Muggles were crazy.
Draco watched in awe as they rode on a thin little piece of wood with wheels nearly straight down for like ten feet, before momentum threw them forward and back up again into a jump before doing it all over again.
Without any magic at all to protect them or heal them.
They were absolutely bloody insane.
"Brilliant, isn't it?" Harry asked watching the suicidal muggles with rapt awe.
"How can they do that?" Draco asked. "Don't they get hurt?"
"Oh, all the time," Polkiss said with a grin. "I broke my arm real bad when I first tried the half-pipe, and I've strained my thumb and ankle a few times since then. The trick is to not be afraid of the pain. It's totally worth it."
"I'm not scared," Draco snapped.
Polkiss' grin turned feral. "No? Want to give it a try, then?"
Draco swallowed hard and gave Harry a silent plea for help, but Harry just looked excited at the prospect of trying it out.
"Well," Draco hedged, "I don't really have the right shoes for it."
"Sure you do," Polkiss said, grabbing Draco by the arm and dragging him towards the Curved Slope of Death.
Polkiss handed him his board, and showed him how to position it at the edge of the drop.
"When you're ready, you just step firmly onto the other end of the board," Polkiss said. "The trick is to be fearless, Rich Kid. If you tense up or try to pull back, you'll crash and burn."
Draco gulped.
The ramp had looked high from the ground, but Draco swore it looked taller than the quidditch stands from up here. How was this so much scarier than flying?!
He stood at the edge and tried to psych himself up.
It didn't work.
He was too paralyzed with fear.
He began to tremble and to his horror and shame, tears began burning in the corner of his eyes.
He refused to cry like a baby!
"I can go first if you want!" Harry offered, bouncing up and down in excitement.
Shaking with relief, Draco scrambled back from the edge.
"I knew you weren't a coward, Potter!" Polkiss laughed, showing Harry how to place his feet.
"Shouldn't we be learning that on flat ground, first?" Draco asked bitterly. He hated being set up for failure.
"Probably," Polkiss said blandly, "but that's boring."
"It's okay, Draco. I want to try this part!"
Draco had to bite his tongue to keep from reminding Harry that he'd nearly fallen to his death barely over half a year ago.
Harry'd fallen, and Draco had froze.
Like a coward.
He'd promised himself he wouldn't do that again. Damnit.
Harry practically leaped from the edge in his enthusiasm, flying down the ramp. He almost had it, but wobbled at the last moment, and fell on his back, skidding across the smooth surface next to the board that had escaped him.
Draco's heart was in his throat as he watched Harry for signs of injury.
"Alright Harry?" Polkiss asked, leaning forward over the edge.
Draco was sorely tempted to have him a push.
"I'm fine!" Harry said, grabbing the board and jumping to his feet. "Can I go again? I think I know what I did wrong."
"That's how you learn!" Polkiss said, reaching down to help Harry scramble up the face of the ramp to the ledge above.
Draco sat and sulked as he watched Harry go again and again, wiping out over and over until, one time he didn't.
He stayed on his feet and even managed to grab onto the opposite lip of the ramp, dismounting cleanly.
"Way to go Harry!" Polkiss called out. "You'll be a pro in no time!"
Harry grinned and rode the board back over to their side. "That was awesome! You want a turn yet, Draco? It's really fun!"
Draco very much doubted it, but he also didn't want to look like a coward and a fool un front of Harry and his muggle friend.
"Yeah, okay," he said shakily, climbing to his feet.
"Alright, Rich Kid!" Polkiss said.
Draco wanted to slap him.
He wanted to slap everyone who had put him in this stupid position, really.
Including Harry.
Including himself.
He felt nauseous.
Harry had fallen, and he was fine. Draco could do this.
The worst that could happen was he'd look like an idiot when he fell.
Or he'd crack his head open and bleed out before his mother got back with her wand to heal him.
Merlin's balls.
There was nothing for it. Moving quickly so he wouldn't have time to think, let alone over think, Draco grabbed the skateboard, put it in place, and stepped off the edge.
He immediately flinched, leaning back instead of forward like he was supposed to.
Limbs flailed everywhere as he rolled to a stop, one gigantic bruise.
Every bone in his body wad broken, wasn't it? He wasn't even going to make it to his second year at Hogwarts, let alone graduate.
"Ooh, nasty spill, Rich Kid. You alright?"
"I'm fine," Draco snapped, hauling himself to his feet and glaring up at his jeering section.
"Good," Polkiss said with a sardonic grin. "You've gotta go again."
"What?" Draco asked without thinking. "Why?"
"Because," Polkiss drawled, "if you don't go again now, you never will. Get back on the horse, or whatever. Come on!"
Draco grumbled under his breath, but did what he was told.
The second time did not go any better. It hurt just as bad, and he wasn't any less scared.
He was just waiting for himself to land wrong and get a serious injury.
The only thing that kept him from throwing a fit and stalking off was Harry cheering him on.
Draco sighed.
It was so easy for Harry.
This was exactly like flying.
Draco had better technique, better form, but he hesitated. Harry was fearless. It made Harry better than him.
Maybe… maybe this was what he needed. Bagman had told Draco he needed to overcome his fear if he ever wanted to be a world class flier, but that was easier said than done.
When all that was at stake was a race to the snitch, it was too easy for his instincts to take over and sabotage him.
With skateboarding, though, it was his fear that was causing him pain.
He needed to lean forward.
Maybe, if he could master skateboarding, he could master flying.
He needed to try.
From then on, Draco threw himself down the ramp with a ferocity that surprised him.
He didn't quite have it yet. He still flinched or held back, or second-guessed himself at exactly the wrong moment, but he was getting better.
He would master this.
"Draco," Harry called out, pointing down the street. "Your mum's here!"
Draco said his goodbyes and grabbed his things, heading for the rented limberline.
"How did it go?" his mother asked.
"It was great, Mrs. Malfoy. Thanks so much for arranging this!"
His mother chuckled. "You're welcome, Harry. And you, dear?"
Draco, filled with righteous determination, straightened his spine and said, "Mother, I need a skateboard."
His mother looked at him as if she had just now realized she had been raising a hippogriff all these years.
Behind him, Harry burst out laughing.