One Missed Traffic Light
a continuation of "One Traffic Light" by witowsmp and "A Missed Traffic Light" by coolhacker1025
This story is not written with that writers permission, nor the permission of J. K. Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, etc. who own the rights to Harry Potter.
"One Traffic Light" by witowsmp may be found at s/7058158/1/One-Traffic-Light on fanfiction. (After / paste/type the s etc)
Chapter 4—The Chamber and the Heir
What did I do this evening? Thought Ginny. She couldn't remember a thing after dinner. She would bring it up to the others at some point in the near future. When she told Tom, though, he didn't seem to be too concerned.
Fortunately for the classes, Lockhart didn't bring in any more magical animals to class in the next couple of weeks. What they were doing was worse.
In class, they were doing creative impressions of the books. This usually meant that Harry or Ginny had to get up in front of the class and act like idiots to re-enact the stories from Lockhart's books.
Ginny noticed quite quickly that Harry was trying to avoid two people—Colin Creevey, who was an amateur photographer who hero-worshipped Harry and kept following him around like a crazed paparazzo; and Gilderoy Lockhart, who was always trying to give him useless advice.
Lockhart seemed not to have gotten the memo that Harry was more famous than him, this meant that most of the 'advice' was who to become more famous, and how to handle his fame. Ginny was sure that there would be book burnings if Lockhart announced that he was more popular than Harry.
One morning, Ginny was rudely awakened by a localised Cannon-blast charm. When she looked at her clock, she saw that it was 06:00. That annoyed her. Another thing that annoyed her was that she had been having a rather good dream. As she got out of bed, she realised that it was all of the Quidditch girls that had gotten the Cannon-blast. Apparently, Wood had learned the Charm to compensate for the fact he couldn't go up to the Ladies' Dormitories.
When she got to the Common Room, she saw that the rest of the team were reluctantly following Wood.
"We are going to train harder, faster, and smarter this year," said Wood as he led them to the Locker Room. When they got there, Wood took out a large number of boards and started to drone about some new plays he'd come up with.
After a few hours, Wood finished up. As he was ordering them onto the field, one of the twins asked a question. A Very Big Question. "Why couldn't you have told us this when we were awake?"
\\/
After warm-ups and a small bit of practise, Ginny heard a funny clicking noise. She had a sneaking suspicion that she knew what the noise was, and when she looked, she confirmed her guess. Colin Creevey was in the stands photographing the practise.
"Who is that there, taking pictures of our practise?!" demanded Wood. "He could be a Slytherin spy!"
"The Slytherins don't need a spy, Wood," said Twin A.
"Because they are here in person," said Twin B.
"What are you doing here?" asked Wood. "I booked the pitch on the sign-up sheet in Hooch's office specially!"
"We have a note from our head of house," said the Slytherin captain. Ginny thought his name was Flame or Fire or Flint or something like that. The Captain started reading the note. "By the power invested in me by the Headmaster of the School, I, Severus Snape, do hereby give the Slytherin team permission to practise on the Quidditch pitch today. This is due to the fact that they need to train their new Seeker. Signed Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin House, Potions Master of Hogwarts, Master of Potions, etc., etc. We have permission, and you don't. Get a note next time, Scum"
"We did everything legal! We signed up in the Office, specially!" Wood repeated before looking around at the Slytherin team. "You have a new Seeker? Who?"
Out from behind Flint stepped the spawn of the nemesis of Ginny's family, and personal nemesis to the Potters and the Weasleys of this generation—Draco Malfoy.
"Aren't you the son of Lucius?" spat Twin A.
"It's funny that you should mention Draco's father," said Flint. "Our Seeker isn't the only new thing that we have on the team."
The Slytherins turned their brooms so that the lettering on each side was visible. Nimbus 2001 proclaimed the script.
Sensing that trouble was brewing, Hermione and Ron had come down onto the field.
"I'd say that it outclasses the 2000s by a good amount, and the Comet 260 by a mile," said Draco.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way on," said Hermione.
"No-one asked your opinion, you foul little Mudblood!" shouted Draco. He spat on the ground to emphasise his point that Hermione shouldn't be within half a mile of him. It also emphasised the fact he thought she shouldn't even be learning magic.
"You'll pay for that Malfoy," said Ron, taking out his wand. "Eat slugs!"
It would have been funny if the spell would've worked, but unfortunately, Ron's wand was partially broken, and the spell backfired, hitting Ron, and causing him to vomit slugs.
\\/
It was at Hagrid's house that they were discussing the situation a little later.
"You need to use your fame for something good," said Hermione. "Do you know how many millions of Galleons a broom company would receive if they had your endorsement? All the Professional teams in Europe would want their brooms."
\\/
It's another night that I can't remember what I did, thought Ginny. Something odd is happening, and I should tell Tom and see what he thinks. Why do I have chicken blood all over my robes?
\\/
Soon it was October. Harry had considered Hermione's suggestion and, as always, found it to be a good one. So, Harry decided to contact all the major broom manufacturers in Britain about a plan to sponsor at least the Gryffindor team (and by extension, a plan that the manufacturers wouldn't sell to the other teams).
A couple of days after Harry sent the letter, a response came in from Comet.
Dear Mr Potter,
We at the Comet Broom Company were delighted to hear from you, as we thought that you were a Nimbus man. We were delighted to hear your revolutionary idea to reform the Quidditch games at Hogwarts School. We would be very happy to sponsor the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
We hope that you will accept our generous donation of Quidditch equipment and our Brooms for the use of your team. We also would hope that you will use the Comet Broom yourself.
We hope that you will have an excellent Quidditch season, and remember, there's nothing faster than Comet
Sincerely,
Timothy Gifford, President and CEO of Comet Broom Company, Plc.
"Wow," said Ginny scanning the note. She noticed an enclosed note. "They want to give us Comet 9000s! They're equal to the Nimbus 2001."
Over the next week, Harry received similar letters from Banadl Broom Company, out of Cardiff, Wales, who wanted the school to use the Firebar; and Giolcach Broom Company, out of Dublin, Ireland, Magical United Kingdom, with its Beast Five broom.
After he got those letters, he went to the High Table. "Professor Dumbledore, I've received a few notes in the mail, and I'd like to talk with you, Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout. It's in regards to the Quidditch being played at Hogwarts."
"Very well, my boy. Meet us in my Office after breakfast. I enjoy Sherbet Lemons." responded the Headmaster.
\\/
"What is it that you want to talk to us about?" asked McGonagall.
"I was very surprised when I got called here," said Sprout. Flitwick nodded his head.
"I wanted you here in your Head of House capacity, Professors," said Harry as he passed out the letters. When the Professors were finished reading the letters, they were in shock.
"You're saying that these companies are going to provide brooms for the Quidditch at the school?" asked McGonagall.
"Yes, I felt that it was wrong for Malfoy or any one team member to have an advantage over any other player."
"I really admire your attitude, Potter," said Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff. "Fifty points to Gryffindor for an exceptional sense of fair play."
The professors left. "I did notice, Harry, that none of these were for the Slytherin team?" queried Dumbledore.
"No, sir," said Harry. "Flint implied that Malfoy bought his way onto the team with a generous donation of brooms from Malfoy, Sr. I figured that's enough of a sponsorship for now. Just to be fair, though, I've invited Nimbus to the Press Conference, where the Companies will present their Equipment to the Teams. However, more than one of the companies insisted that a certain professor, who has an Order of Merlin, 3rd class, and was the winner of a smiling competition, be absent."
"I will take care of it," said Dumbledore. "I am pleased that you didn't allow yourself to have any advantage."
\\/
A week before the first Quidditch match of the year, which as always was Gryffindor v Slytherin, the broom company representatives came to the school. Harry made sure that each of the Reps was a good distance from the others, as there was quite a rivalry between the different Manufacturers.
The Comet Reps got a picture of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and then Harry Potter himself, dressed in their Quidditch Robes, holding their new brooms.
The other companies arranged for their teams to do the same quite quickly.
\\/
The next morning, there were bold headlines in the Prophet: New Era for Hogwarts Quidditch: Potter gets Major Companies to Sponsor Teams at Hogwarts announced page one.
Hogwarts School, Lisa Kimcorn
In a stunning move, the major broom Manufacturers of the United Kingdom of England, Scotland and Ireland, have agreed to sponsor teams in the Inter-House Quidditch Championship at Hogwarts.
"It's simple, really," said Potter, and he stood aside his new Comet 9000. "In other parts of the world, and in the Muggle world, a team will sometimes agree to exclusively use one brand of equipment for their teams."
The companies agreed. In a joint statement to the Daily Prophet, the companies said that this move would, "Remove wealth as a determiner as to who plays Quidditch. It also sets a good example for our Youth, as we hope this move instils a sense of fair play."
With this new move, even a family as poor as the Weasleys can fly brooms that are the same quality as the other teams.
Mr Lucius Malfoy, 54, speaking from his Wiltshire Mansion, said that this is, "a fiendish move by the other teams at Hogwarts to get an unfair advantage over the Slytherins," and that "the Board of Governors will be investigating this obviously illegal act." He further went onto say, "Last year, two first-years were allowed to play for the Gryffindor team, [this] reeks of the same rule-breaking."
The Prophet checked this statement by Mr Malfoy and found that, Mr Harry Potter and Ms Ginny Weasley both played on the team as first-years. However, there is no rule that states that a first year student cannot play for the House team.
"I've always seen the rule as first-years were not allowed to own brooms at Hogwarts," Deputy Headmistress McGonagall said in a statement. "Most first-years barely know how to fly, and it would be an obvious safety hazard if we had our students flying around, untrained."
We at the Prophet decided to also investigate Mr Malfoy's other claim, so we brought in Professional Quidditch players Gwenog Jones of the Holyhead Harpies, and Roderick Plumpton of Tutshill Tornadoes. After testing the four brooms that would be in use at Hogwarts, both of our experts agreed that, aside from minor differences in the "Unique Steering Controls and braking systems, there is no significant difference" between the brooms. Jones also stated, "It should make for some exciting games. I'm really looking forward to seeing it."
This reporter looks forward to seeing the Hogwarts House Teams in action. The first game of the season is the old rivalry Gryffindor v Slytherin (along with its new component of another major rivalry: Comet v Nimbus), Saturday next at 12:00. It will be broadcast live on your home for Quidditch, Quidditch 94 on your Wireless dial.
Ginny thought that the article was well-written for a change. Malfoy's dirty play got turned against him.
\\/
On Halloween, Harry and Ron went to Nearly-Headless Nick's Death-Day Party. There were ghosts from all corners of Britain present. It wasn't long before he and Ron decided to leave. On their way up to the Common Room or the Kitchen, Harry heard a voice.
When they got to the second floor, a cat was hanging by its tail near an abandoned bathroom that was haunted by a ghost named Myrtle. Neither immediately noticed the writing on the wall.
However, as things tend to happen around Harry, they soon noticed the writing when Malfoy read the writing. "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, beware." said Malfoy's unpleasant voice. Malfoy then decided to put his two Knuts in. "You'll be next, Mudbloods!"
\\/
The next morning, Ginny woke up, finding herself in the Hospital Wing. Soon after, Harry and Hermione woke up as well.
"What happened?" asked Ginny. "What am I doing here?" groaned Harry.
"You were brought in here for a case of severe Magical Exhaustion, Ms Weasley," replied Pomfrey. "Your friends brought you here, and quickly succumbed to the effects of your Magical Exhaustion, due to the Bond, shortly I confined them to the Hospital Wing. I have let the Headmaster know."
Right as she said that, the Headmaster came strolling through the doors of the Hospital Wing. "Did you have something to tell me, Mr Potter?" he asked.
A/N:
I realise that I use a lot of American terminology like 'Studying' when I think that the proper version is 'revising'. I apologise for that, and will attempt to use the right terminology.
If anyone would like to "Brit-pick" my stories, feel free to send me a message.
There is a Beatles/John Lennon reference in this chapter (para. 5) Also, for anyone familiar with the German editions of Harry Potter, you might find the reporter's name to be amusing (especially in contrast to the other person with that last name's writing style)
Book Two:
1000th word: 'was' ('their greatest fear was...') (chap 1)
2000th word: 'immediately' ('Pet will call the police...leave immediately') (chap 1)
2500th word:'the' ('she ran out of the kitchen') Chap. 2
5000th word: 'Statute' ('violation of the Statute of Secrecy') Chap 3
7500th word: 'gets' ('Potter gets...') Chap 4
10000th word:
Overall:
20000th word (Bk II, Chap. 2): 'so' ('It feels so good to be around Harry again')
50000th word (Bk II, unknown)
(these word counts are the number of words with the chapter titles, but without the (sometimes extensive) Author's Notes