Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, Harry Potter isn't mine.

Here's the next chapter, enjoy and please review, thanks! And yes Jen, you're evil, but no, you don't kill anyone.yet-lol.

Chapter 11: Flying Lessons

As they took their seats in the Great Hall for dinner, the first year Gryffindor girls chatted happily, mostly about their first day of school.

"This place is so cool!" squealed Carol.

"For sure!" Brittany agreed.

"I love the ceiling!" Kristin said, "It's so pretty!"

"I think so too!" exclaimed Karen, "Isn't it something else?"

"Today was absolutely amazing," Julie said.

"I know!" Lily said excitedly, "I can hardly wait for tomorrow!"

"I can," Erin said gloomily, "We'll probably get a ton of homework."

"Oh don't be so pessimistic!" Megan said as she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah," Lily agreed, "After all, Malfoy and Snape are probably still in the hospital wing because they don't seem to be here yet."

"Oh darn," Megan said with a look of mock disappointment, "And I was so looking forward to seeing them tonight. Life just isn't fair is it?"

The girls collapsed into a fit of giggles and a first year Slytherin girl who was passing by gave them a dirty look. Her brown hair tumbled down onto her shoulders and her brown eyes could have been friendly but instead looked rather menacing.

"You really weren't very nice you know," she said to Megan, "You shouldn't pick on poor, defenseless, little boys, it's incredibly mean. Who knows how those poor darlings are doing right now."

"Nice to see you again too Jenny," Megan said with a grin.

The girl bristled, "My name is not 'Jenny'!" she said hotly, "It's Jennifer, Jennifer Strong!"

"OK, sorry.Jenny," Megan said, "And FYI, Malfoy and Snape said they knew lots of spells so I wouldn't exactly call them defenseless."

Quick as a flash, Jennifer changed her tactics, "Well everyone thinks you're a big freak and no one likes you!" she said.

Megan raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Really? We'll see about that," she said, as she looked over at the Hufflepuff table. "Hey Cass, Chris, Jeff!" she called, and the three boys turned, "Do you think I'm a freak and hate me?"

"Au contraire mon amie," replied Jeff with a terrible French accent, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, Jenny here thinks that everyone must hate me because of what I did to Malfoy and Snape," Megan answered.

"If anything I'd say everyone likes you even more," said Chris.

"Yeah," agreed Cass, "Everyone thinks you're the coolest and that those two are idiots."

"You can be kind of freaky though sometimes," joked Jeff.

"Yeah," said Chris, "You're freakishly good at Quidditch and pretty much everything else you do."

"Yeah," added Cass, "We think you're super cool because of all that stuff so we think you're kind of freaky, but in a good way."

"Aw, thanks guys!" Megan said. She turned back to Jennifer, "You know, I'd say I'm pretty popular, wouldn't you?" she said. She looked at her watch, "Now then, you should probably be running along so bye-bye and its been delightful chatting with you, Jenny," Megan said as she waved good-bye.

Jennifer's eyes blazed, "Humph!" she said as she turned on her heel and marched away to the Slytherin table. When she sat down she began talking with her friends and every so often the group would look over in the Gryffindors' direction.

"Nice kids those Slytherins," Megan commented with a perfectly straight face, "Quite a caring and compassionate bunch."

Everyone within earshot burst out laughing and the Slytherins glared at the group. Megan smiled and waved back cheerfully.

"You know, I don't understand why people mistrust them," she commented, "They're actually quite pleasant you know. Vastly misunderstood creatures Slytherins are."

Lily could hardly breathe she was laughing so hard. Brittany was laughing so hard she's toppled out her chair and was lying on the floor in hysterics laughing like a hyena. It took quite awhile for the group to calm down and the meal was punctuated by giggles. When they had finished, Professor Dumbledore rose to speak.

"From what I can see, everyone found today most enjoyable," he said, his eyes twinkling as he glanced over at the girls.

"Except Moronella and Snivellus," whispered Megan and the girls smothered giggles.

"I just have one quick announcement," Dumbledore said, "Professor Sprout has informed me that our new Whomping Willow has successfully been replanted. All of you should note that this is no ordinary tree and unless you wish to receive a most grievous injury, you should steer clear of its branches. I say this because a Whomping Willow will flail its branches about wildly could very easily harm you."

There were murmurs throughout the hall.

"If it's so dangerous why did they get one?" Lily heard James wonder aloud.

"Because they're stupid?" Sirius offered.

"I trust that you are all competent enough to heed this warning and that this is the last time we will have to discuss it," said Dumbledore, "Now then, off you go then! I'm sure most of you have homework that still needs to be done!"

As everyone rose to leave, many were asking the same question James had voiced and if Megan hadn't told her earlier, Lily would have been wondering herself. She fell in step beside Remus who looked rather preoccupied.

"Penny for your thoughts," she said.

Remus started, "Oh, hi Lily," he said, "That Whomping Willow sure sounds something fierce doesn't it?"

Lily nodded, "Yeah, but Professor Dumbledore must have a good reason for having it," she said, "He seems very intelligent."

"He is," Remus said, "But sometimes I question his judgment now that he's.never mind. It doesn't matter. I guess he's just very trusting."

"He does seem like he would be doesn't he?" said Lily.

"You have no idea," Remus said.

"Hey look!" Karen said as the Gryffindors entered the common room. Lily followed her gaze and saw a new note had been posted on the bulletin board.

"Oh boy!" exclaimed Kristin, "Flying Lessons!"

"Yeah, but look who we have them with," said Erin.

"Great," said Carol, "Just what I always wanted to do, make an idiot of myself in front of a bunch of Slytherins."

"Ah, don't worry about it," Megan said, "You'll do fine."

"Easy for you to say," Carol said, "You've been flying for years."

"It's really not that hard," Megan assured her, "You'll see."

"I hope you're right," said Carol.

The rest of the week passed in a blur of schoolwork and fun. In Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, they worked on turning matches into needles. Much to Lily's surprise, she accomplished the task on her second try but she wasn't the only one, Megan, Julie, James, Sirius and Remus also managed to do so. Astronomy with Professor Sinestra proved to be exciting when David spotted a meteor. However, Lily had been rather angry when James and Sirius pantsed Peter and spent the rest of the class making 'Uranus' jokes. As a result, they received detention but Lily still felt that they had been incredibly immature. Charms with tiny Professor Flitwick proved to be one of, if not the funnest (A/N: Yes I am aware that's not a 'real' word but its my story so I can use it.) class. History of Magic was taught by old Professor Binns and was easily the most boring class in the entire universe.

Of all the classes though, Defence Against the Dark Arts was the most interesting and intriguing but it was also rather strange. James and Sirius had received a second detention for bounding around the classroom and pretending to be vampires until they were suddenly transfigured into bats, causing the class to erupt into utter chaos. A confused Professor Van Haren hastily changed them back then yelled at them for several minutes about abusing their powers even though it was obvious he knew they couldn't have possibly transfigured themselves. Lily had a sneaking suspicion Megan was behind the sudden transformation because she had been grinning the entire time.

When it came time for flying lessons Friday afternoon, Lily felt as though there were a million butterflies in her stomach. She had always wished she could fly but now that the opportunity had presented itself she felt rather nervous. Since the appearance of the note on the bulletin board flying was the only topic of conversation among the first years. James and Sirius weren't helping the matter by purposely trying to make flying sound extremely difficult. They'd only stopped when Megan had used a silencing charm on them and shoved them in a broom closet. She then explained to everyone who had never flown before how simple flying really was.

"With today's brooms flying is pretty much idiot proof," she had explained, "You sit on the broom, grip the handle and then steer by pulling the broom handle in different directions."

After their last class on Friday (Defence Against the Dark Arts), the Gryffindor first years hurried down to the Quidditch pitch where they met Madam Hooch, the flying instructor. She had short brown hair, hawk-like yellow eyes and looked like an athlete.

"She used to play professional Quidditch a few years back," Megan whispered, "She's really good."

Madam Hooch cleared her throat and the group fell silent, "Welcome to your first flying lesson," she said, "We shall begin immediately. First, stick your right hand over the broom and say 'up'!"

The students did as they were told but few of the brooms actually did anything. Lily watched Megan, who successfully managed on her first try, and tried to imitate her.

"Up!" Lily said, and to her surprise, her broom leapt up into her hand. She looked over at Megan who was grinning.

"Told you it was easy!" she said.

"Beginner's luck," James said airily from Megan's other side.

Megan smacked him in the back of the head, "Ah shut up you stupid git!" she said.

"Ow!" James exclaimed. He went to hit her back but Madam Hooch cut in.

"Keep your hands to yourself James!" she barked.

"But she." James started but faltered under Madam Hooch's stare.

"Yeah James," Megan smirked, "Keep your hands to yourself."

"Yeah James," echoed Sirius, "I'm very disappointed in you."

"Shut it you," James said angrily.

"Now then," Madam Hooch said, "I want you to mount your brooms and then on my whistle you will kick off from the ground, hover in midair for a few seconds then lean forward and touch back down."

The group mounted their broom and Madam Hooch raised her whistle.

"1.2." she said then blew her whistle.

Everyone kicked off and hovered and then, on Madam Hooch's signal, touched back down.

"Oh bravo!" Madam Hooch congratulated them.

Several first time fliers beamed, flushed with their success, but some of the more experienced Slytherin fliers smirked.

"They act as if being able to hover on a broomstick is some great feat," smirked a Slytherin boy with brown hair and eyes.

"Oh shut up Simon," Megan snapped, "As I recall, it took you several tries to even mount your old toy broom."

The boy's smirk flickered, "I was small for my age, it was harder," he said with a slight pout.

Megan rolled her eyes, "As if," she said.

"Now then," Madam Hooch said, "Who here would considered themselves an expert flier?"

Several hands shot up and Madam Hooch looked around. "Hmmm, let's see," she mused, "Why don't we have Megan, because if you're anything like you're siblings you're flying skills will be excellent, and I suppose we should have a boy then so.how about you James, let's see if you can redeem yourself."

Megan and James stepped forward. "I would like you to demonstrate the proper way to accelerate," said Madam Hooch, "Take one lap around the pitch to get used to your brooms and then line up at the far end of the field and we'll have you two race."

"OK," Megan and James said. They mounted their brooms and took off on their warm up lap.

"Hey guys!" Sirius yelled, "Why not make the it a more interesting race by having a little wager?"

"Sounds good to me," Megan yelled back as she and James hovered overhead, "How about it Jamsie? Loser does whatever the winner wants until the end of November."

"Anything?" James asked, eyebrows raised.

"Within reason," Megan replied, "Anything that can seriously injure someone is out of the question, as is anything inappropriate."

"OK, you're on!" James said and they shook hands, "You're going to regret this MJ!"

Megan smirked, "No, I think you'll be the one who regrets this Potter," she replied.

"Ready." Madam Hooch yelled, "Set."

She blew her whistle and they were off, neck and neck, the Gryffindors cheering them on but the Slytherins scowled. They sped towards the finish at top speed. At the last second, Megan pulled ahead to win by several feet. The Gryffindors cheered, even Sirius, despite the fact that it was Megan and not James who had won, while the Slytherins continued to scowl. Megan flew over and landed with a triumphant grin on her face. James followed soon after but seemed to be in shock.

"How could I lose?" he wondered aloud.

"Easy," Megan said, "I beat you."

"Well done you two," Madam Hooch said, "Very impressive. Now, what those two just demonstrated was perfect technique for accelerating. Often times even the most experience fliers have trouble with their technique and are therefore not achieving their full potential."

"So," Lily whispered, "What are you going to make him do first?"

Megan grinned slyly, "You'll see," she said, "You'll see."

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Well, that's it for now! Hope you enjoyed it! I've already written the next chapter in rough so it'll hopefully be up sometime soon. My computer's still really messed up so I need to once again thank my friend Jen (and yes the Jennifer Strong from Slytherin was supposed to be her but she insisted on being evil) for helping me update my stories. Jen, you're awesome and you have no idea how much I appreciate you helping me out! Well, anywho, please review because when you do it makes me feel special!

~*~MeGaN~*~