Chapter 11

The Wizarding Sport (Harry)

I froze. I literally stopped breathing. Horror masked my face. Slytherin? One of the Animorphs was in Slytherin?

As quickly as possible, I recomposed myself. Cassie gave me the smallest of double takes. By the look on her face, I knew that she knew something was wrong.

Stiffly, Hermione removed the Sorting Hat from Rachel's head. Rachel was beaming, unknowing that the House she had been Sorted into was notorious for housing evil wizards.

Voldemort had been in Slytherin.

"Congratulations," I said robotically.

"Thank you!" she cried.

I looked to Hermione. She looked back. She inclined her head a fraction of the inch. She agreed; this was not good.

Jake cleared his throat. Everyone turned to him without hesitation. I was starting to get the impression that Jake was the leader of the band of guerilla warriors.

"Harry, Hermione, I was wondering if we could borrow your DNA."

"What?" asked Hermione. Her eyes sparked and kindled a flame of curiosity.

"To morph you. If we acquire you, we can morph you. Can we? It's not right if we don't ask you first."

"Oh. Sure, you can use mine."

"Same here," I said, "But how are you going to acquire us?"

"It's not painful, if that's what you're thinking. All we have to do is touch you. You might feel sleepy for a moment, but that's it." Jake said. He moved toward me. I held my hand out. He gripped my arm. I saw him concentrate.

It felt almost like the Imperious Curse or being under a veela's spell. Suddenly nothing really mattered anymore. I didn't know that I was Harry Potter. I didn't know that I was in the Chamber of Secrets. I swayed but did not fall. My eyelids fluttered.

Suddenly, it was over. I knew who and where I was. I was almost sorry to have the feeling go. It felt wonderful not to worry.

Jake moved to Hermione and held her hand. I don't know why, but I felt an insane spark of jealously. I pushed it away.

Hermione sagged on her feet. Her mouth opened a little and her eyelids fluttered shut. A spasm crossed her face. Jake let go of her hand and she snapped back to her old self.

Jake stepped back. He looked at me and I caught his gaze. My eyes widened. The look in his eyes was very similar to the look Sirius had and still has after escaping Azkaban, the wizarding prison that is guarded by foul creatures called Dementors.

He broke the gaze by looking down. "We won't use the DNA without asking you if it's okay."

"Erm… fine." I said.

~*~

That's all that really happened for the next two weeks. Hermione and I snuck food from the Great Hall to them, but other than that we never saw them.

Besides that, though, I was watching the calendar. Quidditch season was coming up just around the corner…

"Harry… Harry!" hissed a voice I could barely decipher in my subconscious.

"Aunt Petunia, I'll tell him to turn you into a fruit bat…" I murmured, holding the blanket close.

"Who will turn me into a fruit bat?" asked the owner of the voice (who turned out not to be Aunt Petunia) with a smile in her voice.

"Uuuh," I replied, rolling over and looking into the blurry face of a black girl. I felt for my glasses on my night table and wearily shoved them on my face. I squinted at Angelina and groaned. She was dressed in full Quidditch robes.

"You do know Neville sleeps naked, right?" I croaked with a feeble smile.

Angelina snorted. "Quidditch practice, Harry. Oliver told me to be captain of the Gryffindor Team this year. And no, I didn't wake you up early. It's nine o'clock."

"On a Saturday," I grunted as I propped myself up on my elbows. I rolled out of bed and hit the floor with a loud thump that caused Seamus and Ron to stir. Angelina pulled me to my feet, patted my shoulder, and walked out of the dormitory.

Five minutes later, I was fully dressed. My arm pads were a little loose and I was a little tired, but ready to fly again.

Then I realized that the Animorphs had never seen Quidditch. I checked my new watch (the last had broken during the Second Task). I still had time to grab them.

I ran to the Chamber of Secrets and into the room the Animorphs were in.

All of them were asleep. I felt a little guilty doing it, but I shook Jake awake. He rolled over and squinted at me. "What?" he asked, suddenly alert.

"Oh, I was just wondering whether you wanted to see Quidditch practice," I said. I checked my watch again. I should have been at the pitch two minutes ago. I scratched my neck and shifted the hands holding my top-of-the-line Firebolt.

"Quidditch?"

"Yeah. It's a sport. The best sport in the world."

"I beg to differ. That would be basketball." Marco was awake.

I grinned. "You don't know the meaning of the word 'sport' until you've seen Quidditch." I challenged.

"Oh yeah?" He sat up and looked me in the eye. "You're on."

We woke everyone else up. They all agreed to come down to the Quidditch pitch with me, but they were going to morph. I shrugged and sat back to watch.

Jake shrunk about a foot. His nose lengthened. His hair turned the color of straw, like Rachel's. His pale skin browned a little. His eyes… I blinked. His eyes turned emerald green, just like mine. Just like my mother's. The muscles on his arms and legs toned a bit.

Marco sprouted like a bamboo shoot. He became pale, a real contrast with his Hispanic complexion. His brown eyes became baby blue. His hair changed from black to brown like Hermione's and stuck up in the back like mine. His nose flattened a little. His thin arms and legs became muscular.

Rachel stayed the same height. Her hair turned black as night, like mine, and crawled back into her scalp until it was shoulder height. Her blue eyes became brown, like Jake's. Her skinny features rounded a little. Her front teeth grew and looked suspiciously like Hermione's had last year.

Cassie grew and became skinnier than she had been. Her hair became light brown and fluffed out like Hermione's. Her skin became as pale as mine. Her eyes stayed brown, but lightened to a dark hazel. I could see a dash of green from my eyes. Her nose became a little pointed.

Ax's skin became a chocolate-colored brown. His hair became black like mine, but rather thin and wavy. His eyes became deep brown. He was just a little taller than I was. He, too, had buckteeth like Hermione's. A mouth grew and his teeth flashed white in his face.

Tobias's hair was dirty blond. He had Hermione's eyes and my stature. He grew to be almost as tall as Jake (in his usual form). His nose was quite flat.

I stared at them for a moment, but then checked my watch for about the fifth time. I was shocked to find I was all ready ten minutes late.

"Oh, puffskeins!" I yelled, turned on heel, and ran.

The Animorphs followed me. I could hear their feet slapping loudly against the wet, concrete floor. They watched in amazement as I opened doorways with Parseltongue. We ran all the way to the Quidditch pitch.

"Harry!" yelled Angelina as soon as I got on the pitch, "Where were you?"

"I… er… I couldn't find my robes." I lied.

"Oh… well, I want to see how our new Keeper handles first, so get up in the air."

"New Keeper?"

"Yeah," she said, pointing. Lo and behold, there stood Parvati Patil.

"Parvati?"

"Yes," replied Parvati, reserving a special glare for me when everyone else turned away. She still hadn't forgiven me for last year's Yule Ball.

I shook my head. I glanced up at the Gryffindor stands and saw the Animorphs standing there. They stared at the fifty-foot high goal hoops. They couldn't possibly understand what they were going to see.

"Mount!" cried Angelina.

I swung my leg over the Firebolt. A slow smile spread across my face. I couldn't wait to fly again.

"Kick off on three. One…"

I gripped my broom handle.

"Two…"

I could hear Marco sniggering. I glanced in his direction.

"Three!"

I kicked off. You know the saying, "What goes up, must come down"? Well, this just doesn't work on the Quidditch pitch.

My hair lie flat against my scalp as I flew up, rising faster than my teammates. My chest rose and my heart sang. A feeling I could get nowhere else reverberated through my bones. My mind cleared of all worries and focused on one central objective: find the Golden Snitch and secure it in my grasp.

Angelina kicked the crate that held the Quidditch balls open. The two Bludgers whizzed out and missed Katie Bell by inches. Immediately, Fred and George the Weasley twins dove after them. I grinned to myself, remembering the "human Bludger" comment confided in me by Oliver Wood.

Angelina threw the Quaffle. The two other Chasers zipped after it.

Then, I saw it: my goal. It flickered in the morning sunlight. If I strained my hearing, I could hear the beating of tiny wings. The vision of it lasted only a second; it zoomed away almost immediately.

I lunged. The Snitch seemed to sense me coming and tried to fly away. It turned and zigzagged nimbly, but my Firebolt could easily outmaneuver it if I tried. I flew after it. I ducked a Bludger that came flying at my head and the Beater who followed it.

Within one-minute tops, I felt the Snitch beating its wings furiously against my palm. I grinned, let it go, gave it a three-minutes start, and dived after it.

Then, I did something I had wanted to try ever since I saw the Quidditch World Cup. I rested some three hundred feet above the ground. With one quick movement, I pointed my broom handle straight down.

The ground approached at an alarming rate. It took every single ounce of concentration that I possessed to keep the broom under control. Beads of perspiration formed on my forehead. The ground was getting closer. I was two hundred feet up…

One hundred fifty…

One hundred…

Fifty…

Twenty-five…

Ten…

Five…

I could make out each individual blade of grass. With all the muscles in my body, I forced the broom handle up. My toes skimmed the grass. My ears roared. I blinked sweat of my eyes.

Once the ringing in my ears died down, I could hear clapping. From various positions in the field, I saw my teammates whistling and applauding. The Animorphs stood in the Gryffindor stands, looking awestruck.

I panted, but grinned. I bowed to my new and old friends.

"Harry! How'd you manage that!? That was even better than Viktor Krum!" yelled Fred (or was it George?).

"Go Harry! I can't wait to see the look on the Slytherin's faces this year!" cried Angelina.

"We'll win the Cup this year for sure! Lions for the cup!" screeched Parvati.

"That was the best Wronski Feint I ever saw!" shrieked Alicia.

"The Slytherins will be sad they ever let that little git Malfoy on the team with you on ours!" shouted George (or was it Fred?).

"Go, go, Gryffindor! Go, go, Gryffindor!" chanted Katie.

I beamed. I couldn't help it. That had to have been my best Quidditch demonstration ever.

The rest of practice continued with much enthusiasm. There was no way Slytherin could get the Quidditch Cup this year!

After changing in the locker room, I met the Animorphs.

"Quidditch is the best sport ever," Marco said fervently.

I smirked. "Told you. Man, the feeling of flying is wonderful."

"I know," chorused Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, and Tobias.

"You are quite agile on your cleaning instrument. In-strrrrru-ment. Ment. Struuuuuu. Ruuuuument." Ax said knowledgably.

I smiled and gave them a big, flashy wink. "That's the wizarding sport!" I proclaimed proudly, and we all laughed.

A/N: Heh, that took a little time. ::scratches neck:: I can't really write Harry Potter in first person. Honestly, I'm better at it in third. I'll come up with another chapter soon. It'll be narrated by Ax, and we all know how crazy that can get. My birthday's around the corner, and so is my mother's and friend's (OutlawEris) . It might take a week or two. Please try to bear with me!