A/N: We're back!
Quick recap for those who haven't read since the last update (in August):
Harry get his Firebolt back, buy parts for the Mark V and begin working on it. The day of the winter visit in Hogsmeade, Harry is given the Marauder's Map by the twins. Instead of sneaking out with it (realizing Hermione would not be happy with him), he instead go to complete the Mark V before testing it around the pitch. However, the test goes terrible and he crash in the Forbidden Forest. There, he meet Sirius Black who tell him the truth about Halloween 1981. When he's later brought to the hospital wing, MARION replay the conversation to Remus and Dumbledore who realize Sirius is innocent. They catch Pettigrew and Sirius is freed.
The Wizarding World was shocked when the whole story about Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew came out in the medias. For years, the people believed Peter Pettigrew to be a hero and Sirius Black to be a dangerous murderer and supporter of Voldemort. When it was revealed it was the reverse – that Sirius had admitted under Veritaserum to be innocent of the crimes he had been accused of, many people protested at the injustice. Even the news Pettigrew had been sent to Azkaban following a quick trial had not calmed them.
People lost some of their faith in the government. For days, people questioned the Ministry, fearing they could also be incarcerated unjustly. In response, Amelia Bones – the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement – announced the beginning of one of the largest investigations the Department had ever held in its 400 years history. As reported in the Daily Prophet, the goal of the investigation was to find if more innocents like Sirius Black had been wrongly incarcerated.
The early results of the investigation came out a week later. The shock they had felt at Sirius' innocence was nothing when it was revealed almost a quarter of all prisoners arrested between 1976 and 1981 had never received a trial. As a result, former Head of the DMLE Bartemius Crouch and former Minister of Magic Milicient Bagnold came under heavy fire from the population. Rumours spoke of how the two would be questioned by the Aurors for their role in so many illegal incarcerations. The current Head, Amelia Bones, announced all of those who were illegally arrested would receive their trial soon.
As for Sirius, he began enjoying life as a free man. As everyone heard about his innocence, nobody feared him anymore. A lot of his old friends and acquaintances contacted him to apologize for believing him to be guilty. The same thing happened whenever he visited public locations – to the point where he could barely spent ten second in peace without someone coming to apologize. While he was touched at the beginning, it began to annoy him as time went on.
With Sirius now a free man, he decided it was time to take his life into his own hands and make it something worth living. There were many things filling his mental list to have a happy life. He decided to focus on the first and most important one: to gain custody of his godson Harry Potter.
Said godson was enjoying the best time of his life. While he was still in the Hospital Wing to heal his broken legs, Harry found he did not care very much. He had brilliant friends, an amazing, bright and beautiful girlfriend and now found out he had a godfather who actually loved him – who wanted Harry to live with him. It was such an improvement over the Dursleys it made him all giddy.
Fred, George, Alex, Beatrice and Ron visited him every day while he was under Madam Pomfrey's care – Ron spending at least an hour or two talking to him or playing. But, his time spent in the Hospital Wing was nothing compared to Hermione's. During the week he was recovering from his crash, whenever she had some free time, Hermione could be seen in Harry's company. It was to the point where she ate and studied at Harry's bedside, only leaving to go to attend classes, research in the library or go sleep. Like in his previous stay in the Hospital Wing, she gave him copies of the notes she took in classes along with bringing his homework and explaining everything they had learned that day. Like last time, Harry was very grateful, something he later showed her when they began snogging that evening.
During his free time, Harry began working on the next improvement to M.A.R.I.O.N., one based on the amazing capabilities of the Marauder's Map. It took a bit of effort for Harry to convince Madam Pomfrey he was not going to enchant his bed to fly but, eventually, she allowed him to get parchment and ink to work on his personal projects. He spent the first three days of his recovery analyzing every part of the Marauder's Map. With Professor Lupin's help, Harry managed to completely reverse engineer it, allowing him to recreate it from scratch if he wanted – which he did. And, he had the perfect idea for his own version of the Map.
He called it the Marauder's Map 3D. As the name suggested, it was a map of the castle in three dimensions. Harry enchanted his glasses so that a three dimensional holographic map would be displayed in the Head-Up Display. It would not be displayed at all time, only at Harry's request. The map had all the functionalities of the original one but, thanks to his own understanding of runes and charms, Harry was able to improve it.
The main improvement he had made was to allow M.A.R.I.O.N. to fully interact with the Map, which allowed Harry to interact with it via her. By merging his previous work to that of his father and friends, Harry was also able to make his Map track everything sentient in the castle and its grounds – not just human beings. It meant that had they not been pulled from Hogwarts following Sirius' declaration of innocence, M.A.R.I.O.N. would have been able to track the precise location of all the Dementors on the grounds.
The Marauder's Map 3D took him two days to implement, doing so the weekend after his crash. It would have taken him less than a day but Harry found out Hermione's presence could prove to be a distraction at times – not that he minded.
To his immense pleasure, Harry was finally discharged from the Hospital Wing ten days after his crash. He was all ready to leave and never see Madam Pomfrey again when Hermione arrived.
"Hermione!" he greeted cheerfully. Hermione smiled back.
"Good morning, Harry." she said. They shared a kiss before she asked "What has you so cheerful?"
"I'm just happy to get the hell out of here." he said truthfully.
"Yes, well, maybe spending a week here will teach you something about doing reckless things." his girlfriend returned with a stern voice. Harry winced slightly.
"I'll be careful." he said. "Then again, knowing my luck, I'll probably end up here soon enough." he joked.
Hermione did not answer him, instead adjusting her bag on her shoulders. "Are you ready to go?" she asked.
"Yep." Harry said. He was already fully dressed and had his bag and books with him – Hermione having brought them to him him the previous evening.
"Before you leave, Mr. Potter-" came Madam Pomfrey's voice. Harry stifled a groan and turned to look at the Healer. She had a bottle with a red potion inside. "-I want you to drink two ounces of this potion every morning."
"Do I have to?" the boy whined. Madam Pomfrey looked at him for a few seconds, as if assessing him. Then, she turned to Hermione and gave the vial to her. "Will you make sure he drink his potion every morning?" she asked her like Harry was not even present.
"Of course." said Hermione with a small smile. This time, Harry really did groan. "For how long?" his girlfriend asked patiently.
"Until the bottle is empty." said the Healer. "It should last a week."
"Okay, I will. Thank you, Madam Pomfrey." said Hermione. And, before Harry could protest, she grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the Hospital Wing.
"I hope the potion does not taste too disgusting." Harry commented as they walked through the corridors. Hermione shrugged.
"It's not really important." she said. "As long as you drink it. And, you will." she said with a tone of warning.
"I will – I will." he said, rolling his eyes. "I might not like it, but I'm not stupid enough to not take a potion if it's necessary." At his words, Hermione looked at him with disbelief. "Okay, maybe I am," he acknowledged sheepishly. "But I'll try not to."
"Don't worry, sir." said M.A.R.I.O.N. aloud. "I will remind you if you forget to take your potion each morning."
With a grin, Hermione asked "Will you tell me if he does not take it?"
"Of course, Miss Granger!" the magical intelligence answered. Harry groaned once more. 'Great...' he thought.
The couple arrived at the Great Hall a few minutes later. As he sat down to eat breakfast, Harry began thinking about something he often thought about. Not Hermione (thought it was number one on the list), but broomsticks. With the discontinuation of the Mark V project, Harry wanted to move on to the Mark VI. However, for the first time since he found The Noble Art of Broomstick Enchanting in the library, Harry did not know what to do.
It wasn't that Harry lacked ideas – he had plenty of those. He simply did not know in what direction he should go, or what the purpose of the next broomstick should be. The PMK-4 Blackbird had only been in store since December and was selling rather well. Harry believed he could easily wait until the summer before beginning to work on the successor to the Blackbird. It just left him wondering what to do in the meantime. He could focus on his studies – of course – but Harry found it was rather boring. Instead, he wanted to work on a broomstick. But, what to do? That was the question.
His musing was interrupted when he felt something poke his hand harshly. "Ow!" he exclaimed before looking at the source. It was a very annoyed snowy owl carrying a letter. "Oh, hello Hedwig." he said with an apologetic voice. Hedwig barked at him in frustration, telling Harry she had been standing in front of him for quite a time. After detaching the letter she was carrying, he took a bit of bacon and gave it to her. "There you go. Sorry, Hedwig."
"What has you so deep in thoughts?" Hermione asked, glancing at him.
"Just thinking about the Mark VI." he answered absentmindedly.
"You already have an idea?" asked Ron between two bites, surprised.
"That's the thing – I don't." Harry admitted. "I don't know what I should do next."
"It's always something you can figure out later." his girlfriend said. Then, she gave a nod toward the letter. "Who is it from?"
"Sirius." he answered with a smile. He tore the envelope and read the letter.
Dear Harry,
How are you? Are you happy?
Sorry, I realize it's a strange way to start a letter. I haven't written one in a long time, you see?
Anyway, I was contacting you to tell you I just came back from the Ministry of Magic and was officially given custody of you! Now, if you want to continue living with your Aunt and Uncle, I won't mind. I just want you to know there will always be a place for you if you desire so. If you do want to move in with me, then write your answer in a letter.
I will soon begin to work on renovating my old childhood house. It is not a good place to live in its current state, trust me. The best description I could give it is "Dark" and "Moudly". The House-Elf in charge of the building let the place fall to ruins after my mother died a decade ago. Thankfully, I have a lot of free time and money I can spend on repairing the house and make it a better place to live. While I would wish for nothing more than burn the place down, the wards protecting the property make it one of the safest places in the country. Remus (Professor Lupin) will come help me from time to time depending on his schedule. I already offered him a place to live as well so don't be surprised if he join us this summer.
Now, I have to go to Gringotts to organize my accounts so I will end the letter here. Just know that while I have learned little about you, I am still very proud of the man my godson is becoming. And, I know for a fact James and Lily would feel the same – if not more.
Your godfather,
Sirius.
Harry smiled as he finished the letter. Seeing the curiosity on his girlfriend's face, he passed the letter to her. "You won't have to return to your aunt and uncle! That's great!" she exclaimed after she finished reading it. She gave it back to him.
"I know." Harry said as he and Hermione exchanged smiles. "I will have a much better summer this year."
"And the years after." she said, making him nod. "Do you know where the house is?" she asked.
"I don't." Harry said. "Why?"
"I was just wondering." she answered. "My family live in the south of London. If your godfather's home is close, then we might be able to spend time at each other's house during the summer!"
Harry perked up at the thought. An entire summer in the company of Hermione? It sounded very good in his book. "It would be great." he said with a grin. Then, using a paper towel, he wiped his lips before raising on his feet. "Well, I'm full. Should we go to class?"
"You forgot something, Harry." said Hermione with amusement.
"Which is?" he asked her. Hermione took out the bottle of red potion from her bag. He groaned.
It took Hermione threatening not give him any kisses for a week for Harry to finally (and reluctantly) agree to drink his potion. After he had stopped complaining about the taste, Hermione dragged her boyfriend to the first class of the day, which was Transfiguration.
As they walked out of the classroom an hour and a half later, Ron and Harry started discussing ideas for the Mark VI.
"You could simply improve on the Blackbird, you know?" Ron said. Harry nodded reluctantly.
"I guess." he said. He was not entirely sure whether or not he wanted to do like before and upgrade the Blackbird to a new model. The Blackbird was an upgrade of the Ravenstar, which was an upgrade of the Robin, which was an upgrade of the Potter Mark I. It meant that with each new version of his broom, the rune sequence became more and more complex. Some part of the rune sequence also became redundant but trying to remove them could cause a complete failure of the enchantments. It meant the rune sequence was a complete mess and he was not entirely sure he wanted to make it even worse. Yet, at the same time, he still believed there was more potential in the current rune sequence. He theorized he could break the 100mph bar (160kph) which was 10mph faster than the top speed of the Blackbird. But that was the limit he believed he could do. Do to something faster, he would have to start from scratch.
"I suppose I could make one more broom before wiping the slate clean." he eventually said mostly to himself. "I think I will wait for the Mark VII to make another broom for sale, though. I will just make the Mark VI for the sake of making a definitive version of the Mark I to VI broom design." Harry nodded to himself. "What do you think, Hermione?" he then asked, turning to look at his girlfriend.
But, Hermione was not standing next to him. Frowning, he looked back. Other than a few students of their class that were walking slowly, they could not see anyone else.
"Hermione?" asked Ron, also perplexed.
"Where is she?" Harry asked aloud, not really expecting an answer. But, M.A.R.I.O.N. listened to him and gave him one.
"Sir, I detect a strange reading about Miss Granger." she said in his mind.
"What do you mean?" Harry whispered with worry – quietly enough for Ron not to hear.
"There seem to be two Hermione Grangers."
Harry blinked. "Are you sure? Are you really sure?" he asked slowly. "It sound like there might be a problem with your sensors. Perhaps I ought to-"
M.A.R.I.O.N. interrupted him. "It is not an error, sir. Even my redundancy systems confirm the same thing."
"It's not?" he blurted. "Show me the map."
The Marauder's Map 3D appeared in his view. Harry told M.A.R.I.O.N. to zoom in on their location and highlight Hermione. Indeed, just as the magical intelligence had reported, there were two Hermiones in the castle. One was walking toward what he could only assume to be the Muggle Studies classroom while the other was coming back toward them. Then, the furthest Hermione stopped in an empty classroom before disappearing from the map – to Harry's shock. A few seconds later, the closest Hermione walked in front of the Transfiguration class before turning a corner and ending up face to face with Harry and Ron.
"Where were you?" asked the latter one with suspicion. Hermione fidgeted subtly. As he tapped the frame of his glasses to turn off the map, Harry noticed she looked slightly nervous.
"I wanted to ask Professor McGonagall for an explanation about one of the questions on our homework." she answered smoothly. Ron seemed to believe the answer but Harry did not. Had she looked at her boyfriend, she would have noticed his eyes narrow very slightly in suspicion. Harry could tell she was lying.
He did not question her on her lie during the following class, which was Care of Magical Creatures. But, it did not stop him from thinking about what M.A.R.I.O.N. had told him.
"In the books you've scanned, did you learn of ways for someone to duplicate themselves?" Harry asked M.A.R.I.O.N. as he fed a Horklump (a harmless creature which resembled a mushroom) some earthworms. He was far away from his friends that he could converse with the magical intelligence without being interrupted.
"I know of three ways, sir." she answered. "But only one of those would show Miss Granger twice on the map."
"Which is?" he asked with trepidation.
"A Time-Turner, sir. It is a rare device which allow one to travel a few hours back in time."
Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, groaning. Suddenly, a lot of strange things he had noticed about Hermione this year made a lot of sense, like her strange schedule with overlapping classes or her bouts of random disappearances after said classes. He remembered how exhausted she had been at the beginning of the year because of all of her work and realized she probably had not taken into account the additional hours in her days when sleeping or eating until after Harry had shared his concerns with her, causing her to eat and sleep less than was healthy.
He turned to look at the girl he loved. He found her only a few feet away from him, her left hand full of earthworms. She looked at the worms in disgust yet giggled subtly when the Horklumps ate them from her very hand. As if knowing he was looking at her, she turned toward him and gave him a beaming smile and a cheerful wave the hand.
'What have you got yourself into, love?' he thought as he returned the gesture.
Harry remained distracted by the revelation his girlfriend was travelling through time to attend her classes for the rest of the class. He glanced at Hermione often as he thought about her. She noticed his behaviour and, at first, smiled at him every time he looked at her. However, as they neared the end of the class, she became more and more annoyed as his looks distracted her. As they walked back to the castle after Hagrid dismissed the class, Harry was cornered by his annoyed girlfriend.
"Why couldn't you stop looking at me? You distracted the both of us from Hagrid's lecture!"
Harry ignored her outburst. "Hermione, since when can you duplicate yourself into two?" he asked her softly. He could tell right away he had hit right in the target, that M.A.R.I.O.N.'s sensors did not make an error when they reported two Hermiones in the castle. He could tell because she paled and began stuttering.
"I- I don't- I'm not..."
"Hermione," he sighed, rolling his eyes with fond amusement. "You are not a good liar. Why not just tell me what's going on?" Hermione seemed to have a mental debate. Then, her shoulders slumped and she sighed in resignation.
"Okay." she said. "But you can't tell anyone else. I promised to keep it a secret."
"Stop." he immediately said before she began explaining. "If you promised to keep it a secret, then I won't make you break your promise."
"Really?"
"Of course." he said as if it was obvious.
"Thank you." Hermione sighed in relief and looked at him gratefully.
"I think M.A.R.I.O.N. already guessed what is going on anyway. It's just..." he sighed, looking at her with concern. "You're making sure you eat and sleep enough, right?"
Hermione nodded, making him sigh once more – this time in relief. "I am being careful." she told him.
"Good." he muttered. "That's all I care about." Then, he took her in his arms and kissed her. Hermione melted in his embrace as she returned the kiss.
While Harry did not get a confirmation to M.A.R.I.O.N.'s suggestion Hermione used a time-turner, he was not disappointed because of it. He understood why she was told to keep it a secret. After all, how much trouble would she be in if others learned she could travel back in time?
"Now men-"
"And women."
"This is it!"
"The big-"
"Stop!" shouted Oliver Wood, looking at his smirking team in annoyance. "We're not doing this again!"
Fred and George pouted. "What did you expect?" they asked together.
"I mean – you did start the same speech as usual." said Harry, rolling his eyes. "One we know by heart."
"I did not!" Oliver protested.
"Oh, really? You were starting a brand new one?" asked his girlfriend Katie. Oliver nodded. "And what was going to be your speech, oh dear captain?" Oliver opened his mouth but no word came. He looked like someone who did not know what to say, which amused the others immensely.
"You don't have a new speech, don't you?" asked Angelina, grinning.
"You know what?" he snapped. "I forgot. Let's just get this damn match over with." At his words, the rest of the team cheered like he had actually just given a long and very motivational speech. He rolled his eyes before he walked out of the Gryffindor locker room, his excited team following behind him.
The Gryffindor Quidditch Team walked to their entrance of the pitch and waited. Harry used the opportunity to glance at his broomstick. For today's match, he decided to use his Firebolt. The main reason was because Sirius had wanted to see it in action in a match and Harry did not want to deny him that. The second reason was because it was a very fast broom which would help him grab an easy victory.
With a smile, Harry remembered when he had revealed the Firebolt to the rest of the team. It was that very morning, in fact. Since receiving it back from Professor McGonagall, Harry had decided to keep its existence a secret from everyone. Only Hermione and Ron had known. When he casually walked in the locker room with a Firebolt in tow, Oliver nearly fainted. The team spent fifteen minutes admiring and commentating on the broom. They only stopped because Harry reminded them the match was to begin soon and they needed to get in uniform now.
Harry snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the voice of commentator Lee Jordan beginning to introduce the teams.
"Welcome to the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw Quidditch match!" exclaimed Lee loudly. The crowd cheered. "Today, two teams who have won a match each will confront the other. Whoever win will get to further their chances at the Quidditch Cup! While loosing would not exclude one of today's teams from a chance at the Cup, it would certainly make it a lot more difficult endeavour!"
"Now, please cheer for your favourite team! From Gryffindor, we have Bell, Spinnet, Johnson, Weasley, Weasley, Potter and their team captain Oliver Wood!"
The Gryffindors mounted their brooms. Now hovering in the air, the players waited for their name to be spoken before flying to the pitch. As their names were yelled, each player shot out of their spot at the entrance and flew into the light, finishing with Oliver. Oliver took the lead and the Gryffindor team began flying around the pitch in formation.
As they passed in front of their House crowd, Harry looked for his girlfriend and best friend. He gave them a wave when he found them. Ron cheered as Hermione gave Harry a beaming smile. Also smiling, Harry followed the rest of the team to the centre line.
"From Ravenclaw, we have Stretton, Burrow, Inglebee, Samuels, Page, Chang and their captain Roger Davies!" yelled Lee to the cheers of the House of the Eagle. Like the Gryffindor team had done, the Ravenclaw team flew in formation around the pitch, saluting to their house. Then, they too went to the centre of the pitch, joining the Gryffindors and Madam Hooch.
"Captains, shake hands!" Hooch cried. Once Oliver and Roger Davies did so, she shouted "Take positions!"
Davies, Stretton and Burrow placed themselves around the centre of the pitch in a half circle. They faced the Gryffindor trio of Angelina, Alicia and Katie. Oliver and Grant Page – the Ravenclaw Keeper – flew to their rings. The twins, Ingglebee and Samuels placed themselves a few feet behind their chasers. As for the seekers, Harry and Cho Chang went to hover a few feet over their beaters.
"M.A.R.I.O.N., Code Gold." said Harry.
"Code Gold active!" returned the magical intelligence. What was displayed in his glasses disappeared and M.A.R.I.O.N. stopped talking. He hoped he would not hear her voice until the match was over like last time. Her breaking Code Gold could only mean bad things – the presence of Dementors being a good example.
Harry looked up at the sky. Unlike when they had played against Hufflepuff, the sky was clear. So clear in fact Harry could not even see one small cloud. It was hot outside and the wind was blowing lightly. Perfect conditions for Quidditch.
The Bludgers and the Snitch were released. Harry's eyes tracked the golden ball, waiting until the match began before following it. Unfortunately, the ball disappeared from his view behind the stands, making him groan.
Holding the Quaffle, Madam Hooch flew to the very centre of the pitch where Angelina and the Ravenclaw captain were hovering. "Are you ready?" she asked. Both nodded. She threw the Quaffle in the air. The moment the red ball began falling back to the ground, Hooch whistled and the match began!
"And they're off!" exclaimed Lee as Angelina managed to grab the Quaffle. Harry turned and shot in direction of the Gryffindor rings as he slowly climbed up in altitude. He wanted a good overview of the pitch. As he watched for the Snitch, Harry listened to Lee's commentary.
"Angelina Johnson in possession! She pass to Bell who pass back to Johnson – to Spinnet! Burrow try to intercept but fail! Spinnet is in position to shoot – Oh! Inglebee knock a bludger in her direction, forcing her to pass! Johnson catch and shot... Amazing save by Page! Page throw the Quaffle to Stretton, who pass to Davies! Davies attempt to pass as they cross the centre line but Bell intercept! It's in her possession! Burrow put himself between Bell and her teammates to block the way but he's forced away by a well shot bludger, courtesy of a Weasley twin! Bell use the opportunity to pass to Spinnet, who return the Quaffle to Bell who throw it over the other players to Johnson! Johnson speed toward the rings and prepare to shoot in the left ring. Inglebee attempt to stop her with the same trick as before but she avoid! It was a feint! Johnson pass to Bell who... SCORE! 10-0 to Gryffindor!"
The Gryffindors burst into cheers. Harry temporarily stopped looking for the Snitch to glance at the chasers. Angelina, Alicia and Katie shared pats in the back as they returned to the centre line. Roger Davies grabbed the quaffle behind the Ravenclaw rings and waited for the whistle. Once Hooch gave it, he shot back in the game.
"The Ravenclaws are on the attack! Davies in possession. He pass to Stretton who – what's this? Stretton throw the quaffle as far as he can toward the Gryffindor rings and over the Gryffindor chasers! Oh! Burrow anticipated the move and caught it behind the Gryffindor chaser line! It's a breakaway for Randolph Burrow as only Oliver Wood stand in the way of a goal! Burrow shoot and... save! Wood catch the quaffle!" said Lee as the Ravenclaws groaned in disappointment. The Gryffindors only cheered their team harder. "Wood is in possession of the quaffle! Now, remember that the keeper is not allowed to keep the quaffle for more than ten seconds in a row! If he does, the play will be stopped and the opposing team will be granted a penalty shot!"
Lee was indeed right. Unfortunately, as Harry noticed, each of their chasers were being trailed by a Ravenclaw chaser. It meant there was a risk the Ravenclaws could catch the quaffle instead of Gryffindor. As Oliver was only seconds away from a penalty, it was a risk he had to take.
"Wood pass to Johnson only a second be- Stretton intercept the Quaffle! He shoot... SCORE!" yelled Lee.
"Damnit!" cursed Harry softly as the Ravenclaws cheered. The Slytherins joined in, happy to see Gryffindor loose their lead in the match. The scores were now even. 10-10.
As the match progressed, Harry began to notice how Cho Chang – the opposing seeker – would follow him around. At first, she would only hover a few feet behind him but, after a time, she came closer and closer to him. When the frustrated Gryffindor seeker turned to look at him, he saw her bat her eyelashes at him. Harry blinked. Was she trying to distract him by seducing him? Who did she take herself for?
As an answer, Harry shot away from her as an incredible pace that shocked more than one person. "Look at Potter go!" exclaimed Lee. "Did he see the Snitch? He's so fast! Wait... is he flying a Firebolt!?" At Lee's words, nearly all the Ravenclaw players turned to look at him with wide eyes. They all noticed that he was indeed flying a Firebolt. Unfortunately for them, not only was the opposing seeker on the best broom in the world, but the Gryffindors used the distraction to shoot in an unguarded ring.
"SCORE!" yelled Lee gleefully as the Gryffindors burst into cheers – following by the Hufflepuffs who supported the team in red. "Katie Bell get her second goal of the game, bringing the score to 20-10 in Gryffindor's favour!"
Harry let out a whoop, happy Gryffindor had retaken the lead. However, Chang was still following him. So, he decided to get more risky.
"Potter shoot to the floor! Did he see the snitch this time? NO! It's a Wronski Feint and he level up just before crashing to the ground! Chang is not so lucky and she crash... oh! The shaft of her broomstick snapped! The Ravenclaw seeker is out of the game!"
Harry looked back at the Ravenclaw chaser. She was indeed on the ground and slowly getting back to her feet, dazed. At her feet was a Comet 260, which was snapped into two pieces. A quick look at the damage and Harry was sure it could be repaired – the break having occured where he did not expect runes to be. However, one rule of Quidditch dictated that if a broom broke, then the player was out of the game – even if it was repaired before the end. It meant she was indeed out! Grinning, Harry shot back up to the sky.
The loss of their Seeker got to Ravenclaw. They let another four goals in, raising the score to 60-10 in the favour of the team in red. One of these goals was made by Katie, allowing her to complete her first hat-trick of the season. Frustrated, the Eagles began playing a lot more physical, hoping they could defeat the Gryffindors that way. However, it got them a penalty for cobbing (excessive use of elbows against an opponent) and a basic foul when Roger Davies blocked Harry from catching the Snitch at the forty-five minutes mark, causing him to loose sight of it. Gryffindor received two penalty shot. The first one was scored by Angelina, giving her a hat-trick of her own. Unfortunately, the second one missed the rings and was not a goal.
Unfortunately for the Gryffindors, Ravenclaw's Slytherin approach to the game allowed them to even the score more than an hour in the game (80-80). Then, they scored another two goals, taking the lead of the game. The Ravenclaws seemed well on their way to build a gap big enough to win the game even with Harry catching the snitch when they made a terrible mistake.
The game was closing in on the two hour mark when Harry spotted the Snitch for the second time. It was hovering next to Grant Page, the Ravenclaw keeper. Harry himself was hovering next to the Gryffindor rings. Not willing to loose the Snitch again, Harry immediately shot toward it.
"Harry Potter spot the snitch! Will the game end now?" asked Lee loudly. "The current score is 100-80 for Ravenclaw. If Harry Potter catch the snitch, Gryffindor will win by 130 points!"
The play seemed to stop as Harry flew through the pitch at the speed of a rocket. Just as he crossed the centre line, the Ravenclaw keeper spotted the snitch next to him. He looked at it before looking at Harry. Then, to everyone's shock, he grabbed it and grinned at Harry like someone who believed they had just won.
Harry braked and stopped a few feet away from the Ravenclaw rings. All around him, the pitch descended into silence. The Ravenclaw seeker had just committed a Snitchnip, a foul which occurred when a player other than a seeker caught the Golden Snitch. Harry's eyes were wide, gaping. He could not believe what he'd just witnessed. For any player other than a seeker to catch the snitch was highly illegal. It was one of the only fouls which were not solved by a penalty shot. Oh no, it was something much worse. It seem to take the keeper a few seconds to remember that fact. When he did, the grin vanished and his skin turned bone white.
"I-I can't believe it!" Lee stuttered after a few seconds of total silence. "Ravenclaw keeper Grant Page commit a Snitchnip! It means Ravenclaw forfeit the match and all the points they gained today! GRYFFINDOR WIN 230-0!" he shouted.
At his words, the Gryffindors burst into loud cheering, the Slytherins began laughing loudly and the Hufflepuffs seemed to alternate between the two. The Ravenclaws stood in silence as they gaped at their keeper. The players in blue all flew toward their keeper with rage in their eyes.
When the Gryffindor players landed together, they all turned to look at Harry, silently asking if what they had seen actually happened. Harry simply shrugged, his face full of amusement as to say 'Turn out that crazy thing actually happened!' And as one, the Gryffindors burst out laughing. The Snitchnip was the first foul every player learned about. You did not grab the snitch if you were not a seeker! Everyone knew that. It was so obvious even those who barely knew nothing about the sport knew about it. Yet, Grant Page, Ravenclaw Keeper actually decided to grab the Snitch before Harry could, causing his team to forfeit and loose all the points they had gained! It was hilarious!
"I can't believe he did that!" said Alicia, wiping her eyes. She had laughed so much tears had leaked out of her eyes.
"He's a complete idiot!" exclaimed Fred.
"He is, my dear brother!" said George. "Clearly dropped at birth!"
"After all, everyone know you don't grab the snitch if you're not a seeker!" Harry said loudly. As the others began laughing again, Harry was suddenly startled by someone putting his arms around him. It took him a fraction of second to recognize the embrace. Grinning, he turned to find his girlfriend laughing. Ron stood next to her with a large grin and, behind them, Harry could see the majority of House Gryffindor walking toward them.
"I can't believe it actually happened!" said Ron as Harry and Hermione shared a kiss.
"Neither can I." Harry said.
"I'm not a Quidditch fan but even I know you don't do that!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Their fault, our gain!" her boyfriend returned. Harry looked further down the pitch where the Ravenclaw Quidditch team was standing. He could see their keeper being shouted at by all the other players. Roger Davies' face was almost the same shade of purple as his uncle Vernon when he got really mad. He chuckled. "I have a feeling someone's not going to laaaast!" he sang, making Ron laugh.
Someone clapped him on the back. Harry turned to see Fred's grinning face. "Well, sorry to borrow your boyfriend Hermione but we all need to go take a shower!"
"Of course." she said, taking a step back. Looking at Harry, she wrinkled her nose and said "He's right. You smell very bad anyway."
"Gee, thanks." he said, rolling his eyes.
After sharing a last kiss with her, Harry followed the team back to the locker room. He got out of the showers twenty minutes later, and dressed before joining the others. He had barely entered the room that he was cornered by an expectant-eyed chaser.
"Say, Harry, you can enchant brooms, right?" she asked him.
"Yes. Why?" he asked her. He wondered if she was going to ask him to build her a broomstick. He was half-wrong.
"Well, these last few days, I noticed how my broom is beginning to loose speed and cornering. I was wondering if you could look at the enchantments and fix it."
Harry took the broom she had in her hands. It was a Cleansweep Six. From the wear on the thing, Harry guessed it had been produced at least ten years before, if not more. With a wave of the wand, he uncovered the runes. After a few seconds of looking at them, he shook his head.
"I'm sorry Alicia, but the runes are encrypted. I can't read them and thus can't fix them." he said. "The best I can suggest is try to push some of your magic in the broom so the runes have more power. However, that's all you can really do."
"Oh," she said. "Well, I guess I'm in need of a new broom. Thanks anyway." Harry nodded to her.
As the team walked back to the Gryffindor common room to celebrate the victory, Harry began thinking. He was wondering if he should lend or give one of the Blackbirds he had kept to Alicia to replace her broom. The Blackbird was not as fast as the Cleansweep Five but it certainly was brand new. Also, if what Alicia said was true, then it was possible her broom was slower than a Blackbird anyway. So, maybe it would be a good idea to lend a Blackbird. Or maybe he could enchant a new one specifically for her as a gift? He could use the opportunity to add in a few upgrades to make it accelerate, brake and turn faster than a normal Blackbird.
But then, he slapped himself on the forehead. What was he thinking? He was already planning to do such a thing for the Potter Mark VI! In Harry's mind, the idea evolved almost faster than he could follow. If he was already set to build a Mark VI for Alicia, then why not one for the whole team? If he could upgrade it just enough, it would be faster than all of their brooms! (Firebolt and Nimbus 2000 excluded). Hell, the Mark VI could be a broomstick unique for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, just like the PMK-2 Robin was unique to the Hogwarts flight lessons!
He remembered thinking about what to do for the Mark VI. Now, he knew. "M.A.R.I.O.N., start looking for improvements on the Blackbird rune sequence. We're going back to work!" he exclaimed.
"Yes, sir!" she answered with a happy voice. Harry grinned.
A/N: Used Hockey terms because it's the sport I'm most familiar with. I'm Canadian, what did you expect? x)