Bernie's Birthday
Although it was only half past seven in the morning and thus early for a Saturday, there was a terrific atmosphere among the first-years at the Slytherin table. It was Bernie's birthday, and as usual when it was one of their birthdays, they had woken him up at seven to sing Happy Birthday and give him his gifts.
Most of them had put their money together to buy him a large potion set with dozens of magical ingredients and useful equipment. Since the first-years did not yet have to enchant their ingredients themselves, it was just a matter of the correct preparation, and Bernie was able to work incredibly meticulously and with enormous concentration, so he was almost as good in Potions as he was in Muggle Studies. It was even his favourite subject, and he had started brewing potions on his own, it was his new hobby. No wonder he beamed when he went through the list of magical substances, some of which were not even available at Hogwarts.
Scorpius, however, took the biscuit, handing Bernie a tiny vial filled with a turquoise liquid.
"What's that?" asked Bernie.
"Magic Booster," Scorpius replied in a casual tone, while the others commented it with an admiring murmur. "It's used by Squibs. It's a Potion used to boost weak magical energy so that you can do magic."
"Great!" Bernie jumped up and started shaking Scorpius with excitement. "Then I can finally do it too! Why didn't you tell me earlier that there is something like that?"
The others exchanged meaningful glances.
"Well, there's a downer, unfortunately," Scorpius said. "Magic Booster is made from ingredients of which some have to mature for three hundred years under expert control, and therefore it's really expensive as hell. The Squibs who use it are all filthy rich, and even they can only afford it once in a while ..."
"For God's sake, Scorpius, you don't really think I'm going to accept that, do you?" called Bernie, wanting to give him back the vial.
"Don't worry, from me you can take it," said Scorpius. "I didn't have to pay for it because the Potion brewery that produced it belongs to my family. I still had to beg my father to give me at least this small portion. You can do magic with it for about one to two hours, depending on how intense your magic is. For a few small spells and a quarter of an hour, however, you need just a few drops, and you should definitely try it out, but keep the rest for emergencies, for example for important exams or ... well, in case you get into danger and have to do magic any price. We don't know if there is still someone around here who is targeting Muggle-borns."
Bernie swallowed. During the last few weeks, there hadn't been any attacks on Muggle-borns, but he only felt really safe in the company of Albus who didn't always have time.
"The bottle is unbreakable," Scorpius continued, "always carry it with you, just in case ..."
"You really are a tremendous guy, Scorpius," Bernie said, touched.
When they finally were sitting at breakfast – the house elves had sent up a huge birthday tart – Bernie took a few drops and, to the gleeful laughter of his friends, began to do his magic more and more boisterously. He levitated Albus a little, turned Jennifer's pumpkin juice – just when she put her cup to her lips, of course – into spinach juice and, to everyone's amusement, threw a piece of tart in Scorpius' face with a Banishing Charm, only to restore it with Reparo and clean Scorpius' face with Tergeo. The effect of his Magic Booster noticeably diminished after a while and finally ceased, but this did not spoil the mood.
Shortly after eight, Roy turned up, strangely carrying a broom.
"Happy birthday, Bernie, here, this is for you," said he and thrust the broom into the hand of Bernard who looked puzzled.
"Thanks, but what am I supposed to do with this?" asked Bernie, wide-eyed.
"Flying, what else?"
"Well, but I can't fly a broom, you have to be a real wizard to do so, don't you?" asked Bernie doubtfully.
"Normally yes," Roy grinned a little smugly, "but not with this one. If you look closely, you'll notice that it looks a little different from conventional brooms."
Bernie, surrounded by his classmates, now took a closer look at the broom. In fact, at the upper third of the stick, a steel tube about ten inches long had been pulled over it, held at both ends by strong compression springs. At the very top, almost at the end of the stick, there was a steel ring.
"Normally," Roy lectured, "when flying a broom, two components have to come together: the magic that is in the broom itself and makes it fly, and the magic of the wizard activating the potential of the broom and controlling it. I have been thinking: Since the broom in principle is already able to fly by itself and only the steering commands are magical, it should be possible to modify it in such a way that it responds to mechanical instead of magical commands. By pushing the tube forward, you accelerate, by pulling it back, you slow down. Pressure on the springs, which are connected to the magical meridians of the broom, will direct the magical flow of energy in such a way that ... oh, who cares!" he interrupted himself when he saw the perplexed expressions of the listeners. "Turn that ring up there to the right as far as possible!"
Bernie did so, and all at once the broom, vibrating slightly, hovered level with his hips.
"You have to steer, like everyone else, by pushing the shaft in the direction you want to go. So, get on."
Bernie got on the broom the way he had watched the others do dozens of times in the flying lessons. Truly, the broom carried him!
"Do you really want me to speed up now?" he asked, looking uncertainly at Roy.
"Yeah, come on, but be careful, if you don't want to crash into a wall."
Hesitantly and cautiously, Bernie pushed the tube forward and the broom slowly started to move. With the shaft already pointing upwards, Bernie rose a few feet, then pushed the broom horizontally, still slowly flying a wide curve over the heads of the stunned other Hogwarts students – the hall being well filled by now.
Bernie whooped loudly, became bolder, sped up courageously, flew tight turns, zigzagged through the hall, pulled the broom steeply upwards until it almost reached the magic ceiling, then even dared a dive, pulled the broom back to horizontal just above the floor and dashed low over one of the house tables, sweeping food, drinks and dishes to the side and splashing and spilling all over those sitting there. It happened to be the Hufflepuff table ...
"Wildfellow, stop that nonsense immediately and come down!" The voice of McGonagall, who had so far been watching the children's games at the Slytherin table rather with amusement, was now thundering through the hall. Bernie abruptly slowed down, pointed the stick down and landed softly next to the Slytherin table. His face glowed with happiness and excitement.
McGonagall waved her wand forcefully and the Hufflepuff table was restored to its previous state, as were their stained clothes and faces of its occupants.
"In consideration of the fact that this is your birthday, I will refrain from taking points off Slytherin, but if you want to fly, Mister Wildfellow, please go outside."
"We're all going to get our brooms now," Albus suggested, turning to Bernie, "and then the first thing you'll learn is Quidditch!"
The first-years headed off towards the exit of the hall, past Roy whose heart was visibly laughing. Arabella came and leaned against him.
"Didn't you say you wouldn't support anything that would allow Hermione to claim her experiment with Bernie to have been successful?" she asked, smiling and snuggling up to him.
"Didn't you say," he asked back, "that feelings can actually be arguments? You know, from the classroom I could watch Bernie having to stay down and watch the others during the flying lessons of the first-years. I just couldn't stand watching it any more!"
Arabella flung her arms around his neck. "For that kind of inconsistency I love you almost more than for anything else!" They both looked to the excitedly giggling younger who were just leaving the hall.
"I think on a day like this even Bernie could conjure a Patronus," she said, beaming at him. "Do you happen to know that you have a talent for making people happy?"
"Oh, come on, I just have a bit of a talent for magic."
"This is magic, dummy," she replied and kissed him.