This lesson contains a PRACTICAL assignment. Please remain in character. Any out of character comments should be put behind spoiler tags!

Keliora warily approached her borrowed broom. "I must not let it see my fear, I must not let it see my fear," she muttered under her breath. Gingerly, she climbed on the slightly beat-up broom, eyes shut tightly to keep her nerve. When she felt herself jolt backward, she realized she was sitting on the broom the wrong way around.

Hastily, she righted herself so she was assuming the correct broom-riding position, furtively looking around and hoping no one saw her blunder. Taking several deep, calming breaths, she began to maneuver the broom off the ground. Just as she was beginning to feel comfortable hovering at one-foot height and started pondering going up another foot or so, the broom went from horizontal to vertical and shot straight up in the air!

Scrambling, Keliora tightened her grip at the top of the broom and wrapped her legs around the tail, struggling to stay on as the broom, and her, gained altitude. Shooting past Mr. Caswell and the other experienced flying students, the broom came to a stop about twenty feet above them.

"Are you quite alright up there, Keliora?" called Mr. Caswell.

"Uhhh, I'm fine. Everything is ok," Keliora shakily replied, really more to herself than to Mr. Caswell.

"Excellent. How about you come down a bit and try to navigate through the hoops?" Mr. Caswell gently asked.

"D-d-down?" she gulped, trying to fathom how she would manage that. Vertical control did not seem to be one of her strengths.

Mr. Caswell pondered for a moment. "Maybe down here isn't the best idea. How about I send some rings up your way for you to practice?" With a flick of his wand, five shiny hoops appeared around her. "Take your time, dear. No need to rush. Just try to see if you can steer the broom closer to the hoops - it doesn't have to be done quickly! Remember, you control the broom!"

Taking his encouraging words to heart, Keliora sent him a grateful smile and focused on the new task at hand, trying very much to not think of how high off the ground she was or how on earth she was going to, well, get back to earth. She hoped it would be in one piece.

Slowly, Keliora began to concentrate on the hoop that was closest to her. It was only a few feet away. She was concentrating so intensely, she almost didn't even realize the broom had started inching forward, gliding toward the hoop. She loosened her death grip on the handle a bit and felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment as she went through the hoop. As soon as she passed, the hoop sparkled even brighter than before and then disappeared in a poof.

Feeling a bit more confident, she set her sights on the next hoop. It was far ahead to the right. Keliora concentrated again, and this time could feel when the broom responded to her and started to go where she wanted. She kept a slow pace, steadily making her way closer to the hoop. Again, when she passed through, she was treated to the glittering brightness before the ring vanished.

This continued for the next three hoops. She went from hoop to hoop at a snail's pace, but stayed in control, enjoying the bright glow of the hoops as she went through. Once she finished going through all five, she sat quietly on her broom, watching the rest of the students make their attempts to fly through the hoops below.

(Keliora, Ravenclaw)

Elizabeth eyed the borrowed broom; it was in remarkable good condition. She was a bit afraid of heights, so flying wasn't one of her favourite subjects. Furthermore, she felt quite unsteady on a broom since she was confiding her life to a piece of wood. It was magical, but she rather relied on herself when it came to serious terms. Looking around, Elizabeth noticed some students already up in the air. "I can do this", she whispered to herself, trying to work up the courage needed for this task. Her hands were trembling a little when she gripped the top of the broom, just expecting it to soar up into the sky, but nothing did happen. She breathed deeply and took up the correct broom riding position. Come on, you can't be the last one, she said to herself, closed her eyes for a short moment and then let her broom ascend to Mr. Caswell and the group of students. She didn't want to be the first flying through the hoops, so she decided to grant herself some time up in the air to become accustomed to the height.

Elizabeth felt uneasy when she watched Keliora and her broom racing up so fast - and really high as well. As the sun was shining bright, she had to cover her view a bit with her hand. Thankfully, Keliora's turn on the hoops turned out well. Elizabeth was sure that her insecurity would have grown if anything bad had happened. She smiled relieved and just started to feel safe, when Mr. Caswell's gaze fell on her. "Elizabeth, would you like to try next?", he asked friendly, with an encouraging undertone in his voice. Oh glad, why me?, Elizabeth thought and looked at him, really trying to keep a blank expression without any sign of being nervous or afraid, before she nodded and flew over to a point where she thought it would be a good start to fly through the small course of hoops. She was able to come up with working plans quickly, but flying wasn't anything theoretical.

Trying not to notice the height difference between herself, the broom and the ground, Elizabeth pushed her broom gently forward to the first hoop. Ironically she liked the wind blowing through her hair and the feeling of freedom - and sometimes she felt that she could start to like flying if it wasn't for the height. She passed the first three hoops without any difficulty and darted towards the next one when a bypassing bird startled her and she turned away from it. Unfortunately, her eyes now faced to the ground and her hands trembled a bit on the top of the broom. Her heart raced faster and she tried to keep the thought of falling down away.

"Is everything okay?", she heard Mr. Caswell ask, but it sounded distant somehow. Elizabeth needed some moments to look away from the ground, then faced Mr. Caswell. "Yes, Mr. Caswell, it was just a bird.", she replied, and even put up a smile, before she flew towards the remaining hoops.

Her movement was more cautious now, and she managed to finish the course. She had missed three of the hoops purposely as they were the highest and Elizabeth had no intention in soaring up higher, now being aware of the distance to the ground. But she was sure it looked like she missed them by accident and smiled apologising at Mr. Caswell, joining the group of students again to watch the remaining students.

(Elizabeth Covington, Slytherin)

Luck mounted her broom, but stayed grounded as she watched the first few students struggle to get their bearings and make it through the hoops. She was nervous since it was the first time she'd ever done this, and she didn't want to fail in front of everyone. She tried to convince herself that it wouldn't be too bad, based on the actions of the students who went before her. Her hands still remained sweaty as they gripped the wood of the borrowed broom, and she started pushing off the ground, getting shakily into the air.

Her broom was easing forward as if she didn't have control of it, and brought her to start approaching the professor and the hoops. As the previous student finished their course with the hoops, Mr. Caswell looked at Luck and beckoned her with his hand, mistaking her slow approach as an eagerness to start. Awkwardly, Luck leaned forward on her broom and it accelerated slightly, but as she approached the first hoop she became self-aware of being nervously on display for the rest of the class and her broom began to buck like a frightened horse.

Her knuckles were white with gripping; terrified to fall to the ground, she struggled to gain control with her legs tightly wrapped around the tail of her broom. Mr. Caswell had suddenly leaned forward on his broom, as though he was anticipating having to rush forward to help her, but she recovered before requiring any assistance. By the time Luck finally steadied her broom, she looked back to discover she had missed the first two rings. She could barely hear over her racing heartbeat. Mr. Caswell had straightened himself back up on his broom as Luck faced the rest of the rings.

Swallowing her embarrassment, difficult as that was, she tried to focus on the task. With that, she made it through the remaining rings. Though she was proud that she got through the rest of the hoops without trouble, she couldn't forget about her loss of control at the start. The flustered look on her face was very visible as she glided back to wait with the other students.

(Luck Burnside, Hufflepuff)

Merlin brought a broom his mother gave him before going to school that year. It wasn't new but it was his own to tame, the idea of flying on a broom didn't excite him as much as flying on a dragon's back, but guessed this was a good start if he ever wanted to try the other, much more dangerous task. He order his broom up, but didn't seem to obey his command, which he obviously didn't liked, so once again he tried with a much imperious command. Broom got to his hand and he immediately hop on it, but since he didn't had good balance, he slip off once again just to fall on his back. Everyone laughed, and he turned bright read instantly. He mumbled something to himself but got back to the broom, this time managing staying on it. "I already don't like flying on a broomstick." Still he smiled of the thought of flying. "One day I'll turn into a bird and fly away" But the professor didn't seem to like that he was still on the ground along with other few students that were struggling to fly. "Here goes" He slowly raises and tries gaining confidence and most of all balance so he wouldn't fall once again, especially from a distance. Once he thought he would fall once again, but managed to get a good grip and moved farther up toward the first hoop.

Thinking he was definitely getting used to flying, he goes toward the first hoop with more speed than he should. Professor Caswell quickly yells at him so he would go slower. "Pendragon! Slow down!" But it was too late, Merlin went through the hoop, yes, but since he was going too fast he almost threw another student off their broomstick. "Careful what you are doing or you will send someone to the hospital wing!"

"Sorry!" He gave a smile to the student he almost knock off but this one only looked at him angrily. He proceeds more carefully for the next hoop, but found it quite impossible to cross since it kept moving from position. So he gives up and goes to the next. He passed two more without problem and thought this was easy and got too confident, so once again he increased speed seeing no one was near the fifth hoop. As he got closer, he hoop looked double, triple, or more and now wasn't sure which was real or not, so he took the right and hit right onto the side of it. He and his broom were out of control spinning around toward the ground, Merlin hold on to it and tried making it stop even when he felt very dizzy at that moment. They were inches from the ground when the broom stopped spinning and went up toward that fifth loop. Merlin was angry and wanted to pass the tricky loop so once again he tries and tries, until finally he realizes the real hoop was not marked by a shape but by the space between them. He crossed the fifth loop, and then the sixth. When he got to the seventh hoop, most of the class had crossed it but he seem to be concerned about it since it appeared to be shrinking. "What if it closes before I go through?" He tries to cross it, but as he expected, the hoop turn too small for him to cross it and so he went for the next three, which he crossed without much more difficulty. When he made it to the ground he looked at the broom without much interest but said. "Thanks, we need to work more together if we want to survive next class."

Merlin Slytherin

Zay followed along after the other new students and selected one of the borrowed brooms, it seemed to be in better shape than she originally thought it would be. She then, followed everyone else to the center. Flying seemed both exciting and terrifying to her. It wasn't necessarily the thought of being up high that scared her it was the fact she could fall. She watched as her fellow classmates and friends took their turn. When Keliora's broom shot up so high and Luck's started acting erratically she was secretly hoping hers wouldn't do the same. She was glad that everything turned out all right for them though.

Zay found out far too soon that it was her turn, she swallowed hard and nervously mounted the broom. She tried to keep calm as it started to ascend, but it was hard when she realised she was a few feet in the air now. She glanced around, feeling a bit unsure of herself. She heard Mr. Caswell ask if everything was alright and she quietly nodded. She took a few moments to calm herself again and ascended higher to where Mr. Caswell and the hoops were. It was then she happened to look down and seeing the distance to the ground made her heart race. She gripped the broom tighter, terrified of falling off. She heard Mr. Caswell ask again if she was okay, which snapped her out of her stupor. It was then she decided she wanted to get through the hoops as quickly as possible. She had no idea what happened next, things flew by her so fast. She only knew about the last ring she went through. She looked back to see she'd missed at least three or four. She hovered there for a bit longer then tried to carefully go through the rest at a slower pace.

When she was through she made her way back into the crowd of students and tried to stop shaking from her own flight. Once she started feeling a bit better she went back to watching the rest of her classmates.

Chook had left her broom behind, (had forgotten all about it in fact) so she broke off from the group, went to and grabbed a broom then and proceeded to the centre. There she mounted her broom and with trepidation rose a few feet into the air and hovered there. "This", she thought to herself, "is quite easy." Full of confidence she decided to go higher up to where Mr. Caswell was waiting for them, but the broom did not move. She tried again and again to get it rise to no avail. At what seemed to her to be an eternity she dismounted dropped to the ground, grabbed the broom and marched with it to the pile of broom still available. She returned to broom (or should I say threw in onto the pile) and quickly grabbed another one. Telling it in no uncertain terms that it had "better behave yourself."

Once more she hovered above the ground and when it was time to rise the broom did so, taking her to the single line to await her turn with the hoops. Soon it was he turn to try to fly through the hoops. Very warily she approached the first one and made her way slowly through it. The next one she handled the same way and the next. Getting some confidence she went a little faster through the next three and was safe and sound. Once again she added some speed and zoomed through, seven, eight and nine. One left she thought to herself, lined it up and Ready set go began on her path.

But instead of smoothly going through she clipped the edge of the hoop, and began tumbling to the ground. Mr. Caswell grabbed her just as the ground was looming closely and managed to get her set upon the ground in a not too dignified way. But she was safe and sound. Slowly she returned to borrowed broom to the pile promising herself that she would never forget hers again.

Gryffindor

Paddy mounted her broom warily - she hadn't done much flying since she got her broom last term, but remembered almost crashing into Magnus on the only practise she'd attempted in public. Taking a deep breath, she hovered in line, waiting for her turn.

Watching the student in front of her take their turn, Paddy was suddenly aware of just how high some of those hoops seemed. So far nobody had crashed into the ground, and Paddy hoped she wouldn't be the first. Leaning forwards ever so slightly, remembering the speed her broom responded last time she tried flying around the Quidditch pitch, she aimed slowly for the first hoop. She was sure everyone must be feeling she was flying at a snail's pace, but she wanted to concentrate on at least getting through the first few hoops before speeding up.

The first hoop didn't seem too terrible, so she leant to the side to line up with the second hoop. Unfortunately she leant a little too far, and the broom did a 360 degree spin before she could stop it. Hovering in mid air, she took a moment to regain her bearings before aiming for the second and third hoops. Hoop number four was at a more challenging angle, and she missed it the first time, but managed to turn her broom around to go through it from the opposite side. "I wonder if that still counts" she thought, carefully turning her broom back to face the fifth hoop.

Leaning forwards a little more, she held on tight as her broom picked up speed (although it was still never going to win any races - she was certain someone could jog faster), but she felt a little more confident at aiming as she flew through hoops 5, 6, 7, and 8. She almost didn't spot the ninth hoop, turning at the last minute and tucking in her elbows to make sure she didn't crash into the side of the hoop. Looking round, she wondered if she could make it through the 10th hoop as well. Deciding it was safer to stick to the same pace and not speed up, she carefully lined her broom up and hoped she wouldn't drift off course.

Much to her amazement, she passed through the tenth hoop safely, and put all her concentration into landing - it wouldn't do to crash into the ground after managing such a successful flight. She didn't think she'd be entering for the Quidditch team any time soon, but she was looking forward to practising flying a bit more.

Paddy - Gryffindor

Ernessa smirked when the professor explained what the activity for the day was, she was a seasoned flyer and long term member of the quidditch club. Jumping on her broom she sailed over to the professor effortlessly, grinning with anticipation. 'Let's do this!' she exclaimed as her turn arrived. She lent forward and zipped towards the first hoop, making it through easily. She then began to speed up, her confidence growing as she weaved in and out of the hoops. Satisfied with herself, Ernessa flew down to the group of students on the ground after passing through the 10th hoop. 'I'm so glad I've been practising my flying during the break!'

Ernessa, Slytherin

Rather shaky Max mounted his broom. Good thing he wasn´t afraid of heights or he would have a serious problem. Carefully he made his way up to Mr. Caswell and the other students. "So far so good, he thought to himself." He wasn´t sure he was going to survive this.

Max listened to Mr. Caswells instructions and arched an eyebrow. Ten hoops would be no easy task. At least it wasn´t raining. Swallowing and taking a deep breath he made his way to the first hoop. He wanted to glide his broom just a little to the left but misjudged his own strength. Max ended up near the 4th hoop. Well at least he didn´t crash into someone else. It didn´t matter if he hadn´t got through the first 3 hoops.

Taking a deep breath Max tried to carefully fly through the 4th hoop. His broom had other plans though. This time he nearly crashed. Before he landed on the ground he managed to pull his broom back up. After what felt like an eternity and 5 missed hoops later Max managed to fly through the last hoop somehow. He was very relived when he was on the ground again and Mr. Caswell took the broom from his shaking hand.

Max O´Conner/Slytherin

[img align=left]https://i.imgur.com/vj3r8oQ.png[/img] Without much effort, the young man was able to navigate through the first few hoops cleanly and efficiently. Flying had become second nature to Eros. Even coming back the summer holidays, he found that he wasn't as rusty as he thought he'd be. Motocross was to thank for that. It was one of his hobbies to occupy the time back home, a reason to get out of the house. Home was hard. It was just his mother and him. Well, actually, it was just him. At least, it felt like it.

Eros passed through the sixth hoop and started steering towards the seventh. There was a lot on his mind, but felt good to be back in the air and on a broom. He loved the rush of being able to cut through the air. It gave him a high like nothing else. As he darted through each ring, he picked up a little more speed to test himself.

Normally, while on a broom, Eros's mind would be clear and focused. Today, however, thoughts of his mom kept preoccupying him. What originally was a sense of relief to be back at Hogwarts was now a distraction. Somehow, it felt better to be at school than to be at home...and that feeling was slowly becoming a rock in his chest. I didn't say goodbye, the Australian thought to himself as he his hands gripped the handle of the broom tightly. He had returned to school without saying a word to his mother. He was sure she knew, but he felt like maybe he should have at least said something, even if she said nothing back. At what point did he give up trying?

Without realizing it, he exceeded the speed limit where he could efficiently pass though each hoop with minimal effort. On the ninth, Eros had to make a sharp turn towards the final hoop. And much to his annoyance, he failed to make a clean pass through the last ring. Well, he did go through it, but he felt his shoulder hit the ring. For him, that was a fail. The teen descended to the ground. He dismounted and toss his broom to the side. His shoulder hurt a bit from the hit, but he made no attempted to reach for it. Instead, he just went to take a seat at the side of the pitch.

• Eros Sigurd, Slytherin

Aderyn listened carefully to Carlisle's lecture, glancing around the pitch on occasion as he talked about flying through some hoops. She held her broom close, feeling a little twinge of nervousness. She'd been part of the Quidditch club in the previous term and she'd gotten used to flying, but she'd never had to fly through obstacles before and so she was a little nervous. Besides that, she was still a bit wary of falling off of her broom, despite having wings to catch herself if she did happen to do so.

As Carlisle instructed them on what to do, she mounted her broom and kicked off, hovering as he had instructed. She was used to hovering in place and she quickly rose to where he was at 20 feet above the ground - still nowhere near as high as the hoops on the Quidditch pitch, which was reassuring. If she could handle the Quidditch hoops, she could handle the flying lesson.

Flying into position behind a few other students, Aderyn watched successes and failures alike, secretly hoping that she didn't smack into any of the hoops and fall down. Glancing around, not wanting to get caught on anything, she held onto her broom with one hand while she tucked her cloak in more tightly around herself with her free hand. She hadn't really wanted to wear it in the first place, but it was a chilly day and the wind had made her reconsider. Still, she was sure it wouldn't be too much of a problem. Hopefully.

When her turn came up, Aderyn smiled wryly at Carlisle and then set off on his mark, flying towards the first of the glowing hoops. It was large enough that she flew comfortably through it and breathed a sigh of relief. The second, third, and fourth hoops posed no problem, either, and she was just beginning to get confident as she approached the fifth hoop. From a distance, she'd failed to notice that it was at a bit of an angle to the others, starting the turnaround back to the beginning, and as she approached it she yelped, narrowly missing the side of it and feeling the back of her broom hit the hoop.

Aderyn's broom wobbled violently in the wake of the contact and, as she flew toward the next hoop, she knew she wasn't going to make it through. Bypassing the sixth hoop entirely, she continued on flying, veering back into line for the seventh and eighth hoops. The ninth and tenth ones went by without incident, too, and before she knew it, she was flying back towards Carlisle and the rest of the students, mercifully in one piece. Her heart was hammering in her chest from the near miss she'd had, but she was still rather proud of herself. Not bad for someone without a ton of flying experience, she figured.

Aderyn Jones // Ravenclaw

Itachi was a pro with the broom, he started when he was really young with a training broom his mom got him. He quickly hopped onto the broom and began to fly around. His turn was soon so he got ready to go, doing backflips and corkscrews in the air. "Itachi, you are up." the professor called him. He flew over to the starting line and took off. Passing through 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Hoops no sweat then continuing 6, 7, 8.

Has he was coming to the 9th hoop and bludger came flying out of nowhere. Itachi quilly dodged it setting him off course. Itachi then quickly raised his broom flying directly upwards holding tight to his broom. The bludger still following him, he began to pull up more making him do a slow backflip in midair. He was in the arch of the backflip when the bludger was about to hit him, he flipped the broom all the way around and sending himself into a spiral towards the ground. Getting closer to the ground he got into position to go through the 9th loop.

Still the bludger followed quickly as he passed through the 9th loop he was on his was to the 10th when the bludger was almost touching his broom, Itachi got up on the broom and moved towards the front of the broom so he was on the front edge gliding in the wind just has he went through the 10th loop he fell forward has the bludger swooped past his helmet, Itachi quickly flipped his body and grabbed the bludger and landed the broom pointing his wand at the bludger and used a spell to send it back to the person that sent it to him.

Itachi of Slytherin

Garrett had never flown, nor had he ever wanted to, so with much trepidation he walked over to the school brooms, breathing shakily. His needed to at least attempt this lesson, his house was counting on him.

He picked up a broom that looked old ( and in his mind slow and safe) and made his way back to where the other students were mounting their brooms. He gave Fable a wan smile, trying to reassure her that his pale, sweaty face was from something he had eaten earlier.

Garrett set his broom on the ground, and held his hand over it. "Up " he said firmly, secretly hoping it wouldn't respond to him, but it flew right up to his hand. He sighed, and mounted it, surprised at how comfortable the cushion charm was.

His plan was to just fly about, no more than 5 feet off the ground, and instead of going through the death hoops up in the sky, to maneuver around and maybe through obstacles on the ground. That had to count for something..if he had to go up higher, he would pass out and that was that.

So, Garrett spent almost all of the class getting used to flying 5 feet off the ground. His broom was slow and a little difficult to steer, but he took it easy and found he enjoyed flying.

Then he heard Mr. Caswell call out to him. "Garrett !"

Garrett looked up, and saw the teacher motioning him up. He shook his head and gave him a I'm-just-fine-down-here smile. Even though he believed the teacher would not let anything happen to him should he fly higher, it wasn't happening. He would accept any consequences given to him for not flying any higher.

~Garrett, House Slytherin

Fable walked over to the broomsticks with her friend Garrett. He looked pale. She tried to comfort him. "It will be ok, just do what you can." He mustered up a smile and they picked out broomsticks. 

She encouraged the broomstick up and mounted it properly. She hovered around Garrett getting the feel of the broomstick she was on. It was a bit shaky, due to age, and drifted off to the left. As she looked around Fable noticed that a lot of the students seemed unsure or even down right terrified to fly any higher. Shes gotten a little dizzy before looking down from trees shes climbed but nothing like that. 

Once she felt comfortable with her broom, she checked in with Garrett. "Are you going to be ok? I think I'm ready to try the hoops." 

Garrett nodded. "Go on, I'm good right here."

"Alright, I will be right back." Fable felt guilty leaving her friend in such a state, but he seemed to be doing better.

Fable flew up to the line waiting to go through the hoops. Once it was her turn she attempted to steer her stubborn broom around the ten hoops. Her brooms drift caused her to only make it through seven of the hoops and two of those she hit the hoop sides. She made her way back down to Garrett muttering in frustration. Her brooms vibrations were getting worse.

As she got close to him she accidentally drifted into him. Not hard but just enough. "I think I need to dismount, this broom is on its last legs or it really doesn't like me!" Garrett laughed and agreed. Fable flew down to the ground and dismounted, her tooshie numb.

~Fable, House Slytherin

Ravenna grabbed a broom at random hoping it wasn't one of the school's duds students always complained about. She wasn't new to flying but she wasn't as good as some of the quidditch players either. And even a decent flyer might not do so well on an old broom... She mounted her broom and rose a few feet, then made her way to the line of waiting students, zigzagging along the way. The broom didn't seem to have great steering, but it wasn't so bad. When her turn came, Ravenna started slowly, making it through the first three hoops easily. She picked up speed for the fourth and fifth, but missed the sixth when her broom pulled to the left suddenly. She steered back on track, barely making the seventh hoop. The eigth, ninth and tenth hoops were difficult, but she made it through. She smiled a little, relieved at having gotten through, and joined the rest of the group.

Hunger, Hufflepuff

Lapis followed along with the other students as they made their way to the Quidditch pitch. While not a particularly seasoned flyer, she was comfortable with the basics and rose easily on her Firebolt Supreme, taking a place in the growing line in front of Carlisle. She spent the time waiting her turn watching her classmates as they navigated the course. She perked up slightly when her fellow prefect Aderyn began flying through the hoops Carlisle had conjured. The two were both in the same term and Lapis knew they had similar flying experience.

When it was her turn, Lapis gave Carlisle a polite nod and accelerated towards the first hoop. Leaning forward slightly she passed through with no trouble, continuing on through the second, third and fourth. The fifth hoop did prove challenging as the back of her broom kicked awkwardly outwards when she took the turn too sharp. The front of the broomstick dipped sharply downward and Lapis found herself yanking out of a nosedive, pulling up sharply and overcompensating. The Firebolt rebalanced itself and Lapis barely managed to slip through the sixth hoop. White-knuckled, she continued through the last 4 hoops before landing and sliding off the broomstick, happy to feel the ground back under her feet.

Lapis Lazuli, Ravenclaw House

Her excitement was just as great, if not even bigger than the first day she laid her eyes on the massive castle. And the beauty of it was much better observed with two feet firmly placed on the ground, the first-time flyer grimly thought. She hated feeling small (Or smaller than normally), so heights and beaches were never her favourite place to be at.

She let her hand roam over the broom at first, getting used to the feel and texture before warily mounting it. All that it took was a small bounce and she was hovering in the air, and this already felt like something a bit too high for Maristela. Her first practice lasted a couple of minutes before she was in the line, waiting for her turn. Caswell nodded and beckoned the Slytherin over.

The prospect of flying through the hoops felt terrifying and the height of twenty feet too much. The first one, though, wasn't that bad, even if the handling suddenly felt too sensitive and it seemed almost impossible to slow down.

But, disaster was swift to arrive. Mari barely made it through the second before dipping a bit too low, forcing her broom to quickly descend from the sky. Dirt and grass were not her top five favourite foods, and to be honest, they didn't even make any list. Motivated by this the girl stopped a hair before having a mouth full of it.

The professor shouted "Are you okay?" to which she replied with a shrug.

"I think I'll stay down here, it appears that I got a bit too confident too fast."

(Maristela Bray; Slytherin)

[double posted, sorry!]

Jem casually swayed from side to side on her broom while waiting in line. The main thing for her, when it came to trying different brooms, was becoming familiar with the amount of pressure she would use to steer. When she'd tried a friend's newest version of the Firebolt, it'd done a 360 spin at the slightest squeeze of her hand. Of course, the school brooms weren't nearly that sensitive.

As Maristela voluntarily ended her turn, Caswell turned to Jem and motioned ahead. Jem smiled cheekily and swerved cleanly through the first hoop. She'd noticed that the second hoop was at a really sharp angle from the first and had prepared herself for it, and got through it speedily. But the rest of the course she hadn't really been paying that much attention to while she'd been waiting her turn. She almost missed the fifth hoop as she was going for the sixth, but swooped through it as she noticed her mistake. She cleared each of the ten hoops, and then landed with a bit too much force on the field.

Jem / Gryff