Luan's Slingshot

Thursday arrived at last, bringing Flying Class amid everyone's nervous anticipation.

At breakfast, Neville deliberately chose a seat right next to Hermione so he could memorize the flying knowledge from the book.

Although Hermione had read The Quidditch Ball five times, Neville unfortunately had not remembered a single flying rule.

Fortunately, the owls arrived that morning and solved part of Neville's memory problem.

He received a transparent Memory Charm Ball. Apparently, as long as he held this magical glass ball, it could tell whether its holder had forgotten something.

But Neville had not even been happy for three seconds after picking up the Memory Charm Ball before the transparent glass ball in his hand turned red.

"What should I do? What did I forget?"

Just as Neville was asking the people around him for help, Malfoy suddenly sprang out from behind him and snatched away the Memory Charm Ball.

Seeing Malfoy's smug grin, Harry and Ron immediately rose to their feet.

The two of them talked every day in the dormitory about how badly they wanted to fight Malfoy, so naturally they would not let this chance slip away.

Luan fixed Malfoy with a hard stare, setting down his spoon as his hand slowly reached into his pocket.

The expected conflict never came, because Professor McGonagall, ever quick to spot trouble, arrived in time.

In the end, Malfoy could only toss the Memory Charm Ball back onto the table and flee the Great Hall.

There was another Transfiguration Class that morning. This week, Professor McGonagall was teaching them how to turn needles back into matches, a spell even more difficult than the previous week's.

Ron, sitting in the back, had already blown up two silver needles, one of which had belonged to Harry.

When Neville cast the spell, he accidentally sent his needle flying, smashing the chandelier on the ceiling.

Professor McGonagall had no choice but to cast Reparo, restoring the shattered chandelier to the ceiling.

After two attempts, Luan finally produced a match, while Hermione still managed it in one try.

That afternoon in Charms Class, Professor Flitwick introduced a new spell.

"Alohomora."

This was also the second spell Luan had mastered: the Unlocking Charm.

Perhaps because Flying Class was coming up, Hermione actually needed two attempts to open the lock on her desk with this spell.

The afternoon weather was beautiful. Only a few lazy white clouds drifted across the deep blue sky.

It was a perfect day for flying, according to Luan's Flying Class instructor, Madam Hooch.

"All right, hurry along. Everyone stand beside a broomstick."

Madam Hooch's words were firm and powerful, but that did nothing to stop the Young Wizards' trembling nerves.

"The school brooms are ridiculously shabby," Ron muttered.

Luan wholeheartedly agreed. The broom assigned to him was battered and old; he could even see several broken bristles at its tail.

"Hold out your right hand over the broom, then say, 'Up!'"

The first thing Madam Hooch taught them was how to communicate with their brooms, and the method was to shout at them.

"Up!"

"Up."

"Uuuup!"

Different voices echoed across the grass. Luan had thought Hermione would be the first to succeed, but this time he was wrong.

Harry's broom obediently jumped into his hand after only one shout.

Luan achieved the same result after two shouts, as did Malfoy across from him.

When the little Slytherin got his broom into his hand, he shot Neville a look of utter disdain.

Neville's broom had not moved at all. His voice was already trembling with fear.

Hermione fared slightly better. After rolling around on the ground five or six times, her broom finally jumped into her hand as well.

"All right, now everyone hold your broom firmly in your hands."

Neville bent down and picked up his broom.

"Good. Next, make sure you hold your broom tight. When I blow the whistle, push off with both legs."

Before Madam Hooch had even finished explaining the rules, Neville's nervous legs had already pushed off. Luan did not even have time to grab the hem of his robes before he shot into the air.

"Come back, child!"

Words could not bring back a Young Wizard who had already taken off, and the consequences of flying without permission were severe as well.

Neville broke his wrist.

When Madam Hooch took him to the School Infirmary, she ordered everyone to put down their brooms and not move, or they would be expelled.

Luan immediately placed his broom on the ground. He was afraid he might not be able to resist pushing off with his legs.

Hermione had recited the flying rules every day that week, and Luan had committed them all to memory. Now, all that remained was practice.

Just as Luan was reviewing the key points of flying in his mind, the Slytherin and Gryffindor students began arguing.

Malfoy was holding a glowing little ball and showing it off everywhere.

It was Neville's Memory Charm Ball, which he must have dropped when he fell.

"Come and get it, Potter!"

After saying that, Malfoy immediately mounted his broom and flew into the air.

Harry followed right after him.

Luan did not reach for a broom. Instead, he picked up a small stone from the grass.

While everyone watched the two flying into the sky, Luan had already taken out his slingshot and aimed at the head of Malfoy's broom.

Bang!

When the broom head was struck, Malfoy was so frightened that he hurriedly grabbed the broom with both hands and struggled to keep his balance.

The Memory Charm Ball had already slipped from his hand.

"It's too high!"

Seeing the Memory Charm Ball fall, Luan put away his slingshot and ran toward the center of the field.

They were on grass, but Malfoy had flown as high as a five-story castle. If the Memory Charm Ball fell from there, it would surely shatter.

But to Luan's surprise, Harry swooped down through the air at high speed and caught the Memory Charm Ball steadily just before it hit the ground.

At that moment, Harry had been only a wand's length above the ground.

Before Harry, clutching the Memory Charm Ball, could even celebrate, Professor McGonagall angrily called him away.

Luan kept watching the direction Harry left in and noticed that this polite little boy's Wizard Bar had risen quite a bit.

A quarter of a bar.

Could flying be Harry's specialty?

Only after watching Professor McGonagall lead Harry into the castle did Luan return to the group.

"Who was it? Who hit me?"

Malfoy angrily looked around. He had spent a great deal of effort stabilizing his broom in midair just now.

If he had not been fairly skilled at flying, he might have been sent to the School Infirmary just like Neville.

"No one hit you. Could it have been a bird?"

"A bird? Do you think I wouldn't see a bird? Goyle! Someone hit me with a stone."

No one around him admitted it, and Malfoy eventually had no choice but to give up.

However, Hermione sharply noticed the person who had returned to the group last.

Luan sat with everyone as if nothing had happened, discussing the aerial chase that had just taken place.

"Do you think Harry will be expelled?" Ron leaned over and asked cautiously.

"Probably not. Harry was helping Neville," Seamus chimed in.

"It's fine. If Harry gets expelled, we'll explain everything to the professors. Malfoy was the one who flew off on his broom first."

The speaker was Parvati Patil, a very brave Gryffindor girl. However, she did not seem to get along well with Hermione, because Luan had barely ever seen them speak to each other.

"That's right. If Harry gets expelled, we'll all go explain things to Professor McGonagall."

Amid the assurances of a group of Little Lions, the first Flying Class came to a hasty end.

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