Rose Weasley was woken up in the morning when a pillow hit her face. She sat up, sputtering, to see her friend Ellen Ramsey standing by her bed, fully clothed, laughing.

"Ellen!" moaned Rose. "Not time to wake up yet. Don't have to be in the Great Hall for another-"

"Ten minutes," interrupted Ellen.

"What?!?" shrieked Rose.

"Better hurry up," said Ellen. "I'll wait for you in the common room."

Rose tore around the room like a tornado. She threw on jeans and a yellow T-shirt, and performed a tricky little charm on her red, bushy hair that her mom had taught her. She pulled her now smooth hair back in a ponytail and ran through the tunnel that led to the girls' dormitories, putting on her trainers as she went.

"That was quick," commented Ellen to an out of breath Rose. "Come on, Drew will be waiting for us."

"Hello ladies," said Drew cheerfully when they sat down for breakfast. "What took you so long?"

"Rosie decided to sleep in," said Ellen.

"Ah," said Drew.

"Hey!" said Rose. "It's not my fault! They should make alarm clocks louder!"

"Yeah, yeah," said Drew. "Hurry up and finish your toast so we can go outside."

Later, the three of them were up in the owlery when three First year boys stomped up. One of them, the one in the middle, was smaller, with brown hair, and the other two were built rather large, tall and bulky. Rose noted the hands, which looked big and strong enough to crush her and use her as a Quaffle.

"Do you mind?" said the one in the middle said rather rudely. "We want to send a letter, and we don't want mudblood filth nosing around when we do."

I reached out and grabbed Ellen's shoulder before she could us the fist she had just made, while Drew stepped out in front of us and said, "Who do you think you are?"

"I'm Nott, and this is Evan Burke and Jacob Goyle," said the small one. "Now, you might want to clear out if you know what's good for you."

"Leave them alone, Ian," said a quieter voice from down the stairs. Up came a small blonde boy with silver eyes. "What did they ever do to you?"

"Hello, Scorpius," said Nott. "Come to let your father know about the… disappointment?"

"Nose out, Nott," said Scorpius, a pale pink tinge appearing on his pale cheeks.

"What? You're not scared of telling your father that the only heir to the name of Malfoy was sorted in Ravenclaw, are you?" taunted Nott.

"I said, nose out," growled Scorpius. Rose saw his hand twitch toward his pocket.

"Oh, shove off, Malfoy," said Nott. "What's it to you if we teach a mudblood and her friends a lesson?"

That made Rose mad. After all, what did it matter if Ellen was a muggleborn? She was much nicer than this shrimpy Nott kid, and she was probably much smarter, too. Rose had always had a temper, and woe to the one who had awakened it.

"Furnunculus!" cried Rose, pointing her wand at Nott. A jet of purple light hit him square in the face, and huge pus-filled boils began to erupt where the jinx had hit.

Nott let out a howl and sprinted out of the owlery, Goyle and Burke right behind him, glancing fearfully back at Rose as they ran.

"That was brilliant, Rosie!" exclaimed Ellen after the Slytherins had left. "Wherever did you learn that?"

"I got it out of a book I bought in Diagon Alley," explained Rose as she put her wand back in her pocket. "It's called Curses and Counter-Curses by Vindictus Viridian."

"You have got to let me borrow that," said Drew.

Rose turned to Scorpius. "Thank you for sticking up for us. That was really brave."

"Piss off, Weasel," growled Scorpius. Rose took a step back. "You're just lucky I didn't take Nott's side. Leave me alone if you know what's good for you."

"Fine, then," said Drew. He grabbed the girls' shoulders and started backing out of the owlery. "But don't insult my friends after I've read that book if you know what's good for you."

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Rose was curled up in a beanbag by the fire, reading The Beaters' Bible for the third time, when Lysander plopped down beside her.

"Hey, Rosie," he said.

Rose was somewhat surprised- Lysander was older than her and didn't usually talk to her. "Hi, Lysander."

"So, how was you're first week?" he asked.

"Good," began Rose. "I'm doing fairly well in all of my classes. I like Potions and Charms best, and Professor Spinnett is really cool, she gave me this," she held up her book, "when I said I might try out for Beater next year, once White is gone."

"Really? Cool! What's your team?"

"Falmouth Falcons."

"What? You don't support Magpies?"

"Why would I?"

"They're the best in the league!"

"So?"

Rose and Lysander argued about Quidditch for a while, and Rose was glad that there was at least one person she knew.

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On Monday morning, there was a notice on the Hufflepuff Notice Board:

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

FIRST YEARS

First Year Flying Lesson

Three o'clock on Tuesday

Lesson to be shared with Ravenclaw

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Excellent!" exclaimed Kendra Carter. "That means we skip the second hour of Defense Against the Dark Arts!"

"Oh, no," moaned Ellen as she covered her face with her hands.

"What's wrong?" asked Rose. "You actually want to have two hours of Professor Conrathy?"

"No!" said Ellen through her hands. "But it's just, I've never been on a broomstick before. What if I crash? What if I fly into a wall? What if I can't even get off the ground?"

Rose pried Ellen's hands away from her face as Drew comforted her.

"Oh, stop worrying," said Drew. "Flying is great! And broomsticks aren't as uncomfortable as they look, you know. Although I've heard that the school brooms are in pretty bad shape."

That last sentence was enough to make Ellen shriek in fear and hide her face again.

Rose and Drew continued to reassure Ellen throughout the day, but by the time they all went to bed, Ellen was still convinced that she was going to die.

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The next day at three o'clock, all of the Hufflepuff First years were on the Quidditch Pitch waiting for Madame Hooch and the Ravenclaws. Rose was still comforting Ellen, but Drew had decided that there was absolutely no way that Ellen was going to conquer her fear unless she actually flew a broomstick.

"I'm serious, Ellen," said Drew. "The minute you get on that broomstick, you'll forget that you were ever scared.

"It's true, Ellen," agreed Rose. "I've been flying loads of times. I've even played Quidditch with my cousins before! It's one of the best things about magic."

"Oh, I hope you two are right," said Ellen. "Because here come the Ravenclaws!"

Rose looked around. Ellen was right. Rose spotted Amelia Thomas, a daughter of one of her parents' friends, whom Rose had grown up playing with. Then she saw the blonde head of Scorpius Malfoy. She Scowled.

Why was Malfoy such a git? If Rose hadn't shot that curse at Nott, Malfoy would probably be in the Hospital Wing. There was no doubt in Rose's mind that Burke and Goyle would have beaten him to a bloody pulp. She put it down to his parentage. Anyone with parents who had served Voldemort when he was powerful couldn't be a nice person. It was a shame, thought Rose, because otherwise, they could have been great friends.

"Good afternoon, class," barked Madame Hooch, striding over from a door in the wall that Rose supposed must lead to her office.

"Good afternoon, Madam Hooch," chanted the class as a whole.

"Today, you will receive you're basic flying lessons. One of a wizard or witch's most important skills is flying on a broomstick, as it is the preferred method of transportation." She paused. "Well, what are you waiting for? Step up to the left side of your broom."

The class hastened to do so.

"Stick your right hand out over the broom, and say, 'Up!'"

There was a large, resounding, "UP!" from the students.

Rose's broom jumped straight up into her hand. Drew's took three tries, and Ellen had to say it five times before her broom jumped to her hand. Rose couldn't help but notice that Malfoy still couldn't get his broomstick off the ground. She smirked.

When at last everyone's brooms had jumped to their hands (Tayshawn Kendall of Ravenclaw's was last), Madam Hooch showed them how to mount their brooms and grip them so that they would not slide off the end.

"Right," called Madam Hooch. "Now, when I blow my whistle, I want you to kick off from the ground. Hover for a moment, and then come back down by leaning forward slightly. Three, two, one..."

TWEET.

Rose kicked off. She hovered steadily about seven feet off the ground, and then lowered herself back down. Rose turned to watch Ellen. She had gotten into the air all right, but she was too terrified to go higher than three feet off the ground. Drew, on the other hand, was about ten feet up in the air, coming down.

After everyone had touched back down, Madam Hooch had them make one lap around the pitch, and then they were free to go.

"I am never doing that again," vowed Ellen.