A Dream for the Ages Finished

”Having fun out there?”

The small girl called up, a wide grin plastered upon her face. One of her favorite past times during the long days was to come down to the pitch and watch the house teams practice. She wondered if it felt liberating to fly amongst the birds.

Clutching an old school broom in her right hand, she waited for the boy to reply to her. During flying classes Clarisse had only gone as far as hovering a foot or two off the ground. She had been itching to soar through the air without a care in the world.

Mounting the broom, she gave a kick off the ground and allowed herself to slowly rise upwards, taking no notice of her whitening knuckles as she unconciously held on for dear life.

”Mind teaching me a few moves?

She asked, giving a small shimmy of her shoulders followed by her usual mystical giggle. Quidditch tryouts where coming up soon and she wanted to be as ready as she could possibly be. Coming to Hogwarts was a dream come true and she wanted to take part in as many extra curricular activities as possible! This obviously included taking part in the beloved sport known as Quidditch.

Kyden turned and looked at the girl. He watched her try to successfully fly on the broom and smiled. "I mean I could help you but I don't have a broom out here." He of course was just joking. After a few minutes he chuckled and spoke again. "Sure just let me go grab a school broom."

As he was walking back across the field with a broom in his hand he turned to look at the girl again. He saw she was Hufflepuff and he smiled to himself. He seemed to get along with everyone but his fellow Slytherins. " I am Kyden by the way."

He mounted the broom and kicked off hovering about 5 feet above the ground. "I don't know how great of a teach I will be but I guess I can  try. I mean I am great at flying its just the teaching I am not very good at." He flew high and did some loops before coming back down to hover. "Okay so you know how to mount and kick off. When you do that don't think about it just do it. Try not to think that you are going to be flying. You have to trust yourself and trust the broom."

Amadea had never been more terrified in her entire life. She had made the goal to step out of her comfort zone at Hogwarts, but this wasn’t a step. This was more like a leap. With a running start. Into the unknown. She gripped the handle of the musty broomstick tighter in her hand. She saw two other people already in the quidditch pitch, conversing casually as if flying around on a piece of wood was something they did every day. Honestly, Amadea thought to herself, they probably do. Just another thing that separated her from the rest of these people. She watched the boy hop onto his broomstick and glide off into the air gracefully, doing some flips. Amadea shuddered. How could he do that with such ease? Maybe she should just turn around now and forget about this. It would be easier for everyone.

No, she thought to herself. You came here to break out of your barriers, not to cower inside of them. With a new determined feeling, Amadea walked over to where the other two students were talking.

“Hi,” she said them. “I’m Amadea. You look like you know what you’re doing. Have you done this kind of thing before?”

Kyden whirled around towards the new voice that had just spoken. He looked at her. "Great, another girl I am smaller than," He thought to himself. He looked at her and could sense her fear of the broom just like his first acquaintance she was afraid of flying. "Of Course I have flown before. Before coming here I used to fly all the time and play mock Quidditch games. It's really not that hard. You just have to trust yourself."

He looked at both girls and smiled. He knew that he could teach them to be spectacular on a broom. Well he could if they trusted him. "I could teach you how to fly as well if you like. It's really not that hard. Just trust yourself and trust the broom. However it is starting to get pretty dark now so maybe we can meet out here tomorrow after lessons. I would be happy to teach you both."

He watched both of them consider is offer. He could feel the tension pouring off of them. It was strange to him because he couldn't really ever remember being so afraid of flying like they were. He was natural on the broom that's what everybody told him. He smiled at them waiting for their answers.

Amadea sized up this new boy, looking him up and down. Despite his size, his confidence radiated off of him, making him seem much larger than he actually was. She looked away, blushing. She didn't want to stare. She nodded along with what he was saying. It made sense; trusting yourself was an important part of any task one was to undertake, especially flying through the air on a broomstick that wasn't even her own. She took another deep breath and smiled at the boy.

"Thank you for the offer," she said. "I don't think-actually that...would be lovely. I could definitely use some help with the whole flying thing." She gave a nervous laugh, trying to cover up for the fact that she had nearly backed out. She couldn't give up this easily, not at Hogwarts. This was the place where she was going to try new things and do things that might seem reckless but might end up okay. Hogwarts was the school of magic, and with magic, anything could be possible. Amadea reminded herself of this as she smiled again at the boy and the girl. "So we'll meet out here again tomorrow," she repeated. "That sounds good to me. Thank you again for the offer."

Kyden listened to the girl speak and he nodded. He gave her a smile as well. It was obvious she was extremely nervous about flying. He knew he could teach her how to fly. He had taught others before. "Yes we will meet out here tomorrow after the last class of the day. That way we have more time for flying instead of only have 30 minutes or so. It makes more sense that way really. I know flying can be scary but trust me when I say other than the flying Professor, you couldn't possibly be in better hands." He smiled. He usually wasn't that cocky sounding but if he knew anything he knew flying. He could do it in his sleep. He knew broomsticks and quidditch like the back of his hand. All of this and of course astronomy was his passion. "So homework for the first lesson. Don't over think this and don't freak yourself out. I will teach you to fly and all will be okay. I will not give up on you if you do not give up on me. Trust me when I say I believe in you and I know if you put your mind to it you will be flying in no time."

Amadea smiled. This was good; she could face two of her fears at once: meeting new people and flying. Kyden looked like he knew what he was doing, which was quite reassuring. She wasn't sure what she would have done if she had to teach herself to fly on her own. She listened as he explained the plan and nodded along. He sounded very organized, which only made Amadea feel more assured that this was going to work out. She couldn't help but smile as his confidence shone through. Clearly he had been doing this for a long time. He transitioned into talking about the first lesson and talked about not freaking out. "Too late for that," she commented. "I think I started freaking out the second I learned Quidditch existed." A nervous laugh escaped her. "But hopefully. I can do this?" She didn't mean to make it sound like a question, but she couldn't help it. She gripped the wood of the broomstick even tighter in her hand. It was rough and splintered, the way she would expect a school broom to be. She had no complaints though; there was no way she had enough money to buy her own. She looked at Kyden and continued. "I think I'm ready," she said. "I trust you to teach me to how to fly this thing."

It was time for Kyden to give Amadea her first flying lesson. He smiled at her and held up his school broom. He had to make sure she knew that he believed in her. He found out when he first learned to fly that having confidence was a big key to not falling off your broomstick and breaking something. That or falling flat on your butt, and Kyden knew from experience falling on your butt from a good height really hurt!

"Okay so now we are ready for our first flying lesson." After showing her how to successfully mount her broom and hover a few feet of the ground Kyden did the same. "Alright when your comfortable enough pull up slightly and you will fly higher. Like this." He demonstrated how to do what he had just explained to do. Then just for fun he did a couple loop de loops. He wasn't being a show off he just loved the way the he felt when he was flying. After a bit he touched down and watched his new friend. "Your not doing so made. Like I said confidence is the key. If you lack the confidence to do great then you are likely going to fail.

Amadea stood stock still as she listened to Kyden explain to her how to fly. She watched him demonstrate the proper technique and she mounted her broom in the way he had. She hovered a few feet off of the ground, feeling like she was going to fall to the side any second. She said as much to Kyden. He just repeated his advice about confidence. Amadea really needed to improve on that. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her nerves calmed slightly and the fluttering in her stomach dulled. She watched him pull up on the broomstick and he rocketed off into the air. Then he flew around in a few circles and came back to Amadea. Her eyes widened. He flew around with such ease, she was amazed. After he flew back down, Amadea knew it was her turn. She imitated what he did, pulling up slightly on the broomstick and it jerked her up into the air. She fell to the side and yanked the broom back the other way, trying to level herself out. Once she was straight up in the air again, she took a moment to breathe. This wasn't so bad, she thought.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this," she yelled down to Kyden. "It's not so bad!"