This chapter is for katt1222 who story alerted this, giving me a reason to update, especially since my bff hasn't gotten back to me with edits for this chapter yet. I did edit it myself though, and I think it'll do the story justice.

DISCLAIMER: Madam Hooch's lines are quoted directly from the first HP movie, which is owned by Warner Bros. I would have quoted the book but my mom lost our copy of Sorcerer's Stone. :P

Chapter 3 - O'Malley

Slytherins Attack

September 2, 2009

Later, on their way to Defense Against the Dark Arts, O'Malley was looking at his new friends and thinking how lucky he was. Ever since he'd found out what he was, he'd been worrying that it would make a difference to people. After all, he had no idea what to expect. He'd tried to read his textbooks to find out more about the magical world, but he had never been much of a reader. That was always his little sister, Rissy. Thinking of his sister, he smiled. She was only seven but she could read faster than anyone he knew. He was really hoping she'd turn out magical too so that she could come to Hogwarts with him, but he doubted it; nothing strange had ever happened around her like it had for him. Looking back at his friends, he was again grateful for their acceptance of him despite being muggle-born. This lot even seemed to think it was cool; always asking him about muggle stuff; so fascinated by the simplest things.

Just as he thought this, a group of Slytherin first years came up behind them. "Oh look. I spy a filthy little mudblood."

At that last word, Lyra spun around and spat out, "Don't you ever call him that again or I will tear you limb from limb!" O'Malley was astonished by the ferocity behind her words. Not even when she had been yelling at the top of her lungs earlier, had there been this much force behind what she was saying. Truly, she was a scary at the moment, and the words weren't even directed at him. How that boy wasn't cringing in fear was beyond his comprehension.

"Does Little Miss No-Daddy have a crush on the mudblood?" The Slytherin boy continued. "Do you have to fight for him because he's too chicken to fight for himself?"

How did this boy know about Lyra's dad? She had barely even mentioned the man to him. And there hadn't been anyone nearby to hear. He shook these thoughts off as he looked at Lyra again. O'Malley didn't know what a mudblood was, but what he did know was that the use of the word had made her look ready to commit murder if someone didn't do something. And quick.

Walking forward, he got between Lyra and the Slytherin boy and pushed her backwards saying, "He's not worth it. Just let it go."

She fought against him, but he held her back, refusing to let her do anything detention-worthy. After all, if Teddy's Aunt Ginny wouldn't like him getting detention, she also probably wouldn't like him spending time with people who got detention.

All of a sudden, Professor Longbottom walked up. "Is something the matter here, Mr. O'Malley?" he asked, seeing O'Malley's attempts to restrain Lyra, though the Professor had no way of knowing from what he was restraining her.

"Nothing sir," O'Malley replied. After all, he had stopped her from hurting anyone, and he doubted that what the Slytherin had said was enough to give him detention.

The Professor looked suspicious but he chose to drop it after glancing at the Slytherins. He simply said, "Then you lot should all be heading into my classroom now. Get moving."

O'Malley was quick to obey, dragging Lyra after him as Leo and Teddy followed. Not wanting to seem like teacher's pets but also not wanting to be thought of as troublemakers needing extra detentions, they headed for the middle of the classroom. O'Malley made sure to steer them towards desks on the opposite side of the room from the Slytherin boy and the rest of the group he had been with. It was never good to ask for trouble in his book. Not with a teacher so close to give out detentions at the slightest sign of wrong doing.

He got his supplies out and settled down to take notes as Professor Longbottom began to lecture.

XXX

By the end of class, O'Malley was in a mild state of shock. Though they had yet to learn any spells or jinxes or anything he'd read about in his textbook, just hearing about what all they would learn over their years at Hogwarts was enough to make him want to say 'Brilliant!' repeatedly. For once, school seemed like it could be something enjoyable, rather than the torture that the years at muggle primary school had been.

The Slytherin boy, whose name he had found out was Edwin Avery, looked as though he thought this was all a joke, but O'Malley had already decided that he was going to do his best to avoid him. He didn't want Lyra to get in trouble for letting her temper get the better of her in his defense. From what Leo had told him and Teddy the night before about her and her pranking tendencies, it seemed as though she would be getting plenty of detentions on her own. He didn't want to add to her work load. Especially, since Hogwarts was a boarding school, detention could last all the way until curfew if you did something bad enough. At least according to what he'd overheard on the train ride here. Apparently, many of the older students had been forced to suffer through these long detentions multiple times through their years. Thinking back to what happened before class and how close Lyra had gotten to doing something worthy of a detention, he again thought about the word that the Avery boy had used. Mudblood. There hadn't been time yet for any of his friends to explain what mudblood meant, but he had a feeling it was right awful. But what exactly did it mean and what made it so ruddy awful? he wondered.

Just then, he heard Professor Longbottom call out, "For homework, please read the first chapter of your textbook, The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, for our next lesson. You are dismissed."

O'Malley gathered his things together and got up along with Leo, Lyra, and Teddy. As they headed for the door, he asked, "So, what does mudblood actually mean, exactly?"

At the mention of it, Lyra got that right terrifying look on her face again and Leo looked as though he was preparing to restrain her if necessary.

Teddy was the one who finally answered after a look at Lyra. "It's a really nasty name for someone who is muggle-born, like you. It's like saying you have dirty blood. That you're beneath everyone else because your parents aren't magical." O'Malley still didn't see what was so awful about it that Lyra would get that angry. It just sounded like an uncreative insult. Seeing the look on his face, Teddy continued. "It's always been a real awful thing to call someone, but it's been worse since the War. We've told you the basics, but I think we forgot to mention the basis of Voldemort's ideology. He was all for the purity of blood. He wanted to eliminate all muggle-borns and only keep enough muggles around to act as slaves to a ruling wizard regime. It was a horrible time from what my family says, though they don't like to talk about it much. Especially Grandma Dromeda. My grandfather was killed during the War for being muggle-born. My point though is, that now, when someone uses that word, it's like saying you wish Voldemort had won the war." Teddy finished with a shudder.

O'Malley stood there in shock. He'd read a bit about Voldemort in his textbooks and his friends had told him a bit, but he must have missed that part. There was after all, a large part of their History of Magic textbook that was devoted to Voldemort and his regimes during the First and Second Wizarding Wars. To think, if he had been born twenty years earlier, he would probably be dead now – his thoughts broke off there, almost scared to continue down that particular road. Finally he said, "Alright. But I still don't want you lot getting in fights for me. Especially you Lyra. You're going to be getting enough detentions on your own without getting them for me too."

He gave her a stern look until she broke and said, "Blimey. Alright. I won't go gettin' in fights for you. But," she continued defiantly, "I will fight that Avery git if he tries to insult me again."

O'Malley sighed, knowing it was the best he'd get out of her. "Well then. Now that that's settled, let's get to class before we get detention for being late."

As they headed off, he thought that worrying about getting detention had somehow turned into the biggest part of his life at the moment.

XXX

They walked out into the courtyard to see Madam Hooch, who was getting on in years, standing next to several rows of broomsticks.

She greeted the class briskly, saying, "Good afternoon class."

The class dully responded, "Good afternoon Madam Hooch.

"Welcome to your first flying lesson."

At hearing those words, O'Malley started to bounce around excitedly. He couldn't wait to fly. He'd always wanted to, ever since he was a little kid. If anyone talked to his mother, she would regale them with stories of his childhood exploits as he tried to discover a way to fly. The one she always started with tended to involve him, roofs, pillows, and plastic wings. Second was always him, swing sets, and leaf piles.

He jumped as he heard Madam Hooch call out "Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone, step up to the left side of a broomstick."

O'Malley ran over to the broom closest to him before being dragged away by Teddy. He was about to get angry and being dragged from something he had wanted so badly for so long when Teddy said, "That's an awful broom. Follow me and let's see about getting you one that'll actually work properly."

"Alright. How about that one? It looks quite nice." The one he was pointing to looked a bit less beat up than the rest of the brooms and the twigs that made up the end were still somewhat streamlined, rather than pointing out all over the place.

Teddy looked at his choice before saying, "It'll do." He sighed before continuing, "I wish I could've brought my broom. It's much easier learning to fly on a good broom."

Once everyone was settled next to a broom, Madam Hooch again called out saying, "Now. Each of you stick your right hand out over your broom and say Up!"

Teddy and O'Malley did as told and both their brooms jumped promptly into their hands.

"Now, once you've got hold of your broom, I want you to mount it. And grip it tight. You don't want to be sliding off the end. When I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground hard. Keep your broom steady, hover for a moment, then lean forward slightly and touch back down. On my whistle, three, two," she blew her shrill whistle.

O'Malley went through the lesson, always doing as he was told for once. After all, he did not want to fall to his death as soon as he got his first chance to fly for real, instead of just jumping through the air and waiting to fall.

As the lesson ended, Teddy said, "You're a natural. With some practice, you'd make a good Quidditch player."

"But when am I supposed to practice?" O'Malley knew that to practice Quidditch, he would need time outside of normal flying lessons, and the pitch was reserved for team practice. It's not like he could practice at home during the holidays either. Living in a muggle neighborhood, people would look askance at a boy flying around on a broomstick.

"You can come to my house this summer. The Weasley/Potter clan always has someone willing to play Quidditch. And we've got people for every position so you can try them out and find what's best for you."

"That'd be wicked mate! Thanks! But wait, I haven't got my own broom, and I don't think my parents will consider it a necessity to buy one unless I make the house team."

"Oh, don't worry about that. We've got plenty of extra brooms you could borrow."

Just then, a girl (quite pretty, O'Malley thought) walked up to them. "Hi," she said nervously.

"Hi," O'Malley said. He wondered what she could possibly want seeing as how he'd never even seen her before just now.

She spoke up again, saying, "I was just wondering if you'd like to hang out some time. With me, I mean?"

This new school thing was doing wonders for O'Malley, he thought. New name, real friends, and a girl asking him out already. And a right pretty one at that. "Sure, I'd like that. Tomorrow night, after dinner?"

"Okay," she said before walking away, though not before shooting a glare at Lyra, who had just walked up.

"What's she glaring at me for?" Lyra complained loudly.

O'Malley, relatively clueless in regards to the thinking of girls, replied, "No idea. But guess what she wanted?"

"No idea. Please enlighten me, oh excited one," Lyra said, clearly bored.

"She just asked me to hang out with her!" O'Malley on the other hand was clearly excited that a girl had taken interest in him.

"I tried to warn you. I should probably start carrying one of those love potion antidotes around with me so you don't embarrass yourself."

At that, O'Malley glared at her and stalked off, heading for their next lesson.

Thanks for reading! Now, please review, because I've seen my story stats and I've had more than 2 readers but only 2 reviewers. The more you review, the faster I'll update!