Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying

Chapter 21 Ravenclaw's Flying Lesson
At five o'clock in the afternoon, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students walked together to the lawn for flying lessons. Standing here, they could see Hagrid's hut and the Forbidden Forest in the distance, and sometimes they could hear strange noises coming from there.

Different from the adventurous Gryffindor and the trouble-making Slytherin, Ravenclaw knows how to protect itself and usually only explores within the scope of the rules; Hufflepuff students are all good kids and will not take the initiative to break the rules. Most of the students in these two houses will not set foot in the Forbidden Forest until they graduate in the seventh year.

More than twenty flying brooms were neatly arranged on the ground, and Madam Hooch was already waiting there. She stared at the students with eagle-like eyes, alert and scrutinizing, and said sternly: "I guess you have heard about yesterday's accident! Mr. Longbottom of Gryffindor was lucky to have only broken his wrist, but if you act recklessly, it would not be surprising if someone broke their neck! You'd better remember this!"

The little eagle and the little badger nodded in agreement.

"Alright! Now everyone stand next to a broomstick!"

Under Madam Hooch's watchful eyes, everyone moved quickly, without fighting or scrambling. However, the school's flying brooms were so old that they were all very broken, with branches stretched out in a disorderly manner and oak handles that were uneven and prickly to use when sweeping the floor.

But they're going to fly on this thing.

Wade suddenly felt that flying on a broom might not be very kind to the coccyx.

He heard Michael mutter, "Meteor - the cheapest broom ..."

Wade took a look and saw that Michael's broom was even more worn than his, and looked like it was made entirely of weeds.

Mrs. Haw cried out, "Stretch out your right hand, place it over the broom handle, and say—Get up!"

"Get up!" the students shouted together.

Wade's broom rolled twice on the ground before jumping into his hand. He reached out and grabbed it, feeling that he didn't need to use much force because the broom would float in the air by itself.

He turned to look at the others. Some of them succeeded immediately, but for some - like Michael, the broom bounced on the ground like a dehydrated fish and it took a long time for him to reach his hand.

After all the students were holding the brooms, Madam Hooch taught them how to ride the brooms without falling off, and sternly corrected some students' wrong sitting postures.

Wade originally thought that this should be easy, because he remembered that in the movies, Harry Potter always flew away on a broomstick. But when he actually rode on it, he realized that this was not that easy. After all, the broom handle was just a thin wooden stick, and it took a certain amount of skill to keep balance on it.

Fortunately, the pressure on some fragile bones was not as great as expected. There was some kind of spell on the broom, so that when you ride on it, it is like sitting on a chair. It is not comfortable, but not too uncomfortable.

Only when everyone was seated in a way that satisfied Madam Hooch did she allow the students to proceed to the next step - flying.

"When I blow the whistle, push off the ground as hard as you can," said Madam Hooch. "Hold on to your brooms, but don't lift too high unless you want to fly into the clouds! Lift up a little, rise a few feet, glide forward slowly, and then slowly return to the ground."

Madam Hooch said "Slowly" three times in a row, and then said, "Listen to my whistle - three, two, one!"

When the whistle sounded, the students immediately separated into different groups - some flew too high, some dived towards the ground, and two students lost their balance and rolled off their brooms with a grunt.

Madam Hooch frowned and waved her wand in time, and fortunately no one was hurt.

Suddenly, another scream was heard—a girl from Ravenclaw College rode a broom and rushed towards the broom shed quickly!
"There are so many obstacles!" Madam Hooch screamed. The girl stayed in the air for a moment, and then although she still hit the wall, the force had been reduced, but her broom was broken into pieces.

Madam Hooch didn't scold her, but used a flying charm to summon another old broom and let the girl continue practicing.

Wade rode his broom in a circle at a higher place, and then tried to increase the speed little by little. There were only five or six students like him who could gradually control their brooms. Most of them were ordered by Madam Hooch not to fly higher than the broom shed.

Even so, accidents continue to occur.

For example, two students' brooms were twisting and turning, and then they collided uncontrollably in the air; for example, there was a Hufflepuff boy who flew very well at low altitude, but when he had just risen to a height of less than five meters, he closed his eyes and fell off the broom - this poor student was afraid of heights.

The first flying class was a mess. Madam Hooch was like an octopus, "putting out fires" in all directions, waving her wand and saving students from various crises that could break their necks. She herself was hit by a reckless student, and Madam Hooch was so angry that her face turned blue and she deducted five points from Hufflepuff!
Wade finally understood why Madam Hooch always had a bad face and looked very angry. Any experienced driver who was teaching a novice driver to drive and saw the novice driver constantly making some low-level and stupid mistakes would probably be like Madam Hooch.

Finally, the flying class was over, and students flocked to the school infirmary to see Madam Pomfrey for treatment of various abrasions, sprains, and falls. Vader and Michael were intact, and they went back to the hall for dinner together.

"Vade!"

Hermione, who was eating, saw them and immediately waved to greet them. Wade saw her sitting alone at one end of the long table, so he simply walked over and sat at the Gryffindor table.

Hermione glanced them up and down and asked, "Did flying lesson go well?"

"I'm so tired." Michael said tiredly. He felt that he needed a lot of energy. After taking two pieces of bread with butter, he put a roasted chicken leg on the plate.

Wade poured a glass of juice and drank it all, then said, "This is everyone's first time flying, and they are not very experienced. More than half of them were slightly injured, and some even fainted."

Hermione nodded, "I must say, I'm not surprised at all. Flying through the air without any protection, it's only natural to get hurt!"

She clearly didn't like riding a broomstick, or Quidditch at all.

"This is a skill that requires hard training to master! A skilled Quidditch player can fly more flexibly than a bird."

After a flying lesson, Michael finally regained his energy, but Wade remembered that he had been hovering at a low altitude during the class. If he flew a little higher, the broom - or Michael on the broom - would start to tremble.

He is a typical person who is both bad at playing.

But Michael convinced him with just one sentence.

"Think about it, Wade." Michael said in a bewitching tone, "We can fly directly to the dormitory on our brooms and never have to climb the stairs again! I saw the students on the Quidditch team do this!"

(End of this chapter)