Flying has always been one of humanity's greatest dreams, and Vid is no exception. To him, one of the best things about learning magic is the ability to fly freely in the sky. Of course, you can also fly by plane, and it's more comfortable than riding a broom or a Pegasus. But without a doubt—the latter is way cooler.
Ravenclaw has flying lessons with Hufflepuff on Friday afternoon. Before that, Gryffindor and Slytherin have their flying lessons on Thursday afternoon.
Starting from Monday, all the first-year students have been talking about flying, and Michael is no different.
"You know? The most thrilling experience I ever had was racing an eagle while diving off a cliff on a broom!" Michael boasted, with a sausage pierced on his fork: "We dove down from a height of 1,300 meters and hovered only fifteen centimeters from the ground! The grass was almost touching my nose!"
"That's amazing, isn't it?" Theo at the next table believed him and exclaimed, "Michael, you should play Quidditch. You're definitely good at the Wronski Feint! Even many famous players can't do that!"
Michael's face turned slightly red as he tried to hold on and said, "O-of course! I have to say, once Professor Flitwick sees my performance in the flying class, he might invite me to join the Quidditch team ahead of schedule!"
"Absolutely! You're a genius!" Theo loudly praised him.
Michael's face turned even redder.
At the long table, some senior Ravenclaw girls giggled as they watched Michael, clearly seeing through his lies.
To cover his embarrassment, Michael turned and said, "Vid, do you need me to give you some flying guidance in advance? So you won't feel nervous when you get on the broom. I'm an expert in this area, I was riding a broom at home before I could even walk."
"Really? I think we could use some pointers too." Hermione rushed over with Neville, taking a seat beside them, her arms full of books—such as "Quidditch Origins," "Wigton Wanderers Miracle," and "He Flew Like a Madman."
"You borrowed so many books?" Vid asked in surprise.
"Yes, but they weren't much help." Hermione placed the books on the table, saying anxiously, "These books are mostly about that brutal sport Quidditch, and have nothing on how to fly more smoothly."
The girl's words immediately drew the ire of Quidditch enthusiasts, and Michael raised an eyebrow and said, "Brutal? Hermione, you probably don't understand yet, Quidditch is the most popular and exciting sport, everyone loves it! It has nothing to do with brutality! No, I should say—you don't understand its wild charm at all!"
"Is that so?" Hermione retorted unceremoniously, "But it caused the Golden Flying Hero to become a protected species! They're nearly extinct!"
"There's nothing wrong with Quidditch!" Michael shouted first and then strangely asked, "…What is the Golden Flying Hero? Sounds a bit like a Golden Snitch?"
"It's an agile little bird." Vid happened to have read this part earlier and said, "In the past, a Golden Flying Hero was released during Quidditch matches, and the game ended when the team's hunter killed the little bird. This led to Golden Flying Heroes becoming extremely rare, requiring reserves to prevent their complete extinction. Although the Golden Snitch was later invented to replace the role of the Golden Flying Hero, some country's Quidditch teams seem to still hold onto the old customs. So to this day, the Golden Flying Hero remains a protected species."
Hermione lifted her chin and said, "Exactly, so Quidditch is a brutal sport built on the lives of numerous Golden Flying Heroes. It's a pity that not many are concerned about the poor Golden Flying Heroes anymore, only cheering for a sport that can cause death!"
The girl completely forgot why she sat at this table and left angrily with her books in her arms, leaving the few boys looking at each other in silence.
After a while, Neville timidly said, "So… flying lessons… are they still on?" he asked with a frown, "I've never flown before, my grandma doesn't let me near flying broomsticks—not even toy brooms."
"Uh, of course." Michael said enthusiastically: "Riding a broom is actually quite simple, all you have to do is grip the stick in front with your hands, then kick off the ground with your feet, and you can fly up. Balance is the most important, and flexibility is key when steering—there's a huge difference between models of flying brooms, getting a Comet 260 out of the ones provided by the school is lucky enough, but the best now must be the Nimbus 2000…"
Michael's "flying guidance" consisted of only a few sentences; the rest of the time, he went on and on about the performance of the Nimbus series. Theo was a great audience, believing every word. Meanwhile, Neville, with his big round eyes, tried hard to remember what was being said, but all he managed to write down were a few lines—[Grip the handle, kick off hard, maintain balance].
Leian quietly said to Vid, "I'm sure Michael has only ever ridden a toy broom."
"Why do you say that?" Vid asked, "Have you ridden a real one?"
"I haven't ridden one myself, because my mom doesn't let me, says it's too dangerous," Leian said. "But my dad has a Comet, and he's taken me flying a few times. He said it's good enough for a beginner to sit steadily at first, there's no rush to fly since flying broomsticks are much faster than toy brooms and have no height limit."
He looked at Michael, who was talking non-stop, and shook his head slightly.
"There's nothing to worry about," Vid reassured, "we have a professor here!"
Although he didn't have a detailed impression of "Harry Potter," he remembered that Neville had a moment to shine in the final battle. What could go wrong in an ordinary flying lesson?
Come to think of it, there did seem to be a flying lesson scene.
Vid scratched his chin, trying hard to dig out useful fragments of memory.
Hmm… seems like Neville was bullied by Draco? And then Harry Potter stood up for him?
That should be it.
On Thursday afternoon, Ravenclaw only has one spell class with Slytherin. After class, the Slytherins happily ran to the field—that's where the flying lessons were held. The Ravenclaws didn't have any more classes after that, so they all went to watch.
Vid rarely followed the big group—after all, it was a flying lesson. The students gathered in twos and threes in the corridor, eavesdropping as Madam Hooch, the flying lesson professor, gave her talk, hoping to learn something ahead of time to avoid embarrassment in tomorrow's official lesson.
Before long, they saw Neville—yes, Neville—when everyone else was still on the ground, the boy shot up into the sky like a cannonball!
"Ahhhhh——"
A terrified scream echoed from the sky, and then a figure plummeted straight down before anyone could react, landing with a "thud" into the bushes!
An eerie silence fell over the crowd.