Your First Expierence

Katie was heading down to the locker room ready for her next quidditch game. This was going to be a tough one and she should really start to pump herself up. Instead as she looked over the pitch where a couple of first years were practicing it made her think of the first time she had ever rode a broom. It seemed so long ago now, that as a chaser, she couldn't fly or even grip a broom correctly, never mind diving with no hands on the broom and avoiding bludgers.

AS she walked and tied her hair back, the memory's if the first flying lesson came back to her. It was cold that day and all the house's were doing it together -- it was the first time that happened, she remembered. What else.... and suddenly memories swallowed her up erasing all other trains of thought.

Katie was a first year again, she looked the same but her hair was shorter and the difference in height was noticeable. She could sense her own nerves as she walked up to the quidditch pitch with her dorm mates: Alexandra, Kayla, and that other girl... she couldn’t quite remember her name. Anyway, the gaggle of girls took their places along side the first unoccupied brooms as far away from the teacher as possible. They waited nervously as a few stragglers hurried to find spots and the teacher counted heads.

“Okay, first years, listen up,” Madam Hooch said. This alone took many of the kids, including Katie off guard, as they were not used to being addressed as first years to their faces, especially by teachers. “Flying can be a very dangerous activity –“ the student’s gulped, ”-but also a very fun one. IF you pay attention and do as I say.” Collectively the students stood up straighter and looked altogether a little more awake, give or take a few students. “I would like you to say ‘up’ to your brooms. And with authority.” Madam Hooch finished.

So, doing as they were instructed, Katie heard cries of “UP!” erupting on either side of her, but no one it seemed had managed to get their broom to move. Deciding she better try, Katie commanded her broom “UP!” and was surprised when it only took two tries to meet the palm of her sweaty hand. She looked around and noticed that around half of her classmates had also successfully obtained their brooms.

When the last few students picked up their broomsticks manually, Madam Hooch started giving instructions on how to fly. But Katie just couldn’t pay attention. Daydreams of her flying way overhead kept ebbing away at the concentration she was directing at the teacher. “Okay, now you try.” was the only thing she managed to get out of the lecture.

As one, they mounted the brooms and gripped it as Madam Hooch demonstrated. Then on the count of three they pushed off with their feet. She rose into the air, but mysteriously her stomach seemed to have stayed on the ground. She looked down and saw that she was the only one who had managed to stay in the air. Her and that girl. The class clapped as the girls accelerated. They turned and stopped and enjoyed the most freeing feeling in the world.

THUD! Katie had just walked into a wall. She had left reality and now, rubbing her head she realized exactly how special flying is and why she loves it so much. That girl – Claire was asking her if she was okay, and Katie smiled. They would always have a special bond

So I was so nervous but I got on and I could not believe it I did not know which was the head and which was the tail so I was like ''HEADS OR TAILS?''.

When I finally got on I felt the broom vibrate and it was so scary! I screamed like a banshee!

Then when I started flying that was OK until Marie started shouting “Watch out for that tree!” as a joke! I was so scared I actually DID fly into the tree! I then woke up in the hospital wing next morning and I was like “Am I dead?”. Then i got told off by Madam Hooch for not paying attention, but luckily I was rescued by the matron saying that I needed rest so she should not be shouting at me and I then went to sleep!

Tomorrows the Hufflepuff tryouts for the Quiditch team, I think I'll have a go!

I looked up at my friend with a look of uncertainty and suspicion as he handed me his old broom stick. It was no secret that I had been deemed the most uncoordinated student at Hogwarts in nearly two centuries, and now Thomas was expecting me to do better off the ground. "You've got to be kidding me. I could hurt someone on that thing!" I said as I nodded down to the Nimbus 2001 that I now held firmly in my grasp. He remained silent as a mischievous smile spread across his face and he pushed me out of the barn into the warm summer air. I tried my hardest to resist, but his power was to much. Next thing I knew, I was being forced upon the seat of the slender broomstick.

"Just trust me, Finny!" Thomas said calmly as I attempted to reposition myself. "Now, head or tails?" he asked as he laughed at the bewildered expression upon my face. "Come on, spit it out. Head or tails? Heads, I'm Seeker. Tails, I'm beater." he prompted as his grin grew even wider. I shook my head violently in response, earning a roll of the eyes and an automatic flip of the coin. "Tails!" he shouted as the coin hovered between us mid-air.
Even though I still didn't want to attempt riding a broom, I leaned forward to see if it had truly landed on tails.

In the next second, Thomas zoomed into the sky above with a short bat in hand. I sighed in defeat and kicked off of the ground. I just hovered momentarily before the broom seemed to gain a mind of its own, speeding us into the air at what seemed like faster than light itself. I screamed like a banshee as the wind forced my hair in front of my eyes, completely blocking my view of a certain death. "WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!" I heard Thomas roar over the wind my speed had created. I grabbed onto the broomstick tightly with both hands and roughly pulled up. The wind died down in an instant and I found myself inches away from the large oak that had been in the field for ages.

I whipped my head around and threw a glare to Thomas. "You git! I could have-" I stopped talking as a heard a loud whirling noise to the right of me. I turned my head to see what it was coming from, and was hit square in the chest by a large ball. My sweaty hands struggled to get back up on the Nimbus as I plummeted down to the ground. I heard the crunching of leaves and a loud thump as I hit the ground. I tried to sit up but everything had suddenly turned dark....


I awoke to a cold liquid nipping at my face, threatening to freeze it off entirely. I slowly opened my eyes. The sun was blocking my view of the person leaning over me. "Am I..?" I started, noticing how week my voice sounded. "Am I dead?" I asked, unsure if I truly wanted the answer. My chest felt heavy and was aching in pain. I heard laughter to my side.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. You just looked so ridiculous on that broom, that I figured you should get down as quickly as possible. I couldn't believe it had to take someone else to do it for you though." a sneering voice had replaced the laughter. I lifted myself up on my elbows and glared at the figure, who I realized to be my cousin James. My fingers bumping into the Nimbus 2001 I'd just fallen from.

"Just you wait, James." I said as I grasped onto the broomstick and mounted it. I took off towards him. His face changed from its initial shock to fear. I could feel the warm air whipping around me as I got closer to my target. James bolted towards the house, making it to the door just before I did, turning to stick his tongue out at me as he did. I could hear Thomas' footsteps and laughter growing closer. I gently got off the broom and took a step closer to him. The fear in his eyes becoming ever more apparent. "BOO!" I yelled, before doubling over and joining Thomas in his laughter. My first experience on a broom hadn't been too skillful, but it had sure been fun!

Natalie grasped her new broom close to her, she had been waiting for this day for so long she could hardly believe it was here. Today was the day that her dad was going to teach her how to fly. She had woken at the crack of dawn and jumped on her mum and dads bed until he gave up and woke up. Natalie rushed out in her coat and gloves and was now stood waiting in their garden shivering.
"Okay Duckling" piped her Dad coming out of the side door still putting his coat on. He walked over to the broom cupboard and took his broom. He then walked over in to the middle of the lawn and mounted his broom.
"Now, I know your mum says you should be more lady like" he said clutching the broom between his legs "But you can't really fly properly side saddle so you have to do it like this" He gestured down to his position. "Come on" he urged her to come on to the lawn with him. With a smile on her face, Natalie hustled over and mounted her broom as he did.
"Good" He gave her a side hug and the carried on. "Right, all I want you to do now is kick off the ground hard, float and then I'll teach you how to land, okay Duckling?" he nodded.
"Okay dad" She giggled with excitement. Natalie looked strait forwards and concentrated hard.

She shut her eyes and bounced as hard as could up in to the air. The ground left her feet and there she was, flying , in a manor of speaking. Natalie opened her eyes with jubilation to find herself five feet in the air. She looked down and saw her dad's head just at the height of the end of her broom. She got excited and started swirling the broom side to side, barely missing her dad as he ducked out of the way.
"Careful now Natalie, don't get carried away. You loose control" Natalie dad warned but his warning fell on deaf ears. Natalie was already 7 feet in the air now in her own little world of exhilaration. Natalie closed her eyes again in bliss as the wind started to whip her face.
"Natalie, watch out for that tree?" She heard from across the lawn. She opened her eyes to see that she was hurtling towards the apple tree at the end of their garden.
"Oh No!" she screamed like a banshee, she pulled her broom to the right to avoid it but her broom spun in to the tree and Natalie dropped to the ground.
"Natalie!" her dad rushed over panicked. He dropped to his knees beside her and cradled her head in his hands.
"Duckling? Are you alright little Puddleduckling?" he winced at the bump on Natalie's head. She opened her eyes to see the blurred outline of her dad.
"Am I dead?" she asked trying to focus.
"Oh" her dad sighed in relief and laughed. "No Duckling, your not dead. I can't believe you did that, I told you just to float, not to shoot off." he said playfully rubbing her head.
"Oww! Yeah okay Dad, I was just so happy that I was flying. Best feeling in the world" She smiled.
"Well lets, have a few more lessons first before you try something like that again, eh? Your mum will kill me if those apples all get smashed" He laughed as he helped her back to her feet.

Okay, so what were they saying?, Cris tried to recall while nervously fiddling with the hem of her cloak. “Flying is eeeeasy, anyone can do it!”, her brothers had bragged after their glorious Quidditch team win the previous week. Cris had asked them so many times to teach her, but they insisted she was too young – as if! 5 is not that young! She would show them.

Having sneaked out of the house with her eldest brother’s broom, she was now standing in the back garden of their house with the broom at her feet. There was one problem - how should she go about leaving the ground in the first place? She was already sitting on the broom but it did not seem to want to take off. After some debating with herself she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and pushed herself off the ground and – suddenly shot into the sky.

I … did it?! I … I did it!! She was hovering gently just about two metres above the ground and, surprisingly enough, liked the feeling of it. She felt … tall. Her nerves were suddenly dissolved and she felt free and weightless. Let’s go!, Cris thought and leaned forward, gaining speed. She couldn’t believe it, it turned out to be so easy and the broom seemed to respond to the slightest change in her balance. In no time, she was zooming above the large garden, at what felt like amazing speed to her.

Just as she was trying to gain some more height, she heard a voice calling her in a commanding tone. Uh-oh, Cris thought and turned around to glimpse her brother at the far end of the garden. “Cris! Come down here this instant!”, he shouted at her – but who was she to care, when she was up here and he was down there. “Won’t!”, she shouted back and accelerated, flying higher until she couldn’t hear her brother’s voice anymore. She was flying higher and higher, and the exhilarating feeling was getting better with every extra metre – until, all of a sudden, she felt her broom tremble beneath her.

Oh, no! What now?, she thought as the trembling wouldn’t stop, and instead kept getting stronger. And then, to top it all, her broom suddenly halted – and began falling. Cold sweat began running down Cris’ forehead as she realised just from what height she was falling freely. She kept turning the broom, but it didn’t help. “AAAAAAAA!!! HEEEELP!”, Cris screamed like a banshee. “Watch out for that tree!”, she heard from below and just then noticed the tree that was approaching her a high speed. Although, it would be more appropriate to say, she was approaching the tree. “OHNONONONOOOOO….!!”, she screamed and blacked out.

She woke up on something soft. “Am I dead?...”, she mumbled as she felt someone gently slap her cheeks. “No, silly,” her brother replied, “although you could have been, had I not saved you”. So she had survived. She opened her eyes and found herself lying on the sofa, in the living-room. Her brother was frowning at her. “You know, that was dangerous. That broom you stole, it’s broken. I was just going to have it repaired, you know.” Cris nodded and shyly asked, “Will you tell mom …?” “Hmmm I might …. Let’s flip a coin. You win, I don’t. You lose, I do. Come on, heads or tails?!”. Cris looked at her brother and tears were slowly filling her little 5-year-old eyes. That worked, as her brother shook his head, patted her on the head and said, “OK, chipmunk, next weekend I’ll teach you to fly properly, how about that?”. Cris nodded happily and wiped her tears. She definitely wanted to fly again – the next time, properly.

Well done Cris!

GRYFFINDOR
SilverLady - 100 HP

Gryffindor to the Core: The First Flight

It was my first year at Hogwarts, being slightly underweight, and short for my age I was petrified to go anywhere near a broomstick. Being muggle-born I had never knew a broom to fly, it was used for sweeping not whatever kind of game quiddicth was.

Madame Hootch blew her whistle to quiet the chatter of eager/terrified firsties. She started giving instructions and what was being said went in though one ear out though he other. I then noticed as everyone left and stood beside the brooms lined up on the grass. I followed taking small steps toward my doom. I watched as students yelled "up" with their right hand above the broom sticks.

Several brooms hovered in the air for a few moments before tumbling back to earth, while others flopped and rolled over miserably. I nervously extend my trembling hand when Madame Hooch comes up beside me.

She bent down and in a hushed whisper asked "Are you a muggle born?"

I give a silent nod, biting my bottom lip

"Then I guess having brooms that fly are new, the first part is simple simply say up with your right hand steady over the broom, I promise nothing bad will happen"


She then placed her hand on my back and urged my foward. I took a finally step beside the broomstick, while Madame Hooch took off toward a boy, who couldn't even get his broom to move.

I looked around seeing that no one had gotten their brooms up.

I then called "up" strongly with but with a slight quiver in my voice

To my and all the other children's amazement the broom shot up into my outstretched hand. I looked up at our professor who smiled at me. Shortly after the last broom was gripped, I waited for further instructions when suddenly a boy was in the air, jerking side to side a panicked look on his face. Madam Hooch was screaming like a banshee for him to come down, while he jerked the handle at random and rose higher.

Without thinking I swung a leg over my and kicked off hard. I pulled up on the handle and nearly went flying off, I then caught my balance and angled the end up slightly, I rose higher meeting the boys height. I rode up beside him and showed him what to do, ignoring Madame Hooch's yelling.

He frantically grasped the way I was holding and pulled down hard, he went spiralling into the whomping willow.

"Watch out for the tree" one of the girls shouted

Quickly thinking I leaned forward on my broom after him. What happened next was a blur, I couldn't believe it I saved his life, I literally saved his life, he would have died. Though, now I needed to worry about myself, am I dead? Once He and I had safely landed Madame Hooch rushed over to us. He and I were going to speak with our heads of houses, after being checked by Madame Pomfrey of course.

While walked (well I was pretty much dragged) toward the castle I heard two Slytherin boys betting.

"7 sickles, she gets kicked out!"

"5 she doesn't."

"Fine, you call it heads or tails?"

"Heads!"

"Wrong! It's tails!"

"Fine! 7 it is!"

It turns out I was fine and so was the boy except a couple broken ribs on his part and scrapes and bruises on mine. I also wasn't expelled, just put our house points at -150 but for a silver lining I am a chaser for the Gryffindor quidditch team, McGonagall pulled some strings! I also was told to be a true Gryffindor, loyal and brave to the core