Well... here's my next chapter... And thanks again to my better-reader Rain
Warrior! As you can see I like to stick to the main storyline of J.K.
Rowling (I stress 'main' as if I don't change it a bit, there would be no
point in this) but adding my character Eleanor in, changing it quite a bit.
I hope you like it! And please Review! And tell me if there are any
mistakes please!!! =P
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The First Day
"Morning Harry! Morning Ron!" Eleanor greeted them as they entered the Great Hall taking a seat opposite her.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, searching up and down the table with his eyes.
"Right here!" she replied, "Hermione?"
no response,
"Hermione?" Still no response, finally she gave up and pulled a thick book away from her sister's face, smiling, causing Ron to turn a tomato-red.
"Hey!" Hermione protested, "Give that back!"
"If you must read non-stop Hermione, at least don't go into a trance again!" Eleanor said irritated, "Honestly! You do it all the time!"
"Sorry!" Hermione replied sheepishly, "I swear I won't do it again!" she added picking up her book again flipping through the pages.
"Wow!" Ron exclaimed looking down at his tie, "They change to the Gryffindor colours!"
"Yeah," Eleanor explained smiling making Ron to turn red again just as he was turning back to his normal colour, he was actually waiting for Harry's reply. "They have to mark us in some way to show us which house we're from." Hermione looked up from her book, "Honestly! Didn't you know?" she said in a know-it-all-voice.
"How ya doin' Harry?" a great booming voice, with a Yorkshire accent, asked. Harry looked up and saw Hagrid smiling down at him.
"Holy Merlin!" Ron swore a bit of toast hanging limply out of his mouth, " I know you! You're Hagrid!"
"And you're one of the Weasley boys!" Hagrid replied smiling broadly, "Yeah! I'm Ron! My brothers told me all about you!" Ron continued looking Hagrid searchingly up and down. "How do you know Harry?" "I helped Harry get his school supplies!" he said winking at Harry.
"Who's this?" Hagrid asked, pointing at Eleanor, who was staring at him. "I'm Eleanor Granger!" she said, "and this is Hermione! Hermione! Lower your book!" she added as she noticed that Hermione didn't even look up when her name was mentioned.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" she said looking up from her book, "Hello!"
"Well gotta go folks! Can't keep me gamekeeper duties waiting." Hagrid said turning to leave, "Good luck on your first day!"
"You do know, that you two were half an hour late right?" Hermione questioned finally laying her book down and looking at them. "Our lessons are going to start in twenty minutes. I would be more organized if I were you!" she said passing them their timetables.
"Did you get lost?" Eleanor asked kindly. "Yes, we did," Harry replied, "Hogwarts is SO big! And with all those moving stairs and hidden passageways, it doesn't make it any easier!"
"Well there are things around called maps you know!" Eleanor said turning a piece of parchment over, "Here you can have mine Hermione and I can share."
"Thanks!" Harry said. He marveled at her kindness towards him, he had been wondering a lot about her since he saw her necklace glimmering. It has reminded him a lot about his.
"Looks like we have potions next." Eleanor said, trying to start a conversation with the shy Ron, "We might want to leave early so that we can get there on time." Ron just mumbled an agreement and avoided her eyes, by staring down at his cereal instead.
* * * "Mr Potter! Can you please tell me what will happen when I added powdered root of asphodel to and infusion of wormwood?" What on earth? Harry thought, as Hermione's hand shot into the air. He gave Ron a pleading look, but Ron's eyes told him didn't have a clue either. He gave up and said, "I don't know sir... but I think she does!"
"Well, well, well so it proves my hypothesis that knowledge doesn't come automatically with fame!" professor Snape sneered meanly, causing the Slytherins to roar with laughter. "This is not looking very good Mr Potter! Don't you read your textbooks before starting a year? Or do you think that the famous Harry Potter doesn't need to read his textbooks, because he is to high and mighty?" Again the Slytherins exploded with laughter as they heard their head of house insult the Gryffindor. "Ten points from Gryffindor. I hope that will dampen your ego a bit, Mr Potter." Harry scowled at his back as he walked away. Why did he hate him so much? What had he done to this Snape for him to loath Harry? These thought swum through Harry's mind as he copied down the recipe on the board.
The lesson continued somewhat unpleasantly as professor Snape walked up and down the rows breathing down Neville's neck, reading a mistake he had made.
"Mr Longbottom! It says bezoar! Not benzoate! I'll recommend getting glasses Mr Longbottom, as flaws like these do not go hand-in-hand with Potions!" he ended greasily. Leaving Neville shaking with fear, sweat beads forming on his forehead.
Harry looked up, resting his aching hand; (he just wasn't used to writing with a quill yet), and caught Ron looking, or rather gaping, at Eleanor. Her hair was hanging down onto the table on one side, cheeks pink and flushed with concentration, her soft hazel eyes moving up and down the page every now and then checking her work.
"Mr Weasley!" Snape snapped, making Ron and Harry jump, "If you can't concentrate around your peers, please move!" Ron looked down at his work, Hermione rolling her eyes and Eleanor frowning, she obviously didn't know what just happened, Hermione just thought that Harry and Ron had been talking.
* * * For the next lesson the Griffindors and Slytherins found themselves outside standing on dewy, morning grass in front of the castle. A shrill whistle sounded in the distant as a short woman with short spiky grey hair approached them.
"My name is Madame Hooch! Please find yourself a broom and stand next to it!" she ordered. Harry found himself a broom and stood next to it, with Ron on his left and Eleanor on his right. "Now say 'up'!" Madame Hooch shouted, "and DO NOT MOUNT YOUR BROOM!!!"
Many "up"s sounded through the morning air as only a few brooms decided to obey their masters. Harry, Eleanor and Draco were one of those few who got their brooms up into their hands on their first call. Slowly the others followed, Ron's first attempt ending up with a large 'smack' in his face, causing Harry and Eleanor a fit of laughter. "Shut up!" Ron remarked grinning at his own flaw, "Both of you!"
"Now mount your broom!" Madame Hooch said, "BUT DO NOT KICK OFF!" Everyone put his or her leg over the broom and a puzzled Harry followed suit.
"Now on my count of three, kick off and point the broom upward, stay up for a second AND COME BACK DOWN IMMEDIATELY! By pointing it down!" Madame Hooch screeched, "DO NOT WAVER AROUND! COME DOWN IMMEDIATELY! UNDERSTOOD!?!"
She was replied by a dull, "Yes, Madame Hooch!" (The type that you usually get when a naïve teacher says brightly "Good Morning class!") And she put her fingers in the air counting, "ONE, TWO-"she was interrupted as a nervous Neville, eager not to be left behind on the ground, kicked of a second to soon.
"HEY YOU!!! COME BACK DOWN THIS VERY INSTANT!!" Madame Hooche screamed, but she might as well have been talking to the broom, as a bewildered Neville rose higher and higher of the ground. Madame Hooch continued shouting at a frantic Neville who swayed this way and that letting the broom have full control over him. He 'flew' or rather swayed like a drunkard towards the castle and got hooked on the spear of a stone gargoyle, his broom drifting to the ground and Neville landing with a sickening 'thud' on the ground.
Madame Hooche rushed over to the semi-conscious Neville picking him and helping him to the Hospital Wing.
"IF ANY OFF YOU DARE TO TOUCH A BROOM WHILE I'M AWAY, YOU'LL BE EXPELLED BEFORE YOU CAN SAY THE WORD 'FLY'!!!!" she added as she helped the moaning Neville hobble along.
"That was quite entertaining wasn't it?" Malfoy sneered, "Oh look what I found!" He said picking up Neville's remember-all. "I'll go put this in a place where Longbottom can find it!"
With that he picked up a broom and kicked off flying above their heads. "Hmmm..." Malfoy jeered, "Where shall I put this?" He was a good flyer, no doubt, just like he had said. Harry felt the anger swell up in him and before he knew what he was doing, he was level with Malfoy. "Give that back or I'll knock you of that broom!" he warned.
"I'd like to see that!" Malfoy replied, looking paler than usual. This Potter was an excellent flyer!
"Well your cronies aren't here to save you! So you better just do as we say!" Eleanor's threatening voice sounded not far behind Harry. Harry spun around and saw that she was level with them on a broom, "and I'd be scared if I were you Malfoy! Because Harry and I are very good flyers!" She added as she made a plunge at him.
Malfoy, who just escaped by mere centimeters, was shocked, the colour draining his face. He quickly regained himself and threw the remember-all as far as he could.
Meanwhile on the ground Hermione and Ron were screaming their heads off. Both screaming two very different things. "ELEANOR GRANGER!!! GET DOWN THIS INSTANT!!! WE HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN HERE FOR A DAY AND YOU WANT TO BE EXPELLED!?! GET DOWN!!! HARRY YOU IDIOT!!! YOU'LL BREAK YOUR NECK IF YOU FALL!!!"
"GO HARRY!!! SHOW HIM WHAT A GIT HE REALLY IS!!! THAT'S IT ELEANOR!!! KICK THAT STUPID PRAT IF YOU NEED!!!"
"Harry! GET IT!!!" Eleanor screamed, watching the little ball travel horizontally through the air before plunging towards the ground. What Harry did next he could hardly remember, what made him do it he absolutely didn't know and how he did it, well everything seemed possible to him after he found out that he was a wizard. He chased after it at breakneck speed grabbing it out of the air and halting just before he reached the castle wall. He didn't notice a bewildered and surprised professor McGonagall looking out of the window, or his joy would have been short lived.
Meanwhile...
"So do you think you mud-blood can kick me off this broom?" Malfoy asked, "You think you can fly even though you're a filthy mud-blood? You and that stupid prat Potter think you're heroes?" Eleanor's blood ran cold. She whisked around and flew straight at him and shot a well-aimed kick at his shoulder. This made Malfoy unstable and scared and he flew back down, but Eleanor wasn't done with him yet and chased after him and caught him before he reached the ground, dangling him by his collar, and kicking his broom away.
"Don't you ever, ever, EVER call me OR my sister a mud-blood!" she said coldly, "Or YOU will PAY BIG!!!" and thrust him onto the ground, "Arrogant git!" she added.
Eleanor drifted back to the ground and dismounted and started walking away towards the Gryffindors, who were busy congratulating and cheering Harry. She stopped halfway and turned around, "Malfoy, I wouldn't try cursing me behind my back!" she said; Malfoy standing with his wand in his hand as if about to strike, "Because one: you probably don't know any curses, two: you'll get into trouble, and three: it's the most un-honorably thing you could do and I don't think you want to let your honor fall even more after getting trashed by a GRYFFINDOR GIRL!!!" and she turned back with a happy victorious smile on her face, leaving the poor Malfoy hanging with his mouth open, quite taken aback.
"Harry Potter and Eleanor Granger!!!" a voice echoed across the lawn, "Come here this very second!" an angry professor McGonagall marched out to group of students. Heads hung, Harry and Eleanor followed her back up to the castle.
"Professor?" Eleanor asked in her sweetest, most timid voice, "Umm... are we going to get expelled? Because it wasn't Harry's fault! I told him to get the remember-all, and as for me kicking Malfoy, well, he called me a filthy mudblood and that set me off! Honestly!" she said giving professor McGonagall her sweetest, most innocent smile. She's not like her sister at all! Harry thought as they followed professor McGonagall down a passageway. McGonagall just sighed and shook her head.
They reached a classroom door and professor McGonagall knocked and asked, "Excuse me, professor Quirrell? Could I please have Wood for a minute?"
"Wood?" Eleanor whispered, "I didn't think they'd cane anymore as a punishment!" Harry gulped, well at least they weren't getting expelled, he thought.
"Mr Wood," professor MacGonagall said talking to a tall boy with brown hair, "You can chose your new Seeker from these two! This is Harry Potter and Eleanor Granger." "Mr Potter, Ms Granger this is Oliver Wood he is the Gryffindor Quidditch captain this year." She said turning to the two.
"Er... Professor?" Oliver asked looking down at Harry and Eleanor with knitted brows, "Aren't they a bit young?" "Well I'll ask if the headmaster can bend a few rules," MacGonagal answered excitedly, "they are the best I've seen in ages! You can choose who'll be reserve and who can be active." "Sure!" Oliver replied, looking enthusiastically at them.
"It has been so long since the Quidditch cup has been ours!" the professor exclaimed, "Last year I couldn't even look Snape in the eye for weeks, when Slytherin won for the how-many-ith time!"
"You two better do well!" she said stooping low and whispering into their ears, "or I'll have to be obliged to punish you!" "Well get back to your classes!" she said straightening up with a smile and walked away.
"I'll meet you two on the Quidditch pitch at six, ok?" Oliver asked. Eleanor nodded, "We'll be there!" she said.
"Wait, Eleanor! Wrong way!" Harry said as she turned to the left. "No follow me, I want to show you something!" and she led him down another corridor and stopped at a glass cabinet. "Look Harry!" she said with pride, "It must run in the family!" and pointed at a small brass plate on an old Quidditch trophy.
Harry's heart skipped a beat as he saw the engraving spell 'James Potter'. He turned and looked at Eleanor her eyes still fixed on the little plate, pride and misery danced about in her hazel eyes and for a minute they stood there in silence just staring at the plate.
* * * "I don't believe it!" that was Ron's and Hermione's answer when they told them the news, Ron's full of pride and envy, Hermione's full of pride and horror. "Well done guys!" George said, "Oliver told us! We're on the team too! We're the Beaters!" he slashed his hand through the air, holding a non- existing bat. "You two must be great flyers!" Fred whispered.
"You two must be the youngest players in..." Ron wondered. "A centaury." Harry finished for Ron, causing his jaw to drop showing it's contents. "Yuk!" Hermione said in a disgusted voice, "Close your mouth!" "Don't tell anyone!" Eleanor warned, "Oliver told us to keep it quiet." "You can trust us!" Hermione said sighing.
"And that was a great Malfoy-thrashing!" George congratulated. "News flies fast, doesn't it?" Eleanor remarked, smiling broadly. "Oh yes it does!" Fred said, "Ron told Dean, Dean told Angelina and Angelina told Fred and Fred told me!" Fred ended trying to keep a straight face. "You idiot!" Eleanor laughed, "So who told poor George?"
"So packing your bags yet Potter?" a drawling voice sounded behind Harry. Harry spun around and saw Malfoy closely followed by a scowling Crabbe and Goyle. "I see your more daring with your cronies behind you!" Eleanor said coolly, helping herself to a big spoon of mash potato topping it with a thick blob of gravy. "That's quite sad you know!" she said casually, purposely- accidentally flinging the contents of her spoon onto the front Malfoy's robes. "You!" Malfoy breathed furiously, "You DAMNED IDIOT!" "Oops! So sorry!" she apologized full of sarcasm. Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles, but refrained to that, as the Head Table was full. "And for your information, Mafoy, we aren't packing our bags yet, for a long time!" Eleanor ended gleefully, with Fred, George and Ron chanting in the background, "Malfoy had an accident, Malfoy had an accident..."
* * * "So Harry, Eleanor, do you know anything about Quidditch?" Oliver asked at six o'clock on the Quidditch Pitch. Harry shook his head, but Eleanor answered, "Just a bit, the basics, such as the players on the team the major rules and different types of balls." "Well that's a good start! As for you Harry I'll explain it to you while, you, Eleanor go fly around and warm up!" "K" Eleanor replied picking up a broom and zooming off.
"Hmmm... professor McGonagall was right!" Oliver commented watching Eleanor race around the pitch, her balck wavy hair billowing behind her, "Ok, now back to business..." and he explained all the types off balls, players and rules in Quidditch.
At last he showed Harry a small, winged, golden ball. "See this Harry!" he said holding it up, "This is the most important thing in the game to you Harry, the Seeker has to find this tiny ball and catch it, earning their team a hundred and fifty points and ending the game." And he let go of it, "Eleanor! See the Snitch?" Eleanor nodded, "Please catch it and bring it back!"
They watched as Eleanor squinted her eyes scanning the pitch, finally catching sight of a little golden glimmer at the bottom of one of the goal posts. She made a dive and caught the Snitch just before hitting the ground. She flew back to Harry and Oliver and handed it to her captain. "Well done! Excellent stuff!" Oliver said impressed, "Now I'm going to hold a short competition between you two! I'll let the Snitch go and who catches it first gets a point, we'll do that three times and see the outcome! Wait till I tell you to go!" Eleanor rose into the air again Harry following closely. He could feel the gush of the wind, inviting him as it plashed against his face, a sense of freedom swept over him as he rose into the air. Oliver let the Snitch go and for a second it wavered around and sped off. "Ok, GO!" Oliver shouted and Harry and Eleanor sped after the Snitch, Oliver watching the black blurs whiz around the pitch, from the ground.
"I'm not a lady in the air Harry!" Eleanor said as they flew. "Neither am I a gent!" Harry replied grinning. Eleanor sped up in front of him and he chose to follow her rather than the Snitch. Realizing this, Eleanor led him around the pitch, while she searched for the Snitch, then suddenly she turned around and with vast speed raced past a confused Harry, and caught the Snitch.
"Great Faker Eleanor!" Oliver complimented as he let the Snitch go again, "Ok... GO!"
This time Harry was alert, his eyes darting over the Pitch. There! He spotted it a hundred yards in ahead of them was a faint glimmer. Too bad Eleanor saw it too. They raced side-by-side towards the Snitch, but something else that glimmered in the corner off his eye made him turn his head. Eleanor noticed it too and pulled up above him, Harry catching the Snitch.
"What?" a dazzled Oliver Wood asked, "Why did you pull up?" Eleanor just shrugged and soon the two were up soaring through the air again, pursuing the little golden ball. Both had learned from their mistakes and it was a very competitive chase. Eleanor occasionally nudging Harry aside and Harry trying to get her to follow him. It went on for ages. If one looked out of the window they could see a big silhouette racing around the Quidditch Pitch, the sky turning dark in the background.
Finally Oliver gave up waiting for them and blew his whistle, signaling for them to return. "Well done! Both of you!" Oliver said excitedly, "A bit too well done, but never-the-less you two both fly extremely well! So I conclude that you both play a real match each so that we can decide who's active and who's reserve."
"Umm... I don't think we need to do it that way," Eleanor protested nervously, "Harry can be active, I'll be reserve. I'm not very keen on it anyway..." Harry could she was lying, so could Oliver. "Well I'd rather do it this way, that way we can see how you both perform under pressure and in a team." Oliver said and that ended it, "Oh! By the way, you should get a broom! One better than this junk!"
Harry and Eleanor walked back, Oliver stayed behind to pack up. "Hey Eleanor, you know in the second round..." Harry started not sure whether or not to bring it up. "Yes?" "Well that glimmering thing?" Harry continued. Eleanor looked away and said, "I honestly don't know."
* * * "So, how did it go?" Hermione asked as the entered the common room. "Oliver said that he wanted us each to play a match, so that he could see who was better." Harry replied. Hermione's facial expression changed and pulled Eleanor aside whispering something hastily in her ear, Ron ad Harry looking on curiously. "I know! I know! Ok!" Eleanor said annoyed, "I tried!" she ended flopping down on an armchair nearby, "Life can be SO unfair!"
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The First Day
"Morning Harry! Morning Ron!" Eleanor greeted them as they entered the Great Hall taking a seat opposite her.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, searching up and down the table with his eyes.
"Right here!" she replied, "Hermione?"
no response,
"Hermione?" Still no response, finally she gave up and pulled a thick book away from her sister's face, smiling, causing Ron to turn a tomato-red.
"Hey!" Hermione protested, "Give that back!"
"If you must read non-stop Hermione, at least don't go into a trance again!" Eleanor said irritated, "Honestly! You do it all the time!"
"Sorry!" Hermione replied sheepishly, "I swear I won't do it again!" she added picking up her book again flipping through the pages.
"Wow!" Ron exclaimed looking down at his tie, "They change to the Gryffindor colours!"
"Yeah," Eleanor explained smiling making Ron to turn red again just as he was turning back to his normal colour, he was actually waiting for Harry's reply. "They have to mark us in some way to show us which house we're from." Hermione looked up from her book, "Honestly! Didn't you know?" she said in a know-it-all-voice.
"How ya doin' Harry?" a great booming voice, with a Yorkshire accent, asked. Harry looked up and saw Hagrid smiling down at him.
"Holy Merlin!" Ron swore a bit of toast hanging limply out of his mouth, " I know you! You're Hagrid!"
"And you're one of the Weasley boys!" Hagrid replied smiling broadly, "Yeah! I'm Ron! My brothers told me all about you!" Ron continued looking Hagrid searchingly up and down. "How do you know Harry?" "I helped Harry get his school supplies!" he said winking at Harry.
"Who's this?" Hagrid asked, pointing at Eleanor, who was staring at him. "I'm Eleanor Granger!" she said, "and this is Hermione! Hermione! Lower your book!" she added as she noticed that Hermione didn't even look up when her name was mentioned.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" she said looking up from her book, "Hello!"
"Well gotta go folks! Can't keep me gamekeeper duties waiting." Hagrid said turning to leave, "Good luck on your first day!"
"You do know, that you two were half an hour late right?" Hermione questioned finally laying her book down and looking at them. "Our lessons are going to start in twenty minutes. I would be more organized if I were you!" she said passing them their timetables.
"Did you get lost?" Eleanor asked kindly. "Yes, we did," Harry replied, "Hogwarts is SO big! And with all those moving stairs and hidden passageways, it doesn't make it any easier!"
"Well there are things around called maps you know!" Eleanor said turning a piece of parchment over, "Here you can have mine Hermione and I can share."
"Thanks!" Harry said. He marveled at her kindness towards him, he had been wondering a lot about her since he saw her necklace glimmering. It has reminded him a lot about his.
"Looks like we have potions next." Eleanor said, trying to start a conversation with the shy Ron, "We might want to leave early so that we can get there on time." Ron just mumbled an agreement and avoided her eyes, by staring down at his cereal instead.
* * * "Mr Potter! Can you please tell me what will happen when I added powdered root of asphodel to and infusion of wormwood?" What on earth? Harry thought, as Hermione's hand shot into the air. He gave Ron a pleading look, but Ron's eyes told him didn't have a clue either. He gave up and said, "I don't know sir... but I think she does!"
"Well, well, well so it proves my hypothesis that knowledge doesn't come automatically with fame!" professor Snape sneered meanly, causing the Slytherins to roar with laughter. "This is not looking very good Mr Potter! Don't you read your textbooks before starting a year? Or do you think that the famous Harry Potter doesn't need to read his textbooks, because he is to high and mighty?" Again the Slytherins exploded with laughter as they heard their head of house insult the Gryffindor. "Ten points from Gryffindor. I hope that will dampen your ego a bit, Mr Potter." Harry scowled at his back as he walked away. Why did he hate him so much? What had he done to this Snape for him to loath Harry? These thought swum through Harry's mind as he copied down the recipe on the board.
The lesson continued somewhat unpleasantly as professor Snape walked up and down the rows breathing down Neville's neck, reading a mistake he had made.
"Mr Longbottom! It says bezoar! Not benzoate! I'll recommend getting glasses Mr Longbottom, as flaws like these do not go hand-in-hand with Potions!" he ended greasily. Leaving Neville shaking with fear, sweat beads forming on his forehead.
Harry looked up, resting his aching hand; (he just wasn't used to writing with a quill yet), and caught Ron looking, or rather gaping, at Eleanor. Her hair was hanging down onto the table on one side, cheeks pink and flushed with concentration, her soft hazel eyes moving up and down the page every now and then checking her work.
"Mr Weasley!" Snape snapped, making Ron and Harry jump, "If you can't concentrate around your peers, please move!" Ron looked down at his work, Hermione rolling her eyes and Eleanor frowning, she obviously didn't know what just happened, Hermione just thought that Harry and Ron had been talking.
* * * For the next lesson the Griffindors and Slytherins found themselves outside standing on dewy, morning grass in front of the castle. A shrill whistle sounded in the distant as a short woman with short spiky grey hair approached them.
"My name is Madame Hooch! Please find yourself a broom and stand next to it!" she ordered. Harry found himself a broom and stood next to it, with Ron on his left and Eleanor on his right. "Now say 'up'!" Madame Hooch shouted, "and DO NOT MOUNT YOUR BROOM!!!"
Many "up"s sounded through the morning air as only a few brooms decided to obey their masters. Harry, Eleanor and Draco were one of those few who got their brooms up into their hands on their first call. Slowly the others followed, Ron's first attempt ending up with a large 'smack' in his face, causing Harry and Eleanor a fit of laughter. "Shut up!" Ron remarked grinning at his own flaw, "Both of you!"
"Now mount your broom!" Madame Hooch said, "BUT DO NOT KICK OFF!" Everyone put his or her leg over the broom and a puzzled Harry followed suit.
"Now on my count of three, kick off and point the broom upward, stay up for a second AND COME BACK DOWN IMMEDIATELY! By pointing it down!" Madame Hooch screeched, "DO NOT WAVER AROUND! COME DOWN IMMEDIATELY! UNDERSTOOD!?!"
She was replied by a dull, "Yes, Madame Hooch!" (The type that you usually get when a naïve teacher says brightly "Good Morning class!") And she put her fingers in the air counting, "ONE, TWO-"she was interrupted as a nervous Neville, eager not to be left behind on the ground, kicked of a second to soon.
"HEY YOU!!! COME BACK DOWN THIS VERY INSTANT!!" Madame Hooche screamed, but she might as well have been talking to the broom, as a bewildered Neville rose higher and higher of the ground. Madame Hooch continued shouting at a frantic Neville who swayed this way and that letting the broom have full control over him. He 'flew' or rather swayed like a drunkard towards the castle and got hooked on the spear of a stone gargoyle, his broom drifting to the ground and Neville landing with a sickening 'thud' on the ground.
Madame Hooche rushed over to the semi-conscious Neville picking him and helping him to the Hospital Wing.
"IF ANY OFF YOU DARE TO TOUCH A BROOM WHILE I'M AWAY, YOU'LL BE EXPELLED BEFORE YOU CAN SAY THE WORD 'FLY'!!!!" she added as she helped the moaning Neville hobble along.
"That was quite entertaining wasn't it?" Malfoy sneered, "Oh look what I found!" He said picking up Neville's remember-all. "I'll go put this in a place where Longbottom can find it!"
With that he picked up a broom and kicked off flying above their heads. "Hmmm..." Malfoy jeered, "Where shall I put this?" He was a good flyer, no doubt, just like he had said. Harry felt the anger swell up in him and before he knew what he was doing, he was level with Malfoy. "Give that back or I'll knock you of that broom!" he warned.
"I'd like to see that!" Malfoy replied, looking paler than usual. This Potter was an excellent flyer!
"Well your cronies aren't here to save you! So you better just do as we say!" Eleanor's threatening voice sounded not far behind Harry. Harry spun around and saw that she was level with them on a broom, "and I'd be scared if I were you Malfoy! Because Harry and I are very good flyers!" She added as she made a plunge at him.
Malfoy, who just escaped by mere centimeters, was shocked, the colour draining his face. He quickly regained himself and threw the remember-all as far as he could.
Meanwhile on the ground Hermione and Ron were screaming their heads off. Both screaming two very different things. "ELEANOR GRANGER!!! GET DOWN THIS INSTANT!!! WE HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN HERE FOR A DAY AND YOU WANT TO BE EXPELLED!?! GET DOWN!!! HARRY YOU IDIOT!!! YOU'LL BREAK YOUR NECK IF YOU FALL!!!"
"GO HARRY!!! SHOW HIM WHAT A GIT HE REALLY IS!!! THAT'S IT ELEANOR!!! KICK THAT STUPID PRAT IF YOU NEED!!!"
"Harry! GET IT!!!" Eleanor screamed, watching the little ball travel horizontally through the air before plunging towards the ground. What Harry did next he could hardly remember, what made him do it he absolutely didn't know and how he did it, well everything seemed possible to him after he found out that he was a wizard. He chased after it at breakneck speed grabbing it out of the air and halting just before he reached the castle wall. He didn't notice a bewildered and surprised professor McGonagall looking out of the window, or his joy would have been short lived.
Meanwhile...
"So do you think you mud-blood can kick me off this broom?" Malfoy asked, "You think you can fly even though you're a filthy mud-blood? You and that stupid prat Potter think you're heroes?" Eleanor's blood ran cold. She whisked around and flew straight at him and shot a well-aimed kick at his shoulder. This made Malfoy unstable and scared and he flew back down, but Eleanor wasn't done with him yet and chased after him and caught him before he reached the ground, dangling him by his collar, and kicking his broom away.
"Don't you ever, ever, EVER call me OR my sister a mud-blood!" she said coldly, "Or YOU will PAY BIG!!!" and thrust him onto the ground, "Arrogant git!" she added.
Eleanor drifted back to the ground and dismounted and started walking away towards the Gryffindors, who were busy congratulating and cheering Harry. She stopped halfway and turned around, "Malfoy, I wouldn't try cursing me behind my back!" she said; Malfoy standing with his wand in his hand as if about to strike, "Because one: you probably don't know any curses, two: you'll get into trouble, and three: it's the most un-honorably thing you could do and I don't think you want to let your honor fall even more after getting trashed by a GRYFFINDOR GIRL!!!" and she turned back with a happy victorious smile on her face, leaving the poor Malfoy hanging with his mouth open, quite taken aback.
"Harry Potter and Eleanor Granger!!!" a voice echoed across the lawn, "Come here this very second!" an angry professor McGonagall marched out to group of students. Heads hung, Harry and Eleanor followed her back up to the castle.
"Professor?" Eleanor asked in her sweetest, most timid voice, "Umm... are we going to get expelled? Because it wasn't Harry's fault! I told him to get the remember-all, and as for me kicking Malfoy, well, he called me a filthy mudblood and that set me off! Honestly!" she said giving professor McGonagall her sweetest, most innocent smile. She's not like her sister at all! Harry thought as they followed professor McGonagall down a passageway. McGonagall just sighed and shook her head.
They reached a classroom door and professor McGonagall knocked and asked, "Excuse me, professor Quirrell? Could I please have Wood for a minute?"
"Wood?" Eleanor whispered, "I didn't think they'd cane anymore as a punishment!" Harry gulped, well at least they weren't getting expelled, he thought.
"Mr Wood," professor MacGonagall said talking to a tall boy with brown hair, "You can chose your new Seeker from these two! This is Harry Potter and Eleanor Granger." "Mr Potter, Ms Granger this is Oliver Wood he is the Gryffindor Quidditch captain this year." She said turning to the two.
"Er... Professor?" Oliver asked looking down at Harry and Eleanor with knitted brows, "Aren't they a bit young?" "Well I'll ask if the headmaster can bend a few rules," MacGonagal answered excitedly, "they are the best I've seen in ages! You can choose who'll be reserve and who can be active." "Sure!" Oliver replied, looking enthusiastically at them.
"It has been so long since the Quidditch cup has been ours!" the professor exclaimed, "Last year I couldn't even look Snape in the eye for weeks, when Slytherin won for the how-many-ith time!"
"You two better do well!" she said stooping low and whispering into their ears, "or I'll have to be obliged to punish you!" "Well get back to your classes!" she said straightening up with a smile and walked away.
"I'll meet you two on the Quidditch pitch at six, ok?" Oliver asked. Eleanor nodded, "We'll be there!" she said.
"Wait, Eleanor! Wrong way!" Harry said as she turned to the left. "No follow me, I want to show you something!" and she led him down another corridor and stopped at a glass cabinet. "Look Harry!" she said with pride, "It must run in the family!" and pointed at a small brass plate on an old Quidditch trophy.
Harry's heart skipped a beat as he saw the engraving spell 'James Potter'. He turned and looked at Eleanor her eyes still fixed on the little plate, pride and misery danced about in her hazel eyes and for a minute they stood there in silence just staring at the plate.
* * * "I don't believe it!" that was Ron's and Hermione's answer when they told them the news, Ron's full of pride and envy, Hermione's full of pride and horror. "Well done guys!" George said, "Oliver told us! We're on the team too! We're the Beaters!" he slashed his hand through the air, holding a non- existing bat. "You two must be great flyers!" Fred whispered.
"You two must be the youngest players in..." Ron wondered. "A centaury." Harry finished for Ron, causing his jaw to drop showing it's contents. "Yuk!" Hermione said in a disgusted voice, "Close your mouth!" "Don't tell anyone!" Eleanor warned, "Oliver told us to keep it quiet." "You can trust us!" Hermione said sighing.
"And that was a great Malfoy-thrashing!" George congratulated. "News flies fast, doesn't it?" Eleanor remarked, smiling broadly. "Oh yes it does!" Fred said, "Ron told Dean, Dean told Angelina and Angelina told Fred and Fred told me!" Fred ended trying to keep a straight face. "You idiot!" Eleanor laughed, "So who told poor George?"
"So packing your bags yet Potter?" a drawling voice sounded behind Harry. Harry spun around and saw Malfoy closely followed by a scowling Crabbe and Goyle. "I see your more daring with your cronies behind you!" Eleanor said coolly, helping herself to a big spoon of mash potato topping it with a thick blob of gravy. "That's quite sad you know!" she said casually, purposely- accidentally flinging the contents of her spoon onto the front Malfoy's robes. "You!" Malfoy breathed furiously, "You DAMNED IDIOT!" "Oops! So sorry!" she apologized full of sarcasm. Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles, but refrained to that, as the Head Table was full. "And for your information, Mafoy, we aren't packing our bags yet, for a long time!" Eleanor ended gleefully, with Fred, George and Ron chanting in the background, "Malfoy had an accident, Malfoy had an accident..."
* * * "So Harry, Eleanor, do you know anything about Quidditch?" Oliver asked at six o'clock on the Quidditch Pitch. Harry shook his head, but Eleanor answered, "Just a bit, the basics, such as the players on the team the major rules and different types of balls." "Well that's a good start! As for you Harry I'll explain it to you while, you, Eleanor go fly around and warm up!" "K" Eleanor replied picking up a broom and zooming off.
"Hmmm... professor McGonagall was right!" Oliver commented watching Eleanor race around the pitch, her balck wavy hair billowing behind her, "Ok, now back to business..." and he explained all the types off balls, players and rules in Quidditch.
At last he showed Harry a small, winged, golden ball. "See this Harry!" he said holding it up, "This is the most important thing in the game to you Harry, the Seeker has to find this tiny ball and catch it, earning their team a hundred and fifty points and ending the game." And he let go of it, "Eleanor! See the Snitch?" Eleanor nodded, "Please catch it and bring it back!"
They watched as Eleanor squinted her eyes scanning the pitch, finally catching sight of a little golden glimmer at the bottom of one of the goal posts. She made a dive and caught the Snitch just before hitting the ground. She flew back to Harry and Oliver and handed it to her captain. "Well done! Excellent stuff!" Oliver said impressed, "Now I'm going to hold a short competition between you two! I'll let the Snitch go and who catches it first gets a point, we'll do that three times and see the outcome! Wait till I tell you to go!" Eleanor rose into the air again Harry following closely. He could feel the gush of the wind, inviting him as it plashed against his face, a sense of freedom swept over him as he rose into the air. Oliver let the Snitch go and for a second it wavered around and sped off. "Ok, GO!" Oliver shouted and Harry and Eleanor sped after the Snitch, Oliver watching the black blurs whiz around the pitch, from the ground.
"I'm not a lady in the air Harry!" Eleanor said as they flew. "Neither am I a gent!" Harry replied grinning. Eleanor sped up in front of him and he chose to follow her rather than the Snitch. Realizing this, Eleanor led him around the pitch, while she searched for the Snitch, then suddenly she turned around and with vast speed raced past a confused Harry, and caught the Snitch.
"Great Faker Eleanor!" Oliver complimented as he let the Snitch go again, "Ok... GO!"
This time Harry was alert, his eyes darting over the Pitch. There! He spotted it a hundred yards in ahead of them was a faint glimmer. Too bad Eleanor saw it too. They raced side-by-side towards the Snitch, but something else that glimmered in the corner off his eye made him turn his head. Eleanor noticed it too and pulled up above him, Harry catching the Snitch.
"What?" a dazzled Oliver Wood asked, "Why did you pull up?" Eleanor just shrugged and soon the two were up soaring through the air again, pursuing the little golden ball. Both had learned from their mistakes and it was a very competitive chase. Eleanor occasionally nudging Harry aside and Harry trying to get her to follow him. It went on for ages. If one looked out of the window they could see a big silhouette racing around the Quidditch Pitch, the sky turning dark in the background.
Finally Oliver gave up waiting for them and blew his whistle, signaling for them to return. "Well done! Both of you!" Oliver said excitedly, "A bit too well done, but never-the-less you two both fly extremely well! So I conclude that you both play a real match each so that we can decide who's active and who's reserve."
"Umm... I don't think we need to do it that way," Eleanor protested nervously, "Harry can be active, I'll be reserve. I'm not very keen on it anyway..." Harry could she was lying, so could Oliver. "Well I'd rather do it this way, that way we can see how you both perform under pressure and in a team." Oliver said and that ended it, "Oh! By the way, you should get a broom! One better than this junk!"
Harry and Eleanor walked back, Oliver stayed behind to pack up. "Hey Eleanor, you know in the second round..." Harry started not sure whether or not to bring it up. "Yes?" "Well that glimmering thing?" Harry continued. Eleanor looked away and said, "I honestly don't know."
* * * "So, how did it go?" Hermione asked as the entered the common room. "Oliver said that he wanted us each to play a match, so that he could see who was better." Harry replied. Hermione's facial expression changed and pulled Eleanor aside whispering something hastily in her ear, Ron ad Harry looking on curiously. "I know! I know! Ok!" Eleanor said annoyed, "I tried!" she ended flopping down on an armchair nearby, "Life can be SO unfair!"