The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 9 (The Midnight Duel)

Me: Look! I'm alive!

Danny: Wow, you're back.

Me: For the most part. I'm dealing with school still.

Danny: Yeah, but still quicker than usual.

Me: I guess. *loosk at chapter* Oh boy, this is long.

Danny: Best get writing then. Neither Danny Phantom, nor Harry Potter belong to Waves-Of-Fury, they belong to Butch Hartman and J.K. Rowling respectively.

Me: *sigh* Thanks. ONWARDS!

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Danny had dealt with a lot of annoying people before, but Draco Malfoy was earning himself a spot pretty high up on his list. Still, first-year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy much. Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room that made them all groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday -- and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.

"Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."

Danny gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "Don't worry I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Yeah, you don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."

Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters. He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick. Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom. Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about soccer. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly. Harry has told Danny he had caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham soccer team, trying to make the players move.

Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Harry had told Danny he felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.

Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book — not that she hadn't tried. At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages. Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interruptedby the arrival of the mail.

Danny honestly would rather fly on his own, but he guessed flying on a broom could be fun as well.

Harry hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course. Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table.

Danny's own owl had semi-regularly brought letters from Tyler, to which Danny would send one back soon after. They weren't all super interesting, but it helped him feel more at ease or at lest gave him a sense of normalcy.