★~ Lillian Potter ~★

Ferrets and Brooms

"Heeeyy um Draco- wait can i call you that?" Lilly leaned over the couch and fell over on top of the cushions beside Draco. "What do you want?" he said calmly setting his book down. "uh i wanted to say I'm sorry about.. earlier i was just upset- not that i was in Slytherin, i really like it its just my brother." "its fine, i know." Draco smiled slightly. "Friends?" Lilly puts out her hand. "Friends."

a FeW dAyS LaTeR..

"Oy hello butt-head." Lilly flicks Draco's head playfully. "Meany." "poop." "Poop face." "Albino monkey." "how dare you dodo bird." "ferret." "Dang it!" Draco smacked his head. Mya and Ashley rolled their eyes behind the pair. Lilly was still avoiding Harry worried that he would explode at her but she was getting to know her three friends more.

"Come on we've got flying lessons ." Ashley pulled up Lilly, Draco right behind her and they walk off towards the field where Madam Hooch was supposed to meet them. Lilly saw the Gryffindor's walk onto the field and line up in a row. She had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started tovibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, andyellow eyes like a hawk."Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up." Lilly glanced down at her broom trying to avoid Harry's eye contact. The broom was old and some of the twigs stuckout at odd angles."Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at thefront, "and say 'Up!"'

"UP!" everyone shouted. Lilly's broom jumped into her hand at once, but it was one of the fewthat did. She saw Harry's did and he caught her eye and smiled. She turned away quickly, Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground, Draco's came to him right after Lilly's and Ashley's acted like hers, Mya's went up but fell back down, andNeville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tellwhen you were afraid, thought Lilly; there was a quaver in Neville'svoice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on theground.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without slidingoff the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips.Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Draco he'd been doing itwrong for years. And Lilly thought his face was hilarious when she told him. "Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," saidMadam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then comestraight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle -- three-- two --"But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on theground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch'slips.

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like acork shot out of a bottle -- twelve feet -- twenty feet. Lilly saw hisscared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp,slip sideways off the broom and --WHAM -- a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay facedown on the grassin a heap. Lilly hid her face behind her hands. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, andstarted to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight. She looked through her fingers terrified.

Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his."Broken wrist," Lilly heard her mutter. "Come on, boy -- it's all right, up you get.". She turned to the rest of the class."None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! Youleave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts beforeyou can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off withMadam Hooch, who had her arm around him.

No sooner were they out of earshot than Draco burst into laughter."Did you see his face, the great lump?"The other Slytherins joined in. "Draco shut the hell up." Lilly whispered and elbowed his rib painfully. He stopped but the others kept laughing. "Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil."Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-facedSlytherin girl. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies,Parvati."