Neville stood, squinting in the morning sun, his socks getting slowly soaked from the dew covered grass. The rowdy Gryffindor's standing opposite him, Harry, and Hermione seemed to be only excited for their first flying lesson, but Neville did not join in the celebrations. Several instances with Uncle Algie hanging him out of a second story window had given him an unfortunate fear of heights, and as such he had stayed as far away from a broom as possible. Now, however, there was no avoiding it. Harry, noticing his anxiety, gave him a reassuring smile, but it did little to improve his mood. It was hardly surprising that when Harry called his broom to his hand, it seemed to jump eagerly into his grasp, yet his stayed firmly on the ground, apparently noting his absolute terror at taking to the skies. Although Hermione didn't succeed on the first try, after a few attempts her broom reluctantly floated up to meet her hand. Eventually he picked the broom up at Madam Hooch's instructions, and straddled it in preparation for taking off. His palms were sweaty against the smooth wood handle and a bead of nervous perspiration slid down the side of his. At the sound of Madam Hooch's instruction to take off after her count, nervous adrenaline flooded his body. It followed that it was a natural reaction that when his broom suddenly shot into the skies he let out a small scream.
-oO0o0Oo-
Harry knew he had never touched a broom before in his life, but he also knew his friend was in trouble.
"Catch us if we fall!" he said to Hermione, then kicked off hard from the ground. The pure elation that filled him as he soared upward compared to nothing he had yet experience, and with joy he found that he knew how to fly as if he had been doing it all his life. Had Neville's broom not have suddenly started to violently try to shake him off, Harry would have loved to spend as much time aloft as possible, but he fixed his sights on Neville's broom, now rapidly speeding toward the trees of the Forbidden Forest, and shot after it.
He caught up to Neville when the broom had come to sharp stop, sending Neville over the front and had he not caught the handle with one hand, would have surely sent him into the sharp branches of the trees below. Pulling alongside his dangling friend, Harry tried to pull him onto his broom, but Neville's broom would jerk Neville out of his hands. Harry knew there was only one thing to do. Getting as close to the violent broom as he could, he reached up and grabbed it with both hands, using pure strength and willpower to stabilize it for a moment.
"Neville, get on my broom, quickly!" He said, through gritted teeth. Although frightened, Neville made it safely next Harry when the broom suddenly pulled Harry off and shot skyward, leaving a horrified Neville below. The rapid ascent knocked Harry's glasses off, and for the first time he noticed a dark aura around the broom, with a rope made of shadow leading into the trees below. Holding on with one hand, Harry drew his sword and sliced through the shadowy rope and the broom ceased trying to shake him off. Sheathing his sword, he managed to get on top of the broom and guide it back to the slowly descending Neville, who smiled up at him in relief.
"Thank you, Harry" he said, "I don't know what happened, the broom moved without my direction."
"A knight always defends his comrades," Harry replied, and then grew serious, "But something sinister is going on and I have no intention of it finding any more innocent victims."
They had only just made it safely back to the ground when out of the crowd of observers strode Professor McGonagall, Hermione trailing in her wake.
"Potter, Longbottom, Granger, my office, now!" she said, her tone of voice making it abundantly clear that there would be no protesting.
-oO0o0Oo-
The glare McGonagall was giving Harry from across her desk was so intense that it seemed that the temperature of the room raised several degrees. Hermione was glad that she wasn't the object of such attentions, but she wished she had been able to do something when Neville's broom suddenly took off. She felt honored that Harry had trusted her to save them if something went awry, but she didn't want to just watch from the sidelines for the rest of her life. Hogwarts had chosen her too, it was high time she honed her skills enough to be worthy of that choice. She could see a lot of broomstick, spell work, and swordplay practice in her future.
"What in the world were you thinking?" McGonagall raged, "Charging off foolhardily. You've never even touched a broom before! You should have trusted Madam Hooch to do something about it."
"As Champion of Hogwarts, I have as much right as any of the staff to protect my classmates," Harry said, getting angry now, "What would you have liked me to do? Stand and watch as my first friend gets put in a dangerous situation?"
"You know as well as I do that an inexperienced attempt to help can do more harm than good," McGonagall retorted, "And why didn't you tell me of your whole plan to denounce Hogwarts tradition? I care about you, Harry, and I've never seen Dumbledore so angry. I swear I thought he would fire me on the spot when I said I supported your choice." That drew Harry up short, Hermione could see. She realized that he wasn't used to anyone sticking up for him. His anger drained out of his expression, and then he and Neville crumpled to the floor.
"Harry! Neville!" Hermione cried, kneeling beside them as McGonagall rushed from behind her desk, "Are you all right?"
"Something is wrong," Harry said through gritted teeth, face rapidly draining of color, "Help Neville." Neville's eyes had rolled into the back of his head and he was starting to shake.
"We need to get them to the infirmary wing," Hermione said to McGonagall, who was already levitating the injured boys off the floor.
"It's on the opposite side of the castle," McGonagall said grimly, "We may not make it. Check on their condition while we run." Hermione knew she could not loose her friends. Drawing herself up, she faced the wall and shouted,
"Hogwarts, your champions are in trouble. We need a passageway to the infirmary now!" For a moment, nothing happened, and Hermione's heart dropped to her feet. Then a door appeared from nowhere, and Sir Nicholas gestured them into it.
"Hurry," he said, serious, but Hermione and McGonagall had already taken off down the passageway. They burst out of a wall back into the light, startling Madam Pomfrey, although she quickly regained her senses when she saw the condition of Harry and Neville.
"What happened, Minerva?" she said, grabbing several potions while McGonagall guided the boys onto a pair of beds.
"I wasn't there to witness it," said McGonagall, rushing towards the door, "Hermione, explain the story to Madam Pomfrey while I notify the Headmaster."
"I need to know what happened in order to treat them," said the nurse, summoning a curtain around the beds while checking their pulses. Hermione recounted the story while Pomfrey's expression grew more and more serious.
"The broom behaved as if it was cursed," Hermione said, finishing the story, "But I didn't see the caster."
"Only powerful dark magic could have caused these symptoms," the nurse said, "Quick, grab me a bezoar and a unicorn horn from the supply cabinet while I stabilize their conditions." Hermione had just handed the nurse the requested ingredients when a black robed man with a hooked nose and greasy hair swept into the room, whom Hermione recognized to be Professor Snape. He was followed by Professor McGonagall, who seemed to be simultaneously angry and exasperated.
"I see the Potter brat has managed to get himself in trouble already," Snape drawled, moving to stand by Pomfrey's side.
"This is no time to hold a grudge, Severus," McGonagall snapped, "You're the most experienced in Dark Magic in the castle at the moment, so do your job." Snape sneered, but he waved his wand at the two boys whilst inspecting their condition.
"Encase their hands with bandages soaked in a mixture of powdered unicorn horn, Essence of Dittany, and phoenix ash," Snape ordered, "Minerva, get Fawkes. I'll contact Dumbledore."
"I already did that," McGonagall grumbled as she exited once again.
"Powder this unicorn horn," the nurse said while preparing the bandages. They had just finished wrapping the boys' hands when McGonagall entered with a brilliant red and gold bird on her shoulder.
"You know what to do, Fawkes," said Pomfrey. Hermione might have imagined it, but the phoenix seemed to nod in agreement before flying to Harry's nightstand, dripping its tears into the provided bowl. The nurse quickly poured the liquid down the boys' throats before stepping back and wiping her forehead.
"That's the best we can do for them now," she said, moving toward the door, "At least their condition seems to have stabilized. Minerva, watch these two while I go get some more Dittany leaves from Pomona." The door had just closed behind the nurse when McGonagall quickly strode to Harry's bedside, taking a vial of golden liquid from her pocket.
"Don't speak of this to anyone," the professor warned, then poured half the vial into Harry's mouth. As Hermione watched, Harry's body began to glow gold, growing brighter and brighter until it disappeared in a flash of blinding light.
-oO0o0Oo-
Harry opened his eyes to find himself in unfamiliar surroundings, lying it what appeared to be a hospital bed, hands newly bandaged. He could feel familiar feeling of warmth spreading inside him from recently ingesting nectar, but otherwise, he felt normal. He wondered why he was in a hospital if he wasn't injured. Turning his head to the side, he noticed Neville sleeping in a bed next to his, hands similarly bandaged. Realization crashed over him in a wave, he remembered collapsing in McGonagall's office, and then, nothing. He started to try and get out of bed when,
"I wouldn't try that if I were you," said a familiar voice. McGonagall, Harry realized. "We had just stabilized your condition."
"What happened?" Harry asked, voice hoarse.
"We're not quite sure," the witch said, coming to sit at the end of his bed, "We think Neville's broom had been cursed with Dark Magic, infecting the two of you when you touched it. I gave you nectar, and here we are." Sensing his unasked question, she gave him the answer he wanted to hear, "We're alone at the moment."
"I saw a shadowy aura around the broom," Harry said, still alert for unwanted eavesdroppers, "With a similar rope leading into the Forbidden Forest. When I cut it, the broom ceased to act violently."
"We've never had someone who senses magic like you do," said McGongall thoughtfully, "But I feel that your description backs up our previous hypotheses. We should do tests to see what other spells look like."
"Where did you get the nectar?" Harry asked, relaxing back into the pillows.
"Chiron gave it to me before we left camp, for emergencies," she said, "Although I think I may have over did it."
"I only need small amounts because of my history with it," Harry said ruefully, "But considering the circumstances, a little extra couldn't have hurt."
"My thoughts exactly," she agreed.
"Will Neville be alright?" Harry asked, concerned.
"Madam Pomfrey has every confidence he will recover," McGonagall reassured him, "But it will take him longer than you to purge the cursed material from his system. I considered giving him nectar as well, but I figured I should consult you beforehand."
"Don't give nectar to anyone else," Harry said, gravely serious, "It will literally burn them up from the inside. Where is Hermione?"
"In your quarters, I presume," she replied, "The headmaster canceled the rest of classes for today in light of your recent mishaps. Speaking of which, she saw me give you the nectar."
"What!?" Harry shouted.
"Shhhh! Madam Pomfrey will kick me out if she thinks I'm hurting your recovery," the witch said, nonplussed, "And really Harry, you have to trust your friends. Without Hermione's help, I don't think either of you would have made it." They sat in silence for a moment, and then Harry's thoughts drifted to his previous conversation with McGonagall, and how her words had affected him.
"Did you mean what you said?" Harry asked, quietly, "Before all of this?" She sat silently for a moment, but when she looked at him, her eyes were filled with warmth.
"When I first saw you, Harry, taking down a pack of monsters with a lightning bolt, I knew there was something special about you," she said, "And I don't mean your powers. Putting your life on the line to defend those around you, that was what I admired. And then I talked with you, and you were eager to learn about magic, throwing yourself into this new world, making friends along the way. You remind me of my late husband in that way." A touch of grief colored her voice with those words. "And you reminded me of what my life might have been, if things had been different. But the truth is Harry, I do care for you. And I'm not the only ones. Your friends want to help you, and so do I. You can't do everything by yourself." Tears began to well in Harry's eyes as McGonagall reached out and held one of his bandaged hands. For the first time in his life, Harry felt like he had a mother.
-oO0o0Oo-
AN:
All rights belong to the wonderful J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan for the original stories.
Apologies for the late update, I wanted to post this earlier but didn't have the time.
Thanks for reading!