Summary: The new Quidditch captain is chosen, Prashant makes his mark, and Harry investigates the mysterious statue…
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Part Ten
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Harry half-expected to dream about the statue again, but if he had any dreams that night he did not remember them. He woke early the next morning, since he had to attend the Quidditch team meeting before breakfast; and dressed quietly, trying not to wake Ron or the others in his dormitory, who were still sound asleep.
When Harry reached the Gryffindor common room, he found the Weasley twins waiting for him, both looking tousled and rather sleepy. "There you are!" said Fred. "Come on, we've got to go to McGonagall's office. The girls went ahead."
Climbing through the portrait hole, Harry, Fred and George made their way through the corridors of the castle, which were quiet with an early-morning stillness. It was going to be another warm day, Harry thought, looking out of a window at the early sun shining on the lake, and Hagrid crossing the grass with a bundle of wood under his arm and Fang at his heels.
Professor McGonagall had Summoned some extra chairs into her small office, which made the room extremely squashed. The other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team - Angelina and her friends, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell - were already there, holding mugs of tea and managing to look slightly more awake than the twins. As Harry sat down, Angelina grinned at him and passed him a mug and the sugar bowl.
"Ah, good, you're all here," Professor McGonagall said. "Shut the door please, Weasley." As George obeyed, Professor McGonagall surveyed them all sternly over her square spectacles and began, "As you know, there was no House Quidditch competition last year because of the Triwizard Tournament."
Harry could almost feel the rest of the team trying very hard not to look at him. He kept his own eyes fixed on Professor McGonagall.
"However," Professor McGonagall continued firmly, "I am sure you will also remember that we are the current holders of the Quidditch Cup, and I am determined - determined - that we will retain our trophy this year."
The team nodded in agreement.
"Don't worry, Professor," Fred said airily, "you can count on us."
He received a glare. "I am sure I hope so, Weasley. Now, since Oliver Wood's departure, we have been without a Captain or a Keeper. I have my own ideas on who would be suitable for these posts, but I am sure you will wish to offer suggestions."
There was a pause, while the Gryffindors exchanged glances. Harry smiled to himself as he wondered what Fred or George would be like as a Quidditch captain - team practices would certainly be interesting! He thought for a moment, then raised his hand.
"Yes, Potter?"
"I think Angelina would be a good captain," Harry said, and felt himself redden slightly with embarrassment.
"Thanks, Harry," Angelina said, giving him a quick smile. "It's nice of you to say so, but I'm not sure I'd do such a good job, not with my Prefect duties and all the work I've got to do for NEWTs as well."
At the mention of NEWTs, there was a murmur of agreement from Alicia and Katie, who were also seventh-years and taking those dreaded exams this year. Fred and George looked less concerned about their NEWTs, but nodded also to keep Professor McGonagall happy.
"A fair point, Miss Johnson," Professor McGonagall said. "Does anyone else have anything to say?"
"Yes," said Alicia unexpectedly. "I think Harry should be the captain."
To Harry's amazement, there were loud agreeing noises from around the room, as various people nodded. Harry nearly dropped his tea-mug as he stared at them. "But - but I'm only a fifth-year - you're all in seventh-year - "
"So?" said Fred, grinning at his surprised face. "Wood was captain when he was a fifth-year. Come to that, Charlie was captain when he was a fifth-year -"
"And I know you've got OWLs this year, but they're not as much work as the NEWTs are," Angelina said. "I'm sure you could do it, and we'll back you up, Harry."
"Besides, once you've learnt the job you'll be ready to break in the new team next year, when we've all left," Katie Bell pointed out.
Professor McGonagall rapped on her desk to silence them all. "Very well. It seems most of us are in agreement. Those in favour of Potter being appointed captain?"
Every member of the team, except Harry, raised a hand.
"And would you be willing, Potter, to do the job?"
"Um - y-yes," stammered Harry, still staggered.
"Then that's settled," said Professor McGonagall briskly. "Now, with regard to finding a new Keeper, I suggest that we invite interested members of the House to try out tomorrow evening with the rest of the team. I will reserve the Quidditch pitch, and you, Potter, should put up a notice in the Gryffindor common room. Is that satisfactory?"
Everyone nodded, and Professor McGonagall looked at her watch. "Well, off you go, then, it will be breakfast time very shortly. Potter, stay behind, please - I want a word with you."
Smiling and giving Harry "thumbs-up" signs, the rest of the Gryffindor team filed out of the small office, leaving Harry with Professor McGonagall. Harry was still breathless with astonishment. He had dreamed of being Quidditch captain one day, of course, but had never expected it to happen so soon. His elation was mingled with trepidation as he hoped he would be up to the job, with the alarmingly tireless example of Oliver Wood before him.
"Congratulations, Potter," Professor McGonagall said dryly, and Harry was surprised to see that she was smiling at him. "I trust you won't be letting your new responsibilities interfere with your school work."
"No, Professor," Harry said hastily.
"Good." Professor McGonagall opened the top drawer of her desk, and took out a narrow gold armband. Harry recognised it as the Quidditch captain's armband Wood had worn during matches, with a small scarlet Gryffindor lion prancing across the gold background. Professor McGonagall passed it across to him, and he took it reverently, gazing at it before putting it in his pocket. "Well, Potter, make sure you do a good job - we want to keep that Cup! And don't forget to write that notice about tomorrow. You may go to breakfast now."
Harry walked out of her office in a daze - and was almost knocked flying across the corridor as he received an enormous thump on the back. Fred and George had been waiting for him.
"Congratulations, Harry, old boy!" Fred bellowed, as Harry dodged another congratulatory bang on the back. "How does it feel to be the new Oliver Wood?"
"Great," said Harry, unable to stop himself grinning. "I still don't know why you wanted me, though, I mean, I'm the youngest - and you've all been on the team longer - "
"Ah, but we recognised in you a keen tactical brain," George teased him, ruffling his hair. "We will hang on your every word of wisdom, won't we, Fred?"
"Yep," said Fred. "And you will unfold to us your master plan for thrashing the Slytherins."
"All right," Harry said, still grinning. "As soon as I think of one, I'll let you know!"
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Harry had a moment of anxiety as he went to find Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table. He was remembering how furious Ron had been last year, when Harry had been chosen as a Triwizard champion. Hermione had tried to explain Ron's feelings of jealousy to Harry then - "I know you don't ask for the attention…but…Ron's got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you're his best friend, and you're really famous - he's always shunted to one side…I suppose this is just one time too many…" - but Harry and Ron had not spoken to each other for days, and it had been a time Harry never wanted to repeat. He and Ron had made it up long since, of course, and their friendship had become stronger than ever, but Harry hoped that Ron would not mind that this was yet another occasion when Harry had been singled out to do something important.
Harry's arrival at the breakfast table caused quite a stir. To his dismay, Fred and George insisted on escorting him to his seat, chanting, "Hail to the chief, make way for the master strategist!" Angelina, Alicia and Katie had already arrived at the Gryffindor table and had obviously been spreading the news, because there was a smattering of applause among the Gryffindors already having breakfast as Harry came in. The disturbance was loud enough to make the students at the other House tables turn their heads to see what was going on.
"Did we miss something?" asked Hermione, as she and Ron arrived, a few moments later, just as Seamus and Dean were congratulating Harry.
"Um - Er -" said Harry, looking at Ron in embarrassment, not quite sure how to break the news.
"Meet the new Gryffindor Quidditch captain," Fred said, before Harry could say any more himself. "Harry's going to make sure we keep the Cup this year."
"Harry! Are you really the new captain?" Hermione asked, staring at him in surprise. "That's wonderful!"
Harry looked rather nervously at Ron, but found his friend smiling broadly at him. Hugely relieved, he heard Ron say, "I'm not surprised really, I guessed it might be on the cards from what Fred and George said in the holidays. Well done, mate."
"I never thought they'd pick me," Harry murmured to Ron, as they sat down beside each other.
Ron grinned sideways at him. "Don't be daft. Just make sure we beat Slytherin by a few hundred points, won't you?"
As Ron turned to his breakfast, Harry caught Hermione's eye. She was looking at him and Ron with a happy expression on her face. Harry was sure that she knew what he had been worrying about, but she did not say anything; only smiled and looked down at her own plate.
Halfway through breakfast, the owls flew in with the post. Hedwig attracted Harry's attention by landing on his shoulder, dropping a letter on the table and nipping Harry's ear rather hard.
"Ow! What was that for?" Harry pushed her off his shoulder, and Hedwig landed on the table, looking rather sulky. She had been treating Harry rather coldly lately, jealous of the fact that Blackie was spending more time with him while she was in the owlery.
Hermione made a fuss of Hedwig and gave her some toast crusts while Harry opened his letter. It was from Sirius.
"Dear Harry,
Hope your term has got off to a good start, and that everything's all right at Hogwarts. Things are much the same here. Remus has gone away for a few days to meet some people. You may be seeing him soon - he may be coming to see Dumbledore at some point. Hope your cat and your owl haven't killed each other yet. Give my regards to Ron and Hermione.
Snuffles."
Getting a letter from Sirius was always a good start to the day, although today had already got off to an extraordinarily good start, Harry reflected. He was looking forward to writing to tell Sirius that he had become the Quidditch captain. As he folded his letter, Harry heard a drawling voice behind him
"My God, Gryffindor must be desperate, Crabbe. With Potter in charge, they'll fall apart - this should be the easiest Quidditch Cup Slytherin have ever won."
Harry was in far too good a mood to rise to one of Malfoy's jibes. Still smiling at the letter, he ignored Malfoy completely, and the Slytherins, frustrated, eventually moved on.
* * * * *
The day's classes seemed to pass very slowly to Harry, who was impatient for the evening to come. He had agreed with Ron and Hermione that the best time to investigate the corridor with the Quidditch-player statue would probably be late in the evening, when most of the students were in their dormitories. After dinner, the three of them returned to the Gryffindor common room, and did homework while they waited for the room to empty. Harry remembered to get the mysterious silver key out of his trunk, and to write out his Quidditch notice.
"Are you going to try out for Keeper, Ron?" he asked, as he pinned up the notice.
"I think you should," Hermione said to Ron, whose ears were going red again.
Ron was just about to answer her when there was a commotion by the portrait hole as a large group of Gryffindors entered, all talking animatedly. The centre of the group seemed to be Parvati with her arm around her younger brother, Prashant, whose right eye was swelling and reddening rapidly.
"Are you sure you won't go to Madam Pomfrey?" Parvati was saying anxiously. "You really should, you know."
"It's OK, Parvati, don't fuss," Prashant was protesting, looking embarrassed.
"What happened?" George Weasley asked, looking up from his writing. Harry had a strong suspicion that the work Fred and George had been so engrossed in had more to do with their latest invention than their homework.
Ginny Weasley detached herself from the crowd and came across to where her brothers were sitting. "Parvati's little brother caught that Slytherin first-year - Raymond Crabbe - pinching sweets out of his bag. They had a fight."
"Who won?" Harry asked, interested.
"Prashant did," said Ginny. "Even though Raymond Crabbe's twice the size of him."
"Excellent!" said Ron. "Always good to hear of a Crabbe being beaten up. Did he damage him much?"
"Ron!" Hermione protested. "They shouldn't have been fighting at all. They're lucky none of the teachers caught them."
Ron gave her a knowing look. "You just wish you'd seen it happen."
"Raymond Crabbe's nose was absolutely streaming blood," Ginny continued, "though he did give Prashant a black eye."
"Prashant had better watch out," Harry said, "or he'll have Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy after him."
"Must be a good fighter, though," said Ron, looking across the room at Prashant with a new respect. "Maybe we could train him up a bit and set him on Crabbe senior - I'm joking, Hermione, I'm joking!"
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It seemed to take a very long time for the Gryffindor common room to empty, but eventually most of the students started to put their homework and hobbies away and head for the dormitories. Hermione chivvied a few of the first-years to bed, and then started worrying again that she, as a Prefect, should not be walking about the corridors at night.
"Oh, come on, Hermione, you know you want to see this statue as much as we do," Ron said, as Harry returned from making sure Blackie was shut up in his dormitory. "You wouldn't like it if we went without you."
"Perhaps you shouldn't go right now - what if someone catches you?"
"We're going," Harry said firmly. "And it's not as if we're doing anything very bad - we're not even leaving the building. We have to go past your Arithmancy classroom - if we get caught, you can always say you were looking for a book."
"Yeah, and you asked us to come with you so you wouldn't have to walk down those scary dark corridors by yourself," Ron said, grinning at Hermione.
Hermione glared at him in a most unprefectly way. "All right, all right, let's go if we're going," she said hurriedly. "I just hope we don't run into any teachers - or Peeves."
The common room was almost empty, and the last few older students did not look up as Harry, Ron and Hermione climbed through the portrait hole and set off down the corridor. The Fat Lady was absent from her portrait - off visiting one of her friends, Harry supposed - so there was no one to ask where they were going.
The castle passageways were dimly-lit and quiet. Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way to the Arithmancy classroom without talking, keeping a look-out for teachers, students or ghosts who might also be wandering the corridors.
Harry wished he still had the Marauders' Map which had once belonged to his father and his friends. Since it showed where all the people in the castle were, it would have come in useful for avoiding any unwanted meetings. But Harry no longer had the map. Last term it had been taken from him by the false Professor Moody - Barty Crouch, who was now worse than dead. When Crouch had been taken away by the Dementors, the Marauders' Map had been found among his possessions. Professor Dumbledore had taken it into his own keeping. Harry understood why he had done so - too many of the teachers, including Professors McGonagall and Snape, now knew about the map, and with Voldemort returned they did not want to encourage Harry to wander around with it. Professor Dumbledore had told Harry that he would look after the map, and would return it to Harry one day when he felt the time was right. Still, Harry wished he had it with him. It would have come in useful now -
"Stop!" Hermione hissed. They had reached the top of the stairs by the Arithmancy classroom. "Where did Dobby say to go next?"
"Third corridor on the left…" They continued cautiously along the passageways and stairs, Harry trying to remember all Dobby's directions, and aware of the heavy key in his pocket, knocking against his hip. Once, they heard Peeves cackling to himself in the distance, and had to wait in an alcove, holding their breath, until they heard him go out of earshot.
At last, high up in a part of the school they did not know well, they turned into a corridor Harry recognised instantly. "This is it!" he said, stopping suddenly.
"Is this the place you dreamed about?" Hermione asked, peering down the passageway. "Where's the statue?"
Harry looked along the line of closed oak doors. They were just as he remembered them from his dream. So were the paintings and statues which lined the walls, and the faded flowered carpet on which he was standing. He looked further along, and his heart thumped with excitement as he saw the statue of the Quidditch player.
"There."
They hurried down the passageway until they reached the statue. Just as in Harry's dream, the stone Quidditch player was frozen on his broom, hand outstretched, grasping the Quaffle.
"Oh, he's a Caerphilly Catapults player," said Ron knowledgeably, looking at the statue's striped robes. "D'you know what, Harry, I bet you this is "Dangerous Dai" Llewellyn, he was the most famous player the Catapults ever had, you know - "
"Can we just get on with it?" Hermione hissed, glancing nervously over her shoulder. "You can talk about Quidditch any time!"
"All right, all right…"
Harry put both his hands around the stone Quaffle, and gave it a hard tug. It stuck, as though it had not been moved for many years, but he felt it move just a little. He pulled harder - there was a grating, protesting sound from the stones - and then he staggered backwards as the Quaffle came away in his hands.
In the empty palm of the statue's hand was a keyhole, rimmed with tarnished silver.
Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at the keyhole, then at each other, with mounting anticipation. Harry set down the heavy stone Quaffle on the carpet, then felt for the large silver key in his pocket. "Want to see if it fits?"
"You might need this, Harry," said Hermione, and to Harry's surprise she produced a small oilcan from the pocket of her robes. "I thought the lock might be stiff after all this time."
"Brilliant, Hermione," Ron said, admiringly, as Harry took the oilcan and squirted a few drops into the keyhole. Handing the can back to Hermione, he lined up the key with the keyhole carefully. It was a perfect fit. As Harry turned the key, it moved smoothly, and they all heard the small click as the lock opened.
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To be continued…I'm sorry, I know I'm evil! But at least I've got this part up…
Please review…and expect to see part 11 up in about another week. I've got a new pic on my author page - d'you like my hat?