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

[img align=left]https://i.imgur.com/vqRvz8n.png[/img]Chell stood, star-struck over Bronagh Gallagher. She was sad to have missed the Harpies’ match back in July and was thrilled to get the chance to meet her today. She excitedly grabbed her broomstick and patiently waited for her turn to attempt the famous Woollongong Shimmy.

Chell pushed off the ground when it was her turn and she had received the quaffle. She rose up to where the opposing dummies were intimidatingly hovering and gulped. “Just don’t fall,” she mumbled to herself. The whistle blew and the dummies sprang to life! Chell was so startled by the sudden motion that she nearly dropped the large, dented ball.

“Here goes nothing!” She soared toward the opposing team. She must have zigged to the left a little too hard, because she nearly ran directly into one of the dummy chasers. It was so close, you could practically hear a cartoon screeching sound effect.

She took a deep breath and reset. The whistle blew again for her second attempt. This time, she nailed the zig, but her zag was all out of whack. Chell kicked the air in frustration and flew back to the starting position.

The whistle blew a third time. Chell took off. Learning from her mistakes, she carefully weaved in and out of the dummy chasers. “YES!” She said excitedly as she looked over her shoulder at the messy formation of the confused dummies.

Just as Bronagh had said, the dummies bounced back and began chasing her again. She continued to zig and zag, increasing her speed with each successful maneuver. Just as suddenly as they came to life, the dummy chasers halted after Chell’s fifth Shimmy, and flew back to their starting position to wait for the next student to take the field.

Exhausted, she floated back to the ground and handed the quaffle to the next student. Chell turned toward Captain Gallagher and smiled hopefully, “So . . . How was that?”

Chell | Ravenclaw

[img align=left]https://i.imgur.com/ZlUZ8X1.png[/img]Ezekiel was not only super excited because it was his first flying lesson, but also because it was Bronagh FREAKING Gallagher who was his professor today. He could barely stand still. He mounted on his broom and watched the other students fly across the sky, until it was his turn.

With a strong push, Ezekiel was soaring through the field, and he stood still in middle air, waiting for the professor's whistle . "Get ready Huffleboy" Professor Bronagh said, "in 3, 2, 1... now!" The whistle's sound cut the air and dummies started flying along with a golden snitch.

Ezekiel was maybe too excited, or too impatient, so he went flying so fast that he actually forgot to do the Woollongong Shimmy and got hit real heard by a dummy.

The whistle sounded again. This time Ezekiel kept his eyes straight in the dummy, and as soon as it started chasing him, he pointed the broom straight forward and gained speed. The dummy was as fast as a lightning, and when it was really close to him, he flew left and right, in a very quick zigzag motion, almost felling from his broom, but successfully avoiding the dummy. "Hell Yeah" Ezekiel shouted. "Watch your mouth boy!" The professor yelled, with an ugly look.

He didn't had the time to apologize as the other dummies came up, all at once. "Damn" he whispered really low. Doing the same movements, he was able to dodge dummies 2, 3 and 4. Maybe it was exhaustion but the 5th dummy got him - Ezekiel couldn't do the moves fast or precisely enough, and the dummy dumped his out of his broom.

Falling on his bottom, his broom fell directly in his head, making a loud sound. After a long "OUCH!" and hearing the laughs from his mates, he started laughing too. "hell yeah, good enough, right Professor?" Ezekiel asked, giggling. He couldn't escape all the dummies and complete the lesson, but he sure had fun.

[img align=left]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/373118.png[/img] Marcia sighed overdramatically, clutching her broom in her left hand as she waited in the line of eager classmates. She was somewhere towards the middle and seemed to be the only one completely uninterested in who this Bronagh Gallagher person was. She had never taken much of a liking to Quidditch, so she was completely unaware of the popular players. She supported Slytherin at all the matches, of course, but in reality she couldn't care less. Despite her general ambivalence toward the subject, she had learned from previous classes that she did have somewhat of a knack for flying, so she might do well in this assignment.

Marcia impatiently fumbled with her broom as the line moved along slowly, but eventually it came time for her to take to the skies. She gave Bronagh a quick glance and confident smirk as if to say, "watch this" before she grabbed the quaffle and kicked off the ground at the sound of the whistle. Almost immediately the dummies were upon her, but with relative ease, she was able to weave and bob between them and complete the first round of the exercise nearly flawlessly. The whistle blew again and the dummies seemed to come at her more fiercely than before, and Marcia, taken aback, awkwardly flubbed one of the motions and knocked into one of the dummies on accident, causing her to drop the quaffle. She quickly maneuvered the broom down and zoomed under the quaffle, catching it again with a sigh of relief before it careened onto the ground.

She reset herself into position and Bronagh blew the whistle for the third time. This time, Marcia was ready and she flew past the dummies, in and out of their formation like a natural. She smiled arrogantly from the other end of the pitch, feeling quite proud of her work that time. She had no time to rest as the whistle blew and dummies flew after her again instantly. She groaned quietly, flying upwards to dodge an incoming dummy. This was quite tiresome, but she only had two rounds left. She somehow managed to maneuver herself through that round, although at a slower pace. The effort was starting to take its toll; Marcia is not an active girl.

Finally, the whistle blew for the fifth time and Marcia took off, clutching the Quaffle protectively as the dummies loomed in. She zoomed around the first few, but accidentally bumped shoulders with one towards the end, knocking her slightly out of the correct path. Then, she bumped into the last dummy on the way out of the formation, but she had made it to the end of the lesson otherwise unscathed. She breathed a sigh of relief before grounding herself and handing the Quaffle back to Bronagh.

Marcia trotted off happily to join the group of students that already finished, but not before flashing Bronagh a satisfied smile. She had done fairly well. Perhaps if she weren't so reckless and indifferent, she could actually make something out of her talent.

Marcia Rainer//Slytherin

Private Outfit Cassie had always been a fan of the Kenmare Kestrels, so she wasn't particularly bowled over by Bronagh Gallagher, but any professional quidditch player was worthy of respect out on the pitch. Climbing atop her broom, Cassie rose into the air, determined to try her best to outmaneuver the dummies whizzing above her head. "Accio quaffle," she said, flicking her wand. If she couldn't impress with her flying, perhaps she could at least demonstrate her proficiency in charms. The quaffle flew into her arms, causing her to waver on her broom before she tucked it under her arm. Suddenly the dummies came at her. Cassie leaned forward to pick up speed and then shifted left and then quickly right, zigzagging succesfully. She was so proud of herself that she forgot the dummies would reset after a successful shimmy. One dummy thumped her soundly from behind, nearly knocking her from her broom. Cassie steadied herself and took off once more, zigzagging a second and third time before a dummy struck her again. Annoyed now, Cassie raised her wand, ready to cast a spell and knock the dummies out of the sky, but caught Gallagher observing her from below and thought better of it, clenching her jaw and zigzagging twice more around the irritatingly persistent dummies. Once her fifth shimmy was complete, Cassie lowered herself back to the ground and handed the quaffle to the professor.

Cassie McCleod - Slytherin

Outfit Not Found

Lily was terrified as soon as she saw the field. She had to FLY up there?! She barely heard anything the teacher said about blocking, but knew she had 5 tries...if she lived that long.

She watched in terror as the other students flew at high speeds on the field. How in the heck was she going to manage this?! When her name is called, she swallows hard and gets on her broom, wobbling all around in the air. Slowly she kicks off the ground, and makes her way to the dummies to do some Wibblywoobleygong.

The whistle blows, and she's so shaken by the noise she nearly directly falls off of her broom. She turns to the teacher and gives her a pleading look, the teacher points to the ground. Lily looks down and realizes she forgot the quaffle. She slowly reaches the ground and picks it up. The whistle blows again...Wait did that count as one? She grabs the quaffle and heads towards the dummies, they instantly fly towards her and she throws her hand in the air to protect herself and drops the quaffle.

Again, she picks up the ball, the whistle blows a third time. Lily breathes in deeply. "C'mon Lil. You can do it. They're just dummies, and the ground is just 50 gazillion kilometers away." she looks down and gulps. She heads towards the dummies once again, trying to zig around them, but she's too slow and is quickly caught by the them. She drops the ball once again. Her fourth attempt is no better than her third.

"One more." She looks ahead of her and sees the dummies ready to charge. The whistle blows and Lily accidentally pushes the broom faster than she intended to, right towards the ground. "Je vais mourir!!" [OOC: "I'm gonna die!!"] she screams as she plummets. A dummy hits her broom a little before she slams into the ground, and she flies headfirst into a bucket someone had left on the side of the field. Lily puts her head down and hands the quaffle to the professor..."Sorry..." she murmurs. Her face is red and she knows she failed horribly, on top of being humiliated. She hides in the back of the class for the rest of the practice.

Outfit Not Found

Lilith Aldaine, Hufflepuff

Mallowsweet neighed with laughter as she picked up a flimsy looking broom. "Um, Ms. Gallagher? I don't think I can manage this. Do you have something a lot bigger, and quite a bit sturdier?
Several other students looked around and more than one began to laugh as well. The Idea of a centaur flying on a broomstick was too funny to not elicit a giggle from almost everyone Outfit Not Found

And there it comes, Lysandra thought, my darkest hour so soon after my very first term started! Why does it have to be today of all day, so shortly after she recovered from the Gnepping sickness. Even looking at the brand-new broom, a Twigger 90 which was a parting gift from her godfather, let her feel the motion sickness kicking in.

Actually, even back in the elven forest, she wasn´t able to fly a unicorn and they were a lot bigger and sturdier than the slim racing broomstick which seemed to wait impatiently for her to mount. Captain Gallagher already looked expectantly at her, making a shooing hand gesture which couldn´t be interpreted wrong.

Lysandra was a big Quidditch fan, the Heidelberg Harriers were her fav team. The Woollongong Shimmy meant something to her and she was a quick study - theoretical. The high speed zig-zag move was designed to confuse and distract opposing chasers and was quite helpful in the game when you managed to do it right.

Swallowing, Lys took the handle and moved one leg over the broomstick, speaking soothing words to calm herself down. It doesn´t help much. She managed to kick her feet and hover about three feet above the ground yet then the retching and gaging started and she had to alight again, to the piercing stares of many of the students. Made a fool of myself again, Lysandra thought, and with her head hanging, she set out for the infirmary in search for a healing potion.

(Lysandra, Ravenclaw)

Bronagh smiled. "Not bad, not bad at all. Looks like I'll needa keep my eyes on you in case you look to replace me as captain of the Harpies, eh?"

Bronagh nodded. "A good job, yes. I wouldn't expect everyone to get through it on their first attempt."

Hmm, yes," Bronagh said with a kind smile, "I see the problem. I can enchant the broom larger and stronger, or I can transfigure you some wings, which would you prefer?"

"WINGS?!!!!" Mallowsweet gasped "You could give me wings?" she pranced in place excitedly. "Really?"

Bronagh nodded. "It's an advanced transfiguation but yes, I can. I mean you won't be able to keep them after the practice, but I don't see the harm in letting you have them for a while. Don't try to do this transfiguration on your own, though. It can go wrong." She figured the girl wanted the wings, so she took her wand out, did several complex motions and said the spell nonverbally Then two wings appeared, with lovely feathers that matched her fur. "There you go."

[img align=left]https://78.media.tumblr.com/0e1b201cc1fd817be478e4ed0ad086f5/tumblr_inline_p0usrmfn2J1r28tx7_540.png[/img] Luck was excited to start flying again. It had been one of her goals to get better at it, and this time she was able to bring her own broom. After a certain point, she simply stood there with the broom between her legs, signifying that she was ready to have her turn. At last, the Quaffle was passed to her and she tucked it under her arm. With one hand gripping the broom handle, she kicked off with her legs and rose into the air.

"That was awesome," she thought to herself. The dummies had been frozen to await the next student, and she barely had any time before they were set free again. The dummies charged immediately and she leaned forward to accelerate in turn.

The first zig-zag motion she tried was so harsh, the momentum almost made her broom buck her off like a startled horse. Luck panted and she struggled to get upright on her broom again as the dummies jetted towards her. She finally got back into a comfortable position when one of the dummies slammed into the back of the broom, ramming her forward.

"Argh!" She cried out, nearly losing the Quaffle. She gripped it tighter with her arm and leaned forward again to escape them. These dummies seemed aggressive, but then again, Quidditch was a rough and dangerous game. She looked back and saw that the dummies had been summoned back to their original positions and she too flew back to the starting position.

The dummies began to fly at her in an instant once again. Luck took off on her broom with the dummies practically on her broom bristles, and she started to zig-zag again. She looked back and figured that she must have outsmarted and outran the dummies, because they started to collide with each other in confusion, before robotically flying back to the starting positions.

This was the way it went for three more attempts. Bronagh Gallagher blew a whistle after the fifth one, and Luck floated back to the ground as the dummies froze once again. "Textbook," she thought happily - despite the failure of the first try - and she passed the Quaffle to the next student.

(Luck Bee, Hufflepuff)

[img align=left]https://sapi.subeta.net/shared/313738.png[/img]Nathaniel had worked a lot on his broomstick handling skills over the summer. Feeling decidedly more confident this year, he credited it in part to the work he'd done at Ilvermorney.

Dressed in Slytherin's emerald kit, he was surprised to see Bronagh Gallagher on the pitch. He actually supported her rival team, Puddlemere United! In a way, he admired the Holyhead Harpies for their all-female team, but truthfully, he didn't follow the team too closely to care much more than that. Besides, he certainly wasn't the type to be starstruck.

After a brief introduction and a summary of their task, Nathaniel rolled his eyes with a vocal groan. He couldn't think of anything worse than chasing dummies around the field right now. There was something that seemed so... unproductive about quidditch at times.

He had to get out of it somehow, or at least get it over with quickly. Most of the other students seemed pretty into it, and some of them clearly wanted all of Bronagh's attention. He supposed that that was a good thing: she might not take so much notice of him if she was distracted by the others.

He watched the seasoned quidditch player transfigure a pair of stunning wings for the centaur girl from Gryffindor. The feat was somewhat impressive, and he actually felt a little more admiration for Bronagh after seeing that.

Back on his broomstick, he guessed the only way to get this over with was to do it fast. He pushed off from the ground with a focused look in his eyes, and a quaffle tucked beneath his arm. He aimed the front of his broomstick towards the dummies and shot towards them.

He dipped between them and followed the zig-zag manoeuvre as suggested, laughing aloud as the dummies collided with one another senselessly. By the 5th 'shimmy' Nathaniel realised, with a pang of guilt in his stomach, that he was having fun. Nathaniel found that it came naturally to tease the dummies into a state of confusion and was beginning to see that maybe there was a productive side to the sport after all.

The lesson was soon over for the teenager. He'd accomplished the task but found himself frustrated that he'd rushed through it. He landed with a sullen frown, unbefitting of his achievement. It must have looked strange to Bronagh too, if she had been watching: why would a kid be disappointed after clearing the task with such apparent ease?

-- Nathaniel Pitt, Slytherin

[img align=left]https://i.imgur.com/0bCNpPc.png[/img] Jona was really excited - for about 2 seconds. Then fear set in. He'd never been on a broom before! Up until now, he thought it was a joke. Wizards actually rode these things?? How?! Was there safety gear involved? Would he have to sign a liability waiver in case he fell? Ohmygosh - what if he did fall?? Jona's head was reeling from all the questions and it only got worse as he watched other students attempt the maneuver. One of the senior students cam up to him and told him he should probably wear goggles, so as to at least not get any bugs in his eyes while he attempted it. Thinking they were being kind, Jona took the offered Geek Goggles and thanked them. Gulping down the fear in his throat, he mounted his broom in his first attempt at the Woollongong Shimmy.

Attempt one: Jona had never been on a broom before today, so obviously his confidence was not stellar. He wobbled feebly in the air, gripping the handle till his knuckles turned white. It was almost like the broom was taunting him, dipping low to the ground and then throwing him up high from behind like a stallion toying the rider who thinks he can break it in. It wasn’t long before Jona fell off his broomstick, never even having grabbed the quaffle.

Attempt two: This time, Jona tucked the quaffle under his arm first, straddling the broom second. He flew relatively straight (problem number one) and very slow (problem number two). The dummies knocked him to the ground immediately.

Attempt three: Jona shook it off. He had been flying pretty low to the ground so the fall didn’t hurt at all. His pride, however, had taken a bruise or two. He look cautiously at the other students. Most of them were already bored with his tries, but a few still watched - probably enjoying watching him fail. Whatever. This time, the quaffle was seated in his lap, sandwiched between his legs, while he flew for the dummies. Jona wasn’t sure if it was he who managed it or the broom acting up, but either way once he was less than a foot from the dummies, the broom suddenly jerked up and then down. This caused the two dummies to fly into each other, however the movement wasn’t time too well and the bristles caught between the two faces of the dummy. This left the broom stuck and Jona sliding off the front of it and falling to the ground.

Attempt four: Now he was a bit more determined. He tried tucking the Quaffle under his arm again this time and jumped off the ground. Landing on his feet again, he look down questioningly at the broom. He shook the handle back and forth and kicked off a few more times. Why won’t it work? He looked back at Bronagh to ask what was wrong and had made eye contact with her when suddenly the broom took off on its own. Jona howled as he held tight to the broom, twisting and turning however it desired. The broom barreled him right into one dummy and circled around another before deciding its fun wass over. The broom, and therefore Jona, fell victim to gravity and they both came crashing to the ground. This fall hurt more than the others, for Jona had zero control over the height at which the broom had climbed. He felt a sharp pain radiate in his left knee cap then shoot up the entire length of his leg when he tried to step down on it. Rather than alerting Bronaugh right away, Jona concluded to give it one more try before quitting. It was requested they attempt the maneuver a minimum of five times, after all.

Attempt five: Jona took a deep breath handling the quaffle like he would a football. This time when he caught the air, he’d done nothing to insight action. The other times, he was either kicking off the ground or jerking the handle forward, but in this instance he simply floated up. Jona remained floating in place for a little while as he looked at the dummies, picturing a sort of play to follow through on. Then, he was off flying in the direction of them. The broom seemed to have a little more respect for Jona now that he’d taken the beating and still got back on the handle. So, when Jona twitched his fingers to bend right, the broom did his will. And when he fainted left, only to zoom upward, the broom did that as well. He was happy with himself, floating above the mess, as Jona saw the tangle of dummies beneath him.

Jona landed back on the ground a few feet from Bronaugh. He stepped hesitantly onto his leg, flinching when the pain electrified its way up his leg. He smiled sheepishly as he limped towards the guest teacher. “Er, I think I might’ve broken something.”

Jona Fletch / Hufflepuff

[img align=left]https://i.imgur.com/H0cxGNC.png[/img] Elizabeth sighed. Why were they supposed to learn Quidditch moves when some of them wouldn't try out for the house teams anyway? Slowly shaking her head, she looked at the other students. Many of them were so excited, but some shared Elizabeth's opinion obviously. She had met Bronagh Gallagher, or more, seen her, in July, but never really cared for Quidditch. Yes, there had been several Pride of Portree games back then whenever her dad took her to Quidditch games, but over the years, she lost interest in that. Gallagher's outfit was surely...something. Comfortable, but she had imagined to see her in her Harpies robes. Or something more formal. Shrugging her shoulders, Elizabeth summoned one of the more beautiful and capable looking brooms and admired the dark wood which looked perfectly fine with her outfit for a moment, before turning around to listen to the guest lecturer. She took a deep breath after the explanation. So she only had to fly in zigzags to avoid the dummies. Well, she was afraid of heights, but she should be able to do this successfully. Or at least in style. Therefore, Elizabeth took a quaffle and soared into the air, hovering a bit over the five dummies. They were really creepy - just as Corvus had told her from the Ilvermorny lessons. Were they using the same ones here? Elizabeth shuddered slightly before beginning to fly in zig zag moves. She wasn't comfortable on a broom due to her fear of heights and was going rather slow which made it easy for the dummies to catch up on her quickly. She blushed slightly as it was quite embarassing. Hopefully nobody on the ground was laughing....she'd probably hex those who were making fun of her.

Completely absorbed in her thoughts while she was flying the fifth - and last, thank Merlin - attempt to confuse the dummies, one dummy was coming quite close. Elizabeth blinked irritated and changed her course abruptly. But this only led to a series of unfortunate events. The broom was going faster - which was good to get rid of the dummies, which were also faster as well - but it was too fast for her liking. As she was trying to regain control over the situation, she almost dropped the quaffle and bit her lip, tightening the grip on the Quidditch ball. The wind was howling and the dummies seemed to have some holes - the air in these holes made an eerie sound, like someone was breathing with an ice-cold voice. Elizabeth flew in zig zags once more, but one dummy was particularly fast and this made her fly higher before turning around, finding herself centered as the dummies are gathering around her. Seeing no way out, she pulls out her wand and blasts the head of one of the dummies off with a nonverbal spell. Gladly, she took the newly created escape route and flew towards the ground with the quaffle. The dummies seemed to be confused about the attack - if one could credit them with the ability to think that way. "Sorry for blasting the dummy's head off. But I didn't want to be touched by one of these...things.", she said to Bronagh Gallagher. Turning around, she sighed at the sight of the dummies. Flicking her wand once more, Elizabeth said 'Reparo' and the dummy's head, which lay on the ground a few inches away, is attached to the object and the dummy looked as good as new.

Elizabeth Amalia Covington ~ Slytherin

Private Outfit

Merlin got into the field and was glad he didn't hated quidditch anymore, he have learned to enjoy flying with a cleaning device even when he definitively preferred flying with his own wings. He hopped into his broom and got a quaffle, the dummies started chasing him almost immediately for him and was knocked down by them in the first try. He didn't get hurt since Bronagh was checking and saved him from falling. He once again got up in the air and managed to avoid the dummies twice. "Three more to go." On the next attempt he was blocked but didn't fall, so it took him a several more tries to finish the assignment. In the fifth attempt he managed to do the remaining tries and finish, but when he did most of the students have already done theirs. "I hope I don't need to try that again, those dummies are hard. I think I got a bad bruise on my shoulder."

Merlin- Slytherin

Outfit Not Found

Callista was relieved that she got some tutoring from the boys after their trip to the Quidditch match, so she didn't make a complete fool of herself.

It was not as hard as she had expected it to be. She only got blocked twice, but the first time she was actually hit was a bit of a shocker. Apparently her friends didn't hit as hard as the practise dummies did!

The first hit was minor and her broom took most of the force, but...her headbow fell off!

That headbow had come from the Alice and the Pirates shop in Harajuku! The 3500 yen it had cost was no big deal--the Zabinis were wealthy--but she liked her headbow! And they probably would not still have any left by the time she managed to get to Japan again. There'd be other pretty things, but not that one.

Before she really knew it she was chasing the falling headbow, and had completely lost track of the practise dummies. She caught her headbow before it hit the pitch, but then she took a hit to her...dignity, mostly! Or rather, her bum.

She managed not to fall off of her broom, which was better than she would've done the year before at least.

Now she was in it for revenge!

The dummies were supposed to be chasing her, but the dummy who had got her headbow and her bum was going to get thwacked. Quaffle to the-- well, not exactly a face, but still!

Callista laughed and did a fistpump in the air, only to take a third and final hit to her elbow.

Ouch! There is nothing funny about a hit to your funny bone.

She almost lost control of the broom, but she persevered. She was never going to be on a Quidditch team and she didn't want to be, but she was not going to look like an idiot either. At least she managed to dismount with a bit of a flourish and get off the broom without obvious damage to her outfit.

If not her dignity. And her elbow. Time for an arnica rub. And long sleeves for the rest of the week.

Callista Zabini, Slytherin

[img align=right]https://s26.postimg.org/6zvl21y2x/Fade_Quid1.png[/img] Fade was a little starstruck and disappointed in himself at the same time. He really wished he had gotten to meet Mrs Gallagher earlier. The butterflies in his stomach had nothing to do with the assignment, but rather the fear he would mess up in front of such an impressive person. When it was finally his turn he missed his name being called twice before snapping back to attention and blushing furiously as he mounted his broom and sailed out into the course.

The first Quaffle was released and Fade made a quick grab for it, fumbled and dropped the ball, literally. Letting out an audible groan and muttering a swear under his breath, he gritted his teeth and readied himself to actually make the catch this time. Once the quaffle was securely in hand, he tucked it under his left arm and made his first attempt. The dummies sprang into action as soon as he made contact and Fade wasted no time zooming away from them. One of them managed to get in his way and gave him a pretty good reason to zip to the side and back again to avoid it. One of the other dummies following closely behind him collided with the one he had just avoided. Fade laughed to hear wood cracking against wood behind him and relaxed a little. Didn’t matter who was watching, flying fast was quietly one of his favorite pastimes.

All things considered the assignment wasn’t that challenging. Fade was comfortable in the air, even if his face was getting a little cold from maintaining such high speeds this late in the season. In Between sniffles he zig-zagged again and tosses off the encroaching dummy hot on his tail. Reaching the edge of the field he looped to the left and sailed back toward the class achieving another zig-zag maneuver on his way.

Although as he approached and caught a glimpse of the guest lecturer and her eyes trained on him, he felt a falling sensation and realized he had completely lost his focus. Catching himself moments before he hit the ground he promptly turned away from the class once more in an attempt to both hide his red face, and try and forget his audience. His heart was pounding so hard he couldn’t hear the wind rushing past his ears. But it was sort of like an internal metronome, and Fade used the beats to time his movements. Gaining speed and zigzagging around the goal post bought him some time and without looking down at the class, Fade achieved his final maneuver.

Landing quickly, Fade tossed the Quaffle to the next student in line and quickly disappeared into the crowd. He was particularly embarrassed about his lack of concentration and how dumb he felt to be so nervous around the Harpy Captain.

(Fade, Ravenclaw)

During the second and third attempt, Aria ended up smashing directly into a dummy. The second attempt ended with her falling off her broom and landing on the quidditch field in a messy pile of robes, broom, and body with the quaffle rolling quickly downfield. Groaning softly, Aria slowly stood and picked up her broom. "Accio," she whispered to the quaffle with her wand in her hand. She caught the quaffle and stowed her wand in its pocket again before mounting her broom.

As she flew through the air, Aria saw the dummies moving towards her. As they gave chase she zig-swirled through the air and manged to complete the task. Breathlessly, Aria smiled and began the maneuver once more. This time she flew with a bit more confidence. She zipped around several dummies quickly but she could not see the fifth dummy. Looking over her shoulder and above her she still could not locate the last dummy until she felt it pressing upwards from below her. It had come up from behind and beneath her and shoved her mercilessly off her broom.

Flailing her free arm towards her broom, she caught hold of its handle at the last possible moment and clung to it as she started to slow down. She tried to throw her legs up and over but could only manage to dangle uselessly in the air. She dropped the quaffle and used her other hand to slowly pull herself up as she slowed down and began to settle closer to the field. Her last attempt had ended and she was quite glad of that. "I think that's quite enough quidditch for me for a while," she muttered softly as she walked towards the rest of the students who'd gathered in the nearest bleachers of the stadium to watch.

Ellie felt a sudden sense of panic overcome her as soon as Bronagh had finished explaining the assignment to the class. "I don't think I can do this," Ellie quietly murmered to herself as she waited her turn to have a go with the dummies.

Ellie was, indeed, a quidditch fan, however she preferred to observe from afar, sitting safely on a bench with her feet planted firmly on the ground, keenly watching the incredibly fascinating sport and cheering on her fellow Hufflepuff team from a distance.

Today would be Ellie's first time practicing a quidditch move. She had seen the Woollongong Shimmy move being used in Hogwarts quidditch matches before and had been amazed at how fast and skilled the chasers were at performing it. She did not, however, expect that she would ever be practicing these moves in class so soon. Ellie was quite terrified of heights, after all, and had only recently finally mastered the art of flying on a broom without falling off every two seconds.

It was finally Ellie's turn. "Here I go." She wiped her sweaty palms on the sides of her pants, and then firmly gripped on her broom stick and pushed off the ground. With one hand tightly gripping the quaffle and the other steering her broom, she flew higher up. If Ellie thought flying was challenging, it was nothing compared to flying with a quaffle in hand.

Ellie gripped onto the handle of her broom in fright and feebly flew towards the dummies who were also heading in her direction. The dummies zoomed passed her aggressively with a mighty speed and force. Ellie felt her hands and wrists getting weaker and her heart racing rapdily out of fright. She flew back down to the ground to calm herself down.

Attempt two and three against the dummies were barely any more succesful than her first attempt. Ellie had finally stopped shaking and had regained some control over her broom, but ultimately failed to dodge and confuse the dummies.

On Ellie's fourth attempt, she managed a partial zigzag motion against one dummy, but was, yet again, unsuccessful in her attempt to confuse her opponents.

It was Ellie's fifth and last chance to attempt the Woollongong Shimmy. "Let's just get this over and done with," Ellie said, before releasing a big sigh. She was sick and tired of practicing and just wanted it to be over at this point.

Ellie reluctantly took off high into the air on her broom one last time. She immediately saw the dummies chasing fast towards her on her right. Ellie accelerated upwards in an attempt to dodge them and lost balance, nearly falling off her broom.

The panic was setting in even more. Ellie began speeding ahead in a desperate attempt to flee the dummies chasing her, but they caught up and began circling her. "Just remember what Bronagh said. Zigzag as fast as you can. Just zigzag!" She reminded herself. "Don't panic. Don't panic. You can do this!" Ellie convinced herself. Ellie accelerated as fast as she could on her broom straight through a gap in between the dummies circling her and proceeded to do a U-turn straight back towards them, zigzagging in between them as fast as she could. Ellie turned her head to look back at the confused dummies that were trailing slowly behind her. "No way! I did it?!" She gasped, as the cold air filled her lungs.

With a big huge grin on her face, she began screaming loudly out of pure shock and awe of what she had just successfully done. "I actually did it! I did it!" she said, completely unaware of the volume of her own voice. Ellie finally turned her head back around. "OH NO!" she screamed in horror. She hit the quidditch post with full force and fell off her broom all the way down and landed on the grass with a loud, "THUD!" and a couple snaps of her bones.

Ellie laid on the grass in pain and discomfort, tears slowly building up in her eyes from the sheer amount of pain spreading throughout her body. "I ... did it," she said, just as she passed out.

-Ellie, Hufflepuff