Chapter 10: First year (Part 2.5)
5th, August, Thursday, 1998.
The next morning once everyone was in the living room after breakfast and those who had left arrived, Harry started thinking about what memories to show everyone next.
"I think we will skip my first potions class, lets just say it was a disaster and Snape hated me with a passion." he said.
"Why did Sev hate you?" Regulus asked, he had gotten quite close to him when he joined the Death Eaters.
"Because of us." Remus answered him.
"Yeah we did pick on him a lot." James said looking ashamed under Lily's glare.
"He assumed I was just like my father because of my appearance and he refused to look past that and see me for who I am. To him I was an arrogant, attention seeking brat who was treated like royalty and got everything my own way and didn't care who got hurt to do it." Harry explained. "It didn't help that I was terrible at potions either." he added.
"He also favored Draco over everyone else." Ron added.
"Well he was my Godfather but I think my Father had something to do with the favoring me part." Draco told them, getting nod's.
"Okay lets start with at the end of the potions lesson." Harry said.
As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, Harry's mind was racing and his spirits were low. He'd lost two points for Gryffindor in his very first week—
"Don't sweat it. We lost closer to fifty." James told his son.
"And yet you seem proud of it." said Minerva exasperatedly.
why did Snape hate him so much?
"Because he hates me." James said.
"But he likes Lily." Remus pointed out.
"But he looks like me." James argued.
"Not his eyes," Remus retorted.
"Everything else, though. Main looks. From his hair to his… erm… nose!" he finished awkwardly getting laughs from the rest of the room. "Whatever. The point is Snape hated me and therefore he'll hate any children that are Potter's."
"Cheer up," said Ron. "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George."
"It's true." the twins said in unison.
"Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?" At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.
When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks.
"Fang!" all the boys, except Draco, cheered.
"Right coward, that dog!" said Charlie.
"Like some other dogs I know." said James, looking at Sirius.
"Oi! I am not a coward!" Sirius shouted.
"Who said it was you?" Remus asked him.
"Urgh!" Sirius groaned and put his head in his hands.
"You walked yourself into that one Siri." Regulus said chuckling.
Sirius looked up, "You know about the animagus thing?" Regulus nodded. "How? We never told anyone."
"Um… you may have left your notes lying around your room one day, when Mother was punishing you—" Sirius went pale at the mention of the punishment's he used to get. "—also the flea collar and chew toy I found after you left were a hint as well." Regulus explained watching as his brother stared into space. "Sirius?" he said confused and worried.
Harry went over to Sirius, "Sirius whats up?" he asked his godfather while shaking his shoulder.
The only response he got was a whispered "Punishment's." confusing himself and everyone who didn't know what the punishments were. James, Remus and Regulus suddenly looked understanding.
Regulus got up and dragged his big brother with him. "Explain." he added to James, who nodded, on his way out.
"Their parent's hated Sirius for being who he is." James started, "He used to get punished for the smallest things." he explained.
"Kind of like me then." Harry suggested his father and Remus nodded.
"Similar, but his were much worse." Remus said, "He used to get fire whipped, meaning it's like your being burned but it doesn't leave a mark, by Kreacher, that's one of the reasons why he hate's the elf so much, then he used to get thrown in the cellar and left there in the dark with nothing to eat or drink and his back, arms and legs feeling like they had been burned to the bone, for undetermined periods of time." he explained.
"That's not all Moony," James added, "I noticed him shaking once, it was the summer he ran away from home and when he came to my house. I asked him about it and he told me he'd been Crucio'ed by his Father."
"I remember that, Uncle Orion was furious at what Sirius had done but Aunt Walburga kept saying that the Cruciatus was too far." Cissy said suddenly just as Regulus came back in.
"He's asking for you James." he said. James nodded and left.
"What part are you up to in explaining?" Regulus asked. Remus told him. "Oh yeah, that, well as Sirius was leaving my Father tried to Imperio him but Sirius fought it so he got Crucio'ed by our Father before our Mother stopped him."
Regulus said wincing at the memory, "Despite what he believes she did actually care she just didn't want him to ruin his life which she thought would happen if he was himself. She wanted him to follow the traditional line of the Blacks that's why she was so hard on him. I asked her after he left and once our Father had went to work the next day." he added.
"That was just the type of person she was." Cissy said, "But she must have noticed that Sirius never was, and was never going to be, like the rest of us."
Regulus shrugged as James and a better looking Sirius walked in and sat down again.
"You okay Padfoot?" Remus asked Sirius nodded as the memory started again.
Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang—Back." Hagrid's big hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open. "Hang on," he said. "Back, Fang."
"Doesn't really name his pets well, does he?" Fred commented.
"What d'you mean?" Draco asked.
"Well, he's a coward, but he's called Fang? Does that sound right to you?" George said.
"Guess not." Draco admitted.
He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.
There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.
"Make yerselves at home," said Hagrid letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears.
Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.
"Defiantly not. Kind of like Padfoot." James said, making Sirius grin.
"This is Ron," Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes on to a plate.
"Whatever you do, don't eat them!" warned James.
"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spend half me life chasin yer twin brothers away from the Forest."
"And spent the other half chasing us away." said Sirius proudly as the twins put on innocent faces that no-one believed.
The rock cakes almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid about their first lessons.
Fang rested his head on Harry's knee and drooled over his robes. Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch "that old git."
"It's the truth." the twins said.
"The cold hard truth." the Marauders agreed.
"That is why I'm replacing him." Minerva said, "I've never liked him but Albus was too soft to fire him. So I'm going to do it once I've found a replacement." she explained.
"An' as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang some time. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her—Filch puts her up to it."
"Most likely." the twins said.
Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron, told Harry no to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students.
"But he seemed to really hate me."
"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?"
"Because of Prongs." Remus and Sirius said.
"And me." Sirius added.
Yet Harry couldn't help thinking that Hagrid didn't quite meet his eyes when he said that.
"I love him; you can tell when he's lying." Harry sighed fondly.
"How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot—great with animals." Harry wondered if Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose.
While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cosy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet:
GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST
Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of dark wizards or witches unknown.
Gringotts' goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.
"But we're not telling what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokes goblin this afternoon.
"That's a nice way to tell them to mind their own business, isn't it?" Regulus commented.
"That's not their nice way. The nice way is along the lines of 'Only our manager knew what was in there. We're not allowed to tell you so goodbye.' " Bill chuckled, "That basically told them 'Get lost, we're not telling you because we dont want to look bad.' " he shrugged.
"Goblin's may not seem like it but they do care about how they look to their customers in terms of security and confidentiality." Fleur nodded.
Harry remembered Ron telling him on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date.
"Hagrid!" said Harry. "That Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"
There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time.
"Bless him, he couldn't lie if his life depended on it." James said.
He grunted and offered him another rock cake.
Harry read the story again. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package.
Had that been what the thieves were looking for?
As Harry and Ron walked back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse, Harry thought that none of the lessons so far had given him as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. Had Hagrid collected that package just in time? Where was it now? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Harry?
"Skipping." Harry said.
Harry had never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley,
"What?" Remus asked.
but that was before he met Draco Malfoy.
"Oh, that makes more sense." Draco said going pink. "It's me being the worlds biggest prat again."
Still, first-year Gryffindors only had potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy much.
Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room which made them groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday—and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.
Everyone groaned.
"I did try to get my Gryffindor's put with the Hufflepuff's and Severus did try to get his Slytherin's with the Ravenclaw's but unfortunately, because of the timetables, the Gryffindor's had to go with the Slytherin's that year. Severus had a class so I was sitting watching from an unused classroom's window as something, usually something bad, almost always happens when Slytherin and Gryffindor are put together for flying lessons." Minerva explained.
"Or any lessons in general." Ginny mused, "Depending on the teacher, there were always fights or little incidents either before, during or leaving class."
"Slytherin's usually don't get along at all with Gryffindor's." Draco said, "Same the other way around. It was bad whenever we got stuck with each other in classes."
"I'd noticed that with the 6th year Gryffindor's and Slytherin's when I was there." Remus commented, "There was an increasing problem with the 1st year class too."
"Which is why Albus and I usually kept them separated unless there was no way to avoid it." Minerva explained, "That wont happen this year. We'll be purposefully putting them together to get the two houses to work together better."
"It'll be a miracle if that works." James predicted.
"The DA worked with a few Slytherin's last year." Ginny told him, "And that was without any nasty comments or arguments at all, just a few snide remarks from them infront of teachers so they could stay undetected." she shrugged.
"And if you hadn't noticed there are a few Slytherin's here you get along with." Andy added, "And not all Slytherin's are evil, I'm not, neither is Cissy or Draco even if they made bad choices in the past."
"My girlfriend, Astoria, isnt evil at all, she was one of the one's helping the other houses last year." Draco said.
"The main problem is getting students to drop the stereotypes and realise everyone can get along if they tried." Minerva smiled.
Harry shrugged, "A whole quarter of the wizarding cant be all evil or bad."
"The war would've been worse if it was." Remus nodded, "My parents used to tell me not to judge people on their house, coulor of skin, species or past. They did advise me to be careful around purebloods though."
"One of the things that most purebloods learn growing up is how to identify werewolves and vampires, thing's like that." Regulus nodded.
"That's how we confirmed it." James added, "When we were in 1st year at the end of the year we saw a few of the scars Remus had."
"Both of us recognized it was from a werewolf since those scars are unique." Sirius sighed, "We already had an idea by then but we didn't want to ask until we knew."
"So you waited and cornered me." Remus huffed, "Oh well it was easier than me having to tell you outright myself… Or getting Poppy and Dumbledore to do it." he shrugged.
"Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."
He had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else.
"You don't know you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."
Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first-years never getting in the house Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories which always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters.
"Right, yeah, like that happened." the twins scoffed.
"I was just boasting." Draco admitted sheepishly.
He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnegan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick.
"That's hardly any more believable than my story!" Draco said.
"Wait… isn't he Muggle Born?" asked Regulus.
"No, his 'Mam' was a witch," said Ron imitating Seamus' Irish accent.
Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hand-glider on Charlie's old broom.
"RON!" Molly screeched.
"Sorry." Ron said, not sounding at all apologetic, as everyone laughed.
Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly. Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about football.
Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly.
Harry had caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham football team, trying to make the players move.
Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Harry felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have
an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.
Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book—not that she hadn't tried.
At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd got out of a library book called Quidditch through the Ages.
"That's a good book." James said.
"It is." Regulus agreed.
"But it won't help you if you don't fly already." Ginny commented.
"Nope." the twins said.
Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang on to his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the post.
Harry hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course.
"Sorry Harry." Draco said. Harry nodded accepting the apology.
Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table.
"Git." Sirius muttered so only James and Remus heard.
A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them all, a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.
"A rememberball!" squealed Lily. "Those are so nice!"
"It's a Rememberball!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things—this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red—oh…" His face fell, because the Rememberall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "… you've forgotten something…"
Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten
They laughed.
when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Rememberall out of his hand.
"Give that back, you git!" James yelled, Lily smacked him on the back of the head.
"Sorry!" Draco said again.
Harry and Ron jumped to their feet. They were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy, but
Professor McGonagall who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school,
"That's because I pay attention and had lots of practice with the Marauders." Minerva said smugly, while the Marauders grinned.
was there in a flash. "What's going on?"
"Malfoy's got my Rememberball, Professor."
Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Rememberball back on the table. "Just looking," he said, and he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.
At three-thirty that afternoon, Harry, Ron and the other Gryffindors hurried down the front steps into the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns towards a smooth lawn
"Perfect conditions." James commented.
on the opposite side of the grounds to the Forbidden Forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.
The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Harry had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.
"Haven't fixed that, have they?" said James.
"Apparently not." Charlie said.
Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk.
"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."
Harry glanced down at his broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles.
"They need new brooms." Lily commented as Minerva nodded.
"I've been meaning to get them fixed or replaced for a while but other more urgent problems always pop up when I'm about to do it." she admitted.
"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say, 'Up!' "
"UP!" everyone shouted.
Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did. Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid, thought Harry; there was a quaver in Neville's voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground.
Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end,
and walked up and down the rows, correcting their grips. Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.
Draco flushed as most people in the room snickered.
"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly. On my whistle—three—two—"
But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madame Hooch's lips.
"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle twelve feet—twenty feet.
"Wild broomstick. Poor Neville." Ginny said.
Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and—WHAM
The three with sensitive hearing winced.
—a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay, face down, on the grass in a heap.
They all winced.
"Poor Neville!" Lily said echoing Ginny.
"He's a Gryffindor! He'll bear it!" said James confidently, although he didn't really believe it.
His broomstick was still rising higher and higher and started to drift lazily towards the Forbidden Forest and out of sight.
Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his.
"Broken wrist," Harry heard her mutter. "Come on, boy—it's all right, up you get." She turned to the rest of the class. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'. Come on, dear."
Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.
No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter. "Did you see his face, the great lump?" The other Slytherins joined in.
"Prat's!" George shouted.
"Git's!" Fred yelled.
"Snake's!" James said.
"Flea's!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Flea's?" Harry asked amused.
"Yeah! They're a right pain, those little buggers." Sirius announced.
"You would know." James snorted.
"Of course I do!" Sirius complained.
"Okay here is what i'm going to do." Draco started going red, "I know I'm a prat through all of our years at school so I'm going to apologize now for all of it." he took out his wand and stood up, "I, Draco Regulus Malfoy, apologize for being such a big prat to everyone while I was at school." he finished, a pale blue light came out of his wand and surrounded his body then faded, sealing the apology. He got a few approving nod's from people in the room and smiles from the rest.
"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil.
"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. "Never thought you'd like fat little cry babies, Parvati."
"Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him." The Rememberball glittered in the sun as he held it up.
"Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly.
Everyone stopped talking to watch. Malfoy smiled nastily.
"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect—how about—up a tree?"
"Give it here!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy had leaped on to his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he could fly well—hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Come and get it, Potter!" Harry grabbed his broom.
"No!" shouted Hermione Granger. "Madam Hooch told us not to move—you'll get us all into trouble."
Harry ignored her.
"You know I'm kind of glad you did." Hermione said quietly to Harry who grinned and nodded.
Blood was pounding in his ears. He mounted the broom and kicked hard against the ground and up, up he soared, air rushed through his hair and his robes whipped out behind him—and in a rush of fierce joy he realized he'd found something he could do without being taught—this was easy, this was wonderful.
He pulled his broomstick up a little to take it even higher and heard screams and gasps of girls back on the ground and an admiring whoop from Ron.
"Yeah! Go Harry!" Sirius and James cheered with the twins.
He turned his broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in mid-air. Malfoy looked stunned.
"You should be! Never take on a Potter in a flying contest!" James announced as the others who had seen Harry or his Father fly nodded.
"Give it here," Harry called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"
"Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer, but looking worried.
They snickered.
"I wasn't expecting Harry to come after me. I thought he'd be too scared." Draco said going pink.
"I didn't know how to fly before I got on that broom though, I was just lucky. You should never underestimate someone, either, that's how accidents happen." Harry told him, thinking of how most people underestimated the younger Lord Voldemort, Draco nodded, hanging his head in shame.
Harry knew, somehow, what to do.
He leant forward and grasped the broom tightly in both hands and shot towards Malfoy like a javelin.
"I wasn't expecting that either." Draco commented. Harry smirked.
Malfoy only just got out of the way in time; Harry made a sharp about turn and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping.
"It is impressive for a first year." Regulus said.
"No Crabbe and Goyle to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called. The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy.
"Catch it if you can, then!" he shouted, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back towards the ground.
Harry saw, as though in slow motion, the ball rise up in the air and then start to fall. He leant forward and pointed his broom handle down—next second he was gathering speed in a steep dive,
"That was just scary Harry." Ron said with Hermione nodding as Ginny, Molly, Lily, Fluer, Andy and even Cissy shrieked in fear.
racing the ball—wind whistled in his ears, mingling with the screams of people watching—he stretched out his hand—a foot from the ground he caught it, just in time to pull his broom straight, and he toppled gently on to the grass with the Rememberall clutched safely in his fist.
"Damn." James breathed, "Your good."
"Don't know if even Prongs could've pulled that off," said Sirius. James didn't look offended.
"Seeker." Regulus said happily. James beamed.
Harry hid his smile behind his hand.
"HARRY POTTER!"
They all groaned, except Minerva, Harry, Ron and Hermione.
His heart sank faster than he'd just dived. Professor McGonagall was running towards them. He got to his feet trembling.
"Never—in all my time at Hogwarts—" Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock,
"That's a first!" James said.
"She always had something to say to us!" Sirius added.
"Well, he did nearly give me a heart attack." Minerva said glaring at Harry who smiled back innocently making Ron, Ginny and Hermione chuckle remembering the other times Harry had done that to their head of house.
and her glasses flashed furiously, "—how dare you—might have broken your neck—"
"But I didn't." Harry said.
"It wasn't his fault, Professor—"
"Exactly." Draco said guiltily, "It was my fault."
"Be quiet, Miss Patil—"
"But Malfoy—"
"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."
Harry caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle's triumphant faces as he left, walking numbly in Professor McGonagall's wake as she strode towards the castle. He was going to be expelled, he just knew it.
He wanted to say something to defend himself, but there seemed to be something wrong with his voice. Professor McGonagall was sweeping along without even looking at him; he had to jog to keep up. Now he'd done it. He hadn't even lasted two weeks.
"You honestly thought I was going to expel you?" Minerva asked Harry, he nodded with a pout.
"You could've said something." he huffed.
"I didn't think you'd jump to that conclusion." she shrugged.
He'd be packing his bags in ten minutes. What would the Dursleys say when he turned up on the doorstep?
"Probably something along the lines of, 'bugger he's back'." George said making everyone laugh.
Up the front steps, up the marble staircase inside and still Professor McGonagall didn't say a word to him. She wrenched open doors and marched along corridors with Harry trotting miserably behind her. Maybe she was taking him to Dumbledore.
He thought of Hagrid, expelled but allowed to stay on as gamekeeper. Perhaps he could be Hagrid's assistant.
His stomach twisted as he imagined it, watching Ron and the others become wizards while he stumped the grounds, carrying Hagrid's bag.
Professor McGonagall stopped outside a classroom. She opened the door and poked her head inside. "Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"
Wood? thought Harry, bewildered; was Wood a cane she was going to use on him?
"Don't be stupid!" Ginny scoffed.
"Hey it was my imagination running wild, I couldn't help it." Harry defended himself.
But Wood turned out to be a person, a burly fifth-year boy who came out of Flitwick's class looking confused.
"Follow me, you two," said Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood looking curiously at Harry. "In here."
Professor McGonagall pointed them into a classroom which was empty except for Peeves, who was busy writing rude words on the blackboard.
"I wonder what he was writing." Sirius grinned.
"Probably something the Marauders taught him no doubt." Minerva replied. The three grinned.
"Out, Peeves!" she barked. Peeves threw the chalk into a bin, which clanged loudly, and he swooped out cursing. Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face the two boys.
"Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood—I've found you a Seeker."
"WHAT!" those who didn't know shouted evidently shocked.
"You got on the team in your 1st year?" James questioned, "You had to have been the youngest seeker in—"
"—a century." Harry cut his father off with a smile while Minerva nodded.
"Wow. I knew you were good Harry but I didn't know you were that good." Andy said checking on Teddy who was still asleep in his magical playpen. "I've seen you fly before but I haven't seen you play Quiditch yet." she explained.
Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to delight.
"Are you serious, Professor?"
"Nope that's me." Sirius said cheerfully. Everyone groaned.
"Shut it Sirius. You know we all had to put up with that pun since you turned 6." Regulus complained while Cissy nodded her agreement, "It's getting old." he added. Sirius pouted but stayed quiet.
"Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall crisply. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?"
"Yup!" James was positively delighted that his son was on the team.
Harry nodded silently. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he didn't seem to be being expelled, and some of the feeling started coming back to his legs.
"He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive," Professor McGonagall told Wood. "Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it."
"Your right I couldn't." Charlie nodded grinning at Harry who grinned back.
Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once.
"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" he asked excitedly.
"Wood's the captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall explained.
"He's just the build for a Seeker, too," said Wood, now walking around Harry and staring at him. "Light—speedy—we'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor—a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."
"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin,"
"Oh, don't say that, Minnie!" Sirius groaned getting over his brother's words.
"I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks…"
Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at Harry.
"I want to hear you're training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you." Then she suddenly smiled.
"And that's rare." James commented making Minerva glare at him.
"Well I need to make sure the student's don't think I'm a pushover." she said. "Especially the troublemakers."
"Your father would have been proud," she said.
"I am!" James said. Harry beamed.
"He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."
"Yes he was—is!" corrected Sirius at James's glare.
It was dinner time. Harry had just finished telling Ron what had happened when he'd left the grounds with Professor McGonagall. Ron had a piece of steak-and-kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it. "Seeker?" he said. "But first-years never—you must be the youngest house player in about—"
"—a century," said Harry, shoveling pie in his mouth. He felt particularly hungry after the excitement of the afternoon. "Wood told me." Ron was so amazed, so impressed; he just sat and gaped at Harry. "I start training next week," said Harry. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret."
"Yeah, like that'll last long in Hogwarts." Lily snorted.
Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Harry and hurried over.
"Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too—Beaters."
"Yeah. You two seem like beater material." said Sirius.
"Yeah. We're destructive even without the bat, so just imagine what we can do with one!" George grinned.
"Just like us!" James said pointing to himself then Sirius, "Though I preferred chaser or seeker." he added.
"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch Cup for sure this year," said Fred. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."
"Wow. And Wood hasn't even seen you play yet! Or Fly for that matter!" Sirius said.
"Anyway, we've got to go; Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passage way out of the school."
"Bet we already know it!" said James.
"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week."
"Wow, that was fast we didn't find that one until our third week when we were running away from Filch." Sirius said.
"We were doing the same." Fred admitted.
Fred and George hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.
"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"
"Never." Harry said cheerfully.
"You're a lot braver now you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with
you," said Harry coolly.
There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle,
"True." Remus said. "They weren't all that bright either." he added.
but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.
"Ooh, scary! Not!" the twins said.
"I'd take you on any time on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only—no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"
"Of course he has," said Ron, wheeling round. "I'm his second, who's yours?"
"Thanks for making up my mind for me Ron." Harry said sarcastically.
"Sorry mate."
Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up.
"They're both big, ugly and stupid." Regulus commented.
"Crabbe,"
"Ah, the biggest, ugliest and stupidest!" Sirius exclaimed.
he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked."
When Malfoy had gone, Ron and Harry looked at each other. "What is a wizard's duel?" said Harry. "And what do you mean, you're my second?"
"Well, a second's there to take over if you die," said Ron casually, getting started at last on his cold pie. Catching the look on Harry's face, he added quickly, "but people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway."
"I did." Draco admitted.
"And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"
"Throw it away and punch him on the nose." said Sirius wisely.
"Speaking from experience, are we?" asked Andy.
"'Course!" he said cheerfully.
"Throw it away and punch him on the nose," suggested Ron.
They all laughed at the similarity.
"Alright everyone I think we will take a break now." Harry said getting nod's from everyone. "We will continue in an hour." he added as everyone got up and separated to do their own thing. The women, except Hermione and Ginny who stayed with Ron and Harry, went to the kitchen to make some lunch and some of the men went outside to stretch their legs and the others just sat and talked.