chapter eight
One morning, the day of the first flying classes, Harry woke up, again as the first one awake. He brushed his teeth, clothed himself and went to the loo, before sitting down in the common room, reading his charms text book.
He read about Spongify, the softening charm, which made any surface soft and springy, like a trampoline. A counterclockwise turn of the wand and the incantation and you could survive a fall from almost anywhere. Practical to have, especially when you were many feet up in the air, like they would be during flying lessons. Harry practiced that spell a few times till he got it right and then, went downstairs, to the great hall for breakfast. He was one of the first students to arrive there, only a handful of other students were already there, most older than him and none were Gryffindors.
Breakfast was already served, so he made himself a few toasts with bacon and egg, as well as a healthy helping of beans and enjoyed his meal.
As time marched on, more and more students filled into the great hall and the noise level rose to an unbearable extent. This was a problem he’d had a few times already, the level of noise in the great hall often went so high that it was practically unbearable. So, Harry finished the last of his toast and went outside the hall and walked in the direction of his Charms classroom. He had charms and Transfiguration before Flying lessons were scheduled.
Inside of the empty charms classroom, Harry read up on more interesting spells, such as the locking charm, Colloportus or the mending charm, reparo, both very important to know, the mending charm more so than the locking charm but still, both very useful.
Soon, Professor Flitwick and the other students filed in and the lesson began. They were learning the softening charm, funnily enough. Harry earned five points for getting it right on the ‘first’ try.
Transfiguration wasn’t anything special, just a theory lesson on animal to object transfiguration, specifically bugs into buttons.
After that, Flying lessons were on the plan.
They were standing outside, in one of the courtyards, practice brooms were lined in two lines. They were instructed to line up next to a broom, facing the other line.
“Good morning Class”, Madam Hooch, greeted them, “Today we will be learning the basics of how to fly a broom. After today, we will have additional lessons every two weeks for the entire first year of your education, after that, flying classes are optional. Now, level your dominant hand above the broom and say ‘Up!’”
Everyone said ‘up’, but only a few managed to get the brooms to fly up to their hands on the first try, including Harry. Some, like Ron, took a few tries and some, like Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom didn’t budge at all, just laying on the ground, maybe twitching once or twice. After seeing them struggle for a few minutes, madam Hooch, instructed them to just pick them up normally.
She explained how to properly mount a broom. Apparently, Draco had been doing it wrong his entire life, leaving him quite flustered.
“Now, once I count to zero, you will jump up, fly around for a second or two and come backk down, understood? 3- 2-”
Neville shot into the air before Madam hooch could finish counting. He went higher and higher, till he was on the same level as the roof of the nearby hallways.
“Mr Longbottom, mr Longbottom, get down here immediately”, Madam Hooch screamed at Neville, though in his panic, he only rose higher and higher until eventually, he fell from his broom and was plummeting down to his doom. Thinking quickly, Harry raised his wand at the ground under Neville, turned his want counter clockwise and spoke: “Spongify”
Immediately the ground turned soft and springy, just in time for Neville to land safely and unharmed.
“Are you fine, Mr. Longbottom”, Madam Hooch asked concerned.
“Y- y- yes madam Hooch, thank- thanks to Harry I am fine”, he stuttered, obviously still shook from the fall.
“A fine display of the softening charm, Mr Potter”, she told him, “50 points to Gryffindor for saving your classmate from injury, now let us continue as planned. You would better sit this one out, Mr Longbottom, better not tempt fate”
She counted to zero again and this time, everyone did as they were supposed to and landed safely back on the ground. Flying was thrilling, even if they didn’t do much, the feeling of weightlessness was something to behold. It was a truly amazing feeling. After the lesson was over, Madam Hooch collected the brooms from them again and put them into the broom shed.
With that, they were free to leave and chatter amongst themselves.
Some were thrilled to learn how to fly a broom, some others, such as Neville and Hermione were more terrified of flying as a whole. They would most likely never truly love flying. Too ‘dangerous’ or something like that was what Hermione said.
Honestly, Harry couldn’t understand why anyone would turn down the offer to fly more. It was the most liberating feeling out there, being so far above the worries of the world, feeling the wind clash against his face, his hair being blown back by the gust, truly, it was like a thousand christmas presents at once.
That night, they all went to sleep and Harry dreamt of flying, but not on a broom, instead he was flying with wings on his back. He was sweeping up and down, gripping small critters with his claws and gulping them down just as fast he had caught them. He flew over a forest, up into the mountains, over Hogwarts castle, circling the astronomy tower. Then, the scene changed, he was no longer a bird of prey, no, he slithered on the ground as a snake, he slithered up a flight of stairs, into a room, old and decrepit, where sat a beautiful man, with dark hair and piercing red eyes, he hissed but Harry could understand him perfectly, it was the same language that the garden snakes spoke, which he sometimes encountered when gardening, “Ah- Nagini, how wonderful to see you are back. Had a successful hunt?”
“Yes”, it came out of his mouth, “I have eaten some muggles baby, they will worry so much”
“Good… good… wait- we have a visitor”, the dark haired man looked into Harry’s eyes and spoke, in english this time, “What are you doing here? Expellanima”
With a start, he woke up…