The Philosopher's Stone (A Harry Potter Rewrite)

THE BLONDY TRAP

Ria hated any time she had to spend with Malfoy. And Snape gushing over Blondy didn't improve Ria's mood.

She didn't much care about Snape. He seemed to be of the same mould as Malfoy, so no wonder they got along.

But Ria wished Snape would stop lashing out at Ron and Harry (specifically Harry). Every time this happened, Blondy would be laughing his head off and Ria felt the strongest urge to punch him.

Still, they only had Potions with Slytherin, so they didn't have to see much of Blondy and his Bodyguards. That was until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room that made them all groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday -- and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.

"Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."

"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably.

"I am bound to though", Ria said tensely.

"You don't start Miss DoubleBrain", Ron said with a smirk.

"Even if I had two brains, it wouldn't help me fly. A pair of wings would certainly have been useful but even given the circumstances I doubt I can spurt wings overnight"

Never having a formal schooling ment that Ria had absolutely never taken part in any sort of sports. She wasn't lazy or uninterested. She just never had the opportunity. Yes, they would sometime have took an afternoon off to go to the field near the library and run around trying to catch eachother but Ria hardly thought running once in a month would help her fly a broom.

"I might just end up killing Blondy", Ria said bitterly.

Ron started laughing.
"I love it when you call him that. Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."

Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters. He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick. Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom.

Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Thomas about soccer. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly. Harry informed Ria that he had caught Ron prodding Thomas' poster of West Ham soccer team, trying to make the players move.

Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Ria felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground. Ria felt bad for him at times.

Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book -- not that she hadn't tried. At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages. Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later. Ria was nervous as well but she knew books wouldn't help her with this. Everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.

A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.