Daisies • HP Next Generation

Flying

Someone That Can Fly

The day leading up to the first years' first flying lesson held the greatest amount of bragging and gossip Daisy had ever heard at Hogwarts. Most kids born in magical families told tales of themselves going on wild escapades that usually included them flying near muggle planes, or doing a spectacular stunt that was signature to a national Quidditch star.

At first Daisy had believed them, and she became even more nervous about embarrassing herself in front of all the eleven year old pro Quidditch players. It was only when she talked to her friends that she realized that the tales being told were probably nothing more than that.

"I'm horrible on a broom, no matter how often I practice," Sophia told the group. I can't do more than take off without falling."

Since it was lunch time, house tables were disregarded. The only meal where you had to sit with your house was dinner, so Daisy, Sophia, Jasper, and Jonathan had joined Lily and her friends Gracie and Wyatt at the Gryffindor table. Each one, except Daisy and Jasper who both lived with muggle families, had told the real version of themselves flying.

Lily considered herself a natural (after all, with the youngest seeker in a century as a dad, and a Holyhead Harpies chaser as a mother, how could she not be? And yes, please just ignore Albus over there, he doesn't count). Lily planned to try out for Gryffindor seeker as soon as she could. However, she shot annoyed glances at people talking about running into muggle planes saying, "How does anyone believe them, obviously no muggles saw them, or it'd be all over the news! Not to mention they'd probably be in big trouble with their parents."

Gracie and Wyatt both thought of themselves as decent fliers, although probably not good enough to get on the house Quidditch team. The most they'd ever run into was a few insects.

When the time for the class finally came, all of them made their way out to the Hogwarts grounds, and joined the large mass of other first years waiting to be told what to do.

Soon, two instructors, Madam Hooch and Professor Johnson showed up, and called different groups of first years to follow them to one of Hogwart's two quidditch pitches.

"This way, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff!" Madam Hooch called. She was an older lady, with short grey hair, but her yellow eyes and harsh tone of voice showed that she was not one of those grandmothers that would happily bake you some sugar biscuits. She was in charge here.

When they got into the smaller of the two stadiums, Madam Hooch waited impatiently for all of them to position themselves next to one of the school brooms.

Daisy stood next to a broom. It looked rather ordinary to her, especially compared to those sleek and marvelously decorated ones she had seen in Diagon Alley. All the same, she could see that Lily's had twigs sticking out everywhere, and she was looking at it with distaste.

"Stick your wand hand over the broom," Madam Hooch directed the row of students, "and say 'Up!'"

Everyone did so, with different results. Lily's, although disheveled, obeyed the instruction at once. One or two others succeeded in doing the same. Most people, like Daisy, took a few tries before their broomstick flew up to meet their hand.

Sophia was one of the last few to make it. "I always just pick the broom up! No one has time to wait for me to do this," She muttered angrily.

Madam Hooch then demonstrated how to get on a broom without falling off, and how to correctly grip the handle. A few people needed assistance, but most people were able to do everything correctly within the first few minutes.

"Now, when I blow the whistle, kick off from the ground, hard," Madam Hooch said. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle -- three -- two -- one!"

The group of students bent their knees and pushed off hard. The result was many students flying up into the air, and coming back down again. Daisy was thrilled to find that it wasn't difficult for her, although she wobbled a little bit on the way down.

"Mr. Adair! Direct your broom downward!" Daisy heard Madam Hooch yell after most of the group had landed safely. Connell Adair, a Gryffindor first year, seemed completely bewildered as to how to come back to the ground, and had flown a good 20 feet in the air, and showed no sign that he would stop rising.

"Wait here," Madam Hooch told those waiting patiently on the ground. She got on her own broom, and wasted no time in reaching Connell's height, and pulling his broom down to the ground with hers.

"Now, those of you that successfully completed that exercise may mount your brooms, and hover a few feet off the ground."

They all did so, and over the course of the lesson, a majority of the first years were able to fly in every direction without any problems. While hovering next to Lily, Daisy saw two girls in the stands. They looked nearly identical, except for their hair length, and that one of them was wearing Gryffindor robes, and one Hufflepuff.

"I didn't think people were supposed to come watch," Daisy said.

"Hmm? Oh those are the Wood twins, Margo and Eliza. They're captains of their house teams. I guess they wanted to come see if there was any natural talent to look forwards to next year."

Daisy suddenly felt more nervous than she had at the start of the class. They were looking for possible teammates already? Surely not. She went over in her head every move she had done so far. Had they been good enough to get on the team? Had she been better or worse than the other first years?

Lily laughed at Daisy's expression. "Of course, if you get better, it won't matter what they thought of you the first day. I bet even Connell could get in if he tried."

Connell promptly fell off his broom from 5 feet in the air.

"Well, maybe not Connell, but anyone else," Lily said, amused.

Just then, Madam Hooch called everyone back down to the ground, and Daisy could see the Ravenclaws and Slytherins approaching the field.

"Professor Johnson has a few words to say."

"Hello!" The younger of the two Quidditch coaches said. "This year is the first year that the rules for entering the house teams will be modified."

Daisy and her friends glanced at each other. Maybe it wasn't strange that Quidditch captains came to their first flight.

"With a parental permission form, first years may try out for their house's back up team. It's unlikely that you will ever have to play, but in extra long games, or if one of the normal players is unable to compete, we have agreed that it would be good to have backup players ready to go. Questions?"

Lily raised her hand eagerly, brown eyes gleaming with excitement. Daisy pictured her as the first to sign up to try for the seeker position. "When does this all start?" She asked when she was called on.

"Not until Quidditch season," Johnson said. "There will be notifications put up on all of the school notice boards when it is time."

"How will we get extra practice in?" a Slytherin first year called out, not bothering to raise his hand. Madam Johnson didn't seem to mind. She looked as excited, if not more so, than many of the students she was speaking to.

"On weekends, we are going to start having open practice for anyone who is not on the team, and can't go to team practices! We'll have matches between groups, and people will get to switch positions to find out what they're best at. It will be great!"

A few more people asked questions, before Madam Hooch cut in, and sent all of them off to dinner. It was a spectacular meal to end a spectacular afternoon.

That night Daisy dreamed about Quidditch. She made her house team, and stopped every single quaffle from soaring through the goalposts. But then they started using flying hedgehogs as a quaffle instead. And why had her broom turned into a flamingo?

Please comment & vote!

Also, spellcheck keeps trying to change quaffle to waffle.