Once finished with her morning meditation, Herissa arrived back into the dorm to a frantic Hermione. She was pacing to and fro continuously, muttering what she read about flying.

"You know that won't help you any, don't you Hermione?"

Hermione snapped at her, "Well, at least reading ahead gave me better results than you paltry performances till now."

Herissa stepped back with her hands raised, "Sorry, just wanted to help you."

But Hermione was not finished. All her frustration for not having the best results in class was catching up with the tension for the upcoming flying lesson. Poor Herissa was the unfortunate target for all of it, "I do not need your help, Primell. I asked you a simple question, how is your brother able to do magic better than me. If you won't help when asked for, then don't come prancing around when not needed."

"But there is no secret there; he may just be good at it."

"Whatever. Take your lying tongue elsewhere and let me be. I will at least be able to fly better than your pitiful attempts!"

Lily was shocked at the way the conversation had turned out. Herissa's turned around trying to hide her tears.

"Hey that was rude, Hermione" she came to Herissa's defense. "Don't take out your frustrations on others."

Hermione just huffed and exited the room. Lily came and sat on Herissa's bed, "You did nothing wrong Herissa. She is just being rude. Ignore her, please."

Herissa just shrugged her shoulders and attempted a feeble smile, "Shall we go? We have to come back to dress for the lesson."

Neither the students nor the teachers could ever guess why the headmaster liked pairing Gryffindors and Slytherins so much. This combination was always disaster. When Herissa and Lily came to the field, Ron was arguing with a boasting Draco.

".. my brothers are top rated players. What do you have to boast about?"

"Well, that's useless anyway, because they had to dive for other jobs to support your family. What use is talent if not used?"

"Why you worthless…"

"SILENCE! STAND IN TWO LINES THIS INSTANT." Came the loud voice from Madam Hooch. The students scrambled amongst themselves to do so.

"Good, now welcome to your first flying lesson. You cannot have your own brooms first year unless you are on teams. This is not a mandatory subject, so you can ignore this class next time if you don't like the first one or don't need it. That's all the rules. Now stand by your brooms, hold out your better hand and say 'up'."

A few brooms immediately zoomed into hands; including those of Alex and Herissa. They were both surprised and pleased. When the students were finally allowed to fly after all the instructions, a few students immediately took to the sky while the rest hovered near the ground. Alex could feel the broom vibrating in his hand, ready to take off. He shared one look with his sister before mounting the broom. And zoom! He took to flying naturally like a fish swimming in water. He followed the better fliers in their moves, enjoying himself.

Herissa instead hovered over the ground. She too immediately felt comfortable on the broom, but she opted to keep Neville company, whose broom was not following his instructions properly. Lily and Snape were the only Gryffindor-slytherin pair in the whole ground working together comfortably. Draco and Ron, who seemed to have taken to insulting each other continuously since the beginning, were showing off their skills to those watching. Draco spotted Neville struggling on his broom and decided to give him a fright. He and Theodore Nott nodded to each other and flew fast on either side of the boy, poking him as they passed by. Neville cried in fright and accidently let go his broom, which went flying away. Herissa immediately held his hand and swiftly flew her broom under him, so quick that the broom was now carrying both of them, and started flying to the ground. But since those were pretty old brooms, this one could not hold the weight and cracked mid-air. Herissa and Neville ended up falling a few feet on the ground. Neville sprained his ankle while Herissa, who was under him, hurt her ribs and fell unconscious.

All the students and Madam Hooch soon surrounded the pair. Alex crouched beside his sister, taking her head in her lap. Neville held his painful arm close to his chest as he sat and watched them.

"Get back, get back everyone!" the professor cried. She inspected their injuries. "I've sent for Madam Pomfrey. She will take you to the hospital wing. Just lay there, okay? Mister Longbottom, just hold on for a while. This is a simple sprain; it will be healed in an instant. Okay?"

The nurse arrived soon. She cast a few spells on Neville first and he was healed. For Herissa, on the other hand, she said she had to stay overnight. Before she could leave, Alex asked her one question, "Professor, is pain healing so easy in the magical world?"

She nodded, "Minor ones, yes."

"The can you please wait for a moment and heal my arm too?"

"Where are you hurt?"

In answer, Alex's eyes shone with anger as he turned around and punched Draco straight in the nose, "Do you have any common sense, Malfoy. Want to play games in the air? Is this what your so-called superior upbringing teacher you? YOU INJURED MY SISTER, IDIOT!"

Saying that he turned to the nurse and showed her his hand. As madam Pomfrey healed it, Madam Hooch reprimanded him, "That was not necessary Mister Primell!"

"Not necessary? You all will just let him leave after what he did?"

"House points will be deducted when necessary, Mister Primell, and you will lose some too for hitting another student."

"Is punishing the whole house for one's fault is the best you can do? Will he learn not to do that next time then? Will he learn why he should not do that next time? You know what, I don't care. Take off points all you want. But know that when hurts someone after school, there will no more house points to deduct. Please can we go, Madam Pomfrey?"

The nurse nodded and levitated Herissa on to a portable stretcher. Then they both left.

The crowd that was left behind remained shocked and silent for another moment, before Neville looked at Draco and called him out loud, "Draco, you might need to go to the hospital wing too. Your nose is bleeding."

- Later -

After making sure Herissa was safely in the hospital, Alex stormed to his dorm room and sat on his bed angrily. At that time, the dorm mates were getting ready to bed.

"Hi Alex! How is Herissa?" Neville, who was Herissa's closest friend, asked.

"She will recover tonight."

"Why the frustration then?" This was Sirius.

Alex sighed and flopped back on his bead, staring at the ceiling, "Don't mind me. I am just frustrated with myself. I was so happy flying that I lost track of my sister, and was not there to help her."

"Don't take it to heart, Alex" Remus consoled, "From what little I know of Herissa, she will just slap you on your head for thinking such things."

Everyone laughed. Peter joined in, "It is not like she died or anything now, is it? She just got hurt. Accidents happen all the time."

"SHE GOT HURT, Peter, and that is more than any explanation or excuse you can make for it." Alex snapped at Peter, but calmed down quickly, "Sorry, just don't expect me to take that lightly."

James snickered suddenly, "By the way, kudos for hitting Malfoy. I have wanted to do that since the beginning."

Everyone laughed and went to beds.

- That Night -

Herissa woke up abruptly and panicked when she found herself in an unknown place. Then she remembered what happened that morning and slowly calmed down. She must be in the hospital wing then. She checked herself for any remaining injuries. Finding none, she got off the bed and went towards Gryffindor dorms.

She had a bad dream. Neville was hurting her again and when Alex came to her rescuer, he was beaten too. Then suddenly Malfoy flew towards him with a broom, lifted him up and threw him on the ground. All this while, Herissa was invalid on the ground, unable to do anything but watch. Neville was standing beside her, and he was kicked by Nott on to the ground too.

As she walked, tears strode down her face as she reflected on her dream. Why it does always happen to those near her? Was she just a bad luck charm? As she entered the common room, she resolved her heart and climbed onto the boy's side stairs. But when she entered the room, there was a dilemma. Which bed did her brother sleep in?

Alex! Alex!

Hmmm… Alex replied sleepily.

Where are you? Can I sleep with you?

Alex sat up immediately and brushed aside the drapes. Herissa was standing at the entrance with tears in her eyes. He smiled and spread his arms at her. Sniffing, she immediately ran to him and hugged him.

Hey, it is okay, you are alright. I am sorry I was not there to help you in time.

Please, it was not your fault. You were not nearby. Just, I feel bad that Nev got hurt just being by my side.

Nev got hurt because someone pranked him at a bad time, it has nothing to do with you.

I don't know, why do people I care about always get hurt?

People whom you care about, you always protect them the best you can. They are the safest ones. Now stop this self-pity.

Sorry.

Hey, please Herissa. We are a team and will be always there for each other, wont we? Never hold back anything from the other?

Herissa nodded. Alex continued.

By the way, I punched Malfoy for injuring you.

The abrupt way he said it made Herissa stuff her mouth with her palm to stop her laughter. They both went to sleep together that night with smiles, just like old times.