Chapter 25

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"Thank you, Mr Potter. As for you," Hooch pointed sharply, "Mr Longbottom, did you hear my signal?"

Ethan watched in amusement as he brought Neville's broom back toward them with his wand, while Neville looked shaken.

Since Neville hadn't been injured, the students continued with their lesson. At first, they only hovered for a few seconds, before Hooch decided to make things more interesting.

"Everyone who has already flown and knows how to move properly, come fly behind me."

At her words, several students moved out. They were the Potter Twins, Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley, Ethan and Daphne.

Some others did try to join them, but they clumsily moved, some planting into the ground or slamming into others.

Hooch shook her head at them and said, "For the ones remaining, you are not to move higher than a meter from the ground."

She then turned to the six, and said, "How fitting, three of both houses. This will make things easier."

She took out a black iron ball, and explained, "This is a bludger. You will form two teams, the goal is to be the last one standing."

Without much more of an explanation, she suddenly released the ball, which prompted it to fly toward the six students, who all tried to dodge in a hurry. However, Draco did not move fast enough, and so he barely flew for a couple of meters before being brought down from his broom.

Seeing this, Ron snickered and jeered at Malfoy, "That was impressive for someone who has flown for years!"

Draco had claimed to be an incredible flyer quite a few times already, telling as many people as possible that he was incredible on a broom, which had annoyed more than one person.

But while Ron made fun of Malfoy, he failed to see the incoming bludger, which knocked him off his broom too, leaving only four students.

The bludger then flew toward Ethan, who pulled on his broom to dodge. Right behind him, Daphne dodged more easily by simply going to the side as she had more time to prepare.

The ball then moved to the two Gryffindors, who also dodged rather easily.

It was obvious to anyone who ever watched Quidditch that the bludger had been tempered with, as it was much slower than usual.

However, as time passed, it started getting faster, until it reached the speed of an actual bludger. Ethan, although he had flown before, he did not have much experience, and so he eventually failed to dodge and was hit by the ball, making him fall from his broom. Thankfully, he wasn't very high in the sky when he fell.

Less than a minute after him, Cassia followed in his steps, getting knocked off her broom too.

However, as she landed beside him, she looked at him with pride. Ethan tilted his head in confusion and asked, "Are you okay?"

Cassia snorted softly and replied, "I lasted longer than you."

"And?"

Cassia smiled triumphally and said, "Not so tough are you?"

Genuinely confused now, Ethan shrugged, "I guess."

After a moment of silence, Cassia added, "Harry is going to win."

Ethan didn't look away from Cassia as he asked, "What makes you so sure?"

Cassia replied, not a shadow of a doubt present in her voice, "Harry is a natural at flying. He's so good the school made an exception to let him enter the team despite being a first year."

Ethan nodded silently, before asking out of the blue, "What's your problem with me exactly?"

"You're the one with a problem."

"Yes, and it's name is Cassia Potter."

Cassia glared at him angrily, and was about to retort when she heard several gasps. Looking up, she saw the Bludger was rapidly getting faster, forcing both Harry and Daphne to their limits as they made dangerous but cool looking dodges.

However, as everyone was watching with halted breath to see which one would fall first, the bludger suddenly stopped, before flying back to Hooch.

She ignored the disappointed gazes and said, "Looks like you two are made for Quidditch."

Harry and Daphne both looked at each other challengingly, as if unsatisfied they didn't get to see which one of them would outlast the other.

As Daphne got down, Ethan patted her back and said, "You never told us you were this good."

Daphne showed a proud smile as she said, "Can't tell you everything about myself right away can I?"

Ethan smiled back, and they slowly hovered next to Theodore and Tracey. Hooch then called an end to their first flying lesson.

Leaving the brooms behind, the students walked back to the castle.

But on the way back, they all heard a loud voice say, "You were lucky Potter. It was obvious you wouldn't have lasted a second more."

Looking over, Ethan spotted Draco, blocking Harry's path to provoke him. Harry frowned and said, "Buzz off Draco, I'm not in the mood."

Draco grinned and said, "Of course you aren't, you just lost to a girl."

"Shut up loser, before I make you."

Daphne suddenly intervened, making the two boys turn their heads to look at her. Draco frowned and said, "Don't you see I'm standing up for you Greengrass? Stupidity must be running…"

Before he could finish, Draco choked on his words as he suddenly wiped out his wand. The surrounding students looked at him curiously, before following his gaze.

They saw Ethan, standing behind Daphne, with the tip of his wand lighting up. Ethan smiled and said, "Sorry, just thought you were going to start a brawl. Thought I would do the lighting."

Draco's face morphed into rage. Others didn't see it, but Ethan had flicked his wand aggressively, as if he was going to fire a curse. So seeing the wand lit up, Draco had naturally thought he was getting attacked again.

Ethan holstered his wand and whispered to Daphne, "You shouldn't get mad at childish people, they can't help themselves."

Although he was whispering, Ethan said that loud enough for Draco to hear. The latter's face turned tomato red, while Daphne smiled slightly.

She nodded and said, "Let's go."

Draco cursed lowly, but also walked away, followed by the other students.

As they headed inside, Tracey asked, "Daphne, why aren't you joining the Quidditch team too? If Harry can do it, so can you!"

Daphne shook her head and replied, "Gryffindor's seeker graduated last year, so they had a position to fill, and Potter happened to be there at the right time. Slytherin already got a Seeker, a Seventh Year."

Theodore muttered, hovering between consciousness and unconsciousness, "He sucks…"

Daphne smiled and said, "It's fine, I will apply next year. I'm not an attention seeker, it doesn't matter whether I bend the rules to join the team."

Since all the students were heading the same way, Harry's group wasn't far away, and as Daphne wasn't holding back her voice, they naturally heard her. Moreover, she looked straight at him as she said that.

Harry frowned and said, "No one will like you if you are jealous of others, Greengrass."

Daphne replied, "What can I say, there's only one Boy-Who-Lived."

Harry clenched his fists, but he said nothing as they moved away. Meanwhile, Ethan and Sophia sent a helpless glance at each other.