A New Reality – by ParallelTogether
Disclaimer – This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling. All other original content and plots belong to me, for which no money will ever be received. No breach of copyright laws are intended.
Okay! So, yeah, I've been gone for a long, long time. I'm really sorry. But if you had gone to my profile, you would have seen the update that says my computer hates me and doesn't want me on the internet. I don't know how regular updates will be now, with school and band and choir and tennis and drama and track and hanging out with my friends…(lol yeah, I do have a pretty busy life), but I'll try my best. I admit, I had been a little down on this story for a while, from some pretty heavy criticism, but I'll be okay! :P If I could get a review from everyone who reads this chapter, I would be ecstatic. I love you guys, thanks for staying loyal to the story. :D
Chapter Nine –
I've always known I was smart for my age. In my 'muggle' primary school, my teachers would tell me I was 'exceptionally bright', and 'quick witted.' On the other hand, those same teachers would get hold of Dudley, and tell him he should 'follow my example in his studies.' Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were furious about this of course; they hated me, and thought Dudley exceeded me in every way possible. I was a freak, a monstrosity, a nuisance…and Dudley was a prince.
Coming to live at Hogwarts castle four years ago was the greatest thing to ever happen to me. Moony (my new guardian), Dumbledore, and the rest of the people residing in Hogwarts castle took me in like I was their own and made me the 10-year-old I am today. My best friend is Ron Weasley; the only thing we disagree on is quidditch (I mean, he likes the lousiest team…honestly, the Chudley Cannons are worse than this years Slytherins!). I've got tons of other great friends, like Neville, Luna, Susan, Dean, Seamus…I was even on good terms with Draco Malfoy (Snape was his godfather), which the others didn't like one bit. Draco wasn't that bad, really; he thought extremely well of himself, but that's only because he's a Malfoy (his father is a thousand times more egotistical). His mother always sends him with a tin of Scandinavian chocolates for me; she seems to think he's doing right by befriending me. I can only guess why.
Moony has told me everything he knows about the people I've met and the things I've seen during my short stint in the Wizarding world…he tells me in an un-biased way and lets me decide what I think without his opinion. I'm grateful for that; I want to know everything I can about this world before I actually start my lessons next year. There are four houses here at Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Draco talks about being in Slytherin like it's the only acceptable part of Hogwarts, while Ron seems to think Gryffindor is the only way to go around here. It's all just bonkers to me…I don't care where I'm placed, as long as I make friends there. Remus says he'll be proud of wherever I end up.
I've already got a start on my Hogwarts education, thanks to the friends I've made at the school. Ron's brothers here (Charlie, Fred, George, and Percy) have all been fantastic towards me, and sometimes they like to tutor me. Fred and George (the twins) say they'd like to 'see the look on Snape's face when I know what he's talking about.' I sort of look forward to that, too.
Professor Snape seems to have taken a liking to me as well, in his own, odd way. He doesn't coddle me or anything close to that, but he never shouts at me either. We actually have conversations sometimes at the dinner table, about my days and his. I guess you could say he's cordial to me, in fact. It's much better than how he used to be, at any rate. I hope it stays such.
The other professors are slightly more warm to me than Snape is, but they still don't coddle me like Remus and Dumbledore. McGonagall always calls me down to her quarters on Saturdays and we talk about nothing in particular. Sometimes she gets stressed by her classes, and she tells me our get-togethers help her relax a little. I'm glad of that; she's a sort of parent to me, I guess you could say. Like a surrogate mother, almost.
I'd like to think my parents would be proud of who I am; Remus has told me all about them. My mum had red hair and green eyes, and my dad (who was absolutely nuts over her) looked just like me, but with brown eyes. Dad was a prankster and always had to be laughing, while mum loved to read almost as much as she loved my dad. They didn't always get along though; when they were in school, my mum thought dad was a pig, and even though he asked her out almost every day, she always said no. I don't exactly know what happened to change that, but Remus always says that's a story for another day.
Today, Remus is taking Ron and I to see a quidditch game between the Holyhead Harpies and Puddlemere United. Ron's convinced that Puddlemere will win…but I think the HH are ace, and they'll bag PU, no question.
"Moony!" I called out into the main room. "Has Ron floo'ed in yet?"
"No, he's – ah, here he is."
I shook my head and bounced to the common room, excited. "Are we all ready, then?"
Ron nodded, and Remus took the floo powder from inside his robes. "Alright, Harry, you first…you know where we're headed right? You know how to do it, step into the grate…"
I did so and Remus passed me the floo powder. Throwing a pinch down and being encircled in green flames, I cried, "Puddlemere United Quidditch Arena!" and was whisked off instantly.
It was decidedly uncomfortable to travel by floo, no matter how many times I'd done it. I kept my elbows tucked in, not wanting to catch one on the walls of a fireplace, and tried to quell the slightly sick feeling I always felt while spinning from grate to grate. Finally, I stopped spinning, and felt my feet land slightly unsteadily on solid ground. I stepped out of the grate and waited for Remus and Ron.
Ron came through first, two grates left of where I had landed. There were about twenty of them in all; there was too much trafficking for only one. Ron saw me and jogged over.
"Whatd'ya think, mate? First quidditch game together, right?"
I laughed. "Yeah, this'll be a blast…there's Remus, grate ten."
Remus spotted us, too, and came over. "You both made it intact, I assume?" We nodded. "Good. We've got about…20 minutes or so until the game starts. Do you want to sit down now or go get something to eat?"
Ron shook his head. "I'm always hungry, but if we go eat now we'll never get to our seats in time."
I laughed, and nodded in agreement.
"Hm, let's go take our seats, then. Follow me, and don't get separated."
Ron and I followed quickly behind Remus, staying as close as possible in the large crowd of people. I was too excited for the game to think about them, though; this was only the second official quidditch match I'd ever been to; the first one, I was eight, and we'd had to leave immediately because Remus had gotten sick. He had felt so bad, but I hadn't minded. Why would I want to watch a game while Remus was pukey?
We finally got to our seats; they were great seats, low enough that you could see without binoculars, but high enough so that you weren't in danger of rogue bludgers. We took our seats next to a peculiar family; they were all dressed in blue and purple flecked robes, and their hair was done up in buns on both sides of their head (except for the man; he had a purple streak in a lock of hair). I shook my head and tried not to laugh, and took my seat between Remus and Ron. Below us, a woman was trying to play peek-a-boo with her baby; only, the baby didn't seem to like it too much…every time the mum would open her hands, the baby would shake her head and let out a moan. It was quite funny to watch, actually; it held my attention until Ludo Bagman's voice sounded over the pitch.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to today's game! We hope you enjoy yourselves and come back to see us again someday. Please note the flip-down tables on the seats in front of you, for your drink and food convenience. If you have disruptive children in your party, please either take them out of the arena or place a silencing charm so your neighbors are not disrupted. Thank you for your patience; the game will be starting shortly."
Harry felt butterflies in his stomach; on the large screen to the right of the arena, he read off advertisement after advertisement: 'Tired of hearing static on your witches radio? Buy the new Wizaradio 510, complete with no-fuzz sound, voice inflection control, and volume that can cover over a mile! Usewithcaution;thisproducthasnotbeentestedbythewizardcontrolboardandisnotsafetobeusednearchildren.donotuseifyouarenursing,pregnant,orhaveanytypeofillness,asthisproductcoulddamageyourhealthfurther.' Harry's eyes widened at that one, and he saw Remus sit back with wide eyes, too.
"And now, put your hands together fooorrrrr…the Holyhead Harpies!"
Harry screamed and clapped with the rest of his neighbors; Ron rolled his eyes.
Bagman named off each player, using that announcer-type voice of his, and the team circled the goal posts with amazing speed; Harry saw they were using Nimbus 1000s.
"Also playing today, please welcome…PUDDLEMERE UNITED!"
The PU fans went crazy; Ron stood up and flailed his arms around, screaming and jumping. Harry laughed at him, but stifled his giggles as Remus nudged him with a smirk of his own. Ron eventually sat down and Bagman started naming players.
"Here comes Minogue, Crabgrass, Masen, Melovski, Johnson, aaaaand Rehkop!" (A/N:I don't know if these are their names; I made them up for storyline purposes only.)
The Puddlemere United team and the Holyhead Harpies flew down to the center of the pitch, hovering a couple feet off the ground, waiting.
And then, the game started. Both seekers flew high into the air, the PU chasers followed the Holyhead Harpies chaser Trina Melovski, who had the quaffle, both keepers zoomed to their goalposts and started circling them, and the beaters zoomed into position on the opposite ends of the pitch. Bagman kept up his constant commentary; "Bagwell's heading down to the Harpies side, zooming with the quaffle; she fakes toward the left goal but then sinks it in the right; score for Puddlemere! Minogue zooms for the quaffle and sails toward the Puddlemere goal, but misses the shot; Johnson sure has control over his posts!"
Harry paid no attention to this; he follwed the Harpies seeker closely sometimes, other times watching the PU seeker or searching for the snitch himself; 150 points went to the team that caught the golden little ball, and ended the game. Rehkop zoomed around on her Nimbus, trying to find a flash of gold; he saw her dive, but then pull out suddenly with a disappointed stare. Larson, the PU seeker, kept his attention on Rehkop for a while, before turning his attention back to finding the snitch.
Harry stole a brief glance at the scoreboard; the Harpies had a lead of 40 points, with a score of 85 to 45. Ron was squirming in his seat, obviously wanting to get up and do something about the score. Harry stifled a laugh and turned back to watch the game.
"And theres Crabgrass, shooting a bludger toward Bagwell on the Puddlemere side…ooh, just barely missed that one! Bagwell sails to the right and shoots the quaffle into the middle goal, but misses…nice control of those goals- and Rehkop has gone into a steep dive, has she seen the snitch?"
Harry's breath caught as he looked to Rehkop; she was flying steadily at the ground, but…there was no snitch there, he was sure of it. What was Rehkop doing?
Larson started tailing Rehkop, catching up to her quickly; it was almost as if Rehkop WANTED him to catch up…and then Harry understood. Rekhop hadn't seen the snitch, she was fooling Larson into crashing into the ground…Harry gasped as Rehkop pulled out of the dive seconds before she hit the ground; Larson just barely made it out in time.
"Ah, and a bit of trickery there by Rehkop, going into a Wronski Feint! But Larson hasn't fallen for it, and he makes it out of the dive just in time to save himself from being smashed into the field."
The game went on like this for a while; Rehkop would fake Larson out and almost take him out of the game; Larson would always fall for it. Harry gathered that Larson wasn't the greatest seeker; he seemed to only follow Rehkop, rather than look for the snitch himself.
Harry saw a flash of gold and gasped as he saw what he knew to be the snitch floating right above the middle PU goalpost. Rehkop was on the other side of the field, but Larson was almost right there…Rehkop noticed the snitch, but Larson didn't; he was too busy watching his team. Rehkop's eyes narrowed in thought as she considered how best to make it over to the snitch…she started lazily zooming, looking in the opposite direction of the snitch, drawing no attention to the fact that she knew where the snitch was. She got closer and closer, and finally she was on even ground with Larson. She flew lazily a while longer, just so she had an edge over Larson, and then…she zoomed at top speed. Larson's head whipped around and he, too, high-tailed it to where Rehkop was headed; but Rehkop was too far ahead of Larson for him to even have a chance of catching up; she caught the snitch in her right hand and pumped her fist for everyone to see. The game was over; the score 260 to 90. Harry let out a breath and Ron put his face in his hands.
"Rehkop's caught the snitch, the game is over! Harpies win, with a score of 260 to 90! WAY TO GO HARPIES!"
Harry cheered loudly and smiled at Remus, who smiled back. He turned to Ron.
"Oh, be quiet Harry…they only won because of Rehkop anyways, if Larson hadn't been such a git Puddlemere would've won it."
Harry laughed. "Maybe…too bad Larson's a git and your team lost, Ron. That means I get to rub it in for at least a week."
Ron gave him a weak shove. "Yeah, yeah…next time I'm siding with you."
Moony chuckled. "Alright, now let's hustle to a grate before the crowd gets there."
Remus led them through the throng of excited Harpies fans, back to the grates that would take them home. He took out the floo powder and gave a handful to Harry and Ron, and took himself a handful as well, and they floo'ed back to Hogwarts.
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