Chapter 10
"Mail's here!" James screamed out as he saw the flock of owls enter the great hall with packages and letters. First came Vladimir. He soared down and landed in front of Sirius. He held two letters in his beak. The first was an ivory envelope with the name Remus J. Lupin written neatly in loopy cursive.
"That's from my mum!" Remus said excitedly as he grabbed for the letter. Vladimir screeched meanly and lunged for Remus's hand. "Bad Vlad!" Sirius yelled and gently grabbed Remus's letter from his beak and handed it to Remus. Remus decided to wait to open it when he was alone. The second letter from Vladimir was an unlabeled blood red envelope.
"Uh oh, that's a howler." James said.
Sirius shrugged and laughed. "I get these all the time from my dad, this should be hilarious." Sirius calmly opened the flap to allow the howler to start. His father's angry voice shouted at Sirius from the letter, forming a mouth.
"Sirius Draco Black!" The letter shouted. The entire great hall stopped eating to listen. Sirius's cousin, Narcissa smiled cunningly and watched from the slytherin table. "You are a complete disappointment to the Black family. As your cousin reported, you first befriend a Mudblood, then you asked. You Asked to be in Gryffindor! A Black in Gryffindor! Do you know how embarrassing this is? And lastly, you keep on getting detentions for going raiding through your poor cousin's undergarments? When you come home for Christmas, you'll be lucky if you return to school alive! I hate having you as a son!" The letter said sharply and ripped itself up. There was complete silence, and Narcissa watched Sirius for his reaction. Instead of crying, Sirius gave out the biggest belly laugh he has ever before. James and Lupin and Peter followed his lead. Soon the entire Great Hall besides the Slytherins erupted in laughter.
"You ready for flying lessons?" James asked eagerly to the boys.
"Yes!" Sirius screamed.
"I don't like heights." Peter whimpered.
"Meh." Remus said impartially.
After Potions class, madam Hooch, the flying instructor at Hogwarts, brought the entire first year class out to the quidditch field. Remus was feeling nervous for flying. He was never a fan of heights. But he didn't look at all as nervous as Peter besides him. He was completely pale in the face and sweating like a leaky cauldron. James and Sirius looked very excited and were gawking at the quidditch ring.
"Alright everyone, step up to the left side of your broomstick. Stick your right hand over the broom and say up." Madam Hooch instructed. Remus watched as James's broom obeyed on his first try. James smiled in pride. Next Lucius Malfoy's sleek and expensive broom came into his hand after the second try, as well as Sirius. Remus looked to his broom clumsily wobbling on the ground, and after his fifth try, it finally obeyed. After about 15 seconds, every student had their broomsticks in their hands but Peter. Madam Hooch thought that his broom from the school might be broken, so she left to retrieve a different broom.
"Is it because you're a filthy mudblood that you can't even control a broom, Pettigrew, or is it because you're just a completely stupid and incompetent student?" Lucius Malfoy mocked to Peter who was standing next to him. Lucius's friends laughed. Peter blushed and looked to his shoes in embarrassment.
"Watch yourself Malfoy!" James said.
"No, I don't think I will. I'm bored, hey lads, do you want to go for a ride?" He asked his friends, they nodded in agreement. Malfoy straddled his broom, forced Peter on the front, and gave a big push and the two were off with his minions behind him. Peter started screaming as they went higher and higher in the air.
"Let him down!" Sirius yelled.
Lucius smirked, "Wrong choice of words, Black! Dormante, catch the mudblood!" Lucius said and quickly did a nosedive so Peter would fall. Peter fell fifteen feet and landed on a large, muscular boy's broomstick.
"Let's leave him on the quidditch ring shall we?" Lucius stated. Dormante obeyed and left him sitting in the 20 meter high ring. They returned to the ground and watched their masterpiece.
"Sirius come one let's save him!" James said as he and Sirius pushed off the ground.
"What should I do?" Remus asked with anxiety.
"Be ready with the wingardium leviosa charm, just in case." Sirius wisely instructed. Remus got out his wand and prepared for the worst.
"Help!" Peter screamed. The two approached him.
"Okay Peter, stay calm. I don't think either one of us is strong nor good enough to carry you down on one broom. But if you hang onto one broom with each arm, it might just work." James said. Peter nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay, grab our brooms on three. Don't look down. One. Two. Three. Now!" Peter bravely grabbed the broom handles, and remained seated on the ring.
"Good. Now we will gently and simultaneously start to float down. You just hold on." James said. He nodded at Sirius and the two pulled Peter away from the ring. They immediately started decending. Peter started kicking and struggling to hold on.
"Hold on Peter, only 10 more meters!" Sirius said. But Peter's sweaty hands caused him to slip from the broomsticks grasp. Lily screamed and dug her face into Severus's shoulder, as he started to fall. But before he hit the ground Remus screamed "Wingardium Leviosa!" and caught Peter one meter from the ground, and set him down. The children cheered for the brave Gryffindor boys.
"What is going on here?!" Madam Hooch screamed.
"Madam Hooch, I was a witness to it all." Lily said. "Lucius called Peter the m-word, then he made him ride on his broomstick with him and left him on the quidditch ring. Luckily James and Sirius retrieved him, but he slipped halfway down. So Remus caught him with wingardium leviosa."
Lucius and his friends looked at each other nervously.
"75 points from Slytherin! And Mr. Malfoy and your hooligans can expect to see me in detention every day this week!" Madam Hooch fumed. "Oh and excellent bravery to the three of you. 25 points each to Gryffindor. Some of you may have what it takes to be on your Quidditch teams one day. If you're interested, come and watch the upperclassmen tryout."
"We will." James said excitedly.