Chapter 8 Flying lessons
A Properly Reared Wizard Disclaimer: I do not own Harry potter, or any of the Harry potter characters, and am making no money from this story. Some portions of the text may have been taken directly from HP and the sorcerer's stone. They are marked with {'s. Anything you recognize I do not own and am making no money off of. Archiving: Want, ask, take, have.
A/N: In the last chapter "Daily Planet" should have been "Daily Prophet" sorry. I know that its' been a while since the last chapter went up, but my muse has been on vacation until lately. Sorry. I will try to have the next chapter up in less than two weeks. Does any one out there want to be my beta reader. If you do please just Email me: Laphynix@aol.com.
One morning Professor Snape happened to be up early. He was walking past a doorway on the ground floor when he saw "Potter" doing something suspicious. * I'd better go see what Potter is up to.* Snape thought to himself.
When he got closer to Harry he saw that Potter was doing tai chi, a fairly advanced form at that.
Harry stopped moving suddenly.
* Now what's Potter up to?* Snape wondered. Then he felt it. Harry was raising and manipulating the local energy flows.
As Harry concentrated on what he was doing with the energy flows he began to float about three inches above the ground. Harry didn't seem to notice the fact that he was floating, however. After a time, Harry grounded and dismissed the energy he was manipulating and sank back to the ground.
Snape turned and left thinking, * I'd better speak to the Headmaster about this. I'm not sure it's safe for Potter to be handling that much energy on school grounds.*
Professor Snape made his way to the Headmaster's office. "Jujube!" Snape said shaking his head at the ridiculous password the Headmaster had chosen. The Gargoyle guarding the entrance jumped aside and Snape went up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.
"Hello Severus. Is something wrong?" Dumbledore said without even seeing who it was that had entered his office.
"I must speak with you about Potter," Professor Snape replied.
"Why? Has he done something wrong? Lemon drop?" Dumbledore said offering Snape some candy.
"Not wrong, precisely. I just observed him manipulating energy flows that he shouldn't even be aware of, much less be able to manipulate. Do you really think that it is wise to allow Potter to engage in that sort of energy manipulation on school grounds? Considering the magical forces in the castle and the Forest?" Snape asked Dumbledore.
"What exactly was Harry doing?"
"As far as I could tell, it was some advanced form of Tai chi. I didn't Tai chi was a form of magic."
At this Dumbledore looked slightly indignant. "Tai chi is not a form of 'magic'."
* It doesn't matter if it's "magic" or not, Potter was still manipulating raw energy without the aid of a wand or other focus.* Snape realized.
"Yes Headmaster."
"Besides Harry's been doing Tai chi almost since before he could walk. He knows what he's doing." With this the Headmaster shooed Snape out of his office.
As Professor Snape was walking back to his dungeons he couldn't help but think * I'll have to keep a closer eye on Potter in the future. I wonder what else he's been learning "almost since before he could walk"?*
Harry dragged Ron down to the common room after he changed into his robes and out of his Tai chi outfit. On the bulletin board was a notice that flying lessons would be starting soon.
"Awww man! We've got another class with the Slytherins!" Ron complained.
Harry however was looking forward to learning to fly on a broom.
At breakfast Harry noticed that all anyone seemed to talk about was either Quidditch or flying. It was like they all grew up on brooms.
The mail was delivered while they were all eating. Harry looked over to see that Neville had received a small package.
"Hey Neville! Who's that from?" Harry asked Neville as he unwrapped the package to reveal a small glass orb about the size of a racquetball.
"It's from my gran," Neville replied.
"Isn't that a Remembrall?" Ron asked looking at the ball.
"Yeah it is. They glow red when you've.forgotten.something." Neville said as the ball began to glow. Neville saw this and ran from the Great Hall. Embarrassed.
Hermione noticed that once again Harry received no mail, but she recalled him turning up with things she had never seen before. Where had they come from if he never got any mail?
"Hey Harry. I've noticed that you never seem to get mail but you have new things. Like that Latin book you were studying the last time we met to work on math. I haven't seen Hedwig deliver much."
"My Guardians have a way of getting things to me since they can't use owl post," Harry said before returning to eating his breakfast, hoping that Hermione would accept this without further questions.
The first year Gryffindors and Slytherins were standing out in a field with Madame Hooch waiting for their flying class to begin. They each had a broom at their feet.
"Hold your hand over your broom and say 'Up!'," Madame Hooch told them.
"Up!" chorused almost 2 dozen voices.
Neville's broom did nothing. It just lay there. Hermione's broom just rolled over. She gave it an exasperated look.
The broom by Ron's feet rolled over, rose a bit, and then settled back on to the ground.
Draco and Harry's brooms immediately snapped up into their hands with a "Smack!".
The response of Harry and Draco's brooms startled Madame Hooch.
"Mount your brooms," Madame Hooch instructed them.
After correcting a few of their grips Madame Hooch instructed them to kick off the ground, gently, and hover.
They did as she asked, all of them except Neville. Harry happened to be looking over at him when he saw Neville panic and kick off hard.
He flew up, wailing, high into the air, his broom clearly out of his control. He lost his grip on it suddenly and fell. He hit the ground with a "Crunch!".
Ooh! That sounded nasty!" Harry told Ron and Draco. "Breaking a wrist is always painful!"
This statement startled Draco. "How do you know it was his wrist?"
"I recognize that sound," Harry explained to him.
"Huh?" Draco seemed confused at this.
Madame Hooch carried Neville inside, heading for the infirmary.
"Stay put!" she told them all.
The Slytherins (except for Draco) were gathered in a group and were whispering and snickering. One of them (Nott*) noticed something in the grass.
"Hey, isn't that Longbottom's Remebrall?" Nott said picking the glass ball up off the ground.
Nott kicked of the ground and began taunting the Gryffindors with Neville's Remembrall.
This really pissed Harry off. While normally he had a good grip on his temper, he couldn't stand bullies.
He grabbed his broom, mounted it, and kicked off the ground, hard.
Nott saw Harry's broom leave the ground and was startled. He flew high; sure that Harry couldn't follow him. When he turned his head to taunt Harry he saw that Harry was right behind him.
He threw the Remembrall as high and as far as he could.
Harry saw him throw it. He tracked it through the air, and dove after it. The dive started when he was 50 feet in the air. Down he dove, past windows causing the students and teachers to gasp and stare.
Harry caught the Remembrall and pulled up hard coming to a stop less than 6" above the grass.
McGonagall came rushing out calling Harry's name, clearly expecting to have to transport another student to the infirmary. She snapped out, "Someone go get Madame Pomphrey! Now!"
She stopped in her tracks when she saw Harry's broom, with Harry aboard it, floating gently above the ground.
"Potter! What happened?"
Harry responded, "I was just catching Neville's Remembrall, Ma'am."
Hermione piped up, "After Nott threw it into the air!"
Professor McGonagall turned to Harry, flabbergasted, "Is this your first time flying?"
"Umm. yes ma'am, this is my first time on a broom."
"And you caught the Remembrall?!" Professor McGonagall asked him.
"After a 50 foot dive!" Ron exclaimed.
~Hmm. this boy has real seeker potential!~ Professor McGonagall thought to herself.
"Come with me, Potter!" she snapped and swept off into the castle.
The Slytherins snickered as Harry followed her into the castle.
Professor McGonagall stopped in front of a classroom. She opened the door, stuck her head in, and called for 'Wood'.
~Who or what is 'Wood'? I wonder if Hogwarts is one of those British schools that believes in corporal punishment?~ Harry thought to himself.
Out of the classroom walked a tall boy.
"This is the one I was telling you about," Professor McGonagall said pointing to Harry after speaking quickly to wood for a moment.
"We've got our Seeker, Wood," Professor McGonagall told Wood mystifying Harry.
~Is this some sort of treasure hunter or researcher, or what? And what made her decide that?~
"Follow me!" McGonagall said peremptorily as she charged back out onto the field. Harry and Wood followed obediently.
Once they were out on the field McGonagall turned to Wood and said, "You get started explaining Quidditch to Harry while I go and get the equipment to give him his first lesson."
{A/N: If you need an explanation of Quidditch read the original books or "Quidditch Through the Ages". I do not feel like typing an explanation.}
About 10 minutes into the explanation Professor McGonagall came back out carrying a large wooden box. She handed the box to Wood, then handed him two brooms.
Wood spent the next hour and a half seeing what Harry could do on a broom and showing him the ropes of Quidditch.
Finally when it was getting too dark to see the golf balls Wood was using in place of the snitch they went in.
That night at dinner Ron asked Harry what happened after McGonagall pulled him out of flying class.
Harry explained about being chosen to be the new Gryffindor Seeker.
He said, "I really don't understand Quidditch, but it seems like an exciting game."
"Game?! Quidditch is not just a game!" Ron said unconsciously echoing the Headmaster. "It's a tradition!"
"How can you be the new Seeker?" Hermione asked. "There's never been a first year on the Team, and first year's are not allowed their own brooms."
"I don't know," Harry replied. "I guess Professor McGonagall pulled some strings."
"When do you start training, Harry?" Ron asked with his mouth full.
"Some time next week I start training with the rest of the team," Harry said before turning back to his dinner effectively ending that conversation.
Later that evening Harry, Draco, and Ron were late leaving the Library. Their nightly game session had run late and Hermione had already left. She said that she would be waiting for Ron and Harry in the Common Room and would distract Professor McGonagall so they could walk Draco back to the Slytherin dorm. He'd been having problems with his classmates. They didn't like him hanging around with the Gryffindors, especially Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
As they were walking down the hallway, Scabbers, who had been in Ron's pocket, hot away from Ron, again.
"Where is that stupid rat going this time?!" Harry demanded of Ron. He really didn't like Scabbers; something about that rat just didn't feel right.
They chased Scabbers up to the third floor. He ran into the right hand corridor when they saw Mrs. Norris and knew that Filch couldn't be far behind. Not wanting to be caught out of their dorms and where they weren't supposed to be, they ducked into an old classroom.
When they got back to the Gryffindor Common Room, after seeing Draco back to his dorm, they found Hermione waiting impatiently.
"Well? Where have you two been?" Hermione demanded.
"We had to go after Scabbers again," Harry told her. "That stupid rat ran up to the third floor. When we saw Mrs. Norris we ducked into one of the old classrooms in the right hand corridor," Harry explained.
"What!? You know the Headmaster declared that corridor off limits!" Hermione cried.
"Don't you want to know what was in that room?" Ron asked.
"Well, what? I assume you got Scabbers back as I can see him in your pocket."
"We saw a three headed dog!" Ron exclaimed.
"Yeah, and it drooled all over my robes," Harry said pulling at his robes with a look of disgust.
"You three are lucky you weren't caught! Or worse! You could have gotten in serious trouble!" Hermione scolded Ron.
" Hermione! That dog was huge! It filled the room!" Harry said.
Later that night, after Hermione had finished ranting about how careless they were and the boys in the first year dorm were asleep Harry went down to the Library in his trunk to write to his Guardians. In the letter Harry told his Guardians about getting to the new Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
"I'm worried about Draco," Harry wrote.
"It seems to me that he doesn't want to end up like his father's generation of Slytherins. The problem is, he doesn't seem to know how to maintain enough separation from them and his classmates to avoid ending up like them without ticking them off. Any advice I can give him?
By the way, I'm having a couple of problems myself. One of them is a pesky poltergeist who likes to make trouble. How can I convince him to leave me and my friends alone without performing an exorcism? He seems to respect/obey only two beings, the Headmaster and the Slytherin House ghost, the Bloody Baron. In some respects he acts like a teenage brat. You told me to keep a low profile so I don't want to have to show that I can force Peeves to behave.
Again, what should I do about Draco? How can I get him to do what I feel that he needs to do without alienating him?"
Harry finished his letter, sealed it, and sent it to his Guardians.
After it disappeared he went to bed.
The next morning, after his normal tai chi workout, Harry dragged Ron out of bed and down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Draco was sitting with them that morning because he was having problems with his housemates, Pansy Parkinson in particular.
Ron dragged his feet that morning, so by the time they got to the table the only thing left to drink was Pumpkin Juice. Hermione, who sat with them at breakfast, had noticed that Harry didn't drink Pumpkin Juice, ever. She wondered what he was going to do that morning.
Harry poured himself a goblet of pumpkin Juice, looked at it, made a face, and held his hand over the top of the goblet.
He muttered under his breath and Hermione saw a brief flash of light.
"Harry? What was that?" Hermione asked as Harry removed his hand and she saw that his glass was filled with what looked like water.
"Just a spell my Guardians taught me so I could make sure that I always had drinkable water," Harry said nonchalantly. "I don't like Pumpkin Juice."
Professor Snape was looking in Draco's direction when Harry changed the Pumpkin Juice, and saw the flash of light. He had also noticed that Harry didn't drink Pumpkin Juice. He wondered if Potter had figured out what was in the Pumpkin Juice.
As the mail owls swooped down six owls carrying a long, oddly shaped package landed in front of Harry.
The package they carried had a note on it: "Do not open this at the table."
Draco looked at the package, looking sort of shocked. "It couldn't be? Could it?"
"I don't know. Let's go open it Harry!" Ron said dragging Harry out of the Great hall.
They got out of the Great Hall and Harry opened the package revealing a beautiful Quidditch broom.
"That's a Nimbus 200!" Ron exclaimed.
"Cool!" Draco said.
That morning they had Potions class with the Slytherins. Those Slytherins that weren't ignoring Draco were razzing him about hanging out with the Gryffindor Wonder boy (Harry), the Muggle loving Weasel (Ron), and the Mudblood (Hermione). They were making snide comments about how "disappointed" Draco's father would be if he found out.
Harry and Professor Snape happened to be listening to this and it made them think. Harry realized that he would have to move up his little "talk" with Draco. He would have to do it soon even if his Guardians hadn't replied to his letter yet. Professor Snape realized that he would have to keep a closer eye on his Godson; he was worried about Lucius' reaction to Draco's behavior.
Just then, Harry noticed what his partner, Neville, was doing.
"Neville stop! Don't add those yet! Look carefully at the instructions for this potion. What do they say to do next?" Harry asked Neville, stopping him before he could make a mistake that would have caused the potion to explode.
"It said to add the nettles next," Neville answered.
"Read it again, Neville. Aloud," Harry said.
"Don't add the nettles without stirring the potion 3 times clockwise first, causing it to change color," Neville read aloud.
"See Neville," Harry said stirring the potion. "If you had added the nettles then the potion would have exploded. Remember to reread the instructions before you add anything to any potion. You have to relax and concentrate on what you are doing, " Harry told Neville as the potion changed color like the book said it would.
"Now add the nettles, slowly."
Snape was watching. * Amazing* he thought to himself, * Potter managed to keep Longbottom from ruining that potion and cauldron. *
"Longbottom! 10 points from Gryffindor for almost causing an explosion!"
After class Draco pulled Harry aside. "Harry why do you waste your time with helping a near Squib like Longbottom?"
"I have my reasons," Harry said.
"My guardians have told me to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. If Neville is going to be the one next to me, and he might, when the worst happens, whatever that is, I want him to be as good as he can be," Harry muttered under his breath.
Snape who was standing nearby in the shadows, and heard what Draco didn't, thought to himself * Hmm. Perhaps Potter isn't the stupid, spoiled child I have thought him to be, unlike the rest of those Gryffindor brats. *
"Draco wait!" Harry called out to Draco as he started to walk off. "There's something I need to talk to you about."
"Huh.what?" Draco replied.
"There will come a time when you will have to make a choice tot do the right thing or not. Be sure that when the time comes to make your choice known to others, you have the support to do so without too much risk."
"Huh?" This puzzled Draco.
"Just think about it."
Later that day, after class, Harry wrote a letter to his Guardians telling them about his new broom, the conversation that he had with Draco, and the rest of what happened that day. He sent the letter and went to bed.
That evening Draco's father came to Hogwarts to have a "talk" with Draco about his behavior and who he had been making friends with.
"Why do you spend your time with a Muggle lover like Weasley?" Lucius demanded of Draco.
"Father, the Weasley family consistently produces powerful, if eccentric, witches and wizards who somehow manage to worm their way into government circles. It might be wise to have one on my side," Draco explained to his father.
"Hmm. just make sure you don't associate with too many Muggleborns," Lucius said as he turned to leave.
"Yes Father," Draco said. * I'll make my choice known when the time is right for my purposes. * Draco thought to himself once his father had left.
Snape, who was watching Draco's talk with his father, was surprised by Draco's answers. It seemed that Draco had the ability to equivocate with a straight face and give the perfect double-tongued answers to his father.
Meanwhile, Harry's Guardians were discussing how to respond to Harry's latest letter.
David insisted that Harry had to stick to himself and not take any chances on making enemies.
Paul, on the other hand, insisted that Harry had to bring Draco over to his side ASAP, no matter what it took.
Sara, after listening to the both of them rant, pointed out that while Harry needed to make at least allies, if not friends, out of his classmates, he couldn't afford to let too much information slip, or push them into changing too far too fast, or there was a chance that the older generations would become suspicious.
"That's a good point, Sara," Maria said. "Harry must also keep his conversations with Draco that involve sensitive information of this kind confidential. Dumbledore has ways of knowing what's going on in his school."
Renée turned to her and asked, "Do you think we should give Harry permission to show Draco his library?"
"That's a great idea Renée," Maria said.
"I have an idea about what to do about Peeves. Harry's next magic lesson should include a version of the mirror trap spell. If he uses it on Peeves, whenever Peeves does anything to Harry, or his friends, it happens to him instead," Paul said.
"That's a great idea Paul. I'll have make sure to include the instructions in with the letter, " Maria said.
A Properly Reared Wizard Disclaimer: I do not own Harry potter, or any of the Harry potter characters, and am making no money from this story. Some portions of the text may have been taken directly from HP and the sorcerer's stone. They are marked with {'s. Anything you recognize I do not own and am making no money off of. Archiving: Want, ask, take, have.
A/N: In the last chapter "Daily Planet" should have been "Daily Prophet" sorry. I know that its' been a while since the last chapter went up, but my muse has been on vacation until lately. Sorry. I will try to have the next chapter up in less than two weeks. Does any one out there want to be my beta reader. If you do please just Email me: Laphynix@aol.com.
One morning Professor Snape happened to be up early. He was walking past a doorway on the ground floor when he saw "Potter" doing something suspicious. * I'd better go see what Potter is up to.* Snape thought to himself.
When he got closer to Harry he saw that Potter was doing tai chi, a fairly advanced form at that.
Harry stopped moving suddenly.
* Now what's Potter up to?* Snape wondered. Then he felt it. Harry was raising and manipulating the local energy flows.
As Harry concentrated on what he was doing with the energy flows he began to float about three inches above the ground. Harry didn't seem to notice the fact that he was floating, however. After a time, Harry grounded and dismissed the energy he was manipulating and sank back to the ground.
Snape turned and left thinking, * I'd better speak to the Headmaster about this. I'm not sure it's safe for Potter to be handling that much energy on school grounds.*
Professor Snape made his way to the Headmaster's office. "Jujube!" Snape said shaking his head at the ridiculous password the Headmaster had chosen. The Gargoyle guarding the entrance jumped aside and Snape went up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.
"Hello Severus. Is something wrong?" Dumbledore said without even seeing who it was that had entered his office.
"I must speak with you about Potter," Professor Snape replied.
"Why? Has he done something wrong? Lemon drop?" Dumbledore said offering Snape some candy.
"Not wrong, precisely. I just observed him manipulating energy flows that he shouldn't even be aware of, much less be able to manipulate. Do you really think that it is wise to allow Potter to engage in that sort of energy manipulation on school grounds? Considering the magical forces in the castle and the Forest?" Snape asked Dumbledore.
"What exactly was Harry doing?"
"As far as I could tell, it was some advanced form of Tai chi. I didn't Tai chi was a form of magic."
At this Dumbledore looked slightly indignant. "Tai chi is not a form of 'magic'."
* It doesn't matter if it's "magic" or not, Potter was still manipulating raw energy without the aid of a wand or other focus.* Snape realized.
"Yes Headmaster."
"Besides Harry's been doing Tai chi almost since before he could walk. He knows what he's doing." With this the Headmaster shooed Snape out of his office.
As Professor Snape was walking back to his dungeons he couldn't help but think * I'll have to keep a closer eye on Potter in the future. I wonder what else he's been learning "almost since before he could walk"?*
Harry dragged Ron down to the common room after he changed into his robes and out of his Tai chi outfit. On the bulletin board was a notice that flying lessons would be starting soon.
"Awww man! We've got another class with the Slytherins!" Ron complained.
Harry however was looking forward to learning to fly on a broom.
At breakfast Harry noticed that all anyone seemed to talk about was either Quidditch or flying. It was like they all grew up on brooms.
The mail was delivered while they were all eating. Harry looked over to see that Neville had received a small package.
"Hey Neville! Who's that from?" Harry asked Neville as he unwrapped the package to reveal a small glass orb about the size of a racquetball.
"It's from my gran," Neville replied.
"Isn't that a Remembrall?" Ron asked looking at the ball.
"Yeah it is. They glow red when you've.forgotten.something." Neville said as the ball began to glow. Neville saw this and ran from the Great Hall. Embarrassed.
Hermione noticed that once again Harry received no mail, but she recalled him turning up with things she had never seen before. Where had they come from if he never got any mail?
"Hey Harry. I've noticed that you never seem to get mail but you have new things. Like that Latin book you were studying the last time we met to work on math. I haven't seen Hedwig deliver much."
"My Guardians have a way of getting things to me since they can't use owl post," Harry said before returning to eating his breakfast, hoping that Hermione would accept this without further questions.
The first year Gryffindors and Slytherins were standing out in a field with Madame Hooch waiting for their flying class to begin. They each had a broom at their feet.
"Hold your hand over your broom and say 'Up!'," Madame Hooch told them.
"Up!" chorused almost 2 dozen voices.
Neville's broom did nothing. It just lay there. Hermione's broom just rolled over. She gave it an exasperated look.
The broom by Ron's feet rolled over, rose a bit, and then settled back on to the ground.
Draco and Harry's brooms immediately snapped up into their hands with a "Smack!".
The response of Harry and Draco's brooms startled Madame Hooch.
"Mount your brooms," Madame Hooch instructed them.
After correcting a few of their grips Madame Hooch instructed them to kick off the ground, gently, and hover.
They did as she asked, all of them except Neville. Harry happened to be looking over at him when he saw Neville panic and kick off hard.
He flew up, wailing, high into the air, his broom clearly out of his control. He lost his grip on it suddenly and fell. He hit the ground with a "Crunch!".
Ooh! That sounded nasty!" Harry told Ron and Draco. "Breaking a wrist is always painful!"
This statement startled Draco. "How do you know it was his wrist?"
"I recognize that sound," Harry explained to him.
"Huh?" Draco seemed confused at this.
Madame Hooch carried Neville inside, heading for the infirmary.
"Stay put!" she told them all.
The Slytherins (except for Draco) were gathered in a group and were whispering and snickering. One of them (Nott*) noticed something in the grass.
"Hey, isn't that Longbottom's Remebrall?" Nott said picking the glass ball up off the ground.
Nott kicked of the ground and began taunting the Gryffindors with Neville's Remembrall.
This really pissed Harry off. While normally he had a good grip on his temper, he couldn't stand bullies.
He grabbed his broom, mounted it, and kicked off the ground, hard.
Nott saw Harry's broom leave the ground and was startled. He flew high; sure that Harry couldn't follow him. When he turned his head to taunt Harry he saw that Harry was right behind him.
He threw the Remembrall as high and as far as he could.
Harry saw him throw it. He tracked it through the air, and dove after it. The dive started when he was 50 feet in the air. Down he dove, past windows causing the students and teachers to gasp and stare.
Harry caught the Remembrall and pulled up hard coming to a stop less than 6" above the grass.
McGonagall came rushing out calling Harry's name, clearly expecting to have to transport another student to the infirmary. She snapped out, "Someone go get Madame Pomphrey! Now!"
She stopped in her tracks when she saw Harry's broom, with Harry aboard it, floating gently above the ground.
"Potter! What happened?"
Harry responded, "I was just catching Neville's Remembrall, Ma'am."
Hermione piped up, "After Nott threw it into the air!"
Professor McGonagall turned to Harry, flabbergasted, "Is this your first time flying?"
"Umm. yes ma'am, this is my first time on a broom."
"And you caught the Remembrall?!" Professor McGonagall asked him.
"After a 50 foot dive!" Ron exclaimed.
~Hmm. this boy has real seeker potential!~ Professor McGonagall thought to herself.
"Come with me, Potter!" she snapped and swept off into the castle.
The Slytherins snickered as Harry followed her into the castle.
Professor McGonagall stopped in front of a classroom. She opened the door, stuck her head in, and called for 'Wood'.
~Who or what is 'Wood'? I wonder if Hogwarts is one of those British schools that believes in corporal punishment?~ Harry thought to himself.
Out of the classroom walked a tall boy.
"This is the one I was telling you about," Professor McGonagall said pointing to Harry after speaking quickly to wood for a moment.
"We've got our Seeker, Wood," Professor McGonagall told Wood mystifying Harry.
~Is this some sort of treasure hunter or researcher, or what? And what made her decide that?~
"Follow me!" McGonagall said peremptorily as she charged back out onto the field. Harry and Wood followed obediently.
Once they were out on the field McGonagall turned to Wood and said, "You get started explaining Quidditch to Harry while I go and get the equipment to give him his first lesson."
{A/N: If you need an explanation of Quidditch read the original books or "Quidditch Through the Ages". I do not feel like typing an explanation.}
About 10 minutes into the explanation Professor McGonagall came back out carrying a large wooden box. She handed the box to Wood, then handed him two brooms.
Wood spent the next hour and a half seeing what Harry could do on a broom and showing him the ropes of Quidditch.
Finally when it was getting too dark to see the golf balls Wood was using in place of the snitch they went in.
That night at dinner Ron asked Harry what happened after McGonagall pulled him out of flying class.
Harry explained about being chosen to be the new Gryffindor Seeker.
He said, "I really don't understand Quidditch, but it seems like an exciting game."
"Game?! Quidditch is not just a game!" Ron said unconsciously echoing the Headmaster. "It's a tradition!"
"How can you be the new Seeker?" Hermione asked. "There's never been a first year on the Team, and first year's are not allowed their own brooms."
"I don't know," Harry replied. "I guess Professor McGonagall pulled some strings."
"When do you start training, Harry?" Ron asked with his mouth full.
"Some time next week I start training with the rest of the team," Harry said before turning back to his dinner effectively ending that conversation.
Later that evening Harry, Draco, and Ron were late leaving the Library. Their nightly game session had run late and Hermione had already left. She said that she would be waiting for Ron and Harry in the Common Room and would distract Professor McGonagall so they could walk Draco back to the Slytherin dorm. He'd been having problems with his classmates. They didn't like him hanging around with the Gryffindors, especially Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
As they were walking down the hallway, Scabbers, who had been in Ron's pocket, hot away from Ron, again.
"Where is that stupid rat going this time?!" Harry demanded of Ron. He really didn't like Scabbers; something about that rat just didn't feel right.
They chased Scabbers up to the third floor. He ran into the right hand corridor when they saw Mrs. Norris and knew that Filch couldn't be far behind. Not wanting to be caught out of their dorms and where they weren't supposed to be, they ducked into an old classroom.
When they got back to the Gryffindor Common Room, after seeing Draco back to his dorm, they found Hermione waiting impatiently.
"Well? Where have you two been?" Hermione demanded.
"We had to go after Scabbers again," Harry told her. "That stupid rat ran up to the third floor. When we saw Mrs. Norris we ducked into one of the old classrooms in the right hand corridor," Harry explained.
"What!? You know the Headmaster declared that corridor off limits!" Hermione cried.
"Don't you want to know what was in that room?" Ron asked.
"Well, what? I assume you got Scabbers back as I can see him in your pocket."
"We saw a three headed dog!" Ron exclaimed.
"Yeah, and it drooled all over my robes," Harry said pulling at his robes with a look of disgust.
"You three are lucky you weren't caught! Or worse! You could have gotten in serious trouble!" Hermione scolded Ron.
" Hermione! That dog was huge! It filled the room!" Harry said.
Later that night, after Hermione had finished ranting about how careless they were and the boys in the first year dorm were asleep Harry went down to the Library in his trunk to write to his Guardians. In the letter Harry told his Guardians about getting to the new Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
"I'm worried about Draco," Harry wrote.
"It seems to me that he doesn't want to end up like his father's generation of Slytherins. The problem is, he doesn't seem to know how to maintain enough separation from them and his classmates to avoid ending up like them without ticking them off. Any advice I can give him?
By the way, I'm having a couple of problems myself. One of them is a pesky poltergeist who likes to make trouble. How can I convince him to leave me and my friends alone without performing an exorcism? He seems to respect/obey only two beings, the Headmaster and the Slytherin House ghost, the Bloody Baron. In some respects he acts like a teenage brat. You told me to keep a low profile so I don't want to have to show that I can force Peeves to behave.
Again, what should I do about Draco? How can I get him to do what I feel that he needs to do without alienating him?"
Harry finished his letter, sealed it, and sent it to his Guardians.
After it disappeared he went to bed.
The next morning, after his normal tai chi workout, Harry dragged Ron out of bed and down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Draco was sitting with them that morning because he was having problems with his housemates, Pansy Parkinson in particular.
Ron dragged his feet that morning, so by the time they got to the table the only thing left to drink was Pumpkin Juice. Hermione, who sat with them at breakfast, had noticed that Harry didn't drink Pumpkin Juice, ever. She wondered what he was going to do that morning.
Harry poured himself a goblet of pumpkin Juice, looked at it, made a face, and held his hand over the top of the goblet.
He muttered under his breath and Hermione saw a brief flash of light.
"Harry? What was that?" Hermione asked as Harry removed his hand and she saw that his glass was filled with what looked like water.
"Just a spell my Guardians taught me so I could make sure that I always had drinkable water," Harry said nonchalantly. "I don't like Pumpkin Juice."
Professor Snape was looking in Draco's direction when Harry changed the Pumpkin Juice, and saw the flash of light. He had also noticed that Harry didn't drink Pumpkin Juice. He wondered if Potter had figured out what was in the Pumpkin Juice.
As the mail owls swooped down six owls carrying a long, oddly shaped package landed in front of Harry.
The package they carried had a note on it: "Do not open this at the table."
Draco looked at the package, looking sort of shocked. "It couldn't be? Could it?"
"I don't know. Let's go open it Harry!" Ron said dragging Harry out of the Great hall.
They got out of the Great Hall and Harry opened the package revealing a beautiful Quidditch broom.
"That's a Nimbus 200!" Ron exclaimed.
"Cool!" Draco said.
That morning they had Potions class with the Slytherins. Those Slytherins that weren't ignoring Draco were razzing him about hanging out with the Gryffindor Wonder boy (Harry), the Muggle loving Weasel (Ron), and the Mudblood (Hermione). They were making snide comments about how "disappointed" Draco's father would be if he found out.
Harry and Professor Snape happened to be listening to this and it made them think. Harry realized that he would have to move up his little "talk" with Draco. He would have to do it soon even if his Guardians hadn't replied to his letter yet. Professor Snape realized that he would have to keep a closer eye on his Godson; he was worried about Lucius' reaction to Draco's behavior.
Just then, Harry noticed what his partner, Neville, was doing.
"Neville stop! Don't add those yet! Look carefully at the instructions for this potion. What do they say to do next?" Harry asked Neville, stopping him before he could make a mistake that would have caused the potion to explode.
"It said to add the nettles next," Neville answered.
"Read it again, Neville. Aloud," Harry said.
"Don't add the nettles without stirring the potion 3 times clockwise first, causing it to change color," Neville read aloud.
"See Neville," Harry said stirring the potion. "If you had added the nettles then the potion would have exploded. Remember to reread the instructions before you add anything to any potion. You have to relax and concentrate on what you are doing, " Harry told Neville as the potion changed color like the book said it would.
"Now add the nettles, slowly."
Snape was watching. * Amazing* he thought to himself, * Potter managed to keep Longbottom from ruining that potion and cauldron. *
"Longbottom! 10 points from Gryffindor for almost causing an explosion!"
After class Draco pulled Harry aside. "Harry why do you waste your time with helping a near Squib like Longbottom?"
"I have my reasons," Harry said.
"My guardians have told me to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. If Neville is going to be the one next to me, and he might, when the worst happens, whatever that is, I want him to be as good as he can be," Harry muttered under his breath.
Snape who was standing nearby in the shadows, and heard what Draco didn't, thought to himself * Hmm. Perhaps Potter isn't the stupid, spoiled child I have thought him to be, unlike the rest of those Gryffindor brats. *
"Draco wait!" Harry called out to Draco as he started to walk off. "There's something I need to talk to you about."
"Huh.what?" Draco replied.
"There will come a time when you will have to make a choice tot do the right thing or not. Be sure that when the time comes to make your choice known to others, you have the support to do so without too much risk."
"Huh?" This puzzled Draco.
"Just think about it."
Later that day, after class, Harry wrote a letter to his Guardians telling them about his new broom, the conversation that he had with Draco, and the rest of what happened that day. He sent the letter and went to bed.
That evening Draco's father came to Hogwarts to have a "talk" with Draco about his behavior and who he had been making friends with.
"Why do you spend your time with a Muggle lover like Weasley?" Lucius demanded of Draco.
"Father, the Weasley family consistently produces powerful, if eccentric, witches and wizards who somehow manage to worm their way into government circles. It might be wise to have one on my side," Draco explained to his father.
"Hmm. just make sure you don't associate with too many Muggleborns," Lucius said as he turned to leave.
"Yes Father," Draco said. * I'll make my choice known when the time is right for my purposes. * Draco thought to himself once his father had left.
Snape, who was watching Draco's talk with his father, was surprised by Draco's answers. It seemed that Draco had the ability to equivocate with a straight face and give the perfect double-tongued answers to his father.
Meanwhile, Harry's Guardians were discussing how to respond to Harry's latest letter.
David insisted that Harry had to stick to himself and not take any chances on making enemies.
Paul, on the other hand, insisted that Harry had to bring Draco over to his side ASAP, no matter what it took.
Sara, after listening to the both of them rant, pointed out that while Harry needed to make at least allies, if not friends, out of his classmates, he couldn't afford to let too much information slip, or push them into changing too far too fast, or there was a chance that the older generations would become suspicious.
"That's a good point, Sara," Maria said. "Harry must also keep his conversations with Draco that involve sensitive information of this kind confidential. Dumbledore has ways of knowing what's going on in his school."
Renée turned to her and asked, "Do you think we should give Harry permission to show Draco his library?"
"That's a great idea Renée," Maria said.
"I have an idea about what to do about Peeves. Harry's next magic lesson should include a version of the mirror trap spell. If he uses it on Peeves, whenever Peeves does anything to Harry, or his friends, it happens to him instead," Paul said.
"That's a great idea Paul. I'll have make sure to include the instructions in with the letter, " Maria said.