You're a protagonist Harry
Chapter 14 – Fly me to the Moon? Roof?
…
"That looks painful."
"Is it supposed to do that?"
"Pretty sure it's not."
"The human face should not contort that way."
"Oh, for goodness sakes!" Hermione exclaimed. "He's just smiling."
The other first years at the table looked on warily.
"It ain't natural."
Harry chuckled at Hermione's groan. It was nice of her to defend him, but he didn't really need it. He was completely immune, or possibly oblivious, to the stares today. There was only one thing on his mind, it diverted, it distracted, it completely captured his attention.
"So, who else is looking forward to flying lessons today?"
That was it.
"Ron! You made it worse!"
Looking up from his ever-emptying plate, he stared through a mouthful of eggs and sausage, "What?"
The whole table sighed at his dramatic non-reaction.
"Do you ever think of anything but food?" said Hermione sourly.
"Not at breakfast," he mumbled, then swallowed. "Keeps me from thinking about yesterday."
*smile twitch*
"I thought we weren't going to talk about that Ron."
"Oh, yeah. Sorry Harry."
Their first 'job' in Hogsmeade had ended… okay. Being mauled by an R.O.U.S. (Rodent of unusual size) had been something less than fun. Seeing what the nasty dagger he'd been carrying could do to the R.O.U. , chilling.
He hadn't wanted to keep it, but Aberforth said he didn't want either of them, weren't his you see.
"You play nice in my bar or I take away your toys," he'd explained, which left Harry holding a weapon he was not at all comfortable holding.
Hagrid had provided a solution of sorts. Taking the hardest, driest bit of wood from his woodpile he'd driven the dagger straight in, up to the hilt.
"Can't hurt a bit o wood," he reasoned. "Ain't no water left in it."
Simple yet elegant, and now stuffed in the bottom of his trunk, where it could stay. And no amount of badgering from his housemates was going to get him to talk about it.
"Looks like Harry's not the only one excited to fly."
One table over a broom handle stuck up like a flagpole next to a girl practically vibrating with energy.
"Ten galleons says she makes the Hufflepuff Quidditch team," said Ron. "You should try out too Harry. I'm gonna."
"For the Hufflepuff Quidditch team?"
"… no Harry," said Ron, visibly restraining himself from strangling the smirker, "our Quidditch team."
Harry chuckled, "Yeah, sure," he said, making a mental note to find out what Quidditch was before then.
It must be an exciting sport, he mused, given how the whole table started twittering about it. Well, all except one.
"Uck! Sports ball," Hermione scoffed like a true intellectual.
"Don't knock it till ya try it."
"I don't have to try anything!"
"Oy! Heads up! Mail's here."
All heads turned as 'they' started streaming in. Owls, owls as far as the eye could see. They weren't real of course, as Harry had learned his first mail day. They were a sort of golem, yet another word he'd needed to look up.
They were carved from wood with a large hollow inside where most of the mail went. It was only an illusion that made them look like real owls, and what a sight that had been the first time he saw one of them open with the illusion still active.
"Hey Neville! Looks like you got a package," said Dean who was sitting next to the most timid boy in Gryffindor.
The common looking barn owl landed in the open spot between a plate of sausage and a bowl of fruit, lifting off without a backward glance leaving only its small parcel behind.
"What is it?"
"Who's it from?"
Neville looked at the box with great trepidation, "It's from my gran," he said with a small quaver.
Seeing the package was not going to disappear if he didn't take it, he opened the parcel and removed a small glass orb inlayed with delicate gold etching.
"What is it?" Serena asked, leaning hard against Neville's back with a look in her eyes that just screamed 'OO, SHINY'.
"I know what that is," said Ron, "It's a remembrall. The inside turns colors if you've forgotten something."
Which it did even as it sat there in Neville's shaking hand. "Problem is, I can't remember what I've forgotten."
"And it doesn't tell you?" asked Harry, fascinated yet repulsed by the thing all at once. "What a useless piece of junk." And what a horrible thing to send someone.
Neville didn't seem all that keen on it either as he shoved it in his pocket before the first years scurried off to class. It was mostly forgotten by the time lunch rolled around and after that, flying lessons.
"Oh, it hurts just to look at it."
"We're gonna need a crowbar to get that off."
"Laugh all you want," Harry said. "Nothing you can say will ruin this day for me."
No, words alone would not be enough. However, the sight of Draco Malfoy certainly soured the mood a bit.
It quickly passed. They both understood the time was coming when they'd settle their differences. The duel club would see to that. In the meantime, they settled with eyeing each other warily.
"Good afternoon class!"
"Good afternoon Madam Hooch," the class replied as the hawk faced woman marched onto the field of the small courtyard they were using for the lesson.
"Well, lets get right to it. Everyone, step up to your broom."
The class obeyed; some a bit quicker than others.
"Now, hold your right hand over the broom and, in a loud steady voice say, UP!"
The command to rise was shouted across the courtyard with varying levels of enthusiasm, and varying levels of success.
His voice loud and commanding, Harry's broom shot straight into his hand, even struggling a bit to go higher. Hermione, lacking the same command, tried various tones from bossing to begging to pleading. The broom was unimpressed.
Giving them all a few minutes, and those that had managed to whack themselves in the face a few more, "Now, I want everyone to mount their brooms, and when I blow this whistle I want you to kick off the ground, hover for a few seconds, then touch back down. Ready?"
Oh, they were ready, some were a bit too ready. Or maybe it was anxious. Yeah, probably anxious, and the broom could feel it.
"Whoa, hey, HELP!"
"Oh no," Harry sighed. "There goes Neville."
"Poor bloke," Ron nodded his agreement.
It was hard not to feel sorry for him, just in general, but especially after getting such a crummy gift that morning, and now this. Anyone watching could tell it was the broom in control, not Neville.
It zipped and swooped and bounced around in ways no sane person would ever allow. Most of those watching scrambled around in a tizzy but the boys of Gryffindor just stood placidly and watched. This sort of thing wasn't all that much a surprise to them.
They may not have lived with him long, but all had a pretty good read on Neville. Good bloke, but as they were all seeing, even inanimate objects had more force of personality.
"This will not end well I believe," said Dean.
"How many bones you think he'll break?" Seamus wondered.
"Arm at least, maybe a leg," said Ron.
"Unless Hooch manages to catch him before he hits the ground," said Harry.
She didn't.
Fortunately for Neville, they overestimated. A sprained wrist, while painful, is not broken, which would have been a lot more painful.
"I'm taking him to the hospital wing," Hooch announced, helping him off the field, "You will all stay on the ground till I get back. Anyone I catch in the air will be out of Hogwarts before you can say Quidditch!"
Dire threat leveled, she and Neville disappeared into the castle, leaving the group of teenagers alone… Cuz that sounds like a good idea.
"How long you think she'll be?" Ron wondered aloud.
"Fifteen minutes, minimum at the speed they were going," said Harry. "And that's only if she just drops him off."
"Think she'd have just kept going with class if he'd died?" said Seamus, giving them something to ponder.
And Hermione something to get upset over, "Why would you say that?"
"Just a sort of trend I been noticing," said the Irishman. "The way they talk about it you'd think people were getting axed left and right."
"THAT! That's totally barbaric!"
The bush girl's outrage was cause for mild amusement, especially to a bunch of teenage boys, a group notorious for their barbarism. "You'll have to forgive Hermione, Seamus," said Harry. "She was raised in a 'civilized' society. She's just not used to this sort of barbarity."
"Poor thing," said Seamus with a perfectly straight face that lasted just long enough to get the words out.
"Oh, you, BOYS!" the highly outraged female declared.
"Can't argue with that," said Harry, cheeky grin fully in place as he swung his broom around behind and leaned casually against the hovering bit of wood. "Still, I must admit, this is not how I'd envisioned this day going."
The others nodded, all except Ron who, in an attempt to imitate Harry, swung his broom around and leaned back. The broom did not cooperate, sinking a foot before catching which caused Ron to over leverage and topple over backwards onto the ground.
The others stared, restraining their laughter.
"You alright there mate?" said Harry.
Ron looked at his friend, "I fall down," he said, pouring oil on the restraints that fell away, breaking those nearby into peals of laughter.
Now, for those familiar with him, one would have thought this a perfect time for Draco Malfoy to butt in and say something condescending, snarky, or condescendingly snarky. He did not. The blonde-haired boy who spent way too much time on that hair had found something else to capture his attention.
"Would you look at this! Great lump must have dropped it."
"It's the remembrall, isn't it?" said Harry without even looking
The remembrall glimmered in the midday light, a shining turd in the hand of an even bigger shining turd.
"Think he'll smash it?" said Dean.
"Do we really care if he does?" asked Seamus, looking at the others with clear inquiry. "I mean you did say it was stupid Harry."
Yes, he had, and he stood by the statement. It was completely useless, worse in fact as its mere existence seemed to make Neville feel even less of himself than usual. There would have been something on the other hand, but someone not from Gryffindor decided it was a good day to fight injustice and was already getting in Malfoys face.
"That doesn't belong to you. Give it here."
"Whoa! Is she crazy," said Seamus, his grin suggesting that might be something he respected in woman.
Whether she was or not, Draco was not about to take orders from anyone his own age, hopping onto his broom and hovering into the air. The girl didn't hesitate to follow, mounting her own broom, which all then noticed was not the school standard, and shooting after the Slytherin like an angry arrow.
Unprepared for such speed the blonde was nearly knocked off his broom when she made her first pass. Scowling fiercely, he eyed the girl on her superior broom. Ego won out over common sense and he tried to out fly her.
It wasn't a bad showing, per say. The old school broom was a relic, but it was quickly evident this was not his first broom ride. It was equally evident the same could be said for the girl and her broom was not a relic.
She zipped around the Slytherin like he was standing still, cutting him off at every turn, from every angle. She wasn't being subtle; her acrobatics were clearly meant to impress upon him her superiority. Not a bad strategy. Demoralized enough a normal person would just give up. But normal people did not have ego's like Draco Malfoy.
Cut off one too many times, he flung the remembrall at her in a childish fit of anger. She easily dodged, realizing too late what she had dodged.
"Oh crap!"
Turning hard she sped after the plummeting glass orb. Faster and faster the two rocketed toward the earth, time slowing, but not enough for her to reach it in time.
Someone else had to. "Got it."
The hand snatched the orb from the air and two pairs of eyes met just in time to come to the same realization.
"Oh bugge…"
There was not time for her to stop and the flying Hufflepuff plowed right into the poor Gryffindor catcher, sending them both crashing to the ground in a heavy heap.
"Ow."
"Oo, that smarts."
Lying on top, she looked down to find her landing mat staring up at the sky, one arm stretched out over his head with a familiar and intact glass orb.
"Oh good. You got it."
"Yep," he said without an ounce of enthusiasm.
"Uh, sorry bout the landing," she said bashfully.
"Sorry enough to get off me?"
With great speed and glowing red face. A red face that glowed even brighter when Malfoy decided to put his two cents in.
"Slumming with the Hufflepuff Potter?" the blond cackled.
There wasn't sufficient energy in his body to send a verbal retort, but there was just enough for a single finger. Too busy being pleased with himself the Slytherin felt none of the usual outrage at such a gesture.
"Harry!" that didn't stop Hermione though.
"You alright there mate?" Ron asked, offering his flattened friend a hand.
"I've been better," he said, taking said hand and returning to a vertical position.
"I don't get it," said Seamus. "You said it was stupid, a useless piece of junk, but then you make a running leap to save it. What gives?"
Harry considered the question, the item in his hand, "It is a piece of junk," he said, "but it's Neville's piece of junk. If 'he' wants to throw it away, that's his right, and no one else's."