Capítulo 24: Chapter 24
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In his first week at Hogwarts, Ethan had gotten to meet nearly all of his teachers, as well as the first years from every other house as they had at least one Double Class with another House every day.
On Monday the Slytherin had Double Transfiguration with Gryffindor, then Double DADA with Hufflepuffs on Tuesday, as well as Double Herbology on Wednesday. Later in the third day of the week, they also had Double History of Magic with Ravenclaw.
On Thursday, they had Double Charms with Ravenclaw, and finally on Friday Double Potions with Gryffindor, meaning they had two Double Classes with every house.
However, this balance was to be broken on the second week of class as the Slytherin First Years noticed a notice had been hung in the Common Room by one of their Prefect, saying that from this Thursday on, they would have Double Flying with Gryffindor.
Madam Hooch, the Flying Teacher, was the only teacher the Slytherins hadn't met, and it was time to remedy to that.
Ethan arrived at the training grounds with Theodore, and asked, "Any idea where Daphne is?"
Theodore shrugged and replied, "Somewhere in the castle."
Ethan rolled his eyes, "Thanks, THEODORE, you're really helpful."
Theo shrugged again and looked like he could fall asleep at any moment as he struggled to keep his eyes open. Although he said nothing, Theo had been quite shaken at Ethan making a better potion than him in their first class.
If there was one thing Theo was proud of, it was his skills in potionmaking, so to have Ethan, someone who admitted not being good at potions, and Neville, a clumsy mess, create a better potion than him, he couldn't accept it.
He wasn't jealous or angry at Ethan, but rather at himself for allowing himself to lag behind. So for almost a week now Theodore had been spending the majority of his time with his head in books, reading about anything related to potions.
He had already read their first year manual more than twice in the past week, as well as a few other books.
Ethan knew about his friend's situation, but he said nothing as it wasn't his place. Theo was obviously very invested in potions, and maybe it was just a matter of pride, but he couldn't let Ethan best him, so he worked harder.
Ethan could somewhat understand the feeling, although he doubted he would go to such length if someone did better than him in Transfiguration, or Runes in later years.
Ethan and Theo had arrived a bit early, and so they saw their classmates arrive one after another, among which was the friend they had been searching for, Daphne. However, to their surprise, she was not alone.
Accompanying Daphne was a girl with chestnut coloured hair that reached her shoulders, but they were covered by a dark red wool bonnet. She looked like she was trying to make herself smaller, almost hiding behind Daphne.
As she arrived, Daphne nodded at them, but said nothing, acting like there wasn't anything different from usual, so Ethan asked, "Where were you? We've been searching for you."
Daphne replied dryly, "I was in my dorms."
"Then why didn't you answer when we knocked?" Ethan asked, although he hadn't.
Daphne side eyed him, calling out on his bullshit, "You can't even come near our dorms."
Ethan rolled his eyes, and asked, "Alright, who's your friend then?"
The girl, who previously had been cowering behind Daphne, suddenly stuck out her chest as she replied with fake confidence, "I'm Tracey Davis! Fellow Slytherin, pleased to meet you!"
She tried to make a bow, but it was awkwardly wrong. Theo looked at the ground, whether it was out of tiredness or disappointment, Ethan could not tell, while Daphne sighed and murmured, "I told you not to do that."
Intrigued, Ethan smiled, amused, and asked, "I heard about you. You are a Half Blood, right?"
Tracey flinched at the question, taking a step back, so Ethan added, "I won't care about your ancestry as long as you don't care about mine."
Tracey, who probably had been expecting for insults, was shocked at his words, and eventually asked, "Can I join you guys then?"
Ethan sent a look at Theo, who still stared at the grass, strengthening his impression that Theo was just falling asleep, and at Daphne, who… stared threateningly?
Chuckling, Ethan replied, "I mean, I'm not sure what you intend to 'join', we're just friends, not some secret organisation or something… but sure, welcome, Tracey."
The girl grinned and seamlessly joined the group. Since Hooch hadn't arrived yet, they still had some time to talk, and Ethan discovered that Tracey was a chatty person, and that was maybe an understatement.
But it wasn't to displease him, with the personalities of his two friends he was nearly always the one initiating conversations, so adding someone who had something to say about everything and wasn't scared to say what she thought was only for the better.
Meanwhile, Ethan also spotted Sophia, who came with the Potter group. Sophia had gotten closer to Cassia after their Potion Class working together, and they had started hanging out together since then. Sophia still paired with Ethan for their Double Transfiguration though.
Eventually, Hooch arrived, with a row of brooms flying behind her. The students parted to let her pass, and as she stopped all the brooms lowered to the ground, in two rows.
Hooch looked at the students like a hawk would look at pray, and barked, "Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone stand by a broom, hurry up!"
Ethan sent a glance at his friends, and saw them look back at him with a similar gaze. She was the one late, yet she was hollering at them to hurry up…
The students moved next to a broom each, looking at them weirdly. They were old, very old, and had obviously been used by many generations.
"Stick out your hand over your broom, and say 'Up'!" called out Hooch.
Everyone shouted for their broomstick, but very actually flew up. Ethan, who managed on the first time, took the time to feel the peculiar connection that had formed between him and the broom.
A broomstick worked with runes, obviously, and worked with the user's magic. There wasn't any cost however, as the broom did not simply absorb the user's magic, but instead formed a sort of connection with the user.
It wasn't Ethan's first time on a broom obviously, what kind of madman would he have to be to never try to fly while in a magical world?
Of course he didn't have many occasions to do so, with him being stuck at home for most of his childhood, but it was still enough for him to pick up flying.
It took a few more tries until everyone had their broom in hand. Then, Hooch showed them how to get onto their broom, before letting them do so themselves.
Everyone got on their broom, and Hooch instructed, "When I blow on my whistle, I want you to stomp on the ground, hard. Keep yourself steady, fly up a few feet by pulling your broom slightly toward you, hover for a few seconds, and get back to the ground by…"
Hooch stopped in her explanation though as everyone's gazes turned toward Neville. He was panicking as he quickly rose up several meters.
Hooch warned, "Mr Longbottom, get down right this instant!"
Neville stuttered back, "I-I can't!"
Everyone watched him as he rose higher and higher, reaching several meters into the sky. In his panic, Neville could do nothing to control his broom, and was starting to slip away.
Ethan frowned at Hooch, who still seemed to think Neville was having 'fun', and said aloud, "He's obviously not doing it on purpose. If no one helps him, he's going to fall."
Hooch's face finally changed, but she did not have any broom at hand as Neville finally couldn't hold on anymore and started falling.
Ethan already had his wand out, but a small figure quickly flew up. It was Harry Potter himself.
He quickly reached Neville, and grabbed his robe, stopping him from falling. However, Neville was quite heavier than Harry, and Harry being only 11, he couldn't hold onto Neville long enough to go down.
However, Harry still managed to bring him down, turning the 7 meters tall fall to barely a meter. Neville was holding his buttocks, but at least he had nothing broken.
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