Minor Accident

Li Mu, having successfully completed the first step, looked around. Beside him, Ernie, who had once "chased and overtaken a car with a broom," failed. His broom floated up with difficulty, never quite reaching his hand. Justin, the Muggle-born, was even worse. He roared, his face red, but the broom under his feet only trembled slightly, unsure if it was the effect of magic or the vibration from his voice.

On the Gryffindor side, next to the Hufflepuff formation, Harry finally managed to get the broom to jump into his hand. Ron's broom jumped halfway, then suddenly veered to the left and fell to the ground. Hermione looked anxious, constantly shouting "Up! Up!" but clearly her broom only wanted to roll around on the ground. As for Neville, the broom at his feet didn't react at all, which made him even more frustrated, muttering that he'd rather walk on the ground than fly in the sky.

Inadvertently, Li Mu's gaze passed over them and turned to the Ravenclaw formation. He quickly found Hinata and was surprised to discover... Hinata's broom was also motionless. The little girl from Yingzhou looked ashamed, her face flushed.

Madam Hooch taught the feeling and tricks of summoning the broom several more times, but still a few people failed. Class time was precious, so Madam Hooch frowned and decided to let them practice on their own after class. All the students should move on to the next step: "Alright! Now, let me demonstrate the correct riding posture for a broom."

Speaking loudly, Madam Hooch nimbly straddled her broom, her posture reminding Li Mu of ancient generals mounting their horses. All indications suggested that wizards had indeed drawn on the experience of riding horses when creating the "flying broom" as a means of transportation, treating the broom as a horse to ride.

The students who hadn't succeeded so far could only dejectedly grab their brooms from the ground and clumsily straddle them according to the demonstration. Madam Hooch was in no hurry to complete the demonstration. She explained twice more how to sit firmly on the broom without falling off, then let everyone practice on their own. She walked back and forth in the formation, correcting the students' incorrect postures.

Malfoy's lie about dodging a helicopter was quickly exposed, as Madam Hooch was the first to reprimand him for his completely wrong posture. This made the three houses except Slytherin burst into laughter, especially the little lions of Gryffindor... almost every Gryffindor was secretly mocking Malfoy, just like the Slytherins did in Potions class.

"Alright, now pay attention to my whistle. When I blow the whistle, you gently push off the ground." After a while, Madam Hooch saw that everyone was seated and gave the order again. She shook the whistle in her hand as she spoke, "Just push off once, so you'll be suspended in the low air within half a meter of the ground. And you just need to hold the broom handle tightly and maintain the correct posture in the floating environment. Okay, pay attention, listen to my whistle—three... Oh! You child, get back here!"

She had just shouted "three" when she suddenly cried out in surprise.

"Neville!" Li Mu gasped, calling out in surprise with the others—he had forgotten about this! This was an important plot point in the original story!

Neville, for some reason, pushed off the ground as soon as Madam Hooch said "three," and "whoosh" he shot into the sky, rising higher and higher. They saw Neville's face twisted and pale with terror, then his hand shook, he didn't hold the broom steady, and he fell face down towards the ground.

Li Mu's reaction was already fast, he even rushed in front of Madam Hooch. His first thought was to use the Levitation Charm, but they hadn't learned the complex spell "Wingardium Leviosa" yet. Even Hermione, who had previewed it many times, couldn't cast it. Li Mu's English pronunciation was a big problem, so he had even less confidence. He didn't want to finish the spell and find an elephant standing on Neville's stomach.

But he immediately thought of a technique that could probably create a levitation effect. Everyone saw Li Mu raise his hands towards Neville in the air, each hand forming a hand seal, and chanting: "Left Immortal Crane Removes Incense Offering to the Saints, Please Heavenly Soldiers Assist and Protect the Body. Right Immortal Crane Rides a Crane to Guide the Way, Receiving Wind Power and Cloud Body Immortal Dust."

Accurately speaking, it wasn't a spell, and it couldn't even be considered a conventional magic. It was a side branch of Shushan Taoism, which emphasized hand seals. Each seal represented a different meaning, and dozens of seals stacked in different order and patterns could derive many kinds of magic. Li Mu was forming a White Crane Seal with each hand, trying to achieve or even surpass the effect of the Levitation Charm—it was risky, but slightly better than forcibly using the Levitation Charm. However, Li Mu had cultivated in Shushan for eight years, and the Xuanmen Taoist techniques he had learned were almost all focused on attacking and strengthening himself. The only thing that could help Neville was this choice.

Fortunately, the magic seemed to work. For a moment, everyone felt that Neville's falling speed had clearly slowed down... but unfortunately, it was only for a moment. It felt as if an invisible branch had supported him for a moment, but then Neville crushed the branch with his own weight... After a brief float, he still fell, crashing to the ground at Li Mu's feet, still face down.

"Are you okay..." Li Mu quickly squatted down and called out.

"Mmm, thank you... my broom..." Neville mumbled, turning over, his big eyes filled with tears.

"Did you fall anywhere?" Li Mu was speechless. Neville's broom had obviously flown away somewhere. But out of some inner guilt, he patiently comforted him, "It's okay, the teacher will find the broom, don't think about anything else."

Li Mu felt guilty. He had known about this scene for a long time, even knew that Neville's accident should happen in the first flying lesson. However, these days had been too "fulfilling," which made him muddleheaded and didn't remember this for a while—otherwise he would probably find a way to help Neville avoid injury. As for whether this would cause Harry Potter to miss the Quidditch match in his first year and miss the title of "youngest Seeker," Li Mu didn't care.

At this time, Madam Hooch, Harry, Hermione and others also immediately surrounded him, their faces a little pale. Madam Hooch squatted next to Li Mu and pinched Neville all over.

"A slight fracture in the wrist, fortunately." Madam Hooch said in a low voice, as if relieved. But Neville's tears finally fell, crying loudly.

Hermione frowned and shouted, "Neville, you're a man, don't cry, it's okay!"

Neville looked at her, sobbing, finally stopping the crying, but tears still couldn't help but flow down his chubby round face.

Madam Hooch glanced at Li Mu and the others. She turned to look at the other students and said, "While I take this student to the infirmary, no one is allowed to try flying without permission. Anyone who dares to move will get out of here! Understand? ... Child, come, let's go."

She said, helping Neville walk away.