Draco Malfoy was eating his breakfast, like all good boys are supposed to. He barely noted the tasty eggs, sausages, biscuits, toast and pancakes.
"Mails here," Crabbe noted stupidly.
Draco finished swallowing. "Of course. It's not like it never shows up during breakfast." It didn't look like his mother had sent him anything. Perhaps tomorrow.
So he was quite surprised when a large package was delivered onto his plate, overturning a gravy urn onto the table and splattering him with food.
"You stupid birds! That was my breakfast!" Draco shouted at the three owls that took off after dropping the wrapped box.
"What is it?" Goyle asked as he tried to reach for it.
"Touch it and I'll turn your fingers into piglets," Draco threatened. An empty threat, but the other two boys followed his directions anyways. Without any fanfare, he ripped it open. His mouth dropped open incredulously.
"What is it?" one of his henchmen asked.
"I think it's a Muggle thing," he replied distastefully. "Probably some Mudblood's idea of a joke."
"Let's go blow it up, outside!" Crabbe said brightly.
Draco thought it over carefully. He smiled cockily. You should always reward those below you for their good ideas. "Why not?"
That was strange, he could have sworn he almost heard a scream of anger from the Muggle CD player.
-
"I'm going to scream if I hear one more story from Ron or Draco about their exploits on brooms," Hermione said in a seething tone. The note that had been posted telling them of their broom riding lessons had been the cause of a lot of discussions.
"I think it is pretty odd that witches and wizards really do ride around on brooms," Harriet tried to redirect her angry friend to more pleasant discussions.
Lavender sat down at the breakfast table next to Hermione. She rolled her eyes at Ron's storytelling. "They are just going nuts because of Quidditch."
Harriet and Hermione shared a quick puzzled glance. The raven-haired girl finally asked, "What does that have to do with flying brooms?"
"I keep forgetting that you two are muggle born," the other girl said, slapping her forehead at the same time. "Quidditch is a game played on broomsticks. Two teams, four balls and six hoops all hundreds of feet in the air."
"Is it fun?" Harriet asked with interest.
Lavender blinked at that. "Well, I guess so. I've never played. Some girls do, mind you. But I've never been interested."
"We can look it up in the library!" Hermione said vigorously as she stood up.
"Not all answers are in the library, Hermione," Harriet said with a sigh as she drooped in her seat. "Why don't we just ask Madam Hooch?"
"Just ask?" she replied. It seemed a modestly strange thought to her.
"Why not? I haven't heard that she eats students that go and talk to her." Harriet rolled her eyes at her friend book-instincts.
"Let's go right now then!" Hermione said. With that she grabbed her friends hand and dragged her almost the entire way to the office (after asking where it was.)
The woman was sitting in a very cluttered office down near the bottom floor. A phonograph was playing in the background from some band from ten years ago.
"Yes?" she asked, blinking her startling yellow eyes at them.
"Er, we just heard of the flying lessons next week." Hermione seemed a bit daunted by the intense gaze.
"And then we were told about Quidditch by Lavender. Both of us were raised Muggle, so we don't know anything about that. But it's supposed to be a game played on... broomsticks... so we thought, well, that we'd ask you about it." Harriet's voice just kind of trailed of as The Gaze settled on her.
"Let me get this straight, you want to learn about Quidditch?" At their mute, small nods Hootch broke out with a big smile. "I'd be happy to teach you about Quidditch."
Harriet was still stuck under that hawkish gaze. "Madam Hootch? This might be a bit rude of me, but why are your eyes... yellow?"
"Eyes tell you a lot about a person. Like your own, for instance. Green eyes were thought to carry mystical powers. If they were inherited they probably relate to a legacy." She smiled again. "Mine are a bit simpler to explain. I was a bit Quidditch mad when I was a student attending Hogwarts. I was so mad about flying that I attempted to force my Animagus form into that of a bird."
Harriet and Hermione shared a quick confused look.
"Never attempt to force yourself into being something you aren't. Bad things happen when you do."
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See other episodes by Arthur Hansen
(Posted Sun, 14 Nov 2004 19:39)
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