Summary: After seeing students practicing quidditch in the distance, Minerva wanted to feel the wind on her face again.

Rated: K

Genre: General

Author's Note: I was told by Liza that the task assignment would be accepted if I wrote a character trying to feel younger rather than look it.

Competition/Challenge Block:
Written for/Stacked with: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Term 12); Monthly Challenges for All (Year 3)
House/Role: Ravenclaw; Prefect (Hogwarts)

Term (Assignment): Term 12 - Assignment 8
Subject (Task): Geology Task 11: (Write about someone trying to look younger.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: IPC: [169] (Action - Flying a Broomstick); 365: [280] (Scenery); Fortnightly; Writing Club; Quarterly; Seasonal; Funfair; Pinata; Writing Month; Dragon Breeding

Other MC4A Challenges: FPC; Star; T3; SF; Link Maker; Chimera Creator (Yelling/Shouting); Scavenger Hunt (Castle); Sp Bingo (A5 - Yellow)
Representation: Minerva McGonagall; Old Injury; Testing Limits
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Bee Haven; Second Verse (Not a Lamp; Ladylike; Persistence Still; White Dress) Chorus (Pear-Shaped)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Thimble)

Word Count: 722 words

Reliving the Moment

Minerva finished her evening classroom and weekly assignment preps for the following week quicker than usual. Not having to oversee any detentions for a change really helped with that accomplishment. She looked out her office window to see that it was only dusk, the evening sun painting its vibrant oranges across the sky, sparkling over the dark waters of the Black Lake as it swallowed the bright orb. The quidditch pitch was a black blob among the scenery, and if Minverva looked close enough, she could see the faint figures flying around within it. A House team practicing for their match tomorrow, possibly, but it oddly reminded her of her own quidditch days in her youth.

Getting up from her desk, she moved over to a built-in closet and opened it, revealing an older model racing broom resting on its stand. Aside from a little cleaning and the dent in the handle that had the splinters buffed out, resanded, and stained by her own hand, it was otherwise in impeccable condition despite the impact the bludger made to it that caused her terrible accident.

She grabbed the broom and pulled it from its sleeping place, feeling nostalgic now as she turned her gaze back to the pitch. The yearning to fly again stirred in her chest, and in the moment Minerva decided that taking a short flight around the grounds wouldn't kill her even in her old age.

Reaching the castles large doors with sunlight to spare, Minerva trekked down to the bank of the Black Lake to a student-free zone where the soil was a bit more squishy and swamp-like. Minerva mounted her broom, uncaring of the now-dirty hems of her robes from the mud as she kicked off into the air. Though she never needed a cane for her leg injury sustained all those years go, the position needed to sustain proper balance had her right knee protest loudly as she forced it to lock in place.

Ignoring the jolt of pain her knee gave off in protest, Minerva leaned forward and shot over the Black Lake like a bullet. Squinting against the fading sun, she turned sharply upward and toward the Forbidden Forest now, glancing down to see the flap of a thestrals wings in a small clearing before she weaved her way back toward the lake. The train station flashed by her, and though her leg was now starting to numb, Minerva closed her eyes to take in the feeling of the wind being forward to move around her as she flew.

The backside of her broom started to wobble then, snapping her attention back to the present, Minerva leaned upward to slow down and started to descend in a circular motion toward the pitch. Touching ground, she finally let out the breath she held since she nearly lost control. Minerva leaned down to massage her knee, attempting to wake it from its numbed state before she tried walking.

She didn't know she had an audience, however, until the sounds of clapping were heard nearby. She turned to face Madam Hooch standing beside Oliver Wood, both were clapping enthusiastically. Smiling, Minerva risked a step toward them, feeling confident she wasn't going to collapse, and approached.

"That is some brillant flying, professor," Oliver said, a wide grin on his face.

"Thank you, Mr. Wood," she said with a nod.

"You still got your chaser skill, that's for certain," Madam Hooch added, smiling knowingly. "It is good to see you in the air again, Minerva."

"It was good to feel the wind whipping by again," Minerva said, a small smile forming her lips.