-slinks into the room- Yeah, so, I only got 8 reviews, and I said I'd wait until I got ten, but for some reason I don't think two more reviews for chapter four are going to be coming in for a while –pouts- So, Anywha, here's chapter five. Probably the shortest chapter, so I'll try to post chapter six a day early for you (ie on the 23) regardless of how many reviews I get :) Review replies at the bottom, as usual.
-Act II scene 2-
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Niger hardly saw anything but those in the stands as Madame Hooch instructed the team Captains to shake hands before beginning. Niger tore his eyes away from the nauseating site above him and looked at the other team for the first time. Right behind their Captain, who he heard was called Oliver Wood, there were a set of twins with flaming red hair. Ah, yes. Those must be Ron's brothers. And sure enough, he looked and saw the expensive brooms the two carried and knew these must be the sons of the Minister of Magic, Arthur Weasley. There were no such revelations with the rest of their team. The three girls and a small boy were a couple years older than him.
The Weasley twins looked fast and tough, so Niger would make sure not to get in their way, and of course, not let them get in his. The girls, obviously the Gryffindor Chasers, looked fast as well, but since they would be worrying mostly about the Quaffle they shouldn't give him any trouble. The fourth and smallest player, who was obviously Terrance O'Boyle, their new Seeker, looked like he was scared out of his mind. Niger remembered hearing that the Gryffindor's old seeker had left the school last year, so this was probably this kid's first game too. I wonder if he's as freaked out by the fans as I am. Niger shook that thought from his mind as Madame Hooch was about to signal the beginning of the match. He realized with a start that the whole sizing up of the other team had taken no more than a few seconds. I'm getting almost as bad as my father, Niger mused, thinking about how his father would judge someone after seeing them only once.
There was the whistle. Niger kicked off and soared higher and faster than anyone else. He stopped a ways up and started circling the pitch in search of the elusive golden Snitch. He paid very little attention to the game but couldn't quite block out the commentary.
"And Gryffindor has possession. Angelina Johnson heads towards the goals and meets very little resistance from the Slytherin team. Oh! One of the Weasley's hit's a bludger toward Slytherin Captain Flint. Ouch that had to hurt! There's now no one blocking her way except the Slytherin Keeper. And, wait...Yes! GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"
Niger groaned inwardly. He knew that their defense wouldn't hold up. He kept trying to give suggestions about it at practices, but Flint wouldn't listen. He was only a first year after all. Well, it seemed it was up to Niger to win this game. He redoubled his efforts when he heard the cheers and the declaration of "GRYFFINDOR SCORES! It's 20-0 Gryffindor!"
The minutes flew by with no sign of the Snitch. Niger would have been getting a bit worried, except that he saw O'Boyle flying a bit below him, as though his strategy was to keep Niger away from the Snitch instead of trying to catch it himself.
"70-10 Gryffindor!"
Niger swore. Out of spite, Niger dove suddenly and sped toward the other end of the pitch, and sure enough, O'Boyle was hot on his tail, his eyes sweeping the area ahead of them, thinking Niger had spotted the snitch. Niger turned suddenly and headed in the opposite direction, but O'Boyle didn't notice until too late. Niger laughed to himself until he saw it. A glint of gold. And it was right ahead of him. This was it. O'Boyle had been faked out and was now too far away to stop Niger from getting it. He leaned into his broom and sped up. He was about 5 feet away when something zinged past his ear. He pulled back sharply, saving himself from a rather nasty headache, as a Bludger soared past him. He looked to his right, where the Bludger had come from and saw the Weasley twins laughing with each other. There escapade had worked. Niger had lost sight of the Snitch.
Niger proceeded with his circling, once again with O'Boyle close behind. The announced "140-30 Gryffindor" almost made Niger want to cry in bitterness. He wouldn't of course, but had he been the type to cry, he would be very tempted. This game was going horribly.
He heard another cheer from the Gryffindors and realized they had just been awarded a penalty shot. It seems one of the Slytherin Beaters had given up trying to hit Bludgers and had taken to grabbing broom tails when they passed by. He almost unseated Spinnet of the Gryffindors, who was now taking her penalty shot. She scored, of course. The score was now 150-30. Niger was going to kill Flint.
Niger looked suddenly over at the Gryffindor supporters and could see Neville and Ron jumping up and down. Hermione was sitting a bit to the side of them fanning herself as though she'd just had a scare. What he wouldn't give to have them cheering for him. He brought his thoughts back to the game as he heard of the second penalty awarded to the Gryffindor team. This was getting pathetic.
The game went on, and the score was 180-40 by the time Niger finally saw the Snitch again. Without any worry whatsoever, Niger easily outstripped O'Boyle and after dodging the Bludger that he knew would be forthcoming, Niger's fingers closed around the Snitch to give Slytherin a very anti-climactic win.
Slytherin had won 190 to 180. Niger landed slowly savoring the feeling of having won and was almost surprised when the rest of the Slytherin team landed nearby and crowded around him. They were all laughing and shouting and slapping his back, but Niger didn't pay any attention. He knew that this win had been entirely his doing. He was proud. But as he looked up at the stands again, he saw a crying Hermione with Ron standing over her trying as best he could to maker her feel better. Though he had made a win out of nothing, Niger felt a great sense of loss.
The commotion slowly died down, and as people were still climbing down out of the stands, the Slytherin team started walking toward their changing rooms. Niger fell behind. His scar had begun to hurt again. It hadn't hurt this bad before. He felt as though someone was pressing a branding iron against his skin. The pain was making his vision falter and soon enough he felt his knees give way felt himself fall heavily to the ground.
His vision blurred until he suddenly saw himself pacing a room with only a lit fireplace for light. His voice, high and cruel, rebounded through the mostly empty room. "You had better be able to pull this off! I agreed to send the boy to that school to get him out of the way and I want this done quickly so I can get him out of there; I don't trust him being this far away from me. If he gets in the way, use him, if you have to, but I want this done quickly. Nothing is more important than this job, not even Niger's life. Do you understand me?"
Niger stopped pacing and looked up suddenly at the man before him, the only other man in the room. He cringed and bent lower, as though trying to bend himself double. "Yes, my Lord. I understand," whispered Lemar Quentin.
Niger heard screaming in his head, and realized it was his own voice. The room dissolved before him and light began to flood into his eyes. His vision cleared long enough for him to look up into a face framed by a long silver beard and hair, then his vision blacked out again, and he remembered no more.
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Tarawen: So, I guess that means you like the story? lol Very incredibly good… hehehe
chips challenge: Yeah, I tried to make Niger fairly dependent, and Neville is my crowning glory in this story. I think he would have been a lot different if his parents hadn't been taken from him when he was young, so… Oh, and not many people do know that Niger is Harry Potter. I would imagine Voldemort would want to keep that rather hush-hush, don't you?
sami1010220: I actually said in…I think the second chapter what Sevvy is doing at the school. I hope you liked this chapter too!
Adenara Yatman: Thanks!
Hermione HP: -giggles- I like you; you're silly ;) Well, I'm sorry for this "evil" short chapter, but I hope it was satisfactory despite that. Short reviews, long reviews…I'm just glad to be getting reviews! hehehe
Emmy: eh…I shall forgive you…oh, wise reviewer… lol Thanks!
Spaced Out Space Cadet: Yeah, I love Neville, so I wanted him to have a chance to shine in this story. Well, if you've only read up to chapter 7, you're in for a surprise when I post the latter chapters. Yay! I have almost 13 now…still working on that one…
PippinsMyHobbit: -shrugs- Is there such a thing as a boring review? You're reviewing, and you like the story; that's all I care about! And trust me, I know exactly what you mean about the projects and stuff. I had to write a 10 page paper comparing the written text of Romeo and Juliet to two of it's movie versions for a professor who hates my writing, and a 6-8 page paper on Musical Theater plus a presentation for my Dramatic Arts class. But now it's over! I am officially a college Junior!! WooHoo!
Okay, now, while you are all reading and reviewing, I'm going to go play some Final Fantasy X-2…I already beat it once, but I am determined to get 100% so I can watch the "perfect" ending…plus I screwed up first time through, and I want to get the Mascot dress sphere this time…
Oh yeah, I'm not bothering with incentive this time, 'cause it didn't work for the last chapter –sad eyes- plus I'm not clever enough to think of anything else funny to do… So, instead I'll just ask kindly. Please, if you don't want me to steal your first born child someday, review this chapter –pouts again- hehehe