They left the Hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before their first lesson, but halfway across the Entrance Hall they found the way upstairs barred by Crabbe and Goyle.
Malfoy seized the package from Harry and felt it.
‘That’s a broomstick,’ he said, throwing it back to Harry with a mixture of jealousy and spite on his face. ‘You’ll be for it this time, Potter, first-years aren’t allowed them.’
Ron couldn’t resist it.
‘It’s not any old broomstick,’ he said, ‘it’s a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you’ve got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty?’ Ron grinned at Harry. ‘Comets look flashy, but they’re not in the same league as the Nimbus.’
‘What would you know about it, Weasley you couldn’t afford half the handle,’ Malfoy snapped back. ‘I suppose you and your brothers have to save up, twig by twig.’
