A/N: Thank You again to every one who is reading this story. I would like to say that I did not mean to confuse anyone, but that would not be completely true. I do hope, however, that this chapter is written more clearly, because I am trying to describe a Quidditch Match, and I have no idea how well I did. It seems fine to me, but I'm a couch potato.





CHAPTER 9: CLIFFHANGER

"Professor Dumbledore," Lydia Spencer said, happily, "It is a pleasure meeting you again."

"Please, Lydia. If I am to call you by your first name, then you must call me Albus."

"Very Well. Albus. I did want to ask you a few questions about one of your students."

Albus sat down at his desk, chuckling, and asked, "would that be Malcolm, by chance. He is an interesting character."

"Well, yes," Lydia said, "but there appear to be contradictions in what is going on. For example, he is in Gryffindor, yet he is playing on the Slytherin team in the upcoming match. He had a problem last year, with broom flying, and now he playing the position of Seeker. But what confuses me most, however, is that I saw him earlier, being harassed by some owls. I don't know what to make of any of this."

"Let me assure you," Albus said, "Malcolm does have a problem with flying a broom. To be honest, he has never been more than five feet off the ground while broom flying, nor has he ever flown faster than he could walk."

Lydia shook her head, "Then why is he on the Quidditch team?"

"Because of you, my dear. He thought that you would think him cured if you knew he was playing. You ruined his plans by telling him you would come to the match."

Lydia laughed, "That boy has gone to a great deal of trouble to avoid talking to me. But tell me, why is he playing for the other team. Why would they agree, if Malcolm is really that bad."

"I have no idea," Albus said, "I do suspect that there has been a great deal of gambling going on, and I fear I will have to step in. Anyone involved can expect to be dealt with severely." Albus watched as Lydia became interested in the pictures on the walls, and shook his head, "Are you involved, as well?"

Lydia blushed, and said, "I have two Galleons on Slytherin, and they gave me good odds, or so I thought." Lydia took a sip of her tea, then added, "Assuming Malcolm's team takes the match, my winnings go to the St. Mungo's Charity Fund. I always do that when I win a bet."

"Ah," said Dumbledore, lightly, "Then you are excused from any punishment."

"Seriously, Albus, that IS what I always do. And if I lose a bet, I always give an equal amount to the charity. It makes me feel better about my vice."

"I never doubted you," Albus said. "At least, I will never admit it."

"Thank you," Lydia said, "and could I ask about the owls. When I arrived this morning, I saw Malcolm chasing an owl who had something of his, while other owls would dive at him. It was frightening to look at, but there were other students there, watching him and laughing. Apparently this is a daily occurrence."

"It is," Albus admitted, "The owls want to make sure Malcolm gets enough exercise. It is easy to become a bookworm in this place." He paused, then added, "he is a very bright boy, you know, and he loves to experiment with spells. His favorite place is the owlery, and you can find him there at least three nights a week."

"What kind of experiments?" Lydia asked.

"One example is the Lumos spell," Albus explained, "Last year he figured out how to make the light into different colors. He was very proud of that, and I had to break his heart when I told him the spells would be listed in his the back of his charms book. There is also a rumor that, two week ago, Malcolm tried to develop a love potion, and it backfired."

"So, the owls are in love with Malcolm?"

"Not quite. The owls have come to love Malcolm, but I don't think it is because of any spell. He has spent so much time with the owls, that they have adopted him." Albus chuckled as he thought of that day in the Great Hall, "They watch him at meals to make sure he eats properly. There is always an owl or two following him when he is outside. They will even play with him, like this morning." He leaned forward and added, "I have seen Malcolm come inside after spending over an hour chasing after one of his books. He was exhausted, but he was also happy. Malcolm will deny it, but he actually likes all of the attention."

Lydia was laughing too hard to say anything.



"Good luck, Malcolm."

"Thanks, Dewey. I hope you like the game."

"I will," Dewey said with a smile, "Peeves told me how well you fly."

"Did mom tell you when you had to be home?" Malcolm asked.

"Mom knows I'm here?" Dewey asked, "and she still lets me come."

"Yeah," Malcolm said, with his own smile, "It gets you out of the house. The only problem Mom has is that you keep coming back."

"Good Morning, Dewey," Dennis Creevey called, "Do you want to watch the game with my brother."

[Dennis is an amazing person. I finally realized that Dennis is what Dewey would be like, if Dewey came from a normal family. The first time they met, Dennis invited him to broom flying class, and even talked Madame Hooch into letting Dewey take lessons.]

"Sure," Dewey said, "Malcolm's just mad because I can fly better than he can."

"Maybe you should play instead," Dennis said as they left the Great Hall.

"Malcolm," Hermione Granger called, "I wanted to ask you about joining my group, The Society for the Promotion of Elf Welfare. It would mean a lot, especially if you would wear one of our buttons during the match."

"You are joking," Malcolm said, "Hermione, do you honestly expect me to wear a button that says S.P.E.W. when I'm riding a broom?"

Hermione tried to keep from smiling, but failed.

"By the way, Hermione, I ate before the game."

In a fit of control Hermione said, "You could use the button as a warning." Then she fell back against the wall, laughing.

[That girl really needs to sort her priorities.]



As Lydia and Albus sat down, she couldn't help but comment on the crowd. "I think everyone from the school is here, today."

"We have more than the school here," Albus said, "Several of the townspeople are here as well. For most of us, yesterday's match and today's will be the only ones we'll see this year."

"How was yesterday's match?" Lydia asked. "I wasn't able to get away early enough."

"It was very interesting, but very brief," Albus explained. "Cedric Diggory, last year's team captain, personally trained the Hufflepuff team, which performed admirably. After twenty minutes, they were already ahead by fifty points to zero. Unfortunately, the Ravenclaw Seeker was handpicked by Cho Chang, their team captain, and he caught the Golden Snitch at the twenty-one minute mark." Albus's eyes twinkled as he added, "If that was any indication, we could have some powerful teams in only a couple of years."

"That sounds impressive," Lydia admitted, "but I do have to ask. Do the owls always come to watch, or is that because of Malcolm?"

"It is because of Malcolm," Albus said, "and I can't help but find it very amusing."

At that point, Lee Jordan announced, "Everything is in order for the match, today."

"Did you notice that?" Albus said, conversationally, "When Mr. Jordan made that announcement, a large number of Slytherins became excited."

"You're right," Lydia said, "they look surprised."

"They are," Albus said. "Isn't that interesting?"



"Malcolm," Gregory Goyle said, "Don't worry."

"I'm about to fly a broom with the entire school watching," Malcolm said, "I don't even know why I'm doing this. All the reasons I gave sound stupid now."

Goyle smiled at his small friend, "I don't know a lot, but I do know Quidditch. I'm Keeper, and I will keep the quaffle away. I promise. All you have to do is fly over people, and make them nervous." He gave the younger boy a good natured pat on the back and said, again, "Don't worry, and wear that nose thing."



"Are you sure Malcolm has been on a broom before?" Lydia asked.

"Yes he has," Albus assured her, "and he has already set a new record. I believe he is at least eight feet off the ground."

"But he's moving so slowly," Lydia said.



"EMMA DOBBS, GRYFFINDOR, HAS THE QUAFFLE," Lee Jordan announced. "THE SLYTHERIN BEATER HAS HIT A BLUDGER STRAIGHT AT HER, BUT SHE DODGES, SHE RACES UPWARDS, PASSES BACKWARD TO AMBER DOWLING WHO SHOOTS. GOYLE, SLYTHERIN, BLOCKS, PASSES IT TO GRAHAM PRITCHARD, WHO RACES TOWARD THE GRYFFINDOR GOALS. NATILIE MCDONALD, GRYFFINDOR, KNOCKS THE QUAFFLE LOOSE. IT'S PICKED UP BY DOBBS WHO RACES IN, SHOOTS, GOYLE BLOCKS. MALCOLM BADDOCK, SLYTHERIN, TAKES THE QUAFFLE, RACES PAST MCDONALD. DOWLING TRIES TO INTERCEPT, BADDOCK DODGES, SHOOTS, SCORES. SLYTHERIN SCORES FIRST . . .



"I'm worried about Malcolm," Vincent Crabbe said, "He's never been that high before. He must be a hundred feet by now."

"He'll be fine," Draco said, "It's been almost forty minutes into the match and he hasn't . . . "

"Don't say it," Vincent asked, "you might jinx him. I wonder what he's thinking?"

[Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down . . . ]



. . .AND SLYTHERIN SCORES AGAIN. SLYTHERIN 50, GRYFFINDOR 20. SLYTHERIN IS OUT TO WIN THIS MATCH. MCDONALD, GRYFFINDOR, GETS THE QUAFFLE, DODGES THE BLUDGER WHICH CREEVEY HITS AT ONCOMING BADDOCK, SLYTHERIN. BADDOCK SWERVES AND MCDONALD IS PAST HIM. SHE SHOOTS, GOYLE GRABS THE QUAFFLE . . . WEASLEY IS DIVING, SHE SEES THE SNITCH, CLOSE TO THE SLYTHERIN HOOPS. GOYLE THROWS THE QUAFFLE . . . TO WEASLEY. SHE LOSES THE SNITCH. GOOD TRY, GRYFFINDOR. MCDONALD GRABS THE QUAFFLE . . . AND SCORES. SHE CAUGHT GOYLE NAPPING THAT TIME.



"How high is Malcolm?" Hermione asked, looking up.

"He's very high," Harry said, "I rarely fly that high during a game. I think he's in trouble."

"Of course he's in trouble," Ron laughed, "He doesn't know how to fly a broom."

"Look," Harry pointed, "Ginny's flying up to him, she'll help him out."



. . .DOBBS IS HIT FROM THE SIDE AND LOSES THE QUAFFLE. BADDOCK RECOVERS. HE FLIES INTO A WELL-HIT BLUDGER. DOWLING GETS THE QUAFFLE. SHE RACES TOWARDS THE HOOPS. GOYLE BLOCKS, THROWS TO JULIA GARRETH, SLYTHERIN. GARRETH CARRIES THE QUAFFLE, . . . NICE DODGING . . . THROWS . . . EJ CAPTAIN BLOCKS . . . TOSSES THE QUAFFLE TO MCDONALD. BLUDGER COMING AT MCDONALD . . . SHE DOESN'T SEE IT. CREEVEY HITS THE BLUDGER UP AND OUT OF THE WAY. I SWEAR HE CAME OUT OF NOWHERE. MCDONALD IS RACING ACROSS THE PITCH . . . SHOOTS . . . BLOCKED AGAIN . . . THE BLUDGER . . . IT'S STILL HEADING UPWARD, TOWARD THE TWO SEEKERS CIRCLING OVERHEAD. GRYFFINGOR SEEKER, GINNY WEASLEY SEES IT AND MOVES OUT OF THE WAY. THE SLYTHERIN SEEKER, MALCOLM . . . IT HITS HIM . . . HE'S SLIPPING. WEASLEY IS FLYING BACK TO . . . HE'S FALLING . . .