AN- Here it is.
H/H FOREVER!
Bye!
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Luckily the great hall was still serving lunch when he got there, and that day Harry ate more than he could remember ever having eaten before (although that wasn't saying much considering his treatment at the Dursleys'). Madam Pomfrey had told him to expect this as his body had needed to rebuild a lot of his bones, and that took nutrients that would need to be replaced, but even though he explained this to Ron and Hermione, they were still quite amazed.
The afternoon was spent doing most of the homework that had been assigned for the weekend, much to Ron's dismay. The only reason Ron agreed to do any work at all was because he was still worried about Harry and was trying his best not to fight with Hermione. By the time the trio had finished all the work they intended to they were already late for dinner in the great hall. Ron was quite amazed (and secretly pleased) at all the work he'd gotten done. Normally he'd leave it till nearly the last minute, but having almost all of it done, and done well with Hermione to help, he would have more time to goof off the next day.
At dinner Harry once again ate as much as Ron ever did, which Ron seemed to find amusing and challenged Harry to another eating duel. Of course Ron won again and Hermione couldn't understand how he could eat so much and not be as big (at least around the waist) as Crabbe and Goyle combined.
' That's it for me.' Hermione said, as the three climbed through the portrait hole when Ron had finally declared himself full, with a satisfied belch to rival Harry's earlier magically induced one. ' I'm going to sleep.' And with that she left Ron and Harry alone in the common room, heading up to her dorm room.
Ron plopped himself down in an armchair and pulled a short table closer to himself. There was a chess set on it looking like someone had played a game then left it as it was.
' Care for a game, Harry?' he asked, setting the pieces back up.
Harry smirked at Ron's confidence.
' Sure, but don't feel too bad when it becomes obvious that I'm letting you win.' He said.
Of course he was only joking. Ron and Harry had often played against each other, and although Harry often started out taking piece after piece from Ron, he had yet to come even close to winning. Ron had explained to Harry that while Harry was obviously quite good at tactics, he had a lot of room to improve on strategy. (AN- tactics refer to smaller actions serving a larger purpose in a battle, whereas strategy refers to long term plans for a goal, so tactics are sort of smaller parts of a strategy)
A few games later Harry thought he was improving, but he was still no challenge to Ron who had grown up playing chess against his father who was quite good at it and had eventually become even better than his father.
' I think I'm gonna head up now. You coming?' Ron asked, as he packed up the chess pieces, being careful not to let Harry's pieces stick him with their miniature swords (they weren't happy about losing so many times).
' Nah, not yet.' Harry answered. ' I'm not really tired right now.'
That was putting it lightly. After all, Harry had been lying and sitting in a bed for the better part of 24 hours.
' Right then, see ya tomorrow. I think Fred and George are planning something for the Slytherins tomorrow, maybe we can get in on it since we'll have the time to spare.'
Harry waved as Ron went up the stairs to their room.
< Now what am I going to do?> Harry wondered. < Everyone else is in bed by now and I'm not even slightly tired…. Hmm. I suppose I could try the library. I never got a chance to after I left the hospital wing, but then there's Filch and Mrs. Norris… and Peeves.>
In the end though, Harry's restlessness got the better of him and he pushed the portrait hole open slowly and silently. He checked to make sure that the Fat Lady was there (she was, but was asleep) before climbing out and letting the portrait slip shut again. He'd have to wake her when he got back, assuming he was able to avoid detection and detention on his way to the library and back.
¿ <'}}}><
He made it to the library with no troubles, but paused at the locked door remembering the last time he'd sneaked in after curfew. He'd used an unlocking charm he'd read about during the summer, but when he opened the door it had squeaked rather loudly.
< Crap!> Harry swore. < I said something on instinct that worked… I wished I'd remembered to look it up. I wonder though…> he thought back to his transfiguration lessons. < No way could it be so easy- but it's worth a try I guess.>
He pulled out his wand and whispered " Alohomora." Then held the door closed to keep it from swinging open when he heard it click.
Then, concentrating on the proper images, he said one of the basic transfigurations he'd learned during the summer. It wasn't anything fancy, and most of the class had already mastered it by the end of the first week.
" Localis minimus."
It was one of the first things to be taught in transfiguration, and it was used to shrink whatever object it was cast on.
Much to Harry's surprise, it worked and the door shrunk down to about a quarter of it's original size, falling off it's hinges and forcing Harry to catch it to avoid a rather loud clatter.
Frowning Harry stepped through the doorway and leaned the door against the doorframe.
< Huh. I'd have thought Madam Pince would have something protecting it from this kind of "vandalism". Oh well, no point in complaining.>
Harry used a levitating spell to hold the door back in the middle of the doorway and enlarged it. Unfortunately the hinges weren't aligned properly and the door was stuck in place. Nothing about it looked unusual unless you were looking for it, but it wouldn't open if you tried it.
< I guess I can leave it for now. I'll have to fix it on my way out.> Harry thought and turned around to find himself face to face with Lady Scrive.
Most other students would likely have screamed before they realized who it was, but most other students hadn't grown up with Dudley who seemed to pester and hurt Harry more the more Harry showed a reaction to it. As it was though Harry gasped quickly and his eyebrows jumped up, but it was only for a second.
Lady Scrive gave a chuckle to have gotten even this much of a reaction out of Harry, who was her second favourite student (her favourite was Hermione of course).
' You're not as jumpy as you were the last time you came here at this time of night, Harry. I would have thought you'd be more jumpy after what you went through last night?' she said, watching Harry quickly calm down.
Harry frowned at being reminded of what had occurred.
' Actually, that's sort of why I'm here.' Harry replied. ' I killed that troll. I've never killed anything on purpose before, and on top of that trolls are at least a little self-aware. It probably didn't want to be there any more than we wanted it to be and I killed it because I couldn't find any other way to save myself and my friends.'
It was times when he felt like this that Harry wished most that he could cry- but he hadn't cried in years and it was as if he had forgotten how to. Oh his eyes still watered like anyone else's when he got hit on the nose or something, but no one with a normal nervous system could stop that.
Lady Scrive was quiet for a moment, waiting until Harry looked back up to her face without a trace of the anguish in his voice showing on his face.
' Harry, you did the best you could to save as many lives as was possible. There is no reason for you to feel as though you've done something wrong.' She said, trying to console him.
' I'm afraid I disagree.' He returned with a shake of his head. ' I did do the best I could, but I think there is always a way to save everyone. It's just a matter of finding a way (AN- "Trigun" is another awesome anime). Anywho, I know there's no point in obsessing over a mistake that is already done with. If I had of known more about trolls though, or known more magic I might have been able to see the way to save my friends and the troll.'
' I do not agree with you about there always being a way to save everyone of course, but as long as you don't let it weigh on you I don't see any reason to continue arguing about it.' The Lady said, beginning to sound more business like. ' I assume you want to try and learn more to keep the same thing from happening in the future? That is why you're here isn't it?'
Harry nodded his confirmation, ready to get down to business himself.
' While I approve of both your motives and your desire to know more, I hope you realize that you can't accomplish what you're trying for in one night?'
Harry nodded again.
' And you also realize that no matter how much you study, you won't learn any of it if you don't sleep? I will report you to the staff, probably Professor Snape, if I think you're not sleeping enough.'
' I understand.' Harry said. ' I'm only here tonight because I've been in bed for so long that I couldn't sleep right now without a sleeping potion to help.'
' Very well, I will help you then.' Lady Scrive said, finally smiling. ' You do know that the reason you're at Hogwarts is to prepare you magically in just the same way that you're here in the library to do? It's the whole point of a magical education.'
' Yes, but as was demonstrated last night, the universe doesn't wait until you can handle a situation to thrust it upon you.' Harry told her, and then smiled a little. ' Well, that and I'm just a little impatient to learn what I can.'
The ghost certainly knew that Harry was only trying to get on her good side by saying that (even if it was a little true), but she didn't mind at all.
' I think then, that you understand you'll need to dedicate a lot of time to this pursuit. Are you sure you have time for it?'
' I know I've got enough time for this, but getting here without being caught out of bed means I won't have as much time as I'd like to have.'
' I think we can cut down on the time it will take you to get here. Assuming you can keep a secret. Even from your friends.'
Harry was a little confused at her concern about his ability to keep secrets (Why would he tell anyone something that they didn't need to know?), but he assured her that he would tell no one.
' Follow me then.' She said turning off towards the back of the library.
She led him to a place in the back of the large library with shelves of history books on one side and what seemed to be books on divination on the other. It wasn't a place that was frequented by most students.
She pointed at one of the shelves that had a nail sticking out a little from the wood.
' Pull that nail out a little farther, turn it one and a half times to the left, then three times to the right, then push it all the way back in.' she instructed him.
Harry did as he was told, making sure that he'd remember the instructions later, and the shelf of divination books slid silently back into the wall a few feet and stopped, revealing a set of stairs leading down into darkness.
' This will lead you into a maze of corridors that runs all throughout the castle. The original reasons for having the hidden corridors have been long forgotten, but the openings to them are still working just fine.' Lady Scrive told him and smiled in amusement. ' Do not use this way to get back tonight, you would probably get lost, but if you ask the Weasley twins to show you around I am sure they shall be more than happy to. Do not tell them how to open this though. They have already found this opening and figured out where it leads to, but they have not discovered how to open it yet. Of course they do not see much reason to sneak into the library, so they have not tried very hard at figuring it out.' Her voice became icy as she said this and Harry promised himself that he'd never show anything but love and respect for books while she was near.
Just then the shelf slid back into place of its own accord and the nail slipped back out to where it had first been.
' Now- we need to decide how to go about this.' Lady Scrive announced.
Harry took a deep breath as his heart gave a little thrill at the idea of having the entire library to himself without the risk of detention. On top of that he would have a librarian who knew the library as well as only someone who'd spent literally hundreds of years there could.
¿ <'}}}><
It was two in the morning when Harry finally decided he was feeling tired enough to head back and try to get some sleep before he got up for breakfast. With Lady Scrive's help and accumulated knowledge of how students learned best and fastest Harry had decided that he would come to study on Friday, Saturday and Wednesday nights unless there was a test the next day or some other reason not to on that night (when you didn't sleep and spent just about every moment for hundreds of years in a library you tended to gain some experience of this sort).
Since Lady Scrive insisted that he tell no one about what he did, saying that the fewer who knew the easier to avoid complications, Harry wouldn't be doing his homework during these nights because it would make his friends suspicious about how and when he got it done. Instead Lady Scrive thought that Harry should study all the spells, charms, curses, and hexes he could find. She also suggested studying any of the extra courses that he'd have to chose in a couple years, such as arithmancy and runes. If he simply studied for the classes he already had he would do well in them, but would raise suspicions. She did suggest though, that he study for potions, as she knew somehow that Snape was out to get him.
As it was so late (or early) when Harry decided to leave he didn't think that anyone except Peeves would be in the halls at this time of night, but he made sure to keep quiet nonetheless.
Once again he shrank the door, walked through, then enlarged it again, but this time he paid more attention to lining up the hinges.
Turning to head back to Gryffindor tower, he saw shaky lamplight on the wall at the end of the corridor and heard the meow of a cat.
' Oh crap!' Harry whispered fiercely and darted down a different corridor knowing that Mrs. Norris would likely smell him and alert Filch.
Not really paying any attention to where he was going Harry ran as fast as he could without making a sound and breathed a sigh of relief as the sound of Filch and Mrs. Norris started to fade. Then they started getting louder again and Harry swore at his luck. They must have gone past the library and taken some other route to where he was now.
Looking around desperately Harry spotted a door that was slightly ajar. Having learned his lesson from the first time he had snuck into the library, he slid through the opening without moving the door. It seemed to be a classroom that hadn't been used in years. He held a sigh of relief in check once he was in as just then both Filch and his cat had come around the corner and into the same corridor Harry had been in moments before.
Harry held his breath as the two passed the classroom where he was without even a glance in its direction and continued on around another corner. Harry continued to hold as still as possible until he could no longer hear Filch's muttering.
Now Harry took a breath and turned to examine the room he found himself in. It was in a lesser-used area of the school and from the depth of the dust covering everything Harry would have to say that it hadn't been used in years. Then he noticed an object that was completely out of place in an abandoned classroom.
It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised strea ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
What made it stand out so much in the room was the dust, or rather the lack of any dust at all on the mirror, as if someone had just moved the mirror in there recently. The problem with that idea was that other than Harry's own footprints, no other dust had been disturbed in the room.
Seeing his footprints on the floor made Harry think and he walked carefully back over to the doorway. The dust stopped in a perfect line where the door would be if it were closed. Since the line was still so perfect Harry surmised that the door had been open only recently, but the fact that there were no footprints from the door to the mirror meant that someone had been in here recently and had either moved from the door to the mirror and back without touching the ground, or someone had used magic to replace the dust moved by their feet when they left.
All in all it was too much for Harry to worry about right then and after checking the corridor, he slipped back out of the room and made his way back to his common room.
He made it back with no further "adventures" and flopped into bed as soon as he changed and charmed his bed to squeal if anyone opened his curtains while he was still asleep. He fell into a deep dreamless sleep, and the next morning he wouldn't remember anything about his trip back from the library except that he'd hidden in an old classroom to avoid Filch at some point, but he'd remember seeing the letters: Erised strea ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi, carved in a mirror.
¿ <'}}}><
When the month changed from October to November, the weather changed from merely chilly to downright cold. Hagrid was seen early in the morning defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch pitch. Normally they were kept in a shed near the changing rooms in the colder months, but the first frost had caught everyone by surprise and they had been left out the night before.
The Quidditch season began in November and Harry would be playing his first real game then. The only people who even knew who this years Gryffindor seeker was were the Quidditch team (of course), Ron and Hermione.
It was a good thing for Harry that Ron and Hermione were friends now (meaning that they probably wouldn't resort to cursing each other during their constant arguments), otherwise Harry wouldn't have had time to finish all of his homework and still keep up with his extra Quidditch training. As it was Harry was only able to get to the library once that week for his extra studying and even then it hadn't seemed a very productive visit to Harry as he was too worried about his Quidditch game to concentrate as hard as he felt he should have. All in all, the week before Gryffindor's first Quidditch match of the season was rather stressful for Harry. The fact that his first game would be against Slytherin certainly didn't help either.
The upside to the week was that Hermione was beginning to become more relaxed about the rules (of course she claimed she was simply trying to stick to the spirit of the rules rather than the exact words). This more relaxed attitude helped Ron and her get along almost as much as Ron's decision to finish his homework as soon as possible (so as to have more time for fun) did.
After classes on Monday, the trio was out on the Quidditch pitch talking about how they couldn't wait to see Malfoy's face when he found out who the Gryffindor seeker was on Saturday. Even Hermione, who didn't think too highly either of the rules being bent for Harry to play or of Quidditch in general, had a chuckle at the thought of Malfoy's reaction.
' Yeah,' Ron exclaimed. ' I should get a picture of his face when Lee announces your name!'
Harry smiled.
' And Snape's.' he agreed.
' Snape!' Hermione gasped.
' What?!' Ron said with wide eyes looking about frantically. ' Where?'
' No, he's not here, I just remembered something I noticed about him when we saw him Friday night after we took Harry to the hospital wing.'
' What?' Ron asked, his voice full of sarcasm. ' You realized he doesn't know how to use a shower?'
Hermione rolled her eyes but continued.
' No, I noticed he was limping and his robes were torn. I didn't think anything about it until now because of all the- um, excitement.'
Ron stared at her deadpan.
' And this is something we care about… why?'
Harry jumped in before Hermione could start lecturing Ron as her eyes said she was about to.
' Well it seems like a bit too much of a coincidence now, doesn't it?' he asked Ron. ' I mean suddenly a troll gets past all the security without anyone finding out and all the professors leave to find it…'
' And it certainly looked like he was attacked by something big…' Hermione put in.
Ron caught on quickly then.
' Of course, the troll had to have been a distraction.' He said, and Harry could almost watch the gears turning in Ron's head. ' It wasn't enough to be any kind of attack. You proved that, Harry. So it was brought in for a different reason. Quirrell found it in the dungeons too, where Snape spends most of his time. So Snape probably let it in and waited for it to be discovered, then, while everyone was either in their dorms, or in the dungeons looking for the troll, no one would be there to notice someone sneaking into "Fluffy's" room since it's practically on the other side of the school.'
' Fluffy?!' asked Harry and Hermione incredulously.
' What? What's wrong with "Fluffy"?' Ron returned defensively as his ears turned an interesting shade of red.
' Oh, nothing… nothing…' Hermione said with a giggle.
' So what do we suspect then?' Harry asked turning from Hermione to Ron, his brow furrowed.
' Well, we've got a troll that had to have been brought in using some kind of dark arts. It was found in the dungeons, which are known best by Snape. Snape was no where to be found while the rest of the staff were out looking as far as I know.' Ron paused here and looked at the other two who shook their heads. They hadn't seen Snape either that night until after the troll incident. ' Then when he's next seen he's limping and his robes are torn, as if by something with big teeth, and right now I think Fluffy is the only thing that fits that description. Not very solid evidence for anything, but it certainly points to Snape trying to get at whatever is being held here.'
Hermione shook her head, looking both grim, but amused.
' Just when you've almost got me convinced you really are a blockhead you pull something like this.' She said ruefully. ' I certainly couldn't have worked that out. Not so quickly at least. It's hard to think that a professor would do something like this though.'
Ron rolled his eyes at the last bit and Harry was inclined to agree with the sentiment at this. Hermione trusted her idealized stereotype of professors too much.
' Just because a person is in a position of honour doesn't necessarily mean that they're an honourable person.' Harry informed Hermione and Ron nodded his agreement.
' I know that!' Hermione snapped, blushing lightly. ' but still… you wouldn't think that someone who Dumbledore has trusted to teach here for years would do anything like that…'
' You know,' Harry said thoughtfully, ' If something was brought here to be guarded because it's safer than Gringott's, then there's got to be more than just- Fluffy guarding it. We don't really need to do anything about this yet, at least until we've got some sort of proof that something's going on. Snape's obviously not even able to get past the dog yet… and I'm still not positive that he's trying anything. All we're doing now is speculating. Like you said, Ron, there's really no solid evidence…'
Ron and Hermione both nodded in agreement and the conversation turned to lighter subjects, such as making fun of Malfoy, Quidditch, making fun of Malfoy, homework and making fun of Malfoy.
¿ <'}}}><
For the rest of the day Harry couldn't get his mind off the idea of Snape trying to steal whatever Hogwarts was guarding. Not that Snape didn't seem like the type to do something like that, just the opposite. Snape seemed to fit the role too well.
One night that week, when Harry was taking a walk around the school before curfew, in hopes of clearing his mind, he saw a still limping Snape heading into Filch's office. Harry, still feeling suspicious of him, drew back behind a suit of armour, and watched as Snape glanced around, then quickly opened the door and slipped inside, closing the door after him.
Harry crept up to the door and listened carefully. Nothing.
< Hmm. Silencing spell probably.> he thought.
Frowning for a moment, Harry got an idea and pulled open the door.
Snape was alone with Filch inside. Part of his robes were lifted up, revealing partly healed gashes in his thigh, which Filch was wrapping with new bandages.
' Blasted thing, how're you supposed to watch all of its heads at once.' Snape growled.
Harry had planned on saying he wanted a list of the forbidden items from Filch when he was noticed, but the two of them were so wrapped up (no pun intended) in what they were doing that they didn't even notice Harry.
Having heard enough already Harry pulled the door shut quietly and headed back to his common room, eager to tell Ron and Hermione what he had seen. He never noticed Filch's head stick out the door, Mrs. Norris at his feet, and glare at Harry's back.
¿ <'}}}><
As the day of the first Quidditch game approached Oliver grew more and more paranoid about keeping the fact that Harry was on the team a secret. This meant that instead of getting up for the usual six o'clock practice the team was dragged out of bed by Wood at sometime around four in the morning and they were usually on the pitch and ready to go by five.
Most of the team thought that these measures were a bit drastic just to keep the identity of their seeker a secret, but no one voiced such opinions to the almost maniacal Wood. In the end it paid off though; Harry was able to work with the rest of the team as if he'd been playing Quidditch with them all his life. Every move and formation Harry was involved in was perfectly co-ordinated.
Despite all of the practice and all of the assurances of the rest of the team, Harry was quite nervous on the day of his first Quidditch game.
' Come on, Harry. You can't play on an empty stomach. You have to eat something.' Urged Hermione.
It was the morning of the game day and Harry's appetite seemed to have left him completely. He often got the same feeling just before his first match in martial arts tournaments, but now it was much worse. At the tournaments Harry only had to do his best and he knew it would be enough for Osakawa-san, but now he might let down his entire house and for once in his life he cared about what his classmates thought of him. He didn't like it at all.
Eventually Ron and Hermione were able to convince him to eat some eggs and toast, but that was all Harry would take. Then it was time.
Oliver led the team to the change rooms and they all put on their scarlet robes.
Oliver cleared his throat for silence.
' Okay, men.' He started.
' And women!' piped Alicia.
' And women,' Wood amended, ' This is it.'
' The big one.' Said George.
' The one we've all been waiting for.' Said Fred.
' We know Oliver's speech off by heart.' George told Harry.
' We were on the team last year.' Fred said.
' Shut up you two.' Wood said good-naturedly. ' This is the best team we've had in years. I know we'll win it this year.' He said, adding a look that clearly said " Or else!"
' Alright, it's time.' He said. ' Let's go.'
Harry followed the twins out of the change room and on to the field. The moment he heard the cheering of most of the school Harry's nervousness doubled. He hadn't realized that so much of the student population would be present.
Looking around he spotted Hagrid in the stand (he was actually rather hard to miss) and beside him was Ron and Hermione. His stomach twisted in knots as he saw them wave to him, but he instantly felt less nervous as well. No matter how Harry performed, he knew that Ron, Hermione and all of his other Gryffindor friends would support him. It was an odd feeling; one that he'd never experienced during his life with the Dursleys.
The feeling was overwhelming. It filled his mind with joy and left no more room for him to feel nervous or embarrassed. He liked playing Quidditch and he loved flying, so that was what he would do.
Harry took his position as Madam Hooch waved the captains forward to shake hands as Lee Jordan began his commentary.
' Welcome to the first Quidditch match of this year's house tournament. Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. On the Slytherin team we have: Captain and chaser- Marcus Flint, chasers Pucey and Larkly, beaters Fletcher and Podswick, keeper Bletchly and seeker Terence Higgs. No new faces on the Slytherin team this year.' Lee announced. ' And on the Gryffindor side we have: Captain and Keeper- Oliver Wood, chasers Johnson, Spinnet and Bell, beaters Weasley and Weasley, and a new addition to the team, please welcome the youngest house player in I-don't-know-how-long: HARRY POTTTTEEERRRRRRR!'
There was a collective gasp from the fans in the stands as the secret of Gryffindor's seeker was finally revealed before cheering erupted. It seemed to Harry that the noise alone would cause the stands to collapse. The noise was that loud, but under the cheers Harry could just make out the sounds of booing from the Slytherin section. Looking up at them Harry saw a flash go off. Apparently Ron had gotten a hold of a camera and Malfoy's reaction to Harry's introduction would be forever captured on film.
Once the cheering had finally subsided, Madam Hooch told the teams to take position and once they had, she released the balls and everyone pushed off.
Rose faster and higher than anyone else as Wood had told him to.
' Keep out of the way until you spot the snitch,' Oliver had told him, ' we don't want you being attacked until it's necessary.'
It was hard though; Harry and Oliver had come up with some great ploys to involve Harry in the game, mostly using Harry to distract the other side and Harry felt as if he wasn't doing his fair share by hovering above the game.
It was easy to see that he wasn't really needed yet and Higgs, the other seeker, was doing the same as Harry.
Lee Jordan was the official commentator for the house matches and as he was a friend of the twins he tended to be rather- ah, biased in his commentary. Professor McGonagall had assigned herself as a sort of censor for Lee and given the fact that she was head of the house that Lee was biased in favour of, she was as fair as could be expected about it.
' The Quaffle is taken immediately by Johnson of Gryffindor and she speeds up the pitch. Excellent chaser that girl, and rather attractive as well-'
' Jordan!'
' Sorry, Professor.'
Harry tuned out the commentary as the game went on, focusing instead on spotting the snitch. The Slytherin team certainly were no slouches, but with a captain as obsessive as Wood the Gryffindor team had much more practice and it showed in how well they worked together. They often didn't even need to look in order to pass the Quaffle, knowing from experience where their teammates would be.
Harry quickly became bored and started doing loops and small dives each time Gryffindor scored to let off some of his pent up energy. His actions were distracting to Higgs at first, who flinched the first several times Harry had done a small dive, thinking that Harry must have seen the snitch. He quickly began to ignore Harry's movements after realizing that Harry was just fooling around.
Harry hadn't been thinking about lulling his opponent, but he quickly realized the usefulness of it and reminded himself to talk to Oliver about the strategy.
¿ <'}}}><
Down in the stands Ron was on the edge of his seat. Each time Gryffindor scored he jumped up, yelling and cheering with everyone else.
On the other side of Hagrid, Hermione was also on the edge of her seat, though for entirely different reasons. She hardly noticed when either team scored, but flinched every time Harry would do a loop or a dive, biting her lip the whole time. She let out a small whimper once when a Bludger had shot up at Harry while he was on of his dives, thinking he hadn't seen it since it was coming at an angle, but Harry had whirled around on his broom at the last moment, neatly avoiding the ball.
' Slytherin in possession,' Lee was saying. ' Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys and chaser Bell, showing remarkable agility, and speeds towards the- wait a minute- was that the snitch?'
Harry's eyes snapped over to where Pucey had been, and he saw it. It was speeding down the pitch towards the Slytherin end.
Harry sped after it a moment before Higgs, but Higgs had been closer so they ended up flying down the pitch, side by side, on parallel paths. Harry was moving faster though and it quickly became obvious that he would be the first to reach it.
Down in the stands Ron was on his chair yelling and cheering Harry on. Hagrid, who didn't need to even stand up, was also cheering and his voice could almost be heard through the din of hundreds of screaming fans. Hermione though had covered her eyes with her hands, but was peeking out between her fingers, torn between worry over her friend's safety and the hope that he would succeed and catch the golden ball.
Harry, focussed on the flash of gold that he was chasing, didn't notice a thing. He didn't hear the roar of the crowd, the whistle of the wind speeding by him, or even the shouts of his teammates urging him onward. It was all well and good that he was so focussed on his goal, but another thing he failed to notice was the hulking mass of Marcus Flint quickly approaching on an intersecting path.
WHAM! Marcus Flint had blocked Harry, seeing that his team's seeker didn't have a chance otherwise.
The collision probably would have been much worse for both him and Harry if it wasn't for Harry's quick reaction. The moment he saw Flint in front of him he'd clamped his feet around the end of his broom and pushed his feet under him so he was sort of standing up on the bristles of his broom pointing the broom straight up (AN- Bad description, so just picture someone on a pogo stick with no gravity so they just keep going up).
As it was Harry's feet ended up hitting Flint in the face, giving him a bloodied nose, as Harry rose above him. Harry wasn't hurt, but his feet were knocked off his broom leaving him hanging by his hands with his broom horizontal once more.
The crowd roared their disapproval (except for most of the Slytherins), and Madam Hooch blew her whistle, signalling for a penalty shot.
Once more Lee couldn't help taking sides.
' So - after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating - '
' Jordan!' McGonagall growled.
' I mean, after that open and revolting foul - '
' Jordan, I'm warning you!' McGonagall snapped, but sounded rather half-hearted.
' All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor seeker, which could happen to anyone I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue to play, Gryffindor still in possession.'
While this had been going on the twins had risen to help Harry get back up on his Nimbus, but he waved them off with one hand, wowing anyone in the crowd who had been watching him, then easily pulled himself up on his own and was back on his broom in no time and the game continued without further interruptions to the action.
Hermione had seen the whole thing from between her fingers. She'd nearly had a heart attack when she saw him almost fall from his broom the first time and nearly had another when he let go with one hand to wave off Fred and George.
For once though, Ron felt mostly the same. Although he hadn't made the same sort of squeaky noise that Hermione had, he'd certainly been worried and had angrily cursed Harry for being "so bloody stubborn" when he didn't wait for help to get on his broom.
Hagrid on the other hand seemed amused.
' Close one there, eh?' he chuckled, nudging Hermione gently with his elbow (knocking her into the person next to her).
Hagrid seemed not to notice danger like a sensible person would. It probably came from the fact that it would take a lot more to hurt Hagrid than it would to hurt most other people.
As the game resumed, Ron, who'd been mostly watching the Quaffle until then, started watching Harry instead so when it happened he was the first to notice.
It started just after Harry dodged a Bludger. His broom lurched upwards. It certainly wasn't enough to even unbalance him, much less to throw him off, but what made Harry suddenly tense was the fact that it had been the broom and not him that had caused the movement.
A few seconds after the first twitch, it happened again, but more violently - and it didn't stop. Suddenly it seemed to Harry that his broom had decided to throw him off for no reason. Only Nimbus Two Thousands did not suddenly decide to throw their riders. No brooms did, for that matter.
He quickly turned towards the Gryffindor goal, intending to ask Wood for a timeout. It was then that he realized he had little to no control over his broom and it started zigzagging back and forth across the field and only years of hand exercises to strengthen his grip while learning holds at his dojo kept him on the crazed broom.
Although Hermione was watching Harry, she didn't realize what was going on at first, not having any idea of how Quidditch players normally moved. Fortunately Ron did know Quidditch and he saw that something was wrong right away.
' What on Gaia does Harry think he's doing?' Ron wondered out loud. ' If I didn't know better I'd think he's lost control of his broom.'
Hagrid and Hermione both watched Harry more intently when they heard Ron's words and soon all three of them were shouting for someone to call a time out as it became obvious that Harry had indeed lost control and soon would lose his grip.
No one heard them over the noise of all the fans and Lee's continued commentary.
' Slytherin in possession - Flint with the Quaffle - passes Spinnet - passes Bell - hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose - only joking, Professor - Slytherin score - oh no… '
Suddenly people started noticing Harry's erratic motions. His broom began to spin, rolling Harry over and over on it. Then the whole crowd gasped, and several girls (Hermione included) shrieked. Harry's broom had given a sudden massive lurch and almost succeeded in tossing Harry. He was now holding on with only one hand and the broom continued to jerk and twitch making it impossible for him to get his other hand back on.
' Could something have happened to it when Flint blocked him?' Seamus asked worriedly.
' Can't have,' Hagrid said, his voice shaking. ' Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic - no kid could do that to a Nimbus.'
Hermione, who had been biting the corner of her bottom lip and staring at Harry, as if transfixed, whirled around upon hearing Hagrid's words and grabbed his binoculars. Instead of looking back at Harry though, she started scanning the rest of the stands.
' What are you do - ' Ron started, then cut off as her realized she was looking at the section of the stands where most of the staff were and realized what she suspected.
' There!' she cried. ' Look! Snape!' she thrust the binoculars at Ron.
Through the binoculars Ron spotted Snape in the stands opposite from them. He was staring at Harry and muttering non-stop under his breath.
' He's doing something to Harry's broom, isn't he?!' Ron exclaimed turning back to Hermione, only to find that she was gone.
Quickly bringing the binoculars back up he spotted her in the other stands, making her way towards Snape. He turned the binoculars on Harry, whose broom was shaking so hard that Harry should have already fallen, but he still held on, adrenaline giving him extra strength.
The whole crowd was on its feet now, watching anxiously as Fred and George tried to pull Harry on to one of their brooms, but each time they got too close the broom would give another jerk and fly up higher. The twins settled for circling underneath him in the hopes of catching him when he fell. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that he would fall, only a question of when.
Marcus Flint grabbed the Quaffle and scored several times without anyone noticing. Or if they did notice they certainly didn't care.
' Come on, Hermione, come on!' Ron muttered desperately.
Hermione hurried along the row behind Snape until she was at his back, not even apologizing to Professor Quirrell as she knocked him into the front row. Upon reaching Snape she crouched down behind him and lit the hem of his robe with a jet of bright blue flames.
At took Snape a half a minute to realize he was on fire and Hermione scooped up the flames as soon as she heard him yelp, putting them out as she did so, and sped away before Snape could look around to see her.
' Yesss!' Ron hissed as he saw Harry's broom steady itself and Harry climbed back up.
As soon as he had control again Harry sped towards the ground as fast as he could with only one hand on his broom. The other hand was covering his mouth, as if he was going to be sick.
As soon as he had his feet back on the ground he doubled over and spasmed, as if he really was sick, and coughed up - the snitch!
He took a deep breath before straightening up and calmly raising his hand in the air, the snitch still beating its wing in his hand.
The crowd went wild, some laughing, some cheering, and a few (mostly Slytherins) booed.
' He didn't catch it!' Flint was still hollering at Madam Hooch, twenty minutes later. ' He nearly swallowed it!'
But Madam Hooch was firm, only giving in a little by letting the goals Flint had made, while everyone was distracted, count because no one could be sure if Harry had "caught" the snitch before or after they were made.
In the end the score had been one hundred and eighty to fifty in Gryffindor's favour.
The entire Gryffindor team was still on the pitch cheering and hugging each other half an hour after Harry had ended the game - or rather most of the team was. Harry was off with Ron and Hermione in Hagrid's hut, nursing a strong cup of tea.
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' It was Snape.' Ron was telling Harry. ' He was jinxing your broom or something.'
' Rubish.' Hagrid said. ' What would Snape want ter do that for?'
The trio looked at each other, debating on what to tell Hagrid, until Harry decided to go with the truth.
' I think he saw me when he was in Filch's office.' He explained. ' We already suspected that he had tried to get past Fluffy, and what I saw and heard confirmed it.'
Hagrid's eyes bulged.
' How do yeh know about Fluffy?!' he asked, stunned.
' I don't think we're talking about the same animal here, Hagrid.' Hermione said. ' We're talking about a huge dog with three heads and-' Hermione cut off as Hagrid nodded. ' You mean that - that thing's name actually is Fluffy?!'
' Yep!' Hagrid said with great pride. ' He's mine. I lent him ter Dumbledore to guard-'
' Yes? To guard what?' Ron asked excitedly.
Hagrid only shook his head, obviously afraid to open his mouth in case he let something else slip.
' Oh, come on, Hagrid.' Hermione pleaded. ' You might as well tell us. You'll only be saving us the trouble of figuring it out on our own.'
' Now you look here, you three.' Hagrid said, shaking a giant finger at them and looking fairly disgruntled. ' Snape's not trying to steal anything, especially not from Dumbledore. What's being held in that third corridor is none of your business. It's a matter between Dumbledore and Flamel, and that's the way it'll stay, right?' he didn't even notice what he had let slip until he saw their eyes widen with the grins on their faces.
' So there's someone named Flamel involved in this?'
After that Hagrid looked furious with himself and refused to talk about anything to do with it.
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AN- I really didn't like that chapter… I hope all of you did though!
Steven: If you mean more talent that he will hide, then yes, though not necessarily because he's trying to…
VipyGirl831: Lol! I'm not really a very fast writer. It's just that I've already written up to chapter 21. It's just a matter of fixing the formatting of each chapter so I can upload it. Chapter 21 will be posted just minutes after this goes up! Unfortunately I've been stuck on chapter 22 for a while so you may have to wait a bit… Anywho, I really enjoy getting your reviews, they always brighten my day. I do plan on doing all of the books, but it will obviously take me quite a while. On top of that there is another story that splits off from this one that has been bugging me so much that I've decided I have to write it as well so things may go slowly, but rest assured that I won't stop writing until there's nothing left to write about! Anywho, I think that's enough rambling. PLEASE keep reading my story! And if you have any questions or suggestions don't hesitate to review or e-mail me (TooMuchToMatter@ICQmail.com).
Dominus De Angoscia: I absolutely agree! Harry may not be the stereotypical hero you see on those silly romance novels, but he's certainly not just an average wizard with an interesting past. Anywho, I'm happy to hear that you approve of the changes I've made. Do you have any suggestions for other changes you think I should make? By the way, what does "Dominus De Angoscia" mean? I'm assuming it's latin, but I know very little latin and don't even have a latin dictionary. I'd really like to know what it means if you don't mind reviewing to tell me, or sending me an e-mail (TooMuchToMatter@ICQmail.com).
Nappa: :-P (Heh heh heh!)
That's it for now!
H/H FOREVER!
Bye!