Chapter Five
Bear on a Broom
Matt took his place beside the broom laid out on the ground, watching as all the other first years did the same. He knew how to fly really well. Dad loved to fly and Matt liked to see Dad happy, so he let Dad teach him all kinds of stuff. Mum and Uncle Charlie, too. But Matt was determined that just because his last name was Potter didn't mean he ought to be showing up everybody. Besides, there were bound to be better flyers than him in this group. He'd learned it, he didn't have it in his blood the way Dad did. Kerry would probably fly way better than Matt. The Slytherin twins, the Wards, they looked pretty comfortable, too. And Davis was bound to be good, his cousin had been on the Gryffindor Quidditch team practically the entire time she was in school. He tried to stop himself from getting so worked up. He didn't have anything to be nervous about. It was just a flying lesson.
You just want to make Dad proud of you, he thought to himself. And he did. Harry Potter had seen fit to adopt him, and he had to live up to that. Everybody knew that Harry Potter was a prodigy on a broom, so Matt had to be one, too. Except that he didn't really, because Dad had said so. He said that people would be watching Matt here, and he just had to keep his chin up and remember that his family only expected him to be himself. It wasn't like they wouldn't love him or something. Crash might even be happy if Matt made a fool out of himself. He was jealous because they wouldn't even let him have a toy broom. He'd hurt himself. Matt found himself smiling as he thought of his clumsy little brother, and jerked his head up when Berengaria elbowed him. Professor Stevens was limping stiffly forward to begin the lesson.
They'd grouped all the first years together for this, even though they divided them up for most of their classes. Matt noticed that some of the Hufflepuffs and the Slytherins weren't paying attention. One little Hufflepuff boy named Alistair that everyone was always rolling their eyes at was insisting to his housemates that he didn't like taking classes from an American, it was practically like having a Muggle for a professor. Bradley Laddon, the most disagreeable boy Matt had ever seen, was making fun of Professor Stevens' looks to the Ward twins while the other Slytherin Gilbert Wraven ignored them in disgust. Berengaria elbowed him again, and rolled her eyes at the disruptive bunch. Matt nodded, and looked at Professor Stevens, who was talking but obviously getting upset. Suddenly, he asked Kerry to grab a rock off the ground. Startled, Kerry did, while the stupid ones shut up and stared at their professor, who seemed to have gone mad.
Professor Stevens gripped a broom in one hand and a wand in the other. "Throw it as high and as far as you can," he ordered Kerry. Still confused, Kerry did so, and their instructor flicked his wand to send the rock still higher and farther. Then he dropped the wand, jumped on the broom, and streaked toward the falling rock like a flash of lightning. He caught it with his hand brushing the ground and pulled up sharply, in perfect control. He zoomed back to the students, put the broom down, and put his wand back in his pocket.
"Now, then," he said, sounding pleasant but fooling no one. "Is everyone convinced I know what I'm talking about? Or shall I demonstrate again?"
"Well, done, Professor," Kerry said, sounding impressed.
He was ignored. "Back to our lesson."
Soon he had them all hovering carefully just above the ground, though he had his eye on Kerry and Matt especially, Matt thought. Matt had heard about Dad's first flying lesson, but there were no Neville Longbottom's in this group, and while he had his doubts about Bradley Laddon, at least the boy hadn't decided to force Matt into any stupid displays like Draco Malfoy had done to Dad. Professor Stevens soon had them flying a nice, short distance forward, then following a gentle curve.
Alistair Crowley fell off his broom, and Matt exchanged a grin with Basil Townsend, his friend from Ravenclaw. Neither of them liked the snotty little Hufflepuff, he'd interrupted them when they were studying in the library with Milton Little to tell them their study methods were faulty and they'd never get anything done that way. He suggested colour-coded notes. Milton had called him a nancy boy and suggested he shove off to play with his dolls while Basil and Matt tried to feel bad about the name-calling and failed miserably. When Professor Stevens asked Alistair what happened and the boy explained he'd been distracted by a butterfly, the three of them almost lost it. They had to look away from each other and pretend to concentrate very hard on what they were doing before the professor noticed. With nothing more than a brusque reprimand about paying attention, Alistair was back on his broom and the lesson continued.
When Kerry complained about being bored, Matt had to agree, but he did so silently. Some of the students had obviously never been on brooms, and they really needed the lesson. Berengaria said she'd never flown, but she seemed to be picking it up really fast. Milton was completely focused on what he was doing, the way he focused on everything magical. It had come as quite a shock to him to find out he was a wizard, and a shock for everyone else, too, since it came a year late. Matt heard about it because Mum was getting him out of trouble for Vanishing a dog's legs. He was practically a Squib, magically, but he was pretty smart and very patient. Disappointingly, Alistair seemed to be getting the hang of it. Letty was loudly agreeing with Kerry that she wanted to do something more dangerous, even though she was still plenty wobbly.
Then an older boy, a Gryffindor boy with thick shoulders and blond hair whose name Matt couldn't remember, came striding across the field. "You ready for me, Professor Stevens?"
"Ah, Roman, you're here. Yes, I think so. I'll continue to work with most of the class, and you can put the more experienced students through a few exercises."
Oh, yes, Matt thought, it was Roman Vestrit. He was the Seeker and the team captain. Apparently, he was helping with the lessons. Matt suddenly remembered what he'd overhead Madeleine, Lana, and Pierce talking about—their team needed new Beaters and a new Keeper. He'd just bet Roman was here looking for promising students for the team.
Matt found himself culled into a new group with the Ward twins, the Forsythe twins, Kerry, Berengaria, and Professor Kilburne's cousin Diane from Ravenclaw. Letty complained, but she was still nearly falling off her broom every time she had to turn, so she obviously wasn't ready. Matt felt anxious. Dad would probably like to see him get on the Quidditch team, but Matt didn't really fancy himself a Keeper or a Beater. He wouldn't mind being a Chaser, but they already had that covered, and he wasn't about to suggest that he take Roman's place as Seeker. Maybe he'd wait. Maybe he wouldn't show any interest, and wait to see what positions were open next year. The more he thought about it, the more it appealed to him. He didn't want to get into Quidditch before he'd even found his place here. He didn't want to be "Potter," and he didn't want to be famous, he wanted to be Matt. Dad would like that, he thought, even better than he'd like to see him on the team. That decided, he flew cautiously, letting Kerry outshine him easily. Berengaria really was a natural, he thought, watching her, and she and Kerry seemed to be having fun with the looping exercise Roman was giving them. The Ward twins kept to themselves, but they were fair flyers. The Forsythe twins seemed uncomfortable with each other, since Felicity was still mad at Ferris for ending up in Gryffindor, but Diane Kilburne was keeping them away from each other.
Matt started to forget himself and just enjoy flying. He let the rush of air brush away his concerns about being a good Gryffindor, about maybe being better friends with Basil than his housemates, missing Dad and Mum and Crash and Charlotte, the anger that Ran wasn't being treated fairly—it all was being washed away by a cool breeze as he looped and dove and soared. He'd learned to love flying. In the air, he was in control and quick and confident. He liked it up here.
With a sudden rush of embarrassment that flooded his cheeks, he realized he'd forgotten the lesson and had been flying on his own without paying any attention to Roman. Kerry was yelling something at him, and everyone was staring at him. Roman looked excited, and Professor Stevens was looking at him oddly. He quickly pulled down to rejoin the others.
"Sorry," he muttered. "I . . . I was just . . . nothing, I'm sorry."
They went back to their exercise, and Matt resolved to keep his head down this time. He didn't need any more of Kerry's ribbing or Berengaria's grinning. He especially didn't need Roman eyeing him like he was a prime cut of meat. He didn't want to be on the Quidditch team. Roman couldn't make him go to tryouts.
---Break---
Matt sat in the library with Basil and Milton, studying Transfiguration notes impatiently.
"We should go find an empty classroom or something to practice in," he said. "We're supposed to be able to do this, not read about it."
Basil and Milton exchanged a look.
"What?"
"Nothing, you've just been having at us every five minutes."
"Have not!" Matt objected.
"Oh, right, my mistake," Basil said, rolling his eyes.
Matt deflated a bit. "I'm just sort of . . . restless."
"Yeah, we noticed," Milton said.
"Doxies in your drawers?" Basil added.
"What's doxies?" Milton asked.
Matt and Basil laughed, and Matt explained them.
"Weird," Milton said, shaking his head. "Every time I think I finally understand all this magic stuff, you two start talking and I realize I have no idea what you're on about."
When Matt checked his watch, Basil suddenly inhaled a breath. "Oh, that's it."
"What?"
"You want to know when Quidditch tryouts finish up."
"I don't care about Quidditch tryouts," he protested. "I don't even know who signed up!"
"Matt, you told us why you're not out there," Basil began.
"But it's obvious that you want to be out there anyway," Milton said with a nod.
Matt looked back and forth between them, feeling annoyed. "Just leave it, okay? If you know why, then don't bother me about it."
The truth was, a lot of students had been whispering about him behind his back the last few weeks, more so since their flying lesson. Apparently he was a show-off just because he was a Potter, and this merited being tripped in the halls and having his note-taking quills stolen right in the middle of class whenever he laid them down. Berengaria had already shoved one boy who'd tripped him and threatened to hex him so bad his mother would sprout tentacles, if he didn't leave Matt alone. Matt appreciated the sentiment but thought it just made him look even more "special."
Basil shrugged. "Anyway, they're over by now. Why don't you go back and find out who made the team? We'll probably want to finish up studying early tomorrow, Milt and I, so we can see if there's anybody new on our team."
"But we have to practice this stuff for class tomorrow."
Basil rolled his eyes, and Milton shook his head. "Matt, you're good at Transfiguration. We're the ones who need to practice this. Go on."
Matt looked torn. "Okay." He stood up. "If you guys don't mind."
"We don't mind," they said in unison.
Matt hurried off to the Gryffindor tower. He wanted to know who was on the team. He'd heard that Aiken Ackerley was going to try out for both positions just to get Roman upset, and he dearly hoped Aiken wasn't actually on the team now. Aiken was crazy. He talked to imaginary people and sometimes went off to chat with the ghosts, and he spent most of his time in detention for pulling stupid pranks. Matt entered the bright red-and-gold room to find the other first years, and plenty of older students, happily surrounding Berengaria and Kerry. He turned and found Ran talking animatedly to a few other second years.
"Hey, Ran, what's going on?" he asked.
Ran turned to him. "I guess Roman asked those two to try out tonight after he saw them during your flying lesson. They're the new Beaters."
Matt looked at Berengaria's face, flushed with happiness, and Kerry's confident strut, and smiled. "Excellent. Who's the new Keeper, then?"
Ran didn't answer, and Matt turned back to look at him. Ran's face was red and excited. "I am."
Matt grinned and clapped him on the back. "Brilliant! You'll be great!"
"Yeah?" Ran asked, as if confirming it for himself.
"Of course," Matt said, rolling his eyes, but before he could further build Ran's fragile ego, he was practically knocked over by Berengaria's enthusiastic embrace.
"I'm on the team, Matt!" she yelled happily.
Suddenly, he started laughing and laughing. He already couldn't breathe past Berengaria's squeezing, and then his laughter caused him to nearly pass out.
"Bear hug!" he gasped, as Berengaria shook him with concern.
"What?"
"Can I call you Bear?" he spluttered.
Suddenly she let go of him, causing him to fall right on his bum almost on Ran's feet. She whooped with laughter.
"Yes! I love it!"
