Chapter Seventeen: Potter v. Summersby
As she had on Christmas Day, Jamie woke Harry the next morning at what most people would regard as an ungodly hour - five am in the morning - by using the expedient technique of jumping onto his bed while he was still asleep. Harry woke with a start, managed to avoid his instinctive reaction of drawing of wand this time. Rolling over in bed, he glanced at the clock. "Jamie, it's only five o'clock! Ginny and I were talking 'til past one last night. I need some sleep!"
"Jason wants you down in the training room, he says he needs to start showing you how to use your presents," replied the girl, who was dressed in a bottle-green woollen jumper and a black skirt.
Harry sighed, he'd forgotten about the weapons he'd received for Christmas and Draper's promise to teach him how to use them. The young Hit-Wizard's fondness for pre-dawn practice sessions had also slipped his mind. "Okay, tell him I'll be down in ten minutes."
"Do you want me to take the weapons down for you?"
"Sure, they're in my trunk under the cauldron."
Jamie rummaged inside her cousin's trunk for a minute or two - as Harry had unpacked most of his things when he arrived back at the Eyrie, it contained only his cauldron, a few spell books and potions ingredients, plus the three items she was looking for - and when she found them, scampered out of the room.
That girl is far too energetic for this time in the morning, Harry thought to him himself as he searched through his drawers for one of his tracksuits, after a minute or two he found one, as well as a red muscle shirt and put them on, then he completed his outfit with a pair of soft- soled slippers that he'd bought a few months before.
When he arrived in the first floor training room, Draper, Jamie - and to Harry's surprise, Ginny - were waiting for him. Draper was wearing the less formal of the two outfits Harry had seen him in, the crimson muscle T-shirt and green tracksuit bottoms, his black leather jacket was lying in a corner. Ginny on the other hand was wearing a brown Weasley jumper and a skirt.
"What are you doing up so early, Gin?" Harry asked her, removing his tracksuit top and letting it drop on the floor beside her.
"I wanted to watch you, Harry. Besides, I'd already woken up anyway and Hermione wasn't there, so I thought I might as well get up. Jason's been showing me a couple of tricks for the throwing-knife that Sirius and Professor Lupin bought me."
"He told me to call him Remus, Gin," Harry reminded her. "I think you could too. After all, you've probably spent as much time as I have with him, maybe more."
"Okay, I will. If you don't think he'll mind?"
"He won't," Harry promised, bending down so he could kiss his girlfriend. "Wish me luck."
"Good luck, Harry."
Harry straightened up, and accepting his new weapons from Jamie, he walked into the centre of the auditorium. Draper had seen the interaction between the couple but didn't comment. "I think we'll do the sword-stick first," he suggested. "Most of the Escrima and Bojitsu movements you already know will still work for that. You just have to adjust for the different length and the fact that you'll probably be fighting with bladed ends instead of blunt ones." he paused to see if Harry understood what he was saying. Harry - who had buckled the belt that he'd picked to attach the pouches to around his waist - nodded to show he had. "Okay. First, Escrima sparring." Draper told him and removed his own sticks from the holster at his right hip, Harry copied the movement, flicked the catch in the handles to draw out the blades at the same time. "Begin!"
The practise went on for seven rounds, with Harry finally disarming Draper in a round that lasted nearly ten minutes. After that, Draper switched to a long oak pole and he and Harry went through the blocks, strikes and other movements of staff combat. This took another hour, and by this point Harry was just about ready to collapse. However, he decided that a hot shower would probably do the trick instead.
The two girls helped him back upstairs and waited in his room while he showered. When Harry came out of his bathroom about half-an-hour later fully clothed in a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and his new Weasley jumper, all of which were black, the three of them walked back downstairs together. Jamie, sensing a change in her two friends, walked slightly in front of them instead of arm-in-arm with Harry as usual.
Despite the fact it was New Year's Day, most of the residents of Gryphon's Eyrie - temporary or permanent - had already eaten and had begun whatever tasks they had to do and so only Remus, Tonks, Leona, Hermione and a handful of Weasleys - which included Mrs Weasley, Charlie and his girlfriend, but did not include Mr Weasley or the twins - were still eating breakfast.
When Harry had finished his breakfast, he headed out to the stable, it was a little cold and snowy for a ride but he wanted to check how Ravlin had doing while he'd been away. The large, grey stallion was pleased to see him and neighed a loud greeting. Harry unlocked the stable door and entered the stall. "Hi boy, how are you?" asked Harry, smiling as the horse butted him in the chest so hard he nearly knocked him over.
"I think he's fine, Harry," said a voice from two stalls down. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, Sirius," Harry told his godfather, and left Ravlin's stall, joining him outside the other stall, which belonged to Nimbus, the largest of the Granian geldings in the table.
"A little bird told me that you and Ginny got a little friendly last night?"
"Would the 'little bird' have greyish skin and pointy ears, would he?"
"He would," admitted Sirius. "And...?"
Harry sighed. "We kissed, that's all. But we've decided to give it a go."
"I'm glad for you, Harry," Sirius said. "Have you told anyone else?"
"Ginny's going to tell her parents, and Hermione. I'm going to tell Ron, Jamie already knows... The others'll find out when they need to. You can tell Remus, Leona and Tonks if you want."
"Okay. Just be careful, Harry. The Weasleys like you... but if you hurt her, they'll kill you."
"I know that, Sirius," Harry told him. "We're going to take it slow."
----
A couple of days later, Harry and his friends - accompanied by Sirius, Remus, Leona and Tonks - Flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and in two cars driven Fletcher and Shacklebolt, drove to King's Cross Station.
Neville, Luna, Susan, and Mark Evans met up with the group on the platform and they all crammed into a single compartment. Once the train had begun its journey back to Scotland, Civis produced the presents that he had put a side for Neville, Luna and Mark and handed them over. Neville and Mark also handed over presents that they had bought for their friends (Luna had given magazine subscriptions as her gifts to a few of her friends).
Neville was particularly pleased with Harry's gift of The Botanica Obscura, a book on rare plants, and Luna was happy with the book that Ginny had bought for her, Unbelievable Creatures and Where To Find Them by Draco Salamander.
----
Harry was on his way to Care of Magical Creatures a few weeks later when the next piece of trouble showed itself. He was running late because of a lunchtime Defence Council meeting and was in no mood for a confrontation, so it was with a groan that he noticed Malfoy and his three cronies slip out of the anteroom and move to block his way.
"It's time for you pay, Potter," Malfoy, drawing his wand.
"I'm in a hurry, Malfoy," warned Harry, unconsciously shifting into a fighting posture.
"Then we'll make it quick. Corpus..."
Malfoy finished the spell. Harry's fist shot towards his neck and silenced him with a lightning-fast throat punch, then an elbow-strike smashed him to the ground.
Nott was the next to fall, Harry's right foot snapped out and knocked his wand from His hand, then a reverse roundhouse kick knocked him unconscious.
With both of the primary threats dealt with, Harry decided to deal with Crabbe and Goyle and looked around to try and find them. However, to his surprise they had already been dealt with: Romulus Moon had crept up behind the two thugs and now held them at wand-point.
"Good work, Romulus."
"Thanks, Harry. What do you want me to do with them?"
"You can let them go in a minute," Harry told him. "But first... Crabbe, Goyle, I'll be taking a hundred points from Slytherin for your attack a member of staff. Romulus, you can take twenty-five points for Slytherin for protecting a member of staff."
"Thanks, Harry,"
"You can go now," Harry told Crabbe and Goyle. "I'll tell Hagrid not to expect you."
When the two bruisers has disappeared up the stairs - with Malfoy and Nott slung over their shoulders, Moon turned to Harry, returning his wand his robe pocket. "Do you need me any more?"
Harry shook his head, "Keep in touch."
"Will do."
----
When Harry finally made it down to Hagrid's hut, the lesson had already started, the dozen or so Gryffindors and Slytherins who had opted to continue Care of Magical Creatures to NEWT level were already clustered around a large pen filled with plump-bodied, fluffy-feathered, flightless birds. "Sorry I'm late, Hagrid," Harry said, as he squeezed in between Ron and Neville at the rail. "I had a couple of problems that needed to be attended to."
"Yeh didn' happen ter see Crabbe or Goyle on yer way down did yeh, Harry? They're late too."
"Actually, I did," Harry admitted. "They won't be coming down today. Malfoy and Nott had a little accident, so they're taking them to the Hospital Wing."
"I see," said Hagrid. "We'd best be gettin' started then. These here beasts are called Diricawls. Does anyone know anythin' 'bout them? Hermione?"
"The Diricawl, also known as the Dodo, comes from the island of Mauritius," replied Hermione, sounding - as she still did occasionally - like she was reciting from the textbook. "It is remarkable mainly for its method of escaping danger, if it feels threatened the Diricawl can vanish in a puff of feathers and reappear elsewhere. This ability, which is similar to Apparation, is also shared by the Phoenix."
"Quite right, Hermione," confirmed Hagrid. "Now, Diricawls don't mind a varied diet."
----
"So what sort of accident did Malfoy have this time?" asked Ron, as they walked back to the castle about an hour and a half later. "Stubbed toe? Hand strain?"
"Actually, no," said Harry. "My fist collided with his throat, then my elbow did the same with his clavicle."
Hermione looked shocked. "Harry! You shouldn't have done that. You could get into real trouble."
"Not really, 'Mione. After all, the only reason I hit him was because he was about to use the Dolorus Curse on me."
"Well, that's different."
"I hope Snape agrees," said Harry, as they passed through the Entrance Hall. They dropped off their bags in their dormitories and then returned to the Great Hall.
Neville, Ginny, Jamie, Civis, Mark and Katie Bell joined them at the Gryffindor table, and Harry spent most of the meal retelling the story of Malfoy's 'accident' which Jamie in particular enjoyed hearing. "I think the snow will probably melt soon," said Harry. Katie and Ron both nodded in agreement. "As soon as it does, I want to start training again. The match against Hufflepuff is in three weeks and last year's team lost against them. Okay, it was the slimmest of losses, and we've got a much better team this year. but I don't want to take any chances. McGonagall'll have my hide if we lose the Cup and I won't be too pleased either."
"When do you want to start?" asked Katie.
"Well, the DA meets tonight and again on Wednesday. if the pitch is clear, what about Friday? Is everyone free?"
"I think so," said Katie. Ron and Ginny nodded in agreement.
"Okay then, let's do it."
----
The next three weeks passed in a blur of classes, practice sessions and meetings and soon it was time for Gryffindor to take on Hufflepuff again. Harry decided to play the same line-up as he had for the Slytherin game and within fifteen minutes of Madam Hooch starting the game, it was obvious to everyone that this would be a very different game to the one the year before.
"Ginny Weasley snatches the Snitch from Hufflepuff Captain Smith, and she's heading for the goal. she dodges Stebbins, ducks a Bludger hit her way by James or Victor Brock - I can't tell which - and winds up for another shot at the centre goal. Hufflepuff Keeper Kevin Whitby moves to intercept, but Chaser Whisp of Gryffindor snatches the Quaffle out of mid-air and sends it flying towards the left-hand goal. He scores! Gryffindor lead by eighty points at one hundred-and-thirty to fifty. Katie Bell takes possession for Gryffindor."
Harry gave Ginny and Whisp a thumbs-up, then executed a fast loop-the-loop to avoid an errant Bludger which David captured a moment later and sent flying towards the Hufflepuff end.
"Keeper Whitby takes a Bludger to the stomach and goes down hard. Katie Bell of Gryffindor, slips another one through and Gryffindor are now leading 140-50. Hufflepuff are in possession, Wayne Hopkins with the Quaffle. passes to Captain Zacharias Smith."
Harry glanced around the stadium, trying to locate the Snitch. Although Gryffindor had a strong lead, Harry knew that if Summersby saw the Snitch before he did and managed to catch it, they would probably lose.
"Smith reverse passes to Steve Stebbins of Hufflepuff. intercepted by Chaser Whisp of Gryffindor, he passes it Ginny Weasley. who shots and scores!"
Ginny had just scored for the sixth time, taking Gryffindor to 170-50, when Harry spotted a glint of gold near the staff stand. Bending low over the Lightstrike, Harry shot forward and seconds later the Snitch's wings were beating against his closed fist.
"Gryffindor wins!"
A/N: Please review.
As she had on Christmas Day, Jamie woke Harry the next morning at what most people would regard as an ungodly hour - five am in the morning - by using the expedient technique of jumping onto his bed while he was still asleep. Harry woke with a start, managed to avoid his instinctive reaction of drawing of wand this time. Rolling over in bed, he glanced at the clock. "Jamie, it's only five o'clock! Ginny and I were talking 'til past one last night. I need some sleep!"
"Jason wants you down in the training room, he says he needs to start showing you how to use your presents," replied the girl, who was dressed in a bottle-green woollen jumper and a black skirt.
Harry sighed, he'd forgotten about the weapons he'd received for Christmas and Draper's promise to teach him how to use them. The young Hit-Wizard's fondness for pre-dawn practice sessions had also slipped his mind. "Okay, tell him I'll be down in ten minutes."
"Do you want me to take the weapons down for you?"
"Sure, they're in my trunk under the cauldron."
Jamie rummaged inside her cousin's trunk for a minute or two - as Harry had unpacked most of his things when he arrived back at the Eyrie, it contained only his cauldron, a few spell books and potions ingredients, plus the three items she was looking for - and when she found them, scampered out of the room.
That girl is far too energetic for this time in the morning, Harry thought to him himself as he searched through his drawers for one of his tracksuits, after a minute or two he found one, as well as a red muscle shirt and put them on, then he completed his outfit with a pair of soft- soled slippers that he'd bought a few months before.
When he arrived in the first floor training room, Draper, Jamie - and to Harry's surprise, Ginny - were waiting for him. Draper was wearing the less formal of the two outfits Harry had seen him in, the crimson muscle T-shirt and green tracksuit bottoms, his black leather jacket was lying in a corner. Ginny on the other hand was wearing a brown Weasley jumper and a skirt.
"What are you doing up so early, Gin?" Harry asked her, removing his tracksuit top and letting it drop on the floor beside her.
"I wanted to watch you, Harry. Besides, I'd already woken up anyway and Hermione wasn't there, so I thought I might as well get up. Jason's been showing me a couple of tricks for the throwing-knife that Sirius and Professor Lupin bought me."
"He told me to call him Remus, Gin," Harry reminded her. "I think you could too. After all, you've probably spent as much time as I have with him, maybe more."
"Okay, I will. If you don't think he'll mind?"
"He won't," Harry promised, bending down so he could kiss his girlfriend. "Wish me luck."
"Good luck, Harry."
Harry straightened up, and accepting his new weapons from Jamie, he walked into the centre of the auditorium. Draper had seen the interaction between the couple but didn't comment. "I think we'll do the sword-stick first," he suggested. "Most of the Escrima and Bojitsu movements you already know will still work for that. You just have to adjust for the different length and the fact that you'll probably be fighting with bladed ends instead of blunt ones." he paused to see if Harry understood what he was saying. Harry - who had buckled the belt that he'd picked to attach the pouches to around his waist - nodded to show he had. "Okay. First, Escrima sparring." Draper told him and removed his own sticks from the holster at his right hip, Harry copied the movement, flicked the catch in the handles to draw out the blades at the same time. "Begin!"
The practise went on for seven rounds, with Harry finally disarming Draper in a round that lasted nearly ten minutes. After that, Draper switched to a long oak pole and he and Harry went through the blocks, strikes and other movements of staff combat. This took another hour, and by this point Harry was just about ready to collapse. However, he decided that a hot shower would probably do the trick instead.
The two girls helped him back upstairs and waited in his room while he showered. When Harry came out of his bathroom about half-an-hour later fully clothed in a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and his new Weasley jumper, all of which were black, the three of them walked back downstairs together. Jamie, sensing a change in her two friends, walked slightly in front of them instead of arm-in-arm with Harry as usual.
Despite the fact it was New Year's Day, most of the residents of Gryphon's Eyrie - temporary or permanent - had already eaten and had begun whatever tasks they had to do and so only Remus, Tonks, Leona, Hermione and a handful of Weasleys - which included Mrs Weasley, Charlie and his girlfriend, but did not include Mr Weasley or the twins - were still eating breakfast.
When Harry had finished his breakfast, he headed out to the stable, it was a little cold and snowy for a ride but he wanted to check how Ravlin had doing while he'd been away. The large, grey stallion was pleased to see him and neighed a loud greeting. Harry unlocked the stable door and entered the stall. "Hi boy, how are you?" asked Harry, smiling as the horse butted him in the chest so hard he nearly knocked him over.
"I think he's fine, Harry," said a voice from two stalls down. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, Sirius," Harry told his godfather, and left Ravlin's stall, joining him outside the other stall, which belonged to Nimbus, the largest of the Granian geldings in the table.
"A little bird told me that you and Ginny got a little friendly last night?"
"Would the 'little bird' have greyish skin and pointy ears, would he?"
"He would," admitted Sirius. "And...?"
Harry sighed. "We kissed, that's all. But we've decided to give it a go."
"I'm glad for you, Harry," Sirius said. "Have you told anyone else?"
"Ginny's going to tell her parents, and Hermione. I'm going to tell Ron, Jamie already knows... The others'll find out when they need to. You can tell Remus, Leona and Tonks if you want."
"Okay. Just be careful, Harry. The Weasleys like you... but if you hurt her, they'll kill you."
"I know that, Sirius," Harry told him. "We're going to take it slow."
----
A couple of days later, Harry and his friends - accompanied by Sirius, Remus, Leona and Tonks - Flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and in two cars driven Fletcher and Shacklebolt, drove to King's Cross Station.
Neville, Luna, Susan, and Mark Evans met up with the group on the platform and they all crammed into a single compartment. Once the train had begun its journey back to Scotland, Civis produced the presents that he had put a side for Neville, Luna and Mark and handed them over. Neville and Mark also handed over presents that they had bought for their friends (Luna had given magazine subscriptions as her gifts to a few of her friends).
Neville was particularly pleased with Harry's gift of The Botanica Obscura, a book on rare plants, and Luna was happy with the book that Ginny had bought for her, Unbelievable Creatures and Where To Find Them by Draco Salamander.
----
Harry was on his way to Care of Magical Creatures a few weeks later when the next piece of trouble showed itself. He was running late because of a lunchtime Defence Council meeting and was in no mood for a confrontation, so it was with a groan that he noticed Malfoy and his three cronies slip out of the anteroom and move to block his way.
"It's time for you pay, Potter," Malfoy, drawing his wand.
"I'm in a hurry, Malfoy," warned Harry, unconsciously shifting into a fighting posture.
"Then we'll make it quick. Corpus..."
Malfoy finished the spell. Harry's fist shot towards his neck and silenced him with a lightning-fast throat punch, then an elbow-strike smashed him to the ground.
Nott was the next to fall, Harry's right foot snapped out and knocked his wand from His hand, then a reverse roundhouse kick knocked him unconscious.
With both of the primary threats dealt with, Harry decided to deal with Crabbe and Goyle and looked around to try and find them. However, to his surprise they had already been dealt with: Romulus Moon had crept up behind the two thugs and now held them at wand-point.
"Good work, Romulus."
"Thanks, Harry. What do you want me to do with them?"
"You can let them go in a minute," Harry told him. "But first... Crabbe, Goyle, I'll be taking a hundred points from Slytherin for your attack a member of staff. Romulus, you can take twenty-five points for Slytherin for protecting a member of staff."
"Thanks, Harry,"
"You can go now," Harry told Crabbe and Goyle. "I'll tell Hagrid not to expect you."
When the two bruisers has disappeared up the stairs - with Malfoy and Nott slung over their shoulders, Moon turned to Harry, returning his wand his robe pocket. "Do you need me any more?"
Harry shook his head, "Keep in touch."
"Will do."
----
When Harry finally made it down to Hagrid's hut, the lesson had already started, the dozen or so Gryffindors and Slytherins who had opted to continue Care of Magical Creatures to NEWT level were already clustered around a large pen filled with plump-bodied, fluffy-feathered, flightless birds. "Sorry I'm late, Hagrid," Harry said, as he squeezed in between Ron and Neville at the rail. "I had a couple of problems that needed to be attended to."
"Yeh didn' happen ter see Crabbe or Goyle on yer way down did yeh, Harry? They're late too."
"Actually, I did," Harry admitted. "They won't be coming down today. Malfoy and Nott had a little accident, so they're taking them to the Hospital Wing."
"I see," said Hagrid. "We'd best be gettin' started then. These here beasts are called Diricawls. Does anyone know anythin' 'bout them? Hermione?"
"The Diricawl, also known as the Dodo, comes from the island of Mauritius," replied Hermione, sounding - as she still did occasionally - like she was reciting from the textbook. "It is remarkable mainly for its method of escaping danger, if it feels threatened the Diricawl can vanish in a puff of feathers and reappear elsewhere. This ability, which is similar to Apparation, is also shared by the Phoenix."
"Quite right, Hermione," confirmed Hagrid. "Now, Diricawls don't mind a varied diet."
----
"So what sort of accident did Malfoy have this time?" asked Ron, as they walked back to the castle about an hour and a half later. "Stubbed toe? Hand strain?"
"Actually, no," said Harry. "My fist collided with his throat, then my elbow did the same with his clavicle."
Hermione looked shocked. "Harry! You shouldn't have done that. You could get into real trouble."
"Not really, 'Mione. After all, the only reason I hit him was because he was about to use the Dolorus Curse on me."
"Well, that's different."
"I hope Snape agrees," said Harry, as they passed through the Entrance Hall. They dropped off their bags in their dormitories and then returned to the Great Hall.
Neville, Ginny, Jamie, Civis, Mark and Katie Bell joined them at the Gryffindor table, and Harry spent most of the meal retelling the story of Malfoy's 'accident' which Jamie in particular enjoyed hearing. "I think the snow will probably melt soon," said Harry. Katie and Ron both nodded in agreement. "As soon as it does, I want to start training again. The match against Hufflepuff is in three weeks and last year's team lost against them. Okay, it was the slimmest of losses, and we've got a much better team this year. but I don't want to take any chances. McGonagall'll have my hide if we lose the Cup and I won't be too pleased either."
"When do you want to start?" asked Katie.
"Well, the DA meets tonight and again on Wednesday. if the pitch is clear, what about Friday? Is everyone free?"
"I think so," said Katie. Ron and Ginny nodded in agreement.
"Okay then, let's do it."
----
The next three weeks passed in a blur of classes, practice sessions and meetings and soon it was time for Gryffindor to take on Hufflepuff again. Harry decided to play the same line-up as he had for the Slytherin game and within fifteen minutes of Madam Hooch starting the game, it was obvious to everyone that this would be a very different game to the one the year before.
"Ginny Weasley snatches the Snitch from Hufflepuff Captain Smith, and she's heading for the goal. she dodges Stebbins, ducks a Bludger hit her way by James or Victor Brock - I can't tell which - and winds up for another shot at the centre goal. Hufflepuff Keeper Kevin Whitby moves to intercept, but Chaser Whisp of Gryffindor snatches the Quaffle out of mid-air and sends it flying towards the left-hand goal. He scores! Gryffindor lead by eighty points at one hundred-and-thirty to fifty. Katie Bell takes possession for Gryffindor."
Harry gave Ginny and Whisp a thumbs-up, then executed a fast loop-the-loop to avoid an errant Bludger which David captured a moment later and sent flying towards the Hufflepuff end.
"Keeper Whitby takes a Bludger to the stomach and goes down hard. Katie Bell of Gryffindor, slips another one through and Gryffindor are now leading 140-50. Hufflepuff are in possession, Wayne Hopkins with the Quaffle. passes to Captain Zacharias Smith."
Harry glanced around the stadium, trying to locate the Snitch. Although Gryffindor had a strong lead, Harry knew that if Summersby saw the Snitch before he did and managed to catch it, they would probably lose.
"Smith reverse passes to Steve Stebbins of Hufflepuff. intercepted by Chaser Whisp of Gryffindor, he passes it Ginny Weasley. who shots and scores!"
Ginny had just scored for the sixth time, taking Gryffindor to 170-50, when Harry spotted a glint of gold near the staff stand. Bending low over the Lightstrike, Harry shot forward and seconds later the Snitch's wings were beating against his closed fist.
"Gryffindor wins!"
A/N: Please review.