You have to live!

Zhang Xiao looked at the tiny beads of sweat on Neville's round face and whispered again:

"Take a deep breath and relax. Imagine the broom flying into your hand. Really concentrate!"

Neville gave him a grateful look, took several deep breaths, and followed Zhang Xiao's advice, staring at the broom as he desperately pictured it jumping into his hand.

"Up."

Neville watched in astonishment as the broom slowly, lazily floated off the ground. It looked very reluctant, but it really did drift into his hand.

Yes! He sniffed, his nose stinging, then wiped his eyes with his sleeve. A happy smile spread over his round face. Several other students' brooms still hadn't moved at all!

Zhang Xiao smiled too and gave Neville a thumbs-up.

He was supposed to have been paired with Malfoy, but he had deliberately switched places for Neville's sake. His goal was to give Neville a warning when he mounted his broom.

In the book, it might have been nothing more than a brief mention of a broken wrist, but Neville had suffered both the physical pain of falling from a great height and the emotional pain of being laughed at by his classmates.

So if he could prevent it, why let Neville suffer?

As for Harry joining the Quidditch team, Zhang Xiao planned to find an opportunity to speak to Professor McGonagall. He believed she would be willing to give Harry a chance, considering how long finding a Seeker for Gryffindor had been giving her headaches.

After all, Harry hadn't joined the team through any underhanded means. He had earned his place through skill.

After a great deal of effort, all the young witches and wizards finally had their brooms in their hands. Madam Hooch gripped her silver whistle and said sternly:

"Now everyone mount your brooms. Pay attention! Just mount them. Do not do anything else! Is that clear?"

Zhang Xiao swung a leg over his broom and immediately discovered, to his surprise, that what he felt beneath his bottom was rather like a bench, as though he were sitting on an invisible seat.

That answered a question he had wondered about for a long time-wouldn't sitting astride a round stick of wood be uncomfortable?

Madam Hooch was still talking at length, continually correcting the students' positions as she spoke. Malfoy kept being criticized for holding his broom incorrectly, which left him rather embarrassed. He muttered that his father had taught him that way.

That earned him a merciless scolding from Madam Hooch. Zhang Xiao found it rather amusing. It was exactly like driving school in his previous life.

"Zhang."

Neville's trembling voice suddenly came from beside him, and Zhang Xiao turned to look.

Neville really was shaking. His whole body kept quivering as though an electric current were running through him.

"Is your broom shaking? M-my broom won't stop shaking. It's getting worse..."

Zhang Xiao froze. A thought suddenly struck him: everyone had assumed Neville's accident happened because he was too nervous, but had anyone ever bothered to ask how it had actually happened?

Could there have been something wrong with the school's battered brooms, which were who knew how many years old?

When Neville had noticed his broom shaking back then, his lack of confidence had stopped him from speaking up. Instead, he had wondered whether he had done something wrong to make it shake.

But now, because Zhang Xiao was here, Neville had found the courage to ask!

In a mere instant, Zhang Xiao had put it all together. He raised his hand and shouted:

"Madam Hooch! I think Neville's broom is broken!"

At the same time, he jumped off his own broom and grabbed Neville. He still remembered the Weasley twins saying that the school's battered brooms were on their last legs. They couldn't carry two people at all, and even with just one rider, they would start shuddering if they flew too high.

Madam Hooch turned around and barely had time to shout:

"Longbottom..."

Then the battered broom shot into the sky with both boys aboard, as though they were riding a rocket.

Madam Hooch hurriedly drew her wand to stop them, but the broom carried them through a cobra maneuver one moment and a full loop the next. She had no confidence whatsoever that she could hit them.

The students tilted their heads back, watching the two figures trace all sorts of graceful arcs through the sky. They doubted they could pull off such difficult maneuvers even riding Broomsticks on their own.

Zhang Xiao clung desperately to Neville's arm to keep from being flung away. His ears were filled with Neville's terrified screams and the roar of the wind.

Neville was relatively better off-at least he was sitting on the broom. Zhang Xiao, however, fluttered in the wind like the two tails trailing behind a kite.

Wasn't this thing supposed to be unable to fly with two people? No, there's definitely something wrong with this broom! In that brief span of time, it had already carried them straight up into the sky. The scenery below had shrunk into a tiny cluster, and they were heading right for the ragged cumulus clouds.

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Xiao shouted as loudly as he could against the powerful wind:

"Neville, don't let go! My life depends on you!"

Neville jolted, as though he had never imagined that anyone would one day entrust their life to him. Zhang Xiao noticed that Neville had suddenly stopped screaming, though his round face was still filled with terror and his eyes were brimming with tears.

But he pressed his lips tightly together, reached out to grab Zhang Xiao, and desperately pulled him closer.

With Neville's help, Zhang Xiao finally managed to climb onto the Broomstick, escaping immediate danger.

The deranged broom was still accelerating wildly. Zhang Xiao turned back to Neville and said:

"We need to find a way back. Neville, have you ever ridden a broom before?"

Neville sniffled and said in a tearful voice:

"No. Gran never lets me near Broomsticks. I think she has a very good reason for that.

"Even with both feet planted firmly on the ground, I still manage to cause one accident after another."

Then, overwhelmed with guilt, he apologized to Zhang Xiao:

"I'm sorry. I messed everything up and dragged you into it too."

Zhang Xiao sighed:

"Neville, you don't have to keep apologizing. What does this have to do with you? Nobody expected the school's Broomstick to suddenly go berserk."

In truth, he was terrified too. His parents had prepared all sorts of lifesaving items for him, but did knowing you were safe mean you wouldn't feel fear?

Why else were so many people afraid to go bungee jumping?

The broom gradually settled down. Recalling the flying tips Hermione had kept reciting before class, Zhang Xiao tried to steer it. After cautiously experimenting for a while, he discovered that he actually could control it, though he was nowhere near as instinctive or smooth as Harry.

Still, flying the broom back would certainly be no problem.

And so the two boys slowly flew back. Madam Hooch, who was holding a Broomstick and had already notified all the Heads of House, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Her sharp eyes had already spotted the unfortunate pair slowly returning, and her anger flared. With her keen judgment, she had already realized that the broom was at fault.

There was no way young students could manage vertical ascents and descents of that difficulty and speed!

She had told Headmaster Dumbledore ages ago that the school's brooms were too old, but those governors were as stingy as Nifflers. They couldn't bear to part with a single coin from their pockets.

They always brushed her off, saying the brooms still worked, or that students would bring their own anyway, so the school wouldn't need to provide any.

Now students have had an accident. Let's see what the governors do about it!

Madam Hooch twirled the whistle in her hand, narrowing her eyes as she began making plans. The school's brooms would most likely be replaced now. The governors wouldn't be able to withstand Dumbledore's wrath.

What brooms should we get? Cleansweeps? Aren't those a little too old? Nimbus brooms seem good too, though the price...

The students slowly relaxed as well. They whispered among themselves, apparently thinking this was rather cool. Some even looked a little envious.

Zhang Xiao took in the beautiful view from the sky with Neville as they drew ever closer to the lawn where their flying class was being held. Perhaps the broom had exhausted itself during its earlier frenzy, because its speed gradually dropped considerably.

Sometimes it would even drop abruptly before barely managing to steady itself again. Zhang Xiao couldn't help worrying whether it would last long enough for them to land safely.

After some thought, he reached into his Heaven and Earth Bag and began rummaging. Originally, the bag had been neatly organized, with the lifesaving items placed where they were easiest to reach. But the last time he had shown off, he had left everything inside in a mess.

While Zhang Xiao was busy searching for his lifesaving items, Neville suddenly asked from behind him:

"Zhang, I think the broom's giving out?"

Zhang Xiao paused, then quickened his search, smiling reassuringly:

"Don't worry. We'll land safely."

"Oh," Neville said. After a while, he spoke again, softly:

"Zhang... are we friends?"

Zhang Xiao was a little puzzled. Wasn't that obvious?

"Of course we are!"

Neville fell silent for a moment. "Thank you... You're the first person-the only person-who's ever said we were friends."

Zhang Xiao suddenly felt the Broomstick grow lighter. He turned around in astonishment, only to see that Neville had leaped off the back of the broom. The tears in his eyes glittered in the sunlight as he shouted:

"Zhang! You have to live! I can't do anything right, but you're different! You have to survive!"

"Fuck!" Zhang Xiao felt his blood surge straight to his head. Without hesitation, he let go, kicked hard off the Broomstick, and lunged toward Neville.