𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝

- 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗱𝘂𝗲𝗹 -

Lucia had never believed she would meet a boy she hated more than Ryan, but that was before she met Draco Malfoy. Still, first year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy much. Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room which made them all groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday — and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.

"Typical", said Lucia darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy".

She had been looking forward to learning how to fly more than anything else.

"You don't know if you'll make a fool of yourself", said Ron reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk".

Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting in the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories which always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters.

He wasn't the only one, though the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick. Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom. Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas about football. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly. Lucia kindly took it upon herself to spend at least 20 minutes explaining the importance of football in the Muggle world, with Ron listening to her every word.

"How do you know all this?" Ron asked, slightly impressed.

"I lived with Muggles, remember?" said Lucia.

"Oh.. yeah" said Ron.

...

Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Lucia felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.

Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book — not that she hadn't tried. At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd got out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages. Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the post.

Lucia hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course. Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table.

A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.

"It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things — this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red — oh....

His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, ".....you've forgotten something..."

Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand.

Lucia and Ron jumped to their feet. They were half hoping for a reason to jinx Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.