Chapter 10: Legends of Harry Potter
Along with November came the first Quidditch match of the year-Gryffindor versus Slytherin. When Serena followed her housemates to the stands, which were packed with not only the students and staff, but also their families, someone was missing.
"Where's Andromeda? Is she too upset that she's not playing to come watch the game?" Bianca asked as she took a seat next to Serena. Though she could not quite be the cheerleader she wanted to be, she still had been able to fashion herself a pair of green and silver pom poms that she planned to wave.
"She's down there," Serena said, noticing a familiar head of curly brown hair by the Quidditch pitch. Andromeda had grabbed one of the brooms and she took off on it.
"Ha ha, now I get to play! Shows you, blood traitors!" she jeered. However, Granola Muffin, the captain and Seeker for the Slytherin team, was faster and caught up to her.
"For the last time, Miss Elm, you are too young to be on the team. Come down and give Louis Weasley his broom back, and go sit with the other first-years in the stands," she said sternly, grabbing the broom so Andromeda couldn't fly away. Andromeda let out a big sigh as she noticed Amanda Quigley, her head of house, was in the announcers' box with Scorpius Malfoy.
"That's 20 points from Slytherin, Elm, for interfering with the game. Now come down before you lose any more points," she called, her voice amplified by a combination of a microphone and the Sonorus spell. Serena rolled her eyes as Andromeda was led back to the ground, but then she was startled as Bianca grabbed her arm excitedly.
"Look who it is! Scorpy got to be the announcer!" Bianca squealed.
"Hi, everyone! I'm Scorpius Malfoy, and I'm the announcer today! Just so you know, I am NOT like my father, so don't even think that! Now we enter our two teams today, the Gryffindors and the Slytherins!" Finally, both teams flew out onto the field, dressed in uniforms of bright red and green.
"Is that Andromeda's sister Libra? I didn't know she was on the team. Maybe that's why Andromeda's so eager to play," Bianca commented, pointing out one of the green-uniformed players who had brown curls like Andromeda.
"Playing for Gryffindor..." Scorpius beat his hands on the podium in a drum roll, "Dominique and Fred Weasley, Elmer Duff, Brian Pinkerton, Sarah O'Blarney, Fiona Finnegan, and the wonderful Chaser, James Potter! Of course, he's going to be a star, just like his father was!" Amanda Quigley nudged Scorpius, and he pouted a bit, but continued in a less excited tone. "And playing for the other team are Louis Weasley, Libra Elm, Cupcake Quigley, Tom Twinkle, Edwin Knuckles, John Flint, and Granola Muffin." The two captains, Fred Weasley and Granola Muffin, flew down to the ground to shake hands, and then Madame Glitter blew her whistle for the game to start.
"And they're off! Of course, James Potter has the Quaffle, and just look at him dodge those bludgers and the Slytherin Chasers! If you've got your binoculars, take a good glimpse at how he has black hair, just like his wonderful father, and his determined chocolate eyes that match his mother, Ginny! I'm sure you've heard that both of them have the best talent in Quidditch ever, and it certainly shows! And...James makes a score! Of course, John Flint is no match for the boy who has inherited such amazing talent!" Serena was getting a little annoyed at Scorpius's obsessive interest in James. Sure, he had scored, but that was because Dominique Weasley and Elmer Duff helped pass the Quaffle to him. Beside her, Bianca looked a little depressed about something.
"I wish he'd talk that lovingly about me," she sighed, but then she perked up. "Hey, maybe I'll be able to join the team next year, and then he'll pay attention to me!"
"I'm not sure about that. He seems pretty obsessed with the Potters. He doesn't even seem to notice what Granola Muffin and Fiona Finnegan are doing. If one of them catches the Snitch, the game will be over," Serena pointed out. Indeed, it looked like both Seekers had spotted something, and they were both going into dives. But still, Scorpius blabbered on about James, barely even noticing it as Granola managed to grab the Snitch and win the game for Slytherin.
"And James is now flying down to the ground, he's seen the Snitch and...what?" Scorpius put down the microphone, since Amanda Quigley was nudging him. "Despite James's best efforts, Slytherin still wins the game."
"James saw the Snitch?" Andromeda repeated, snickering, "That boy is insane, James is a Chaser! That bloodtraitor idiot, he has James mixed up with his father!"
"You know, it's been a long time since a game has ended this quickly. The last time I can think of is one of the games Harry Potter played, from what I heard, he was pretty good at catching the Snitch quickly," Chocolate commented, which made Serena remember something. She had planned to go looking for more historic places in Hogwarts with Galaxy, Bunny and Rose, and this time, Albus Potter was going to join them. Bunny said that there was a room he wanted to visit. Serena broke away from the other Slytherins and found the other three girls and one boy waiting, out of the way of where the crowds were leaving the Quidditch stands.
"Hi, Serena! I have an idea! Let's bring Daisy along! Since she's Snape's cousin, I bet she knows a lot about the secrets of Hogwarts too!" Galaxy suggested.
"I guess," said Rose uncertainly, "But I think Daisy grew up with muggle parents and siblings. Since Severus Snape died before she was born, I don't think he would have been able to tell her any secrets." Galaxy barely heard Rose, as she had spotted Daisy, who was coming down from the Ravenclaw stands.
"Hi, Daisy! Do you want to come explore with us? You can find out the secret places your cousin probably went to!" she giggled excitedly.
"No. If I want to explore, I will do it on my own," Daisy said coldly, and she turned away from Galaxy.
"Albus, what room did you want to visit?" Serena asked, ignoring Galaxy and Daisy for the moment. Albus looked around nervously, as if he was afraid someone would hear their conversation.
"The Room of Requirement," he whispered, "That's where Dad held the Dumbledore's Army meetings. He told me, James and Lily that it was on the seventh floor, by a picture of a guy who was trying to teach trolls how to dance."
"Mum and Dad told me about it too," Rose admitted quietly, "But they said that it was probably destroyed in a fire."
"Then we should go see if it's still there!" Galaxy exclaimed, coming back just as perky as ever.
"But I was told that it only appears if you really need it. Would it appear for someone who just wants to see if it's still there?" Rose asked.
"Well, we won't know unless we try, right? Let's go!" Galaxy giggled. She cheerfully led the way up to the 7th floor, but then she let Albus and Rose go ahead when they spotted the tapestry of the trolls in tutus. Suddenly, a door appeared on the wall, and Rose gasped.
"I didn't know it would work...but I tried. I thought about how I wanted to see the place where my parents trained for Dumbledore's Army, and it appeared," she whispered to herself in awe, "At least, a door appeared where there was just a wall." Galaxy went eagerly forward and opened the door, revealing a large, open room. There were mirrors and bookshelves along the walls, and also what looked like beat-up training dummies.
"This is...this is like what Professor Longbottom told us about? Remember, Bunny? He showed us his special coin and told us about how Harry Potter taught him how to fight against Dark Arts users, when no one else would teach them," Galaxy exclaimed.
"He told us about that too, but I don't understand something. This school has a Defense Against the Dark Arts class, right? Then why did Harry Potter need to be a teacher himself, when he was still a student? Was it just because of the experience he had?" Serena asked.
"Partially, but Mum and Dad told me there was a mean teacher then named Dolores Umbridge. The Ministry set her up to be a teacher and they didn't let anyone teach real Defense Against the Dark Arts, since the Ministry didn't want to admit that Voldemort had come back. So Harry Potter had to start a secret group," Rose explained.
"I can't wait to tell Scorpy and James what we found!" Galaxy chirped.
"Maybe you should make sure that they're the only ones who hear. Because I think this is supposed to be kind of secret room, and I was thinking, what if we need to use it to hide and someone finds us?" Rose worried.
"It's okay, we could just wish for the room to not open for people we want to hide from! Like you said, it does whatever you want it to!" Galaxy said perkily, "I mean, with Voldemort gone, what real threat would there be?"