Does this count as advanced? on Quidditch Pitch

Coach Amelia Pierce

January 24, 2011 1:22 PM

Flying Lessons for First Years by Coach Amelia Pierce

As Sonora's Coach, Amelia Pierce only taught one class: Flying Lessons, which was given only to first years (though older students could attend if they wanted to and signed up in advance). It was more than enough for her and she did not envy the full professors their workload.

It was generally a popular class among the kids because there were no homework nor tests, and half the class was allowed to play broom tag or a pick-up game of quidditch for most of it while the true beginners were given basic lessons. The rest were only expected to participate to the best of their ability.

As long as everyone spent the entire period sitting on a broom in the air and at least attempting to do as instructed, they passed. It was not a difficult class by any stretch of the imagination. The final exam was flying from one end of the pitch to the other and back without crashing. That got an A. If they could do in under ten minutes it was an E. Under five earned an O. Most kids earned Es and Os in her class.

"Hello," she greeted her new class of first years once they seemed to have stopped trickling in. She allowed for 'getting lost time' the first week, but she'd dock points for poor punctuality later. She was Head of Crotalus; it was practically in her job discription to be a stickler for rules. "My name is Coach Pierce. I will be your flying instructor this year."

"Now, I know most of you will not view this as a 'real' class, but I do have the authority to take House Points and assign detention, and I will if I have any problems. I expect you to show up on time. I expect you to behave and show each other respect. I will not tolerate insults or taunting of any form. I expect everyone to try, including the girls. No exceptions. I assure you, no matter how much they support WAIL, your parents will not disown you for hovering on a broom and flying across the pitch."

She took a breath, and used the short pause to look around the group to make sure they were still listening. "That said, I am aware some of you already know how to fly. I offer those students the priviledge of forgoing the basic lessons and doing whatever you like so long as you are on your broom and flying for the duration of the lesson. I have Quaffles and other muggle varieties of balls available for your use. Later, once I know I can trust you, I'll allow bludgers and Snitches if you like. If you need anything else, let me know and I'll see what I can do."

She waited a moment to let them try to imagine what other equipment they might need for more creative flying games, then added, "Just remember, this is a priviledge and if I have any problems with you fighting amongst yourself or interferring with my lessons, you will all be down here hovering five feet over the ground with the beginners."

With that threat levied, she expected not to have any problems with the experienced kids. "Now I'm going to call role, and then anyone who feels they do not need basic instruction may go play. Please raise your hand and say 'here' when I call your name. Adair, Alice." She went through the list, marking attendance, and then put away her clipboard. She had taken note of her cousin's presence, as she had everyone else, but made no attempt to single him out. She would not show that kind of bias. "Okay, that's it. If I didn't call your name, let me know. Experienced fliers, you may take to the air. School brooms are over there, if you don't have your own."

She gave a few seconds for unnamed students to make themselves known and for the fliers to get out of the way. "Everyone else, line up here." Her wand flicked out and a white line appeared in the grass. "If you have your own broom put it down beside you. To your right if you're right-handed, to your left if you're left-handed."

Once they did that, Amelia started handing out brooms to those who didn't have one yet. "Put it to your right if you're right-handed, to the left if you're left-handed," she repeated as she moved down the line. Once they all had brooms beside them, she instructed, "Now hold your wand hand out over your broom, like this," she stepped over her own broom, lying in the grass, so that it was to her right. She held out her right hand over it. "Palm down. Now, in a firm voice, like if you're ordering a dog to sit, tell it to come to your hand by saying 'up' - Up!" she said, louder, in demonstration, and her broom leapt up directly into her hand.

"I'd like you all to try that. You may need to try it a couple of times to get it to work. Once it's in your hand, just swing one leg over it like this," she demonstrated climbing onto the broom, "and just hover there for a bit. Try to keep steady and not drift too much. Raise your hand if you have a question or a problem. Barring too many of those, I'll show you how to manuever once everybody gets into a hover."

OOC: Hello and welcome to Sonora. Your character earns points for their House by participating in classes, so be sure to follow the posting rules. Long quality posts earn the most points. Have fun!

Subthreads:

Advanced Students Play Here (nm) by Coach Pierce with Derwent Pierce IV, Josephine Owen

Beginner Students Lesson Here (nm) by Coach Pierce with Ayita Bly of Pecari House, Fae Sinclair (Crotalus), Regina Parker (Teppenpaw)

1 Coach Amelia Pierce Flying Lessons for First Years 20 Coach Amelia Pierce 1 5

Coach Pierce

January 24, 2011 1:22 PM

Advanced Students Play Here (nm) by Coach Pierce

0 Coach Pierce Advanced Students Play Here (nm) 0 Coach Pierce 0 5

Coach Pierce

January 24, 2011 1:23 PM

Beginner Students Lesson Here (nm) by Coach Pierce

0 Coach Pierce Beginner Students Lesson Here (nm) 0 Coach Pierce 0 5

Ayita Bly of Pecari House

January 24, 2011 7:27 PM

Magickal flight! I would like this very much! by Ayita Bly of Pecari House

Ayita had been very surprised when she became aware of Flying Lessons. Magickal people could fly?! It was thrilling to hear that! The new Pecari had only ever seen birds fly, nothing more. Sometimes in the village baskets were strung through windows across the streets below, but those only appeared to be flying, not really. She had never expected flight to be part of the deal.

This whole new Magickal world was such a mystery to the child. She wondered if all Outsiders had Magick, and how her father had managed to obtain the Outsider eye if they did. Her father was pampered as a child, the beloved king-to-be, so she could hardly imagine him defeating a Magickal Outsider in a fight. No, there must have been non-Magickal Outsiders as well.

Ayita was very much excited to go to the Quidditch Pitch; she did not know who or what Quidditch was, nor why the person or thing had its own Pitch--and her definition of a Pitch was still somewhat hazy--but it was out of doors, which made the grey-eyed Cherokee-descendant happy. Back home, there was an out of doors, but there was no Heavens. The Heavens here, so clear and blue with fluffy-looking streaks of white that rolled along, were so beautiful.

Smiling, she made her way to where an adult was standing, other children crowding around. Ayita liked this adult--Coach Pierce--because she seemed nice and sincere about helping them learn flight, but she was very confused as well. What did she mean, not a “real” class in some of the students’ opinions? Was it false? Ayita also did not understand why Coach Pierce had to mention everyone having to try; wasn’t that a given? Why would any one--the girls?--not want to try flight? Were they afraid of heights?

More confusion set in when the coach began to call their names with the instructions to say “here” when she got to oneself. Also, she was saying the names oddly, like a pause between them. When she heard “Bly, Ayita,” she glanced around. How funny that someone was named Bly Ayita when her own name was Ayita Bly. She scanned her fellow classmates, but when none of them responded, she frowned. Oh well. Bly Ayita must not have been present.

When the coach asked, Ayita raised her hand. “You did not say my name, Coach Pierce,” she informed politely. “I am Ayita Bly.” With a nod, she turned and hurried to the school brooms. The brooms were very odd-looking and wooden, not at all shaped the way her people cleaned. They used tree branches with prickly leaves. Also, she did not understand how a cleaning utensil could fly, but if Magick said it was so, then it was. She grabbed a broom and scurried back over.

Upon instruction to do so, the tan-skinned brunette dropped her borrowed broomstick to the right of her body, being right-handed. She was not sure what a “wand hand” was, but when she witnessed others sticking the hand on the side the broom was on out, she assumed that was the correct hand. It was the hand she held her Magick Styck with, she noted.

When the instructions concluded, Ayita smiled down at her borrowed broom. “Up,” she asked nicely. The broom scooted slightly around on the ground, but it did not rise. “Why do you not come up as I wish?” she inquired. “It’s not very nice of you at all. Now, I say again: Up!” This time, it was more of a command, but still, she could not get it more than five inches off of the ground. Observing that her neighbor had apparently succeeded, Ayita tapped their shoulder lightly and said, “Please, how do I get this broom into my hand with Magick? It is not rising as I wish.” As it had to be whenever she spoke to an Outsider, she spoke crisply and with purpose, to make sure the other student understood her.

0 Ayita Bly of Pecari House Magickal flight! I would like this very much! 0 Ayita Bly of Pecari House 0 5

Derwent Pierce IV

January 25, 2011 11:48 AM

Staying clear of the Impostor by Derwent Pierce IV

Derry had not realized until he looked more closely at his schedule that Sonora required first years to take Flying Lessons. That, in itself, was not a bad thing. Derry already knew how to fly, but that wasn't the problem either. The problem was that the instructor listed on his schedule was Amelia Pierce. The person Father had warned him about, the one who was trying to impersonate Thad's dead sister.

Mom had saved a few pictures of Three from the purge. The Accident had been a bad time for the family, and a lot of the old pictures had been destroyed because sometimes it was easier to just pretend the casualties had never existed, but Derry had seen a few. This Amelia looked older than the Amelia in the pictures, but he could see why she thought she could pass as Thad's sister. She probably used Dark Magic to make herself look that way.

Derry shuddered a little and kept to the back of the group of first years. He grabbed hold of his new friends to stop them from getting too close either. "Careful," he whispered in a low tone toward them, "That's a Dark Witch impostor. The real Amelia Pierce died twelve years ago."

Fortunately, as she began talking, Derry realized he could spend most of her classes well away from her. The worst thing he had to do was raise his hand and draw attention to himself when she called out, "Pierce, Derwent the Fourth." She didn't say anything though, which he wasn't quite sure how to take. She had to know he was the heir to the family she was trying to pretend to be from. His name gave that away clearly enough.

But she said nothing, and sent him and the other kids who knew how to fly away without a second look. It was weird and he didn't like it. But he could avoid it for now, and he was good with that.

He carefully put aside his tricorner hat (he didn't want it falling off and getting lost while he was flying high above the ground) and mounted the broom that had been his dead brother's. He flew high up into the air at the invitation to do so. Once he was far enough away from the Beginners that he didn't risk interfering with their lesson, he called out to some of the other flying students, "So Broom Tag or something else?"

1 Derwent Pierce IV Staying clear of the Impostor 189 Derwent Pierce IV 0 5

Josephine Owen

January 25, 2011 11:50 AM

Does this count as advanced? by Josephine Owen

Despite having pestered her brother to tell her loads about the school before she started, all Josephine had managed to extract about her various teachers were that they were all 'okay.' However, as even this limited account was coming from an Aladren who liked teachers better than anyone, the first year Pecari decided she was safer to come to her own conclusions.

Like with Coach Pierce, for instance, who seemed nice enough but potentially scary if you got on the wrong side of her. Plus she was Head of Crotalus, and everyone knew that's the House where the psychopaths ended up. Josephine was pleased not have not ended up there, but Coach Pierce looked like a nice enough Head of House. Pecari's head of house was awesome and he wore a pink bubble hat that was super cool.

As an experienced flier (or, she had flown on a broomstick before, at any rate), Josephine was permitted to leave the group of complete beginners and fly how she chose. She had to go and select a school broomstick to borrow because she hadn't brough her own. Technically she did have a broomstick at home, but it was so old and battered that even the school brooms would feel brand new in comparison.

Laying her selected broom on the floor, Josephine placed her right hand over it, and commanded the broom up. It obeyed on first instruction, which already made it better than her own broom. Swinging her leg over, Josephine hoevered and enjoyed the relative ease with which the broom followed her instructions in turning and tilting. once she'd gotten a feel for its movement, she hoevered over to another first year who'd joined her in the advanced group. "We could play catch or something if you like," she suggested.

0 Josephine Owen Does this count as advanced? 196 Josephine Owen 0 5

Fae Sinclair (Crotalus)

January 25, 2011 6:02 PM

Let's get this over with. by Fae Sinclair (Crotalus)

After having followed the Coach to the common room for Crotalus (the painting of the zombie was disgusting) and listening to her speech, Fae had no idea on how to take the woman. She seemed absolutely against anyone who came from a decent family. Anyone whose name actually meant something important in the magical world. Fae could understand her Head of House wanting the peace to be maintained amongst her students, but she didn’t understand why she was putting the emphasis on families. Not all families feel the need to assault those of different statuses. It would be great if her own Head of House didn’t so openly state how against people from certain families. That certainly wasn’t cohesive to what she was preaching.

Her own teaching skills on the field still maintained her hate and even went so far as to specify just the girls. Who cared about W.A.I.L. and D.I.S.C.U.S.S.? Fae had heard about both campaigns and although her mother sided with W.A.I.L. (but only for the reason she felt girls shouldn’t play, not because she felt they spontaneously became gay. Her mother wasn’t that much of a moron), her mother was also aware of the curriculum and that including taking flying lessons. Those campaigns had to do with sports, not flying on a broom. So, as long as Coach Pierce didn’t demand that they all play Quidditch as soon as they mastered the broom, than there shouldn’t be any sort of problem.

Fae tied her blonde waves back into a pony-tail as she got ready to start the lesson and try to fly a broom herself. She had never needed to ride a broom before, but she had seen her brother ride one. He had offered to take her on it, but Shelby told her that she wasn’t allowed. Fae found out later from her mother that she would have been allowed, but Shelby was terrified of heights and didn’t want Fae to be able to do something she never could.

Having chosen to wear khaki trousers that day due to this lesson, Fae was confident that this lesson would go easy for her. All she had to do was tell the broom to come to her and float around for a little bit. She could do this. Choosing a broom, Fae set it down and held her hand out over it. “Up.” She said in a firm voice. The broom quivered for a moment before slowly rising to meet her palm. Ha. She totally had this lesson in the bag.

Pulling the broom close, Fae mounted it as the Coach had done and gently lifted her feet off the ground. She managed to hover for a few seconds when the broom suddenly shifted, her weight going to one side, flipping her slightly until she lost her balance and fell the foot back to the ground. “Ow!” Fae cried out when she hit the ground, although she wasn’t hurt, just annoyed. “Stupid broom.” How was a person supposed to balance on a piece of stick?

0 Fae Sinclair (Crotalus) Let's get this over with. 0 Fae Sinclair (Crotalus) 0 5

Ben Holland

January 26, 2011 5:21 PM

That's a bit far fetched. by Ben Holland

Ben had been waiting for flying lessons forever. He had been able to fly since he was four, but never with so many people his own age. He was curious where his skills were compared to his fellow first years. He gripped his Lightning Streak 380 as he ran down to the pitch. He couldn't wait to break in his new broom. Cy had only told him the password the day term started, so he couldn't use it until he reached school.

Ben was beyond excited when the teacher told them that fliers could pretty much goof off the entire time. He was shocked when Four grabbed him and whisper something about a Dark Witch impostor and a dead Amelia Pierce. Ben shook his head, finding it a bit odd, "How do you know?" he whispered back, "You weren't alive twelve years ago. Who says that there's something you don't know?"

He took off, hovering next to Four in the air. He didn't want to tick him off already, but he didn't believe in putting complete faith in something that couldn't be proved. Maybe he was wrong, but that didn't mean that he couldn't ask a question and be skeptic. He looked at his fellow Teppenpaw, "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I just like to see a different view."

0 Ben Holland That's a bit far fetched. 0 Ben Holland 0 5

Jessica Applerose

January 26, 2011 6:26 PM

I don't understand... by Jessica Applerose

Jessica looked at her timecard and smiled. Flying lessons? She'd been flying since she could walk! Well, maybe not that long, but long enough to be good at it.

Her father had just gotten her an Aero 2010 for her birthday, and she was excited to try it out. It was supposed to be fast, and she liked speed very much.

She recongized Derry and Ben in her class, and she tried to make her way over to them, when she heard Derry tell Ben something. Something about a dark witch and their professor? She would ask him about it once they were in the air.

In a few short moments, they were dismissed, so Jess rushed over to where they were. They'd already flown up into the air, so Jessica mounted and flew up to join them. The broom rose magnificently, and Jess was pleased. Her dad had made a good investment in it.

"Hey guys," she greeted them. "Our instructor is a dark witch?" she asked, making sure the others couldn't hear her. Maybe it was a secret? She was pretty confused. Then she smiled. "Hey, our instructor's name is Pierce. Are you related to her, Derry?"

0 Jessica Applerose I don't understand... 0 Jessica Applerose 0 5

Derry Four

January 26, 2011 7:31 PM

Twelve Years Ago by Derry Four

"Father said," Derry told Ben when his roommate questioned the veracity of his claim, but taking off and flying up to an altitude sufficiently over the ground gave him time to remember Hamlet's warning: Father isn't always right. Derry hadn't known what to make of the comment at the time, but surely it wasn't about this, was it? Father would know how his own son died and who died with him.

Jessica soon joined them, and Derry hovered between his two new friends, frowning at her question as he tried to figure out what he should tell them about it. They were flying on their brooms and not fighting, so he figured they were meeting all the requirements the Impostor had given for participating in her class. Even if they were conspiring against her a little bit.

"She's trying to make people think she's my cousin, Amelia Pierce, Thad's sister," he tried to explain. "But there was an accident, twelve years ago. Everyone was at gramma's for a reunion and a potion some of them were making blew up. Amelia and her brother Arnold, my brother Derry Three, the twins' oldest sister Belinda, and great-grandfather Derwent the First were all killed in the blast." He shuddered a little and hoped none of the potions that the professor here would teach them were dangerous enough to kill everyone in the room.

"That witch," he nodded down at the Coach, not quite daring to point blatantly, "is trying to convince people she survived and that she is my lost cousin. Father says she's an impostor, but she looks just like the old pictures, so she has to be a dark witch or she wouldn't look so much like us, would she?"

1 Derry Four Twelve Years Ago 189 Derry Four 0 5

Regina Parker (Teppenpaw)

January 26, 2011 9:51 PM

Soar like the wind! by Regina Parker (Teppenpaw)

Regina was both excited and less than thrilled about flying lessons. For one, Regina was not by any means athletic. She was small in stature, but not athletic. She didn’t run. She didn’t play sports. She didn’t exercise. She didn’t do a lot of things and had no plans on starting them. She also never planned on flying. She wasn’t afraid of heights or anything logical like that which would be decent reasons for not flying. She just never had any inclinations to want to fly. She’d always used floo and side apparated with her dad. Flying wasn’t a necessity for her and since she would not be going out for Quidditch, this class was just useless to her. But, at the same time, she was going to fly and that’s just a cool thought in and of itself.

She had walked down to the pitch along side her Teppenpaw pals and had heard Derry say something about the Coach being a dark witch impostor. She wasn’t sure what that meant. Was the Coach pretending to be a dark witch? Or pretending to be Amelia Pierce who had been a dark witch? Reggie didn’t get a change to ask because class was starting and apparently Derry, Jessica, and Ben were all flyers already. Reggie pouted as they walked off and was handed a school broom.

Dropping the broom on her left side, Reggie did as the professor instructed. Putting her wand hand, which was her left hand, above the broom, she said ‘up’. The broom wiggled but did not rise off the ground. Stubborn broom. Reggie tried again, this time with more emphasis and enthusiasm. Still only a wiggle. Reggie sighed. Of course she has the defective broom. Reggie looked around to see the progress of the other students. Some were doing as well as she was, which wasn’t well at all, but others were able to already jump on their brooms and hover off the ground.

Reggie seriously regretted not picking up a broom before other than to clean the house with. If she had previous experience with a broom, she could already be in the air and already be done with all of this.

“No quitters here.” Regina said to herself. “Up!” Regina demanded of her broom, louder than she intended, but with the force that she wanted. Much to her surprise, the broom sprang into her hand. “Hm… you just like a little dominance then, is it?” Regina was talking to the broom. Even she was aware of how crazy that was. So she stopped.

Taking the next step, Reggie swung her leg over the broom, careful to make sure she wasn’t close enough to someone to accidentally kick them and then allowed herself to lift into the air. It was a bit shaky at first because Reggie had never really had to balance all of her weight before, but it took only a few moments before she managed to get herself situated. “This isn’t so bad, right?” She asked the person flying closest to her.

6 Regina Parker (Teppenpaw) Soar like the wind! 187 Regina Parker (Teppenpaw) 0 5

Ben

January 26, 2011 10:58 PM

Are you positive? by Ben

When Four declared he knew because "Father said", Ben had to keep from rolling his eyes. Some people put too much trust in their father. When he explained the situation further, Ben felt that something was missing. Why would she want to impersonate Thad's sister? What kind of potion incident killed everyone in the room?

He greeted Jessica with a slight smile. Then he turned to Four, looking at him with doubt. Maybe it was just him, but he felt like something was missing. "Why would she pretend to be your cousin? And I mean, you never know, Four. Maybe she managed to escape, and now her family won't even believe it's really her. I mean, I'm all for avoiding her if you're right, but if you're wrong, I feel sorry for her."

He knew he was probably stepping out of line, but he couldn't help it. What if they were all wrong and Coach Pierce was being rejected by her family, instead of being celebrated. Unless they had solid proof that the real Amelia was dead, then nothing was completely true. "I hope I didn't cross the line, I've just read to many novels." He turned to Jessica, "What's your opinion on all this, Jess?" He realized that he had never been invited to shorten her name, and immediately added, "-ica. Sorry."

0 Ben Are you positive? 0 Ben 0 5

Jessica

January 27, 2011 6:15 PM

That's unfortunate. by Jessica

Jessica listened to Derry's story and nodded. It was beginning to make sense. Potion accidents were serious, she knew. Her father, as an apothecary, had been in several. It was easy to mess up on a potion, or accidentally drop in one too many of an ingredient, or accidentally add a fatal ingredient.

Ben was very skeptical about the whole ordeal, and she understand that as well, though she could believe Derry's story. She felt sad that some of Derry's family members had been killed in such a tragic way. She couldn't imagine what she would do if her parents were killed in a potions accident. Then she'd be all alone.

The fear that gripped her at that thought made her hands clutch her broom a little tighter. She quickly banished the thought. Whenever she imagined being all alone, she became anxious and had panic attacks. She never wanted to be alone.

Ben asked for her opinion, and she came back to. "You can call me Jess," she said. "I can understand. You're rich, so anyone could want to impersonate your cousin to get money and land and power or whatever else you have." She grew solemn. "And I'm sorry that some of your family was killed in a potions accident," she said. "That's tragic. My dad's been in a lot of potion's accidents, being an apothecary and all, so I know that it's easy to mess up potions. Making them explode is even easier."

Jess quickly turned to Ben. "Not to ignore your point of view," she said. She didn't want to upset one of her new friends. "I can also see why you'd be skeptical." To her, there were always two stories. It seemed like a mystery novel she'd read. "It'd be interesting to get to the bottom of this," she said.

Jessica looked down at the ground far below them at the instructor. "Does she look exactly like your cousin?" she asked.

0 Jessica That's unfortunate. 0 Jessica 0 5

Derry Four

January 27, 2011 7:05 PM

It's the truth as I know it by Derry Four

Derry scratched his head as Ben offered a theory that seemed far-fetched to him. But then, he'd grown up with the knowledge that Amelia was dead. It wasn't until Father started giving him Advice About Sonora that anybody even mentioned the impostor. Ben came from it backwards. He'd known about the impostor first and then found out Amelia was dead. It probably didn't seem as much like a fact to him.

After all, Ben didn't exist because a potions explosion killed off half the family's heirs and they'd needed to make new ones.

For that same reason, he wasn't entirely sure how to take Jessica's offer of sympathy. While it was sad that Derry Three and the others had died, Derry Four had never known any of them and wouldn't even be alive if they hadn't. But it was polite to say "Thank you," so he did, even if she ought to be saying it to Mom instead of him. He decided he'd pass it along to the rightful recipient in his next letter home.

"No," he assured Ben, "It's okay to ask. But I'm pretty sure the family's got good reason to believe Amelia and Arnold are both really and truly dead, or Aunt Katrina and Uncle Thesius wouldn't have had needed to have Thaddeus when Uncle Thesius was over sixty and Aunt Katrina was over forty. Amelia and Arnold had both been grown-ups already."

He nodded in agreement to Jessica's assessment as to why someone might try to impersonate Amelia. "Yeah, as Thad's sister, if Amelia were still alive, she'd be given a spending allowance and she'd be allowed to live at Thad's house, which is a really nice place - not as nice as the Heir's House, of course, but Thad's father was the second son, so it's next best. Obviously, she'd only have those until she got married, but she'd have a good sized dowery, and Pierces are a respectable pureblood family, so she'd be in a position to maybe marry someone even richer than us."

He looked down at the Coach again and tried to remember the old pictures as well as he could. "I mean, she's older - Amelia was twenty-one when she died - so they're not exactly the same, but enough that I don't think she could look that much like her without using some kind of magic. Thad's sister used to coach at Durmstrang so maybe somebody there got some of her hair or something."

1 Derry Four It's the truth as I know it 189 Derry Four 0 5

Topher Calhoun

January 30, 2011 9:48 PM

I guess it does now by Topher Calhoun

Topher wasn’t super enthused about flying lessons, but nor was he against them. Excluding the few people who would be both very athletic and very rich enough to live enough in isolation for flying high and wide to be legal, he thought he could probably fly as well as anyone else in the year, and that meant this class would be an easy O. His parents, of course, would know it was an easy O, so they wouldn’t be too impressed, but at least it would give them something to brag about at work. He thought they were smart enough to know not to mention it was only flying lessons he was sailing through instead of Transfiguration or something.

He hoped, anyway.

He hadn’t, to his disappointment, managed to wrangle a new broom out of the off-to-school package, but his was only about three years old, and he’d kept it in good shape, so he took it down to the Pitch with him. The teacher for this class was his Head of House, and it wasn’t going to help him blend in that he’d signed up for the House Quidditch team. With blending in not an option, the only solution was to act as confident and prepared as possible. It was kind of amazing, how people would just go with things if someone looked like they had a clue what they were doing and were supposed to be doing it. When his name was called, he winced as much at the ‘Christopher’ as at the hyphenation in his name. He was seriously gonna have to tell his dad to talk to whoever he happened to know in the school affairs place (his dad often appeared to have, to be as low-level as he was, a guy he was buddies with, or who owed him a favor, everywhere), but for now, he just had to answer. And correct her about calling him Christopher. He had no idea how he’d come to be named that in the first place, since it rhymed with “Proctor,” but it was worse now that it gave him alliteration.

“Here,” he said. “It’s just Topher, though.” Christopher Calhoun sounded like someone on a soap – or worse, like someone who read lines for a soap. He knew that hadn’t been his mom’s intention, she couldn’t have predicted her future husband’s last name four years before she met him, but that was still what it sounded like.

He was happy to hear that they didn’t all have to hover five feet off the ground for a week or so before they did anything, at least if they’d already gotten past the hovering five feet off the ground stage. He guessed he’d been about eight when his dad realized he’d never gotten around to learning that useful skill and had taught him. He’d been a quick study, though still not quite as quick as he’d been when his dad had, in greater secrecy than he’d taught him the basics of flying, taught him how to play cards.

He didn’t try anything fancy once he was in the air with the other people who knew a bit already, not like he might have at home, both because he was afraid of running over someone and because, he was rapidly discovering, he was a little less eager to risk his neck when there were no points to be gained from doing so. People here operated under a different system; doing stupid stuff here lost points, and not just for him. He would really rather not have Fae, Alice, and Phoenix, not to mention all the older Crotali, coming after him with machetes because he lost them fifty gazillion points doing something dumb on the Quidditch Pitch.

Stability. So easy. Who knew? He had to make sure his mom didn’t find out about this, otherwise she’d be able to control his every move.

He was wondering what the Teppenpaws were doing over there and if the lot of them were really going to travel in a pack for the next seven years when, to his surprise, a girl he didn’t know flew up to him and offered to play catch like they were old acquaintances. Had they met before and he just didn’t remember it? No, he really didn’t have a clue who she was. That was cool, though. This school contained very few people he knew, and only one he hadn’t just met. “Sure,” he said. “I’ll go get a Quaffle.” Since that looked like the largest kind of ball they had available, and was the one he was most familiar with the throwing of. He tossed it at his bold new pal as he flew back toward his previous position. Taking both hands off the broom while flying at an angle made him feel a little unbalanced, but he thought he hid it okay. “I’m Topher, by the way.” She might have caught that during the roll call, but there were a lot of Teppenpaws, and a few everyone elses. He couldn’t remember all the names he’d heard.

0 Topher Calhoun I guess it does now 192 Topher Calhoun 0 5

Josephine

February 03, 2011 3:18 PM

With the no hands and stuff by Josephine

The boy Josephine had approached simply because he was nearest didn't object to her suggestion of catch, and went off to go get a quaffle. Josephine flew in a small circle while she waited for him to return, getting to know her broom. As the boy flew back with a quaffle, he threw it at her. Josephine caught it with a small wobble, thanks to plenty of years of throwing and catching practise in the back yard. Then the boy introduced himself (which was handy, as now Josephine didn't have to keep thinking of him as 'that boy'). "Ah, Topher not Christopher," she recalled from the register at the start of class. "I'm Josephine." She had been called various shortened versions of her name by people who couldn't be bothered with all three syllables but she actually liked her whole name and used the full version herself.

She threw the quaffle back to her partner, just using her right hand to throw while she used her left hand to steady herself on the broom. Just until she'd gotten into the swing of it. "So I take it you've been raised in a magical environment," she surmised, considering Topher wasn't over in the beginners' group learning how to hold a broomstick. The term 'magical environment' was one she'd heard her parents use when James had started Sonora, and then again just at the end of summer. They wanted to remind their children that Muggleborns would be attnending the school, too, and background was by no means valid basis for discrimination. As if they needed to be told that.

With her hands temprarily free, Josephine brushed back some strands of hair that seem to have loose from her ponytail. If she'd thought about it properly she would have braided her hair before class, because the end of her chestnut-colored ponytail was currently wrapping itself round her broomstick. She's be sure to tie it up properly for the next class - she'd never found that long hair was good when mixed with sports. Not that flying lessons were a sport exactly, but they were close enough to count. "You signing up for Quidditch?" she asked Topher. It seemed a reasonable question considering they were currently tossing a quaffle about while flying.

0 Josephine With the no hands and stuff 0 Josephine 0 5

Topher

February 12, 2011 11:20 PM

Famous last words, those by Topher

“Yep,” Topher said, not sure if he was pleased to have that remembered or not. “That’s me.” He would have preferred it if no one ever bothered to think it through to realize he had a full name. The source of his aversion to the name Christopher wasn’t clear even to him, but he thought it might have something to do the way that everyone, if they knew that was what was on his birth certificate, would automatically try to call him Chris. Which didn’t take him any closer to knowing why he really didn’t want to be called Chris, but he wasn’t in Aladren for a reason. It was enough for him that some things just were.

“Nice meeting you, Josephine,” he added, the way Mom had taught him. It was ingrained habit to respond to an introduction that way, repeating the new person’s name so it would stick. It was also habit to shake hands with new people, but he figured they could pass on that until after the game of catch.

Hearing the question, he fumbled the Quaffle a little when she threw it back to him, but kept it in grip in the end. “Pretty much,” he said, thinking over his background. “We’ve got lots of Muggleborns in the family, but even they don’t go back to the Muggle world a lot. Mom took some of us out, once, so we could see that they’re people, too, but we didn’t stay long.” They had eaten lunch at a strange restaurant with a big yellow ‘M’ over the door, but Topher’s main memory of the occasion was an impression of crowds and noise and movement and – he wasn’t sure why this had stuck out, even above the black and gray boxes with the shiny, glassy fronts that showed moving pictures with sounds and could be changed to show other ones – devices he didn’t know what were, but which many people held against their heads while talking to people who weren’t there. “Guess you are, too,” he observed, tossing the Quaffle back with both hands to make up for his fumble.

There was nothing wrong with the wizarding world, or at least he hoped there wasn’t since it was where he and everyone he knew had always been, but he had decided that one day, he was going to go back out into the Muggle world for a while. Everything was bigger there, and exotic and exciting, not completely familiar and predictable. He guessed he’d settle down eventually, the way everyone except Ava seemed to, but he intended to enjoy what the family called Young Adulthood a lot more than most of his cousins seemed to. He couldn’t even imagine Thomas doing something a little wild and crazy.

He nodded when Josephine asked if he was signing up for Quidditch. “Yeah,” he called back, watching for another pass. “I don’t guess I’ll be on the team for real, but at least my name’ll be there for when people graduate, right?” He grinned. “Should I expect to play against you then?”

0 Topher Famous last words, those 0 Topher 0 5