Quidditch

The weather grew colder each day and Selena became closer friends with her bronze and blue knitted scarf. It made for good protection from the cool, crisp winds. She and Terry walked across the nippy courtyard on their way to the library.

Terry who had forgotten to wear his scarf was shivering violently next to her. By the time they entered the building his cheeks were red and his lips were blue. "You know, if you're too cold we could head back to the common room to warm up." He suggested.

"If I'm too cold?" She asked incredulously, pushing the scarf out of the way of her mouth. "You look about two seconds away from becoming an icicle!"

"And besides, I promised I'd meet Hermione here. We're going to look at some books about Quidditch."

Terry scowled at her through chattering teeth. They walked past towering shelves of magical books. Hermione was sitting at one of the tables on the far end of the library accompanied by a large stack of books.

"Hello Hermione," Selena greeted softly.

"Oh hello! I pulled everything I could find." She responded pointing to the pile of quidditch books.

"Hermione this is Terry."

"Hello Terry, are you here to research quidditch too?" Hermione asked cheerily.

"I know more than enough about quidditch thank you." He answered snootily. Selena elbowed him in the ribs. "You two carry on. I'll just get a start on the Herbology homework." The two Ravenclaws took their seats.

Terry placed his parchment, quill, and book up on the table and got to work while she and Hermione started to discuss the material. "Quidditch through the ages," the Gryffindor girl announced, " this is the best one I've found. The others focus on separate aspects like broomsticks and flying techniques. This one's primarily about the game itself. It starts with the origins and ends with some more modern accounts."

Hermione opened up the book and flipped through the contents. Selena leaned close and they read together. Hours passed by and they learned just about everything they could about quidditch. "I'm going to take this out for Harry."

"Sounds like a good idea. Terry and I are gonna head up to the common room. Right, Terry?" Selena replied, nudging a snoring Terry Boot.

"Eh?" He questioned groggily.

"Come on Terrywinkle, off to bed!" David, who had walked over from Madam Pince's desk called. He slipped the Herbology book from beneath his brother's chin and began packing away his things.

"David…" Terry moaned into his sleeve. Swiftly David scooped him up and hauled him over his shoulder.

"Selena grab his book bag will ya?"

She grabbed it off the ground and swung it over her shoulder with her own. "David put me down! I'm awake now!" Terry cried. Madam hissed sharply.

"David!" He shouted ignoring Pince's orders and drawing the attention of every student in the library.

David chuckled lightly and placed him softly on the ground. Before he could say anything Terry ripped his bag from Selena and took off running. He rubbed guiltily at the back of his head. "Haha, oh dear," David sighed. He took off after Terry. Selena was very glad that Harry wasn't strong enough to pick her up.

A few mornings later Selena had hardly any appetite. As silly as it was, she was very nervous for Harry's quidditch debut. Perhaps reading about a myriad of horrible sporting accidents the day before wasn't her brightest idea.

She nibbled on toast and eggs very slowly as not to upset her already churning stomach. Terry was shoveling sausage into his mouth next to her. Selena was mid-bite when she felt a tap on the shoulder.

"Selena, wanna come for a walk?" Harry asked.

She nodded and got up from her seat.

Once out in the corridor, Harry started talking. "Yesterday Snape took my library book away because we weren't supposed to go outside with them."

"We're not?" She interrupted.

"Apparently. I went to see if I could get the book back and overheard him talking about the eh- cerebus?"

"Cerberus," She corrected.

"And I saw his leg. It bit him! He must've tried to get to the thing from the vault."

"It does sound fishy. Why would he want whatever it is?"

Harry simply shrugged.

"How are you feeling about the game?"

Harry grinned anxiously, "A bit nervous really."

"You'll do great," She said, hoping to boost his confidence. "You can do anything you set your mind to, you know?"

"You really think that about me?"

"Well yeah, I've always thought that." She said quietly.

"It's just that I've always thought that about you-"

He was cut off by an older Gryffindor boy, "Come on Harry! Time to get to the field."

"Coming Wood!" He hollered back. "Gotta go Selena."

"Good luck!"

The quidditch stands were crowded. Selena was mushed together with the other Ravenclaw first years. Her nerves were buzzing now. She cheered along with her house for Gryffindor. The only fans of Slytherins were Slytherins.

Madam Hooch talked to the players for about a minute before blowing her whistle. It rang out loudly through the field and the players took off.

Fred and George's friend, Lee Jordan, was announcing the match. "And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor - what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too-"

"JORDAN!" Professor McGonagall shouted. Someone had to keep him in line.

"Sorry, Professor. "

"And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve - back to Johnson and - no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes - Flint flying like an eagle up there - he's going to sc - no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindors take the Quaffle - that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and - OUCH - that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger - Quaffle taken by the Slytherins - that's Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger - sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which - nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes - she's really flying - dodges a speeding Bludger - the goal posts are ahead - come on, now, Angelina - Keeper Bletchley dives - misses - GRYFFINDORS SCORE!"

Even through watching all of the action, Selena could help but flick her attention over to Harry. It wasn't nearly as entertaining as the rest of the match, but it put her mind at ease. One of the Gryffindor chases scored and the quaffle was passed onto Slytherin. She could still see Harry's nervous face from so far away. Suddenly a furious brown ball barrelled past his shoulder. Along with it came Fred Weasley who caught up and batted it at one of the Slytherin players.

Selena exhaled in relief.

"Slytherin in possession, Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the - wait a moment - was that the Snitch?" Lee Jordan described.

The Slytherin chaser dropped the quaffle. A small, winged, golden ball was flying rapidly over his shoulder.

Harry and the Slytherin seeker raced toward it. Harry was gain on it. A few seconds and he would have it- bam! One of the Slytherin players blocked him.

"FOUL!" Cried the Gryffindor section. Her heart was pounding in her ears.

"So - after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating-" Lee commentated venomously.

"Jordan!"

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul. . . "

"Jordan, I'm warning you-"

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinner, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue to play, Gryffindor still in possession. "

A bludger went soaring past Harry's head and Selena winced. He seemed to be okay but then moments later his broom swooped funnily and he fell. He managed to hang on from the bottom with his hand. It was shaking him about much like he had shaken the troll bogeys off his wand. Selena couldn't help but whimper.

"Anthony!" Terry shouted at the boy beside him, "Gimme your binoculars!"

"No way Terr-" He protested as Terry yanked the binoculars from him. He flashed a cheesy grin and passed them to her.

Under normal circumstances, Selena would protest but this was important. She could see Harry much more clearly. "Someone's bewitched his broom!" David's voice called out from higher in the stands.

She flicked her attention from Harry to the teacher's stand. All but two looked concerned. Professor Quirrell was not dramatically clutching at his heart or shaking. Professor Snape was muttering. Out of the two of them, Snape seemed most likely. He hated Harry and her.

Suddenly Hermione Granger ran into view. She must have noticed Snape muttering as well. She shoved Professor Quirrell. In a few moments, the Potions Professor was distracted and Harry was back up on his broom. Whatever Hermione had done worked.

Harry dived towards the ground quickly and held a hand over his mouth. He fell softly off of his broom and began coughing into his hand. "He's got it!"

"I don't believe it Terry! He's got it!" Selena cheered excitedly passing the binoculars back to Anthony Goldstein. "Thanks, Anthony!"

He simply scowled.

After the match, Selena met up with Ron, Harry, and Hermione at Hagrids.

"It was Snape!" Ron said.

"Rubbish," Hagrid replied gruffly. "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"

Selena chewed nervously on her bottom lip. Should they tell him they're theories?

"I found out something about him," Harry explained. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding. "

Hagrid's teapot slipped right out from his hand and hit the ground with an echoey clunk.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" he said.

"Fluffy ?"

"Yeah - he's mine - bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year - I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-"

"Yes?" said Harry eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me anymore. That's top-secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to steal it." Harry pressed on.

"Rubbish," Hagrid shook his head. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort. "

"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" Selena asked hotly.

"I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!" Hermione added.

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel-"

"Aha!" Harry cheered excitedly, "So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

He shot a cheesy grin her way. They had another clue.