Hello everyone! I really can't express how freaking amazed I am by the response to this story. I'm completely in awe, you guys are fantastic. Anywho, one new question:
1. Could you please make a list with the new names and the old names, like Lucy Lily, or something like that? And the answer is that I did in chapter two, you can find it at the bottom of the chapter. :) However, would posting it again at the beginning of each chapter help? I'll go ahead and do that for this chapter, and you guys let me know what you think (should I post it for every chapter, just for the next couple so you get the hang of it, or just this time?).
Remus Lupin: Romulus Lukeson
Sirius Black: Serafin Blake
James Potter: Jack Porter
Lily Evans: "Lucy" Lucasta Ethans
Fred Weasley: Flynn Weaver
Severus Snape: Severin Snider
Tom Riddle: Tavish Ryder
Anywho, to the story!
"Hello, and good morning," Madam Hooch said, and the group of first years grew quiet. "Today you will learn how to ride a broom. Line up on either side of this walkway and stand beside a broom." The first years strung out into two lines and stood beside the brooms so that the walkway went broom-student-broom-student. Flynn, Serafin, Jack, Rom and Lucy stood with some of the brooms nearest to Madam Hooch at Lucy's request – she didn't want to miss anything Madam Hooch might say. The other Gryffindor students stood on the other side of the walkway, and a little ways down from them were the Slytherin students.
"Before we begin, there are a few ground rules I want to lay out," Madam Hooch said, folding her hands behind her back and walking up and down the walkway to look at each student. "You will do exactly as I say and no more. If you do, you will find yourself a one-way ticket to McGonagall's office – and depending on the degree of your violation, you might find yourself on the next train back to London. Flying is dangerous. I've had more than one student get injured during this course, but I have yet to have anyone die – and we aren't starting today. More importantly, you should not be hurt if you follow my instructions." She paused and gave everyone a hard look, trying to drive her words home.
"Alright. So, to begin: step to your broom and extend your right hand over your broom stick. And now, with authority and confidence, tell it Up!"
They looked at their broom sticks dubiously, and Flynn and Serafin exchanged a glance before shrugging. "Up," Flynn demanded, holding his hand over his broom. The broom twitched, but didn't move.
"Up!" Serafin said, and the others followed suit. The walkway was filled with choruses of up, up! But very few brooms actually went up. Jack's jumped, and on his second try it flew eagerly into his hand.
"Show off," Serafin said with a snort, still trying to get his own broom to obey. Jack let out a short laugh and looked around him, holding his broom tightly in his hand. He noticed at the far end of the walkway there was a tree, and someone was sitting under the tree with a book in their lap. Jack recognized the boy as Severin, who had rode in his train car with him.
"Who's that?" Flynn asked after his own broom leapt to his hand.
"That's a second year from Ravenclaw," Jack explained. "Severin. I rode the train with him."
"I guess he doesn't have a class yet," Rom said with a shrug. "He's reading, though – a perfect Ravenclaw if I've ever seen one-Haha, FINALLY!" Rom declared, his broom stick finally in hand.
"Come on, up!" Lucy said, and the broom jumped a foot in the air before falling back to the ground. Lucy stamped her foot angrily and said, "UP!", to which the broom finally jumped up into her hand.
"You lot make it look so easy," Serafin growled, his own broom still on the ground. "You know what, forget this-" he bent down and picked up his broom.
"Put it down and try again!" Madam Hooch said, seeming to appear in front of them out of nowhere, and Serafin dropped his broom quickly. The Slytherin students across the walkway snickered, and Serafin's face turned beat-red. They all had their brooms in hand already, and the boy in the middle seemed to enjoy making fun of the other students who didn't have their brooms yet. "Ignatius, none of that!" Madam Hooch snapped, glaring fiercely at the boy.
"Up," Serafin said, and the broom finally flew up into his hand. The Slytherins smirked but didn't say anything. The last student, a Hufflepuff student, got her own broom in hand and finally all the first years were standing with brooms in hand.
"Alright, now mount your brooms. Straddle them and keep both hands on the broom in front of you and maintain a firm grip. Then kick off the ground, hover a couple feet off the ground, and then point your broom back at the ground to land," Madam Hooch said, and the students obliged. Many of the students were shaky, but no one lost control of their brooms. A couple of the hufflepuffs and one of the Ravenclaws fell off their broom, but it was only a couple feet and they hopped to their feet uninjured. Madam Hooch had them repeat the exercise a dozen times until everyone stayed on their brooms and the motions were smooth.
"Alright, excellent," Madam Hooch said. "Now, kick up and hover as before. Now, lean forward just slightly and look directly across the walkway in between the students on the other side. This will make you fly forward, so you will essentially trade places." Serafin's broom wobbled horrifically, but Flynn, Jack, Lucy and Rom made it across just fine. The Hufflepuffs, however, weren't so lucky. The same ones that had fallen off their brooms before had smashed into each other and had fallen to the ground, moaning. The boy was clutching his nose, which was apparently broken.
"Out of the way, out of the way!" Madam Hooch said, pushing her way through the students hovering on their brooms. "On the ground, now! If anyone hovers so much of an inch, you won't be able to walk for a week!" She knelt by the two students on the ground and gently pulled the boy's hands from his face. She tutted before saying, "A clean break. Nothing Madam Pomfrey won't be able to fix in a heartbeat." The boy moaned and spluttered, blood pouring down his face in rivulets. The girl he had run into was staggering, trying to get to her feet and failing. A small spot of blood from their collision was on her forehead, and if Rom had to guess, she had a concussion.
"Ugh, my head," she moaned.
"Alright, everyone stay here!" Madam Hooch called. "I am taking these two to the infirmary, I will be back shortly. If anyone is on their brooms for so much as a wink, you will face Professor McGonagall - and she's every bit as strict as she looks. Are we clear?" She didn't wait for a response before hauling the two students to their feet and leading them back into the building. Once she was out of sight, Ignatius and the other Slytherins began roaring with laughter. Lucy glared at them but didn't say anything.
"I suppose it's a good thing they were practically on the ground," Ignatius said, eliciting more laughter from his fellow students. A couple of the Slytherins looked at Ignatius and his friends with disgust, but most of the Slytherins joined in.
"I suppose we'll just be bored, waiting for those losers to get their heads screwed on right," one of the others said.
"Don't be stupid," Ignatius countered. "We can make our own entertainment..." He looked around and then jumped back on his broom. "Hey look, there's a Ravenclaw dork, reading away," he whispered to his friends, pointing at Severin, who was sitting under the tree.
"We can make our fun with him," the other Slytherin agreed, and the group kicked off the ground without paying any mind to Madam Hooch's words. They flew over towards Severin, who didn't notice them until they were only a few yards away.
"Oh, hullo," Severin said, smiling at them. He didn't recognize their dark intentions until they were already on top of him - he had heard the rumors of mean Slytherins, of course, but he was close friends with Tavish and didn't really believe them. Ignatius snatched the book out of Severin's lap and flew a little ways off with it, snapping it closed and looking at the cover.
"A fifth year potions book?" Ignatius asked, snorting. "It's true what they say: Ravenclaws are horrific nerds, aren't they?"
"I'm good at potions," Severin said defensively, and the Slytherins only laughed at him.
"Hear that, boys? He's good at potions," Ignatius repeated. "I'm sure he's already got it all memorized and won't be needing this, will he?"
"Give it back," Severin said, getting to his feet and looking at them angrily. "I didn't realize first years could be so annoying."
"Aren't you a mudblood?" Ignatius countered. "I think mudbloods are far more annoying than first years."
"Oh, I'm realizing that maybe it's not because you're a first year," Severin said with mock surprise. "Perhaps you're just a cunt." Fire flashed in Ignatius' eyes and he flew higher out of reach with Severin's book. Finally Lucy couldn't take it anymore and she ran towards them, her fists clinched at her sides.
"Give him his book back!" she demanded. "Leave him alone!"
"Oh look," one of the other Slytherins said, "Seems like the Gryffindor has a soft spot for mudbloods, doesn't it? Need a little girl to come save you, huh, muddy?"
"She's too chicken to even come up here to get the book, I bet!" Ignatius said, "Too much of a coward to be a brave and noble Gryffindor. I tell you what, girlie; you can give it to him if you can catch it." Ignatius tossed it over her head to one of the Slytherins, who flew to the other side of the tree with book in hand.
Watching them insult Lucy made Jack furious. He jumped back on his own broom, as did Flynn, Serafin, and Rom. Jack was the first to fly into the group.
"Don't you insult her," Jack said, practically spluttering with anger.
"What did she ever do to you?" Severin added, his own anger evident in his tightened shoulders.
"She got into business that's not hers," Ignatius said. "It's between us and this here Ravenclaw."
"Hardly seems like a fair fight," Rom commented idly.
"Shut your mouth," Ignatius said. "No one gives a damn what you think, bookworm." The Slytherin boy tossed the book back to Ignatius, but Jack was quicker and intercepted it, holding the book tightly in his grip. Ignatius stared at Jack in shock, but soon his surprise gave way to anger. He pulled his wand from his robe and yelled a slurred curse. Flynn flew in quickly and batted the curse away from Jack with the end of his broom. The curse deflected and hit Rom, who fell to the ground with a moan.
"I would be mad if that wasn't so hilarious," Ignatius said, watching Rom writhe in pain.
"You ignorant git!" Serafin yelled, plunging down at Ignatius from above. Serafin's distinct lack of control over his broom meant that he collided not only with Ignatius, but with Jack and Flynn, who spiraled out of control and knocked the other Slytherins out of the air and soon the whole lot of them were crumpled on the ground beside Severin. Ignatius leapt to his feet and threw a wild punch at Serafin, clocking him in the jaw. Serafin responded with a full body tackle, sending Ignatius tumbling into the other Slytherins who were still trying to regain their feet. Severin punched Ignatius in the stomach and he doubled over, and another Slytherin came to Ignatius's rescue by kicking Severin in the side. In mere moments, the scene deteriorated into a slew of fists and feet.
Teddy and Tavish, who had been coming to join Severin, saw the fight from afar and dropped their books. They waded into the sea of fighting to Severin's side. One of the Slytherins punched Teddy mistakenly, who promptly changed his form into a 6'3 boxer and decked the Slytherin easily. The fight continued, each person involved getting several bruises and scrapes - even Lucy, who refused to back down from the fight. After all, they had called Severin a mudblood, and she hated that word.
"Stop!" Madam Hooch's voice filled the air, but none of the fighters listened to her. "Petrificus Totalus!" Suddenly, their bodies went rigid and they couldn't move. She had somehow managed to catch all of them in a single spell... Well, all except Rom, who was still curled up in pain just a little ways away from the fight.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," Rom moaned, and promptly vomited a slug onto the grass beside him. Madam Hooch dragged the frozen students apart and undid the spell one by one, until they were standing apart and looking down at their feet abashedly.
"What in Dumbledore's name happened here?" she demanded, her hands on her hips.
"Ignatius started it!" Flynn said quickly, pointing at the boy. "He took this kid's book and wouldn't give it back!" Madam Hooch's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"This is a matter for McGonagall to sort out. All of you, and I mean ALL OF YOU, come with me right this instant. If anyone throws another punch, you will be going straight home!"