Harry had been looking forward to and equally dreading this morning. Snape had given Marcus permission slips for the Quidditch Pitch and excused them from all their classes that day. All of Slytherin was a buzz with anticipation. It hadn't helped that a few nights ago a mysterious package had arrived for him during dinner. The note had explained it was a Nimbus 2000, the fastest broom in the world. When Harry looked to see if a Staff member was approaching to take it away from him, he saw Professor Dumbledore smiling and gave him a nod of approval.
Harry made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast and found Marcus and the rest of the team waiting for him. "Morning Potter!" Marcus said sounding suspiciously excited. Harry eyed him for a moment as he walked passed him.
"Morning Marcus" Harry said guardedly. He sat down and looked at the morning spread. He was about to reach for something when half of the Quidditch team started snickering. "You lot alright?" he asked looking over his shoulder.
Marcus smacked Pucey upside the back of his head. "Yeah, nothing wrong at all Potter." Marcus said with a grin.
Harry shook it off as some sort of Team behavior he'd get to know later. Turning back to his breakfast he reach for a stack of waffles and put a few on his plate and made a pile of strawberries next to it. He reached for the maple syrup and began pouring it on his waffles when all hell broke out next to him.
The entire Quidditch team, with the exception of Warrington, sighed extremely loud and threw up their hands in frustration. Warrington meanwhile had a rather large grin on his face and had his arms crossed with smug satisfaction.
Harry had had enough. "What is wrong with the lot of you?!" He nearly shouted at them. They all stopped their frustrated reacting and looked at Harry before they all began laughing.
Marcus composed himself first and sat down next to Harry. "Ok, ok. This is something that goes back pretty far." Marcus said wiping a tear from his eye. "It's a Slytherin Quidditch team tradition. The night before any new player or players first practice, the other member of the team get together and, well." He looked back at the others as they started digging through their pockets.
"We make bets on what the newbies will have for breakfast." Marcus said chuckling a little. "Warrington had 3 sickles on Pancakes or Waffles, a an extra 2 sickles if you used syrup." Harry looked over at Warrington who was receiving his winnings from the rest of the team. He gave a wink and thumbs up.
Harry smiled and laughed a little himself. "But what's stopping someone from just asking me? Or teaming up to split the profits?" Harry asked as he started eating his waffles. Marcus looked at him and nodded.
"We had thought of that, but it's a simple gentlemen's agreement." Marcus said as he pulled out 5 sickles. He slid them down the table into Warrington's waiting hand. "Look, Potter, I know the school thinks we're all just a bunch of traitorous bastards, but not to each other." Marcus said before standing up and smacking Harry on the back. "Now finish up and meet me at the Quidditch Pitch."
Harry had quickly scarfed down his breakfast and made his way to the Quidditch Pitch. He found Marcus waiting for him with a large wooden case, a golf club and a bucket of golf balls. Before Harry could asked Marcus had him doing laps. Harry was just glad he could be in the air again and not have to worry about being in trouble this time.
"Hey, Potter, come down!' Marcus yelled as he walked out on the pitch. He was carrying the large wooden crate under his arm and the golf club over his shoulder.
Harry adjusted his speed and dived towards the ground. He softly pulled out of his dive and dismounted next to Marcus. "Very nice," said Marcus, his eyes glinting. "I see what Snape saw in you. You really are a natural. I'm just going to teach you the rules this evening, then you'll be joining team practice three times a week." He opened the crate. Inside were four different-sized balls.
"Right," said Marcus. "Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, but I'll be damned if you think it's easy to play. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are called Chasers. One of which is right in front of you" Marcus finished in that odd smile.
"Three Chasers, your one of them, simple enough so far," Harry repeated, as Marcus took out a bright red ball about the size of a soccer ball.
"This ball's called the Quaffle," said Marcus. "The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through one of the hoops to score a goal. Ten points every time the Quaffle goes through one of the hoops. Follow me so far?"
"The Chasers throw the Quaffle and put it through the hoops to score," Harry recited. "So - that's sort of like basketball on broomsticks with six hoops, isn't it."
Marcus squinted one side of his face. "If I were you, I wouldn't compare Quidditch to Muggle Basketball, kay?" Marcus said moving on. "You'll piss off certain people that way."
"Now, there's another player on each side who's called the Keeper –that suck up, Wood is the Keeper for Gryffindor. They have to fly around our hoops and stop the other team from scoring."
"Three Chasers, one Keeper," said Harry, who was determined to remember it all. "And they play with the Quaffle. Okay, got that. So what are they for?" He pointed at the three balls left inside the box.
"I'll show you now," said Marcus said with a wicked smile. "Take this." He handed Harry a small club, a bit like a short baseball bat.
"You're gonna get a first hand lesson to what the Bludgers do," Marcus said. "These two are the Bludgers." He showed Harry two identical balls, jet black and slightly smaller than the red Quaffle. Harry noticed that they seemed to be straining to escape the straps holding them inside the box.
"I'd back up if I were you," Marcus warned Harry. He bent down and freed one of the Bludgers.
At once, the black ball rose high in the air and then pelted straight at Harry's face. Harry swung at it with the bat to stop it from breaking his nose, and sent it zigzagging away into the air - it zoomed around their heads and then shot at Marcus, who took out his wand and with a spell Harry didn't know managed to drive it to the ground.
"See." Marcus said smiling, forcing the struggling Bludger back into the crate and strapping it down safely. "The Bludgers rocket around, trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why you have two Beaters on each team, it's their job to protect their side from the Bludgers and try and knock them toward the other team. So, think you've got all that."
"Three Chasers try and score with the Quaffle; the Keeper guards the goal posts; the Beaters keep the Bludgers away from their team," Harry reeled off.
"Ok, I know you're just trying to get the hang of this, but repeating everything I say is very annoying" Marcus said rubbing his temples
"Er - have the Bludgers ever killed anyone." Harry asked, hoping he sounded offhand.
"Never at Hogwarts." Marcus said as he forced the Bludger back in the case. "We've had a couple of broken jaws but nothing worse than that. Wood was even knock out his first game, took a Bludger to the head." Marcus snickered under his breath.
"Now, moving on, the last member of the team is the Seeker. That's you. And you don't have to worry about the Quaffle or the Bludgers unless they crack my head open." Harry gaped openly in slight worry for a moment but Marcus was surprisingly quick to reassure him.
"Don't worry, our Beaters are more than a match for the Bludgers, or at least they'd better be or they're facing extra practices and whatever else I can think of." Marcus reached into the crate and took out the fourth and last ball.
Compared with the Quaffle and the Bludgers, it was tiny, about the size of a large walnut. It was bright gold and had little fluttering silver wings.
"This," said Marcus, "is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see. It's the Seeker's job to catch it. You've got to be quick, sharp, and sometimes stealthy. But being on the Slytherin team you gotta throw in a little deceptive. It's your job to get it before the other team's Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages - I think the record is three months; they had to keep bringing on substitutes so the players could get some sleep."
"Well, that's it - any questions." Harry shook his head. He understood what he had to do all right; it was doing it that was going to be the problem. "We won't practice with the Snitch yet," said Marcus, carefully shutting it back inside the crate, "it's too dark, we might lose it. Wouldn't want Severus to find out we lost a Snitch." Marcus said with a smile.
Harry grinned back,"We?" Marcus looked at him surprised, but laughed any way.
He twirled his wand and he bucket of golf balls flew towards them and a few minutes later Harry was up in the air, Marcus was hitting the golf balls with the golf club he had earlier, as hard as he could in every direction for Harry to catch.
Harry didn't miss a single one, and Marcus was ecstatic. They spent a few hours testing Harry's speed and reflexes. Marcus had him hover next to him before letting him catch a freshly whacked golf ball. "That Quidditch cup'll have our name on it again this year," said Marcus confidently as they trudged back up to the castle.
Harry helped Marcus return the Quidditch supplies to the Broom closet, which Marcus had knocked the door before entering. He gave a sigh of relief as he entered. Harry looked at him expecting an explanation.
Marcus furrowed his brow. "I, uhm." Marcus failed to make words. "Its one of those things the adults would say, "I'll tell you when you're older."" He gave Harry a wink and put the Quidditch balls back where they belonged.
They walked about the steps as the noon bell started to ring. "Well, I'd say we're just in time for lunch." Marcus said leading the way.
Harry was about to enter the Great Hall when he was shoved from behind and nearly ran face first into the door. "Watch where you're going Potter." said Ron Weasley from behind him.
Harry had been on the fence about how he wanted to deal with Ron, but this was the final push in more ways than one. Marcus turned around and threateningly approached Ron and the other Gryffindors. "Let 'em be Marcus." Harry said. "He's not worth the effort."
Harry sat in silence mostly during lunch. Deep in thought. He wasn't sure how to do what he wanted to do. He returned to the Slytherin Common Room without a word. He sat down in front of the fire place and just stared at it. He was so deep in thought he was oblivious to Blaise entering the Common Room and approaching him.
"Harry, you've been scheming away for three days now." Blaise said sitting down on the other end of the couch and putting his feet on the ottoman. "I know that Weasley slugged you pretty good but did he rattle your brain to. What could you be thinking that takes this much planning"? Blaise asked as he set down his transfiguration work. Harry looked up and smiled.
"Well as you know the Weasley family is one of the oldest and largest light sided pureblood families there is. I've done a bit of research and I found not one Weasley in over three hundred years has been in Slytherin. Of course there were the odd Ravenclaw and more than enough Hufflepuffs. But of course the most sorted of the Weasleys was Gryffindor." Harry said standing up and leaning over the fireplace.
Blaise still not following gestured his hand in a motion telling Harry to continue. "Blaise my friend, in this generation, do you know how many Weasley there are?" Harry asked not really expecting Blaise to know.
Blaise thought for a moment. "If I'm not mistaken there are seven, two having already graduated and one not yet attending" Blaise said and smile as Harry's eyes widened.
"Wow Blaise,I'm surprised you knew that, but yes seven in total and three not here" Harry said taking his seat again. "Now if I was to take revenge on our 'Favourite Weasley' Ronald, how would I go about this? Being that it would have to be something untraceable, very satisfying, and something that Ronald knew I did for him, but obviously something he could never put on me"
Harry said looking rather pleased with himself.
"You have something that falls into all those, and is devilishly awesome" Blaise said smiling.
"Why of course" Harry said laughing at his own brilliance.
"Harry, I'm still a little lost as to why you brought up the whole 'No Weasleys in Slytherin' thing, does that have anything to do with anything important, or was it a simply yet informative lesson in 'know your enemy', cause either way, good show" Blaise said clapping slowly in a mocking gesture
Harry smiled and bowed to Blaise in mock appreciation. Harry always did enjoy Blaise's company over his other friends when it came to plotting and such. Blaise always gave a different perspective on revenge that Draco just did not have. Theodore just wasn't the kind of guy for a long and prepared revenge. And as for Pansy, Harry just didn't have the patience for her in these things.
"Now this is what we're going to do, of course we're going to need the others help, but then again." Harry said pulling out his notebook again, he started flipping through pages, "Draco might brag, and let out exactly what we're trying to do, unintentionally of course. As for Pansy she also might gossip and let it slip, again unintentionally. And Theodore, well he wouldn't say anything, but he would just sit and stare out the window and well, I got nothing about that, it's just weird".
Harry and Blaise just stare at each other for a moment, until they burst out in laughter. "Yeah I always did think it was a little weird" Blaise said trying to catch his breath.
Blaise was in awe of Harry's plan. It was so simply, but it would be the most effective revenge that they could accomplish with their limited resources.
They were going to turn Ginny Weasley into a Slytherin.