Before Alyssa could even reply an affirmative to Minnie's suggestion, the girl was already zooming off in front of her. So Alyssa yelled, "I'm right behind you, Minnie." and leaned forward on her broom and pointed it in the direction Minnie had already taken. She saw that Minnie was also practising the zig zag manoevre and decided that she would do the same again. Leaning to the left again she pointed her broom handle to the left and when the broom zigged to the left, she quickly leaned to the opposite side and zagged to the right. Zig zagging back and forth she noticed some bugs ahead and decided to see whether she could zig zag around them.

"Let's use the bugs to zig zag around. Good for practising to avoid the other chasers and the bludger, Minnie." Alyssa called out to Minnie.

Yeah, that was just gross.

Beezus couldn't help but laugh however, the people in this class had been making her day, making hilarious stunts and saying hilarious things and whatnot. "You should really practice closing your mouth," she replied, smirking. "An open mouth without a firm grip on the broom would make you fall." Especially in Quidditch. Wait, was she lecturing him? Oh well, guess she was growing up.

"Hey..you wanna be a part of the team right? Wanna do a little race?" Beezus suggested with a wink. Professor V won't get mad right? After all, he was helping an ickle firstie.

Minerva looked back to Alyssa and pulled up on her broom. She sat idle for a bit until Alyssa was next to her. "That sounds like a great idea Alyssa, but do be careful with the bugs I just almost swallowed one." Minerva leaned forwards and began to head towards the other side she saw a bug and went left then saw another bug and went right. She was about to go left again when she must have went to close and the bug hit her in the cheek. "Well that bludger would have gotten me." she joked towards Alyssa. She continued to zig and zag through the bugs until she made it to the other side of the pitch. She took a sharp right to turn around, but she must have taken it to sharp and lost her balance. She began to wobble and felt like she was going to fall. Her broom started going downwards. Minerva quickly grabbed her broom tightly and gained her balance pulling up on the broom she began to rise again. "Wow that was close" she said to Alyssa.

After Professor Vindictus gave them the okay to fly Kennedy kicked off the ground and into the sky. He felt a bit out of place being here since the lesson was more for younger students, but he wanted to freshen up on his flying skills for Quidditch. This was his first time trying out for the team and didn't want to look like a failure.

The Prefect's eyes scanned the pitch for anyone in need of help, but they seemed to be doing just fine. He flew a little higher and that's when he saw it. A butterfly. He eyed the students and then the butterfly.

Butterfly wins!

He grasped the broom handle and bit tighter and leaned forward. Since there wasn't much to do right now might as well make his own fun. Plus, what if this was the last butterfly of the season since it was getting colder? Yep.

Kennedy zoomed after the butterfly, his eyes focused on the patterns on the wings...completely oblivious of the Gryffindor Prefect opposite of him.

Alyssa was concerned when she saw Minnie almost fall off her broom. "Hey be careful. You don't want to fall off your broom." Alyssa then headed for the bugs making sure that she kept her mouth close. She turned her broom to the left when she saw a bug flying towards her. When she got around it, she straightened out again until she saw another bug this time coming towards her again. This time she leaned towards the right and zig zagged around the bug passing it on her left.

She kept avoiding the bugs, zig zagging left and right, but then she misssed seeing one and ended up with a bug going SPLAT!! into her face. She leaned back on her broom and slowed down her broom until she was hovering.

"Yuck!! I got some bug icky stuff on my face. Let me clean it off first." Alyssa told Minnie. She took out a hanky and wiped the gunk off her face before taking out a pair of goggles from her robes pocket and putting it on her face.

"Hehehe....now I'm properly protected now." Alyssa told Minerva before she leaned forward on her broom finally catching up with her friend.

Silvia began to pick up a little speed, pulling the broom upward until she was about fifty feet in the air. She began circling the pitch counter-clockwise, occasionally zig-zagging a bit. She gently turned the broom, rounding the edges of the pitch smoothly and without slowing down, not that she was going very fast or anything. After circling the entire pitch twice, she came to a stop midair and looked around. The view of the Hogwarts grounds was amazing; it was always a nice sight to see the castle from up here, rather than on the ground where it towers far over you. Turning around, Silvia once again began to make her way down the pitch, careful to keep a safe distance between herself and the other flying students. Now that she was finally readjusted to flying and warmed up, it was time to have a bit more fun.

"I'm okay" she called to Alyssa after she got herself back steady on her broom. She leaned left to dodge another but and then went right to stay away from a cloud of bugs, but one came out of its little group and hit her in the hand. "Gross" she made an ick face and wiped her hand off on her robe.

She turned just in time to see Alyssa get a bug on her face. "These bugs are so gross." she leaned a bit to the right and went forward until she was next to Alyssa. She giggled a bit when Alyssa said she was protected. This was fun flying with her friend. "Hey you want to try some figure eights now that we have done the zig, ziags?"

"UPUPUPUPUP!!!!"

This was soo frustrating. Everyone else was already flying. Maybe she could just pick it up when the teacher wasn't looking?..."UP!" The broom smacked her in the face and it was deffinetly going to leave a nasty bruise on her forehead. "Stupid broom!" She muttered angrily before just picking the broom and mounting it when no one was looking.

"GO BROOM! FLY ME TO THE HIGHEST TOWER!!"

The broom started to rise...and rise...and rise. OH NO. OH NO. Blue leaned forward to hold it more tightly but that didn't help - now she was just going to crashin that BIG tree. Shutting her eyes tight, she hugged the broom and tried to turn the handle down. She could feel leaves brushing the top of her head. "YAY! I DID!" But now she was hurtling for the ground.

"AGGGGHHHH. HELP!!!!!!!!"

EEEEP.

It really was a beautiful butterfly...and as long as Kurumi didn't hear any screams or sounds of things breaking, like twigs and broom handles, then it was safe to be distracted, right? Kurumi leaned forward a bit more, feeling a bit perplexed by how fast this butterfly seemed to be able to fly and would have given Professor Vindictus a look had she not been so engrossed in the pretty bug.

Follow the butterflies....follow the butterflies...

Suddenly, the butterfly decided that going straight was not what it wanted to do and veered off to the side. Bad butterfly! Kurumi turned her handle to follow, completely unaware that Kennedy was right there next to her because he was in a blind spot and reached out to try and touch the butterfly. Maybe it would rest on her finge----

*THUMP*

Kurumi's shoulder collided with...something that wasn't air and her broom suddenly went into a slow spin which caused her to pull her gaze away from the butterfly as it sped off in some odd direction. "Kyaa!"

As she spun....she heard a scream and it wasn't HER scream. MEEP! Blast you pretty butterfly! Somehow keeping her wits about her, Kurumi pulled up on her broom just in time to see another small first year hurtling towards a rather unpleasant direction - this time being the ground.

"Pull up on your handle, slowly! Picture your broom coming to a stop as you do!" she called out. Hopefully the Ravenclaw heard her...

And maybe once the first year was safe she could go find that butterfly again...

"Figure 8s? Sure. I tried doing them last term. They are tough but it does help train us to manoevre around." Alyssa agreed. So she started off the bottom part of the 8 by leaning forward on her broom and leaned to the right pointing her handle to the right. She made a wide arc before leaning to the left and pointing her handle to the left. She arced towards the left and continued flying in an arc.

Alyssa then leaned right again and arced her broom back to the right until she formed the top part of the 8 and then she continued flying in an arc, still leaning towards the right, flying back the way she came. Then she leaned her broom to the left and pointed her broom towards the left and arced back until she arrived back where she started.

"There one huge figure 8 completed."Alyssa told Minnie.

Kennedy leaned forward a bit more when the butterfly changed directions. The patterns on its wings seem to almost hypnotize him, making him want to reach out and just pet it. He's never petted a butterfly so this would be a first. If only it...

Wham!

Something bumped him from the side, almost causing him to lose hold of the broom handle. He wobbled like a bowling pin, causing his hair to bob along with him. After firmly grasping the broom handle, Kennedy managed to regain control. He blinked a few times and saw...Kurumi.

Had she tried winning him to the butterfly? Hmm. "I could have fallen," he stated, rubbing his arm where she bumped into him. He wasn't hurt, just making a point.

Minerva watched as Alyssa showed her the figure 8. It looked really hard and she was afraid she wasn't going to be able to do it. She lean forward and moved her broom slightly to the front then leaned left to head in an angled position. She moved forward and held her broom to the left a bit so it would make a circle type shape. Her circle shape didn't seem much like a circle. She sat up straight looking into the air trying to visualize the figure eight before trying again.

Minerva leaned slowly to the right and managed her way into a circle. She then took her broom left and straight to do another circle on top of the first. That could have been an eight, but it wasn't what they were trying to do. "This is really difficult Alyssa, I don't think I can get it."

Tessa pushed off from the ground at the teacher's whistle. Thankfully the school broom she had been assigned was relatively smooth at flying, but it wasn't the best. But who was she to complain? She was a first year, and she wasn't allowed to have her own broom anyway. Tessa hoped maybe Quidditch, or just flying, would be a good way to impress her classmates. Because... she was good at it. For a first year. And hopefully, she'd be great it once she was in seventh year or something.

Tessa hovered for several seconds, looking around at the other students. Several of them were in higher years and flying like it was nothing, but a lot of them were first years who certainly needed practice. Tessa aimed the broom to her right, where there were less people, and started to fly that way. Well, wobbled that way. She definitely needed to work on it, but at least, maybe, she was better than some other people. She'd flown once before, after stealing her brother's broom while her parents were out.

Maybe she could find someone to talk to. She liked talking to people, but only if they were nice. Everyone seemed nice. Tessa flew a little spiral, then almost lost her balance but barely stayed on the broom. She was starting to sweat.

Alyssa watched as Minerva attempted to do the figure 8 formation. "When I first tried doing it, I failed a couple of times. You have to visualize what the figure 8 looks like. You can fly along with me as I try doing it or we can just fly around and try doing that figure formation another time. Maybe during Quidditch practice." Alyssa looked around at the other students.

"Why don't we just practice flying around and attempting doing sudden stops or turns, like this."Alyssa suggested. Alyssa leaned forward on her broom and flew straight forwards before tighening her grip on the broom handle and tightening her thighs around the broom. She then quickly pulled back on her broom handle and the broom came to a quick halt. "Make sure that you hold on tightly and your thighs are gripping the handle tightly, before you attempt that manoevre or you'll fly head first forward."

Alyssa then leaned forward on her broom again, this time leaning closer to her broom handle. She wanted to fly faster. The broom shot forward. She then quickly leaned to the right, pointing her broom handle in the same direction and made a quick turn directing her broom to turn immediately to the right.

"That's how you make a quick turn. Always remember to have a good grip on the broom but not too tight." Alyssa advised Minerva before executing another quick right turn and another and arriving back in front of her.

That part was EASY. West of course didn't have his own broom, being only a first year, so he was more than happy to use a school one. And this part, he already knew how to do. Yeahhh! He stood by a broom and tried not to bounce too much.

"UP!" Several tries? Nuhuh. The broom went right into West's hand. But to be fair, it had taken several tries at that first Quidditch tryout. West was kind of all about running before he could walk. It was just his thing.

Broom? Straddled! West planted his feet all cool like and waited, grasping the handle. This part was especially easy because when he was JUST A LITTLE KID he would totally run around with a toy broom and had the straddled thing down.

That wasn't very fun. West noted that that Vindictus guy wasn't even sharing those cookies.

Mean.

OH FLYING. Right. This bug business was fascinating though.

OH TWEET. What? Oh he was supposed to fly now. BRILLIANT!v

West pushed off without even a moment to think about it. The broom zooomed STRAIGHT UP INTO THE AIR, right to the top limit height-wise which the RPer assumes there is one.

No concern on his face, the first year began to hurtle around. WIND IN HIS HAIR! No bugs in his teeth though, so maybe he wasn't doing it right? West began trying to catch bugs with his mouth as he zoomed recklessly here and there. But he didn't hit any trees!

Aspen would probably have kittens.

Especially if she knew that this kid was about to attempt a barrel roll for the first time ever. But how to go about it? OH WELL he would TRY IT FIRST and figure it out LATER.

As John was swiftly flying on his broom, he felt adrenaline run right through him! John had huge smile on his face, he was fearless soaring above the sky. Anything that involved getting in the air excited him, right away. Sure he's done this before, but sharpening his flying skills?...nope there wasn't anything wrong with that. He saw some new and old faces roaming around, he was mostly concerned for the younger students. He was definitely going to help them, if they asked him too.

BLAH.

Theo wanted his own broom. Not a tatty school one. Very stupid rule indeed. The boy watched the broom on the ground and sighed quickly. It was like a death trap, and he was terrified. He held his hand above it and shouted, "UP!" But nothing.

He had totally expected it to hit his hand. "Uhhhhhh........ UPPPPPPPPPPPP!" Nope, nothing.

"MY BROOMSTICK IS BROKEN." And when he said 'MY', he meant the school's rubbish broom that appeared to be faulty. Shame on you, Hogwarts.

Yes, he was very much about to pick it up himself. Shouting 'up' was just the lazy way of doing things. One more try, though.

"Okay, broomie.... UP UP UP!" And viola, it responded, almost knocking Theodore backwards from the thrust. "Wow, cool."

The boy mounted the broom very slowly and sat in a pit of terror for a few seconds, until he heard the 'tweet' from the Professor. Oh, MERLIN. He kicked his feet pathetically off the ground, and he got to a tiny hover until his feet hit the grass again.

"What the heck was that?"

That wasn't flying. He could jump higher than that.

Coming out of her spin now, Kurumi's head shot back around to look at just what it was that had distracted her from her butterfly. Only Kurumi had come out of a spin to where she was facing the forest and not a single person in sight. Well, she knew that it hadn't been a tree that had knocked her, so Kurumi pulled on her handle again to turn herself around and found Kennedy and his bushy hair looking at her.

"Same here," she said in an equally pointed tone. Her eyes darted around for a moment. Where was the butterfly? Kurumi gripped the handle of her broom as she leaned forward to peer off into the distance. Nothing. How about to the right? Nope, still nothing. Left? Nope. Her head snapped back around to look at Kennedy. "Where did it go?" HER butterfly.

And then, Kurumi thought she saw it and gasped with excitement before she took off in its general direction, sailing past Kennedy.

Follow the butterflies...follow the butterflies....

John noticed a young boy, that seemed to be flying for the first time. He flew by him, just in case that boy needed some help or some guidance.

"Hey man, you doing alright up there?" He asked, as it sort of reminded him when he first learned how to fly. How freaked out he was and how much help he needed, but didn't quite ask for.

The seventh year, was flying around meeting new faces. He was shy when it came to meeting new people, as he really didn't get out much. He saw Kennedy and nodded his head and smiled. They seemed to be on a good page.

He was expecting more like a "sorry" or "are you okay" kind of response, but it didn't come. The boy had been serious. He could have fallen into his impending doom, broken his arm, his nose, and maybe even a rib. He watched Kurumi turn from direction to direction.

Oh yeah! The butterfly.

He rose a bit higher in the air and then lower. Where had it gone? Had they scared it away? He bit his lip and he frowned. It could have been the last butterfly until next spring. Kennedy was about to respond to Kurumi when...where was she going?

She found it! "You found my butterfly!" he said, leaning forward and speeding after it.

Kurumi was going to catch it and give it to him, right?

Vickers was listening to his Head of House intently and choke!chuckled when the other man said something about bugs being a source of protein. It was very true, whether or not one would include that as part of the daily diet was their call of course.

He looked up into the sky and saw the flyers zooming about in the air. He sighed, he may love the concept of flight but it didnt by any means made him an awesome flyer. He had a lousy sense of balance, caused mostly by his faulty ear. But he cant help but love the sensation of flying. Thats why come what may, he was still here attending flying classes.

But he cant stand here with a broom between his legs and staring at the soaring students all day his HOH might heckle him for it so the Ravenclaw lad kicks off from the ground then rose gradually into the air.

OH LOOK A BUTTERFLY!

This was as good a time as any to practice bug eating and flying no? West somehow managed to get in and out of a shaky and alarming barrel roll, which was really just him leaning to one side until he was the right way up again (and his head got raaather close to the grass in the process), and theeeen he zigged and zagged after the butterfly, mouth OPEN.

This was the moment that he chose to think of philosophical things, like, could butterflies feel pain? What was it like to be eaten anyway? And, if a butterfly flapped its wings in his stomach, would there be a rainstorm somewhere in Ghana?

His mouth was open and READY. West Odessa, Open to new experiences.

Glancing over her shoulder, Kurumi was a little surprised to see Kennedy speeding along side her...only he was much more confident on a broom than she was. This wasn't good. She was going to have to dig deep for her Seeker skills if she was going to stand a chance at keeping up with Kennedy ultimately...only she was pretty sure that she would his a mental wall before she was able to do that...

But why was he speeding along side her anyway?

Her head snapped to the side when she heard what he had to say next. "Your butterfly?!" She had seen it first. Not to mention that technically it really wasn't his butterfly...or her butterfly...it was a butterfly to itself and she had seen it first which made it technically her butterfly.

Kurumi leaned forward a bit more to pick up speed, moving her handle just a hair in front of his when....

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!

This was a very tricky little butterfly. Kurumi flew right through a giant swarm of gnats that, no doubt, were also now smashed against Kennedy's face and up his nose as well. Spitting and coughing, Kurumi pulled up on her broom handle to come to a stop before trying to find the butterfly again.


WAIT A SECOND...

"West is trying to eat my butterfly!" Kurumi chirped, pointing at the open mouth Slytherin that was zigzagging his way around the pitch.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO! SAVE THE BUTTERFLY!

It became clear to Kennedy that Kurumi wasn't going to catch his butterfly and give it to him. Hmm.

Kennedy leaned forward, gaining a bit more speed when...YUUUUUUCK! It was too late avoid the swarm of gnats. Not having been paying attention to that, a lot those little bugs smashed on Kennedy's face, several of them making it inside his mouth. "Ugh!" He complained while spitting them out as best as he could.

Yuuuuck!

The Prefect looked up when Kurumi mentioned something about a West and butterfly and...eating? WHAT?

His eyes locked on the kid then they grew wide. Not really thinking about it, Kennedy leaned forward, zooming to save HIS butterfly.

"DON'T eat my butterfly, kid!"

At a great distance from all the other students, or at least far enough for nobody to notice her, Michelle began to mount her broom. It had taken her a few attempts to get her broom to listen to her, and kicking off into the air seemed to be even trickier.
She mounted the broom and tried to lift her self up on her right toe. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and kicked the ground.
Nothing.
This was going to be harder than she had expected.
Closing her eyes again, she took another long breath and pushed the ground softly, the way she did during ballet lessons. She kept pushing until she could not feel the ground anymore. Holding her breath, she opened her eyes.
Aha! I'm in the air!
Grinning, she wiggled her legs rapidly, and felt herself going higher up. She was finally flying!
Until the broom decided to get a mind of its own and tried to push her off. Or that's what it felt like. The next thing she knew, she was a few feet in the air and trying her best to hold on to the broom.
Well, this isn't going well.