Chater Six

I thought I'd posted this days ago! My bad.

"That old bat has it in for me!" Scorpius snarled as he marched down the hall, Albus keeping a quick pace beside him and Rose trailing wordlessly behind.

"I'm sure she doesn't…" Albus tried.

"Well she didn't take any points from Slytherin, and Harold didn't pass her test either." Scorpius pointed out.

"Maybe she just thought his punishment was already bad enough."

"Him?" Scorpius retorted incredulously. "What about me? She took fifty points from me! As if Gryffindor needed another reason to hate me. I'm going to be killed before lunch!"

"My dad did say that not all the professors were nice…" Albus noted. He looked back to Rose as she caught up, her eyes still down on the ground. "What's the matter, Rose?" he asked lightly.

Rose didn't look up as she continued on. "It's nothing. I'll see you later."

The two boys watched her go curiously before shrugging to one another and making their way towards their next class. "It's more than that." Scorpius continued. "Before, when we were being sorted…she was staring at me. Almost like she wanted me dead or something."

Albus scratched his head. "Well. She does kind of look at everyone that way."

Scorpius sighed and tucked his books under his arm. "I just can't wait for our next class."

"Me neither!" Albus beamed, having completely missed all sarcasm. He pointed out towards the field and walked out ahead, snatching him by the sleeve in enthusiasm. "Come on! We have flying lessons."

"We do?" Scorpius managed before he was dragged off.

The field was full of bubbly, chattering young girls and boys who were practically climbing on top of one another in excitement. Scorpius was hesitant to approach, and probably would have stood on the outskirts moping for the entire duration if Albus hadn't been mercilessly pulling him into the pack of bodies.

"I wonder if I'll be as good as my dad. He was a Seeker for Gryffindor, you know." Albus gushed as he looked around for there teacher.

"My dad was a seeker too." Scorpius offered distractedly.

"He was a natural, my dad. Maybe I am too. I hope so. I've always wanted to play for the Gryffindor team!"

The students all faced skyward as a woman with short gray hair descended from the clouds on a Comet broomstick and landed in the clearing they made for her amid their bodies. She stepped off of it leisurely and pushed her goggles up onto her head, adjusting her gloves and casually dusting herself off as if she were waiting for someone else entirely to start the class. Once she had meticulously straightened her tie, however, she took in an authoritative breath. "Alright then! Here we are. I'm your flight instructor Madam Hooch, now if you would all please select a broomstick from the rack back there we can get started."

The students didn't need to be told twice. They quickly lined up to select one, some taking an obnoxiously long time to do so considering that they were all identical. Once they had obtained their brooms, each of them filed back into the crowd before their teacher. Scorpius and Albus looked at one another, Albus with a wide grin and Scorpius with a smile that may have actually been in excitement.

"At first," their instructor began as she held up her broomstick, "flying may seem quite difficult. Some of you will pick it up quickly, some of you may take a little time to learn the basics, but the more you keep at it the faster it will become the most thoughtless, simplest magic you will ever perform."

Scorpius looked down at his broom. He couldn't imagine someone actually having difficulties with flying. Shouldn't it be supremely easy? He hoped so. His father had made it sound that way. But if this was going to be complicated he certainly hoped that he wouldn't be one of the ones left lagging behind. He glanced over at Albus, who was studying his own broom carefully.

"Let's start with something easy, shall we?" the instructor continued. She dropped her broomstick to the ground and hovered her hand over it before continuing. "Try lifting your broom off of the ground from where you stand. If you can accomplish this, flying will be an easy next step. All you have to do is will the broom into your hand. Go on. Try for yourselves."

Scorpius exchanged another glance with Albus and joined the rest of the students in dropping his broom to the earth. Just will it into my hand? What does that mean? I don't see how those can really be proper instruct—Scorpius jolted as his broom immediately leapt into the air, meeting his opened palm again so quickly that it forced his arm back and nearly made him elbow the boy behind him in the face. He blinked confoundedly.

"Very good, Mr. Malfoy!" Madam Hooch praised.

Other students practically hissed, but Albus smiled broadly. Scorpius wondered if perhaps his own accomplishment was just dumb luck since the other students didn't seem to grasp it similarly on their first try, but then he saw that Albus had equal triumph in the task. In a matter of minutes it appeared that most of them had gotten the idea.

"That's very good, children. Practice some more on that. The next step is levitation." Madam Hooch took her broom in hand to demonstrate. "Sit back on your broom. But not too far. Firmly grasp the length of the stick in front of you and straighten your arms. You there—you're sitting up too far, dear. Now, simply imagine yourself hovering off the ground. Feel your feet slowly lifting from the earth and your legs dangling in mid-air, unsupported. Don't overdo it. You don't want to go floating off into space."

Some of the students looked as though they were actually worried about that possibility—most notably a girl whose hands quaked madly where she held her broom at that statement. Nevertheless, all of them straddled their brooms and set to work applying the mere will to fly with the action. Almost immediately, the nervous child that Scorpius thought he recognized as the twitchy little Ravenclaw girl from the sorting ceremony was off the ground. So quickly in fact that she completely and utterly panicked. With a shrill scream of terror, she was up in the air, her broom seemingly having moved of its own accord several feet off the ground. Despite the instructor's cautions to stay calm, the young girl did anything but, gripping onto her broom as it swayed and subsequently slipping. She clutched onto the broom with only one arm and leg, gripping it in a bear hug for dear life as if the six foot fall would kill her.

"Ingrid, don't fuss so much, you'll fall off." Madam Hooch sighed, muttering under her breath, "There's one in every bunch."

Sure enough, Ingrid flipped upside down and lost her grip altogether, falling to the earth below her with a yelp among the group of laughing children. Once she found that she was unharmed, she covered her face in shame, only to be startled again as the broom fell onto her from above moments later.

"That was just fine for a first try." Madam Hooch offered, trying to dismiss embarrassment. The rest of the children didn't seem to agree, as they were laughing riotously. Scorpius himself was smirking slightly.

"What a twit…" he muttered to Albus, who was focusing quite intently on his broom.

The darker haired boy's face was fixed in concentration as he clenched and loosened his legs alternately around his broomstick. He was clearly put off by his lack of progress in hovering when he had done so well on the first test. "I don't get what I'm doing wrong. How's this supposed to work?"

"I dunno. Maybe you're holding it wrong." Scorpius shrugged.

"I don't think so. Look, I'm doing it the same way as those kids and…nothing."

"Then maybe you're trying too hard. Like thinking too much before an exam."

Albus paused for a moment before nodding, resituating himself on his broom to regroup. No sooner had Scorpius looked away than it happened. If too much thought had been Albus's prior problem, then there mustn't have been a single one in his head in the next moment, for before Scorpius knew it his friend had erupted off of the ground in a zig zagging pattern with a short yell of shock. The others watched as Albus clumsily struggled on his broom, which was zipping around over their heads like a wild stallion trying to shake off its rider. Before anyone could react, the broom then bolted, tearing off into the distance with a helpless Albus clinging onto it.

"Albus!" Scorpius cried after in shock. Without thinking he instantly mounted his broom and took off after him.

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Malfoy—boys! Get back here!" Madam Hooch commanded before getting on her broom as well to pursue them.

Scorpius was sure he had made a very stupid decision the instant he was in the air. He hadn't even attempted to practice hovering like his teacher instructed, as he had been paying too much attention to the students around him. It was only once he was airborne and chasing after Albus that he realized he had no idea how to fly. He tried not to think about how much distance there was between him and the ground as he almost helplessly chased after an ever elevating Albus, narrowly avoiding collisions with the side of the great castle walls that flanked him. He clumsily tried to retain his balance, and to his complete surprise, managed not to drive himself into the side of a pointed rooftop.

Albus was not doing as well comparatively. He seemed sure to fall off of his broom, and from this height that would almost certainly maim or kill him. Fully aware of this, Scorpius swallowed his trepidations and accelerated violently to catch up to him. Albus was his only friend in all of Hogwarts. He couldn't let him splatter himself on the pavement their first day. Miraculously, Scorpius caught up with him, soaring at his side at breakneck speed and shouting at him over the wind. "Albus!" he cried. "Stop moving so much! You're going to fall off!"

"I'm trying!" squealed Albus indignantly as he tried with all his might not to let himself turn upside down.

Scorpius was only barely balancing on his broom himself, and certainly couldn't give Albus any genuinely helpful pointers. He yelled out the only suggestions he could think of. "Can't you try to go down?! You're going to fly off into the clouds!"

Albus attempted to do as he was told with sickeningly instant results, barely tipping the edge of his broom downward and suddenly plummeting towards the ground. Scorpius followed suit, narrowly avoiding an oncoming crow. His eyes clenched shut as he descended, a terrified chorus repeating over and over in his head. I'm going to die I going to die I'm going to die—what was I thinking?! He opened his eyes a split second before he caught up once more to Albus, who was clutching his broom to his chest and covering his face as if to prepare for some heavy impact. Scorpius turned in time to see that they were headed straight for a classroom building—or, to be precise, just above the first story window of one. He reacted before he thought. Tearing up to Albus's side, he slammed his shoulder into his, hurling the both of them off to the side. His action almost succeeded. Scorpius was the one to take the brunt of the blow, his foot and broomstick scraping against the side of the aged brick in a jarring crunch that caused Albus, whose shoulder Scorpius was clutching, to drop his own broom. Still clinging to him, Scorpius tipped towards his falling weight and was pulled off as well. His stomach lurched as he freefell into air. Both boys crashed to the grass beneath them and rolled several feet before stopping.

Scorpius took a moment to realize that he was no longer falling, his head spinning in disorientation. He couldn't feel his arms or legs. He didn't want to open his eyes for fear of finding that he no longer had either. But as soon as he mustered the courage, he looked out to find all of his limbs incredibly intact and none of them twisted into hopeless disarray. He felt his chest and his head in near panic before he finally decided that aside from scrapes and bruises he was completely unharmed, and he looked over to Albus shakily.

Albus was sitting up but utterly frozen. Scorpius fully expected him to burst into tears or start screaming in mortification—surely he must be more horrified than himself. But then, in an act that made Scorpius nearly leap out of his skin, Albus erupted into loud peals of laughter.

"Did you see that?!" he choked between gasps. "Did you? I flew!"

Scorpius felt dizzy as he gaped at Albus. "Are you out of your mind?"

"I flew faster and higher and better than any of the other first years. I knew I was a natural! I just knew it!"

"You almost died!"

"I know!" Albus continued laughing. "Di—did you see me almost hit that wall? I thought I'd had it!"

Scorpius slowly gazed up at the wall that had almost been the windshield to their insect and then blinked back at Albus with a smirk tugging at the corner of his lip. "You would've, too!"

Albus clutched his stomach and fell back to the ground, infecting Scorpius into bouts of laughter as well. Soon they were both in half relieved, half panicked hysterics. Madam Hooch screeched to a halt before them with a hand to her chest and a look of sheer horror in her eyes as she rushed over to them, the look on her face suggesting that she expected to find a twisted heap of mangled bodies lying dead before her. Instead, she saw the two boys laughing it up, and the concern on her face was replaced so quickly by rage it was as if someone had flipped a switch. She stared back in forth between them before shouting in a shrill tone, "Twenty points from Gryffindor!"

The laughter rather quickly died away.