Chapter 9 - Up

Barney was the first to arrive on the lawns ready for his first flying lesson. Even the teacher wasn't there yet. He sat down on the grass and waited patiently for his classmates to arrive and looked up at the sky and watched the birds flying high above, thinking how soon he might be joining them.

"Eagerness, that's what I like to see," a voice called out.

A startled Barney turned to see a woman with short, spiky grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk approaching with numerous brooms floating behind her. As she reached the lawn the brooms laid themselves out on the grass in neat rows. As Barney got up from the grass he saw some students coming down the steps and was pleased to see it wasn't just Slytherin students, his flying classes were to be with Ravenclaws as well. Last to arrive was Silvanna with Maximille and Everard in tow. As Silvanna passed Barney she deliberately knocked into him, almost knocking him over.

"Be careful West," she jeered. "You've already landed on your back once today. Lets hope you don't fall off your broom as well." She shot him a scathing look as she passed and Maximille and Everard laughed.

"Right is that everyone?" Madame Hooch asked as she did a quick head count. "Good, now everyone stand by a broom. Quickly now."

Barney stood by a broom as far away as possible as he could from Silvanna and her friends. He looked down at the broom in front of him. It didn't look very sturdy. It was old and worn and it's bristles looked a bit bare. Barney didn't know how that was ever going to help him to fly.

"OK class. Before you can fly first you must summon your broom and then mount it," Madame Hooch called out, her voice authoritative and stern. "Hold out your right hand over your broom and say 'Up!'"

Everyone held out the hands and started saying 'up' over their brooms, but most had no effect. A few got their brooms to momentarily raise a couple of inches from the ground before falling back again and another got their broom to stand up on it's end, almost hitting them in their face. Barney tried but his broom didn't stir. He tried again with move authority in his voice and his broom jiggled a bit on the grass but didn't raise up. Madame Hooch watched on impatiently as still no one managed it right.

"Be more assertive. Say it with confidence," Hooch called out to no one in particular.

With a few more goes, some of the class started to manage it, their brooms raising up straight into their hands. It took Barney about twenty times commanding his broom 'up' before it eventually did and he was one of the last in the class to do so. Madame Hooch then showed the class how to safely mount their brooms, the correct position to sit in and the right grip to have. She spent a little more time with a blonde girl from Ravenclaw who only had one arm to make sure she was comfortable with only holding on with one hand, whilst keeping balance at the same time. Once she was satisfied everyone was on their brooms correctly she proceeded to instruct them in the next stag - lift off.

"When I blow the whistle I want you all to kick off hard from the ground and keeping your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come back down again by simply leaning slightly forward on your brooms. OK? Ready?"

Barney wasn't ready. The adrenaline was pumping around his body furiously and he could feel his heart beating frantically that he thought it would explode. He took a deep breath to try to calm himself down as he tightened his grip on his broom as everyone waited with baited breath in silence.

The shrill sound of Madame Hooch's whistle broke the quiet and suddenly everyone was trying their hardest to push off from the ground. Some managed it first time and their brooms quickly rose up, taking them with it. After a few attempts almost everyone was off the ground. All except Barney and and a boy from Ravenclaw, who both despite repeated attempts still couldn't get off the ground. Silvanna Silvas had no problem getting off the ground and she continued rising higher then anyone else and then proceeded to fly circles around the rest of the group, much to Madame Hooch's annoyance.

"I said rise a few feet and then come back down!" she yelled out and started blowing on her whistle to get Silvanna's attention.

Silvanna flew over the top of Barney and began circling him and taunting him.

"Oh the mudblood can't fly. What a surprise."

Madame Hooch was now livid and pulled out her wand and aimed it at Silvanna.

"Deorsum!" she yelled out and Silvanna and her broom quickly came back down to the ground with a bump.

"You could have hurt me or made me fall off my broom!," Silvanna protested as Hooch approached.

"Hardly likely young lady. Don't you know how to follow instructions?" Hooch replied heatedly with a look on her face of sheer anger. "And as for your use of language... detention and ten points from Slytherin."

"Wait? What? That's not fair!" objected Silvanna but her words fell on deaf ears.

"I don't want anther word from you. I'm taking you straight to the headmistress. No one touch their brooms till I get back," Hooch called out to the rest of the class as she led a huffing Silvanna back to the castle.

The rest of the Slytherins cast nasty looks at Barney as if it was his fault and started muttering to each other about how much more they hated him now but the Ravenclaws were quick to rally around him and took him off and sat on the grass with him and they started a discussion about the more positive aspects of the lesson.

When Madame Hooch returned she didn't allow anyone off the ground again. Instead she dedicated the rest of the lesson to broom maintenance and had the class polishing their brooms.

"You should ignore people like her," the blonde girl from Ravenclaw said to Barney as they both polished their brooms.

"I'm kind of getting use to it now. What's a mudblood by the way?"

The girl hesitated to answer, going all coy and remaining silent. Barney looked to the rest of the Ravenclaws who were stood near him to see if anyone would explain but they all looked rather tongue-tied before glancing back to the girl who finally answered.

"It's er... a derogatory word... for someone who's not born from a magical family."

"Oh right," a dejected Barney replied.

The atmosphere for the rest of the lesson was a little downcast and everyone remained silent as they finished polishing their brooms. When Madame Hooch announced the lesson was over everyone headed back to the castle.

As they went a couple of the Slytherins passed Barney and muttered jibes at him.

"Well done for losing us points," Uma Crowe barked.

"You'll pay for getting Silvanna detention," threatened Maximille Locke.

The boy who like Barney had not managed to get off the ground on his broom came up to him as he walked back. He had cropped blond hair, deep blue eyes and was very short for an eleven year old.

"That was a lot tougher than I was expecting," the boy commented.

"Yeah I know."

"My dad wanted to teach me some flying over the summer but my mum's a muggle and was scared of me getting hurt. She said I needed to be taught by a professional. I'm Ralph Trint by the way."

"Barney, Barney West."

Ralph held out a hand to Barney and they shock.

"Yeah I know who you are. Those Slytherins were pretty mean to you today."

The blonde girl who'd spoken to Barney earlier came up beside him too and joined in the conversation.

"You should really tell McGonagall about everything they've been saying," she said.

"It will only make things worse," Barney replied downbeat as they neared the castle.

"Come on Ralph," the girl said, "We don't want to be late for our first Transfiguration class. It was nice to meet you Barney. I'm Tilly."

"Nice to meet you too."

"See you in our next flying lesson," Ralph added as they both sped off into the castle.

Barney had a free period to end the school day off. He didn't fancy spending it in the Slytherin common room with the other Slytherins, who only hated him more now. And he was starting to get a headache from spending so much time outside in the sun. He decided the safest place to hide out until dinner time was the library. And maybe he would find a book on flying that could help him out so he would actually be able to take off next time.

He made his way up to the first floor, a task that was harder than it should have been due to the moving staircase meaning he had to go up to the second floor and then come back down again. As he walked along the corridor he felt something wet hit him in the back of the neck. He reached around to feel where he'd been hit and found a wet piece of toilet roll. He turned around half expecting to see someone from Slytherin behind him but there was no one there.

"Oh look," a voice called out from seemingly nowhere. "It's the shame of Slytherin. The muggle-born."

Barney looked around and then eventually up at the figure in the rafters of the corridor. He realised it was a ghost but this one seemed more solid than the others. It was dressed in outlandish clothes with an orange bow tie and a hat with a bell on.

"The sorting hat really screwed up with you," the figure cried out in laughter.

"Hey stop that Peeves!" Eben Cinders called out as he emerged from the library.

"Oh it's prefect Eben or is it Ned Flynn?" Peeves howled, referring to the character in Eben's mother's books. "I always forget which. Oh that's right. You're Eben. The useless one."

Peeves flew in circles above them, clutching his belly as he roared with laughter.

"You won't be laughing Peeves when I tell the Bloody Baron you've been tormenting Slytherins!" Eben cried out.

Peeves suddenly stopped laughing, his face struck with fear before he quickly disappeared through the ceiling.

"Thanks," said Barney, relieved to see a friendly face and hoping Eben hadn't turned on him like the rest of Slytherin.

"It's OK Barney. Sorry I haven't had chance to speak to you sooner. How have your first few days been?"

Barney didn't really want to talk about all the trouble he'd been having with Silvanna and the others. Even though Eben was a prefect and could talk to them, he thought it might only make them hate him more for snitching. Plus he was hoping that eventually they'd just get bored and leave him alone.

"It's been alright. I didn't have much luck with flying but I did well in Herbology."

"And what about your other classmates? I just heard about Silvanna being taken to the headmistress' office."

"Ah...," Barney replied, thinking news travels fast in Hogwarts.

"Look I've got to run or I'll be late for my lesson. But if you ever need to talk just come and find me. OK?"

"Sure thing. Thanks."

Eben gave him a friendly tap on the shoulder before he set off down the corridor for his lesson. Barney felt a bit relieved knowing he had at least one person in Slytherin who was on his side. He continued into the library and had never seen so many books in his life. There was row upon row of shelves filled to the brim with books or all different sizes and colours. Near the entrance was a very thin woman with a hooked nose who was sorting books on the shelf. She glanced over at Barney with a stony stare. Barney presumed she was the school librarian but he thought better of asking her with help to find books on flying. Instead he headed straight past her and began searching the shelves for what he wanted.

As he went he passed Professor Meron down one of the aisles.

"Ah Barney good to see you. How are you? How's Hogwart's treating you?"

Before Barney even had chance to answer Professor Meron was asking him more questions.

"Now could you help me with something? This library does lack books on some areas of muggle life. What exactly is the purpose of a Slinky? For the life of me I can't work out what use it has."

Even though Barney didn't really know what use a Slinky had beside providing a few moments of entertainment he tired his best to explain to the professor who listened on fascinated before leaving him to his own inquires.

After an exhausting search Barney eventually found a book that seemed perfect - 'Flying for dummies'. He took the book and found an empty table and began to read in silence to see if it had any useful tips for him.

After a good twenty minutes of reading he heard some laughter followed by a loud 'shh' from the librarian. Barney peered up from the book and saw in the distance Maximille and Everard heading down the rows of shelves. He lifted his book up to hide his face, not wanting a confrontation with the pair. Luckily they continued past him. As he pretended to read, Barney managed to overhear some of their conversation.

"I hate libraries."

"Lets just get what we need and get out of here."

They walked past Barney again and still didn't spot him, much to his relief. Barney noticed Maximille now had something stuffed up his robe. No doubt a book he shouldn't be taking out. He had a good mind to tell the librarian what they were up to so they might get a detention along with Silvanna, but he thought better of it and left them too it and went back to his reading.

As he came to an interesting section in the book that had moving diagrams showing techniques for lift off he was momentarily distracted by a strange noise coming from further back in the library. He put down his book and looked around. He could see another couple of students at a table on the other side of the library but couldn't see anything else. And they hadn't seemed to have noticed the noise so he went back to reading his book. But there it was again. A strange kind of hissing noise. He put his book down again and got up, moved around one of the shelves and peered down the row though couldn't see anything. But the noise seemed to be getting louder and the two students at the other table were now looking up from their studies having been distracted by the noise also. Just then a shrill scream pierced the silence of the library followed by a large rumbling sound. Suddenly Barney saw students running towards him from the back of the library in terror. Unable to get out of the way in time the students pushed past him and he fell to the floor and was trampled all over as they rushed away from whatever had frightened them. The bookshelves began to start shaking and the hissing noise was getting louder and louder as Barney got back to his feet but he was almost knocked straight back down when a massive book fell off the shelf above him and hit him straight on the head. Slightly dazed and confused it took him a couple of seconds to get his bearings when he saw it approaching between the row of shelves. A seven foot high tornado was sweeping through the library scattering books up into the air and sending them flying in all directions. Barney had to quickly duck to avoid a book to the face. Students were screaming in hysterics as they tried to flee the library as quickly as possible.

The librarian looked on in horror at the destruction and quickly grabbed her wand. As she went to cast a spell on the tornado a book flew across the room and smacked her hand, knocking her wand away. She bent down to retrieve it but a barrage of books fell off the shelf beside her and rained down on her. She crouched into a ball trying to protect herself from the onslaught.

Barney wasn't fairing much better. He was trying to make his way to the library exit but he was being continually bombarded by flying books from all sides. It seemed that every book in the entire library had now been ripped off it's shelves by the violent tornado and were whizzing through the air in all directions.

Barney was struggling to stay on his feet as he kept being battered. He could feel the tornado getting closer behind him as the ruthless wind rushed against him. The howl from it was deafening. He turned around for a second to see how close it was to him but was met by the sight of a book heading straight for his face. He was unable to duck in time and took the full force of the heavy leather bound book, sending him crashing backwards to the floor. The wind ripped at the shelves around him and one started to sway dangerously side to side. Barney could see it began to tip and he furiously scrambled backwards on his hands and knees to get out of the way. But he was too late. The shelve fell completely over with a crash and landed right on Barney's legs, trapping him beneath the heavy weight.

The tornado whipped from side to side, sending anything in it's way soaring through the air and it was inching closer and closer to Barney. The force of the wind against his face made it feel like it was burning as the spinning cyclone of destruction continued it's path towards him. He lifted his arms up to his face to somehow protect himself but he knew it was futile. Nothing would protect him from the force of the tornado.

Above the immense clamour in the room Barney didn't hear the doors of the library bursting open. In the doorway stood Professor Featherstone, his cape and robes thrashed about in the wild winds around him.

"Subsisto!" he yelled out above the roar of the wind as he rose his wand with resolve.

A fierce stream of purple light shot straight into the heart of the tornado, blasting it into nothingness. All the books that had been displaced suddenly came crashing down to the floor. Torn pages fluttered down like giant snowflakes.

Whether it was through shock, relief or exhaustion, Barney passed out.