Exercises

Harry had never believed that he could know a boy he hated even more than Dudley. He only came to believe it after meeting Draco Malfoy.

Fortunately, Gryffindor first-years only had Potions with the Slytherin students. And Harry had made quite a splash in Potions, becoming the only Gryffindor in nearly ten years to earn house points in the class, so putting up with Malfoy was not too difficult.

At least, that was what they thought at first.

Until one day, they found a notice posted in the Gryffindor Common Room. After reading it, they all sighed and groaned.

Flying lessons would begin this Thursday, and Gryffindor students would be taking them together with the Slytherin students.

"What rotten luck," Harry said miserably. "Just as I expected. I'll make a fool of myself on a Flying Broomstick in front of Malfoy."

He had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything.

"You might not make a fool of yourself at all," Ron said reasonably. "I know Malfoy is always bragging about how brilliant he is at Quidditch, but I'd bet he's just talking big."

Malfoy went on and on about flying all day long. He loudly complained that first-years were not eligible to join their house Quidditch teams, and he told long, boastful stories that always ended with him narrowly avoiding a Muggle helicopter.

But one time, Tierra happened to be passing by and mercilessly exposed the story.

First, Tierra cited the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, pointing out that Malfoy could not possibly have been practicing on a broom anywhere a Muggle helicopter might pass. Therefore, Malfoy had either broken the law or lied.

Then he pointed out several errors in Malfoy's description of the helicopter.

Quite a few Muggle-born students in the Great Hall agreed with him at the time.

Finally, Tierra rattled off a whole pile of terms that neither Malfoy nor the wizards present understood, things like aerodynamics. He said that if Malfoy had really come within five meters of the helicopter, the powerful airflow created by its rotors would have sucked him in at once, turned him into a pile of minced meat, and flung him back out. He would never have had as much time to react as he claimed in his story.

That merciless exposure made Malfoy bear a grudge against Tierra from then on.

He declared that he would make Tierra pay during flying lessons.

So although Tierra had already become a clever, powerful older brother figure in Harry's eyes, Harry was still not confident when it came to riding a broom.

After all, there was far too great a difference between children from wizarding families and those from Muggle families.

Every child Harry knew from a wizarding family had at least seen a Flying Broomstick. Even clumsy Neville had seen his cousin ride one in front of him when he was little.

But when he had wanted to have a go himself, his grandmother had scolded him down.

Besides that, even Ron had bragged to Harry and Tierra about the time he rode Charlie's old broken broom and nearly got knocked out of the sky by a hang glider.

Whenever the other young wizards boasted about riding Flying Broomsticks, Tierra merely listened quietly, or rolled his eyes and took out a book to read in silence. Only when Malfoy bragged did Tierra speak up to expose him.

It was the first time Harry had seen an expression called "mockery" on Tierra's face. Harry had almost thought Tierra had some kind of grudge against Malfoy.

Thursday morning arrived quickly. Nearly everyone was nervous about the upcoming flying lesson, whether they came from wizarding families or Muggle families. Hermione chattered endlessly to Harry about a book she had recently read called "Quidditch Through the Ages," while Neville listened eagerly to every word she said. Even the young wizards who claimed to have ridden brooms before were too nervous to eat breakfast.

Almost everyone... except Tierra.

Harry noticed that Tierra still wore that porcelain-doll expression as he held the thick copy of "Introduction to Alchemy."

The book was obscure and difficult to understand, filled from cover to cover with dizzying geometric diagrams and heaps of lettered formulas.

Even the Little Witch Hermione found it difficult to read, but she refused to admit defeat. Besides "Quidditch Through the Ages," she had also borrowed "A Brief History of Alchemy," a book even larger and thicker than "Introduction to Alchemy."

In the end, Hermione's armchair theorizing was interrupted by the owls flying in. Everyone except Neville and the Muggle-born students breathed a sigh of relief.

Ever since Hagrid's message last time, Harry had not received another letter, much less Tierra. Tierra had never received a single package.

But Tierra never cared. He always read with that same detached calm. Even when Malfoy deliberately and smugly opened the various sweets, toys, and Magical Items his mother had sent him from home in front of Harry and Tierra—things Harry had never even seen before—Tierra remained just as composed.

Harry was much the same. Though he could not stay as expressionless as Tierra, he could at least ignore Malfoy, because whenever Tierra read, he would casually hand Harry a densely packed sheet of exercises.

They were mostly fill-in-the-blank questions.

They were fill-in-the-blank exercises and term definitions Tierra had handwritten over the past five years based on his new magical memories, meant to help him memorize knowledge about potions and spells.

After using magic to erase the answers and some knowledge that should not be exposed, Tierra had tossed them to Harry.

Tierra found raising the Chosen One rather entertaining. In a sense, the stronger Harry became, the safer Tierra would be. Harry was the main force against Voldemort, after all. The stronger and more dazzling Harry became, the more Voldemort's attention would be fixed on him, and the safer Tierra's own position would be.

The questions were all based on Merlin's printed textbooks, and they were no different from the textbooks currently used at Hogwarts. After several hundred years, not only had the curriculum not been updated, it had even removed the section on Animagus from Transfiguration and cut a subject called "Alchemy."

Having tasted the glory of earning house points, Harry became increasingly eager to learn about the Wizarding World.

But Harry was only an eleven-year-old young wizard, and being playful and restless was in his nature. After doing only a few questions, he could no longer sit still. He either looked around or played wizard cards with Ron.

Tierra was not Harry's father or mother, so he could not exactly discipline him too strictly. If Harry wanted to study, fine; if he did not, that was fine too. Only when Malfoy came over to show off his gifts would Harry obediently keep his eyes on his exercises and write.

That was also why Tierra had humiliated Malfoy. He hoped Malfoy would come around more often. Otherwise, why would an adult bother picking on a child?