A Little Strange

A Little Strange

Class time arrived, and the Slytherin students were the first to reach the field. They pointed at the scorched patch of ground in the distance and chattered among themselves.

Madam Hooch realized she had forgotten her whistle and went back to get it. Charles stood far away, too lazy to get involved with the Slytherin students, and used the spare time to think about the Floating Cannon.

But after thinking it over and over, it seemed that turning it into a suicide truck would be more practical.

Before long, the Gryffindor students arrived too. Seamus smugly pointed at the wasteland of grass he had burned to ashes and even dragged the helpless Hermione over as a witness, stunning the students from both houses for a moment.

Madam Hooch soon returned and began the lesson. Everyone stood to the left of their broomsticks.

Then, following Madam Hooch's instructions, the students stretched their right hands over their broomsticks and shouted, "Up!"

A chorus of "Up!" rang out, giving the place the feel of a duck farm.

The differences in everyone's talent for riding a broom became apparent at that moment—or rather, the differences in their confidence toward flying.

Those with talent had powerful confidence. They might find it difficult at first, but they never considered the possibility of failure.

The broomsticks seemed able to read their riders' minds, just like Legilimency.

When you were full of confidence, the broomstick became very enthusiastic, as if a loyal subject were giving everything to someone who understood them.

If you were worried or thought using it was unimportant, it slacked off. It did not ignore you completely; it was simply lazy and listless.

If you were afraid of it, or even hated it, it would not pay you any attention. It might even try to throw you off its back.

That was why the broomstick was very cooperative in front of Harry, who had always been looking forward to learning how to fly. It flew straight into his hand at once.

Hermione was always worried that she would not learn well and lacked confidence in herself. Her broomstick dragged its feet, rolled around a few times, and only then floated up slowly.

Charles stared at the broomstick in his hand with a dark expression. The thing had actually started vibrating. He wondered whether it had been a concrete vibrator at a construction site in its previous life.

Neville, meanwhile, had no confidence in himself at all. Afraid he would cause trouble after mounting the broomstick, he resisted it intensely. The broomstick was playing dead.

Even after he mounted the broomstick, it seemed to want to throw this annoying rider off.

So before Madam Hooch could blow her whistle, Neville gave it a wrong signal, and the broomstick shot straight into the sky with him.

The broomstick was like a wild horse trying to buck off an irritating rider. It flew extremely high while rocking back and forth.

Madam Hooch's face went white, and she shouted for Neville to come down.

Professor McGonagall's face also went pale. She happened to be passing through a corridor facing the lawn, and when she turned to look out the window, she saw Neville falling from a height of three stories.

At that moment, Professor McGonagall felt as if her heart were about to leap out of her throat.

The next moment, she let out a sigh of relief and patted her chest, giving her violently pounding heart a chance to calm down.

Just as Neville was about to hit the grass, Charles drew his wand and prepared to cast a Levitation Charm at him. Never mind the points he might be tricked into losing in Spell Class—nothing mattered more than a life.

However, before he could finish casting the Levitation Charm, Neville suddenly stopped in midair amid the students' screams and slowly rose a little higher.

Everyone saw Neville "standing" more than a meter above the ground, his hands slightly spread. Compared with an angel, all he lacked was a halo over his head and wings on his back.

After a dozen seconds, Neville fell and twisted his ankle. It looked quite serious, and sweat poured from his forehead.

Charles had already casually tossed the Levitation Charm off to the side. At that moment, he noticed that Neville looked wrong, somewhat like Seamus after overexerting himself and becoming weak.

He remembered that Neville's first magical awakening had apparently happened when a relative threw him from a building and he flew a great distance. This situation was probably similar.

Madam Hooch immediately ran over. When she saw that he had only twisted his ankle, she supported him toward the Hospital Wing.

"Hahahaha..." Malfoy laughed gleefully. "Look at that idiot! He nearly broke his neck!"

The surrounding Slytherin students joined in with jeers.

Charles knew that a classic scene was about to unfold, so he quietly stepped back, leaving the stage to its actors.

But the stage was still the same stage, and the script was still the same script. As for the prop...

Neville's fall had not been severe enough to dislodge the Remembrall. However, Madam Hooch had removed his shoe while examining his foot, then left in too much of a hurry to put it back on or take it with her.

Malfoy clearly hesitated for two seconds. Amid the students from the two houses cursing at each other, he walked over, pinched the shoelace, and lifted Neville's shoe with a sinister grin. "Watch me throw it into the Forbidden Forest and make the big idiot Lumbardon come to school barefoot!"

Charles covered his face, unable to bear watching Harry and Malfoy chase each other through the air on their broomsticks.

No one at the scene except him paid any attention to the shoe. Everyone was focused on the battle between the two boys in the sky.

The Slytherin students shouted, "Kick him off his broom!"

Ron jumped excitedly in place. "Knock him off!"

Harry clearly thought the same thing. He rode his broomstick and rammed into Malfoy again and again.

Malfoy managed to dodge several times at first, but then he began to panic and shouted, "Go fish it out of the water!"

He threw the shoe toward the stream, and it looked as if it would land right on target.

Harry immediately rushed over and caught the shoe when it was less than a finger's breadth from the surface of the water.

Charles rubbed his brow, not knowing what to say.

"Harry Potter!"

Professor McGonagall appeared right on schedule, floating over from the direction of the castle.

Charles glanced at her and sensed that something was wrong. He took another look.

Professor McGonagall was floating over like one of the school's ghosts, but her color clearly showed that she was a living person. Unlike Professor Binns, she had not forgotten to bring her body along.

"Charles Smith!" Professor McGonagall first came over with a dark expression and confronted Charles. "Come to my office after dinner!"

Charles watched Professor McGonagall and Harry leave. Then he suddenly thought of something, and cold sweat broke out all at once.

Just now... he had... seemingly... thrown a Levitation Charm... somewhere else.

The others clearly did not think of it that way. Everyone assumed Professor McGonagall could fly simply because her magic was powerful.

Harry left, and Madam Hooch returned to take Neville's shoe away. The children on the lawn were once again without supervision.

Malfoy began taunting them again. "Hahaha, Potter is definitely getting expelled. He'll be taking tonight's train back to his Muggle home."

Ron immediately shot back, "But some people's homes were blown up. Even if they wanted to go home, they wouldn't have one to return to."

Malfoy's face instantly twisted. He gritted his teeth and said to Ron, "Weasley, do you want to fight?"

The two lackeys behind him immediately sneered. When it came to fighting, they only lost to Harry. With Harry gone, they felt invincible.

Ron refused to back down. "What? You're a coward who only dares to hide behind them?"

At that moment, the boys from both houses began rolling up their sleeves and preparing to fight. Some of the girls were eager to join in as well.

"No! Stop, you can't do this!"

Hermione's scream drew everyone's attention.