Violet looked like she was doing well, she seemed to make it across the pitch no problem and was line up quite nicely with the first stationary hoop. He could see she kept looking back to - smart in order to avoid injury - but he could only imagine that still hurt. Moving himself forward so he was closer to her, he called out, "Careful not to change your direction when you're looking over your shoulder! You're lined up really well for the first hoop! Once you can see it in front of you," once she'd made it through that was, "you'll want to adjust to your right to get to the next!"

Hopefully that was helpful and didn't just confuse her more. And he hoped she knew he meant angle the tail end of the broom right, not to physical move the handle so which would take her left.

Maybe Kamran should have known this activity perhaps wouldn't be taken so well. Maybe he had suspected, and just decided to do it anyway - that did sound like him. But also, curriculum. Regardless, there wasn't exactly an outcry about it, so as far as he was concerned, it was all going smoothly. For the time being, he hovered in place, where he had a good vantage point of the entire course, in case anyone had yet to approach him with any concerns.

Kamran was pleased to see some had taken the pairing up route, though it was all the same to him, ultimately, as long as his students took an approach that worked for them. Nice to see the kids working together was all. Nam and Blackthorne were two such students. Kamran watched them for a moment, allowing them to get on with it and see how they worked as a pair, his expression schooled as he watched their steady progress, even when there was what seemed to be a slight bump in the road, or, rather, into the hoop. They seemed to be alright for the moment, and so he turned his attention to the other students.

Blaze was getting along nicely, perhaps drifting a little, but Kamran wouldn't have been surprised to see that from anyone in this particular lesson. He'd not quite caught the slight clip, but thought she seemed to be doing well through the obstacles so far. His eyes half closed into an almost-wince, seeing the near-crash into the bar, but it soon became a non-issue, she'd tackled the rest so well. Kamran briefly checked in on the other students starting the earlier obstacles, soon looping back around to Blaze as she finished off the slalom poles and completed the course at the touch plate. Good stuff.

From this distance, it wasn't practical to call anything out, so Kamran made a mental note to catch up with the seventh year later. For now, he momentarily lifted both hands up into the air in a double thumbs up.

If Kamran sensed any reservations from Nichols, there was no sign of it in his expression. He'd glanced back at her right when she set off to get started, and watched for a moment to see how it went. The enthusiastic ones, sometimes it could be a concern when they started to really hesitate, because then the flying could get a little unsteady, but that was not an issue this time. The Gryffindor was tackling the course, and fairly well at that. So far so good.


OOC: Sorry I've not been able to post until now, but I've been checking in and enjoying reading these posts ^^ Still around 24 hours or so before we wrap up.

Heath blinked in confusion and awe as the obstacles appeared. Hoops, bars, more poles, and a touch plate… All of it looked incredibly difficult! He listened carefully to the instructions, growing less confident by the second. Yep, it sounded difficult too, but he’d give it a go anyway. What other choice did he have? At the sound of Kazmi’s whistle, he headed toward the start of the course, watching the other students as he patiently awaited his turn.

His eyes darted from the stationary hoops to the moving ones. It wasn’t hard to decide which to use. He’d do what he’d always done and start simple. When his turn came, he positioned himself in front of the nearest stationary hoop. Turning his head to see behind him, he began to carefully back his broom up. The hoop drew closer and closer into view until… He successfully passed through the hoop without bumping his broom or his body on the rim. Wow, that was easier than he thought!

Encouraged by his early success, Heath flew to the next obstacle: the bars. Which order was he supposed to go again? Under then over? No, it was the other way around. Slowly but surely, he positioned his broom near the first bar, looking over his shoulder the whole time. He inched up, up, up, and finally over the first bar. So far so good! Nearing the second bar, he descended to pass under it. Two bars down, two more to go. Feeling slightly more confident, he picked up a little speed as he approached the third bar, but he underestimated its height and banged his head on the bar. Ugh! He winced, reaching back to feel his head where it hit the bar. Was it bleeding? No, thank Merlin! Probably just bruised…

While he was physically okay, that little incident shook his confidence. Merlin, he hoped he wouldn’t do that again! Not only was it painful, but it was embarrassing to boot! Heath’s dark eyes darted around the training area, trying to gauge if anyone saw that. Never mind… Refocusing on the task at hand, he continued through the bars, flying a little higher this time to clear the third bar, then dipping again to go under the final one.

Next were the poles… again. Heath felt a little better about this obstacle. There weren’t as many of them this time, and he’d already made it through them once. Surely he could do it again, right? Inching closer to the first pole, he nudged his broom handle to the right. The broom veered to the left, missing the first pole by only a few inches. He moved the handle to the left and steered right just in time to clear the second pole, then steered left again to clear the third.

Now all that was left was the touch plate. He hovered over the plate for a moment to align his broom. When he was reasonably confident that he was in the correct position, he carefully descended, looking down all the while. He touched down and… only about half of the twigs on his broom actually came into contact with the touch plate. That was better than none, right? Maybe he should try that again...

There, see, Kamran knew he'd had little reason to be concerned about Nichols on the course, once she got going. Sure, a minor collision with one of the bars, but he wasn't expecting perfection from anyone, nor a bunch of speed demons. By now Kamran had taking to flying up and down the training area, watching the students' progress on the course, and he slowed during the slight pause between obstacles to call some encouragement across. "Good work, Miss Nichols."

Jones was doing well too, no doubt due to general improvement over the years - since before Kamran's time here - and mounting confidence in this particular lesson. There... was that slight bump to the head, which earned him a small sympathy wince from afar, but, credit to the young man, he kept on going. Kamran watched some other students for a moment, in case he started to feel too scrutinised, but happened to pass by again just as Jones reached the end of the course. Regardless of how many tail twigs touched that plate, Kamran thought it an excellent achievement. "Well done, Mr Jones. Great determination there."

_____

As the time ticked down and he grew more conscious of how close they were getting to lunch (not to mention his own growing hunger), Kamran kept an eye on his watch, until at last he blew a shrill blast on his whistle, and beckoned the students back again, to gather where they had started up in the air a short distance from the entrance.

"That's all for today. I'd like to thank you all for the effort you put into this lesson, and for tackling an activity that must have seemed daunting to many of you. I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear we'll be moving on from focusing so much on reversing after this lesson. You made some great progress out there again, all of you." They'd revisit it, yes, towards the end of term when he assessed everyone's progress, but hardly to this extent. "If you had any particularly painful collisions, stop by to see Healer Peralta at some point. For now, you're free to go. Class dis-"

Wait.

"For the love of-..." He stopped, and drew his wand. Down at ground level where Kamran had just glanced, he'd suddenly noticed that in the last ten minutes since he'd last looked over here, those vines had crept over the entrance of the tunnel, like they were attempting to block the way out. He took a breath, sent several spells in their direction to sever and blast them out of the way, however temporarily, and turned back to the students. "Class dismissed. Off you go." It went without saying they they should be mindful of those vines. Soon they'd figure out what to do about them, Kamran was sure.


OOC: That's a wrap! Thank you all so much for coming to play. I'll be leaving this thread open for another 24 hours or so if you'd like to post your characters leaving.

Violet heard the part about being lined up for the first hoop with relief and, still moving slowly, passed through the hoop without mishap. She turned to see it in front of her as she emerged. But her relief was short-lived, because now Evan was saying something about the next obstacle and which direction she was supposed to go. There was another hoop?! Or was it something else. And--now, moving to the right, but backwards, so that was like the opposite, right?

Violet was getting flustered and started looking nervously behind her again, when she heard Professor Kamran call the end of class. Saved by the bell, as they say!

Landing shakily on the ground, Professor Kamran's encouraging words went right through one ear and out the other. Dismounting, she looked over and called a quick "Thanks!" to Evan, and then turned to leave. And suddenly panicked! Those vines were blocking the exit!! Why didn't anyone do anything about them?!? Didn't they remember all the bad things that happened the past few years when strange things were going on and no one did anything?! Violet felt a sudden rush of fear go up her spine and was relieved to see Kamran blast the vines out of the way. For her part, Violet would like to set the whole mess on fire, but she supposed that would be over-kill. But she did take the opportunity to get out while the getting was good.

Truthfully, Evan was also very relieved they had run out of time to do the whole thing. He wasn't looking forward to attempting the poles again. And while his arm smarted, he didn't think it was anything necessary to see the healer - so long as he did not clip it for a third time that day. So when Professor Kazmi called time, he was very willing to be done for the day. Perhaps not the best progress in a lesson, but... well he'd been on his broom and tried. That was the best he could do for the day.

He offered a small smile at Violet, nodding his head. "Thank you to you too." It wasn't her fault he hadn't listened to her better. He frowned watching Kazmi have to blast the vines off the entrance entirely, and opted to make haste with getting through before they tried to do it again. "Thank you, sir!"