Chapter Nine – Broomsticks and Rock Cakes
At five to three, Haiden and Ron left the Gryffindor tower and searched for Harry, finding him sitting between Ron's older twin brothers chatting away happily. Haiden balled up his fist and tried not to glare at his younger brother. He had sworn that he would become a better brother, and he was trying. However, Harry wasn't making it easy! What with him believing Malfoy's lie on the train and then allowing the sorting hat to place him in Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor where the both of them belonged. How hard was it to get the sorting hat to place him in Gryffindor. Obviously, it's not that hard because Haiden, himself, had been able to talk the hat out of placing him in Slytherin like it wanted to and into Gryffindor.
"Harry." Haiden called out to his brother once he was close enough with a forced smile on his face when Harry looked up at him. Haiden did love his brother, Harry was his brother, how could he not love him. However, after Haiden had realized that his brother had been purposely getting them into trouble with their aunt and uncle, he had begun to resent his brother. Though he had tried to fight his resentment because Haiden knew that it was his resentment towards Harry that was making him push Harry away. And if he was going to be a better brother, then Haiden knew he had to get rid of his resentment towards Harry to be able to allow his brother to get close to him again. "You ready to go and visit Hagrid?"
"I told you, Potter, Harry is busy." The voice of Malfoy said from behind him. Haiden turned and glared at the prat.
"And I told you, Malfoy, that you don't own Harry. If Harry wants to spend time with me, then he can." Haiden growled out.
"Oh my, Kitten," one of the Weasley twins said, pulling Haiden's attention away from Malfoy to look at them in confusion, who the hell was Kitten, "you're quite popular. People are already fighting each other to have you to themselves." Haiden caught sight of Malfoy blushing and looking away bashfully and narrowed his eyes at the boy. Haiden had noticed that Malfoy had been blushing quite a lot around his baby brother. It was disgusting.
"Come, Harry." Haiden and Malfoy said at the same time, both of them holding out their hand for Harry to take. This caused the both of them to glare at each other before turning back towards Harry who was biting his lip as his unnaturally large emerald eyes flew between Haiden and Draco.
"Harry, I am your older brother, which means you are to listen to me. Now, come along, Hagrid is waiting." Haiden ordered growing tired of everything. Why was his brother taking so long to take his hand? Why was Harry acting as if there was even a decision?
"Just because you're older than him, Potter, doesn't give you the right to order him around. As you keep telling me: You don't own him!" Malfoy snarled out.
"Harry, you promised to visit Hagrid with me and Ron." Haiden reminded him through clinched teeth.
"If you had actually listened to Harry, he told you that if he was free then he would go with you to visit that great oaf. And as I've told you before, he is busy!" Malfoy growled out. Haiden and Draco happily glared at each other, each of them gripping their wands, ready to use them at any moment.
"Stop!" Harry cried out shocking everyone with how loud the normally quiet boy had gotten. "Haiden, if it will stop the two of you from fighting then I will go with you to visit Hagrid." Haiden sent a victorious smirk at Malfoy who looked ready to explode in anger. "Afterwards, Draco, I will spend the rest of the evening with you." Draco let out an angry breath through his nose while glaring off in the direction of Hagrid's hut, his arms crossed. "Is that all right with everyone?"
"Whatever, it's not like I own you so do whatever you want." Malfoy growled out angrily before turning and storming back towards the castle.
"Let's go visit Hagrid." Harry said sadly, annoying Haiden. Malfoy was a prick that didn't deserve his brother's attention. Haiden and Ron led Harry across the grounds to Hagrid with Haiden having to force himself to not pull his hand away from Harry's hand every time he brushed the back of his knuckles against Haiden's. Haiden knew Harry only did this when he either felt very uncomfortable, or scared, or even unsure of himself, and a good brother would allow his brother to do whatever made his younger brother feel better. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.
When Haiden knocked, the group of three heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang – back." Hagrid's big, hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open. "'Ang on," he said, "back, Fang." He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound. "'E ain't gunna 'urt yeh, 'Arry." Haiden heard Hagrid say as he inspected the one and only room of Hagrid's house. Haiden glanced over his shoulder at his brother who, he noticed, was pressed as close to the door as he could, his wider than normal eyes staring fearfully at the dog that was now sniffing the frightened boy.
Once sure that the dog wasn't going to hurt his brother (it was clear that the dog was not as fierce as he looked), Haiden went back to inspecting the room. Ham and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.
"Make yurselves at 'ome." Hagrid said, Haiden and Ron took up his offer as they moved to sit on the bed. A small, scared whimper caused everyone to turn and look at Harry who was now being drenched in slobber as Fang licked him.
"What's wrong, Harry, scared of dogs?" Ron asked with a smirk. Haiden watched his brother with thoughtful eyes. It wouldn't be far-fetched to say that Harry was scared of dogs, seeing as the only dog they've ever known was Aunt Marge's bulldog Ripper, that liked to try and make Haiden and Harry (mainly Harry) his chew toys.
"Harry, calm down, even I can see that Fang isn't like Ripper." Haiden told his brother who stared at him for a few seconds before nodding and cautiously walked around Fang (stopping every time the dog made a move) and towards the bed. When his brother finally got to the bed, Harry quickly climbed onto it and curled up as close to Haiden as he could without being in his lap. Haiden had to force down the urge to push his brother off him and onto the dog that was now laying in front of them.
"'Ello, there, I'm 'Agrid, and yeh are?" Hagrid asked Ron once everyone was sitting.
"This is my friend, Ron." Haiden introduced, watching as the giant poured boiling water into a large tea pot and put rock cakes onto a plate.
"Another Weasley, eh?" Hagrid asked glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spent 'alf meh life chasin' yer twin brathers away from the forest." Hagrid held out the plate of rock cakes to them. Haiden and Ron each took one, however, Harry politely declined with a shake of his head. "So, tell meh 'bout yer first week." The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but Haiden and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first lessons. Fang rested his head on Harry's knee (causing Harry to give out a high-pitched squeak that caused Ron to laugh) and drooled all over his robes.
"That ol' git." Hagrid said after Haiden told him how Fitch had caught him and Ron trying to break down a door that they hadn't known at the time would lead them to the out-of-bounds corridor and had threatened to hang them by their toes in his office had his cat Mrs. Norris not come to get him. "And as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like ter introduce her ter Fang sometime. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows meh everywhere? Can't get rid of her – Fitch puts her up ter it."
Haiden told Hagrid about Snape's lesson and how he constantly seemed to pick on him, taking points away from him for something he couldn't help. Like when Neville had melted his and his partner's (Seamus) cauldron by putting the porcupine quills in before taking the cauldron off the fire. After Snape had yelled at Neville, he had turned to Haiden and accused him of letting Neville put the quills in to make Neville look bad while hoping to make himself look good and then took points away from him for that. How the hell had he supposed to known that Neville was putting the quills in too soon? Haiden hadn't been the boy's partner!
"But he seems to really hate me." Haiden told Hagrid after the giant had told him (like Ron had) to not worry about it because Snape hardly liked any of the students.
"Rubbish!" Hagrid said. "Why should 'e?" Haiden noticed that Hagrid refused to look him in the eye when he said that. "'Ow's yur brather Charley?" Hagrid asked Ron so suddenly that it was obvious that he was changing the subject before Haiden could comment on Hagrid's refusal to meet his eyes. "I liked 'im a lot – great with animals." Haiden wondered why Hagrid had changed the subject as Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons.
Movement beside Haiden quickly reminded him that Harry was also there with them. Haiden turned to look at his brother who was now looking at a cutting from the Daily Prophet:
Gringotts Break-in Latest
Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown.
Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.
"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.
Haiden remembered Ron telling him on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date. "Hagrid!' Haiden cried out, cutting into Ron and Hagrid's conversation. "That Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there." Hagrid once again refused to meet Haiden's eyes as the giant grunted and offered them all another rock cake. Haiden ripped the newspaper clipping from Harry's hand and read the story again. The vault that was search had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package. Had that been what the thieves were looking for?
As Haiden, Ron, and Harry walked back to the castle for dinner (Ron and Haiden's pockets weighed down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse), Haiden thought that none of the lessons he'd had so far had given him as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. Had Hagrid collected that package just in time? Where was it now? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Haiden?
~Forget Me Not~
Haiden had never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley, however, that was before he had met one Draco Malfoy. Haiden honestly couldn't see how Harry could stand hanging around the prat, what with his constant bragging and belittling of people. Haiden wanted to shut Draco up once and for all and get that prat away from his brother.
"Typical." Haiden muttered darkly to himself when he read the notice that Gryffindor and Slytherin first years would have their first flying lesson together on Thursday. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."
"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself." Ron told him reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."
Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories to Harry that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggle helicopters. But Malfoy wasn't the only one to brag, though. The way Seamus Finnigan told it; he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick. Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom. Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas (who shared their dormitory) about soccer. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly. Haiden had caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham soccer team, trying to make the players move.
Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Haiden felt that she had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.
Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something that you couldn't learn by heart out of a book – not that she (and apparently his brother) hadn't tried. How his brother had met Hermione, Haiden was unsure of, seeing as Harry appeared to spend all his time with either the Weasley twins or Malfoy. At breakfast on Thursday, Hermione bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages that she had found with the help of Harry, who (if Haiden had heard Hermione correctly) seemed to have memorized where every library book was. Neville was hanging on her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick better. Everyone else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.
Haiden hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quite eager to note (and even quicker to stop when Haiden pointed out that Harry also hadn't gotten a single letter or note). Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table and only seemed to share them with Harry.
A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.
"It's a Remembrall!" Neville 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 begun to glow a bright scarlet.
"You've forgotten something." Hermione said.
"The thing is: I've forgotten what I've forgotten." Neville told her seconds before Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of Neville's hand. Haiden and Ron instantly jumped to their feet; Haiden had been waiting for a reason (other than Malfoy spending time with his brother) to fight Malfoy. However, McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.
"What's going on?" She demanded.
"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor." Neville told her as Malfoy scowled at him before quickly dropping the Remembrall on the table.
"Just looking." He said and stalked away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.
~Forget Me Not~
At three-thirty that afternoon, Haiden, Ron, and the other Gryffindor first years hurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns towards a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the Forbidden Forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.
The Slytherin first years were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks laying in neat lines on the ground. Haiden had heard the Weasley twins complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.
Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk. "Well, what are you all waiting for? She bared. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up." Haiden glanced down at his broom, it was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles. "Stick out your right hand over your broom," Madam Hooch called at the front, "and say 'Up!'"
"UP!" Everyone shouted. Haiden glared angrily at Malfoy as the boy's broomstick instantly flew from the ground and into his hand, Malfoy just smirked at him. With a growl, Haiden demanded his broomstick up, this time it jumped into his hand. Haiden looked around the rest of the Gryffindor first years, absolutely refusing to look over at the Slytherins. Hermione Granger's broomstick had simply rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid, and (by the sound of Neville's voice) the boy was terrified. Haiden looked beside him when he heard the tell-tale sound of a stick hitting skin (and laughter from the Slytherins) to see Ron holding his nose and glaring at his broom.
Once everyone was finally able to get their broom in their hand, Madam Hooch began to show them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Haiden couldn't help the victorious smirk that landed on his face when Madam Hooch told Malfoy that he'd been doing it wrong for years.
"Now, when I blow my whistle, I want you to kick off from the ground, hard." Madam Hooch told them. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle – three – two –" Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips. "Come back, boy!" She shouted, but Neville was riding straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle – twelve feet – twenty feet. Haiden saw Neville's scared, white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slide sideways off the broom and –
WHAM – a thud and nasty crack and Neville lay face down on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily towards the Forbidden Forest and out of sight. By the time Haiden looked back to Neville, Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his.
"Broken wrist." Haiden heard her mutter. "Come on, boy – it's all right, up you get." She turned to the class with Neville leaning on her, his face tear-streaked and he was clutching his wrist. "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." Everyone silently watched as Neville hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him. The second they were out of earshot, Malfoy started laughing.
"Did you see his face, the great lump?" He said while laughing and the other Slytherins joined in.
"Shut up, Malfoy!" Parvati Patil snapped.
"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl, said. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."
"Look!" Malfoy cried as he darted forward and snatched something out of the grass. "It's the stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him." The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.
"Give that here, Malfoy!" Haiden ordered, everyone stopped talking to watch them.
"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find," Malfoy said with a nasty grin, "how about – up a tree?"
"Give it here!" Haiden yelled, however Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he could fly well. Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak, he called:
"Come and get it, Potter!" Haiden grabbed his broom.
"No!" Hermione Granger shouted. "Madam Hooch told us not to move – you'll get us all in trouble." Haiden ignored her. Blood was pounding in his ears; he was going to get to Malfoy and shove that broom he was on so far up his butt that even magic wouldn't be able to remove it. Haiden mounted his broom and kicked hard against the ground and up, up he soared; air rushed through his hair, and his robes whipped out behind him (and in a rush of fierce joy he'd realized he'd found something he could do without being taught). This was easy, this was wonderful. He pulled his broomstick up a little to take it even higher, and herd screams and gasps of girls back on the ground and an admiring whoop from Ron.
Haiden turned his broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in mid-air. Malfoy looked stunned. "Give it here," Haiden called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"
"Oh, yeah?" Malfoy said trying to sneer but looked more worried than anything. Haiden somehow knew what to do. He leaned forward and grasped the broom tightly in both hands, and it shot towards Malfoy like a javelin. Malfoy only just got out of the way in time; Haiden made a sharp about-face and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping.
"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy." Haiden yelled causing Malfoy to snarl (reminding Haiden of a wild animal) at him before he tightened his hold on the Remembrall.
"You want this thing that bad, then go and get it!" Malfoy growled at him before spinning his broom around and threw the Remembrall as hard as he could towards the castle before he streaked back towards the ground.
Without thinking, Haiden shot off like a rocket after the Remembrall. Barely catching it in time before it hit a window, before allowing his broom to gently drift back down to the group of students, Remembrall clutched safely in his fist. The second his feet touched the ground a voice yelled out behind him.
"HAIDEN POTTER!"