An American at Hogwarts

A Broom and A Boom

The next morning at breakfast, Malfoy was visibly shocked at seeing Ron and Harry walk in, which confirmed what I already knew: he had most certainly set them up. Hermione and Marie hadn't gotten up yet, so it was just me, Ron, and Harry sitting together, not that Hermione would have sat with them had she been there. I got where she was coming from, but it did seem a bit harsh to completely ignore them. Sure, they did something rather stupid, but they had good reason to be angry. Malfoy could certainly get on my nerves as well.

When the owls arrived with the mail, a group of six landed in front of us, carrying a large, suspiciously broom shaped package addressed to Harry. Ron got no mail at all, while I got a simple letter, presumably from my mother. However, our attention was all drawn to what Harry had received.

I gasped as we read the letter, which was from Professor McGonagall, and said that the package was a brand new Nimbus 2000. "No way! My mom just got one of those for me a couple weeks ago! I couldn't bring it here, of course, at least not this year, but it's crazy fast!"

Harry was beaming widely. "The note says not to open it here in the Great Hall. You guys want to head back to the common room?"

Me and Ron shared a quick glance and turned back to Harry, speaking in unison. "Duh! Of course!"

As we left the Great Hall, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle approached us.

Malfoy sneered at us. "You've done it now Potter! First years aren't allowed brooms! You'll be expelled for sure!"

I heard a familiar voice call out as Professor Flitwick waddled in. "Not fighting, I hope?"

Malfoy's sneer grew. "Professor! Potter has a broom!"

Whatever Malfoy was hoping Flitwick would say, he ended up disappointed. Flitwick simply smiled at Harry. "Ah yes, Minerva told me all about the, erm, special circumstances."

Harry's smile grew even wider, somehow. "Yep! And it's really all thanks to Malfoy here!"

We walked off, leaving Malfoy with a stunned expression on his face, the three of us smirking. As we entered the common room, we ran into Hermione and Marie. Hermione scowled at Ron and Harry. "I suppose you two think thats a reward for breaking the rules, then?"

Ron scowled back at her. "Why doesn't Y/N get yelled at?"

"Because he tried to stop you two last night."

I sighed. "Look, Hermione, I get why you're upset, but at least with the broom Harry was doing the right thing, even if he did break the rules. McGonagall wouldn't have done this if she didn't agree."

Hermione sighed and Marie gave me a slight smile. "Fine, just don't expect me to like it."

With that, she went off with a huff, Marie quickly following behind her, seemingly trying to reason with her.

Ron groaned. "Can't stand her."

I frowned at him. "She's just trying to help, Ron."

"Well she could be a bit less obnoxious about it."

I sighed, realizing he probably wouldn't listen to me about this. "Lets just go open the package."

A couple hours later, I had yet another session with Professor Flitwick. As I walked in, he smiled at me.

"I heard about what happened during flying lessons the other day! Great job Y/N!"

"You're not upset I used a spell on another student?"

"From what I heard, you only used it on his broom, not him!" Said Flitwick, winking slightly as he rummaged around his desk for something.

"Ah, here we are." He said, pulling out a set of wooden targets. "We were making good progress with the throwing jinx the other day, so lets focus on that once more. Just some free-form practice for today, I think." Said Flitwick as he set up the targets.

I took a deep breath, raising my wand at the first target as I focused intently on sending the wooden circle flying into the wall, imagining it was Malfoy's face.

Everte statum!

A bolt of light shot out, striking the target dead center and sending it smashing into the wall with a noticeable crack, as the target shattered into several pieces.

"Splendid, Y/N! I believe I will need a new target!"

I pursed my lips slightly. "Sorry Professor, I was a bit rough with that one."

"No, no, do not be sorry at all young man! You did splendidly! What did you do different this time, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well, Professor Dumbledore gave me a book on advanced self defense, and it said something about emotions being particularly important with dueling spells, so I decided to try pretending the target was something that made me upset."

Flitwick laughed slightly. "Splendid research, Y/N! That sort of thing is well ahead of where you are now, you ought to be very proud about figuring it out yourself! What did you pretend the target was?"

My eyes went wide for a moment, afraid he would get upset with me if I told the truth. "I'd uh... I'd rather not say, if that is alright with you Professor."

Flitwick smiled lightly. "That is most definitely fine by me! Our emotions are private, after all! Now keep going!"

I spent the next hour or so practicing with various spells, all rather simple ones because the more complex ones still gave me trouble, even with my new knowledge, but they were all noticeably more powerful than usual, something that I was very much proud of. As I left, I thought of something and turned back to Flitwick.

"Professor, do you happen to know my mother? It's just that a lot of the professors here seem to know her somehow, and I'm rather confused as to why."

Flitwick sighed. "Albus said you might ask about that. I'm afraid I cannot give you any specific details, but just know that your mother is a wonderful woman. She has done a lot of good in the world, and as a result there are many, many people who owe her quite a bit and think very highly of her, including myself. I am truly sorry that I cannot say any more, but I promise that, one day, it will make sense."

I sighed lightly, but smiled at him. "Thank you professor, I appreciate it."

He gave me a bright smile as I left. I felt a bit disappointed that I didn't get any specifics, but at the very least what he said confirmed what I had already thought. I was a bit peeved that nobody would give me any more details, but, well, I respected Flitwick and Dumbledore enough to trust their judgement on the matter. I knew I would find out in due time, regardless.