(Holy cauldrons guys!  You're fast! What lovely insanity!  But remember, in group threads we need to slow down our rate of posting so that all people in the thread can participate.  Right? So if you find yourself posting more than once back and forth with the same partner more than once or twice, stop and wait for other people to post.  Cooperate, take turns, and teamwork!  Send me a PM if you have any questions about how to pace things in a large thread. -- Sarah)

Oh how quickly things could go from tolerably rowdy to total first year insanity!  A little blood in the water turned half the class into a frenzy of shouting, crying, carrying and wand-waving.  Hooch put a gloved hand to her forehead and watched it all unfold so quickly.   She sighed and watched and shook her head, then took a breath and prepared to go into the fray.

Fweeet! Fweet! Fweeeeeeet!

"Everybody freeze!" she ordered in a loud, strong voice.  A tone that was normally reserved for refereeing rough Quidditch matches, or stopping some immediate threat.  A half-dozen of the students were crowded in around Alice Hunter who had been screaming and sobbing, and her face and neck and shirt were now drenched in deep red blood.  Hooch had flown over, whistle blaring and came close to her.

"Out of the way, move please! I said wands away, sir!"  She dismounted her broom with such ease that you won't expect from a 90-year-old witch, but Hooch had been riding her entire life.  Nothing came more natural.

"There now, you're alright, Hunter," she said to the girl in a much softer tone.  "It's a broken nose, that's all.  Must hurt like hell's bells, though.  Don't worry - Madam Nagde will fix you up.  First day of Flying isn't complete until someone gets all bloody, right?  C'mon.  Up we get."

Hooch did her best to lead poor Alice up and away from the accident spot. 

"Now, who knows where the hospital hut is? I need someone to walk down with Alice here and get her fixed up."

She looked around.  "It's just down the hill that way, beyond the green houses. "

"I could go," Dilly offered. She looked around nervously. It wasn't that she was worried about finding the Hospital Hut;  after all she'd been living there for almost the entire past year. It was more that she didn't know Alice well, or actually at all. It seemed to her that if she was the one who was hurt, she might rather have a Housemate go with her, than a complete stranger. Surely the Hufflepuff would feel more comforted if at least one of her friends was there too.

She glanced around the class again. "Anyone want to come with us?"

Annette raised her hand. "I'll go with you guys" Annette helped Alice to her feet. "Better?" She asked as they made their way to the Hospital Hut, her friend had given her a real fright...

Dessa volunteered to accompany her friend to the Hospital Hut as well. She thought it might be overkill to have so many people, but she didn't really care. She was worried about Alice.

"Miss Morris, Miss Share and Miss Lotusorder," Hooch said pointing to the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuff.  "Help Miss Hunter down to see Madam Nagde.  You remember the way, Miss Morris? Right then.  You'll be fine, Miss Hunter," Hooch said again to Alice.  "We'll see you next week."

A rough first day for Miss Hunter, but the rest of them had flying to do. 

"Alright, the rest of you! Another lap around.  Get on those brooms and get flying!"  She clapped her hands and blew her whistle and just like that, old Hooch had the class in the air again.  Practice, practice, practice!

Mercedes had hovered around as her brother dropped to his knees and carried the Hufflepuff a few steps. He then proceeded to play a blade of grass. his pants were grass stained. Eww. She had flown around on her broom, observing everything. It wasn't such a big deal, it was just a nose-bleed right? Everyone had just over-reacted to a little blood. Especially Lotusorder, she was acting like an E.R. nurse dealing with a patient who had been shot several times in a gang fight.

Such Drama Queens this year. Mercedes scoffed and blew hair out of her eyes. The air was thin and cool, perfect for flying. Sadie worked on the middle section of the a special feint she was working on.

Blossom watched as the gaggle of girls headed for the hospital hut.  It seems that the bathroom wasn't the only place girls had to go in a group.  He still thought his idea of cold water would have worked.  He shook his head.  It wasn't his problem.  His problem was learning to fly properly. 

He kicked off the ground and steered the broom in a wide loop around the field before executing a tight turn around the tree Alice had plowed into.  He reached out his fingers and, although he couldn't touch the trunk, brushed the leaves.  Then he turned to circle the field again.

Eat my twigs, Hufflepuff....

Well then, that was mentally and emotionally scarring.

Rico watched as Annette Dilly and Dessa supported Alice's weight while trying to get her to the Hospital Hut, that wasn't really a hut, it was more like a wooden cabin mansion. Rico had always dreamed of living in the woods, in a cabin, surrounded by instruments and animals, domestic and wild.

Blood covered his hands from his attempt to carry Alice. He would have volunteered to carry her but it seems girls only went in groups anywhere. Mercedes had never been like that, she stuck to him and his friends and few of her friends, which were mostly red-headed boys.


Rico hopped up on his broom, wishing that his broom were in his luggage back in his dorm. He followed his sister skyward. Dancing with the clouds and shining like the sun.

Lexi, slightly shaken, got back onto her broom. She tried kicking off the ground to hover, but couldn't stay aloft for more than a few seconds. Come on, she thought. I was just flying before! Mentally berating herself, she pushed off hard and got a few feet into the air and stayed there. She leaned forward a bit to go around the tree and back to the group.

As she rounded the tree, she shook a little and lost her concentration. Her feet touched back down and she landed, to her dissapoinment. Shaking her head, she kicked back off and flew slowly over to the rest of the group. She landed softly and dismounted the flying object.

Looking into the air, the Posada siblings were ahving no trouble at all with their flying. Lexi figured that they had been taught long before arriving at hogwarts. Deep down, she wished that her dad had been a wizard. Then he could have shown her neat tricks and such. But she was stuck with a witch for a mom, who had developed a fear of werewolves.

Sadly, Lexi couldn't remember their last meaningful conversation. Among all of the "good mornings" and "hellos," there had never been a moment where her mother had prepared her for Hogwarts or magic in general. Not one.

Lexi was flying blind, in her own way.

Hooch watched closely as the students continued their practice.  Now wasn't the time to wheedle and pick at little mistakes, or even address large problems in balance, posture or confidence.  Now was the time to let the students get used to being on broomsticks and let their bodies do the correcting.  But Hooch could still watch, and try to identify just what it was that was holding the students back.

Now, some riders were just naturals.  Even never having flown before, there was something in them that understood how to fly, how to adjust.  They had a feel in their bones one way or another.  And then there were the students who'd ridden before, who'd already had time to sort it out and work out kinks.  It was hard to tell, but she suspected the Posada twins and perhaps Mr Rose had ridden before.  There was a confidence in the way they rode - no major over-corrections.  There were also some struggling riders who lost their balance or wobbled back and forth.  Most often it was an issue with looking at the ground, rather than looking out ahead.  Others just gripped the broom too hard and so mistakes were compounded.

Above them and some distance away, a bell was chiming the hour.  Class was over.

Hooch lifted her wand and tweeted sharply to bring them all in.  Fweet fweeeet!

"Feet on the ground, please, students! That's it for today.  Leave your brooms neatly on the ground here." She indicated the ground beside her.  "And be off to your next class.  I am very glad to have met each of you and I will see you next week! Don't be late!"

Class is over.  But if you wish to stay behind and chat with Hooch or with each other, that's perfectly fine.  No extra practice on the brooms today.  Students will get house points for having attended and participated.

Blossom was reluctant to land but did as he was bidden.  "Will we be able to use the same broom next time?" he asked the professor, stroking the wood of his broom.  "I like the way this one feels."  There was still a smudge of dirt on his face, although there was no longer any grass left from his face plant on the ground.  The wind had taken care of that.  "Would it be possible to get some extra practice in as well?"

Flying was like nothing he had ever tried before.  The rewards were immediate, even for mediocre performance.  He couldn't imagine what things would be like once he knew what he was doing.