The next day, which was Monday, Sept. 2nd, Oliver taught his first flying
lesson. This was one of the classroom lessons rather than a practical
lesson. The first-year Gryffindors and Slytherins all shuffled into the
room and chose seats, with the Gryffindors sitting on one side of the isle
and the Slytherins on the other side. Each student had a copy of Quidditch
through the Ages, as well as blank sheets of parchment and quills and ink.
Oliver took attendance, and recognized all of the names from the sorting
ceremony except for Henry Grant, who was a Slytherin. He must have missed
Henry being sorted when Fleur was whispering to him.
"Alright class," he said. "Welcome to your first flying lesson. I'm Mr. Wood. On Mondays you will have classroom lessons, and on Wednesdays we will be outside actually learning how to fly a broomstick." One of the Slytherin students yawned.
"As most of you probably know," said Oliver, "quidditch is our sport in the wizarding world. I have been told that the popularity of it is comparable to soccer in the muggle world. Quidditch is played on broomsticks, and there are four different balls..." Oliver went on to explain the game of quidditch in detail.
"Now, you might be wondering why I am boring you with all of this information in a flying class. The reason is that without the flying broomstick, there wouldn't be quidditch. In this class we are going to look first at the history of the flying broomstick, and then how quidditch developed from there. And if you are all well-behaved, I just might be able to schedule a field trip to the Museum of Quidditch in London. Alright, for next Monday I want you all to read the first chapter of your book, 'The evolution of the flying broomstick', and outline it to be collected and graded. For class on Wednesday we will meet outside on the grounds near the broom shed. Class dismissed."
That evening after dinner, Oliver invited Adrianna and Fleur to his rooms to hang out for a little while. Before leaving the Great Hall he grabbed a pitcher full of pumpkin juice to take upstairs with him, and Fleur picked up three goblets for them. They sat on his sofa and talked about how their day went.
"My day was wonderful," said Fleur. "I 'ad a class of first-year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws today. I gave zem an introduction to what we will be talking about in class. Zey were delightful young students. Katelyn Branch is a very clever young Gryffindor."
"Yes, I had her in my class today too," said Oliver. "She seems like a very nice girl. I gave an introduction to my class as well. I can't wait to actually get the kids working with broomsticks on Wednesday. How was your day, Adrianna?"
"It was... interesting. I had my 7th year beginner class today, as well as two 5th and 6th year beginner classes and 7th year advanced class. The 7th year Slytherins are totally against having to take Muggle Studies and they made it quite clear. Isabelle King flat out told me that she thought it was ludicrous that Dumbledore was making everyone take Muggle Studies, and her friend Morgan Heard said that she had no interest whatsoever in learning about muggles. Then there are Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, also Slytherins. They don't seem to be the brightest crayons in the box, but at least they didn't complain."
"What about your other classes? I'm sure the 7th year advanced class must have been better than that," said Oliver.
"They were much better. Ginny Weasley is in that class, and she's fascinated with anything pertaining to muggles. So are most of the other students. Rather than doing an introduction with them, I started right in on lessons. I taught them about cell phones today."
All three of them took a long drink of pumpkin juice.
"You know, a funny thing happened today," said Adrianna. "A bunch of my students asked for my autograph today. They said they wanted to ask me last night after the feast but they were sent straight up to the dormitories after dinner. I guess I just never thought that anyone would ever ask me for my autograph. I didn't know I was that famous."
Oliver just laughed. A pang of jealousy sprang up within him but he quickly suppressed it. He wasn't going to be a sore loser and let it ruin his friendship.
"I am thinkign of starting a dueling club," said Fleur. Ze last time there was a dueling club here was 6 years ago, I believe. It is important for students to learn how to duel and how to block unfriendly spells as part of Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"I remember that. It was run by that useless git Lockhart, he didn't have a clue what he was doing. But I'm sure it would be a lot of fun if you ran it, Fleur! I could be happy to help you out if you need anyone," Oliver offered.
Just then there was a knock on the door to Oliver's rooms. He opened the door and found a little boy with dark brown hair and brown eyes standing behind the tapestry and looking up at him. He was dressed in Ravenclaw robes.
"¿Puede Ud. ayudarme? Estoy buscando la Professora Brighton." Oliver had no idea what the boy had just said, but he realized that this must be Juan, the ambassador's son. Adriana was already coming to the door, she must have heard him.
"¿Cuál es la problema, Juan?" she asked him.
"Necesito ayuda con mi tarea," he said, holding up Quidditch through the Ages.
Adrianna looked over at Oliver. "You assigned homework on the first day of classes?" she asked with a hint of disbelief in her voice.
"I had to! I only have the kids for class once a week!" he said defensively.
"Ok well I'll be back in a little while, Juan needs help with his homework," she said and left with the boy at her side.
"Wait a minute," Oliver thought out loud. "I don't have him for class until tomorrow! I wonder how he knew what the homework was."
"Perhaps 'e asked one of ze Gryffindors or ze Slytherins what ze homework would be so zat 'e could get an early start on it," suggested Fleur.
"That's probably it. Are you up for a game of wizard's chess?"
"Sure."
They played Wizard's chess until Adrianna returned about an hour later.
"I gave Juan a magical Spanish-English dictionary to help him with his homework," she said. "All he has to do is write in the word with his quill in English or in Spanish, and it will give him the translation. That way he'll be able to do a lot more on his own, without my help."
"Well that's good," said Oliver.
The trio decided to play rummy with Oliver's self-shuffling deck of cards, and after a few hands they decided to call it a night since they had to get up for classes the next day. Well, Adrianna and Fleur did anyhow. Oliver's classes weren't until 3:30 in the afternoon.
The next day, Oliver had the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws for their first classroom lesson. It was basically the same lesson as he had given the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins the day before. As he lectured the class he noticed that Juan, who was sitting in the second row, was not watching him at all. Instead, Juan was reading the notebook that was open on top of his desk. There was an acid green quill that was writing of its own accord in the notebook. Oliver had paused the lesson without realizing it, and now the quill hovered over the notebook and Juan was looking up at him attentively. He continued the lesson and had just assigned the homework when the bell rang.
"Juan, I would like a word with you," he said.
He wasn't sure that Juan had understood him, but the boy must have recognized his name because he gathered up his books and walked up to Oliver's desk. Oliver opened Juan's bag and took out the notebook and quill. He opened up the notebook to see what the quill had written, but it was all in Spanish.
"What is this?" Oliver asked Juan holding up the acid green quill, but Juan didn't understand. He had a nervous look on his face, like he was afraid that he was in trouble. Oliver picked up the notebook and quill and motioned for Juan to follow him. Juan picked up his bag and followed Oliver down the corridor, up a flight of stairs and down another corridor until they arrived at Adrianna's office. Adrianna was sitting at her desk with a very thick book called "Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles" open in front of her. She was working on an outline for one of her future lesson plans.
"Adrianna, I need your help," said Oliver and placed the notebook and quill on Adrianna's desk. "Juan was using these things in class and I want to know what they are and why he was using them."
Adrianna looked at the quill. "Juan, ¿Cuál es esto?"
"Se llama un Quick Quotes Quill, Profesora."
"Entiendo."
Adrianna opened the notebook and read the last 3 pages, then looked back up at Juan and saw the look of anxiety on his face.
"No te preocupes, Juan. Está bien." A look of relief spread across Juan's face.
"Oliver," she said, "It seems that Juan had been given permission to use a Quick Quotes Quill for his class notes. This quill has been bewitched to make a verbatim transcript of his class lectures, translating into Spanish as it goes. That way Juan can understand what's going on in his classes."
"I see," said Oliver, feeling dumb for having made a big deal over nothing. "Please tell Juan that I apologize for making him worry," he said and left her office to return to his own rooms.
That evening after dinner, Oliver decided that he needed to have a meeting with all four of the house quidditch team captains sometime that week. He wanted to get to know them and find out who he would be working with when it got closer to the start of the quidditch season. So far, all he knew was their names from a list that Dumbledore had given him. He wrote a note for each of the four captains instructing them to meet in his office following dinner on Friday night, then went to the window and called for Lightning. Within a few minutes she flew up to him and perched on the windowsill.
"Lightning, do you want to make a few deliveries? I need these delivered to the students at breakfast tomorrow morning." Lightning hooted softly and nibbled his fingers in an affectionate sort of way. "Thanks."
Wednesday was Oliver's first outdoor lesson teaching students how to ride broomsticks. He hated to admit it to himself, but he was actually quite nervous. What if one of the students fell off and got hurt? What if one of them died?
"Relax," he told himself, but it didn't seem to work.
Around 3:00 that afternoon, he went out to the broom shed to get out the school brooms for the students to use. He was amazed to find that there was a shed full of new-looking Nimbus 2001 broomsticks instead of the old school brooms that he remembered. Nimbus 2001's were no longer top of the line, but they sure beat the old brooms that vibrated if they went too high, or pulled to one side instead of flying straight. He laid the broomsticks on the ground in two rows and had a seat on the ground, waiting for the students to arrive. Around 3:20 they started to arrive, and by 3:30 they were all there.
"Good afternoon, class, and welcome to your first practical flying lesson. Please step up to the left side of a broomstick; any one will do."
The Slytherins lined up side by side in one row, and the Gryffindors did the same in the opposite row.
"Good. Now, hold your right hand out in front of you, and say 'up', like this." He demonstrated with his firebolt for the class. "Be sure to say it forcefully, or the broom won't listen."
He stood back and watched the first-years trying to get their brooms to jump into their hands. Darlene McCoy and Katelyn Branch, both Gryffindors, got their brooms to obey right away. So did Jason King, a Slytherin. Oliver wondered if Jason was related to the girl Isabelle that Adrianna had mentioned the other day. Over 5 minutes later Patrick Clohessey, a Gryffindor, finally managed to get his broomstick to leap into his outstretched hand.
"Right then, I want you to mount your brooms like so. Be sure to have a good grip on the handle so you don't fall off."
Oliver showed the students how to mount their brooms properly. He glanced at the class as he did this and saw Tessa Heatherley gazing at him rather dreamily. After the students had all mounted their brooms he gave them further instructions.
"Now, on the count of three, I want you to kick off lightly from the ground, hover for a few moments, and then touch down again. Do not do anything else until I give further instructions unless you would like to serve a detention with me after class." From the look on Tessa's face, he didn't think she would mind serving a detention in his presence.
"One, two, three!" The class kicked off from the ground. Most of them hovered for a minute or so and then landed again, as they had been instructed. There were, however, a couple of exceptions. Lavinia Medlock, a Slytherin, had decided to show off by flying high into the air and doing a loop-the-loop before landing again. This was obviously not her first time on a broomstick. Oliver was furious, but didn't have time to yell at her.
Patrick Clohessey was also flying high into the air, but unlike Lavinia, he didn't have control of his broomstick. Oliver remembered what he had heard about Neville Longbottom's first ride on a broomstick and didn't want a repeat performance. He leapt onto his own broomstick and zoomed off after Patrick. He caught Patrick's broomstick by the tail end, forcing it to slow down. He then put one hand on the front of Patrick's broomstick, kept one hand on his own, and guided poor Patrick back to solid ground.
"Are you alright, Patrick?" he asked. Patrick looked scared to death but managed a small nod. Oliver turned to Lavinia.
"Miss Medlock, you will serve detention this Saturday for deliberately disobeying my instructions." Lavinia gave him a look full of disgust but said nothing.
"Alright class, I think that's quite enough excitement for one day. I'll see you all again on Monday, with the exception of Lavinia who will meet me in my office just after lunch on Saturday. Don't forget about your homework, and have a good weekend."
Oliver's flying lesson with the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws the next day was no less eventful than the previous lesson. Juan Castillo was holding his notebook and trying to read what the Quick Quotes Quill was writing while attempting to follow Oliver's directions. While everyone else was saying "up!", Juan said "¡Arriba!" in an authoritative voice. His broomstick leapt into his outstretched hand on the first try. He looked up at Oliver with a beaming grin, and continued to hold the notebook in one hand and the broomstick in the other.
Everything went as normally as could be expected until the students kicked off from the ground for the first time. Jack and Jill Davies, both Hufflepuffs, kicked off harder than necessary and flew 20 feet into the air. Rather than coming back down to the ground, they proceeded to chase each other through the air. He ordered them to land again and assigned them both a detention for the same time as Lavinia, as they both seemed to have control of their brooms.
To Oliver's amazement, Juan kicked off from the ground and touched back down perfectly with only one hand on his broomstick. The other hand was still clutching his notebook tightly.
On Friday after dinner, Oliver returned to his office for his meeting with the quidditch captains. There was already a girl wearing a Ravenclaw tie and badge there waiting for him.
"Hi, I'm Sofie. You must be Mr. Wood," she said, rushing forward to shake his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Sofie. What year are you?"
"I'm a 5th year. The Ravenclaw team just elected me captain at the end of last year." Two more girls entered Oliver's office together and stood near Sofie.
"Hello girls, I'm Mr. Wood. And you are..?"
"Natalie MacDonald," said the girl in Gryffindor colors.
"Lauren Sage," said the other, who was wearing Hufflepuff colors.
A Slytherin boy entered the office and stood just inside the doorway. "Mr. Wood, I presume? I'm Malcolm Baddock, captain of the Slytherin team."
"Alright, let's make sure I know who you all are," said Oliver. "Sofie, Natalie, Lauren, and Malcolm. Am I right?" All four of them nodded.
"Good. I know that the quidditch season doesn't start until October. The reason I called this meeting was just to touch base with you all and have faces to go with the names I was given. And I was thinking... I haven't played a game of quidditch since my team went down to the American team. I kind of miss it. So I was wondering if you might like to have a friendly game of quidditch next Saturday, three on three. We could choose teams randomly, and I'm sure I could get another person for the sixth person. I'm pretty certain that Prof. Brighton would be willing to play. What do guys think?"
"I think it's a brilliant idea," said Sofie.
"I'm game," said Lauren.
Natalie and Malcolm nodded in agreement.
"Alright, I'll send you an owl with details later in the week."
"Alright class," he said. "Welcome to your first flying lesson. I'm Mr. Wood. On Mondays you will have classroom lessons, and on Wednesdays we will be outside actually learning how to fly a broomstick." One of the Slytherin students yawned.
"As most of you probably know," said Oliver, "quidditch is our sport in the wizarding world. I have been told that the popularity of it is comparable to soccer in the muggle world. Quidditch is played on broomsticks, and there are four different balls..." Oliver went on to explain the game of quidditch in detail.
"Now, you might be wondering why I am boring you with all of this information in a flying class. The reason is that without the flying broomstick, there wouldn't be quidditch. In this class we are going to look first at the history of the flying broomstick, and then how quidditch developed from there. And if you are all well-behaved, I just might be able to schedule a field trip to the Museum of Quidditch in London. Alright, for next Monday I want you all to read the first chapter of your book, 'The evolution of the flying broomstick', and outline it to be collected and graded. For class on Wednesday we will meet outside on the grounds near the broom shed. Class dismissed."
That evening after dinner, Oliver invited Adrianna and Fleur to his rooms to hang out for a little while. Before leaving the Great Hall he grabbed a pitcher full of pumpkin juice to take upstairs with him, and Fleur picked up three goblets for them. They sat on his sofa and talked about how their day went.
"My day was wonderful," said Fleur. "I 'ad a class of first-year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws today. I gave zem an introduction to what we will be talking about in class. Zey were delightful young students. Katelyn Branch is a very clever young Gryffindor."
"Yes, I had her in my class today too," said Oliver. "She seems like a very nice girl. I gave an introduction to my class as well. I can't wait to actually get the kids working with broomsticks on Wednesday. How was your day, Adrianna?"
"It was... interesting. I had my 7th year beginner class today, as well as two 5th and 6th year beginner classes and 7th year advanced class. The 7th year Slytherins are totally against having to take Muggle Studies and they made it quite clear. Isabelle King flat out told me that she thought it was ludicrous that Dumbledore was making everyone take Muggle Studies, and her friend Morgan Heard said that she had no interest whatsoever in learning about muggles. Then there are Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, also Slytherins. They don't seem to be the brightest crayons in the box, but at least they didn't complain."
"What about your other classes? I'm sure the 7th year advanced class must have been better than that," said Oliver.
"They were much better. Ginny Weasley is in that class, and she's fascinated with anything pertaining to muggles. So are most of the other students. Rather than doing an introduction with them, I started right in on lessons. I taught them about cell phones today."
All three of them took a long drink of pumpkin juice.
"You know, a funny thing happened today," said Adrianna. "A bunch of my students asked for my autograph today. They said they wanted to ask me last night after the feast but they were sent straight up to the dormitories after dinner. I guess I just never thought that anyone would ever ask me for my autograph. I didn't know I was that famous."
Oliver just laughed. A pang of jealousy sprang up within him but he quickly suppressed it. He wasn't going to be a sore loser and let it ruin his friendship.
"I am thinkign of starting a dueling club," said Fleur. Ze last time there was a dueling club here was 6 years ago, I believe. It is important for students to learn how to duel and how to block unfriendly spells as part of Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"I remember that. It was run by that useless git Lockhart, he didn't have a clue what he was doing. But I'm sure it would be a lot of fun if you ran it, Fleur! I could be happy to help you out if you need anyone," Oliver offered.
Just then there was a knock on the door to Oliver's rooms. He opened the door and found a little boy with dark brown hair and brown eyes standing behind the tapestry and looking up at him. He was dressed in Ravenclaw robes.
"¿Puede Ud. ayudarme? Estoy buscando la Professora Brighton." Oliver had no idea what the boy had just said, but he realized that this must be Juan, the ambassador's son. Adriana was already coming to the door, she must have heard him.
"¿Cuál es la problema, Juan?" she asked him.
"Necesito ayuda con mi tarea," he said, holding up Quidditch through the Ages.
Adrianna looked over at Oliver. "You assigned homework on the first day of classes?" she asked with a hint of disbelief in her voice.
"I had to! I only have the kids for class once a week!" he said defensively.
"Ok well I'll be back in a little while, Juan needs help with his homework," she said and left with the boy at her side.
"Wait a minute," Oliver thought out loud. "I don't have him for class until tomorrow! I wonder how he knew what the homework was."
"Perhaps 'e asked one of ze Gryffindors or ze Slytherins what ze homework would be so zat 'e could get an early start on it," suggested Fleur.
"That's probably it. Are you up for a game of wizard's chess?"
"Sure."
They played Wizard's chess until Adrianna returned about an hour later.
"I gave Juan a magical Spanish-English dictionary to help him with his homework," she said. "All he has to do is write in the word with his quill in English or in Spanish, and it will give him the translation. That way he'll be able to do a lot more on his own, without my help."
"Well that's good," said Oliver.
The trio decided to play rummy with Oliver's self-shuffling deck of cards, and after a few hands they decided to call it a night since they had to get up for classes the next day. Well, Adrianna and Fleur did anyhow. Oliver's classes weren't until 3:30 in the afternoon.
The next day, Oliver had the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws for their first classroom lesson. It was basically the same lesson as he had given the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins the day before. As he lectured the class he noticed that Juan, who was sitting in the second row, was not watching him at all. Instead, Juan was reading the notebook that was open on top of his desk. There was an acid green quill that was writing of its own accord in the notebook. Oliver had paused the lesson without realizing it, and now the quill hovered over the notebook and Juan was looking up at him attentively. He continued the lesson and had just assigned the homework when the bell rang.
"Juan, I would like a word with you," he said.
He wasn't sure that Juan had understood him, but the boy must have recognized his name because he gathered up his books and walked up to Oliver's desk. Oliver opened Juan's bag and took out the notebook and quill. He opened up the notebook to see what the quill had written, but it was all in Spanish.
"What is this?" Oliver asked Juan holding up the acid green quill, but Juan didn't understand. He had a nervous look on his face, like he was afraid that he was in trouble. Oliver picked up the notebook and quill and motioned for Juan to follow him. Juan picked up his bag and followed Oliver down the corridor, up a flight of stairs and down another corridor until they arrived at Adrianna's office. Adrianna was sitting at her desk with a very thick book called "Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles" open in front of her. She was working on an outline for one of her future lesson plans.
"Adrianna, I need your help," said Oliver and placed the notebook and quill on Adrianna's desk. "Juan was using these things in class and I want to know what they are and why he was using them."
Adrianna looked at the quill. "Juan, ¿Cuál es esto?"
"Se llama un Quick Quotes Quill, Profesora."
"Entiendo."
Adrianna opened the notebook and read the last 3 pages, then looked back up at Juan and saw the look of anxiety on his face.
"No te preocupes, Juan. Está bien." A look of relief spread across Juan's face.
"Oliver," she said, "It seems that Juan had been given permission to use a Quick Quotes Quill for his class notes. This quill has been bewitched to make a verbatim transcript of his class lectures, translating into Spanish as it goes. That way Juan can understand what's going on in his classes."
"I see," said Oliver, feeling dumb for having made a big deal over nothing. "Please tell Juan that I apologize for making him worry," he said and left her office to return to his own rooms.
That evening after dinner, Oliver decided that he needed to have a meeting with all four of the house quidditch team captains sometime that week. He wanted to get to know them and find out who he would be working with when it got closer to the start of the quidditch season. So far, all he knew was their names from a list that Dumbledore had given him. He wrote a note for each of the four captains instructing them to meet in his office following dinner on Friday night, then went to the window and called for Lightning. Within a few minutes she flew up to him and perched on the windowsill.
"Lightning, do you want to make a few deliveries? I need these delivered to the students at breakfast tomorrow morning." Lightning hooted softly and nibbled his fingers in an affectionate sort of way. "Thanks."
Wednesday was Oliver's first outdoor lesson teaching students how to ride broomsticks. He hated to admit it to himself, but he was actually quite nervous. What if one of the students fell off and got hurt? What if one of them died?
"Relax," he told himself, but it didn't seem to work.
Around 3:00 that afternoon, he went out to the broom shed to get out the school brooms for the students to use. He was amazed to find that there was a shed full of new-looking Nimbus 2001 broomsticks instead of the old school brooms that he remembered. Nimbus 2001's were no longer top of the line, but they sure beat the old brooms that vibrated if they went too high, or pulled to one side instead of flying straight. He laid the broomsticks on the ground in two rows and had a seat on the ground, waiting for the students to arrive. Around 3:20 they started to arrive, and by 3:30 they were all there.
"Good afternoon, class, and welcome to your first practical flying lesson. Please step up to the left side of a broomstick; any one will do."
The Slytherins lined up side by side in one row, and the Gryffindors did the same in the opposite row.
"Good. Now, hold your right hand out in front of you, and say 'up', like this." He demonstrated with his firebolt for the class. "Be sure to say it forcefully, or the broom won't listen."
He stood back and watched the first-years trying to get their brooms to jump into their hands. Darlene McCoy and Katelyn Branch, both Gryffindors, got their brooms to obey right away. So did Jason King, a Slytherin. Oliver wondered if Jason was related to the girl Isabelle that Adrianna had mentioned the other day. Over 5 minutes later Patrick Clohessey, a Gryffindor, finally managed to get his broomstick to leap into his outstretched hand.
"Right then, I want you to mount your brooms like so. Be sure to have a good grip on the handle so you don't fall off."
Oliver showed the students how to mount their brooms properly. He glanced at the class as he did this and saw Tessa Heatherley gazing at him rather dreamily. After the students had all mounted their brooms he gave them further instructions.
"Now, on the count of three, I want you to kick off lightly from the ground, hover for a few moments, and then touch down again. Do not do anything else until I give further instructions unless you would like to serve a detention with me after class." From the look on Tessa's face, he didn't think she would mind serving a detention in his presence.
"One, two, three!" The class kicked off from the ground. Most of them hovered for a minute or so and then landed again, as they had been instructed. There were, however, a couple of exceptions. Lavinia Medlock, a Slytherin, had decided to show off by flying high into the air and doing a loop-the-loop before landing again. This was obviously not her first time on a broomstick. Oliver was furious, but didn't have time to yell at her.
Patrick Clohessey was also flying high into the air, but unlike Lavinia, he didn't have control of his broomstick. Oliver remembered what he had heard about Neville Longbottom's first ride on a broomstick and didn't want a repeat performance. He leapt onto his own broomstick and zoomed off after Patrick. He caught Patrick's broomstick by the tail end, forcing it to slow down. He then put one hand on the front of Patrick's broomstick, kept one hand on his own, and guided poor Patrick back to solid ground.
"Are you alright, Patrick?" he asked. Patrick looked scared to death but managed a small nod. Oliver turned to Lavinia.
"Miss Medlock, you will serve detention this Saturday for deliberately disobeying my instructions." Lavinia gave him a look full of disgust but said nothing.
"Alright class, I think that's quite enough excitement for one day. I'll see you all again on Monday, with the exception of Lavinia who will meet me in my office just after lunch on Saturday. Don't forget about your homework, and have a good weekend."
Oliver's flying lesson with the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws the next day was no less eventful than the previous lesson. Juan Castillo was holding his notebook and trying to read what the Quick Quotes Quill was writing while attempting to follow Oliver's directions. While everyone else was saying "up!", Juan said "¡Arriba!" in an authoritative voice. His broomstick leapt into his outstretched hand on the first try. He looked up at Oliver with a beaming grin, and continued to hold the notebook in one hand and the broomstick in the other.
Everything went as normally as could be expected until the students kicked off from the ground for the first time. Jack and Jill Davies, both Hufflepuffs, kicked off harder than necessary and flew 20 feet into the air. Rather than coming back down to the ground, they proceeded to chase each other through the air. He ordered them to land again and assigned them both a detention for the same time as Lavinia, as they both seemed to have control of their brooms.
To Oliver's amazement, Juan kicked off from the ground and touched back down perfectly with only one hand on his broomstick. The other hand was still clutching his notebook tightly.
On Friday after dinner, Oliver returned to his office for his meeting with the quidditch captains. There was already a girl wearing a Ravenclaw tie and badge there waiting for him.
"Hi, I'm Sofie. You must be Mr. Wood," she said, rushing forward to shake his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Sofie. What year are you?"
"I'm a 5th year. The Ravenclaw team just elected me captain at the end of last year." Two more girls entered Oliver's office together and stood near Sofie.
"Hello girls, I'm Mr. Wood. And you are..?"
"Natalie MacDonald," said the girl in Gryffindor colors.
"Lauren Sage," said the other, who was wearing Hufflepuff colors.
A Slytherin boy entered the office and stood just inside the doorway. "Mr. Wood, I presume? I'm Malcolm Baddock, captain of the Slytherin team."
"Alright, let's make sure I know who you all are," said Oliver. "Sofie, Natalie, Lauren, and Malcolm. Am I right?" All four of them nodded.
"Good. I know that the quidditch season doesn't start until October. The reason I called this meeting was just to touch base with you all and have faces to go with the names I was given. And I was thinking... I haven't played a game of quidditch since my team went down to the American team. I kind of miss it. So I was wondering if you might like to have a friendly game of quidditch next Saturday, three on three. We could choose teams randomly, and I'm sure I could get another person for the sixth person. I'm pretty certain that Prof. Brighton would be willing to play. What do guys think?"
"I think it's a brilliant idea," said Sofie.
"I'm game," said Lauren.
Natalie and Malcolm nodded in agreement.
"Alright, I'll send you an owl with details later in the week."