The Blessed One

Chapter Sixteen~The Flying Lesson

Since that day in the Great hall, James and Lily have been at each other's throats constantly. It's been so bad, that me and Sirius have been doing everything we can to keep them apart, so World War Three doesn't start. Sev and Meda have also been helping, so the fighting between them doesn't effect anyone else's friendships. It's rather difficult sometimes, but it's better than them being at each other's throats all day!

Since the first day, I've been very careful as to drink plenty of water, so I don't, you know, suffocate on air... But so far so good. The only annoying thing is that I sometimes change in the shower by accident, and I end up plummeting to the floor and banging my head on the wall in the process. The amount of bruises I have is unbelievable! So to not cause suspicion, I've been using my Metamorphagus powers to disguise to hide the bruises, however, it only covers them up, and doesn't heal them, so I've been very sore lately. Other than that I'm good.
The lessons here are very interesting, though my favourites are definitely; Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms and Divination so far. I love potions, only I seem to be learning more from Lily and Sev, rather than Professor Slughorn...
"Rose..." Came the voice of an impatient Lily beside me, "ROSE!" She all but screams.
"Merlin woman!" I whimper, clutching my ear, "I quiet enjoy the ability to hear!"
"Whatever," she grumbles, rolling her eyes, "I was talking to you."
"Hmm. What have we got next?" I ask, ignoring her previous statement. Cue more eye rolls...
"We've got Flying Lessons next." She informs me.
"YES!" I hollered, "JAMES! FLYING LESSONS NEXT!"
"YES!" He mimicks, "WE'RE GONNA BEAT ALL YOU LOSERS,"
"AND KICK YOUR SORRY BUTS!" We cheer together. If you can't tell, we get a teeny bit excited when we get to fly. There was a moment of silence until, "Ah," came the voice of Professor Dumbledore at the Teachers table, "I see they've found out about their double flying lesson..." He broke off chuckling, and soon both the teachers and the students joined in. oh, they can laugh, but we were being serious!
"Come on, James," I say, grabbing his arm, and sticking my nose in the air, but I can see our company is not welcome. And with that, we strode confidently out of the room.
Or at least, tried to, as I walked into the door... I hope no one saw that...

James and I quickly made our way down to the Quidditch pitch, where we would be having our first flying lesson. Saying we were excited would be a bit of an understatement...
"IM SO EXCITED!" I squealed excitedly, bouncing around in the process.
"I noticed!" I turned around to see Sirius chuckling as he made his way over to me and James, who was going over the different techniques he wanted to practice on the broom. "Is he always like this?" He questioned, eyeing James.
"Yeah," I laughed, "I suppose we're both very competitive at the game!"
He grinned, "again, I noticed!"
We both grinned.
"Black, your giving me a piggy back." I commanded, and leapt onto Sirius' back.
"Omf!" He staggered forward, then moved his arms so they were supporting my legs. "Little warning next time, Petal." He laughed as he carried on walking.
"Petal," I repeated, smiling at my new nick name, "I like it!"
He shook his head, though I could tell he was still grinning, "Glad you approve."

We finally made it got to the pitch, which was made up of a large field of grass, around the size of a muggle football pitch, with the familiar three hoops either end, which the chasers would aim for, and the keepers would guard.
"I missed Quidditch." I smiled to myself as Sirius set me down next to Lily, whilst he dragged James off who was still mumbling his moves to himself.
"I see your still excited!" She commented, giggling at my hyper bouncing.
"Of course!" I grinned, "It's flying!" I said, as if it were obvious.
We had Flying Lessons with the Slytherins, and they were all ready and waiting, chatting idly amongst themselves, each standing next to a broomstick, which were lying in neat rows on the grass.
"I wish we could use our own brooms." I grumbled to James, as we chose two of the free brooms situated next to each other.
"Same." He complained.
We both knew that the school brooms were very old, 'practically ancient!' The Prewett twins would call it. Apparently they would start to vibrate if you flew too high, and some would always fly slightly to the left.
All talking ceased as our Flying instructor, Madame Hooch arrived. She had short brown hair, and yellow eyes, like that if a hawk.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" She barked at us, giving quite the shock to Peter, who looked like he was attempting to fall asleep whilst still standing. Merlin, that boy worries me. "Everyone stick your dominant hand above your broomstick and and say 'Up'." She instructed sharply.
Some were faster than others, such as James and I, who did it within a matter of seconds. Others, such as Lily and Peter, whom had never flown a broom before, spent slightly longer on the task, but finished it no less.
"Now, I want you mount your broom like this," she said, indicating holding the broom tightly in both hands and swinging her leg over the end. "And hold on tight."
She then began to walk up and down the rows, correcting their grips if they were incorrect.
"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off the ground hard," said Madame Hooch, "and keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly." She explained clearly. "On my whistle - three - two-" she blew the shrill whistle hard between her lips, and everyone dos as instructed. Once everyone had landed successfully, she nodded sharply. "Yes, very good everyone." She complimented. "Now I want you all to line up single file behind me, and I shall lead the way around the pitch."
James and I made sure to be at the front of the line, and we set off. It was rather boring really. We flew no more than five feet above ground! Apparently, it was so no one hurt themselves if they were to fall of their brooms! What a load of bu-
My train of thought was cut off when I saw a cat, which was strutting along the top branch of a large ash tree, begin to shudder, as the branch groaned and began to give way. I gasped, causing James to look in the direction of my line of sight. He obviously saw what I did, as he quickly scolded, "No! Rose, don't do it! You can't risk your life for every bloody cat stuck up a tree!" He knew I have a soft spot for cats, especially black ones, like the one in the tree. We have many at home, and I am always the one snuggling up with them, with a cup of tea and a good book. Before anyone could stop me, I changed direction, and flew quickly towards the distressed cat. The tree began to dip dangerously low, and I heard the faint outrage of Madame Hooch's cries of me to come back, which, of course I ignored, and I approached the branch. Just as I reached the tree, the branch gave out a final groan, and detached itself from the trunk. The cat, yowling in fear, plummeted downwards towards the ground, where it would surely be flattened. I raced after it, swiftly diving, and catching it in my arms, and cradling it, whilst making calming 'sh' sounds and scratching under its chin and whiskers.
Without my noticing, Madame Hooch had directed the class towards me and the fluffy cat.
"That was extremely dangerous!" Roared Madame Hooch so loud, I feared for my eardrums. I cringed away from her yelling.
"I'm sorry! But I couldn't just leave him!" I cried sincerely, "he would have died! I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I'd left him to die! What if he'd been Mr Whiskers?" That earned me a round of chuckling from the class, "Her cat at home." James smirked playfully at me.
Madame Hooch still had an expression of thunder upon her face. "What you did was extremely irresponsible, reckless, and idiotic." She scowled, listing the nouns off her fingers. "which is why I would like to offer you the chaser position on the Gryffindor Quidditch team."