RP: Work and Thought
Date: 29 July 2006 Characters: Xiomara Hooch Location: Hogwarts Private/Public: Private Rating: PG Warnings: None Summary: Xiomara contemplates events as she does some basic maintenance work.
Xiomara sat in the stands of the Quidditch pitch, brooms all around her and a large, heavy duty servicing kit sitting on the bench in front of her. She was taking the opportunity of the lack of students and the fine weather to get a little maintenance work done on the school brooms. None of them were all that good and most of them were a little worse for wear but that was really what she wanted for them. They were often used by students who were uncertain and wary and it was better if the brooms were a little sluggish to respond. If nothing else, the situation Neville Longbottom had found himself in during his first flying lesson was a good reason for the brooms to be somewhat less than optimal.
Admittedly in comparison to her brooms, this lot were a sad and sorry sight and she promised herself a good fly when she was done here. She’d been thrilled with the success of her brooms during the attack on the Death Eater base and she’d hoped for a few more recruits out of that display. Unfortunately none had been forthcoming. Disappointing but not that much of a surprise. It was always dangerous up in the air and if you made a mistake, the ground was a long way down and very, very hard.
Now that the children were gone, she would have the opportunity to practice some more advanced moves without risking anyone seeing who shouldn’t or risking anyone seeing her muck up. That was the big secret about doing this sort of thing – practice in private so that no one sees you making an arse of yourself then present the world with the finished product, making it look easy. The Muggle magicians had it right after all – never let ‘em know how a trick is done.
She put the broom she’d been working on down in the ‘done’ pile and glared at the brooms there when they shifted slightly.
“Don’t even think about it.”
The broom settled and she picked up the next broom, her thoughts turning inwards again as she started clipping stray twigs.
They were winning the war against the Lestranges. She had to tell herself that. Couldn’t afford to do anything less. They’d attacked their secret base and the battle at Stonehenge had gone badly for them. They’d proven the Death Eaters were vulnerable and could be beaten. It was surely just a matter of time.
Her thoughts wandered to the other unpleasantness in the wizarding world right now. Umbridge. And here she’d been hoping the toad had hopped off somewhere never to be seen again after being chased out of Hogwarts. Her gaze drifted over to the Forbidden Forest and she wondered briefly if the centaurs would consider making a reappearance just the once to deal with that hideous woman again.
She swore viciously under her breath as she remembered the ‘inspection’ the toad had made of one of her classes. Thankfully she’d been able to scare off the woman by offering... or was that threatening... to take her up on a broom and really show her how she taught. Of course, right before she’d done that she’d shown off a few aerobatics to her class. She chuckled at the memory. That had taken the wind of the toad’s sails. Umbridge had waddled off fairly quickly at that point. Now the woman was in charge. Merlin help the wizarding world.
She clipped the last of the stray twigs from the broom then reached for the polish. Ah well, not her department to fix. She’d concentrate on her brooms and her tactics. That was what she knew best.