Broomsticks and Photographs
Harry happily found himself settling into his classes well. And was very happy to find that James and Lily didn't bother him too much.
Colin made a few remarks here and there, but Harry ignored him.
One morning Harry was sat at lunch with Draco and Pansy when Theo and Blaise came over and sat down with angry huffs.
"What's the matter?" asked Draco.
"Oh nothing, Malfoy, everything's fine!" said Theo with a grin like everything was, but with a tone that suggested it was anything but. "I'm just raising an army against the Colin and his whole family! Except from Sirius, he's cool. I'm calling it the Aeternum Alliance! Anyone who'd like to join me in my quest, raise your hand!"
Pansy raised her hand. So did Draco. Blaise and Harry just laughed, raising a hand slightly. Harry looked at Blaise for an explanation.
"We were in one of the halls and Colin made a comment about a student who knows more about magic than he does, and Theo called Colin out on it. So Colin made a very rude remark about Theo's dead mother," Blaise began.
"He never..." Harry gaped.
"He did," Blaise nodded. "So Theo went mad and used Flipendo on him."
"You did what?!" exclaimed Draco.
Pansy and Harry stared open mouthed at Theo, who nodded, a small smirk on his face.
"Yes, Draco, I used Flipendo. And I don't regret it. No one makes fun of my late Mother and gets away with it," Theo shrugged nonchalantly. "Especially Colin Potter."
"It was amazing," grinned Blaise. "Until James Potter came and stuck his nose in. He was yelling a lot, not sure about what though. I wasn't really listening. And then that woman turned up and- ugh," Blaise rubbed his right temple, as if even the memory was stressing him out. "Long story short, Theo and I have detention for the next two weeks. Even though all I did was giggle with some of the other students."
Harry sighed. He hadn't had much communication with his estranged brother, apart from seeing him in class. He had taken his Mum's advice and did very well in class, without showing off. Colin struggled a lot with schoolwork. He tried to hide it, but it was painfully obvious. Why else would his father constantly be sat next to him in class explaining the work to him over and over again. Snape had even smugly pointed out that the writing in his homework was strangely different to his writing in class.
"Never mind, at least it's only two weeks..." said Pansy. "Could have been worse."
"Anyway, we have flying class today with Gryffindor, so let's just try and forget about my former family for one day, please," said Harry.
Flying class had been the class Harry was looking forward to the most. He had been flying since he was five, and he loved it, but he was looking forward to being taught strategies and new moves. He was a little disappointed that first years weren't allowed to have their own broomsticks...or, at least, bring them to school.
Harry had owned brooms since he was five. Nothing too fast or fashionable, just a broom that could fly. His Mum had always been supportive of him and his obsessions, but wasn't thrilled about flying. She was scared that he would get hurt. Which Harry was grateful for, it meant that she cared, but he was desperate to fly. And he hoped that by learning to fly properly then he may be able to persuade his Mum to get him a nimbus or a cleansweep for his twelfth birthday.
So he was determined to make today a good day. Which would be much easier as neither Colin or Colin's parents would be there.
"Alright," said Blaise. "Hey Pansy, have you done your potions homework?"
"Do it yourself you lazy twit," Pansy rolled her eyes, but had a small grin on her face.
Blaise grinned back.
Later Harry and his friends were stood with the other Slytherins and the Gryffindors with old brooms at their feet, a feeling of excitement in the pit of Harry's stomach. But one Gryffindor boy looked like he might lose the contents of his stomach.
"Afternoon, class," said Madam Hooch as she walked through them.
"Afternoon, Madam Hooch."
She turned to the class. "Welcome to your first flying lesson. Well, what are you waiting for?" She instructed them to stand to the left side of their broom, hold up their right arm and say up.
"Up!" exclaimed the class.
Harry's broom flew into his hand and he grinned. His was one of the only ones that did. He noticed that the broom of the Gryffindor boy he'd seen looking ill hadn't moved at all, which might be a sign that this isn't for him. The bushy haired girl that had spoken to Harry on the train (who he'd heard was a bit of a know-it-all) couldn't get her broom to obey much either. Colin's new friend, Fred and George's brother, Ron, was stood at the far end of the line (it was unusual that Ron wasn't in Colin's class) yelled at his broom, which responded by smacking him in the face. Harry and Draco had to look away so he wouldn't see their shared quiet laughter.
After the class had their brooms in their hands, Madam Hooch instructed them to mount their brooms, and on her whistle to push off from the ground and hover for a moment.
"Easy," Harry mumbled under his breath.
"Three, two, one," she blew the whistle.
Just as Harry was about to push off from the ground he heard a loud cry. He nearly jumped off his broom in surprise.
The shy boy had clearly pushed off from the ground too hard and was now zooming up into the air.
"Oh gosh . . ." Harry whispered to himself.
"Come back, boy!" shouted Madam Hooch
The boy made it at least twenty feet before giving a startled yelp and falling from the broom, landing with a wham and a terrible crack which made a few students shiver.
"Neville!" cried someone.
Harry mentally slapped himself for not remembering Neville's name.
Madam Hooch leaned over Neville and muttered "Broken wrist."
She helped Neville to his feet and said to the rest of the class. "None of you move while I take this boy to the hospital wing. If any broom is in the air the person riding it will be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'."
She led a poor crying Neville away.
"Do you think he'll be alright?" Harry asked his Theo, who was stood next to him.
"I think so," said Theo. "He looked more shaken up."
"Like you this morning, eh Nott?" came a voice belonging to one of the Gryffindors, who Harry recognised as Ron Weasley.
Theo's closed his eyes and took a breath and ignored the comment. "Madam Pomfrey will heal him quickly."
Draco, Pansy, and Blaise had moved closer to join in the conversation.
"He'll be fine. It was only his wrist, thank goodness it wasn't his neck!" said Blaise.
"Like you all care!" said Ron.
They all turned to face him. Everyone else looked on in interest.
"Yeah, we do," said Harry.
"What's your problem?" asked Pansy. "Apart from your boots being too big."
Harry didn't know if Pansy meant that as just a figure of speech, but Ron's clearly hand-me-down boots did look a little big. But, as someone who had been forced to wear Colin's old clothes (which were usually too big for him), he couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for him.
"Shut up!" yelled Ron. "You're the ones bullying Colin-"
"'Bullying'? That's rich coming from you! You stood there laughing while Colin insulted my Mum!" yelled Theo with a scary glare.
"You called him an attention seeking bully! And then you used a curse on him!"
"Yeah, I did," Theo grinned proudly.
Harry had never seen Theo so confident. Usually he was the shy one, but he had a very funny personality underneath it all.
"And proud of it! He isn't the attention seeker! His git of a brother is!" he pointed at a startled Harry. "He went to the papers! He shows off in class-"
"Leave Harry out of this! This is about you and me, Weasley!" Theo yelled pointing his finger at Ron, his face a bit red from growing rage. "It's rich you calling him an attention seeker when all you do is boast with Colin about your non-existent powers! Ha! I've seen ants with more power than you!"
"You leave Colin out of-"
"You started this fight by mentioning him! Don't back out now you disgusting little wart!" Theo said through gritted teeth.
Harry, who had quietly been watching it all, was stunned. Theo didn't seem like the sort to like confrontation, but here he was . . . giving a bully a piece of his mind. It was so strange, but Harry couldn't help but feel grateful that it wasn't all about him for once.
He turned to look at the others. Draco's jaw had dropped with shock, clearly he (who had known Theo for much longer than Harry had) had never seen him act like this before. Pansy, the usual protector of the group, looked split between jumping in or just watching. Blaise looked back at Harry, his mouth wide, he gestured to Ron and Theo and shrugged, clearly at a loss for words. All the other first years just gasped and giggled, whispering to each other. The word "fight" a common word in their whispers.
"No! You started it by jinxing us this morning!"
It was comments like this that made Harry think this was all very childish...well, they were children after all.
"Colin brought it on himself by calling my dead mother disgusting vile worm-food!" Harry could see angry tears in his eyes.
Harry felt horrified. He knew how Theo felt about his mother, who he talked so highly of, and to think that Colin had called her that to Theo . . . Harry wondered if it was bad that he wanted to curse him now.
"Well . . ." was that embarrassment Harry saw flicker in Ron's eyes? "Look at her!" Ron said, gaining back his composure. He pulled a framed photo of a woman.
Harry had seen that photo before, Theo had shown it to him. It was one of the only photos Theo had of his mother. In the photo she is laughing, her eyes sparkling and long hair being blown in all direction, probably due to a breeze when the photo had been taken. Normally Theo kept the photo next to his bed, but had it in his bag this morning because he said it brought him luck, which he needed for a test today. Harry guessed that Ron must have taken it out of his bag while he was being told off.
"Give. That. Back!" Theo said through gritted teeth. He was staring daggers at Ron and looked ready to attack him. Both of his fists were clenched, one slowly being lifted-
Ron clearly thought he was going to hit him. "Come and get it then!" He yelled, getting on his broom and going up into the air.
"What an idiot," muttered someone.
Theo got onto his broom, his angry confidence fading as he didn't know what to do. Harry sighed.
"Stay here, Theo," said Harry mounting his broom.
"Harry don't-" Draco began.
Theo quickly interrupted, swiftly getting off his broom. "Thanks Harry. Please don't let him smash it!"
Harry gave a quick nod and flew into the air. The familiar and wonderful feeling of being in the air felt so amazing and liberating, especially after everything . . . he almost forgot why he was flying.
Ron gave Harry a glare. "So he sends you up in his-"
"Give me the photo, Ron," said Harry sounding calmer than he felt.
"Or what?"
"Or I'll take it back."
Harry saw a faint smirk begin to form-
He darted forward quickly attempting to grab it back. Ron, in shock dropped it, sending it down to the ground.
"No!" Harry yelped and quickly flew after it, hand reach forward.
He managed to grab ahold of it and used his right arm to hold it protectively to his chest. He was quickly made aware that he was shooting towards the ground, about to smack into it face first. He held on to the broom tightly and pulled, trying to avoid impact. He held his breath as he pulled, and gasped in relief as his managed to avoid impact brilliantly.
He stopped the broom and looked over at his classmates who were not too far from him. His relief and thrill faded as he saw Snape stood with them.
Oh no.
His mind told him to run, but his senses told him to just bite the bullet. He walked over to Snape, trying not to think about having to tell his Mum that he got expelled from school.
Snape seemed to be thinking as he stared blankly at Harry. "Come with me," he said to Harry with a cold look on his face and began to walk away from the class.
Harry gave the photo to Theo, who whispered "Thanks, good luck!"
Harry gave him an unsure grin and ran after Snape.
Snape led Harry through the halls, Harry often had to jog to keep up with him, still holding the old broom.
"Stay here," Snape said to Harry, finally stopping outside of a classroom.
Harry waited as Snape knocked and entered. He heard him ask for a boy called Flint. Snape and Flint came through the door. Flint was tall and muscular and looked rather confused to see Harry.
"Flint, I've found Slytherin's new Keeper."