Chapter 7: The First Flying Lesson
I don't own Digimon or Harry Potter
Daisuke hummed to herself as she sat in a comfy chair beside a small table where she, Harry and Ron were working on their homework together, in her lap slept Demi-Veemon while Salem prowled about somewhere in the Gryffindor Common Room. Since their visit to Hagrid, their time at Hogwarts had been relatively quiet, their first weekend they spent outside in the sun finally getting the chance to take in the amazing beauty of the castle and the surrounding grounds.
What time they didn't spend outside, they spent in the library or in their common room studying and doing their homework. Daisuke being insistent they don't slack off to avoid getting in trouble and losing any more points for Gryffindor.
"And so therefore…in closing…and in conclusion." They heard Hermione mutter from her own table where she sat alone, surrounded by mountains of books and homework.
"Mental…" Ron muttered, yelping when Daisuke kicked his shin under the table.
"Be nice." She told him, he huffed and rubbed his shin while Harry remained quiet. "By the way, have you asked my sister about her tutoring you with Potions yet?"
Ron flushed as red as his hair and coughed into his hand. "Yeah…she said that she couldn't." he answered.
"That doesn't sound like my cousin." Daisuke replied with a frown, looking around the common room she spotted Jun sitting at another table with the other Weasley children. "Hey Jun, can you come over here please?" She called.
"Sure thing." Jun replied with a smile, she set her book down and walked over to her younger cousin and her friends. "How can I help ya? Homework giving you trouble?"
"Not exactly. Ron said he asked you about tutoring him for Potions and said you declined." Daisuke answered and Jun blinked, turning to look at Ron who tried to shrink down in his chair in embarrassment.
"Hm, that's news to me." She spoke, making Daisuke and Harry look at their friend.
"You shouldn't lie Ron, it's not very nice." Harry muttered shyly to his friend.
"Well, I didn't want any help…" Ron huffed making Jun roll her eyes, she then pulled a chair up and sat beside the three kids.
"I get that, but Potions is one of the most important classes in Hogwarts. I can understand you not liking it because of Professor Snape and his unjust dislike for most students, but that is not a reason to give up without trying." She told Ron with a kind smile. "Just ask Fred and George, when those two started Hogwarts they were horrible in potions, but thanks to my help they managed to scrape past and have only gotten better as the years went by. Only now I regret it."
"Why's that?" Ron asked the older woman.
"Because their skills with potions only help them with their pranks." Jun answered, glaring behind her at Fred and George who waved while smiling innocently at her. "So, what do you say?" she then asked, looking back at Ron who looked at Harry and then Daisuke before he nodded slightly. "Great, let's start Friday afternoon."
Ron nodded with a small smile and Jun ruffled his hair. "Now off to bed you three, you've got your first flying lesson tomorrow after all. You'll need all the sleep you can get."
The three nodded and headed up to their rooms, noticing the other students were doing the same. "Goodnight." Harry said softly, hugging Daisuke making her smile and she returned the hug.
"Goodnight Harry." She said.
She then stepped into the girl's room with Demi-Veemon waving at Harry from his position on Daisuke's head while Salem brushed past the boy's legs and into the room before the door closed behind the cat.
A few minutes later, Daisuke had changed into her pyjamas and laid down on her bed with Demi-Veemon sitting on the pillow beside her while Salem jumped onto the bed and curled up at her feet. "Goodnight you two."
"Goodnight." Both replied, getting comfy as Daisuke laid down and closed her eyes to sleep. Once she began to sleep, she tossed and turned, her head turning left and right a few times, her eyes opened, shining bright gold before they closed once again.
In her dream, the young girl saw various things, surrounded by a hazy fog. First was several brooms, lined up in two rows on some grass. Second, a stone statue standing high above the grass, a long spear held in its hand with a piece of fabric snagged on the spear fluttering in the wind. Finally, she saw Neville Longbottom on the ground holding his right wrist and whimpering in pain.
She sat up with a gasp, her eyes wide in shock. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself as Demi-Veemon and Salem both woke up and looked at her in concern. "Dai, are you alright?" Demi-Veemon asked his partner.
"Yes, what happened?" Salem asked, the cat walking across the covers to curl up beside her.
Daisuke took another breath before nodding slightly. "I…I don't know. I saw a bunch of brooms, a statue really high up…and then Neville on the ground in pain, it looked like he had hurt his wrist."
"Maybe you're worried about your first flying lesson tomorrow." Demi-Veemon suggested.
"Then why did I see Neville as the one who got hurt?" Daisuke questioned, if she were worried about herself, then wouldn't she see herself injured and not Neville.
"Maybe because it's Neville." Demi-Veemon stated bluntly.
"Demi-Veemon!" Daisuke said, a small frown on her face.
"He's right though, if anyone were to get hurt, it would be Neville." Salem told her.
"Honestly…" She muttered, shaking her head, and rolling her eyes at the two of them.
Salem curled up in her lap and purred softly. "Just go back to sleep. It was nothing more than a dream." He reassured her.
She scratched his head gently and nodded. "Yeah…that must be it. Goodnight guys."
"Goodnight." Both said, Daisuke laid back down on her bed, Salem on her stomach, her hand gently rubbing the cat while Demi-Veemon slept on the pillow next to her head.
"Just a dream…" she muttered, closing her eyes as she fell asleep.
The next morning, everyone was in the Great Hall for breakfast. Daisuke sat beside Hermione while Ron and Harry sat across from them with Neville and the other first years. "Don't worry Harry, I'm sure you'll do fine." Hermione said, trying to reassure the shy boy who was playing with his food, jabbing it with his fork.
"And what if I make a fool out of myself in front of Malfoy?" he muttered.
"Leave him to me. I'll take care of him." Demi-Veemon chirped, sitting on Daisuke's head the young Digimon puffing his chest out.
"Sure, you will." Daisuke said, taking her partner off her head and tickling his belly making him laugh and she and the others around them smiled. Harry looked around the Great Hall, and noticed Seamus was waving his wand around his goblet saying some rather odd words.
"What's he trying to do to his drink?" he asked Ron, the redhead looking over at Seamus who was looking at his goblet with a dissatisfied frown.
"Oh, he's trying to turn it to rum. He actually managed a weak tea yesterday, before…" a sharp crack and flash of light made everyone turn to look at Seamus, his goblet was smoking, and his eyebrows were missing and some of his hair. "That…"
"Jun's gonna have a field day with teaching Seamus about wand safety or something." Daisuke muttered, already noticing her sister standing up from her spot at the far end of the table when several hoots and other sounds echoed from the ceiling.
"Ah, mail is here." Ron said, looking up with a bright smile as dozens of owls of all shapes and sizes began to enter the Great Hall from holes in the ceiling. They all carried either parcels, letters or newspapers and began dropping them to the students below.
Ron caught a few letters and a newspaper from his family owl, a few other parcels dropped down being caught by Neville, Seamus, and others. Daisuke saw the Ainsworth family owl gliding down majestically, two large tins held in its talons, the owl dropped them down gently on the table in front of the girl.
"Thanks girl." She said, handing some bacon to the owl who snatched it and ate it with a happy hoot. Daisuke then took the tin that had her name on it and saw a few letters attached to the top, some addressed to Jun and some for her. She took the ones for her cousin and the other tin before walking down the table to her cousin. "Here ya go Jun." She chirped, handing the older girl her mail.
"Thanks squirt. And tell Seamus I want a word with him tonight about his little exploding goblet stunt just now." She said sternly.
Daisuke nodded and walked back to her friends and noticed Harry unfurling Ron's newspaper while Neville unwrapped his package and held up a crystal ball. "Hey look, Neville's got a Remembrall." Dean Thomas said as the boy looked at it confused.
"I've read about those, when the smoke inside turns red, it means you've forgotten something." Hermione explained, as she said that the smoke inside the ball turned bright red.
"Uh…only thing is…I can't remember what I've forgotten." Neville admitted bashfully.
"Your robes Neville." Daisuke told him, the boy blinking and looking down at himself to see he wasn't wearing the robes everyone else wore.
"Oh, thanks Daisuke."
"Anytime." She replied, opening her tin she saw dozens of cookies. "Oh, my mom baked cookies, want some?" She asked her friends who all smiled and nodded, Ron took a handful of cookies, Hermione took one and bit into it.
"This is delicious!"
"Yeah, Mrs Ainsworth is an awesome baker." Ron said, shoving another cookie into his mouth. Harry, who was reading the newspaper still, reached for a cookie himself when it was snatched out of his hand by Draco who had walked over from his table.
"What's the matter Potter, didn't your family send you any mail again?" he taunted, arrogantly smirking as the shorter boy with glasses looked up watching as the blonde bit into the cookie. "Oh, seems this was the last one too, a shame." He added looking to the empty tin on the table.
"Can we help you Malfoy?" Daisuke asked, standing up and frowning at the boy who also grabbed Neville's Remembrall off the table causing the boy to squeak in protest.
"What's this for Longbottom? To remind you that you're a joke of a wizard?" Malfoy mocked with a chuckle before taking another bite of the cookie in his other hand. Harry and Ron both stood up, but just as they did, Professor McGonagall was already marching down the table towards the students.
"Is there a problem here?" she asked.
"Malfoy has got my Remembrall." Neville answered, glaring at the blonde who huffed.
"I was just looking at it." He said, putting the item in question back on the table before he walked off, finishing the cookie as he went. Seeing the issue was resolved, Professor McGonagall walked off back to the teacher's table as Ron, Daisuke and Harry sat down again.
"Here mate, last one." Ron said, handing Harry his last cookie and the boy smiled and took it biting into it before he finished it in another bite.
"Yep, that was my first reaction to the cookies as well." Daisuke said with a fond smile. Harry went back to reading the newspaper when his eyes widened.
"Look at this." He whispered, showing Ron something in the paper. "Gringotts was broken into."
"What?" Ron and Daisuke whispered in shock as Harry read some of the paper to them.
"You'd have to be mental to break into Gringotts, it's the most secure place in the country, except Hogwarts." Ron whispered.
"I know, when Hagrid and I went to Gringotts after we went to my vault he asked to go to another vault. Number Seven-Hundred and Thirteen I think it was. He took something out of the vault." Harry explained.
"What did he take?" Daisuke asked, raising an eyebrow as she and Demi-Veemon shared a look.
"I don't know, it was a small brown package, I didn't get a good look at it." Harry answered making his friends share a look of concern.
Later that day, at half past three in the afternoon, the Gryffindor first years were making their way down to where their first flying lesson would be taking place, walking down a hill they spotted that the Slytherin students were already there waiting for them as were 20 rickety old brooms.
Daisuke looked at the brooms, an uneasy feeling building in her stomach. "Just a dream…it was just a dream." She whispered to herself. The class then saw their professor walking down from the castle over to them, she had silvery white hair and hawk like yellow eyes.
"Good afternoon class." She said upon reaching them.
"Good afternoon Madam Hooch." They greeted.
"Welcome to your first Flying Lesson." Madam Hooch said, walking down the line of broomsticks. "Here you will learn the basics on how to handle and fly broomsticks. There will be no fooling about. Am I understood?" she asked quickly, narrowing her eyes at the students who all nodded quickly. "Excellent, line up, one student to a broom."
The students quickly did as they were told, standing next to a broom each that laid on the grass to their right. "Now all of you, hold your hands over your broomsticks and say Up." Madam Hooch instructed them.
The students did so and began calling for their brooms, most of them simply rolling about on the grass with no intention of lifting into their hands.
"Up!" Harry whispered and his broom shot up into his hand easily, the boy stumbling slightly from the sudden movement. "I did it." He beamed, smiling at Ron and Daisuke.
"Up." Daisuke said, looking down at her broom which lifted into her hand gently and she smiled for a moment before looking across from her at Malfoy who also summoned his broom to his hand on his first try and he gave her an arrogant smirk which made her roll her eyes.
"With feeling." Madam Hooch said to the class, some of the students still struggling to lift their brooms, Hermione was one of them, every time she said up, the broom seemed to just roll around on the grass ignoring her which frustrated the bushy haired girl.
"Up!" Ron barked at his broom which swung up and smacked him across the face making him stumble back holding his face, Harry and Daisuke giggled into their hands making him huff. "Shut up you two…" he groaned.
A few minutes later, the rest of the class managed to summon their brooms into their hands. "Good, now that you have your brooms in hand, I want you to mount them. Quickly now." Madam Hooch instructed, the students doing just that, and she nodded. "Now, on my whistle and only on my whistle, you're going to kick off from the ground, hover for a moment, then come back down." She continued, bringing her whistle to her lips.
Neville, however, was too frightened to wait and pushed off the ground before the whistle, his broom began to climb higher and higher, the young boy holding onto it terrified. "Neville!" Daisuke and the other Gryffindor students cried out.
"Down, down!" Neville shouted to his broom which flew off through the air.
"Mr Longbottom, come back down this instant!" Madam Hooch shouted, but the boy was too terrified to do anything but hold onto the errant broom, it began shaking the young boy around as it flew.
"Oh, I wish I didn't leave Demi-Veemon back in the common room." Daisuke thought, watching the boy with worry.
"Mr Longbottom!" Madam Hooch shouted, drawing her wand as Neville's broom flew close to the ground, rocketing towards the teacher and students, everyone screamed and dived for cover including Madam Hooch.
Neville continued to scream as his broom shot through a stone arch and then flew into the air again, it then began ramming itself into a stone wall repeatedly, splintering both ends of the broom before it flew past a stone statue and Neville was caught by his robes on the spear the statue was holding.
Daisuke gasped seeing Neville hanging from the spear, her hand covering her mouth. "Just like my dream…" she thought in horror. Neville's robes began to tear and soon he fell from the spear when his robes gave way, he then was snagged on another part of the wall before he slipped out of his robes again and hit the ground with a hard thud.
Everyone ran over to Neville with Madam Hooch leading the way, quickly she kneeled and assessed the damage. "Oh dear, broken wrist." She said softly, soothing the sniffling boy and helping him to his feet and wrapped her arm around him. "I'm taking Mr Longbottom to the hospital wing; I want all of you to remain firmly on the ground. If I see one broom in the air, the person riding it will be out of Hogwarts faster than you can say Quidditch."
As the two walked away to the hospital wing, Daisuke's face went pale when she saw Neville holding his injured wrist. She almost fell onto her butt in shock had it not been for hearing the Slytherin students snickering amongst themselves.
Malfoy saw a glint on the ground and walked over to it, seeing it was Neville's Remembrall he smirked and picked it up. "Did you see his face, I bet that fat oaf had used this. It would have reminded him to fall on his fat arse." He said, the other Slytherins laughing at his cruel comments.
"That's not funny Malfoy." One of the Gryffindor girls said.
"Never thought you'd like fat cry-babies Parvati." Pansy Parkinson sneered at the girl.
"Give it here Malfoy, that doesn't belong to you." Daisuke said, walking over to the boy intent on taking back her friend's Remembrall.
"No." he replied, pushing Daisuke back into the other Gryffindors.
"She said give it back Malfoy!" Harry snapped, the young boy storming over to him.
"No, I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find it, how about on the roof." Malfoy said before mounting his broom and flying into the air. "What's the matter Potter? A bit beyond your reach!?"
Harry frowned and went to mount his broom before Hermione grabbed his hand. "Harry no, you heard what Madam Hooch said, besides, you don't even know how to fly." She told him, he just ignored her and flew off into the air after mounting his broom. "What an idiot…"
"Hermione." Daisuke said with a frown before she sighed. "Never mind." She huffed, looking up as her friend flew right at Malfoy, missing him by inches, enough to unnerve the blonde slightly.
"Give it here Malfoy or I'll knock you off your broom!" Harry shouted.
"Is that so?" Malfoy asked with a cocky grin which faded as Harry charged at him again, Malfoy barely moving out of the way in time. "Fine have it your way, go fetch Potter!" he then threw the ball as hard as he could towards the castle, Harry shooting off after the small glass orb at incredible speed, everyone watching in shock and worry.
Harry's eyes were focused on the Remembrall, the glass orb beginning to fall to the ground, he pushed his broom down and dove after it, reaching out with his right hand he caught the orb and pulled his broom up mere inches from the ground, his feet skimming along the grass and he smiled holding the item close to his chest as he flew back to the others.
Once he landed, the other Gryffindors surrounded him cheering loudly, Daisuke pushed through the others and gave him a shove. "You idiot! You could have been hurt; you nearly broke your neck if you didn't pull up in time." She scolded before pulling him into a hug. "Don't ever do that again."
"I'm sorry." Harry apologised, returning the hug, and rubbing her back gently. "But I had to get this back for Neville." He held up the Remembrall which shone in the sunlight.
"That was a bloody brilliant catch mate." Ron praised him.
"Harry Potter!" a voice shouted, the Gryffindors all going pale when they saw Professor McGonagall marching towards them, her expression a mic between anger and shock. "Never…never have I…in all my years…"
"It was Malfoy's fault, he stole Neville's Remembrall." Seamus tried to explain.
"Be quiet Mr Finnigan." The head of Gryffindor House said, her lips firmly pressed together in a frown. "Potter, follow me at once. The rest of you, return to your dormitories. This lesson is over." She said before anyone else could speak up, the Slytherins all smirking as Harry trudged off after the elderly witch.
Now he had done it, he hadn't even lasted two full weeks at Hogwarts. Now for sure, Harry knew he was probably going to be expelled and sent back to his aunt and uncle the next day. His legs turning to lead as he thought about the…welcoming gift his uncle would give him upon returning while Dudley mocked him, and his aunt gave him her cold glare she always gave him.
He followed McGonagall through the castle, the witch not saying a word or looking back at him. Soon they reached the Charms classroom, and she opened the door and poked her head in. "Professor Flitwick, excuse me, may I borrow Wood for a moment?" she requested.
"Wood?" Harry thought nervously, backing up slightly thinking that Wood was a cane of some kind she was going to use to hit him with. Luckily, Wood turned out to be a rather strapping young man with short brown hair and brown eyes and wore Gryffindor robes.
Professor McGonagall led the two students off to an empty classroom and shut the door behind them. "Mr Potter, this is Oliver Wood." Professor McGonagall introduced Harry to the student who nodded at him with a smile. "Oliver, I have found you a Seeker." She told the older boy with a pleased smile.
"What?" Harry asked, never having heard the word before while Oliver's jaw dropped.
"Are you serious, Professor?" he asked after a few moments, turning to look at Harry and he began walking around the boy.
"Most certainly, I saw him make that catch as if it were nothing. Was that your first time on a broomstick Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked him.
Harry nodded, words failing to come out still stunned at what was happening. "He's got the right build for a Seeker professor, but he'll need his own broom." Oliver said, picking up Harry's arm and dropping it after a moment. "Perhaps a Cleansweep 7 or Nimbus 2000."
Professor McGonagall nodded in understanding. "I'll speak with Professor Dumbledore, see if he can do anything about allowing Mr Potter to play on the Gryffindor team." She said before looking at Harry. "Don't think you're getting off scot free Mr Potter, this is a privilege not a right, if you fall behind in your schoolwork you will be removed from the team, I expect you to understand that."
"Yes Professor." Harry said softly with a quick nod, relieved he was not going to be expelled just yet.
"Good, you may go now. I will speak to you later when you will begin training. Do not tell a soul about this, though knowing how rumours spread so quickly I wouldn't be shocked if by tomorrow the whole school finds out." Professor McGonagall said softly.
Harry quickly left the empty classroom and headed to find Ron and Daisuke, by the time he found them in the study hall, there were already whispers going around. The three quickly left the room and began heading back to the common room as Harry told them what Professor McGonagall told him.
"A seeker, but first years never join the house teams. You must be the youngest seeker in…" Ron trailed off trying to think.
"In a century, according to McGonagall." Harry said softly, the three turned a corner and saw Fred and George walking up to them.
"Congrats Harry, Wood's just told us." Fred told him, the two older boys now walking behind the three younger kids.
"Fred and George are on the team too, they're the team's Beaters." Ron explained.
"Our job is to stop you from getting bloodied up too badly." George said.
"Brutal, but nobody's died in years. A few do go missing now and again." Fred continued.
"But they'll turn up in a month of two." George finished as both twins walked away from the trio.
"That's not funny you two!" Daisuke shouted after them, both twins sharing a grin and waving to her and she huffed.
"Don't worry Harry, you'll be great. Everyone's gotta start somewhere." Ron said as the three walked out onto a small courtyard where a few students were listening to a professor who was helping them with their homework.
"But I don't even know how to play Quidditch, what if I make a fool of myself?" Harry asked his friends.
"You won't make a fool of yourself." The three turned and saw Hermione standing behind them. "It's in your blood." She told Harry.
"How do you know that?" Ron huffed, the bushy haired girl walking off and the three followed her to a large trophy case against the wall.
"See?" she asked, pointing to a plaque in the case which the other three looked at it to see it was of a Gryffindor Quidditch team from years ago.
"Harry…you didn't tell me your father was a Seeker for Gryffindor too." Ron said in amazement.
"I…I didn't know…" Harry whispered, shaking his head as he stared at the plaque which had his father's name, James Potter on it. Looking up at the other plaques in the case he saw another and pointed to it. "Daisuke, look."
She blinked and did so, her eyes widening when she saw the plaque and her father's name on it. "Alexander Ainsworth, Keeper…that's right I forgot he was a substitute Keeper for a full season one time." She said softly.
"Why though?" Hermione asked.
"The original keeper was injured and couldn't play, Alexander filled in for him as a favour. Besides, he was the one who helped train the Keeper by throwing the Quaffle at him." Daisuke answered, Hermione nodded before she walked off back to the courtyard to fetch her books from beside the still speaking teacher.
"It's scary, she knows more about you than you do." Ron muttered to Harry.
"I think that's the case for everyone about me." He sighed softly, the three friends walking off quickly.
The end of the chapter
Read and review