The Last Violet | Harry Potter x OC

12

Flying Lessons

The sun was shining as the Gryffindor students stood in a line with the Slytherins standing in a line across from them. There was a broomstick on the right side of every student. They were all patiently waiting for the professor to arrive.

Isabel was standing right across from Anastasia who was rolling her eyes as she was listening to the obnoxious female students standing right next to her. The students in question was Pansy Parkinson and Mellicent Bullstrode. They were talking and swooning over Draco and Isabel had heard enough.

Anastasia watched her friend with amusement. Anastasia was standing between Harry and Ron. She could see that Harry was looking much more nervous than the other students, Ron looked excited, and Hermione looked absolutely horrified. To the right of Ron was a boy named Neville Longbottom, he looked mortified.

Although Anastasia wasn't one to believe the stereotypes of the houses, she did wonder how a student like Neville was put in Gryffindor. From what she heard, the Gryffindor house preferred students who were brave and determination. Not to be rude about Neville, Anastasia didn't think the traits that Gryffindor house matched Neville. He was a very kind soul, but he was very nervous and quiet. There was nothing wrong with that, it was just curious. If anything, Anastasia thought that Neville would have done well in Hufflepuff.

"Good afternoon class!" The professor spoke with vigour as she walked down the lane created by the students.

"Good afternoon, Madam Hooch," the Gryffindors and Slytherins greeted back.

Some of the students who had previous interactions with the professor greeted Madam Hooch separately.

Anastasia noticed that the Madam Hooch was almost hawk-like. Her eyes were a yellowish colour that she had never seen before and took an almost instant liking to the professor. Anastasia liked how she wasn't the only one with a strange eye colour.

"Welcome to your first flying lesson. Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone step up to the left side of their broomsticks. Come on, now hurry up," Madam Hooch ushered some of the students who were slightly hesitant, mainly Neville and Hermione. "Stick your right hand over the broom and say 'up'," she taught the students.

One by one, all the student stepped up to the left side of their broomsticks, stuck their right hand over the broom and repeated the word "up".

Almost immediately, Harry broom shot up from the ground and into his hand. It was the same with Isabel. Anastasia looked at her two friends with an impressed and amused look.

"Up," she said once more. But her broom seemed to not want to listen and just lay perfectly still on the ground.

"With feeling!" Madam Hooch guided the students.

The voices of students saying "up" echoed throughout the courtyard. Anastasia let out a huff of frustration as she looked to her friends. Harry looked at her with an encouraging look while Ron was busy trying to get his broom up.

"Up!" Ron kept repeating over and over again in many different tones, until finally the broom shot up. But instead of shooting up to his hand, the broom shot up and hit Ron's nose, causing the young wizard to let out a groan of pain.

Anastasia and Harry couldn't help but laugh at Ron's misfortune. The redhead rolled his eyes before saying, "Shut up, Harry. You too, Ana." Anastasia and Harry looked at each other before bursting out in laughs again, causing Ron to join in.

After much trials and efforts, everyone was able to get their brooms up into their hand. Anastasia and Hermione were one of the last people. Once Madam Hooch saw that she was able to go on with the lesson, decided to teach the students how to properly get on the broom and lift off.

"Now, once you've got a hold of your broom, I want you to mount it. Grip it tight, you don't want to be sliding off the end. When I blow my whistle I want each of you to kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your broom steady, hover for a moment, then lean forward slight, then touch back down," she explained to the students. "On my whistle. Three, two -"

As soon as Madam Hooch blew her whistle and before any other student could follow the instructions laid out for them, the strangest thing happened. Neville's broom started to lift up by itself and judging by the frightened look on his face, Anastasia could tell that it wasn't his doing.

"Mr. Longbottom!" Madam Hooch also tried to prevent Neville from flying off but she was unsuccessful as Neville's broom lifted higher and higher into the air before taking off.

Anastasia could only watch on in horror as she saw Neville twisting and turning in every direction. She was scared for her fellow housemate's safety as was every other student in Gryffindor. The Gryffindor students called out Neville's name is shock and horror as Neville lost complete control over his broom.

However, it looked as if the Slytherin students were having a blast watching the scene unfold in front of them as if it was a show on the telly. They were laughing and pointing at the poor student who was holding on to the uncontrollable broom for his life. The only Slytherin who didn't seem to find the whole thing amusing was Isabel who rolled her eyes and looked to be quite bored with the entire thing.

Gasps could be heard from the students below while Neville's robe was caught on one of the statues on top of a tower. Neville was dangling several meters from the ground by his cloak that was ripping with each passing second. More gasps were heard as Neville's robe ripped causing him to fall meters before the last remaining pieces of robe was caught on the sconce that was located just a few feet from the ground. Neville's cloak was caught in such a way that Neville fell to the ground ridding himself of the cloak.

Immediately, all the Gryffindors and Madam Hooch rushed over to where Neville lay. "Everyone out of the way!" Madam Hooch ordered as she rushed to kneel right beside Neville.

When Madam Hooch helped Neville up, he groaned as he grabbed his wrist. "Oh dear, it's a broken wrist," Madam Hooch said softly trying not to frighten the young student. She helped Neville up to his feet. "Everyone's to keep their feet planted firmly on the ground while I take Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing. Understand? If I see a single broom in the air, the one riding it will find themselves out of Hogwarts before they can say 'Quidditch'."