Star of Gryffindor - Book 1

Chapter 5 - How to Get a Concussion, by James Potter

Potions was awful. Completely and utterly awful. Professor Sulcan immediately took a disliking to me, taking five points from Gryffindor because I accidentally added five horned slugs instead of four to my Cure for Boils. I was about to say something incredibly rude when Wren and Albus both kicked me under the table.

Ciara Malfoy was, of course, his star student, though in my opinion Rose Weasley did a much better job on her potion than she did. Rose actually had pink smoke rising from her cauldron, while Ciara's was more of a sickly orange color.

After Potions, we didn't bother with putting our things away. Albus led the way outside to the Quidditch pitch.

When we walked in, I scanned the ground for James, but didn't see him. At first, I assumed we had gotten there before him, but then I heard a whoop high above me. I looked up to see James flying upside down and laughing his head off.

When he saw us, he quickly landed a few yards away. Wren took a seat in the stands as James led us over to two waiting brooms.

"That looks dangerous," I said immediately.

James gave me a weird look. "Really, Astra, I'd have thought you wouldn't care about that..."

"I don't fancy getting a concussion, thank you very much."

James grinned. "That's a great name! Welcome to How To Get A Concussion, taught by yours truly." He bowed, and Albus clapped.

I rolled my eyes. "Promise I won't get a concussion?"

"You'll be perfectly fine, Astra. Come on!"

James motioned to the brooms. "These won't be as fast as mine," he explained, "because the school brooms are all Nimbus 8000s, and mine is a Lightsweep, one of the fastest there is, but that's all right. Probably best that you start on a slower one," he told me.

I nodded. Albus reached his hand out and his broom flew into it. He mounted it and whizzed off. I heard Wren's scream as Albus almost crashed into her, but he lifted at the last second and soared high into the air. I looked back at James as Albus started taking laps around the stands.

"What do I do?"

"Ok, you stand next to your broomstick," James said, demonstrating as he talked. "Stick your right hand out over your broom and say 'Up!'" James's broomstick flew into his hand. "Don't be disappointed if it doesn't work the first time, Astra. Albus and I are pretty good for our age, really, so you can't expect to be doing loop-de-loops and everything. Flying is in our blood, so don't be disappointed if you don't get it the first time."

I nodded, not really listening. I was concentrating on my broomstick. I stretched my hand out and said confidently, "Up!" The broomstick flew into my hand. I was so surprised that I fell over.

James stared at me in shock, then grinned, holding a hand out to help me up. "That was great! Now try again, and see if you can stay on your feet."

I tried several more times, and each time the broom seemed to get a bit easier to manage. Finally, James decided I was ready to mount it. He demonstrated it very slowly.

"Got it?"

"I think so..." I mounted my broom, which wasn't as hard as James made it out to be.

Janes clapped. "Nice. Ready to kick off and fly around a bit?"

"I guess so..." I said slowly.

"Ok. When I say go, kick off, fly up a couple of feet, then come back down. Keep yourself steady. Ok? Three...two...one...go!"

I kicked off the ground hard and flew up a few feet. It was amazing, being up in the air. James nodded encouragingly. "Nice! Want to come down, or fly some?"