Book 1 - James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing

7. Broken Loyalty
James’ first class, ironically, was Basic Broom. The teacher was a giant slab of a man named Cabriel
Ridcully. He wore a fawn-colored sport cloak over his Quidditch official’s tunic, which displayed his
enormous forearms and calves.
“Good morning, first years!” he boomed, and James guessed that Cabe Ridcully was one of the
world’s great morning people. “Welcome to Basic Broom. Most of you know me already, having seen me at
the Quidditch matches and tournaments and whatnot. We’ll be spending this year getting familiar with the
fundamentals of flight. I believe in a very hands-on approach, so we’ll all be jumping right into essential
broom-handling and control. Everyone approach your brooms, please.”
James had been dreading getting back onto a broom again, but as the class progressed, he found that,
with proper guidance, he was able to manage getting his broom to levitate and support him, and even control
its altitude and speed in very small formations. He realized that there were subtle variations in how the
broom responded, based on speed and inclination. If the broom was merely hovering, leaning forward on the
broomstick pressed it forwards, while pulling up drove it backwards. Once the broom was moving, however,
those same controls began to also manage height. The faster the broom was moving, the more James’ posture
controlled altitude instead of speed. Finding the fine difference between a speed-lean and an altitude-lean was
dependent entirely on the velocity of the broomstick at any given time. James sensed that the slightest panic
would cause him to lose even the tiny degree of control he had already learned, and he began to understand
why he’d been so dreadful during the Quidditch tryouts.
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