The Raven's Call

Eventful Afternoon

Cedric shows me the way to flying class and hugs me goodbye before heading to his own class. I meet up with Alex and Asteria once again as we stand in two rows, myself and Alex in one and Asteria in the other, next to Draco. In front of each of us were brooms. Our teacher, Madam Hooch, walks down the line, she has short grey hair and yellow eyes.

"Good afternoon, class." She announces. "Good afternoon, Madam Hooch." We all call back in unison. "Welcome to your first flying lesson." She pauses and looks over at as all. "Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone step up to the left side of their broomstick. Come on now, hurry up. Stick your right hand over the broom and say, up!"

I do as I'm told, along with the rest of the students. I hear a multitude of voices calling "up!" but to no avail. I call out, "Up!" once, and the broom flies up into my hand, then Harry calls up, and his flies into his hand. Then followed by Alexander and The Malfoy twins. I then hear Ron say up, though he's immediately whacked in the face with his broom, I can't help but let out a soft laugh.

"Now, once you've got hold of your broom, I want you to mount it. And grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end." Hooch instructs. "When I blow my whistle, I want each of you to kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your broom steady, hover for a moment, and then lean forward slightly and touch back down. On my whistle...3...2..." She blows the whistle. However, Neville's broomstick somehow lifts him off the ground. He looks quite frightened.

"Mr. Longbottom..!" Madam Hooch calls out to him. "Neville, what are you doing?" Asteria asks, worried. "We're not supposed to take off yet..!" I say as the rest of the students call out his name. Neville's broom then launches him into the sky. "Come back down this instant!" Hooch demands. Neville screams, it was clear now that he had no control over his broom. He flies around uncontrollably in the air and hits a wall, bonking along it and then swooping off. All the while, he continues to scream. He begins to zoom back towards us. Hooch quickly holds out her wand to stop him.

"Help!" Neville pleads as his broom hurdles past us, Madam Hooch diving out of the way. All we can do is watch as Neville zooms past a statue of a man with a sharp spear. Neville's cloak catches on it. He is flipped off the broom and hangs there. Then the cloak rips through the spear, and he falls. But his cloak catches on a torch, making Neville slip off from his cloak a second later and fall to the ground.

The group of students all run over to him, to see if he's okay, to which Madam Hooch demands we get out of her way. I and the other students scatter. She then helps Neville up, he whimpers in pain. "Oh dear.. It's a broken wrist." Hooch says with a tut. "Everyone is to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing. Understand? If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will find themselves out of Hogwarts before they can say, Quidditch." She tells us as she leads Neville away.

Once they were out of earshot, Draco snickers, holding Neville's Remembrall in his hand. "Did you see his face? Maybe if the fat lump had given this a squeeze, he'd have remembered to fall on his fat arse." He and his two goons, Crabbe and Goyle laugh. I look over to Alex, who is visibly angry now. "Give it here, Malfoy." Harry demands as he walks over to Draco. "No. I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find." Draco scowls as he hops on his broom and soars around us, then through. "How 'bout on the roof?" He soars off and hovers several feet above the ground. "What's the matter, Potter? Bit beyond your reach?" He taunts.

Harry seemingly had enough, he gets on his broom, but Hermione stops him. "Harry, no way! You heard what Madam Hooch said! Besides, you don't even know how to fly." Harry flies off to face Draco, ignoring her. "What an idiot." She mumbles. "Not very bright, that one." I say to her. "Did you hear the spell Seamus was trying at lunch?" She asks me, and I nod in return. "Harry asked what Seamus was trying to do.." I exaggerate a facepalm. "He literally said it in the spell." I stress. Hermione giggles. "Right?"

We then look up to see Draco throwing the Remembrall, Harry zooms after the ball, speeding towards a tower. Just as he is about to hit a window, he catches it.. and the crowd goes wild, part two. Harry begins to fly back down to the grounds. Most of the students cheer as Harry lands back on the ground at ease, and they run over to see him. "Harry Potter?" A familiar voice calls from behind us. It was Professor McGonagall. "Follow me." She says, leading him away from the class, Draco and his goons snicker in delight.

Alexander approaches Draco, his wand at his side. "I'm warning you now, Malfoy, disrespect my friends again and you and Harry will have matching scars." He threatened "Diffindo!" He flicked his wand towards a bush, splitting it cleanly in half. I could see the look on Draco's face, he looked terrified. He runs off, calling for Crabbe, Goyle and Asteria to follow him before yelling out. "My father will hear about this!" Asteria sighs before running after him. "God, Draco! You're such a baby!" I hear her call out.

"Bloody Hell, Alex!" Ron exclaims. "Where'd you learn to do that?"  "Standard Book of Spells, Chapter 4" Hermione and I say in unison. "Oh, I just read a lot of books." Alex replies to Ron, ignoring the know-it-alls.  "Honestly, it's the first time I've ever cast it. I think they used to teach it to first years, but I'm not sure if it's in Professor Flitwick's curriculum." He says quietly, a somewhat guilty look on his face. 

The rest of us wait for Madam Hooch to return, though once she did, she looked rather confused; "Where's Potter, Crabbe Goyle and the Malfoys?" She asks. "Harry was taken by Professor McGonagall. She didn't really say why." Hermione explained, "Draco and Co. ran off after Alexander threatened him with the Severing Charm." she said, gesturing to the bush. "Is that true, Alexander? Did you threaten another student?" Madam Hooch exclaimed, shocked. "You're going to need to come with me, I would take you to see your Aunt, but I feel this is a conversation better had with Professor Dumbledore himself! 10 points from Gryffindor!" I sigh softly as I watch Alex and Hooch walk away.

This was only the first day and already, it's been very eventful.