"If I had known by "problematic" you meant absolutely abysmal, I would have eaten the chocolates." Louis reached down to take my hand.
"Too late." I laughed.
We were all out on the training ground practicing. And by all I mean me, Scorpius and Albus. And by practicing I mean I was falling on my arse a lot and Albus and Scorpius were laughing at me.
It was a beautiful day. The sky was really clear and blue.
I just wished I could have seen less of it from flat on my back.
But I could tell I was getting better. "You are a really good flying instructor, Louis."
"So is Madame Hooch." He pointed out.
"Well, yes, of course." I mounted my broom again. "But I have to take those classes with Polly and Yann mocking me and making me really self conscious."
"True. What IS her problem with you?" Louis frowned.
"Aside from the fact that I cost her the love of her life?" I pointed out.
"I am NOT the love of her life." Louis blushed. "I don't even know her really."
"Yes, well, according to her I cost her really beautiful babies and an amazing life." I shrugged. "But other than that? I don't know."
"She called you a… really foul name." Scorpius called.
"Well, yeah, but I think she called me that because she already made up her mind to hate me." I practice some turns.
"She is just jealous." Albus said with certainty.
"Of WHAT?" I laughed. "She is a better spell caster she is more popular she is…"
"Me."Scorpius said sadly. "The problem is me."
"That makes no sense." I landed beside him. "She doesn't like you any better than she likes me."
"Rose and I went through a…" Scorpius hesitated. "A rough patch. She was against me and my family because of the war and…"
That made less sense. "Your family IS her family."
"Yeah, but at the time she was being a prat because her parents were two thirds of the so called Golden trio and mine were Death Eaters."
"Your mum wasn't." I pointed out.
"No, Mum wasn't but she sort of got… tarnished, I guess, because of my Dad and my grandfather." Scorpius helped me on with my sweater, it had got a little chilly.
That wasn't fair! "Your Mum was a war hero herself, wasn't she?"
Scorpius looked sad. "Not everyone sees it that way. Plus… she kind of held the Wizengamot hostage during her testimony for my Dad."
I could feel my eyes going really round. "REALLY?!"
"No, not really." Albus chimed in laughing. "Aunt Alya is brilliant. She got permission to testify in her own way and then just… from the way I gather it, she got my grandfather out of a prison sentence by shouting."
"Come on, Lils." Louis mounted his broom again. "We only have about an hour more before I have to start working on my Charms essay."
Scorpius and Albus took to their brooms to fly alongside me. I was way too nervous to do this on my own. Neither are Quidditch level flyers, but they are sure a lot better than I am.
For some reason I just wasn't getting it. I could get my broom up off of the ground. I could even fly in a mostly straight line, as long as no one expected me to do turns and barrel rolls.
But the thing is I expected me to do them. I wanted to play Quidditch next year more than I had ever wanted anything. But I had to do better than this.
Louis kept telling me that fear was my biggest problem.
I agreed but I had no idea how to stop being afraid. And the more I thought about not being afraid the more afraid I got.
"The broom works WITH you, Lils." Louis called out. "But only if YOU work with IT. You have to treat it as an extension of your ummm… body."
It was too funny that Louis avoided any and all mention of my bum.
And speaking of that body part, brooms were NOT made to be sat on! They were super uncomfortable.
"Why hasn't anyone created a saddle for these?" I complained for probably the hundredth time… that day.
"Why don't they…?" Louis shook his head. "Merlin, Lils, are you a witch or not?! They have a cushioning charm! You are just sitting in the wrong spot."
"Right…" I murmured. And if that doesn't show how bad I am that I can't even manage to park my bum squarely over the cushioning charm, I don't know what would.
I adjusted myself so I was more comfortable and tried again.
"Down." Louis pointed. "I need to think."
We all landed our brooms and watched as Louis paced back and forth running his fingers through his hair.
"Your real issue Lils." He finally stopped in front of me. "Is confidence. You have the ability. You CAN do this, you just have to BELIEVE you can."
"I don't know how to just start believing." I looked at the ground miserably.
"Well, I have an idea. I know a spell, it is not used very often because some people believe it can create a crutch, but in your case… yes… I think it just might do. Hand me your broom."
My broom wasn't anything special. It was a Cleansweep Quindecima. Which is to say, the fifteenth version of the broom that was making my life miserable.
Nice to know they had put a lot of thought into how to wreck my would be Quidditch career.
I walked over to Louis and handed him my broom.
With a wave of his wand Louis murmured "Permanens Calor." And then after a beat, "Fiduciam Calvis."
"There." He handed it back to me with a smile. "Try it now."
"Why? What does it do?" I took the broom gingerly.
"The spell will allow the broom to take over if you start to slip or are in danger." He patted it. "You will know it is working because the cushioning will feel warm."
I was dubious that any spell could do all of that, but what did I have to lose? I climbed aboard and sure enough, the seat area was nice and toasty! I was able to keep my seat.
After a few laps I realized that Louis was right. The broom handled so much better and I could feel it making small adjustments for me.
"It works!" I called out happily. "Look, I can stay upright!"
"You got this!" Louis pumped the air with his fist. "I knew it would work. But you have to keep practicing don't let the broom completely take over."
We continued for a few more minutes until Louis had to go finish his essay. He was sort of limited in the times he could get any studying done in the library. Once a lot of classes let out he was hounded by girls who suddenly forgot how to get books off of top shelves with a wand.
After a few weeks, with Louis' spell on my broom, I was doing a LOT better. I hardly ever needed to worry about whether or not my broom was compensating for me.
And I have to admit, just knowing it would made me feel a lot more confident. The broom would not allow me to make mistakes, and so I made fewer.
I was even starting to make some pretty complicated turns and rolls. Not quite a barrel roll yet, but I was getting there.
"You are doing great, Lils!" Louis called from the ground. "A bit more practice and you will definitely be ready to try out for Quidditch. You could even make seeker!"
That was overstating things, but I was pretty sure I would be confident enough to try out. I had been studying Quidditch rules.
Louis had started going over some of the skills I would need to try out and maybe, with a lot of work, make the team.
That week, during flying instruction, Madame Hooch seemed impressed by my improvement.
"You seem to have finally got the hang of flying, Miss Dursley." Madame Hooch praised after I succefully flew through the obstacle course.
"Uggghhh… It is about time." Polly snarled at me. "We have all been held back waiting for her to gain even mediocre skills."
Polly's cronies, including Yann, all snickered. Whenever they did that in the past my nerves would get the best of me and I always fouled up.
Something different happened this time.
"Hey, Polly, why don't you shut up." Scorpius glared at her.
"Oh, does Moldy Voldy's kid have a girlfriend." Polly taunted. "You better get your glasses checked, even you can do better than her."
Spurred on by the stupid tittering of her friends, Polly flew down and snatched the glasses right off of Scorpius face! "Here, let me help you with those."
As she flew away with his glasses, my blood boiled. How DARE she?!
"Give those back, Chapman!" And without thinking about it I kicked off and went right after her.
I remembered a foul in Quidditch that involved grabbing someone's broom. Blagging it was called. In Quidditch, bad, but here…?
I grabbed the brush of Polly's broom and I guess the spell Louis had used kicked in to over drive, because all I had to do was brace my feet in the pegs and Polly wasn't going anywhere. Her broom was still trying and she was almost thrown.
"Let go, mudblood!" Polly shrieked.
"Drop the glasses, Chapman." I held tight.
I should have chosen my words more carefully because with a sneer, Polly threw the glasses to the ground.
Taking off like a flash I could not believe I caught those glasses before they hit the ground!
Grinning I flew over and presented them to Scorpius with a little flourish.
I only then recognized the sound of Madame Hooch's whistle.
Everyone started shouting at once. Polly was shouting that I tried to kill her, Scorpius and Albus were trying to defend me. And for some reason… Louis was trying to sneak away but was being hampered by everyone crowding around.
"Miss Dursley, that was an incredibly foolish thing for you to have attempted with your level of skill." Madame Hooch's voice cut through the din. "Oh, do be quiet Miss Chapman, you were in no danger at all. You insult me to suggest I would have allowed you to fall. But your house head will be hearing of the foul language you used on my training grounds."
"Oh," I blushed. "I was actually in no danger… really… the spell Louis cast allows my broom to take over if I get in trouble." I was embarrassed admitting I was sort of cheating.
"The spell…? What spell?" Madame Hooch looked confused. "Mr. Weasley, don't you dare step through that door." Louis had just reached the exit.
Looking embarrassed he came slinking back.
"Hand me your broom, Miss Dursley." Without a word I handed her my broom.
With a few waves of her wand she looked even more confused. "What precisely was this "spell" Mr. Weasley?"
"Permanens Calor." Louis mumbled "And Fiduciam Calvis."
"Fid….?" Madame Hooch laughed and handed me my broom. "I am afraid Mr. Wesley has played a little trick on you, Miss Dursley. He has only warmed your broom and Fiduciam Calvis means, roughly translated, gain confidence..."
"Then…?" I stared at the broom "it never actually did anything…?"
"I am pleased to say, Miss Dursley." Madame Hooch smiled. "The skill was all yours."