 books and cleverness | i like you a latte
As soon as the wands were lifted away from him, Aguilar rushed toward the students, stepping on what used to be his broomstick in his haste. He was disgusted with himself for what he said, and could feel the children staring at him in shock. They would think of him as a traitor, but he would still do everything within his power to protect them. A quick survey of the students' injuries told him there was one broken arm, many stinging hands, many more hurt feelings. Many crashes, all of whom managed to recover except one, who lay on her back on the ground. He pulled out his wand with the unaffected hand and sent a silver, translucent Nebelung back to the castle. "Don't be foolish, Miss Fox. Stay here and wait for the healer," he said in a low voice as he pulled Ashley away from the pool gingerly, then went over to kneel beside Dahlia. "Miss Donovan, are you alright?"
. . .
After tending to the injured, he had a few more minutes to observe variations of diving that not even D'Orazio could have imagined. There were some more outstanding dive & pull ups, while some pulled up too soon to catch a ping pong ball and others waited too long and plunged into the pool. Also, y'know ... many kids were now diving without a broom. And somehow, free falling even with a broom. "Stay focused, Mr Flamsteed," he said, unaware of the first year's true intention.
When it was time to move on, the flying instructor vanished the ping pong balls and summoned the wooden crate that had been standing by the blackboard. "Everyone feeling alright? Let's see if you can apply your dive & pull up skill to Quidditch." With a sigh, he opened the crate to reveal the standard Quidditch balls: a Quaffle, two Bludgers and not one but FIVE Golden Snitches. "Spread out and form a circle over the pool. First, pass the Quaffle to one another. Not too hard, it's just for you to warm up. Every few minutes, you will hear the sound of a whistle and these five Snitches will appear near the water surface. You will need to dive & pull up to catch any of the five balls. It will be more challenging than the practice you just had, because this ball moves quickly and you will have competitors, just like in a Quidditch match. Note that some Snitches will be visibly easier to catch than others, so if you don't yet feel confident performing the manoeuvre, I advise you to aim for those."
"You guys," he turned to the broom-less children clambering out of the pool and felt a pang of guilt, "will continue to dive the Muggle way and swim over to catch a Snitch. You can make your way to the diving board - the lowest one - and get ready while the others are passing the Quaffle."
Ignoring the Bludgers straining to escape their straps (they didn't need any more injuries in this lesson), Aguilar took out the bright red Quaffle and tossed it to the nearest student still with a broom. "You may begin."
OOC: I will release the first round of Snitches in 24 hours or slightly earlier. For now, have your characters pass the Quaffle to one another and wait to dive in!
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