It is said that wizards originally chose broomsticks as their home flying tools to avoid the curious gaze of their Muggle neighbors - who would wonder if a mediocre broom pimple could hold a big secret?

However, in almost any Muggle fairy tale on the market today, the wizard and the broom appear as regular pairings, which is a testament to how flawed their so-called secrecy is. As Kenyworth Wheatp mentions in The Amazing Quidditch Ball, "We are much more careless than we think", and the Confusion, Illusion, and Oblivion Charms are all useless.

In fact, the wizards may have given up on this issue long ago, as the old broom Neil received from Mrs. Hooch actually had two pedals on it—a design that clearly went against the original purpose of concealment.

"Don't complain, Neil, you'll know how cool it is when you get on your broomstick and fly." Michael Turner slapped him on the back, but the main purpose was clearly not to save the face of the broom designers, but to take the opportunity to show off his newly purchased Sweep Seven Stars, which the Sweep Broom Company used to number its products in the order of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and Neil privately believed that this vice would be one of the main obstacles preventing them from becoming century-old brands.

Many people may not like to be friends with people who love vanity, but Neil greatly appreciates this part of his personality, greed being a friend of a businessman. Moreover, Mr. Kona's vanity was not so bad as to be unbearable, but it was just a little too much to control himself. Neil has no doubt that if he gets a girlfriend one day, the first thing he will do will definitely be to drag the other person through the streets and spread the news to the whole world.

He decided to go with the flow, pretending not to see through these careful thoughts and say a few words of flattery.

"Well, I just can't get used to putting my personal safety in the hands of a stick with a pig's bristle tied to it...... By the way, is that broom of yours new? Mr. Kona. ”

Michaelton's face glowed red.

"Not bad at all! My mom thought it was a bit of a luxury, but my dad insisted that boys should have their own broom when they were old enough to enter Hogwarts. I thought a used Comet 260 would be enough, but ......"

He pretended to be shy and stretched out a finger to wipe it under his nose, as if he was saying that he really couldn't resist his beloved father.

"I think my dad bought me this broomstick in the hope that I could play on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, but we're only in first year now...... I mean, it's too early to think about that, right? ”

"Not necessarily."

When he returned from the Gryffindor dormitory the night before, the news that Harry had been invited to join the team as a first-year student had already spread in the common room, and there was a constant exchange of people at the breakfast table today, and there was no reason why Michael didn't know about it until now...... Neil would have liked to have kindly reminded him that this kind of contrived hypocrisy sometimes provoked the violent tendencies of his listeners more, but after careful consideration, he decided not to let the easy sycophancy come in handy be half-.

"I heard yesterday that Mr. Potter was so good in flying lessons that he was selected to join the Gryffindor team on the spot, who says you can't be next?"

This sentence played into Michael's arms, and he cleared his throat pretentiously: "Oh, please...... Say no more, Neil! That's not something everybody can do, so I think I'd better wait for next year's player selection before I can make plans. To be honest, I'm not particularly interested in the title of the youngest player......"

"You're up to the mark, Mr. Kona." Neil shrugged. Flattery should also be relaxed. "If you're willing to spend an extra year offstage, that's great, and being a rookie is a bargain compared to wasting time on the bench and staying up for a year, right?" ”

The last sentence was deliberately said a little coldly, and at this time, Michael, who had just calmed down a little, also heard his overtone, smiled wryly, and stopped talking.

……

Due to the catastrophic events of the previous class, Mrs. Hodge today showed the harshest attitude in teaching in nearly a decade. Four or five students have already been deducted points for the mere fact that the broom is not placed at a straight angle enough — mostly Hufflepuff students, and Ravenclaws are good at learning from the failures of others.

"Until you get my permission, anybody—I mean anybody! Don't touch the broom in front of you! If you want to learn to fly, the first thing you have to learn is to follow the rules of flying, and I will never let anyone who can't do that step into my class! ”

The apocalyptic scene of the previous day seemed to have touched Mrs. Hodge so deeply that she had completely discarded the useless rhetoric about the long history and glorious tradition of aeronautics, in order to deter these hairy boys who did not know the height of the sky in the harshest language at the first time.

The image of students falling to the ground like raindrops gave her a frustrating idea that today's children may need to be beaten in a stricter way than deducting points to learn to be obedient. Fortunately, while she was pessimistic, she did not abandon her upright nature and follow the crooked path that Filch loved, and gradually softened her attitude after discovering that there were no students like Malfoy to make trouble today.

Out of caution, and after theoretical instruction that took twice as long as average, the students were finally allowed to try to evoke the broom at their feet — traditionally not allowed to ride in the first class, let alone actually fly. Previously, because the students' skills and talents were different, the progress of the course was always uneven, and Hogwarts's "always let him try it first" principle in education, this rule has been implemented blindly, but after this incident, Madame Hodge made up her mind that she would never let anyone who did not learn flying etiquette leave their feet off the ground.

"It's not just a matter of shouting, you have to try to contact it, to order it." The old lady shuttled among the students standing in rows like a tiger patrolling her territory, giving stern but effective advice from time to time. Slowing down a little as he passed Neil's side, as if worried about whether a person from a place where there was no concept of a broomstick would be able to keep up with the course, "Remember, patience is important. This is only the first lesson, and it's normal not to be able to do it, so don't rush it......"

In the cacophony of "get up" and "hurry up", her sonorous voice was still clearly audible.

Neil watched her movements as he feigned an arm and feigned a broomstick to fly back into his hand. It wasn't that he was lazy, but even if he didn't try, he could guess what the outcome would be, just like the bronze knocker in the Ravenclaw dormitory and the stone beast statue in front of the headmaster's office, the magic eighty percent in the broomstick wouldn't be much of a treat for him.

"Get up."

“…… Don't get up? ”

"Well, looks like you're not going to bother with me, right? Get up! ”

Although everything was expected, Neil was still a little depressed to see the broom lying motionless on the grass in front of him. Michael Corner, who was next to him, was already halfway through the battle - when he opened his mouth wide and shouted "Get up", the top half of the broom answered the call, bounced high from the ground like a trebuchet pros and cons, and slammed a stick into his mouth.

Looking into the distance, the results of other students were similar, and many of them were also pumped in the mouth or nose like Michael, and the classroom practice had only been ten minutes into the beginning of the voice, and the voices in the courtyard were already full of mourning.

Neil stole a glance at the back of Mrs. Hooch instructing the other students, and remembered her previous statement that "flying is not play", and somehow suddenly had a playful heart in his heart.

He glanced quickly at the broom at his feet, and now that normal calling was obviously hopeless, there was still a way to cheat.

"Here comes the sword."