A New Fantastic Point of View Closed

Delphinia had been stressing about... Well, everything, practically. She wanted to find a good outfit for broom-racing, but obviously wasn't a genius at these kinds of things, what was a good broom-racing outfit?! Of course, she also had to consider the weather; And then she decided to just wear a white knit sweater with some black tights.
When she arrived, she looked around for Simon for a moment, then saw him and broke out into a grin, waving and running over. "Hey, Simon!" She muttered quietly. She couldn't speak any louder than what had just come out of the "barely a whisper" field, she was excited and nervous and scared because what if she flew super duper high up, and then fell into the great lake, broke through the ice and couldn't get up before it froze, became an ice monster and was stuck under the water for all eternity- "Ok, I get it, shut up." She muttered even quieter than before, and then cleared her throat and began to speak a bit more clearly. "So, where would you like to start?" She looked around. "Oh yeah, I'm stupid, I can't fly without a broom, well maybe if I used Leviosa, but then that would defeat the whole purpose of us being here and-" She sighed. "Do you know where the brooms are?"

Simon heard the grass rustling as she approached even before she greeted him, but once he had done so, he looked up with a bright smile as he closed the book he had been reading. "Delphinia, good to see you!" He could have shortened her name and maybe most would have but he liked the name very much. It was a beautiful name and therefore stood on it's own, not needing to be shortened.

"Yeah, they don't recommend Leviosa on people," he said, thinking back to the one assignment where they learned it was casted on the objector's clothing and not he himself. That had to be quite embarrassing! Maybe it was the other way round, but Simon remembered something about a floating gentleman from former times and without clothing.

"Yea, the school brooms are over this way," he said as he grabbed his bag, placing the book inside and leading her over to a storage space at the Training Pitch. He set his bag down inside so it would be somewhat secure and then looked over the brooms available. The ones at the front were the ones most frequently used but that was because they were the best ones. "Take your pick and I can look it over, make sure it's in good shape." That was one of the first things to always do before a broom ride. Check your broom.

I'm so sorry for how late my replies have been, I've been very busy!
She obviously wasn't the expert on this, either, but she knew not to pick one with splinters, or cracks, and don't pick a worn-out one. After choosing one, she held it out and looked to him in approval. "Ok, let's go!" She stood in the middle of the area, got on her broom, and....
Immediately flew straight into a bush with relatively dull thorns. She groaned. Delphinia didn't look particularly hurt, just... Dazed. It was obvious that she hadn't expected this. She giggled, but her expression looked blank, possibly even a bit annoyed. She stood, picking thorns off her clothing. "Welp, that wasn't the best practice. Guess I'm not getting on the Quidditch team any time soon." She walked over to Simon. "Did I do something wrong?" Delphinia was biting her lip and her face was red; She was embarrased and distressed and her arms and legs were all scratched up from the thorns.
As she waited for his response, she contemplated something: She should just head back to Ireland. Of course, Father would be disappointed in her for quitting, but he would also understand, correct? Then she shook her head. Hufflepuffs didn't quit. She offered a sheepish grin. "What do I do this time?"

Simon had only been hovering, trying to make sure his fellow Hufflepuff had a handle on things before they took off. She took off fast, straight into a bush. "Del - " he began, but it was too late. Crash.

Simon immediately came back down to the ground and over to her, offering to help her out of the tangled mess she had gotten herself into. "Come over here. Sit with me for a moment," he said, leading her to a bench. He sat down beside her and picked out a couple twigs from her hair and began to gently bring his hands through her hair, attempting to feel for a bump or see if there was any sort of blood. There wasn't blood. He would have known that already.

"You alright?" he asked her softly, concerned that maybe she was really hurt. He remembered at the Fall Ball when that large lantern came down on his head when the tent collapsed and he felt disoriented and a little confused. It was similar to hockey concussion days.

"First we make sure you're alright, and then we figure out what to do next time. You know, the offer to share my broom still stands. Sharing is caring."

She laughed again, hearing Simon's visible concern. She thought it was genuinely sweet and a bit funny how he looked so concerned about her when almost nothing had happened. "Don't act so upset. I'm fine- Just a bit scratched up." She gently brushed his hands away, still smiling. "Anyways, I'd rather share a broom than most likely die trying to simply hover." She shuddered at the thought. Delphinia had known she (in a best case scenario) wouldn't die, but she didn't want to think of it either way. As she watched his expression, it made her snicker. "Anyways. Yes. I would like to share a broom." She was scared that she would mess up and was embarrassed that she had to share a broom; She could do it herself! Yeah, she totally could! She shook her head, changing her mind. "No. No, um, actually-" She paused for a moment, perhaps thinking. "Actually, I'd rather try again with my own broom." She confidently stood up, taking the school's broom with her, and walked into the area they were previously in. As she commanded her broom up like they had learned, she turned to Simon, pursing her lips. "Alright, what do I do now?"

"Make sure your handle is more parallel with the ground. The stepper you pull up on the handle, the more of an incline you go. Once up the air, this won't be as important but you need to get to the desired elevation. Upward before onward." That was her main mistake before.

He understood, she was eager. He had been there first year and it wasn't until he stared practicing a lot of broom racing that he really took off on his flying (no pun intended). Delphinia also probably just needed some practice because once you got it, you got it.

"And try to start off slow." Simon really hoped that she wouldn't run right into the same bush there again or even something worse. She got lucky the first time coming out of it mostly unaffected. "I'll stay low and close and help if I can." It would just be offering tips or tricks, some suggestions and such along the way. It was much probably like teaching someone to drive a car - they had the wheel and you just had to let them make their own mistakes. Still, it wasn't easy to watch but Simon had a pretty good feeling that Delphinia learned from her last attempt.

"Go on, girl. You've got this."

Once again, Delphinia commanded the broom up and into her hand. She cautiously tilted the end of her broom downwards, mounting it. As she lifted off the ground in a low hover, her broom was still very wobbly. "Oh, I did it!" There was no reason to be excited; Her broom was barely an inch off the ground. But did she care? No. No, she didn't, and nothing could make her. That was her first instance of flying where she didn't fail or crash into something immediately. "Simon, look!" He was also probably already looking, and he probably already saw what was happening. Another thing she didn't care about. As she hovered, she went down as well, so that her feet touched the ground again, just barely, and back up, higher this time. "I might as well be a professional broom racer already! They might as well put me in the Quidditch World Cup!" She lowered her broom. "That was so super awesome! I bet I'm the best flyer in the entire school!" She leaned her broom against the wall for a moment again. "Anyways, I definitely owe you for helping me. I woulda killed myself while trying to fly if you hadn't helped me!" She was joking this time.

"That was...very good," he said, not taking that away from her. I mean, she didn't go sixty miles per hour smack into a thorny bush that time so it was 100 percent improvement from the last time! He was proud and a smile on his face showed that. "And you're welcome for the help, my dear, but we are far from done!"

I mean, she barely mastered the first step. That couldn't be the end of a FLYING lesson when one really hadn't flew. She had crashed. She had hovered. No flying.

"You're doing great, but we're not done yet!" he quickly said, not wanting her to think it was time to put that broom away. "Before this lesson is done, we need to take to the skies and see Hogwarts from above - see that Great Lake like you've never seen it before."

"Alright, now this time - same as before - but you hover a little higher off the ground." He demonstrated. Mount the broom, lift, hover. He knew she could do this, all she had to do is do exactly as she had before but this time let herself excel just a little higher before stopping. "Concentrate. Come up to where I am and stop when you can look me in the eyes. Come on. Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me, baby." He was quoting a cartoon movie he liked when he was younger but that might have gone past her.

Delphinia smiled wider than she already was... Her jaw was starting to hurt. As she got her broom up once more and mounted it again, she nodded. "Alright, I got this this time!" She followed all the steps again. Her broom was even more wobbly than last time. Delphinia raised her broom higher, higher, higherrrr...
Flop. The broom stopped and she fell. Luckily she was only about a foot off the ground this time. She groaned, getting back on her broom without speaking. Same thing this time, she got higher and higher and just about an inch higher than last time. Again, she fell. It took a lot of falling before she finally got it. After the 3rd time, she called, "Don't hold your breath, it will take me a while!" She was joking, and she wasn't discouraged in the least bit. After all, she had a really good friend with her to help her, and it wasn't like he would leave if she didn't get it, was it?
No. No, it wasn't.
She shook her head, and it took about 3 more tries. The last time, after she had fell from about 3 inches up and onto her back, lying there for a moment, she mounted her broom again. "This is my last try..." She murmured. She was getting annoyed, though she didn't want to stop. She lifted herself on the wobbly broom. Up, up, and...
Got about 2 inches above Simon before she realized she had already gotten there. She noticed eventually, and let out a nervous, high-pitched laugh. She didn't talk. Just laughed. It wasn't because she was happy, or because she was proud of herself, or nervous. It was a mixture of all of those.