Pearl stood outside the castle with the other slytherins and hufflepuffs, waiting on the teacher to arrive. The slytherins were not looking very happy and here grumbling about having to take classes with a bunch of "mudblood hufflepuffs", and Pearl looked at Garnet too see what she would say. She looked really pissed but didn't say anything back to them, but talked to Pearl instead.
"The headmaster tries to mix up the houses in the same classes now." Garnet informed her friend. "She thinks we could all learn from each other if we are exposed to different ways of thinking, but slytherin refuses to get along with anyone. You may be the only half-decent one in the school."
Pearl smiled at the complement, but her attention was immediately drawn to the quidditch pitch. Lapis had been sent to go get brooms and was returning with them now. Pearl noticed her face was bruised and swollen, though she had attempted to cover it up with makeup to little avail. The little elf felt absolutely furious. She couldn't prove anything, but she had a pretty good idea who had done this to Lapis. As soon as classes were over, she was taking this to Rose. Jasper couldn't be allowed to get away with this!
Lapis stepped up and Pearl decided now was the time to focus on class; she couldn't do anything about Jasper and Lapis right now. "Alright, the real teacher couldn't make it because she woke up this morning with the flu, so since I'm a prefect I'll be teaching the class."
Everyone step to the left of the broomstick and put your right hand over the broom. It really doesn't matter what side you are on or what hand you use, but we're all standing close together, and we wouldn't want anyone getting whacked in the head by someone else's broom."
"Now, everyone say "up". It is important that you say it decidedly if you're going to do it this way, but I'm really not sure why we teach you this anyway, when you can just pick it up and sit on it, but whatever." Lapis said, rolling her eyes.
Pearl sighed and looked down at the broom and said "up" and to her surprise, the broom handle flew into her hand immediately. She grinned at Garnet, and her friend gave her a thumbs up.
Garnet had to say "up" a few times despite her flying experience, but she got it fairly quickly as well.
After everyone had theirs, Lapis ordered "Alright, now mount your brooms! When you fly, tilt the tip of the handle in the direction you want to go. When you want to level out, just hold it steady forward. To halt, pull it sharply upward and it should hover in a level position when you let go; you need to be careful though, because if you don't do it sharply enough, it'll think you want to go up and since you have to let go of the handle to make it stop, if you fail it's really easy to fall off! Speed is controlled mentally, so you gotta focus! To get off the ground, just kick off with your right foot. That's about it; you can take off now!"
Pearl, excited to begin, kicked off the ground and pointed the broom up at an angle. The broom rose gently into the air, and then she leveled out and practiced going left and right. After she got the hang of it, she even tried a few figure eights in the air, and then went faster and faster until she was dizzy. This was awesome! It was even faster than riding Snowdrop! Most of all, she relished the fact that she was getting the hang of flying faster than the vast majority of her human classmates. She would show them all what a house-elf was capable of!
Pearl wasn't sure if she could halt her broom in mid-air or not as she wasn't very strong, but she decided to give it a go anyway. She squeezed the broom as tightly as she could between her legs and pulled up as quick and hard as she could and let go. The broom jerked upwards and Pearl found herself dangling upside down by her legs.
The broom soon began to plummet toward the ground and Pearl was falling headfirst. From the corner of her eye, she saw Lapis zip forward, trying to catch her.
Oh no! Pearl couldn't let Lapis have to save her; it would be so embarrassing! Almost without thinking, she yanked her knees toward the ground as hard as she could and her body flew forward back onto her broom. She hit her chin hard on the handle, but she quickly got her bearings and gracefully landed to the cheers and relieved sighs of the hufflepuffs. Even a few slytherins looked begrudgingly impressed; Pearl gave a mock bow and smirked at them. That'll show 'em!
Garnet ran over and whooped! "Way to go, Pearl! That was awesome!" Garnet congratulated her and roughly threw Pearl into the air like a doll!
"Whoa, Garnet! Careful, you're gonna squish me!" Pearl laughed.
Lapis strode over with a strern look on her face. "Got a little ambitious there, huh? I warned you to be careful! Don't pull a stunt like that again! Lapis said, trying to sound angry, but a hint of laughter creeped through in her voice and despite her frown, Pearl could tell by the look in her eyes that the prefect was proud.