On the very long list of behaviors and activities Great Aunt Jessamine didn't condone in a lady was, of course, quidditch. Well, quidditch wasn't actually on the list, flying on a broomstick was and so by extension quidditch technically was forbidden. However, Hesper didn't imagine she'd feel much better about playing quidditch on a flying carpet if such a thing was practical which it very much wasn't. As Hesper was quickly coming to realize, however, what Great Aunt Jessamine didn't know wouldn't hurt her.
Generally speaking though, Hesper towed the line and accepted her great aunt's rules, it was simply easier to minimize the rule breaking so that she could make sure nothing got back to her. Until now she'd had no incentive to break the rules and try flying. She had to prove toSirius the group that she was as capable as any of them. Also she didn't want to make a liar of herself, granted she had already told the lie but if she learned to fly really well they didn't need to know that she'd been lying at the time.
The trouble was the most natural person to ask for help from was Sirius and she definitely couldn't ask him to teach her how to fly because she'd first have to admit that she couldn't and that was how she'd gotten herself into this situation in the first place, now it was even worse because there was a lie on top of it. She was determined to teach herself based on scraps she remembered from the limited flying she'd done last year and every school quidditch match she'd ever watched. How hard could it be? It wasn't as though there was anything overly complex about it, there were no buttons or cranks she needed to see to at certain times. It'd probably be instinctual after she got comfortable simply being in the air.
Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It didn't help at all that she felt so self-conscious about it, she'd tried to sneak onto the pitch when few others would be there but it was a Saturday so everyone and their owl was there. Then she realized the more people there were, the less attention she'd get... Unless she was so awful everyone stared at her. The moment her feet left the ground for the first time she felt a horrid mixture of elation and dread. Elation because she was actually flying (barely, but for her yes) and absolute dread because she felt suddenly so lost and overwhelmed by it all. It was entirely possible that she could lose control and without an instructor she was way more likely to do so. She needed to be bold enough to try but not so bold that she lost control and ended up so wounded that someone had to write to her great aunt.
For now she was just trying to practice height. If she was confident she could fly high as well as get herself back to the ground again then maybe the odds of accidentally killing herself would be significantly lower than they currently were. It was this she was practicing when Sirius found her. She was getting a little higher every time she left the ground again, it looked rather ridiculous to watch kind of like she was jumping in very slow motion but she too focused to think about how she looked anymore. At least she was until she finally spotted Sirius. She'd made it just over seven feet off the ground when she saw him.
Hesper stared at him as the embarrassment and shock hit her. It was so bad that she didn't notice her broomstick was still rising until it dawned on her that he was starting to look smaller. Oh no. "Down! Go down!" The broomstick might respond to 'up' but it apparently didn't know the word 'down' and if it did, it didn't care for the way she said it. Now she was starting to panic, she wanted to call out for help but she was going to look even worse now in front of Sirius and she was so mortified already. He'd just been sat there, watching her for who knew how long and probably holding in laughter at how terrible she was at it or else he was annoyed at her for lying and risking the group assignment. It was at least rising slowly, or rather it had been until she'd started to panic which seemed to energize it. Tears started to prickle in the corners of her eyes and it was a very small comfort to think that she was now too high up for Sirius to see it if she cried.
""
Generally speaking though, Hesper towed the line and accepted her great aunt's rules, it was simply easier to minimize the rule breaking so that she could make sure nothing got back to her. Until now she'd had no incentive to break the rules and try flying. She had to prove to
The trouble was the most natural person to ask for help from was Sirius and she definitely couldn't ask him to teach her how to fly because she'd first have to admit that she couldn't and that was how she'd gotten herself into this situation in the first place, now it was even worse because there was a lie on top of it. She was determined to teach herself based on scraps she remembered from the limited flying she'd done last year and every school quidditch match she'd ever watched. How hard could it be? It wasn't as though there was anything overly complex about it, there were no buttons or cranks she needed to see to at certain times. It'd probably be instinctual after she got comfortable simply being in the air.
Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It didn't help at all that she felt so self-conscious about it, she'd tried to sneak onto the pitch when few others would be there but it was a Saturday so everyone and their owl was there. Then she realized the more people there were, the less attention she'd get... Unless she was so awful everyone stared at her. The moment her feet left the ground for the first time she felt a horrid mixture of elation and dread. Elation because she was actually flying (barely, but for her yes) and absolute dread because she felt suddenly so lost and overwhelmed by it all. It was entirely possible that she could lose control and without an instructor she was way more likely to do so. She needed to be bold enough to try but not so bold that she lost control and ended up so wounded that someone had to write to her great aunt.
For now she was just trying to practice height. If she was confident she could fly high as well as get herself back to the ground again then maybe the odds of accidentally killing herself would be significantly lower than they currently were. It was this she was practicing when Sirius found her. She was getting a little higher every time she left the ground again, it looked rather ridiculous to watch kind of like she was jumping in very slow motion but she too focused to think about how she looked anymore. At least she was until she finally spotted Sirius. She'd made it just over seven feet off the ground when she saw him.
Hesper stared at him as the embarrassment and shock hit her. It was so bad that she didn't notice her broomstick was still rising until it dawned on her that he was starting to look smaller. Oh no. "Down! Go down!" The broomstick might respond to 'up' but it apparently didn't know the word 'down' and if it did, it didn't care for the way she said it. Now she was starting to panic, she wanted to call out for help but she was going to look even worse now in front of Sirius and she was so mortified already. He'd just been sat there, watching her for who knew how long and probably holding in laughter at how terrible she was at it or else he was annoyed at her for lying and risking the group assignment. It was at least rising slowly, or rather it had been until she'd started to panic which seemed to energize it. Tears started to prickle in the corners of her eyes and it was a very small comfort to think that she was now too high up for Sirius to see it if she cried.
""
