Harry got up to find himself the only one awake in his dorm. He quickly showered and dressed before heading to the Common Room. There he noticed that the Slytherin Notice Board had its first item posted. It was a posting from Madam Hooch.

First Year Flying Lessons

Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff.

Thursday 9am. North East Courtyard.

Gryffindor/Slytherin.

Thursday 3:30pm. North East Courtyard.

Harry was so excited. He'd never been on a Broom before and now he was going to learn. Before he knew it Thursday had come. Harry listened to his friends banter about how good they all were on Brooms during breakfast. It was clear that some of them had misconceptions of Muggle flying device as Draco claimed to have narrowly escaped a Muggle Helicopter. Harry did his best to jokingly correct Draco so not to lose face in front all of the Slytherin table.

The conversation seemed to die down as the morning post came in. Harry was rather surprised when a owl left him a small parcel. He never got mail except from Hagrid. He qucikly checked the note which read:

Dear Harry,

I've been reading up on Orobo-Ravens since you left my shop. Not much is known but I did what I could. Enclosed in the package are copies of my notes and a few Minced Mice patties. From what I can tell all snakes like them and they're charmed to never spoil and to have no odor. Good for traveling. If it's not too much trouble I've love to hear about your Orobo-Raven's growth and such. Hagrid tells me he's about 1 foot, 3 inches now. When you left my shop he was 1 foot, 1 inch. He's growing quite a bit. Send pictures if you can.

-Bragforth.

Harry set the letter aside as he found the notes and patties. He left the patties in their wrappings and shoved them in his pockets before Crabbe and Goyle could mistake them for sweets and nick them. Bragforth's notes were hard to understand sometimes. Referencing other magical creatures or books that Harry had never heard of. He slipped the notes into one of his books for Charms and slipped the bird sickle it was waiting for.

He was about to finish his breakfast when Draco nudged him. "What's Longbottom got?" He asked looking over at the Gryffindor table. "Let's go find out." Draco said with a playful sneer.

Harry and Draco stood up and casually walked over the Gryffindor Table. As they approached they over heard the Gryffindors discuss Neville's new item. "It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things, This tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red, oh..." His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "... you've forgotten something..."

Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco snatched the Remebrall from his hand.

Ron and the other boys recognized from the hallway jumped to their feet. Harry was ready to get involved but was curious to see just what they thought they would do in the center of Great Hall. But before Harry could press the issue, Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.

"What's going on?" She asked in a no nonsense tone.

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor." Neville said point at Draco who openly held the ord. Scowling, Draco quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table.

"Just looking," he said, and he sloped away with Harry behind him. They went back to Slytherin table and glowered at the Gryffindor Table. "So Longbottom's got a Remembrall now. Good for him." Draco said, clearly upset he got caught messing with the Gryffindors.

Harry was more curious about something else he had noticed. It seemed that not only was Ron good at annoying him and the other Slytherins, but he was also good at irritating his own house. He watch the faces and gestures as Granger seemed to chime into Ron and Neville's conversation only to be silenced by Ron. From her expression Ron was quite hurtful. He watched as she gathered her things and left the Great Hall in a hurry.

"Huh, that's odd." Harry said watching her leave. "Draco, aren't the houses supposed to all buddy buddy with themselves?" Harry was now more observant of the other houses and their conversations he couldn't hear. "Like we're supposed to have each others back, right?"

Draco was adding more bacon to his plate when he noticed Harry's question. "Well, in theory, yeah." Draco said putting the bacon platter down and reaching for the sausages. "We're supposed to be a House united, or at the very least seem like it to the other houses. We'd get nowhere with infighting."

Harry nodded and watched as none of the other houses seemed to be having a single argument. "So what makes them so special?" Harry whispered to himself. He looked around the Slytherin table and found who he was seeking. "Hey, Pansy, come here for a second?"

Pansy looked up from her Witch Weekly Magazine and quickly skipped over to Harry. "Whatcha' need Harry?" Pansy said in that sickly sweet tone Harry knew better than to believe.

"You know most everyone in our year right?" Harry asked in a quiet tone. "What can you tell me about Hermione Granger? Besides the fact that she's a Muggleborn."

Pansy's fake sweet smiled dissolved like acid into a scowl. "Granger? What do want to know about her for?" She asked sounding offended that she even needed to talk about Granger. "She's a insufferable know it all. She's spends all her time in the Library. She's a teacher pet, and likes to be correct all the time."

Harry nodded. "Well I could have figured that out myself, I'm asking you what you know that I don't. You're better at the gossip thing than I am." Harry said knowing that appealing to her ego would be better and easier than trying to convince her. He could tell she tried to hid a smile at his false compliment.

"Well, she's at the top of almost every class. She's respectful of all authority figures, even Filch if you can believe it. But rumor is starting to come around that she's got no friends." Pansy said squeezing in between Harry and Draco. "She's got her nose in her books so much that even her own house is starting to get tired of her." Pansy said making it all sound so important and so factual.

Harry nodded with interest. 'And with Ron being Ron, she's gonna be alone very soon.' Harry thought.

He noticed Pansy's disgusted look forming. "Oh Harry! No?" She said in a very loud whisper. "Don't tell me you've got a crush on Granger?!" She hissed at him. "You could do so much better." She was clearly disgusted by the idea. Harry understood his friend's opinion on Muggleborns and Halfbloods, but he politely disagreed.

"No." Harry said acting hurt by her accusation. "I was just curious because it seems that Weasley can annoy his own house as well as ours." Harry motioned to the Gryffindor table where Ron Weasley was currently in the midst of a very animated conversation with the other First Year Gryffindors. It was clear that the other students not partaking in the conversation were not enjoying Ron's enthusiasm.

Pansy watched for a moment before nodding curtly. "Well, do be careful not to fall for someone below your station, Harry." Pansy warned him. "You've got to think about your reputation and your Family Lineage. The Potters are a long line. No offense but it has already lost some of its, sheen, due to your father marrying your mother. You could easily restore your family's standing by marrying a proper Pureblood gal."

Initially Harry was embarrassed by the idea of marriage, but realized he had gained a rather insightful glance into Pansy's priorities. Rather than being a pawn or a fool, Harry decided to turn it around on her. "Is that an offer, Pansy?" Harry asked with a playful smile.

Several things happened at once. Draco coughing on his breakfast. Pansy blushing several shades of red. Blaise and Theodore laughing loudly. John Sonarous barking a single "Ha" from a few seats down. And finally Harry not realising the gravitas of his actions and how they might have backfired on him.

Pansy, quickly regaining her composure, nervously adjusting her collar glared at Harry. "Harry. I know you don't get the, value behind those words. A Pureblood Marriage is a thing that is worked on for years." Pansy said calmly, but Harry could hear the venom in her voice. "If Daddy wasn't thinking of Draco as a future son-in-law, you might want to send him a letter. Though it would be terribly rude to the Malfoys. You should really read up on these things Harry. You might be expected to know these things one day, sooner than you think."

At first Harry thought she was joking but an affirming nod from both Blaise and Theodore made him reconsider. Pansy patted him on the shoulder and return to her seat and magazine. Draco was teary eyed and glaring at Harry. "That was not funny Harry." Draco said getting over his choking.

"I disagree." said John as he passed by. "While what Parkinson said is true. Harry's attempt to take the piss out of her was spot on." John gave Harry a friendly thumping on his back. "Excellent try there Harry. She's right though, you should look into those things. Before long certain Pureblood daddies are gonna want to see if they can throw their daughters that you."

John gave a curt nod before leaving the Great Hall and giving Harry a lot to think about. Harry now had another reason to look forward to the Flying Lessons as it would be a great distraction from all this talk of marriage and blood purity.

At three o'clock that afternoon, Harry, Draco, and the other Slytherins meandered down the front steps onto the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.

They were the first ones there and found twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Harry had heard other students complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk. "Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

Harry glanced down at his broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles. "Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"

"UP" everyone shouted.

Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did, to his left Draco got it on his third try. Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid, thought Harry; there was a quaver in Neville's voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Harry snickered when she told Draco he'd been doing it wrong for years.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle — three — two —" But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips. "Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle, twelve feet, twenty feet. Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom.

There was a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay facedown on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight.'Never seeing that broom again.' Harry thought as it continued to fly off into the distance, deeper and deeper into the forbidden forest.

Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his. "Broken wrist," Harry heard her mutter. "Come on, boy, it's all right, up you get."

She turned to the rest of the class. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."

Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.

No sooner were they out of earshot than Draco burst into laughter. "Did you see his face, the great lump?" He shouted. The other Slytherins joined in. Harry felt a little guilty as he chuckled a little.

"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil stepping forward from the other Gryffindors who glared at Draco.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" asked Pansy quickly joining Draco's side. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."

"Look!" said Draco, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him." The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up. There was a moment of silence as no one knew what to do. Draco smiled nastily. "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find, how about, up a tree?"

While Harry enjoyed the jokes and the teasing, this was a little outside his comfort zone. "That might be too much Draco." Harry said in a whisper standing behind Draco. "It looks expensive and if all the Gryffindors say that you broke it, then what?" Harry was hoping that he could appeal to Draco's sense of self preservation.

There was a moment of reservation on Draco's face but it quickly passed when Ron Weasley stepped forward. "Give it here." He demanded with his hand out stretched. "Hand it over Malfoy."

Harry cringed. Now that Weasley had made it a confrontation there was next to no chance that Draco would simply give the Remebrall back. "I'll tell you what Weasley." Draco said as he mounted his broom. "You want it, come and get it." Draco pushed off and rose in the air.

There was heckling from the Slytherins and cheering from the Gryffindors, encouraging Ron to go after Draco. In mere moments both boys were 40 feet up trading insults. Harry couldn't just stand by and watch, mounted his own broom and joined them.

"Come to back up Malfoy, eh Potter?" Ron accused Harry as he rose to earshot. Harry was slowly becoming less inclined to stop Draco, but remember that it would Neville who suffered. Harry had nothing against him.

Harry casually flew circles around Draco and Ron as they taunted one another. Harry stopped to check the Castle and noticed a few windows open. He hoped no one was watching them. Harry slowly approached Draco. He had never been on a broom before and was shocked by how was he was taking to it. It felt natural to him.

"Weasley here thinks he can take the Remembrall from me Harry." Draco said tossing the scarlet orb from one hand to another. "I'll tell you what Weasley. If you think you're so great on a broom let's see who's the best." Harry had a moment of panic, He knew what Draco was about to do. He did his best to block the castle from Draco's view. "Go get it then!"

And as if in slow motion, Harry watched as Draco threw the Remembrall as hard as he could towards the Greenhouse. He watched as Ron looked on in horror, not moving. Operating on instinct Harry accelerated as fast as he could and took off towards the Remembrall.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he was grateful that Draco had such a good throwing arm or he'd never have a chance to catch up with the Remembrall before it hit the ground. He fell into a nosedive as the Remembrall grew closer and closer to the Greenhouses. Just under 20 feet from the ground between several Greenhouses Harry reached out and spin his broom around.

Just as with Draco's throw the world seemed to slow down. He felt the tug of the broom accelerate away from the ground instead of towards it and he felt the Remembrall in his hand. For a moment he felt glorious. He had caught the Remembrall and avoided crashing into any of the Greenhouses. It was one of the best feelings in his life. It last about 10 seconds.

Looking directly at him from eye level inside the nearby Greenhouse was Professor Snape.

CHAPTER END