Mrs. Hooch was in despair, with a young girl losing control of her broom, and a boy flying to her rescue in disregard of her previous instructions, and for the first time in her teaching career, Mrs. Hooch felt overwhelmed and thought she should inform Headmaster Dumbledore and ask him to hire another flying instructor; it was still easy to lose track of everything on her own. Yesterday, for example, she had learned that, shortly after she had left, there had been a serious incident in which two students had taken to the skies on their brooms without permission. The spate of teaching accidents had heightened Mrs. Hooch's anxiety.
But just as she had grabbed her broom and was about to fly into the sky to try to rescue the two boys, a shocking scene occurred.
Tom came speeding up, the wind howling, drowning out the screams of the girls, the exclamations of the boys, and the hoarse cries of Mrs. Hooch. He rushed over to Padma, who was in a daze, and held out his hands, and Padma, like a drowning man seeing a straw, held out her hands to Tom. Had they met, the crisis would have been averted, but to their surprise, Padma's broom suddenly jerked, causing Padma to lose her balance and fall off the broom.
Watching Padma fall off her broom, Mrs. Hooch felt as if something had squeezed her heart. A levitation spell would have been the best option, but Mrs. Hooch couldn't do it. She was less skilled at magic than she was at flying, and the impact of a nine-meter fall was more than her levitation spell could withstand.
The moment she fell, Padma felt as if time slowed down, as if she had frozen in mid-air, followed by an intense feeling of weightlessness, at which point Padma's mind went blank.
She fell downward. Tom turned his broom and followed her, accelerated full throttle, reached for Padma and grabbed one of her hands, but instead of stopping immediately, he slowed down a bit as she screamed, and by the time Padma was a few feet off the ground, the force of the fall had dissipated and Padma was safely back on the ground.
[Padma Patil rescue mission completed].
[Reward: Energy Potion x 1]
Padma was in shock and fell to the ground the moment she hit the floor, Madam Hooch was running towards them, lecturing, "I've taught at Hogwarts for so many years and I've never seen students like you! How dare you-"
"One moment, please!" A voice interrupted Mrs. Hooch, who looked at the fountain and saw Professor Flitwick running toward her. Professor Flitwick had just had tea in his office, when he saw the terrifying scene, but the crisis was resolved by Tom before he could help.
Professor Flitwick's office, on the seventh floor of the castle, had an excellent view, so he saw everything that happened during the flying lesson, but was not at all angered by Tom's behavior, which was somewhat against school rules. On the contrary, after seeing Tom's brilliant save, Professor Flitwick was in a state of excitement, and Tom's performance gave him a bold idea.
The Hogwarts professors were not in harmony with each other; on the contrary, there was a lot of rivalry between them. As head of Ravenclaw house, Professor Flitwick was no exception. However, due to the nature of Ravenclaw, he was not obvious about it. Similar to him is Professor Sprout, the dean of Hufflepuff, and clearly the two are very friendly among the deans, and whose antagonists are naturally Professors McGonagall and Snape. Because of the strong antagonism between Slytherin and Gryffindor, the conflict between the two is almost out in the open.
But, although Professor Flitwick was kind, he had his own interests, and would not step aside when it came to Ravenclaw's interests. That's why he went straight to flying lessons. To get there faster, he jumped out of his office window, and before landing, he used an ingenious levitation spell.
He hurried toward the group, rescuing Tom from the furious Madam Hooch.
"Mr. Yodel, come with me." she said sharply, but there was no room for negotiation in her words.
"Professor, you're doing this out of kindness-" Hermione rushed over.
"Well, it's none of your business, Miss Granger," Professor Flitwick said.
"He was trying to save me...," Padma said.
"I know, Miss Patil, come with me to my office as well," said Professor Flitwick.
Professor Flitwick dispersed the students who had gathered around him, and led Tom and Padma towards the castle. Hermione tried to say something, but was stopped by Lisa Turpin, so she could only watch as Professor Flitwick led them away.
"It's okay, Professor Flitwick is our dean, he'll be fine." assured Lisa Turpin.
Professor Flitwick led the two of them through the foyer and then up the stairs, floor by floor, until they both arrived at his breathless office.
Professor Flitwick's office was not very large, but it was well lit, with light streaming in through a ceiling-to-floor window, giving the room a bright feel. The room was lined with bookshelves, neatly lined with books, and Tom roughly estimated that there were probably thousands of books in the office.
Perhaps due to Professor Flitwick's personal reasons, his desk was not very tall, and as a chair he had a simple cushion. There were piles of parchment, a book spread out, and a quill hovering above the book. Professor Flitwick sat down on his own cushion, waving his wand and bringing two cushions for them both to sit on.
"Sit down, Miss Patil, don't be nervous, have some butterbeer to calm down." With that, he conjured three goblets, a yellow liquid spurting from the tip of his wand and filling them, the liquid only taking up half the volume of the goblets, the rest filled with a thick foam.
"Butterbeer!" Professor Flitwick whispered, "almost alcohol-free, excellent taste and calming effect!"
He handed Tom and Padma two steaming cups to taste.
Looking at the dean's expectant gaze, the two didn't refuse and took a sip of butterbeer, a magical liquid that tasted excellent in the mouth, without the strong alcoholic taste of regular ale, but with a creamy buttery aroma and a sweetness that went back down their throats as they drank it. What's even better is that it warms the whole stomach and clears any nervousness.