September 3rd, 1894 — Hogwarts Grounds

"Before we get started, anyone in the air before I give the go-ahead loses five house points," Ben announced to the gaggle of first years (were they always so small? He was certainly he had never been this tiny while he was at school — with a few exceptions, these kids looked even smaller than the group from last year). The school-issued brooms were already laying in a neat line along the grass, and even before the group of students had fully exited the castle Ben had already seen a few eagerly edging towards them. This was his first year having the class from day one, but he anticipated that these first few lessons would be the hardest. The skill and comfort level of the group would be at its widest now, when some of these kids had been riding brooms in their backyards for years and some had never even held one.

"Now if you've brought your own broom I'll need to look it over before you can use it for class," he continued. They couldn't have anyone using some broken stick for flying practice — anything could happen with an unpredictable broom. "So for today you can choose to use a school broom, or you can stand aside and wait until I see it. Show of hands: who's flown before?"

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