Chloe Cullen - A Harry Potter and Twilight Crossover

Chapter 6: Quidditch

After a little while, I realize that the Slytherins aren't too hard to deal with because I only have to be around them for a long length of time in potions. So when we get the notification that we will be having Flying lessons with them, you can imagine my joy at that news. I try to get any tips on flying from books in the library - along with Hermione's help - so I can show up the Slytherins but to no avail. At dinner, I ask Fred and George - who are on the Gryffindor quidditch team - and they do give me some helpful tips. Hands tight, how to speed up and slow down, how to change direction, things like that. I tell all of these tips to Hermione and Neville who look really nervous but suck at hiding it. I'm not that nervous, I just really want to show up the Slytherins since they act like they own the place. Maybe that'll shut them up for a while.

    At three-thirty, all of the first year Gryffindors head down to the grounds for our first flying lesson. It seems like a good day for flying with the clear sky and light breeze. The Slytherins are already there with twenty broomsticks lying neatly on the ground. Fred and George told me that when I use the school brooms it might not show how well I can fly because the school brooms suck. Finally, our teacher arrives. "Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barks. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up." I glance down at my broom. I suddenly get more determined to shut up the Slytherins. "Stick out your right hand over your broom," calls Madam Hooch, "and say 'up!'" "UP!" everyone shouts. At once, my broom jumps into my hands, and so does Harry's. A cocky grin appears on my face as I look at the Slytherins. Most of them aren't as successful at this as I am.

    Hermione's broom rolls on the ground and Neville's broom hasn't moved an inch. When everyone has their brooms, she shows everyone how to mount them correctly. She says I'm a natural while she tells Malfoy he's been doing it wrong for years. So far, everything is going according to plan. "Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," says 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 -" Before she can say one, Neville kicks off of the ground. Probably from nerves. "Come back, boy!" Madam Hooch shouts, but Neville is rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle - twelve feet - twenty feet. I can easily see his scared white face look down at the ground that he's flying away from. Then he gasps, slips sideways off the broom and WHAM! A thud and a nasty crack and Neville lays face down on the grass in a heap.

    Madam Hooch bends over Neville, her face as white as his. "Broken wrist" I hear her mutter. "Come on, boy - it's alright, up you get." she turns to us. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear." Neville and Madam Hooch hobble off out of sight. As soon as they are out of earshot, Malfoy starts running his fat mouth. "Did you see his face, the great lump?" Fury washes over me. Neville is a shy boy who hasn't hurt anyone. He doesn't deserve this treatment. "Shut up, Malfoy!" I shout. Everyone turns to me. "Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" says Pansy Parkinson. "Never thought you'd like fat little cry-babies, Chloe." I shoot her a death glare.

    "Look!" says Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him. I'm a little taller than Malfoy, so I march up to him and look him in the eye. "Give that here, Malfoy," I say, along with Harry. Malfoy smirks nastily. "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find - how about - up a tree?" "Give it HERE!" Harry and I yell, but it's too late. Malfoy leaps onto his broomstick and takes off. He actually can fly well. Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he calls "come and get it, then!" Before anyone can stop me - I see Hermione trying to get to me in my peripheral vision - I grab my broom and take off. My blood is pounding and I'm dying to give that jerk a taste of his own medicine. I soar higher and higher in the air. The wind is flowing through my hair, making it fly behind me along with my robes. I don't know what I was worried about. This is easy, but most importantly this is fun. I can hear Harry's broom behind me and gasps and cheers on the ground. I fly so I'm level with Malfoy. He looks stunned.