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flashback/''dialogue"/'thought'
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For the time until Halloween, Hermione refused to talk to Harry even though he had won the duel between him and Ron. It made sense because his acceptance of the duel led to them nearly being mauled to death by a Cerberus dog. Ron and Dean's involvement had nearly gotten them all into trouble and so Hermione took it upon herself to ignore Harry, Ron, and Dean. Neville was excused because he had been tricked by some unknown Slytherin. He wasn't able to tell who it was because they had got him by surprise and were out of his line of sight.
Harry kept trying to apologize to Hermione but every time she noticed Harry coming towards her she stopped what she was doing and left as quickly as she could. He tried to figure out some way of apologizing to her throughout the week but just had no idea how. After all, is it possible to apologize without being able to interact with the person you wronged? That was what Harry was thinking.
On the day of the 31st of October, smells of delicious Halloween cooking wafted through the lower corridors of the castle and Harry was excited for the feast. He wondered what kind of feast Hogwarts could provide. Then he remembered the day and his mood dropped.
Halloween in the year of 1981, when Harry was just a year old, lost his parents to the dark wizard Voldemort.
This would lead the now-orphaned Harry to live with Petunia Dursley, his mother's sister and her family and suffer their abuse for about five years. Five long and lonely years. Things picked up when they assaulted him one last time which Harry supposed allowed him to release his magic, but on a level that was not intended for any child which would explain why he had to release his energy into the air. 'I never brought it up as an issue after that but I'm going to make sure they get their punishment some day. Child and physical abuse isn't something many people enjoy and they certainly seemed to enjoy it. Dudley isn't innocent either but he is a child just like me, influenced by his parents, should I ruin them or wait?'
It was all just a guess and Harry wasn't sure why he had so much power afterward but it gave him the chance to make a friend in Allison.
'I wonder if we'll ever learn what that was? The moment we made real contact for the first time, we were unable to break it and silver light enveloped us, making an incredible amount of noise.' Harry thought. 'Then we knew the basics about each other. But somehow things were different with that knowledge. I'm glad she was persistent after that or else that day would have remained as just a moment of incredible magic. I wonder why those witches and wizards never came back to inspect the area, my compulsion charm wasn't permanent.'
Harry mused about his life since he discovered his magic until he heard some loud Gryffindor girls broke him out of it.
"That Hermione girl, she ran crying to the bathroom in one of the corridors in the dungeon after charms class, apparently she knows that no one likes her now."
"I bet she already knew."
"Either way, she wants to be left alone and I'm more than happy to oblige."
The girls soon walked away out of earshot and Harry now had another thought.
'She's hurt, that much is clear. But why? I didn't extend my friendship once before, I should try that now.'
It didn't work. Hermione told him to go away then once she realized it was Harry, she screamed at him to get out of the girl's bathroom and to leave her alone. He did try to make an effort to talk to her but she brandished her wand at him. Harry got the message and left but he did say that he hoped to see her at the feast. 'Not sure if she could hear me though,' Harry thought sadly.
'What did happen to her?' Harry wondered. He hoped to find out soon enough. 'There was something about her charms class today, but what though?'
He met up with Allison later. There was no point in celebrating alone when you had a friend, right? The Great Hall smelled amazing and the mouths of the residents all watered in anticipation. There were tons of bats that fluttered about the ceiling, sometimes swooping down around the tables. Jack-o'-lanterns floating around, filling the air, the light within flickering whenever a bat flew too close.
"How have your classes been?" Harry asked Allison as he bit into a potato.
"So great!" she said with wonder, "I never expected anything like this! But it seems almost too easy, you know? I feel like I could be doing more. I want to do more."
He remembered another thing, though this was a result of the silver bond that he and Allison shared. When she was younger, in a different life, she had created a miniature version of the solar system without having any knowledge of magic, yet she accomplished it by poking and whispering at something. At least, that's what she told the other him from the other life.
"Try ancient runes, there is a lot of magical potential in them but they are tedious to set up. I believe they only start teaching runes during third year so studying them now would give you a head start. I have some notes in my trunk, I can give them to you later if you want."
"That'd be great, thanks Harry!" She beamed at him.
The doors to the Great Hall burst open and Professor Quirrell, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, sprinted in and collapsed by the head table shouting, "Troll! In the dungeons! Thought you ought to know!" and promptly passed out. Harry looked upon the unconscious turban-wearing professor with some curiosity. Though he did somewhat pay attention in his classes but preferred to read the other books he had bought instead. The professor taught in a way that Harry felt was not worth his time even if he hadn't already learned the material years before. He supposed Professor Quirrell had acquired the teaching position due to his experience but he wasn't sure, something was off about the man. A lot of people started screaming and Dumbledore sent off several firecrackers exploding to silence the room. "Prefects," he said firmly, "Lead your Houses back to your dormitories immediately!" Harry was bewildered by this.
The prefects began to do their duties but Harry stood up and said loudly to the Hall in his usual flat tone. "That seems a little dangerous though, doesn't it? If the troll is in the dungeons, shouldn't the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs be staying here? We don't know where in the dungeons the troll is and it could be too close for either House to make it back to their dormitories."
"That is a good point, Mr. Potter, very well! Hufflepuffs and Slytherins will stay here, Gryffindors and Ravenclaws will go on ahead!"
"Go join your House now, Ms. Taylor," Professor Flitwick said from the head table, and then turned to converse with the other professors.
"I'll see you later then, Harry," Allison whispered, getting up to join her fellow Ravenclaws.
Whispering back, Harry said, "I'm coming with, Hermione is still in one of the bathrooms in the dungeon and I know where she is, but go back to your common room, it'll be easier for me right now." Allison was confused but nodded.
He could see it too. How would he be able to leave when he's clearly in Slytherin? It was easy, people were conversing among themselves about Quirrell passing out and the troll, not paying attention to him at the moment and the teachers were too busy figuring out how to take care of the troll.
So he followed the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws out of the Great Hall where he made a detour rather than continue with them all the way. "Good luck, Harry," Allison whispered as he made his split and he nodded in return.
Before Harry entered the next corridor that would lead to the bathroom that Hermione was in, he noticed Snape, alone, heading to the upper floors. 'What are you doing, Snape? The troll is in the dungeons.'
He rounded a corner and noticed a terrible smell that filled the corridor. 'The troll is here, I don't hear screams so she must be safe at the moment.' Though Harry regretted his words when the entire corridor began to quake from the troll that was coming smell thickened in the air and Harry nearly threw up from the stench. The troll came right up to the bathroom door where Hermione was still in and sniffed the air. It went inside and Hermione began to scream. 'Dang it! I'm too late!'
He put mind over matter and ran into the bathroom where the troll was slowly advancing on Hermione who was backed against the wall screaming. Sinks and stalls were being smashed, water pouring uncontrolled from the broken pipes, flooding the floor. "Hermione come on!" Harry shouted. She couldn't hear him over the noise of the troll who was indiscriminately breaking whatever it could lay its club on.
Harry ran in front of Hermione and nearly crashed into the wall. He had read about how trolls had thick hides, not impervious to magic but it was tough to affect them with it. It kept advancing. A lot of adult witches and wizards were able to take care of magical creatures but they often did it in groups. He may have had a lot of power but he was still by himself. The troll swung its club into the closest stall, sending bits of wood and metal flying far too close to Harry.
"STOP!" The troll did stop and blinked, looking around at whatever made the noise. Harry cast the severing charm "Diffindo!" at the troll and it did cause quite the gash in the troll's chest, it was nothing and the troll roared but kept on moving. "Aqua Eructo!" Harry pointed his wand at the troll and summoned a huge jet of water that struck the troll and though it stopped its movement it did not knock the troll down. Incendio barely charred the beast's hide. The troll now angry, raised its club, ready to smash Harry and Hermione into bits.
"No!" A green flame made its way from Harrys hand, twirled around his wand, and blasted towards the troll. Not only did the flame push the troll back, it punched a massive hole through its chest and kept pushing the troll back to the door. With one final push, Harry destroyed the entrance to the bathroom with the troll and smashed it into the wall opposite in the corridor. When the dust settled, smoke was coming from the hole in the troll's chest, the dead troll lying atop a pile of rubble. There were footsteps and then silence. Harry heard the voices of the professors through the smoke and cursed. He couldn't stay and be found, revealing his secret to the staff, he just couldn't trust them but it was only a matter of time. He knew apparating was impossible within Hogwarts due to the wards but the disillusionment charm should be possible, right? He had been invisible at times to avoid the Dursleys or just the general public when it felt too much.
Hermione was in shock too, she couldn't say a word and Harry signalled for her to be quiet and she nodded, eyes wide. He tapped his wand on Hermione's head and her face twisted in disgust for some reason but she soon faded from sight. Harry then twirled his wand around himself and he too faded from sight. With barely a whisper, Harry cast the levitation spell on himself and Hermione, holding onto her the entire time. He then cast the banishing charm. 'Depulso' and held back on the energy that would send them flying into the professors or into the wall.
"What on Earth?" McGonagall's voice said in shock. "Who could have done such a thing?"
Snape had arrived with them and looked at the troll. "Only someone with incredible power. It cannot be the headmaster." The potions professor thought of one small individual with incredible talent and skill in magic but banished the thought. Why would the boy be here of all places anyhow?
Dumbledore arrived and inspected the area casting his eyes every which way but when he seemingly found nothing, he inspected the wound on the troll. "The troll is dead, dealt a painful one if these wounds are any indication…"
Harry didn't want to hear any more and continued to cast the levitation and banishing charms to keep them moving. Once he was far enough away from the professors, he cancelled the spells he had placed on them and sighed.
"Hermione, I-," Harry began to say.
She threw her arms around him in a tight hug. "Thank you Harry, thank you! Thanks for saving me!" Harry was thrown off. He didn't expect the hug but he returned it and she hugged him tighter. When they pulled apart, Harry could see wonder in her eyes, and a little bit of fear.
"How did you do that? That was incredible! Those spells, that fire!" she literally started to bounce a little. She was almost like Allison, Harry almost smiled. They would get along fabulously he was sure.
"I will explain it all later, but I have to get back to the Great Hall before someone realizes I'm missing, will you be alright going back to the Gryffindor tower?
"Yes I'll be fine," she replied, her eyes still studying him with wonder. She went to hug him one more time and suddenly in Harry's mind there was a flash of light and saw Hermione in Charms.
'The rumours are true then… she is rather condescending in class. Or rather, she's patronizing in the way she helps people,' Harry thought. He pulled himself out of the vision and saw Hermione wide-eyed. She shook her head.
"Good night, Harry," she said softly, Harry supposed this was because she also saw that memory when he saw it.
"See you tomorrow, Hermione," Harry turned and slipped back into the Great Hall without trouble. The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were all still partying about, many were talking and joking about how the troll even got into the castle in the first place.
Harry quietly made his way back to his seat and sat down without a word. Looking around, he noticed that Tracy Davis and Draco Malfoy were looking at him inquisitively. Even Daphne Greengrass glanced at him. He knew then that they noticed his disappearance. But who else? Rumours flew around the castle quite quickly and so he hoped that the staff and students wouldn't find out about the troll and if they did, they would think it was the wards that stopped it somehow. He was sure the rest of the staff would know but it would be kind of hard to explain a big smoking hole in a troll's chest as a defensive ward.
He wondered which students had noticed his disappearance and would be able to make the connection.
No one said anything though, not even when the professors returned and announced that it was safe to go back to their dormitories.
Later on when Harry was lying in bed, he thought back on a few things. When Snape had returned from wherever he was heading, he was limping though it was nearly unnoticeable. He wasn't sure what else it could be other than the Cerberus in the third floor corridor. 'If it was because of the dog, then what is under that trap door? Hagrid had done something for Dumbledore so whatever they're doing, it must be for that package.'
Also about Draco Malfoy. The boy had been steadfastly ignoring Harry ever since the first night but he pranced around acting like a prince among commoners. Another thing was that he almost seemed like he was taking the backstage whenever the Slytherins harassed the Muggle-born students but he wasn't sure about that. 'Did I really get to him? He still seems rather arrogant though. He was very rude in Madam Malkins and it seems like not much has changed from then to now.'
'That fire that I struck the troll with, it wasn't like the killing curse because it caused some serious damage,' Harry thought with a pause.'Lord Ragnok had said there was some kind of ancient anomaly in my blood and if even a well-learned person like Ragnok is unable to read what it was, then who could?'
He hoped it wouldn't be too long before he found out about his magic.
"But where would I even start?"
oOoOo
As soon as Harry woke up the next day, he grabbed some parchment and wrote a note that said, "Come sit with me and Allison at the Slytherin table." Harry showered and got dressed then headed up to the Owlery. He hadn't seen or spoken to Hedwig since he had arrived at Hogwarts and missed her terribly. Ever since the sorting, Hagrid had refused to talk to Harry and would run as soon as he noticed. Ron was too hateful of all things Slytherin, and Allison and Hermione had to deal with their own demons. Neville was different though, he seemed scared of Harry for some reason. So without any friends, he had no correspondence. He had no excuse really as to why he didn't visit Hedwig so he was going to start making up for it today.
Harry brought the note to Hedwig and talked about what's been happening. He felt like she knew already but it was nice talking to someone who didn't look at him with scorn. He closed his eyes and brushed his head against Hedwig who did the same. They may have only really met just recently but they felt close together. To forget an emotional bond would be painful for them especially so therefore they would make up for the time.
"I promise to come around more often when I can" a hoot of a reply and Harry smiled, feeling a load lifting from his heart.
At breakfast, the castle was somewhat quiet, Harry was relieved, it took the castle two months to stop their incessant obsessiveness with him. Allison went from the Ravenclaw table to sit beside Harry though there was still some grumbling, people seemed to accept her position about him and wouldn't make a fuss, but it was clear that not many people were happy with it. The usual rush of owls came flying in and Hedwig first dropped off the note for Hermione before flying over to Harry to partake of some of his breakfast before hooting once more and flying back to the Owlery.
Hermione read the note and slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way to the Slytherin table. There was some attention on Hermione until they realized she was looking at Harry and Allison and left it alone, Ron grumbled, glaring at Harry with Dean and Seamus.
'Does Ron have nothing else to do? Honestly,' Harry thought, amused. He also thought that maybe people were afraid of him now or realized it wasn't a good idea to mess with Harry. Maybe his and Ron's duel had reached the ears of the rest of the students?
When Hermione sat down, Harry set up a bubble of silence around them. "How are you feeling now, Hermione? Are you alright?" He asked. She was quite shaken up before he had saved her from the troll after all.
"I feel better now, thank you," Hermione replied, more happy than the previous night.
"It's been a while, Hermione," Allison said, holding her hand out and Hermione shook it.
"It has, I'm glad we're together again, I also wouldn't be here right now had Harry not saved my life last night," she send, her eyes looked toward Harry with that same curiosity as the night before.
"What happened?
"The troll found me and was heading towards me, I couldn't move, I was too scared," Hermione explained. She involuntarily began to shake as she remembered the hulking beast advance towards her. "But then Harry arrived and started using a bunch of spells at it that did nothing and then-," she leaned in towards Allison and whispered, "blasted it away with some kind of green fire, it was nothing like I'd ever seen or heard of before."
Allison turned her head to look at Harry with the same wonder he'd seen in Hermione the night before and the first time he had shown her magic and Harry let out a chuckle at the sight. Turning back around, Allison said, "Harry is quite powerful, he's been studying magic for years now, but I think he should fully explain it to you. I'm so glad you're alright."
Now that both of them were looking to Harry, he sat up and spoke. "I sort of unleashed my magic with the help of my relatives at the age of 6 and have more or less been studying magic since then. I've also read quite a few books on the subjects that we'd be learning from our third year and beyond as well as how to apply them. I know how to apparate though that was mostly by accident. Life has not been easy for me, in fact, it was near fatal but that experience has led me to learning all I've been able in that time. In the next five years I'll be putting even more time into applications of magic to expand my repertoire of abilities but don't worry," Harry said, taking a deep breath, seeing their looks, "I'll study what I've already studied to keep what I've learned with me."
"What's 'apparate'?" Hermione asked, she couldn't work out what the word meant and the only thing she could think of was apparition like a ghost..
"It's the ability to teleport oneself from one place to another in an instant, but I don't recommend trying to learn it yet, it's meant to be learned when you're older and more in control of yourself and your magic," Harry replied, hoping his blank tone was more serious than normal to imply how dangerous it was.
"Wow, and you did it by accident? That must have been strange," she said excitedly. Hermione had learned a lot from the first year books but she hadn't seen much about the more advanced magicks yet and it was fascinating for her to hear about it.
"It's been a while since that day so I can't remember the exact feeling I had then but I can tell you it's sort of like being squeezed through a very small rubber tube," Harry said somewhat sheepishly.
Hermione went quiet for a moment and they kept eating breakfast, class was about to start so they had to head to their respective classes. "Oh! So that's how you knew that aqua eructo spell! When do we learn that?" Hermione asked, she finished her last bite and had picked up her bag again.
"I think it's taught in fourth year, so you'll have time. If you both really want to, try studying the higher levels in your spare time, it will give you time to 'catch up' to me," Harry said, also grabbing his bag.
"I don't know why I didn't think of doing that already, I've been so focused on just my first year studies that I never thought to spare any time for anything more difficult," Allison whispered to them both.
Harry took down the wall of silence and said to Allison and Hermione, "See you at Lunch, Allison."
"Bye Harry, Hermione!" Allison replied with a quick wave.
"Ready for double potions?" Hermione asked Harry sarcastically.
"Never, I have no idea what I'm doing," Harry replied.
Hermione laughed.
oOoOo
The next two weeks passed by so quickly, Harry was almost thrown off. With Hedwig and Allison and Hermione constantly in touch, Harry's heart felt lighter than it had been since the school year started. He was also quite busy with Quidditch practice that the captain Marcus Flint organized every so often because the first game of the season was coming up.
It was also getting colder, frost began to settle on the ground every morning and windows would ice up but it had yet to snow so Quidditch practice kept them warm and if anyone slacked they would get colder and no one wanted that so they practiced harder.
He had found that he flew incredibly well and even faster than the others with the Nimbus 2000 so Marcus Flint felt more comfortable with Harry as the seeker, even though he trusted in Terence Higgs' ability he felt more sure that they would win with Harry as the driving force.
Marcus wasn't stupid either, he knew the current team could be outplayed by the Gryffindor team because of how hard and how often the captain, Oliver Wood, made them practice. Not only that but the Weasley twins were really good beaters, always in sync. Harry was not exactly fragile but a heavy metal ball being hit with great force would injure or kill anyone and he wasn't sure what the Weasley twins thought of him.
They were known as pranksters, jokers. Slytherins especially found themselves being targeted but not necessarily harmed. Thankfully, Harry had yet to have been targeted by them but felt like it was only a matter of time. He was sure that although the general attitude in Gryffindor was negative towards Slytherin, that the Gryffindor Quidditch team wouldn't resort to underhanded tactics like Marcus had trained them to do.
Finally, the day of the first game arrived and Harry was astounded with the attitude in the Great Hall. It seemed like everyone prepared to go out to watch the match, a lot of people were jeering at him especially but this time he could tell it was mostly about Quidditch.
"Hope you get hit by a bludger, Potter!" was the one that most people shouted at him.
Gryffindors and Slytherins all jeered at each other but the players themselves were focused on preparing for the match, physically and mentally. The breakfast that was ready in the Great Hall was a standard breakfast that could be found throughout the United Kingdom but Harry didn't eat too much, only enough to endure the activity he would soon be going through.
'This crowd is unbelievable, I should have realized it before but this world is really into Quidditch," Harry thought, observing them all. Cheering and whooping. The general support of the students seemed like it was for the Gryffindor team, but seemingly a quarter or more of the Ravenclaws were all for Slytherin.
Allison and Hermione came up.
"Good luck, Harry, I'll be rooting for you and you alone," Allison whispered. Hermione said the same thing. They both explained that while Harry was a nice person, the rest of their team and especially the captain was quite a horrible person, they then sat back down together at the Ravenclaw table.
"Slytherin to your locker rooms!" Marcus Flint ordered. It was about fifteen minutes to eleven o' clock. Dressed in scarves and warm robes, the rest of the school slowly headed out to the spectator's stand.
Allison and Hermione waved and mouthed 'good luck' to him before getting up and leaving. Harry got up with his team and they started heading out to the Quidditch pitch.
Once in the lockers, they changed into their Quidditch robes, for Slytherin, they were coloured dark green.
"Alright you lot, you know what to do, let's go!" Flint commanded.
'No big speech? I guess this is Slytherin but even still,' Harry thought, grabbing his Nimbus.
The team stepped onto the Quidditch pitch amidst cheers and jeers, the crowd roaring.
It was a somewhat windy, cloudy day but Harry felt like it would be no problem in the air.
Madam Hooch would be refereeing, Harry noticed she was standing in the direct center of the pitch. Once both the Slytherin and Gryffindor teams were gathered around her, she spoke. By this point, Harry's heart was starting to race. He was getting excited. The crowd was watching.
"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said, looking at them all but with a particularly stern tone and gaze towards Flint.
"Mount your brooms!" she called out. "Ready?" Madam Hooch produced a loud blast from her silver whistle and 15 broomsticks rose into the air.
The Quaffle was taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor which was then passed to Alicia Spinnet very neatly. Lee Jordan was a third year student in Gryffindor and he was announcing what was happening. Alicia Spinnet tried passing back to Angelina but was intercepted by Flint and he flew up and over towards the Gryffindor end of the pitch. He smirked and tried to fake his throw but Oliver Wood as Keeper saw it coming and easily blocked it.
Flint wasn't pleased.
Katie Bell, the third chaser, took the Quaffle but was forced to drop it in order to dodge the bludger sent her way by the older Slytherin beater. Alicia Spinnet picked up the Quaffle and sped off with Angelina to the Slytherin end. Harry pulled focus away from the rest of the match and started looking for the Snitch. He kept seeing glints of metal but realized they were just people's watches.
"And here is Harry Potter, flying around, unexpectedly in Slytherin House and now somehow Seeker for the Slytherin team!"
He kept ducking and weaving between both teams. The Gryffindor seeker was new to Quidditch but only because no one in Gryffindor seemed to have passed the trial for Oliver's standards but he looked like he had no real idea what to do, he was panicking. Harry had flown close to him and the boy, Harry thought his name was Calum, nearly jumped off his broom. That wouldn't have been good. A second after that both bludgers were hit at him immediately and he had to roll hard to avoid one and leaned back on his broom to avoid the other by an inch. Harry took a second to make sure he was actually still there. Harry looked towards Fred and George Weasley and they both smirked at him. 'Creepy. That was so close.'
Harry decided to slow down and not waste his energy flying around the players and so went up slightly higher than the rest and flew at a slower pace, looking for some sign of the snitch.
"Was that the snitch?" Lee Jordan's voice cut back to him and Harry noticed the snitch fluttering near the other seeker. He was too far from it but he dived after it anyways. Calum noticed him coming and turned around. As Harry caught up, he realized that Harry was after the Snitch and also sped off but Marcus Flint decided to block him with a laugh and a smirk. Madam Hooch blew her whistle
He saw this and refused to grab the Snitch and so it flew off, out of sight. Flint's face went from smirk to snarl in a second. "You do that again and you're dead, Potter!" He shouted at Harry.
"FOUL!" the Gryffindors shouted.
Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and gave the Gryffindor chasers a free shot at the goal and Alicia Spinnet threw it passed the Slytherin Keeper, Miles Bletchley, easily.
Harry was flying back up to his position and dodged a bludger that was sent away when his broom nearly bucked him off. 'What just happened?' Harry looked around but saw nothing noticeable that he could tell. Harry flew several meters above the rest of the pitch and grabbed a hold of his magic. His broom kept bucking harder and harder which made it even more difficult to hold on but he had yet to lose control.
"Oh no! The Slytherins score their first goal making it 20 to 10! Wait a second, something's wrong with Harry Potter's broom!"
The broom bucked again but Harry kept a tight grip, though he was nearly thrown off, he even gave a little shout in surprise. He remembered something in that moment, when his power first came to light, he had blocked a spell with his magic. He had subconsciously been keeping it up for so long that he forgot about it. He made to encompass that same energy around the broom which gave one more heavy buck which nearly threw him off but his tight grip on the broom allowed him to swing himself back onto the broom with some momentum. It was terrifying to dangle over the air like that, even if it was just for a split second. Even though he was sure the majority of the castle still hated his guts, the crowd gasped loudly in that one moment and sighed in relief in the next second.
"And with incredible agility, Potter makes it back onto his broom which appears to have stopped jumping!"
Harry was now focusing on the crowd, his face hardened as he searched where the source of the jinx came from. He pulled in all of his external magic to settle all throughout the Quidditch pitch and there were two sources. One was the jinx and the other seemed to be a counter jinx. He ignored the counter and focused in on the jinx, letting go of his radar but keeping the shield up.
'Professor Quirrell… But why though? What are you up to?' Harry regarded the professor with suspicion when Lee Jordan's voice called out again. There was something else too, something sinister around Quirrell but Harry couldn't tell with his focus being split.
"The score is now 20 to 40! The Slytherin chasers must have put the Quaffle through while we were all distracted!
As he was shouting that out though, Harry was still half-focused on Quirrell. That's when the Weasley twins shouted something and one of the two bludgers came whistling by, Harry was still half focused on Quirrell and therefore was struck in the side hard enough to force the air out of him.
"And Fred Weasley strikes Potter with a bludger, that looks like it hurts!" Lee Jordan cheered with the crowd at this before continuing with his commentary, "Katie Bell dodges a bludger and throws the Quaffle back to Angelina Johnson who fakes a throw before passing it to Alicia Spinnet who fakes a throw as well but Miles Bletchley falls for it and Alicia Spinnet scores!" The score counter now read as 30 to 40. The speed of the match increased as the Gryffindor team got closer to taking back their lead.
Harry gasped for breath hard, one hand gripping his broom, the other hand holding his side. His focus was now solely back on Quidditch and he heard something whistling nearby and rolled wildly to the side to avoid the bludger he assumed was sent by George Weasley. His side ached greatly but Harry put mind over matter and dove back into the weaving colours of red and green, maybe he would find the snitch there, though he was slowing down.
As he dove, he looked at the Gryffindor Keeper and for a split second, Oliver Wood floated up to the right and the Snitch was by his feet. Harry kicked and sped off, startling Calum who was right in front of him but also sped off in chase of Harry.
"Looks like Potter's seen the Snitch! And Potter is almost neck and neck with the Gryffindor Seeker Calum! If Potter catches the Snitch here, it'll be a victory for Slytherin, will the Weasley twins be able to stop him?!" Lee Jordan shouted. Unfortunately for the Gryffindor team, the Weasley twins had yet to get back to the bludgers for a good hit.
The Snitch dove very close to the grass of the pitch and Harry dove after it, Calum following behind, but he just wasn't fast enough.
Harry was going too low to pull up and he was about to crash. He jumped off his broom and in that moment, the Snitch doubled back towards Calum who had already begun to pull up but Harry thrust his hand out to the side and caught the Snitch just enough with his fingertips. Harry was falling now and quickly curled into a ball. He half-rolled half-crashed into the Quidditch pitch while the Nimbus broom bounced a few feet away. Harry stood up, holding his side and the Snitch safely in his grasp to show the crowd.
"Potter's caught the Snitch," Lee Jordan said dejectedly but he perked right back up. "Slytherin has won 210 to 30!"
oOoOo
"Professor Snape was jinxing you Harry, I saw it!" Hermione said, she was pacing around, thinking deeply. This was several hours after the match, Harry had joined the Slytherin's party in the dormitory but Marcus Flint was still angry with him so he didn't stay too long. He wandered around the castle until Hermione and Allison found him.
"She's right, he was watching you, constant eye-contact, unblinking and muttering something which was the jinx that was clearly affecting your broom," Allison agreed, nodding. They had noticed Snape but not Quirrell which Harry supposed made sense. Snape was known to be very very tough, a horrible person and not the best teacher by most of the students, and he also favoured Slytherin students but strangely, tended to ignore Harry for the most part so he would stand out more.
'There's always a hint of regret in his eyes, but why though? We don't know each other,' Harry had thought.
"I was going to set him on fire but your broom stopped trying to kill you and you managed to get back on so I didn't get the chance," Hermione said with a sinister glint in her eye. Allison laughed seeing this look, Harry grinned.
"Actually, I did some magic and it was actually Quirrell who was jinxing me, there was another that was casting some kind of counter-jinx so that must have been was Snape was doing," Harry explained. "I want to know now though. What exactly is Quirrell up to? Why did he try to knock me off of my broom?"
"We'll keep a close eye on him, we'll try to figure out what he's up to if we can," Hermione said confidently.
"There's another thing. I haven't told you guys yet because I was still figuring it out for myself. I think something is being kept here at Hogwarts, something that the headmaster and the professors are trying to protect. When I was taken to Gringotts, Hagrid said he needed to pick something up for Dumbledore. I wasn't really able to see what it was but," Harry paused, taking a breath. "It was something small. Snape I think went up to the third floor to try to get passed the Cerberus and into that trap door that was beneath it, I don't know if you had noticed that, Hermione." She nodded. "But I think that's where the object is being kept hidden and that's where Snape had gone on Halloween, he was limping when he arrived at the bathroom and what else could cause that to happen with a teacher? It was most likely that dog scratching him or biting him or something."
"So in addition to figuring out what Quirrell is up to, we need to figure out what Dumbledore is trying to hide? How are we going to do that? The professors aren't necessarily going to just tell us what we want us to know," Allison questioned him.
"Well Dumbledore is quite old, maybe what he's trying to hide is mentioned in the books or news somewhere, we could start there," Hermione replied to Allison.
"We could try visiting Hagrid too, he hasn't talked to me since I got sorted into Slytherin but he's somewhat close to Dumbledore right? He might refuse me but he likes you two I'm sure," Harry suggested, agreeing with them.
"We should do this as carefully as we can and try to avoid the professors, who knows what they might do if they find out?" Hermione warned. Harry and Allison nodded.
"Then let us begin."
MastrDragn: Thank you, I don't know how I didn't notice that I wrote Hagrid twice.
