Chapter 3 – Learning Magic

Andrew never was a morning person, even less so when he'd not had much sleep, but groggily sensing that Dean was about to activate his lightsaber got him moving.

"Whoa!" Dean exclaimed as the weapon was pulled from his grasp and into Andrew's hand, which was barely sticking out from under his covers.

"Don't play with this thing, it could kill you," Andrew croaked while falling out of bed with a thump.

He got dressed slowly and followed Harry and Ron down to breakfast, he noticed the whispering instantly. It followed them all the way down to the Great Hall, where they all pretty much had the same meal.

Their first lesson was Transfiguration; they got all the way to the third floor before Nearly Headless Nick told them it was on the first floor. So they started running back down, halfway between the second and first floors a step decided to vanish from under Andrew's foot and he went sailing through the air as he tripped.

He bounced twice and landed on the first floor, sprawled all over the place. He was limping and had to do so while Force running, just to keep up with Harry and Ron.

They got into the class and thankfully McGonagall wasn't there, though there was a cat sitting suspiciously on her desk.

"Made it," said Ron to Harry as Andrew limped behind them, it was just a sprained ankle. "Can you imagine the look on McGonagall's face if we were late?"

At those very words the cat leapt off the desk and turned into Professor McGonagall, she looked very stern, Andrew was surprised, which didn't happen often.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron said.

"Why thank you for that assessment Mr Weasley," she answered, not liking his use of language. "Perhaps it would be more useful if I transfigured Mr Potter, Mr Payne and yourself into a pocket watch, that way one of you might be on time."

"We got lost," Harry answered.

"Then perhaps a map," she suggested.

"Well that leaves me out," said Andrew while limping past. "Too many people tell me to 'get lost' for me to be of any use as a map, I could be the watch if you like."

Professor McGonagall's eye twitched, Andrew wasn't certain if it was from annoyance or an attempt to not laugh.

"I trust you don't require a map to find your seats?" she asked sarcastically.

During the course of the day Andrew had another round with Peeves and won again, this time without his lightsaber. Peeves had tried to drop something green and slimy on Andrew and he just dodged it and sent an army of suits of armour throwing themselves at the poltergeist, who then decided not to keep bothering.

Harry, Ron and Andrew also had a nasty run-in with Filch, he'd caught them trying to open a door to the forbidden corridor, just as Andrew was going to try using the Force. He'd refused to believe that they were lost, but thankfully Professor Quirrell saved them.

Andrew didn't know why, but he got a very nasty vibe from Filch's cat, Mrs Norris. For some reason she wouldn't stop staring at him, he was tempted to try a mind trick, but thought he'd get into trouble from Filch if he did.

Andrew seemed to be slightly ahead of everyone else in astronomy, since it was a required subject at the temple. Herbology was a deathly fascinating subject too, especially after one plant, which he could've sworn had eyes, decided to bite Harry's backside. He was surprisingly let off for his use of language then.

How anyone managed to stay awake in History of Magic was beyond Andrew, he barely managed History of the Force back home, but at least there the Master in charge tried her best to keep things interesting.

The ghost teaching here would just drone on and on in a monotone voice, Professor Binns had apparently fallen asleep in front of the fire in the staff room one night and when he got up the next day, he'd just left his body behind, it was unclear if he even knew he was dead.

Their first Charms lesson was highly entertaining, for one thing Professor Flitwick, a very tiny man who had to stand on a pile of books just to see over his desk, had fallen off his stack when he'd read Harry's name, for another he had them learning the theory of levitation so that they'd be ready to perform the matching spell.

"Umm, sir? I can already levitate objects." Andrew said with a raised hand while lifting an entire pile of books, using the Force of course, with the other.

"Yes, well Mr Payne you'll just need to learn how to do that with your wand as well," Flitwick answered in a squeaky chuckle.

Defence Against the Dark Arts turned out to be slightly disappointing. Quirrell seemed to be more scared of his subject than the fact that at least two people in his class, Gryffindors and Slytherins were in one or two classes together, were carrying potentially fatal weapons.

After four days of feeling like total idiots, Harry, Ron and Andrew actually managed to get down to breakfast without getting lost once. They had potions with the Slytherins and Andrew wasn't looking forward to it, mainly because their teacher was the Head of Slytherin House, which meant they might be able to get away with more in his class than with other teachers.

Post had arrived, it caught Harry and every first-year muggle-born off guard the first morning, but now they were used to it. Andrew got another letter from home, this time 'oh dear' from his parents, he hadn't told them about coming to Hogwarts, it had completely slipped his mind.

Dear Andrew,

I can understand you forgetting to keep in regular touch with us due to your training, but your father and I would much prefer hearing news like this fromyou rather than your Master.

But don't get us wrong, we're proud of you no matter what happens, we have sent a letter to your new Headmaster, asking that he possibly explain everything to us, because we're not sure what it all means.

But on the brighter side, at least we now know where to send your birthday gifts, which reminds me, can your owl carry a lot of weight, I don't want to harm him by overworking him.

Please keep in touch, or ask Master Cooper to do so, he does a better job of keeping our fears at bay, and have fun at school (I miss being able to say that).

All our love,

Mum and Dad

Andrew chuckled at his mother's last comment. He quickly wrote a reply, saying he was sorry for forgetting, that he would check with Dumbledore on any possible procedures on birthday presents being delivered and write them again once Snowfire returned to him. Snowfire enjoyed a bit of Andrew's pumpkin juice and bacon then flew off to deliver Andrew's reply.

Hedwig had delivered Harry a letter for the first time ever, normally she just came to stick with Snowfire. Harry hastily replied to his letter and sent her off, mentioning that Hagrid wanted to have tea with him that afternoon, he suggested that Andrew and Ron come too and they agreed.

Potions lessons were conducted in the dungeons, where it wasn't exactly warm, Snape seemed to 'feel' evil to Andrew, but maybe it was just his own emotions getting the better of him. "(Even Master Cooper would be shaken by this guy,)" Andrew thought, when Snape's head snapped in Andrew's direction, he wondered if Snape could read minds.

His eyes looked malicious and cruel, and when he spoke, that whisper sent a shiver up and down nearly everyone's spine.

He spoke of the subtle art and exact science that was potion making, he told them that he could teach them much, as long as they weren't as stupid as most students, his eyes bore into Andrew's when he mentioned stupid students and the Jedi felt slightly insulted.

Snape started picking on Harry for some reason, asking him questions, which Hermione seemed to know the answers to, that Andrew only vaguely remembered reading about in his text book.

When Harry decided to be defiant, Andrew had to repress the urge to laugh. He smirked anyway, but Snape didn't look happy at all.

"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione, who had been standing up when Harry shot a retort at Snape. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone, taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"

Andrew had seen that coming a mile away and had started writing from the moment Snape said 'well', he also wasn't surprised when Snape took points from Gryffindor, okay he was a little surprised when Snape only took one point, but wasn't about to complain.

Snape wasn't too happy about Andrew and Jax using the Force to assist themselves, but he'd been informed that they were to practise at every possible opportunity, so to make up for it they were to both work alone.

Andrew wasn't doing bad, but it seemed that nobody could do better than Malfoy, Jax came a close second, but Andrew was certain that he and Hermione were doing better, he brushed that thought aside for the moment.

At one point Neville melted a cauldron and ended up with some severe boils growing all over his body, Snape ordered Seamus to take him to the hospital wing and blamed Harry for letting Neville get something wrong and took another House Point.

At this point Andrew was close to seething with Snape.

"Out of curiosity, Jedi, I've seen members of your council get angry and even use Force Lightning to … shall we say 'let off steam', why don't you?" Jax asked Andrew, they were working next to each other and obviously the Sith could sense Andrew's growing anger.

"Because I'm not sure I'd be able to stop, if I start," Andrew answered. "Besides, I'd prefer not to get expelled for attacking and possibly killing a teacher."

"Humph, makes sense I suppose," Jax muttered.

"Can I ask you something Jax?" Andrew said.

"You just did Jedi, but I doubt that was your question," answered Jax as he and Andrew took their cauldrons off the heat and added the last ingredients and started to pack away.

"Ah, there you go, I've introduced myself to you as Andrew Payne, so why do you refuse to call me

anything other than Jedi?" Andrew asked.

"Because you're a Jedi," Jax answered bluntly as he set up a timer for his potion to cool before he could pour it into a phial.

"And if another Jedi were in this conversation?" Andrew asked slyly.

"Than I'd be forced to use your last names!" Jax snapped, his hand twitching for his lightsaber.

"That would be preferable to just being called 'Jedi' Jax, I'm a person, kindly treat me as such," Andrew answered darkly.

"Enough both of you!" Snape snapped, both students knew that he was standing there and listening to their conversation the whole time, but didn't really care."Starr get your hand away from that weapon before I confiscate it!"

Jax growled and reluctantly moved his hand away.

"Professor, there's no need to stop him, I could easily take him," Andrew taunted Jax with a smirk.

"I couldn't care less if you two decide to fight, but do so out of range of my class room, I don't want anything damaged!" snapped Snape.

That was the only lesson that they had for that day, at nearly three o'clock the three boys walked to Hagrid's Hut, he had a huge dog, called Fang, and Andrew took to the animal like a fish to water, the dog was awesome.

They talked about everything, from the twins being chased away from the forest by Hagrid, to Filch, who Hagrid called 'that old git', and Mrs Norris, to Harry's fears that Snape had it in for Harry, that subject Hagrid tried his best to avoid, even to the point of talking about Charlie, Ron's eldest brother, Harry had tried talking about the break-in at Gringotts, it seemed that it had happened when they'd met at Diagon Ally.

Hagrid had avoided that subject too and now the three lads were walking back for dinner, their pockets weighed down by rock cakes, which were more like rocks, which they were too polite to refuse.

The next day, being Saturday, Andrew had decided to sleep in, he'd regretted that when he woke up and looked right into a set of icy grey-blue eyes, he jumped and Mel laughed.

"How in Yoda's name did you get into this tower … AND WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN THE BOYS DORMITORY!?" Andrew yelled, causing Ron to snort awake "You want to go back to sleep," Andrew said with a wave of his hand, but it didn't work and Ron ignored him, maybe snapping wasn't a good idea for mind tricks.

Mel laughed again and hugged Andrew, he returned the gesture as Jarod walked in, the hug said it all, 'it doesn't matter how or why, I missed you and I'm here now'.

"Nice bed, I can see us having trouble getting you to come home at all," Jarod joked, Andrew half-heartedly threw a pillow at his Master who didn't even need to raise a finger to make it hover in the air and throw it back, Mel released Andrew and he realised this in itself was a test of his skills.

Andrew dodged the pillow and sent every other soft object at his Master, using the Force and with everything he had, Jarod stopped most of them, but one pillow hit him.

"Well done, you've improved," he said, he motioned for Mel to follow him and they left, Andrew got dressed and ran for breakfast, he ate quickly and attempted to find his mentor and friend, Harry followed him, having been at breakfast when Andrew turned up and hurriedly ate his meal.

Jarod and Mel were sitting on the grass by the lake, meditating along with Dela.

"Hello again Harry," Mel said without turning.

"That's a little creepy," Harry stated feeling unnerved.

"Well how else do you think nobody ever sneaks up on?" Andrew asked rhetorically.

The three Jedi stood up and turned "Harry, you may want to move," Dela suggested as they turned to him.

After Harry had taken the advice Mel stepped forward, Andrew knew what was going to happen next and drew his lightsaber, Mel drew her blade from her left sleeve and that told Andrew which style she was planning on using.

She was starting off using Soresu; she'd be remaining highly defensive while Andrew stuck with switching between Djem So and Shien.

Their sabres ignited and Andrew charged, his blue blade clashed with her green one and it was on.

Within minutes Mel was grounded, Andrew had parried one of her attacks, countered and then switched to Shien, which went more with speed, and took her feet out from under her; she was now sprawled on the floor with Andrew's sabre pointing at her throat.

"Give?" he asked, smirking.

She shook her head and Force-pushed him, leapt to her feet and drew a blade from her right sleeve, she was now using Jar'Kai, two blades simultaneously. In her left hand was a purple lightsaber and her right hand held a green blade, one would be offensive and the other defensive. The trick was figuring out which was which, but the worst was how the two of them had attracted a crowd.

Taking the crowd's distraction as her opportunity, Mel charged, Andrew blocked and flipped over her and attempted to attack from behind. Madam Pomfrey was complaining to both of the Jedi Masters about what the Padawans were doing, but since she was here she could fix any damage, should there be any.

Their duel continued, Mel had truly become a master of Jar'Kai since she was able to so easily switch which blades did what. Her one weakness was her stamina, she tended to put too much power and effort into her attacks. Eventually Andrew defeated her, opting to slice her leg when she left an opening, he'd hated himself for doing it, and Jarod scolded him, but not for injuring her, but for holding back.

"(I didn't want to hurt her)" Andrew thought darkly.

Someone started clapping slowly and everyone looked over to see a tall woman who could easily have been related to Malfoy, she definitely had his hair. But one quick glance revealed that she wasn't even a witch, she had a lightsaber at her belt, by the looks of things it was double-bladed, Malfoy had been fascinated by Jax and his use of the Force, so clearly he had no Force-Sensitive relatives. At the same time Andrew didn't recognise this woman, which added up to just one thing, this woman was a Sith Lord.

"I must say that was an excellent display, I'm eager to see how you would perform against someone without holding back young Jedi," he offered her hand politely, her eyes asking an obvious question.

"Andrew Payne," Andrew said while accepting her hand.

"Drexia Lee, Sith Master. I believe you've met my Apprentice Jaxon," she replied.

"Jedi! Get away from my mother!" Jax bellowed as he marched down the lawn towards them.

"Speak of the devil," Drexia sighed.

"Mother?" Jarod inquired; his hand on Andrew's shoulder.

"Adoptive," she answered simply, "Jaxon, I was just watching this young man in combat, I would like to see how you fair against him."

Jax smirked. "It would be my greatest pleasure to kill him my Master," he said formally.

"No, you are not to kill him my young apprentice," she said scolding, "you may be training to be an assassin, but I don't want you killing people at school." She looked at the Jedi Master, "Minimum settings to be safe?"

Jarod nodded and pulled Andrew aside "How do you feel about this?"

"Master, that guy has been digging at me from the moment I met him" Andrew said scowling, then he smirked, "I'd very much like to take him down a peg,"

Jarod smiled "Very well then," he supervised Andrew placing his weapon onto its safety level and walked back to Dela and Poppy Pomfrey and was joined by Drexia.

"They're only just getting to a safe level? Why not earlier?" Poppy demanded.

"Andrew would rather saw his head off with a blunt spoon than cause harm to Mel," Dela answered.

"Jaxon however, wouldn't think twice about killing someone, let alone a rival," Drexia added.

"And Andrew just told me that Jax has been annoying him all week, he'd like to take him down a peg or two, trust me Madam Pomfrey, if theyhad their weapons at the full power, they'd kill each other and not be too bothered. Could you be ready for when it's over? Even at the lowest setting, a lightsabre will cause a verysevere burn." Jarod finished.

Poppy nodded and everyone gathered backed, very far, away, somehow knowing what was coming next.

Andrew ignited his sabre and moved into a Shien stance, Jax activated his weapon and held it in the reverse-grip Shien stance.

Andrew held his weapon in both hands above his head, his leg poised to kick off the ground and charge.

Jax on the other hand held his weapon flush against his arm, standing side ways, from Andrew's point of view, but Andrew knew it was a ploy, a trick to make opponents think that he wasn't ready to fight.

Andrew moved first, charging forward and bringing his weapon down on Jax, but he simply swung forward and blocked with little effort. Andrew then went with a kick to Jax's face, Jax spun and went low, trying to burn Andrew's legs but he'd jumped over the blade and Force pushed, sending himself into the air.

Jax shot lightning from his fingertips and Andrew used his sapphire blade to absorb the energy as he came back down to the ground. Jax shot forward, spinning and making a downward diagonal slash, which Andrew dodged with little effort, grabbing the Sith's wrist and spinning swiftly, Jax's momentum was turned against him and he landed hard in the lake.

"I'd suggest you give up here Jax," Andrew taunted while summoning Jax's weapon to his hand and pointing it at its owner.

To say that Jax was annoyed would have been only partially true, he was furious. Jax got to his feet and allowed all of his rage to come to the surface, down his arms, to his hands where lightning shot in Andrew's general direction, it was powerful, but not well aimed.

Andrew blocked with his blade and decided to give Jax his own, he hurled it at him and it stuck in Jax's left shoulder, burning through both clothes and skin, it was painful enough to distract him and stop the onslaught of lightning.

Jax pulled out the weapon and got back into his starting stance and Andrew switched back to Djem So, they both charged together, but this time Andrew slid along the ground, between Jax's legs, and brought himself to his feet behind Jax.

Jax obviously wasn't expecting this and was punished by several slices to his back, had this been a real fight, he'd be dead by now and that angered him even more, the pain in his back was too great, he fell to his knees, close to unconsciousness.

He fought through the pain and released his rage in a flurry of attacks, Andrew couldn't keep up with all of them, he started to go completely of the defensive, what didn't help was Jax using lightning and other Force powers with his free hand, within about a minute, Andrew was beaten, battered, bruised and burned all over.

The Slytherins who were watching cheered and roared over Andrew's defeat, the Jedi Masters applauded politely while Mel dashed forward to help her fellow Padawan, holding one of her lightsabers against him, she didn't trust this guy as far as she could Force throw him.

"You want some too girly?!" Jax demanded, getting in Mel's face. She replied by simply pushing him away.

"You come anywhere near him again and I'll kill you!" she threatened with venom in her voice; Drexia came over and offered to help Mel move Andrew over to Poppy.

Andrew was breathing heavily, his breath coming out in wheezes. "I apologise Master Jedi," said Drexia with a bow "I didn't expect my son to go this far."

"It wasn't a challenge, he'd been worn down by her," snapped Jax, to which Mel glared at him.

Drexia wasn't too pleased with what Jax had done, and even less so by what he was saying, so, as was traditional with the Sith, she punished him by gripping his neck through the Force.

She ignored his gagging sounds, "You are being highly disrespectful, my young Apprentice, an attitude like yours is unworthy of being a Sith, you willbegin to at least be civilised towards the Jedi or you will be expelled from our ranks, and you know what thatmeans," she finished her small lecture and released him, he'd been lifted into the air slightly and therefore he dropped to the ground with a thud on his knees.

"Please inform your student that if my son should continue to be … hostile … I want to know immediately." She said to Jarod and left, telling Jax to continue his training.

The rest of the day was spent with Andrew getting over that fight, Pomfrey had done wonders for the burns, though the pain was still subsiding, but he wanted to show his Master and friend around, Dumbledore said it was fine, but insisted that McGonagall join them, just to make sure they didn't get lost.

Dela had opted to speak with the teaching staff and stayed in the Great Hall, they had just finished lunch.

The first stop was the dungeons, where Snape reluctantly explained his subject, demonstrating at the same time by mixing a strong pain killing potion for Andrew, after they'd left Jarod mentioned that he got a bad vibe coming from Snape.

"Same here Master," Andrew had answered. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he could read minds."

Next was the Transfiguration class where McGonagall explained her subject, she was just as direct as Snape, but seemed less reluctant. She showed them some of the more advanced spells of her field by changing her desk into a pig and back again.

The next stop was the library, Mel was speechless at the sight of the place, it had to be at least three times the size of the Jedi library, but unfortunately not a single book was fictional, nothing but facts in here.

Without leaving the second floor they stopped in Professor Flitwick's classroom, he explained the subject of Charms, mentioning that Andrew was slightly ahead of the rest of the class in his levitation magic.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Andrew said calmly while slowly waving his wand to the right and then giving it a casual flick, this caused a nearby chair to start lifting off the ground.

"Somewhat interesting," observed Jarod, "I take it you're forced to learn at the same pace as your peers."

"Sadly yes, Master." Andrew responded, trying not to let on how he felt a little held back.

They continued onto Defence Against the Dark Arts on the third floor, Quirrell was pleased to meet the two other Jedi and was only too happy to explain his subject in his stuttering voice.

"He seemed to be rather terrified didn't he?" Mel asked after they left, they stopped, only briefly, on the fourth floor, History of Magic, since they got the general idea simply from the name of the subject.

After that McGonagall showed them the Astronomy Tower where Professor Sinistra explained what she taught, she and Jarod had a rather long conversation about the heavens, Andrew and Mel exchanged knowing looks with McGonagall.

"I've never seen that look on his face before," Andrew said, giving Mel a light nudge with his elbow.

"She's never show an interest in men since she started teaching," McGonagall added, thinking back to when she was a student at the school. "She used to when she was a girl but that's teenage life for you."

"You'd be amazed how little that goes on in the order, Professor," Mel responded. "We have rules we need to follow, complicated ones."

Next was a complete tour of Gryffindor Tower, where Andrew and Jarod found out the hard way that men were not permitted in the girl's dormitories, an alarm of some kind went off and the stairs melded into a slide, sending Andrew and Jarod falling face first into the smooth surface, much to McGonagall's amusement.

Groaning, Andrew got to his feet. "You knew that was going to happen," he accused his head of house, causing her and Mel to start giggling. "Consider yourself warned, Professor, I owe you one!"

"Oh no, I'd sleep with one eye open if I were you Minerva," Jarod cautioned, having been on the receiving end of Andrew's vengeance.

Professor Sprout happily explained the various plants that she taught students to care for, when the Venomous Tentacular bit Mel on her backside and she swore at it, Sprout didn't even bat an eye, however McGonagall kindly asked Mel to mind her language.

"Don't worry about it Minerva, everyone says something along those lines when that thing gets them," Sprout said.

Their last stop was the Quidditch Pitch, where the Ravenclaw team were holding a training session, they offered Andrew a chance to see how he would do for his second year, when he could tryout for the Gryffindor team, but Andrew respectfully declined, saying it would be rude to do so while he was showing Jarod and Mel around.

Once the tour was over, it was dinner time, after which Jarod wanted to observe Andrew while he meditated. While they ate quietly, Andrew looked over at Professor McGonagall, trying to decide how he was going to get her back, when Mel suddenly decided to levitate a cream pie and splatter it into his face.

"What the hall was that for!" Andrew yelled while wiping cream off of his face.

"Just the fun of it," she answered coyly, ducking as someone shouted 'food fight' and caused multiple people to start throwing food. Andrew took the opportunity to get his revenge on McGonagall by hovering two cream pies up to the teacher's table and crashing them onto either side of her head.

Eventually the Head Boy and Girl, with assistance from the Prefects, had stopped the fight, since it was Mel who'd started it the teachers couldn't exactly give her a detention, so they just sent everyone to get cleaned up.

The three visiting Jedi were given spare rooms to stay in for the night, they would train Andrew for the whole next day and then return home during the Sunday night.

During Sunday Andrew not only faced off against Mel, but Jarod too, they also focused on lifting multiple heavy objects with the Force, and to finish off the day they all had a Force run race around the lake, in which Andrew came second, Dela had come first and Jarod had tripped and come last.

So now it was Monday and back to the normal routine, Andrew, Harry and Ron had stopped being late for lessons, but they found that they had yet another lesson with the Slytherins, Flying lessons would be taking place on Thursdays.

Harry wasn't too pleased about messing up in front of Malfoy on a broom, but Andrew and Ron convinced him that he'd do alright. Andrew on the other hand was looking forward to what he thought would be realflying, cockpits always kept the wind from flying through a pilots hair, true anybody could be skilled in a pilot's seat, but few got the pleasure of flying naturally, Andrew couldn't wait.

During the week, everybody in the first year, Muggle-borns excluded, started boasting about how much experience they'd had in flying on brooms, though Andrew did go off the handle a little at Malfoy and his Slytherin gang.

"For your information Malfoy, I happen to be one of the best pilots in the Jedi order, if something can get off the ground, I can fly it, and I'll prove it in the air this Thursday!" he'd snapped before storming off.

During the next two days Andrew did nothing towards Malfoy other than glare, he'd nearly punched him on Thursday morning when he'd stolen Neville's Remembrall, but McGonagall had noticed trouble quickly and Malfoy got away by saying that he was only looking, he returned it to Neville and left.

Now it was three thirty in the afternoon and everyone was gathered around a bunch of broomsticks, most of them looked nervous, Hermione and Neville being key amongst them, Neville had never flown in his life and Hermione was clearly scared of heights.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, had iron-grey hair and blazing yellow eyes, if she was pale-skinned, Andrew would be convinced that she was a vampire.

She definitely wasn't the patient type, she ordered them to stand by a broomstick and told them how to easily move a broom into their hands, Harry, Malfoy, Andrew and Jax seemed to be the only ones to get it first time, everyone else either had a broom that rolled over or just didn't move at all.

They were shown how to mount a broom properly; Madam Hooch adjusted grips where needed and then gave orders to take off on her whistle.

Neville had kicked off the ground early and ended up falling from at least twenty feet, Andrew caught him before he'd hit the ground, using the Force, but poor Neville was too terrified to try again.

Hooch had everyone else up in the air in under a minute, first they just took off and touched back down again, basics really; soon they were running a course of magical rings, the person that completed the course in the quickest time would receive fifty House Points.

It was while Hermione was flying the course, at a snails pace, that Harry noticed Malfoy playing with Neville's Remembrall.

"Give that here Malfoy," Harry told him quietly.

Malfoy just smiled evilly "No, I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect, how about up a tree?"

Madam Hooch was too busy giving Hermione encouragement to notice Malfoy jump onto his broom and fly off, Harry hot on his flying heels.

Malfoy wasn't too pleased that Harry was finding flight so easy, Harry told him to return the Remembrall or be knocked off his broom, Malfoy tried to sneer at Harry, but his worried look ruined the effect, Harry shot at him, but Malfoy dodged, barely.

"No Crabbe and Goyle to save your neck up here Malfoy," Harry taunted.

Malfoy then decided to give in and hurled the glass ball into the air and returned to the ground, the ball reflected the sun's light and caught Hooch's attention as Harry streaked across the sky after it, the ball was going for the castle, just next to Professor McGonagall's office window, but before it could smash, or Harry could fly through her window, Harry flipped over in mid-air and caught the Remembrall.

To say that Hooch was angry would be untrue … she was incensed.

She was bellowing at him and not letting anyone explain in his defence, when Professor McGonagall ordered Harry to leave with her, Andrew and Ron were convinced that he'd be expelled.

While Harry was gone, Hooch had everyone else flying the course, by the time Harry came back, much to everyone's surprise, it was just Andrew to go.

Harry had a rather shocked look on his face, McGonagall exchanged a few whispered words with Hooch and she nodded.

"Potter, you're not to fly this course, as punishment for your actions you're to stay firmly on the ground, is that understood?" Hooch barked, Harry nodded quickly, wanting nothing more than to avoid anymore trouble and Hooch told Andrew to fly.

It wasn't really one course, but more like five that melded into each other. The fastest so far was Malfoy at five minutes and four seconds.

Andrew shot forward into the first course, a simple lap, he finished in less than fifty seconds, the second course was exactly the same, but with smaller rings, Andrew finished with the same time. The third course required Andrew to fly up and down through small rings, he finished in just over a minute; he was at two minutes and thirty eight seconds so far, he was matching Malfoy.

The fourth course had all the difficulties so far, as well as tight turns; Andrew flew them perfectly, so far not having made a single difference for anyone else, however when he came to a turn where everyone else had either slowed right down or crashed into a wall, he flipped onto his hands, fell to his right, kicked off of one wall and flew through the ring without either slowing down orcrashing, he finished course four in a minute and a half.

The fifth and final course had small rings, various heights, tight turns and just to make things interesting, the rings were moving. Andrew managed to complete that course in precisely fifty two seconds, since it was the shortest.

"Congratulations Mr Payne, you completed the entire course in exactly five minutes, beating Mr Malfoy by four seconds," Madam Hooch yelled up to him.

Andrew dived, somersaulted off the broom and onto the ground, catching his broom behind his back.

"As I said Malfoy, you get it in the air, I'll fly it!" he yelled triumphantly while pointing at the Slytherins. "Haden Christianson, eat your heart out!" he twirled his broom in his hand and laid it across his shoulders.

All those who had watched muggle movies got the joke, and laughed, and Madam Hooch awarded fifty points to Gryffindor then dismissed the class.

At dinner Harry told his two best friends what had happened when McGonagall had taken him away, Ron was impressed and Andrew congratulated him on his achievement.

"Seeker, but first-years never get to play, you've got to be the youngest player in …" Ron started.

"A century, according to Wood, I start training next week but don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret," Harry finished.

Fred and George walked in and congratulated Harry in hushed tones, mentioning that they were Gryffindor's Beaters; they were closely followed by Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Jax.

"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?" Malfoy asked, much to the amusement of the other three.

"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," Harry replied coolly.

"I'd take you on any time on my own," snapped Malfoy, causing Andrew to make a move.

"Fancy saying that again with a lightsabre at your throat?" Andrew asked threateningly.

"I'll take you up on that Payne," Jax growled.

"When and where, Starr?"

"Tonight if you want."

"Same here Potter," Malfoy chipped in, "wizard's duel, wands only, no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before I suppose?"

"Of course he has, I'm his second, who's yours?" Ron said, throwing himself into the conversation and saving Harry a little embarrassment.

While Malfoy sized up Crabbe and Goyle, Andrew answered Jax.

"You're on Jax, you've been bugging me for a rematch ever since you finished what another Padawan started, you want a Duel of the Fates, you've got one!" he yelled in a whisper, trying not to gain the attention of the teachers.

"Crabbe," Malfoy said answering Ron's question. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked."

"What's a wizard's duel?" Harry asked as the Slytherins walked away. "And what do you mean, you're my second?"

Ron explained that a second took over a fight if the first combatant died, but in this case that wasn't likely since the most Harry or Malfoy could do was throw sparks at each other.

Hermione turned up and tried to convince them not to bother, but they pretty much ignored her. "What I want to know is; what's a 'Duel of the Fates'?" Ron asked.

"It's what most people call a fight between a Jedi and a Sith, in most occasions it's to the death, but I guarantee that won't happen. He won't beat me again," Andrew explained.

"I've seen one of those," Hermione piped up.

"Are you stillhere?" Ron demanded, but now it was her turn to ignore him.

"I was shopping for Christmas presents one year, and this Sith Lord tried to kill someone, but a nearby Jedi jumped in the way, when it was over the Sith Lord was in pieces and most of the centre was in ruins, the television shop got hit worst," She explained.

"Force lightning I'd imagine," Andrew said thoughtfully, she nodded.

"And that's even more reason why you're bound to get caught, Andrew and Jax will tear the place apart!" she exclaimed.

"Not likely," Andrew laughed, "I know the exact duel you're on about, Saturday December seventeenth, nineteen eighty-eight. It began at ten-fifteen in the morning and was over at one-oh-five in the afternoon. The Jedi was Zan Axfow, he's the head of the healing arts in London, the Sith was Joseph Metro and his target was one of Margaret Thatcher's aides, his name was struck from the record to protect his privacy." he recited.

They all stared at him. "How the hell did you know all that?" Ron asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione answered. "He has a photographic memory."

"Correction, an eidetic memory, 'photographic' memory is a misnomer," Andrew added. "Anyway, those two fighters were fully trained and in their prime, me and Jax are like Harry and Malfoy in that sense, neither of us has enough knowledge of the Force to cause any real damage, except to each other.

Hermione tried once more to get the three boys to reconsider fighting, but walked away when she realised they were all ignoring her.