A/N: Line breaks mean that a bunch of time has passed.

Harry Potter is not mine, and it never will be.

Chapter 7

Alex woke up that next Thursday excited for the day. Flying lessons would be starting today, and she couldn't wait.

Nick and Atlas were hardly as enthusiastic as she was. "We're going to fail this," moaned Nick.

"C'mon guys. You don't know that for sure." They both stared at her and continued to glumly turn the pages of Magical Drafts and Potions.

There was an awful lot of talk about Quidditch in the hallways and classrooms. Malfoy told stories that had him nearly get caught by muggles while he was on his broomstick. Ron Weasley told anyone that would listen about the one time he had apparently almost crashed into a hang-glider with his brother's broom. Incassum told no such stories of the sort, and settled quite often for saying that Quidditch was a horrible sport with no point to it, and those that enjoyed it were merely idiots with no other talents. This got him many angry remarks, and several avid Quidditch fans cursed him so that his face would sprout flowers everytime he opened his mouth.

Not all the students were excited about flying lessons, however. Hermione Granger was constantly reciting facts from Quidditch through the Ages during breakfast, and Nick was straining to hear every word she said from the Hufflepuff table. She couldn't see Atlas at the Slytherin table, but she was sure he was doing the same.

At two-thirty that afternoon, the Hufflepuffs headed out for flying lessons with the Ravenclaws. Twenty broomsticks were lined up on the ground, which they each stood by.

Soon, Madam Hooch, their teacher, arrived. She had short, grey hair, and yellow eyes.

"Stick out your right hand over the broom," said Madam Hooch, "and say "Up!""

Alex glanced down to her broom, an old Shooting Star, and shouted, "UP!" It jumped into her hand, and she grinned.

She looked around to see how everyone else was doing. Nick's broom stayed on the ground until he eventually persuaded it to shoot up halfway to his hand. Incassum had yet to try it. He glared at the broom, and shouted, "UP!" The broom promptly smacked him in his scowling face.

Once Incassum had managed to get the broom in his hand, Madam Hooch taught them how to correctly mount the broom, and walked about correcting and approving their grips.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly. On my whistle-three-two-one!" Her whistle blew, and Alex kicked off the ground.

It was exhilarating. Air rushed through her hair and robes, and she felt pure joy. The feeling of flying was simply wonderful.

She looked around to the others. To her surprise, the blonde boy, Zacharias Smith, was fairly good at flying. Nick and Incassum were both tightly gripping their brooms, despite the fact that they were barely two feet off the ground.

They had an hour of just learning tips from Madam Hooch and flying. Nothing could have been better, and Alex thought that this was the best class ever.

Alex and Nick were waiting for Atlas in the library after lessons, and she was teasing him about the flying lesson when Atlas finally arrived.

"How were flying lessons?" she asked.

"We didn't learn much."

"Why not? Madam Hooch is supposed to be good; she referees the Quidditch games."

"You know Neville Longbottom? Well, he kicked off too early, and he just kept flying up. Madam Hooch told him to come down, but he couldn't. Eventually, he fell off the broom, and broke his wrist."

"Is he okay?" Nick's voice was laced with concern.

"I think so. Anyway, Malfoy decided it would be a good idea to steal Neville's Remembrall, and put it in a tree. But guess what? Harry Potter goes right up there after Malfoy, who then threw it down towards the ground. And he just dives down after it. Fifty-foot dive, and there wasn't even a scratch on him."

"Not even a scratch?" Alex disbelievingly echoed.

"Nope. He pulled right out of it, and wasn't even hurt. But Professor McGonagall was furious. He's in for it."

"Surely he can't get expelled for that. Right?" asked Nick.

"I don't know, but Malfoy was insufferable after that. He keeps on gloating to everyone how Harry Potter is going to be expelled because of him."

"That's not even something to gloat about!" exclaimed Alex.

"You don't know Malfoy then."

The week after their first flying lesson, Alex and Nick found some interesting news. The morning post brought Alex her usual letters from Magnus and her parents. Everyone's attention, however, was focused on a long, thin package carried by six screech owls. This package was dropped off for no other than Harry Potter.

Alex thought it a very strange package, but thought of it no more until Atlas told her and Nick what he had heard in the Slytherin common-room.

"That package in the morning? It's a broom. A Nimbus 2000, to be exact."

"First years can't have brooms," said Alex.

"That's what we all thought, but no. Special circumstances, apparently. Malfoy's probably still in the common-room complaining about how unfair it is to anyone who will listen."

"Uh, stupid question here, but what is a Nimbus 2000?"

"Oh, right. Sorry Nick. It's one of the many types of brooms, and also one of the best, with the exception of the Firebolt."

"Aren't they coming out with a new version? The Nimbus 2001?" asked Nick.

"Yeah, actually," said a shocked Atlas. "How did you know that?"

"Cedric was going on about Quidditch, and the only thing I managed to catch were the words Nimbus 2001. I just put two and two together."

"Cedric?"

"He's reserve seeker for the Hufflepuff team," Alex replied.

"Is he any good?"

"He should be. After all, he made it onto the team," said Alex.

"So," said Nick, "what should we do first?" They had loads of homework from their teachers, and it had become a habit for them to work on it whenever they had time.

Alex groaned. "I haven't even started the essay Professor McGonagall gave us about Switching Spells."

"Don't remind me," muttered Atlas.

"What do we have so far?" aske Nick.

"The first record of the spell was in a muggle book named Phenomena of No Logical Explanation in 1822. There was a horse with the teeth of a snake. It first appeared in magical books by 1824 in the book Transformation for the Modern Wizard by Yale M. Edgar," said Alex.

"Edgar M. Yale," corrected Atlas.

"Wasn't there also a record in 1830 of a guy arrested for killing muggles that had a horse with snake fangs, bird wings, and a wolf's nose?" asked Nick.

"Yeah, that too," said Atlas.

"Um," said Alex, flipping through A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration. "Oh! It's easier to swap parts rather than transplant them."

"It doesn't matter, it's hard either way," grumbled Atlas. "I have to do this essay, as well as an essay on why I did the spell wrong."

"It's Shifus Modus, not Shiftus Modus. That's what you were doing wrong," said Nick.

"Thanks, but how am I supposed to fill six inches of parchment with that?"

"Write really big," suggested Alex.

"Or you could also add how your wand was held too loosely when moving it up and over," said Nick.

"No offense, but I think I'll go with Nick's suggestion, Alex."

"Fine. I'm gonna start working on the essay Professor Flitwick wants on the Unlocking Charm."

"Do you want help?" asked Nick.

"I should be fine. Thanks anyway." They worked until it was time for dinner, and there they parted ways.

Alex was enjoying the steak when Ernie Macmillan slid over to where she and Nick sat. "Who's the Slytherin that always hangs out with you?"

Nick answered. "That's Atlas."

"You guys should be careful," he whispered. "After all, you don't know what he could be planning."

Alex felt the blood pounding in her ears. Had she been like this before? "He's not planning anything," she snapped.

"He's a Slytherin."

"And he's one of my friends. Atlas isn't taking advantage of us. End of conversation," she said.

"Okay then," said Ernie, and he slid away, still looking unconvinced.

As they headed back to the common-room, all Alex could think of was their conversation with Ernie Macmillan. Sure, she had the same attitude at first, but that was before she really knew Atlas. It was hard to think of the fact that she had once been that, just worse.

Alex went to bed, her head swirling with thoughts until she finally drifted off to sleep.

A/N: And I'm finally done! My laptop kept turning itself off, but I have made it!

Moving on…. Reviews would be superb!