Something's Not Quite Right

Chapter 28: Something's Not Right

Class time arrived, and the first to reach the field were the Slytherin students. They pointed at the scorched patch of ground not far away, chattering amongst themselves.

Madam Hooch realized she'd forgotten her whistle and went back to get it. Charles stood far off, not bothering to mingle with the Slytherin students. He took advantage of the time to think about floating cannons.

After much thought, he figured making them into self-destructing trucks would be more practical.

Not long after, the Gryffindor students arrived. Seamus, pointing smugly at the patch of grass he'd burned to a crisp, pulled a helpless Hermione over to bear witness. For a moment, both students from the two houses were stunned into silence.

Madam Hooch returned quickly and began the lesson. Everyone lined up to the left of their brooms.

Then, under Madam Hooch's instruction, the students extended their right hands above their brooms and shouted, "Up!"

A chorus of "Up!" rang out, sounding a bit like a duck farm.

The differences in talent on the broomsticks, or rather, the differences in confidence towards flying, became apparent at this moment.

Those with talent had strong confidence. Perhaps they found it difficult at first, but they never considered the possibility of failure.

Broomsticks seemed to possess Legilimency, able to read the user's mind.

If you were full of confidence, it would be very happy, as if saying, "I will give my all for someone who truly understands me."

If you harbored worries or felt that using it wasn't important, it would slack off. It wouldn't be unresponsive, just lazily unmotivated.

If you feared it, even detested it, it wouldn't pay you any mind, even wanting to throw you off itself.

Therefore, the broomstick was very enthusiastic in front of Harry, who had been eagerly anticipating learning to fly. It immediately flew into his hand.

Hermione, always worried about not learning well and lacking confidence, had a reluctant broomstick. It rolled a few times before slowly floating up.

Charles stared at the broomstick in his hand with a dark expression. This thing was vibrating. He wondered if it had been a vibrating poker used for concrete in its past life.

Neville, on the other hand, had absolutely no confidence in himself. He was afraid of causing trouble after getting on the broomstick and felt immense resistance towards it. The broomstick was playing dead.

Even when he got on the broomstick, it seemed determined to throw off the rider it disliked.

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

This broomstick was like a wild horse trying to buck off its disliked rider, not only flying incredibly high but also rocking back and forth.

Madam Hooch's face instantly turned pale, and she yelled for Neville to come down.

Professor McGonagall's face was equally pale. She happened to be walking past the corridor facing the field and, looking out the window, saw Neville falling from a height of three stories.

In that instant, Professor McGonagall felt her heart leap into her throat.

The next moment, she breathed a sigh of relief, patting her chest to calm her rapidly beating heart.

Just as Neville was about to hit the ground, Charles drew his wand, preparing to cast a Levitation Charm on him. It didn't matter about gaining house points in Charms class when a life was at stake.

However, before the Levitation Charm was even finished, amidst the students' screams, Neville suddenly stopped in mid-air and slowly rose a little.

Everyone saw Neville "standing" about a meter off the ground, his hands slightly spread, looking like an angel save for the halo and wings.

About ten seconds later, Neville fell, twisting his ankle. It looked quite serious, and he was sweating profusely.

Charles had already casually discarded his Levitation Charm. He noticed Neville's condition wasn't right, resembling Seamus's weakened state after overexerting himself.

He recalled that Neville's first magical awakening seemed to be when a relative threw him from a building, and he flew a long distance. He figured something similar was happening now.

Madam Hooch rushed over. Seeing that he had only twisted his ankle, she helped him to the school infirmary.

"Hahahaha..." Malfoy burst into malicious laughter. "Look at that idiot, he almost broke his neck!"

The surrounding Slytherin students chimed in with their agreement.

Charles knew the classic scene was about to unfold and quietly retreated, leaving the stage to its actors.

But while the stage was still the stage and the script was still the script, the props...

Neville hadn't fallen too hard, so his Remembrall hadn't fallen out. However, when Madam Hooch was examining Neville's foot, she had taken off his shoe. In her haste, she'd forgotten to put it back on or bring it along.

Malfoy clearly hesitated for two seconds. Amidst the insults exchanged between the two houses, he stepped forward, pinched the shoelace, and dangled Neville's shoe, sneering, "I'll throw it into the Forbidden Forest and make the big oaf Longbottom go to school barefoot!"

Charles covered his face, unable to watch Harry and Malfoy chase each other on their broomsticks in the air.

No one present was paying attention to the shoe; their focus was on the duel between the two in the sky.

The Slytherin students were shouting, "Kick him off his broom!"

Ron was jumping with excitement, yelling, "Ram him!"

Clearly, Harry had the same idea, repeatedly charging at Malfoy on his broomstick.

Malfoy managed to dodge a few times at first, but he started to panic and yelled, "You can go fish it out of the water!"

He threw the shoe towards the stream, aiming quite accurately.

Harry immediately swooped down and caught the shoe less than a finger's width from the water's surface.

Charles pinched the bridge of his nose, unsure what to say.

"Harry Potter!"

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

Charles glanced over, felt something was off, and looked again.

Professor McGonagall drifted over like a ghost in the common room, but she was clearly a living person, unlike Professor Binns who seemed to have forgotten his own body.

"Charles Smith!" Professor McGonagall approached Charles with a dark expression. "Come to my office after dinner!"

Charles watched the backs of Professor McGonagall and Harry as they left, and suddenly thought of something, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Just now... he... seemed to have... thrown a Levitation Charm... somewhere else.

The others obviously wouldn't think that. They all believed Professor McGonagall could fly simply because she had strong Magical Power.

Harry left, and Madam Hooch returned to retrieve Neville's shoes. The children on the lawn were once again left unsupervised.

Malfoy started his usual taunting. "Haha, Potter's definitely getting expelled. He'll be on tonight's train back to his Muggle home."

Ron immediately retorted, "But some people's homes blew up, so they don't even have a home to go back to."

Malfoy's face contorted instantly, and he gritted his teeth at Ron, saying, "Weasley, want to fight?"

His two cronies behind him immediately sneered. In terms of fighting, they only lost to Harry. Now that Harry wasn't here, they felt invincible.

Ron, not to be outdone, said to Malfoy, "What's wrong, are you a coward who only dares to hide behind others?"

At this moment, boys from both houses started rolling up their sleeves, ready to fight. Some girls were also eager to join in.

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

Hermione's scream drew everyone's attention.