Flying Lessons (CLOSED)

Mei wandered outside, it was a free block, and she had lots of time to spare. It was nearly deserted, save for some of her fellow fourth years wandering around. Making her way to the Quidditch field, she suddenly decided that she should work on her flying.

You see, though Mei had been trained pretty well in most subjects, on account of her part-time studentship at the magic school in Taiwan and her mother, she had never really learned how to fly.

Sure, she knew the very basics, but it was fair to say that she wasn't the best. It was also safe to say that she wasn't exactly the most athletic person in the world.

"ACCIO BROOM!" she yelled out, her Cleansweep 2000 came rushing forward.

Without further ado, she laid it down, and bracing herself, yelled, "UP!"

Suddenly, she felt something hard knock her in the head, and she collapsed onto the ground, slightly dazed.

Ludwig was walking slowly down to the quiddich field; he wanted to do some extra practice before the quiddich season started as he was the team captian and he hadn't played in a while, prefering football to the airborne sport. He didn't want to embarass himself so getting reaquainted with flying and the game would be a good idea.

When he walked out of the changing room, he noticed a girl standing on the pitch. She was a Slytherin like him, he recognised but he thought she was probably in the year below him. She had placed her broom on the floor and had shoulted 'up' and, in her defence the broom did go up. However, it stood vertically and hit her on the back of the head, knocking her to the floor.

"Scheiße" He winced and jogged over, "Are you okay, fraulien?" He asked, holding his hand out to her. "You were too violent with it." He explained, helping her up, "You have to be assertive not violent." He expained, placing his own broom on the floor, "Up!" He commanded and it flew in to his hand. "You try now... if you are feeling well enough."

Mei rubbed her head tenderly, oh why couldn't they make nice cushy brooms for beginners? It'd be so nice, and head injuries would be prevented, and life would be great! She noticed a grass stain running up her leg, and mentally sighed, that would be hard to get out, and she just took a shower three hours ago too. Why did she decide that this was a good idea again? Her mother would be disappointed that her daughter wasn't the star beater like she was back in her years.

She decided to pick herself up after realizing she was still on the ground, when she heard someone say something in a different language. It sounded pretty European, though she wouldn't know. Then, she heard a deep voice rumble down at her, in a rather thick accent of some sorts. She smiled up at him, and seeing that he was extending his hand out, Mei gladly took it. Pulling herself up with the help of the guy, she took a look at him.

He was rather tall, a little more than a foot taller than her, extremely muscular with slicked back blond hair. He had a pretty nice physique, and a very well-defined jawline. He looked slightly older than her, maybe by a year or so. He was a handsome man, though not necessarily something she'd go for.

Mei snapped out of her reverie when he started talking again. Well, it wasn't her fault she was violent with the broom, it didn't work when she was nice to it. She did however, look at him in awe when the broom effortlessly flew into his hand.

When he looked back at her, expecting her to follow his demonstration, she felt like the only thing she could say was "Okay!" She smacked herself mentally for agreeing to go through the pain again, but.... There was something about the boy that wouldn't let you say no, lest you disappoint him.

Must be a captain of the Quidditch team or something. Taking a deep breath, she tried to mimic the boy's tone. "Up!"

The broom just sat on the ground, looking at her mockingly, laughing at her. "Haha you'll never get me to obey you," it seemed to be saying as it slightly wobbled, then collapsed back down.

She was too nervous now, he could tell. Not that he could blame her; that had been a nasty blow to the back of her head, he was sure she didn't want a repeat. "Well..." He frowned, thinking of the best way to explain it, "Imagine you're talking to a dog. The commanding tone you use while commanding an animal must also be used to command a broom." He hoped he was getting through... "Try it again."

He folded his arms as he watched her, trying to pinpoint what was wrong. But he wasn't exactly a flying teacher so he didn't know how to teach. "Don't be scared, I'll make sure it doesn't hit you again." He held his hand to the back of her head to act as a cushion, hoping it wouldn't distract her.

Mei flushed red, after all, the immense failure of that little venture in front of someone who was undoubtedly pretty good at the sport was to say, a little embarrassing. However, she wouldn't let that get her down! She'd just....try again.

She listened carefully to his instructions, nodding, though in reality, back at home, she never really liked ordering creatures around. She supposed she could say it like she was calling Jasmine over, or telling one of her lackeys to go do something.

She smiled when she heard the boy say that he wouldn't let it hit her, it gave her just a little bit of a confidence booster. She looked at the broom, determined to make something out of it, and pretending it was Jasmine, shouted " "Up!" She saw the broom jump up, then felt something on the back of her head.

It felt like a hand, a very big hand, and right when she turned to see what was holding the back of her head, the broom jumped up and whacked her wrist. Hard.

"EEEEEEEP!" Mei quickly grabbed her wrist and massaged it.

Well, at least the broom decided to listen to her, even if it did end up hurting her.

Ludwig winced when he heard her shout. He hadn't thought his hand was that close to her head as to surprise her but he apparently wasn't that good at judging.. But... at least she had her broom up now. "Is your wrist alright?" He asked, walking around to in front of her.

"Let's look at mounting the broom now. I think you can guess the first bit." He climbed on to his broom, placing his feet in the stirrups to show her. Then he could correct her grip and start the real flying.

"Don't worry," He assured her, "This is the part that if you get once it generally works afterwards... like riding a bike. Flying takes a bit more practice but you'll get it. Are you using a school broom?"

He watched her awkwardly climb on - she was plainly still nervous and reached out to correct her grip. It was mostly right but if her hands were in that position they would ache from the strain prety quickly.

Mei nodded when she heard the boy ask about her wrist. Though really, it would leave a nice angry red mark, well she'd put a healing cream on it later or something.

She never knew there were stirrups in the brooms, and she certainly hadn't bothered to observe her broom once her mother enthusiastically bought it for her. She watched the boy get on the broom, quickly, smoothly, like second nature, which....she supposed it was. Determined, she got on her broom.

Well, she was a bit nervous, and maybe she did grab it too tightly, but she corrected her grip indignantly, regretting it almost instantly. Putting on what she hoped was a confident-looking face (which it was) She looked at the boy.


"What next?" Secretly though, her heart dropped at the thought of flying, and the fall that would come afterward.

"Right." He said, "Pull the broom up towards you." He showed her, "And kick off." He lifted his foot from its hold and pushed on the ground so he flew up, bringing his broom back level when he wanted to stop. "When you want to stop just push your broom back so it's straight." He called down to her.

He really hoped she wouldn't fall. He had a hunch that he would probably get in trouble for letting a begginner fly a broom without adult supervision, especially if she got hurt.

"Don't be nervous, it'll affect your flying." He tried to think if he knew a spell to conjur up a crash mat or a bouncy castle or something, to cushion her fall. Well... if she did hurt herself, the nurse could patch her up quickly, right? Damn, now he was getting nervous as well.

Mei gulped, now was the time to actually try and fly... "Alright, Wan-Mei, you can do this!" she thought to herself, "Wan-Mei means perfect, and you are nearly perfect, so let's go!" She kicked off like he did, and pushed off the ground.

Suddenly, she felt herself lurch up and forward, it was almost an otherworldly experience, like she wasn't in her body anymore. She didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing, but hey, it was better than staying on the ground?

She rose higher and higher, faster and faster. Perhaps the ground was a very nice thing, solid and it didn't move that often until an earthquake or something happened, but hey, Hogwarts was probably earthquake proof. Panicking, she completely forgot what the boy had said about stopping, and leaned over to the left, hoping to someone gain control of it.

Suddenly, she felt something hard, yes, very hard, harder than the ground.... The dirt was soft which made the ground soft and this was hard. It kinda felt like bark, or stone, she couldn't really tell anymore. She slid off the broom, and down whatever hard surface she ran into. Blood gushing out of her nose, and a black eye starting to form.

She wasn't as perfect as she convinced herself to be. Mei couldn't really think anymore.

It all seemed to be going so well for a moment, she had gotten up in the air... a little too fast but that could be worked on. Then suddenly, she sweved violently left, causing him to call out in surpise and worry. She had panicked, great. He shot after her, but could only watch as she collided roughly with the wall.

Well... she had stopped lifting now, the only problem was that she was now slowly drooping off the broom unconscious, or if not unconscious, severely dazed. He didn't think before he dived at the floor, pressing against the broom to speed up faster than the falling girl, rolling off the broom and managing to break her fall just in time. A human airbag, admittedly wasn't idea and the crushing pain in his ribs was evidence of that.

He winced and rolled over so she was on the floor, mopping up the blood on her face. "You're a very accident prone young lady." He muttered, shaking his head. Carefully he sat her up against the wall and clicked his fingers in front of her face, waiting for her response. If it was slow she could have a concussion, which would be very bad...

Perhaps she should stick to a children's broom.

She felt something softish when she fell onto the ground. Perhaps it wasn't even the ground, since it was a rather warm thing, probably like a dog or something living. Oh, she hoped she didn't hurt the poor soul, though the speed of which she was falling could probably add some injury to her 95 pound self.

Oh, now she felt the ground, and it was nice, stable, and soft as always. She heard the boy say something, but she didn't really feel like comprehending it right now. Something was wiping up her face, oh, was that blood? Her nose was probably broken in a horrendous way then!

She saw the boy's fingers click in front of her face. Ugh, just what she wanted, something right up all in her face after she just rammed it into something. She tried to scowl, but as soon as she did, the pain in her face rushed back.

She settled for trying to bat his hand aside.

He sighed in relief when her hand came up to weakly swat his hand away from his face. She was at least still sonewhat aware of what was happening around her, which was better than nothing. However she was still pretty bruised and battered and could have broken something. 

He places his hands on her shoulders, looking in to her face and saying clearly, “I'm going to take you to the nurse. Nod if you understand.” He waited for her response but he knew that whatever she said he would pick her up and carry her to the nurse. And sure enough he did, picking her up bridal style as it was the mosy comfortable and probably the least likely to cause her to hurt herself any more.

She wondered if after this she would ever try and get on a broom again, then he wondered if she should. She'd managed to hurt herself three times in the space of what? Ten minutes? That had to be some kind of record. 

He took her to the hospital wing and well, it seemed to him like they knew her. There was at least a sense of 'oh her again' so she was either clumsy or had a tendancy to look for trouble. 

She heard the boy look at her face, determined. She did appreciate the enunciation he provided and she was about to nod when she felt herself being picked up by a pair of sturdy arms. Huh, they weren't just for show eh? Well, she didn't feel like protesting right now, so she just went along with it. There was also the fact she really couldn't move her body much either.

She saw the hospital wing come into view, and mentally rolled her eyes. They'd patch her back up again and complain about her little "misdemeanors." In her eyes, it was better that she got hurt instead of anyone else that came along with her right? When they finally walked in, the sense of 'oh her again' was very strong, and she'd probably have to explain to the boy carrying her why exactly that is.

For now, she just settled on resting her head against his chest, her neck tired of holding it up.

Ludwig laid her down and called over the nurse, who pursed her lips. Ludwig couldn't help but seem a little guilty. He felt a bit responsible for her injuries and she did look in a bad way. The nurse just sighed and asked him what happened.

"She crashed in to a wall on her broom, Madame." He explained, "I managed to stop her from falling on to the floor but she hit very hard." He folded his arms and sat beside her, a little worried for her. She could be badly hurt, what if she had internal bleeding? He bit his lip as the nurse looked her over.

He would give her some more lessons if she wanted them... if she could have them. Perhaps he should take her on his broom so she could get a feel of what being on a broom is like.

Mei smiled happily at the nurse. This one was a nice one, she didn't really lecture, but she patched you up nicely and painless, unlike that one other nurse that made sure you felt the pain of your actions. She saw the nurse flit around her, first repairing her nose, making sure it was aligned swiftly and painlessly. Mei was sure she heard a crack in there somewhere, though it wasn't surprising to say the least. When she reached up to touch her nose, the nurse quickly swatted her hand away, telling her that if she wanted it to heal fast, it was best she not touch it.

After putting bruise-removing paste on, the nurse left her to her antics, knowing that Mei'd probably pop back up nice and dandy tomorrow, albeit a bit achey, but that didn't matter right now. The good news is that Mei didn't have a concussion, though she did have a pretty nasty headache the nurse had given medicine for right away.

Feeling a bit better, she remembered she hadn't introduced herself to the boy, and the boy hadn't introduced himself to him. Clearing her throat, she began.

"Hey! Thanks for trying to teach me how to fly! I haven't introduced myself yet, I'm Wan-Mei Chen, fourth year Slytherin! I'm here on the exchange program right now, and it's nice to meet you!"

He nearly jumped when she spoke to him, he had began assuming she was unconscious or at least unresponsive and hadn't really paid attention to the nurse fixing her up, so hearing her speak was a little bit of a surpise, though he wouldn't admit it.

"It's not a problem." He said, "Would you like another lesson? One where you don't run in to a wall?" He asked, looking over at her propped up in the bed, looking a lot better now, if not physically then at least mentally. She at least had half an idea of what was going on now.

"I'm Ludwig Beilschmidt." He introduced himself, "Fifth year Slytherin and also on the exchange programme. Nice to meet you too." He offered her a small, rare smile. "Where are you from?" He asked. She looked asian but beyond that he had no idea.

Mei enthusiastically nodded. After all, flying would be a good skill to learn, and she was feeling happier after the nurse patched her up, and was back to her normal happy, mostly optimistic self. She frowned at all the pillows around her though. Seriously, would it kill them to get nicer pillows, or at the very least, pillow cases that weren't super itchy. She took two of them and chucked them onto the bed next to hers. Some other sap could enjoy them instead.

She saw the boy, Ludwig, introduce himself. His name would be a hard name to pronounce, and she decided she would call him by the more flattering name of "Wig." Besides, his hair kind of looked like a wig...just slightly if you looked at it the right angle.

She grinned at Wig, white teeth showing, after seeing his small smile. "I'm from Taiwan! It's about two hours south of Japan, and I'm sure you've heard of it! You look like you're from Germany or something, so where're you from?"

Mei shifted around on the bed, before plopping down on her belly, facing Wig. He had very pretty blue eyes now that she looked closer at him.

Oh good, she easily bounced back from hurting herself so badly, he thought that it was an admirable trait and he liked it. She looked so excited and he decided he would do better at teaching her next time. So she wouldn't... you know, die. And perhaps wrap everything in bubble wrap, just to make sure.

He noticed that she had a very enigmatic smile, it was sweet. "Yes, I've heard of Taiwan. I don't know much about it but I know it exists at least." He smiled slightly, "Sorry. I'm not very good at geography, you'll have to tell me about it at some point."

"Ja," He nodded, "I am from Germany. Berlin. Well... just outside Berlin I suppose. I was born there but we had to move when my dogs got loose and some muggles saw them" He admitted.

She shifted over to look at him properly and he couldn't help but be a little amused, she never seemed to stay still. It reminded him a little bit of his cat, Liesel, who would roll over constantly. She was sort of as cute as Liesel as well, though... not as stuck up. He wondered if she liked animals.

She smiled as she heard that he had heard of Taiwan. It was quite irritating hearing people refer to it as Thailand (the two were pretty different countries) or "Oh hey, isn't that a part of China?" She listened attentively as Wig talked about where he lived. Oh that was nice, he had dogs, Mei liked dogs far more than cats. Cats were just...nasty nasty creatures that had nothing better to do all day than eat and sleep and fart and stuff like that.

She shifted again, propping her arms up under her chin, supporting her head. Since she wasn't allowed to go out yet (judging by her injuries she'd say she had about half - and hour left to go) she might as well stay here with the boy and learn more about him.

"Oh, I see! Muggles are fascinating though.... Anywho, can I call you Wig? It's easier to say than Rud...Rlud.. Lrudwig! Do you have any brothers or sisters? I don't, I'm just by myself, but it's okay, because I'm good enough for my parents!"

She nearly fell of the bed when she remembered her Herbology homework + extra waiting for her in her dorm... Maybe Wig was good at Herbology.

He blinked as she rolled about again and asked him if she could call him 'Wig'. Well... He thought about it. It did sound stupid, but not as much as 'West' So he could live with it as long as only she called him it. He wouldn't want everyone to keep calling him Wig, it would be annoying when he had a perfectly good name. He sighed, "I think I could love with that," He admitted.

"Ja." He noded, "I have an older brother called Gilbert. You'll probably probably have seen him in the common room. Loud, white hair, he's hard to miss."

He looked down at his hands as she moved around yet again. She really couldn't seem to sit still, and it sort of amused him. "Do you have any pets?" He asked her.

"Of course, it's not like you'd die from a nick name, besides, I think it's a cute nickname!" Mei exclaimed, hands coming out from under her as she sat up. She was getting excited, and apparently, she talked with her hands according to her fellow peers, but hey, it added EMPHASIS to everything. Her hands waved rather rapidly when she heard Gilbert's name.

"OH, OH, GRIRBERT....GLRIBERT....GIRBERT! I KNOW HIM! I MET HIM IN THE HALLWAY THE OTHER DAY! SO YOU'RE HIS BROTHER?" Her naturally loud voice had started to come out as she felt better and better. By now, her bruise had nearly faded, only the smallest smidgen of purple still covering her eye. Her nose was still, eh, not doing super great, but better!

She felt well enough to get out of bed, and without waiting for an answer, she jumped up, and quickly muttered a cleaning spell on her clothes (the blood on it wasn't very pleasant to look at, and it adds to the suspicions of many). She grabbed Wig's hand (it was warm!) and quickly dragged him out to the quidditch field again.

After all, it was such a nice day!

Ludwig could tell she was getting better, her hands were waving about in front of her and she was bouncing up and down. Her voice got louder as he said his borther's name and gott, Gilbert's name should never be spoken at such a volume. "Ja." He said, feeling a headache coming on, "He's my older brother."

Suddenly she had bounced out of bed. He wasn't sure that was a very good idea, she had just ran in to a wall. And no matter how fast magic medicine worked, he still thought she should rest. But for a small girl she had a strong grip and he found himself being pulled back to the quiddich pitch.

"You want to have another flying lesson now?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

She looked at Wig, and shrugged. "Sure why not?! IT'S SUCH A NICE DAY OUTSIDE TOO!" And it was, the sky was just the perfect shade of blue, and the grass was nice and dry. The wind softly blew, and she felt her hair being tossed gently by it. She looked at Wig, with a wondering gaze as to where exactly could she find a safer nicer broom.

In the meantime, Mei decided to lay down on the grass and stare at the sky... She stared at the sky, but unfortunately there weren't very many clouds, so it was a rather boring sky for now. Deciding it was so, Mei located a tree, and decided to climb it, forgetting about Wig. However, after seeing that there was a squirrel up there, she promptly jumped down.

Forgetting about the flying lesson she had propositioned just a few minutes ago, she decided that this was the perfect place to frolic. Taking off her shoes and socks, she placed them neatly by the tree, and set off to her frolicking.

Life was so much better with sunshine and flowers!

Ludwig winced as she shouted again and began to wonder if, in fact, she had suffered some kind of brain trama associated with that blow to the head. She was certianly acting eratically and fogetting what she was doing quickly. Before he knew it she had ran away from him and had climbed up a tree, but she didn't stay there long, for some reason after a few moments she had jumped down - straight out of the branches, and that was a long drop. No wonder why there had been a sense of 'oh no, not her again' when she had come in to the hospial wing. A picture was beginning to form in his mind. 

Quietly he sat down on the grass to watch her. He sort of got the sense that she needed watching, ie adult supervision at all times, paticularily outside. He half expected her to stick her head in a beehive. She slipped off her shoes and socks and was now running/frolicking in the grass. Watching her, Ludwig decided that it was cute. Well, refreshing was probably the correct term. He wasn't around children often and she was certianly acting like one so it was like playing with a child. He supposed he was enjoying himself...even if a headache was forming behind his eyes. 

Watching her he decided that she probably did have brain damage, but it had happened a long time before now. Idly he wondered if she had been dropped as a baby... 

He shook off the thought; it was a little rude. “Wan-Mei?” He called out, “I thought you wanted a flying lesson. You know, best to get straight back on the horse as they say.” Though he had his doubts that she remembered he was there.

Mei was snapped out of her reverie when she heard Wig's voice appear in front of her happy colored thoughts. She finally remembered the reason why she was out here in the first place, though honestly, she really didn't want to get on that broom again when she could spend her time frolicking in the field instead. She'd have to convince Wig of it first. But first, there was the issue of her name.

Skipping back over to him, she placed her hands firmly on her hips and looked up at him, the smallest hint of a glare present in her eyes. "I'm glad you think I'm perfection ("Wan-Mei" means perfection in Chinese), but I'd rather you call me Mei, or Mei Mei, or Wan Wan. When you say my full name like that, it makes me think I'm about to get into trouble." She nodded her head to emphasize her point.

Going back to not wanting to fly, she decided what better way to not have to learn than to distract him and show him the joys of frolicking. Wig looked like he needed it too, his shoulders seemed a bit tense, and he needed to learn how to relax. Plus, aerobics are healthy for you!

Thinking about it now, he probably thought she had some sort of brain damage or something - she'd have to prove him otherwise another time.

For the time being though, she just pulled him along. First, making him take off his shoes and socks. While he was doing so, she decided to explain to him just what she wanted to do. "I don't feel like learning to fly anymore! Frolicking is so much more fun; anyway, it's really nice outside too, perfect weather for frolicking. You seem tense too, and by frolicking, your tensions should be released, like....hmm...HAKUNA MATATA! That's it!"

She beamed at Wig, ready to take his hand and start frolicking, and once his shoes were off, that's exactly what she did.