Harley's Reputation Soared

Life at Hogwarts was a delight for Harley.

All the professors liked a good student who loved learning and asked questions, especially Professor Snape.

He had praised Harley in public more than once, making no secret of how much he favored her.

Once, when Harley went to ask him a question after class, Professor Snape even told her outright that once she made a little more progress, she could join the Potion Club he ran privately.

Harley was naturally very excited about that.

After all, having studied for a while, Harley had realized that Professor Snape was truly skilled.

For many of the potions in the textbook, Professor Snape offered different methods of preparation, and the potions made with them worked even better.

And the many potion journals in the library contained papers bearing Professor Snape's name, which proved the point beyond doubt—

Professor Snape was one of the finest Potion Masters of the age. Teaching students was merely a side job.

Or perhaps Professor Snape was willing to teach simply so he could see the clear, stupid look in his students' eyes.

Harley genuinely hoped that a master potion-maker like Professor Snape might take her on as an apprentice. Potion-making had never been her strong suit, and she urgently needed to improve her knowledge of the arcane in that area.

However, not wanting to seem too presumptuous, Harley didn't bring it up with Professor Snape herself.

The professors liked Harley, and the students didn't exactly dislike her either.

Although Harley, like Hermione, was an excellent student, that was about all they had in common.

Hermione only liked spending time in the library, while Harley could chat with other girls about makeup, clothes, and plenty of other topics.

Hermione only lectured the boys who made too much noise, but Harley could find common ground with them on all sorts of subjects and was happy to learn from them how to play Wizard's Chess and Exploding Snap.

On top of that, Harley was happy to lend her completed homework and notes to her classmates, so among the more than a hundred first-years, she got along well with almost everyone.

Only one person didn't like her: Mr. Draco Malfoy of Slytherin. From the train ride at the start of term, Malfoy had always had it in for Harley.

After all, his dear godfather, Professor Snape, had reprimanded him in class several times, all because he had picked on Harley.

That made Malfoy furious. Hadn't he only made fun of Harley's eyes for looking like pickled toads? Why had Professor Snape given him detention until Halloween?

Malfoy blamed Harley for all of it and vowed to find a chance to get back at her.

He planned to wait for Flying Class. After all, no one could be good at everything. Harley was so talented in every other area, so surely she couldn't be good at flying too!

Flying Class was finally about to begin, but Gryffindor had to share their Thursday lesson with the Slytherins.

So most students found it hard to tell whether that was good news or bad.

Still, the fun of Flying Class itself could probably make up for having to study with people they couldn't stand. After all, plenty of students looked excited.

Harley was extremely interested in Flying Class. The Demoness Pathway didn't offer the ability to fly.

For a powerful Demoness Pathway Beyonder to fly, if she didn't have a suitable Mystical Item, she would have to advance to Sequence 2, Demoness of Catastrophe, then create a disaster involving wind to achieve something vaguely like flight.

And even then, she couldn't fly long distances or stay airborne for long. Essentially, she would be creating a wind-related disaster—a forceful means of attack, not transportation.

Harley had never experienced flying before, either. Mystical Items of that sort were rare.

The time she killed an Ocean Songster might have been the closest she had ever come to acquiring a flying Mystical Item.

But Harley had sold that Beyonder Characteristic to the captain of a Ghost Ship, since she didn't have the money to hire an Artisan.

The highest she had ever been above the ground was when she used the Spider Silk ability she had gained at Sequence 6 to hang in midair and kite a Weapon Master of the Warrior Pathway.

So Harley badly wanted to learn to fly and find a way to take to the skies herself. Being able to fly really mattered.

Before long, Thursday afternoon arrived, and the much-anticipated Flying Class began.

The Flying Class professor was Madam Rolanda Hooch. She had short gray hair, and her yellow eyes were as sharp as an eagle's.

Madam Hooch was very cautious. She went over the instructions again and again before finally letting the students try for themselves.

Madam Hooch had taught many classes of students and had probably witnessed plenty of accidents caused by Gryffindors and Slytherins taking lessons together.

That was why she was so careful: she demonstrated several times and checked each student's posture one by one.

But no matter how carefully she prepared, Madam Hooch had anticipated the students fooling around—not making mistakes while following instructions.

When Madam Hooch told them to mount their brooms, Neville was so nervous that he shot high into the sky, straight toward the sun.

"Come back, child!" Madam Hooch shouted after him, but Harley thought it was pointless.

Judging by Neville's trembling legs and the way he clung to the broom without daring to let go, he would much rather have stayed on the ground. The broom simply wasn't listening to him.

At last, unable to control it, Neville was flung from the sky by the unruly broom and crashed headfirst onto the ground.

Madam Hooch hurried over, her face as pale as Neville's. After a quick check of his injuries, she decided to take him to the Hospital Wing.

Before she left, Madam Hooch warned them repeatedly not to touch their brooms. Unfortunately, the students didn't seem inclined to listen.

As soon as their professor had left, Malfoy burst out laughing.

"Did you see his face? That great lump! Gryffindors really are stupid!"

As he spoke, he kept shooting Harley mocking glances, apparently trying to provoke her.

The other Slytherins chimed in, and several of them laughed out loud.

Hearing Slytherin mock Gryffindor, the young Gryffindors weren't about to let themselves be bullied.

Ron shot back, "You should thank Neville. He gave you a chance to stay on the ground!

Otherwise, everyone would've found out you can't ride a broom!"

"Weasley, what's that supposed to mean?" Malfoy had failed to provoke anyone else, but Ron had provoked him.

"I think you're the one who can't ride a broom! Then again, the Weasley family is so poor they can't even afford a broomstick, so you've never had the chance to ride one!

Unlike my family—we own one of every model as soon as it's made!"

Ron seemed to have been hit where it hurt. He stopped talking and lunged straight at Malfoy.

For young wizards, throwing a punch was always more effective than trying to use one of the few jinxes they barely knew.

Malfoy had been itching to get revenge for what happened on the train. Even if he couldn't take it out on Harley, sorting out a red-haired Weasley boy first would do just fine.

"Crabbe, Goyle, get them!" Malfoy waved a hand. "Teach those Gryffindor idiots a lesson!"

How could the Gryffindors put up with that? The Slytherins had practically trampled all over them!

Fine, then—let's fight. After all, Gryffindors beating up Slytherins was perfectly righteous, and they could brag about their injuries for the next two years!