AN Hello again readers! Thank you for the support for the story, it's crazy! Also, I do read the reviews, I'm just lazy and only reply to direct questions. Then I look back and realize someone asked a question that I could have replied to last chapter, woops. Anyways, for the thing about the Potters not recognizing Harry is because A. He's changed a bit over seven years, B. He's thought to be dead (Which I'll get to explaining at some point in the future because I do have a reason for that!). Okay, now onto chapter ten! Into the double-digits for the chapters!
History of Magic was a complete joke, Harry concluded as he left the classroom. If a ghost for a teacher wasn't bad enough, everyone could likely come to class in nothing but hot pink underwear and the professor wouldn't even notice. The teacher had died and not even noticed. Half the class had fallen to sleep, as the other half (All Ravenclaws) somehow managed to listen intently. Harry caught the basis of what it was about, the 1612 goblin rebellion and that it happened in Hogsmeade. Deadbush managed to copy down every word that Professor Binns said without even spacing out for a second. Near the end of class, Harry had used magic to copy her notes, as apparently the mudblood did have her uses. He was trying to figure out why she wasn't in Ravenclaw, but so far had failed to come up with a reason other than her threatening the hat like he did.
Griffith had received a note from Hagrid that the man would like to meet Griffith at some point. Griffith had pocketed it, saying he would think about it later. Harry got a paper from the Daily Prophet, and read about a robbery that had happened around the time he was shopping with Dumbledore. They hadn't stopped at Gringotts because the old wizard had plenty of money in his pouch, but Griffith had also gone there that day. Harry walked exited his room, walking a short ways down the extremely red hallway to Griffith's door. He raised his hand and knocked. He heard footsteps approach and a one of Griffith's roommates, whom Harry was pretty sure was the halfblood, Seamus Finnigan.
"Yes?" Seamus asked, looking up slightly as Harry was taller than him, "Oh, Griffith's not here right now, I think he's in the common room."
Harry smiled and turned towards the stairs, walking down them quickly. In the common room, Harry found Griffith and Ron hunched over a table with a game of wizards chess on the table. Although Harry didn't play the game often (Severus refused to play it with him, and he didn't even actually know how to play) it was obvious that Weasley was winning. Harry silently stood behind Griffith and watched as the red-brown haired boy was demolished by Ron. When Griffith finally turned around, he nearly jumped a foot in the air when he saw Harry directly behind him.
"How long were you there!" Griffith exclaimed.
Harry shrugged, "Not too long, but long enough to see you get destroyed, good job Ron!" Harry said, giving Ron a double thumbs up. "Anyways, I came down to see if you saw anyone going into Gringotts when you went shopping on July 31st?" Harry asked, holding out the robbery article on the Daily Prophet.
"Um, well the only person I recognized other than my parents was Hagrid, do you think he had something to do with the robbery?" Griffith asked after scanning over the paper.
"Dunno, didn't Hagrid invite you to his hut though? We could find out," Harry proposed.
"Why not!" Griffith said smiling, Ron huffed.
"You don't want to play another game then?" Ron asked.
"Nah, wizard chess is a stupid game anyways, you could come to Hagrid's with us if you want," Griffith told him, Ron huffed once again.
"Well, guess I'd better come along then," Ron agreed.
"Great!"
-=Hagrid's Hut=-
The house that Hagrid lived in was very small for a man his size. It was located on the edge of the woods. If Harry didn't know the man, he would be slightly frightened, as a crossbow was leaning against the wall and a bag hanging near it. Griffith raised his hand and knocked loudly. Immediately, vicious barking was heard behind the door, and it sounded like something was trying to get through. Being Gryffindors though, neither Griffith nor Ron looked particularly afraid. Harry was slightly frightened, but he doubted that anything Hagrid could keep in his house would be something all that hard to fight.
A moment later, they could hear a chair screech as it was pushed back, and Hagrid's voice could be heard through the door, "Back yerself up Fang," Hagrid ordered his the animal behind the door. Then he opened up the door, a big smile appearing on his face, Harry noted that the barking must have been coming from the huge black dog now laying on the floor.
"Hello Hagrid, I got your note, I hope you don't mind that I brought friends?" Griffith asked.
"No worry! I would love ter meet yer friends, 'ello, what's yer names?" Hagrid asked, looking at Harry and Ron.
"I'm Ron," Ron told him with a strained smile, looking at Fang, who had just stood up and was looking at them with a frightening kind of interest.
"Another Weasley? Hope you aren't like yer two brothers, have 'nough trouble keeping the two o' them away from ter forest," Hagrid joked merrily, then turned to Harry, "Well then, what's yer name?"
"I'm Praet," Harry told him.
Hagrid gave him a look that Harry had trouble interpreting it, but it was something like fear, "Ah, the, er Riddle boy?" Hagrid asked awkwardly, "I er, knew yer father when he was in school."
That was obviously not the best response, as Griffith's eyes widened with curiosity, "Really? What'd he do? I mean, what was he like?" Griffith asked.
"'E was quite handsome, a lot like Praet 'ere," Hagrid started, Harry winced, "O' no! Just sayin' yer look a bit like 'im when 'e was younger, you act a lot different! 'E was charmin', always masked 'is emotions and played ter nice student. 'E got me expelled when I was in me third year," he explained.
Harry cleared his throat, "Well, um, changing the subject, I was heard that you were at Gringotts when Griffith was there, what were you doing there?" Harry interrogated.
"O', I was just gettin' somethin' for Albus," Hagrid responded quickly, "How was yer first day?" he asked Griffith.
"Well we had potions and Snivellus was as biased as ever, and he really seemed to hate me, he's just jealous of my father," Griffith started.
"Rubbish!" exclaimed Hagrid, "Why would 'e be?"
"Well, in school Snivellus was rivals with my dad and he obviously is jealous of how awesome my dad is. My dad's got a wife, a son, and an awesome job!" Griffith told him.
"I doubt it's that bad," Hagrid said, turning away from Griffith to Ron, "How's yer brother Charlie doin'?" He asked.
Ron opened his mouth and Harry zoned out as he talked about his brother, although Harry noted that he was supposedly a dragon tamer. Harry half listened as Ron started talking about what his other brother was doing, as some sort of adventurer or something. Suddenly Harry turned to Ron.
"Hey Ron, has Charlie ever ridden a dragon?" Harry asked, Ron looked at him dumbfounded.
"Of course not! Dragons don't let people ride them ever intentionally. The only time someone might be able to ride a dragon without getting chucked off is if the dragon had something it deemed more important on its mind," Ron exclaimed, Harry gave him a small smile.
"Oh, okay," he responded, "Hagrid, what exactly did you empty out of that vault?"
Hagrid looked at the floor, "Oh, er, nothin' important. Well, it's gettin' late, yer better get goin'" he told them, then practically shoved them all out.
They walked silently a little ways before Harry turned to Griffith, "I think it's safe to say that Hagrid's hiding something. What do you say we try to find out what?" Harry asked.
"Yeah! I wonder if whatever that thief wanted is here at Hogwarts!" Griffith grinned mischieviously, "Want to try to get it? I mean, it must have some defences, and if we could get through them…" he started.
Harry grinned and finished for him, "then they obviously need to be upgraded! It's perfect!" Harry exclaimed, Ron grunted.
"Don't mind me, just standing over here," Ron complained, Harry rolled his eyes.
The castle halls were relatively empty when they entered, with only a few students bustling about. They waited for the stairs to rotate the way they needed before climbing quickly up the stairs to the common room. The fat lady in the portrait quickly swung open when they said the password, and they entered the common room. The room was bustling with activity, all the tables were taken and a few people were playing games on the floor. Harry watched with amusement as a card in a game of Exploding Snap exploded in one of the player's faces. The clock at the end of the room said it was around five o' clock. Harry went to his room while Griffith and Ron went to their shared one.
Harry apparated to Riddle Manor, looking around. It was likely the Dark Lord was away still, but there was a chance he'd gotten back, "Friz!" Harry called, the elf appeared in front of him with a loud crack.
"Yes young master?" She asked.
"Is my father here?" Harry asked, looking at the dirty elf in front of him.
"Yes young master, would you like me to take you to him?" Friz asked.
"No, where is he?" Harry asked.
"He's in the brewery at the moment, Mister Snape is there as well," Friz told him.
"That is all," Harry dismissed her, then set off towards the brewery.
"Ah, yes, Praet was a weakling, I couldn't let such a pathetic child to stay here where I would have to look at him every day," the Dark Lord told Severus as Harry entered.
Harry carefully masked his emotion, "Father," he acknowledged with a deep bow, "Are you talking about my dear brother?" he sneered.
"Yes, Severus here was asking about how he and his snakes are allowed to act around the boy. I kindly told him he could treat the boy just as well as he treats the Potter boy," the Dark Lord responded cooly.
"So the boy is unimportant?" Severus asked.
"Mhm, be sure to give him a greeting from me, I think a few torture curses would fit well," Harry smiled evilly, he turned to the Dark Lord, "My lord, can we really not tell him of my identity at Hogwarts?" Harry hissed.
"No, if he were to know he would treat you much differently, and it would become too obvious and the old fool might suspect something," the Dark Lord warned, the tone in which he spoke told Harry that was the end of the discussion.
Severus looked visibly nervous as he watched the two converse in parseltongue, it was a very interesting expression on his normally scowling face. After about a minute, the Dark Lord looked at him again.
"Severus, have any of your seventh year snakes shown potential to become Death Eaters?" the Dark Lord asked.
"Only one pureblood my lord, the son of Thorfinn Rowle," Severus told him, kneeling.
"Ah, yes, any others? Halfbloods or nearly purebloods?" the Dark Lord pressed.
"A halfblood girl named Viara Crow is quite ruthless, but is a bit rebellious, something that could cause a problem," Severus responded.
"Do you doubt my ability to control a weak child?" the Dark Lord asked.
"No m-" Severus started.
"Crucio!" the Dark Lord cast, Severus immediately fell to the floor, his jaw clenched and a tear of pain starting to form in his eye. After a few seconds, the Dark Lord canceled the spell, "Continue."
"Yes my lord, there is one more, his name is Aran Shafiq, although his father was disowned from the family for marrying a halfblood," Severus added, "Sadly, the other snakes seem to have squeamish stomachs when it comes to torturing or murdering another."
"Very well, you may now return to Hogwarts," the Dark Lord ordered, Severus nodded and left the room. The Dark Lord turned to Harry, "Why did you come here?"
"I was just wondering if there were any missions I could participate in my lord," Harry asked.
"As I've told you before my Prince, you must focus on your education, and becoming trusted by the fools of the Light" the Dark Lord refused.
Harry held back a gulp as he tried again, "Well right now things are easy, my lord, and no one suspects a thing. I just need something to do, I need to hurt someone or something, it's been too long," Harry tried.
To his surprise, the Dark Lord nodded, "Very well, get yourself a timeturner, I don't care how, and I will consider letting you join in on a raid, perhaps during Winter Break," the Dark Lord agreed.
Harry nodded, hiding the excitement he felt, "Thank you my lord," he thanked.
"Now, get back to Hogwarts before any of those brats notice you're missing," the Dark Lord ordered.
"Yes my lord," Harry responded, bowing before he apparated away.
-= Later that Week (Thursday) =-
"Hey Praet! Look at this, we have our first flying lesson today!" Griffith exclaimed the moment Harry opened his door Thursday morning.
Harry rubbed his eyes, he'd stayed up until midnight observing the layout of the Department of Mysteries that he had acquired from Riddle Manor. He'd also looked at a few pictures so he could pinpoint exactly where he would need to apparate to to get a timeturner. It would likely take him most of the day to get it done, which was why he had been practicing his ability to duplicate magical artifacts. He planned on doing it in about a week in the future. Griffith was practically jumping up and down with excitement.
"Oh that's interesting, we also have our first Defense class today, which is bound to be interesting as I've heard Professor Quirrell's entire room smells like garlic," Harry responded sarcastically.
"My dad teaches flying lessons! C'mon, if we go eat real quick we'll be able to talk to him a bit before class," Griffith added enthusiastically, grabbing Harry by the hand and dragging him to the common room, where Ron was waiting.
"There you two are! Let's go eat! I'm starving," Ron told them.
Then the trio exited the common room and headed towards the Great Hall. It was seven thirty and the Hall was set with food from seven thirty to eight fourty-five. A few Hufflepuffs were already eating and some Ravenclaws were exchanging books while they ate. The seventh year Slytherins were all there and the sixth year ones were just entering. Harry, Ron, and Griffith were the only Gryffindors eating yet. Harry sat down on Griffith's left side while Ron sat on his right. Then Ron grabbed a huge chocolate breaded and chocolate frosted donut. Harry rolled his eyes and grabbed a piece of toast, some eggs, sausage, and a few fresh strawberries. Apparently both Ron and Griffith had settled for very unhealthy breakfasts.
"I'm interested to see what happens today. We're with Slytherins and I doubt Malfoy is nearly as good as he claims he is, I can't imagine the look on his face when Praet outplays him," Griffith chatted, Ron looked at Harry.
"Praet's good on a broom?" He asked.
"Praet's like a god on a broom!" Griffith said, "Don't tell my dad I said so, but I think Praet is going to be better than he is," he added in a lower voice.
Ron looked at Harry in awe, Harry smiled a little bit, "You're exaggerating Grif, I'm not that good," Harry responded, using Griffith's nickname.
Ron looked back at Griffith, who looked at him and smiled, "Just wait until flying lessons, you'll see."
The majority of Slytherin had flooded in now, as well as the Gryffindor first years, who were either excited or worried about the flying lesson. Deadbush was trying to find out how to fly from a book, and Neville seemed sure that he was going to fail. Dean and Seamus were both excited about flying, as Seamus told Dean everything his mother had told him about flying, including boastful stories of when he'd gone flying when he was younger. Griffith had told a few boastful stories as well, but he also stood by the fact that Harry was a much better flyer than himself. Even Ron told a story of a time when he road on one of his brother's brooms. They all left the hall right after letters were delivered. Neville had gotten a remembrall and Griffith got a few chocolate frogs.
They got to flying class fifteen minutes early and walked over to greet James Potter, "Hey dad!" Griffith said.
"Hello Prongslet, look at you guys, you're gonna be the next Marauders I'm sure!" he exclaimed, ruffling Griffith's hair with his hand.
"Daddd!" Griffith whined, flattening his hair again.
"Well, since you're first, I guess you get to choose the broom you want to ride," James told them, "Lily and I bought new Cleansweep Sevens for all students because I couldn't bare looking at those old brooms."
Harry walked over to one of of the brooms, it looked somewhat crude, but Harry knew from Griffith and Ron that it was a high-quality broom, although the Nimbus 2000 was the best. By now, the other students were starting to come in. Harry saw Draco walk up to the right of one of the brooms, and cast a smirk at Harry. Harry glared right back at him, he couldn't wait until he learned Legilimency, then he could replay Draco's worst memories in front of him over and over much like a dementor. This caused Harry to smile, changing his outright anger into a scary look. Griffith was watching as Draco and Harry had a staredown. Harry was annoyed at the Malfoy, and was having trouble not cursing the boy or revealing his real identity in any other way. Harry was unaware, but accidental magic was slowly creeping through Draco, making the blonde boy become very cold on the already slightly chilly day. The moment Draco realized, he gasped and his glare turned to one of fear. Harry realized what he'd done, and quickly faked a gasp of horror and looked down at his hands.
Griffith had noticed as well, and wasn't sure how to comfort his friend who was clearly distraught. Luckily, James chose that moment to start class, "Hello everyone, I'm Professor Potter, Griffith's father. I will be your flight instructor for the rest of the year. Please stand to the left of your broom, reach out your right hand, and say 'Up' as clearly as possible," James instructed.
Everyone matched up with a broom, and all of the muggleborns of the class looked nervous and excited. Harry held his right hand over the broom, "Up!" he commanded, watching as the broom flew into his hand. Only Griffith, Draco, and some other Slytherin Harry didn't recognize got it on the first try. About half the people got it on their second try, but Deadbush and Ron couldn't seem to get it up. When Ron spoke, sometimes the broom would flutter upwards for a second then fall, although once it hit him in the face. Deadbush's broom just wiggled a bit. Neville had managed to get his into his hand after a few tries and looked extremely nervous.
After about a minute, James spoke again, "Okay, if you don't have your broom in your hand yet, just lean down and grab it, and you all need to mount your brooms," he told everyone, and watched as a few people somehow failed to even get on right, "Like this," he said, he then sat down onto his broom, "If you need to, you can also put your feet on the sides of the broom, this might make it harder to change your speed but it helps a little with balance."
Finally, everyone had managed to get on their brooms, a few looked a bit calmer than they had at the beginning of the lesson. James was also mounted on his broom and in the air, "Okay, good job so far everyone, when I say go, kick off the ground gently. Try to stay rightside up and don't lean too much in any direction, although leaning backwards just a bit will help you stay still, leaning backwards too much will make you start to go upwards more, which we don't want. Leaning slightly forward will let you descend, keeping your broom flat will cause you to go forward, and leaning forward too much will cause you to go into a dive. After hovering for a second, I want you all to come back down," James explained, "Okay, one, two-"
Neville suddenly launched high into the air having been worried about falling. Harry watched as the boy climbed high into the sky, over twenty feet up. The boy was also spinning. Harry bit his lip to hide a grin as Neville then leaned forward too much and went barreling towards the tower. James had mounted his broom and was trying to follow the boy, but the erratic movements of the broom made it extremely challenging, and he could only watch with horror on his face as Neville crashed into the tower. The front of the broom hit the tower first, then the broomstick snapped and Neville slammed into the tower and started dropping. As he fell, his shirt caught on one of the windows for a second before dropping him the remaining ten or so feet to the ground. A loud nasty crack was heard as Neville fell to the ground in a heep.
James flew quickly over to him, he quickly dismounted his broom and leaned over the boy, his face pale. He then put the boy's arm over his shoulder, "Broken tibia," he muttered as he helped the boy limp towards the castle, "None of you try to mount your brooms, I'm taking Neville to the hospital wing," he added as he reentered the castle.
Harry watched as Draco laughed with his friends about the whole thing, Harry would be laughing too if he didn't have an act to keep up, "Did you see his face? The great lump!" Draco exclaimed, his two oafs and a few other Slytherins chuckled at that.
"Shut up Malfoy," Parvati exclaimed.
"Oooohh! Sticking up for the boy?" Pansy sneered, a smirk firmly placed on her face, "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies Patil."
"Look at this," Draco said smirking, he held up Neville's remembrall so that it shined in the sun, Harry could see where this was going and sighed, "It's that stupid useless thing his gran got him!"
"Give that here Malfoy, it's not yours," Harry said quietly.
Draco just smiled nastily, "Nah, I think I might leave it somewhere for Longbottom, how about up a tree?" he asked.
Harry watched as the boy mounted his broom. The one thing Harry could benefit from this was showing off his own flying skills. Harry swung his leg over the broom and waited for Draco to fly into the air. He watched as Draco zoomed into the air and tossed the remembrall from hand to hand, "Give it here!" Harry yelled louder. Even from a distance, Draco's smirk was clear.
"Come and get it Praet!" He yelled. It was sort of funny that most of the Slytherins were on a first name basis with him because none even wanted to acknowledge his last name.
Deadbush suddenly grabbed Harry, "Don't!" She exclaimed, "You'll get us all in trouble! Professor Potter said we weren't to mount our brooms!"
Harry shrugged the mudblood off of his arm, holding back a wince from her dirty hands having touched his skin. He kicked hard off the ground and launched into the air like an arrow. He was now above Draco, he watched as the boy realized that Harry knew how to fly a broom, and he knew how to do it quite well. He heard gasps from the majority of the girls on the ground and a loud woop from Griffith, Ron was standing there gobsmacked. Harry dived towards Draco and pulled back at the last moment so that he and the boy were eye to eye. Draco looked extremely frightened.
"Malfoy," Harry snarled, "Give that remembrall to me now, or I will knock you off that broom. I'm a bit curious to see if dropping from this height will kill you," Harry added, apparently he was speaking loudly enough for others to hear from the ground, because he heard a collective amount of gasps. Harry glanced back to see that a few Death Eater's sons were extremely frightened, they had likely seen the Dark Lord's temper before and just realized Harry might have it as well.
This seemed to occur to Draco as well, but for some reason he was determined to seem brave, a Gryffindor trait, "Oh yeah?" he attempted to sneer.
Harry flattened his broom out and zoomed towards Draco, the blonde boy barely managed to move out of the way and Harry quickly did a 180 so they were facing again. A few people bellow, including Ron and Griffith, were clapping and cheering. He glared at Draco and they started to have a staredown again, but then Draco seemed to remember what had happened only about an hour earlier and looked away.
"No big oafs up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry told him quietly. As soon as this occurred to Draco.
Draco raised his hand holding the remembrall, "Catch it if you can then!" he shouted, chucking the remembrall directly towards the ground as hard as he could.
Harry saw the remembrall launch out of Draco's hand as if it was in slow motion. Harry leaned forward so that his broom was tipped almost directly towards the ground. He flattened himself against his broom and stretched toward the glittering ball. The wind whistled in his ears as he reached his right hand towards the small ball, he heard a few screams come from the crowd of student. Harry watched as the ground rose up towards him, ten feet, he could almost touch the remembrall. Five feet from the ground, Harry stretched, the ball touching his finger tips, almost there. Only a few inches above the ground, Harry managed to snatch the small glass ball, he leaned backwards as much as possible, and felt the broom vibrate slightly as the tail brushed the grass. He raised the hand that had the remembrall in it. Then he slowly floated over to where the crowd of students were waiting.
As soon as he landed, Harry saw an infuriated looking Professor McGonagall burst out of the castle, "PRAET RIDDLE!" she yelled.
He watched with a look of dread as she stormed towards him, "Never! In all my time at Hogwarts-" she started, her face was flushed, she was breathing hard and her glasses were flashing angrily, "How dare you! Might have broken your neck!"
Parvati Patil spoke up in defense of Harry, "It wasn't his fault Professor-"
"Be quiet Miss Patil!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, sending a quick glare at the girl that quickly silenced her.
"But the pompous-" Griffith started in defense of Harry.
"That is ENOUGH Mr. Potter. Riddle, follow me, now." Professor McGonagall exclaimed.
Harry held back a sigh, he doubted he'd be expelled, but he might get a whole years worth of detention, which would make visiting Goliath and the Dark Lord extremely challenging. He opened his mouth for a second considering defending himself, but closed it again. Considering how the Professor had responded to the others defending him, he doubted it would help. The Professor was leading him quickly down the corridor, not even checking to see if he was able to keep up. They went up the marble staircase and still the angry Professor hadn't said a word. She practically tore doors open with Harry trotting quickly behind her, a miserable look pasted onto his face. He wasn't quite sure where she was taking him, he was fairly certain this wasn't the to the headmaster's office or the Gryffindor dormitories. Perhaps she was taking him to her classroom to give him some sort of detention slip? They stopped outside of a classroom Harry was pretty sure was charms.
The Professor leaned in, "Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?" she asked.
Wood? Harry thought, she said it like a name, but who was Wood? And what kind of name was Wood? Harry watched as a burly fifth-year boy Harry assumed to be Wood walked out of the class looking confused.
"Follow me, you two," commanded Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood was looking at both the Professor and Harry curiously. After a minute, they came upon the door, "In here," the Professor told them, opening the door.
The room they entered looked rather barren, except for a ghost that was writing rude words on a blackboard with a piece of chalk. A single glare from the Professor sent the ghost swooping out of the classroom cursing. She slammed the door loudly behind him and turned to face Wood and Harry.
"Riddle, this is Oliver Wood. Wood, I've found you a seeker," Professor McGonagall told them.
Harry held back his shock, he'd expected a detention or something, but instead the Professor seemed to be saying he should be put on the house Quidditch Team. Wood's expression of confusion from before vanished and was replaced by a look of utter delight. He turned towards the Professor excitedly.
"Are you serious Professor?" Wood asked after a moment, looking a bit sceptical.
"Absolutely," Professor McGonagall reassured him, "The boy's simply brilliant on a broom. I've never seen anything like it it, how long have you been flying brooms Riddle?" she asked.
"Um, about a month," Harry told her truthfully, shock crossed her face.
The Professor gestured to the remembrall clutched in his hand, "He caught that thing after a fifty-foot dive almost straight towards the ground," She told Wood, "Didn't even scratch himself or the broom he was riding, Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed.
Wood turned to Harry excitedly as if Harry was the solution to all his problems, and Harry supposed he might be, "Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Riddle?" he asked, "I'm the Quidditch captain of Gryffindor team," he quickly explained.
"Uh, I heard about it a bit when I was at Griffith's house for the last month or so, but I don't know how to play," Harry told him.
Wood seemed to ignore him, "He's just the build for a Seeker too," Wood said after examining Harry for a moment, "Light, speedy. I would normally worry about a broom, but this year we have those new Cleansweep Sevens. We might want to get him a Nimbus 2000 to give him a bit of an edge over others though."
Professor McGonagall nodded, "I will speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks," she trailed off. She looked at Harry sternly over her glasses, "I want to hear you're training hard, Riddle, or I may change my mind about punishing you," she added, Harry nodded quickly.
-=Later (Lunch Time)=-
"You're joking!" Griffith exclaimed.
Harry had just finished telling Ron and Griffith what had happened with Professor McGonagall. Ron's plate was piled high with food that he had all but forgotten about. Griffith had eaten quickly as Harry had told the them about what happened and the majority of the things Wood had told him.
"Seeker?" Griffith double checked, "But first years never- you must be the youngest house player in about-" the boy started.
"- A century," Harry finished, taking a bite of carrot. He felt particularly hungry after everything that had happened after he'd left flying lessons, "Wood told me. He also told me he expected to see me after my last class for today to explain Quidditch to me," he explained, Griffith looked like he was proud that he'd been proved right, and Ron was just sitting gaping at Harry like he was the most amazing thing in existence, "I start actual training next week, don't tell anyone though, Wood wants it to stay quiet."
The Weasley twins now came into the hall and ran over to Harry, "Well done Praet!"
"Wood told us, we're on the team too,"
"Beaters. We're going to win the"
"Quidditch cup for sure this year,"
"We haven't won since our"
"Dear brother left, but this"
"Years team is going to be"
"Brilliant! You must be very good,"
"Praet, Wood was almost"
"Jumping for joy when he"
"Was telling us about you!" They exclaimed happily, "Anyway, we've got to go,"
"Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new"
"secret passageway out of the school"
"Bet it's that one behind"
"The statue of Gregory the Smarmy,"
"That we found in our first week," they said, then walked away.
Harry turned to Griffith and Ron, "Am I the only one, or does their way of talking making your head hurt?" He asked, rubbing his head, both of them nodded.
Harry turned back to his food only to see Draco coming their way. Harry had no doubt the boy was about to rub it in Harry's face that he was going to be expelled, but Harry wasn't, so Harry was curious to see where the conversation went.
"Ah hello Praet, having a last meal before you go back to being a street rat?" Draco sneered.
"Quite a bit braver now that you've got your bodyguards, are you not?" Harry asked, it seemed that annoying Draco gained him favor with pretty much everyone in Gryffindor.
"I'd take you on anytime on my own," Draco defended, "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only - no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before I suppose?" Draco sneered, smirking at Harry.
"Of course I have!" Harry exclaimed, that was true, although he'd never actually done it to the extent of having a second, "Griffith's my second, who's yours?" Harry asked.
Draco looked between Crabbe and Goyle, Harry almost laughed, he doubted either of them could cast a single spell, "Crabbe," Draco decided, "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."
When Draco was gone, Griffith turned to Harry, "How did you know what a wizard's duel was?"
AN Woohoooo! First extended chapter is posted, this chapter is almost double length :D. Anyways, congratulations to Inkvi for noticing that I changed the story description when I put Harry in Gryffindor! Also, feel free to tell me if this gets boring. I'm making it very closely aligned with the normal books, and if that makes it too predictable and boring tell me. Next chapter will include Defense class and likely the rest of Thursday.
-Ariana Flynn Riddle