Devero followed the crowd outside the castle.
He held the broom their teacher had handed out.
Devero could feel a strange sensation from the broom in his hand.
It was much like the feeling he'd gotten the first time he visited Ollivanders Wand Shop.
When he'd been surrounded by piles of wands.
He even felt as though he could communicate with it a little.
The Wand-making Prodigy trait was probably at work.
Although these Flying Brooms weren't wands,
Devero could sense
that they seemed to choose their riders, too.
At that moment, Devero even felt an urge to modify his broom.
After all, he'd copied the Prank Inventor trait from the twins earlier.
[Prank Inventor (Purple): Has an extraordinary talent for pranks, an astonishing ability to understand magic used for practical jokes, and remarkable creativity.]
The Weasley Twins in the original story hadn't built such a successful business with a joke shop alone.
What really made them money were the practical magical items they supplied to the Ministry of Magic.
Some of them could even be used in combat.
For example, the Invisibility Cloak, which could make someone completely invisible without covering their whole body!
Even Hermione, a top student, had to admire that innovative magical item!
That was one of the reasons
Devero had copied the trait.
The downside was that now, whenever he saw anything,
he felt an urge to modify it.
Devero had to fight hard to suppress the impulse.
This broom belonged to the school.
If Devero broke it, he'd have to pay for it.
And he didn't have any way to earn money right now.
He couldn't go around messing with things.
He'd also copied another of the Weasley Twins' traits, Explorer.
[Explorer (Purple): Has a strong sense of adventure, adapts well to complex environments, and has some talent for mapmaking and reading maps.]
This trait would also be a huge help in exploring Hogwarts.
Over the past two days, the twins had already taken him through some of the castle's passageways.
But he doubted they'd managed to explore every secret passage in the school.
Once
they dropped out in their Sixth Year,
Devero would have to explore the rest on his own.
So he'd copied the trait in advance.
Devero also planned to make his own magical map of Hogwarts.
He didn't expect it to show everyone's movements in real time like the Marauder's Map.
But at the very least, it would help him keep track of the parts of the castle he'd explored.
Devero pondered the idea
as the group reached an open area outside the castle.
Then they continued toward the Forbidden Forest.
Their lesson was taking place on the lawn over there.
Just then,
Devero spotted Neville holding a broom in one hand
and a red-glowing orb in the other.
He was staring at it with a worried look.
Something seemed to be bothering him.
Devero immediately understood.
The orb glowing red was a Memory Orb.
It meant Neville had forgotten something.
He was probably racking his brains, trying to remember what it was.
Devero's eyes darted around.
He stepped over to Neville and said,
"Neville, could I borrow your wand? I left mine in the common room."
Neville looked away from the Memory Orb
and gazed at Devero in confusion.
"Devero, didn't Madam Hooch just say that nobody was allowed to use their wand in this lesson? Anyone who casts a spell on a broom won't be allowed to take the class."
Devero grinned.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to cast a spell on the broom. I just want to be prepared in case someone gets the urge to mess around."
Seeing how confident Devero looked,
Neville didn't ask any more questions.
He handed over his wand.
Devero had a much better reputation among the Gryffindors than he did among the Slytherins.
For one thing, he'd helped the Little Lions in their year
beat up their most hated classmate right at the start.
He was also easygoing.
He wasn't as arrogant as the other Slytherins from Pure-blood families.
And he was always eager to help his classmates.
Quite a few students even wanted to partner with Devero for their practical Herbology assignments.
They always got good grades that way.
He was the perfect person to have on your side!
Whenever they saw him, they wanted to ask him to help them.
How could they possibly hate him?
Even the Slytherins had changed their minds about Devero, with the exception of Malfoy and his few followers.
After all, all those House Points he'd earned hadn't come from nowhere.
Slytherins respected strength deep down.
Devero was doing so well
that it was only a matter of time before he became a Prefect or even Head Boy.
If they kept siding with Malfoy and ostracizing Devero,
wouldn't they just be making trouble for themselves?
So Devero's situation was already much better than it had been when he first arrived at Hogwarts.
His classmates had even started talking to him.
The group kept walking.
At last, they reached the lesson area.
Devero hadn't used his Purple Trait Copy yet today.
He figured he'd first see how well he could control a Flying Broom.
If he couldn't manage it,
he could just copy Harry's trait and use that.
Even now,
Malfoy was still bragging relentlessly about his flying experience.
He loudly complained that first-year students weren't allowed to join their House Quidditch teams.
Over the past few days, he'd also told plenty of long-winded, self-congratulatory stories.
They always ended with him narrowly avoiding a Muggle helicopter.
Whenever Devero did his homework in the common room,
he could hear Malfoy shouting.
It was enough to make his ears ring.
But over the past two days, he'd discovered something that surprised him.
One of his second-year Slytherin classmates was a Manchester United fan!
Devero had never expected someone from a wizarding family to watch the Premier League.
In fact,
most wizards felt the same way.
They thought there was only one ball on the field,
and nobody was allowed to fly.
What was so exciting about that kind of match?
The boy's name was Adrian Pucey.
He also had a distant cousin in Devero's year named Millicent Bulstrode.
Devero was even more shocked when he found out.
The boy was from one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, the Pucey Family.
But Adrian told him that his family was only distantly related to the main Pucey line.
They were practically just distant relatives.
He'd grown up in Manchester.
Quite a few of the neighborhood kids went to Manchester United's youth academy.
He'd been planning to go, too.
But he'd had to give it up because he was going to Hogwarts.
He'd been torn about it for quite a while.
Adrian also confidently declared that Manchester United would win the league title next year!
And just like that,
Adrian became one of the few Slytherins Devero could have a proper conversation with.
Professor Binns sternly lined all the young wizards up in several rows.
The lesson was about to begin.
Just then, Devero suddenly bumped into someone.
Malfoy winced and rubbed his forehead.
He looked up.
Devero was staring at him with a mischievous grin.
"Sorry, I didn't see you there."
Before you continue