Term 6: Lesson 2

((OOC: You are welcome to still join in this class even if you missed the first lesson. Just role play as if your character had been at the first lesson.))

Grace made her way onto the Quidditch pitch early that morning. Her hair was tied back in a neat bun and her black robes bore hints of light pink here and there. It was all ready becoming rather chilly as late autumn had fallen and most of the leaves had fallen with it. She flicked her wand simply, "Accio broomstick." she managed simply and smiled as her wand found her hand. She did a couple of quick laps around the Quidditch pitch to warm up before class started. Horned slugs it had been ages since she had done that and it felt so wonderful.

Once she had landed she flicked her wand again setting up the students' brooms for their second flying lesson. She really hoped she was doing ok, it was her first term teaching after all. One of the Ravenclaw students had nearly crashed his broom at top speed as they accidentally dashed across the pitch. One of her Hufflepuffs, Willow, had managed to break her ankle when she panicked and let go of her broom to cover her face. Both had recovered, but she still felt horrible. Accidents were to happen, it was flying on a broomstick after all and Quidditch was even more dangerous.

She stifled a yawn as she waited for her students to gather after their breakfast. She really had arrived early but the laps around the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch was definitely worth it. She cleared her throat as her students gathered for their next lesson, some looking rather nervous which of course also made Grace nervous.

"Good morning students, and welcome to your second flying lesson. Today, we are going to begin with the hovering exercise we covered last class. Once I feel you have a good grasp of this I will be leading you in a lap around the Quidditch pitch." She smiled to each of her students in turn and mounted her broom.

"To review, holding your right hand over your broom and saying 'up' will cause the broom to raise to your hand. Once it is in your hands, mount it as I have now and grip your broom firmly. You will then kick off from the ground hard, keep your broom steady to avoid flying around right now. Try to keep your height to a minimum while you're hovering. To land back down simply point your handle towards the ground and lean forwards slightly. Try your best to catch yourself on the ground on your feet." As Grace spoke she skillfully demonstrated what it was the students were to be doing. She spoke louder while she was in the air so that they could all hear her clearly. The professor then dismounted her broom and prepared her whistle. "All right if everyone is ready... 3, 2, 1." Finally, Grace blew her whistle signalling the students to begin trying the hovering exercise again.

Hunter reached the Quidditch Pitch and slowed for a moment to catch his breath before entering. He'd ran all the way there from the castle in his eagerness to attend his second flying lesson. He hadn't done much in the first - only summoned his broom and hovered. But he was absolutely certain that flying was going to become his favorite activity. He had a feeling he get to fly more today than in the last lesson. He was the first to arrive, and waited impatiently for the class to arrive. When Professor Eversteen addressed them, he was the first to reach the broomsticks, a grin plastered on his face.

He reached a hand over the broom he'd chosen and said "Up" confidently. He already knew that he could do it from the last lesson, and beamed when the broom instantly rose into his hand. He threw a leg over it and took a breath before pushing off the ground. He pushed off lighter than last time so that he didn't wind up so high, and felt his broom lift his feet from the turf. He beamed as it rose, and found that once again he had no trouble steadying himself on top of it.

He felt the broom still in the air, and he remained there for a few moments enjoying the floating sensation. After a minute, he pushed the handle of his broom toward the ground and leaned slightly forward to keep his balance. It responded instantly, sinking back to the ground without a fight. He felt his feet touch down, and landed easily, beaming. He wondered if Willow was going to show up for the lesson, after what had happened to her last time.

David entered the Quidditch Pitch. this was one of his favorite subjects, even though they didn't do much last time, he had really liked flying, and it seemed to come easily to him. he grinned at Hunter when he saw him "hey mate!" he called walking up beside him.

they waited for the rest of the class to arrive in silence, then when they did, they were addressed by the professor. hovering David thought perfect even hovering made him excited. he raised his right hand over the broom, ordered "UP!" and it shot into his hand. David mounted it, and hovered a few feet off the ground. last time he had held on with both hands tightly, this time, h e had his hands on his thighs, leaning back slightly to keep balance. he smiled to himself.

Grace smiled to Hunter as she watched him hover even more skillfully than last lesson. She nodded to him happily. "Well done Hunter! Five points to Gryffindor."

Her eyes widened worriedly as she saw one of the other students hovering without holding his broom. She blew her whistle at him. "Five points from Gryffindor Mr. Shuter I said both hands on your broomsticks, that's not to be taken lightly, I want no more accidents in my class."

David smiled apologetically at both the Professor and Hunter in turn, then grabbed hold of his broom stick again. he understood the point of holding on, and if he really thought he was going to fall off, he would have grabbed on. he then hovered there, waiting for more instruction..

Willow arrived at flying class just as the bell rang. She was very close to being late! She smiled nervously at the other students and the professor, her stomach felt like a knotted ball of ice, she was so nervous to be on a broomstick again. She'd broken her ankle during the last lesson, thankfully magical healing took a great deal less time than muggle healing and she was only stuck in a bed for a couple of days in the hospital wing.

Taking a deep breath she held her right hand over one of the brooms, calming herself as best she could. "Up." she commanded as best she could and to her surprise the broom found her hand. She sighed a little, shaking as she mounted it and kicked off from the ground, much more gently this time. She ended up a few feet off the ground on her broomstick. She wanted to scream and cover her face but she didn't want to lose control of her broom again. Slowly, forcing herself to keep her eyes open she tipped the handle of the broomstick down and leaned forward. She landed a little harder than planned which caused her to end up on her butt rather than her feet but she smiled a little, relieved to have the ground under her again.

She looked to Hunter and smiled. "I... I did it... sort of?"

Grace smiled and nodded to David seeing as he'd put his hands back on his broomstick. She smiled happily to see Willow able to attend the class and nodded to her encouragingly. She clapped enthusiastically as Willow managed to hover and sort of land properly. [color=pink]"Wonderful, Willow, wonderful! Five points to Hufflepuff!"

Grace watched the rest of her students getting the hang of hovering as well and smiled happily. "Great job everyone, keep practicing! For those of you that have hovered and landed once, by all means do it again, I want you to have a good handle on it before we move on."

Thaor headed to the Quidditch Pitch after drinking the polyjuice potion he had obtained, dressed in Ravenclaw blue.

He was determined not to make a fool out of himself again. Up he said, and the broom came straight up to his hand. bloody hell, I did it he thought to himself.

He looked around to see the other students had no problem with this either, when instructed, he mounted his broom and hovered. Awesome he thought to himself. He touched back down, and did this twice more.

"Up!" Aoife instructed and grinned when the broom came straight up into her hand. She mounted it and managed to hover quite high up in the air, but came down quickly when she realised she'd gone a bit too far up. Then she tried a few more times, to be very successful.

Hunter smiled as the Professor awarded him five points, and nodded to David in greeting when he arrived. He watched as David performed the exercise - he seemed like a good flyer, too, but managed to lose a few points for not holding on. Hunter supposed that, after last lesson with Willow, the Professor had a right to react that way.

Speaking of Willow, she turned up for class! "Glad to see you're feeling better," he said to her, grinning. It was amazing how quickly wizard medicine mended her ankle. He remained on the ground, watching her as she attempted the exercise. He could see that she was afraid, but was glad to see that she didn't let go. She landed a little harder than necessary, winding up on the ground, but was unscathed. "Yeah, that was great!" he told Willow enthusiastically, holding his hand out to her to help her up. "Just try to relax, it will get easier."

At the Professor's request, he performed the exercise again, pushing off the ground, rising, and landing back down easily. He saw that Aoife was doing well, too. He smiled, feeling ready to move on to whatever the next exercise was.

David landed again, then pushed off into the air. holding on as instructed. flying really did come easily to him. he figured it had something to do with his father being a Chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team all through his time at Hogwarts. he then landed again and stood, waiting for more instruction.

Grace smiled happily to see her students progressing well. She smiled to Aoife. "Aoife, wonderful, 5 points to Gryffindor!"

She nodded happily to Hunter and David. "Hunter, David, you two are doing very well, keep it up."

She arched her brow to the ravenclaw student, now that she thought of it she didn't remember such a student registering for her class...
She approached the student with a warm smile on her face. "You seem to be improving... though I don't remember you registering for my class... what is your name again?" She folded her arms casually as she stood before the student.

Thaor froze when Grace asked for his name. Tom ma'am he stammered. Tom Sparks he added, looking to the ground. He had checked the name of the student he stole the hair from while he was in Ravenclaw tower just incase she questioned him.

Grace thought to herself, pursing her lips and tapping her chin, she didn't recall any of the first years named that. Whatever, she didn't have time for this right now she needed to continue with her class. She blew her whistle signalling the students to stop and line back up.

"Okay everyone, you are doing very well so far! Next we're going to try flying in a straight line. This is done by kicking off as you should be now useful but then when you lean forward, instead of pointing your broomstick towards the ground, you are going to keep it level. Only lean forward slightly, the further you lean, the faster you'll go. For now I want you to move forwards slowly. We're going to take turns with this to avoid any accidents. Only go as fast as you're comfortable. Once you reach the other end of the pitch I'd like for you to land. To land it's just as you would when you were hovering which you should be comfortable with now." She smiled happily looking over her students, they were doing quite well indeed. "All right, line up, first student beside me, and we'll get started."

Instructions out of the way, Grace blew her whistle letting the students know that she was done talking for now and that they could line up and begin.

David smiled and walked over to stand beside the professor. he was first there, which meant he was first to go, something he was both scared and excited to do. he mounted up and pushed into the air, ready for Eversteen's command. he looked down at her "I'm ready whenever you are Professor" he said with a slight grin. now that he was up in the air, he was raring to go

Grace nodded at David to begin and smiled as she watched on, wand at the ready in case of accidents.

((OOC: When it's your turn just go ahead and post the whole thing of your character flying across the pitch. If you want your character to have an issue Grace will react.))

Was it his turn? Hopefully, because Hunter had already thrown a leg over his broom and pushed off from the ground. A grin spread across his face as he rose, hovering over the grass. He did as Professor Eversteen said and leaned forward, making sure to keep the handle of his broom level. Instantly, the broom responded, gliding forward smoothly. Since he wasn't too high above the ground, he leaned forward a little further, urging his broom to fly a little faster.

The increased speed caused his hair to blow back slightly as the breeze hit him. This is too cool, Hunter thought to himself as he lapped the Pitch, grinning. He made it easily back around to where the class was waiting and made to land, angling the broom handle downward slightly so that the broomstick carried him at a downward slope toward the ground. He sat up to slow down just before his feet touched the turf, and dismounted his broom once he'd completed the exercise.

((Sorry, let's just pretend I've been here all class. Since I'm the classroom assistant, I'll be here while the Professor is out.))

Elita watched intently as the young Gryffindor, Hunter flew majestically around the pitch. He was almost flawless on the broom. As he landed, he smiled a huge smile, "Good job Hunter." Elita smiled. Growing antsy to be able to ride after class is over she called out for the next person to begin, her broom at the ready in case of accidents.

After Hunter had finished, she was pretty sure it was her turn, so she mounted her broom and pushed off from the ground. Aoife did wobble quite a bit at first, but she quickly got used to hovering in the air and leaned forward, riding quite slowly, but nonetheless smoothly, across the pitch. Once she felt more confident, she leaned forward more and went a little bit faster.

It felt amazing zooming through the air. Flying was great, one of her favourite lessons, definitely. She began to tilt her broom downwards and land, sitting up straighter, with a few bumps, without any major difficulties. Aoife beamed at Hunter. Muggle-borns were awesome at all this stuff.