Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
A/N: Thanks to PenguinLord0029 and Gazaran, who beta this story.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Quidditch and Detention
Harry was feeling pretty good about everything after the first week. All of his classes went smoothly, well besides the Defense classes but he was not going to have high hopes for that class for this year. Though Hermione would not let them work on the map project until after all their homework, they were making steady progress these last few days. Well, at the very least they were able to list all the things that they wanted the map to do and looked up the charms that would be needed. Most of these charms were advance spells, but Harry was confident that they would be able to make them work.
It was early on Saturday morning when he was woken by a very excited Wood, telling him to hurry up and get ready for their practice. Wood then went to wake up Ron, who really didn't seem to want to wake, before leaving the room.
"What's this about anyway?" Ron grumbled when he finally got up, he was grimacing at the door. "It's the first week and he's waking us up at the crack of dawn …"
"Well, we knew that Wood was a bit keen about Quidditch," Harry shrugged; getting ready and trying to rid himself of this exhaustion he was feeling.
"Seeing as I'm not really on the team, do you think he would let me skip this one?" Ron started to say.
"Come on Ron, don't be like that," Harry said, "just think about how good you'll be when you actually do play after all this extra experience you'll be gaining."
"You just want me to suffer along with you," Ron grumbled and Harry chuckled.
"Well, it is nice knowing you have to get up this early as long I already had to," he said, "besides, we were planning on flying today anyway, it's better that we do it with the whole team."
"Yeah, but I wasn't planning on waking up before the sun rose," Ron grumbled and they got ready and headed down to the Quidditch pitch, however, before they even left the common room they were intercepted by Colin, who followed them and asked Harry questions the whole time.
"Merlin, I think that guy is more obsess with you than even Ginny is," Ron said as he watched Colin try to find a good seat to watch them. "It must be fun to have your own personal stalker."
"Shut up," Harry grumbled as they went into the changing room where the rest of the team was. Once there, Wood went into great detail, the plans he has been going over this whole summer. Harry tried to pay attention, but hearing all of this was just putting him back to sleep. Though the fact that he had to nudge Ron every once in a while to keep him from snoring did keep him from falling asleep too. Finally, after more than an hour they were walking onto the pitch. As he looked at his fellow teammates, he realized that none of them had taken in much of what Wood had just told them.
"Harry, Ron!" Hermione said walking towards them.
"How did you know we were out here?" Ron questioned.
"When you didn't come down to breakfast …" Hermione started to say and Ron groaned; they had not had anything to eat yet that morning. "Anyway, when I got to the Great Hall I realized that none of the Quidditch team was there so I thought I would come and see if you were here. Are you done practicing yet?"
"No … we haven't even started," Harry said.
"Do you think Wood would mind if I run to the Great Hall … I don't know how much longer I can stand it if I don't eat something," Ron frowned.
"Sorry, mate, but I really don't think that's going to happen," Harry said at the same time that Wood yelled at them for wasting time. Harry and Ron then got on their brooms to join the others. However, they were not up there long before the Slytherin team arrived, also in their Quidditch gear.
"What's going on here?" Wood demanded. "I booked the pitch!"
"Yes, but I got a note from Professor Snape," Flint, the captain of the Slytherin team, said with a smirk, reading the note he had that mention them having a new Seeker.
"You've got a new Seeker," Wood said coldly, still glaring at Flint as Harry realized for the first time that Draco was there.
"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" Fred said.
"Funny you should mention Draco's father," Flint smirked, as did the rest of the Slytherins. "Let me show you the generous gift that he had just given the team."
At this he held out his broom, as did the rest of the team, showing off the seven excellent brooms, all of which were a Nimbus 2001.
"Well I'm sure you're all pleased that you have shiny new brooms but Snape's note is actually quite useless, so if you could all just leave us …" Harry started to say, not liking how worried the rest of his team seemed to be about the thought of the Slytherins new brooms.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Flint glared at Harry.
"Only madam Hooch or Professor Dumbledore can say who gets to use the pitch," Harry said calmly. "It was a rule made in the mid seventies because the Slytherin and Gryffindor Professors were booking the pitch all the time and the practices were always being overrun."
"What's going on here?" Hermione said coming from the direction of the stands. "Are you finished with practice, Harry?"
"No, the Slytherins were just trying to cheat us out of the time that Wood book the pitch for, not to mention scare us with the shiny new brooms Draco's daddy got them," Harry explained as all the Slytherin glared at him and Fred and George were chuckling (as well as standing in front of Harry as if expecting the Slytherins to curse him).
"That's right Potter, try and sound confident, but even you must have realized that you'll be no match against us this year," Draco sneer. "So take as many practice sessions as you want, it's not going to make your brooms any faster …"
"At least they have talented players, instead of resorting to have to buy their way on the team," Hermione said looking at Draco shrewdly.
Draco eyes flashed in anger. "No one asked you for your opinion, you fifthly little Mudblood!"
This cause a huge commotion as Harry and the twins all lounged at Draco, looking furious and, if it was not for the other Slytherins standing in their way, who knows what they would have done to him. The rest of the Gryffindor team were also enraged by this, but Ron was so angry that he pulled out his wand and sent a curse at Draco that got around the other Slytherins, hitting Draco in the chest.
Draco seemed to turn green a few second before he started throwing up slugs. This had the Gryffindors all laughing and the Slytherins backing away from him looking disgusted!
"Nice going, Ron," George clapped him on the back. "I'm glad we taught you that spell."
"Bill taught me it so I could get back at you two" Ron said grinning like an idiot as he watched Draco crawl away and the rest of the Slytherin running back to the castle.
"Like I said, I'm glad we taught you that spell," George chuckled.
"I don't like the looks of that, those Slytherin gits are probably going to tell on you," Wood frowned. "They're going to disturb my practice!"
"Oliver, is that all you ever worry about?" Angelina rolled her eyes.
"Besides, don't you have to go work on a new game plan or something," Fred said. "With them having those brooms we'll have to think of something."
"Your right," Wood said frowning more than ever. "Okay, practice is over for today."
"Ron, you really shouldn't have done that," Hermione said walking over to him after the rest of the team left.
"Why don't we take this conversation somewhere else," Harry said, "We could visit Hagrid."
"Fine," both Ron and Hermione said, but Ron seemed to be grumpy at the fact that Hermione didn't appreciate what he did. Didn't she know that he was defending her, why can't she just say thank you and be done with it?
Ron's mood didn't improve when they got to Hagrid's hut and Lockhart was there because Hermione became flustered, though she did allow Harry to avoid the professor by hiding in the pumpkin patch. By the time he left and they were able to knock on Hagrid's door Ron was really in a mood, which wasn't helped at all by the fact that he was starving.
"Hm … Am I missing something here," Hagrid frowned when he realized that neither Ron nor Hermione was saying much.
"Hermione is just upset at Ron for cursing Malfoy in her defense," Harry said and then explained what had happened to Hagrid and then turned to Hermione. "Do you even know what Mudblood means?"
Hermione shook her head, "I realized it had to be something bad of course, but I still don't …"
"It's the worst insult he could think of using for you," Ron explained, looking slightly modified that she didn't realize how bad the situation was. "It means that your blood is dirty because you're a Muggle-born …"
"Most pure blood families think that people with Muggle heritage are below them," Harry added. "Calling you that is like saying you're inferior, like nothing you do or say would make you equal to him because he's blood is pure."
"It's ridiculous of course, everyone with half a brain can see that it doesn't really matter what your heritage is, it's your ability that matters," Ron grumbled. "But there are still a lot of people out there that think blood matters and it really gets to me."
"I think I understand," Hermione frowned. "But I still wish you hadn't done that, Ron …"
"Give me a break, Hermione," Ron groaned, glaring at her.
"I don't want you getting in trouble just because of me," Hermione said to him looking sad.
Ron sighed; when she put it like that he didn't feel so angry with her.
"Honestly Hermione, I think what Ron did was right," Harry said, his expression was hard. "I wish I was the one that got to curse that git."
Hermione groaned as Ron chuckled.
"Yeah, someone has to show that git that he can't just say stuff like that and get away with it," Ron pointed out and Hermione groaned again, foreseeing this was going to be a problem in the future as she watched Harry nodded his head in agreement.
"Er … so does anyone want to see my pumpkins?" Hagrid asked, effectively changing the subject.
The trio left Hagrid's hut when it was lunchtime, Ron and Harry being extremely hungry, but before they could get into the Great Hall, they were stopped by a very angry looking Severus Snape.
"Weasley, I have just been informed by Flint that you were the one that cursed Malfoy," Snape said glaring at him. "Twenty points from Gryffindor and you'll be serving detention tonight!"
"That's not fair; you weren't even there to see it!" Harry huffed.
"There were several witnesses to this," Snape said to him coldly. "And I think you should have a detention too."
Harry just glared at him, his feelings towards Snape had definitely taken at hit after what happened at the end of the last year, and this did nothing to improve them. Snape glared at him to ensure there weren't any more retorts from him then stalked off towards the dungeon. Both Ron and Harry where in bad moods when they sat down from lunch, and as hard as Hermione tried to cheer them up it wasn't working that well.
Later that evening when Harry and Ron got to their detentions with Snape, Harry was informed he would be cleaning cauldrons without magic, whereas Ron was going to the trophy room to polish all of them also without magic. After hearing this Ron was lead away by Filch, but Harry eyed the professor scowling at him.
"Don't give me that attitude Potter," Snape said after the other two were gone.
"Why shouldn't I?" Harry said. "Ron has detention for standing up for what's right and you gave me a detention for pointing out how unfair you are …"
"Weasley deserves the detention he received, we do not condone our students fighting in the halls," Snape said stiffly. "And …"
"And what about Malfoy, what did he get for …?" Harry started to say.
"Malfoy was the victim …" Snape stated, rolling his eyes.
"Malfoy might have been the one that was curse, but he was by no means a victim," Harry scoffed. "If you had bothered to ask what had really happened, you would know that he's the one that started the fight."
"Just because the boy insulted you doesn't justify cursing him," Snape said and Harry rolled his eyes this time.
"Yeah, and all the curses you sent at Sirius and my dad after they insulted you …"
"This has nothing to do with that, Potter, now get to work!" Snape said looking enraged.
Harry frowned but saw that he might've gone too far with Snape, so he started to work silently on cleaning the cauldrons as Snape turned and went to his office.
It was nearly two hours later before Snape stepped out from his office and asked, "What did he say Potter?"
"What?" Harry said looking at Snape with narrowed eyes.
"I asked you what Malfoy had said to start the fight," Snape said. "That is, of course, why I gave you detention. I wanted to know what was said to make Weasley curse him. All I got from the Slytherins was that Weasley cursed Malfoy for being on the pitch, which of course I didn't think was true."
"And yet you punished him anyway," Harry huffed.
"All the evidence pointed to the fact that Weasley had indeed cursed Malfoy," Snape said. "Would you have preferred I told Professor McGonagall of this incident? I'm sure your friend would have gotten worse in that case."
Harry didn't say anything to that, for he knew that McGonagall would have punished Ron the same (or worse) as Snape had she been given the option.
"If you just wanted to know what really happened, then why am I cleaning these cauldrons?" Harry huffed.
"Because you talked back to me," Snape said, his mouth twitching upwards in almost a smile that only made Harry angrier.
"He called Hermione a Mudblood," Harry hissed, hating to say that word. "And if you don't think that …" he trailed off there because Snape's eyes flashed with anger and something else that Harry couldn't read.
"You can go Potter," Snape snarled in a voice that barely concealed his rage.
"What …" Harry started to say confused.
"Go!" Snape said harshly and Harry frowned at him before he turned from the room feeling more confused than before. He could tell that Snape didn't appreciate hearing the word Mudblood any more than he liked saying it and he had a feeling the reason behind that had to do with his mum. He felt questions building up in him but he knew that now wasn't the time to ask Snape about this.
Instead of going straight back to the Gryffindor tower, Harry went to the kitchen, because he was so angry at dinner he didn't really eat a lot and he felt like having a snack. He stayed in the kitchen for longer than he thought he would, but he got into a conversation with a few of the elves there and didn't realized the time until it was almost midnight.
As he was walking back to the tower he heard a horrible voice that seemed to chill his bones.
"Come to me … Let me rip … Let me kill!"
Harry looked all around for the source of the voice, but there was nothing there. It could always have been a ghost, but he didn't know why a ghost would want someone to come to them, and he was sure that they couldn't kill anyone. And yet, that was what the voice was saying. He tried to follow the voice, but it seemed to have vanished as quickly as it had come.
Feeling wary of this, he headed back to the common room, hoping that Ron was there or that Hermione had stayed up for them. Just like he thought, Hermione was there reading a charms book from the library and making notes. Before he could even start to explain what he heard Ron came in and Harry waved him over to tell them both. After he finished telling them what he heard, he realized they were both looking at him warily. They seemed unnerved by what he told them and how he had no clue who was saying it. It didn't help matters that Harry had been warned earlier that year by a house elf about something terrible going to happen at Hogwarts and then he hears this voice wanting to kill someone and it was roaming the halls.
"Do you think I should tell anyone," Harry asked his friends, who exchanged a look.
"I don't know Harry," Hermione said biting her lip. "You don't have much to go on …"
"You think I'm just making this up!" Harry said glaring at her.
She glared back at him, "I didn't say that! I was just saying that there isn't much to tell, not yet at least."
"She's right, you know," Ron said.
"Of course she's right," Harry muttered and then took a deep breath; he didn't want to take out his worry and anger on his friends. "Sorry Hermione … I'm just worried."
"I know Harry," Hermione patting his arm as she got up. "You really should get some sleep, you look exhausted."
"Yeah, Goodnight Hermione," Harry said and Ron nodded his head as the two boys headed upstairs. While Harry got ready for bed he remembered the food that he had gotten for Ron, who sincerely appreciated the thought as he ate the éclair and other sweets. Still feeling uncomfortable about what he had heard, Harry climbed into bed and settled in for an uneasy sleep.
A/N: Okay in the next chapter I'm going to have Ginny and Luna's Animagi forms decided, a lot of you wrote in and asked if Luna could be one of the creatures that she talks about which I will think about doing, however I know that I'm not going to make it a Crumple-Horned Snorkacks because JK said that they were one of the creatures that was never found and I don't want to go against that. I thought Luna might be an Egale because a) it's the symbol of Ravenclaw and b) when I read the description of this a long time ago I thought it fit Luna's personality. I thought about making her a Lynx when PotterFanIII Please read () suggested it to me in a review a while back. As for Ginny, I'm really not sure what to make her but I chose the horse, honestly because it's her patronus though I said that I didn't really want to make them their patronus forms. I chose the hawk because she just seems like a flyer to me and now I'm going to add cat because she seems to like them, and she's sort of independent like a cat (not to mention I like cats myself). Anyway, any feedback on this would be helpful and I've put up a new poll to see what you want Ginny and Luna's form to me (though for Luna if you choice one of her creatures you're going to have to send me a review or PM).
