383 words, by gdocs

"Flying sounds stupid," Oliver says, walking into his dormitory. He slaps down the poster in front of Percy, his one and only roommate, with an eye roll. He's never actually flown before, but his father never thought very highly of it. Why should Oliver?

Percy looks over the poster with a snort.

"My older brothers love Quidditch," he says, pushing it aside to look back at his work. "If you ask me, it sounds like a bunch of hoopla."

With a big sigh, Oliver flops down onto his bed.

"Do you want to just ditch?" he asks. Spending the entire day in their room sounds loads better than going to a stupid flying lesson. Oliver is ninety percent sure that he'll hate it. Why bother?

"No," Percy says, his voice firm. Oliver hoists himself up.

"No?" Oliver says, one eyebrow raised. Didn't he just say he didn't want to fly?

"I'm not going to ditch a class, no matter how stupid. And I won't let you ditch, either!" Percy sends a glare at Oliver. Oliver groans and lies back down. He shouldn't have brought it up in the first place. Now he's going to be forced to go.

…

The brooms are lined up in perfect little rows and Oliver doesn't want to go to them. Unfortunately, he knows that Percy would tell on him if he ditches. Instead, he takes his spot next to them like everyone else.

"Now, children," the teacher is saying as Oliver tunes in, "put your hand over your broom and say 'up!'"

Oliver squints at the teacher. Isn't there an easier way to get the brooms off of the ground? Like, picking them up?

"Up!" Oliver says, anyway, rolling his eyes. The broom, right away, shoots up into his hand. He won't admit it—flying is still stupid—but it feels good to have it in his hand.

He mounts it with the rest of his class, and on the whistle, he kicks at the ground. He doesn't expect anything to happen, but suddenly he's in the air. Looking down, Oliver can see some other students still on the ground. He wills his broom to go a little higher and he feels powerful.

Okay, maybe he was wrong. Maybe flying isn't quite so bad. He wills his broom higher.