Easy Peasy Steps to Flying

[Minerva Khulik]

Minerva, wearing orange leggings, a red and green tartan skirt to above her knees, silver and white trainers, a bobbled grey jumper with pink frills on the sleeve cuffs and an old quidditch helmet she had found in the broom shed, knelt in the center of the pitch with a school broom behind her and various flying books opened up before her. The day was cool but it was dry and that was the main thing, there was no strong wind so she wouldn't be blown off course even if she made it in to the air and the ground felt fairly soft ... in the event of a tough landing.

She had gathered as many books on flying as she could from the library, promising that she'd return them all by the end of the week. It would be the end of the day if she couldn't find one to help her actually fly with some reasonable grace! The Ultimate Secret of Flying was opened at chapter three ... 'What your Professor will never tell you'. The Why Some People Almost Always Crash was opened at the introduction; Stop Wasting Time and Start Flying which had been on the short list for the 2020 Best Motivator Book award, was opened at chapter 1 ... 'Your Broom is Not to Blame!' There were plenty of other titles there too, The Top Flying Mistakes to Avoid, Little Known Ways to Rid Yourself of Flying Freeze, Revolutionize Your Flying, The Quickest and Easiest Way to Flying and Are You Making These Flying Mistakes?

Minerva was certain she had covered every inch of the library to get all she could on what she was doing wrong, why she was and how to correct it, then how to actually fly right! She sat with her legs crossed pouring over Flying Ways that make an Impact so You Don't! It was an article in the sports section of Witch Weekly, the author was an ex-quidditch player and seemed to know their stuff. Minerva thought the writing was clear and precise but she planned on doing a lot of procrastinating by reading lots more before attempting to mortify herself by trying out the broom just yet. As far as she was concerned, she was the worst one at it in the class from those that had tried to fly at any rate and in her mind, that just wasn't good enough. She had to get a good grade, even if it killed her!

 

[Sara Benivieni]

Sara was really excited about flying. She loved the adrenaline rush she felt when she had practiced at home with her older brother those few times and now that she could finally do so at school whenever she wished, Sara was going to take full advantage of that opportunity. She grinned as she skipped out of the Slytherin common room, barely stopping for breakfast that morning and heading straight to the pitch. She was way too excited to eat. She also figured she had enough energy saved for the practice, she did love Flying and she wanted to do her very best - and practice made perfect...or so she had been told. Because otherwise he'd get worried that this morning she hadn't stopped by to say how she was doing she'd invited Leo to practice with her, maybe he would encourage her to fly a little higher today. Of course, Sara expected most students to be inside the castle at this time of day and she couldn't hide her surprise as she saw a girl in her year (she recognised her from Flying class) crouched on the floor, her head bent towards whatever the book that she was reading was saying.

The first year stopped walking and instead watched her classmate, analysing her before shaking her head to clear it. She didn't mind a new friend. With that, the girl grinned and mounted the school broom she had borrowed, before kicking from the ground. She was up in the air in no time. Only when she looked down once did she notice the many other books scattered across the ground as well as what looked like flying equipment next to those. She frowned, before looking at the girl a few meters away, surrounded by all of those books. "Hey," she called, deciding to fly back down. Sara was still on the broom, hovering just an inch above ground as she continued to talk. "Do you want to practice together?" Hopefully, that question wouldn't receive an awkward response. The first year hated awkwardness. "We could help each other out if you want," she offered with a smile on her face, wondering if she had been friendly enough and hoping she wasn't intruding. ​

 

[Minerva Khulik]

Minerva had been so engrossed that she had not even noticed the girl coming down on to the pitch or flying about nearby until she actually spoke. Raising her head from the rather boring read of what seemed to be more a lecture than an article, Minerva glanced at the young girl recognising her from one of her classes, flying in fact.

"You want to practice with me?" she was baffled, surely the girl had witnessed Minerva's shocking performance to date in every class and it certainly wasn't for want of trying, "I don't think I'd be much use to you ... to practice with ... I am pretty useless."

She indicated the books scattered around her with a sigh and a half shrug, "I was trying to learn more from all these books. There just never seems to be enough time in class" Why on earth was she talking like a moaning violin feeling all sorry for herself and pouring it all out to a stranger!? With a swift movement she closed the magazine and sagged visibly, slumping her shoulders as she looked at the girl again. She looked so comfortable on the broom, she made it look so easy and effortless.

 

[Sara Benivieni]

Sara immediately smiled as the girl replied, not with an answer but with another question of her own. She rested her feet on the ground, swinging one leg over it so that now she was standing with the broomstick in her right hand. "Well, I mean only if you want to," she shrugged giving the girl a choice. The first year was like her brother when it came to wanting to be around people and today seemed like the perfect day to be making friends. The semester was coming to an end and although it was never easy to make friends the first couple of weeks, she hoped she was able to. That way, her brothers and sister wouldn't worry about her. "I don't think anyone is useless," Sara took a few steps towards her as she spoke. "Maybe you just need some practice." She chose her words carefully, not wanting to upset the girl. She seemed more embarrassed with every minute that passed by. Sara didn't know why she looked nervous, the Slytherin wasn't trying to make her feel bad or anything. She was about to say something else when the other girl slumped her shoulders in defeat and closed her book. The brunette's eyes widened. "Oh," she muttered, deciding to sit down next to her. Once she was settled, she said, "I agree. There never is enough time. Hey, my older brother used to play in his house Quidditch team, he's the one who helped me the most with flying. I could show you a trick or two," she smiled sweetly. Only then did she realise she hadn't introduced herself. "I'm Sara by the way," revealing her Italian accent when she said her name. It was obvious she wasn't from New Zealand. "We could always start slow." ​

 

[Minerva Khulik]

Minerva glanced up again at the girl who was now dismounting from her broom, she made it look so easy as if she had been doing it for years but Minerva didn't envy the girl or anything. Flying wasn't her thing and she had always more or less known this, all she wanted was to know the basics properly so she wouldn't look a complete gnargle at the exam.

"I would like that actually" she assured the girl, still in disbelief that she was being so generous as to offer to help at all. She hadn't met many if any other students who were that helpful, "I'm not generally useless ... at other things but I am at this. It is like I have a mental block and the sky is my limit."

Reaching out she tried to tidy the books up even a small bit, she certainly didn't want such precious pages to get damaged and then have to write home to tell her parents they had to pay for extra books. The girl had now chosen to sit next to her and somehow this just seemed like the right thing to do and Minerva didn't mind at all. She looked sideways at the girl as she spoke about her brother, she was the eldest in her own family so had relied on her father to teach her a little but only when she had been a child. She certainly couldn't pass on any of her pearls of wisdom about flying to her brothers, they'd probably be great at flying when it was their turn.

"I'm Minerva" she told Sara, "Slow is good" she nodded her head slowly then found herself smiling at this girl. She didn't smile at anyone really, her peers made her anxious for some inexplicable reason but Sara didn't. Sara just wanted to help and was the one doing all the talking, Minerva only had to listen really which was perfectly fine by her, "Now?"