"Well. Naturally." There were lots of things that shouldn't be done. Gryffindor as she was, Emmerson wasn't the reckless let me do stupid things that are blatantly dangerous sort. She was more the....I didn't think this through because it seemed so fun in the moment and how could this cute troll POSSIBLY be dangerous sort of Gryffindor.

Flying was not cute. Dropping into a pool of water was not adorable or cuddly.

When the hooded figures arrived, Emm thought for sure class was going to end. Surely they didn't want young witches and wizards wasting time prancing around on brooms. Unfortunately, the longer she waited for the interruption was the clearer it became that none would be coming.

Right.

She'd better get her broom ready then. Having no personal interest, Emm never had her mother buy her one and that meant using a school broom. Were this almost anything else, Emm would've felt all types of ways about having a dingy broom while some others had high tech ones, but the little girl was too busy thinking about how much she didn't want to do this activity.

Emmerson got in line, trying to locate Kizzy to see how brave she was being. If the bestfriend was fine with this, then by default she would have to be too. Ugh. This was way too complicated for her liking.

The hoods being present for class didn’t even surprise him anymore. If only his fear of seeing them around would change as well, that be great. But it didn’t, they always seemed to send a shiver down his spine and the Hufflepuff did his best to ignore them. He didn’t understand why a class like flying needed monitoring. There was absolutely nothing ‘ muggle like’ about flying on a broomstick. Or did they think the class would fly away the moment they got a chance?

Minjae turned his attention back to the Professor as he began to demonstrate the activity. He made it look so simple but the seventh year knew how much one needed to focus in order not to crush to the ground.

Deciding on diving off the 15 foot diving board , Minjae walked over to the line of students who had chosen the same place and waited with a school broom in his hand until it was his turn.

Standing on the edge, the teenager looked down at the water and his stomach did a little flip. But it wasn’t the type of stomach flip he had whenever he saw one of the Hoods. It was an exciting type of flip and he couldn’t wait to show off his SKILLZ.

Mounting his broom, Minjae kicked off of the diving board and soared in to the air for a second or two before he bend forward and with his hands he pushed down. He dove down, not knowing which angle he had but not caring either as he watched the water getting closer. The Hufflepuff pulled up at the last moment and letting go with one hand his fingers brushed the ping pong ball he had tried to catch.

Grumbling that he had failed his first attempt, Minjae flew to the side of the pool so that the next person could attempt the dive. And as he got to the ground and stepped off of his broom he realized that the twigs at the end of the broom were dripping water.

Maybe second time was the charm.

Watching all of the other people go she figured she should finally go ahead and try retrieving the ping pong ball. Flicking her wand to tie her hair back she climbed up to the platform. Ten feet wasn't that high, but when you were having to think about grabbing a pea essentially, that was brutal.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Kicking up into the air felt horrid, seriously flying was a total disaster on your hair. She needed to put that out of her mind in order to actually grab the ball off the water. Grabbing the handle of the broom and pointing down she began to dive toward the water. Her eyes stayed on the ball atop the water, she was getting closer. Closer. ClOsEr. CLOSER.

She should be in the water. Well she shouldn't be in the water, but she wasn't wet. At least not totally wet, the knob of her broom had splashed water in her face as she grabbed the ball and pulled back up to level out. A huge grin spread across her face before it faded, the hoodie squad did not need to see her glee.

Okay, playing it safe hadn't worked out that well. With some effort, Violet rather clumsily circled her broom around and landed with only a minor bump. Determined to get through this lesson one way or the other, she dismounted her broom and walked back over to the line for the 15 foot diving board.

When it came her turn, she quickly mounted the ladder, wanting to just get it over with this time, and walked out on the board. She hadn't leaned down far enough last time, she wouldn't make that mistake again. So she leaned out and tilted her broom handle down at a good angle this time, then, before she was quite ready, lost her balance and hurtled downward.

Pull up! Pull up! she mentally shouted to herself. But she'd angled too far downward this time and couldn't bring her clumsy old school broom up in time, and so she entered the pool with a big splash. For a few moments, there was silence over the face of the pool. Then Violet's head suddenly broke the surface of the water and, gasping for air, she swam over to the side of the pool and pulled herself up.

Great--now she had made an utter fool of herself, was soaking wet, and what's more, her broom was at the bottom of the pool. She got shakily to her feet and stared down a few moments into the depths of the water, wondering if she should go back in the pool and try to swim down to get it. Then she suddenly remembered that she was a witch and pulled out her wand. "Accio, broom!" she called with authority--she might not be able to fly very well, but she could do a Summoning Spell as good as anyone. And sure enough, her broom, now as soggy as Violet was, splashed up from the surface of the pool and flew to her waiting hand.

Diving was so much fun.

Not.

The pool was closing in rapidly. Too rapidly. Should she start pulling up now? What did Aguilar do? Oh no… A hint of panic seeped into her because her mind had gone completely blank for a moment. Perhaps it was instinct that reminded her to start pulling up. Only… it was too late.

With an almighty splash, Claudine landed in water and among ping pong balls. Ugh. Talk about failing miserably. She hauled herself out of the pool, refusing to look at Aguilar so he wouldn’t have to see her embarrassment. Soaked to the bone, the girl headed back to join the line at the dive board she had originally chosen. It was determination to succeed that was driving her to try again. While she waited, magic was used to dry herself off.

Now WHY would you put a pool of water RIGHT OVER where the kids were supposed to dive? If they weren't doing Muggle diving? WHAT KIND OF CRUEL, BEAUTIFUL MONSTER WOULD ASSIGN SUCH AN ACTIVITY?! AND???! IF THEY HAD BROOMS??? WHY DID THEY HAVE TO CLIMB UP TO THE DIVING BOARD?????!????!??

Bernadette's giggles were all gone now as she steeled herself to do a number of things she absolutely despised. She would NOT be going up to fifteen feet in the air, she would NOT be catching a ping pong ball, she--- she would NOT! SHE REFUSED! BUT ALSO! SHE WAS SURE SHE COULDN'T ACHIEVE THOSE THINGS EVEN IF SHE TRIED!

She swallowed the lump in her throat and gripped her broom, absolutely lollygagging around and waiting as long as possible until it was obvious she was dodging the assignment and she became afraid that she had attracted the attention of the hooded figures. Nervously, she kicked off, FROM THE GROUND, because she was NOT climbing ladders (an activity she hated for any reason whatsoever) and levitated approximately six feet above the earth.

Then Bernie swooooooped, down leaning to the side far too much, and slipped off her broom sideways.

Over the ground. NOT over the pool.

She landed on her bum, dry, irritated, and incredibly grumpy. Someone please tell her those stupid hooded people weren't writing all of this down?!? Meanwhile, her school-issued broom danced off to the side, well away from her. Great, it was mocking her too?

Catching sight of Cece’s grin, Kinsay gave her one in return. Even though Kiz missed her parents more than the world, friends like Cece were like family too. Unfortunately, however, with the arrival of the hooded figures, Kinsay's attention shifted away from the older Gryffindor. She knew to expect them at lessons by now, but it still made her nervous anytime they appeared. Nothing good ever happened when they were around. Made focusing on the lesson all the more necessary.

And unlike, Emm, Kinsay was SOOOOO excited to hop up on her broom! She mounted and waited in line for the diving board that was the HIGHEST above the water, but only because that one seemed like it’d be the easiest to start off with. Once it was her turn, she kicked off the board and down, down, dooooooooooooooooown she went with her hand stretched out before her.

This. This class. This lesson was exactly what she needed right now. She didn't need to think or worry about flying, it was just something she did. It was like walking to her and so she jumped right into the queue, making her way up to the highest diving board. It took longer than she'd liked, but once her feet met the board, she smiled. She had this.

Mounting her broom, the blonde kicked off and dove down, gathering speed. Just at the LAST second she straightened out, her hand dragging through the water to collect a ping pong ball as she did. Holding it up triumphantly, she flew out of the way of the next diver, feeling better than she had all day. She couldn't wait to write her dad and tell him-

...but she couldn't tell him, could she?

Ouch. The realization hurt.

They’d had enough.

The two hooded figures exchanged a glance once more, then emerged from the shadows. The one without the quill raised a wand (cherry and dragon heartstring, 9 inches) and shot a quick series of spells that forced all muggleborns to drop their brooms, following a hot stinging sensation on their palms. The writer, who had also replaced their quill for a wand (chestnut and phoenix feather, 13 ⅔ inches), flicked it at the brooms zooming toward them. Explosions ensued, and soon all that remained of the mudblood-contaminated broomsticks were bits of splintered wood and twigs.

Both figures then turned their wands on the filthy mudblood that called himself a professor. This was a final warning. If he wouldn’t teach the ideals of the Neo-Alliance in his lessons, he would face the same fate as the brooms.

Seemed like the second try wasn't the charm either. In fact his second attempt had been worse. He had gotten back in line, waited till it was his turn and dove down on his broomstick.

He had leaned forward, had more speed than he had wished he had and started to panic. Resulting in him pulling up far above the water as his feet dangled above it, not even reaching.

He let out a sigh and flew away from the pool to give it another attempt. At least the Hoods were quiet this lesson. He had only seen them writing something down in the shadows which was an improvement he'd say.

And then it happened. The broom he was on gave a sudden jerk and the Hufflepuff who was unable to stay seated, fell to the ground and landed on his back. The fall didn't hurt as much as he had already been close to the ground earlier or maybe he couldn't feel the pain in his back because a sharp stinging pain on his palms were overwhelming it.

He let out a yell in pain the moment the curse had hit him but after that he bit his lower lip tightly and told himself not to cry. He would NOT give them the satisfaction!

He hadn't even done anything either ! He rolled over to see where his broom had gone when he heard an explosion and whipped his head around to see a couple of brooms being destroyed in mid air.

Why? Just... Why?! That was what he wanted to know. W. H. Y??

See, Ash was going in for a second try when the spell hit. She was about 7 feet off the ground when her broom swerved and knocked her off. She did not land in the pool. Instead, she landed on her arm funny, and it hurt a lot. Maybe it was broken. Vaguely, she was aware that her broom had exploded, but it didn't much matter. She could buy a new one. Her arm though. There was something wrong with it. She didn't scream. But it was kinda obvious. Ash stood up. Painedly. Without moving her right arm.

Hopefully, the professor wouldn't do anything stupid and die. She liked him. He was nice.

Aguilar passed his broomstick from one hand to the other, trying to calm his nerves, as he continued to watch the students practise. Although the sound of the quill scribbling away behind him was distracting, he focused on assessing each dive & pull up attempt and nodded approvingly at each student. Except uhhh how did Bernadette land on the ground? "Are you okay, Miss - ah," he let out a gasp as his Nimbus 4000 suddenly flew away from him, leaving him with a painful hand as if a layer of skin was peeled back too. His eyes followed the path his broom was making and ...

Oh ...

"Right, okay," he muttered angrily. Unable to look at the shattered remnants of his once beautiful broom, Aguilar glanced back at the students instead and saw that all Muggle-borns received the same terrible treatment. He clenched his fists: how could they do this to children who had done nothing wrong? He wanted to check if their injuries were serious, but was aware that there were two wands pointed at him dangerously. He had to comply with their order first, then he would check on the students.

"Listen up," he began, not quite sure what to say. "As you all know by now, those who are born to non-magical parents are undeserving of the magic they stole from real witches and wizards. So, the Neo-Alliance did us all a favour by taking brooms away from M ... Mudbloods. You lot should dive into the pool WITHOUT a broom, like your undignified Muggle ancestors did."

"The rest of you, continue practising. Ten more minutes."

There. Could the hooded squad lower their wands now?

OOC: Welp. 23~24 hours left to practise the dive & pull up or (NEW!) diving into the pool without a broom. xD

Ash said something softly. "I'd be happy to jump into the pool without a broom professor, but not with a broken arm. Unless, of course, you want me to??? For the benefit of wizardkind and umm... as proof that being a muggleborn is bad?" Because that would be bad. Could she be excused? She had said it sincerely and everything. She really did want to jump into pool. But her arm really wouldn't permit it. Did she have to??? SHe trudged over to the pool. Apparently she was jumping in, unless someone told her otherwise.

Couldn't let the professor die.

Merlin, they had to retrieve the ping pong balls from the surface of the water? That was going to be tricky. Avalon was a chaser, not a seeker. Catching tiny objects was never something she was skilled at. Diving on her broom, on the other hand, was. Just to be safe, she selected the medium diving board first. When it was her turn, she leaped off, breaking into a grin at the woosh of air on her face.

Just as she started to see her reflection in the pool, she started to pull up on the handle, reaching her other hand down. It skimmed the surface of the water, and she was able to grab one of the balls. Okay, not as bad as she thought. Perhaps the higher diving board would be harder.

She climbed up the tallest ladder and repeated the process. Avalon was about halfway through her dive, however, when a loud BOOM stole her attention. Her jaw dropped in horror as she saw the hoods. Blowing up a bunch of brooms. Distracted, Avalon missed her moment of opportunity and forgot to pull up in time. She plunged into the pool instead.

As the Ravenclaw resurfaced, a scowl on her face at this obvious discrimination toward Muggleborns, she held her own broom a bit tighter. Her robes dripped as she clambered out of the pool. Suddenly, flying class wasn't much fun anymore.

Fiona watched in stunned silence as two hooded figures made their presence known. She kept her face impassive though her eyes glistened slightly in fear as the Muggleborn students and Professor Aguilar all experienced the sentiment of the Neo-Alliance.

Fiona listened carefully to the flying instructor's words and bit her lip. It was time for her to focus on practicing her diving. She had a feeling that even Purebloods might be targeted if they didn't toe the line by doing such things as feeling sorry for any Muggleborns or even Halfbloods.

Fiona's head was void of emotion as she climbed atop the highest board and performed another dive but this time she failed to grab a ping pong ball.

Quinn had been just about too scared to use his broom, anyhow. He had dived a couple times, but he always pulled up too early to successfully get a ping pong ball.

And then there was the stinging sensation on his hand, and the broom flew away from him. And then exploded. He was just about sick and tired of the treatment he was getting from these Alliance freaks, but he couldn't actually do anything about it right now. He was over crying about it, now he was angry. He had no interest in diving into the pool fully clothed, but he wasn't taking off... most of his clothes. Quinn sighed and slipped off his shoes and socks, leaving them on the dry ground, and then any outerwear so he was just in his shirt and pants. Then he climbed up to the diving board, faced backwards and let himself fall in.

Happy?

Dangit Kizzy was excited. Things couldn't be worse. Her bestie was all for this activity and that meant.....she had to be all for this activity, too. Couldn't...couldn't be the one freaking out in this pair. Couldn't be replaced by someone who liked flying and would try to bond with her Kinsay.

Reluctantly, Emm moved over to the diving board Kizzy had jumped from. Her heart was beating furiously in her chest but the little girl drew for her bravest expression in case anyone was looking. This was the worst, flying class was the worst. If they needed them getting exercise so badly, why couldn't they have dance classes instead?

Just as she was about to climb up for her turn, she noticed many brooms around her disappearing. Didn't take long to realise the connection with who those brooms belonged to.

Welp. What a time to be a pureblood.

Emmerson turned her attention to their professor, careful to keep a neutral expression despite how unfair she thought it was the muggleborns got out of this activity. They had to keep practising. The Gryffindor gave a soft huff, put out her broom hadn't been taken. The thought crossed her mind to offer it up but didn't wanna be the next thing turned to dust so.....up the board she went...and there she stood....looking down.....without actually jumping.

Um.

Someone get her down please? Emmerson was frozen.

Minjae pushed himself up off of the ground and stood upright, his hands were still stinging painfully but he refused to let it show that it hurt. It seemed that his broom wasn’t the only one that had exploded because as he looked around at his classmates he noticed that some others had no broom as well.


Even the Professor had no broom with him anymore which could explain only one thing. He was a Muggleborn like him. So when he said the word ‘Mudbloods’ it hit differently and it just made him sad instead of angry. The professors were victims just as them and he couldn’t hate them for complying with the crazy rules when their lives were on the line.

The unfair treatment just made him want to hurl the ping pong balls in the Hoods faces and for a second he grinned as he did so in his mind .

Jumping off of the diving board without a broom? Minjae raised an eyebrow at this. That ….that wasn’t so terrible? Everyone knew he was Muggleborn anyway so it wasn’t as if he was going up there to shame himself. Beside, he had a swimming pool at home two in fact and diving off of a board was something he did almost every summer for fun. Trying his best to keep his face neutral and not to glare daggers at the Hoods, Minjae walked over to the diving board.

Without a broom in his hand, he climbed up the stairs and once he reached the top and it was his turn, he didn’t even hesitate. He ran to the edge and as his feet were at the end of the board he pushed off. At first he planned to simply jump off and fall in to the water. But if he was going to be discriminated against, he was at least going to have a bit of fun.

In his movement of jumping, the seventeen year old moved his upper body forward and down like he would if he had a broom but this time he let himself fall finger tips down first . The dive wasn't olympic gold worthy but he didn't care. There was a small splash as he landed in the water before he turned his body again and began swimming up to the surface.

................

Anger flooded the Gryffindor's senses, the grip on her broom handle tightening as she watched the brooms of her classmates reduced to splinters. It wasn't right. None of this was right and hearing that word come out of her professor's mouth made the fifth year want to throw up. She knew why, it didn't take a genius to know they were all expected to fall in line, but she hated herself more and more every time she complied. If her mum were in school now she'd be one of the ones suffering this treatment. What would she think of the way Cece was just standing by? What would she want her to do? She wished more than anything that she could talk to her...

Coming up behind Emmerson, the fifth year gave her shoulder a gentle shake. "Emm, you gotta move. Don't call attention to yourself." She didn't want her to get hurt. She'd already seen too many friends suffer at the hands of these hooded followers. "You can do this, okay?"

Mamie was exciting to trying the dive & pull up again, she really wanted to grab one of those ping-pong balls. But then, OUCH her hand really hurt, and then her broom was flying away and exploded. Tears immediately filled her eyes. She wasn't the best flyer, but she was definitely better than some of the students who got to keep their brooms. And, and she was going to get better! She just needed to practice. How could she practice without a broom? It wasn't fair!

She gingerly cradled her hand to her chest. Maybe they'd...get new brooms?

Her heart fell as she glanced and saw Professor Aguilar had also lost his broom and the scary people had their wands on him. His had been a fancy broom, too. She was even sadder as he told them all they'd somehow stolen magic from the purebloods? That...didn't even make sense. She'd been born with magic. Babies couldn't steal things. Grab things? Sure. Steal something intangible from a stranger? Nope, no way. Her magic was a gift, not a crime. Those Neo-BadPeople were wrong about her, and probably about the other Muggleborns, too.

But still...despite her painful palms, diving into the pool without a broom didn't sound so bad. She'd jumped off the high dive before, at swim practice.

Still trying to keep the tears in her eyes and not falling down her face, Mamie awkwardly climbed (one-handedly) up the 10 foot diving board. She waited until the pool below was clear, then dove in, fingertips first, as shallowly as she could. She'd never been good at vertical dives...always more of a "diving start" kind of kid, here.

When she emerged from the water, there were definitely tears mixed with pool water, but now at least you couldn't tell! Sniffling slightly--she wanted to learn how to fly, not swim--she clambered out of the pool. Brrr had it been this chilly outside all day?

Much, much better.

This was the relief Claudine was feeling after drying herself. Soon, her turn came once more to take the dive. But so many things started happening at once. Being usually silent and observant, she was able to notice the happenings almost immediately. First, quite a bit of students dropped their broomsticks. A quick check told her they were the Muggleborns. This told her who caused this to happen, sure but the next thing she knew were the broomsticks once in the Muggleborns’ grasps were burning. The fifth year stared. Good golly! Wasn’t that a little extreme? And then The Hoods were pointing their wands at Mr. Handsome Face. Oh no.

Poor Aguilar. He really didn’t have a choice of saying those words, did he? But it was ridiculous that the Muggleborns would have to continue the activity without broomsticks. She felt sorry for them. Even Bernadette. With a sigh, Claudine kicked off from the board, soared to a little over fifteen feet then started to dive.

This time, the girl was determined to do better for Aguilar’s sake. Eye on the prize, the ping pong ball, her hand stretched. Claudine leaned forward, snagged the ball {her fingers skimmed the water in the process} but this was an improvement over her last performance, right?

A successful pull up left her feeling awfully pleased with herself.

Camryn watched as the professor demonstrated what they were supposed to do. She was anxious, in a good way for a change, to fly and dive. She wondered if she could practice taking off from the ground and then diving before she tackled the diving board. Discretely watching her classmates, she figured that the answer was no.

Getting a broom, she decided to go with the medium board. While she was waiting, she went over what she was supposed to do and visualized everything. She was going to do this. Well she was going to dive and pull up. Grabbing the ping pong ball.....that would remain to be seen

It was time, so Camryn went to the 15 foot diving board and took her place. Taking a deep breath, she kicked off and went into the air. Flying was so awesome and Cam wished she could just keep flying all the way home and away from this horrible school. Unfortunately, that was not an option. So, she began her dive. The Gryffindor headed toward the pool, making sure not to have too steep a dive. When she got close, she began to pull up. She also tried to reach for the ball, but clearly her timing was not right. Dive-ok-ish, ball retrieval-nope. Oh well, that’s what practice was for.

Camryn had not seen the robed men before, but when students started falling and brooms exploded, she couldn’t miss them. Why did they have to be there? They were ruining everything. For the first time, she was having fun in class. Now that had been spoiled, not to mention the fact that her classmates were hurt.......again.

Valencia did her best to hide her shock as she went in for a dive and people around her started losing control. That... ugh... she thought Hogwarts would be safe... at least for a little. It made her worry that the next things to be taken would be muggleborn wands.

She caught a ball, fingers skimming the water, as she shuddered at that thought. She then went back to queue up while she watched the hooded figures, ducking slightly and using an arm to shield her eyes from splintering wood.

No no nooooo, cute professor, don't come over here! Bernie's bum was aching but she was fine, just fine. She scrambled to her feet, not wanting to chase down her broom yet, when suddenly it--- just---- POOF!

Bernie stared dumbly, open-mouthed, at the brooms exploding left and right. Even the professor's broom exploded?!?! What, was he a Muggleborn too?! She KNEW she liked him!!! She swallowed the lump in her throat, staring at the people now pointing their wands at the teacher.

This was like watching Wimbledon on the telly. Left, right, where to look, who knew? Was someone winning? What was the score? Bernie shook a little at the professor's warning; he was clearly not comfortable saying the word Mudblood. Guess he had too, though, or they'd explode him next.

But you know what, hoodie brigade? They just did Bernadette a YUGE favor. Because she HATED brooms ANYWAY. And she hadn't even been holding on to hers when it went off, so she missed the welts on her hand TOO. HAH. She could jump off a diving board, oh sure, as long as that pool was deep enough.

Bernie stalked over to the lowest board, the one that was only 10 feet off the ground. She didn't really CARE to TRY to snatch up a ping pong ball, because once again she was sure that she wouldn't be able to, but she did do a cannonball into the water, and resurfaced with a bit of a grin on (though it also could have been a grimace). Bernie doggie-paddled to the nearest ping pong ball and snatched it with her hand, paddling then to the edge of the pool.

Yep, she was wet, and looked more like a mutt than a mudblood, but heyyy. Swimming > flying, for sure.

Ivy wasn't too worried about the whole diving thing. She'd had a broom to fly for as long as she could remember. She wasn't quite as passionate about it as her mum, but she did enjoy Quidditch, both watching and playing. Keeper was her favorite though, so definitely no Wronski Feints here. But still, this activity was exciting to her.

She climbed the ladder up to the tallest diving board and, after mounting her broom, kicked off into the air. For a moment, she appreciated anew that feeling of freedom that flying always provided, especially this term. It was only an illusion, but at least Ivy could pretend it wasn't.

At least, not for long. Because she had a task to do.

She took the dive at a medium speed like the professor had. Quickly, she was approaching the surface of the water - she reached her hand out, grabbed one of the ping pong balls, and pulled up. Her hand was a little bit wet, but otherwise mission accomplished!

Not that she could celebrate for long.

As soon as she'd landed, the hooded creeps had acted out, destroying the brooms of some of the students and even the professor. And then they were threatening him and forcing him to say those words and...

Ivy's grip on her broom tightened, her knuckles turning white. It was all just...so unfair. And wrong. And... And the fact that she couldn't do anything about it was endlessly frustrating. She wanted to lend her broom to one of them or just help in any way at all, but she knew it would only make things worse, not better. Feeling so powerless over it all was just...

She forced herself to get back into the queue for another round of the activity, though she no longer felt any excitement about flying.