September 1, 2009
Tuesday, 1:00pm

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Today will have been the first day of classes for these First Years.  They would have gotten up early, eager and disorganized.  Perhaps their older housemates or Heads of Houses would have helped them - checking their uniforms, getting them all a-gaggle to the Great Hall for breakfast.  By now, at one in the afternoon, they'd have had to make their way for the first time outside of the castle and down to the open lawns.  There was plenty of space, and few trees.  Perfect for haphazard new fliers.

The brooms were laid out in rows on the ground, the school's brooms which were not fancy, but sturdy enough.  The old Flying maven stood waiting in the afternoon sun in her black and white robes.  Her white hair was spiky around her crown, and her gold eyes were narrowed in a small smile.  Madam Hooch loved this day.  She loved it every year. 

As the First Years began to report, singly and in little knots, she greeted them with a nod and took their names on scrolling list.

"Yes, we'll be flying today," she answered one question.  "No. You may not touch the brooms yet," she answered another.

The air outside was lovely, and the blue sky was sure nicer than the walls of Lexi's previous classrooms. She walked out into the field, taking note of the open space and hoping that she wouldn't be THAT first year that ran into something on her very first day of flying. She shrugged her shoulders, actually, she probably would be one of those unlucky ones; given her streak of 'luck' at the moment...

She stood by one of the brooms, they looked sturdy enough, but not nearly as nice as the ones she had seen while shopping. It's not like it mattered though, it was just flying, not like she was trying out for the quidditch team. Patiently, she waited for class to start.

Lucy waked down to the quidditch pitch and was amazed at what she saw. It was a lovely pitch. a bit like a football pitch that she was used to, but it had three rings high in the sky on either side. She didn't understand. How is one supposed to play this game? The grass smells really good. She thought to herself. Growing up in the city, she wasn't accustomed to the smell. She wanted to lean down and smell it, but she really didn't want to seem like the idiot who would do something like that.

She looked down at her robes. Red and Gold. She hated those colors but was happy with her house she was sorted into. She didn't exactly know why she wasn't sorted into Slytherin, being rather cunning herself, but figured it would grow on it.

She hadn't met anyone else from her house except for some upperclassmen. Well, technically, she didn't meet them, she just watched them closely. For the oddest reason, she was uncomfortable with them. She was ready to pop a jaw if she had to.

Lucy walked up to the brooms on the ground. How the HELL is this supposed to work? she thought looking at them curiously.

She ran to the quiddich pitch, worrying being late. She had gotten terribly lost inside the castles, the paintings all telling her to go to different areas. She slowed down when she got there, and stared up. It had been just like Mark had described it. Amazing.

She had once gone into a magical field with Mark and flew on his broom with him, but never had she flown alone. Alice, being a bit squeamish with heights, was nervous, so she looked around at the students gathered. There was a Gryffindor over near the brooms trying not to appear puzzled. Alice noticed this immediately as it was usually the look Mark gave when mixing a difficult potion wondering why it wasn't working. She looked down at her wrist. Her older brother had slipped a bracelet into her bag before she had left.

It was a beaded bracelet, that said, Mei-Mei on it. Manderin Chinese for Little Sister. He had taken a class a few summers ago, and had learned it.

She then saw Lexi and ran up to her. She pulled her into a tight embrace, before grabbing her forearms and squealing quietly. "Quidditch! Do you see this? This is Quidditch! We are going to fly on these things!"

"McGee..." Hooch checked the name off the list.  She took note that this was the student Headmaster Reid had told the staff about, the newly cursed young werewolf.  That she'd be having some... special arrangements each month.  Hooch was old enough to know that the hubbub around werewolves was often conflated, but she did feel for them.  A horrible situation. But in her class, she was just a little girl like all the rest of them and would likely do just fine.

"Matthews..." Checked off as well.  She narrowed her eyes at this one.  Could it be a relation of Devlin Matthews? He had been a fine enough young man, but at some point he'd gone sour.  How'd this youngster fare?  But then, it was a common enough name...

"Hunter..."  While all others remained silent, this one bounced and bubbled and Hooch cracked a small smile.  That was more like it, wasn't it?  This was a very exciting day, and perhaps it was very overwhelming.  But this little sparrow seemed to be taking it in stride.


Soon it was time to begin and nearly all the First Years were accounted for.  Hooch began the class with a sharp tweet on her whistle.

Fweet!  "Good afternoon, students!" 

Her voice carried in the out-of-doors well.  She was a very old witch but did not move stiffly.  Instead she seemed hard and weathered.  "I am Madam Hooch and this is your Broomstick Flying Class.  In order to be allowed to use brooms at Hogwarts or to play on the Quidditch teams, you'll have to pass this course."

She began to walk between the loose rows of students who'd all mostly stood naturally by a broom. 

"My first priority is safety.  At all times you are to heed my commands and stay alert.  Do you understand?" 

Her tone was firm but not harsh.  Controlled but there was a sense of excitement there.  Even at 94, Xiomara still recalled her first time flying on her own.  It was a moment worth remembering.

"Now.  Everyone stand to the left of your broom and hold out your right hand."  Hooch was now standing beside her own broom demonstrating.

"Command the broom by saying 'Up!' and it should jump up to your hand.  'Up!"  Hooch said the single syllable and naturally, her broom immediately responded and hit her gloved hand with with a firm thwack.   If she were to let go of it, it would remain aloft, but begin to drift.

"Everybody try.  Go on.  Your turn."  Fweet!

Nette was terrified. She layed in bed for a minute or too telling herself she wouldn't fall off. Oh gosh flying. Annette quickly dressed for class and made her way to the pitch. She saw Alice and Lexi and another Gryffindor all ready there. They talked fro a few minutes. Most of that time was Lexi trying to convince Alice and Nette that flying would be fun, while the other students arrived.

Madam Hooch started class. She demonstrated how to tell the broom to come to her hands. "Up!" The broom flied into her gloved hand, Anni stared in disbelief. And that's just the start Annette thought. She stood on the left of her broom and stuck out her hand.

Lexi nodded her head at the appropriate times as Madam Hooch was delivering the instructions and safety precautions for today's lesson. She watched in amazement as the proffesor just held out her hand and the broom flew up into it. The young Gryffindor gulped, "You can do this." She reassured herself quietly.

She stepped up next to the broom and timidly stuck out her hand. "Ok, here goes nothing!" She said before steadying her hand. "Up!" She commanded. The hard wood of the handle flew up and she grasped it tightly. "Ow wow, oh my goodness. I did it!" She congratulated herself silently before looking up at her friends to see how they were coming along.

Lexi couldn't help but notice their robes, and the colors that seperated them. Don't take this the wrong way, Lexi knew that she was going to be so much more different from her friends. Yet that moment when the hat told her to go sit with the Gryffindors and then when her friends walked in another direction, well it hurt in a way. And the sorting hat had brought up hard memories for her, that night when she had been attacked and spent most of her time in St. Mungo's. She shuddered and forced a smile back on her face, fooling anyone who would try to see what was behind her mask.

"Up!" Nette called firmly. The broom rose softly into the air and floated just below her hand. She grabbed the wooden handle and a smile crossed her face. "Holy Crap! I did it" Nette exclaimed. She looked over at Lexi, she had already gotten the broom to come to her.Nette couldn't really tell what Alice was doing. It kinda looked like she was just staring at it.

Mercedes moved quickly through the corridors. She did not make eye contact with the upper-classmen and ignored Hufflepuffs alike. She didn't know why exactly, she just didn't like them. Mercedes knew how to fly already, she had her own broom at home in Dublin, but Father did not allow it to go to school. She walked in behind the 2 Hufflepuff girls and the other Gryffindor from the boat, the three of them seemed to be friends. Good for them. Mercedes automatically stepped to the left of her broom and waited for instruction from the Flying Coach, Madam Hooch.

Madam Hooch knew what she was doing. She was truly, a very good teacher. "Up!" The broom flew to her hands with a good thwack! She mounted it immediatly, with good posture, as Father had taught her.

Many of the students were having immediate success commanding their brooms.  It took practice for some students to get a hold of that firm, bossy tone one needed to take with brooms.  After all, at this age, they were still getting a hold of their magic and learning to focus it.  It was akin to trying to sort out which muscle to flex!

But, as it happened every year, at least one student was moving ahead. 

Hooch, still holding her broom in her hand, swooped in on a Slytherin who was already sitting astride her broom.  "Miss Posada!" she barked sternly.

"Dismount at once.  You'll wait until you're given directions, understand? Safety in flight, you'll survive alright!" 

Despite the brisk correction, there was a twinge of gentleness in her voice.  Miss Posada's mistake would be a good lesson for the rest of them to understand that Hooch was quite serious about waiting for directions.

My first priority is safety.

These words helped to loosen the knot in Marlon´s chest a bit. He stood there, at the very end of the line, stiff and silent, not looking at anyone but Hooch, who was a sort of anchor since she was the only person he kind of knew in this place.

Flying was a terrifying and exciting concept at the same time. He still couldn´t believe his mother hadn´t outright forbidden him to attend this school where flying was compulsory, and he wasn´t sure how he felt about it himself to be honest. Sure, it must be nice, to fly high above the ground, a feeling of freedom incomparable to anything else. And yet… he´d prefer if there wasn´t quite so much space between him and the rather hard ground.

When Hooch gave the instructions, Marlon looked at the broom by his side dubiously. It seemed to work just fine for the professor, so Marlon shrugged and decided to give it a try. Mimicking her, he lifted his hand and said, in what he hoped was a sufficiently commanding tone, “Up!”

The broom did not move.

From what he saw, it was the only one. The girls next to him seemed to have no trouble at all. Blushing, Marlon tried again.

“Up!” he repeated, more urgently this time. He noticed that a pleading tone had crept into his voice, and he wasn´t pleased. Hooch hadn´t pleaded with her broom, she had commanded.

The broom quivered, then raised up into the air hesitantly… Marlon was so surprised that he pulled his hand quickly to his chest, and the broom plopped back onto the ground. Oh no, how embarrassing… but at least he had managed to move it some. Maybe he wasn´t completely hopeless.

Mercedes looked down at her feet, her hair turned a dark shade of grey, "I'm sorry Madam Hooch, please excuse my mistake." She dismounted the broom, still looking down.

 She was embarrassed and ashamed of herself. She should have waited, but on the other hand she despised the hint of sympathy in Madam Hooch's voice, she hated being considered weak and a troublemaker. Her eyes started tearing, wiped her eyes quickly. Her hair grew longer to hide her face.

She stepped away from her broom and dug around in her bag, she grabbed the grey beanie and pulled it over her hair, she  left just enough bangs to hide her eyes until they weren't so red. Father would be ashamed of her.

She didn't know how much she liked Madam Hooch now.

Annette turned her head to see Madam Hooch scolding the Metamorphamangus girl, Mercedes. The girl dismounted as her hair when a dark, milky grey. As if she where a rain cloud. She dug around in her a bag and pulled out the beanie and pulled it over her face,

Annette felt bad. The girl didn't seem to have bad intentions, and she looked like she knew what she was doing , so Annette felt REALLY BAD.

So "First day of good impression" was over. Alix was glad. Mother had told her to focus on this particular day very precisely and she thought that she hadn't done that bad despite the fact that mother wasn't even there to control her. Actually she could have just cared less. But there were many days still to come where she could just care less. For example: Day two - meaning: TODAY.
Pretending to be a Muggle wasn't so easy. Most of the teachers did not seem to take it at all…And today there was flying - something Alix absolutely LOVED. She had been riding a broom first time at the age of 2. It was a toy broom of course, but it DID hover a few inches above the ground. Mother didn't have that much affection for brooms, but she did encourage Alix to learn it as early as possible because being secure on a broom was mandatory if someone wanted to apply for a good ministry position. Alix never cared for that part of the story, but her mother's encouragement came in handy when it came to the point of buying her first real broom. Alix has a fireblast (огоньвзрыв) broom which is, as her mother said, the newest current model available in Russia, and her mother thinks russian brooms are those who set the standard. However, she had to leave it at home because, frankly, she is a first year and not allowed to use it at Hogwarts anyway.

So the flying lesson today was still something Alix had not completely thought through. Did flying on a broom count as magic, too? One did not need a wand for it, but should she pretend that she could not fly even though she could do it pretty darn well? Actually she was surprised that they even had flying lessons - she'd always thought that every witch and every wizard would at least be familiar with the basics. Something like style improvement of flying or learning tricks…yeah, wouldn't that be more suitable?

After lunch she slowly made her way to the pitch. She knew where it was - actually one couldn't even miss it. The hoops were perfect guides. She knew she was late, the lessen had started more than 15 minutes ago, but Alix thought it more important to finish her first letter for her dad so that she could send it off before she would go to bed later that evening. And after all  she wouldn't really have a problem to keep up, right? So who cared if she as late.

From the distance she could already see two things: 1. Most of the students indeed seemed to have never mounted a broom before!!! 2. Stinking goblin! These brooms where hidious! They were so old, that she could not even tell which model it was. But all that seemed to come in handy now. Pretending to have no clue about flying didn't seem such a bad idea then. At least the Professor would not be suspicious - compared to all those morons, she would just perfectly blend in. The trick was just to speak politely with the broom. That way, Alix could be sure to stay on the ground for the entire lesson.

Alix was chewing bubble gum as she passed Madam Hooch, greeting her politely and placing her bag beside her on the grass while she tried to look as innocent as possible.
She didn't even think about apologizing for being late. After all the Professor hadn't pointed that out so far, so why put fuel to the fire.
Instead, she just walked beside one of the unoccupied broomsticks beside the Slytherin girl and pretend to play stupid while the hardest part would be not to comment on Marlon who seemed like the biggest possible troll out there.

Alice looked nervously at the broom. She didn't like the thwack sound it made on Madam Hooch's glove, and she worried about her hands.

She stared at it. Figuring it may be a little like the Sorting Hat, she thought to herself, Okay broom. Rise for me. Please. But nothing happened.

She thought more about the directions, and hovered her hand over the broom. "Um, uh. Up? Please?" Are manner's necessary?

She cleared her throat, and confidently, she furrowed her brow, and commanded it, "Up." The broom flew into her hand, and she almost jumped away from it. She smiled. "You've got this Alice. It's all in the confidence." She said to herself.