Chapter 36 A Rosewood Broomstick
Harry went back to his cubicle at the Auror Headquarters with Ron. Percy Weasley had been waiting there. He sat upright in Ron's seat.
"Percy, what are you doing here?" Ron asked.
"He is here as a representative of the Wiping Out Broom Smugglers Committee in the Department of Magical Transportation and Broom Regulatory Control office," said their boss, Gawain Robards gesturing towards Percy.
Percy looked at Harry tensely and stood up from his seat so abruptly that the file of parchment on his knees fell down to the floor. Harry guessed that Percy regretted giving Ginny the new Rita Skeeter book for Christmas. It had been that book that caused the rift between Harry and Ginny. Sensing Percy's feelings, Harry forced a smile and picked up the file on the floor.
Percy returned a smile awkwardly and opened the file, "We've collected information about brooms smuggled from abroad these past few months, but we can't push the broom flight envelope any more. We need Aurors."
They could see the amount of data about the countries where the smuggled brooms were found in the file and Harry noticed that Hogwarts was among them.
"We suspect that someone is trying to re-export these broomsticks to get a large profit. We think he must be a remaining Death Eater," Robards explained.
"Sir, why do you think so? Do you have some sort of proof?" asked Harry.
Robards smiled at Harry musingly and said, "Potter, I'm glad that you've learned just as I expected you," He put his right hand on Harry's shoulder.
Harry was a little baffled and asked, "I don't understand, Sir."
Robards chuckled and said, "When you first started here, you tended to rely on your gut feeling too much, but you've changed."
Harry could barely maintain a straight face. Before he became an Auror, he had been a bit too reckless.
Robards grinned at him and said, "Well, their money always flows in to Britain but we can't identify to whom, so all we have to do is to find out who gathers these money and what is their true purpose. Two of you did a good job," and he dismissed them.
The next day Harry and Ron were given a day off. Harry missed Ginny, and thought of visiting her under his Invisibility Cloak without being noticed by her, but he put his feeling aside. He was determined to visit Hagrid instead.
When Neville welcomed Harry by opening the entrance gates to Hogwarts, saying, "I thought you weren't coming until Friday."
Harry shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and said, "Well, I'm off duty today, so I came to visit Hagrid."
They were silent as they walked around the building. Harry felt thankful that Neville wasn't the type to ask a lot of questions, particularly questions about his relationship with Ginny.
Harry remembered the time when he had tried to explain to Ginny that he couldn't use Pensieve memory to prove that he hadn't willingly slept with Dara Cadwagan. When he had been a captive of Dara's father, the Druidic Chieftan of Northern Ireland, he was quite certain that Dara had given him love potion to lure him in. Ginny had avoided any time alone with Harry since reading Rita Skeeter's rotten book about Harry's secret relationship with a certain daughter of a specific Druid.
When they reached the top of the hill, Neville opened his mouth, "Well, I have to be ready for the next lesson tomorrow. Say hello to Hannah for me."
Harry was puzzled and asked, "Why?"
Neville stuttered slightly," She's been worried about keeping up with Auror's works. She's consulted with me on it several times. She's just too good-natured to capture Dark Wizards, you know."
"So you're going out with her," said Harry suddenly feeling lonely.
Recently, Michael Corner had announced his engagement to Cho and all of his other friends seemed to be finding their partners. Even Seamus, who used to go drinking with him, had started getting off of work early. Harry suspected that he must have a girlfriend. Grinning at Neville, Harry said "You two make a good couple. Hannah will be happy with you. I think Professor McGonagall will set up a good environment for Hannah to graduate Hogwarts. What she has learned as a trainee will be counted towards her lessons for graduation."
"Yeah, I think so. She's learned a lot about DADA, runes and potions at the Auror Headquarters, but her herbology knowledge is lacking. When she returns to school, I think that's something I can help her with." Neville smiled brightly and returned to the castle.
Harry pulled on his Invisibility cloak just in case Dara happened to find him. Walking down the hill towards Hagrid's hut, the sight of smoke trailing from the smoke stack cheered his dejected mood. Grinning at the thought of copper kettles and fireplaces, Harry pulled off his Invisibility cloak, raised his fist and knocked on the door, calling out, "Hagrid, it's me. Harry!"
The door was flung open and Fang started barking frantically, jumping to lick Harry's face.
Once Fang was out of the way, an enormous bearded face beamed down at Harry, "Want a cuppa?" Hagrid said as he gestured Harry towards a seat.
Harry got inside and found Hermione near the enormous wooden table. "If I had known you were here, I wouldn't have visited," Harry muttered. He was avoiding her as well because he was sure she would ask about his relationship with Ginny.
Hagrid strode over to the kettle and splashed boiling water into two of his bucket shaped mugs.
"How's your brother?" asked Harry before Hermione had a chance to open her mouth.
"Yeah, he's fine. Living in the Forbidden Forest. 'Is English is gettin better, you know. Hermione sometimes visits 'im with me. Grawp likes her," Hagrid beamed at Hermione.
Harry stared at Hermione with a questioning look.
She raised her eyebrows and said, "We're friends, Harry. We fought the War here together last year. He helped us a lot."
"Yeah, I remember very well, but did you really teach him English?" asked Harry.
Hermione looked down at her mug like she was attempting to focus her thoughts, and said, "I've learned a lot about Giants and half-Giants in the library and from the story you told me."
Harry remembered that he had told her about Oisin Quinn, a half-Giant who worked as a cook at Cadwagan's castle in Northern Ireland.
"So?"
"They are cleverer than we think. Speaking different languages is not so important," whispered Hermione.
"And?" he said in a sharp tone of voice.
"I've come to a conclusion," said Hermione gingerly.
Harry was staring at her without saying anything. He had fallen into the habit of doing wandless Legilimency over the last few months. Although it wasn't as clear without his wand, he was still able to pick up fragments of memories. He could get the gist of what Hermione was thinking without causing headache to both of them. She was full of confidence about her theory. His mind eyes caught a pile of books and her quill and parchments. Then Harry noticed a rosewood broomstick in the corner behind Hermione. His face got strained when he felt a slight of dark magical power from it.
"Harry, your look scares me."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Harry softened his expression, but he kept glancing at the broomstick. He had to check it later.
" 'Arry is an Auror, Hermione. 'e'll be the bes since the Aurors 'istory started," Hagrid looked satisfied grinning at Harry. Want rock cakes? "
Hagrid's enormous hands picked up a plate of rock cakes as he whispered to Harry. "Spending time with Grawp is getting ter be her routine after her studyin' these days. She mighta missed you an Ron an the time yer spent talkin in my hut. Three of yeh used ta be always together."
Hagrid's words caused Harry to become aware of his best friend.
"So what's your conclusion?" asked Harry, this time gently to Hermione.
"Well, they do anything we want if we become their friends."
"Yeah, I know. Grawp fought for us against enemy Giants last year."
"I've been helping him memorize the faces of the remaining Death Eaters from the wanted posters," said Hermione.
"What?" this time it was Harry to be puzzled.
"It worked," Hermione looked content. "Grawp nearly succeeded in capturing one of them, but to our disappointment he was able to escape in his Animagus form."
Harry was startled and asked, "Wait, you said, Grawp nearly caught one of them? How did he do that?"
"We've used Gnomes. I made hoods and I put a picture of the culprit on the top of each hood, trained Grawp to catch them running around in the forest. "
"Gnomes are too tiny for Grawp to see," said Harry.
"Oh, he has good eyesight. He can catch insects flying in the air. Speaking of eyesight, you need to see an ophthalmologist. Have you read my owl mail?"
"Eh, yeah, " he lied.
"I can refer you to a good doctor. Maybe if you were to wear contact lenses, Ginny might fall in love with you again. You'd look more handsome with them."
Harry didn't like the direction the conversation was headed and quickly changed the subject. "Hagrid, did you witness Grawp capture one of them?"
"Yep. We almos captured 'im. But he ran away leavin' the broomstick," Hagrid's enormous finger pointed at the broomstick that Harry had noticed earlier.
Disappointed, Harry pushed the locks of hair out of his face and knitted his brows, thinking hard. "Can you give me some more detail, Hagrid? What did the Death Eater look like?"
"He was thin an' bearded," said Hagrid gesturing with his enormous hands.
Harry wondered if he might be Rabastan Lestrange, who was also thin and asked Hermione, "Do you think he was Lestrange?"
"Well, he might be, but we couldn't identify him clearly. It was so dark in the forest."
"What about his Animagus form?" Harry asked her sharply. What the hell was he doing in the forbidden forest?
"It was like a big dog or a wolf," answered Hermione. "You can check what his Animagus form is in the Ministry."
"I doubt that he's a registered Animagus." Harry said as he stood up from the table, taking a step closer to the broomstick. Pulling a magical camera out of his mole-skin pouch, he asked, "Did you touch it?"
"No, I didn't."
Harry threw Hagrid a questioning look. Then Hagrid admitted,
"Eh, I might touch it, 'Arry, I 'ave ta carry it."
Harry pressed for an answer, "Didn't you feel anything when you touched it?"
"Nothing. I shoulda told yeh when we found it," said Hagrid sheepishly.
Draco Malfoy squinted at the bottle of powder. How many kinds of Potions Powder had he invented? Although Potter's Goblin-made, wrought metal cauldron had helped a little, these achievements still might have brought him the Order of Merlin first class, had he not been a Death Eater. He sighed deeply. He had almost been sent to Azkaban for his crimes. It was only the testimony of Professor Snape's portrait that had saved him. As potions adviser of the Auror Headquarters, he had been spending a painful amount of time working towards his goal. Suddenly, his concentration was broken when a red headed wizard entered the laboratory.
"Is that the allergy test potion?" asked Ronald Weasley.
Ron and his brother, George had ordered him to make his first product, detective powder. Most of the officers in the Ministry now used it when they opened their owl mail, particularly if it was from an unidentified person. Draco understood that he should appreciate them for giving him the chance to live again, but he couldn't allow himself to show it. He had no respect for blood traitors.
Even Granger had been helpful to him. She had given him the suggestion to make detective powder and also helped him remove the dark mark from his arm, however, his stubborn pride wouldn't allow him to show her any gratitude. None of the Slytherins could accept the Muggle Born's supremacy.
Weasley stepped out of the laboratory to hand the allergy test for Veritaserum to Williamson. Turning to the sink to wash his hands, Draco heard footsteps approaching. His old rival with the jet black hair was standing right behind him.
"Malfoy, your experiment reached the first goal. But I've been wondering if it is possible to mass-produce powder that identifies the scene of the crime."
Draco's prophecy had come true. Great Harry Potter was here in his office, once again asking for his help. Sighing, he answered, 'Potter, just think about how long it will take to brew a potion from scratch. Snape started to train me, but then I quit halfway through Hogwarts."
Harry was now sitting on the stool by the sink staring at the white blond-headed wizard. Draco couldn't feel comfortable with Harry sitting like that in his sacred laboratory. Harry's silence said a lot. There was a rumor that he could do wandless Legilimency and that nobody could fool him, except Robards and the Minister. Though Draco had taken both Occlumency and Ligilimency lessons from Snape, he had no confidence in his Occlumency skills. Harry's green eyes seemed to be burning through him. Finally, he gave up, sighing, 'Okay. I'll give it a try. I do have one favour though. Can you try to get Robards to give me a raise?"
Harry grinned at Malfoy with satisfaction, "I will."
The young Gryffindor Seeker flew up to the goal hoops and soon darted down at the glittering snitch. His jet-black hair stood on end against the changeable spring wind, the sight of the outstanding catch reminded the beautiful red-headed witch of her boyfriend who had a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead. She had put her pang to see him down at the bottom of her heart for so long, until she could find the answer to why he couldn't explain the truth to her satisfactorily. But this feeling was blown aside when she witnessed Andrew crash against the hard ground after catching the golden Snitch. She dashed to the spot where the young Seeker fell down from his broom, and Demelza followed her from the stands.
Ginny bellowed, "Andrew, don't do that again, I've told you! You don't have to show off!"
Andrew Deverill stood up, wiping dirt off his cheek with his sleeves, and retorted, "It's not showing-off at all. I must be ready for all situations, so I want to try every possible strategy."
"If we lose you, there will be no spare."
"But, of all people, your boyfriend taught me this technique," he stared at Ginny defiantly.
Ginny raised her brows, "You were barely saved from a serious injury, what if next time" － her words were soon cut short.
"If I get a serious injury, you'll be a Seeker! I know you can play. I heard you did a very good job when Mr. Potter couldn't play in his sixth year."
"That's enough!" Ginny felt irritated, when she heard Andrew mention Harry many times though she didn't know why, She pulled out her wand before she knew what she was doing.
Her teammate was at a loss, Demelza could do nothing, but walked about between Andrew and Ginny, and she wished earnestly their former-captain, Harry had been there. Why did their Harry choose to be a bloody Auror? He should have come back to Hogwarts to be their captain again. The other Beaters, Jimmy and Ritchie came down to intervene, sensing their captain's serious mood, for they knew her hex very well. Andrew could never win against her. Andrew understood the situation was getting worse, he stormed out of the Quidditch pitch frustrated that Ginny Weasley prohibited the acrobatic dive he had just mastered. He had a crush on her once, she was the first witch he loved, but sometimes she was too protective like his mother. If his hero, Harry Potter had been there, the situation would have been changed. Gryffindor captain should be a man. He concluded his own feeling that had nowhere to go. He shoved open the door of boys' locker room, flung his Quidditch uniform over his shoulder and took out a sheet of parchment and a quill from the pocket of the robes hung on the wall, and started scribbling at the small table.
Mr. Potter
The Easter holiday is coming. Could you stop by after your work during holidays? I need your help. It is Gryffindor versus Slytherin in the next match. The new Slytherin Seeker is really skillful. I must beat him.
Andrew
The culprit reacted to the allergy test for Veritaserum so the head of the Aurors ordered them to examine the broomsticks they had confiscated from the old cottage near Hogwarts. They were now encircling the rosewood broomstick carried from Hagrid's hut. Proudfoot levitated the broomstick and looked at it closely, pointing his wand at it carefully. He kept chanting the incantation to reveal Dark Magic for a while and heaved a sigh of disappointment.
"Well?" A grey haired wizard inquired.
"I couldn't identify the magic, sir," answered Proudfoot stroking his bald head.
Robards pursed his lips and said, "The photos show someone has done the same Dark Magic cast on the smuggled broomsticks to hide the real performance of these broomsticks at the cottage. Do you know any other Aurors or Unspeakables who can identify the Dark Magic?"
"No, sir, but outside the Ministry, you know them, sir?"
Robards groaned, "Lucius Malfoy, he is out of the question. He will never tell us the truth even if I do Legilimency, that's why he could survive the Dark Lord's harassing," Roberds shuddered, Harry wondered why.
"The other skillful Occlumency caster was Severus Snape."
Harry was startled and looked at Robards. His boss noticed Harry's stare and nodded and continued,
"He was good at Legilimens, too. It is too famous nowadays that the Death Eaters were trained in Occlumency and Legilimency by the Dark Lord. That's why we added the new training curriculum," Robards kept staring at Harry, and seemed to guess he could be equal to Snape. Harry could score the highest mark in Occlumency and Legilimency among trainees during some lessons, but he hadn't expected that he and Ron would be ordered to go to Hogwarts.
Robards said, "We should stop relying on Dumbledore's last secret warrior who has already died, however our trainees will bring back the vital information after research at Hogwarts. Potter, Weasley follow the instructions of your Mentors during Easter holidays," and the meeting was dismissed.
Ron groaned and muttered, "I thought we could have a break during Easter holidays."
"We can meet Hermione and Hagrid," Harry answered back.
"Yeah, but Hermione had a plan to go to Camden Town, on a kind of date."
"Oh," Harry felt lonely again.
"Of course, you can come with us. She has wanted you to consult a Muggle eye healer who lives in Camden Town. He is also a wizard."
"Thanks, but I don't feel like being a third wheel on your date," he grabbed the Floo Powder by the hearth in the office.
When Harry stepped out from the hearth of the basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place, Teddy with turquoise blue hair toddled towards Harry. He knelt down with open arms to hold Teddy. He grinned wide to hear his godson's calling his name, "Arryee."
Andromeda beamed at her grandson held by her deceased favorite cousin's godson and said,
"Teddy's birthday is coming. I'd like to invite all the Weasley family and Narcissa during Easter holidays, do you mind?"
Harry couldn't answer instantly, remembering the white-blonde headed witch, Malfoy's mother. She continued to talk,
"Of course you can invite your friends, too," and she threw her inquiring stare at him.
Harry couldn't answer still, for inviting the Weasley family meant Ginny was coming. He was afraid of being treated as just her friend or like a brother by her.
"You don't like my sister, Cissy, do you?" Andromeda stared at him, her heavily lidded eyes reminded him of Bellatrix Lestrainge sometimes, though Andromeda's hair was brown and her lips were not thin.
"Oh, it's okay with me. It was your sister who saved my life during the battle of Hogwarts," now he was holding up Teddy in his arms, Teddy's hair turned to Harry's jet-black one from turquoise blue.
"Are you sure?" she stared at him with her concerned look.
"Yes, I'm sure," he grinned at her.
Andromeda smiled and added casually, "Cissy will take Draco with her," and she went out of the kitchen to the bathroom upstairs to give her grandson a bath.
It took a few minutes for his old rival's name to sink in, though he and his training mates had had a lecture about Potions from Malfoy at the Potions Laboratory inside the Auror Headquarters. He felt a tiny soft hand touch his cheek, strode out of the kitchen holding Teddy in his arms, climbed up a flight of stairs, and talked to Andromeda from behind, "They can't come here themselves, they should at least be watched by Aurors,"
"The matter is settled then, Harry. You and your best friend are Aurros, aren't you?"
"Eh, well, right," Harry consented unwillingly.
"You are Teddy's godfather. Please write an invitation letter to Mrs. Weasley. I'll owl to Cissy," she carried Teddy in her arms from Harry's arms, went inside the bathroom.
Harry went back to his room, threw off his Auror robes and saw a typical Hogwarts owl swoop down outside the window. It soared through the window he opened, dropped the small envelope from its beak at his feet, then zoomed outside and off across the street. He ripped open the envelope in expectation that Ginny might have written a letter for him, and read the letter inside holding his horses. To his disappointment it was from a young Gryffindor Seeker. When he finished reading, he had a little hope. Quidditch would help him to get back Ginny's trust in him.
The next day the Auror wrapped the rosewood broomstick Hagrid found and the cherry wood broomstick they seized at the old cottage in hard large paper. Proudfoot told Harry and Ron,
"Don't touch them with your bare hands."
Harry and Ron put on dragon-skin gloves George made, and held the wrapped broomstick carefully in each hand. They stood in the front of the hearth of the office, grabbed the Floo Powder and shouted together,
"Headmistress's office, Hogwarts!"
When they stepped out of the hearth, McGonagall was waiting for them, she poured Earl Grey tea and urged them to take shortbread. She nodded towards the wrapped packages they carried and said, "Are those the cursed broomsticks?"
"Yes, Professor," said Harry and he looked up at the portrait of Snape.
He was awake, gazing at Harry, who felt his mentor's unspeakable expressions on his face, he sometimes looked to hate him, and the next moment he looked to care about him. Snape in the portrait opened his mouth after giving Harry a long stare,
"Potter. Why are you grudging your magical strength? I have nothing to teach you."
Harry couldn't understand what Snape told him, "But professor, I can't decipher the Dark Magic recorded on the magical camera nor find out the trace cast on these brooms. Even our head couldn't..." his words were cut short, and he heard the unexpected advice in his drawling voice.
"I can't believe your boss hasn't ordered you to read the culprit's mind yet. However, a new DADA professor may be able to give you advice. Minerva, call Professor Scrimgeour."
McGonagall went out of her office to call Gaius Scrimgeour. Harry tried retorting, "But professor, I can only get the fragment of the other's mind like an outline. I can't read like when I was one of his Horcruxes."
Ron gasped when he heard the word, horcruxes.
"How many times have you tried Legilimency since you read Draco's mind?"
Harry counted. He had done it twice. Both times were unintentional, he could just read the state of their mind: one was Hermione's mind last week and the other was Ginny's during Christmas time. The fragment of Hermione's was filled with satisfaction and Ginny's was full of sadness, which brought Harry to be lost in contemplation. Ron poked him to pay attention to Snape.
"I did twice, sir. But they were imperfect. When I could read Malfoy's mind before, he let me read his mind easily. There was no barrier."
Snape sneered, "Draco owes you his life-bet, that's why he allowed you to invade his mind, and he almost mastered Occlumency for fear against the Dark Lord. But you've still…" but Snape's words were cut short when Dumbledore's of the portrait coughed. Harry's great Mentor beamed at him and said,
"Harry, believe your magical strength. I heard from Kingsley you had done wandless Legilimens upon your fellow workers during training. I reckon you've done them unconsciously even when you're off duty."
"Oh, I didn't count those. Yes, I could get the highest mark among trainees, sometimes I do unconsciously. But I have no confidence whether I will find out the vital information from the culprit. The training was just like guessing how the fellow worker spent the other night or whether he or she was in a good mood or not."
"Legilimency invades people's privacy so the curriculum is restricted inside the Auror training. And you could guess the right answer, couldn't you?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well, almost yes, sir, but what if the culprit was superior to me? He might find out my secret."
Dumbledore stared at Harry with his piercing blue eyes and said, "Your boss is also afraid of the same thing. Before the tragedy of professor Scrimgeour's father, Robards was captured once, the Dark Lord invaded his mind and drew the vital information about the deceased Minister's hiding, which became a trigger for the assassination. That's why Gawain Robards never uses Legilimency since then."
Harry was stunned to hear about his Head's trauma.
"But Harry, it was you that finally could close your mind against the Dark Lord's invading. You had better have more experience before confronting Rabastan Lestrange. And don't avoid a daughter of Druid. For example, the Fidelius Charm which is used to conceal a secret inside an individual soul is said to be the most ancient spell invented by a Druidic warlock. She will help you," Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled behind his glasses.
"But professor," Harry tried to retort and stopped. How could he confess about his relationship with Ginny closely connected with Dara's crush on him? Then the door of the office was open, McGonagall entered the room with professor Scrimgeour. A son of the former Minister glanced at Harry and turned his gaze at the two broomsticks on the table in the center of the office. He pulled out his wand and examined them. His wand emitted blue light when he chanted the incantation,
"Specialis Revelio," the same spell Proudfoot cast.
"What do you think?" McGonagall urged him to say words with her anxious look.
"Dark Magic holding the inner power inside the object…,"he mumbled and touched his wand tip to the two broomsticks again and asked Harry,
"Did the Aurors inspect the culprit's wand?"
Harry answered, "Yes, we did, sir. The response was the same as the magical camera. He seemed to have cast the magic which hold its real performance."
Scrimgeour nodded contemplating and looked up at the portrait of Snape and said,
"Well, professor Snape, could you please tell me the secret spell which is effective against the unidentified Dark Magic?" his voice contained sarcastic tone.
Snape looked sneered defiantly and said, "It's not a secret spell at all. The spell is simple. Finish Absconditus, one of common concealing charms among Death Eaters."
"Is it so simple?" asked Scrimgeour.
"Believe me. You can use the spell to release the effect of Dark Magic, because the Death Eaters often cast the concealing charms to finish their magic to hide the secret spell inside the object from the Auror. You can erase the curse at least so that you can send them back to the broomstick makers. But the trace marks will be lost forever."
"We have two options. To send them to the makers safely or to keep them in the condition that they contain dark magic inside. We should choose the former," Scrimgeour chanted pointing his wand at the each broomstick, "Finite Absconditus."
The two broomsticks gleamed pale pink. Snape said,
"Now you can touch them with bare hands. And the makers can inspect its performance anytime from now. But we cannot find out why they cast the concealing charms to hide the real performance of these broomsticks and what Dark Magic they used before finishing with the concealing charms without letting the culprits tell the truth," and Snape stared at Harry again.
"Robards is afraid of casting Legilimens. The failure of his Occlumency against the Dark Lord caused the assassination of my father. He has been blaming himself from that day," said Scrimgeour bitterly, and looked up at Dumbledore like begging him for his advice.
"The last two key wizards, Kingsley and," Dumbledore paused and turned his gentle gaze to Harry and said,
"Harry, the Minister has much information so it's too dangerous to let Kingsley do Legilimens. He can't help you this time. It might be a big challenge for you, but we believe in you."
Harry swallowed hard, felt Ron touch his shoulder with his hand, he whispered,
"You can do it. Me and Hermione will help you. Practice, use us before facing the hooded wizard."
Harry couldn't believe his ears and stared at Ron. Ron grinned wide and said, "We have known each other very well since three of us met in the Hogwarts Express."
Dumbledore said in his satisfaction, "This is your strength. Your friendship will lead you along."
After their reporting to Robards about progress through the Floo Network, Ron went up to Head Girl's room to see Hermione. Harry headed down to the Quidditch pitch, pulled over his Invisibility Cloak in haste when he noticed a blonde-headed witch, Dara Cadwagan who had a crush on him. He passed her holding his breath, for he was not ready to see her though Dumbledore gave him advice to learn the vital magical technique from her, feeling her druidic skeptical stare that showed she felt his magical aura. Old magic was scary, she reached her hand out for him, and she missed pulling off his Invisibility Cloak. He felt relieved as six goal hoops came into his view, and he made his Firebolt bigger. Soon after he pulled off his Invisibility Cloak in the stands, he received an enthusiastic welcome from his old teammates, except the beautiful red-headed witch. He noticed Ginny's intense stare out of the corner of his eye being hugged from the other teammates, thought hard about the first attractive lines to say to her, to coax her smile, and if possible her kisses. When his clear green eyes met her chocolate brown eyes, Andrew jumped at him shouting,
"Mr. Potter! I mastered your acrobatic dive!"
"Wow, really? Show me," Harry tried saying cheerfully and followed the boy wizard.
Andrew shouted loudly, "Demelza, release the Snitch!" and he mounted his broomstick and flew up to the air.
Harry noticed Andrew's broom was new, a cherry wood. He got on his Firebolt, kicked off the ground and rose into the spot where Andrew was streaking around. Harry shouted,
"Where did you buy your new broomstick?"
Andrew couldn't catch his words and shouted back in the wind, "What did you say?"
Harry muttered, "Sonorous" to amplify his voice and said, "Your new broom, how did you get it?"
Andrew grinned wide and shouted back, "It's very good, light in the wind and handy to steer. You can get the same type of this model, Hayabusa by owl mail-order sales from Japan," and he seemed to find the Snitch, he started doing his acrobatic dive.
Harry grinned at the young Seeker's technique, soaring down after Andrew. Their foot touched the ground at the same time, and he patted Andrew's shoulder satisfied and said,
"You did a good job. Gryffindor will win," and he tried to draw more information about the cherry wood broomstick from him.
Just then Ginny talked to them, she huffed, "I'm the Captain, Harry, don't give him instructions."
"Oh, I didn't intend to. I just wanted to see his technique. You must be proud of him. He is a really good Seeker," Harry tried smiling.
"Yes, he is one of those unbeatable Seekers, like you, but he will stay for weeks in the Hospital Wing like you did, if he never gives up the acrobatic dive you taught him," she snapped at him.
"Oh…," Harry lost his words and grimaced to become aware of the fact that she hadn't forgiven him at all. He barely managed to say, "Believe in your team mates. They know how important the next match is," he continued talking quietly. Her expression seemed to be softened by his words, so he took a step closer to her, with one more step, he would be able to feel her breath, but he halted. He was afraid of being thrown back off her. He admired her fresh and youthful beauty radiating from her in his mind with pain. He suppressed his impulse to pull her in his arms and added, "Put your trust in him. He'll surely bring you the victory," and he left the pitch.
Author's Note: Please leave your thought about this story below. Thank you!