Chapter Summary: Alex/Harry has flying class, he and Beth impress Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall with their flying skill, and has a run-in with Malfoy.
Alex found himself settling into Hogwarts life rather easily. He enjoyed having more time to spend with Ron and Neville, and was on good terms with his other dormmates Dean and Seamus, though not quite on the level of friends. This didn't bother him, as Dean and Seamus were pretty much best friends with each other by the end of the first week. Hermione was still rather annoying, though she appeared to be trying to be less so. However, Ron didn't seem to notice, as the two were often at odds with other, and frequently bickered. It didn't help matters that Hermione was rule-abiding and extremely focused on her schoolwork, while Ron was more lax regarding the rules and didn't care too much for schoolwork unless he found the subject interesting or it was presented in a way that made learning fun.
Beth got along with Hermione the best, Alex was making an effort to get along with her, and Neville was immensely grateful for her help in subjects he struggled with, except for the times when she continued going on and on in lecture mode or started using an extensive vocabulary, which would then result in Beth explaining things in simpler terms. After that, Hermione would get a bit insulted, exclaiming, "But that's exactly what I said!" and Beth would sigh and patiently reply, "But not everybody understands you when you use large words, Hermione. You need to use layman's terms when explaining things to others that don't have your extensive vocabulary."
On Thursday was the first flying class for the Gryffindors, which was to be with the Slytherins. Alex was not pleased about that, as he would have to deal with Malfoy and his two cronies. Crabbe and Goyle weren't really that important, as they were somewhat lacking in the brains department and seemed to exist mainly to do Malfoy's bidding. Malfoy, however, was another matter. He had decided to hate Alex and his friends after that that confrontation on the Hogwarts Express, and had absolutely no problem in annoying them in some way whenever the teachers weren't around. Alex could put up and ignore any taunts about him being a Gypsy and halfblood, but insults to his sister and friends were another matter. Also, Pansy Parkinson and her little posse of girls, which included Daphne Greengrass, Millicent Bulstrode, and another girl named Tracey Davis, decided to target Beth and Hermione.
However, flying was one of Alex's favorite activities, so he was determined to not let the Slytherins cloud his enjoyment. Hermione, on the other hand, was extremely nervous, as flying wasn't something that you could learn out of a book, not that she hadn't tried. She bored them all at breakfast Thursday with flying tips that she had gotten out the book Quidditch Through the Ages. Well, Alex wasn't exactly bored, for it was one of his favorite wizarding books, but he didn't need to hear Hermione talk on and on about the tips she had read. It came as a relief when the mail arrived, interrupting her lecture.
Alex's owl, Hedwig, flew in with letters from Ginny, Luna, and his parents, while Cloud showed up with a letter from the grandparents and a package of food from Aunt Sarah. Mrs. Longbottom had sent Neville a Remembrall, which was a glass ball the size of a large marble that would turn red when you forgot something. The only problem was that it wouldn't tell you what you forgot.
It turned red as Neville was holding it, and while he racked his brains trying to figure out what it was that he'd forgotten, Draco and his two goons happened to walk by. Malfoy snatched the Remembrall, causing Neville to protest, "Hey!" and Beth to snap, "Give it back, Malfoy!"
Alex and Ron stood up, half hoping for an excuse to fight Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble faster than any other teacher, was there in a flash. "What's going on?"
"Malfoy has my Remembrall, Professor," answered Neville.
"I was just looking," scowled Malfoy, handing Neville back his Remembrall and sloping off with Crabbe and Goyle following.
Quidditch class was taught by Madam Hooch, who was also the referee during most Quidditch matches. She ordered everyone to stand next to a broom, hold out his or her hand over it, and say, "Up!" Alex's broom flew up to his hand at once, but it was one of the few to do so. To Alex's pleasure, Malfoy had to say, "Up!" three or four times before the broom would fly to his hand. Neville had to say it about a dozen times before it would do so, Ron's broom hit him in the face when flying up, and Hermione's broom merely rolled in the grass.
Once everyone had a broom in their hands, Madam Hooch taught them how to mount. She praised Alex on his perfect grip, who flushed with pleasure, and was even more delighted to hear her correct Malfoy's grip, telling him that he had been doing it wrong for years.
"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle — three — two — one."
The class kicked off into the air, Hermione still looking rather nervous. Alex couldn't help it and went up higher than the few feet that Madam Hooch had asked everyone to do. In fact, he went up a good thirty feet before realizing what he had done and quickly dived back to the ground.
"Very good, Mr. Romanov," said Madam Hooch, looking slightly impressed, "though in the future please follow my directions." She then directed the class to take off again, this time allowing those that were more comfortable to fly higher than a few feet.
It turned out that Neville's Remembrall had fallen out of his pocket and had been picked up by Malfoy, who was now tossing it up and catching it up in the air. "Give it back, Malfoy," snapped Neville when he noticed.
"Why should I?" demanded Malfoy, who saw that Madam Hooch was busy with helping Hermione.
"It's not yours and you shouldn't take other people's belongings without permission!" retorted Alex.
"Oh, like the Gypsies did?" asked Malfoy sarcastically.
Alex flushed, while Beth snapped, "If it weren't for prejudiced gits like you that wouldn't let us Romany people have proper jobs and whatnot in the past, we wouldn't have had to resort to stealing in order to survive!"
"Give it back or I'll knock you off your broom!" shouted Alex.
Malfoy flew off, proving that he was a good flier. Alex followed him, showing that he was better. After a minute of this, Malfoy had enough and threw the Remembrall high into the air, shouting, "Catch if catch can!"
Alex went streaking after it. Madam Hooch, who had turned from Hermione and now saw what was going on, shouted, "Mr. Romanov, what are you doing? Stop it at once!"
Alex ignored her and continued diving after the Remembrall, a tiny part of him wishing that he was on his Comet rather than on a school broom. About a few feet above the ground, he caught the Remembrall and pulled out of the dive. The watching Gryffindors cheered, except for Hermione, who looked somewhat disapproving. Alex landed, walked over to Neville and handed him back his Remembrall. Madam Hooch came over, an expression that was a cross between being impressed at his flying skill and being annoyed for not listening to her directions.
"Mr. Romanov, that was a very foolish thing to do," she scolded. "You could have broken your neck. On the other hand, that was also excellent flying, and a wonderful catch."
"I've flown before," said Alex modestly with a shrug. "And Charlie Weasley gave me some pointers when it turned out that I had some skill as a Seeker."
"Alex, you flew well the first time you were on a proper broom," pointed out Beth. "Even on a toy broom you were great. And Charlie himself said that you might be a better Seeker than him."
Alex flushed in embarrassment at the praise, while Madam Hooch looked him over appraisingly and said, "Well, well, it seems that we have a natural flier here. Anyway, Mr. Malfoy, five points from Slytherin for taking someone else's belonging and not returning it immediately. Mr. Romanov, five points from Gryffindor for not obeying me and five points to Gryffindor for the splendid dive and retrieving Mr. Longbottom's Remembrall. "
When class ended, Professor McGonagall asked to speak with Alex privately. Looking mystified, he followed her to her office, where he found a burly fifth-year boy that he knew vaguely as Oliver Wood, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.
McGonagall proceeded to explain that she had seen Alex catch the Remembrall from her window, and knew right away that he would be perfect as a Seeker on the Gryffindor team. However, as a first-year, he couldn't have his own broom at Hogwarts, and the rule couldn't be bent, not even for him. She gave Alex a signigicant look when she said that, and he knew she was referring to the fact that he was really Harry Potter. He also knew that the rest of the wizarding world didn't know, so it would raise questions if what appeared to be a regular first-year was allowed to bring a broom to school.
McGonagall continued on to say that as a compromise, Alex was allowed to be the reserve Seeker on the Gryffindor team. Next year, he would be allowed to be a full member of the team, as the current Seeker was a second-year boy that wasn't much good at it, though he was a very good flier. He was surprised to hear that he was even allowed to be on the team, since first-years usually never made it on the house teams, even as a reserve. The last one had been a century ago.
McGonagall and Wood concluded the meeting by telling Alex that as a reserve, he didn't have to attend all practices like the full members, but it would be best for him to go to at least one practice a week so that he could have experience working with the rest of the team and help Cormac McClaggen improve his Seeking skills. With that, the meeting ended and Alex left.
Beth, Ron, and Neville were delighted to hear that he was made reserve Seeker for the Gryffindor team. Hermione wasn't quite so pleased about it, pointing out, "You weren't supposed to go diving like that, Alex. Madam Hooch told you off for it, remember? You can't go around expecting to be rewarded every time you break a rule or something similar.:
"Look, I wasn't expecting to be made a reserve Seeker, Hermione!" snapped Alex. "Besides, what did you expect me to do when Malfoy decided to throw Neville's Remembrall like that? I couldn't very well Summon it, since we haven't learned the Summoning Charm yet. If I let it fall to the ground, it could have broken, and the Repairing Spell isn't one we've learned either. The only thing I could do was just go after it and try to catch it. And since I'm a pretty decent Seeker, I had a good chance of actually catching it."
"You're more than just pretty decent, Alex," interrupted Neville. "You're as good or better than Ron's brother Charlie, and he's good enough to play professionally for England. If he hadn't decided to work on a dragon preserve, he could have done so."
Alex only shrugged, because he wasn't the type to boast about his abilities. He generally downplayed them, and if he did say something like, "I'm a really good at Quidditch", it was always in a way that came across as a simple statement of fact, much like if he were saying that Luna had blonde hair, Mars was the fourth planet from the sun, or that July had thirty-one days, and not as if he was bragging. When it came to other people's accomplishments and skills, he had no problem with pride being apparent in his voice when talking about them, but not with himself.
At dinner, Malfoy, a sour look on his face, walked over to Alex, with Crabbe and Goyle following. "You think you're so wonderful, you halfblood Gypsy trash?" demanded Malfoy.
Neville glared at him and Ron opened his mouth to retort angrily, but Alex spoke first. "Compared to you, I am. Compared to someone like Professor Dumbledore or Merlin, I'm not. And could you please come up with more creative names to call me than 'halfblood Gypsy trash'? It really shows off your lack of imagination. I mean, I can come with things to call you besides 'prejudiced pureblood idiot', even if it is what you are, Malfoy."
A pink tinge appeared on Malfoy's cheek. "How dare you! I'm so much better than you in every way, Romanov. You're the one that's an idiot, considering who my father is and what he could do to you or your family."
"No one's ever going to lay a finger on any member of my family!" Alex snapped, going with cool and collected to angry in a flash, for he did not tolerate any threats to his family. He silently counted to ten in order to calm down and in a level tone of voice, added, "I really don't think much of you, Malfoy, if you have to bring your father up in your threats. Can't you ever do anything for yourself instead of hiding behind your family or those two idiots that follow you around?"
"Of course I can! I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only — no contact."
"I'm not interested in dueling with a pathetic git like you," replied Alex coolly. "Just go away and figure out a way to be more imaginative and intimidating."
"Why, are you too scared to duel me?" demanded Malfoy. "Do you know that you're going to lose?"
"No, I simply just don't feel like fighting you!" snapped Alex, trying to keep a hold on his temper. "Just because I despise a person doesn't mean I go out to incite them into fighting me."
"You're too scared," insisted Malfoy, a smirk on his face. "You know you're going to lose the duel."
In order to shut Malfoy up and get him to go away, Alex retorted, "Fine, if you want to duel me so badly, we'll have a duel then!"
At that point, Beth and Ron said at the same time, "I'm your second, Alex." The two exchanged looks and then turned to Alex so he could decide. After a few seconds of thought, he chose Beth to be his second and asked Malfoy who his second was going to be.
Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up. "Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."
When they left, Hermione burst out, "Alex, what were you thinking? You mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you. And Beth, I thought you had much more sense than to go along with your brother."
"This really isn't any of your business, Hermione," said Alex, annoyed. "Besides, I'm not going to duel Malfoy. I only said I would to get him to shut up and go away."
"But when you don't show up, he'll think you'll have chickened out," protested Neville.
"Nev, that's not going to happen. I would bet all my stuff that Malfoy's not going to show up either and is instead planning to use this as a way to get me and Beth in trouble. He's most likely going to tip off a teacher or Filch about how there will be students in the trophy room at midnight."
"Oh," said Neville, while Ron looked a bit disappointed at the fact that Alex and Malfoy weren't going to duel after all.
Beth whispered something to Hermione, who turned pink and then said to Alex, "I'm sorry about my outburst, Alex. I just didn't want you to get in trouble and lose points for Gryffindor. I didn't realize you figured out what Malfoy was up to."
"Apology accepted, Hermione," replied Alex with a sigh. While he was making an effort, he still found Hermione annoying at times, though at least Beth was there to tell her whenever she was being annoying and then she'd apologize for it.
After dinner, the quintet went to the Room of Requirement to do their homework and practice some spells. After a couple of hours of studying, Ron and Neville started a game of chess, Harry took out his journal and started writing in it, and Beth and Hermione became immersed in some books.
By the time they stopped, they realized that it was an hour past curfew. None of them were happy about this, especially Hermione, who was horrified at the idea of being out in the corridors after curfew and berated herself for not keeping track of the time. Fortunately for them, the Room of Requirement was on the same floor as the Gryffindor common room, so there was less chance of being caught. They managed to make their way back to the common room without running into a teacher, Filch, or his cat Mrs. Norris, to their relief.
The next morning, Alex walked over to the Slytherin table, a cheerful grin on his face. Malfoy looked confused by this until Alex said, "Oh, your little trick didn't work, Malfoy. I only said I'd duel you in order to get you to shut up and go away, and once you said to meet at the trophy room at midnight, I knew you just wanted to get me in trouble and weren't going to show up either. The next time you want to get me in trouble of some sort, try to be a bit more creative and sneaky about it."
Disappointment and anger flashed in Malfoy's face, proving Alex right, and then Malfoy hid it and snapped, "Go away, Romanov."
Potions class didn't turn out quite as well that day. Malfoy purposely knocked over the bottles with Alex's and Beth's samples of potion, breaking it and prompting Snape to sneer, "Well, well, looks like you get a zero for the day, Mr. and Miss Romanov. What a pity."
Alex and Beth strode back to their cauldron, intent on getting a new samples, but Goyle and Crabbe, probably purposely, tripped and knocked them over before they could. When Snape asked what had happened, Malfoy claimed that Alex and Beth had pushed Goyle and Crabbe, which resulted in five points taken from Gryffindor and the 'twins' being asked to stay behind.
Once the rest of class had left, Snape demanded, "Did you really push Goyle and Crabbe or not? Because I would hate to find out that you really are a bully like your biological father, Mr. Romanov."
"Of course not, Professor Snape," answered Alex. "I wasn't raised to be a bully. And neither was Beth."
Snape sighed. "All right then. The five points I took are restored to Gryffindor. As for the potion samples that Malfoy broke, there is nothing I can do about that, but I will not actually give you two zeroes like I said in class. You are dismissed."
That evening, Alex had his first Quidditch practice. Fred and George Weasley were the Beaters, while the Chasers were Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, both third-years, and a second-year girl named Katie Bell. The Seeker, Cormac McClaggen, was rather unpleasant. While he was an excellent flier, he didn't have the build of a Seeker and looked more suited to be a Beater or Keeper, and was not happy at the fact that a first-year was on the team, even as a reserve. He made snide marks about it until Alex proved that he was a far better Seeker. After that, Cormac looked sulky about having to learn from a first-year, and tried to act like he knew more about Quidditch than everyone else. It was clear that the only reason he was on the team, besides the fact that the rules couldn't be bent for Alex, was that nobody else who tried out for Seeker was any good at it.
None of the other members were happy with McClaggen as part of their team, and from Fred and George's expressions, they would have loved to hit the bludgers at him if it weren't for the fact they needed him concious and unhurt to catch the Snitch. When practice ended, a very grumpy team returned to the castle. Wood and the Weasley twins were grumbling about the fact that Alex couldn't become a full member, and the Chasers wished that McClaggen didn't have to be on the team.
Author's note: Sorry about the time it took to update. I was busy with other things. If anyone has any ideas as to how Harry/Alex is to find out about Fluffy, please tell me in a review or PM. I would have had them find out when they stayed in the Room of Requirement until after curfew, but then realized that since it and the Gryffindor common room were both on the seventh floor, it wouldn't make any sense for them to end up in the third floor, even if Filch or a teacher were nearby.