Disclaimer: I can honestly say that after looking at my poor bank balance I do not own any of the characters that you see and recognise here from either Harry Potter or The Labyrinth, I am just having a little fun with them all

Chapter Twenty One –Tea and flying

Friday afternoon, once classes had finished, saw six first year boys, four Hufflepuff's and two Gryffindor's heading for Hagrid's hut, Susan had decided not to join them choosing to work on her potions assignment instead as it was all she had let to finish and wanted it done.

When they got there Jared knocked and they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks that made all six of them take a couple of steps back and begin eyeing the door warily.

From inside they heard Hagrid's voice, "Back Fang – Back." Finally the door opened a crack and they saw him peering out, spotting the small group of first years he broke out into a big grin and said, "Hang on." Before closing the door and they heard more, "Back fang, G'back you daft hound."

Eventually the door opened fully and Hagrid stepped outside to greet them, "Hello, what are you lot up to then?"

Jared stepped forward with a big smile, "Hello Mr Hagrid, I'm sorry for not replying to your letter from the other day but I hope the offer for tea is still open?"

Hagrid's smile got even wider, "Course it is Prince Jared course it is, although I admit I didn't quite expect so many of you and me house isn't that big." He glanced up at the clear sky, "Still as it's nice out if you boys don't mind helping me pull a few things out we can sit outside and enjoy the fine weather?"

They all quickly agreed and while Hagrid made the tea and pulled out some of his rock cakes the boys all worked together to drag one of Hagrid's chairs outside for him along with some rugs and pillows for them to sit on. They also pulled out a small table Hagrid had told them to, to hold the tea and rock cakes.

While they were doing this Jared had had to pick up a pile of Daily Prophet newspapers off the table and move them to the main table in the hut, the top copy caught his eye as the headline declared 'Gringotts break-in latest'

Jared remembered vaguely his father mentioning during dinner the day after his birthday that there had been a break-in at the bank the day before on his actual birthday. He had never heard any more about it and as it was bank business had not really cared about it too much, his father had told him that it was after he had finished his education for his human magic that he would begin instructing him in matters to do with the bank.

Outside they were soon all settled with cups of tea and the kids quickly found the rock cakes to be a bit hard for them and were all trying to think of a polite way to avoid eating them, Hagrid watched them try to eat them and then try to be polite when they couldn't, he had laughed before admitting that they were made to his own special recipe that only a half- or full giant would be able to chew but he liked to give them to students to see what they would do, a small prank of his own really.

After they had all laughed about it and Hagrid had nipped back inside to fetch a tin of biscuits he kept that could be eaten by students, Hagrid asked them how they were all getting on with their lessons.

They all told him what their favourite lesson was and how envious they were of Jared to not have to suffer through Potions with Snape, the one lesson they all agreed was the worst. Hagrid tried to defend the bitter man by telling them that the Potions Master had to be strict in the lessons to make sure students didn't mess around and cause accidents but they could tell his heart wasn't really in it.

As the topic started to drift Dean decided to ask the big man about the reason he had joined them on the visit, "Hagrid, you know I have a non-magical parent," Since Jared's outburst at Ron, all of the other first years had decided to try and avoid saying muggle and half-blood, "so I have also grown up knowing about the non-magical world and one of the things I've always enjoyed is a non-magical game called football and I've been talking about it with some others and we were hoping that you would let us use the field next to your hut to play a game." He gave the big man a hopeful look.

Hagrid sat and thought about it, "Well what exactly would be involved?" he asked.

Both Dean and Justin began explaining the basic points of the game and that all it would need is the use of the field for a short time and a ball that one of them would have one of their parents send to them, in true tradition of kids across the world they would use coats and bags to mark the goals. Hagrid asked a few more questions but was soon agreeing to letting them use the field and watching over them as well admitting his own curiosity at the sound of it.

They spent the next hour sitting and chatting with Hagrid about all different subjects, Jared got to hear a couple of stories about his parents, but with the range of topics discussed they all found something to be interested about and led to them all being happy to agree to visit Hagrid on a regular basis, most likely on a Friday afternoon and not just when they would see him when having a kick around which they hoped to arrange for a Saturday afternoon.

xxxx

On Sunday evening a notice went up on the notice board in the common room telling all the first years that they would finally be having their first flying lesson. It had been delayed to the third week of term instead of the end of the second week due to the accident that had occurred during the Gryffindor and Slytherin flying lesson with Neville Longbottom and Madam Hooch had instead all the school brooms be given a thorough examination to ensure no future accidents were possible. Ideally she wanted them replaced but was once again told by Dumbledore that there was no room in the budget for it.

Jared had visited Neville during his brief stay for one afternoon in the hospital wing and heard how the broom had sent the boy flying straight up and that he had then lost his grip and slipped off to go careening back to the ground, which had resulted in Neville's broken wrist.

While Madam Pomfrey had healed his wrist easily enough she had warned him not to put too much pressure on it for the next couple of days, as such Jared had helped him with his homework assignments. After explain what they was doing, Madam Pomfrey had even supplied a note to Neville explaining why some of his assignments were in Jared's handwriting and not his own to make sure they teachers didn't think he was cheating.

They had also heard about what had happened after Madam Hooch had taken Neville to the hospital wing, how there had been some sort of shouting match between Malfoy and Weasley about a remembrall of Neville's and that it had resulted in them both flying off up in to the air only to be caught by McGonagall and they had both lost thirty points for their houses and had two nights detention with her.

Neville hadn't been too upset about the loss of the remembrall itself but what it represented, he had been worried about what his gran would say when he told her that it was gone, apparently it wasn't that often the stern witch bought him presents that weren't for his birthday or Christmas. Jared had offered to owl order a new one for him, that way she would never know it had gone as he could pretend that it was the same one. Neville had thanked him for the idea but said that he hated the thought of lying to his gran so even if they did do that he would still feel obligated to tell her the truth.

Jared had simply smiled at his friend and said he understood, he thought about it and probably would have done the same thing if the gift had come from Sarah, his father would have been a bit different as he loved trying to see if he could get away with doing things like that with him all the time.

Jared and the other boys were excited to finally be getting to fly. It was the first lesson of the day and they all walked down the lawn to the area designated for the lesson together. The Ravenclaw's joined them and Madam Hooch appeared, "Stand next to a broom." She instructed them and once they were all sorted stood at the head of the double line they had formed and said clearly, "Hold your hand over the broom and in a firm clear voice say, 'UP'"

They all looked down at their brooms and a chorus of 'UP' was heard from all of them. Jared's broom immediately leaped up to meet his waiting hand, glancing around he saw about half the class had done it on the first call. Next to him Megan was still trying with hers, he could hear a slight tremor in her voice so he leaned a little closer and said, "Think of it like a horse, if you show even the smallest bit of fear it won't think of you as in command. You have to be firm and show it that you are in control."

She glanced at him with a grateful smile and after a deep breath said in a firmer voice, "UP" and the broom finally rose to meet her grasp and Megan gave him an even bigger smile of thanks. Around them a few others that had heard his words were quickly making sure that they hid all fear and were getting better results. Madam Hooch had also heard and was quite pleased to see the reaction from Jared's fellow students.

Once everyone had their brooms in their hands she began making her way down the lines showing them the correct way to hold the broom. After everyone was checked she walked back to the head of the line and said, "Now when I blow my whistle you will all kick off from the ground with a firm but light kick, as I will show you in a moment, ensure you keep your broomstick as straight as possible to hover in place for a few moments before angling it down very slightly to bring you back down to the ground."

After making sure she had all of their attention she picked up her own broom and showed them exactly what she wanted them to do. Once she was back on the ground she picked up her whistle from where it was hanging around her neck and gave a short sharp blast.

They all gave the small jump kick she had shown them and Jared was delighted with the sudden free feeling he got as his broom took him up a meter in the area. He found it easy to hover in place before returning to the ground as he was told.

He had always loved going flying with the Great Ancestor Dragon whenever he visited the High Lord but to be able to fly on his own, to not have to rely on another to make all of the decisions felt wonderful.

Looking around he saw Madam Hooch catch his eye and give him an approving nod before turning back to the student she was next to that was having a problem. Looking around himself he saw his friends were having no problem but a Ravenclaw opposite him seemed to be struggling to keep her broom stick straight and was bobbing up and down. Jared could see immediately the problem was because the girl had his hands just a bit too close together, quickly stepping over and he quietly said up to them, "Move your hands a little further apart and you might find it easier to keep steady."

They blinked down at him in surprise before quickly looking back at their bobbing broom and very carefully began to inch their hands a little further apart, after a minute they were able to get a steady hover and then returned to the ground. The girl gave him a grateful smile and said, "Thank you Prince Jared, I'm Lisa. I didn't realise it would be so hard to control a broom."

Jared gave a small shrug and returned her smile, "Your welcome and like I said to my friend Meg, think of it like a horse or some other animal you need to control. You have to show it who is boss in a clear firm way; if you keep your hands too close together or too tight then you can't give clear signals so it won't know what you want."

Lisa nodded in acknowledgment of his comment and said, "I'll keep that in mind."

Jared gave her a nod back and moved back to his own positon, again a few of the other students as well as Madam Hooch had heard what he said and the rate of progress increased quite quickly, far quicker than Madam Hooch had ever seen for a class.

Once they had all learned the basic movements on how to control a broom, Madam Hooch then let them take it in turns of two's and three's to have a little fun flying around the part of the lawn they were on. It quickly became apparent to her that Jared was a natural not only at flying but helping others as well.

He had some fun doing twists and turns on his own broom before he was hovering next to the others flying with them and helping them out do some of the same twists and turns that they were struggling with.

Eventually they were all back on the ground and the brooms were placed in a neat pile next to her and she was dismissing them all back to the castle, as they began to leave she called out, "Prince Jared if you would wait a moment."

Jared gave a quick nod and waved to the other Hufflepuffs to continue on without him and headed over to the flying instructor. "Prince Jared," she began, "I have to say that I was impressed with your behaviour in class today. Not only can I see that you are a natural at flying but you were very good at helping the other students. 20 points to Hufflepuff and I hope that you intend to try out for the Hufflepuff team next year as it would be a shame to waste such talent."

Jared gave her a huge smile, "Thank you professor, I don't really know anything about Quidditch so I couldn't tell you if I want to try out for the team but maybe after watching the matches this year I will think about it."

She gave a firm nod, "See that you do, now go on I don't want to keep you from lunch."

Jared gave a short bow of his head to her before running off across the lawn to catch up with his friends who were all delighted to hear that he had earned the house twenty points.

xxxx

A/N Ok so some people might be upset that I won't be having Harry/Jared join the Hufflepuff team this year, but honestly with all his training I think he has enough to do. Also I always suspected that Harry joining the team in the books was just another way for Dumbledore to show favouritism and make him look up to the Headmaster more so it adds another layer of manipulation to Harry's life, after all McGonagall must have had to get his permission to allow a first year onto the team.

This is also the seventh instalment and so it's time for another weeks break for me.

Keep writing and have fun

V.