Chapter 4

"What took you so long?" asked Emma when Lisa finally joined her.

"My parents sent me an owl. I had to take him up to the Owlery."

"That's so nice of them! My parents said I have to wait until my second year until I can have a pet."

"That's ok. Did you bring the snacks?"

"You bet I did!" she opened her bag and pulled out grapes, oranges, an apple, 3 bananas, and a small bag of strawberries.

"Where's the cake? What happened to the Jell-O? You call these snacks?"

"Yes, in fact I do. They are healthy and do no damage to any part of your body. Cake however..."

"At least cake tastes like a snack! I bet you wouldn't find any fruit on that snack list we'll be getting!"

"Actually, you will. My sister brought her list home last year and number 4 was 'All kinds of fruit'"

Lisa sighed.

"What's the big deal? Just enjoy it. We've only got 15 minutes until our next class!"

"I think I'm going to go check out some of the brooms early." She started running toward the Quidditch field. Emma rolled her eyes as she helped herself to a nice, juicy, apple.

At Flying Lessons, Madam Hooch was very mad. Apparently at one of her earlier classes, two boys had gone flying on their brooms when she specifically told everyone not to.

"If any of you do anything I don't tell you, I will make sure you are expelled before dawn!

"Now, stick your right hand over the broom and say up!"

"UP!" everyone yelled. Lisa's broom just rolled around. Emma's didn't do anything at all. Terry seemed to be the only one that could do it. Mandy's broom jumped up and hit her in the face, causing her nose to bleed.

"Miss Turpin, will you please take her to the Hospital Wing?" Lisa nodded. Madam Hooch ripped some grass from the ground, murmured a spell, and turned the grass into tissues.

"Here you are Miss Brocklehurst. Run along now!" Lisa walked Mandy to the Hospital Wing, and Madam Pomfrey let Lisa go back to class.

"Ahh, Miss Turpin. Is she alright?"

"She's fine," said Lisa. "Where is everyone?"

"They're flying to the tree and back"

"Can I go?"

"No, no, no, I'm afraid not. While you were gone, they learned the basics. How'd you like to stay after class so I can teach you them? You seem really eager to fly."

"I am; I would love to stay, thank you."

When everyone was back from the tree, Madam Hooch let everyone go have some extra free time since they had done such a great job.

"Alright, we'll start from the beginning. Say up!"

"UP!" she yelled. Her broom lazily rolled over.

"UP!" she repeated. It hovered over the ground for a few seconds then fell back down.

"UP!!" screamed Lisa. The broom shot up at her hand.

"Wow"

"Good, now, mount your broom, give a small kick-off, hover over the ground for a few seconds, then point the nose forward and come back down"

Lisa did it correctly, and she was allowed to fly to the tree and back also. Flying was definitely her favorite subject. The way the wind blew in her face as she sped up; it was magnificent. She went around the tree smoothly and went as fast as she could back to Madam Hooch.

"Good job, you may go to dinner now"

Lisa happily trotted to the Great Hall, remembering the feeling of the wind on her face. She sat down next to Emma.

"How did you like flying?" she asked.

"I loved it! It was the greatest feeling in the world! How 'bout you?"

"I hated it! I was absolutely terrified! My stupid broom kept wobbling around and I got thrown off twice! That stupid Malfoy kid laughed at me when he was delivering a message to Madam Hooch! I never want to go there again!"

Lisa ate her dinner quickly and ran up to the common room. She wanted to send a thank you note to her parents for Hooty. She wrote:

Dear Mum and Dad,

Thank you so much for Hooty. He is absolutely adorable, and I am perfectly fine with his name. In fact, it's kind of cute.

Love From,

Lisa

She folded the letter, put it in an envelope, and went up to the Owlery to fetch Hooty. He was flying around the room, and Lisa had a hard time catching him. When she finally did, she tied the letter to his leg and took him to the window.

"Good luck, Hooty," she said and he flew off, very crookedly. She went to the common room, where Emma was curled up in front of the fire (which was now red orange) her nose pressed into a transfiguration book. She looked up as Lisa entered.

"Where were you?" she asked. "You have to finish Snape's essay he—"

"I know, I was going to right now." She ran into her dormitory and grabbed her quill, an ink bottle, and a roll of parchment.

"Wow, I have to write a lot." she said. She sat next to Emma in front of the fire and started her essay.

Potions

Exactly means

She didn't know what to write! Should she look up exactly in the dictionary and write the definition? No, that wouldn't fill up a roll of parchment.

Potions

Exactly is

This was stupid. What could she write?

Potions

Exactly is a very specific word. When you say exactly, it means right then, or perfectly, depending how you use it. Exactly means you can't have any mess-ups, unless you are not exact.

Suddenly, Lisa became extremely tired. I'll finish it in the morning, she thought with a yawn. She took her supplies back up to her dormitory, and Emma glared at her.

Lisa went into bed, and Emma came upstairs. Padma and Mandy were still up, so Emma didn't bother to keep her voice down.

"You didn't finish, I know you didn't" she said, her hands on her hips.

"So what? I don't care. Snape can't do anything to me..."

"Oh yes he can! Get up and finish it or you'll be in big trouble tomorrow!"

"I'll finish it at breakfast, go away." She rolled on her stomach with her pillow on her head. She could still hear Emma sigh.

"If you get in trouble, I'm not in this." Lisa heard her walk out of the dormitory. She rolled on her back and closed the curtains around her four-poster bed so Emma couldn't yell at her again.

A while later, Mandy, Padma, and Emma, came up to the dormitory.

"She didn't finish Snape's essay" Lisa heard Emma say.

"She's going to be in big trouble!" said Mandy.

"That's what I told her," said Emma.

"Poor, Lisa. She probably with have to write a three roll parchment now" said Padma.

Lisa heard them throw their sheets around and turn off the light and get in bed.

I won't get in trouble; she thought I'll finish it tomorrow morning. They'll see.