what was to come; he was putting it aside for now, and preferred for the students to do the same. "What's the problem, Miss Gellar?" Kamran called to her, looking expectant as he glanced her way.

For the record, the only reason Heath hadn't interjected in the firstie tantrum situation was because he trusted Professor Kazmi to intervene. And he did. The dark-haired Ravenclaw couldn't help but feel a bit satisfied at the points loss. Ha, serves her right! he thought. Nobody deliberately attacks my girlfriend and gets away with it! It didn't matter to him that it was only a foam ball that couldn't have actually hurt her. The angry intent behind it was the same!

At the professor's beckoning, he flew in that direction, hovering midair near the man. Wait, they were doing what now? His heart dropped, and an uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of his stomach at the thought of actually falling. Nonononono! Usually he could sort of push his fear of heights aside to participate in flying lessons. but this was too much! He was glad he was already in the air! It felt as if his legs had turned to jelly, which would've made pushing off from the ground difficult.

His eyes flicked toward the fake wands as he debated whether or not to take one. He didn't want his wand to break, as he was rather attached to it, but if something did go wrong - if he missed the net, if the net broke under him, or something like that - he'd feel better having a real wand! He swallowed hard, glancing at the sky above the net. Welp, here goes!

His heart was practically beating out of his chest, and his hands shook as he nudged the broom upward, stopping just a few feet above the net. If he had to do this, he was going to start simple with a height that wouldn't kill him if something went wrong! He glanced down at the net below and… promptly gripped his broom handle even tighter, like a sloth holding on to a tree branch for dear life. Oh Merlin, this would never do! He took a deep calming breath. Nothing will go wrong, he tried to convince himself. You have a net; you have your wand, and you have a professor nearby.*

He managed to let go with his right hand to grip his wand, and slowly but surely he leaned to his left side. That way, hopefully that side would take the brunt of the fall and spare his wand. Now all he had to do was… let go! The moment he felt himself falling through the air, he waved his wand at himself and cried. "Arresto Momentum!" To his relief, he felt his fall slowing. and he gently bounced onto the net below. Whew, that was terrifying, but he did it! Now he just had to do it again however many more times he could fit in until the lesson ended.

Victoria was trying to figure out the directions still. But watching everyone was only telling her about HALF of what was expected of them to do, and it was making this reaaaaaally big balloon-y feeling swell up inside of her stomach and her chest, and she was breathing heavily.

It was only through a cloud that she heard Professor Kazmi's voice, and the only reason she snapped to his attention was because he said her name. She looked up at him, clearing her throat. "I...I don't know what we're doing," she admitted smally, looking at whoever was in the air currently. She didn't think she needed to say she wasn't paying attention - it was clear she hadn't been - and there could be a number of INNOCENT reasons she hadn't been. He could decide for himself.

"S-sorry."

If there was one thing Claudine appreciated it was professors who encouraged her, especially when she happened to be apprehensive about a lesson activity. Kazmi always scored major points for that. The Slytherin grinned as she collected her broom - well, the School’s broom. “It’s better than I expected, professor. I think I’ll try going a little higher this time.” The prospect of accomplishing such a feat sent a thrill of excitement through her.

Claudine bounded off to wait for her turn again, watching the other students before her complete the activity. There was a hint of impatience about her but soon-ish enough, her chance came again. Up, up, up the girl went. What she usually enjoyed the most about being on a broom was the rush of the breeze in her face.

Claudine soared past the height she had worked with on her first attempt and prepared for another fall.

As Blaze departed for another attempt, Kamran gave her an encouraging nod. Higher was good - actually, though it served for a more daunting fall, one more likely to make a person panic in the moment, it did give them more time to draw and cast a spell if they held their nerve. Of course, the likelihood was that none of this would ever be necessary, but he wanted then learning it regardless, of course.

Kamran regarded Miss Gellar for a moment, and though it was tempting to make a comment about paying attention to his lesson - really very important, especially given the nature of the activity - he refrained. That wasn't to say he approved or that they wouldn't be discussing it when they spoke after the lesson, but for now he let it go.

"You're practicing what to do when you fall," he explained again, clear and firm but the absolute picture of patience. "Take a fake wand, fly around above the net when it's your turn, then fall or drop from the broom. Before hitting the net, practice drawing the fake wand and pretend to cast a spell that could save you, like Arresto Momentum, or Accio Broom." Had she got all that? If she was simply having trouble concentrating after that little moment earlier, then hopefully that should be enough to get her back on track. If it was something other than that, it could be addressed later. "You're focusing on improving reaction times for now, not necessarily casting anything. You have a few minutes left to give it a try," Kamran added, checking his watch just to be sure.

Leaving her to it, Kamran watched a few more of the last attempts.

Although he had been clear on the issue of fake wands versus real wands, he was pleased to see the genuine attempts at the spells. Having put out his disclaimer, Kamran was less concerned about the wands now, and more with seeing how much success the kids were having. Jones gave a good display, especially satisfying to see as Kamran wouldn't have categorised him as one of the students who really seemed at home in the air. The Ravenclaw's approach to the activity did not surprise him. "Very good, Mr Jones. It'll become second nature in no time."

_____

Kamran checked his watch again. Just in time, too; the minutes were about to tick over into the students' lunch hour, and there was only one he intended to keep back for some of that. He made sure nobody was in a precarious position or mid-fall, and gave a long blast on the whistle to get everyone's attention.

"We're done for today. It's about time you got back to the castle for lunch." Probably a lot of bread. Just saying. "Next lesson we'll continue on the topic of falling, and work up to actually casting magic to protect yourselves, if you've not reached that point today. We'll also be looking at how to fall without magic, so be prepared for the protective gear to make an appearance."

Yes, yes, Kamran knew it was just so fetching. He knew how much the students liked to have to wear it. "Class dismissed. Go eat bread." Wait. "Lunch. Go eat lunch." Bread for lunch, that too. "Off you go."


OOC: Class is officially dismissed. I'll leave the thread open a little longer if you want to RP leaving or do some last minute catch up, and will be closing the thread tomorrow.

Apollo had nearly been knocked in the face with Kazmi's think fast routine at the start of the lesson. He had managed to duck his head as the ball went over his head and bounced into the grass somewhere. As far as the questions that Kazmi was throwing at them, least favorite part of flying? What if Apollo liked most of it? Even the challenging parts? He remained quiet as he listened to his peers talk of their least favorite parts. Okay, so maybe the falling and the getting hit or injured would probably be on his list.

So they were going to learn to prevent falling?? Interesting. Yet the second year was also skeptical about this because wasn't falling part of the sport? Moving on to the activity which was just a warm up, Apollo flew around trying to keep out of the drama and staying clear of the foam balls.

Oh the main activity was up .... why the fake wands? Oh, something about technique? Apollo frowned. This was weird... faking falls? Real falls? Apollo flew up above the net and then casually slid so he was gripping his broom with one hand. Only problem? Or maybe not a problem since the nature of the activity was to trigger falls.... Apollo felt himself loosing his grip and purposefully falling into the net. Drawing the fake wand he'd picked up, "Arresto Momentum" and well... nothing? He still felt himself falling at the same - greater? - speed into the net... Oh, that was actually not too bad? Until his broom fell after him and hit him in the head.

Oops? Maybe he was supposed to cast on the broom? Not himself?

Class dismissed though and he could really go for some bread. Or lunch. Or something.

V nodded as Kazmi spoke, doing her best to pay attention this time. The fake wand made more sense. They were not working on casting spells, but how quickly they could react in a stressful situation - FALLING OFF A BROOM. "Thank you, Professor!" she said with a firm nod before waiting for an opening to go into the air. Class had to be almost over, yeah? And she wanted time to practice!

She mounted her broom and took off into the air, going as fast as she wanted to. Flying was just so FREEING and required little thought on her end, though that was about to end. She had a hard time just...letting herself fall off the broom, though. It was weird to send yourself into would-be peril. But finally, V managed to let go of her broom and just fall off for the sake of it without pulling the fake wand. She wanted to get that out of the way, first. And she did that continually...just falling off so she would get used to that weird feeling. Now she wouldn't be so afraid to do what he was asking them to do - to have a lightspeed reaction time!

Finishing a particularly speedy curve around the edge, Victoria plunged herself off her broom and whipped the fake wand out. "A-rresto - " and she was on the ground.

Dead.

SPLAT.

She had stuttered and missed her chance. Hopping up, V grabbed her broom and tried again. She flopped off her broom, whipping her wand out and screaming the words this time. But again, she was on the net before she had finished the spell. "Uuggghhhh!" she balled her fists and grumbled. It was FINE. She would just practice until -

Kazmi said class was over. That made V grumble more, and she returned the fake wand to where she had gotten it. She found herself wanting to practice her reaction times MORE now. Like, if she could good at anything at this school, it was flying, right? And having FAST REACTIONS was something that would surely help in other classes, too.

But now that the lesson was over, she had to see Professor K and talk about her "behavior." She was NOT looking forward to it. "Professor Kazmi...you wanted to see me?" she asked, trying to look as normal and CASUAL as possible even if she was panicking on the inside.

Even though flying wasn't her favorite thing in the world, Violet was determined to make an honest attempt at it, because she hated failure. And she appreciated Professor Kazmi's constructive criticism. She'd had time to make one more attempt at falling, trying it a little higher this time and moving from side to side, and remembered to wait to draw her wand until she fell. That was scary, because she barely had time to get the stick out and make the appropriate wand movements before she hit the net. She thought she had done it right, but it was hard to tell with a fake wand. The thought of falling for real and not getting your wand drawn in time to save yourself was a sobering one.

Hearing Kazmi calling the end of class, Violet retrieved her school broom and prepared to return it to the castle before lunch. "Thanks, Professor Kazmi," she said politely, before making her way back. She didn't hurry, even though it was time for lunch. She was sick of break--of seeing it, smelling it, hearing about it, and particularly of being practically forced to eat it. And nothing made Violet want to not do something more than being forced. Maybe she'd skip the Great Hall altogether and go out to the animal sanctuary to check on Mack--hopefully he was getting something better to eat than bread.

Heath's heart was still racing, even as the ner stopped bouncing. Merlin, that was… something! He sat, taking a quick moment to catch his breath and make sure everything was still in one piece. No broken bones, no broken wand… good! The praise from Professor Kazmi got a smile from him. A little praise went a long way with Heath, especially when it was for something difficult or scary. "Thank you, sir," he said with a respectful nod as he retrieved his broom.

Mounting his broom, he kicked off again. Okay, he did it once; he could do it again… or so he told himself. When his turn came again, he hovered several feet over the net, a little higher than last time, but nothing too crazy. Maybe if this went well, he'd go higher next time. He took a deep breath. Okay, Heath, you can do this! he told himself. Just do what you did before and…

He leaned to his left side until he slid off the broom. The second he felt himself falling. he aimed his wand and cast, "Arresto Momentum!" Once again his descent slowed, and he gently landed on the net below. He had just climbed down, prepared to try again, when Professor Kazmi called time - and not a moment too soon. Whew, two times falling was enough for now!

Wait, what? They were going to practice falling without magic in a future lesson? Just the thought had Heath's stomach in knots, but nonetheless he addressed the professor politely as he left, "Bye, Professor. Thank you for the lesson."