A Shabby Flying Broom

Today is Friday, Flying Class is this afternoon.

In the Great Hall, Ron continued to pester Harry with questions about football.

Last night at dinner, after flying class, Ron Harry and the others pestered Seamus, Dean and the others from Gryffindor sitting next to them, asking about their flying experiences. Neville, who was sitting next to them, also perked up his ears. He had never touched a broom since he was a child because, in his grandmother's eyes, even if Neville kept his feet on the ground, he could always cause one accident after another.

At that time, almost all the students expressed amazement and praise for flying.

But there was one wizard who was different, and that was Dean Thomas, who was dark-skinned like Michael. In his opinion, riding a broom was too stupid and not as fun as football.

As he spoke, he even took out a poster of the West Ham United that he had prepared in advance. Most people did not pay attention to Dean's words. They were more concerned that the people on the poster did not move.

But Ron was different. He excitedly discussed it with Dean. After carefully listening to Dean's explanation of the rules of football, he kept saying, "There's only one ball on the field, and nobody is allowed to fly. What's so exciting about this kind of game!"

After dinner and finishing his homework, he started pestering his only roommate who grew up in the Muggle World — Harry Potter.

He had always wanted to figure out what was so interesting about football.

Sure enough, when it was time to eat, it was already the next day, and he was still asking Harry questions. Harry, meanwhile, was trying hard to recall the football matches he had occasionally caught glimpses of on television.

When he was still at his aunt's house, even though there was a TV and it was always on, Dudley never wanted him to get close. If he got close, Harry would start wailing and pretending to cry, as if watching a little TV and feeling a little better was a terrible sin.

So, aside from a little exposure to football in elementary school, Harry doesn't really know much about football. He's already told Ron everything he can.

But after joining Ravenclaw, Ron seemed to develop some kind of twisted interest, always stubbornly clinging to peculiar things. For example, this time, he seemed to be trying to understand why football is fun.

"Harry, hurry up and answer him, or just make something up," Lisa Turpin said, still shaken. Before this, Ron had also bothered her because she boasted that her family had a spell that Dumbledore didn't know about.

"What should I do—" Before Harry could ask, Ron returned with a plate full of food, grumbling and complaining about why the potato and meat pie was placed so far away from him.

Thankfully, class was about to start. Professor Snape, the Potions Class teacher, was still a terrifying figure for Ron, which made Ron temporarily forget about football and begin his journey to the basement with trepidation.

When they arrived at the Potions Classroom, Dudley still sat far away from Harry. At Hogwarts, the two of them were like strangers, hardly exchanging a word.

A moment later, Snape entered the classroom, dragging a long black cloak that matched his clothes.

He looked around, his eyes cold, and except for the occasional warmth that returned when he looked at Harry, he always had an expression that said the whole world owed him Oscar Award.

He took out the list that hadn't been read aloud yet, and continued reading from Harry's name down, matching the other names with the faces of the students below.

"I have a question now. Why did I choose Pewter Cauldron for yours, instead of brass or copper?" Professor Snape asked Harry.

"Among the three common types of crucibles, their Potions -Potions making efficiency decreases in the order of copper, brass, and tin."

"Unlike wizards with such high Potions skills as you, copper is the most suitable material, and it can also be used to make some Potions that need to be brewed quickly," Harry answered accurately as always. Ever since he learned about his parents' strongest subjects, unlike Flying Class, which couldn't be practiced and wasn't very helpful from books, Harry had been consciously reading books like "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi" and "Magical Drafts and Potions," and even some extracurricular related books, which he had asked upperclassmen to recommend for reading.

"Very good, Weasley, why can't you learn from Harry? It seems that associating with outstanding people doesn't necessarily make you more outstanding. Oh, Ravenclaw gets 2 points!"

After class, Ron looked like a wilted eggplant. "Why is Professor Snape targeting me? Harry, can you ask him for me?"

"Let's forget about it. Professor Snape probably thinks you're not paying attention in class," Harry guessed.

"Do you think it's possible that Professor Snape also read the report and even believed it?" Neville said quietly from the side.

"Damn Rita Skeeter!" Ron cried out in pain.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, Ryan and the Ravenclaw students hurried down the steps to the field in front of the gate, ready for their first Flying Class.

It was a sunny, breezy day. As they hurried down the sloping grass towards a flat lawn on the opposite side of the field, the grass rippled gently beneath their feet. Beyond the lawn lay a forest, with dark trees swaying in the wind in the distance.

There was not a soul in sight on the field at this moment. The Hufflepuff students had not yet arrived. Only twenty flying brooms were neatly arranged on the ground.

These flying brooms all look quite old, they're all very old models, it seems the report in the Daily Prophet that Fudge was trying to reduce Hogwarts' expenses was indeed true.

However, Fudge's reply stated that he was simply reducing some unnecessary expenses and using them for more important purposes. It seems that the brooms for the Flying Class were the unnecessary expenses that Fudge was referring to.

After all, although they are old and worn out, they are still usable, just with a few minor problems, such as trembling when you fly too high, always veering slightly to the left when flying, and not descending slowly as normally when landing.

Soon after, the Hufflepuff arrived, with Dudley standing at the front. It seemed that he had re-established his leadership position in his class during this period, truly deserving of the title of Southeast Junior Heavyweight Inter-School Boxing Champion.

Ryan was also a little surprised. He discovered that Dudley's wizarding talent, which had been somewhat impaired due to the transplant, was slowly recovering as if he were alive. Was it because of Lily's spell?

Now that Dudley of an adult wizard ahead of time, coupled with his strong physique, if it weren't for Ryan himself, this book might have been renamed "Daily Life at Hogwarts by Dudley the Dursley."

As Ryan pondered, Madam Hooch, the Flying Class instructor, arrived. She had short gray hair and yellow eyes, like those of an eagle.

"Alright, what are you all waiting for?" she said sternly. "Everyone stand next to a flying broom. Hurry, hurry, make the most of it."

Without any introductions, the Flying Class began.