Gryffindor 1st Years

Andromeda looked at Jolly and gasped as she fell off her broom, she tried to get off hers to help her but Harri luckily was pretty quick. She smiled encouragingly to Jolly, this was going to be fine. Really it was! She was trying to convince herself more than anything. Andy knew everyone expected her to do well because of her experience and her love of flying. But it was different when you were flying to impress someone, someone who would eventually decide whether she made the team or not. Her stomach was full of butterflies now and her palms began to sweat.

She knew once she was up there it would be different and her nervousness would or should disappear. she listened to what Bruin said then carefully kicked off, making sure to keep a good distance between her and her classmates on both sides. She lifted the head of her broom so that she rose to the height or there abouts to what her asked. She kept her broom steady and glided slowly about like she was on a Sunday outing. The corners came and went, swerving into each one to make the turn.

She dipped the front of 'Falcon' a little just to give herself some variation and skimmed gently over the surface of the pitch. She lifted again and so wanted to break into some quicker pace but thought the better of it. Smiling she returned to where Bruin was and dismounted, holding her broom and waiting.
 
[color=660000]Jolly gratefully took Harriet's hand and stood up, dusting herself. She chanced a sheepish look at Andy, who seemed concerned for her. "I'm okay," mouthed Jolly, before mounting her broom, this time gracefully. I can do it. I do well in flying lessons, why not now. I'll show everyone, she thought to herself and putting on a determined face, raised the handle of her broom, flying swiftly upwards.

A little distance away she could see Andy. She was doing quite well. Jolly wondered whether she should quicken her speed some more. Would Bruin think she was showing off? It was true that she wanted to show off some. Jolly desperately wanted to be on the team. And this was her chance. But she remembered what Bruin had said. Biting her lip, she lazily glided over the pitch, watching the others fly beside her. Jolly noticed Kiera on the stands and stopped for a moment to wave at her. "Hey, girl!" she called, a broad smile on her face.[/color]
 
Amy listened as Bruin spoke and gave her a little encouragement over landing. She smiled back gratefully and was pleased that they were going to start flying now. She issued the "UP" command to her broom which was lying by her feet and it flew straight to her hand. Mounting her broom she touched off of the ground and was in the air. She then took off to do a lap of the pitch. She didn't go too high up but high enough to feel like she was really flying. She didn't go too fast and decided that she would go slowly for the first lap of the pitch, being careful when she went round the corners. She loved having her new firebolt and couldn't believe the difference it had made to her confidence.
 
After she had helped Jolly up she quickly rose on her broom keeping at a steady pace before quicken slightly but still keeping control. Although she was nervous she tried not to make it obvious and as she carried on flying her fears disappered and she decided to speed up a little more bringing her more to the front of the group. She didn't want to show off she just wanted to make sure she was fully confident on her broom when it came to doing something more advanced stuff.
 
Bruin hovered around the centre of the pitch watching the progress of the first years as they followed his instructions and flew fairly slowly and confidently around the pitch. He knew that some of them were capable of much more, but practicing the basics was always worthwhile and he didn't want any of the novices to try and push themselves beyond their abilities trying to keep up.

As the first of the flyers were completing their lap, Bruin returned to the ground and dismounted. He walked over to his equipment bag and picked up his Beater's Bat and a small bag of tennis balls and then and went and stood beside Andy, giving her a little wink to let her know he was impressed with her skill and restraint. Bruin waited for the others to complete their laps and return before explaining the next activity.

 
Amy saw that Bruin had landed on the ground and finished her lap before heading back down to join him and Andy. This was the part she really couldn't get the hang of. She flew down low, tried dismounting and...fell off and over. Sitting on the ground she wondered just why she couldn't get the hang of it.
 
Bruin watched as Amy valiantly tried to land, but ultimately tumbled to the ground at the last moment. He walked over and extended his hand to help her up should she wish the assistance, noting that she was using a Firebolt as he did so.

"Hey Amy, there's a trick to landing those Firebolts, eh!", he stated rather convincingly. "You know how when you're airborn and you want to stop that you just sit upright and give a little upwards tug on the handle? Well, when you want to land just do that when your feet are a few inches above the ground and then just lower yourself to the ground by easing the handle down again."

Bruin knew that there was really no secret to landing a Firebolt, but hoped that with a little bit of confidence in her abilities that Amy would soon be hitting the turf a little softer. He gave her a warm smile and then added. "Come on, I'll show you the chalk outline on the wall over there where your fearless leader once landed."
 
Amy smiled weakly as Bruin offered her a helping hand up. she gratefully took it and brushed herself down. She listened as Bruin told her something that would help her. "Oh really?! It sounds so simple when you put it like there" she said with a smile. "Thanks though, I'll give it a try!" she said a little happier. She followed as Bruin made his way over to another part of the pitch to show her and laughed at what he had said.
 
Bruin was glad to see Amy laughing and pointed in the direction of a stone wall along the far side of the pitch. "That wall and I are not on good terms.", he said with a wink. "But seriously, just keep trying and it will come. IT's just like riding a horse, you get knocked off and you get right back on...provided you've ridden a horse, that is?"

Bruin was getting all flustered for some reason. "Alright, let's go. The others will be landing soon and I have one more thing that you might want to try.", he said as he walked back towards Andy, hopeful that the others would complete their lap soon.
 
Andy smiled as Bruin went to help Amy, he really was like their big brother she mused. She watched the others flying about as he took Amy over to show her something.
She decided to sit on her broom again and wait until everyone was down. Eventually Bruin and Amy made their way back, so Andy thought it best to dismount again. She stood almost to attention as if awaiting orders.
 
((sorry about the lateness Exams I'm studying for and Math is Killer!))

Kera came around to amy and still hovering said nothing. Watching them was quite interesting. Kera loved to people watch. Soon enough kera landed with ease. She loved to fly but for some reason hated flying class.

Now standing on two feet kera was still silent. She had nothing important to say at this point so she just followed amy without a word. Bruin seemed to be just a step a head of her and Kera knew he was head of everything so following him in his own territory seemed like a smart Idea to her.
 
Amy followed Bruin and looked over to where the stone wall was and smiled as he told her about it and followed it with a wink. "I will keep trying, hopefully I'll just get it soon" she said happily, then added, "Oh and no I can't say I've ridden a horse!" she said with a laugh. She noticed that he seemed a little uncomfortable all of a sudden but didn't say anything. "Oh whats this that we might want to try?" she asked with a smile, moving the conversation on, as they walked back to the others.
 
Bruin offered a wide grin. "You'll see soon enough!", he said mysteriously as he rejoined Andy and Kera and waited for the others to land so he could explain the next and hopefully, last activity of the day. He wanted to keep the lesson short, knowing that they would be back here soon enough.

"Nice job Cubs...don't worry, you'll be back up in the air soon!", he said with a smile.
 
Amy just smiled curiously back at Bruin, keen to know what the next activity would entail. She watched as everyone else landed and waited for Bruin to explain just what it was they would be doing now.
 
Harriet landed. Her landing wasn't perfect but she was glad that Ginny had taught her how to land. She waited with the rest of the first years to see what they would be doing next.
 
Bruin looked around and noted that most of the group had now landed and appeared anxious to get on with the practice. "Alright, I can explain this activity to the others once they arrive. Basically, one of the most useful skills in Quidditch is the ability to track the path of a ball, whether it be a Quaffle, Bludger or even the Snitch. Now, as you probably know already, the Snitch and Bludgers tend to have minds of their own and don't generally fly in a straight path for too long, but the Quaffle is pretty consistent with how it flies and how it is affected by gravity. So...", Bruin took a deep breath and reached into the bag he was still carrying and pulled out a tennis ball.

"Alright, what I'd like you to do is take turns trying to catch a tennis ball that I hit. Basically, you'll hover out over the centre of the pitch and I'll hit a ball. Your job will be to try and track it and catch it. It sounds simple, but I'll try and mix it up a bit by hitting some easy ones up in the air and then some harder ones that you'll really need to move for." Bruin looked around to see if they liked the idea and then continued. "Oh, and one last thing. Practice catching with one hand and keeping the other on your broom for now. I know that you'll be getting better at flying with no hands soon enough, but I don't want the game to end with a trip to the hospital wing. Alright, who wants to go first?"
 
Amy listened intently to the next activity. She was slightly worried about tracking the ball and catching it, she didn't want to show herself up. Guess my rounders skills will come in handy here she thought to herself. She had played rounders at her muggle school and loved playing the game. She was a fielder there and so kind of had to track the balls that the players hit. She hoped that this would help her here.
Looking round and seeing noone volunteering to begin she took a deep breath, and said "I'll start" with a seemingly confident smile.
 
Bruin gave Amy a friendly and encouraging smile. "Alright then. I'll wait until you're up in the air and looking at me before I fire a tennis ball out your way, okay?"

Bruin admired the way the first years were taking chances and couldn't help but think that the future of Gryffindor Quidditch, actually the future of the whole house, had gotten much brighter.
 
Amy weakly returned Bruins smile and gave a quick "Okay to show that she understood. She mounted her broom before kicking off. She headed up and then turned her head so that she was facing Bruin and took a deep breath, waiting for Bruin to start throwing.
 
Kera watched amy and smiled. She played a lot of ball in her life from softball to basketball. Catching the tennis ball couldn't be that hard. Turning to Bruin she watched patiently waiting to see where the ball would be thrown.
 
Kiera grinned. She was still quietly watching from the stands. This practice was very interesting. They were doing good for first years. She listened as Bruin told them about the next game. Kiera was excited to see how this went. She continued to hide and watch. She didnt want Bruin to send her away after all.
 
Bruin tossed one of the tennis balls up in the air and gave a quick swing of his Beater's Bat, knocking the tennis ball high in the air about 50 feet to Amy's left. She would have to move quickly if she was going to catch that ball, he thought to himself as he watched her reaction.
 
Willie made his way out to the Quidditch Pitch to complete some of his scheduled maintenance tasks. As he walked towards the equipment sheds, he couldn't help but notice that there were voices coming from the pitch. He stomped out to the pitch and approached the boy whom he assumed was the ring leader standing there with a Beater's Bat and looking like he owned the place.

"Hey, boy!" he exclaimed. "The pitch isn't available today. If you'd have checked the schedule, you'd know that today is a maintenance day. So, get your group together and shove off!" Normally, Willie would have been a little politer, but he was under a lot of pressure to get the pitch in tip-top shape before the beginning of the Quidditch Season and now he was supposed to figure out how to use kid who'd got herself into some trouble and had to serve her detention with him.

"By the way, any of you, uh, Andromeda Figarooni or something?" he added, hoping to kill two birds with one stone.
 
Bruin was watching Amy track the ball when he heard the unmistakable voice of Groundskeeper Willie. "Oh, hey Willie. Sorry about that...", Bruin said casually as he tried to keep one eye on Amy and another on the approaching groundskeeper. "No problem, I'll call them in and we'll get out of your way.", he stated, wondering why the groundskeeper was asking about Andy, but leaving it up to her to answer for herself.

"Alright everyone, pack up your stuff...practice is over for today."
 
Andy gulped and raised her hand.
"I'm Andromeda.. Fiorelli" she muttered knowing exactly what was coming.
She walked slowly over to the man who though being a stranger, she knew had to be the groundskeeper.
 
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