Kind of short but I updated quickly! Thanks for all your great reviews!
Chapter 7:
Flying
Snape had thought that the meeting with the Slytherins, though tedious, had gone rather well. Lucius had not said anything about Voldemort, as Snape hadn't really expected him to, but it had still been an opportunity to rub shoulders with some of Voldemort's future followers. The only problem that arose happened the following day when he was stopped by Professor McGonagall in the hallway on his way to lunch.
"Mr. Snape, may I have a word?" she said, gesturing to an empty classroom. He followed her inside, wondering what she wanted to talk about. When she had closed the door behind her, she said, "I wanted to talk to you about your detention last night with Mr. Pringle."
Snape heart beat accelerated, but he kept his voice steady. "Yes, ma'am?"
McGonagall gave him a steely gaze. "Mr. Pringle was found this morning in a suit of armor near his office. He's fine, physically speaking, but he can't remember anything about how he got there. He also doesn't remember ever seeing you, Mr. Snape."
Snape's throat had gone dry. Would it be best to lie? He couldn't rat out Lucius...
"I don't know anything about that, Professor," he said, his face showing nothing but bewilderment. "I went to my detention and left an hour later. He seemed fine to me when I was with him."
She bore into his eyes for what seemed like full minutes, and Snape was glad at that moment that McGonagall wasn't a Legilimens.
"I am inclined to believe you," she said finally. "You are a good student and belong to my own house, Mr. Snape, and I really can't see you doing something like this. Granted, Pringle has been known to make enemies. It could have been any number of students who bore a grudge against him. But I will say this much-" and she fixed him with another stern look. "I will keep an eye on you. Should something like this happen again I will be forced to question further."
"I understand," said Snape. And he was dismissed.
-
There were no further problems for the rest of the week, and on Saturday the first years found themselves gathered outside on the chilly grounds for their first flying lesson. Lily was very nervous about flying, though ever since she had watched the Gryffindor Quidditch team practice she was keen to try it at least once. She found some comfort in her friends, however. Kendra assured her that hardly anyone ever got hurt their first time flying, as long as they didn't slip off their broom in midair. Lily had lost some color to hearing this, but Snape nudged her gently.
"She's only joking. Get a broom next to mine and I'll make sure you don't fall."
Lily gave him a grateful smile.
The flying instructor was a thin, wispy man named Fernando Flippant, who claimed that he had once taught the Quidditch league's fastest flyer, Zephyr Adcelero, how to correctly hold his broom handle when flying. Flippant had wide, watery eyes and white flyaway hair that defied the laws of gravity by sticking out straight behind him, giving everyone the impression that he had just stepped out from a wind tunnel. As he strode towards them underneath a sunny but cloudy sky, he held his wand aloft; floating behind him was a long line of hovering broomsticks.
"Everyone, line up!" he hollered. "One broomstick per person- no sharing!"
Lily took her place next to Snape as the broomsticks floated over the first years' heads, one by one dropping neatly in front of their feet. Snape took a moment to look around. On Lily's other side stood Kendra and Mary, and some feet behind them were James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. He swiveled his head around and caught Mulciber's eye. The Slytherin gave him a wink.
"So!" said Flippant, his eyes wide with anticipation. "Welcome to your first flying lesson, young ones! I do hope you can all walk away today with the thrill of flight in your hearts!"
James and Sirius sniggered loudly from the back. Flippant didn't seem to notice.
"Now first things first- I want you all to hold out your wand arms above your brooms and say, very clearly: 'Up!'"
"UP!" everyone shouted. Because the school brooms were very old and worn, only a handful of them made any movement at all. Some merely flopped once and rolled over. Snape's, at least, rose to his waist, and he bent to catch it. Lily's gave a jerk upward and she shrank away from it, letting it drop back down. Only James was able to command his broom perfectly- it jumped right into his outstretched hand, only to have Sirius knock it out at once.
"Okay," Flippant was saying, not really surprised at the brooms' shabby performance. "Now I want everyone to mount their brooms and kick off from the ground lightly- not too hard or you'll rise too high! Remember our dear friend Daedalus, who flew too high to the sun and had his wings melt right off!"
"Daedalus has got nothing on me," James boasted loudly, and was the first to kick off, rising a good twenty feet in the air. A lot of people gasped, some clapped and whistled. Lily and Snape exchanged looks and ignored them.
"Okay," Lily breathed, swinging one leg around her broom. "One... two... three!"
She kicked off from the cold ground and rose six feet, gripping her broom handle tightly and wobbling a little from side to side. Snape hovered a few feet below her protectively.
Kendra and Mary kept close to the ground, as did Remus. Peter, not having any control over his broom, rose steadily, hanging sloth-like with his pudgy hands and feet wrapped around the broomstick.
It took nearly an hour for everyone to successfully make their way into the air, but no one was complaining. Aside from one Hufflepuff who, instead of rising on his broom, shot forward like a bullet and knocked Flippant right in the stomach, there were no outstanding problems, and soon they were flying as high as thirty feet into the sky.
"Oi! Peter! Try a loop-de-loop!"
"No way, Sirius, I'll fall and break my neck!"
"Someone like you, Pete? You'd just bounce."
"Hey, Remus!" James called from above. "Why are you flying so low? Come up here with me!"
Remus, who was one of the lower flyers, couldn't keep his eyes off the ground. "It's too high... I think I'm gonna go back down..."
Just then Kendra flew past him. "Don't be scared, Remus," she said. "Flippant's got his wand out. He'll catch you."
"Yeah right," Sirius laughed. "Flippant still looks like he's going to throw up after that kid rammed into him."
Lily and Mary giggled as they looked down at the flying instructor. He did have his wand out, but he was still rubbing his stomach and occasionally doubling over to dry heave.
"Severus is doing well," Remus offered, trying to drive the attention away from himself. Indeed, Snape had flown many times in his life (sometimes even without the aid of a broomstick) and was high up in the sky, the chilly wind blowing his long black hair out of his face.
Lily pointed her broomstick upward and shot over to join him. "Sev!" she shouted. "Race me!"
"I don't want to embarrass you, Lily," he quipped, looking over at her airily. "Not in front of everyone like this."
"I'll make you eat those words, Snape," Lily shot back. She sped forward Snape bolted after her, their brooms rising higher and higher until they were far away from the cluster of first years. The air grew colder and the wind blew harder; but the thrill of soaring through the sky, weightless upon their wooden broomsticks, pushed all worries from their minds. Snape forgot all about Lucius and the future Death Eaters and the suspicions of Professor McGonagall. He gathered speed and passed Lily, leaving a gust of wind in his wake. She threw back her head and laughed, kicking her legs out and leaning back on her broom, her dark red hair tossing and shining brilliantly in the sunlight. Snape made a wide turn back to her, and they circled each other among the clouds like two birds in flight.
"This isn't anything like I imagined!" she called loudly, her voice muffled by the wind.
"It isn't?!"
"No! It's way better!"
Snape laughed and they flew in a tighter circle, so that their brooms followed the tail of the other. With a rush of courage Lily lifted one hand off of her broom, now flying over sixty feet in the air, and held it out to him. He hesitated, then slowly reached out to her with his own.
"HEAD'S UP!"
They were forced apart when a black blur shot in between them from below.
"James Potter!" Lily shouted. "You almost knocked me off my broom!"
"You know you really shouldn't be up this high," he said reproachfully. His messy black hair was made even more untidy in the wind. "You're only beginners and you could just as easily fall and die. Come back down with me, Lily. Snape, you can stay here."
"Shove off, Potter," said Lily hotly, drifting over next to Snape. "You only make yourself look stupid when you have to bring others down to feel good about yourself."
"That's really rude to say, Lily. I was just trying to help you out. It looked like Snivellus was going to pull you off your broom..."
Lily opened her mouth to retort, but Snape held out his hand. "Don't bother, Lily," he said. "James is right; we shouldn't be up this high."
"But-"
"Look- Flippant's throwing up everywhere. It's time to go."
Feeling annoyed and disappointed, Lily followed Snape and James to the ground. They tossed their brooms into a large stack that had already been made and headed back to the castle.
As James joined his friends, Lily frowned at Snape. "Why didn't you stick up for yourself?" she demanded. "You let James walk all over you!"
"It's not worth it," Snape said, making his way to the front doors of the castle. "He's just a kid."
"He's our age!"
"I mean he acts like a child. What do you expect me to do?"
Lily cast her eyes around the castle walls in the entrance hall and stared at the back of James as he followed his friends up the staircase. "I guess you're right. It would only provoke him..."
"Still," Snape said, pulling out his wand. "It doesn't hurt to have a little safeguard for the future."
He pointed it at James's pocket and muttered, "Accio wand!" As James walked forward, his wand slipped out of his pocket and flew through the air into Snape's hand. He showed it to Lily before chucking it out the front door and into the grassy lawn.
"Brilliant!" she exclaimed. "How long do you think 'til he notices?"
Snape watched as the black-haired boy walked out of sight. "Not very. Let's go to dinner."
And they entered the Great Hall to eat, their hair sticking up in all directions from the wind.
