Flying.
"I don't want to," Eight year old Lyra pouted.
Lyra was in the back garden with Scorpius. The ten year old had decided it was time to teach his little sister how to fly, but Lyra wasn't having any of it. Unlike Scorpius who was fascinated with flying and had learnt to fly when he was small, Lyra had no interest in learning how to fly. Lyra was very much like Hermione, and wasn't in the least bit interested in quidditch, brooms or flying.
"Every witch and wizard has to learn how to fly," Scorpius argued.
"Mum can't fly," Lyra shot back. Technically she knew Hermione could fly, she just didn't like to, but that argument didn't work as well as saying her mother couldn't fly.
"She had to take lessons in school though," Scorpius retorted. "You'll be starting Hogwarts in a few years, and you'll have to take flying lessons. It'll be easier if you can already fly."
"I'm not flying," Lyra insisted stubbornly. "Not now and not in school."
"You'll have no choice in school," Scorpius said.
"I will," Lyra replied, although she sounded much less sure of herself. "Mum can write me a note so I don't have to fly."
"It doesn't work like that, Lyra," Scorpius snorted. "I'm just trying to help you, but if you're not interested, I'll leave."
"Good," Lyra said, sitting down on the lush green lawn and folding her arms over her chest. "I'll stay here while you fly."
"You'll soon be begging me to teach you how to fly," Scorpius predicted as he jumped on his broom and shot up into the sky.
Not at all interested in watching her brother show off, Lyra collapsed back onto the grass. Lying staring up at the sky, she began to worry about what Scorpius had said. She'd never had any interest in learning how to fly, but what if he was right and they forced her onto a broom when she got to school. The last thing she wanted was to look stupid because she didn't know how to fly.
Reluctantly, Lyra sat up and caught her brother's attention. With a smug smirk, Scorpius expertly landed his broom in front of where she was sitting.
"I take it you want my help now," He said, his smirk growing wider.
"Only because I have to," Lyra grumbled. "I don't want people to laugh at me because I can't fly," She confessed in a small voice.
"No-one will laugh at you," Scorpius said protectively. "They wouldn't dare laugh at a Malfoy."
Lyra didn't doubt her brother for a second. By the time she started school in a few years, Scorpius would already have been at Hogwarts for a couple of years and she knew there was no way he would allow anyone to make fun of his little sister. Scorpius himself might like to tease her and make fun of her, but he wouldn't stand for anyone else doing the same thing.
"Come on Lyra, it's easy," Scorpius said, holding his hand out for his sister.
Lyra took hold of Scorpius's hand, and stepped closer to the parked broomstick. "Promise you won't let me fall."
"I promise," Scorpius vowed.
Slipping easily into the role of teacher, Scorpius showed Lyra the right way to mount a broom. The pair practiced mounting and dismounting several times, until Lyra finally felt comfortable on the stick of wood. With mounting and dismounting sorted, Scorpius turned his attention to making sure Lyra knew the best way to sit on the broom, and the best grip to use. Again, they practised for a while until Lyra felt comfortable enough to leave the ground.
"On the count of three, kick off from the ground," Scorpius ordered as he climbed onto the broom behind his little sister. "One, two, three."
On three Lyra hesitantly kicked off from the ground. The take-off wasn't the smoothest considering Lyra had put no force into her kick off, but the broom did lift off the ground. With Scorpius issuing directions to his sister, Lyra warily guided the broom around the back garden. They didn't go very fast or very high, but it was fast enough and high enough for Lyra.
"We can pick up speed if you want," Scorpius suggested, growing bored at how slow they were flying. His broom was still a child's broom and didn't reach the height and speed his father's did, but it could still perform pretty impressively for a child's broomstick.
"No," Lyra answered shakily. "No more speed." She was using all her concentration just to stay upright, adding more speed would only make things worse.
"Let's bring the broom back down to earth," Scorpius said after another few minutes of slow flying.
With Scorpius's guidance, Lyra brought the broom back towards the ground and stopped it with a shaky shudder. As quick as she could, Lyra jumped off the broom while Scorpius dismounted at a more leisurely pace.
"A few more lessons and you'll be great," Scorpius said to his little sister, giving her an encouraging smile.
"I don't want to be great," Lyra replied. "I hated the whole thing. I never want to get on a broom again."
"Look on the bright side, flying lessons are only for first years," Scorpius said. "By second year, you'll not have to fly again."
"I can't wait until I'm in second year," Lyra muttered as she thanked Scorpius and headed indoors.
Like her mother, flying just wasn't her thing. She was quite content to keep her feet on the ground and leave the flying to her father and brother.