Ch.24 - Preliminary Games
The morning after, Alex had a talk with Katie. He told her that she would have to start learning how to use Occlumency which would protect her mind from mind-readers. Only then would he feel comfortable about telling her anything more.
During the Christmas and New Year break, they spent most of their time in Alex's country house. He introduced her to Mr Baxter and the house-elves who were excited in finally meeting the first woman that their master had brought home.
During this time, he had instructed her personally on Occlumency. However, as a new couple, most of the time they spent together ended up with both of them naked in bed.
To remedy this, Alex had just given her a copy of the instruction on Occlumency that he had given to Mr Baxter and the Order members. She would have to practice mostly on her own. He had given her the proper basic lesson, so he knew she would do just fine on her own.
Even after learning to defend her mind from intrusion, Alex was not thinking of telling her about the Order at the moment. Her learning of his role in the Association was enough for him
Alex was anticipating a time when some ambitious person would try to seize control or reach the top level of the hierarchy of the Association as it got bigger and stronger. At worse, someone could be an infiltrator that was sent by the Ministry or other organizations to spy and compromise the Association from within. In fact, he would be surprised if there wasn't already an agent sent by the Ministry in the Association.
Alex had members of the Order set in place in different levels of authority within the Association as counter spies for such an eventuality. So far, they had tagged 4 members who were reporting to someone else regarding what they've learned in the Association, but the information they had access to were benign and not incriminating.
As for the Order, 20 more members had been formally added to the Order ever since it was founded with the original members. Each initiation was witnessed by Alex in person where the new members had to sign the same agreement as everyone else had done. Order members were very busy all the time.
Unless they were assigned on a permanent post somewhere, they would usually move around in position as needed. One week, they could be working as a custodian in the Ministry, the next week, they were negotiating for a big business deal for the Association and another party.
One of their newest members were Edward Tonks who was now leading their legal department. It was a very important department for Alex, as he did not want the Association to be in violation of any law when it didn't need to.
For him, the Association must always appear inclusive, law-abiding, politically neutral, with transparent administration. So, they had to make sure that they were thorough in the legal aspect of their activities.
Soon enough and Katie had returned to her apprenticeship. Alex had also gone back to his training. After almost two months of training, wandless magic had become easier for him.
He could move things easier now with just a gesture. He could even cast some of the simpler charms he knew without a wand. Sometimes, for a little more complex spells like the 'Aquamenti' charm, for example, saying the incantation was enough.
After becoming adept with wandless magic and the Patronus charm, he had gone back to his prior goal of calling the fire within him through an active spell. He went into deep meditation as usual.
The Patronus called out a representation of one's innocence out from the subconscious. Wandless magic engaged his magical core directly without using a wand as a conduit making his magic use similar to muscle reflex.
Finally, he wanted to try it. But first, he went outside so he could see the fire's burning power. In an area near the gardens, he had the elves set up a place where he could practice his spells safely. There were logs standing on the ground to serve as his target.
He held his left hand with the palm facing the target. It was his theory that the fire would not be conducted through a wand easily, perhaps even breaking it. It was too wild squeeze through such restraints.
"Infernum Igneus Patronum," he said. He felt the thug on his magic. The heat was swelling on his chest, forming, waiting for release.
When he finally pushed it out from his palm, it came out as a small ball of fire. It flew toward the target, revolving as it goes, becoming bigger and bigger, until it transformed into a large fiery wolf before it struck the target.
The fiery wolf apparition rammed into the log of wood and destroyed it with the impact alone. It burned the splintered pieces with an unnaturally fast rate.
After that, the fiery wolf did not disappear. Its shoulder reached about 4 feet from the ground as it stood there alert of the surrounding waiting for his commands.
He simply had to give it the mental instruction to attack the next log as its target. It ran and charged as before. The log was destroyed as expected.
With the fire and smoke that he was making, the house-elves had come to check on what was happening. Alex feared for a moment that the fiery wolf might attack them, but it turned out that he didn't need to.
The wolf just stood there guarding him like some very fierce protector, recognizing that the elves were not a threat to its creator. The house-elves didn't seem to fear it for some reason. They were happily celebrating and congratulating their master for using such an amazing form of magic.
Their words sounded peculiar to him. House-elves were more attuned to using wandless magic than normal wizards. So, he wondered why they felt the magic he performed was so amazing.
The fiery wolf apparition had the destructive capabilities of a Fiendfyre, perhaps even more because it could physically impact an object as if it had weight if it needed to. At the same time, he had control over it similar to how one would control a corporeal Patronus. he only needed to think of his commands and the wolf would move on its own, partially self-aware.
It also acted as his protector similar to how a Patronus would always protect its caster. However, it did not have the playfulness of a Patronus. Instead, it was vigilant and fierce-looking. It just stood by his side not doing anything except those tiny actions that gave it the impression of being a living wolf.
He also suspected that the wolf could possibly destroy a Dementor or a Lethifold by burning them. He couldn't really test his theory, but the wolf gave off that pure feeling of uncompromising vigilance similar to how a Patronus gave off a pure feeling of jubilation. Perhaps this feeling was what impressed the house-elves so.
With his flying dagger, his wandless magic, and now his fiery wolf, Alex felt like he could walk into any battle and conquer anything. He thought about being in the Battle of Hogwarts with his current abilities. While he could only affect the things around him, and while he couldn't predict how a clash between him and the Dark Lord would turn out, he knew that he could turn the tide of battle with skilful use of the things in his arsenal.
Finally, the month of March had arrived. For many, that only meant one thing and one thing only. The Quidditch World Cup games would finally begin. Within the month, the regional preliminary games would decide which teams would advance in the tournament phase of the World Cup.
England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Which of these teams would represent the British Isles? That was the question in most people's minds.
Six games will be played in total. In rare circumstances, a seventh game might be played to decide the second place. That was more quidditch in a month than the people would get to watch in any other month during a normal season.
The Quidditch League would have a modified season during a World Cup year as the best players around would return to their home country to play for pride and glory.
In their final game for the preliminaries, the English team was fighting the team from Scottish. The crowd was cheering really loudly. Most of them were rooting for the England team which turned out to be the surprise contender for the first place in the regional preliminary games.
England has won their other two games against the teams from Ireland and Wales. And so did the Scotland team, but they were always the favourite.
The two teams were guaranteed a spot in the tournament phase of the World Cup as the first or second place in their region. But, that doesn't mean that either team would happily yield the first place. They were playing for all the quidditch fans from their countries. Plus, having the first place would mean a more favourable placement on the tournament bracket. That was because the first round of games in the tournament was between a 1st place winner of a region and a runner-up winner of another region.
After the Quaffle was set loose, the players clashed fighting for the first possession. Scotland had secured it.
They executed their offence in a very direct attack. Their players relied on their speed and strengths. They were willing to bulldoze just about anyone who got in their way. It might be crude, but it was effective as well.
Scotland scored the first goal.
England had the Quaffle now. Their offence is more methodological, relying on short sprints to gain ground against the defence and using short and secure passes to move around the Quaffle before they got bogged down.
It took several minutes of moving around the Quaffle before they finally scored after some very well executed feints. England was relying on their experience and cautious decision making to win them the game.
The sequence had repeated itself many times, sometimes England's attacks were rebuffed and sometimes they also managed to intercept the Quaffle. However, the Scottish team maintained the initiative throughout the game. England seemed to be just trying their best to keep up.
After two long hours of action, the score was 280 points to 210 points with Scotland in the lead. If they managed to string together a sustained run, they might be able to secure the win with their points alone.
Everybody was watching when the Seekers would take action because it seemed that only the Seekers could turn the tide of the action at that point.
Knowing the eyes were on him, he dived with purpose as if he found the Snitch finally. The opposing Seeker had followed him. Based on the angle of his drive, Alex couldn't be attempting a Wronski Feint. However, there were other uses of feints in Quidditch.
Alex had predicted the sequence of action once again. When he saw that his teammates were being cornered in a pincer attack by the enemy Beaters, he had foreseen the change of possession.
And so the opposing team had turned around quickly forming their usual formation that had worked wonders for their team. Only this time, Alex was flying as fast as he could on a colliding trajectory toward them. And, trailing closely behind him was the Scottish Seeker.
It was a very technical manoeuvre for Alex. He was flying in a generally straight direction while heading toward the path of the Scottish offensive while simultaneously keeping himself in front of the opposing Seeker to cut off the player's line of sight.
Just when he was about to hit the group of players, he feinted to the right only to turn all the way so that his head was pointing downward then he pulled to the left, avoiding the players on their offensive formation.
The other Seeker behind him, who did not have a clear view of his teammate was surprised to find himself on a colliding vector with himself. Out of panic, he pulled to the right where Alex had feinted only to find that his teammates' flight path was going the same direction.
They collided in the most gruesome way. Several brooms were broken with wood splinters flying about. Most importantly, the Scottish Seeker and two of their Chasers were down for the entire game.
Alex had never executed a manoeuvre aimed toward harming another player. He usually got along just fine without resorting to the more violent tactics he could think of. But, they were losing. He might have a different reason for joining the National Quidditch team, but he still had the pride of a player.
The crowd cheered him on. A Seeker had just taken out three other players in the pitch. The Scottish players and fans were shouting curses at him and demanding foul from the referees. But, all of his moves were clean according to the Quidditch rules. Alex didn't touch another player or their brooms. If the Wronski Feint that made a player crash to the ground was legal, making them crash with one another was also just as legal.
With three players down on the other team, including their Seeker, the England team had easily won the game with an easier time on the defensive end. When Alex spotted the Snitch, he just chased it without rushing too much.
And with that, the English team had won the match and secured the first place in the regional preliminary games of the British Isles. Alex was the player of the game. His merciless tactics had won them the game.
The final score was 310 points to 450 points. The game had taken over three hours.
Alex had demonstrated that not only could he play as an active Seeker, he could also take advantage of the enemy strategy and do what must be done to secure the win for his team.
The sports analyst among the audience were already thinking of the upcoming scouting battles among the professional league teams to sign Alexander Grey into their team. He won't just bring his skills to any team, there would also be the large fan-base that he would bring because he was probably the most exciting Seeker to watch in the British Isles.
His name was once again in the papers. The celebrations of the team had lasted three days. It has been so long since England was heading for the World Cup as a dominant team.
Not everything was lost for the Scottish team though. They would get to the tournament just as well. And, who could say if they won't be meeting with England in the Tournament?
END OF CHAPTER
Disclaimer:
This work is not for profit. No copyright infringement intended. All recognizable characters, plot, setting, etc. are the property of J. and/or Warner Bros.