Yes, I am updating (finally). (from Kristal: This is chapter seven OBEY THE CHAPTER.)

Actually there is a Care of Magical Creatures, they mention it very discreetly. And, no SPAMming in my reviews coughtalking about Gackt cough

Chapter Seven: The Midnight Duel and Some Major Butt-Kicking Action

If Harry thought that the first week of school was hard, he had another thing coming. Each night after dinner, he, Ron, and Jeanna would collapse into chairs and drag them into a corner to work on their massive mounds of homework. If you were to look around the Common Room in Gryffindor Tower, you would see many First Years huddled around tables; hidden behind massive piles of papers and open books stacked on top of each other; scribbling on rolls of parchment and comparing answers. By the end of the third week, the only one that seemed to have adjusted to the mounds of homework was Hermione. While most of the First Years worked until midnight or later, she was the first to leave the Common Room to head to bed. At the end of classes, you would see her pulling out a small planner and scribbling some notes down.

"It's probably some type of schedule of some sort," Ron interjected one day.

"Yeah, Ron" Jeanna replied sarcastically, as though everyone already knew what Hermione was writing down, "It's probably a schedule of when to do her homework."

Ron's ears reddened as he turned away from the (innocently) smiling Jeanna. Most of the time when they began to argue, Harry just stayed in the background, as though he was invisible to them.

On top of the piles of homework, Harry never thought he would meet someone he hated with a passion. Draco Malfoy would appear in the halls out of nowhere with his two cronies and taunt Harry. Most Slytherins within ear shot would laugh, loudly and forcedly. Most others would shove Malfoy hard for being so mean (most of these students being Gryffindors). Luckily, the Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, until McGonagall posted a notice on the notice board.

"Oh great," Harry said, peering over the other dozens of heads to look at the notice board.

"What?" Ron and Jeanna chorused.

"Flying lessons begin on Thursday," Harry paused. Ron and Jeanna looked at him weirdly. He added, "With the Slytherins."

Ron groaned. He muttered something that made Jeanna ram him in the side with her elbow. Harry smirked inwardly. Malfoy continuously would talk about how talented he was on a broomstick. He'd show Malfoy up. Little did Malfoy know that Harry was extremely good at Quidditch and at flying.

But that was Monday when the notice was put up. Because everyone wanted to fly so much, the week dragged on with agonizing slowness, for what felt like months. The days seemed to lengthen with every glance at a clock. On top of the days going by slowly, the amount of homework slowly began to increase with each lesson. Finally, after a day of boring Defense lessons, interactive Charms lessons, and a droning History of Magic lesson, the time came.

Entering the Common Room, Harry noticed that most of the First Years were rapturous about the Flying Lessons. He also noticed four chairs drawn together in a corner. A girl with bushy brown hair waved for Harry to come and sit. As he threw his bag down on the floor, Jeanna said, "So...like the new addition?"

Harry looked up and gave Jeanna and Ron a quizzical look. Ron motioned Harry to look behind him. Harry turned his head and realized that it wasn't Jeanna who had waved at him, but Hermione. "Hi Harry!" She said brightly. A roll of parchment was spread over half of a Transfigurations book, while the book was balanced perfectly on her lay. A quill was clenched in her hand, an ink bottle was positioned on the arm of the chair. As Harry said 'Hi' back to Hermione, she jumped up, sprawling her books and parchment on the floor. "I need to go get the book I checked out of the library!" And she ran up to her dormitory.

"So, why is she in this..." Harry couldn't find the right wording.

"Gang?" Jeanna suggested.

"Good enough," Harry replied. "So, why is she?"

"I really don't know," Jeanna said, eyeing Ron with a mischievous grin. "Maybe you can ask Ronald over there."

Harry looked at Ron, who's ears had turned red. "Well, I had three chairs pulled over in this corner, you see? And I, er, was working on my uh...Transfigurations homework...essay...and I kept on crossing things out and um...she just kinda came over with her books and asked if I needed help, so I said yes and she kinda just stayed here even after Jeanna and you came." Ron's face was tinged with a maroon color.

"Ah," Harry said, catching Jeanna's eye. "So you took advantage of her intelligence, eh?"

"No!" Ron said right away, his ears turning back to normal. They quickly changed back to red when he added, "Yeah... I guess."

Harry and Jeanna laughed as Ron joined in. After a few moments they heard a quite familiar voice. "What's so funny?" Hermione had returned with a large book (Matches To Needles: A guide to Simple Transfigurations by Glenda Greenway) in her arms.

Wiping away tears from his face, Ron answered, "Oh, nothing, just a joke Harry told us."

"Really?" Hermione said, looking intrigued. She sat down in her chair and began to flip through the book. "Let's hear it!"

"Er...alright," Harry said. As Hermione scribbled something down, Harry glared at Ron and mouthed, Why did you have to say my name?! Ron mouthed back, First name that came to my mind. Jeanna looked at both of them, her face brightening.

"Ron, you have a terrible memory," Jeanna said, "I told the joke." Hermione set down her quill. "It might not be as funny, telling it a second time, and it's an American joke."

"Well, I want to hear it anyway," Hermione said. "If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane." Ron looked mystified. Harry and Jeanna both said, "Changes in Latitude by Jimmy Buffet." "American song," Harry attached on the end.

"Well here it goes," Jeanna cleared her throat. "A barber goes into work and cuts a Florist's hair. When he's done, the florist tries to pay the barber but he replies, 'No, I'm doing this for community service.' So the barber goes home and comes back to work the next day and finds a dozen flowers with a card attached that says 'Thank You'. The barber cuts a police officer's hair. When he's done, the officer tries to pay the barber but he replies, 'No, I'm doing this for community service.' So the barber goes home and comes back to work the next day and finds a dozen donuts with a card attached that says 'Thank You'. The barber cuts a Democrats hair. When he's done, the Democrat tries to pay the barber but he replies, 'No, I'm doing this for community service.' So the barber goes home and comes back to work the next day and finds a dozen Democrats waiting for a free haircut." Jeanna looked around at the three wizards. After a few moments of silence, all four of them broke out into laughter.

"That was pretty good," Hermione said. "But now we probably should head down for Flying Lessons." They all hurriedly shuffled out of the Common Room (Ron quietly whispered to Jeanna, "Actually, that sucked." Jeanna grinned and replied, "Yeah, I know, but pretty good for trying to figure out a joke off the top of my head!") and followed the other First Years out to the field.

Walking down to the field, they overhead Neville talking about something. Harry noticed that he was grasping something firmly. "Whatcha got there, Neville?" he asked him.

"Oh, hi Harry!" Neville said. "My gran sent me a Remembrall. It tells you if you've forgotten something if it turns red—"And, indeed, the Remembrall turned a scarlet red. Neville stopped talking to try and figure out what he had forgotten.

They finally reached the field and the four of them assembled in a line standing next to each other. Malfoy and his group of Slytherins were standing across from them. Malfoy looked positively gleeful. His cold, grey eyes stared at Harry as Malfoy smiled his evil smile. Harry just looked at him and waved, a smile on his face. He couldn't wait until they could start flying.

A moment later, Madam Hooch walked out onto the field, her yellow eyes darting from one student to another, her short, grey hair spiked up.

"Good afternoon, class!" Madam Hooch said. "Now, let's begin, shall we?" Most of the students grinned and waited to hear the instructions. "Stick out your right hand over your broom and say, 'Up!'"

"UP!" All of the students chorused. Harry's broom came up right away. Ron as having a difficult time, as was Hermione. Jeanna, after trying several times, finally managed to get hers to fly up to her hand. Ron's broom came up and hit him in the face, and Hermione's just rolled around, until she screamed 'UP!!' Then it flew up to her hand. Harry glanced at Malfoy, who had his hand firmly grasping the broom.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end. To Harry, this was completely pointless. He knew all of these facts already and he mounted his broom fairly quickly. Ron had also mounted his perfectly. They both watched as Madam Hooch, like a hawk, watched the students mount their brooms and told them their gripping was wrong, or that they were sitting on the broom backwards (which was only Neville). They were delighted when she told Malfoy that his gripping had been wrong for years. But Malfoy looked utterly disgusted.

"Now, when I blow my whistle," Madam Hooch called to the students. "You kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle, three...two...--"

But Neville had been nervous and pushed off of the ground rather hard and began to rise higher and higher. Madam Hooch frantically called after him to lean forward, but it was no use. Harry could see Neville's face was as pale as ever and his eyes were completely shut. All of a sudden, he slipped sideways off of the broom as he fell twenty feet to the ground, and landed on his stomach.

Madam Hooch ran over to him, rolling him over onto his back. Neville whimpered in pain, clutching his wrist. "Oh dear," Madam Hooch muttered. "Broken wrist! Come on, boy, get up!" She turned to glare at the rest of the class with her yellow eyes. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave these brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'. Come on dear." She slowly made her way back to the castle. Most students groaned in protest of not being able to fly on a broomstick, but Harry had other things on his mind. His emerald eyes were cold and glaring at something a few meters away.

It was Malfoy, who had picked up something off of the ground where Neville had fallen. He was laughing at something he had said as were some other Slytherins. Probably about Neville! Harry thought angrily.

"Look!" Malfoy said, tossing the Remembrall up in the air and catching it. "It's the thing that Longbottom's gran sent him!" Harry, Ron, Jeanna, and Hermione all glared at Malfoy, who paid no heed to the four of them. Harry stepped forward menacingly.

"Give it here, Malfoy," Harry said icily, his words edged in venom.

"No," Malfoy said angrily, his grey eyes glaring at Harry. "I think I'll put it somewhere where Longbottom can find it! How about in a tree?" He hopped onto the broom and began flying upwards. Harry grabbed the broom nearest to him and was about to fly off after Malfoy, when two pairs of hands grabbed his shoulders and spun him around.

"Harry!" Jeanna cried.

"NO!" Hermione finished. "You heard what Madam Hooch said!" Harry looked at Ron, who was giving him the thumbs up sign and mouthing 'Go get him!' Harry pulled out of Jeanna and Hermione's grips and flew off after Malfoy, who looked terrified that Harry could fly!

"Give it here," Harry called, facing Malfoy about thirty feet up in the air. "Or I'll knock you off your broom!"

"Oh, yeah?" Malfoy sneered, but he looked worried. He took off towards the castle, with Harry on his tail. Harry called to Malfoy, "No Crabbe and Goyle to save your neck up here!"

"Fine then!" Malfoy said, stopping his broom. "Then catch it!" He threw the Remembrall up in the air and watched as Harry pulled into a spectacular dive, plummeting down to the ground, gaining on the small object. He could hear a few girls screaming for him to stop, but he just ignored them. He knew what he was doing.

Right as he was about to hit the ground, he caught the Remembrall and pulled out of his dive, his toes gliding over the grass. He stopped the broom as all of the Gryffindors cheered.

As soon as he had stepped foot on the ground, the Remembrall clutched in his hand, he heard a familiar voice and his stomach plummeted.

"HARRY POTTER!!"

Professor McGonagall was running over to him, her glasses askew. "Never—in all my time—such foolishness!—could have broken your neck!"

"But it wasn't my fault Pro—"But she silenced Harry, and beckoned for him to follow her. He sadly handed the Remembrall to Ron and said, "Give this to Neville." He walked behind Professor McGonagall, feeling like he was being sent out to the Gallows.

Harry was so distraught that he didn't notice where McGonagall was leading him until she stopped him and she entered Professor Flitwick's room.

"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?" Harry had no idea what Wood might be, but he didn't want to find out. But Wood turned out to be a Fifth-Year student, who looked as confused as Harry felt. They both followed McGonagall into an empty classroom.

"Shoo Peeves!" McGonagall barked at him. He stuck out his tongue and whizzed away through the chalkboard. McGonagall turned towards Harry and Wood.

"Harry, this is Oliver Wood—Wood, I've found you a Seeker!" Wood and Harry both exchanged looks of delight.

"You're kidding!" Wood exclaimed.

"First-years can't be on the team!" Harry exclaimed, although he wished that he didn't, he really wanted to be on the Quidditch team.

"Oh, we can make an exception!" McGonagall said, smiling at Harry.

"Are you serious, Professor?" Wood said, bewildered.

"Absolutely," said McGonagall crisply. "He's a natural! I've never seen anything like him!" She turned to Harry. "And I suppose that wasn't your first time on a broom, right?" Harry nodded. She turned back to Wood. "He caught a student's Remembrall after a fifty-foot dive. He didn't even scratch himself! Charley Weasley couldn't have done it.

"Wood's captain of the Quidditch team," Professor McGonagall told Harry. "Well, off to classes, you two, and try not to tell anyone."

After exiting the empty classroom with Oliver Wood, he asked Harry, "Ever seen a game of Quidditch before?"

"Of course!!" Harry exclaimed. "I know exactly how to play. I have to look for the tiny golden ball, the Snitch, and it's worth one hundred and fifty points. When I catch it, it ends the game."

Wood looked like he could've hugged Harry, but instead he said, "And you've got the right build for a Seeker, too!" Harry said goodbye to Wood and headed for the Gryffindor Tower. Before he took ten steps towards the Tower, though, he was stopped by Professor McGonagall. "Potter," she said sternly, "I want to hear you're training hard or I may change my mind about punishing you." She then smiled. "You may write to your parents and tell them. I daresay that your father will be proud of you. He's an excellent Quidditch Player himself."


"You're joking!"

It was dinnertime. Harry had just finished telling Ron, Jeanna, and Hermione what had happened when he had left the field with Professor McGonagall.

"Seeker?" Hermione said.

"But first-years never are on the Quidditch team!" Ron put in. "You must be the youngest player in about—"

"A century," Harry finished, eating his pudding. "Wood told me." Ron was so impressed, he just stared at Harry.

Fred and George came running up to Harry.

"Well done!" George said in a quiet voice so no one could overhear. "Wood told us—we're the Beaters on the team."

"I tell you, we're going to win the Quidditch Cup this year!" Fred said. "We haven't won since Charlie was Seeker, but this year's team is going to be brilliant! You must be really good because Wood was practically dancing with excitement when he told us."

"Anyway, we gotta go, we've got plans with Lee Jordan!" Fred said. "See you later!" And they left.

As soon as Fred and George had gone, three less-welcomed people turned up; Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"Having a last meal, Potter?" Malfoy sneered. "When are you going back to the Muggles?"

"You're a lot braver now with your two little body guards protecting you," Harry said coolly.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only—no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a Wizard's duel before?"

"Of course I have!" Harry said defiantly. "Ron's my second. Who's yours?"

"Crabbe," Malfoy said. "Midnight alright? We'll meet you in the trophy room; it's always unlocked."

He turned to leave and Harry leaned in towards Jeanna and Hermione. "Can't you put a spell on him that'll make him show up?"

Jeanna looked worried. "I do, but it's pretty advanced. Let me try it." She pulled out her wand and pointed it at Malfoy and Crabbe. "Commonstro admodum!" A thin jet of golden light was issued from her wand and hit Malfoy and Crabbe in the back. They didn't notice it, and they continued to walk away. "Well, let's hope it works!"

"Excuse me," Hermione said to Ron and Harry. "But you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose for Gryffindor if you're caught!! It's really very selfish of you!"

"Oh come on, Hermione!" Ron said. "Lighten up!"


At half past eleven, Ron and Harry slowly made their way out of the Fat Lady Portrait and headed towards the trophy room, keeping a wary eye out for Filch or Mrs. Norris.

They made it to the trophy room uneventfully and waited for Malfoy and Crabbe. When Ron and Harry heard the twelfth chime of the clock, the door swung open and revealed a stunned-looking Malfoy and Crabbe. Malfoy shook his head slightly and realized what he was doing.

"What did that spell do to them?" Ron muttered.

"Must've automatically made them walk here," Harry muttered back.

"Ah, so you did show up," Malfoy said coldly. Crabbe shut the door quietly. "Let's begin, shall we?" He waved his wand swiftly in the air and what was in the room suddenly lined up against the walls.

Harry and Malfoy both walked to the middle of the room and bowed to each other, walking backwards slightly. They both lifted their wands as Ron counted to three.

"One—Two—Three!"

"Densaugeo!" Malfoy cried.

"Furnunculus!" Harry cried.

Malfoy's spell was wide and missed Harry by a few feet. Harry's did the same. Malfoy ran to the wall of the room and grabbed a trophy. He then threw it at Harry, who said lazily, "Impedimenta!" and the object slowed down enough for Harry to grab it out of midair and set it on the ground. Malfoy looked furious, but Harry wasn't going to stop the duel for anything.

Harry then cried, "Stupefy! Rictusempra!" and they hit Malfoy dead on. He fell to the ground and began laughing hysterically, but he couldn't move at all.

All of a sudden, Harry heard a loud 'meow' from the doorway. It was Mrs. Norris. "Harry, let's get out of here!" Ron cried. Crabbe looked angry then realized what was going on. He picked up Malfoy and dashed out of the room extremely fast. Ron was pulling Harry into a corner.

"Fred and George told me there's a secret passage in here, but I can't see anything!" Ron muttered. "Aha!" He pressed a brick which swiveled the entire wall and showed them a tunnel to crawl through. They quickly went through as the wall returned back to normal. Harry could hear Ron mutter "Lumos!"

They continued to crawl through the tunnel until they could see a patch of light ahead. Ron stuck his head out and nodded to Harry. "The coast's clear."

Quickly and quietly, they climbed out of the hole and found themselves in the Third Floor corridor, with Hermione standing in front of them.

"I can't believe that you went!" Hermione said angrily. "I knew you would turn up here so I came here to tell you how much trouble you'll be in if we're caught!"

"Yeah, but it was worth it!" Ron said. "Harry kicked the crap out of Malfoy."

"So my spell worked?" said a voice from a shadowy corner.

Jeanna appeared. "Yeah, it did!" Ron exclaimed, too loudly. Mrs. Norris came around the corner. "Run!" Jeanna said.

They ran to the closest door, but it was locked. "This is it! We're done for!" Ron said, moaning.

"Oh for goodness sakes!" Hermione said, pulling out her wand. "Alohomora!" The door sprang open and they all piled in, slamming the door behind them. They could hear Filch looking for them, but he quickly turned around and went in the other direction.

Jeanna, Ron, and Hermione sighed a sigh of relief. "Harry, he's gone. Harry?" Hermione said.

"Yeah," Harry said darkly. "Filch is gone, but we've got bigger trouble." He pointed to the dog in the center of the room. But this was no ordinary dog, it had three heads and was ten times bigger than the largest German Shepard dog.

All four of them screamed as the three heads began to bark at them. They quickly ran out of the room, locking the door behind them. They ran all the way until they reached the portal, where they found Neville sleeping.

Ron muttered to all three of them, "Well, what the ("RON!" Hermione said.) was that thing doing there?"

Just then, Neville woke up. "Oh, hi!" he said brightly. He didn't notice that they were all very pale and had frightened looks on their faces. "I forgot the password!"

"It's 'fizzing whizby'," Harry said.

All five of them entered and walked quietly to their dorms without saying another word...

Commonstro admodum - To show up

Densaugeo – Causes teeth to grow rapidly

Furnunculus – Causes Boils

Impedimenta – Slows down an object

Rictusempra – Tickling spell

And don't flame me if some of these spells are too advanced for First Years, I found them all but the Commonstro admodum (which I made up) on a Harry Potter site and they didn't specify if they were advanced or not.

Well, although it took me long to update, it's a long chapter!! DON'T COMPLAIN! Kristal: Yeaaah! Nice joke. Teehee.

All of you Democrats, don't flame me, it's a joke I found someplace. Hey, it doesn't affect me, I'm a Republican!!!!

And no, like Kristal already asked me, I am not a Ron/Hermione Shipper, Ron just didn't feel comfortable about inviting the know-it-all into their group. But I don't think Hermione is a know-it-all.