Disclaimer: Flying on a broom may look like fun, but without the proper broom safety and etiquette it can be very dangerous. Which may or may not be a good thing depending on whether or not you like the person on the broom. Here's the next chappie! I'm feeling much better so I was able to get up and get this online. I don't own Harry Potter, the amazing JK Rowling does.
Chapter 6: The Freedom of the Air
Harry had been at Hogwarts for a little over a week now, and Lexi could not believe how utterly miserable she was. Of course she had always known that her best friend was her older brother, but she never realized how much she would miss him if he wasn't there. When she and Harry learned about Hogwarts, Lexi was extremely excited for Harry to be accepted. She thought it was amazing that Harry would be able to learn about magic and what made them special. But now, she wasn't so sure that being without him was worth it.
Ever since Harry left, the Dursleys had been completely terrible. The morning of September 1st, Aunt Petunia woke Lexi up expecting Harry to be there as well. When he wasn't, Aunt Petunia started behaving oddly. It all started with her not assigning Lexi chores to perform for the morning. Then at lunch Aunt Petunia went the entire meal without insulting Lexi or her parents. Not to mention that she had forgotten to assign Lexi afternoon chores to perform as well.
However, by the time Uncle Vernon came home from work something had changed. It was almost as though Aunt Petunia came to terms with the fact that Harry was gone, and since Harry wasn't there anymore, someone else had to pick up the slack. Lexi knew from the time she was a little girl that she had an unusually large amount of chores to do every day. But now, her old amount would be a welcome relief. It was very difficult to do the same number of chores that was usually performed by two people all alone.
Dudley was creepy the day that Harry had left. He even threatened her in front of the Dursley home while she was weeding that afternoon. Luckily, her plan of staying close to number four worked and Dudley went off to Smeltings without any incidents. That was a small welcomed relief in her miserable lonely life.
It wasn't like Lexi only missed Harry due to her increased number of chores. She missed him for a whole slew of reasons. She missed her confident and her friend. Harry had been the only person Lexi felt like she could be herself around and now he was gone. He was the only person she could talk to and share things with. But most of all she missed him because Harry was the only person who ever told her that they loved her.
The letter she received two days after Harry went to school had surprised Lexi. She never imagined they would be able to communicate with one another while Harry was at Hogwarts. And to learn that they had wizarding money, and that the snowy owl who delivered the letter was their owl. It was unfathomable to a girl who never had anything of her own before.
Lying on the thin mattress on her cupboard floor, finishing the final touches on her letter for her brother, Lexi Potter began to mentally count down the days until Harry could return to her for the Christmas holiday. While writing to each other was nice, it had nothing on being able to see her brother in person.
~*~
… I can't believe how intelligent Hedwig is! (That's the name I think we should name our snowy owl. She didn't seem to like just the simple name Snowy. I found the name in the history of magic book you sent me. Hedwig was a patron saint for orphans. So it seems fitting that our guardian owl would be named after such a person. Hope you don't mind!)
Anyway, Hedwig waited until I was all alone taking out the trash yesterday afternoon to deliver your letter to me. The first time she delivered one, it was while I was walking home from school. She seems smart enough if she delivers the letters to me when the Dursleys are not around to see her.
Also, thank you for sending me those books. I'm glad I'll be able to learn a bit about magic even if I'm not going to be able to practice it till I go to Hogwarts myself. Were you able to read them first? If you were able to, I have a question about the principle behind transfiguring an inanimate object to become a living organism. Let me know if you'll be able to help!
Harry, I miss you. Do well in all your classes for me. And take lots of notes for me to read later!
Love,
Lexi
Harry stared down at the piece of paper in his hand, trying to hold back his tears. Every day it seemed like he missed his sister more and more. Taking several deep calming breaths, Harry was able to maintain his composure. It wouldn't make due to breakdown in front of the whole school.
So far Hogwarts was nothing like what Harry expected. First and foremost Harry was famous, and everyone seemed to know his story. No matter where he went or what he did people would stare at him and point, like he was some strange creature on display for the world to see. Honestly, it was the first time in Harry's life that he felt like the freak Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon always claimed he was.
None of the students ever approached him to talk or to do homework with. And when Harry would ask someone if they wanted to work with him they would either blush and giggle (the girls) or give him funny looks and tell him they heard from Ron what he was like (the boys).
His classes were alright. Most of the teachers seemed fine and were not affected by his fame. However, whenever it came to working with a partner in any class, Harry was always the last to be paired up. It was like physical education class all over again, no one wanted freaky Potter on their team.
While most of his teachers were nice to him, there was one teacher that seemed to hate him. Professor Snape, the head of Slytherin house, and the potions professor, just wouldn't give him a break. On the Friday, during their first lesson, Snape had made a point of making fun of his 'celebrity status' whatever that meant. Then Snape began questioning him a lot of different things related to potion making, even though Hermione was attempting to volunteer the answers, Snape refused to call on her instead.
All in all Harry had to say potions was Harry's least favorite class. Luckily he only had that class once a week. Harry did wish he had Professor Burbage as a teacher this year. She was so kind to Harry the day she took him to Diagon Alley, and whenever he saw her in the hallway she would always smile and wave to him or say hello. At least she seemed to like him for being Harry instead of him being the Boy-Who-Lived.
Harry's thoughts were abruptly cut off when Audrey let out a loud gasp next to him. She was the only student who didn't seem to care that he was the Boy-Who-Lived and made a point of saving him a seat at the breakfast table every morning.
"What's wrong?" the inquisitive voice of Hermione Granger cut through the usual noise of the Great Hall. While Hermione was in all of his classes, sat with him every day in the Great Hall, and tended to study at the same time as him in the library, she never said a word to him since the train ride to Hogwarts.
"Well, there is some startling news today in the Daily Prophet," Audrey replied from behind her newspaper.
"Was it another article about me?" Harry hesitantly asked. There had been several articles speculating about where he lived prior to re-entering the wizarding world, and trying to determine exactly what he was doing out of Hogwarts the first morning of term.
"Actually that has seemed to have died down," Audrey responded again from behind her paper. "Today there is something about a breakout at Azkaban Prison."
"Azkaban Prison?" Hermione asked with her head tipped to the side, as if she was trying to read the paper Audrey was holding. "I've never heard of that prison."
"It's the wizarding prison, guarded by the Dementors," Audrey replied a bit distractedly.
"What is so startling about someone escaping from that prison?" Hermione continued. "Stuff like that unfortunately tends to occur a couple of times a year in the muggle world."
Audrey finally lowered the paper to look at Harry and Hermione while talking in a deeply serious tone. "No one has ever escaped from Azkaban before. It is the most guarded prison in the world between the charms and wards used on the island and the Dementor guards. It would take some serious dark magic to fool the guards, let alone the charms and wards."
Hermione looked appalled. "Who could do something like that?"
"The prisoner who escaped was Sirius Black," Audrey continued with a scared look on her face. "He was a firm supporter of You-Know-Who, and was sent to jail for killing one wizard and twelve muggles with a single curse."
"Oh my goodness!" Hermione exclaimed in shock. "How do you know all of that?"
"It was in one of the articles here in the paper," Audrey explained while gesturing to the discarded Daily Prophet.
"What does that this mean?" Hermione continued to ask. "What is going to happen?"
"I don't know," Audrey replied. "This has never happened before."
Harry was definitely disturbed by Audrey's last statement although he tried to forget it. A follower of the guy who killed his parents was on the loose, and broke out of a place that no one had ever escaped from before. For some reason a feeling of dread overcame him. But there should be no reason for that guy to have anything to do with him, right?
~*~
The news of Sirius Black's escape died down as the week progressed. Harry heard there was a rumor that the Ministry of Magic had wanted to place Dementors around Hogwarts to protect the students from the mass murderer. However, since there was no reason to expect Sirius Black to go to Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore had vetoed the idea.
Before Harry knew it, Thursday afternoon arrived and brought about something Harry was looking forward to: his first flying lesson! The fact that it was with the Slytherin first years, with whom he never seemed to get along with, didn't even seem to faze him.
Since Ron had explained to him about flying and the wizarding sport of Quidditch on the Hogwarts Express, Harry was secretly waiting to learn to fly. In his mind it was one of the calling cards of being a wizard was the ability to fly. He had heard numerous stories in primary school where a witch or wizard had the power to fly, sometimes with a broom, other times without.
In the early afternoon Harry met the other Gryffindor first years out in the court yard waiting for Madam Hooch, the flying instructor of Hogwarts. He knew Hermione Granger was very nervous about the upcoming lesson. All throughout breakfast she had peppered Audrey with questions about the best techniques and specific facts she learned from a book called Quidditch Through the Ages.
Harry had a feeling that Hermione was truly nervous since flying was the one class where memorization and intelligence was not going to help her. From everything Harry had seen and heard about flying, it had a lot to do with ability and instincts.
"Gather around children," the brisk voice of Madam Hooch broke through the crowd. Harry was a bit startled to realize he never noticed the Slytherins joining the Gryffindors in waiting for Madam Hooch.
"Alright, now that I have your undivided attention, it is time for us to begin," Madam Hooch stated while looking around at the various first year students in front of her. "Now I know many of you have parents or older siblings who have taught you how to fly when you were younger. Be as that may, you are all beginners since I will be taking the time to teach you the proper technique and form needed while flying solo on a broom."
"That said," Madam Hooch glared at Draco Malfoy and some Slytherins who were talking instead of paying attention to her, "I expect all eyes and ears focused on me at all times. If I feel you are not following directions you will be grounded and not allowed to fly for a month. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Madam Hooch," the entire class said at once.
"Excellent," Madam Hooch exclaimed while clapping her hands together. "Now I want you each to stand next to a broom and hold your dominate hand over the broom, while saying the command 'up'. This will cause the broom to come to your outstretched hand so you can properly get on the broom."
All at once the first year students rushed towards the brooms. It looked like to Harry that some of them were being a bit picky with exactly which broom they chose. Harry, not knowing the differences between the types of brooms simply picked the only broom not already claimed. This landed Harry directly between Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger.
After each student picked their broom they all took turns commanding their brooms to rise. Harry saw that both Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger were having difficulties since their brooms would merely roll over when they attempted to get them to come up to their hand.
Harry clearly and calmly said the command, 'up,' and his broom rocketed straight into his awaiting hand.
"Go job, Mr. Potter," Madam Hooch said while she corrected Draco Malfoy's grip on his broom, across from where Harry was standing. Draco just glared at Harry as Madam Hooch fussed over what a natural Harry must be.
Slowly yet surely everyone in the class was eventually able to get their broom to rise to their outstretched hands and learn the proper way of balancing on their brooms.
"Great," Madam Hooch professed while looking around at all of the students. "Now on my whistle we will all slowly rise up into the air."
But before Madam Hooch was able to blow her whistle Neville started to scream as his broom started to rise. Immediately Madam Hooch jumped on her broom and attempted to stop Neville's out of control broom. Unfortunately, she was unable to reach Neville before his broom took a sharp dive to the ground.
"What a pity," Madam Hooch exclaimed. "I think you have a broken arm, Mr. Longbottom. I'll escort him to the hospital wing." Madam Hooch explained to the class at large. "In the meantime, I want all of you to stand firmly on the ground. As you can see injuries are easy to occur when while flying. If I find out any of you disobeyed me, you will be out of Hogwarts faster than you can say Quidditch."
As soon as Madam Hooch walked away, Harry saw a glint of light reflecting near the grass where Neville stood before taking off. Harry walked over to investigate it and discovered it was the Remembrall that Neville's Gran sent him just earlier that day. Picking it up and putting it in his pocket, Harry decided to give it back to Neville at his earliest convenience.
While Harry was deciding that it appeared as though Draco Malfoy goaded Ron Weasley into a fight that resulted in them being airborne. Unfortunately for both boys Professor McGonagall caught them in the act.
~*~
"I bet you're surprised to still see me here," the shrill voice of Draco Malfoy interrupted Harry's dinner. Harry was sitting alone near the end of the Gryffindor table near the head table.
"I don't know what you are talking about," Harry said while concentrating on his meal.
"My father was able to protest that old bat McGonagall's punishment," Draco said with his head held high. "Even if that Weasley scum was able to benefit from my father's power as well, it proves how powerful the Malfoy family is and why you should be friends with me."
"Excuse me?" Harry asked completely stunned. He could not believe that the only person who wanted to be friends with him was Draco Malfoy, the one person who reminded Harry the most of Dudley Dursley.
"I know you were trying to play a joke on the train," Draco continued in an arrogant tone, "that you really were not trying to snub me. Therefore, I'm willing to forgive you and let it slide."
"I'm sorry," Harry replied, although he really wasn't sorry, "I'm not interested in being your friend." Harry could clearly see Draco's face turning beat red.
"You'll be sorry," Draco muttered. "I challenge you to a duel, tonight in the trophy room. Crabbe will be my second."
A duel, Harry had not learned how to duel yet and there was no way he was going to get into something that was over his head yet. "No," Harry said clearly, finally looking Draco in the eyes. "I won't participate in a duel."
Draco just looked at Harry with shock on his face. "But you're a Gryffindor!" Draco yelled, "of course you want to duel. What are you, a baby?"
"Get a life," Harry said before getting up from his half finished dinner and walking out of the Great Hall.
"You can't duel Draco. You'll get yourself in trouble and loose all the points I gained for Gryffindor," the know-it-all voice of Hermione Granger rang across the Entrance Hall.
Harry spun around. He was sick of people ignoring him or treating him like he did something wrong, when in fact he had done nothing at all. Harry had finally hit his breaking point.
"You don't know everything," Harry said in a highly frustrated tone, as he moved closer to the bushy-haired witch. "Books don't tell you everything and you are not the ultimate source of knowledge in this school."
Hermione's eyes flashed with anger. "How dare you suggest that I think that? Let me guess, you know more than me, oh great, wise Harry Potter."
Harry just laughed at Hermione. "I hardly know anything especially about the magical world. Hell, I didn't even know I was a wizard until I received my Hogwarts letter, nor did I know about how my parents were killed by Voldemort until the sorting hat told me."
Hermione's look of anger turned to one of shock and contemplation. But before Hermione could comment on what Harry told her he continued to speak. "I turned Draco down for his duel. I am well aware that I did not know enough to defend myself in a duel let alone attack another student. I have no intention of getting in trouble and sent home from Hogwarts."
With that Harry turned around and walked away, leaving a very flustered Hermione behind.
~*~
"Did you hear Malfoy talk to Potter earlier tonight at dinner?" The voice of Ron Weasley carried through the door of the first year boys' dormitory.
Harry had just returned from spending his free time reading until curfew in the library. Ron's voice and the subject matter made Harry stop and consider whether or not he really wanted to enter.
"Yeah," the voice of Dean Thomas continued the conversation. "Can you believe that pounce Potter actually turned Draco down?"
"I think he may have been scared to take on a wizard who was worth his salt." The nasal voice of Seamus Finnigan joined in. "I think Malfoy would have wiped the floor with him."
"That would have been so cool," Ron's voice became a bit dreamy. "I wish Malfoy would have hurt Potter that way the git would get what is coming to him."
Harry had heard enough. Turning around, Harry began to take the stairs in twos and threes, trying to put as much distance between him and the dorm as possible. Luckily he had the book he just taken out of the library on him to read in the common room. It was going to be a while before Harry would feel comfortable enough to go to his own dorm.
~*~
Friday's potion lesson flew by quickly, well as quickly as any potion lesson could pass. For the second straight week, Professor Snape reacted to Harry with poorly hidden contempt. Not to mention, the Slytherin students took their cues from their head of house and began making rude comments and remarks to Harry whenever they passed by his work station.
In a surprising twist of events, Hermione Granger had sat at his work table and became his potion partner for the day. That morning at breakfast she had been missing, and Harry hated to admit it, but he had been concerned about her whereabouts. Even though she never directly spoke to him, in the two weeks they spent at school Hermione Granger had become a reluctant fixture in his life.
Harry had been relieved when Hermione had walked into the classroom and immediately sat down beside him. The week before Seamus and Dean had a loud argument over which one of them would be forced to have Harry as his partner. Harry was indifferent to it all, but a warm feeling started in the pit of his stomach. Perhaps, there would be some hope that Hermione could one day be his friend.
By the end of the lesson Harry's hopes had been dashed. Hermione had not said a single word to him throughout the lesson, even though they had worked on the potion together. It was kind of awkward to create a potion without saying a single word to your partner, but for some reason Harry and Hermione were able to do it while making a successful potion.
After the lesson Harry took his time in cleaning up his work space, in case Hermione wanted to say something in private. Yet, she merely picked up her possessions and left the classroom. At lunch, Harry once again noted her absence and became concerned since Hermione had appeared to have missed breakfast and now lunch. Harry knew all too well what it felt like to miss a meal or two and hoped that whatever Hermione was doing at least she was getting something to eat.
Since the Gryffindor first years had Friday afternoon off Harry found himself once again at his favorite table in the library. Harry began to work on the little homework he received, while wondering what else he should do with his weekend. If he finished all of his homework now, it was unlikely he would have a legitimate reason to remain in the library all weekend.
Harry knew it was very doubtful that anyone in his year, or the school for that matter would want anything to do with him, so he would need to come up with something to do.
Harry suddenly looked up from his charms essay. It felt like someone was watching him. Harry quickly glanced around the room unable to see anyone. When he decided it was merely his mind playing tricks on him, Harry turned back to his essay.
Not more than five minutes later, Harry once again felt as though someone was watching him. This time instead of immediately looking up, Harry took his time and pretended to be stretching as he did so he quickly scanned the room. As he did he saw Hermione Granger, who was standing in between two shelves of books quickly turn away from him.
Harry sighed as he turned back to finish his essay. Harry knew he had been a bit harsh on her the night before, but Harry wasn't sorry for his words. Hermione had to know that things were not always as it appeared. Harry resented the fact that he had mentioned the small fact that he didn't know his own story when he had first met her. He didn't want to talk about that with anyone, and he said it to Hermione in the heat of anger.
The only thing Harry could hope for that perhaps something good could come from sharing that information with Hermione. Perhaps she would give him another chance once she knew that he had never played a joke on her. That he wasn't the person that half the school thought he was. Unfortunately, Hermione's strange behavior was not encouraging.
~*~
Due to the flying lesson that was unfortunately cut short, on Sunday Madam Hooch opened up the Quidditch pitch for all first year students who wanted some additional air time. Considering that Harry had yet to have an opportunity to fly, Harry was more than willing to fly as soon as possible.
After shoveling down a fast breakfast, Harry walked as quickly as he could out to the Quidditch pitch. Madam Hooch had opened it up to all first years, but she extended the time on the pitch from the normal hour class to four hours. The pitch would be open from eight in the morning till noon.
That was why Harry was waiting at the entrance of the Quidditch pitch for Madam Hooch nearly a half an hour early. He was merely too excited to wait up in the castle. From his position by the Gryffindor entrance of to the pitch, Harry had a clear view of the broom cupboard where all of the school brooms were stored.
Since the disastrous first lesson, Harry spent some of his time studying the different types of brooms available in wizarding world, and various moves a person could do while flying. It wasn't like Harry had anything better to do since no one his age would give him the time of day.
To Harry, it seemed that the moment Harry's hand touch the broom something awoke in him, and all Harry wanted to do was fly a broom. He had told Lexi all about his brief experience with the broom and she seemed extremely excited at the prospect of flying as well. He had already promised to give her every single detail about his experience as soon as he was done with his flying time that day. With any luck, if Harry sent Hedwig with a letter to Lexi as soon as this lesson was over she would have it by the evening or the next morning.
From what Harry had seen during the first lesson, the brooms that Hogwarts had as school brooms were not the top-of-the-line brooms. In fact many of the school brooms were very old and needed to be replaced from what Harry could tell. Even though Harry was no broom expert, it was fairly simple to be able to tell a good quality broom from a bad. It the tail twigs were being to fall out, it was safe to assume that a new broom would be needed in the near future.
"You're here pretty early, Mr. Potter," the voice of Madam Hooch broke Harry from his thoughts. "But I would expect no less from the son of James Potter."
"Excuse me," Harry said unable to stop himself, even though he could be seen as being rude. "What do you mean by that?"
Madam Hooch blinked at him a few seconds before she responded. "I'm sorry, Mr. Potter. I thought you knew all about your father and Quidditch. James Potter was one of the finest Quidditch players this school has ever seen. I was on the Hufflepuff team your father's seventh year at Hogwarts. He was an excellent captain and a worthy adversary on the Quidditch pitch."
"Thank you for telling me," Harry said with a smile on his face. "I appreciate it very much."
"Yes," Madam Hooch said a bit distractedly. "I'll be happy to tell you more about your father's Quidditch career here at Hogwarts at a later time. We don't have enough time to do it justice before your peers should be joining us."
Harry nodded his head in agreement. He desperately wanted to know anything Madam Hooch was willing to tell him but he too knew other people would be joining them soon. Truth be told, this is something he wanted to learn in private.
"Would you be willing to help me collect the brooms for us to use today?" Madam Hooch asked.
"Of course," Harry replied as the two of them walked over to the broom shed. He was nearly shaking with anticipation.
A few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws joined Harry and Madam Hooch at eight am. It seemed as though most of the Slytherins and Gryffindors were having a bit of a lie-in on that Sunday regardless of the fact that they would be able to fly. The other first years stayed as far away from Harry as possible. But Harry didn't dwell on it; the prospect of being able to fly let the insult simply slid out of his mind.
After Madam Hooch spent several minutes going over the basics with Harry, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws already had been in the air at their lesson during the week. Once she was confident that Harry would be fine, Madam Hooch let Harry go into the air for the first time.
It was indescribable, the feeling of the wind against his face and blowing through his hair. The simple freedom that being in air, of not being connect to the ground. To Harry, it all just made him feel free, like he didn't have a care in the world. It was amazing.
Harry had started out going slow doing simple laps around the pitch. But the longer he stayed in the air the more daring he became. He started to go higher and then swoop down into a dive to the ground. The more he would do it the more confidence he would gain and the higher he would start out and the closer to the ground he would end up.
He was like a bird.
Free of all obligations.
Free of all the pressures of his life.
Free from the Dursleys and the wizarding world.
Free from all expectations.
Harry wasn't the Boy-Who-Lived up here. Harry was just Harry. He had never been his carefree and happy in his life. He needed to share this experience with Lexi as soon as possible. Something deep down in Harry told him that Lexi would enjoy this just as much as he was.
Up in the air Harry lost all connection with reality. Time meant nothing. To Harry it felt like no time had even passed, that there was no one else with him on the pitch while he was in the air.
Suddenly, out of nowhere a ball went whizzing past Harry's left ear, curiosity over took him as Harry dove to catch the small white object. A few feet from the ground Harry grabbed the white golf ball and pulled out of the dive to the sound of applause and cheering.
Turning to look over his shoulder, Harry could make out the forms of six older students, Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall. Harry was a bit confused over what was going on and where the other first year students had gone so he went over to the assembled crowd.
"Mr. Potter," the stern voice of Professor McGonagall reached his ears as soon as he was in hearing distance. For some reason Harry started to cringe as she began. "That was simply… simply… it was amazing. Do you think you could do that again?" The excitement in her tone was ringing through loud and clear.
Harry was a bit taken aback. First Professor McGonagall sounded angry, and then she was speechless, now she was excited. What on earth could he had done?
"I'm not sure what you mean, Professor. I only caught a ball." Harry replied in his most respectful tone of voice.
"Do you hear that, Fred?" A red headed boy began.
"Sure did, George," the first boy's exact double replied.
Shaking his head at his brother, George continued. "He makes a twenty foot dive to catch a golf ball…"
"Pulls out just as it seems as though he was about to kiss the tuff," the second one interjected.
"The he acts as if it were nothing special or spectacular." The third one finished.
"Simply amazing," the second one, Fred, said as he shook his head. "Think all heroes are this modest?"
"Quiet you two," the gruff voice of an older student cut the first boy off from replying to his brother's question. "Is it true this is your first time on a broom?" The older boy asked after turning his attention solely on Harry.
"Of course it was, Mr. Wood," Professor McGonagall answered for Harry. "He lived with muggles until he reentered the wizarding world on the first of September."
"That boy has clear Quidditch talent just like his father," Madam Hooch began to gush before being stopped by a stern look from Professor McGonagall.
"Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall began addressing her attention solely on Harry again. "Let me ask for the second and last time, do you think you can do that again?"
"Of course," Harry answered the question like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Prove it," Professor McGonagall challenged.
Harry did.
~*~
… So it turns out that they wanted me to become the new Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Gryffindor has had some problems with Seekers the past two years since a guy named Charlie Weasley graduated from school. I am the youngest player in over a century to be able to play for their house team. That means I'll have practice two to three times a week with three games throughout the year. Madam Hooch said I would be excused from all flying lessons from now on, but I think I might attend them anyway. It would give me more time to be in the air.
Oliver Wood, the captain of the team, told me that all the other first years had stopped flying two hours before the team had shown up on the pitch. I flew for six hours without stopping. Madam Hooch just let me keep going past the allotted time for some reason. Wood said Madam Hooch is typically very strict due to the dangers associated with flying so he was a bit surprised that she let me continue to fly. But due to the long amount of time I was in the air, Wood says I already must have a lot of natural endurance on a broom.
Anyway, I better send this off to you. I've got to go to the library to look up more information about the role of the Seeker during the game and moves to learn for practice.
I miss you a lot Lexi.
With love,
Harry
PS. I can't wait to show you how to fly. I just know you'll love it as much as I do.
Lexi stared at her letter from her brother with a small smile on her face as she continued to walk home from school. Hedwig had just delivered Harry's letter to her and was now following her on her way home. Lexi loved the owl so much. It was like the owl was trying to look out for her or something.
Harry seemed to love to fly if the way he kept rambling on and on about it was any indication. Lexi was a bit leery about learning to fly since the concept seemed so strange. But truth be told she was looking forward to the day that Harry could teach her how to fly on a broom.
"There she is," the shrill voice of Malcolm, Dudley's friend rang through the chill fall air. Lexi cringed on the inside. She thought she was rid of all of those bullies Dudley called friends when Dudley went off to Smeltings.
"Guess the freak thought she got rid of us," the creepy voice of Dennis replied to Lexi's obvious reaction to their presence.
"Just because Piers and Dudley are gone doesn't mean that we all are," Gordon added to the conversation. "Dudley told us we should get a few blows in for him so you don't forget him."
Lexi did the only thing she could think to do; she ran off as fast as she could, praying that the older boys were too fat to catch her. As she ran, she could hear Hedwig screeching in the air over her head. Hopefully the noise her owl was making would attract the attention of an adult to help her.
As Lexi continued to run, clutching Harry's letter to her chest she could hear the foot steps of the boys following her. Trying to go a little faster, Lexi put all of her energy into running as fast as her nearly ten-year-old legs would let her.
Running into an alley way between two houses, Lexi suddenly went crashing to the ground. She had concentrated so much on running she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings and she tripped on a rock.
The foot steps of the boys slowed down, they had reached her. Lexi desperately reached for her precious letter that had flown out of her hands when she fell. If she was going to be beat up she needed that letter. It was from her brother and was one of the few things that made her feel good. When she got home and was locked in her cupboard for being a beat up good for nothing freak, at least she would have Harry's words to comfort her.
Malcolm and Dennis started to laugh at her predicament. Once she had Harry's letter in her hand, the boys' attention was drawn to it.
"Give us that piece of paper, freak," Gordon demanded. "We want to see why you want it so much."
Lexi continued to clutch the letter tight to her chest and closed her eyes, preparing for the beating that was about to begin.
"Get away from her," a raspy cold voice rang through the alley from behind where Lexi had fell.
"What the…" one of the boys began before they were cut off.
"Get out of here!" the man said more forcefully this time. "Get away from the girl. Get lost. Are the lot of you really that dumb? By Merlin, you muggles can certainly be rather dim."
The dumbfounded boys only moved when the noise indicated that man began to move towards them. Lexi heard their footsteps begin and only quicken as she continued to hear the man move towards them.
Lexi hesitantly opened her eyes and looked at her savior. A tall, extremely thin man with long tangled hair and deep gray eyes stared back at her.
"Hello Lexi," the man said with a mystifying smile.
~*~
A/N: Dum dum dummmm! I've being dying to post this chapter for a bit, can anyone guess why? ;) A big thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story you guys are awesome! I big shout out to Picky, Memory King and passionismywriting for their comments and review of the last chapter. Their long comments help me focus this story to make sure it is going where I want it to go. Thanks once more to the world's best beta and friend, zephy for her hard work on behalf of this story.
Foria
Next Chapter: A Sirius Dilemma