Flying practice

[Ian Garrett]

Ian took his broom down to the lawns, thinking he would get some practice before his next class. He'd been flying for as long as he could remember, but he desperately needed to get used to this new broom. The thing reeked of dampness and he could see where certain parts of the shaft were eaten away by a very colorful fungus. He turned his nose up and laid the broom on the ground. He raised his hand and said "up." The broom hovered next to his hip and he hopped on. He pulled up on the handle and he began to rise. Once he was a good distance off the ground, he felt the broom lurch forward and he knew that this thing would eventually make him sick. He could count on no smooth movement for the year. On the plus side, the stench wasn't so bad now that the wind was blowing.

As he began to climb, he realized that he could see the entire school from here. It was a sight to see, for sure. He flew around for a few minutes and once the wind started blowing in the opposite direction he touched back down. The broom wasn't too fond of even the slightest breeze. He gave it a bit of a scowl and threw it over his shoulder. "Why do we have to use these brooms?" he muttered, wishing that he had showed up to class on time so that he could have picked up a decent one.

As he saw the lawn filled with students, he began to perk up again. He hadn't really made any friends yet. He'd only been here for a few days and there had only been one class. He was never one to make friends too easily, but he'd hoped to at least find a few people to hang around with. He decided he'd go and sit under a tree and just get some sun for awhile. He didn't have anything better to do after all. Being around the common room all day had gotten pretty boring.

[Amber Black]

Amber headed down to the lawns, book in her hands. She didn’t really study for her classes a lot, but she was in her sixth year and she really needed to concentrate on her work. This was why she hadn’t even bothered signing up for the quidditch team, despite her love of the game. She had even considered taking the flying class but she can already fly, so why bother? She thought about her Nimbus 2001 that she hadn’t even bothered taking out of her bag. She angrily pushed the thought of her broom away. She would go down to the lawns to read the book and she wasn’t even going to think about flying or quidditch or brooms or even anything that could fly. Like birds.

Amber arrived at the lawns and was annoyed that other students were there as well. Of course it was big enough for everyone, but Amber just wasn’t feeling like a people person today. Amber headed over to the tree, deciding some shade would be nice. She headed over to the nearest tree, but unfortunately someone was already sitting under it. Upon closer look, it appeared to be a young student, probably a first year. Unfortunately, he also had a broom. This made Amber feel like hitting the boy since quidditch and flying was the last thing she wanted to think about. Then again, it wasn’t the boy’s fault he had a broom and it wasn’t like he would know what Amber was thinking. So she didn’t hit him, but she did death glare him. Then she took a closer look at the broom and couldn’t help but smirk. It wasn’t a very good one. It was definitely one of the school ones because no one would ever buy a broom like that. Maybe the broom was a Moontrimmer, but she doubted it. The school wouldn’t have brooms that had been made in the early 1900’s. Perhaps the broom was a Shooting Star or a Cleansweep if he was lucky.
“What sort of broom is that?” Amber asked the boy. She was still looking down at the boy with an amused smirk.

[Ian Garrett]

Ian had just set his broom down when a girl came by who was obviously much older than him. When she asked him what type of broom he had, he could tell that she was only sarcastically interested. "I don't know. It's a school broom" he shrugged. He would have returned her snarky question with an equally snarky answer, but he didn't want to go making enemies this early in the school year. "We're required to use school brooms for Flying" he said, leaning back against the tree. He knew perfectly well that the broom he was carrying was an Oakshaft 79. You could tell it was a billion years old just by looking at it. Not only was the shaft gnarly and repulsive, but it also looked charred and it lacked foot rests. At least it wasn't a Shooting Star...but a decent Shooting Star would probably be a lot more reliable and easier on the eyes than his aged Oakshaft.

He started to tell her that he had been practicing for class, which was why he had it with him under the tree, but he knew that she couldn't care less, so he held his breath. When he looked up he saw that she held a book in her hand and when he couldn't read the title, he asked "What are you reading?" Although he wasn't one to be nosy, she had already insulted his broom so he didn't feel too ad about it. "And I'm Ian...by the way" he muttered, although he was sure that she wouldn't be too interested in his name either. He was a first year, and he knew how first years were treated. He didn't mind. It was simply something of an initiation.

[Amber Black]

Amber hadn’t expected such a casual reply. Usually first years would be too scared to answer or just got angry. Amber raised her eyebrow in curiosity and interest. The comment about needing school brooms for Flying class was unnecessary, since she already knew that. But Amber decided not to reply and ignored the comment. After all he was a first year and didn’t quite know everything about Hogwarts yet. Amber decided to try and joke by saying “as long as the brooms got a cushioning charm then it’s good to go.” Then she had to think about whether what she had just said was actually a joke. Then she made a mental note about never trying to make a joke again; especially ones that weren’t actually a joke or were ridiculously lame.

The boy asked her what she was reading. Amber had totally forgotten herself and had to look at the cover, “Confronting the Faceless,” she said simply, letting her hand fall to her side again. “It’s for Defence against the Dark Arts. Probably don’t need to read it, but I thought I would do a bit of extra study.” Amber sat down and opened the book up to a random page. It happened to be on the Cruciatus Curse.
The boy muttered his name and Amber managed to just catch what it was. She looked up at Ian and stared at him for a moment, wondering whether she should tell him her own name. She figured it couldn’t hurt. “I’m Amber,” She said, “what’s your blood status?” Amber didn’t really care a great deal if someone was muggle-born, half-blood or pure-blood, but she was always curious. And though she hated to admit it (even to herself) she always seemed to develop an opinion on someone depending on their blood status. If the person was muggle-born, she would think at first they were not too bright. If they turned out to be quite clever, then obviously her opinion on them would change. If someone was a pure-blood she would never tell them that she herself was a half-blood, regardless whether they cared about blood status or not because she just felt inferior.

[Ian Garrett]

Ian tilted his head a bit at her comment, trying to figure out whether she was being serious or not. The professor had put a cushioning charm on all of the brooms because most of them were pretty worn down from literally a hundred years of use. He was still getting used to calling his dad professor. He would probably have to get over that in the next couple of days. "It's got a cushioning charm. Otherwise I would have tossed it by now" he said, managing to crack a small smile. He wasn't sure whether she was in the business of making friends, but he decided to at least make the gesture.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts." He nodded. He wasn't taking that this year, but it wasn't because he didn't want to. He'd been limited to three classes and he thought Defense Against the Dark Arts would probably be more useful after he picked up a few simpler charms and spells. "Extra study?" he asked, peering down at the page. He raised an eyebrow at the page that she had turned to, wondering whether it was a simple coincidence or if she'd meant to be studying the Cruciatus Curse. He decided that it was a coincidence and rested his head back against the tree.

When she asked him his blood status, he checked her robes and saw that she was a Slytherin. What was it with Slytherins always asking about blood status first, as though it was an absolute and defining feature. He had met plenty of muggle and half-bloods that were pretty handy with magic. Blood type didn't make the witch or wizard. He had decided that it was more mental than inherent. "I'm a pure blood" he responded, though he added that he thought equally of all blood statuses. "I don't look down on anyone" he shrugged. "We're all here. We might as well make nice."

"And it's nice to meet you, Amber" he added, giving her a friendly nod.

[Amber Black]

Amber’s lips thinned when Ian said he was a pure-blood. She was incredibly glad he hadn’t asked her what her blood status was. It didn’t seem like he was planning to. At least, what he said afterwards made her believe so, so she decided not to mention anything else about it. And it was nice to meet her? Amber gave a small, amused smile. She wondered if he was being genuine or not. Of course everyone always says that, but sometimes after meeting someone it wasn’t exactly ‘nice’ to meet them.

Amber looked down at her book again and flicked through it, wondering if there was anything interesting to read. She skimmed the beginning of chapters and then decided she may as well read up on the Cruciatus Curse even if they weren’t going to learn about it in class. She couldn’t concentrate though, and the words didn’t seem to form together and her eyes kept slowly drifting to Ian’s broom. She wondered if Ian had siblings he would play quidditch with, and what position he played. Amber, once again, pushed thoughts of Quidditch and flying out of her mind. She snapped her book shut in frustration and looked around the lawns, glaring at people. Why were there so many students? She looked back at Ian and asked, “So how are you finding Hogwarts?” She hoped that talking might keep her mind off quidditch. Not to mention this first year didn’t seem so bad compared to the others. This made Amber think back to her first year of Hogwarts. In fact, she could barely remember it at all. Was it really that long ago? Six years didn’t sound like such a long time, but it sure felt like it.

[Ian Garrett]

Ian was surprised that Amber was making an attempt to talk to him. He had assumed that she would simply insult him and walk on by. He had already experienced that a few times, as he was a first year. Her continued questioning was unexpected and so he had to think a minute about the answer. "Well, I like the school. I've already gotten lost a few times. I'm a first year, if you hadn't noticed" he said, smiling a little. People told him that he looked older than his age, but here at Hogwarts people always knew who the new students were. The first years were the ones who stood on the stairs for 5 minutes looking at the maps that they had been given upon their arrival. They still had trouble with the moving staircases and walked right into pranks pulled by those who knew the tricks of the trade and the old school.

Ian remembered having walked into a corridor that he later learned was avoided by the older students because it was notorious for the pranks pulled. He had been lost and trying to find his Charms class when he turned the corner and was launched into an inflatable pool full of stink pellets. Of course, he hadn't wanted to miss his class, so he went on without changing. He had severely underestimated the extent to which his clothes smelled. The professor had been none too happy.

"I don't care much for the dungeons, but the grounds are nice" he said, looking around. I'm sure the weather won't be this nice in a few months, but it is now" Ian looked up at Amber. "So what year are you in?" He decided that if she was going to ask questions, he should ask a few too. She seemed to be much older than him, probably four or five years at least.

[Amber Black]

Amber was pretty sure anyone who stepped into Hogwarts liked it she thought as Ian said he liked the school. It was a school which was very hard to dislike in the first place. It was practically alive with all the magic around and even seemed to have its own personality. Quirky sounded like a good adjective to describe the school, but quirky in a good way of course. Getting lost is always very easy at the beginning and Amber even remembered her first year when she would always be turning into the wrong corner. “Well it gets easier to get around the school,” Amber told him as he said to her about getting lost. “Of course you should always be careful because you never know when you turn a corner what’s going to come at you,” Amber explained with a frown, “maybe a poltergeist with particularly good aim or armour that’s been enchanted to come to life and is ready to attack you.”

Amber frowned when Ian said he didn’t care much for the dungeons. Considering she lived in the dungeons the majority of the time, Amber found it slightly offensive. On the other hand, as he was a first year, maybe he didn’t know that the Slytherin common rooms were down in the dungeons. So why not tell him? “The Slytherin common rooms are in the dungeons,” Amber said, “we’re under the ground so we get a pretty brilliant view of what’s actually in the lake.” Of course they never really found out what the weather was like, but they could find out when they left the dungeons. Not to mention the weather was never overly important, at least to Amber. Sure, it was nice to occasionally see the sun, but Amber liked it in the dungeons where it was dark and also very cosy.

“I’m a sixth year,” Amber replied with a raised eyebrow, “so I’ve been here a while. Only one more year after this one.” Amber started to absent-mindedly pull at the grass. She spotted a rather large ant coming in her direction so she grabbed her book and hit it as hard as she could with it. When she lifted her book up it was withering in pain. Amber smirked, gleefully watching the ant in pain before getting bored and looking away from it. “My mother was in Ravenclaw,” Amber randomly said, “but she never told me much about the tower. I know you need to solve a riddle or something to get in. I suppose it’s all blue too?”

[Ian Garrett]

Ian had definitely heard stories of pranks that had been pulled. Some were more elaborate than others, but he knew that he wanted to stay away from them all. He was a pretty low key kid, but he started to open up once he got to know people. "Hopefully it gets a little easier. I'm tired of walking into pranks" he smiled. He had already figured out how to get to all of his classes, so that wasn't a problem anymore. It was mostly when he decided to wander around the castle that he got into trouble. He had a map, but it didn't tell you which corridors to avoid. He had discovered that experience was the best teacher. He knew that he wouldn't be walking into any of the hallways where had fallen victim again.

"Really?" he asked when she told him that the Slytherins' common room was in the dungeons. He might have remembered his dad telling him that once, but it was so drafty. How did they survive? It was probably warmer in the common room than it was in the hallway, so perhaps it wasn't so bad. "I didn't mean to offend you or anything" he smiled. "I'm not a Slytherin hater. And you seem pretty nice, yourself."

"A sixth year?" he nodded. He had figured that she was about that age. She looked older than him. He was still left wondering why she was actually taking the time to talk to him. "Yeah, we have to answer a riddle. I've already gotten it wrong twice" he said, picking at the grass. "You just have to wait for somebody else to come along who will let you in. Sometimes they're not easy either" he noted. Just because he was a Ravenclaw doesn't mean he's a good riddle solver. He was actually pretty terrible with riddles, but he had heard that it got easier once you knew what the knocker wanted.