"Hey, Aminah, do you have your flying carpet with you?" Harry asked as they were leaving the dining hall that night. "Do you want to try flying it?"
"Oh, yeah, I guess so," Aminah said.
Gemma tapped on his arm.
"Do you want to fly your broom again?" Harry asked.
"Yes," she responded. "Peter, too." She placed Peter's hand on Harry's arm and Peter signed his enthusiastic agreement to the plan. Harry had just learned the sign for broom and made it with a question mark. Peter told him that yes, he had his broom and that it was in his staff.
Harry jumped out of the way as he realized that Peter was pulling his broom out of his staff (when he hit him in the chest with it). Peter signed an apology on his back and Harry patted reassuringly in response.
"Are you all going flying tonight?" Tony asked. "Can I go, too? And Arig? I bet he wants to go. Let me get him." Harry heard Tony running down the corridor, toward the dormitory.
"Do we have enough brooms?" Harry asked.
Gemma made a happy sign across his back—he wasn't sure if it was in response to his question, but figured that they'd be able to figure it out.
They all started heading over to the O&M room. Pretty soon Harry could hear Arig's crutches in the corridor, too, and figured that Tony had found him.
"Hey, wait up!" Arig called out to them. Harry slowed and turned. Gemma wrote a question mark on the back of his hand.
"Arig asked us to wait for them," Harry explained.
I wish that Mei was here.
The thought surprised him. A couple weeks ago he'd been avoiding her at all costs.
"Hey, Harry, there's a kid calling you and waving at you in the dining hall…" Arig said.
Harry turned and then he could hear someone calling his name.
"Oh, it must be Neville. I wasn't sure if he'd be able to join us."
Gemma wrote a question mark on his hand while Neville's footsteps clattered toward them.
"My friend, Neville… remember him? We met him at St. Mungo's?" Harry asked Gemma.
She tapped yes on his arm, and then turned toward Peter to fill him in.
"Hey, Harry!"
"Hiya, Neville! You remember Gemma, right? This is Arig and Peter. Aminah, are you still here?"
"Hi, nice to meet you," Neville said.
"She went on with Tony," Arig explained.
"I thought so," Harry said, laughing.
"Pretty much the lot of us are going to go flying tonight. You ready?"
"Well, you know… it's not really my thing… but hey, I've been using that navigational spell you taught me and it's really been helping me."
"Oh, do you have low vision, too, Neville?" Arig asked.
"What? Oh, um, no," said Neville, laughing nervously. "I just get lost a lot."
"You should cast the writing charm so that Gemma can follow the conversation. Do you know that one?" Arig asked.
"Oh, yeah. Good idea. Why don't you all go ahead and I'll help Neville get sorted out?" Harry suggested.
Gemma waved across his wrist.
"Sure, no problem," Arig said and the sounds of his crutches moved away with Gemma and Peter's footsteps.
"Thanks, Harry," Neville breathed out, clearly relieved.
"Hey, No worries, Neville. Learning new spells with an audience is always hard," Harry commiserated.
"Yeah, that's pretty much my life at Hogwarts," Neville sighed.
It took a while for Neville to get the hang of the spell, but finally the papers were fluttering by his lips and they were on their way to the O&M room. He seemed a lot more calm, though, than usual—like he was just focusing on getting the charm right and not worrying so much about the fact that he struggled with learning spells. Harry was glad that he didn't try to teach it to him when all his friends were hanging around. He remembered how red Neville's face would get in Transfiguration as he tried to master a spell…
Is it because he has an audience that he can't get the spells?
Harry explained to Neville that they'd be walking through the gym and then going out to the park to fly, but as they stepped through the doorway, Harry was surprised by the cool, crisp alpine air that greeted them.
"Hey, I thought we were going to the park at Old Ellerby, but this smells like Mont Blanc! But that's usually in a different room," Harry exclaimed.
"Yeah, this is definitely not like any park I've ever seen… and it for sure is not a gym."
Harry stood still as the cool breeze lifted his hair around his face. He could hear the birds in the rustling trees calling to each other and there was a scent on the air that reminded him of a spice … sage? Yep, we're in the Mont Blanc Egress.
"I guess I should have checked the map first," Harry said. He could hear the whoops and shouts of his friends below as well as bells. "It sounds like they are flying over the lake."
"How'd they get down there so fast—that trail looks dodgy," Neville asked.
"Hey, we can fly down there! We don't have to go arse over elbow down the mountain!"
"Speak for yourself. I'm going to end up in that lake," Neville moaned. "I just know it."
"Hey, you can do this. Er… Did you bring a broom?" Harry realized he hadn't heard Neville carrying a broom or felt him trying to maneuver with one while guiding him.
"No, I don't have one. Gran won't let me get one. I've even saved up my galleons."
"Well, you can fly with me down to the lake and then we'll see if anyone has an extra, all right?"
"All right. Oi, what are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm putting my staff in my broom so that I don't have to manage both things at once—I could drop my staff if I was trying to use it for navigation while I was flying," Harry explained.
"Hop on, Neville! Let's get down there!" Harry said as he slid a bit on the gravely path.
"I dunno about this!" Neville said, his feet crunching across the rocks. But he swung his leg over the broom handle that Harry was holding steady for him. Harry stepped on behind him, but then realized that Neville was bigger than him and it wasn't going to work that way. So they rearranged and Harry got in front and Neville held onto Harry's waist, rather tightly.
"It's going to be all right—you'll see," Harry soothed as a cool wind made his arms prickle—he thought about summoning his hoodie from his staff.
"Maybe I should just go back to St. Mungo's. Gran would kill me if she saw what I was doing."
"Say, are you going to come over tomorrow while Hermione's here? We're going to be in the library," Harry said, hoping to distract Neville as they took off, wobbling a bit as Harry got used to Neville's weight on the back of the broom.
"Yeah, maybe… if I live to see tomorrow…" Neville moaned as he listed to one side.
It was different than flying with Gemma or Ginny—even Arig, for that matter. Arig knew how to sit on a broom, whereas Neville seemed to slide around tipping from side to side.
"Oi—those vibrations tickle," Neville said.
"They're telling me what we're flying near—can you decipher them?"
"What? No way. It just tickles."
"Neville, are you gripping the broomhandle with your legs?" Harry managed to ask as they tipped precariously to the right, brushing up against tree branches and making Neville gasp and tighten his grip on Harry's torso, pushing the air out of his lungs.
"No, how do you do that?" Neville squeaked. Harry could smell that Neville was scared—he'd broken out in a rank sweat.
"Here, let's land and I'll show you," Harry suggested, nearing the ground. He put out his feet to catch the rocky terrain. He felt Neville moving against him, lowering his feet, too.
"Keep your feet up, Neville!" Harry shouted, but it was too late and they tumbled to the ground, sliding across the rock-strewn path. Harry managed to hold onto his broom as he skidded painfully across sharp rocks and poking plants while Neville had fallen off completely and seemed to be thrashing around in a bush a few feet behind him.
"You all right, mate?" Harry called over his shoulder as he stood up wincing and brushing off the dirt. He'd scraped his knuckles on the hand that was holding the broom and his palm on the other hand.
"Yeah, but I can't get out of this bush," Neville moaned. "I'm just getting more stuck. You should just leave me here and go down and fly."
"Hey—don't say that. I'll help you—just a sec," Harry said standing up gingerly, using his broom as he would his staff to see what was around him. It vibrated—giving him some clues about his surroundings.
His knees felt bruised, too. He tended to his wounds with the healing charm and his wand, then felt his broom, checking to make sure that it was okay. A couple twigs were bent or broken, but it was otherwise unscathed. He breathed a sigh of relief as he took out his staff and navigated toward Neville.
Harry was amazed that this was the same mountain path he'd walked down weeks before—it was so much easier now.
I've learned a lot in the last few weeks.
He was better able to tell when there were rocks in his way—not just from the sound of the silver tip striking them, but also from the haptic signals from his staff.
"Is it a thorn bush?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty scraped up. Figures," Neville sighed. "I guess I'd have been better off falling into the lake."
"Might have been easier if we'd started working on this at the Park where at least the grass is soft."
"Yeah. Soft grass."
"Can you reach my hand?" Harry was holding it out, trying not to snag his fingers on the thorny branches.
"Nope, can you come forward a bit?"
"Oi, let me try a spell… hold onto my staff and I'll float you out," Harry said.
"You mean Wingardium leviosa?"
"No, I learned one for moving people… ready? Mobilicorpus."
"Blimey! That's brilliant!" Neville exclaimed as Harry moved him up—accompanied by the sound of ripping cloth —and over to the path, setting him down gently by ending the charm with a soft thud.
"Oh, Merlin. Gran's going to go apers when she sees my clothes," Neville said as he ran his hands over the fabric.
"We can repair them. What color are your trousers?" Harry asked.
"They are tan, but there are holes all over and blood stains, too."
"How badly are you hurt?" Harry asked.
"Not bad. It's just a little bloody."
"Well, let's heal your cuts, then repair your clothes," Harry said, summoning his essence of dittany out of his staff again. He listened wistfully to the sounds of the others as they whooped and hollered—their voices reverberating through the valley in contrast to the sounds of the birds and squirrels. There was a little ground squirrel that was chattering at them excitedly.
Harry daubed the dittany on the cuts that Neville guided his hand to. Neville took off his shirt so that Harry could get to the cuts on his back that had gone through the shirt—Neville directed him to the area on his back where he thought they were and Harry felt around gently until he found the cut, Neville flinching in confirmation. Harry also taught Neville the healing charm he'd learned from Mrs. Weasley and Neville attended the cuts and bruises on the front of his body that he could see and reach. Then they worked on repairing the tears in Neville's clothes.
Neville worked and worked on learning the repairing charm until he was finally able to fix the tears, which was good, because no matter how detailed Neville described the color of the fabric, Harry's repairs were always apparent because he couldn't match the color.
The bells, shouts, and whoops of joy from the flyers down by the lake were tormenting them as they worked slowly putting Neville back together. The wind from the mountain was pulling at Harry's clothes as if it was pushing him toward the lake.
"Gah, there has to be a way that I can do this!"
"No worries, mate. I've got it now."
"Yeah, but I want to be able to repair my clothes and stuff without it being obvious that I did it. I mean, I'm constantly running into things now, breaking things, tearing things. I get that it comes with the territory, I just want to be able to fix it and move on, not look like a scarecrow," Harry said, his words choppy with frustration.
"Blimey, Harry, I've never been able to do any of these charms until you taught me," Neville said. "And, I think some of these are really advanced."
"Well, they are big on self-defense and practical life here at the Center."
He took in a deep breath and tried to shake the frustration out of his arms.
"All right. Let's try flying again," Harry said. "So, before we start, maybe you should sit on the broom—don't fly—just sit there and hold onto it with your knees and thighs."
"You mean like this?" Neville asked.
Harry held onto the broom handle and tried turning it—it rolled.
"Hold tighter—it can't move around while you're on it or you're going to fall off," Harry explained.
"That's the story of my life… falling off brooms, down stairs, off chandeliers, over balconies," Neville moaned.
"We have some pretty brilliant classes here that help us with our balance. You should take them with us," Harry said.
"Like they'd let me," Neville said.
"Yeah, well. Oi—you've got it. That's right. Do you feel more stable now?"
"Oh, I do. Thanks, Harry!"
"Steady on! Hold on like that and I'll sit in front of you now," Harry said getting on the broom and touching off so that they were flying pretty low to the ground this time. His feet scraped over sharp branches of a low bush that released the sage smell as they flew over. They felt a lot more stable.
"That's great, Neville!"
"Whoo!" Neville yelled behind Harry and wobbled a bit, but then got it back under control.
Harry took them a little higher, the sun warming his face—he wondered if it had been behind a cloud—and started flying toward the sounds of the lake—the sound of water lapping up on the shore growing louder as they approached. He could also smell something swampy—like fermenting plants and heard little frogs calling to each other.
As he neared the lake, the sense he got through the vibrations of his staff was that it had a strangely pliable though flat surface. It reminded him of a large bowl of jelly.
It wasn't until the bells of his friend's brooms were clear that Harry could start to feel the shapes of his friends as they darted around the lake. They became bigger shapes as they neared him in the vibrations of the broom and the sounds of the bells—each different—helped Harry track their progress.
He skimmed low over the surface almost trailing his trainers through the water—droplets of water coated his face. Out over the body of the water, the swampy odor was blown away and the air was wet and clear. The sun warmed the back of his neck as he turned away from it and headed toward his friends again.
This is just what I dreamed of the first time I was here!
"Aminah—is that you? How's your flying carpet?" Harry shouted, guessing that it was her from the sound of the bells.
"Harry—you were right! This is brilliant! I love it!" Aminah shouted as she winged over their heads sounding absolutely chuffed.
Harry could feel the water from the lake on his face—the wind bringing some of the moisture up into the air in a gentle spray.
"Neville, I've been flying really even and I think you're ready to try something a little more now… so I'm going to go up a bit, get some height and then turn to the left—when I say, lean into it okay?" Harry said as he started to head up.
"Okay, now lean… gently…. Oi!"
Neville leaned a little too much and Harry righted them, then they tried again and again, until Neville could feel the difference and leant just the right amount to stay in control of the turn. Then they tried to the right.
"If you speed up while you're turning, you'll actually have more control," Harry explained, lying closer to the broom handle in their next turn and feeling Neville do the same thing behind him.
"How is that even possible?" Neville asked, mystified.
"Physics," said Harry.
"What? What's fizicks?" Neville asked.
"Muggle science. Never mind. It just works," Harry laughed.
"Harry! You finally made it!" Tony yelled as he approached, his bell charms clanging like a cow bell and from the sounds of them, it seemed that Tony was struggling with controlling his broom.
"Why does everyone have bells on their brooms?" Neville asked.
"So, we can keep track of each other," Harry explained.
"I thought you said you could tell through the vibrations from your staff," Neville asked as they sped up a bit and headed higher.
"Sure, that helps, too, but with the bells I can tell who it is who is approaching me, once I know the sound of their bells. It all helps," Harry said and then took them into a dive that made Neville squeal in delight.
Harry could hear Tony's bells approaching them again.
"Oi! Tony—do you have an extra broom?" Harry called out as they passed.
"No, but I think Arig does," Tony said.
"Where is he?" Harry asked. Arig, Gemma, and Peter seemed to be farther away—out of range of his vibrations. He could hear fainter bells in the distance.
"They went over to explore the island in the middle of the lake… over there!" Tony said.
"He pointed straight ahead of you, Harry," Neville said in his ear.
"Thanks," Harry said. He was definitely getting better at understanding how things were moving through space around him and it was a lot easier up here in the air with only a few things in his path.
"I'll come with you," Tony said as Harry and Neville headed toward the island.
"Me, too!" called Aminah from below Harry and Neville.