The Dead Never Return

First Year Part Two

"I love this memory!" Ron grinned. 

"I don't," Malfoy groaned. 

"Well, perhaps if you weren't such a prat," Nova sassed. "I wouldn't have tried beating you to a pulp."

As the scene played, the group took notice of the first years on the grounds with brooms. There were two distinct sides. One was a red side, and the other a green side. 

Madam Hooch arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk. 

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up." 

Harry glanced down 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.

Well...everyone except Nova. She didn't do anything. 

Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did. Hermione's had simply rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all.

"Is the murder's daughter struggling?" Pansy Parkinson teased. "Even orphan Potter can do it!"

Nova turned to glare at the girl. Her harsh glare clearly made Pansy flinch back. 

"At least Potter has a reason for not having parents," Nova snapped. "Yours followed the scum. Your parents probably ignore you to the point that you get your validation through bullying."

Pansy opened her mouth to retort when Nova snapped her fingers, causing her broom to fly into her hand. 

"And for the record," Nova sassed. "I wasn't struggling. Maybe you should focus on your broom. You know, the one that's still rolling on the ground."

"Damn," Regulus said lowly. "She just got roasted!"

"Wait until we get to Umbitch Season," Ginny grinned. 

"Or just Snape in general," Harry added. 

"You guys act like me roasting people is a common occurrence," Nova huffed. 

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. Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.

"She's mistaken," Malfoy insisted. 

"Oi! Ferret!" Nova grinned. "Your hands are wrong. Perhaps if you spent less time 'fleeing from muggle helicopters' you'd ought to know better!"

"Like you even know how to ride a broom," Draco rolled his eyes. 

Nova remained silent and bit her lip to stop her laughter. 

"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—" 

But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips. 

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle — twelve feet — twenty feet. Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and —