Chapter 4
It was another night of quidditch practice. Fred and George had a surprise for them.
"What the heck is that?" Katie asked.
"That, my best chaser, is an obstacle course," Fred sidled up to her and swung his arm over her shoulder.
"Right," she said suspiciously.
It looked more like a death trap. It had a chalked out path between slipshod walls. There were hoops for them to fly through, and there was one area where bludgers were flying everywhere, to knock off all but the nimble (or in George's words, "the players with solid brooms, like my Oakshaft...").
"Alright, children, this course should help a lot with your maneuvering skills. Don't make fun of it, or we'll leave you to die in the bludgers section," George said.
"Yeah, we wasted a lot of time on this mess of wood and magic," Fred added.
"At least they didn't waste the stadium field for this," Angelina smirked.
George went through first, to show them exactly how to do it. Ron was sent in after that, and exited after a harrowing five minutes. They prodded Harry in next.
He sped along the chalked line, and started going through the hoops, which were laid at opposite ends of a passage. Harry could have just went right over the whole course, since there was no ceiling, but Fred said anyone who did such a thing would have to play the next game in nothing but their underwear. The twins were watching like hawks for anyone to disobey, so nobody did. After the hoops, there was a small maze, where you had to go quickly to make par time, but be ready to brake, since walls were right around corners, waiting for someone to barrel into. After that, the passage widened, and Harry saw bludgers flying everywhere. He quickly picked up the speed, and started dodging as bludgers assaulted him from every angle. Left, then right, always up and down. He thought this might've been a good task for the triwizards tournament, it was completely insane for Fred and George to put this in. He finally got to the end, exiting with ten bludgers on his tail. However, they hit an invisible wall, a charm the twins were obviously using to keep the bludgers in the course.
The team went through the course the whole practice. As it was ending, though, a bludger escaped.
"Fred, the charm on the bludger area's wearing off!" George said with much alarm.
"McGonagall'll kill us if we lose those. C'mon, lets go stupefy 'em," Fred replied.
George gave him a doubtful look.
"It'll work," Fred assured him. They headed to the bludger area, wands at the ready.
"Harry, see if you can catch the one that got away," George called backward.
Great. Chasing a violent ball...Harry kicked off the ground and headed in the direction of the wayward bludger. It had headed over the quidditch pitch, towards the forbidden forest. As he headed over the pitch, he heard a whooshing sound below and to the left of him, and looked down, expecting to see the bludger madly hurdling at him. But there was nothing there. Something touched his right shoulder, and he snapped his head up, looking to the right. There was nothing there either. He looked to his left, and was surprised to see none other then a grinning Cho, speeding along on her broom.
"Hey Harry, what're you doing?" she asked.
"Searching for a runaway bludger," he replied.
She gave him a puzzled and amused look.
"Long story," he answers her look.
"I can help," she offered, "I wasn't ready to land yet anyway. Practice just ended for our team."
"You should practice with us. You can tell people how you toy with death because of your insane captains," Harry said brightly.
"Sounds like fun. Wait, I think I saw something down there," Cho pointed to the edge of the forbidden forest. They both dropped lower, heading towards where Cho had seen the movement. They came to the ground, and dismounting their brooms, entered the forest. A breeze brought a very powerful smell towards Harry, which smelled like a hippogriff, but ten times worse.
"Augh, Harry! Say something before doing that," Cho chided him.
"Funny," Harry replied. He suddenly caught sight of the bludger. He looked closer. It was deeply scored, as if something had slashed through it with something very sharp and powerful. Very powerful, it had to be, the bludger was made of solid metal. Harry noticed it wasn't even moving to strike him, as if the magic had left it and it no longer functioned because of the damage it had taken. What could have possibly done that?
His question was answered as Cho gave a gasp, and he followed her stare to a huge smelly animal. It's head looked like a Hyena's, with cruel fangs that looked fit for tearing it's prey to bits. At about it's midsection the hair was replaced by scales, and grotesque wings sprung from its back. It's tail looked like a rattlesnake's, with something that looked like a rattle at the end. The four paws each had claws that looked even more wicked than it's fangs. If those claws could shred a bludger, Harry hated to think of what might happen if it used them on him...
The creature advanced on them, it's tail poised to strike like a scorpion's. As Harry backed into Cho, he suddenly realized what that tail was used for. It was like a wand, it could cast spells.
"Harry..." Cho said softly, looking at the monster. It pulled back it's tail quickly, and in anticipation of what was to come, Harry put up a shield and pulled Cho down behind him. Dark purple sparks spinned out of the tail, and flew into the shield, which replied by rippling. The shield came down, and before the angry beast could make another move, Cho stood up and shouted,
"Stupefy!"
The spell hit the monster and sent it reeling, but didn't send it down. Harry stared stupidly at it, and Cho grabbed him and shouted,
"The brooms!" Harry quickly followed her to where they'd left the brooms. They mounted them and kicked off, streaking out of the forest as fast as possible.
"So, uh, d'you have duty tonight?" Harry asked Cho, taking their situation in stride.
"Oh, yeah, but I might be late. Got a date to go capture a Norwegian Ridgeback, y'know," Cho responded with relief in her voice.
"Oh, a cinch, those. Too bad about the bludger, huh?" Harry breathed heavily. They'd really booked it back to their brooms.
"Yeah, too bad. Just think, we could've taken the poor bludger's place. Oh well..."
* * * * * *
Harry and Cho had dismissed the incident with the monster as an encounter with one of the forest's inhabitants. However, when Harry got to the dinner table, Hermione told him differently.
"Harry, those things don't live here! They come from the highlands of Spain! I don't know where that animal came from, but you're lucky to be alive. They're very dangerous, you know."
"Oh, so Harry the valiant has come to the rescue of the stunning lady Cho Chang yet again? They ride off into the sunset on their brooms, whispering sweet nothings to each other, as Fred and George do the dirty work. Typical Potter. You're a slacker and you can't tell a girl how you feel about her either," Fred scolded Harry.
"You're not much better Fred," George cut in.
"Oh, what? That's such a funny joke George," Fred faked, as his face grew red. He silently added, "Shuddup. You're not very good either." Harry looked on the other side of Fred, where Katie was perched. Fred turned his attention to her, and George silently started to eat some salad. Something was going on there, but Harry wasn't sure what it was. He turned to ask Ron what he thought, but he was deeply engaged in a conversation with Hermione. He looked over at the Ravenclaw table just in time to see a blushing Cho look away, and have Penny catch his eye. She winked at him and turned back to her plate. Something was definitely going on here.
It was another night of quidditch practice. Fred and George had a surprise for them.
"What the heck is that?" Katie asked.
"That, my best chaser, is an obstacle course," Fred sidled up to her and swung his arm over her shoulder.
"Right," she said suspiciously.
It looked more like a death trap. It had a chalked out path between slipshod walls. There were hoops for them to fly through, and there was one area where bludgers were flying everywhere, to knock off all but the nimble (or in George's words, "the players with solid brooms, like my Oakshaft...").
"Alright, children, this course should help a lot with your maneuvering skills. Don't make fun of it, or we'll leave you to die in the bludgers section," George said.
"Yeah, we wasted a lot of time on this mess of wood and magic," Fred added.
"At least they didn't waste the stadium field for this," Angelina smirked.
George went through first, to show them exactly how to do it. Ron was sent in after that, and exited after a harrowing five minutes. They prodded Harry in next.
He sped along the chalked line, and started going through the hoops, which were laid at opposite ends of a passage. Harry could have just went right over the whole course, since there was no ceiling, but Fred said anyone who did such a thing would have to play the next game in nothing but their underwear. The twins were watching like hawks for anyone to disobey, so nobody did. After the hoops, there was a small maze, where you had to go quickly to make par time, but be ready to brake, since walls were right around corners, waiting for someone to barrel into. After that, the passage widened, and Harry saw bludgers flying everywhere. He quickly picked up the speed, and started dodging as bludgers assaulted him from every angle. Left, then right, always up and down. He thought this might've been a good task for the triwizards tournament, it was completely insane for Fred and George to put this in. He finally got to the end, exiting with ten bludgers on his tail. However, they hit an invisible wall, a charm the twins were obviously using to keep the bludgers in the course.
The team went through the course the whole practice. As it was ending, though, a bludger escaped.
"Fred, the charm on the bludger area's wearing off!" George said with much alarm.
"McGonagall'll kill us if we lose those. C'mon, lets go stupefy 'em," Fred replied.
George gave him a doubtful look.
"It'll work," Fred assured him. They headed to the bludger area, wands at the ready.
"Harry, see if you can catch the one that got away," George called backward.
Great. Chasing a violent ball...Harry kicked off the ground and headed in the direction of the wayward bludger. It had headed over the quidditch pitch, towards the forbidden forest. As he headed over the pitch, he heard a whooshing sound below and to the left of him, and looked down, expecting to see the bludger madly hurdling at him. But there was nothing there. Something touched his right shoulder, and he snapped his head up, looking to the right. There was nothing there either. He looked to his left, and was surprised to see none other then a grinning Cho, speeding along on her broom.
"Hey Harry, what're you doing?" she asked.
"Searching for a runaway bludger," he replied.
She gave him a puzzled and amused look.
"Long story," he answers her look.
"I can help," she offered, "I wasn't ready to land yet anyway. Practice just ended for our team."
"You should practice with us. You can tell people how you toy with death because of your insane captains," Harry said brightly.
"Sounds like fun. Wait, I think I saw something down there," Cho pointed to the edge of the forbidden forest. They both dropped lower, heading towards where Cho had seen the movement. They came to the ground, and dismounting their brooms, entered the forest. A breeze brought a very powerful smell towards Harry, which smelled like a hippogriff, but ten times worse.
"Augh, Harry! Say something before doing that," Cho chided him.
"Funny," Harry replied. He suddenly caught sight of the bludger. He looked closer. It was deeply scored, as if something had slashed through it with something very sharp and powerful. Very powerful, it had to be, the bludger was made of solid metal. Harry noticed it wasn't even moving to strike him, as if the magic had left it and it no longer functioned because of the damage it had taken. What could have possibly done that?
His question was answered as Cho gave a gasp, and he followed her stare to a huge smelly animal. It's head looked like a Hyena's, with cruel fangs that looked fit for tearing it's prey to bits. At about it's midsection the hair was replaced by scales, and grotesque wings sprung from its back. It's tail looked like a rattlesnake's, with something that looked like a rattle at the end. The four paws each had claws that looked even more wicked than it's fangs. If those claws could shred a bludger, Harry hated to think of what might happen if it used them on him...
The creature advanced on them, it's tail poised to strike like a scorpion's. As Harry backed into Cho, he suddenly realized what that tail was used for. It was like a wand, it could cast spells.
"Harry..." Cho said softly, looking at the monster. It pulled back it's tail quickly, and in anticipation of what was to come, Harry put up a shield and pulled Cho down behind him. Dark purple sparks spinned out of the tail, and flew into the shield, which replied by rippling. The shield came down, and before the angry beast could make another move, Cho stood up and shouted,
"Stupefy!"
The spell hit the monster and sent it reeling, but didn't send it down. Harry stared stupidly at it, and Cho grabbed him and shouted,
"The brooms!" Harry quickly followed her to where they'd left the brooms. They mounted them and kicked off, streaking out of the forest as fast as possible.
"So, uh, d'you have duty tonight?" Harry asked Cho, taking their situation in stride.
"Oh, yeah, but I might be late. Got a date to go capture a Norwegian Ridgeback, y'know," Cho responded with relief in her voice.
"Oh, a cinch, those. Too bad about the bludger, huh?" Harry breathed heavily. They'd really booked it back to their brooms.
"Yeah, too bad. Just think, we could've taken the poor bludger's place. Oh well..."
* * * * * *
Harry and Cho had dismissed the incident with the monster as an encounter with one of the forest's inhabitants. However, when Harry got to the dinner table, Hermione told him differently.
"Harry, those things don't live here! They come from the highlands of Spain! I don't know where that animal came from, but you're lucky to be alive. They're very dangerous, you know."
"Oh, so Harry the valiant has come to the rescue of the stunning lady Cho Chang yet again? They ride off into the sunset on their brooms, whispering sweet nothings to each other, as Fred and George do the dirty work. Typical Potter. You're a slacker and you can't tell a girl how you feel about her either," Fred scolded Harry.
"You're not much better Fred," George cut in.
"Oh, what? That's such a funny joke George," Fred faked, as his face grew red. He silently added, "Shuddup. You're not very good either." Harry looked on the other side of Fred, where Katie was perched. Fred turned his attention to her, and George silently started to eat some salad. Something was going on there, but Harry wasn't sure what it was. He turned to ask Ron what he thought, but he was deeply engaged in a conversation with Hermione. He looked over at the Ravenclaw table just in time to see a blushing Cho look away, and have Penny catch his eye. She winked at him and turned back to her plate. Something was definitely going on here.