Flying Class (Part Two)

When Madam Hooch felt everyone had more or less grasped the basics, she told them to mount their brooms and prepare to take off.

But before she could give the command, Neville, nervous and afraid of falling behind, jumped the gun.

Then he floated up.

Then he could not get down.

Then he came down against his will.

Harry slapped his forehead in frustration. Since this was flying class, he had tucked his wand into his waistband. He was too slow drawing it and had no time to stop Neville's fall with a Levitation Charm or some other spell.

By the time he had his wand in hand, Neville was already curled up on the ground, his body twitching slightly.

Neville did not cry. Harry thought he was still as brave as ever. If Harry himself had fallen from that height and broken his wrist, he could hardly guarantee he would not be sobbing and streaming tears.

Madam Hooch used magic to float Neville into the air, then hurried toward the Castle with him. Before leaving, she warned the remaining students:

"I'm taking Mr. Longbottom to the Hospital Wing. None of you are to move. Put your brooms back where they were. If I come back and see anyone in the air, you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.'"

Most of the young witches and wizards obediently put their brooms back where they had been, but there were always exceptions.

The moment Madam Hooch disappeared into the Castle, Draco burst into unrestrained laughter. "Did you see that? That stupid little fat lump!"

Several Slytherin students laughed along with him, especially his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry found that baffling. With their builds, those two were actually mocking someone else for being fat?

Did they have no self-awareness at all?

"Shut up, Malfoy." Harry's wandering thoughts had slowed his reaction, so Parvati Patil spoke first.

"What's wrong, Patil? Do you fancy that chubby little crybaby?" Pansy Parkinson asked Parvati in a voice dripping with mockery.

Pansy Parkinson was actually quite a pretty girl, with short black hair and delicate features. But she always stuck her nose in the air and looked down her chin at people. If Hermione scored five on the arrogance scale, this girl scored at least twenty.

She also constantly joined Draco in belittling and mocking others, whether it was Ron's old clothes or Neville's clumsiness. This made Ron and the others so sick of her that they found even her face repulsive.

Her favorite targets were the Patil Sisters.

Harry knew why! Almost everyone said the Patil Sisters were the prettiest girls in their year-and Harry agreed. That deeply displeased Pansy, who considered herself just as pretty and was exceedingly arrogant.

By contrast, another pretty Slytherin girl, Daphne Greengrass, always seemed quiet and composed. Even quite a few Gryffindor students liked her.

At that moment, Daphne clearly disapproved of Draco and Pansy's behavior. She frowned slightly, but still said nothing.

Just as Harry, Ron, and the others would always side with Gryffindor against outsiders, the Slytherins were united among themselves.

Patil clearly lacked Pansy's sharp tongue. Her pretty face flushed with anger, and she opened her mouth but could not get a word out.

"Look what we have here!" Draco seemed to have spotted something. He hurried over to where Neville had fallen, bent down, and picked up a ball-a Remembrall!

"Hey, if that fat lump had taken a look at his Remembrall, he might have remembered to land on his backside!" Draco jeered.

"Malfoy, give that to me!" Harry had finally snapped out of his jumble of thoughts. He stepped forward and snapped at him.

Malfoy gave him a teasing grin. "No. I'm going to hide it and make Longbottom look for it. I think the top of a tree would be a good choice."

"I said, hand it over!"

Harry stepped forward to snatch it, but Draco clearly knew how well Harry could fight. As soon as Harry approached, he jumped back to put some distance between them. At the same time, he swung a leg over his broom and shot into the air.

Apparently, his earlier boasts had not been entirely empty, at least judging by what they saw now. His posture might not have been elegant, but he flew with practiced ease, smoothly rising five or six meters into the air.

"Potter, come and get it if you can!" Draco controlled his broom with one hand while tossing the Remembrall up and down with the other, taunting Harry below.

Harry fixed his eyes on Draco-or rather, on the Remembrall in his hand. The instant Draco tossed it up again, Harry flicked his wand. "Accio Remembrall!"

The Remembrall paused in midair, then shot toward Harry. He reached out with his free left hand and caught it firmly, leaving Draco hovering there with a dumbfounded expression.

"The Summoning Charm! I know that one too. Why didn't I think of it?" Hermione could not help lowering her head and muttering to herself.

The Summoning Charm was a relatively difficult basic spell, but difficult or not, it was still a basic spell.

It was not covered in the lower years' lessons, but Hermione was no ordinary little academic prodigy.

Although she was not yet very proficient, she had already mastered it.

In fact, although Harry had tried quite a few spells during the holidays, the Summoning Charm had not been among them. It did not appear in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One.

He had only learned the spell in the Library after arriving at school. That had been just last weekend, and he had practiced it with Hermione. He was nowhere near proficient, so Harry inwardly counted himself lucky to have succeeded on his first try.