Harry Potter Lessons Learned, Chapter 9: The Midnight Duel

Welcome back to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone read-through. Today, we get te action-packed introduction to the art of flying and Malfoy outwitting Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville. The stakes are pretty low, but it doesn't feel like that for the students. Let's join Madam Hooch on the grounds for flying lessons.

"Give that here, Malfoy."

It's an interesting thing to see people compensating for their anxieties. It seems the louder they argue, the deeper their insecurities. Malfoy is proud of his Pureblood heritage, but he wants there to be no doubt that he is the best at everything and if he hasn't tried it yet, he will soon be the best anyone has ever seen at it. For those of you who play Hogwarts Mystery on your phones, this reminds me of Merula Snyde, the Most Powerful Witch At Hogwarts. For those of you who vote, there are a few people in office who have this tendency as well.

The people raised in magical households probably aren't as skilled as they boast at flying but Merlin forbid they actually admit to being ground-bound like ordinary Muggles. I love that Malfoy has to invent Muggles in helicopters and I'm a little suspicious of Ron's story about a hang glider. But we were all young and underqualified at something once.

I relate most to Neville in this chapter. He is the one who admits to being so barely magical as a child that they thought he wouldn't get a Hogwarts etter and now he admits that his Gran wouldn't let him endanger himself on a broomstick. I grew up as what my dad calls "Band-aid's biggest customer" because of a balance and coordination disorder that I've had since I could crawl. I was always picked last for sports and had to have extra gym classes to keep up with the other students. I have an impressive record of broken bones that started when I had a bookcase fall on my leg and most recently saw me break my ankle. I never broke my wrist the first time I tried a new sport, but I can relate to Neville being so anxious about his flying abilities that he got in over his head.

And Harry is not much better with his thirst to prove himself, but with more success. He stands up to Malfoy at breakfast and rises to the occasion when Neville isn't around to defend himself. In both cases, there's the risk of getting in trouble, but Harry is more interested in being the anti-Dudley. It doesn't seem conscious at this point, but while Hermione will call it a "saving people thing" four books from now, it's very clearly him flexing his ability to have a stance on subjects. And I do love it. I especially love that we get to see McGonagall being proud of Harry taking after his Quidditch-playing father.

Lesson Learned: Take a good look at a grudge

Harry grows in wisdom throughout the books and this is really the first time we see how far he has to go. When he arranges for an after-hours duel with Malfoy, he's looking at malice instead of retaliation. It's easy to look for a way to fight back, but I would tell Harry and Ron to practice self-care instead of self-defense here. There is nothing to be gained from fighting at all.

We'll be back soon with the most important turning point of the series: Hermione becoming the third member of the Golden Trio in "Halloween."