It was a clear, breezy day and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns towards a smooth lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the Forbidden Forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.
As they were the first ones there, all the Slytherins stood in a group, away from the 40 brooms that were lying nearby. Ronan stood on the left of Daphne and Tracey, and Blaise was on the other side of Tracey, he was upset from the conversation that they had earlier. As they stood there waiting for Professor Hooch to show up and Gryffindors, they started talking to each other about quidditch.
“Flint says that the broom from the school is trash,” Malfoy said to his friends, he was talking so loudly that Ronan was able to hear him just fine.
Malfoy continued, “According to Flint, these brooms are so trashy that they start vibrating if one flies too high. And their alignment is also messed up. He said that some of them fly slightly to the left when moving forward,”
Hearing his rant, Ronan had a question, “Draco, is it possible to repair these brooms?” It was a genuine question, he was curious about it.
Malfoy smiled hearing the question, “Why? Thinking about buying a broken broom for yourself, are we Johanson? I bet you could not even afford, a handle, let alone a broom,” A few Slytherins snickered, while he was surprised.
This was the first time Malfoy had made a move on him, usually, that brat only makes his move on Gryffindors, specifically Harry and his friends. He stood there silently for a second, then gave the boy a chance, “I am sorry, I couldnt understand what you just said,”
Malfoy grinned even widely, “Look at Johanson, he can't even…” Draco didnt get a chance to complete his words, and fell on the ground, with his nose in the dirt. Slowly Draco stood up with the help of Crabbe and Goyle who jumped to help him. His pale face was red with anger. Crabbe and Goyle also looked angry, all three of them took a step forward to confront him, only to fall down on their faces.
Pushing all of their legs, at the same time, was a very easy feat through telekinesis. A few Slytherins snickered seeing Draco on the ground, all of three of them got up, looking enraged, “My father will hear about it Johanson,” He nodded, “Why? Dont have the guts to face me yourself?”
“You dont know who you are messing with.” To which he smiled and asked, “Do you know who you are messing with?” Before the boy could say anything else, someone mentioned that Gryffindors were coming, Draco stopped. He immediately dusted himself, not wanting to look estranged in front of the rival house.
Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk. She reminded him of a cartoon that his little sister used to watch, but he couldnt put his finger on the cartoon’s name.
“Well, what are you all waiting for?” Professor barked. “Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up.” Ronan glanced at his broom, it was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles.
“Stick out your right hand over your broom,” called Madam Hooch at the front, “and say, ‘Up!’”
“UP!” everyone shouted.
Ronan’s broom jumped into his hand at once. When he looked around, he saw that Malfoy’s, Potter’s, and Zabini were the only ones whose brooms came up with just one command. Hermione’s had simply rolled over on the ground and Neville’s hadn’t moved at all.
‘Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid,’ Ronan thought.
A few minutes went by, during which everyone had their brooms firmly in their hands. Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows, correcting their grips.
He was surprised when Professor reprimanded Malfoy as he had been using the wrong grip all the years, he glanced and saw that Harry and his group also smirked at Malfoy. He also noticed that Neville was very nervous for some reason, he figured that the boy must be frightened of flying. It made sense, the guy was a wimp and a simple spider could spook the boy.
“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 forwards slightly. On my whistle… three… two…”
But Neville, who was already very nervous, jumpy, and frightened, left the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch’s lips. And then he started rising in the sky.
“Come back, boy!” she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle… twelve feet… twenty feet.
Maybe he didnt pay any attention to the grips when Madam Hooch was teaching because soon the boy fell down. Ronan saw his scared white face look down when falling, he had slipped sideways off the broom. A thud and a nasty crack later, Neville lay, face down on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher and started to drift lazily towards the Forbidden Forest and out of sight.
Madam Hooch came running towards the boy, along with some concerned Gryfindors. While most of the Slytherins were laughing hysterically over the boy’s accident. Ronan on the other moved towards Neville as well, leaving behind the Slytherins.
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“Broken wrist,” Ronan heard Madam Hooch mutter. “Come on, boy.. it’s all right, up you get.” She turned to the rest of the class. “None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you’ll be out of Hogwarts before you can say ‘Quidditch’. Come on, dear.”
Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him. No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter. “Did you see his face, the great lump?” The other Slytherins joined in.
“It is hard to believe a guy like him defeated you-know-who.” Added another one.
“Shut up, Malfoy,” snapped Parvati Patil.
“Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?” said Pansy Parkinson, she and Daphne looked down at Patil.
“Never thought you’d like fat little cry babies, Parvati,” Daphne added. Ronan on the other hand looked at the kids with exasperated, he didnt like the fact that he was stuck with these kids.
“It seems that Parvati is not the only one who is upset,” Malfoy added, “It seems Ronan over here is also unhappy that the great lump fell to the ground.”
Everyone turned towards him, bearing the blank face, he was about to say something, when Crabbe spoke, “Look!”
The trio darted forward and snatched something out of the grass.
“It’s that stupid thing Longbottom’s gran sent him this morning” Malfoy added. He didnt know what the hell was that transparent ball.
“Give that here, Malfoy,” said Harry quietly.
Everyone stopped talking to watch. Malfoy smiled nastily. “I think I’ll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect… how about… up a tree?’
“Give it here!” Harry yelled, but Malfoy leaped onto his broomstick and took off.
Seeing the boy fly, Ronan realized that he hadn’t been lying, he could fly well. Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, “Come and get it, Potter!” Harry grabbed his broom.
“No!” shouted Hermione Granger. “Madam Hooch told us not to move… you’ll get us all into trouble.”
Harry ignored her, mounted the broom, and kicked hard against the ground and up, up he soared, air rushed through his hair and his robes whipped out behind him. And he accelerated to Malfoy. Facing Malfoy in mid-air, Harry started talking to Malfoy, as they were way down, they couldnt hear what they were talking about.
Then they all Malfoy yell, “Catch it, if you can then!”
He threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back towards the ground. Then they saw, the ball rise up in the air and then start to fall. Harry leaned forward and pointed his broom handle down, the next second he was gathering speed in a steep dive, racing the ball. Seeing how fast he was going Gryffindors started screaming with horror, Harry stretched out his hand, a foot from the ground he caught the ball, just in time to pull his broom straight, and he toppled gently onto the grass with the Remembrall clutched safely in his fist.
‘Now that… That was amazing’ Ronan was impressed.
“HARRY POTTER!” the yell made them all turn around, it was then they saw Professor McGonagal sprinting on the lawn towards Potter. She was speechless with shock, muttering “How dare you… Might have broken your neck…”
Parvati Patil came forward, “It is not his fault Professor..”
“Be quiet Miss Patil!”
“But Malfoy” Ron tried to defend, but she didnt hear anything. “Potter please follow me.” And they were gone.
Malfoy and his goons had triumphant looks on their faces, while Ronan could only imagine what would happen when Malfoy would hear what exactly would happen to Harry…
At dinner time, when Ronan entered the Hall with the rest of the Slytherins, Malfoy immediately went to Potter, he figured that he would make some sort of snide comments. Ronan simply didnt care and sat down with his Hogwart: A History opened before him. Hermione gave her book to him, he had asked her to lend it to him a long time ago, he had figured that she must have forgotten about that part.
But she didnt. Yesterday when he was studying Everyday Potions in the library, she came, put the book before him, and left. Why she didnt talk to him was beyond him, but he did appreciate the book.
“You are making a big mistake,” He looked up to see Daphne Greengrass sitting in front of him, beside her was Pancy, who didnt look like she was in the mood to talk.
“What did I do?” he asked, to which she replied, “You should not make an enemy out of Malfoy. He is making every first year to boycott you from now onwards.”
Pancy then gave Daphne a look, maybe they were supposed to keep this a secret. He closed his book, and then spoke, “It doesn't matter to me.”
Daphne was surprised, “It doesn't matter to you if no one in the house talks to you?”
“It matters to me. People might follow Malfoy’s child-like request for now, but not for very long.”
Pancy with a wild grin on her face asked, “Why?”
He smiled back, “Think about it for a moment.” Both of them look confused, “When you see Malfoy, do you see a leader or do you see a spoiled brat?”
Both of them looked at each other, didnt say anything else, “You guys know the answer. Most of the first years won't stand against him because of his father. So they will obey whatever he says. Me on the other hand, I am different. I have no qualms with Malfoy, so I can stand opposite to him, and when I do, people will come to me.”
Both Daphne and Pancy laughed at him, “You might be the top student in our class, but you are dimwit.” Pancy said, then Daphne continued, “How can you be so full of yourself?”
He replied, “Have you ever studied about wizarding wars? More specifically about the last two Dark Lords?”
Their smile vanished, and Daphne asked, “What about them?”
He smiled at them, “Well, Grindlewald and You-know-who, we dont know much about the life that they lived before the war. But we do know that they were not the richest blokes in the town. Their influence, charisma, and power made people spend money on their cause.”
Both of them shared a look, he continued, “I dont have any influence, but I do have power and charisma. While Malfoy only has influence. I am one step ahead of him right now. I am winning the race. And while Malfoy wastes his time on the likes of Longbottom, Potter, and Weasley, I would be far ahead of him. And then will come a time, when I will be on the top. And then everyone that follows Draco will come crawling to me.”
With that he opened his book again and started reading, leaving both the girls to their business.