The first week back at Hogwarts went smoothly.
Well almost.
They were back for the first flying class of the new term. Harry still hated the class, but he did get on the broom, (which was an improvement) and tossed the quaffle around with Jasper, Ian, and another Ravenclaw boy named Anthony Goldsparks.
Ian, and Jasper were the most skilled in the group. Harry was, of course, awful due to his fear of heights, and he did not have a talent for flying like some of the other kids. Anthony just was really wobbly, and sometimes had trouble catching the quaffle, so Jasper would give him some pointers here, and there throughout the class hoping that would help him improve, and lessen his chance of almost falling.
After most of the class was back on the ground, Anthony approached Jasper. He was staring at Jasper's pink hair. "How did you do that? I have seen you with it a couple of times."
"It's a hair changing spell!" Jasper replied. "The incantation is Crunius Muto. I would suggest you have an older student do it for you if you ever want to try it out. It's a bit tricky to get right."
Anthony nodded. "Thank you. What made you choose pink out of all the colours?"
"Well the first time Maryrose did it, and she didn't mean for it to be pink, and the second time was myself because why not! And the third time was a Slytherin because–"
"Because Slytherins are gits?" Anthony finished.
Jasper bit his lip. "Well, I am sure not all are."
"The ones I've met are..." Anthony said.
Jasper hesitated. "Well same." He assumed Anthony must have been a muggleborn, or halfblood as the Slytherins were meaner to those of impure blood status. He had only been in the magical world for a few months, but it wasn't that hard to pick up on who the Slytherins liked to bother the most.
Anthony gave a small smile. "It's good you don't let them bother you." He indicated to the pink hair. "I wish I could be that brave."
"Well, do you want to change it?" Jasper asked, curious. He had asked so it was logical that Anthony may have wanted to try it out. "Your hair I mean?"
Anthony bit his lip nervously. "I don't know...people can be mean sometimes, especially the Slytherins I find."
"Well, it is your choice." Jasper said. "If you're too nervous that is okay. Some of the Slytherins were mean about it, but I just ignored them." He had dealt with many bullies in his past; at home, at his old school, he was done with letting mean people bother him.
Anthony still looked like he was thinking about it. "Well, how long does it last?"
"Whenever I've done it, it has lasted about a week."
Anthony looked hesitant. "Maybe...some of my housemates can be judgy as well."
"Not Ian right?" Jasper asked. He looked over to where Ian was chatting animatedly with Marty about something. It was most likely quidditch.
Anthony shook his head. "No, not him. Just some of the others. They thought it was weird you had pink hair. They said it was too girly."
Jasper laughed. He thought that was funny considering the attire he had seen older wizards wear. "The Headmaster wears purple robes with bright yellow stars on them, I don't think pink hair is too out of the ordinary here."
Anthony laughed. "Yeah, wizards are weird sometimes with what they find odd."
"And technically I didn't even give myself this colour, others did." Jasper continued, shrugging. "Don't let anyone bother you, it is what you want, not them."
Anthony considered this. "You have a point there, I will consider it."
"Well, I would suggest purple for you." Jasper smiled.
"Purple?"
Jasper shrugged. "It would be a good colour on you."
Anthony flushed. "Oh – um – thanks." He rubbed the back of his neck. "And I thought you would say blue."
"Is it because you're a Ravenclaw?" Jasper asked. Anthony nodded. "Well I can see that too, but purple is my first choice, specifically a dark purple. Like a stripe of it in your hair. I am not sure if the spell could do that though..."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Anthony!" A voice barked out. They both turned to see an older Ravenclaw a few meters away from the two of them. Jasper realised it must have been his older brother, or some other relative. Maybe a cousin? "Come here."
"Why?" Anthony asked, and Jasper could tell that he was annoyed.
Like Anthony, the older boy also looked annoyed. "Because it's lunch."
"I can go there myself." Anthony said, walking with Jasper as the older boy came closer to the two of them. Up ahead Jasper spotted Harry, and Maryrose in a conversation with Marlene, and Emmaline.
The older boy rolled his eyes, and Jasper could tell he was getting irritated. "Just come with me."
"Why?"
The older boy whispered something in Anthony's ear, but Jasper still heard it. "He is a bad influence." The boy stopped whispering. "Now come on!" He dragged him away from Jasper.
Anthony sighed, and waved to Jasper as he got dragged away, and called out, "Thanks for the flying tips!" Jasper waved back, a bit confused. How am I a bad influence? He had never even seen the older boy before, so how could he judge him?
The next class was History Of Magic, and Jasper sat beside Harry like always. He tried to focus, but with Binns' monotone voice, it was a challenge. That, and he just kept wondering about how he was a bad influence. He turned to Harry who was reading the textbook, a piece of parchment already half filled with notes. "Harry?"
"Yes?" Harry asked, eyes still on the text.
"Am I a bad influence?"
Harry made a face, and looked over to Jasper. "What? No. Where did you hear that?"
"One of the Ravenclaws told Anthony Goldsparks I was."
Harry shrugged, just as confused as Jasper. "Well I don't know, maybe ask Anthony the next flying class? Or in the Great Hall?"
Jasper nodded at this. "I will." He returned to his History textbook, and tried to focus on writing notes with Binns' voice droning on, and on. God, why did he have to be so boring?
Jasper tried to ask Anthony about it in the Great Hall, but thought better of it when he realised the older boy was sitting right beside him. Anthony caught sight of Jasper, and waved at him, and the older Ravenclaw gave him a hard look. Jasper still waved back, and he wondered what he had done to make this older Ravenclaw so mad at him.
In their Potions class, Harry tapped Jasper, and he indicated to Anthony who was sitting with a Ravenclaw girl behind Quinn, and Ian. "You can ask now."
"Yeah, but we are in a lesson." Jasper whispered.
"After then?"
"I guess so."
So Jasper tried, but when class was dismissed Anthony was dragged out of class by the Ravenclaw girl, and every time Jasper saw him in the halls, he was closely patrolled by that older boy. Jasper assumed it now had to be a family member of some sort. If it wasn't, it would be even more creepy.
Jasper didn't know why it bothered him so much, but he wanted to know how he was being a bad influence so he could change. He hated the thought he was a bad influence on others, especially since he took care of his brothers for basically his whole life before Hogwarts. If he truly was a bad influence, his brothers would have been affected right? What if he didn't raise them right like he had tried so hard to do?
Friday was Defence Against The Dark Arts, and Jasper was excited because Professor Tutman had agreed to teach him a shield charm. Even though Jasper had succeeded at it, he still wanted to make sure he perfected it. He had only done it once, and Jasper knew for a fact there had to be stronger types of shield charms. This was magic, there couldn't only be one.
So after class, he asked Professor Tutman about it, but he seemed odd. He just looked confused, said later, and went up to his office.
Jasper was not too worried. It was only the first week after the holidays. He would talk to him another time when everyone got back into the swing of things.
That afternoon, they had Flying again so he had an opportunity to talk to Anthony about how he was a bad influence. Yes, it was still bothering him. They were supposed to partner up so Harry partnered up with another Ravenclaw girl to give an opportunity for Jasper to talk to Anthony one to one.
They were once again tossing a quaffle back, and forth. "So..." Jasper started, throwing the quaffle to Anthony who barely caught it. Anthony was not the best flyer in the class, but he tried. "Last flying class I heard one of the older Ravenclaw boys say something to you."
Anthony groaned, tossing the quaffle back to Jasper, who easily caught it. "That's my brother, sorry about him."
"No, it's fine." Jasper said, taking this piece of information in. "He just...called me a bad influence, and I wondered how I could fix it."
Anthony shook his head. "You aren't a bad influence Jasper, he just thinks you are." He paused. "Remember how I said some of the Ravenclaws were weirded out you had pink hair?"
Jasper nodded.
"Well my brother was one of them, he just thinks I shouldn't be talking to...girly boys. Not that you are." Anthony said. "It is just pink hair, basically back to normal now. He rolled his eyes. "My brother is weird. We are literal wizards, and some wear sparkly, colourful robes. I have seen them! Pink hair is normal at this point."
Jasper relaxed at this. It was only because of his hair, which wasn't even his own fault this time. It was Theodore Jackson's.
Jasper tossed the quaffle back to Anthony, and Anthony attempted to catch it, but leaned a bit too far to the side, and lost his balance, making him fall.
Jasper, who was closest to him, zoomed over, and caught him. Jasper almost lost balance himself, under the extra weight, but he steadied himself. Jasper flew closer to the ground as other students started to gather around seeing what had just happened.
Jasper looked down at Anthony who was still clutching Jasper, wide-eyed. "You okay?" Jasper asked, concerned.
Anthony stared up into Jasper's eyes. "Uhhhhh..." He was bright red, from embarrassment. Jasper knew that he himself hated when he messed up at something. Jasper hoped he was okay. Falling did give people the frights.
Madam Hooch approached them. "Mr. Goldsparks, are you alright?"
Anthony nodded, still red from embarrassment. Madam Hooch looked over to Jasper, and he nodded too. "Well, ten points to Hufflepuff for quick thinking. Class is dismissed. Please remember the importance of finding your center."
The rest of the class started to put their brooms away. Anthony let go of Jasper, and got to his feet, stumbling a bit as he was still shaken up. Jasper got off his broom, and told the rest of the Hufflepuffs he would meet them in the Great Hall.
Jasper, and Anthony were the last two in the broom shed. Jasper noticed Anthony looked quite nervous. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes." He replied quickly. "Sorry...I - I am rubbish at flying."
Jasper shook his head. "No, I've seen worse."
Anthony let out a small chuckle. "Really? Because I have already fallen twice this year."
Jasper shrugged. "We all fall, I am sure almost everyone has. Flying is pretty hard."
"You're really good at it." Anthony said.
Jasper flushed. "Nah."
"You are though." Anthony said. "One of the best flyers in our year."
Jasper shook his head. "That title goes to James Potter."
Anthony looked over from where he was putting away his broom. "Why Potter?"
"Have you seen his flying skills? Absolutely the best!" Jasper exclaimed. "I don't know if you know, but he caught a gumball while flying twice!"
"Oh, I heard about that." Anthony said. It had been big news around the school for a while. "Didn't see it though..."
"It was really cool." Jasper told him.
"Yeah, I bet..." Anthony said. They were both now walking on the grounds towards the castle. "Um...Jasper?"
Jasper turned to look at him. "Yes?"
"Well – I - I was wondering..." Anthony started. "If - if – uh you could tutor me? In flying I mean?"
Jasper was not expecting that. Him, a tutor? "Well, if you want, sure!" Jasper exclaimed. "But are you sure you don't want to ask an older student or someone with more experience in flying?"
Anthony shook his head. "I think you have plenty of experience, plus you're a muggleborn right?"
Jasper nodded.
Anthony smiled. "Well there, sometimes I talk about something muggle related, and no one knows what I am talking about so I have to explain, and they still...don't get it."
Jasper laughed, agreeing. Jonathan, and Gifford were always very confused about what he, and Harry were talking about sometimes. An example was a television. They tried to explain it to them for hours straight, and basically got nowhere.
"Well sure, I don't mind." Jasper said. "I'll be happy to help! Though don't get your hopes up, I am new to this tutoring stuff. Will your brother allow it?"
Anthony shrugged. "He can't control my life, it isn't like I am doing anything wrong." He sighed, but continued, "Plus I can always pay you back if you need help with something. Just ask!"
Jasper nodded. "Well okay!" He quite liked the idea of helping someone with something they were not the best at, and it may convince Anthony's brother he was not a bad influence.