Chapter 8: Flying Lessons
Cassia thought that school was going great, so far. At least she thought it was going great, but it seemed like some people thought her being sorted into Hufflepuff was the most hilarious thing ever, even after a week of being at Hogwarts. It was most of the Slytherins who seemed to find the whole thing funny, especially with the reputation that Hufflepuff had. She remembered Hagrid saying that Hufflepuffs are a load of duffers. Well, he actually said that everyone thinks that Hufflepuffs are a load of duffers, but still.
So, in the Hufflepuff common room, they saw a notice pinned up on the corkboard. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday, all of the houses.
"That's just great," Cassia muttered. "I always wanted to make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of everyone."
"Come on," said Lily. "I'll probably trip over one."
Cassia scoffed, "No, you wouldn't."
"Remember that trick staircase?" Lily asked.
Cassia remembered that, "Oh. You have a point there." Lily's foot had went through the trick staircase and Cassia remembered how Neville Longbottom had gone through the trick staircase too.
It seemed like the whole school could do nothing but not talk about flying on broomsticks. Ernie Macmillan talked about how he practically flew a toy broomstick when he was a kid. Malfoy kept complaining loudly about first-years weren't allowed to be on the house Quidditch team. He also boasted about flying, which always ended with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters. It seemed like Malfoy bragged about it whenever Cassia or Harry was nearby. Cassia was sure that he was trying to rub it in their faces. It was annoying. Seamus talked about flying around the countryside on his broomstick when he was younger. Not even Ron and Sally-Anne were immune to talks about flying.
Ron talked about how he flew on his older brother's old broomstick and nearly hit a Muggle on a hang-glider. Sally-Anne talked about how she flew off her broom and landed in the middle of a lake, which had halted all conversations at that.
People certainly talked about Quidditch a lot. Cassia heard a lot about teams and when the next World Cup was going to be. Cassia had found Quidditch fascinating, so she checked out Quidditch Through the Ages, which had maneuvers, what Quidditch was, the players, and history about Quidditch. She thought that it sounded wonderful. She hoped that when she got to her second-year, there would be a position open on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. That was, if Harry would let her, considering how violent it seemed.
She looked at the list of positions in the book and decided that being a Chaser didn't sound too bad because that was where most of the action was at. It looked simple. All you had to do was put the Quaffle through one of the hoops. It was like basketball, except there was a Keeper and it was on broomsticks and Cassia was pretty sure that she was good at basketball.
She looked at the Beaters and Seekers, but she didn't think she had the patience to be a Seeker and she didn't want to be a Beater. She didn't think she could hit anything away from someone, since she couldn't hit properly.
So at three-thirty in the afternoon, Harry, Ron, Cassia, Lily, and Sally-Anne hurried down the front steps into the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day, as they went down the sloping lawns. They headed to a smooth lawn on the opposite sides of the grounds to the Forbidden Forest.
"I was think that next year, I could try to join the Hufflepuff Quidditch team," said Cassia.
"Which position?" asked Ron.
"Chaser," Cassia replied.
"I'm not entirely sure," said Harry. "You don't do well with sports."
Cassia scoffed, "I thought I do well at basketball."
"Except you scored for the other team," Harry countered.
Cassia crossed her arms, "That was one time. And I was called the fifth best at basketball."
"I think you being a Chaser would be brilliant," replied Ron.
"Brilliant?" asked Lily sounding incredulous. "We don't even know if there would be a position open next year."
Ron smacked Cassia on the back, "I'll root for you if you make it on the Quidditch team. You know, Fred and George are Beaters on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Maybe they can help you out."
"If they want to help the competition," Cassia muttered.
They made it to the Quidditch pitch were the Slytherins and some Hufflepuffs were standing next to forty-two laid out broomsticks. The two Gryffindors and the three Hufflepuffs stood next to some broomsticks.
After everyone was assembled, Madam Hooch arrived. She had short, grey hair and yellow hawk-like eyes. She said, "Well, what are you all waiting for? Everyone stand by a broomsticks. Come on, hurry up."
Cassia looked at her broom. It looked like some twigs were missing and the wood looked like it needed to be sanded-down.
"Stick out your right hand over you broom and say, 'up!'" instructed Madam Hooch.
"Up!" everyone shouted.
Cassia's broom jumped right into her hand. She wasn't the only one because Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, too. Ron's broom had jumped right into his face while Hermione's broom rolled on the ground. It took a few more tries before Lily's and Sally-Anne's brooms got off the ground. Neville's broom stayed on the ground.
After everyone had gotten their brooms, Madam Hooch showed them how to mount the brooms. Cassia was surprised to find that there was a wrong way to mount the broom, but then again, she never flew on a broom before. However, she remembered the one time she had mounted a broom when she was seven and jumped off the last few steps on the stairs, to pretend to fly. Aunt Petunia had locked her in the shed for that.
Cassia found it hilarious that Malfoy had to be corrected on his grip, because he had been doing it wrong for years.
"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," Madam Hooch said. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly. On my whistle. Three—two—"
Neville shot straight into the air, like a bat out of hell.
Cassia couldn't help but gasp at that.
"Come back, boy!" shouted Madam Hooch.
Neville was now twenty feet in the air, however he slipped and fell, landing with a crack. He was now lying face-down on the ground.
Cassia watched as the broomstick rose higher and higher, then drifted to the Forbidden Forest.
Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face white. She muttered, "Broken wrist. Come on, boy—it's all right, up you get." She turned to the class, "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'." To Neville, she said, "Come on, dear."
When Madam Hooch and Neville were out of earshot, Malfoy busted out laughing. He said, "Did you see his face, the great lump?" It made the other Slytherins laugh.
"Shut up, Malfoy!" snapped Parvati Patil.
"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" a hard-faced Slytherin girl mocked. "Never thought you'd like fat little cry babies, Parvati."
"Shut up, Parkinson," snapped Cassia.
Before Pansy could reply, Malfoy ran forward and picked something up. "Look! It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."
He held up a large marble sized glass ball. It looked to be full of smoke.
"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry.
Malfoy smiled rather nastily, "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect—how about—up a tree?"
"Give it here!" shouted Harry, but Malfoy mounted his broomstick and took off. He hovered with the topmost branches of an oak tree. "Come and get it, Potter!"
Harry grabbed his broom.
"No!" shouted Hermione. "Madam Hooch told us not to move—you'll get us all into trouble."
"As if Malfoy won't?" asked Cassia. She grabbed Harry's arm. "Don't be an idiot!"
Harry shook her arm off and mounted the broom. He kicked off and he went high. Cassia gasped. Harry shouted something which made Malfoy reply. Harry shot forward and Malfoy moved out of the way. Harry turned around and Cassia clapped for him. Harry said something and Malfoy replied, and his arm rose.
Cassia knew what he was going to do. She mounted the broomstick and shot off, right as Malfoy threw the glass ball. The wind blew her hair back and she suddenly felt giddy. She spotted the glass ball and reached for it. Suddenly Harry was coming down and she served out of the way.
She watched as Harry plummeted to the ground and then pulled out of the dive.
"Harry and Cassia Potter!"
Professor McGonagall was running towards Harry and Cassia. She was shouting, "Never—in all my time at Hogwarts—"
Cassia felt sickened and she landed on the ground.
Professor McGonagall was still ranting, "—how dare you two—might've broken your necks—"
"It wasn't their faults, Professor—"
"Be quiet, Miss Patil—"
"She was just trying to get—"
"You, too, Miss Moon—"
"But Malfoy—"
"That's enough, Mr Weasley." Professor McGonagall interrupted, "Potters, follow me, now."
Cassia looked at the ground as she followed Professor McGonagall and Harry to the castle.
She knew that she was going to be expelled. She didn't know what she was thinking, going after the glass ball like that. She was sure that she hadn't been thinking at all. They were going straight back to the Dursleys'. She really didn't want to know what the Dursleys were going to say when they ended up on their front step.
Professor McGonagall stopped and opened a door, "Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"
Wood? Thought Cassia confused. Is she going to cane us? She was worried, but a fifth-year boy came out of the classroom. He looked at Harry, Cassia, and Professor McGonagall confused.
"Follow me, you three," said Professor McGonagall. She walked down the corridor and then she opened the door to the History of Magic classroom. Cassia wasn't sure what was going on. "Excuse me, Professor Binns, may I borrow Applebee for a moment?"
Cassia was sure that Applebee was a sixth-year student.
A short-haired girl walked out of the class. She crossed her arms and looked at Professor McGonagall, "Yes?"
"Follow me," Professor McGonagall said, leading them away. Wood and Applebee looked at each other warily, before following after the others.
Professor McGonagall stopped at a door and opened it, "In here."
The room was occupied by Peeves, who was writing rude words on the chalkboard. "Out, Peeves!" Peeves threw the chalk in a bin and swooped to the door cursing, nearly hitting Cassia, who blocked it.
"Potters, this is Oliver Wood and Tamsin Applebee," Professor McGonagall introduced. She turned to Oliver, "Wood—I've found you a Seeker." She turned to Tamsin, "Applebee—I've found you a Chaser."
Oliver looked delighted, "Are you serious, Professor?"
"Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall. "These two are naturals. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick?"
Cassia and Harry nodded.
"He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive. Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it," said Professor McGonagall. She turned to Tamsin, who was busy examining Cassia in a critical manner. "She narrowly dodged her brother, when she flew straight up in the air. I haven't seen anything like it since James."
Cassia wanted to say that she didn't think dodging someone was quite remarkable. She was sure that every Quidditch player can do it.
"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" asked Oliver.
"Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team, and Applebee's captain of the Hufflepuff team," explained Professor McGonagall.
"He's just the build for a Seeker, too," said Wood. "Light—speedy—we'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor—a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."
"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule," said Professor McGonagall.
"She doesn't have the right build for Chaser," Applebee said. "However, I think with a lot of training, she can be a Chaser."
"I want to hear you're training hard, Potters, or I may change my mind about punishing you," Professor McGonagall said in a stern tone. She smiled, "your father would have been proud. He was an excellent Chaser himself."
Cassia couldn't help but smile at the coincidence of how her dad was a Chaser. She couldn't wait to tell her friends.
"You're lying!" accused Sally-Anne, when Cassia told them about it in the dormitory.
"I'm not," said Cassia, petting Harvest.
"It's way to big of a coincidence," said Lily, running her hand through her blonde hair. "I mean, think about it. You were talking about how you wanted to be a Chaser, suddenly there's a position open, and you make the team."
"It's impossible," said Sally-Anne, pulling on her red hair. "First-years aren't allowed on the Quidditch teams."
"Harry and I are now," said Cassia.
Sally-Anne started, "You two have to be the youngest players in a—"
"Century," finished Cassia. "Well, Harry's the youngest Seeker in a century. I'm not sure about Chasers. Oh, and apparently my dad was a Chaser, too."
"Get out!" Lily said, pointing at the dormitory door. Her voice didn't sound malicious, just excited. "I can't believe this! The coincidences are killing me!"
"What time do you start training?" asked Sally-Anne.
"Tomorrow," Cassia said. "Tamsin wants me to train as soon as possible. Especially with the other players to get a feeling of how well I do."
"Wow," said Lily, eyes wide.
"You don't even have a broom," said Sally-Anne.
Cassia shrugged, "She doesn't care if I have to borrow one until I get my own. Like I said, she wants me to train as soon as possible."
Lily looked at her watch, "We probably should get to dinner."
Cassia set Harvest aside and got up. "Let's go. I'm starving."
"I bet, with all those nerves. I swear, I thought you and Harry were in for it," said Lily. "I mean, when you came in the common room, looking all depressed."
Cassia grinned. "Yeah, I got you two good on that one."
A/N: I wanted Cassia to try out in her second-year, but for some reason, she just had to join in her first year.