It wasn’t until Friday that Brian found out who his tutor was going to be.

“Brian, Professor McGonagall asked me to give you this. You’ve tutoring after dinner,” Howmione sat down at the long table in the Great Hall.

“They aren’t big on notice here, are they?” Brian glanced at the piece of parchment. “Will you show me where this is?”

Howmione glanced at the location and nodded. “It’s in the same tower as my Muggle Studies Class.”

“You have a class about us?”

Nick, who was sitting next to Brian, laughed. “Some people are really fascinated by anyone who can live without magic.”

“It’s not exactly the Dark Ages,” Brian defended. “We have technology...”

Nick laughed as he took a bite of roast beef and started to cough. Brian patted him hard on the back. “I’d take a wand to eclecticity any day.”

“Electricity,” Brian corrected. “Why didn’t they put me in that class? That would’ve been easy.”

“Howie over here comes from muggles, too...”

“But I haven’t studied them from a wizard’s lens before.”

Nick stared, apparently wondering what a “wizard’s lens” was. “Do we have to talk about classes all of the time? It’s almost Friday. What are we doing this weekend?”

Brian shrugged. He didn’t know what wizards did in their free time.

“I know! You can have your first Quidditch lesson!”

Brian agreed, actually excited by that suggestion. He really missed basketball. When packing his trunk, he hadn’t even been able to fit one in there to take to Hogwarts with him.

After they ate, Nick and Howmione walked him up several flights of stairs to a classroom. He had seen a lot of Ravenclaws on his way, so he assumed they were near the Ravenclaw tower. He had never been on this end of the castle before.

They walked inside, and he was suddenly standing directly in front of the pretty blonde from the train station.

“Leighanne! What are you doing here?”

“I’m Brian’s tutor.”

“You? Why didn’t they ask Ho...”

“They did,” Howmione said. He turned to Brian. “I’m sorry, I’m just taking so many classes that I didn’t want to commit to a tutoring job, too. But I said I’d help out when I could.”

Brian, however, wasn’t angry at all. His smile suddenly felt goofy when he looked at Leighanne.

“What do you say we get started?” Leighanne said, motioning to the seat next to hers. “See you later Nick,” she said goodbye.

Nick turned to leave. “Howie, are you coming?”

“I don’t have time to go to the common room. I’m meeting Professor McGonagall in the library in a bit to go over what we did in class. I need some extra practice so that I don’t fall behind the rest of the class.”

“The rest of the class? Only Brian!” Nick rolled his eyes. “Whatever, man. See you later.”

Howie pulled up a nearby seat and opened a textbook. While he didn’t seem to be paying attention, Brian felt like he had an audience, which made his nerves increase even more.

“How are classes?” Leighanne asked.

Brian shrugged. Try as he might, he couldn’t form words at the moment.

“Professor Dumbledore asked me to start at the very beginning. He said that you were having difficulty shooting sparks out of your wand.”

Brian couldn’t help but feel Howmione’s gaze shift from the text to Brian. He could almost sense Howie’s shock. When he looked over, though, Howmione began to fumble with the pages. Why did everyone assume that he was the problem? Maybe Brian’s wand had a malfunction or something.

He stood up and pulled it out. The result was the same as in Dumbledore’s office: nothing. After several minutes of trying, all he had to show for his efforts was a sore arm. Leighanne frowned.

“Try to clear your mind. Sometimes we get in our own way and prevent the magic from flowing through the wand. Pretend like we’re not even here.”

That was easier said than done, Brian thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Howmione muttering under his breath at Brian. Brian felt rather scolded; he knew Howie was a perfectionist, but his standards shouldn’t be that unfairly high for everyone.

Leighanne bit her lip as Brian raised his arm for what he decided would be his final time. Everyone kept waiting for him to do something that he obviously couldn’t do.

Brian took a deep breath and really tried to clear his mind. He wouldn’t think of the disappointed look in Dumbledore’s face or Howmione’s critical stare. Instead, he pictured himself back home in Kentucky. His parents smiling at him. This now seemed like a simpler time.

As his wand arm waved from left to right, multi-colored sparks shot out. It was as if the Fourth of July had suddenly erupted from the end of the wand, lighting the room with blues, reds, and yellows.

“Great job!” Leighanne said.

Brian smiled. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

She let out a breath. “I was beginning to think you were a Squib or something.”

Howmione began to put his textbook away. “He did successfully repel the A Capellius Curse on the first try.” It was as if Howie was trying to convince himself, though. Brian felt sure that he was puzzled anytime a person achieved something in class that he couldn’t.

“That was true? I thought it was only a rumor,” Leighanne looked at him astonished. This was the first time that Brian felt pleased with all the attention he was getting over that class period. “Well, what do you say we work on some simple spells? Maybe we’ll start with Alohomora.”

As Howmione said goodbye, Brian began what he considered his first magical lesson at Hogwarts.

By the weekend, Brian’s spirits had lifted. Yes, he was still years behind his classmates. However, he could now perform almost a dozen spells correctly. He was even working on turning his quill pen into a butterfly, although all he’d achieved so far was turning the feather a light yellow.

Still, today was Saturday and Brian vowed to take a break from studying. His head was starting to feel full from the week of classes. The sun was bright as Nick led Brian down to the Quidditch field.

As Nick pointed to the goal posts, Brian couldn’t believe how high in the air the game was played. Nick hadn’t said anything about heights before. Although, Brian decided, the fact that the game was played on broomsticks really should’ve been his first clue. He was relieved that Ron explained the game while they were safely on the ground.

Nick was in the middle of discussing what sounded like the “waffle ball” when he laughed at himself. “I guess I’m getting ahead of myself... I forget you haven’t ever ridden a broom! I can’t even imagine.”

Brian was holding a Cleansweep 7. It was older and Brian was a little worried about getting splinters, but perhaps a slower model was better for his first try. He mimicked Nick and mounted his broom.

“Okay, that’s good. Now kick off from the ground,” Nick said.

Brian did, and he found himself flying. A few feet off the ground at first. Then he was fifteen feet up in the air. He felt like he was souring... until he made the mistake of looking down. A wave of panic washed over him, and his hands became shaky on the broomstick. His first instinct was to aim the broom back down. Brian did, but his fast decent left him laying on the ground a few seconds later, the Cleansweep several feet away.

As Nick rushed over, managing a perfect landing, Brian sat up and rubbed his head. “You were doing fine! What happened?”

“I don’t know that this sport is for me. It’s just so... high.”

Nick stifled a laugh and then looked thoughtful. “My Dad used to have this problem... I think there’s a charm I can do that’ll make you forget about heights.”

Brian stood up, hopeful. Grabbing his broom, he watched as Nick pulled out his wand.

“I’m trying to remember how this goes... Oh, ok. Let’s try this.”

Brian’s anticipation was being replaced by fear as he mounted his broom. Nick didn’t sound too sure of himself. But surely he wouldn’t perform a spell if he didn’t think he could do it properly?

Nick cleared his throat. “Auradium!”

Brian expected to feel different. Nothing had happened, and the thought of going back in the air still terrified him. His broom, however, was suddenly acting very odd. Before Brian could let go, it shot up into the air, dragging him along for the ride. Thirty then forty feet. Then he was as high as the Quidditch goal posts. The wind whipped his face as the broom whizzed through the sky, and he could see the castle, majestic in front of the tree-covered horizon.

Somehow, Brian had the distinct impression that Nick had managed to jinx the broom instead of him. The broom, it seemed, really didn’t have any problems with heights. Brian closed his eyes as he found himself as high as the tallest Hogwarts tower.

Finally, what seemed like a lifetime later, the broom steadied again. Brian found himself so high that Nick seemed like an ant on the ground. He took a deep breath and headed back towards the ground, slowly this time. His heart was still racing, but he soon discovered that he was enjoying his flight. If he could hang onto the Cleansweep for that kind of take-off, he could stay on for anything. Yes, he decided, now that he had everything under control, this was actually enjoyable.

He was over the trees that surrounded Hogwarts heading back to Nick when he happened to look down. It was hard to tell past the branches, but someone seemed to be standing in the woods. Brian was about to tell himself he was seeing things when a green streak of light shot past him. Had that come from a wand? Who could be in the forest? Brian knew that the students weren’t allowed.

A moment later, he was standing on the grass next to Nick, who was beside himself with jealousy. “That was amazing! I’ve never seen anyone go so fast on this old thing before!” he motioned to the Cleapsweep.

It was several minutes before Brian had the chance to tell him about the green light and the man in the woods.

“What did he look like?”

Brian shrugged. “Kind of a big guy, wearing a cloak... I don’t know. It happened too quickly to get a good look at him.”

“It doesn’t really surprise me,” Nick said. “Lots of things live in the forest. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

And the conversation returned to his flight. Nick said they’d have to get a group together and play a Quidditch game after lunch. They walked back to the castle in good spirits.