FLYING LESSONS

That same afternoon, the students were outside the castle. It was time for the flying lessons. The first year's students were lined up in two rows, one in front of the other, with brooms by their sides. The teacher, Madam Hooch, came down the line. She had short hair and hawk yellow eyes. "She looks pretty scary" thought Alex.

- Good afternoon, class.

- Good afternoon, Madam Hooch. - all of the students said at the same time.

- Good afternoon. Welcome to your first flying lesson. - flying. Alex wondered if she was okay with that. Did she have vertigo? Was she afraid of heights? She wasn't sure about it… - Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone, step up to the left side of your broomstick. Come on now, hurry up. Stick your right hand over the broom and say, up!

All of the students did as Madam Hooch said. The only sound at the court at that moment were all of the children saying "up!" repeatedly. Harry Potter only had to try one time for the broom to fly to his hand. Alex was standing in front of Hermione, who was standing next to Harry, and both girls looked at the boy with surprise. Then, Draco, who was standing next to Alex, also achieved the goal with just one try.

- Okay, how the hell did you do that? - Alex couldn't believe her eyes. She had already tried a couple times. Why was the broom ignoring her?

- I guess…Talent, my dear friend - Draco looked at her with a smug grin.

Alex turned away from him and focused on the broom on her right. "I can do this. I can totally do this". She took a deep breath and tried again.

- With feeling! - Madam Hooch was trying to cheer up the children.

Alex closed her eyes, and with all of her soul, she screamed "UP!". And just like that, the broom flew to her hand. She smiled widely and looked at Draco with a look that said "look! I made it too!". He smiled back at her.

- Up. Up. Up. Up. - Hermione kept on trying and the broomstick slowly rose.

- UP! - just like her, Ron Weasley had screamed the command with all of his soul. However, his broom immediately shot up and whacked him on the nose. - Ooh! - Harry, Draco, Alex and some other students started laughing - Shut up, Harry. - Ron was also laughing at what had happened to him.

- Are you okay, Ron? - Alex asked the redheaded boy while she kept on laughing.

- Yeah, thanks for asking - he said with a laugh and a smile. Draco sent Alex a reproach look. He didn't like the Weasleys…

As soon as all the students managed to accomplish the broom task, Madam Hooch kept explaining the next step.

- Now, once you've got hold of your broom, I want you to mount it. And grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end. - the class mounted on their broomsticks - Your other right hand, Mister Finnegan. Goodness, boy, what have you done with your eyebrows? - Alex looked at the Gryffindor and she noticed that his eyebrows were gone, which caused her to laugh.

- I lost them…

- Excuse me, Madam Hooch. Given that a few of us have been on sticks for years, would it not make sense to separate the expert flyers from the neophytes? - Draco said that while looking at Harry with disgust.

- Thank you, Mister Malfoy, but I'm sure even an expert flyer such as yourself can appreciate the benefits of reacquainting oneself with the basics. Your grip, for example. It's thumb in, not out. - Draco got all red, which caused both Harry and Ron to share a grin. - Now, when I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your broom steady, hover for a moment, and then lean forward slightly and touch back down. On my whistle…3…2…

She blew the whistle. However, before anyone could do anything, Neville's broomstick somehow lifted him off the ground. He looked quite frightened, like he didn't know what he was doing.

- Mister Longbottom! Exactly where do you think you're going?

- Neville, what are you doing? - said Alex with a scared look on her face.

- Mister Longbottom! - before Madam Hooch could say or do anything else, Neville soared away uncontrollably - Mister Longbottom!

- Help! - Neville was skyrocketing towards the sky.

- Come back down this instant! - Madam Hooch kept on trying, but it was pretty clear that Neville had no idea about what he was doing or how to stop it.

He was flying uncontrollably in the air and hit a wall. All the while he kept on screaming. Everyone looked at him trying to figure out what was happening. He began to zoom back towards the group. Madam Hooch held out her wand to stop him. But before she could say anything, she had to dive out of the way, as the students backed away. Neville went through the scatter and up a tower. He zoomed past a statue of a man with a sharp spear, and his cloak caught on it. He flipped off the broom and hung there.

- Help! Whoa! - Neville was hanging from the spear, really high. Suddenly the cloak ripped and he started falling. "I can't look" Alex thought to herself as the boy fell. Lucky him, his cloak caught on a torch, stopping the fall. However, he slipped off from his cloak a second later and fell to the ground with a scream.

Everyone gathered around him. Chattering was all over the place. "Is he dead?". Alex was worried about poor Neville. He seemed to be clumsy, but dying for his clumsiness? That was tough.

- Everyone out of the way! - Madam Hooch ran through the group - Come on, get up.

- Is he alright? - Alex wondered, looking at the boy lying on the ground. Hooch was helping Neville up.

- Owowowow - Neville was clearly in pain, but at least he was alive.

- Oh, oh, oh, oh dear. It's a broken wrist. Tch, tch, tch. Good boy, come on now, up you get. - Hooch grabbed Neville by his arm carefully, and she started walking away with him. Meanwhile, Alex saw how Draco reached down and grabbed something that, for the looks of it, was a remembrall. Neville must have dropped it while flying. - Everyone's to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mister Longbottom to the hospital wing. Understand? If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will find themselves out of Hogwarts before they can say, Quidditch. - with that, both Neville and Madam Hooch left.

- Did you see his face? Maybe if the fat lump had given this a squeeze, he'd have remembered to fall on his fat arse. - Draco and his goons, Crabbe and Goyle, started laughing.

- Seriously, Draco, what is your problem? Give that back! - Alex was tired of Draco's shitty behaviour.

- C'mon, Alex. We are just having some fun, right guys? - just as he said that, Harry approached him.

- Give it here, Malfoy.

- No. I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find. - he hopped on his broom and soared around the group, then through. "Cocky bastard". Alex was mad at him, but she was also impressed by his flying skills. - How about up on the roof?

Draco soared off and hovered several feet above the grounds.

- What's the matter, Potter? Bit beyond your reach? - Harry got on his broom, but before he could do anything, Hermione stopped him.

- Harry, no way! You heard what Madam Hooch said! Besides, you don't even know how to fly.

- She is right, Harry. Besides, Draco is just a little brat. If we all ignore him and pretend he doesn't exist, he'll come around. - Alex knew how to handle Draco when he behaved like that. He just wanted the attention. If he didn't get it, he would get tired. However, Harry ignored both girls and flew off to face Draco.

- What an idiot - Hermione couldn't believe her eyes.

- Give it here, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom! - Harry threatened Draco. "Please, no". Yes, Draco was a complete idiot, but it was Alex's idiot.

- Is that so? - Harry made a dash for him, but Draco twirled around his broom in a 360. - Have it your way, then!

Draco hurled the remembrall into the air, like a baseball. Harry zoomed after the ball, speeding towards a tower. Just as he was about to hit a window, he caught it. Harry began to fly back down to the grounds. The students all cheered as Harry landed back on the ground at ease. Everyone ran towards him. They were all congratulating him for his skills in the air when suddenly, Professor McGonagall showed up.

- Harry Potter? - everyone went quiet as they noticed the professor. - Follow me.

Before he started following the teacher solemnly, he gave the remembrall to Hermione, who was nearer to him. Maybe he would get expelled for not listening to Madam Hooch. Draco, who had been lucky enough to not get caught, was snickering on the back with his goonies.

- Do you think this is funny? - Alex walked up to him.

- Potter getting expelled? Yes, it's hilarious. - he looked at his friends and laughed along with them.

- Argh! You are unbearable, Draco. - with that, Alex walked away from him and towards Hermione.

- I can't believe what just happened…Poor Neville. - Hermione seemed worried and annoyed.

- Yeah…I wonder if he's okay. What was wrong with his broom, anyway?

- I don't know. Maybe he just didn't know what to do with it and lost control. Either way, both Harry and Malfoy are idiots. Sorry, I know he is your friend, but what a child.

- You are totally right. If I didn't live with him, I'd probably stop talking to him.

- Wait, you live with him?

- Yes, his parents are my legal tutors. His mother is my father's cousin.

- Woah. Must be hard.

- You have no idea…

When the class came to an end, Hermione gave Alex the remembrall.

- Do you mind giving it back to Neville? I need to go to the library. I want to get a flying book, see if I can read something useful for the classes.

- Sure. I'll meet you there later.

Alex headed to the hospital wing, with the remembrall on her hand. She was worried about Neville, and she wanted him to have his remembrall back, but she was also nervous. "Maybe he doesn't want me to give it back to him…". After all, Neville had seemed pretty scared of her that first day on the Hogwarts Express, when she told him her name.

She quickly arrived at the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, asked her who she was looking for. Once she told her the name, Madam Pomfrey pointed at the bed where Neville was lying. She walked slowly towards him.

- Hey, Neville… - the boy jumped at the sound of her voice. When he saw her, he even looked more terrified. - Sorry, I didn't want to disturb you…Here, you dropped it during the accident. - she handed him the remembrall and he grabbed it, looking both at her and the ball.

- …Thank you… - he looked at Alex. She didn't seem like a threat. This was the second time she had been nice to him. Maybe she deserved a chance? They both looked at each other. It was an awkward situation.

- Mmm…so, how are you? Is your arm okay? - Alex broke the ice.

- …Yeah…Yes. Madam Pomfrey said…she said it's the wrist…it's broken. But…She is giving me some medicine to heal it as soon as possible…

- Great! That's great, Neville! - she smiled at him. He tried to smile back at her but he wasn't still sure about her. - Well, I just came to give it back to you, and since you're okay, I'll get going…See you tomorrow, I guess.

- O-okay. Thank you again, A-Alex… - she smiled again and walked out of the hospital wing.

"Well, that wasn't that bad…". Maybe from now on, Neville would be able to talk to her and look at her like a normal person. Alex headed to the library, where she found Hermione holding a couple books.

- I see you found the books you wanted.

- Yes! I did! How was Neville?

- His wrist is broken, but he's fine.

- Good. Here, take this one. Let's go read it somewhere else. It's getting late, and the library will be closed shortly.

Later on, both girls were sitting on a bench, studying, when they heard both Harry and Ron talking about something. Turns out, Harry was not going to be expelled from Hogwarts. He was going to become the new seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. McGonagall must have seen him catching the remembrall in mid-air. Harry was saying something about not being a good player, when Hermione told Alex to come along with her.

- You won't make a fool of yourself. It's in your blood. - with that, Hermione led the other three students towards a hallway where there was a trophy case. Hermione pointed at a plaque of Quidditch players. One listed Harry's father as a Seeker.

- Whoa. Harry, you never told me your father was a Seeker, too. - Ron was impressed. Harry, on the other hand, looked confused.

- I-I didn't know.

- When did you find this, Hermione? - Alex asked the other girl.

- On our first day. I woke up way too soon and walked around before having breakfast. Anyways, it's getting late. We should be heading to our common room. You too, Alex.

- You are right! See you tomorrow, guys! - Alex started walking away from the trio.

- Hey, Black! - Ron called her from behind, and she turned around - You are pretty cool for a Slytherin.

The three of them smiled at her and waved goodbye. Alex kept walking towards her common room. Maybe things would get better after all. She could make a lot of friends.