*Anos's POV*
Before I knew it, it was already the end of the week and I was walking towards the grounds for Broom Practice.
"Okay everyone line up on the right side of a broom and we'll begin shortly." Madam Hooch said from the sidelines. Seeing her I remembered a particular article I read about her.
"Madam Rolanda Hooch was a failed animagus who loved Quidditch more than she should have. Sorted into Ravenclaw she took to her house sigil a lot more than others. And just like other curious Ravenclaws, she dug into that particular pile of knowledge with an open mind though the wisdom part of their motto was forgotten by her.
Apparently beloved by all her house members for her unnatural experience in Quidditch she went on to win the Quidditch cup for her house 4 times in a row. Unfortunately, those victories came at a cost as she showed signs of nearsightedness during her sixth year at the Wizarding Academy.
The tale only turned more tragic from there as Ms. Hooch went on to learn fervently about Animagus. An art which has remained elusive in the Wizarding world to this day.
It's told that the Great Dumbledore himself has tried but failed in the art, this theory is given more credibility by the fact that Minerva McGonagall who shares the same position he did i.e. Head Of Transfiguration went on to become one of the known 200 Human Animagus in the community.
Hooch however wasn't as lucky. She was caught trying to brew an illegal potion for performing an Animagus ritual that she later claimed she got from a Lycanthrope further proving her desperation. She was under a watchful eye from the authorities and after several years performed an Animagus ritual in the presence of Dumbledore himself.
The ritual failed and she was left with eyes akin to that of a bird, a cruel mockery to her house sigil perhaps. Her 'New Eyes' as they were referred to gave her great long-distance vision but since she was a failed Animagus she had no control over that aspect of her own body.
It took her moments to adjust between seeing things near and far since her body and brain were still human meaning her Quidditch career wouldn't be viable anymore.
'It's disappointing more than anything.' England Chaser and 'Golden Boy' Richard Woods who had seen and wished to recruit the young Quidditch genius under his wing spoke to us about the topic during an interview.
Despite Rolanda Hooch learning and being fairly successful in riding a broom again it truly does seem as if her career in Quidditch has ended before it even had a chance to begin.
We have had reports of her receiving invites from Hogwarts for a job prospect but the information is sketchy in short the woman being already past her prime must've certainly offered up something rather Good to get the job or it might be her spreading rumors to take the last bit of attention her name might get gather.
Her case goes on to show the wise Ravenclaws of Hogwarts are nothing more than book worms pretending to hold wisdom. Mere fools trying things they're not capable of and embarrassing our community of wizards among those idiots who don't know how to hold wands.
This has been your own man working in the shadows to get you the most shameful deeds happening right around the corner to make others aware. I do my part sincerely in service to our community."
~Curkin Skeeter
Suffice it to say that article was the sole reason the faintest hint of doubt or hesitance I held towards the wizarding newspapers was burned to ash and scattered in the air.
I pushed the irritating thoughts aside as Madam Hooch gave all of us a sharp look seemingly sizing us up.
"Now I can see some of you are just barely waiting to jump on your brooms so we're going to get started now. All of you have a broom next to you so raise your hand above it and say 'UP' and brace to hold the broom. Say the word with Intent, it'll take a few tries." Madam Hooch explained and as if on cue someone said the words as we all looked around to find who the perpetrator was and it was Harriet holding a broom firmly in her right hand.
" There. Potter has already done it so let's see all of you try." Madam Hooch said and then began a strange competition of 11-year-old children shouting at brooms that looked like someone forgot them in the supply room for an eon or two.
My attempts were all failures, cursed energy had taught me many cool tricks but telekinesis wasn't one of them. But I did manage to shake the broom a little before it stayed there sharing a deep kiss with the ground.
I wasn't too bothered about this. A few lessons and excuses and I'll either be fucking outskie from this or would've learnt ways to do it. I could fly on my own without a wand so it was nothing for me to cry about.
Simon just straight up bent down and picked up his broom, Draco commanded his easily into his hands, Lan didn't even bother trying after a couple of minutes but something told me he didn't consider the broom worthy of the effort.
Alucard made his broom float up slowly to his hand and by then every student had the broom in their hand.
Lan and me being the only exception of course.
Madam Hooch didn't even bother with Lan and came in front of me looking into my blindfold as if trying to burn holes through them.
"By the Gods, you can't even pick up a broom correctly. How can you even hope to be a wizard if you're crawling on the ground like Muggles? You should bury your head in a Dune of Spice."
I saw Maxwell burst out laughing but inside my mask, I was grinning wide.
'Message received.' I let out a sigh as if disappointed in myself. Madam Hooch's last line was a code.
Almost all the teachers and faculties that were present at the time I was brought to Hogwarts know of my nature. There were those like Hagrid that didn't really understand and those like Filch that were kept out of the loop.
Still, there were some things that I wasn't capable of due to my very nature and if no teacher berated me on failing then some people might get suspicious.
So I came up with codes that no one except me understood which the teachers slipped into the sentence so that I knew they didn't mean it. I didn't even want those in the first place but they somehow unanimously agreed on it and convinced me with the argument that I might take real lectures as fake ones.
"For the rest of you try to slowly get on the wand. Remember to keep your back straight so it remains still. To gain height you lean backwards slowly and to go down you move forward slowly. Remember no erratic or jerky moments." Madam Hooch guided the other students.
Suddenly Neville who had been feeling a bit jumpy shot straight up into the sky.
" Lean forward Longbottom!!! Forward!" Madam Hooch shouted.
" Yeah, he can't hear that from the ground when he's a mile up in the air," I said as my neck hurt watching the little black speck visible in the sky.
" So how're we going to get him back?" Hermione asked.
" I'm going to get my broom. All of you stay on the ground." Madam Hooch said and ran off.
Every student was happy to abide by her wishes but suddenly we saw the black speck falling down to the ground.
'Nope, I absolutely won't fly.' There wasn't a single chance that I was going to fly in another's presence.
"I know a spell but he'll be kinda stuck up there," Hermione said and Maxwell and Ron decided to be the hero at the same time and ended up crashing into each other a few feet in the air.
Harriet decided to fly straight up ready to catch the falling boy who was coming closer and closer to the ground.
"No if she stops him at that speed they'll both either crash together or they'll lose an arm and a neck. Alucard can you do something?" I asked and he nodded.
" Well you all better do it fast or the Longbottom guy will be a speck on the ground," Simon commented with a yawn.
"Wingardium Leviosa." Hermione casted with her wand at the now visibly unconscious Neville.
Alucard closed his eyes and pointed his fingers straight at the figure becoming more visible by the moment.
The effect was instantaneous as Neville's fall broke down in short bursts and Harriet managed to catch him around 30 meters up in the air by his robes and slowly brought him down to the ground.
"You all used Magic and your brooms without the teacher present," Maxwell said as if he had leverage on us.
"Dude, did your old man curse all the guys from his side of the family or something?" Simon asked me surprised.
"Nah they probably are just that stupid though," I said trying to find a leaf that'll produce the optimal crunch when stepped on.
"Hey don't ignore me! I'm..." At that exact moment, Neville's broom decided to return to the ground and landed a clean bonk on Maxwell's head which knocked him out.
"Wow, the Universe must be in love with me or something."
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Author's Note: Covid recovery has been shit to me. I've also been kindly reminded by the educational institutions about the fact that I have exams, 2 Whole days before those exams are supposed to take place, no biggie.
I'm physically and mentally drained at the moment and my hands hurt, actual pain when moving them since unfortunately I was born human and humans are warm blooded so going outside to write an exam in winter cold isn't my thing and neither is it kind to my hands. These exams will last till 14 and then I have another set of exams to give from the 25th onwards since people can't get enough of seeing us suffer, so I'm fucked.
If there's one thing this has cemented in my mind it's the fact that I absolutely need to buy a laptop, my book notes are getting huddled and it's hard to navigate through the bullshit that's Google notes at times.
I'll be trying my best to save enough to buy that Laptop and I want to thank everyone for helping, it's not much but at this point in time that's all I can give.
And once again please take care of yourself everyone. There's only so much stuff the world can throw at us before it has to calm down and give us and itself time to breathe.
Hope everyone has an absolutely amazing time and I'll be doing my best to deliver new chapters.
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