Heath nodded in reply to the professor. Despite his fear of actual flying, he found the topic of broom design rather interesting. Maybe this would turn out okay after all… or not. Just when he was beginning to enjoy this lesson, Aguilar asked that question, the kind of question that made his blood run cold and his heart race. He didn’t like insulting his classmates. He’d been bullied too many times in his life to want to do that to anyone else, especially not for something as petty as their blood status. It wasn’t in him to judge others for their blood status. “Others” being the key word in that sentence, as he’d grown to genuinely hate his own halfblood roots over the past few months.

He really did not want to answer that question! He had a nasty habit of saying the wrong thing when he tried to force himself to go against his nature, and he was afraid of what the consequences of misspeaking would be. But he was even more afraid of the consequences of staying silent, and emotional distress made him even more likely to misspeak. It was a vicious cycle. Ugh, why did he have such a hard time playing the part of a “real” wizard?! He was supposed to be an actor, for Merlin’s sake! Taking a deep breath, he finally raised his hand and said flatly, “Real wizards invented flying and have perfected it over the centuries. We can’t continue inventing and improving flying techniques if we don’t learn about them.”