"Tia Freyre!"

Jump. Land.

"Tia Freyre!"

Jump. Land.

"TIA FREYRE!"

Jump. Land. Trip. Stare at broom with intense desperation.

Diana had been watching Akko repeat this pattern for the past twenty minutes.

"Honestly, this girl" Diana mumbled.

Professor Ursula had asked Diana to help tutor Akko. She would be away due to some errands the headmistress had asked her to run. Initially both Diana and Akko had been skeptical of the arrangement. It's no secret that the two girls' interactions had been… less than amicable in the past. At the very least, that's the way Diana was sure Akko and the public saw it.

However, Diana was not going to decline the request. After all, she was a Cavendish, one of the most noble families in the magic world, with origins dating back to the Nine Olde Witches themselves. Denying to help a student in need would tarnish the name Cavendish. Not to mention Diana would not refuse to help someone learn, should they be willing to learn.

"TIA FREYREE!"

Jump. Land.

And Akko was definitely willing. Akko always showed great passion, determination, and enthusiasm when it came to reaching and achieving her goals. Diana would likely never publicly admit it, but she did not dislike this part of Akko. After all, it was this passion, enthusiasm, and determination that had pushed Akko to do things that had exceeded Diana's own expectations. Like the incident with the Pappiliodya. Or more recently the spectacle at the Samhain festival. Akko's own passion for what magic meant to her always pushed her to new heights. It was a passion that Diana herself did not fully understand.

Trip.

Diana sighed. Unfortunately, it seemed that passion alone would not be sufficient this time to push Akko to new heights... literally. Watching the scene before her, Diana found it hard to imagine this was the same girl who had managed to enchant everyone during the Samhain Festival.

"Akko, you have to focus. Channel your magic through your broom and then use your magic to control its movement."

"I'm trying!" Akko whined. "I'm sure I'm putting magic into my broom, but I can't seem to figure out the whole flying part."

Diana was at a loss for words. She couldn't necessarily fault Akko for not understanding how to fly. After all, it's something witches learned to do when they were children… and Akko had not been a witch until just recently. She had never learned how to fly. And perhaps the reason no one has managed to teach her was that, at least among all the witches in the school, flying was instinctual. It was like breathing or walking. It is easy to see that it is done, but it is difficult to describe to someone who doesn't understand the concept of walking how to walk.

Akko, for her part, had earnestly been trying to get off the ground. At first, she was unsure about Diana being her tutor. As much as Akko knew Diana was a great witch, possibly the greatest witch in her class, though she would never admit that out loud, she was not very comfortable having Diana be her tutor. After all, Diana was her rival. Accepting help from your rival was embarrassing. Not to mention Diana's roommates, Hannah and Barbara. Always following Diana around, never passing on any opportunity to tease or embarrass Akko. If they found out, Akko would likely never hear the end of it.

Akko had requested that, if these tutoring sessions were to happen, they'd be done in secret.

Akko was surprised to find Diana so accommodating, even finding a perfect location to avoid being seen . She was also relieved to see Diana taking this seriously, and not using this time to belittle her or criticize her magic… beyond what a teacher would do anyway. She could even tell Diana was, perhaps, a tad bit too serious, judging by the intense look on her face.

She watched as Diana grabbed her own broom and stared intently at it.

Diana sighed.

"Akko, come here." Akko followed the instruction. "Since it is clear you do not understand how flight works, I thought it would be appropriate to show you."

Akko turned her head in confusion. She had seen witches fly. Heck, she'd gotten rides from Lotte, Sucy, and Amanda. She had even managed to fly, well attach herself, on the Shooting Star.

Diana noted the look and sighed. "I am aware you know that flight happens. I'm going to try and see if I can't get you to understand how flight happens." Diana got on her broom and motioned Akko to get on behind her. Akko cautiously followed. "Now, I'm going to give you a ride." Diana felt Akko's grip tense on the broom. "Do not worry, I'll fly low to avoid being seen by others."

Diana breathed. "Now, I want you to focus on everything. I want you to pay attention to the way the broom moves, to the way I move, and to the way the broom moves in response." Diana looked back. "Do you understand?"

Akko almost laughed at how serious Diana was being. So she decided to give an appropriately serious answer.

"Yes ma'am!" Akko responded in her deepest voice, coupled with a salute, causing Diana to almost involuntarily roll her eyes. Akko smiled at the reaction before reforming her grip on the broom.

Diana turned her attention forward. "Tia Freyre!"

Almost immediately, Akko noticed the broom change. It felt alive. Although she was pushing down slightly, the broom did not budge. She looked down to see Diana's feet were still on the ground.

"Akko, are you ready?" Diana asked. Akko nodded. "Alright then. On the count of three, jump and bend your knees so your legs stay off the ground."

"One. Two. Three." The two girls jumped, and immediately Akko noticed they had begun moving. Akko almost lost her balance, but luckily they were moving at a very leisurely pace. After getting a better grip, Akko looked up to observe Diana. She noted that Diana's back was straight. On every turn, Diana's shoulders would shift slightly into the direction turned, from which the broom would follow.

Although Akko had ridden with her friends on their brooms before, she had never paid this much attention to the broom, the rider, or the flying. In fact, she had never let it sink in that she was actually in the air, on a broom.

And just that thought caused excitement to bubble up.

"Yahoo!" Akko yelled out, a huge grin on her face.

"Akko! Focus" Diana chided, eyes still focused on the stretch of land in front of her.

"Woops, sorry. Just. I never realized that I was flying until just now." Akko responded sheepishly.

The childish admission almost caused a smile to appear on Diana's face. Almost.

"Would you like to try going higher?" Diana asked.

Akko thought about it. On the one hand, higher makes it more likely that they would be caught. On the other hand, it'd be her opportunity to relish in more flight.

And if there's one thing Akko wasn't about to refuse, it's a chance to experience more fliying.

"Higher!' Akko giddily let out. She noted the broom below her had begun to angle itself upward. She looked at Diana and saw her with the same straightened posture, though she noted Diana looked a little less stiff. When Akko looked back down, she saw how high they were off the ground, which caused her to laugh in excitement again.

"This is amazing!"

"It's to be expected of any witch." Diana said matter-of-factly to the excitable witch behind her.

"That doesn't mean it isn't amazing!" Akko exclaimed. "I had always wanted to fly up in the air on a broom, ever since I saw Shiny Chariot fly on her broom. I used to try a lot when I was younger, though I did get a lot of scars from it"

"It is impossible to fly without the power from the sorcerer's stone." Diana interjected.

"That's what Sucy said, but young me wouldn't have known that. Anyway, I've flown on other people's brooms before, but this is the first time I've ever just experienced and focused on flying. And it's incredible." Akko finished with a bright smile on her face.

Diana looked back at the girl. The smile, coupled with the sun behind her, was almost too bright to handle, so she refocused ahead. Diana shook her head. "Even so, you are paying attention to what's actually happening, are you not?"

"Of course, of course" Akko happily responded. And so the two of them flew across the sky.

…

After about forty minutes, Diana decided that would be enough. There was no notable change in her form, but the broom itself had begun to angle itself downward and slowly descend.

When the two landed on the ground, Akko got off the broom, the high from flight lighting a fire within her. She was going to learn how to fly a broom on her own, no matter what.

"That will be all for today" Diana said.

Akko immediately whined. All that determination was about to be wasted.

Diana rolled her eyes again, something that she felt was going to continue so long as she was tutoring this girl. "I want you to reflect on this experience. Tomorrow I will try and figure out a different method to aid you learning how to fly. See you then." Diana got back on her broom, and flew past Akko after she was given the affirmative.

Akko watched the girl fly away, before taking a deep breath as she began to think about her experience on Diana's broom. As she breathed, she noted a familiar scent from the direction Diana had just flown. A scent that she had been too focused on flying to notice before.

Akko smiled to herself reminiscing of being up in the sky, an image now reinforced by the smell of lavender.

So Little Witch Academia is consuming my life. So now I wanted to try my hand at writing something for it. Also there aren't enough Diana tutoring Akko fics and there will never be enough Diana tutoring Akko fics.

Edit: Seeing as the series has (as far as we know) ended, I feel the need to note that, in terms of timeline, this fic woulda been canon-compliant up to episode 13. That being said, this fic does contain some spoilers from future episodes that happened, chronologically before the series, but was not revealed until later.