Fifteen minutes earlier.
"Good afternoon, students!"
On the lawn in front of Hogwarts Castle, a short-haired witch adjusted the deerskin gloves on her hands and cheerfully greeted the young wizards waiting on either side of her.
"Good afternoon, Madam Hooch!"
The first-year Slytherins and Gryffindors answered loudly. Even the drowsy autumn afternoon sun couldn't dampen their excitement.
Flying Class!
Flying Brooms!
What could be more exciting than that?
"Excellent, children. Welcome to your first Flying Class."
Taking her place at the front of the line, Madam Hooch turned around, revealing a pair of amber eyes like an eagle's. She surveyed the Slytherin and Gryffindor first-years before speaking in a clear voice.
"What are you waiting for? Everyone, stand to the left of your broom."
At her words, the young wizards eagerly stepped forward, standing up straight beside the Flying Brooms neatly laid out on the grass.
"It's a shame Klein can't take the lesson with us."
Crabbe had a silly grin on his face at the thought of flying into the sky, but then he remembered that his boss would miss out on this thrilling moment, and couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
"Yeah, what a shame."
Goyle murmured in agreement.
"Would you two shut up?"
Young Master Draco shot them an annoyed glance, his face unconsciously growing stern.
No matter how he tried to console himself, it was still a shame.
"Good. Hurry up and put your right hand above your broom. Miss Parkinson, be gentle. Don't kick it with your foot. That's better. Now say, 'Up.'"
After giving Pansy, who seemed to be in a bad mood, a brief warning, Madam Hooch clapped her hands and had the first-years begin bonding with their brooms.
"Up." "Up!" "Up, up, up!"
Controlling a broom seemed to be a matter of talent. Some succeeded on their first try, like Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, while others couldn't manage it at all, like Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom.
"Louder, and put some feeling into it."
Madam Hooch moved through the rows of students as if she'd seen it all before, patiently reminding them.
After quite a while, all the Slytherin and Gryffindor first-years had managed the first step of riding a broom.
She looked at the broom in each student's hand, then continued.
"Now, hold on to your broom and mount it."
Once the students had swung themselves onto their brooms, Madam Hooch gave them a special reminder.
"Hold on tight. Don't slip off."
"Right, when I blow my whistle, you'll kick off hard from the ground—"
But before she could finish, an accident suddenly occurred!
Perhaps because he was too nervous, the moment Neville mounted his broom, his calf twitched involuntarily. That tiny, unintentional movement somehow sent his broom out of his control, and it floated straight off the ground.
"Mr. Longbottom, stop! Stop at once!"
The sudden turn of events caught Madam Hooch off guard. In the few seconds she stood there stunned, Neville drifted higher and higher, and the broom beneath him began to shake more and more violently.
"Come down, Neville!" "Watch out!" "Don't let go!"
When their friend flew up to the height of the castle's towers in the blink of an eye, the Gryffindor first-years panicked and began shouting in alarm.
Unfortunately, Neville Longbottom could no longer hear a thing. His entire attention was focused on his Flying Broom. The harder he tried to descend, the faster he rose. In the end, he lost control of his broom completely and shot away like a bolt of lightning!
"Whoosh!"
The fierce wind cut across Neville's chubby face like a knife. Screaming loudly, he flew wildly out of control, circling the tower tops one moment and swooping down through the students on the lawn the next.
He was terrified to the point of tears.
One hair-raising flight after another pushed Neville to the edge of a breakdown. At last, after a sudden upward lunge, he lost all feeling in his hands and let go of the broom without thinking.
Countless gasps rose from the lawn.
The little chubby boy was lucky. The terrible scene of him crashing straight to the ground didn't happen; as he fell, his robes caught on a flagpole jutting out from the castle.
But he wasn't that lucky. Because of his weight, the standard Gryffindor robes couldn't support him. The seams began to come apart bit by bit, and soon he was in danger again.
"Riiiip!"
The sound of tearing fabric sealed Neville's fate. The little chubby boy screamed as he fell, his round face meeting the grass.
"Ah!"
Many of the first-years screamed.
"Move aside! Quickly!"
Madam Hooch gathered up her robes and ran toward Neville, her face pale.
Such a serious accident during class...
She didn't dare imagine what might happen next.
"Thank Merlin, he's still breathing."
Madam Hooch quickly checked Neville and breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he wasn't dead, a wizarding healer could handle injuries like these.
"Whoosh!"
Just as Madam Hooch was about to pick Neville up and take him to Hogwarts' school nurse, Madam Pomfrey, a figure suddenly appeared out of thin air beside her!
"Ah!"
The sudden appearance startled her, but her alarm soon turned to astonishment.
Klein Grindelwald?
Hadn't he taken leave to attend to something with Headmaster Dumbledore? Why was he here?
"Leave this to me."
Klein had no unnecessary expression on his face. He gave Madam Hooch a reassuring smile, then cast a spell on the unconscious Neville before she could react.
"Calming Charm."
Emerald-green light fell over Neville, and the pained expression on his unconscious face softened.
"Wait, you can't—"
Casting a spell without saying a word?
Even if you were the school's acknowledged "genius," you couldn't just do whatever you wanted! Madam Hooch tried to stop Klein, but before she could finish speaking, several more flashes of light appeared.
"Bone Regeneration," "Blood Clot Dissipation," "Wound Heal," "Wake Up Quickly."
One spell after another came raining down on Neville as if they cost nothing. Madam Hooch and the first-years watching from a distance stared in utter amazement, frozen in place as if they'd been hit with a Body-Bind Curse.
Merlin above, what had they just seen?
Neville, who had been lying on the ground, barely alive...
Had actually brushed the dust off himself and gotten back up?
"Mm."
In the distance, Dumbledore and the masters of the "Order of Merlin," who had quietly Apparated over, were dumbstruck too.
They'd hurried over to ask Klein about the "Shrink the Ground into an Inch" spell, never expecting to witness a scene like this.
The "Wake Up Quickly" spell and the "Calming Charm" were one thing; they were nothing special.
But what was the "Bone Healing Spell"? And what was that spell that removed blood clots?
Besides improving the "Healing Spell," Klein had mastered three spells that had never been seen before!
And that magical power...
A genius?
No.
That child must be Merlin's illegitimate son!
Before you continue