ALL NOVEL FLYING
On Wednesday evening, when Ben came up from the Dungeons after double potions lessons with Severus Snape, the castle buzzed with the news of Harry Potter becoming the youngest house player in a century.
Ben hadn't had his first flying lesson yet. He was excited but also nervous. After all, he hadn't touched a broom before and didn't want to end up in the Hospital Wing like Longbottom.
During Dinner, Ben watched Malfoy challenge Harry for a wizard's duel, he couldn't hear anything, but he knew what they were talking about. He chose to ignore what was going on and focus on eating, his appetite was increasing daily.
Malfoy hadn't forgotten the incident on the train and had been giving Ben the stink eye ever since. After talking to Potter, he came to the Ravenclaw table with his cronies.
"Ah, Young master Malfoy. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit," Ben said in a lazy voice while stuffing lamb into his face.
"Are you trying to make fun of me, Brown?" He said with a look of disdain.
"Oh, no! How dare I?"
"I will not be insulted by the likes of you. I challenge you to a wizard's duel."
Ben did not have any words to say, it seemed that Malfoy was proud of his plan and wanted to kill two birds with one stone.
Watching the surprise on his face, Malfoy couldn't help but smirk.
"Haven't heard of wizard's duel before have you?"
"Oh, I have. I'm ready when you are." Ben smirked back at him.
"I'll see you at midnight then, come to the trophy room, it's always open." He said as he walked, looking pleased with himself.
"You're not seriously thinking of going, are you?" Asked Anthony Goldstein, who was sitting to his right.
"Do you take me for a Griffindor?" replied Ben.
"I wouldn't go either, there's no shame in that."
"What did you even do to him, he's always looking at you weird," asked Terry Boot.
"Nothing, I just chased away a spider." He shrugged.
"Slytherins are despicable," said Michael Corner.
Ben went to bed after dinner, he was in no mood to face a giant three-headed dog, not when Dumbledore was watching, then again, when was he not watching?
The next morning, Malfoy was fuming at the Slytherin table. His genius plan seemed to have failed. Ben enjoyed the look on Malfoy's face when Harry gave him the credit for his new Nimbus Two Thousand.
Ben made his way to the Quidditch Pitch for his first flying lesson that afternoon. His heart was thumping with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.
Madam Hooch, their flying instructor came in a hurry and made everyone stand by a broom.
"Now, before we start, I want to make this very clear." She said in a stern voice.
"If a single broom leaves the ground without my permission, I'll make sure you never touch one again in this school."
Madam Hooch seemed to be very upset about yesterday.
"Bet it's cause of Potter and Malfoy," Whispered Terry.
"They have all the fun, while we get punished. Doesn't seem fair, does it?" Michael Corner conveyed his annoyance.
"Get used to it, nothing is fair in this world." Ben gave his two cents to the boys.
"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"
Ben, as full of himself as he was, tried doing it non-verbally. After a bit of intense staring and mental screaming, he managed to summon the broom to his hand.
After everyone's riding posture and holding grip were corrected by Madam Hooch, it was finally time to ride the broom.
“Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard,” said Madam Hooch. “Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle - three - two - three.”
Luckily there was no Longbottom in this class and no one was launched to the sky.
Ben kicked off the ground with a bit more force than he meant to, but he quickly slowed down by leaning forward and then slowly descended.
Not everyone was as successful as him. Some fell, some ahead with great speed and some couldn't even lift off the ground. Luckily, no one was hurt.
After about half an hour, when everyone had somewhat succeeded in doing the exercise, Madam Hooch showed them how to move forward and turn. She then got them to fly rounds around the field.
Ben felt the wind crashing against his skin and was reminded of the time he first rode his Grandpa's motorbike. Unlike riding the bike, there were no bumps on the road, because there was no road. He slithered like a snake flying above the ground, imitating a Chinese dragon.
"Wohoo, I'm never stopping this."
Ben had never thought that he'd like riding a broom so much. He could only imagine how much he'd like flying a motorbike.
'I don't think that Hagrid's gonna let me fly his, I might have to get my own.' Ben thought as he drew pretzels in the air.
Ben received detention after class for going bonkers in the air while Madam Hooch kept blowing her whistle on the ground. He spent the hour cleaning broomsticks in the storage.
'Worth it.'
Too bad, Flitwick was not as obsessed with Quidditch as McGonagall. Ben didn't think he'd be allowed on the team, or get special treatment and be allowed to have a broomstick.
Ben's parents had not allowed him to fly till now, so he had no hope of getting a broomstick from them either.
Ben decided to go for the Quidditch tryouts next year and focus on studying this year. After all, he didn't know a single useful spell yet, even after being here for almost two weeks now.
'I need to find a way to make money, and find a place to practice spells.'
He did have a place in mind, but he was afraid of getting caught. Not only was there a dark lord roaming the castle, but the white lord was also hiding in the shadows. To top it all, the Weasley twins were in possession of a map capable of monitoring everyone in the castle.
'If I want to move freely in the castle, I'll need to get my hands on the Marauders Map.'