I own nothing, J K Rowling IS Harry Potter. All my 'ideas' are basically ripped from stuff I enjoy; Harry Potter (duh!), Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, Dragonball, The Matrix, The Lion King, 24, and anything else that even remotely looks far too creative for me to just make up! Don't say I didn't warn you alright!

I have no idea if Harry even likes maroon! He is in Gryffindor, plus I am a Queenslander, so I just thought maroon was the obvious choice.

Chapter 17 – Scouting Around

The five students walked out of their latest Wandless magic lesson, still trying to unlearn everything they knew about doing magic with wands. Harry had come the closest to being able to produce the Immobilisation charm Dobby was continuing to teach them. He had managed to produce a very fine translucent green light, but it had dissipated within seconds. They five had gotten to know each other a little better, and Justin was voicing his opinion on yet another 'wasted' lesson.

"I mean, we're not learning anything! He tells us to try and forget everything that we consider normal!"

"Harry's getting the hang of it" Blaise told him

"But that's because he's 'Harry Potter'. No offence, Harry."

"None taken, Justin. I have had a little practice with wandless magic before. Maybe it takes a while to figure it out."

"What do you mean you've had practice? With who?" Padma asked.

"Professors Fuller and Lupin are pretty good friends. Remus knew my Dad when they were at Hogwarts, and they became best friends. I learnt the Patronus charm last time Remus was here, he taught me actually. Anyway, Trent came to where I stayed over summer, and gave me a little training as he knew I was taking the subject"

"Really? Then you should know how to do all this then, Harry."

"Not likely, Neville. He basically just gave me some advice about it. The same stuff that Dobby's been telling us. Are you guys going to take Apparition?"

"Yeah, I might as well. I mean it'd be cool to be able to do that once you turn seventeen. It's only a two month course though isn't it?" Blaise asked.

"It is. That's what Trent told me. I wonder if he'll demonstrate splinching!"

Everyone started to laugh after Harry had said this, and Justin changed the topic once he'd managed to calm down.

"Who d'you reckon will win the Quidditch match on the weekend?"

Ravenclaw were playing Slytherin, and Harry looked thoughtful before answering,

"Should be a good game. Ravenclaw probably have the slightly better players, but Slytherin do have better teamwork. Mind you, I wouldn't mind seeing Crabbe or Goyle whack Malfoy with a bludger!"

"I should hex you Harry, but I wouldn't mind seeing that myself" Blaise mused.

"Wonder if any Scouts will turn up."

"Scouts? What for Justin?" Harry asked.

"Well, the qualifiers for the World Cup start next year. Judging by how pathetic the English team played at the last one, I'd hope they're searching for new players."

"They've got the leagues though. I mean, wouldn't they search there before coming to Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, they would. But it didn't work last time. We haven't won it in ages. They need to do something drastic, and maybe looking elsewhere is the answer."

"Well, the only player they'd be checking out here would be Harry" Padma said.

Harry blushed slightly before muttering that he's not that good, but Justin scoffed,

"Don't be stupid, Harry. You're by far the best seeker Hogwarts has seen for some time. You've only lost one game, and that was due to those Dementors turning up. After the performance from the English seeker last time well…that was embarrassing. The snitch was hovering three feet in front of him yet he still didn't get it before the other team. Useless."

"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Neville piped up before continuing,

"I mean, we agree that Harry's the best seeker here. Oliver Wood was the best keeper…"

"Still is. He's killing them in the league for Puddlemere. Opposing beaters are trying to make a habit of going after him before anyone else" Blaise interrupted.

"What about beaters though? The ones we had at the last cup weren't bad."

"That's true. But they're both thinking about retiring at the end of this season, so we'll need some new ones." Justin said.

Harry spoke up, "I felt the Weasley twins were the best ones going around here"

"Totally agree. Actually, why don't we just enter the old Gryffindor team? You couldn't do any worse than our last lot!" Justin said, smirking at Harry.

Harry wasn't looking and said, "they need to find someone to take Bagman's job though first don't they? He hasn't come back yet has he?"

"And he won't either. I think they've found a replacement for him. Anderson…Daniel Anderson's replaced Bagman. Hopefully he'll do a better job too."

"Bagman was a great player in his day though" Harry said, remembering what he'd seen from Dumbledore's pensieve in his fourth year.

"Quite right, but most of the time, great players don't make great managers. Anyway I might as well get started on our Defence homework. I can't believe he wants us to write three feet on the Unforgivables. Where are we going to find that much information on them!"

They each parted, with Harry and Neville heading off to Gryffindor tower. They walked in silence for a while until Neville spoke up

"What do you hope to do once you finish Hogwarts, Harry? You reckon you'll go into Quidditch like Justin said?"

"I dunno, Neville. I wouldn't mind being an Auror. Having said that though, I do enjoy Quidditch. But I'm not sure if I'd be able to do that for a living."

"An Auror. Wow. That won't be easy. How are you going in Potions, by the way?"

"Not too bad actually, Snape hasn't been as biased this year. Probably because all the houses are together. But me and Hermione managed to make Veritaserum correctly, so we mustn't be doing that bad."

Neville looked impressed "that's not an easy potion to make. You made the antidote for it yet?"

Harry nodded "yeah we were doing both at the same time. What about you, what do you want to do?"

Neville shrugged, "I haven't really thought about it much. I mean the only subject I really enjoy is Herbology. I'm thinking something in that field. I can't believe how quick our time has gone. We've got less than two years here. Seems like yesterday we were first years."

"And we met Fluffy. Now there's a scary sight if I ever saw one!"

Neville nodded his head before the two of them sat down to start on the Defence essay that Justin had talked about. They were joined soon after by Hermione and Ron. Hermione had nearly finished her essay and decided to do some Charms reading on the Confundus charm, when Harry broke the silence.

"You know. I'm starting to get a little worried. Voldemort's been awful quiet lately. He must be planning something. I don't like this calmness."

"You're right, Harry. I thought that now everyone knows he's back, that he'd be more aggressive."

Ron then said "he'll do something on Halloween. It's always Halloween. Something horrible happens every time it comes around!"

"First year, the troll. Second year, the Chamber gets opened. Third year, Sirius breaks in. Fourth year, my name comes out of the goblet. And last year, the Azkaban breakouts. I see what you mean Ron" Harry said, ticking them off on his hand.

"Whatever he is planning, I guess we'll know soon enough then. I mean it's only what, two weeks until Halloween. I'd rather you concentrate on next weekend, Ron."

Ron looked confused, and Hermione slapped the side of his head before filling him in.

"You've got a Quidditch game against Ravenclaw. Harry would like his keeper to be in top form."

"Oh yeah! Don't worry, Harry. We've been training real well, despite you getting us up at ridiculous times."

"Eight o'clock is not a ridiculous time, Ron!" Harry retorted.

"It is for a Sunday, Harry. Besides, Dad said there might be a couple Scouts for the game. We have to play well."

'Great, more attention' Harry though to himself while Neville explained their previous conversation with the others about Quidditch.