"I'd say this is a lot more dangerous than football."
Adrian looked uneasily at the broom lying on the ground.
Clearly, he didn't have the same keen interest in flying as children born into other wizarding families.
Neville seemed to feel much the same way.
He looked as though he wanted to bore a hole right through his broom with his stare.
"I have to admit, it is. But what can you do? We're wizards."
Devero replied in a relaxed tone.
To be honest,
he wasn't interested in flying.
He could teleport.
Who would still use a mode of transportation like this?
"By the way, why did you bring a toad to this class?"
Adrian asked curiously, glancing at Eld on Devero's shoulder.
"Oh, he's been cooped up indoors for too long. I'm worried he'll turn into a specimen, so I have to bring him out for some fresh air."
Just then,
Madam Hooch walked over to them.
"Well, what are you all waiting for?"
she said sharply.
"Everyone, stand beside a broom. Quickly, quickly, we're short on time."
Devero turned and took Eld off his shoulder.
He set him down in a patch of open ground farther away.
Then he immediately stood in front of his own broom.
Uh...
This broom looked about twenty years old.
A few twigs stuck out in every direction.
"Hold out your right hand and place it above the broom."
Madam Hooch called out to the students.
"Then say, 'Up!'"
"Up!"
Everyone shouted.
Devero did too.
But his broom only trembled slightly.
Then it didn't move at all.
Malfoy, standing nearby, burst out laughing.
"Goodness, perhaps the French are better suited to flying carpets. After all, they're all a bunch of old-fashioned stick-in-the-muds who can't keep up with the times."
"Or perhaps the French just aren't born with the right genes for riding a broom. You'd better stay on the ground and stop embarrassing Hogwarts."
Devero frowned slightly.
But he didn't care at all about Malfoy's taunts.
He didn't consider himself French, after all.
He was just puzzled by the broom's reaction.
He felt as though the broom was bargaining with him.
After acquiring the Wand-making Prodigy trait,
Devero had realized that he seemed able to communicate with certain magical artifacts that had a stronger sense of life.
But most of the time, the communication was faint.
Or, rather, there was very little life in most magical artifacts.
So Devero hadn't communicated with them much.
The strongest exchange he'd experienced was when he'd first chosen his wand.
But he hadn't acquired this trait yet.
He got it later,
but the wand he had was so obedient to him
that it had practically become part of his body.
So Devero had never had a chance to use this ability.
Today was the first time.
Devero felt that the broom was trying to express its... fear?
It seemed to be saying that it was afraid of heights.
That was why it didn't want Devero to ride it.
Devero's mouth twitched.
This Flying Broom was afraid of heights?
That was ridiculous. He couldn't imagine what previous students had done to it.
So Devero started trying to calm the broom down.
After a lot of coaxing,
the broom finally obeyed and flew into his hand.
By then, most of the others were ready.
Madam Hooch began teaching them how to fly.
Devero knew that Neville would probably soon have the misfortune of falling off his broom.
But there was nothing he could do to look after him at the same time!
His broom was so anxious!
As soon as he gripped the handle,
he could feel it trembling wildly.
Devero could only hold on as tightly as possible
and keep murmuring reassuring words to the broom.
He didn't know whether it could understand him.
But that was all he could do.
He wanted to hold his wand
to feel a little safer.
He gently loosened his right hand.
Just then,
Madam Hooch said,
"Hold your broom steady, rise a few feet, then lean forward slightly and descend vertically back to the ground. Follow my whistle—three, two—"
Neville shot straight into the sky.
A wave of cries of alarm rose from the class.
"Come back, boy!"
Madam Hooch shouted.
But Neville kept rising straight up,
showing no sign of stopping.
Devero wasn't holding the broom with both hands.
At the sound of everyone shouting,
the broom seemed to be startled like a spooked horse.
It shuddered violently
and suddenly shot forward!
It raced straight toward the Forbidden Forest!
And it stayed only a little above the ground!
As it skimmed over the grass,
it split it apart on either side, leaving a green wave in its wake.
Devero felt as if he were sitting in a speeding sports car with failed brakes.
At any moment, he might crash into a tree in the Forbidden Forest, snap his neck, and die.
Devero plunged into the Forbidden Forest!
Leaning his body to the side,
he barely managed to dodge two enormous trees.
He yanked his wand from his waist.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
A force lifted Devero right off the broom.
The broom he'd been riding then rammed straight into a tree.
If Devero hadn't cast the spell in time,
the future academic star of the Wizarding World,
the Potion Prodigy Devero, would have met his end right there.
Devero gently waved his wand
and finally drifted down to the ground.
Devero looked around.
He was in the middle of a dense, shadowy thicket.
There wasn't a single living creature in sight.
He couldn't sense any immediate threat.
So Devero walked over,
wanting to see if he could pull the broom out of the tree.
But clearly,
the broom had been badly frightened.
Almost the entire thing had sunk into the trunk.
Devero strained with all his might,
but he couldn't pull it out.
Just as Devero was about to give up,
Clip-clop! Clip-clop! Clip-clop!
Footsteps unlike a human's sounded behind him.
Devero immediately turned around, alert.
He held his wand protectively in front of him,
ready to cast a defensive spell at any moment.
But what appeared before him was a creature he'd never seen before.
It had a humanlike upper body,
uncannily blue eyes and platinum-blond hair
that shimmered brightly.
Its lower body was the pale golden body of an Abraxan.
Strong and graceful.
A centaur!
"Do you need help?"
To be honest,
if you ignored his lower half,
this centaur was simply the most handsome person... uh, creature Devero had seen since arriving in this world!
Devero was a little stunned.
Only when he heard the centaur's question
did he turn and show him the tree trunk, with the broom embedded in it.
"My broom's stuck."
The centaur said nothing.
He simply stepped forward
and yanked hard with his thick arms.
The broom came free.
Then he turned and handed it to Devero.
"It's dangerous here. You should leave at once."
With that, the handsome centaur raced off into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.
Clip-clop! Clip-clop! Clip-clop...
As the sound of hooves faded into the distance,
Devero lowered his head and examined the broom.
The broom already had a glaring crack running across it.
It probably wouldn't fly anymore.
Devero tried casting Reparo several times to see if he could improve its condition at least a little.
Unfortunately,
it was already completely cracked.
The Forbidden Forest was indeed a very dangerous place.
Devero immediately took off running in the direction he'd come from.
Fortunately, he hadn't gone very deep.
He was back out in no time.
Soon, he returned to the original lesson area.
Neville had fallen off his broom by then.
Madam Hooch was about to take him to the School Infirmary.
After seeing the state of Devero's broom,
she wanted to take Devero along, too.
Devero politely declined.
After showing her that he was completely unhurt,
Madam Hooch didn't insist.
She left them with a warning not to fly around recklessly,
then departed with Neville, who was still sobbing.
And so,
the next event on the agenda was—
Draco Malfoy!
Harry Potter!
Two dragons fighting over a pearl!
Before you continue