Chapter 6: Flying
"Hello" – Normal Speech
'Hello' – Normal Thought
"Hello" – Non-Human Speech
'Hello' – Non-Human Thought
DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, I do not own the rights to the Harry Potter or Naruto franchises. Nor do I own the rights to Hogwarts Mystery. Wish I did though.
It was their first-ever flying lesson as Gryffindors and Slytherins faced each other in two rows, brooms at their feet. Madam Hooch, a woman with short spiky hair and yellow hawk-like eyes walked between the lines. "Good afternoon, class," she said. "Good afternoon, Madam Hooch," the class said back. She stopped at the head of the lines and began, "Welcome to your first flying lesson. Well, what are you waiting for? Step up to the left side of your broom, place your right hand over the broom, and say up," As soon as she finished speaking the student's yells of "Up!" rang throughout the training grounds. Harry, Naruto, and Josh had their brooms shoot up immediately into their hands. The entire class stared at them for a moment before they began to try again. Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass got their brooms up on their second attempt, while many others were still struggling. Ron shouted "Up!" for the fourth time and his broom whacked him on the nose. "Shut up," he muttered as Harry, Naruto, and Josh snickered slightly.
After everyone got their brooms in their hands, Madam Hooch said "Now, I want you to mount your broom and grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end" the instructor explained. The class did as they were told, and Hooch continued, "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, and then lean forward slightly and touch back down, on my whistle…3…2…" But before she could blow the whistle, Neville shot upwards. It seemed his broom went rogue as it flew rapidly through the air, and it dove for the other students a few times. The others ducked or hit the ground to protect themselves and the broom was back off into the air. He hit the walls of the castle and zoomed towards a statue of a man holding a spear. His robes caught on to the spearhead, but soon they ripped, and he fell to the ground.
Hooch ran forward to check on Neville and found that he had broken his wrist in the fall. Neville was rushed to the infirmary, but not before Hooch threatened every student with expulsion if they were seen flying their brooms without permission. Malfoy snickered at the scene and looked down to find Neville's Remembrall on the floor and picked it up. Daphne Greengrass watched on, looking rather disapprovingly at Draco. Draco laughed, "Did you see his face? Maybe if that fat lump had given this a squeeze, he'd remember to fall on his fat arse" he said as a couple of the Slytherins were laughing with him. The Gryffindor group frowned at them, Harry went up to Draco and glared at him, "Give it here Malfoy!" Harry said. On the Slytherin side, Daphne grabs Draco's shoulder and coldly says "I suggest giving the Remembrall to him or else…" Malfoy scoffed at her and tossed the ball into the air a few times, he looked back at Harry and said "No, I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find." Malfoy mounted his broom and took off. "How about up on the roof?" he said as he flew higher, "What's the matter, Potter? A bit beyond your reach?" Malfoy taunts.
Harry saw red and took off after him. Hermione tried to warn Harry, but it was too late as he flew off into the sky, "What an idiot!" she muttered in annoyance. As Harry and Draco were in the sky, Harry threatened Draco to give him the Remembrall and flew straight at him. Draco dodged Harry and looked very nervous. Harry was good, too good for someone who hadn't flown on a broom before. "Not so tough without your backup, are you?" Harry taunted. Draco seemed to realize this and had an idea, "Catch it if you can then, Potter," he said and threw the Remembrall as hard as he could. Harry flew off to catch it, but the Remembrall was near enough to smash against the wall of the castle. Harry put on a burst of speed, caught the ball, and barely managed to avoid smashing into the wall and pulled away in spectacular fashion. Everyone cheered as he came down and dismounted from the broom, all except Malfoy and his crew. "Harry Potter," a voice rang out. It was Professor McGonagall, and she was in shock at what she had seen. "Follow me," she said. The other students tried to defend Harry, but all defense was stifled almost immediately. "Follow me, Potter" Harry sullenly followed her, while Malfoy and his posse laughed. Naruto, upset, pulled out his wand, ready to use it on them. Josh held him back. Naruto was ready to lash out at him, "Let me go, Josh," he said quietly to which Josh replied. "No, I have a good feeling about this. McGonagall saw what he did, and I'm pretty sure she was impressed."
Meanwhile, Harry followed Professor McGonagall wondering just what she would do to him. "Wait here-" she said to Harry, snapping him back to reality. They were outside the defense against the dark arts classroom. "Professor Quirrell, sorry to interrupt. Can I have Wood for a moment?" Quirrell nodded his head. Harry wondered if she would use wood to hit him when Wood showed up and turned out to be an older fifth-year student. "Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood, I believe I have found you a seeker!" she exclaims, surprising the older boy. Harry was confused and asked, "What's a seeker?" Oliver then explained the positions and the rules to Harry and asked him to meet him at the Quidditch field at the weekend to practice.
"Seeker?!" Ron asked in shock, "But first-years never make house teams. You must be the youngest quidditch player…" "In a century, according to McGonagall," Harry finished. Fred and George then showed up. They congratulated Harry and revealed that they were the "beaters" of the team, whatever that meant. Harry then felt rather nervous, as he had never even played Quidditch. Hermione, who was passing by, heard Harry and went over to assure him and told him that the sport was in his blood. She led the boys to the trophy room and showed them the trophy of Harry's father. After that revelation, they wanted to head back to their dorms, as it was beginning to get dark. As they took one of the stairs in the grand staircase, it began to move positions. "This way," Harry said when it stopped. They entered the door at the top of the steps and entered into an eerie corridor. "Does anyone feel like… we shouldn't be here?" Ron asks. "We're not supposed to be here. This is the third floor. It's forbidden," said Hermione anxiously.
They then heard a meow behind them and saw a cat. But not just any cat. "It's Filch's cat! Run!" yelled Josh. They dashed down the third-floor corridor and made it to a door. The only problem was it was locked. Hermione yelled, "Alohamora!" They ran inside a dark room and slammed the door behind them. After a few seconds, Josh spoke up. "Filch is gone," "How do you know that?" Naruto asked. "I just know," "Does he think the place is locked?" Ron piped up. "It was locked," Hermione replied. "And I'm beginning to see why," Harry continued.
Lying down in front of them was a huge three-headed dog that started to wake up. It growled angrily when it noticed the five, who screamed and managed to get out of the room and close the door. They ran straight to the Gryffindor common room.
"What do they think they're doing?!" Ron shouted as they entered. "Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?!" Hermione turned to Ron, "You don't use your eyes, do you? Didn't you guys see what it was standing on?" "I wasn't looking at its feet!" Ron retorted, "I was a bit preoccupied with its heads! Maybe you didn't notice. There were three!" "It was standing on a trapdoor. Which means it wasn't there by accident. It's guarding something," Hermione told them. "Guarding something?" Harry asked back. "Yes," Hermione answered. "Now, if you three don't mind, I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed. Or worse, expelled." And she went up to her dormitory and slammed the door. "She really needs to sort out her priorities," Ron said to Harry, causing Josh and Naruto to look at him reproachfully.
Harry and Ron went straight to bed, while Naruto and Josh stayed downstairs under the pretense of studying. However, try as they might, their minds kept wandering back to the dog and the trapdoor. "What do you think it's guarding, Naru?" Josh asked. To which Naruto simply shrugged.