Harry had never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley, but that was before he met Draco Malfoy.

　　 Still, first-year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy much. Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room that made them all groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday -- and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.

　　"Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."

　　He had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else.

　　"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."

　　Malfay certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters. He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick. Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom. Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about soccer. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly. Harry had caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham soccer team, trying to make the players move.

　　Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Harry felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.

　　Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book -- not that she hadn't tried. At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called Quidditch Through the Ages. Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.

　　Harry hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course. Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table.

　　A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.

　　"It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things -- this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red -- oh..." His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet,

　　"You've forgotten something..."

　　Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand.

　　Harry and Ron jumped to their feet. They were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfay, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.

　　"What's going on?"

　　"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor."

　　Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table.

　　"Just looking," he said, and he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

哈利曾以为达德里已经够讨厌的了，谁想到，遇上杰高。马尔夫之后，原来这家伙比达德里更令人讨厌。一年级的格林芬顿学生只有药学课是和史林德林学生一起上的，所以大家都还没有多少机会与马尔夫发生正面冲突。至少在看到那张钉在格林芬顿公共休息室里的通知前是这样。那张通知让大家恨得牙痒痒的：飞行训练课将于星期四开始上课——这意味着格林芬顿学生要和史林德林学生一起上课。

　　"又是那一套！"哈利撇撇嘴，"这正合我意，只是在马尔夫面前坐在大扫帚上让我觉得有点像傻瓜。"哈利比谁都想快点可以学习快迪斯。

　　"我不知道你坐上去会不会像傻瓜，"罗恩说，"不过，据我所知，马尔夫一直为他的快迪斯而自豪，而且我敢打赌他现在肯定又在吹嘘自己。"马尔夫的确正在大谈即将要上的飞行训练课。他大声地抱怨一年级的小鬼们根本没资格加入豪斯飞行训练队，他讲了好久，当然也不忘往自己脸上贴金，他把那个他从直升飞机上利用快迪斯逃生的故事又吹了一遍。其实，吹嘘自己有飞行经验的人也不止马尔夫一个，谢默斯。范尼更就到处跟人说，他还是个小孩子的时候就已经骑着大扫帚在原野上空漫游了。罗恩也煤蝶不休地大讲他经常用查理的那把旧扫帚到处滑翔。几乎每一个来自巫术家族的孩子都在谈论快迪斯。罗恩已经和同宿舍的迪恩。汤姆斯就足球的问题辩论了一场。罗恩实在搞不明白足球赛有什么好刺激的，二十几个人，一个球，又不准飞起来，多无聊！罗恩甚至想劝迪恩离开汉姆足球队呢。

　　尼维尔长到那么大都还没坐过一次扫帚，因为他的奶奶从来就不准他接近任何一把扫帚。哈利倒觉得尼维尔奶奶这个决定无比英明，谁都知道啦，尼维尔是个走在地上都会发生很多意外的人，谁敢放心让他到天上去？

　　荷米恩也和尼维尔一样的紧张。因为这种实践性工作可不比从书本里背知识来得容易——况且她也从来没飞过。星期四吃早餐时，荷米恩决定把她从一本叫《快迪斯大观》的书里学到的飞行技巧传授给同学们。她这个决定可把大家给烦死了。

　　尼维尔倒听得聚精会神，连一个字都不放过。他真希望这会帮助他能牢牢地坐在大扫帚上。这时候猫头鹰邮差们来了，荷米恩的长篇大论不得不被打断，这让大家都松了口气。

　　自从接到哈格力的信后，哈利再也没有收过别的什么。马尔夫马上就注意到了这一点。他的猫头鹰经常从家里给他悄来一包又一包的糖果，他次次都神气活现将把那些糖果哗地倒到桌子上。

　　尼维尔的猫头鹰从他奶奶那儿为他捎来了一个小包裹。尼维尔兴奋地打开一看，原来是一个有着大理石花纹的玻璃球，里面好像弥漫着神秘的白烟呢。

　　"呀，是记忆之球！"尼维尔兴奋地向大家宣布，"奶奶知道我老爱忘东西，所以送了我这个！要是我忘了什么的话，这个球就会提醒我。看，只要紧紧地抓住它，如果它变成红色……呢……"他吃了一惊，因为记忆球忽然发出了耀眼的红光："你忘了要做一件事！"尼维尔拼命地想，究竟自己忘了做什么呢？这时候，杰高。马尔夫刚好从他们的桌子边经过，一下子就把记忆球抢到了手中。

　　哈利和罗恩马上跳了起来，他们俩早就想揍马尔夫一顿了，可麦康娜教授比他们俩更快，一下子就出现了。

　　"发生了什么事？"

　　"马尔夫抢了我的记忆球！"

　　马尔夫做了个怪相，把球扔回桌子上。

　　"看看都不行！"他扔下这么一句，就大摇大摆地走了。他的两个死党克来伯和高尔也赶紧跟了上去。