Chương 92: Chapter 092

"Thanks, Harry," Neville said with an embarrassed blush as Harry handed the boy his broom.

"You're welcome," Harry responded with an amused smile.

After everyone had a broom in hand, Madam Hooch showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, walking up and down the row helping students correct their grip.

"What do you mean I'm doing it wrong?" asked an indignant Draco Malfoy when Madam Hooch told him that his grip on the broom was wrong. "This is how I've been doing it for years!"

"Then you have been doing it wrong for years," the instructor with hawk-like eyes said in a stern voice. "Your grip on the broom is too loose and your holding the shaft to close to the ends of the broom. Not only will that make it more difficult to control, but it also heightens the chance of your hands sliding off the end during maneuvering."

The scowl on Draco Malfoy's face as he was thoroughly humiliated was incredibly amusing. Harry did feel a bit guilty for taking pleasure in another persons suffering, but he was beginning to dislike the Malfoy heir thanks to what he had done this morning. Getting Neville's self confidence up was hard enough already; he didn't need Malfoy's bullying making things even harder.

And Harry noticed he wasn't the only one who was taking perverse pleasure in the boy's humiliation. While Blaise and Daphne looked pretty indifferent to the whole thing, with Blaise only showing the smallest of smirks, their brunette friend had no such subtlety and blatant snickered behind her hand at the blond boy's embarrassment.

As if feeling his eyes on her, Tracey Davis looked over at him curiously. Harry gave her the tiniest of grins, then tilted his head towards Draco Malfoy, who was red faced as Madam Hooch finished correcting his handling of his broom. Her eyes lit up when she realized he, too, found the Malfoy heir's situation amusing and mouthed the word 'idiot' while pointing to the blond boy.

Both Blaise and Daphne seemed to notice the small interaction, but where Blaise's smirk widened when he cottoned on to what their silent communication was about, Daphne simply gave him her iciest glare and looked away, determined to ignore him.

Harry didn't let Daphne's coldness bother him too much. From what he had seen she was cold to everyone save Tracey and Blaise, and even with the dark-skinned pureblood she tended to keep her distance.

Though he did have to wonder about her cold personality. It was most intriguing considering how her best friend Tracey was so friendly and open. How had she turned out like this? Why was she so cold to everyone? Was it some kind of defense mechanism? Perhaps someone had hurt her in the past and she closed herself off to all those but the few she could trust? It could even be something as simple as that just being her personality, though Harry doubted it. More than likely it had something to do with her family.

Perhaps one of her parents or a relative of hers was abusive? He didn't know, couldn't know, and so he put it out of his mind for now. Thinking up theories of how a person acted without having any information to confirm or deny his theories was foolish. He would eventually crack the mystery surrounding Daphne, but he couldn't let it consume him.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Madam Hooch began speaking after making sure everyone had mounted their brooms properly. "Now, when I blow my whistle I want you all to kick off from the ground hard."

"Don't kick off the ground hard," Harry whispered quietly so that only Neville could hear. The other boy looked at him in confusion for contradicting a teacher, but Harry just smiled. "She's telling you to do that because most people require to kick off harder than normal in order to get into the air, but you can also lose control that way. Instead of kicking off the ground, simply pull the handle of your broom up and stand on your toes."

Neville didn't have a chance to respond to Harry because Madam Hooch chose that moment to speak again. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle, three—two—one!"

As Madam Hooch blew on her whistle, everyone tried their best to rise into the air. Hermione didn't have much luck at first, too nervous to actually kick off the ground, and instead tried jumping up and down. It didn't work and Madam Hooch had to go over and instruct her.

Seamus and Dean had a bit more luck. Seamus managed to get off the ground, but his broom wobbled and he kept slipping from one side to the other. Dean, surprisingly, did much better than Seamus and managed to stay on his broom.

Tracey and Draco both did well. Whether or not the blond-haired boy really was as skilled as he claimed, Harry could not deny that he at least looked comfortable on his broom. Likewise, Tracey Davis seemed to almost be a natural, especially compared to her friends, both of whom managed to get their brooms into the air, but looked mildly uncomfortable as they did so.

Perhaps the most surprising person there was Neville. His broom managed to lift into the air by following Harry's instructions. Oh he certainly didn't look like a natural, and seemed to be extremely nervous despite not being more than a foot off the ground, but at the very least he had managed full lift off.

"You're doing good, Neville," Harry encouraged as he floated several feet off the ground. It had been easy for him to get his broom to do what he wanted, and he suspected it may have had something to do with his dad's natural talent at riding a broom. Could a persons talent on a broom be a genetic trait, per chance? Something to think of later on. "Just keep a firm grip on the handle. Now, slowly pull it up—that's it—now tilt the handle back down."

Harry watched as Neville's feet hit the ground and nodded. The boy had done most admirably considering he looked like he wanted to pass out while in the air.

"See," Harry said as he followed Neville's example and landed on the ground. "It's not as hard as it looks, is it?"

"If you say so, Harry," Neville replied, still looking incredibly shaken. "Even so, I don't think I'll be getting on a broom again any time soon."

Harry gave the boy a nod. "That's fine. Not everyone enjoys flying. What's important is that you managed to stay on your broom and didn't get injured or embarrass yourself, which is more than I can say for them." At the word 'them' Harry hooked a thumb over to Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, both of whom had not even succeeded in getting their broom into the air. Neville gave a mild chuckled and grinned unsurely at him.