Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't even own Dudley.
Harry thought there was one main difference between Angelina and Oliver as captains. Angelina couldn't come into the room and rip the sheets off his bed to get up. He was partly right. Angelina didn't pull his sheets off. She simply dumped a bucket of ice water on him, yelled 'Quidditch!' and ran out the door.
"That's my kind of woman," muttered Seamus.
"Shut up," Ron said darkly, also dripping in cold water. Harry dried himself up with a quick spell, put on the robes for the practice, and went downstairs. Ginny was waiting for him, and he grabbed her hand and they walked down to the quidditch pitch. Harry grinned; Ginny was practically skipping.
When they got to the pitch, Harry let go of her hand and took off on his broom. Ginny looked at him somewhat enviously. Keepers rarely got to fly around the pitch, and Harry was shooting all over the field. Angelina decided that instead of drills for the match tomorrow, they'd simply do a scrimmage match. She also had an ace up her sleeve. Ten minutes into practice, the rest of the team got a shock as two people strode up to the quidditch field. One was dressed in dressed in green and gold robes, and the other in orange and black robes. When they got closer, Harry saw they were none other than Oliver Wood and Katie Bell. The rest of the team flew down to meet the two alumni.
"Katie, you look like a tigress!" called Fred.
"Grrrrrrrr," purred George. Katie blushed. She was on the Indian Tigers reserve squad. Harry turned his attention to Oliver, but he couldn't place the Green and Gold robes.
Oliver preempted and said, "I'm on the Jamaican team."
Harry was puzzled, and said, "I thought you were on the Puddlemere United team."
Angelina said, "And I didn't know Jamaica even had a team."
Oliver couldn't resist, and said, "Yah Mon" in a bad Jamaican accent. Fred and George broke out laughing. To the rest of the team, he said, "Jamaica has a team, but it's not the best right now. They traded for me, knowing that I was quidditch captain for 4 years, hoping in a couple of years I'd be able to lead them." Everyone congratulated the two of them, and then Oliver boomed, "So what are we waiting for?" and took to guarding the goals opposite of Ginny.
Alicia, Angelina, Ron, and Katie got together and gamely decided teams. Ron would team with Katie, so he'd learn a few more tricks from her. Fred decided to be with Angelina and Alicia, since he didn't want to spend his Saturday hitting bludgers at his girlfriend.
Harry was alone, since he was the only seeker. He really didn't mind, though. The rest of them seemed far too intense for a friendly scrimmage game. Well, all of them except Ginny. It looked like her head wasn't really in the game. He noticed Alicia and Angelina glaring at him. They appeared to be upset that their keeper hadn't blocked a single shot yet. Harry wondered if they'd mind so much if Ginny was on Katie and Ron's team. So far Katie and Ron were winning 110-10, thanks to Wood's spectacular play.
Finally, Harry caught sight of the snitch, and dived down and caught it rather simply. At this, Alicia cried, "We win! 160-110"
"What?!" yelled George.
"Harry caught the snitch. We win 160-110. Duh," stated Angelina.
"Wait a minute. Why is Harry on your team? There's only one seeker!" complained Ron.
"Calm down, everyone. There's enough of me to go around," Harry chortled.
"Ok. Team switch. Ron and Alicia, swap sides." Angelina proceeded to switch the teams around, and they kept on playing until they realized it was already 6:00. They had been playing for nine hours!
Harry was about to walk back to the castle and get some supper, but got pointed glares from Alicia and Angelina. "Ginny," he called, "Can I talk with you for a minute?" Ginny practically bounded up to him and blushed. Ok, he thought, I'm going to have to work on this a lot…
"Ginny, I want to try something," and took her hand. As he walked down the corridors of the castle, Ginny blushed further and further. When they got to an out of the way hallway, he turned to her and said, "We're going to practice dancing."
Ginny looked like she didn't know what she was going to do. Ok, I've got to calm her down, thought Harry, somewhat amused. "I want you to close your eyes," Harry said slowly. Ginny did so, but she still looked like she was reigning herself in. He started talking slowly to her, about nothing in particular. She looked like she was hanging on his words, but she was gradually calming down. He took his time, now speaking about Stonewall Elementary school.
When she finally appeared to be completely loose, he slowly walked up to her and put his hands on her hips. She immediately tensed up again, but Harry kept up talking in as calm and soothing of voice as he could. When she loosened up a little bit, he pointed his wand over his shoulder and started some slow music.
She yet again tensed up, and by now Harry was getting a little annoyed. "Ginny," he whispered, "I'm not going anywhere. Calm down."
Ginny looked up at him, sighed, and whispered back, "I'm sorry."
Harry chuckled, "It's ok," and started to dance. They danced for awhile, but Harry had no clue how long, since his music was just one really long song. Harry decided they were probably past curfew, and whispered in Ginny's ear, "We should probably get back." Ginny gave a small grunt and turned to go back to the commons as well.
The common room was empty, except Ron. Harry smiled guiltily, and Ginny simply blushed. This made Ron even more suspicious. Harry briefly considered playing the situation up, but decided he didn't want to torture Ron. That was Hermione's job. "Ron," he explained, "we were dancing."
"Oh," he replied, still a little suspiciously, "Ok," and walked off to bed.
Harry turned to Ginny, but found he didn't know what to say. She, grabbed his hand and said, "I had a wonderful time. I can't wait for the real dance!" She smiled and walked up to her dorm to sleep.
When Harry got into the 5th years guy dorms, Ron was waiting for him again.
"About my sister," Ron started, but had no idea where to go from there.
"Ok, Ron. Who do you want her to go with? Am I not good enough?" Harry asked, somewhat miffed.
"Well…" he stammered.
"Do you think I'm going to mistreat her?" prompted Harry.
"Er…." Ron appeared to be lost for words.
"Ron," Harry sighed, "Calm down. It's me, remember? Your friend? The guy that was with you when we defeated McGonagall's giant chess set? Or do you remember last year's second task?"
Ron smiled guiltily. Ron started to mumble an apology, but Harry cut him off. "C'mon we've got to be ready for the game tomorrow."
Angelina sat in the Great Hall, trying to eat her lunch, worrying whether Harry would zone out at the game again. She wasn't worried about their chasers; if they did half as well as they did against Ravenclaw, they'd be set. And nothing seemed to ever get George and Fred down. Hopefully Harry got over whatever was wrong with him last match. And then she turned her mind to Ginny, who she was also worried about.
She noticed that Harry and Ginny had both already left for the pitch, and decided to take off as well. The rest of the team got up as well, and they made their way to the field. Angelina was about ready to say something to Harry when she noticed the glint in his eyes. She backed away, startled, and then started to grin broadly. She whispered to Fred, "This is going to be a great game!"
Fred turned to her, surprised. "What? Why?" he asked. Angelina simply pointed to Harry. Fred noticed the gleam as well, and then grinned even wider than Angelina. "Oh, yeah..." he whispered back, nodding his head.
Madame Hooch stepped out, and announced the players. She then released the balls, and the players took to the air. Harry immediately whipped into the air, cutting through the Hufflepuff chasers. Ron took advantage of their confusion, and scored within the first 20 seconds. Harry was up above, pacing the field, the Hufflepuff seeker followed, feeling somewhat intimidated. Within the first minute, Harry dived at breakneck speed.
"And Potter is already diving for the snitch!" Lee Jordan yelled over the megaphone. The Hufflepuff beaters noticed this as well, and started pelting bludgers at him. Harry, somehow knowing they were coming, dodged and threaded his way through him. Finally, 4 bludger attacks later, he lost sight of the snitch, and resumed circling above. The Hufflepuff seeker meekly followed him a distance away. Less than a minute later, Harry was diving again, even faster than before.
"And Potter's seen the snitch again! Look how fast that guy's moving!" Jordan screamed. Both Hufflepuff beaters grew alarmed - Harry was seconds away from catching the snitch. Both veered away from Ron making an attack up the field and turned to hit the bludgers at him. Yet again, Harry swerved and dodged the bludgers, and it took the beaters 4 minutes to finally draw him away from his search. Fred and George were making excellent use of the beater shortage. The two had successfully cleared a path for the Gryffindor chasers to score 11 times in the game already. Hufflepuff had only managed to move the quaffle to the Gryffindor goals once, and that was during the brief time between Harry's two snitch chases when they had their beaters back. Ginny made an amazing save, and threw the quaffle to Angelina, already halfway down the pitch.
As Harry resumed his circling the skies above, the Hufflepuff beaters sighed with relief and began to target the Gryffindor chasers. They didn't have to endure much, because Harry was back at it within seconds. Both beaters gamely went after him again. However, Harry wasn't going to be put off anymore. After swerving 5 times to avoid bludger shots, Harry caught the snitch and landed in the field, winning the game 270-0, less than 10 minutes since it started.
"Holy bogies," muttered George.
If Harry thought the Great Hall the day after he modified the effigy was bad, he was ill prepared for the Monday after the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match. It seemed every other girl in the school wanted to ask him out, and every direction Harry turned in the Great Hall during breakfast, a girl was staring starry-eyed at him. Things only went downhill when the mail came. Harry got 14 letters, which was a record by about ten. He opened the first curiously, and Irish Leprechaun popped into existence in front of him. "Aye," the Leprechaun said, "You'll be playin' for Ireland, laddie!" before disappearing again. The note read:
Harry Potter,
I was at the match against Hufflepuff, and I have to say I haven't a seeker play that well in a good many years, especially at a school level game. I've extended you a special invitation to the Irish Squad Tryouts. I have no doubt you'll make the team, possibly even the primary team, which I should point out, won the Quidditch World Cup last year…
I hope to receive news from you soon, and I hope to see you in the Irish Green robes soon.
-Yours Truly
Glenn McGruder
Glenn McGruder
Ireland National Quidditch Manager
Harry was astounded. He was invited to the Irish Squad Tryouts? But he was only 15 years old! Harry skimmed through the letters, barely even paying attention to the odd series of creatures that came out to greet him like the leprechaun. It seemed as though several European countries had seen or heard about the game somehow, and wanted Harry to come down and look at their program. Harry personally felt the entire affair was a little too early. He still had over two years left at Hogwarts.
He tore his attention away from the letters, and looked up at the hall. Everyone was looking at him, and he embarrassedly put the letters under the table. He started turning red from everyone's gazes, and he now figured he knew how Fleur felt. But suddenly, someone grasped his hand, holding it tight. "Thanks, Ginny," he whispered.
Harry looked over at Malfoy, who was glaring at him with pure hatred. His mind skimmed over all the things that Malfoy had done to him through the year. He remembered that he had Potions tomorrow, and would most likely have to put up with some more. That's it, Harry thought, it's time for him to get his comeuppance. He turned over options in his brain, and a smile grew on his face. He exited the Great Hall and stood in a dark corridor in the path to the Slytherin commons.
After a long waiting, Harry was rewarded by the sight of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle walking back from the Great Hall. Harry promptly transfigured them into chickens. Of course, this in itself wasn't too spectacular – the fake Mad Eye Moody turned Malfoy into a rodent last year.
But Harry wasn't finished. He conjured up 20 other chickens, and set the gaggle of them loose. Suddenly, the three Slytherins found themselves in a herd of fowl. Harry quickly left, because if anyone saw him anywhere near this place, they would know he did it.
Ten minutes later, Hagrid arrived at the scene, and took a long look at the 23 chickens now clucking about in the corridor. "Who let in all these chickens? Probably Peeves, or maybe even Fred and George," Hagrid said, answering his own question. Hagrid began herding the chickens outside somewhat roughly with his foot. One chicken with light plumage kept trying to leave the gaggle, and Hagrid had to half-kick it back in line several times.
Inside his new chicken body, Malfoy squawked as Hagrid kept kicking him. He glared at Hagrid as he left the chickens in an enclosure outside, and left back up for the castle.
Hagrid was walking up the steps, humming, when he met up with Flitwick. "Oh, hello there, Professor Flitwick!" he said
"Hello, Hagrid," Flitwick replied in a high pitch voice.
"I just ran into the strangest scene. There were 23 chickens lying about in the corridor. I led 'em back outside, but I don't know how they got in," Hagrid said.
Flitwick smiled, and remembered how he had just taught the 5th years conjuring. "You know," he said merrily, "I bet you it was Potter. He's gotten really good at conjuring charms. Only person better is Hermione, but she had to work real hard to get them. He probably was just having some fun and decided to make some chickens in the hallways."
Hagrid agreed, and led Flitwick down to the group of chickens. They seemed normal enough, but Flitwick waved his wand at them and muttered, "Abeo." All the chickens but three immediately vanished. Flitwick tried Abeo again, but the three remained. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle immediately ran over and started clucking excitedly.
"I wonder if Potter cast one of those preservation spells on them. I mean, even Professor McGonagall couldn't undo them," Hagrid said.
"We don't even know Potter made the chickens for sure," Flitwick answered, and then noticed something odd. "Does that chicken," he asked incredulously, "Have blond hair?" As the truth dawned on them, Flitwick muttered, "Finite Incantatem," and Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle snapped back into human form, shaking in fury.
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Ok, obviously the next chapter will have Malfoy vs. Harry of some sort. But wait until you see how!
Thanks again to all those who have reviewed (especially the arguing Atheis and Aeris, who definitely got into the Irish Drinking Songs – see their review :)
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