Chapter 5: Dealing with bullies and a three-headed dog
"You have become a seeker?!" Ginny called out in excitement.
Helena nodded as she, Ginny and Neville made their way to the Great Hall as it was dinnertime.
"Wicked!" Neville said with an equal excitement as Ginny's, but then asked with some confusion "But… I thought first years weren't allowed to join their houses' Quidditch teams?"
"Well," Helena began to explain as how she was made an exception to join Gryffindor's Quidditch team as a Seeker despite her being only a first year student "Professor McGonagall was able to convince Professor Dumbledore to bend the first-year rule, as Gryffindor really needs a better team than last year."
"That's… amazing!" Ginny said with more excitement "You must be the youngest house player in about-"
"- a century," Helena stated "Wood told me." but then Helena looked around them, seeing if none of the other students had heard what they were saying "But, best to keep this between us. Wood wants to keep it a secret."
Ginny and Neville both nodded, promising Helena to keep it a secret.
Ginny then asked Neville "How is your arm, Neville?"
"I'm feeling all fine again." Neville said as he raised his arm that was broken first, but was now completely healed "Madam Pomfrey gave me this healing potion and all the broken bones in my wrist were healed back to normal." He then took out his Remembrall from his pocket, thanking Helena "Thanks for getting back my Remembrall, Helena."
Helena gave a shrug "No problem, Neville. But you might better keep it somewhere where you won't lose it again."
Neville nodded as they entered the Great Hall.
However, a few seconds later after entering, the whole Gryffindor table began to clap and cheer for Helena, which surprised her. Ginny and Neville gave a surprised look too, showing Helena that neither of them had told anyone.
Somehow, the rumor that Helena had become Gryffindor's new Seeker had spread like wildfire around the castle, with almost all of the Gryffindors and some Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins had heard the news and clapped for her, which included Hermione and Padma. But there was not a single clap or cheer heard from the Slytherin table, as Gryffindor has been Slytherin's archrival since the foundation of Hogwarts. Many Slytherins were glaring at Helena out of jealousy.
"And here she is!" Fred called while clapping loud.
"The youngest Seeker of the century!" George added while whistling loud.
Helena felt modest. Though she didn't liked getting even more attention, as she was just relying on her instincts to get back Neville's Remembrall, she tried to get along with it.
Lavender and Parvati ran over to Helena in excitement "Is it true, Helena?! You're the new Quidditch Seeker?!" Lavender asked.
Helena gave a small nod "Uhh, yeah, well-"
"With her, we're going to win the Quidditch cup this year for sure!" Fred said, with George nodding.
As the cheering died out a bit, Ginny told Helena as they sat at the Gryffindor table together with Neville "Fred and George are on the team too – Beaters."
"We sure can use your help, Helena," George said "We haven't won since Charlie left, but with you in the team, this year's going to be brilliant."
"You must be good, Helena," Fred said before he chuckled "Wood was almost skipping when he told us."
Hearing that Wood skipped out of happiness of having her in the team, Helena formed a smile out of amusement "Really?"
Fred and George both nodded simultaneously "You bet. Skipping around like a girl he was." Both said.
"But, we've got to go," Fred said.
"Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."
"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week," Fred told his twin brother as they left.
Helena meanwhile was met with more congrats from other students. Even Hermione and Padma were impressed.
However, as Helena sat down with her friends at their house's table and began to eat dinner, Helena didn't eat much. But it wasn't the little boost in popularity, now that she's the Gryffindor's youngest seeker that bothered her. No, what troubled Helena was that she had never played Quidditch before.
"Are you alright, Helena?" Ginny asked.
Helena gave a shrug while she kept looking down at her plate with unfinished food "I don't know."
But just before Ginny was about to ask her best friend what troubled her, Pansy Parkinson, flanked by Millicent and Daphne showed up.
"Enjoying your last meal, Potter?" Pansy mocked her while crossing her arms "When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"
Helena, Ginny and Neville glared back at Pansy and her gang. But seeing that nor Pansy or any of her friends were aware of the latest news of Helena being Gryffindor's new Quidditch seeker, Helena formed a grin and turned, facing Pansy while she crossed her arms and legs "Oh, I'm not going back to the Muggles, Parkinson."
Pansy looked a bit confused. Millicent and Daphne too look a look of confusion "Wait. You're not expelled?" Pansy asked.
Neville rose and said "No, she isn't. Helena was-" but he stopped when seeing Helena giving him a gesture that she wants to tell herself, making him nod.
"You were what, Potter?" Pansy asked, now with a bit of raised voice "What did Longbottom mean by that?"
Helena gave a small chuckle "Oh, you're really not aware of the latest news around the castle, Parkinson. Strange, as I would've expected you and your friends would be known about it."
"About what, Potter?!" Pansy demanded, clearly losing her temper of Helena messing with her.
Some of the other Gryffindors began to chuckle cause of Pansy's temper.
Helena rose from her chair and told her "You know, I thought too I would be expelled cause of what happened during Flying lessons. But, instead, I've been chosen to be the new seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team."
Pansy, Millicent and Daphne shared a look of surprise and shock. But Pansy, thinking that Helena made that up, rolled her eyes "Oh, please. You're a terrible liar, Potter."
Helena shook her head, still showing a grin on her face "It's not a lie, Parkinson. Go ask around and all the students can confirm that I HAVE been chosen to be a seeker in Quidditch."
Ginny, Neville, Parvati and Lavender nodded.
Pansy glanced at all of them, before she marched over to the Slytherin table, where her fellow house members confirmed that Potter was indeed the new Gryffindor seeker, even Draco, Crabbe and Goyle told that it was true. But Pansy, being now more angry and suspicious, marched out of the Great Hall, vowing to get to the bottom of this. Millicent and Daphne followed their leader.
Ginny chuckled "Bet that she is not going to take that well, right?" she asked Helena.
Helena gave a nod, imagining the look on Pansy's face.
Later, as almost everyone had finished their meals and some students began to leave the Great Hall to either return to their houses' common rooms, do some more studying or hanging out with their friends in the hallways, Ginny asked Helena as they left the Great Hall together with Neville "Hey, Helena? You didn't answered my question from before yet. I saw you were troubled about something."
Helena decided to tell what bothered her "I don't know, Ginny. I know I should be happy and all, being Gryffindor's new seeker, but I don't feel that way."
Neville said, thinking he understood what troubled Helena "Hey, we get it, Helena. Being 'The Girl Who Lived' and Hogwarts' youngest Seeker is a lot to take in. But don't worry, we're sure you'll do great in Quidditch."
Helena stopped "But that's just it, Neville. I've ever even played Quidditch before."
"But you're gonna be trained with the rest of the team, right?" Ginny asked.
Helena gave a nod "Yeah. We're starting training in two weeks, but… I'm just a bit worried that I make a fool of myself out there."
That was when Hermione Granger joined the conversation "You won't make a fool of yourself." All looked, being a bit surprised that Hermione was behind them all the sudden. Hermione ensured Helena "I overheard what you were saying, but you have nothing to worry about. It's in your blood."
Helena, Ginny and Neville exchanged a confused look "In my blood?" Helena asked "What do you mean?"
"Well, after me and Padma heard that you were chosen as Gryffindor's new seeker, I remembered something about your dad when me and Padma were looking in the Trophy Room a few days ago." Hermione stated.
The trio again shared a confused glance.
"Come on. I'll show you." Hermione gestured to follow her. Helena, Ginny and Neville followed the smart Ravenclaw.
After climbing a few stairs, they entered the Trophy Room, which was located on the third floor, close to Charms Class.
All four stopped before a glass closet, which was filled with the school's Quidditch trophies of the past 30 years. Hermione pointed to a picture of the Gryffindor's Quidditch team of 1972 after winning the School Quidditch tournament "See?"
Helena, Ginny and Neville took a look at it, seeing the people in the picture moving and celebrating and cheering while one 17-year old boy with glasses held up the Hogwarts Quidditch trophy. Helena's eyes went wide as she recognized the boy from an old picture of her parents that she held when living back with the Dursleys "That's… that's my Dad."
Neville and Ginny saw it too and their mouths almost fell wide open in surprise "Whoa," Neville said.
"Helena. You never told us that your father was a Seeker too." Ginny said with amaze.
Slowly, Helena formed a smile while a tear formed in her eye "I… didn't know."
Helena could for some reason imagine how her parents would react if they were still alive, being probably delighted to hear that their daughter was in the Gryffindor's Quidditch team, with her father being the most enthusiastic.
It was then, that Helena felt her troubles were fading away. Seeing Hermione's point of view how she caught Neville's Remembrall today, Helena then knew deep down that if her father was a great Seeker to, then she would be as well.
Just as the trio walked out of the Trophy Room together with Hermione, with Helena thanking her for showing her that her father was a Seeker too back in the day, Pansy was staring around the corner at them, glaring with jealousy at Helena.
"She cheated…!" she angrily whispered to Millicent and Daphne, who stood behind her "She must have cheated her way into the Gryffindor Quidditch team! I'm sure of it!"
Pansy and her gang walked away, going back to the Slytherin Common Room in the dungeons. Ever since Pansy heard from Professor McGonagall that Helena Potter was indeed become Gryffindor's new Seeker, made Pansy furious deep inside her as Helena was instead of being punished was rewarded even more.
When reaching the dungeons, Pansy and her friends saw Draco, Crabbe and Goyle having a talk in the corridor.
Seeing the look on her face, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle guessed that Pansy wasn't taking it well of Helena Potter's new status.
Pansy had an idea in mind for Potter for stealing away all the popularity which made her form smirk, but needed Draco and his friends' help to do it.
-:-
The next day, things have been rather gone normal for Helena and her friends. Deciding to finish her homework today so that they'll have more free time on Sunday, some of her friends followed her example, something that would even make Hermione proud but also advised her that though they think they'll have the rest of the day and the whole Sunday off, they should still do a bit of research for some of the upcoming lessons of all classes.
Though this sounded like too much work for them as clearly Hermione had already memorized every First Year's books, it might prepare them better.
And so, after doing their homework, they spend some hours in the library and took notes. Helena even helped Susan Bones a bit with her homework for the Forgetfulness Potion that Snape expects them to make, which Susan dearly appreciated as she was terrible at Potions.
The rest of the Saturday afternoon, Helena, Ginny and Neville spend the last few hours before dinner in the Gryffindor common room. While being showed some magical magazines for teen witches by Lavender and Parvati, Helena was also shown a magical boardgame called Wizard Chess. Watching Seamus Finnigan and Neville play, Helena saw that all the pieces were magical enchanted and moved across the board on command, even beratingly crushing by the other when a piece was hit. Though Helena didn't played that much chess when still living with the Dursleys and never had any friends at school, she played a few board games with either Neville, Ginny or Seamus.
During dinner, in the Great Hall, while Fred and George were talking with Helena about what to expect when starting Quidditch practice next week, Ginny wandered and asked "Did any of you see Neville somewhere?"
Helena too thought it was strange that Neville wasn't with them "I don't know, I hadn't seen him since we left the common room. I just hope he hasn't lost his way again."
Right at that moment, Neville walked into the Great Hall with tears flowing down his cheeks.
Helena and Ginny exchanged a glance of surprise before Ginny asked him "Neville, what happened?"
"He's gone!" Neville sobbed "Trevor is gone!" he stated, as his toad was missing.
"Oh, Neville." Ginny said with sympathy.
That was when Crabbe and Goyle laughed at him with amusement while standing at the doorway of the Great Hall "Lost your pet, Longbottom?" Crabbe said while mocking Neville.
Goyle mimicked Neville's sobbing in a mocking way "Oooh, boo-hoooo! I lost my toad, somebody help me! Hahahahaha!"
Neville felt sad when Crabbe and Goyle said that, but also made him angry inside.
"Shut up, you two!" Ginny warned them while her face turned red. Helena also glared angrily towards the two Slytherins.
That was when Draco joined them and held something tight in his hands "Hey, Crabbe, Goyle. Look what we can use to feed the birds." He showed what he held, revealing to be a toad. Neville's toad!
Neville's eyes teary eyes went wide and quickly walked over to them, followed by Ginny and Helena who were not going to let their friend being bullied or letting them to harm Trevor "Trevor! Give him back!" Neville called.
"Give Neville's toad back, Malfoy! Right now!" Helena yelled.
Draco chuckled as he held Trevor the toad in the air "Want the toad so badly? Come and get it." he, Crabbe and Goyle ran away into another hallway while they mockingly laughed and Draco tossed Trevor over to Crabbe.
"Hey! Come back!" Ginny yelled while she, Neville and Helena ran after them.
Several students from the other tables exchanged glances. However, from the Slytherin table, Pansy, Millicent and Daphne exchanged a mischievous smile "Seems your plan is working, Pansy." Daphne said.
Pansy then rose from the table, followed by her two friends "Come on. I don't want to miss this for anything."
Through the hallways, Helena, Ginny and Neville kept running after the three bullying Slytherins, who kept tossing Trevor over to each other. It all seemingly was making Trevor the toad upset.
"Give Trevor back!" Neville called, showing a mixture of sadness and anger.
"Make us, Longbottom." Goyle mocked him while tossing the toad over to Draco and he and took another hallway with Goyle and Crabbe running into the other.
"Malfoy!" Ginny yelled while she, Helena and Neville ran after Draco.
The trio then saw Malfoy going to the Grand Staircase, with the three of them going after him.
They then saw Malfoy standing on top of one of the stairs, holding Trevor by its tiny paw, raising him in the air "Really now, Longbottom?" he mocked him and his friends as they approached him with a glare "All this effort for a stupid old toad and let two girls fight your battles?"
"You better not hurt Neville's toad, Malfoy!" Ginny warned him, with her face now as red as her hair.
"Ooooh, someone's getting awfully angry, aren't they?" he mocked her with a grin "Must be a Weasleys thing. Guess the red apple doesn't fall far from the tree, is it?"
Ginny grinded her teeth as Draco had the nerve to insult her family. Helena then stepped forward, standing only a few steps away from Malfoy, looking at him with anger and disappointment "You know, Draco Malfoy, when we first met at Diagon Alley, I thought you were different. But I guess I was wrong about you. You're nothing but a bully and a jerk," she held her wand ready.
Draco was not amused by her threat and warned her "Careful now, Potter. You don't want to lose any precious house points now, right?"
But just as Helena was about to say something more, the staircase that Helena, Ginny and Neville were standing on, began to move and changed position, leaving Draco at an entrance where he stood, still holding Trevor.
Draco laughed in amusement before he ran into the corridor "Guess you're going to have look for a new pet, Longbottom! Hahahahahaha!"
"MALFOY!" Helena yelled.
As soon as the staircase was in the other position, Neville began to cry "He's going to hurt Trevor! He's going to hurt Trevor!"
Ginny held Neville by his shoulder, vowing to him "Neville! We're not letting Draco to hurt your toad, okay?"
Helena nodded, showing she wasn't letting Draco or anyone else walk over to one of their friends just like that.
Neville formed a smile, seeing he was very lucky to have such great best friends. While wiping away his tears, Neville remembered how to get to the corridor where Draco ran into, as Fred and George showed him a few shortcuts "I know how to get to Malfoy quick. This way!" Neville ran, with Ginny and Helena behind him. The stopped before an empty painting, with Neville pressing a loose stone next to it, making the painting to go up, revealing a secret passageway.
Helena, Ginny and Neville ran quickly through the passageway, which ended close to where Draco ran into.
But when going through it, the corridor was dark and there was barely any light or torches burning and lots of spiderwebs were hanging on the ceiling.
"I can't see a thing." Ginny said.
That was when Helena remembered a spell for Charming that she'd taken notes of today in the library: The Wand-Lighting Charm. Holding out her wand, she concentrated and caused out "Lumos!" and a light appeared at the top of her wand, allowing them to see better.
Ginny was impressed that Helena knew that spell "Great work, Helena. I don't think Professor Flitwick taught us that spell yet."
"I found about it while going through my Charms book," Helena stated, before she formed a smile and suggested "Guess Hermione's suggestion to go through some more details for next lessons wasn't a bad idea after all, right?"
Ginny and Neville both shared a nod.
"What are you doing here?!" a voice suddenly called, which scared the trio for a moment, but were relieved to see it was Hermione "This is the third-floor corridor that is forbidden!"
Helena, Ginny and Neville realized that Hermione was right and that they had indeed entered the one corridor that was this year out of bounds.
"Don't you see?!" Hermione asked "You've been tricked!"
"Malfoy lured us in here on purpose?" Ginny asked before cursing herself "Ugh! Of course this was a trick of his!"
"Not his trick," Hermione told them "Pansy Parkinson's."
"Parkinson?" Helena asked.
Hermione nodded "Me and Padma noticed the look on her and her friends' faces when watching the three of you going after Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle without thinking straight So, I knew something was off." She then tried to talk them out of this "I know that I'm not in Gryffindor, but you three need to get out of here now before anyone sees you."
That was when Neville began to sob a bit "But… I cannot… I cannot leave Trevor!"
Helena nodded, not going to leave Neville's toad to his fate at Malfoy's cruelty, or in this case; Pansy Parkinson's cruelty "Neville's right. We cannot leave Trevor."
Neville was grateful for Helena to say that.
"But… what if-" Hermione tried to convince them, but was interrupted when Helena repeated herself.
"We're going to get Trevor back." She then gestured Ginny and Neville to follow her, but then asked Hermione "Are you coming or not?"
Hermione rolled her eyes "Ugh! We're getting in so much trouble for this. I know we will." And followed Helena, Ginny and Neville further into the out of bounds corridor, feeling deep down she's going to regret this.
They looked everywhere, with Ginny and Hermione lighten their own wand with a Lumos charm as well for extra light. Neville tried as well, but was only able to cast a small light like a small firefly's.
Then, they heard chirping sounds.
"Hey. Is that…?" Ginny asked, knowing that it was the sound of a toad.
Neville then saw his toad, Trevor, hopping across the corridor "Trevor!" he cried out in relief and took him from the floor, being relieved that he was okay "Oh, thank goodness you're alright."
Helena and Ginny were happy that they'd found Neville's toad back, but finding it odd that Malfoy was nowhere to be found.
Hermione then told them "Alright, you've found the toad. Now let's get out of here before-"
But suddenly, a dimmed torch suddenly magically burned up, giving light to the corridor.
The four children had a bad feeling about this.
"Let's go." Helena said.
But as they all turned, they saw a cat meowing at them, looking at them with a sort of glare.
All four gasped "It's Filch's cat! Mrs. Norris!" Ginny said.
"Who's there!?" another sound called, making all four gasp, hearing it was the castle's caretaker, Argus Filch!
"Run!" Helena said and all four ran further down the corridor.
All saw an old door at the end of it.
"Quick, let's hide through that door!"
When reaching it, Helena tried to open it, but it wouldn't open as it was locked.
"It's locked!"
Neville began to panic "Oh no! That's it. We're done for!"
Hermione rolled her eyes and pushed Helena out of the way "Oh, move over." she took out her wand and caused out as she pointed at the lock "Alohomora." And the lock clicked and the door magically opened "Get in."
Quickly, but quietly as they could, Helena, Ginny, Neville and Hermione entered and quietly closed the door.
All four tried to be very quiet. They pressed their ears against the door, listening, hearing footsteps behind it.
"Anyone here, my sweet?" Filch asked his cat while looking around, holding his lantern.
Helena begged in her mind that Filch won't think to look behind the door they were hiding, feeling her heartbeat rising.
Filch kept looking around for a few more minutes. But knowing he had other things to do than just keep an eye on the corridor that was out of bounds, he began to leave "Let's go, my dear cat." He called his cat, Mrs. Norris, who meowed and followed her owner.
Helena, Ginny and Hermione sighed in relief.
"Filch is gone…" Helena while wiping some sweat from her forehead.
"That was too close," Ginny said quietly "Thank you, Hermione."
Though Hermione was thankful for the compliment, she still looked with some disappointment at them both as she said "I… told you that it was a trap. But you wouldn't listen."
"Would you leave your pet to be taken away and leave for dead?" Helena asked her with some anger.
Hermione sighed before she shook her head "No… but I would told one of the teachers about it instead of doing what those bullies expect me to do."
That was when Helena noticed that Neville was looking at somewhere else, looking all… pale… and frozen in fear.
Neville pointed his finger to where he was staring at, stuttering out of fear "He-H-Helena-a-a…. Gi-Gi-Ginny…!"
Helena, Ginny and Hermione looked, gasping in horror and their eyes went wide as they saw a massive guard dog… having three heads, growling at them.
All four screamed "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" they ran back to the door while the big three-headed barked and tried to bite them, but missed them as they quickly ran out of the door and closed the door behind them quickly, locking it. Helena, Ginny, Neville and Hermione kept running without thinking, till they finally stopped to catch their breaths like a dozen corridors and staircases away.
"What the heck was that?!" Ginny said, still being in shock that they had just met a very, very big dog, with three heads.
Neville shivered cause he was so shocked, but then called out, like he was releasing all these emotions he was going through "Have they… COMPLETELY LOST THEIR MINDS?!"
All three looked at him confused "Who?" Helena asked.
"The school!" Neville cried out "Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?!"
Helena and Ginny felt that Neville had a point.
However, Hermione was a bit more serious and had her bad temper back "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped "Didn't you see what it was standing on?!"
Ginny shook her head and said as they began to move down the corridor, with luckily not coming across any other student "No! I was preoccupied with its heads. Or didn't you notice?! It had three heads! THREE!" she sighed in relief, holding her hand on her heavily beating heart.
"It was standing on a trap door," Hermione said "Meaning it wasn't there by accident. It's guarding something down there."
Hearing Hermione's theory, made the trio stop and share a glance of confusion "You think it's… guarding something down there?" Helena asked.
"That's right," Hermione said, before showing a very serious face "Well, I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We all could've been killed - or worse, expelled," she then sighed annoyed "Now, thanks to all of you and meeting a big three-headed dog, I lost my appetite. So, if you don't mind me, I'm going back to the Ravenclaw common room. And… you're welcome for not getting caught." She finished as she knew that without them, they would've been expelled by now. Hermione then left.
Watching the all-know-it-all girl leaving, Ginny shook her head "She needs to sort out her priorities."
Helena and Neville nodded to her and left, also having lost their appetite and left for the Gryffindor common room.
-:-
In the Slytherin common room, Pansy was infuriated that her little plan had backfired "How could this have gone wrong?! My plan was… perfect! Potter and her friends were supposed to be caught and get themselves expelled for hanging around in the third-floor corridor!"
Millicent and Daphne both shook their heads, not knowing how this could've gone wrong, neither Goyle, Crabbe or Draco.
"We… we don't know, Pansy," Daphne said.
Draco also shook his head "How was I supposed to know that Potter and her buddies managed to escape Filch?"
Pansy was like seconds away of exploding with anger like a ticking timebomb. But. She took a very deep breath and breathed out, raising her finger "Next time…! Next time, Potter is gonna get it! I swear she will!" and then marched out.
-:-
The next day, Helena, Ginny and Neville couldn't help but to eat a lot of breakfast, to catch up after losing a bit of their appetite from their encounter with the three-headed dog last night, which Helena thought felt great to have their actual first adventure together. Neville was looking tired as he was still scared after meeting that big three-headed dog and never wanted to be near that beast ever again, but regardless, he was happy that he had his toad again. Ginny on the other hand agreed with Helena and felt it was a great adventure they shared last night, though she wasn't in to go near that dog again any time soon.
Fred and George had noticed the trio's plates filled with lots of grilled bacon, scrambled eggs and toast, which amused the Weasley twins.
"You're almost like our little brother Ron back home, Ginny." Fred teased her as he and George chuckled in amusement.
Ginny gave her twin brothers a short glare as she stated with a serious look "What? I'm just hungry." She then took a big sip from her orange juice.
Helena was in deep thought and asked quietly to her two best friends "But I still wander… if that three-headed dog on the third-floor is guarding something, as Hermione says, what could it be?"
Ginny shook her head, not knowing the answer. Neville remained quiet, not wanting to think of that big scary dog with three heads again.
Just then, the ghost Nearly Headless Nick flew into the Great Hall, stopping in midair before Helena and told her with delight "Helena Potter! Congratulations on becoming the new Seeker of Gryffindor. You're the main talk among the other ghosts. I always knew you would do well."
Helena smiled and thanked him "Thanks Nick. I'll sure give me best shot."
"That's the spirit!" Nearly Headless Nick cheered before the Gryffindor ghost flew of.
Fred and George reminded themselves and handed Helena over a letter "Oh, by the way, Helena. Wood told us to bring you this."
Helena took it and asked "What is it?"
"Wood's training schedule." George stated.
"He's very serious that we train hard this year," Fred said.
"Especially now that we have the youngest seeker of the century in our team."
Helena opened the letter, seeing it was indeed the Gryffindor Quidditch training schedule, telling on which dates they will train and how long the training is going to last.
"And Helena?" Fred said "Wood says you need to meet him tonight at seven o'clock on the Quidditch Field for your first training."
Helena raised an eyebrow at the Weasley twins as she folded the letter and put it in her pocket "Oh? But I thought our first training session is next week Saturday?"
The twins gave a shrug, not having any idea why their team captain wanted to have a separate first training with Helena.
"Must be to give you instructions on the rules of the game," Fred theorized.
"So you won't fall behind," George added.
As the owls flew into the Great Hall, delivering almost all the students their mail and a couple of Daily Prophet newspapers, everyone's attention was caught at once by a long, thin package carried by six large screech owls. Helena too was just as interested as everyone else to see what was in this large parcel, and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped it right in front of her, knocking some of her bacon and eggs on the floor.
"What is it?" Ginny asked with a lot of curiosity.
Just then, another owl delivered a letter to Helena and flew off with the other six big owls.
Helena opened the letter first and reads;
DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE!
It contains your new Nimbus 2000. As Gryffindor's new seeker, you need a better broomstick as this one. Don't let everybody knowing you've got one or they'll all want one.
As you've already been told by Mister Fred and George Weasley, Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o'clock for your first training session.
Professor McGonagall
While Neville too was curious what was in the large parcel, Ginny curiosity made her impatient and asked Helena "Well? What does it say? What is it?!"
Her own broomstick. Helena could hardly believe that she got her very own broomstick. Not to mention the fastest so far, as she remembered correctly.
She whispered to Ginny and Neville while taking the large parcel "C'mon!" and almost ran out of the Great Hall with it, with Ginny and Neville behind her, eagerly to know what Helena got.
Other students whispered, wandering too what Helena Potter got which she was so mysterious about.
But as soon as they were nearing the Grand Staircase, they stumbled upon Pansy, Millicent and Daphne "And what do you have there, Potter?" Pansy demanded before Millicent seized the package.
"It's a broomstick," Millicent told Pansy after feeling it.
Pansy, feeling a mixture of anger and jealousy that Helena was having a broomstick, she then formed a smirk as she could get Helena in trouble now "You'll be in for it this time, Potter. You know that first years aren't allowed to have their own broomsticks at school."
Helena had the eager to fight of Pansy and her gang for seemingly 'stealing' her new broomstick, but held herself and instead told "Well, if you want to know, it's a Nimbus 2000."
Daphne and Millicent eyes went wide.
Ginny and Neville were just as surprised as them "Really?!" Ginny asked with excitement. Seeing that Pansy was just as shocked as her friends, Ginny told her with a mocking face "Not as flashy and fast as those Comet 260's you have at home, right Parkinson?"
Pansy snapped and told her back "What would you know about it, Weasley?! I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."
But before the argument could get any worse, Professor Snape appeared, looking stern at the six students "What is going on here?" he demanded.
Neville gulped as Snape scares him.
Seeing the opportunity, Pansy told him "Ah, Professor Snape. Glad you're here, sir. Me and my friends had just confiscated this from Potter," she handed the package over to Professor Snape "She got herself a broomstick. And, isn't it true that it is not allowed for first years to have a broom of their own, right, sir?" she looked with an innocent, good-student smile, before smirking with an evil victorious smile at Helena, making her angry.
Snape inspected the package, taking the paper of and saw that it was indeed a Nimbus 2000, as Helena told. While checking the broomstick, Snape gave a nod without looking at Pansy "Yes, Miss Parkinson, it is true that first-years aren't allowed to have broomsticks yet."
Pansy, Millicent and Daphne chuckled, thinking that Helena was now getting into trouble.
"However," Snape added before handing over the Nimbus back to Helena "All the teachers were already informed that Miss Potter is made an exception. Which means that as of right now, Miss Potter hadn't done anything wrong."
Helena smiled as she took back her broomstick. Ginny couldn't resist to touch the Nimbus a bit, not having the chance to feel it as she had only seen it in a shop behind glass.
Pansy was shocked that not even Professor Snape was going to punish Potter "Bu…! But, Professor! That is so unfair!"
"And THAT will be it, Miss Parkinson." Snape said with a small glare, which was even enough to scare her and her friends "Now, off you go, all three of you." She gestured Pansy and her two friends to move along, which they did.
Pansy glared at Helena, whispering to her in an anger/jealous mood "This isn't over, teacher's pet."
Glaring back at Pansy, Helena said in her mind 'We'll see, Pansy Parkinson.'
Her thoughts however were interrupted when Snape said with a serious tone to Helena "Now, Potter, just because you've been made an exception for joining the Quidditch team and have your own broomstick, despite you're only a first-year student, do not even THINK that you can just use your new Nimbus 2000 module at any time you please, only during Quidditch practice or Quidditch games."
Helena saw Snape's point of view. In fact, though she could've, Helena wasn't planning to use her new broomstick at any time she pleased, despite she had the urge to do so. If she wanted to be on the other teachers good terms, especially Professor Snape's, she better behave herself and don't let the temptation of flying her broomstick all the time get to her.
Helena nodded to the Potions teacher "Yes, Professor. I understand, sir."
Snape gave a simple nod "Good," the he dismissed her and her friends "Now, of you go."
Immediately, Helena, Ginny and Neville rushed through the hallway, heading to the Grand Staircase.
"And Potter?!" Snape called her back, making her stop and turned.
"Yes sir?"
"You better take good care of the broomstick."
Though that was something she never expected to hear from Snape, neither Ginny and Neville, Helena nodded to him before running of with her friends to their common room.
But as they climbed up the staircases, Helena suddenly fell a sharp, hot pain coming from her scar "Ow!" Helena stopped and rubbed her forehead.
Neville and Ginny noticed it too and stopped, checking with her "Hey, you alright, Helena?" Ginny asked her friend.
But before Helena could answer, Professor Quirrell climbed down the stairs, bypassing the trio "G-g-g-good m-m-morning, children," he nervously said. He then pointed at Helena's new Nimbus 2000 and said with a nervously smile "O-o-oh! N-nice new b-b-b-broomstick, P-P-Potter."
Helena gave a small rub to her forehead before she nodded at her Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher "Thank you, sir." And moved along with Ginny and Neville.
The pain on her scar slowly vanished. Helena wandered what it could be, as it was the same sting she felt when she arrived the first day at Hogwarts.
Professor Quirrell watched the children going up the magical staircases. As he turned and left, his little smile became stern and then nervously whispered something to himself, which a few bypassing students didn't heard.
A/N: Sorry all for the long waiting, but I hope you all like this new chapter. I wanted to add something more to it, but felt it would be out of touch with what I've written so far.
The next chapter will be an interesting one, as she would receive some unexpected help to deal with Pansy and her gang when trying to bully her and her friends.
Don't know when I will start making that chapter, but don't worry, I'm not going to abandon this story ;)