Hogwarts: a school of Witchcraft and Love (Tom Marvolo Riddle x F!reader)

Chapter 1-05

"Up!"

"UP!"

"Uh-up!"

"Upupupupu-"

The castle's outer bailey sounded more alive than ever. Birds chirped merrily and the sound of yellow and green tree leaves rustled in the wind, intermingled with the shouting of kids voices.

Some sounded impatient speaking the one vowel word, others articulated it as something barely resembling the given order, and the bigger percentage sounded desperate because they couldn't get their broomsticks to even make a twitch on the trimmed grass below their feet.

You weren't one of them. You were practically bouncing, your chest puffed out proudly, shoulders high as your thickly gloved fingers were wrapped around the smooth wood of the broom. Three times of gently but firmly pronouncing the command was what it took for you to successfully get it to hop off the ground. You tried to stay calm when it worked, but you couldn't hold back the huge grin that forced its way out. Especially when Madam Hooch praised you for being the first one to do it, however her yellow eye didn't stay on you for very long when the second student showed the same result on his first try.

"Good form, Riddle. Keep it up," she eyed him approvingly while strutting around, keeping an attentive gaze on the students bunched all around her.

Last week's Flight class consisted of introductions and a mandatory lecture about safety. Since there were so many new students, all Houses were split up into two groups. Your group's hour started in the morning while group two had their turn in the afternoon. Alyssa was in the second group which meant you didn't have the class together with her, but that didn't mean you were alone. Both Tom and Will were in your group.

The kids that weren't rolling their eyes at Tom stared at him in a mixture of bewilderment and jealousy. A few girls from Hufflepuff even skipped over to his side and asked if he could help them get theirs to move, only to have him politely shoot them down and tell them the same thing Hooch stated at the start of the lesson, which was that they needed to keep trying and that broomsticks simply responded better to some than to others.

In short, he didn't help them. A giggle erupted from your mouth when he told the girls that there was a teacher present to give them instructions. Avery and Lestrade were by him all grinning until he lowered his gaze at their brooms laying next to their feet, which didn't show any signs of life, just the same as the ones they had laughed at.

You watched the many frustrated faces all around you when you heard footsteps approach. "(Y/N)?" You spun around to see Will making his way over to you. His smile was beaming through his voice and eyes. Your good mood somehow increased even more at the sight of him.

You waved him over. "Will!" A glance at his hand told you that he too was succesful in willing his broomstick to come to him.

He pointed at your own. "Nice going with the broom!"

"Thanks!"

You two stood like that for a while, not saying anything as the flying instructor kept repeating the steps to the select few who were still struggling. Most of them were able to hover their brooms off the ground, albeit with unsteady hands.

Avery wasn't one of them. It took him no less than twenty attempts for his broom to come into arm's reach. Unfortunately he did something wrong-perhaps he had yelled too harsh or gave a different command altogether-because the attempt failed spectacularly when the handle shot up and slapped him square in the face, causing him to stumble back, howl and clutch his nose.

All eyes immediately shifted to the embarrassed Slytherin. A series of chortles broke out over the mixed crowd of Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Even Lestrade's face turned red and his shoulders heaved with suppressed snickering, which only increased when his friend sent him a pointed glare and told him to stop laughing. You couldn't stop giggling either because, well, served him right. The only one that didn't seem to find the humour in it, other than Hooch who scolded him for being too frustrated while tending to his bloody nose, was your oldest friend.