Flying Lesson One; First Years

Gabrielle shouldered her broom and walked towards the field. It was a beautiful and sunny day, perfect for flying. Gabrielle looked around and found to her delight that no one was around. She looked up at the sky for a moment, letting the warm rays of the sun soak her face and then mounted her broom, kicking off from the ground hard, clumps of grass flying around her. She soared, she flew with an ease and grace far beyond her years. This was what she loved to do. She swerved imaginary bludgers, wind whistling in her ears. Heaven. Pure Bliss.

Jessica walked out to the field, singing gently to herself. She looked around, hoping that no-one would be around, and that she could just sit and sing to herself for as long as she felt like it. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

She spotted Gabrielle flying, and stood watching in amazement. Jessica had never been that great of a flyer, but then again she'd only tried a few times when she was younger. But seeing Gabrielle fly was genuinely interesting. Jessica climbed a tree and watched in awe as the girl her own age flew with such grace. Then she noticed the robes of the girl, and sighed to herself. "A Gryffindor. Great. We'll never be friends..." Jessica muttered, jumping down from the tree and landing awkwardly, twisting her ankle on impact with the floor.

Gabrielle was flying in great big circles. She noticed a girl on the ground, watching her. She spied her climbing a tree and then jumping out of it, falling on it wrong. Gabrielle hoped the girl wasn't too hurt. She began to gradually descend until her feet touched solid ground. She hurried over to the tree and offered the girl a hand after leaning her broom against the tree trunk.

"Oh my gosh! Are you alright?!" Gabrielle asked, genuinely concerned.

Jessica winced slightly and looked upwards at Gabrielle, not sure of what to say.
"Uh, yeah. I just... I turned my ninja skills off without meaning to. I'm sure I'll be fine..." Jessica said, taking Gabrielle's hand and standing up. She winced again and fell back over.

"Okay, so maybe not... I'll just... Chill under this tree for a bit," she mumbled from her spot on the floor. She felt quite awkward, talking like this to a girl she only knew that name of, and that's only because she saw her at the Sorting.

Annabell walks out to the feild slightly nervous, why did they have to take this class? She was terrified of heights. Looking up she notices two girls from differnt houses.
"Is everything alright," she asks slightly worried as she noticed one laying on the ground.

Charlotte looked up from the ground when she heard someone flying. The person probably hadn't noticed her, as she was sitting right behind a tree.

When she turned to look, a girl fell, landing right in front of her with a thud.

"Oh my, are you alright?" she frowned, and looked at the other girls. One from Slytherin, one from Gryffindor, and one from Hufflepuff. Great, all houses were here.

"I'm Charlotte," she introduced herself. She remembered the Gryffindor, Gabrielle, from the day in the Forest, and the other two she recalled seeing them at the sorting. The Hufflepuff was Annabell. . . or something like that. And the Slytherin, she was sure it started with a J. She hadn't been paying much attention at the time, worrying about her sorting, and the Slytherin's name had been called right before hers.

Annabell looks surprised at the ravenclaw girl that appeared from behind the tree,

"oh, hello, didn't see you there. Hehe it's funny seeing people from differnt houses conversing together."

She smiles at them all and sits on the ground lightly, "Personally I'm surprised. I figured all the houses would hate eachother, but here we are acting civil."

Jessica nodded, shuffling slightly on the floor. She felt awkward and uncomfortable surrounded by people, but she tried not to show it.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Jessica. Jessica Lupin. You're... Charlotte something, right? I remember seeing you at the sorting..." Jessica trailed off, speaking quietly.

She still had a hand covering her ankle, which was hurting quite badly. She winced again as a shot of pain pulsed through her leg, and tried hard not to cry out.
"Trees hurt. D'you notice?" Jessica smirked, looking up at the others.

Charlotte smiled at the Hufflepuff, "Well, we've only been here for a while. I don't think that's enough time to hate someone."

"Jessica, right," she nodded, "Charlotte Minogue." She frowned again when the girl winced, "I wish I knew any useful spells. . . I've read some but I don't think it'd be smart to use them. Does it hurt too much? I could take you to the infirmary. . ."

Annabell decided to lift the mood, "Oh! Let's find an attractive boy to help her! That may her mind off the pain"

She looks at her ankle, "I would ask my brother,Zacharias, but he's already graduated. Also I'm poitless with spells. I'm sorry."

"It hurts quite a bit, yeah. Falling out of trees tends to have that effect, doesn't it? I dunno, hospitals and anything to do with them generally make me uncomfortable..." Jessica shrugged, trying to stand up again. To her surprise, she managed to keep her balance this time, and she didn't collapse to the floor.

She turned to face Annabell, and grinned.
"It's alright, really. And as much as attractive boys seem like a great idea right now, I'll put my dampener on your parade early. I can't find any of them in this place..."

Annabell nods, "yeah, true. Maybe in some of the other classes there all. Well, we can only hope"

She smiles and lays back on the grass, "Man, this feels so good! Gotta love sitting in the sun!" She looks up at the girls, "Maybe I'll drag my cousin here. He's a looker." She giggles lightly.

This was quite strange. She usually never got along with people she just met. She mostly would avoid eyecontact and every conversation someone through her way. maybe this school was changing her. For better or for worse she didn't know yet.

"I'm Gabrielle Sands," She introduced herself to the group. "I really don't like hospitals, mainly because my mum has cancer." Gabrielle was startled. She never told people she just met about her mum. It was a really scary matter. Even though they had good technology at St. Mungos being it's magical, they still couldn't find the cure for cancer.

Jessica's eyes widened at Gabrielle. She barely knew this girl, but yet she knew enough about her. She had just met Gabrielle...

"Oh, uh... That's uh... I should probably go and... Get this," Jessica pointed to her ankle. "Checked out, right? I mean... I can't just expect it to heal over on it's own, can I?" Jess smirked, limping away. That had been quite awkward for her.

She never told anyone about her reason for hating hospitals. At the age of five, when she'd been cursed and driven half to insanity, St Mungos only managed to turn her half back to her usual self. She still remembered the shocks of pain shooting through her body as the curse hit. She still remembered her ear-piercing scream. She still had the nightmares. And on her stomach, she had the mark to prove it all.

Charlotte smiled slightly at them, "I guess none of us like hospitals much."

"Are you serious?" she asked Jessica, laughing, "I've seen lots of attractive boys around. Of course, none of them are first years. . . but they still count, don't they?"

When Gabrielle said her mother had cancer, Char didn't know what to say. She'd met people with relatives who had cancer, but none of them had said it to her. She usually found out through other people. You know schools, one tells the other who tells the other and from there it goes.

"I. . . I'm sorry to hear that," she said, being completely honest, "I hope she gets better. They have treatments that can reduce it, but I'm sure you already know. I really hope she's alright, that your family's alright."

The Ravenclaw noticed something was up with Jessica, but decided it wasn't her place to say anything. Not to a person she'd just met. "Do you want me to go with you?" she offered.

Annabell stands up dusting herself off, "Hey, cheer up. I'm sure she'll get better! Just be sure to be with her every step of the way! Cancer is nasty, but if she had someone as strong and caring as you I'm sure she'll pull through!"

"If you like," Jessica said simply, turning back around with a small smile. By now, she could feel a headache coming on, which lead to a long string of things that ended up with flashbacks. They were the last thing she needed.
"I've not seen that many good looking guys yet. That might just be because I spend most of my time alone, or because none of the Slytherins are that good looking," Jessica shrugged, trying to think of one hot Slytherin boy. Well, there was ONE person who was ALRIGHT looking...

Annabell pops up "Oh! Can I come? I find it weird that there are no attractive first years. that I know of att least."

She smiles lightly, "Oh, do you need me as a support? I dont think it's good to put too much pressure on your ankle."

"Thanks. I don't usually say that to people right off, but I guess it's a part of my life right now." Gabrielle summoned a smile onto her lips.

"I'd love to come with you too, if you don't mind an entourage." She said to Jessica.

Annabell jumps up excited, "Yay! We're like a kick butt gang! I hope you all know what that is."

She laughs merrily and continues walking a jump in her step.

Jessica smiled to herself. She'd never actually had FRIENDS before. Not proper ones, anyway...
"Yeah, you guys can come if you like. I don't mind," she said, biting her lower lip.

She thought for a moment. Were there actually any other good looking boys in her year besides him? Or was the reason she hadn't actually seen any because she wasn't looking?
"How many older boys are there that are fairly good-looking, then? Because I think I've only seen one. And then there's one in our year who's okay. He's in Slytherin, like me," she blurted out. She immediately slapped her hand to her mouth when she finished the last part, and blushed. Blushing? Jessica never blushed! What was happening to her?!

Annabell giggles, "I've never really searched for any attractive boys here."

She looks up stretching, "Is this so called slytherin in our classes?" She smiles at her. She was curious, but was never one for gossip. She felt like that would come back and bite her. Her brother always told her it was rare NOT to find a crush here. She wondered if she would.

"Yeah, he's in some of them," Jessica sighed. She'd blurted it out, so she might as well tell them about the rest. "He's in our Defense class, I know for sure,"

Jessica thought again. "Remember what Aliona told you... Don't tell people stuff, because it'll end up half way around the school before you can say lickedy-split!" She recalled the memory, but pushed it aside. "Just because people were like that when she got to the school, it doesn't mean they're like it now!" Jessica thought to herself.

She put on a small smile, and tried to block out the feelings of dizziness amounting in her brain. She was becoming paler and paler by the second, but she was blissfully unaware of it. Until she collapsed on the ground, that was.

A jet of red light flashed in front of her, and she let out an ear-piercing scream.

Annabell started freaking out, "Oh no! We gotta do somthing!"

Grabs Jessica lightly trying to haul her up, "Curse my tiny muscles!" Worriedly Annabell looks around for a teacher or older student. 'I can't leave her here,' she thinks to herself.

"Ahh! this stress is giving me a migrane! What do i do?!?!"

Jessica sat up with a start, breathing heavily. She knew what she'd just done, and it took every ounce of effort inside of her not to burst into tears. Crying was not something she was going to do. Crying was for the weak, and weakness was NOT a Slytherin value.

She felt vulnerable and small. She had to remind herself that she was a Slytherin because she was determined, because she was ambitious, because she was strong.
"Please tell me I didn't just do what I think I did..."