Madam Hooch didn't waste time assigning blame, instead rushing to examine Neville's injuries with professional efficiency.
"How is he, Madam Hooch?" Adrian asked, genuinely concerned. He'd tried to cushion the fall, but magic wasn't always predictable.
"Nothing serious, just some bruising and a bloody nose," she replied after a thorough check, helping the dazed boy to his feet. Despite the minor nature of Neville's injuries, the sight of him plummeting from twenty feet had clearly rattled her. "I'm taking him to the hospital wing immediately."
She turned to address the class with stern authority. "I want everyone to stay exactly where you are until I return. No one, and I mean no one, is to mount their brooms while I'm gone!"
As Madam Hooch led the sniffling Neville toward the castle, the Slytherin students erupted in cruel laughter. Draco Malfoy's voice rose above the rest.
"Did you see that pathetic display? The way that clumsy oaf fell from the sky?" He wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "I bet he'll never have the nerve to touch a broomstick again!"
"That's enough, Malfoy!" Harry stepped forward, his face flushed with anger.
But Draco was just getting started. "Oh, how touching! Saint Potter defending his bumbling friend!"
"Neville is our friend, and you have no right to mock him!" Harry shot back.
Adrian's jaw tightened. He'd always known Malfoy was a spoiled brat from reading the books, but witnessing the boy's cruelty firsthand was something else entirely.
"Friends?" Draco's gaze shifted to Adrian with malicious glee. "Like this one here? The kind of friend who drops you from the sky the moment he gets his house points?"
The implication hit Adrian like a slap. Without thinking, he stepped forward and threw a solid right hook that sent Malfoy sprawling onto the grass.
"You little bastard," Adrian muttered, shaking out his knuckles.
"How dare you!" Malfoy scrambled to his feet, touching his reddening cheek in outraged disbelief. "Wait until my father hears about this! He'll have you expelled!"
Adrian remained unimpressed by the threat. Lucius Malfoy might be on the Board of Governors, but he couldn't unilaterally expel students, especially not friends of Harry Potter. Dumbledore would never allow it over something this trivial.
"Nice one, Adrian!" Ron had rolled up his sleeves and looked ready to join the fight. He'd been itching for an excuse to go after Malfoy.
"Stop this immediately!" Hermione looked between them frantically, her voice rising to near-hysteria. "What if Madam Hooch comes back and finds you fighting? You'll all be expelled!"
While Adrian was momentarily distracted by Hermione's scolding, Malfoy seized his chance. The coward grabbed his broom and launched himself into the air, putting distance between himself and any potential retaliation.
From his elevated position, Malfoy's confidence returned. He pulled out a familiar crystal sphere, Neville's Remembrall, and held it tauntingly above his head.
"Look what I found! The fat fool's little toy!" His voice carried clearly across the grounds. "I wonder where I should put it? Perhaps up in a tree? Come and get it if you can, Potter!"
"Malfoy!" Harry was beyond furious now. Despite Hermione's increasingly desperate protests, he mounted his broom and shot into the air after the Slytherin.
Adrian watched Harry's natural flying ability with admiration. For someone who'd never been on a broom before, the boy moved like he'd been born to fly. Soon the two were engaged in an aerial chase that had the entire class craning their necks skyward.
I should help, Adrian thought, reaching for his own broom. He positioned it between his legs and tried to copy Harry's takeoff technique.
Nothing happened.
He pushed harder against the ground. Still nothing.
Move, you stupid thing. Adrian gave the broomstick an frustrated pat, then remembered with growing embarrassment that he hadn't even managed to properly bond with the broom during the initial summoning exercise.
"Adrian!" Hermione planted herself directly in front of him, arms spread wide like she was blocking a dangerous criminal. "You're not seriously thinking of breaking the rules too?"
"Relax, Hermione," Adrian said quickly, dropping the broom with practiced nonchalance. "Harry's got this handled. Look."
Indeed, Harry was making Malfoy look like an amateur, outmaneuvering him at every turn. Even Hermione seemed impressed by the display, though she tried to hide it.
Realizing he was outclassed, Malfoy resorted to spite. "Fine! You want it? Go fetch!" He hurled the Remembrall as far as he could toward the castle walls.
"Harry, no!" Hermione screamed as Harry dove after it in a near-vertical descent that looked suicidal.
The entire class held its breath as Harry pulled out of the dive at the last second, the Remembrall clutched safely in his hand. Even Malfoy's smugness evaporated at the spectacular display of flying skill.
What none of them noticed was Professor McGonagall's shocked face in a distant castle window, having witnessed the entire aerial performance.
"YES!" Ron cheered, then immediately turned his attention to the still-airborne Malfoy. "Now let's teach this git a proper lesson!"
Ron drew his wand with theatrical flair. "Locomotor Mortis!"
Adrian remembered this moment, Ron's broken wand backfiring spectacularly. Sure enough, instead of the leg-locker curse, the damaged wand produced nothing but a shower of pathetic white sparks.
Malfoy's initial panic transformed into renewed mockery as he realized the spell had failed. "Can't even cast a simple hex, Weasley? How embarrassing!"
Ron's face turned as red as his hair, his humiliation complete.
"My turn," Adrian said with a resigned sigh. His magical reserves had recovered enough for a simple spell or two.
But first, he turned to the bewildered Hermione, who was clearly struggling to process all the rule-breaking happening around her.
"Hermione, you remember the incantation for Wingardium Leviosa, right?"
"Of course I do," she replied, looking confused. "Why are you—"
"Good," Adrian interrupted, raising his wand with deliberate precision. "You might want to pay attention to this."