Once again, trust me, Jeanna is not taking the place of Hermione. And I will wait one more chapter to tell you where I got Living in Troll Time from.
Go see the Stepford Wives! It's the greatest!!! Ahem, onto the Chapter...
Chapter Nine: Quidditch Matches
Harry's spirits were lifted as November came around, mostly because it was Quidditch season, but another part of him wanted Christmas to come really early. He wanted to go home for Christmas to see him family. But this was pushed out of his mind at one Quidditch practice.
"I've found out who we're going to verse in our first game," Wood told them after one practice.
"Who?" Angelina asked.
"Slytherin," Wood replied. All of the team members groaned. "So that means that we've been working on the wrong kinds of moves. We'll have to work really hard to get that Quidditch Cup this year!" He glanced at Harry, who smiled encouragingly.
"Don't worry, Oliver," he said.
"We'll beat 'em!" Fred and George cried enthusiastically.
But hardly anyone had seen Harry practice. Wood figured that since Harry was the 'secret weapon' of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, he should be kept secret. Many people didn't know that he was good on a broom. People in the hallways would either tell him that he would do really good, or they would be running around underneath him, holding a mattress.
He was glad that Hermione was their friend. If she wasn't, he didn't know how he would get through all of his homework without her. Jeanna borrowed a copy of Quidditch Through the Ages from the Library for Harry to read.
The day before the first Quidditch match, Harry, Ron, Jeanna, and Hermione were all sitting in the freezing courtyard around one of Hermione's blue fires in a jam jar. Harry had brought Quidditch Through The Ages outside with him. As soon as he opened the book to read it, Jeanna hissed, "Snape." All four of them crowded around the jar (because they knew they would get detention) as Snape came striding up to them, limping.
"What is that Potter?" he hissed at Harry. Harry held out his book. "That's from the Library. You aren't allowed to take it outside. Five points from Gryffindor!" As Snape walked away, Ron looked furious.
"He can't do that!!" Ron cried. "He hates you, Harry! He really does!" From that point on, for the rest of the day, Ron went into a rant about how Harry was going to beat Slytherin and show Snape how good he was...or show Malfoy...or all of the Slytherins...
"Plus," Ron added as they made their way back inside, the blue flame disappeared, "he made that rule up!"
"But what puzzles me is," Hermione said, "why was he limping?"
"I dunno," Ron said, angry that Hermione had interrupted his rant, "but I hope it's hurting him like crazy."
That night in the Common Room was as noisy as ever. Fred and George were the leaders of the noise, while Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Jeanna were huddled around the window, Hermione and Jeanna checked the boy's Charms homework.
"Ron, this isn't right!" Jeanna fumed. "You are such a twit! You don't even listen to anything Flitwick says!"
Harry paid no attention to them all. He was angry at Snape for taking points away and he really wanted to ask Snape if that rule was written someplace.
"So go ask him then!" Jeanna snarled, still crossing out every other sentence on Ron's essay. "You still have an hour before we can't go outside of the Common Room! And—Ron!" Jeanna pointed at something with the tip of her quill, "—this has nothing to do with Charms at all!" She crossed it out so hard that the ink leaked through the back of the parchment.
Harry quickly left the Common Room and headed towards the staffroom. He had a feeling that Snape would be yelled at by other teachers if Harry asked him when there were other teachers around.
He knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked again. This time he heard a muffled sound coming from inside. He hoped it was another teacher so he could ask them. He pushed the door open slightly and was stunned by what he saw.
Snape was sitting on a chair, holding his robes above his knee, revealing a nasty cut, while Filch was handing Snape bandages. They were alone.
"Blasted thing!" Snape was saying. "How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?"
Harry's eyes widened. He shut the door quietly without being seen and ran straight into McGonagall.
"What were you doing there, Potter?" she asked him.
"I was looking for you," Harry managed to spit out. "I wanted to know if take books from the library outside was against a rule or not."
"No, I'm quite sure it isn't," McGonagall answered him, still looking a bit puzzled. "Why do you want to know?"
"Oh, no reason," Harry lied. He turned a corner quickly and sprinted all the way to the window in the Common Room.
"So, is it a rule?" Jeanna asked. She seemed to be in a much better mood. Harry glanced at Ron, who was rewriting his Charms homework.
"No," Harry said. "But I saw something suspicious..." He told them what he saw in a low whisper.
"You know what that means?" he added at the end. "Snape was trying to get past the three-headed dog on Halloween He's after what it's guarding! And I bet that he let the troll in to cause a diversion!"
"You are really thick-headed!" Hermione said to him. "Professor Dumbledore trusts Snape."
"I'm with Harry!" Ron said. "I wouldn't put anything past Snape. But what's the dog guarding?"
"I don't know," Jeanna said. "But Harry needs to get some sleep. He has a match tomorrow."
Harry went to head with his head buzzing. Neville was snoring loudly, but Harry couldn't forget what he had just seen...
The night went by faster than Harry wanted it to. With the dawning of a new day, Harry's thoughts were still in yesterday. He wanted answers to what he had seen. He wanted to know what the dog was guarding. But most importantly, he wanted to—
"Eat." Wood commanded him at breakfast the next morning. "You need your strength, Harry."
Although he wanted to win, he wasn't in the mood to eat. As he was about to tell Wood this, Fred stomped on his foot.
"Best just to take a few bites and not say anything," Fred muttered. "Wood'll get angry if you don't do what he says."
Harry obediently followed Fred's instructions. Although it felt like he was eating carpet, Harry quietly finished his toast while Wood watched him like a hawk. He said goodbye to Jeanna, Ron, and Hermione, and headed out to the locker rooms, his Nimbus 2000 in his hand.
Harry dressed quietly. He felt extremely nervous, but a small voice inside his head reassured him. You've played Quidditch before, it said to him, how is this any different?
That's true, Harry thought. His spirits lifted somewhat as he listened at Wood's speech, which ended abruptly.
"Game time," he said. Harry's stomach churned. He quietly followed Fred and George out onto the field where they were greeted by cheers.
Madam Hooch stood in the middle of the field. She must be refereeing, Harry thought, trying to ease his now-mounting nerves.
"Now I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said once they were gathered around her. Harry noticed that she seemed to be talking mostly to Marcus Flint, the Slytherin captain. Harry looked around the crowd. His eyes flashed straight towards the banner "Potter for President". He felt better.
"Mount your brooms, please." Harry obediently obeyed and clambered on to his Nimbus 2000. Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle. Everybody flew up high into the air. The game had begun.
"And the Quaffle is taken by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor—what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too—"
"JORDAN!"
"Sorry Professor."
Lee Jordan was doing the commentary, who was being closely watched by Professor McGonagall.
"And she's really bolting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve—back to Johnson and –no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he hoes—Flint flying like an eagle up there—he's going to sc—no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindors take the Quaffle—that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and—OUCH—that must have hurt, it in the back of the head by a Bludger—Quaffle taken by the Slytherins—that's Adrian Pucey speeding off towards the goal post, but he's blocked by a second Bludger—sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which—nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes—she's really flying—dodges a speeding Bludger—the goal posts are ahead—come on, now, Angelina—Keeper Bletchley dives—misses—GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"
Cheers filled the cold air, with a mix of moans from Slytherins.
"Move along, there!"
"Hagrid!"
Ron, Hermione, and Jeanna squeezed together to give Hagrid enough space to join them.
"Bin watchin' from me hut," Hagrid said, pointing to the large binoculars hanging from his neck. "But 's not the same as bein' in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"
"Nope," Ron said.
"He hasn't had much to do yet," Jeanna said.
"Kept outta trouble, though, tha's somethin'," Hagrid boomed, raising his binoculars to his eyes and following Harry's every move.
About twenty feet above them, Harry was swiftly flying around, searching for the Snitch. Wood's tactic was for Harry to stay out of the way until he caught sight of the Snitch. "We don't want you attacked before you have to be." Wood had said.
When Angelina had scored, Harry gracefully did a few loops on his broomstick, shaking off his nerves. He continued to listen to the commentary.
"Slytherin in possession," Lee Jordan was saying," Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the—wait a minute—was that the Snitch?"
A whisper traveled through the crowds below as Pucey dropped the Quaffle to look behind him at the speck of gold.
Harry saw it. He rushed forward, but as he did, so did the Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs. Neck and neck, they hurtled towards the Snitch—all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten about the rest of the game.
Harry was faster than Higgs—he was almost there, and then—WHAM! Flint had flown in front of Harry, blocking him, and causing Harry to swerve off- course. A roar of rage echoed through the Gryffindor end—and the Snitch had vanished again.
Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and ordered a penalty shot for Gryffindor.
Down in the stands, Dean Thomas was yelling, "SEND HIM OFF! POWER PLAY FOR GRYFFINDOR!"
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked him. As Dean opened his mouth to speak, Jeanna filled in the clueless Ron.
"Power Play!" Jeanna cried over the crowd to Ron. "In Hockey, if a player is whistled for doing something wrong, they get a penalty. Most of the penalties are two minutes long, but there are some that are three or five minutes long. The player goes into the Penalty Box for that long, and his or her team has to play without him, which gives the other team an advantage." Ron looked confused. Jeanna shook her head and turned to watch the game.
But Lee was finding it hard not to take sides.
"After that obvious bit of cheating—"
"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall said warningly.
"I mean, after that open and revolting foul--
"Jordan, I'm, warning you!"
"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone...I guess...So, a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away easily, and we continue to play, Gryffindor still in possession."
Harry quickly dodged a Bludger when it happened. His Nimbus 2000 gave a mighty jolt. For a moment, Harry thought he was going to fall off, but he kept his firm grip and stayed on.
Could I have lost control? Harry thought.
No, said a tiny voice defiently in his head. You're just as good as your father! Harry wondered what went wrong, but he didn't think very long because it happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck him off. But Nimbus 2000s didn't just try to buck someone off. Harry then tried to fly back to Wood to call a timeout, but he realized that he had no control over his broom.
He began to zigzag all through the air, and every now and then it made violent swishing movements that almost unseated him. Lee was still commentating.
"Slytherin in possession—Flint with the Quaffle—passes to Spinnet—passes to Bell—hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose—only joking, Professor—Slytherin scores—oh no..."
All Slytherins were cheering and Harry realized that no one had noticed that his broom was behaving strangely. It was carrying him farther and farther away from the game, jolting and twitching as it went.
"Dunno what 'Arry thinks he's doin'," Hagrid said, still watching Harry through his binoculars. "If I didn't know better, I would've thought that 'e's lost control of 'is broom...but 'e can't have...'e's as good as 'is dad."
Suddenly, people all over the stadium were pointing to Harry. His broom had started to do barrel rolls, and he was barely hanging on. Everyone gasped as the broom made a wild jerk and Harry was swung off of it, holding on with only one hand.
"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?" Seamus whispered.
"Can't have," Hagrid said shakily. "Can't nuthin' interfere with a broomstick except powerful dark magic."
At these words, Jeanna seized Ron's binoculars and looked through them towards the crowd. She smiled triumphantly and handed them to Hermione, saying, "I knew it!" Hermione gasped.
"Ron—RON!" Hermione was gasping. "Look at Snape!" She thrust the binoculars at Ron who looked intently at Snape. He was in the middle of the stands opposite them. He had his eyes fixed on Harry and was muttering nonstop under his breath.
"He's jinxing the broom!" Jeanna exclaimed.
"What should we do?" Ron asked.
"Leave it to me!" Hermione said, scrambling quickly towards the stairs.
Ron and Jeanna both turned back up to Harry, who's broom was vibrating violently. Fred and George had flown up trying to get Harry safely onto one of their brooms, but it was no use. Harry's broom continually flew higher and higher. So, instead, they circled underneath him. Flint had seized the Quaffle and scored five times without anyone noticing.
"Come on, Hermione!" Ron muttered.
Hermione had fought her way across to the stand where Snape stood, and was now racing along the row behind him. She didn't even stop to say sorry as she knocked Professor Quirrell over. Reaching Snape, she crouched down, muttered a few well-chosen words, and blue flames shot out of the tip of her wand, landing (and beginning to burn) on Snape's robes. About a minute later, Snape let out a yelp and Hermione ran back to her seat, forgetting to put out the flames.
Up in the air, Harry clambered back onto his now-settled broom.
"Neville, you can look now!" Ron said. Neville had been sobbing into Jeanna's robes for the past five minutes.
Harry was speeding towards the ground when the crowd saw him clap his hand to his mouth as though he was about to be sick—he it the field on all fours—coughed—and something gold fell into his hand.
"I'VE GOT THE SNITCH!" He yelled, waving it about him. Flint began to complain that Harry had almost swallowed the Snitch and hadn't actually caught it. But Harry hadn't broken any rules and Lee Jordan was still proclaiming the score loudly.
"The final score: Gryffindor with one-hundred and seventy points beats Slytherin with sixty points."
But Harry heard none of this. He was being made a cup of tea in Hagrid's hut, with Ron, Hermione, and Jeanna.
"It was Snape!" Ron was explaining. "Hermione, Jeanna, and I saw him! He was cursing your broom, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you!"
"Rubbish!" Hagrid said gruffly. "Why would Snape do somethin' like tha'?"
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Jeanna looked at one another. Harry decided to tell Hagrid.
"I found out something," Harry said to Hagrid. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."
Hagrid slopped tea all over the table. He hastily sopped it up. "How d'yeh know 'bout Fluffy?"
"Fluffy?"
"Yeh, he's mine, bought him offa Greek chappie I met in a pub las' year. I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the—"
"Yes?" Jeanna said eagerly.
"Tha's top secret!" Hagrid answered.
"But Snape's trying to steal it!" Ron said.
"Snape's a Hogwarts teacher! He'd do nuthin' of the sort!" Hagrid said angrily to them.
"So why'd he just try and kill Harry?" Hermione shot at Hagrid. The afternoon's events had changed their views on Snape. "I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them. You've got to keep eye contact—"
"And Snape wasn't blinking," Jeanna finished.
"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" Hagrid said hotly. "I doan know why Harry's broom acted like tha', but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all four of yeh—yer meddlin in things that doan concern yeh! Wha' the dog is guardin' is strictly between Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel!"
"Nicolas Flamel..." Jeanna said, pondering. She stored that bit of information in the back of her mind for later consultation.
Hagrid looked furious with himself...
EIGHT PAGES! THERE. Now, review, while I write the next chapter. My new story has been put on hold for a bit, as I have no time at all this coming week. My brother's birthday Monday, celebrating Tuesday, physical Wednesday, and dentist Friday. You all will have to wait!
