Post by Michael-Thomas Homewood on Feb 22, 2009 11:04:47 GMT -5
It was a very warm day, the sky was blue and the first time in April it was dry. Some small and fluffy clouds moved through the sky like a sheepherd chilling on the plains. Just a weak wind waved through the Hogwarts campus, but it was a very comfortable breeze. Some students, espacially small kiddies, were outside enjoying the first wonderful day in year.
In time Michael was taking a breakfast: a huge sandwich, containing a pile of 5 pieces of white bread, in-between cheese, lettuce, salami and lots of spicy ketchup. A very crazy mix for a breakfast, but he loved it.
An eye-catching fact is that, the first time for 3 weeks, he sat at the table in his Quidditch dress, just like every morning at weekend. He used to practise after breakfast when weather is okay and the pitch not full. The weather was the reason, why Mike had a smile in his face since he had looked outside and had noticed that rain finally stopped over night. "I thought it´ll never stop..." he had just thought half an hour before.
He wanted to practise a very common manoeuvre. Very common, but still new and a bit difficult for him: the nose-dive. He had saw this one in the book "Quidditch through the Ages". Nice for faking the opponent seeker or to chase a diving snitch, as the book said.
"Could be useful..." he had thought last evening. But he realized that he need a lot of practice to handle the nose-dive perfectly, even for a beginner, even for a firstie, and even for a muggle-borned firstie-beginner. He knew that he´ll need every minute of the practice to learn it.
But after he got his birthday presents (he became 12 years old at 1th day of March), within his own broom stick, he learned the sloth roll pretty fast. His broom stick had got a much better control, better handling and was more sensitive, although it was not as fast than the broom sticks of the team mates and opponents, but anyway faster than the fossil broom sticks owned by Hogwarts.
But even his broom stick was not a magic bullet. Of course Quidditch was fun, lots of fun. That was why Mike performed it. But it also was work. Hard work. Practice. Accidents.
He remembered, some of his manoeuvres had became a real disaster. So his first day on his new broom. Just on the pitch he had tried the sloth roll too overeagered. Upside-down he had lost his grip and fell down 7 foot deep and landed with his nek and back on the pitch very hard. The following night he had slept the first time in the Hospital Wing. Next day everything was all right again, but he practised with more caution since then. But in time he was able to handle the sloth roll, not perfectly, but quite good.
After he had finished his breakfast, Mike stood up and moved with his broom towards the exit. He passed another students on the campus playing with each other. He wanted to join, but Quidditch was on top of his to-do-list. "I´ll have time for them after lunch....."
But he knew that he would practise again after lunch. The will of victory burned inside like fire. His dark history on primary school still caused pain. The bullying, the violence.....The memories were still burned in his head unable to erase them. It incited Mike to practise hard, to give everything to show everyone: I´m the best!
Mike saw the entrance of the Quidditch Stadium already, in background the Forbidden Forest, the blue sky, the sheepy clouds. He smiled. After two weeks finally he can practise again, soar through the air, enjoy the warm sun. But he didn´t see some clouds behind him, still far away, but very dark. Nearly everyone on the campus noticed that the April Showers tried to start its comeback but after Mike mounted his broom and pushed himself away from the pitch he flew through the air. Slowly he started to practise his nose-dive (which was not exactly one, he was too scared to flew exactly vertical towards the ground) and he had no eye on the clouds moving towards Hogwarts.............
In time Michael was taking a breakfast: a huge sandwich, containing a pile of 5 pieces of white bread, in-between cheese, lettuce, salami and lots of spicy ketchup. A very crazy mix for a breakfast, but he loved it.
An eye-catching fact is that, the first time for 3 weeks, he sat at the table in his Quidditch dress, just like every morning at weekend. He used to practise after breakfast when weather is okay and the pitch not full. The weather was the reason, why Mike had a smile in his face since he had looked outside and had noticed that rain finally stopped over night. "I thought it´ll never stop..." he had just thought half an hour before.
He wanted to practise a very common manoeuvre. Very common, but still new and a bit difficult for him: the nose-dive. He had saw this one in the book "Quidditch through the Ages". Nice for faking the opponent seeker or to chase a diving snitch, as the book said.
"Could be useful..." he had thought last evening. But he realized that he need a lot of practice to handle the nose-dive perfectly, even for a beginner, even for a firstie, and even for a muggle-borned firstie-beginner. He knew that he´ll need every minute of the practice to learn it.
But after he got his birthday presents (he became 12 years old at 1th day of March), within his own broom stick, he learned the sloth roll pretty fast. His broom stick had got a much better control, better handling and was more sensitive, although it was not as fast than the broom sticks of the team mates and opponents, but anyway faster than the fossil broom sticks owned by Hogwarts.
But even his broom stick was not a magic bullet. Of course Quidditch was fun, lots of fun. That was why Mike performed it. But it also was work. Hard work. Practice. Accidents.
He remembered, some of his manoeuvres had became a real disaster. So his first day on his new broom. Just on the pitch he had tried the sloth roll too overeagered. Upside-down he had lost his grip and fell down 7 foot deep and landed with his nek and back on the pitch very hard. The following night he had slept the first time in the Hospital Wing. Next day everything was all right again, but he practised with more caution since then. But in time he was able to handle the sloth roll, not perfectly, but quite good.
After he had finished his breakfast, Mike stood up and moved with his broom towards the exit. He passed another students on the campus playing with each other. He wanted to join, but Quidditch was on top of his to-do-list. "I´ll have time for them after lunch....."
But he knew that he would practise again after lunch. The will of victory burned inside like fire. His dark history on primary school still caused pain. The bullying, the violence.....The memories were still burned in his head unable to erase them. It incited Mike to practise hard, to give everything to show everyone: I´m the best!
Mike saw the entrance of the Quidditch Stadium already, in background the Forbidden Forest, the blue sky, the sheepy clouds. He smiled. After two weeks finally he can practise again, soar through the air, enjoy the warm sun. But he didn´t see some clouds behind him, still far away, but very dark. Nearly everyone on the campus noticed that the April Showers tried to start its comeback but after Mike mounted his broom and pushed himself away from the pitch he flew through the air. Slowly he started to practise his nose-dive (which was not exactly one, he was too scared to flew exactly vertical towards the ground) and he had no eye on the clouds moving towards Hogwarts.............
