Harry Potter, Heir of Gryffindor
It Begins
Harry found out why there had only been tree battalions of Death Eaters in Hogsmeade that night. He had only missed a few Death Eater meetings due to his need for a peaceful night's sleep upon occasion and apparently Severus had missed them as well. When he entered the ethereal that night and went to check up on Tom he found out that there had been attacks in Newcastle, Northern Ireland; Loughrae, Ireland; Portree, Scotland; St. Just, England; and on the Isle of White that weekend as well and that they had all taken place at the same time so that the Aurors would not know where to turn first. The only community that had been able to repel the attack had been Hogsmeade and that had primarily been due to the presence of so many additional Aurors.
After the meeting Harry expanded his awareness to the whole of Great Britain and then focused his attention on each of the sites in turn. What he discovered made his heart clench in pain. In some of the towns entire neighborhoods had been destroyed. In the coastal communities the docks and piers had been demolished. And in all of the towns and villages they were still counting the dead and wounded.
When his internal alarm went off at 4:15 Harry got up, dressed himself and proceeded to wake the others. Fifteen minutes later, as he followed his friends into the Room of Requirement, which had been turned into an Olympic-sized track and field complex for their morning exercises, Alastor came over and asked, "What's wrong, laddy? You look like hell."
Harry looked up at his fellow professor, trainer and friend and shook his head. "I'll tell you later."
After their warm up, run and exercises Harry directed everyone in their group, of which there were sixty, to sit down in a circle around him. When he had everyone's attention he looked into their eyes and said, "For those of you who stayed and fought in Hogsmeade on Saturday let me say that we are all eternally grateful. The odds were against us but we won that particular fight. Now you know what we're up against and why you are being trained to fight." Swallowing hard, he glanced over at Moody and then, with a heavy heart, sighed and went on. "But we were lucky. Don't ask me to tell you how I know because I really can't explain it; but Hogsmeade was only one of six communities that were attacked on Saturday. Towns and villages were attacked all over Great Britain that day. I don't have any casualty counts. Neither do I have a list of the dead. But I . . ." he hesitated, "I think it is safe to assume that at least a few of our fellow students, if not a few of us, will be receiving notices over the next few days as the dead and missing are accounted for." His voice cracked. With a heavy sigh he looked back up into the eyes of his fellow students. "I don't know why the Daily Prophet didn't carry any news about the other attacks in Sunday's paper. All I know . . . is that we . . . we were the only group that was able to repel the onslaught.
"For those of you who fought, counseling sessions will be arranged to help you deal with what you have experienced. Please do not think you are too strong to need to talk about it. Many of you saw what it was like for Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Ginny and myself at the end of last month, after we returned from Romania. It helps to talk about it. Seek out your friends and your fellow fighters. Speaking from experience I think I can safely say that it won't be easy; but it will help. I am going to suggest that you find a partner, someone you feel comfortable talking to, and work through this together because I don't know how long this war is going to last. All I know for sure is that it is going to get worse before it gets better and we are going to have to lean on each other for support.
"I have just one final note before we start dueling. We are going to have to work with each other across house boundaries so please do not be afraid to reach out and help someone in need, even if they are your worst enemy. You never know but that your worst enemy today might turn out to be your best friend tomorrow."
There were a few murmurs as Harry stepped back and Alastor looked at him with what Harry and the others had come to recognize as an expression of concern on his scared face. They then broke up into their groups and began practicing. The more advanced students - mainly Harry, Ginny, Neville, Ron, Hermione, Luna and a few others - moved down to one end of the field and, after half an hour of singles dueling, broke it up so that Harry was facing five opponents and Neville was facing three, while Alastor hobbled around correcting spells and commenting on moves and techniques. Harry was hard pressed when defending himself against Ron, Ginny, Lavender, Padma and Cho but he did eventually disarm Lavender, Padma and Cho. Neville was getting better but only lasted about fifteen minutes against Hermione, Luna and Colin.
When the owls arrived with the morning post, Hermione was in the process of paying for her copy of the Daily Profit when the first scream went up at the Huffelpuff Table. Moments later screams went up at the Ravenclaw and Slytherin Tables as well. When Seamus opened a letter he had received from his father he paled as he read the note. Looking across at Harry he gulped, "Me cousin . . . She was just a wee lass. And me mam is in hospital."
Harry bowed his and sighed as he closed his eyes. He felt Ginny's hand slide into his own and squeeze but he didn't have the energy to squeeze back.
The next two weeks were filled with attacks. Not only were Tom's forces striking throughout Great Britain and portions of Western Europe but other despots and dark lords were uniting behind his banner and carrying out attacks in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. There really wasn't anywhere on the planet that could be called safe and more often than not Hogwarts was being used as an Emergency Medical Evacuation Center. The Hospital Wing was always full and healers, potions masters and other specialists were constantly flooing in from all over the country. It was, for lack of any more articulate description, a madhouse.
Classes went on as scheduled but silencing charms were used on all of the rooms to block out the screams and groans of patients' whose cots and stretchers lined the halls. The house elves were kept busy not only preparing food for the faculty, staff, students, patients and medical personnel, but helping Filch clean the bloodstains off of the floors and walls. All students were encouraged to go directly to their classes and not to dawdle any more than was absolutely necessary. For those upperclassmen that had free periods they were encouraged to help the healers, house elves or potions masters.
The only exceptions to this rule were Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville who were spending most of their out-of-class time working on the war effort. Since he could do it, Harry magically expanded the hospital wing to twice its normal size and added several treatment rooms. He also set the suits of armor to patrol the castle grounds to make more room for the wounded. Ron, Hermione and Neville were given access to Harry's crystal ball so that they could study and learn the tactics used by the various groups of Death Eaters. When Ron got his first look into Harry's ball he gulped and looked over at Harry. "No wonder you spend so much time with your pensieve."
Harry looked over at his friend and nodded. "You're just seeing a recording. I've removed the emotional content because that's just too much for anyone to be able to handle without a pensieve."
The upshot of all of this activity, even though it was very trying on everyone concerned, is that even though the house rivalries remained intact the houses were gradually uniting behind a common cause. It wasn't pretty and it most definitely wasn't easy but they were gradually becoming a cohesive, working unit.
During Harry's regular Thursday evening training sessions it took a lot of effort for him to focus upon the tasks at hand but he knew that since he was supposedly the only one who could defeat Voldemort he needed to train. So, after several minutes of debriefing, he would drop into a deep meditative state and focus his wandless magical abilities on the dragon he had purchased in Hogsmeade.
His first task was to make it open its eyes and mouth. This was easier said than done, however, because he had to isolate and move specific artificial muscle groups while paying attention to how they affected the whole. He quickly learned that no action, no matter how seemingly insignificant, takes place in isolation.
When he had mastered the eye and mouth movements he moved on to the head and neck. Again, this was easier said than done because with head and neck movements most of the rest of the dragon's body became involved and it fell over several times before he learned that in order for the model to remain upright the head and neck movements would have to be accompanied by a variety torso, wing, tail, leg and foot movements. Needless to say, he was worn out by the end of his first session with the dragon and he hadn't even gotten to walking yet, let alone flying.
The goal of these exercises was to train his mind to be consciously aware of several things at once and to at least subconsciously understand how they functioned as a system. So far as to how this applied to his training to face Tom went, Albus explained that it would help him focus on his objective while remaining constantly aware of everything that was going on around him. Albus encouraged him to apply these principles to his nightly journeys as well as his dueling practices so that, when the time came and he found himself in the midst of a battle, he could face multiple opponents at once and still distinguish friend from foe.
At their first regular Order meeting after the attack on Hogsmeade it was decided that the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match would go on as scheduled because everyone was in need of a distraction, no matter how brief, from the war. It was also decided that since Harry and Ginny had been negotiating with the Wood Elves that the eight - plus Albus, Alastor and Kingsley - would go into the heart of the Forbidden Forest on the third Saturday of November to meet with their counterparts and seal the deal.
The other main topic of discussion, aside from the war, was the Christmas Holiday and how they were going to insure the safety of the students. It was decided that while the Hogwarts Express would indeed run, for those who wished to return home for the holidays, all of the students would be encouraged to stay. They would also be encouraged to invite their families to stay in specially designed Wizarding Tents either in Hogsmeade or on the castle grounds. Ron was placed in charge of security for the event; Hermione and Ginny were placed in charge of accommodations, Hermione for the muggles and Ginny for the wizarding families; Neville and Luna were placed in charge of the apparation and portkey points that that would be set up in and around Hogsmeade; and Harry was placed in charge of the temporary modifications that would have to be made to the castle itself.
It was decided that, for this event, the castle would be made visible to the muggles. They would not be able to take any pictures of it but they would be able to see it. It was also decided that there would be a Yule Ball on Christmas Eve and a New Years Ball on New Years Eve as well as, if they got enough snow, a number of sleigh rides, snowball fights and other wintertime activities. They weren't sure about ice-skating because of the giant squid but there was always a possibility.
In the hour before dawn on the second Saturday in November - the day of the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match - Harry was anxiously pacing the floor of the sixth-year Gryffindor boy's dormitory. The attack that night had been particularly gruesome and even after spending most of an hour siphoning his memories of the events off into his pensieve he still had a hard time forgetting what he had seen. Throwing his bed curtains open he lay down and dropped into Occlumency mode. Clearing his mind he sorted through his memories and pushed the latest into the furthest recesses of his mind. Then, after a brief respite from all thought, began to focus his mind upon what lay ahead.
As his thoughts turned to quidditch he remembered that he and Ron had worked out several new plays and formations had drilled the team on them to flawless execution. The chasers were working as a seamless unit, rivaling the levels of cooperation shown by Katie, Alicia and Angelina. Their beaters were a murderous pair of team players and knew their positions well. And Neville was so accurate with his bludgers that he could actually knock the quaffel out of a chaser's hands without the chaser even knowing about it until it was too late. It didn't happen often but when it did it wad a sight to behold. But then again there was still that element of surprise, of the unknown. They had practiced and drilled and practiced some more but they didn't know what they were up against since Slytherin had had to replace their seeker, both beaters as well as one of their chasers.
"Oi, Harry," Ron said, sounding slightly surprised that Harry was actually laying in his dormitory bed and not sleeping in his trunk, and yanked Harry out of his meditative thoughts. "What's up?"
Harry glanced over at his friend who was sitting on the edge of his bed facing him. "Quidditch."
"I know that," Ron said, stating the obvious. "But why aren't you in your trunk?"
Harry laughed. "Ron," he said, sitting up and shaking his head. "You don't know how funny that sounds coming from you. If it weren't for the fact that I know that you know how nice it is in there I would almost be willing to say that you are starting to sound an awful lot like Dudley did when we were little."
Ron blushed. "Oh, sorry," he said and looked up apologetically.
"No, that's all right, Ron. You had no way of knowing. And besides, I've put that behind me. I actually don't mind spending time in my trunk. I only wish my cupboard had been even one tenth as nice."
Ron grinned the chuckled. "Yeah, I can imagine. So what are you doing up here anyway?"
Harry sighed and looked over at his friend. "Taking a break. Last night was not good. We may get a few casualties out of it but most of them were so mangled that there really isn't much left."
"What's it look like?" Neville asked, coming over to stand between the feet of their beds.
Harry glanced up then shook his head. "You'll see."
"Can you at least give us some idea what we will be looking at?"
Harry glanced back over at Ron then looked down at his hands. "I'd really rather not but since you are going to have to study it anyway I guess I had better warn you. It is some of the most gruesome fighting I have ever seen. It makes Romania look like a Sunday picnic. You are going to see traumatic amputations and decapitations, with blood spurting all over the place, as well as partially clothed bodies sliced to ribbons and the flesh torn away from their bones." Harry shivered slightly then, with a shake, looked back up at his friends. "Just be glad you get the edited version. I've already spent an hour with my pensieve this morning and I have a feeling I am going to have to spend another hour with it after the training session tonight."
Then, smiling weakly, Harry changed the subject. "I'll tell you what. You guys give me until you are ready to go down to breakfast to practice my Occlumency and I promise that I will be ready for Slytherin."
As Harry laid back on his bed Ron and Neville headed off for the showers. Fortunately neither Dean nor Seamus had been awake to hear Harry's brief description of the attacks because Harry knew that each of them had lost at least one loved one that night and he didn't want them to hear what had happened. It was bad enough that he knew. He was just glad that there was no way the Daily Prophet could come anywhere close to communicating the horrors of what he had seen that night.
As they approached the Quidditch Pitch that morning Harry noticed that the stands had been magically enlarged overnight to accommodate the people who would be attending the seminar that evening as well as as many of the injured as wanted to attend. It wasn't as big as the stadium at the Quidditch World Cup but it was large, at least by Hogwarts standards.
Harry and Ron had agreed to alternate on the pre-game speeches because while Ron considered Harry to be the better speaker Harry considered Ron to be the more enthusiastic quidditch devotee. Today it was Harry's turn to deliver the pep talk. When everyone was ready and settled he cleared his throat and said, "I know we've all been under a lot of pressure lately. I also know that some of you might be feeling rather hopeless given the events of the past couple of weeks. I know it's frustrating for some of you because you want to be out there fighting. But I can tell you this much. You don't want to be out there until you are ready.
"Quidditch is a sport. It's a game. Ron and I have taught you everything we can and we feel that you are ready. We feel that you are ready to go out there and teach those Slytherins a lesson in humility. But like I said, this is just a game. I want you to fight to win but I don't want you to fight dirty." Harry paused as an evil smirk spread across his face and a glint of fiery determination came into his eyes. Smiling at his teammates and winking at Ginny he started the last sentence of his speech with a growl then let it explode to fill the locker room and echo off of its walls. "Now, let's go out there and teach those snakes a lesson!"
As one the Gryffindor Quidditch Team rose to their feet and cheered. On their way to the doors, however, Ginny stepped over and looked up into his eyes. She could tell that he had seen something and that it had affected him deeply. "What is it?" she asked.
Harry looked into her concerned face and sighed. "I can't hide anything from you, can I?"
Ginny shook her head. "No, you can't. Now what is it?"
Harry looked at her and frowned slightly. "Can I tell you about it later? I don't mean to put you off, Gin, but I'm afraid that if I even let myself start to think about it I might not be able to focus on the game."
Ron and Neville came over and when Harry saw them looked at Ron with pleading eyes, silently asking him to explain to Ginny that he really didn't want to talk about what he had seen that night. Ron led Ginny a few steps away and began explaining Harry's secret spying missions to her in whispered tones and Neville looked into his friend's eyes with an expression of genuine concern. "Are you going to be all right, Harry? I mean, it's not too late to call in one of the reserve chasers if you would rather not."
Harry shook his head and smiled. "No, but thanks. I'll be fine. I need to do this to help me get my mind off of it."
Neville nodded. "Okay."
A few minutes later, just before the teams were going to be introduced, Ginny came over and took hold of his hand. "I'll always be here for you, you know."
Harry smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "Thanks," he said. "Maybe tomorrow we can do a private dinner in my trunk so we can talk about it."
Ginny smiled and leaned up, kissing him on the cheek. "I'd like that," she whispered into his ear as the doors flew open and the announcer screamed, "AND HERE COMES GRYFFINDOR!"
The announcer's voice was strangely familiar but Harry couldn't quite place it until Professor McGonogal made her first warning. "Back after a year long absence, thanks to an ungrateful old bitty who . . ."
"Wood!" Professor McGonagall warned.
Harry smiled and almost laughed out loud. Oliver Wood was back.
"Erm . . . yes professor. Anyway, back as Seeker, after a year long absence, is none other than Harry Potter!" The roar in the stands was earsplitting not only because of the cheering that effectively drowned out any noise from the Slytherin section but because someone conjured a giant lion's head that let out a deafening roar. "Er, yeah," Oliver said, nervously glancing over his shoulder at the apparition. "Potter is one of the Gryffindor Team Captains this year and I know for a fact that he has only failed to catch the snitch once in all the matches he has played.
"Returning as Keeper this year, after a very successful debut last year is Ron Weasley, the other Gryffindor Team Captain and youngest brother of the infamous Weasley twins who were forced to retire last year . . ."
"Wood, I'm warning you," McGonagall growled.
"Er . . ." The rest of his apology was drowned out by a mixture of laughter at his predicament, cheers from the crowd and the reappearance of the roaring lion's head.
As the introductions continued the lion's head made five more appearances, effectively quashing any comments from the intimidated Slytherins. When Madam Hooch called the captains together she made her usual speech about wanting a "good, clean game" then had them shake hands. Orville Burns, one of the Slytherin Captains stepped forward and, attempting to crush Harry's hand, sneered, "Say your prayers, Potter. You're going down this time.
Harry maintained his grip and reflected most of the pressure Burns was exerting back at him. Innocently smiling at his adversary Harry said, "I have no problem with that so long as it's a fair fight. But then again, if it's a fair fight I don't think you stand much of a chance."
Burns growled but didn't say anything.
When everyone was in the air Madam Hooch released the bludgers and snitch. She threw the quaffel up into the air and blew her whistle. The lion roared again and the game was on.
It was a hectic, fast-paced match that would have done the Irish and Bulgarian national teams proud if everyone had been flying Firebolts. But then again, Oliver was having a hard enough time keeping up with the action. The Gryffindor Team, aside from Harry, may not have had the fastest brooms in the world but they were easily out flying the Slytherins. And by the number of lion's roars coming from the stands Harry could only guess that the Gryffindor Chasers were enjoying a successful run. He, however, had tuned out most of the commentary and was focusing on finding the snitch.
At one point, to shake the Slytherin Seeker off his tail, as he had been marking Harry most of the game, Harry dropped into a steep, vertical dive straight through a Gryffindor formation. In his mind he knew it was a Wronski Feint but the Slytherin Seeker didn't know that Harry hadn't seen the snitch and followed Harry into the dive. Harry accelerated into the dive until, with mere centimeters to spare, he pulled out of the dive and started climbing back up into the match. Moments later he cringed as the Slytherin Seeker plowed into the ground with a sickening crunch.
He wasn't surprised when Madam Hooch blew her whistle for time and Madam Pomfrey ran out onto the field to attend to the injured player. Harry swung around and hovered over the injured Slytherine and looked down with heart felt concern. He hadn't meant for his opponent to get hurt; all he had wanted to do was scare him a little so he would stop marking him. He slowly dropped down to hover beside the injured player as Madam Pomfery conjured a stretcher and levitated the boy onto it. "Is he going to be alright?" he asked softly.
Madam Pomfery looked up and nodded. "He'll be fine. I don't know where you learned that move, Mister Potter, but I don't think you are going to have any more trouble with seekers marking you after this."
Harry looked at her curiously for several seconds until she walked away, leading the stretcher and its occupant off the field and up to the castle.
"It was his own fault, you know," Ginny said as she glided in to hover beside him. "Ever since you started playing the other seekers have been marking you. They have got to learn to play their own games."
Harry looked over at her and smiled weakly. "Yeah, I know. That doesn't make it any easier, though."
"I know," she said gently, "but you can't let others' weaknesses stand in the way of your strengths."
Harry smiled, a little more confidently this time, and said, "Yeah, you're right. What's the score anyway?"
Ginny looked at him and laughed. "You really are in your own little world up there aren't you?" Harry blushed. "Don't worry!" she laughed again. "I was up there last year, remember? I know what it's like. The score is 130 - 10 in our favor."
Harry smiled hesitantly and was about to say something when Madam Hooch appeared in front of them. "Get up there!" she barked.
Harry and Ginny looked at Madam Hooch then quickly glanced at each other and took off, rising to their normal playing positions. Five minutes later, when the score was 160 - 10 in favor of Gryffindor, Harry saw the snitch. The only real problem was that it was hovering right behind Ron.
Harry began his run from above the Slytherin goals and barreled down the pitch, racing past chasers, beaters and bludgers, flying straight towards Ron at top speed. He could see the panic in Ron's eyes as his best friend realized he was on a collision course. With less than five seconds to impact Harry screamed, "ROLL!" At the last possible moment Ron rolled to his left and hung upside down as Harry rocketed through the goal and grabbed the snitch. As his fingers closed around the golden walnut sized ball he pulled up on his broom and made a gracefully sweeping arc up and over the pitch.
"THAT WAS FANTASTIC!" Oliver screamed. "I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT! POTTER IS BACK AND WITH A VENGENCE!"
Harry flew back to the goal posts and smiled sheepishly at Ron. "Sorry about that, mate," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you but 310 - 10 is good enough to prove the point."
Ron looked pale. His eyes were wide and sweat was streaming down his face. "Uh . . . yeah. D-d-do you m-m-mind if I g-g-g-go ch-ch-ch-change now?"
Harry studied Ron curiously for a few second until realized what his friend was talking about then burst out laughing. "You can go change any time you want, Ron!"
The crowd was going wild as Ron flew off to the locker rooms and the lion was making repeated appearances every few seconds, causing the quidditch pitch to echo with its roars and startling several flocks of birds in the Forbidden Forest. As Harry, snitch in hand, floated down to the ground Ginny wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight, celebratory hug. When she finally released him she looked up, laughing, and said, "Where's Ron?"
Harry leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Don't tell anyone but I think he wet himself."
Ginny looked up at Harry and her eyes grew wide as her mouth fell open in shock. Moments later, however, she was doubled over in laughter. At that moment someone wrapped their arm around his shoulders and screamed, "When I told you to die for the snitch, Harry, I didn't mean for you to take everyone else with you! That was some fantastic flying!"
Harry turned to look at the man beside. "What are you doing here, Oliver?" he asked.
"We had a bye this week so we came in to learn about your charm and I asked McGonagall if I could announce the game."
No sooner had Oliver shouted his reply than Harry felt himself being pulled into an overpowering hug. "WE WON! WE WON! WE WON!" Hermione screamed jumping up and down while hugging Harry, her face a picture of ecstasy and joy. Then, looking around, she asked, "Where's Ron?"
Ginny, who was still laughing at Harry's earlier comment, looked up briefly and then burst out laughing again. Hermione looked at Ginny then back at Harry. "Ron's in the changing room," Harry said. "He's had a pretty rough day."
"I'll say," Oliver said. "He had twelve saves. There are going to be a lot of teams looking at him next year."
Hermione looked at Oliver and even though she seemed to recognize his face she didn't say anything. "Hermione, you remember Oliver Wood," Harry said by way of introduction.
Hermione got that far away, glazed look on her face that let everyone know she was thinking then suddenly smiled. "Oh, yes. I remember you. Oliver Wood, the terror of the seven G's weren't you?"
Harry cringed at Hermione's use of the nickname the quidditch team had given their former captain. Oliver shook his head and smiled. "Not any more," he laughed. "Now I'm on the receiving end of some of the hell I put that team through."
"Where'd that lion come from, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Did you like it?"
"Of course I did. It was a little unnerving at first but it was a nice effect. Who conjured it?"
Hermione smiled and began to laugh again. "Luna and I go together and expanded her hat idea from last year."
Harry just shook his head and laughed. "You two. I'm glad Ginny's on the team . . ."
Hermione blushed and Harry put his arm around her shoulders. "That's alright, Hermione," he said. "It's kind of amazing, really. A few years ago you couldn't care less about the game and here you and Luna are coming up with one of the best cheer's I've ever seen."
Hermione blushed again.
When they reached the entrance to the changing room Harry, Ginny, Neville and the rest of the team as well as Oliver and a few of his teammates went inside while Hermione and Luna moved to the changing rooms' main entrance to await their return.
After his shower Harry was getting dressed and only half listening to the conversations going on around him when he heard Oliver and one of the Puddlemere United Beaters talking about the new Electra 5000 series of brooms that was expected to be out the following year. "Yeah, the reviews sound really great," the beater was saying, "but it doesn't sound like they have been tested on a quidditch pith yet."
"I know what you mean," Oliver agreed. "It sounds like the initial tests were pretty extreme but I would still like to know how they handle under normal circumstances."
As he finished tying his trainers Harry stood up and, while walking over to Oliver's group, winked at Ron, Neville and Ginny who joined him. "Actually, they haven't been tested on a quidditch pitch yet," he said.
Oliver turned around. "What do you mean? How do you know?"
Ron smirked. "We flew the prototypes into battle in Romania at the end of September. That's how we know."
"And we haven't been practicing with them because they aren't allowed on the pitch yet," Neville added.
The entire Puddlemere team turned to stare at the four students. "You mean you were the testers?" one of the chasers asked.
Harry smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. The four of us tested them in combat."
"That's where we got some of our new plays and formations," Ron said.
A sandy haired man who looked to be in his late 20's or early 30's stepped forward and reached out to shake Harry's hand. "I'd like to talk to you about some of those plays. They were absolutely amazing. The name's Stephen Douglas. I'm the Puddlemere United Captain."
Harry took his hand and shook it. "Harry Potter. But the one you want to talk to is Ron. I just sit up there and watch them unfold and look for the snitch. He's the real mastermind behind the plays."
As they left the locker room they were joined by Hermione and Luna. The entire Gryffindor team was engaged in a lively conversation about quidditch tactics and strategies with their Puddlemere United counterparts as they made their way up to the castle but Ron, Ginny and Neville were getting most of the attention. When they were about half way to the castle a slightly build young woman with short blond hair and hazel eyes stepped over and started walking beside Harry. "Alison Nolan," she said. "I'm Puddlmere's Seeker."
"Nice to meet you," Harry said. "I'm Harry Potter."
"In know," she blushed. "Harry, I must tell you that that is the first successful Wronski Feint I've seen since Krum did it in the World Cup two years ago."
Harry cringed at the memory of the sound of the Slytherin Seeker plowing into the ground and the aftermath. "I didn't mean for him to get hurt," he mumbled. "I just wanted to scare him a bit so he would stop marking me."
"I understand," she said. "He's an inexperienced flyer. But where did you learn to do it so well?"
"Romania," Harry said simply. "Sometimes the only way to get a Death Eater off your tail is to out fly them. Ginny and I can both do them and Ron and Neville have a pincer move that is flat deadly if you aren't expecting it."
She stopped. "You weren't kidding? You really did test the prototypes in Romania?"
Harry looked at her, his eyes starting to glaze over with the haunting memories of that terrible night. "Yes," he said. "We really did test them in a combat situation. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go up to the Hospital Wing and check on their seeker."
"Sure thing," she said,
Harry caught up with Ginny and told her that he would catch up with them in the Great Hall because he wanted to go check on the Slytherin Seeker. Ron over heard their conversation and said, "I don't see why, Harry. I mean he is a Slytherin after all."
Harry turned and glared at Ron for a moment. "This isn't Romania, Ron!" he snapped, "Its just a game."
Ron blushed and dropped his eyes to the floor. "Yeah," he said. "You're right. Do you want any company?"
"No," Harry said. "I'll be fine. You guy's go on ahead. I'll meet you at lunch."
When Harry entered the hospital wing fifteen minutes later Madam Pomfrey met him at the door. "What can I do for you, Mister Potter?" she asked.
"I just came to check on Brian Daniels," Harry said. "I didn't mean for him to get hurt. I just wanted to scare him a little."
"I understand," Madam Pomfrey said. "That's one of the things I've never liked about that sport. The weaker players try to copy the better ones and usually wind up getting hurt. I've notified all of the house teams that under no circumstances are any of their seekers to mark you during a match."
"What are you doing here, Potter?" Orville Burns spat as Harry and Madam Pomfrey approached the injured seeker's bed.
"This is a game, Burns!" Harry growled, his anger level rising to dangerous heights. "It isn't war. I don't know if you have ever fought in an actual war or not but I have." Harry's voice was dangerously dark now and he was struggling to control his temper. "Quidditch is not a matter of life and death. I happen to care about people. If you want to be pig headed about it and not care that's your problem; but I am not going to let you stop me from caring about an innocent victim of an accident that never should have happened. I didn't ask him to follow me into that dive. He did it of his own accord and now he's paying the price. All I want to know is if he is going to be alright."
Burns and the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team blanched at the near outburst and took a step back from Harry. "He'll be fine," Madam Pomfrey said, breaking the tense silence that followed. "Would you like me to let you know when he wakes up?"
Harry broke eye contact with Orville and shook himself out of his darkening mood. Looking quickly at Madam Pomfrey he said, "Yes," turned around and almost, but not quite, literally stormed out of the Hospital Wing.
By the time Harry reached the Great Hall a few minutes later he had calmed himself down for the most part and decided to let Burns and the other Slytherins deal with it on their own. He honestly didn't think they knew what war was all about and he knew that no amount of talking could convince them that quidditch was just a game. They would have to experience the terrors of war first hand before they realized how trivial these house rivalries were. Part of him wanted them to have had these experiences yesterday while another part of him wanted them to never have to go through it.
When he joined Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, the rest of the Gryffindor quidditch team, and the Puddlemere United Reserve Team, in the Great Hall Ron and Oliver were talking about the latest developments on the international quidditch scene. "Yeah," Oliver was saying, "I guess ol' Krum must be thinking about retiring."
""What do you mean?" Ron asked, glancing at Hermione for some sign. Hermione, however, looked as shocked as Ron and shrugged her shoulders to indicate that she hadn't heard anything either.
"Well, it seems Bulgaria is looking for a new Seeker and they want them there by the end of the year," Oliver said. "I mean they already have a reserve and a second alternate. But the scuttlebutt is that Krum is taking an extended leave starting in January and they want to fill the third position before he leaves."
"I wonder what that's all about," Ron thought out loud.
"I don't know," Oliver said. "But it will be interesting to find out. I mean he's only twenty. He's at his prime. He's still got a lot of good years ahead of him."
"Maybe he's found something a little more important than quidditch," Harry said.
Oliver looked up suddenly and stared at Harry in disbelief. Then, after a moment's hesitation his expression softened and he said, "You know, Harry, if these guys hadn't filled me in on your experiences in Romania and Hogsmeade this year I would call you a traitor. But you're right. Maybe he has found something worth fighting for."
The rest of that afternoon was spent visiting with Oliver and his teammates. Ron met with their team captain and, with minimal input from Harry, described several of the team's new formations and Neville and Ginny and the rest of the Gryffindor team discussed tactics with their Puddlemere United counterparts. After a while Harry Ron, Ginny and Neville retrieved their Electra 5000 prototypes from Dumbledore's office and gave demonstrations of some of the moves they had used in Romania. Ron and Neville even demonstrated their pincer move in which they flew straight at each other at top speed only veering off at the last possible moment. If anyone had been following them they, the trackers, would have collided in mid air and been finished. Each of the Puddlemere flyers then took a turn on one of the prototype brooms and was suitably impressed by the handling and performance.