Reviews

Alan

Hopefully, I wrote something fun to read for the duelling contest.

erozoth

Not really. Dumbledore has known that Tom Hiddleston has been working against him and he had Moody look into him a while back.

Tom

Yes, he did that ages ago. I may have forgotten to mention it as there's a lot going on in this story.

Mugen-Muse

You can't plan for everything even the smartest and most careful people can make mistakes. It was about time that Kol made one.

Dumbledore would have been focused on more discrediting Lucius Malfoy than he would have on actually removing dangerous items.

Night-Stryder

I'll do a little POV scene for Sirius Black in this chapter.

Spiritblade89

Hopefully, the quality of the chapters won't degrade too much and people will keep reading.

flynnstrings2

Thank you.

Crossworld 1 - Harry Potter

Part 36

The Headmaster's Office. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy.

I'd known that this day would come sooner or later, in fact, I was pleasantly surprised that it had taken this long for the old man to summon me to his lair so as to ask me about what my cousin was up to, or rather what I was up to when I wasn't pretending to be John Hiddleston, a third-year Ravenclaw student. This meeting had been one of the main motivations for me to master the mind arts.

The other big motivation had been Severus Snape's habit of violating the minds of students, which I couldn't judge him too harshly for as I'd done the same once or twice to the students, but he'd been a threat to me so he'd needed to be removed from the school and then later killed to deny Dumbledore as well Voldemort one of their pawns.

"The entrance to Dumbledore's office is a gryphon leading up to his door" I muttered to myself "A gryphon door".

Indeed the statue that a person had to speak the password to was a gryphon or griffon depending on how it was spelt. In my view, this was a declaration of Dumbledore's favouritism towards his old house. If I hadn't kept Harry out of trouble so far I felt sure that the Headmaster would have awarded Potter hundreds of points for doing something that would get a student from another house expelled and not just to encourage Harry to risk himself for others.

"Ice mice," I said to the statue, having been given the password as well as a time to arrive earlier in the day.

The statue got out of my way and I headed up the spiral staircase. Before I could knock on the door of the Professor's office a voice called out "Come in".

"Said the spider to fly" I whispered.

I took a deep breath and then did my best to give myself a nervous expression as that should be how someone in my position felt. Once I was inside the office I looked around as while I had been here before I'd not really taken in the sight. It was a large, circular room, full of funny little devices that made odd noises. These devices were several curious silver instruments that stood on spindle-legged tables, they were whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. I assumed that at least some of these involved keeping tabs on Harry Potter given Dumbledore's obsession with the lad.

Aside from his desk, which was covered in pieces of parchment, quills and ink bottles, there wasn't much else in the room that I could see, aside from Fawkes's perch, the bird itself wasn't resting on it, and lots of books. I quickly scanned a few of the titles and found that the books were a collection on a wide range of subjects ranging from history, and alchemy, to magical gardening and he even had books on muggle subjects. I wondered if he'd ever read them or just kept them around to make himself seem muggle friendly.

He must have tidied a lot of the other stuff away as the last time I'd been here things had been much messier. Had he tried to hide something from me or had he just wanted to straighten out his office to make some sort of impression? Perhaps I was overthinking it? I did do that a lot.

The portraits of past Headmasters and Headmistresses all acted as if they weren't paying attention or that they didn't care about this meeting. They must have all met with students when they were alive and in charge here, and Dumbledore must have met with more students than anyone could remember. Yet I couldn't help thinking that they would pay careful attention to every word I spoke.

"Ah, John" greeted the Bright Lord "I'm glad you could make it".

Short of abandoning my education I didn't really have a choice in the matter. As soon as Flitwick had told me that the Headmaster wanted to see me this evening after my training session. I knew that I might end up fleeing this school or having to go with one of my backup plans.

Hopefully, I could avoid either of those as I wanted to stay and win the duelling contest. While my idea of faking being a different kind of angel than I was (I could use my illusion powers to make some convincing wings) and telling Dumbledore that I was here to watch over Harry Potter might not work. I'd rather not try to fool Dumbledore that way as there was no guarantee that he wasn't arrogant enough to believe he knew better than a being who served a higher power.

"Sherbet lemon?" he offered.

I'd read way too many fanfics to be willing to put one of those in my mouth. Goodness only knows what they were laced with.

"No thank you," I said "I'm heading down for dinner soon".

Thankfully he didn't offer me tea that would likely contain some true potion in it. Veritaserum is actually dangerous to use on people because trying to resist its efforts can harm you, and so only someone like Umbridge would want to use it on a child. The Ministry doesn't even like to use it on criminals.

"Are you looking forward to the duelling contest?" I asked after being offered a seat.

I sat down and made sure not to make eye contact with Dumbledore by focusing my attention on his beard.

"Yes sir" I answered.

It's hard to find fault with simple answers.

"I must admit I am rather looking forward to the last Quidditch match of the year" the teacher mentioned "You and Mr Potter are both exceptional seekers".

No doubt he'd enjoy watching me lose to Harry Potter when the more talented flier caught the snitch due to his favouritism. I didn't reply to that statement and just remained calm. Protecting your mind is harder to do when you are emotional which was why Dumbledore had spoken about two events that would normally have someone my age feeling a bit nervous.

"Now as to why I called you here," said the Headmaster "I was wondering if you could tell me a little about how things have been for you since you moved in with your cousin. Has he been taking care of you?".

He'd phrased that well. He sounded as if he was just checking in with a student to make sure he was alright.

"I have a roof over my head, plenty of food, and a generous allowance" I answered "That's more than enough for me".

While I avoided looking at his eyes his posture let me know that he seemed to be disappointed with my uninformative answer.

"Are you and your cousin close?" he asked "Do you spend a lot of time together".

Well, we were the same person so I didn't know how we could be any closer.

"I'm used to being on my own" was my reply "I don't need looking after and my cousin is a busy man".

He would know that John Hiddleston had grown up in an orphanage.

"Professor Flitwick has mentioned to me that you spend lots of time alone," said Dumbledore "That's not good for a young man".

I did my best to look unconcerned and the teacher soon got back to the subject he actually cared about.

"Your cousin doesn't leave you alone all through the holidays does he?" was the next question.

Clever, he had made it sound as if he was concerned for me when he actually wanted to know what Tom Hiddleston was getting up to.

"He's there when I need him," I said.

I imagined that the leader of the light was getting frustrated, but he had too much self-control to betray this outwardly. Like myself, he was a master of the mind arts even if he never got his hands dirty by breaking someone's mind to get at the knowledge he desired. He'd have Snape do that sort of thing if it was important enough to risk destroying a mind, or at least that had been the case.

"Does he take you anywhere during the summers?" Dumbledore wondered "Aboard, perhaps for a holiday".

I had an answer for this.

"We went to France last summer," I said "He met with some historians".

Which was something a treasure hunter would do.

"They had very long conversations in French" I then added, "It was boring so I went and checked out the magical district".

I couldn't be sure, but Dumbledore seemed to realise that questioning me was a waste of time as I could have sworn I heard him sigh. I kept my mind focused on things John Hiddleston got up to that the Headmaster would know about while working to avoid eye contact. I thought about Quidditch practice, the foods I liked to eat that got served in the Great Hall and anything else I could ponder about other than the stuff I didn't want Dumbledore to see.

"While it doesn't sound like a very loving home at least you are better off there than going back to the orphanage," said the chief warlock.

This wasn't actually an option anymore because Wool's orphanage had closed down and by now the building would have been demolished to make way for an office block.

"I'm content with my home life," I told the teacher "I'd have gone to professor Flitwick if there was anything wrong".

Dumbledore smiled upon hearing that.

"Help will always be given to Hogwarts to those who seek it," said the Headmaster.

The school had helped me out quite a bit what with giving me a hideout, access to tons of research material and reasons to do stuff other than study.

"Can I go, sir?" I asked, "I don't want to miss dinner".

Since teenage boys are known for not wanting to skip meals the Headmaster didn't take any offence.

"Yes, run along," he instructed with a smile on his face "I'll see you at the duelling contest. Professor Flitwick had high hopes for you".

Hopefully, I'd get to wipe the floor with a few of his precious gryphons, or lions as they were commonly called.

"Goodbye, Professor," I said as I moved out.

While I was glad to be getting out of there I didn't relax until I was in the Great Hall as I'd been expecting the old man to say 'one last thing' before letting me go and that I would foolishly make eye contact with just when I was about to get away with mind unviolated.

Thankfully, that didn't happen and it was a little shocking to me that Dumbledore didn't request that I report on Harry Potter for him. Perhaps he didn't need more spies or didn't feel as if they were needed since Harry was still rather young and not prone to getting into danger in this timeline.

I hoped that I'd just come off as nervous rather than suspicious during that thankfully quick meeting. I would avoid going to the Chamber for a while and focus on my duelling so as to give the Headmaster no reason to suspect me.

(Line Break)

Duelling Room. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy.

Unlike his counterparts in other dimensions, many of which at this point in the timeline were sitting stuck in a cell in Azkaban, this version of Sirius Black was a rather happy man. He'd been found innocent of the crimes he'd been wrongly imprisoned for thanks to some help from an unknown witch or wizard, he had Remus back in his life and he got to spend time with his godson. He'd been able to turn his family home into somewhere liveable by throwing out most of its contents and making it much more friendly for anyone who wasn't an insane pureblood who liked to marry their own cousins.

He'd never seriously imagined that he would become a teacher here at Hogwarts, the one place he'd ever really thought of as home, and while he didn't have the title of Professor like Moony, who was actually a respectable teacher, he did like teaching. He'd always been a fairly good duellist and now he got to teach others how to deal with Death Eaters should those inbred idiots start causing trouble again.

Sirius Black was no fool. He knew that Dumbledore wouldn't have brought him to this school to teach duelling unless he was anticipating trouble even if the board of governors had wanted the duelling club reopened. Still, Sirius was glad to be able to use his family's wealth to fund the contest that he was currently helping to set up in the duelling room. A few trophies and some prize money were small prices to pay if it meant that the students had some idea of what to do if they were attacked by dark arts users.

While he publicly wished for a contest with lots of good duellists doing their best he couldn't hide his hope that Harry would take first place in the junior division. His godson reminded Sirius so much of his father and James Potter had been well above average when it came to putting dark wizards in their place. He and Lily had even traded spells with Voldemort a few times before Dumbledore arrived to drive away You-Know-Who.

Harry didn't have his mother's thirst for knowledge, but he did have his father's reflexes as despite his poor eyesight he was a whiz at catching the snitch when playing Quidditch. Sure that didn't make any sense, it was just that magical gifts didn't have to.

Sirius was more concerned about Harry learning about duelling than playing Quidditch as there were a lot of strange things going on. Letters to the Ministry that exposed injustices, people going missing and that book that made even him start to wonder if the Headmaster was all he was cracked up to be. Then there was that recent attack on the Malfoy apothecary.

Dumbledore was sure that Voldemort was still out there somewhere biding his time. Powerless for now and well hidden, however, he would return one day and Harry would face him. Sirius didn't know the wording of The Prophecy, he just knew that it had something to do with the Dark Lord and Harry. It was why James and Lily had gone into hiding all those years ago.

He agreed with the Headmaster that his godson was too young to know of such things. What he didn't agree with was Harry not being trained. He needed to be prepared to face not just You-Know-Who, but also his Death Eaters. Dumbledore had only agreed to let Sirus train Harry if he did so at the school while taking the job of Duelling Instructor. Since he'd wanted to come back to the castle and spend time with Harry he'd agreed right away.

"I have the list of students for the junior division," Remus informed his friend "We just need to approve them and then tomorrow we can start with them".

Sirus looked over the list. Harry would represent the 2nd year Gryffindors and some kid called Cormac McLaggen for the 3rd years.

"McLaggen is a bit of git" commented Black.

Remus sighed in disapproval as it wasn't professional for a teacher to say such things about a student. At least not when they could be overheard.

"There aren't exactly a lot of options" Moody pointed out "McLaggen is the best choice as he can actually duel even if he's never done so competitively. No else in his year really has any talent for it".

Sirus really hoped that McLaggen didn't win as the boy already had an overly inflated opinion of himself. Remus would have made a comment about pots and kettles had he known what his friend was thinking.

"Anyone Harry needs to worry about?" asked the instructor.

Remus was at least attempting not to seem biased.

"Going by their grades in Defence I'd say Susan Bones for Hufflepuff," he said, "She's a little too shy for a duellist but her aunt might have given her a few tips. I'm not sure about the Slytherins".

The werewolf checked his notes before speaking again.

"Ah here we are, John Hiddleston, a Ravenclaw third-year student, top marks in my class, he's the favourite to win in the staff room" reported Moony.

Sirius was amused.

"Harry can take down any bookworm," said the instructor.

Remus wasn't so sure.

"He's the student who Harry's been practising with and he's already won the All-England Junior Divison twice in a row," Moody told his friend "And Flitwick has taken him under his wing and was training him before he brought in more students for this contest".

Sirius thought back to the practice sessions.

"Harry might benefit from some last moment tutoring," said the Pureblood wizard.

At least if his godson did lose it would be to someone who was a champion already.

"So we have two students from each house ready to compete in the junior division," said Lupin "They will each face another student in the first round and each will be chosen by names coming out of a hat. Assuming that two duellists don't injure each other then we'll have four to face off in two pairs, the two winners from that round will face off to see who takes the trophy for that division".

That seemed all good to Sirus. No student would have to duel more than three times and many would do so less than that. This would be a contest involving stamina as well as skill.

"In the event that two students knock each other off the stage or knock each other out, the judges will be called upon to decide a winner," said the instructor "and every house has some substitutes ready".

Remus checked for them and found their names.

"Looks like we're ready to go" he declared.

Sirius hoped that the duellists all put on a good show. He'd been lacking any decent entertainment for years.

(Line Break)

Duelling Room. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy.

"I know I pressured you before about the Quidditch Cup," said Flitwick "But truth be told I wouldn't mind having either the Quidditch cup or the junior duellist cup in my office. If you can't beat Potter in the sky then at least knock him down on the ground".

The last Quidditch match of the year Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw was two weeks away to be played near the end of term, just after the end of year exams, which I'd spent quite a bit of time revising for since I'd dealt with Mundungus and met with the Headmaster, as it had been important to keep my head down for a while now that Dumbledore was more closely watching the Hiddleston family.

Dumbledore had sent Moody to spy on my house in Godric's Hollow before and now the old Auror was popping up again on the map every so often. Mad-Eye hadn't entered the property as far as I knew, so I suspected that he was trying to track Tom Hiddleston's movements. This was pointless since he was me and I was spending all of my time inside the castle.

Once the summer started I'd be freer to take action, but for now, I needed to focus on this contest, my exams which I planned on acing since there wasn't much reason to hold back now that I couldn't fly under the radar, and the Quidditch match which I could still win since Harry's luck can go from good to bad very quickly.

"I aim to make sure that you'll need to buy some extra metal polish over the summer, Professor" I replied.

Truthfully, the trophies, the approval of housemates and the money meant little to me. I did crave Flitwick's approval a little if only because I couldn't recall ever having a teacher support me like this, but even that was unimportant when compared to what really mattered, the practising of my skills.

The tiny teacher couldn't even reach my shoulder so he patted me on my back as my name was called and I got up on the stage to face off against Susan Bones. She was a second-year Hufflepuff and aside from hearing about her important aunt, who I wasn't impressed with, I'd not heard anything about this girl. Hufflepuffs were better known for working in teams and being friendly than winning contests, aside from Cedric Diggory who was in another division.

"Good luck, Susan!" I heard a girl I thought to be Hannah Abbot call out.

If anyone was supporting me and I was sure that a few people were they either didn't yell out loud enough to get my attention over the noise or they knew better than to distract me. Susan's House was cheering very loudly for the somewhat chubby redhead while I chose my tactics for the coming duel. Susan Bones was a talker, I'd seen her doing the whole giggly girl thing with her classmates, so not saying anything would unsettle her. Unlike others who I would cleverly insult in order to prick at their pride and make them act sloppy.

As for spells, I wouldn't need anything too fancy here as Bones was an average 2nd-year student. Her aunt might have given her a few tips but I doubted that would lead to anything I hadn't seen Tonks do ten times better and with more creativity.

Instructor Black counted down and while Susan Bones hesitated enough that I could have finished her off easily with a stunner I chose not to act. Duelling isn't just about winning this is a sport you have to entertain the crowd if you want to be considered a true duelling champion.

Miss Bones took a moment and then sent the Jelly-Legs Jinx at me. A rather standard low-level duelling spell I'd had sent at me many times before. I blocked it with ease and then returned the favour by sending not one spell in her direction, no I sent two spells her way.

"Avis, Oppungo," I said while waving my wand in a rather showy way.

Oppugno when cast in conjunction with Avis, was used by Hermione Granger during the Order of the Phoenix to attack Ron Weasely because she was jealous about him kissing Lavander Brown. It was a rather advanced bit of spellwork for a third year but nothing that worry anyone since the spell did impress a few people from what I could hear, and it wasn't a hostile attack really more of an annoyance.

Susan wasn't impressed and while I doubted she planned to run off the stage it was what she did. I was a little disappointed as she could have easily driven the birds away with any number of spells.

"An impressive display" commented Flitwick when I got down from the stage "Although I would have saved that trick for an older student. It won't work more than once during this contest".

I wasn't too concerned.

"To be fair I didn't think it would do more than show off my skill and distract her for a few moments until I could finish the match" I admitted "Maybe she has a fear of birds".

I was far more concerned about going up against Hermione or Harry as I'd helped to train both of them and while I'd never shown them some of my better spells I knew them both well enough to figure that I didn't know their best moves either. They would have something prepared for if they needed to face me.

After watching the other duels I saw Hermione get her bottom kicked by Harry Potter. Her knowledge of spells was no match for his raw power and superior reflexes. Still, she did much better than Susan Bones whose face had remained as red as her hair for a while.

My second match was against that arrogant douche who Hermione takes to one of the Slughorn's parties in the Half-Blood Prince. He was in the same year as me, but I don't think we'd ever spoken to each other than when some of the guys had been discussing Quidditch and I'd somehow gotten dragged into the discussion.

I knew enough about him to know that he was overconfident and quick to lose his temper. Much like when I'd faced Drace Malfoy back during the summer the key to defeating him would be to poke his pride so this time I would talk.

Black counted down to three and Cormac McLaggen barely waited before he cast the spell Locomotor Mortis, which would have disabled my legs if I hadn't been able to tell that he was going to aim low. Being able to see into people's minds had advantages.

"Really can't you manage a Petrificus Totalus?" I mocked.

Locomotor Mortis was considered to be weaker than Petrificus Totalus since the former only froze the legs while the latter spell worked to freeze the entire body.

"Stupefy!" was his next spell.

The red bolt of energy was stopped by my shield and before he could cast again I acted, but he was faster than I'd expected so he got off a spell as I did. He tried a few more spells meant to disable a foe and I either blocked or dodged them all until I saw my opening.

"Slugulus Eructo!"

He was a little faster than I expected.

"Expelliarmus"

My wand went flying as Mclaggen started to vomit up slugs. I used wandless magic to bring my magical foci back into my hand.

"Call it quits and I'll conjure you up a bucket" I offered.

Rather than walk off the stage the young wizard was angered by the laughter of the audience and he sent a curse at me I could not identify, as it was none-verbal (impressive for a third-year) and a bolt of light, that I shielded just in time came flying at me, and then he vomited all over the stage which caused Madam Promphey to call a timeout as she took Mclaggen off the stage. I was glad because I was also feeling a bit queasy by this point.

I got a nice long rest and a chance to get some lunch between people asking about that bit of wandless magic I did, something I'd made an effort to keep hidden, as the finals of the junior division took place in the afternoon and a lot more people turned up for the last match, which was me versus Harry Potter to my complete lack of surprise. Not that anyone else in 2nd or 3rd year could have a chance of beating me.

No sooner had Sirius Black done his part than I came under attack. Harry sent a Confringo at me which was a very aggressive and somewhat dangerous move followed by a Diffindo that was aimed at my shoulder. Both of which I was able to shield and that was all I could as he fired spell after spell at me. There was no style or any real showmanship involved, Harry clearly knew that he had more raw power than most wizards and he was playing to that strength. How very Gryffindor of him.

His attempt at an overwhelming attack would have worked if I'd not practised my shields so much. I defended myself against his direct attacks and as fortune would have it, Harry didn't try anything more creative than trying to be a battering ram. As I'd suspected he would be, and while I was a little disappointed in him not attempting something new he was only a second-year student and to be fair this display of spellwork was more intense than anything I'd seen him do before.

He paused for just a moment, as he tried to plan his next move, having not planned things out well enough, and that proved to be a mistake as I caught his wand hand with a quickly fired Stinging Jinx. The hand would be useless for a while and he wasn't able to shield very well with his other hands.

"Ferula!"

Bandages appeared around Harry's legs and when he moved he fell over and dropped his wand which I then summoned to me. Harry knew a little wandless magic, as I'd taught it to him, but it required too much focus to use in this situation and he wouldn't take me by surprise.

"Conjured bandages around the legs," Flitwick said "I haven't seen something that creative done by a student at your level in more than a decade. 20 points to Ravenclaw for the amusing use of a spell that normally would only cause bandages to wrap a single injured limb".

I'd just needed to visualise the spell working that way and then practice it until it was second nature. It was actually easier than conjuring up a rope that tied around someone although I wasn't certain why. What mattered is that it worked.

(Line Break)

Ravenclaw Tower. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy.

The Quidditch season was over and as expected I'd failed to catch the snitch during the last match because being a Seeker is about luck more than anything else, and Harry has too much luck at times. Also, he craved the approval of his peers, this lead to him wanting to win more than me, enough that he'd decided to go flying through the stands. Cortana did her best with search programs, and aid with targeting, but snitches were magical objects that didn't follow any logical pattern when in flight.

I was a little disappointed that Harry had acted so recklessly, but only a little given that he was under the influence of his role mole and guardian Sirius Black who was a typical Gryffindor. Understandably Harry had latched on to his godfather and now sought him out for parental advice rather than coming to me for help. He was also attached to Remus Lupin and spending more time with members of his own house now once he'd become part of their Quidditch team.

Recently I'd noticed that Ginny Weasly had taken to stalking Potter less subtly than before and that he was actually noticing her existence. I wondered if Dumbledore had meddled again or if this was just fate and Weasly just had to be involved. Since Ginny hadn't been taken over by the Diary Horcrux there was no need for me to interfere I didn't care to either. I had other matters to concern myself with.

"I still think it was unfair" Hermione complained.

She wasn't upset about Harry getting the snitch, we'd all known for a while that Potter was the better flyer. No, what she was complaining about was Captain Roger Davis blaming me for the team losing by two hundred points. Which made no sense since the snitch is worth 150 points and I had no effect on the goals scored by either team as long as I focused on my task. We could have still won the cup with all overall points had the Chasers been better at their job or if he had found a better keeper who could stop others from scoring. I was just a scapegoat.

"Davis knows I helped to train Harry" I reminded the two young witches "So he blames me for that was really just someone else's good luck, and maybe he thinks Cho Chang will distract Harry if she's the Seeker next year".

She wasn't a bad flyer, but she wasn't as good as me, and Potter was going to keep winning unless Chang could really distract him. To be fair she had a chance at that if Harry started noticing girls sooner than he did in the books.

"You've won five games out of six you've played," said Hermione "That's a success rate of more than 80%".

"83.33%" Cortana provided.

"I have an 83.33% success rate," I told Hermione "And you forgot that logical arguments are pointless when used against both teenagers and wizards, as such teenage wizards are even more immune to logical arguments".

For a moment I pondered what would happen if a Vulcan from Stark Trek ever ended up at this school and had to endure the wizarding world's lack of logic.

"I'd blame the wrackspurts, but I think he was just being a prick," said Luna.

Hermione looked even more upset.

"There's no such thing as wrackspurts" she declared.

I knew otherwise.

"A wrackspurt is an invisible magical creature which can float into a person's ears" I explained "They can cause confusion, you can see them if you wear Spectrespecs".

Or they could be some sort of magical manifestation caused by witches and wizards being very silly. I lacked any I was happy to note.

"Maybe you should talk to Flitwick" suggested Granger who clearly wanted to avoid talking about magical creatures that she refused to believe in because she hadn't read about them in some book "He could get you back on the team".

While I'd won the junior division of Hogwart's new annual duelling contest I had no intention of calling in a favour from Flitwick. Aside from the fact that it would look as if I was whining, I didn't actually care that much.

"I haven't been kicked off the team Chang and I have swapped places," I said "So I'm the reverse Seeker now. Besides there's no point having a team captain if our head of house decides who goes on the team".

A somewhat evil smile appeared on my face.

"The new Firebolt goes on sale this summer" I mentioned to the girls "When Davis sees that I have a Firebolt he will regret kicking off my team".

Perhaps I'd make him beg for me to take my place back. Davis could do with gaining a little humility.

"It would deserve him right" stated Hermione.

Luna was less concerned about the planned humiliation of team captions than Hermione or I.

"We should head down to the train," she insisted "We don't want to wait and end up sharing a carriage with someone we don't like".

Yes, it was time to go home. I had a lot to do this summer. Death Eaters to kill and a Dumbledore to befuddle.

"This seems a bit less special now," I said as I reached into one of my pouches of holding and took out my Quidditch jersey "I gave Luna the one I wore when I won last year, but don't take that as an indication that I value you less than her".

Hermione was clearly aware of what it meant when a boy gives a girl his Quidditch jersey as she hugged me and made a squee noise that would have caused any dogs nearby to start barking. Which I guessed meant that she liked it. Poor girl still wasn't used to having friends. Luna didn't mind me giving Hermione as she didn't let things like that bother her.