Some Witches are Insane by Lily of the US
Chapter Notes: This took forever, I know, and I'm sorry. But here it is. Please review, and I hope you like it! There is some language in this chapter, but not as strong as most kids my age use in RL! ;-)
The week passed quickly, and before long they were doing magic in every class. Ria found herself able to do most of the spells fairly easily, though her best subject became, surprisingly, Transfiguration. Punita excelled at Defence Against the Dark Arts, but only because she hung onto Professor Potter’s every word. Pillow fights were no longer a nightly affair, though there were occasional blows exchanged every once in a while.
The most exciting thing that happened during that week was their first flying lesson. On Friday afternoon, during their last period class, all of the first years headed down to the Quidditch field, shedding robes and ties in the heat.
Madam Chang was waiting there, smiling at the first years. “How lucky are we that we have no bad teachers?” whispered Punita as they lined up next to their broomsticks.
“I know,” Ria whispered back. “It’s brilliant.”
“You know, Harry Potter…” began Punita, but Ria interrupted her.
“I really don’t care. He’s great and all, but I trust that you know every detail of his childhood.” For a moment Punita looked hurt, but then she saw Ria’s smirk and rolled her eyes.
“Okay, first years, why don’t you step up next to a broom, and when I say ‘go,’ hold out your hand and say ‘up.’”
A few Muggleborns looked amused. “Is she joking?” whispered Ria.
Punita shook her head. “If you’re good, it works. If you’re not, then you’ll get the hang of it eventually.”
“Go!” shouted Madam Chang, before everyone was ready.
Shouts of “up” filled the air, but only a few brooms obeyed. Ellie’s, Thom’s (Ellie’s brother), Kayonga (a Gryffindor boy), and several other children Ria didn’t know. Punita’s and a few other students’ twitched or rolled over, but Ria’s and nearly everyone else’s stayed put.
One girl, some way down the line, was unsuccessful on her first attempt, but on the second try, her broom shot upwards at such a speed that Ria thought it should have knocked her out.
“Did you see that?” she said, smacking Punita’s arm with the back of her hand until Punita stopped saying, “up” and turned to Ria.
“What?” she said, snapping her head around so fast that her braid hit the person on her other side.
“That girl’s broom- it came up like a rocket!”
“That’s what brooms are supposed to do,” sighed Punita. Then, grinning at the look on Ria’s face, she asked, “Which one?” eyes roaming the line.
“The creepy-looking one.” This was true. The Slytherin girl was wearing black jeans under her robes, and she had on heavy eyeliner.
Punita grinned. “That’s Jade. Our parents are friends.”
“A Slytherin?” Ria asked. From what she had understood, Punita hated Slytherins.
“Oh, some of them are alright. Jade’s nice, but she can be a bit depressing.”
“Yeah, she looks it,” Ria agreed. Then she turned to her broom again and said, “Up!” It didn’t fly up, but it did twitch a little. Six tries later, it was in her hand.
“Alright everyone, it seems most of you have managed to get your brooms to come up, so we’re going to go ahead and start flying. For those of you who haven’t, don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of time to practice later.”
The students who hadn’t been able to get their brooms into their hands stooped to pick them up, looking disappointed.
“Alright everyone, now I want you to mount your brooms.” There was a flurry of movement as some students climbed on clumsily and others sat on their brooms like they’d been doing this for years. “Now, on the count of three, I want you to kick off from the ground, hover for just a few seconds, and then lean forward to come back. If that goes well, we might do some laps around the pitch later.”
Now looking considerably happier, the students gripped their brooms more tightly as Madam Chang counted, “One…two…three!”
Everyone kicked off of the ground, some only rising a few inches, others, like Ellie, flying up to well over Madam Chang’s head.
“Wonderful…yes, that’s it… that’s wonderful!” Madam Chang said enthusiastically. “Come on down now. No, lean forward, dear- that’s it… good. That’s great! Great job, everyone!” Her energy was contagious, and before long everybody was grinning.
After three repeats of this exercise, Madam Chang pronounced that they were ready to try something a bit more difficult. Taking three students at a time, she made the rest sit down on the grass while she explained what the smaller group was supposed to do.
She would count to three, and then the three students would kick off from the ground (without flying too high), flying slowly- she strongly emphasised the word ‘slowly’- to the goalposts and back, and then touching back to the ground.
“If anyone”- and here her voice became stern- “even thinks about joking around or doing anything other than what I’ve told you to do, you had better make it worth it, because it will be your last time on a broomstick for a very long time. Do you understand?”
All of the students nodded seriously, a bit intimidated. But then Madam Chang winked one of her bright, almond-shaped eyes and called for the first three students, and the mood lightened again. Ria didn’t know any of them, or of the next three groups, but the fifth contained Sophie from the train and Kayonga, the tall black Gryffindor boy who had managed to get his broom to come up on the first try. In the next group, Jacqueline from Ria’s dorm flew nicely but fell off as she was coming down- and she wasn’t the only one. Some people fell soon after taking off, and one refused to fly anymore after she did so.
Punita went soon after, and she flew surprisingly well, considering all the times that she tripped over her own feet on the ground. Ria pointed this out and earned a slap on the arm.
“Erm, let’s see… you there- yes, you; and you, with the blond hair; and then… ah. Come here, dear,” Madam Chang said, pointing to Ria, whose eyes widened when she saw that she would be flying with Jade.
“Right, so, what are your names?” Madam Chang said to the three of them.
“My name is Jade,” said the Slytherin, and her face was suddenly transformed as she smiled over-brightly at the teacher.
“I’m Stephen,” said the blond boy, who, according to the colours on his robes, was a Gryffindor.
Ria introduced herself as well, and then Madam Chang said, “Alright, are you all ready?” The three nodded. “Now, remember, don’t fly too high. It’s very unlikely that you’ll fall, but if you do, we want you to be close to the ground.” The now nervous-looking students nodded again, and Madam Chang said, “Don’t worry. Go whenever you’re ready.”
Ria decided she may as well get it over with, so she mounted her broom straight away. Jade did the same, a hard look in her eyes. Stephen hesitated for a moment and then mounted his. The three students grinned at each other for a moment, house rivalry forgotten, and then Jade kicked off from the ground. Ria and Stephen followed immediately.
Hovering had been okay, but this- Ria could barely stop herself from screaming with laughter at the excitement she saw on the other students’ faces and felt in her own stomach.
Suddenly, Ria heard a loud whoop and saw that Jade had pulled ahead of her. Some unknown competitive spirit possessed her then. She leaned forward and sped up, ignoring Madam Chang’s warning about flying too fast. Jade saw this, grinned wildly, and flew faster.
Stephen was left far behind as the two girls sped on towards the goalposts. They were neck-and-neck when they reached them. Ria wobbled and nearly fell when she leaned to the left to turn, but Jade had it all under control. She pulled ahead of Ria, but only for a few seconds. They were next to each other the entire way back, when Jade suddenly screamed.
“Oh, shit!” she yelled.
“What?” Ria called back over the sound of the wind.
“We’re going too fast to stop!” screamed Jade, laughing. Madam Chang looked angry; Ria wasn’t sure if it was because of their speed or Jade’s choice of language.
The two girls looked at each other and nodded in understanding. “One…two… THREE!” Jade yelled, and on ‘three’ both girls gripped their broom handles tightly and leaned backward. Of course, they had tried to stop too quickly, so they flipped over backwards and fell to the ground, hard. The only thought going through Ria's mind was Ow.
Okay, so there it is. A bit of a cliffie, but not too bad. I swear I'll update sooner next time. R&R! ~megan~