In Search of a Broom

The weather was far better than it had been the last time Kerry was here. Today was cloudy with a light breeze coming out of the northwest--the location of the mountain. He had a feeling that was fairly common weather pattern here, and wondered just what the winters were going to be like.

Before entering the building Kerry checked out on the pitch. Three people were flying in formation, all dressed in some uniform. They seemed to be going through a series of maneuvers, and at one point were up a good 50-60 meters in the air before diving towards the ground, pulling out at the last minute. They hovered in the air for a few moments, talking, before they climbed and turned, heading off towards the quidditch stadium to the north.

Kerry entered the Bastion, surprised at how quiet it was even though he could hear people moving about. An older black girl wearing a uniform with purple pipping and carrying a broom walked out of the room across from where they'd had class. She passed him without a second glance; Kerry saw the name and number on her back and figured she was another one of these quidditch players.

Kerry looked around, the called out, "Professor Salomon?"

Up on the 2nd Floor Victoria heard someone calling her name. This first weekend back--the last one didn't really count, it was only the calm before the storm--had turned up a bit hectic, what with a third of last year's quidditch teams showing up at the last moment to practice and the q-potter complaining that they weren't once again getting stadium time like they should because they were a sport, too... Victoria shook her head and walked to the head of the stairs.

"Yeah, what you want?" She half expected to see another q-pot kid looking up at her; instead, it was one of the first years. Victoria started down the stairs. "Oh, hey . . . Kerry, right?" He nodded as she reached him. "Let me guess--you wanna look at brooms?" She put her arm around his shoulders and directed him towards the Equipment Room. "I need a break from the madness. Follow me."

"So you're interested in a broom." Victoria removed her wand from her every present jacket and waved it. Almost instantly the storage cabinets opened, reviling the Institute's stock. "You looked real good on that Cleansweep the other day." She noticed how Kerry's eyes wandered from cabinet to cabinet. "Man, you're just like I was when I was a 1st Year," she said. "It's all so amazing, to think you can be riding on one of those, doing..." She smiled. "Whatever you like."

Walking over to another set of cabinets, Victoria said, "Of course, the upper end Comets are okay--" She turned and said, "I have no idea why we're still selling the 180's, though. A total baby's broom--such bovl.

"But here--" she pointed to the cabinets in the back of the room, "The Nimbus Series. Very well made, good for sports or only tooling about the country side..." She motioned Kerry to come closer. "And you can ride on these all day long and not feel it... You know--" She motioned towards her groin. "Believe me, after a couple of hours on some brooms, you'll think you've been gutted."

Kerry ran his hands over the Nimbus broom before, noticing the "3000" etched into the nose. "So these are the best?" he asked. "The Cleansweep was very nice. I liked how it felt." And I didn't notice it riding up in my crotch, he thought, though those it best not to say so.

Victoria shrugged. "I don't know they're the best, but the Nimbus are very good. Probably the best all-around broom on the market today." She pulled down a Nimbus 3000 and handed it over for Kerry to caress. "Some people think the company tries to put too much into these, that is makes them too hard to re-enchant if there's a problem. I don't think that's the case. But that's me."

Walking over to another cabinet Victoria said, "The Cleansweep Nine's and Elevens's, especially since they've been upgraded, but for my Galleons--" She reached in and pulled out another broom, this one a little longer than the one Kerry held, with the back bristles shaped a little like a large brown torus. "This is the Nimbus 4500. It'll go 180 kph and naught to 100 kph in about 4 seconds flat." She handed it over and took the 3000 back. "That might not sound like a lot, but on a broom, that's moving.

"Plus, it corners great, has wonderful vertical climb, and a huge upper air limit." While Kerry was looking it over she added, "It's one of the brooms I use for the Mile High Club."

As soon as Kerry gave her the quizzical look, Victoria continued onward. "The Mile High Club--or, as people everywhere else in the world might say, the Sixteen Hundred Meter Club. Every Beltane I gather up any 1st Years who want to try, and we get on our brooms and..."

She pushed her right hand forward and upward, imitating a broom as it was ascending. "We head off into the sky. We climb over Mount Katahdin until we're a mile above it, and then we do 10 minutes of maneuvers there before coming back." She chuckled. "And since Mount Katahdin is just shy of a mile high, you're really about 2 miles up, but who's counting, right?"

Victoria gave Kerry the eye, then handed him the 3000 as she took back the 4500. "Give that one a try." She put the 4500 back and retrieved her own Firebolt Mk II. "Lets take it out for a spin. See if you like it."

After changing into his flying gear--he remembered best to be dressed the right--he and Professor Salomon stepped out of the Equipment Room and stopped a few meters from the building on the edge of the pitch. The little hover lesson was the first step; this was the next. I'm gonna take this sucker out.

Just as Professor Salomon laid out her broom to hover, Kerry did the same. This time it didn't even feel like much of an effort was needed: he set the broom, let go--ta, da! Hover. He slung his leg over and got set, then, just as before, he lifted his legs and pulled back slightly on the broom--






Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

45

And lets see what the broom has to say--






GM Emma carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

22

And it says "Go!".

Victoria watched Kerry get on the broom and put it in a hover as he did the first time. And a lot more comfortable this time, she thought. "You remember the map from the lesson for Monday?" she asked. After Kerry nodded she said, "Lets try that. I'm not going to put the barriers up, so we'll just wing it, 'kay?" She pointed out onto the pitch. "You first. I'll follow."

Well . . . time to fly. This was the moment and Kerry was ready for it. He pushed forward on the shaft as he'd been shown and more or less willed his floating hunk of wood to fly.






Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

1

And just like that--the 3000 shot forward, then upended and nose dived into the pitch. Kerry went flying, but not the way he'd expected, and he tumbled into the dirt with a rather loud ooff!.

After rolling a few meters he stood and brushed himself off. "Better now than later," he mumbled. He was sort of pissed off that it hadn't went perfectly, but at least Professor Salomon wasn't giving him a load of grief over it. She was off her broom checking out the 3000 as he walked up to her.

Victoria winced when Kerry pranged the broom. While the accident wasn't that bad--it was the equivalence of being pushed hard from behind and losing your balance--she knew it was going to be ego bruising. Especially since he was doing so well until now.

Victoria was off the Firebolt and checked out the 3000. She didn't see anything wrong with it; she put it into a hover to check if the flight characteristics were off--nope, looked good.

When Kerry made it back to her she snatched the broom out of the air and handed it to him. "Looks okay," she said. "We all have our little malfunctions from time to time. Try it again?"

Kerry accepted the broom from Professor Salomon and nodded. Putting the broom into a quick hover he mounted it quickly. "Sure, Professor; lets do this."

And with that he took off without a second thought--






Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

57

And lets see what happens now...






GM Emma carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

55

Well, if you wanna call that flying... go for it!

Kerry wasn't sure about speed, but he figured he was up to 30 miles per hour in now time. He admitted it was a huge rush, the wind suddenly whipping around him as he sped along . . . he looked down--probably 3 meters off, he thought. Didn't even realize I'd climbed.

He shot a look over his shoulder and saw Professor Salomon 3 meters back and a meter to his right. Looking straight ahead again, the edge of the pitch was coming up quickly. A turn to the left, he thought, maybe 40 degrees.

At the right point--meaning plenty of room to fall before hitting the trees should he blow this--he pulled the broom into a turn . . ..






Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

77

And this is the way the broom turns--






GM Emma carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

20

And I'd say you got it under control, slick!

Victoria watched Kerry make the first turn almost effortlessly. After the botched takeoff he settled in and put the broom on it's paces. They made the quick inside right well, with Kerry slightly leaning into it like he was on wheels. And I didn't even tell him to do that, she thought. Of course, no one told me the first time, either.

Then they came up to the point where Kerry was gonna need to slow and perform a 180 to his left. Okay, kid... lets seen you do this.

Kerry remembered this point at the corner of the pitch: he needed to slow down and turn to his left, and keep turning until he was just about facing the way he'd come. Not a problem, he thought. Or at least he hoped it wasn't . . ..

Kerry set up by putting the brakes on, then pulling and pushing back and to the left as simply as if he were popping off a shot from the Grassy Knoll--






Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

96

Oh, yeah... make me waste a roll--






GM Emma carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

52

Dude, you're boring me... call me when you do something difficult.

Victoria couldn't help but smile when she saw Kerry nail the 180 without a problem. He's handling that 3000 great, she thought. I wonder how he'd do on the 4500? She knew that was a little more of a broom than he was piloting now, but she knew the worst he could do on it would be to kill himself--

As they finished off the rest of the course Victoria came over the "headset". "Stop at the Bastion," she ordered. "I wanna see you on a different broom."

As Professor Salomon disappeared into the Bastion's Equipment Room with the 3000 Kerry felt his heart beat a little quicker. He had felt pretty good on the pitch, and after the first few bobbles the Nimbus performed marvelously. So, to Kerry's thinking, there was only one other thing she could be going for . . ..

Professor Salomon returned with the 4500 and handed it to him. "I might be jumping the gun here," she said, "but lets see anyway." In a moment Kerry put it into a hover and climbed aboard.