Harry looked up at the notice. It was a signup sheet for Flying lessons. He had signed up that morning with encouragement from Diana, but when seeing it again, Harry saw that Draco Malfoy had signed up as well.

"Of course," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."

Harry was excited by the thought of learning how to fly, but now that he knew Malfoy was doing to be there, he was looking forward to it a lot less.

"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."

"Ron's right. People who brag about their skills usually aren't that good in reality." Diana said.

Malfoy definitely loved to brag about his incredible skills to anyone that would listen. Harry quickly worked out that he just really loved the sound of his own voice. He liked talking about Quidditch in particular.

But then again, flying was the topic of discussion that week. Seamus and Ron had been talking about how they spent most of their childhoods on a broom. Ron has also gotten into an argument with Dean and Diana on different occasions.

With Dean, it was mostly about how boring soccer sounded to Ron, and with Diana, it was clear that she was just trying to annoy him by describing what baseball was.

Not everyone was eager for flying lessons. Neville and Hermione Granger signed up, only to regret it later on in the day. On Thursday morning during breakfast, Hermione thought it would be a good idea to read out flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages. Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might keep him alive until the end of the lessons.

Everyone else wasn't really paying attention. Ron and the other Gryffindors were more interested in eating. The Twins were flicking food across to other tables. Diana was focused on trying to finish her homework, and Tilly was minding her own business while reading her own book.

A couple of minutes later, the morning letters arrived, and everyone drew their attention to that. It had been a week since Hagrid's note, and Malfoy made sure to let Harry know this.

Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, and he always made sure to let everyone know exactly what he got.

"Guy gets sweets in the mail. Meanwhile, I get bloody fractions and decimals to do." Diana said in an annoyed voice.

At first, Diana didn't really have much of an opinion on Malfoy, but that changed in an instant, and she soon started agreeing with Harry that the boy was a total brat.

A barn owl brought Neville a small package. He opened it up to find a little glass orb, no bigger than a ping pong ball.

"It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things, this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red, oh... " His face fell because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "... you've forgotten something..."

Before any of them could react, Malfoy grabbed the Remembrall out of Neville's hand.

Harry and Ron jumped up from their seats and Diana moved to try and grab Malfoy by the collar of his shirt. Before anything could happen, McGonagall moved toward them.

"What's going on?"

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor."

Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table with a sour look on his face.

"Just looking," he said, and he walked away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him, muttering something under his breath.

"What a little toad," Tilly said before going back to reading.

After class that day, Harry, Ron, and the other Gryffindors who had signed up all rushed down to the training yard.

Most of the other students were already waiting there with twenty or so broomsticks lying in neat lines.

When Madam Hooch arrived, she immediately started giving out instructions.

"What are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stands by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

Everyone started rushing around. Trying to get in place as quickly as possible. Harry looked down at his broom. It looked pretty old. Harry thought that it might give him splinter if he wasn't careful.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"

"UP" everyone shouted.

The brooms started moving around with various degrees of success. Some would jump into the user's hand immediately others would just roll across the ground. Harry was one of the few who had the broom jump up in an instant.

After everyone managed to get their brooms off the grass, Madam Hooch started teaching them how to mount their brooms without sliding off. Harry could help but let out a laugh when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for ages.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle, three, two-"

Suddenly Neville started to float upwards.

"Come back, boy!" Hooch shouted, but Neville just kept going up against his will. Harry saw that Neville was having trouble holding on to the broom, which caused him to slip off.

CRACK

Neville landed on the ground and curled up into a ball, holding his wrist. Madam Hooch ran over to him and started checking how badly he was hurt.

"Come on, boy - it's all right, up you get."

Hooch turned to face everyone.

"None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are, or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."

When the two of them were out of site, Malfoy started laughing.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?"

Some of the other Slytherins joined in.

"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a pale Slytherin girl. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."

"Stop being a jerk!" Sebastian Daley yelled. Clearly not wanting the situation to escalate.

"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."

"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry in a firm tone. Everyone went quiet.

A nasty smile appeared on Malfoy's face.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find how about… up a tree?"

"Give it here!" Harry shouted.

Malfoy gave Harry a dirty look and leapt onto his broomstick. It turns out he wasn't bluffing when he was bragging about what a good flyer he was.

"Come and get it, Potter!"

"No!" shouted Hermione Granger.

"Madam Hooch told us not to move, you'll get us all into tr-"

Harry didn't even bother listening to her finish. He pushed off the ground as hard as he could and started making his way up to Malfoy.

Harry was surprised by how easy flying came to him. It was such a rush floating through the air like it was nothing. The voices of his fellow classmates were getting quieter as he flew further and further away. As he got closer to Malfoy, he shouted out to him.

"Just hand it over Malfoy."

Malfoy looked over to Harry with a shocked look on his face.

"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called.

The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy.

"Catch it if you can, then!" Malfoy shouted and proceeded to throw the glass ball as hard as he could into the air.

Harry's mind immediately snapped into action. He dived towards the falling ball and raised out his hand to grab it. He managed to catch the Remembrall before it hit the ground.

"HARRY POTTER!'' Harry felt his whole body go rigid.

Professor McGonagall was running towards them. Harry got to his feet, trembling.

"Never – in all my time at Hogwarts. "How dare you, you could have broken your neck."

'It wasn't his fault, Professor!"

'Be quiet, Miss Patil."

"But Malfoy!" Ron tried to point to Malfoy, but he was already back on the ground with a slimy smile on his face.

That's enough, Mr Weasley. Potter, follow me, now.''

McGonagall practically dragged Harry back to the castle. He wanted to say something, anything to the Professor, but could possibly say. The words just kept getting caught in his throat.

Harry continued following McGonagall through the halls. Not saying anything. Harry couldn't stop thinking about having to leave. Having to go back to the Dursleys after only two weeks!

McGonagall finally stopped at a classroom door and poked her head inside.

"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"

I'm sorry, WHAT!

Was she going to use some kind of cane on him? Luckily, an older boy walked out of the classroom.

"Come along, you two," said Professor McGonagall, and the two of them followed her up the corridor. Wood looked at Harry with a curious expression.

"In here."

Professor McGonagall pointed them into a classroom which was empty except for Peeves, but the Professor threw him out.

"Wood, I've found you a Seeker."

Wood's expression changed from confusion to absolute delight.

"Are you serious, Professor?"

McGonagall then told Wood all about what happened during the flying lesson.

"I don't think even Charlie Weasley could've done it."

Wood looked at Harry like his birthday and Christmas had both come early.

"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" he asked excitedly. Harry shook his head.

"Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall said proudly.

They continued talking about putting Harry on the Gryffindor team, and to be honest, Harry didn't understand half the stuff they were talking about.

McGonagall turned to Harry at some point.

"I want to hear you're training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you."

She then did something unexpected. She smiled at Harry for the first time.

"Your father would have been proud," she said. "He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."

Hours later, Harry was still thinking about what Professor McGonagall had said. He was heading towards the Great Hall for dinner when Malfoy and his minions made their way over to him.

'Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?''

'You're a lot braver now you're back on the ground, and you've got your little friends with you,' said Harry coolly.

Malfoy didn't appear to like what Harry was implying.

"I'd take you on any time on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only, no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course, I have!" Harry said. Obviously, he didn't, but Harry was sick of Malfoy treating him like a dumb little kid, who didn't know anything.

"Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked."

For the rest of the night, Harry kept thinking about whether he should duel Malfoy or not. On the one hand, he had nearly gotten expelled today, but on the other hand, he could get the change to show Malfoy up. His desire to face off against Malfoy won in the end.

At around half-past eleven, Harry got out of bed and went to the exit of the Gryffindor common-room. He heard a sniffing sound and then a voice.

"It's okay Nev."

Harry opened the door to see Neville and Diana sitting by the door.

"Thank goodness you found us! I forgot the password and haven't been able to get back in!" Neville shouted.

"What are you doing here, Diana?" Harry asked.

"I scratched up my leg, climbing a tree today. Neville didn't want to go back on his own," said Diana, while tapping Neville with her elbow. "I think you can work out the rest."

Harry nodded his head. "Well, the password is 'Pig snout', but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere," Harry said while moving to leave.

"Where are you heading off to?" Diana asked.

"Midnight Dual."

"Ohhh, fun!" Diana said while getting up off the ground. "Do you need a second?"

Harry gave her a confused look and Neville scrambled to his feet.

"Please don't leave me!' He squeaked "I don't want to stay here alone when the bloody Baron passes by again!"

"You two can come with me if you want," Harry said. Even if he didn't want them to come, there wasn't much he could do about it.

The three of them walked down the halls. Harry kept expecting Filch or Mrs Norris to pop out and catch them, he guessed they got lucky. They tiptoed up to the trophy room. Right as Harry started to open the door, he heard footprints heading towards them.

Harry turned his head to see Tilly, who was out of breath.

"Malfoy…. tricked…. Oh god…. needed to warn you."

Then a noise in the next room made all three of them jump.

Harry had only just raised his wand when they heard someone speak.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner." the corky voice of Filch came through the door.

The three of them moved away as quietly as possible. Diana led them over to a tapestry and motioned everyone to think about it. They popped out somewhere near one of the charms classrooms.

"That wasn't on the map you gave me," Harry said to Diana.

"Sometimes it's better to keep certain things a secret."

Suddenly a doorknob rattled, and Peeves came shooting out of a classroom in front of them. He spotted them and let out an annoying laugh.

"Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."

"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves," Diana pleaded with him.

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves.

"Please just go away," Neville said in a shaky tone. He just wanted to go to bed.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed.

"OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

They ran away in a panic down the hall. When spotting a door at the end of the corridor, Tilly pulled out her wand and pointed it at the door.

"Alohomora!"

The door clicked open, and they all rushed inside. They closed the door behind them and pressed their ears to the door. They only heard Filch arguing with Peeves.

"He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered. "I think we'll be okay, stop pulling on my sleeve, Neville!'

Harry turned to see six huge eyes staring at them. A giant three-headed, drooling, growling dog was looking down at the lot of them. They were all frozen in fear.

The dog let out a monstrous roar and Harry started violently twisting the doorknob. Everyone fell back into the corridor and Diana ran to slam the door while continually yelling 'NO'.

Diana got everyone on their feet and pushed them all to another hallway. She started messing with the portrait at the end of it. Harry heard something click to the left and Diana pulled on the bookcase, sliding it open.

They all scrambled into the room and collapsed. They all just sat there, shaking for another minute or so.

Eventually, Diana spoke up.

"What! WHY! I.. AHH I" she yelled.

"That is way too extreme for security," Tilly said.

"What are you talking about?"

"There was a trapdoor at its feet. It must be guarding something."

"Why the heck were you looking at the floor?"

Tilly gave him an embarrassed look.

"I notice weird stuff sometimes," she got up and started moving to the other side of the room "I'm sleeping on the couch," Tilly said. She clearly just wanted this night to end.

Diana later gave Harry a blanket, and he laid down on one of the other couches. He couldn't stop thinking about what Tilly said and then what had Hagrid said.

Gringotts was the safest place in the world for something you wanted to hide, except perhaps Hogwarts.