adage \AD-ij\, noun:
An old saying, which has obtained credit by long use; a proverb.

"Oh for Pete's sake!" Susan exclaimed, her voice breathy and exasperated. "I just can't get this right!"

"My Ravenclaw senses were alerted when I heard your adage, my lady," an amused voice remarked as the speaker entered the room. "What has my lady so outwardly frustrated?"

"Oh, Morag, who would want to charm a quill to flip cartwheels anyway?" the redhead pouted, resting her head gently on Morag's now lowered shoulder.

"Professor Flitwick, I'm sure," the taller girl said slowly. She shook her head gingerly. "Sometimes it's hard to tell that he's brilliant, being so eccentric and all."

"Were he more like McGonagall…" the Hufflepuff mentioned slowly, grinning to herself. "Or not. We have enough catty females in the castle."

"Quite correct. We need no more moon cycles in these dark and hormonal walls."

The two laughed, the quill temporarily forgotten. When it continued attempting a hybrid of a cartwheel, round off, and back flip—quite impossible for any object not magicked—their attention journeyed back to the utensil and its odd behaviors. Morag watched carefully, unthinkingly twirling her naturally red-streaked dark hair. Her bright green eyes went thoughtful. Instead of watching the unexciting quill, Susan amused herself by counting the freckles on the bridge of Morag's nose.

"Do you like the name Morag?" she asked suddenly. The Ravenclaw moved her eyes, then her head ever so slightly to look at the Hufflepuff. Morag's face turned up, wrinkling and tensing.

"I hate it."

"We should come up with a nickname for you," Susan suggested with a bright smile. She wrapped her arms around the other female's neck and pressed her lips to a pale cheek. "It'll be much more fun than trying to teach a quill to do a cartwheel."

"It sounds wonderful, but your pesky and boring assignment is to teach this writing utensil acrobatics."

Susan pouted and rested her chin on her hands. "But as you just said, it's boring."

"You know some parts of school are boring," Morag pointed out as she looked up briefly into Susan's light eyes. "That doesn't mean you don't have to do them."

Susan crossed her arms over her chest but couldn't help smiling. "So you'll help me?"

"Sure, one more second," Morag replied as she turned to watch the quill again. After half a minute she turned back to the other girl, grinning and suppressing a laugh. "Do you even know how to do a cartwheel?"

"Well…uh…no, not really," the chubby witch replied with a cute blush. "I've only ever seen them at random."

"There's your problem!" the Ravenclaw called out. "We've got to make sure you have the motion right."

Without warning, Morag set out, put her weight on her right foot, threw her weight into her left foot as she shot the right one up and simultaneously stretched sideways and dropped her arms straight to the ground. She transferred her weight to one hand and then the other while her legs straightened above her and out to the side. Her weight landed first on her left leg, then evened out to both of her legs as the other touched down. She pulled her upper torso back up and landed with her arms above her and slightly to the sides. It was a very fluid motion with no breaks in between and no juggling of weight. Susan clapped heartily.

"I didn't know you could do that!" she hooted with her laughter.

Morag smiled brightly and pounced over, pressing her hips seductively against Susan's and then leaning her upper torso back to get a good look at the girl. "Where did you think I got that wonderful flexibility?"

Susan smiled. It lessened when she spoke next.

"Can we just use that movement on the quill or do I really have to learn to do this?" the girl asked meekly. She wrung her hands. It was very apparent that she was not at all confident in her abilities.

"Come on, let's give it a try."

They started with a handstand to get her used to having her weight on her hands. It was easier to get her up with Morag's help. The tall girl clutched the Hufflepuff's ankles up in the air. When Susan was used to that Morag had her get the motion of putting her weight onto her right leg and throwing her weight into the left, which moved upwards to propel her. The Ravenclaw was always there to catch Susan and halt the motion.

At last Morag had Susan go beyond using the left leg as a propeller and got the young witch to get the weight onto her hands. The first few times she almost fell over, but the Scottish female caught her and kept her up in an even handstand. After a few rounds Susan made it from upright into flipping sideways into a straight handstand without her legs bending or her flailing all about.

"I can't help you get from the handstand onto your feet without hurting yourself. You've got the one-hand-and-then-the-other down, so your ability with rotating your weight is fine," Morag approbated with a proud smile. "Now it's just about getting beyond the mental block and throwing your feet all the way over your head back to the other side of you. It sounds more acrobatic than it is, since while you're throwing your force over your waist stays straight and you really are more like a cart than any sort of bender."

Susan nodded along.

When she attempted it, she almost toppled over but Morag caught her once again. Susan grinned from ear to ear, her hands clasped happily before her. "I think I can do it now! I got the motion then, I just didn't have the balance. It doesn't feel so scary anymore."

Morag smiled and watched as the girl flipped a flimsy cartwheel. After a few seconds she flipped another stronger one, and then a few more with breaks in between. Each grew stronger and more confident, less jumpy and more fluid.

"Good, good!" the green-eyed girl called, clapping. "Soon enough you'll be able to do this!"

She set out at a run, did three cartwheels leading on her left leg, ended on a round off with her feet together and facing forward, and finished with a back flip.

Susan was shocked, her face open and admiring. "Wow!"

Morag shrugged slightly and laughed, her eyes absorbing the giggles and channeling them out beautifully. "Now for the charm work."

The Hufflepuff girl groaned but pulled out her wand once again. She murmured the charm and witnessed the quill attempt a cartwheel but stop in the handstand position. She tried again, more forcefully, thinking of the motion she had gone through with her own acrobatics.

The quill cart wheeled.

It then went on to perform the two other cartwheels, the round off, and the back flip. Susan didn't bat an eye, only looked behind her to find Morag wielding her wand and controlling the move of the writing instrument.

"I thought so."

"You thought well, young grasshopper," Morag said with a smile as she sat down next to Susan and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, just an odd interest of mine."

"Oh." Susan flicked the quill away, proud that she had completed the task but back to thinking it was boring, and turned to Morag. "Know what I like?"

"Kung fu?"

Susan ignored the comment, used to not understanding some of the things the Ravenclaw said. "Snogging."

Morag didn't get a turn to reply, but was very pleased to know that the butterflies in her stomach cart wheeled even better than Susan's quill.