10 Chapter 10: Flying Lesson

Hagrid's house was in the Forbidden Forest and a crossbow and a pair of shoes were outside the door.

When Harry knocked on the door, the three heard loud barks and Hagrid's voice trying to calm him down. Hagrid opened the door slightly.

"Hold on a minute. Down Fang,"

When Hagrid opened the door, the three of them saw Hagrid struggling to hold onto the collar of a huge Great Dane.

The house seemed simple with one room, ham and pheasants hanging on the ceiling, a boiling kettle on the open fire, and a huge bed that seemed to have a homemade blanket.

"Make yerself at home," Hagrid said as he let go of Fang who eagerly went to lick Ron's face.

"This is Ron," Harry said as Hagrid went to pour the hot water into a large teapot and put rock cakes onto a plate.

"Ahhh, a Weasley. I spent too much time trying to keep yer brothers out of the Forbidden Forest,"

The rock cakes were so hard that Harry, Ron, and Argus could not even eat them so they had to pretend that they were enjoying it while telling Hagrid about their first week. Fang stopped walking around and sat down on Harry's lap drooling all over his robes.

"Oh yeah, Argus was really good. He transfigured a match into a needle on his 6th try,"

"Oh, you did Argus. Well I'm not that surprised. Your father and mother are both excellent wizards so I'm sure that you're just as good,"

Argus smiled and started to scratch Fang who seemed to be really enjoying it.

"But Snape was just horrible. He picks on only me and Argus. What did we do wrong?" Harry asked.

"Oh, that's just Snape," Hagrid said. "Just a sourpuss that never really likes most of his students,"

"Yeah, but he seemed to really hate me," Harry said.

"Just pure nonsense Harry, don't worry about it," Hagrid said. Argus saw that Harry wasn't quite satisfied with his answer, but there was nothing he could say to him as that would be disastrous.

While Hagrid and Ron were talking about Charlie, one of Ron's older brother, Argus saw Harry pick up a piece of newspaper.

"Hagrid! This seems to be the vault that you emptied out. The Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday. It might have happened while we were there," Harry exclaimed after reading the paper.

"Ahh yes, I remember Mother talking about that. I believe it was Quirrell," Argus thought.

Hagrid ignored Harry and offered him some more rock cakes.

As the three left, their pockets were filled with rock cakes that none of them were able to refuse out of respect for Hagrid.

...

Starting the second week of Hogwarts, Argus went to the one place that he looked forward the entire time, the Hogwarts Library. When he told Ron and Harry about his plans, they both looked at him with weird stares and let him be. When he arrived he immediately started to look for a book to read. After looking at the wide selection of books, he finally found one that he liked: Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed. When he was going around trying to look for a seat, he found Hermione diligently reading a book. He smiled and went to sit beside her.

"Hey Hermione," Argus whispered. Hermione looked up and seeing Argus, she smiled as well.

"Hey Argus," Hermione said as she put aside the book that she was reading.

"What are you reading?" Argus asked.

"Oh, just the textbook for Transfiguration. I finished my homework, but I'm just trying to understand more so that I can transfigure as efficiently as you Argus. What are you reading?" She asked back.

"Oh, it's for fun. It's called Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed. You know just trying to learn new spells," Argus said.

"Wow, you're really diligent aren't you? You're so smart, but you're studying so much. On the other hand, if I don't study this hard, I'll fall behind really fast," Hermione said with a somewhat sad tone.

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself," Argus said while patting Hermione's shoulder. "I think you're better than most of the First Years here,"

Hearing this made Hermione smile.

"Thanks Argus for being so kind to me. I don't know. You and only a couple of people are the only people that are so nice. Others seem to completely avoid me," Hermione said.

"Oh come on Hermione. They just haven't seen your good side yet," Argus said which made Hermione turn red a little. She immediately got back to reading her book. Argus smile got even bigger when he saw this and also got started on reading his book. When it was almost 10:00, they went back to the dormitory together.

"Alright, I'm going to sleep. I'm quite tired today," Hermione said as she waved to Argus and went up the stairs to her room.

Argus also went to his room and slept like a baby with a smile on his face.

After that great day with Hermione, bad news followed. The first year Gryffindors noticed the notice on the bulletin board and reading it made them groan.

"Flying lesson on Thursday. Gryffindors will be with Slytherin," The notice read.

"Gosh even if I know this scene and know I have to be with Draco, it still annoys me," Argus thought.

"Just what I wanted," Harry suddenly said. "I'm going to look like a fool in front of Malfoy,"

"It's alright. Who knows whether you'll do bad or not. On the other hand, Malfoy always says that he'll do great on the broom. I bet you he's lying," Ron said.

"Draco is still going to be really annoying to deal with," Argus said to which Harry and Ron agreed with.

Argus was correct. For the next two days, Draco would always complain about first years usually not being in the team and he would always tell nonsensical stories about him escaping helicopters.

While no one wanted to listen to that, people talking about flying or Quidditch seemed to be common. Even Ron would tell his story about how he almost hit a hang glider.

Soon it was Thursday, the day of Flying Lessons.

When they were eating breakfast, Argus noticed that Hermione was extremely nervous. However, she tried to hide her nervousness by reciting flying tips she read from Quidditch Through the Age which he listened to thoroughly while everyone else around him excluding Neville, who was as nervous as Hermione was, seemed to be bored from it.

When the owls came, Argus got some letters from his mother saying how she missed him. When he looked at Neville, he was opening a small package. It was a glass ball that was the size of a large marble. Inside was filled with white smoke.

"It's a Remembrall!" Neville exclaimed. "It tells you if you forgot something by turning scarlet. Gran always knew that I forgot things so she got me one I guess,"

As soon as he finished his sentence, the Remembrall turned red.

"Huh, what did I forget," Neville muttered as he tried to remember what he forgot.

However, as he was trying to remember, Draco snatched the Remembrall out of his hand.

Argus was about to say something and Harry and Ron stood up, but Professor McGonagall immediately came forward.

"What's going on?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Malfoy has my Remembrall Professor," Neville said.

"Only taking a little look," Draco said as he dropped the Remembrall onto the table and left.

It was now 3:30 and Argus and the rest of the Gryffindors went to the field where the peaceful look of the flat lawn was heavily contrasted by the visible dark trees of the Forbidden Forest.

There were 21 brooms and all the Slytherin students were already there.

Soon, Madam Hooch, the teacher arrived.

"Well, hurry up. Stand by the brooms,"

Argus went to a broom and saw how just how old it was. The twigs were sticking out and it looked like it was going to break at any moment.

"Alright," Madam Hooch said. " Stick your right hand out and say 'Up!'"

"Up!" Everyone shouted.

Harry and Argus' broom flew right up to their hand while the other Gryffindor student's broom merely either rolled around or in Neville's case hasn't moved at all. As for the Slytherins, Draco has successfully got his broom.

Madam Hooch then proceeded to tell them the proper form of mounting a broom. Argus, Harry, and Ron all were happy to hear Draco being reprimanded by Madam Hooch as he had the wrong form.

When Draco was done getting lectured, he looked up. Argus couldn't let this chance go and smirked. Draco's face turned red and he looked back down at his broom.

"Now it's time to actually fly," Madam Hooch said "Kick off the ground hard and then rise a few feet. Then come down by leaning to the front of the broom a little. When I blow my whistle, start. Three -- Two --,"

However, before Madam Hooch was able to blow the whistle, Neville shot up the ground and steadily went higher.

"Come back down," Madam Hooch said, but Neville couldn't control the broom anymore. He went higher and higher and started to make erratic turns and twists until he fell off the broom.

A nasty crack was heard and Neville stayed down on the ground. His broomstick on the other hand, continued to fly until it went to the Forbidden Forest no long to be seen.

Madam Hooch rushed to Neville and helped him up.

"Broken wrist," She said as she started walking with Neville. "I'm going to take this boy to the hospital wing. Until then no flying or else you'll leave the school faster than you can say 'Quidditch'"

When Madam Hooch disappeared, Draco showed up with the Remembrall that Neville dropped.

"God that fat lump should have landed on his arse. Maybe he would have not gotten injured since there's so much fat there. I guess this Remembrall isn't helpful to him after all," The Slytherin kids laughed at his comment.

"Give that Malfoy," Harry said.

"I don't think so Potter," Draco said.

"You're so poor you need to resort to stealing other people's stuff Draco. Oh man, how far your Malfoy family has fallen," Argus said sarcastically.

Draco's face turned red from this comment.

"Wow, your face is really like a tomato. It's been turning red all day," Argus said with a laugh. This time the Gryffindor kids started to laugh.

"I'm not going to be provoked this time. Potter if you want this so bad then you should go get it," Draco said as he flew up. When Harry grabbed his broom, Hermione went to stop him.

"Harry no, Madam Hooch said no flying. You're going to get us all in trouble. Besides what if you get hurt?"

Harry disregarded her warning and flew up in the air. Argus also proceeded to fly up in the air also disregarding Hermione's warning. They both got the hang of it extremely quickly and started to go faster and higher. Both received screams from girls and a whoop from Ron. Hearing the screams of the girl made Hermione pout a little.

They both turned their broomstick to face Draco.

"Why how does it feel being the outnumbered one Draco," Argus said.

"Yeah give it here or I'll knock you off your broom," Harry said feeling confident since Argus was with him. He then dove Draco who barely was able to dodge it.

"You want it? Have it your way," Draco said as he threw the Remembrall. Harry went to chase it, but Argus still stayed with Draco. When Argus saw Harry successfully obtain the Remembrall, they both went down.

"Draco, you insufferable piece of..." Before Argus could finish his words, Professor McGonagall came to call Harry. When Harry left, the rest of Gryffindors except for Argus were confused while Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle had a triumphant look on their face.

"It seems that you're safe Nidma," Draco said.

"Goodness, I feel more and more disgusted hearing my name being said by your mouth," Argus said. Even though he watched all the movies and knew how Draco acted, he still got angry and annoyed by him.

"Well Potter is going to get expelled so at least we got rid of one pest," Draco said with a smirk on his face.

"We'll see," Argus said as he smiled back at Draco.