Flying Fiasco
Chapter Five
It was early Tuesday morning, and Angelina sat groggily at breakfast. Emma, who acted as if last night had never happened, was disgustingly cheerful. She poured over her class schedule, giving Angelina a blow-by-blow account of all the subjects.
“And on Friday we start out with Transfiguration, then History of Magic, followed by Herbology, and after lunch we have double Potions, and to finish the day we have flying! Wow and I thought flying brooms only happened in Hollywood,” Emma sighed dreamily
“What?” Angelina questioned.
“Oh, never mind. Tell me about flying! Is it hard? Are you really good?”
“Flying is only for boys; Pureblood witches do not partake in such activities,” Angelina regurgitated what her mother had always told her.
“But,” Emma started but was cut off as a Howler exploded at the Gryffindor table.
“GRYFFINDOR!?! SIRIUS BLACK!” Screamed the high-pitched voice Angelina recognized as belonging to Mrs. Black. “HALF-BREED SHMUCKS, BLOOD TRAITOR SCUM, MUDBLOOD LOVING BASTARDS, AND MUDBLOOD FILTH BELONG IN GRYFFINDOR! NOT BLACKS! YOU BEFOUL THE NAME OF MY FAMILY! YOU ABOMINATION! SHAME OF MY FLESH! YOU BESMURCH THE NOBLE AND ANCIENT NAME OF BLACK! SIRIUS BLACK REMEMBER: SUCH BEHAVIOR WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!”1
At the end of the Howler, Angelina looked around franticly, hoping against hope that a red envelope was not coming to her. Luckily the rest of breakfast continued without incident, and she couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
The week continued with little interest or excitement. People learnt to skirt widely around Angelina and Black when they passed in case of stray hexes. However, Angelina avoided total alienation from her house by earning a total of twenty-five points in her first week, which was, as Clearwater told her, a house record.
Friday finally rolled around, but before Angelina could reach the weekend she had to face Flying Lessons. To make matters worse they had the class with Potter and Black. So, with a heavy heart Angelina followed Emma as they made their way down to the grounds to meet the person who would be teaching them how to fly.
“I’m Abraham Aclebe, but everyone calls me Abe,” said a short, fat, balding man with a thick American accent. “Used to play on the Chudley Cannons Reserve back when I was young. So I’ll be teaching you kids all about flying. The first thing ya gotta know about flying is: It’s fun. Everyone likes to fly. So, if ya’ll stand next to a broom and tell it to get on up, then we can start.”
Angelina walked over to a broom, Emma following her.
“Did any of that make any sense to you?” Emma asked.
“Basically he’s an idiot that’s been hit by a Bludger too many times,” Angelina remarked derisively. “Up,” she commanded and up the broom jumped. She looked around to see what to do next, but most people seemed to be having a hard time getting their brooms to obey.
Abe walked around ‘helping’ people until finally every one was mounted properly.
“All right folks, the best way to learn how to fly is to fly. Now, when you’re ready, push off the ground. Just fly around a bit. Don’t worry, falling off is just part of the learning process. All right, what ya waiting for? Times a flyin’, no pun intended.” He chuckled at his own wit.
Angelina rose slowly and somewhat shakily. Glancing down, her stomach did nervous flip-flops at the distance between her feet and the ground. She cast the broom a suspicious glance; it didn’t look too reliable. Just then, a small fat Gryffindor boy gave a shriek as he fell from his broom. That settled it; Angelina steadied her broom and prepared to sit out the flying lesson“if you could even call it that. Most of the class was borderline horrid, and the bloody American was not particularly helping. People kept falling off their brooms. Soon several students were heading up to the hospital wing.
“Very good, very good. Only way to learn is to make mistakes. Very impressive, Potter,” Abe shouted.
Angelina looked up to see James Potter flying around doing loops and flips. The arrogant git kept looking at the red haired Gryffindor from the train and winking. To her credit, the girl didn’t look impressed.
“Come on Angel, don’t be afraid to fly. You’ll have old Sirius here to catch you.”
The biting reply from Angelina was cut off by a high-pitched scream as one of the Ravenclaw girls came hurtling down. With out thinking, Angelina swished her wand, sending a spell to catch the incompetent girl just as a wobbling Gryffindor boy knocked into Angelina, sending the spell off-target.
The spell hit Potter, sending him out of his loops. Angry, Potter fired back. Soon curses and hexes were flying, and even more people were falling off their brooms.
Angelina joined in with glee, sending a Jelly-Leg Jinx at Sirius Black. Black, normally a good flier, started weaving and dipping, nearly crashing into the redhead Potter had been showing off for.
Potter, trying to retaliate, sent a jet of bubble pink magic at Angelina; however, it hit a Ravenclaw who was hurtling through the air after being hit with a full body-bind curse.
“STOP!” bellowed a red faced Abe. “STOP! FIVE POINTS FROM THE NEXT HOUSE TO CAST A SPELL!!”
That got everyone’s attention, quick.
“Now, YOU. Miss…?” Here Abe twirled and pointed his wand at Angelina.
“Lestrange.”
“Miss Lestrange, you come over here this instant.”
Sighing, she descended. Abe was undoing the curses, although Angelina noticed with some satisfaction that he was having trouble with the spell she had cast on a tall blonde Gryffindor.
After some time, Abe finished restoring the class to their proper state, although one boy was still hopping every-other step, and Abe Aclebe yelled that class was dismissed.
“Now, you,” he hissed, turning to Angelina. “You’re to have two detentions for every curse. You cursed six people. That means, Miss Lestrange, that I want ya down here once every Sunday for the next twelve weeks. You and me are gonna be havin’ extra flying lessons. I expect to see you this Sunday at noon. You may go.”
“I can’t believe the nerve of that man,” Angelina fumed to Emma, who had stayed behind to wait for her.
“You could have really hurt someone. Anyway it’s not like he’s making you clean the hospital bedpans or something. Flying’s fun if you move,” Emma reasoned. She had been surprisingly good at flying and was now skipping next to Angelina in boisterous good spirits. “I can’t wait to try out for Quidditch. Lily was telling me about“”
“Lily Evans, the Gryffindor?”
“Yeah, she’s the redheaded you nearly killed her with one of your hexes. You don’t know her do you?”
“She’s a Mudblood, Emma,” Angelina responded as if that answered the question.
“Lena, I might not mind you saying Mudblood but other wizards and witches might not“”
“Everyone says Mudblood, Emma. Everyone.”
And they let the subject drop.
1. Howler's contents based on Mrs. Black's rantings in Order of the Phoenix.