From Hogwarts to Sturhaven

"It's malfunctioning? But it looks a little better than the others..." Mrs. Hooch tried the broom a few times, and finally had to admit that the broom that looked fine was indeed malfunctioning.

“Alright, Mr. Doom, I grant you permission to use the Moon Dream in class, and you won’t lose any Slytherin points for it.” Madam Hooch’s gaze never left the broom in Ivy’s hand. “But that doesn’t mean you can use it elsewhere unless you get the Headmaster’s permission, understand?”

“As you wish, Mrs. Hodge.” Ivy nodded.

As Mrs. Hooch moved on to the next student, she glanced quickly and discreetly at the Moon Dream in Ivy's hand.

“Alright, when I whistle, you all push off the ground with your legs, push hard,” Mrs. Hodge said. “Hold the broom steady, rise a few feet, then lean forward slightly and land vertically back on the ground. Listen to my whistle—three, two…”

The young Gryffindor swordsman, who was never one to surprise anyone, flew out with a "whoosh," like a cork in a bottle of sparkling wine.

“Come back, son!” Mrs. Hooch cried, but Neville clearly couldn’t do it. So, amidst everyone’s gasps, Neville flew higher and higher until the fear of being far from the ground robbed him of the courage to hold onto the broom, and he fell down.

"Shock absorption and speed reduction," Ivy said clearly, moving her fingers.

Neville, who was falling rapidly, suddenly stopped in mid-air before slowly landing.

Mrs. Hodge, her face deathly pale, bent down to check Neville's condition.

"He's passed out." Mrs. Hodge breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm going to take him to the school clinic."

Although Neville seems to be fine, who knows if leaving him here will cause other problems? At least until Mrs. Hodge is mentally prepared, she doesn't want to see Neville's face in flight class.

She used a teleportation spell to make the unconscious Neville follow her, then said to everyone, "None of you are allowed to move! Put your flying brooms back where they are, or you'll be kicked out of Hogwarts before you even have a chance to say 'Quidditch.' And you, Mr. Doom. Thank you for your excellent slowing spell; I think Slytherin will get five points."

As soon as they disappeared, the first-year students became restless.

The Gryffindors loudly praised Ivy's spell, all trying to squeeze in to see the antique flying broomstick in his hand. The Slytherin students, however, remained silent, only glaring angrily at the Gryffindors surrounding Ivy.

"Look!" Malfoy suddenly exclaimed, grabbing something from the grass. "It's from that big idiot Longbottom's grandmother."

He held up the memory ball, the glass object gleaming in the sunlight.

“Bring it here, Malfoy,” Harry whispered. Everyone fell silent, watching what would happen next.

Malfoy glanced quickly at Ivy, and seeing that he didn't intend to stop him, he smiled and said to Harry, "If you want it, come and get it! Let's see your courage, Potter!"

Harry glared at Malfoy, who quickly jumped onto his broom and took off.

“Come on, Potter!” Malfoy was almost at treetop height. “Don’t be a coward!”

So Harry grabbed his broom.

"No!" Hermione cried. "Madam Hodge told us not to move—you'll cause us all trouble."

Harry ignored her; anger had already surged into his brain. He hopped on his broom, pushed off, and took flight. His innate talent made him seem like he was born to be on a broom.

He lifted the flying broomstick a little higher, making it fly even higher. He heard the screams and gasps of girls on the ground, and also Ron's shouts of admiration.

Harry turned his broom in mid-air toward Malfoy, who was clearly surprised that he could fly so well.

"Give it to me, Malfoy!" Harry shouted, "or I'll knock you off the broom."

"Can you really do it?" Malfoy's mockery was only halfway through when Harry charged straight at him.

So Malfoy had no choice but to shut his mouth and quickly sidestep. Harry flew past him and then turned around in mid-air.

“There’s no Crabbe or Goyle to protect you here, Malfoy,” Harry shouted.

Malfoy glanced down at the distance to the ground, a twisted smile on his face, and said, "Really? Potter?"

Two more Slytherin students took to the air, not Crabbe and Goyle, but Blaise Sabine and Theodore Nott.

They all come from pure-blood families and have some flying experience.

"Three against one, let's see who has the better chance of winning!" Malfoy and his two companions surrounded Harry and laughed heartily.

The students on the ground gasped in surprise, and several Gryffindors were eager to try.

Hermione ran up to Ivy and shouted at him, "Stop them, Ivy! I know you can do it!"

"Don't worry," Ivy said, watching the scene in the sky with interest. "No one will get hurt."

"But they might get fired!" Hermione persisted.

Ivy just glanced at her and didn't say anything.

The three Slytherins in the sky had already started trash-talking Harry.

"Look what the famous Potter can do?" Sabini swallowed hard, clearly just as nervous. "Stay where you are and don't dare to move?"

"Come here, Potter!" Malfoy, no longer intimidated by his companion, shouted, "Let them see what you've got!"

Harry was a little flustered when he saw two Slytherins fly up as well.

But seeing Sabine's trembling hands and feet and Nott's pale face, Harry suddenly laughed: "You don't really have any courage."

Harry gently turned the broom, pretending to crash into Theodore Nott, who cried out and immediately retreated several times the distance.

When he realized that Harry was just feigning an attack, he breathed a sigh of relief, but he still shouted at Malfoy, "My broom seems to be malfunctioning! It's all the fault of these old fogies! I have to go down."

Before Malfoy could react, Nott landed quickly and smoothly.

Harry immediately realized that, unlike himself, they couldn't stay in the air as they pleased.

"Let's see who can help you? Malfoy!" Harry lunged at Malfoy, as fast as an arrow released from a bow.

Malfoy was clearly taken aback, but he still made the right choice.

"Didn't you want this?" He tossed the memory orb in his hand towards the castle. "Go get it!"

Harry noticed his movement, so he could only turn the broom around and fly towards the memory ball.

Taking advantage of this gap, Malfoy and Sabini both landed safely.

The wind whistled past Harry's ears, mingling with the screams of the audience below. He reached out and caught the glass ball a foot off the ground. He straightened the broom handle just in time, then gently fell onto the grass, the memory ball firmly clutched in his hand.

Chapter 35 Midnight Duel

Harry Potter!

It was Professor McGonagall's voice; she rushed out of the castle, roaring Harry's name.

All the cheers for Harry suddenly fell silent, as if a chicken had been choked.

Everyone saw Harry standing there trembling. Several Slytherin students even chuckled quietly.

However, when Professor McGonagall's razor-sharp gaze swept over the crowd, no one dared to speak.

“In all my years at Hogwarts… I’ve never…” Professor McGonagall’s voice was filled with far more shock than anger. “How dare you… You’ll break your neck!”

Professor McGonagall then silenced all the Gryffindors who wanted to defend Harry and led him toward the castle.

"Ha!" Malfoy laughed. "I bet he's definitely going to say goodbye to Hogwarts!"

Ron could no longer tolerate Malfoy's smugness and charged forward with a roar. Fortunately, Lady Hooch returned from the castle, deducted five points from each of the people wrestling, and then announced the end of the farce.

For the rest of the day, Malfoy would talk about it at every place where Slytherins were, as if he had personally expelled Harry from Hogwarts.

At dinner, at the Slytherin long table, everyone who had heard Malfoy's boasts saw Harry appear at the Gryffindor long table.

"Looks like your cunning scheme didn't work. I thought you were going to start a duel," Cassandra said dismissively of Malfoy's prank. "Apart from the few points you and Weasley lost while rolling around on the ground, Gryffindor didn't even change that day."

"What exactly do you mean?" Malfoy asked through gritted teeth.

“What do you mean?” Cassandra elegantly put a piece of steak into her mouth, chewed for a long time, swallowed it completely, wiped her mouth, and then continued, “Pushing your enemies further away doesn’t mean you can get closer to Ivy. I thought you understood this.”

“Now it seems I overestimated you and your upbringing.” Cassandra confirmed that her two sisters had also finished their meal, then led them away without looking back.

“Don’t listen to her.” Blaise Sabine stuffed a piece of bread smeared with meat sauce into his mouth and said nonchalantly to Malfoy, “Chew~ We’ve done a good job. At least we didn’t fall off the broom or lose points for Slytherin. Chew~ Maybe when I’m a sophomore, I’ll consider joining the Quidditch team. Chew~ You know, like a Seeker or something.”

It seems that breaking the rules together does bring students closer together; before this, Blaise Sabine wouldn't have chatted with Malfoy so casually.

“Just you wait, I’ll definitely get Potter expelled.” Malfoy glared angrily at Harry and Ron, who were chatting and laughing at the Gryffindor table, “and that Weasley pauper too.”

“Porter really does fly much better than I thought.” Theodore Nott, who had almost deserted at the last minute, chimed in, “Otherwise, we could definitely have broken one or two of his bones.”

“Oh, of course,” Malfoy said absentmindedly. “Crawb! And Goyle!”

He called over his two "good friends" who were still stuffing their mouths.

“We have something new to do.” The two equally matched “good friends” stood up, grabbed their food, and followed Malfoy. By the time they reached the Gryffindor table, Crabbe and Goyle had not only swallowed the food in their mouths, but also the food in their hands had disappeared.

"Are you having your last meal, Potter? When are you taking the train back to the Muggles?"

Harry and Ron looked at Malfoy with grim faces.

"Found your little friends again? Hopefully they won't leave you somewhere again." Harry stared intently into Malfoy's eyes, as if he were facing his mortal enemy.

"Hmph." Malfoy snorted defiantly. "I'm ready to duel you one-on-one anytime. If you have no objections, tonight. A wizard's duel. Wands only—no touching allowed."

Malfoy seemed to sense Harry's hesitation and added, "What? I guess you, who are practically Muggle-born, have never heard of wizard duels?"

“Of course he’s heard of him.” Ron, who hadn’t managed to punch Malfoy a few times on the playground, had been waiting for this opportunity. “I’m his assistant. Who’s your assistant?”

Malfoy weighed the weight of his two companions behind him and finally chose the one with the larger cross-section.

“Crawb,” Malfoy said, “how about we meet at midnight in the prize room on the fourth floor? As far as I know, that place is never locked.”

€€€€€€€€

At 11:30 p.m., Ivy finished her routine task of gaining experience in the Potions classroom.

Because of Snape's old-fashioned opposition, he couldn't use the Wizard's Hand to gain experience today. Ivy maliciously speculated that Snape didn't have enough teaching materials.

Ivy couldn't help but retort a few times because of Snape's almost aria-like venomous attack.