A/N: Okay, first off, I just want to apologize because I haven't updated in sooooooooooooooooo long. Between play practices (they lasted until seven every night), and school (evil), and being sick, and spending what little time I do have on my novel, I haven't been able to work on this. HOWEVER, I would like to assure all of you that are sticking with the story that I do not plan on becoming one of those writers who never ever finish. I will finish this one and the other two stories I'm posting on FFN and FPN if it's the last thing I do. So yeah. Secondly, I would like to thank all of you who extended their sympathies for Michael being an @$$, and especially to those of you who offered to beat him up for me. Unfortunately, he ended up suddenly moving to Florida not long after I wrote this, so I haven't been able to kill him (yet), but it's okay. You guys are the greatest, all of those reviews (as well as the ones that didn't mention him) made me smile. *grins* And I'm happy to announce that I'm completely over that %^*&$#!, and I actually now have a new boyfriend… More about that later. So yeah. Now onto the chapter, since I know you guys all want to know the Animorphs' and Erek's Quidditch positions!
Chapter 7
"…of course, the regular Quidditch positions." Allee grinned. "Okay, Marco, Jake, and Tobias? You're the Chasers. Ax is the Keeper. Rachel and Erek, you two are the Beaters, and that leaves Zsa-Zsa Billy Bob as Seeker."
Rachel began doing a victory dance, and grabbed a club from Fred. "Ha! I'm a beater! Magic people, watch out!"
The rest of the Animorphs exchanged a dark look.
"Uh-oh. That's all I'm going to say…" Marco muttered.
Yeah. That, and "Be afraid," Tobias added. The Animorphs snickered.
Erek, however, was still frozen in place, his jaw hanging open in astonishment as he looked at Allee. "You have got to be kidding me!" he said. "I can't be a beater!"
"Why not?" Allee asked.
Erek looked at the Animorphs, an incredulous look on his face. As the other Animorphs realized what the problem was, they, too, looked at Allee in surprise.
"Um… Allee, Erek is programmed against all violence…" Jake said.
"So?"
"So that means he can't hit flying balls with clubs at other people, whether they're on the other team or not…"
"Yeah, I know." Allee smiled brightly.
"That means we're at a disadvantage," Marco pointed out.
This is very unfair, Allee, Ax added.
"I agree," Zsa-Zsa Billy Bob said. "Not only have we never flown on broomsticks before, but we also just learned how to play. And now you're making one of our players useless."
"Precisely!"
Everybody gaped at Allee for a moment, except for Cassi, Shawna, and Lenny, who just giggled evilly. Remus looked from Cassi to the Gryffindor team, unsure of who he should side with.
"We're sorry, old chaps," George finally said.
"Very sorry…" Fred added.
Oliver was in shock. He stared at Allee, his mouth hanging open, unable to tear his eyes away or wipe the expression of horror from his face. At last he murmured, "That's horrible. Just plain evil. You can't torture them like that. We would win in an instant. No sport in that."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Cassi crowed. "Watching fictional characters be tortured by your crazed friend can actually be quite amusing!"
Lenny and Shawna nodded in agreement. "Besides," Shawna said, "they may turn out to be more talented than you think."
Tobias squawked. Um, excuse me? Maybe I'm just not understanding something, but HOW THE HECK CAN WE BE TALENTED WHEN WE'VE NEVER PLAYED BEFORE, AND TWO OF US CAN'T EVEN SIT ON A BROOM?!?
Lenny ignored Tobias, and continued talking to Oliver. "And they have some tricks up their sleeves, I can promise you that."
"What tricks?" Rachel demanded.
I do not have any sleeves, Ax added.
Jake and Marco simply groaned.
"Okay, back on the subject of sitting on brooms," Zsa-Zsa Billy Bob said. "It is a problem that Ax and Tobias can't sit on the broomsticks."
"And it's a problem that I can't send murderous balls flying at anybody!" Erek yelled.
"Just morph human," Allee said to Tobias and Ax. "And Erek, well, it just sucks for you, doesn't it?"
All the fictional characters slumped.
"Anyway," Allee continued, "the game today will be mostly for you, Oliver. If you play well and Gryffindor wins, you get a place on the Winbourn Wasps."
Oliver's eyes filled his head and his jaw lowered even more. "Really?"
Allee nodded. "Yup."
Oliver turned back to his team. "Alright, we absolutely have to win this. I don't care what happens, as long as we win." He turned around, grabbed a quill, and started drawing complicated figures on the chalkboard behind him to illustrate the strategies the team would use. "We'll use a Wronski Feint first, and then-"
"Hey, Mr. Quidditch," Marco said, "you don't need to plan. We're going to lose. It's as simple as that."
"No," Zsa-Zsa Billy Bob protested. "Lenny said that we have some tricks. We may be able to do more than we think."
"Would you like to explain how?" Rachel asked.
"They might tell us…"
"No," Allee cut in.
"So we'll figure them out," Zsa-Zsa Billy Bob said.
"Good luck," Katie, Angelina, and Alicia chorused.
We're going to need it, Tobias muttered.
"Oh, you'll do fine," Allee chided. "Now, if we're all ready, you can go get in your robes, and grab your brooms, and come on out."
We don't have any robes, Ax stated.
"Yes, you do," Allee said, typing something into her laptop. Suddenly seven bright turquoise robes appeared, each with a large Animorphs "A" on the back. One was tiny, only a few inches long, but with very large armholes. The other was large, oddly shaped, and had too many armholes. "Ax, Tobias, go ahead and get suited up right now. Those robes will morph with you once you go outside and morph."
Um… Okay…
Everybody grabbed their robes and began walking to the dressing rooms, and Allee started typing on her computer again. With a puff of smoke, a tall, skinny boy with very curly, very short hair appeared in the room. He looked around in confusion for a moment, then focused on Allee. "Oh no," he said.
Allee started snickering, followed by Lenny.
"Hi, Carl," Lenny laughed. "Welcome to Hogwarts!"
"Oh no," he repeated. "Allee, what have you done now?"
She shrugged. "Nothing. I just dragged you into one of my fanfics."
"Oh no."
"Oh yes." Allee grinned. "Now I can force you to like Animorphs and Harry Potter, whether you want to like them or not!"
"Oh no."
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Allee and Lenny both laughed.
"Um…. I'm confused," Cassi admitted.
"Ditto," said Shawna.
"Oh, sorry," Allee said, turning back to them. "This is my boyfriend Carl. He's really cool."
"But of course," Carl interrupted.
Allee looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Like I said, he's really cool, but he can be quite annoying. He's just great like that. So yeah. However, he's a stupid idiot, and he doesn't like Animorphs or Harry Potter. He does talk to Lenny online, though. So Lenny and I decided to drag him here in order to force him to like Animorphs and Harry Potter."
"Sweet!" exclaimed Shawna.
"It's actually a pretty good idea," admitted Cassi.
"So yeah, Carl, now you will march outside and get yourself a seat in the stands so you can watch the game."
"Do I have to?"
"Yes."
"But… no."
"But… yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"CARL! YOU WILL GO OUTSIDE AND WATCH THE GAME! NOW!!!!!!!!!"
Carl grimaced. "Alright, alright. You win. I'm going."
Allee beamed. "I always win."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I learned that a while ago…"
"As well you should have. NOW GET GOING!"
Carl turned and ran outside as quickly as he could.
Lenny snickered. "This is great. Now we get to torture poor Carl, too!"
"Exactly."
"Oh, oh!" Shawna said. "Torturing boys is fun!"
"Oh, so much fun," Cassi agreed.
"One question, though," Lenny said. "Why do you get to have Carl here when I have no idea where the heck Jared is?!?"
"Oh, don't worry," Allee said. "I'm sure he's fine."
With those words, Allee put her hair up into a ponytail at the top of her head, and the ponytail flew up into the air, and started spinning around her head very rapidly. When the ponytail was only a gold blur, it lifted Allee up into the sky. "Make sure Gryffindor comes out first, and then the Animorphs and Erek!" Allee called over her shoulder.
Cassi nodded.
"See you guys in a bit!" Allee looked straight again, and the entire Alleecopter flew out of the doors and into the middle of the Quidditch court.
"Everybody run! There's some psycho magic person kind of nearby! She can do whatever she wants! She's somewhere called Hogwarts! Everybody, stay away! Run! RUN! Listen to me, I'm famous! I'm telling the truth!" Jared yelled, running blindly down the streets of London.
Suddenly an arm reached out from the shadows and grabbed Jared. Another arm reached out and covered his mouth. "What do you think you're doing, boy?" the voice demanded. "Who are you?"
Jared quivered like a feather, mumbling something from behind the arm covering his mouth.
"What?"
The arm moved, and Jared dropped his head forward, looking around. "I'm warning the world against the psycho magical person…" Jared mumbled.
The mysterious person shook Jared hard. "You're not supposed to tell the Muggles about us!"
"What?"
"Look at this." The person pulled out a random newspaper. "You have been heard by hundreds of Muggles. Hundreds!"
Sure enough, on the front page was a bad picture of Jared, running down the streets screaming.
"I'll need to report you to the Ministry for this," the person warned. He pulled out his wand. "Petrificus Totalus!" he shouted.
Jared moaned, and suddenly he couldn't move. He did feel himself floating into the air, though.
The person kept his wand pointed at Jared. "Now," he said, "We're going to go see Minister Fudge."
Jared moaned again as the person performed yet another spell to send them both into Fudge's office.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the Alleecopter shouted from her position above the Quidditch court. "Witches and wizards!"
The crowd quieted at the odd sight of a girl floating above them all by the spinning of her ponytail.
"I have brought you here today that you might see a Quidditch game!"
There was a cheer from the crowds.
"Allow me to introduce the circumstances. My name is Allee, and I am here from another universe. I have come here to create a clash between the characters of my two favorite book series: Harry Potter and Animorphs. In order to do so, I have dragged characters from Animorphs here with me. Now, and I am forcing random people I choose to play games against one another to decide different fates in the different universes.
"The Animorphs characters that I have chosen to play the game are the Animorphs themselves, and the android, Erek." Allee turned to the changing rooms. "Will the Animorphs characters please come out?"
All of the Animorphs characters shuffled from the room, now dressed in their Quidditch robes.
"I introduce you all to the Animorphs and Erek!" Allee called. There was a bit of clapping, but mostly it was just confused murmuring as they pointed at Ax and Tobias.
"But… It's a bird. And a blue centaur," Susan Bone said to her Hufflepuff friends in the stands.
"As Chasers, I introduce you to Jake Berenson, Marco, and Tobias Fangor! Tobias, morph human," Allee commanded.
Tobias complied, and his feathers melted into skin as he changed. His robe simply shifted around him to create a human robe. When he was finally human, Jake, Marco, and Tobias all jumped onto their brooms and promptly fell off again. The crowd started giggling, especially the Slytherins. Jake, Marco, and Tobias exchanged a dark look. However, they still mounted their brooms again, and this time managed to rise about fifteen feet off the ground. Tobias was more comfortable in the air, but all three boys shifted nervously on their brooms.
"An Animagus," Susan Bone breathed from the stands.
"The Beaters are Rachel Berenson and Erek King!" Allee shouted.
Rachel leaped onto her broom and immediately nudged it upward so she soared over the heads of the crowd. "Sweet!" she crowed. "This is the best! Almost as good as being an eagle!" She swooped around the court a few times.
"I always knew she was a witch," Marco muttered to Jake. Jake nodded.
Erek, on the other hand, took a more cautious approach, tottering into the air on his broom and clutching his club. He shuddered as he looked down on the case where the bludgers shook in their confines.
"Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill will be the Keeper!"
Ax morphed human and jumped onto his broom, falling forward, thrown off balance, as he had forgotten he had no tail. His broom, from the shifting weight, did an immediate loop-de-loop, much to the delight of the crowd. However, they were still confused.
"Another Animagus," Susan Bone pointed out to her friends. "But… It's a centaur. Centaurs cannot be Animagi." She shrugged. "I'll have to ask Hermione about it later… But anyway, I brought food for the game." She opened her bag and pulled out a collection of chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Cockroach Clusters, and other candies, which she passed out among her friends.
"Finally, as Seeker, I give you Zsa-Zsa Billy Bob!!!"
The crowd burst out into peals of laughter at the name, and then laughed even harder when Zsa-Zsa Billy Bob tried to jump onto her broom, but did not even make it that far. Instead, she fell in a heap on the ground. She stood, her cheeks burning, and leapt onto the broom, slowly nosing it into the sky.
Allee grinned at the Animorphs team, ignoring the glares she received. She continued to speak. "The Animorphs team will face Gryffindor, with Oliver Wood, who has returned as captain and Keeper!"
The Gryffindors flew from the changing rooms and flew loops around the field. The other Gryffindors stood up and started cheering, but the Slytherins booed.
"Here is Alicia, Angelina, Katie, Gred, Feorge, Oliver, and Harry!"
Allee lowered as her ponytail stopped spinning, and she reached the ground. She released the bludgers and snitch, and then grabbed the quaffle.
"This game will decide the fate of Oliver Wood. If Gryffindor wins and he plays well, he will become a professional Quidditch player for the Winbourn Wasps!!!! Now, let the games begin!" Allee tossed the quaffle into the air, and ran off the field to meet Cassi, Lenny, and Shawna on the sidelines.
Cassi settled herself on the floor and sighed. "This will be good," she said. The other three girls agreed.
Off in the Ministry of Magic, Fudge glared at Jared. "How could you go around London shouting about us? To Muggles?"
"Um… I didn't know?"
"What do you mean you didn't know?!?"
"Honestly!"
Fudge shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry I have to do this, young man, but I now condemn you to Azkaban. I don't know what else we can do."
"Wait, what? Azka-what?"
"Don't play thick with me, now. I feel bad enough as it is."
"But I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Jail, boy."
"Jail? No! You can't do that to me! I'm famous!"
Two very strong-looking wizards walked into the room, each taking Jared by the arm. They dragged him out, him babbling the entire way.