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7am
Friday March 6

"You've got to be aware of your surroundings!"  Madam Hooch's voice was beginning to crack impatient.  "You can't just barrel into an ascent without first making sure there's nothing above you.  No barreling into a turn without checking over your shoulder.  Come on.  To your feet."

There had just been a multi-broom collision during a formation flying drill.  Someone, for some reason, had broken the formation and the whole gaggle of a-broomed riders had gotten twig and stock all intertwixt and the whole mess had come to the hard, wet grass. 

Still mounted on a floating broom, Madam Hooch offered a gloved hand down to the poor student on the ground.  "We'll take it again. From the top - what's wrong? Why's your face so sour?"

Noriko hated flying class.  She was on the ground again after one of the second year boys had barreled into her, and her face was scrunched up to the point where she looked as though she were about to cry.  Getting a Dreadful on her Flying exam had been humiliating enough, but now she had to take this stupid class with stupid people, including one second year whom she was convinced had failed Flying twice already just so that he could swerve at her and make her panic whenever they had to practice flying in formation.

The only bright part out of all this was that falling had become a little less scary, although she was still terrified of what would happen if she fell from too high.  What if she broke her arm?  Or had to drink Skele-gro?  Noriko had heard some of the older students from another house talking about how much it had hurt after a particularly brutal Quidditch practice.  She didn't want to go through that!

Scrunching up her face, she looked up at Madam Hooch's proffered hand.  Her lower lip wobbled.  "I- ...I think I hurt my-myself," she whispered, tears already beginning to well in her eyes.  "Can I g-go back to my dormitory?"

With five lessons of Remedial (she still cringed at the word) Flying, one would think Eirene would be showing more improvement. And granted, she didn't clutch the broom so tightly or screech every time someone flew near her.

However, Eirene still looked like a turtle scuttling through the air, her legs wrapped underneath the broom or waving in a panic depending on the time of day.

"You're blocking me!" She hissed at a student in front of her, who had just come to a sudden halt. Uh oh. Broom traffic jam. Eirene floated lower (preferring that to going any higher) and noticed Noriko on the ground. Eirene's sour expression changed slightly to one of concern.

Eirene gave the snickering student closest to her a severe frown, then hovered closer to Noriko and the instructor.

"I can take Noriko to the Healer, Madam Hooch!" Eirene offered loudly, unable to admit to herself that she really just wanted to get out of class.

They'd only been flying for a little over one-half an hour, but Hooch resolved to solve Eirene and Noriko once and for all.  She gave Noriko a stern, long look, and then another to Eirene, as if to hold them both in place without words.

Instead, she brought her whistle to her lips and sounded three sharp tweets.

"That's it for today!  Take all the brooms back to the broom cupboard and you should have plenty of time to polish before breakfast!  Make sure to stow them neatly.  Thank you, students!"  Then, she whipped her gaze back to the small, too-precious first years, and said to them only.  "Not you two.  Noriko on your broom.  Eirene - with us.  Let's go."

Eirene was the kind of child who seemed to thrive when she had some sort of responsibility to do - the kind that would volunteer to hand back essays, or to monitor the witches' loo. Noriko... well, Hooch watched Noriko closely as she apparently ignored her plea of an injury.  Hooch didn't take such claims lightly in general, however, she'd watch and see if Madam Nagde be bothered by what an old Quidditch coach could handle, if indeed there was anything to handle it all.

Perhaps give Noriko the chance to make her own evaluation.  Sometimes hurts were more startling than injurous and merely needed a moment or two before the head recognized that the alarm was false.

Having to take remedial flying was insulting yet a necessary evil. Unlike many of the others that had shown up for the class Dahlia had not actually failed flying her first term. In fact she was actually a rather good flyer she just lacked the proper control on a broom, said problem had led to a rather nasty crash during her final exam which caused her grade to be 'incomplete'. So not a fail, just incomplete.

She had been tentative about getting back on a broom. Normally she prided herself on being a strong smart and sturdy kind of girl and wasn't entirely ready to admit that her earlier crash had her completely terrified at the mere thought of being back up in the air. Somehow she had managed to make it through five classes already and with each one under her belt she felt she was getting more and more confident about the whole thing and as a bonus her control was even getting better.

She restrained from rolling her eyes when the students in front of her collided and brought a whole section of the formation down to the ground leaving poor little Noriko on the wet muddy grass. It made her wonder how the petite Slytherin was ever going to make it past her first year. It seemed that anytime something went wrong she was right smack dab in the middle of it.

Her face fell when Madame Hooch blew her whistle and ordered them all dismissed. Dahlia landed softly enough and hopped off her broom resting it over her shoulder. However she didn't run back to the broom cupboard like her much too eager class mates. Instead she went the opposite direction to come up alongside Madame Hooch, "Excuse me, Madame Hooch. I don't mean to be a bother but there's still a half hour left of class. Would it be possible if I kept at it? I really think I'm improving and I don't want to have to do this course again just because we weren't given enough time in the air."

Xiomara looked down at the little wren at her sleeve.  Dahlia.  An agreeable student who needed far much less coddling than her cohorts.  So when she turned to see Dahlia Collins 'tugging at her sleeve', Hooch's first intention was to send her on her way and tell her not to worry.

But then, "I agree - you're doing very well.  You shall join us."

Stage One wasn't working.  It was time to progress into Stage Two.  Noriko bit her wobbling lip so hard that it hurt, tears glistening in her eyes as she choked back an ill-concealed sob.  Why was Madam Hooch so mean?  Noriko just wanted to go back to her dorm!  She was never, ever going to ride on a broomstick.  She would apparate from place to place until the day she died, and bravely resist any attempts to kidnap her in that manner by twisting away and throwing herself at stone memorials just like she had done with Professor Storm.

"B-but...b-but..."  At least most of the other students were leaving now.  Only Eirene and Dahlia were left, and Noriko didn't care if they saw her cry. 

"I'm HURT!" she let loose with a wail.  She was overtaken by sobs; Noriko pressed both hands against her face as she let the tears flow.  Most adults were extremely sympathetic once she began to cry; she hoped her flying teacher wouldn't prove to be made of as stern stuff as her parents. 

"I w-want to go b-back to my dorm!  I HATE flying!"  The Slytherin girl began to cry even louder, her shoulders shaking.  "And y-you're MEAN!  I'm awful, I just w-want to quit!"

Class was over! This was more than Eirene could have hoped for. Hooch was hard to read sometimes, so when she told both Noriko and Eirene to come with her, her mouth dropped in horror. Was she in trouble!?

Eirene fixed a glare on Dahlia, unhappy that the girl was better at flying than she was, and had thought to ask the instructor if she could keep practicing. She felt both relief and jealousy when Madam Hooch invited Dahlia along. It must be something good, then!

But Noriko just wailed louder, and Eirene hovered over her, torn between the responsibility of acting like a good friend and the urge to follow orders.

"She's hurt!" she repeated Noriko's complaint, mind racing ahead. Eirene didn't really believe it. Noriko cried if the cover of a monster book frowned at her, and the 'I hate flying' comment clued her in to her friend's real objective. But oh! She had it! A way to make both her and Noriko happy!

"Dahlia can escort her back to her dorm, and I can come with you, Madam Hooch!" Eirene gave the flying instructor an over-eager look.

Forward momentum was halted when Noriko suddenly started sobbing.  Madam Hooch's eyebrows lifted up, impressed and a little surprised at the intensity of the little Slytherin's outburst.  Mean? Still hovering on her broom, Madam Hooch couldn't see any visible damage to Miss Wakahisa, so she swung her leg around the back of her broomstock and planted both boots firmly on the ground.  Her custom-made broom (that she had co-crafted with Mr Shepherd the Groundskeeper) stayed in place.

"I think not, Miss Antonopoulous.  All three of you are integral parts of the next activity, so it won't do to split our party.  Miss Wakahisa.  Miss W-"  The little girl's wailing was disruptive.

"Miss Wakahisa!" she said more sharply and knelt down in front of her.  "You must not use an injury to avoid your responsibility.  I will make absolutely certain you're safe, but my dear little sparrow, you must be brave.  Tell us now, Miss Wakahisa - where are you hurt?"

In a small motion, she motioned for Dahlia to come closer as well.  Dahlia might be able to show Noriko a thing or two about getting back on the broom.