Quidditch Lesson - The Basics

20 April 2009, 15:50

Amelia looked at the broomstick that she was grasping. In this world, which she was still getting used to, called it a Cleansweep 7, apparently one of the more common riding brooms. It was quite small, a mahogany brown cracked in places, bearing years of strain and fighting through storms. She would have never believed that the whole concept of witches and wizards riding brooms was true like in the fairy tales her mother used to read to her when she was little. And truth be told, she was quite happy it was true. If at least one of the things in those stories was accurate, then their happy endings were a possibility all on their own.

The sun was shining as Professor Silversmit, their Quidditch instructor, finished her speech and began informing them on the basics of flying. It seemed simple enouh, but like in any other situation, it's easier said than done. The wind picked up and brushed Amelia's hair to one side of her face. She pulled the stray strands of hair behind her ear, and in a matter of seconds, her chest tightened. Her intution told her that sooner or later, the professor would be telling them to practice on their own, and as usual, in front of everyone else.

She calmed herself, told her second voice that everything would be fine. The students possessing their own brooms, obviously those who had flown before, stood at the front of the line of black robed students which was slowly forming, some eager to try out their new skill, others nervous, and others drawing back tears at the thought of falling when they would be twelve feet above the ground. Amelia was a little bit of all these feelings.

The sun shone down on the green grass that coated the entire Quidditch stadium. She imagined what it was like to be soaring way up high, wind rushing through one's hair...Her daydreaming was brought to an abrupt end when the student behind her nudged her, informing her that it was soon her turn. Amelia looked at the hoops, each placed at different heights, which she would have to fly through to prove her worth.

It was her turn now, and with her broom in hand, she tried recollecting everything that the professor had told them. Mounting the stick which looked like it couldn't even support a small bird, Amelia pushed off from the ground, feeling the surface of her foot brushing against the sole of her loose-fitting shoes. She began hovering, and in an instant, her mind went into a daze, like she couldn't even believe what she was doing.

Allowing herself to hover a little higher, she saw the big ring in front of her. Pushing most of her weight frontwards, she began moving forwards, and before she knew it, she had passed through the ring, luckily without hitting her head. The second hoop was set up at least fifteen feet higher than the one she had managed to pass through. Pulling all of her weight backwards, she started to ascend, and when she let herself think that everything was working out fine, the tip of her broom hit the pole and she rebounded with quite a bit of force. Seconds later, she began plummeting to the ground, wehre she landed a few feet away from her already splintering broom. Ignoring the cries of students and the apparent help the professor wanted to offer, she quickly remounted her broom and intended not to make a fool of herself again.

Amelia flew through the first hoop once more, and eyed the second hoop, which she flew through successfully moments after the thought of being decapitated passed her mind.

The third hoop was to the left of her. Right now, everything humanly possible was rushing through Amelia's mind...homework still due, the thought of people laughing at her if she didn't manage to finish this obstacle course...she switched her body weight to the right and by the time she realised that she was going the wrong way, she had already gone past the hoop.

She had an idea, however. Keeping her direction to the right, she began turning and turning, until reaching her previous location, where she flew straight through the third hoop. Relief filled her insides, but it was never enough to blot out the thought of still having two more hoops to pass through.

Amelia looked around for the fourth hoop, and then found it to be way down from where she was hovering. Combining two things all at once, she slid her body weight downwards and slightly to the right, where she ducked her head with all her might...'these hoops will be the death of me, if not the embarassment of not finishing this damned course!' She swooped through like a knife slicing through cheese, and while congratulating herself for not maiming her head, her broom kept descending, until it stuck itself into the ground and sent her spinning through the air. She wanted to throw up, seeing the grand architecture of the school spinning over and over again in her eyes...

She quickly remembered what Professor Silversmit had said about stopping. Pushing the broom towards her like she were about to hug it, the circulating motion stopped all at once. Her mind was throwing up right now from being stuck in that potential twister of an incident, and Amelia made it her goal to fly through the last hoop well.

Directing her 'death' broom towards the fourth hoop, she flew through it once more and made a sharp turn to her left, where her shoulder brushed against the fifth and last hoop. She had made it, but barely.

Flying towards an empty patch, she stopped the broom and dismounted. 'I still have quite a lot to learn,' she said, while rubbing her throbbing shoulder. Putting her broomstick near a batch of other broomsticks that were lying against a wall, she grabbed her things, thanked her professor, and gladly made her way back to the castle, where she intended on sleeping until the world corrected itself. In the state she was in, reality couldn't have been working well...or maybe that's what being a teenager was all about.