"Their biggest wish is to form their own circus and tour the world," Mark said with a smile, introducing Mario, Danny, and Jack to Albert and the others, explaining why they were called the Acrobat Trio.
"That's a great ambition." Albert looked at the three curiously, then raised his hand and made a juggling motion towards them.
"That's easy, watch!" Mario somehow produced a few small balls with strips of cloth, and as he juggled and walked, the balls darted up and down like swimming fish, forming a circle. This was far more pleasing to the eye than Muggle juggling.
"Very impressive." Everyone stopped to watch Mario's performance and couldn't help but applaud.
"I told you guys, that's enough!" Charlie shouted at them. "Go to the Quidditch Pitch first."
Mario grinned at Charlie, tossed all the small balls into the air, then opened the pocket of his robe, letting all the balls fall neatly inside. This action once again earned him a round of applause.
Under Charlie's stern urging, everyone jogged into the Quidditch Pitch. They first went to the changing room next to the pitch to put on protective gear, which felt a bit like the pads used for rollerblading. The training Charlie arranged for Albert was flying—getting used to flying on a broom.
After all, Albert had only recently touched a broom and needed to first familiarize himself with flying in the sky.
Most pure-blood wizards start using brooms when they are young. George and Fred were the best examples; they flew quite well.
In fact, not only Albert, but all the newcomers needed to learn to fly, to adapt to broom-handling, and to train their reaction speed while airborne.
Albert looked at the broom assigned to him. It was old and worn, with some tail twigs sticking out haphazardly, clearly not well-maintained.
He stepped onto the broom, waiting for Charlie's command.
"We'll fly around the Quidditch Pitch. Ascend!"
Charlie led the team, starting to circle the pitch.
After ascending, Albert found his broom was a bit like an old bicycle; it flew very slowly and was difficult to control.
However, Charlie flew at a moderate pace, so keeping up with the team wasn't a problem. The only one lagging behind was Lee Jordan. After all, he had only touched a broom a few times and was a complete newcomer. Although his broom-riding skill was already decent among beginners, the problem was that he was being compared to Albert.
No comparison, no harm!
This made Lee Jordan seem even more out of sync with the team's flying rhythm.
"You're flying well."
After five laps around the Quidditch Pitch and finishing the warm-up, the others were generous with their praise. Albert was only a first-year student, and being able to keep up with them showed he had a certain foundation in flying.
Moreover, everyone noticed that Albert flew very steadily and turned nimbly, not at all like someone who had only ridden a broom a few times.
After this circling flight, it was not difficult for everyone to understand why Charlie thought highly of Albert.
Once the warm-up ended, the official players began their training, while the newcomers continued practicing their flying. This time, however, the difficulty increased slightly, as Charlie released two bludgers from a box. The Weasley twins' task was to hold bats and guard Albert's team, flying alongside them while preventing the bludgers from striking.
Of course, this was also simple training for the Beaters; their task was to protect their teammates with the bats in their hands.
Naturally, after the bludgers were released, everyone had to be on high alert to avoid being hit, and the pressure suddenly increased significantly. But as a qualified Quidditch player, adapting to these pressures was a necessary process.
Fortunately, the bludgers didn't often bother them; George and Fred were both able to hit the attacking bludgers away effectively.
"What's wrong with you?"
Halfway through the flight, Lee Jordan suddenly descended. Albert, who was leading the circling flight, also noticed and quickly descended next to him.
"Nothing, I just realized I couldn't keep up with everyone's progress, so I decided to give up." Lee Jordan had seen clearly that Fred and George had been exposed to brooms very early and flew better than most. Albert and he had started using brooms at the same time, but there was a reason Charlie called Albert a genius—he had mastered flying very skillfully in just a few attempts. Although Angelina didn't fly as well as those three, she flew competently and practiced hard.
And him?
Lee Jordan didn't think he flew badly, but he knew he couldn't keep up with the pace of those four. He also hadn't forgotten Albert's words: one dormitory couldn't all be Quidditch players… that would invite resentment.
"I'm going to quit," Lee Jordan said.
"Actually!" Albert reached out and patted his shoulder. "I never expected to become an official player. Do you know why I'm here?"
"Why?" Lee Jordan asked foolishly.
"Because games are only fun when everyone plays together," Albert looked up and smiled at the three who had descended behind him. "Just consider it accompanying them in training. Besides, I actually quite like the feeling of flying, and that has nothing to do with whether or not I participate in Quidditch matches."
"You should like this feeling too, right?" Albert smiled at Lee Jordan. "Alright, let's continue!"
"The feeling of flying?" Lee Jordan murmured. Undeniably, Albert was right; he did enjoy the feeling of flying on a broom, which was one of Quidditch's charms.
The practice continued. Albert didn't know how long he had been flying, but around the fifteenth lap, he started to let loose.
He tried to make the broom fly faster and challenged himself with more difficult maneuvers.
Unfortunately, the old broom began to tremble once it flew too fast, as if it could fall apart at any moment.
"It seems… broken?" Albert found that even when he slowed down, the broom was still trembling; he had damaged it.
He didn't hesitate and quickly landed. If the broom broke and he fell, it wouldn't be fun—and he hadn't yet learned the Cushioning Charm.
"What's wrong?" George asked, puzzled.
"My broom is trembling, it feels like it's going to break," Albert said helplessly.
"It's probably just too old. My broom also trembles when I fly too high." Fred looked at George with a helpless expression.
"Mine tends to veer slightly to the left," George added.
"I'm not flying for now," Albert said. "I'm going to check out that first."
He pointed to Quidditch Through the Ages in the changing room. Charlie had specifically borrowed it for them to read, saying that as a Quidditch enthusiast, how could one not have read this book?