Living A Legend
Book 1- A Clash of Wills
Chapter 5- Disasters and Broomsticks
On the first of October, a notice was pinned on the doors to the great hall. While normally notices rarely were noticed at all, this particular notice, was noticed quite a bit, especially by the first year students.
"First year flying lessons will begin this week," Peter read aloud to the excited students behind him, "Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs start on Tuesday at 9 o'clock with Professor Reclarus on the Quidditch field."
Naturally, all other topics of conversation were halted, in favor of this new development. Remus, James and Sirius had long animated conversations, describing their previous broomstick exploits. Brittany joined the conversation occasionally, telling all who would listen about the time she had crashed on her grandmother's broom.
Lily mused aloud about how much she looked forward to flying, even as a child she had always dreamed of flight. Although she had always imagined sprouting wings and taking to the sky, broomsticks seemed a wonderful substitute for actual wings.
Poor Dora only sat back glumly, her predisposition towards magic shining through. "I can never do anything right! How do they expect me to stay on a broomstick? I'll just fall off and embarass myself," she moaned in a piteous voice.
Peter didn't contribute to the lively debate, he just sat back looking queasy, occasionally muttering something about flying disasters.
Classes on Monday seemed to go incredibly slow, and Tuesday morning all of the first years were up with time to spare. Lily had taken to pacing the common room, nervously surveying older students about their experiences flying.
"It's not really all that hard," Frank Longbottom, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain had explained. "You just have to get the hang of it, and then you will do fine. And it only hurts for a second when you fall from high up," he added confidentially, "because by the time you hit the ground, you are usually unconscious. So don't worry about it!"
Somehow, Frank's advice did nothing to calm her down.
James and Sirius on the other hand, were at least twice as confident as usual. Both of them had numerous experiences on broomstick, as they had grown up with them. Even Brittany and Remus had flown before.
For some reason, Remus was looking quite pale and drawn ever since his return from visiting his mother. Secretly, Lily suspected that it was him who was ill. And when she had asked him how he was doing, Remus had only avoided her glance and changed the subject all too quickly. Needless to say, his reaction only added to her suspicion. She also noticed several clawlike scratches on his arms. He seemed very eager to talk about flying lessons when this topic came up.
Lily, like most of the students arrived on the Quidditch field a good fifteen minutes before the lesson was to begin.
There was much nervousness and excitement radiating from both the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs as they waited for Professor Reclarus to arrive.
Nine o'clock came and went, but no sign of the Professor was evident.
At nearly nine-thirty, a middle aged man gone slightly to seed hustled across the field, his robes wrinkled and stained.
He started speaking excitedly, almost before he was in range. "Hello students! I'm sorry I'm late . . . I had a bit of lay in this morning," he seemed quite flustered. "Today you will receive your first flying lesson. I hope you're all excited. Well, what are you waiting for? Grab a broom!"
Lily picked up the haggard looking broom settled on the grass in front of her. It's twigs were broken and bent, and the paint almost all the way chipped off of the handle.
"All right, lets see what you can do, when I blow my whistle, start flying!" Reclarus spoke quickly, his eyes shining with anticipation more commonly found in the young.
A sharp blast on a whistle signaled the descent of several students, including James, Sirius and Brittany.
Lily tried to mount her broom, but her robe kept getting the way. If only the teacher would give me a bit of instruction, she thought almost angrily.
She pulled up on the broom, trying to get it to rise. "Fly," she muttered as if it were a spell. "Wingardium Leviosa!" No matter what she tried, she seemed to be grounded, along with the majority of the class.
Now several Hufflepuffs, along with James, Brittany, Sirius, Remus and Wilma were in the air.
Dora too, rose after several more minutes, but Lily, becoming frustrated, threw her broom to the ground. "This is useless!" she called helplessly.
James swooped down impressively. "Having troubles Evans?" he asked in a mocking tone.
"No!" Lily spoke defiantly. "I just don't want to fly!"
"Suit yourself," James shrugged. "But it is so much fun up here, you are missing out on a lot."
Some of the old loathing Lily had held for this boy began to come back at. "Oh yeah, well what do you know anyway you stupid git?" she replied scathingly, that old animosity creeping into her voice.
"You're such a hopeless muggle Lily, I suppose flying is a bit beyond your reach!" James laughed maniacally as he rose skyward.
Now he had touched on a tricky subject, and Lily in her rage grabbed a pebble and lobbed it at the flying boy. She missed by quite a bit.
Lily spent the rest of the lesson in misery, sitting forlornly on the damp grass next to Peter who was equally untalented.
The Professor was no help either. He was up in the sky with the rest of the students, flying this way and that, playing games with some.
Rosmerta Pludgeon managed to fall off of her broom, and lay on the ground clutching her ankle for a while until Lily managed to get the Professor's attention.
"Oh just send her to the hospital wing," Reclarus responded negligently and proceeded to race Sirius to the opposite end of the field.
Lily shook her head in disgust, summoning Peter to help her lift the poor girl.
Even back in the common room, Lily found no peace. All that the Gryffindors could talk about was flying.
"Oh it's amazing Lily, you ought to try it!" Dora raved passionately.
Lily just shrugged, pretending not to care. "It can't be that great."
James was the only one who caught on to her mood, and he played it for all it was worth. "Lily do you reckon you'll try out for the Quidditch team next year? I think you would be really good!" At this he started laughing hysterically, an all too obvious display of his sophomoric wit.
After a few hours of James teasing and everyone else's rapturous reflections, she retired to her bed, several hours before nightfall, laying under her blankets, yet not sleeping a wink.
It took nearly a week for everyone to wind down about Quidditch and Lily's bad mood still persisted. She found herself avoiding even Dora and Brittany. Gloomily stalking the common room, ever preoccupied with her studies.
One night James approached her, and Lily turned away expecting more ridicule.
"Hey, wait Lily," James called.
She turned around icily, the two had barely been on speaking terms since the day of the fatal lesson.
"I just wanted to say . . . I could teach you to fly. You know, if you wanted" He looked down awkwardly and Lily suspected it might even be a legitimate offer.
"Why?" Lily asked carefully.
"Well," James looked confused. "You were so excited about learning, and then you just gave up. I thought maybe I had something to do with it. I just wanted to make it up to you."
Trying her hardest to be nonchalant, Lily shrugged. "Maybe."
"How 'bout tomorrow morning. That will give you time to practice before the next lesson."
Lily nodded tersely and then escaped once more to the girls dormitory.
True to his word, James showed up on the field early in the morning, toting with him two brooms with neatly trimmed twigs at the end and shiny red handles.
He thrust one at Lily before she had a chance to speak. "Where did you get these brooms? they're so much nicer than the school ones."
James grinned impishly, fingering his broom, "Well this one is mine, and that one I borrowed from Sirius."
"But first years aren't allowed broomsticks!" Lily gasped.
"Since when have I ever followed the rules," James rolled his eyes. "Honestly Lily, you should know me better than that by now! Now, the most important thing you have to remember when riding a broom is to grip it firmly."
James demonstrated how to hold the broom and then placed Lily's fingers over the right spot on Sirius' borrowed broomstick.
Lily understood the grip easily enough. She suspected that it was the flying which would provide difficulty. She was right.
No matter how many times James demonstrated techniques for lift off, Lily could not leave the ground.
Eventually, frustrated beyond belief and about ready to give up, James mounted Lily's broom from behind, and did the take off himself.
Lily shrieked at first as her broom hovered in mid-air, but the sensation was like nothing else she had experienced before and she soon enjoyed the flight immensely, despite James' ever present grip about her waist.
"Now you try, I'll let go of the broom and you steer!" James shouted in her ear.
To Lily's amazement, it worked. After diving and looping wildly for a few minutes, Lily landed the broom with James' help and let him dismount.
"See? You can do it. Try it by yourself this time."
Tentatively, Lily raised herself into the air and began to turn cautiously, knowing that she could easily fall.
James joined her on his own broom, sweeping past her swiftly, his skill evident. Lily's pace was cautious and slow compared to his experienced flight, but she still felt as if she was taking a risk just by being up so high.
All of a sudden a gust of wind knocked the broom slightly off course and Lily panicked, letting go of her broom for an instant.
It happened so quickly that she fell from her perch, she didn't have time to be afraid as the ground grew closer to her eyes. Lily saw a glimpse of Sirius' broom hovering above her, and a glimpse of the earth below her much too close for comfort, and then suddenly she was rising again, laying awkwardly in James' lap, his broomstick cutting into her thigh.
Lily screamed.
"Delayed reaction," James commented astutely.
The fall was enough to discourage her for the morning, although she promised herself she would try again.
"Thanks James," she declared honestly as she headed back to the castle with him.
"Don't mention it, but next time don't leave the broom hovering in the air like that when you fall. I had a time grabbing both you and the broom."
Lily glared, "I can see where your priorities lie. And you did grab the broom first!"
James clicked his tongue, "Well, Sirius would kill me if I lost his broom."
Book 1- A Clash of Wills
Chapter 5- Disasters and Broomsticks
On the first of October, a notice was pinned on the doors to the great hall. While normally notices rarely were noticed at all, this particular notice, was noticed quite a bit, especially by the first year students.
"First year flying lessons will begin this week," Peter read aloud to the excited students behind him, "Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs start on Tuesday at 9 o'clock with Professor Reclarus on the Quidditch field."
Naturally, all other topics of conversation were halted, in favor of this new development. Remus, James and Sirius had long animated conversations, describing their previous broomstick exploits. Brittany joined the conversation occasionally, telling all who would listen about the time she had crashed on her grandmother's broom.
Lily mused aloud about how much she looked forward to flying, even as a child she had always dreamed of flight. Although she had always imagined sprouting wings and taking to the sky, broomsticks seemed a wonderful substitute for actual wings.
Poor Dora only sat back glumly, her predisposition towards magic shining through. "I can never do anything right! How do they expect me to stay on a broomstick? I'll just fall off and embarass myself," she moaned in a piteous voice.
Peter didn't contribute to the lively debate, he just sat back looking queasy, occasionally muttering something about flying disasters.
Classes on Monday seemed to go incredibly slow, and Tuesday morning all of the first years were up with time to spare. Lily had taken to pacing the common room, nervously surveying older students about their experiences flying.
"It's not really all that hard," Frank Longbottom, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain had explained. "You just have to get the hang of it, and then you will do fine. And it only hurts for a second when you fall from high up," he added confidentially, "because by the time you hit the ground, you are usually unconscious. So don't worry about it!"
Somehow, Frank's advice did nothing to calm her down.
James and Sirius on the other hand, were at least twice as confident as usual. Both of them had numerous experiences on broomstick, as they had grown up with them. Even Brittany and Remus had flown before.
For some reason, Remus was looking quite pale and drawn ever since his return from visiting his mother. Secretly, Lily suspected that it was him who was ill. And when she had asked him how he was doing, Remus had only avoided her glance and changed the subject all too quickly. Needless to say, his reaction only added to her suspicion. She also noticed several clawlike scratches on his arms. He seemed very eager to talk about flying lessons when this topic came up.
Lily, like most of the students arrived on the Quidditch field a good fifteen minutes before the lesson was to begin.
There was much nervousness and excitement radiating from both the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs as they waited for Professor Reclarus to arrive.
Nine o'clock came and went, but no sign of the Professor was evident.
At nearly nine-thirty, a middle aged man gone slightly to seed hustled across the field, his robes wrinkled and stained.
He started speaking excitedly, almost before he was in range. "Hello students! I'm sorry I'm late . . . I had a bit of lay in this morning," he seemed quite flustered. "Today you will receive your first flying lesson. I hope you're all excited. Well, what are you waiting for? Grab a broom!"
Lily picked up the haggard looking broom settled on the grass in front of her. It's twigs were broken and bent, and the paint almost all the way chipped off of the handle.
"All right, lets see what you can do, when I blow my whistle, start flying!" Reclarus spoke quickly, his eyes shining with anticipation more commonly found in the young.
A sharp blast on a whistle signaled the descent of several students, including James, Sirius and Brittany.
Lily tried to mount her broom, but her robe kept getting the way. If only the teacher would give me a bit of instruction, she thought almost angrily.
She pulled up on the broom, trying to get it to rise. "Fly," she muttered as if it were a spell. "Wingardium Leviosa!" No matter what she tried, she seemed to be grounded, along with the majority of the class.
Now several Hufflepuffs, along with James, Brittany, Sirius, Remus and Wilma were in the air.
Dora too, rose after several more minutes, but Lily, becoming frustrated, threw her broom to the ground. "This is useless!" she called helplessly.
James swooped down impressively. "Having troubles Evans?" he asked in a mocking tone.
"No!" Lily spoke defiantly. "I just don't want to fly!"
"Suit yourself," James shrugged. "But it is so much fun up here, you are missing out on a lot."
Some of the old loathing Lily had held for this boy began to come back at. "Oh yeah, well what do you know anyway you stupid git?" she replied scathingly, that old animosity creeping into her voice.
"You're such a hopeless muggle Lily, I suppose flying is a bit beyond your reach!" James laughed maniacally as he rose skyward.
Now he had touched on a tricky subject, and Lily in her rage grabbed a pebble and lobbed it at the flying boy. She missed by quite a bit.
Lily spent the rest of the lesson in misery, sitting forlornly on the damp grass next to Peter who was equally untalented.
The Professor was no help either. He was up in the sky with the rest of the students, flying this way and that, playing games with some.
Rosmerta Pludgeon managed to fall off of her broom, and lay on the ground clutching her ankle for a while until Lily managed to get the Professor's attention.
"Oh just send her to the hospital wing," Reclarus responded negligently and proceeded to race Sirius to the opposite end of the field.
Lily shook her head in disgust, summoning Peter to help her lift the poor girl.
Even back in the common room, Lily found no peace. All that the Gryffindors could talk about was flying.
"Oh it's amazing Lily, you ought to try it!" Dora raved passionately.
Lily just shrugged, pretending not to care. "It can't be that great."
James was the only one who caught on to her mood, and he played it for all it was worth. "Lily do you reckon you'll try out for the Quidditch team next year? I think you would be really good!" At this he started laughing hysterically, an all too obvious display of his sophomoric wit.
After a few hours of James teasing and everyone else's rapturous reflections, she retired to her bed, several hours before nightfall, laying under her blankets, yet not sleeping a wink.
It took nearly a week for everyone to wind down about Quidditch and Lily's bad mood still persisted. She found herself avoiding even Dora and Brittany. Gloomily stalking the common room, ever preoccupied with her studies.
One night James approached her, and Lily turned away expecting more ridicule.
"Hey, wait Lily," James called.
She turned around icily, the two had barely been on speaking terms since the day of the fatal lesson.
"I just wanted to say . . . I could teach you to fly. You know, if you wanted" He looked down awkwardly and Lily suspected it might even be a legitimate offer.
"Why?" Lily asked carefully.
"Well," James looked confused. "You were so excited about learning, and then you just gave up. I thought maybe I had something to do with it. I just wanted to make it up to you."
Trying her hardest to be nonchalant, Lily shrugged. "Maybe."
"How 'bout tomorrow morning. That will give you time to practice before the next lesson."
Lily nodded tersely and then escaped once more to the girls dormitory.
True to his word, James showed up on the field early in the morning, toting with him two brooms with neatly trimmed twigs at the end and shiny red handles.
He thrust one at Lily before she had a chance to speak. "Where did you get these brooms? they're so much nicer than the school ones."
James grinned impishly, fingering his broom, "Well this one is mine, and that one I borrowed from Sirius."
"But first years aren't allowed broomsticks!" Lily gasped.
"Since when have I ever followed the rules," James rolled his eyes. "Honestly Lily, you should know me better than that by now! Now, the most important thing you have to remember when riding a broom is to grip it firmly."
James demonstrated how to hold the broom and then placed Lily's fingers over the right spot on Sirius' borrowed broomstick.
Lily understood the grip easily enough. She suspected that it was the flying which would provide difficulty. She was right.
No matter how many times James demonstrated techniques for lift off, Lily could not leave the ground.
Eventually, frustrated beyond belief and about ready to give up, James mounted Lily's broom from behind, and did the take off himself.
Lily shrieked at first as her broom hovered in mid-air, but the sensation was like nothing else she had experienced before and she soon enjoyed the flight immensely, despite James' ever present grip about her waist.
"Now you try, I'll let go of the broom and you steer!" James shouted in her ear.
To Lily's amazement, it worked. After diving and looping wildly for a few minutes, Lily landed the broom with James' help and let him dismount.
"See? You can do it. Try it by yourself this time."
Tentatively, Lily raised herself into the air and began to turn cautiously, knowing that she could easily fall.
James joined her on his own broom, sweeping past her swiftly, his skill evident. Lily's pace was cautious and slow compared to his experienced flight, but she still felt as if she was taking a risk just by being up so high.
All of a sudden a gust of wind knocked the broom slightly off course and Lily panicked, letting go of her broom for an instant.
It happened so quickly that she fell from her perch, she didn't have time to be afraid as the ground grew closer to her eyes. Lily saw a glimpse of Sirius' broom hovering above her, and a glimpse of the earth below her much too close for comfort, and then suddenly she was rising again, laying awkwardly in James' lap, his broomstick cutting into her thigh.
Lily screamed.
"Delayed reaction," James commented astutely.
The fall was enough to discourage her for the morning, although she promised herself she would try again.
"Thanks James," she declared honestly as she headed back to the castle with him.
"Don't mention it, but next time don't leave the broom hovering in the air like that when you fall. I had a time grabbing both you and the broom."
Lily glared, "I can see where your priorities lie. And you did grab the broom first!"
James clicked his tongue, "Well, Sirius would kill me if I lost his broom."