Chapter 18: Tsunami
"Have you servants out in the heavens?" - Out of the Silent Planet
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Monday the eighteenth of February. Judgement Day. Or Quidditch, which was similar.
Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and the first proper for seventh-year Emma McPollet, the new Gryffindor Keeper. "You'll be fine," Angelina reassured her, as the Keeper clutched her broom, trembling. Angelina was the new captain, and had been so since the previous week.
Harry himself was finishing cleaning his Firebolt, determined that he was going to win, and look good doing it. It would be nice if he executed everything perfectly, like with his memory-loss at the Swedish Broom Race, but he doubted (hoped not, anyway) that it would happen again.
He fingered his Y'Laagrondd pendant for good luck, though he wasn't quite sure why - a mythical figure was hardly going to swoop down and help him out with a game, after all.
Outside, Dean finished announcing the Slytherin players, and the doors burst open to allow the Gryffindors to fly out. Harry leapt on his broom the second the sunlight hit him, and was out before the other members of the team to take his position and size up Malfoy's replacement.
He didn't hear Dean announce the Gryffindor team; he was too busy plotting his moves. The opposing Seeker (Cerys Reed) was flying a Firebolt as well, but she seemed a little shaky on it - she was obviously new to it. Harry raised a hand to block the sunlight from his eyes (damn, but it was bright today) and eased his broom a little higher, looking for the Snitch which had already been released.
Dean finished the countdown, and Madam Hooch flipped the straps that restrained the Bludgers. The huge balls immediately blasted out and swept around, aiming for the new Slytherin Chaser, who was closest. Before he could react, Hooch blew the whistle to signal the start of the game, and tossed the Quaffle high into the air.
Harry was off like a shot; higher into the air and further away from the Bludgers. A glance at Reed told him that she also was looking for the Snitch, and he turned his attentions back to the game. Gryffindor scored, thanks to one of the Slytherin Chasers being chased by a Bludger; the other Bludger had just been beat back from Katie Bell by one of the twins.
Harry drifted a little further from his opponent, and scanned downwards, where he had a wider view. The Snitch wasn't below him, that was for certain, and if he slowly turned his broom, he could see that it wasn't anywhere up his end of the pitch.
A glint of gold!
Harry's heart gave a jump - but it was just Flint's watch. Hm, that was surprising - Harry was quite astonished that Flint could tell the time. This was the boy who'd been held back for two years, after all.
Calming himself from the initial adrenaline burst, Harry sneaked another look at Reed. She was squinting at a fixed point up the other end of the pitch, and Harry followed her gaze with his own. There, hovering like a hummingbird, was the Golden Snitch - unnoticeable but the for the gleam off its metal body.
It flicked from left to right suddenly, and Harry knew it would fly off at any second. Not looking when the crowd roared as Slytherin scored for the third time, Harry crept forwards slightly, and suddenly sped forwards, hoping that Reed wasn't as good a flyer as he.
She wasn't.
As soon as she saw Harry race off, Reed realised that she hadn't been imagining things, and she tried desperately to catch up with him. Harry grinned as he slowed slightly, allowing himself enough time to work out which way the Snitch would go.
It looked like the Resistance's plan 'get of a better challenge for Potter' hadn't worked; they'd have done better to make sure Reed was going to stick to her original broom, rather than one she was unfamiliar with, even if it was the best on the market - excluding the Riders, of course.
The Snitch, Harry saw, was quivering slightly, and he knew from experience that it meant it was going to move up and to the left. Swinging his broom slightly in that direction, he risked a look back. Reed was catching up (cheers from the Gryffindors as Alicia scored another goal) so he sped up.
Wetting his lips, Harry crouched lower to decrease the air resistant, and then swung off completely, blocking Reed and forcing her to slow, and heading straight into the Snitch's flight-path. Harry flung his arm out, and as he did so, he caught a glimpse of the scoreboards.
Gryffindor, 120 points. Slytherin, 270 points.
As his fingers closed around the Snitch, Harry lost all his senses but for the feel and sight of the Golden Snitch, as he realised that he'd just forfeited the game by getting a draw.
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Harry snapped out of his daze when he felt someone shaking his shoulder. Looking up from the ball clutched in his hand, he realised it was a beaming Twin.
"Sorry," Harry muttered, and Twin Number 1 stared at him as if he were mad.
"Sorry? What for, you pillock? You just won us the game!"
Harry looked at him in shock, panicking that he had once again lost his memory. "But - we tied! Slytherin was a hundred and sixty points ahead of us when I caught the Snitch!"
Fred or George snorted. "It was, about two seconds before. Angelina scored a goal just as you touched the Snitch, and Madam Hooch said that because you weren't properly gripping it just then, the goal counted. Weren't you listening?"
Harry shook his head, numb with excitement. "You mean we won? We beat Slytherin?"
The boy grinned, nodding. "That's right. Now get your feet back on the ground - there's a party in Gryffindor Tower, and we can't celebrate without the Seeker!"
Harry could do nothing but beam in relief. "I'll be right up," he promised, allowing the Firebolt to plummet towards the ground, whereupon he braked just seconds before hitting the pitch. He patted the handle proudly. "That was the final flight of the Firebolt," he informed Whichever-Twin-It-Was. "I'm going to be using Magecraft from now on."
"Good," said the twin. "Maybe you'll finally let us see it, now?"
Harry thought about it. "Maybe, if you're very good." he joked.
"Thanks." the teen muttered sarcastically.
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As part of the celebrations, Harry was only too happy to bring the Magecraft out for the Gryffindors to see.
He displayed with as much flair and drama as he could, opening the case just a fraction and then asking whether people were sure they wanted to see it; making sure it was held at the right angle for the silver inlay to catch the rays of sunlight which streamed through the window; even going so far as to list the enchantments on the broom (its many features were detailed on the certificate of authenticity that came with it).
There was so much sighing and gasping, it could have powered an entire wind farm.
The slim, sleek, black wood, the precisely five-hundred black twigs of five separate lengths and thickness (each hand-picked to catch the wind perfectly and not be overbalanced or blown off course), the smooth cut of the seat, the glinting, real, pure silver which told the name and the pentagram...
Capable of flying from nought to twelve-hundred miles per hour within three seconds (and with all the charms needed to make this speed safe) - cushioning charms - alarms - security hexes - anti-jinx - cooling and warming spells - unbreakable braking charms - water, dirt and lightning-repelling - tracking charms - self-straightening and cleaning twigs - there were a hundred more spells and characteristics listed, quite a few of which Harry had never even heard of. Two million pounds, but it was worth every penny.
The rest of the party, Harry was quite disappointed with; people were enthusiastic, the music was great - but the food (courtesy of the twins and Lee Jordan) looked so tempting that Harry had to keep reminding himself he was to eat only 'healthy, nutritious' food as Levina had put it just two days ago when she had re-hammered it into his head.
Harry made his excuses and sneaked up to the dormitory, making a face when the House Elves brought up a salad containing leeks - Harry wasn't particularly fond of them, and personally would have preferred a pizza. He'd never actually had one, but he'd seen plenty of Dudley's, and they looked pretty appetising.
He chatted to Rhiannon for a while - apparently the Chinese apprentice had finished his Intermediate training and had his own laptop now, which he had been on earlier. Harry felt a little guilty; he hadn't actually been working on learning Techno-Magic for a while now, instead choosing to simply learn about fighting for Levina's lessons - he hadn't even reached past the Beginner stage.
To make up for a bit of lost time, Harry opened the Learnings program and selected several languages (French, Troll, German and Italian) to put on to the rod and learn. After that, Harry spent a little time on the Internet, before this reminded him to perfect his hacking skills - he cleared the rod and filled it to the brim with information on hacking, tracing, bugging, viruses, security and various computer languages.
For a bit of fun, he tested his new skills by hacking into the President of America's e-mail account, and briefly considered signing him up to - ahem - unsuitable websites. Thankfully for the President, there was a knock at the door at that moment, and the leader of the USA was saved a great deal of embarrassment and confusion.
Harry quickly switched the laptop off just as Ron entered, shoved it under the pillow, and drew back the curtains in time to see the red-haired adolescent heading over to his own bed. When Ron noticed Harry was there, he tossed him a Chocolate Frog which Harry recognised as one he had been trying to get for a while.
"Are you going to Amulet Making?" Ron queried, and Harry checked his watch. It was five o'clock.
"No - it's cancelled today, because of the Quidditch. They expected the match to go on longer." Harry yawned, and started reading the Chocolate Frog card. "You know what?"
"What?"
"I'm really, really, really, really, really, really bored."
Ron was silent for a moment. "Me too."
There was another minute of silence.
"You could take Magecraft out for a test flight," Ron suggested, but Harry shook his head.
"I don't feel like flying right now. I want to do something... exciting. Dangerous."
"Want to go fight a daemon?"
Harry looked at him witheringly. "You know what I mean. I'm just really bored, and all this revision and training is stressing me out. I can't even eat the stuff I want to!"
Ron nodded pityingly. "See now, that's why you should never 'ave agreed to this stupid diet-thing in the first place. Salads? No chocolate? It's just not natural," he sighed, shaking his head.
Harry rolled his eyes. "I think you'll find it's the 'eating salads' that's natural, and not the chocolate. Obviously we didn't evolve for the purpose of harvesting cacao beans, and nor for the reason of prod-"
Ron held his hands up in mock panic. "Okay, okay! I get the point, you don't need to talk my ears off. You're turning into bleedin' Hermione, you know that?"
Harry sighed as he threw the card onto his desk. "Sorry. It's just I really am bored."
Ron smirked. "Well, there's an easy way to stop that, isn't there?"
Harry frowned at him. "What?"
His friend's smile widened. "Animagi forms! We can head out, explore the Forbidden Forest - don't you think it would be fun?"
Harry snorted. "Er, yeah, great idea except for a couple of things. First of all, the Forest is full of Acromantulas, which I thought you didn't like. Secondly, you haven't got an Animagus license. And thirdly, perhaps the most important of all - you still can't transform completely!"
Ron scoffed and waved his hand as if this was a trifling matter. "I've been practising changing in private, and I think I've just about got it now. As for the license - well, are you going to tell? Besides, if we see an Acromantula, we'll just run for it."
"What about Burningshoot? Or any number of poisonous plants out there? We can run from animals, but if we wander into some kind of strangling vine before we realise our mistake, we're done for!"
Ron looked at him pointedly. "Then we won't go too far in. Harry," he said, now pleading, "Come on! Let's do it! You can take Ajax in case anything does happen - which I doubt - and you could try out your other forms, your unlicensed ones. It's not like anyone's going to know."
Harry gave in to temptation.
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"Remind me why I'm going along with this" Harry muttered just loud enough for Ron to hear.
His friend grinned. "Because you can be amazingly weak-willed when you want. Now," he said, motioning to the edge of the Forest, just several feet away, "let's change and head inside! If you need to talk to me, use Telepathy - don't forget, I can't use it myself, so don't ask any open-ended questions. Ready?"
Harry nodded. "If something goes wrong," he warned, "I'm blaming you."
Ron rolled his eyes in amusement and started to transform into his wolf form; Harry followed suit with his lion. Even though he started afterwards, he was first to finish - he had more experience of it, and Ron still hadn't quite perfected it enough to make the shifts swift.
A waning Moon hung overhead, in a black sky free of clouds, yet strangely almost devoid of stars; it seemed an almost mesmerising sight, and Harry was loathe to disappear into the Forest. He did so, however, his keen senses picking up every prey animal, and the red-brown wolf that loped beside him, barely visible to human sight.
They ran for some minutes, not communicating but simply enjoying the thrill of the speed at which they went, the rush of air through their fur, the sounds of the nocturnal birds and the small animals which froze or fled as they approached. Finally though, they slowed to a halt as Harry caught the smell of something, and Ron shot Harry a look of obvious confusion. Harry shifted back to human form, motioning for Ron to follow suit.
"There's a strange smell up ahead," Harry whispered, hoping there were no Acromantulas around to hear him. "It doesn't smell natural - I think it's some kind of magical creature."
Ron gulped. "Oh, great. My wolf senses aren't as good as yours - what do you think it is?"
Harry sighed. "Well, it smells quite big - quite old though, so it probably won't be there, but if up ahead is it's lair or something, it might come back. I just thought you'd want a warning."
Ron looked up. "Well, Ajax doesn't seem to be too worried," he smiled. The magpie flew in circles overhead, watching out for any danger. He hadn't been impressed when Harry had muttered the night's plans to him, but he hadn't been able to talk sense into the boy, and so had been forced to follow along.
Harry nodded that Ron had a point, and shifted back, as did Ron. They progressed forwards slowly, until they reached the edge of the trees, the already-weak smell becoming slightly stronger. Suddenly, Harry realised what it was, and ran forwards faster, Ron following.
They hurtled into a clearing.
It was the same one.
Harry had changed back before he even knew what he was doing, and blurted out, "This is it!"
"This is what?" grumbled Ron, but Harry still heard him and swung around.
"This is it! The clearing that Leone held me in! That unnatural smell - it isn't an Acromantula, it's the daemon. Look - there's the rock I was tied to, with the holes - and that's where Leone started chanting -" He looked around, mentally pointing out even places; where his wand had dropped, where the candles were placed...
"Really nice," Ron joked, raising an eyebrow. "You know mate, most people would prefer not to remember."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, thanks." He suddenly perked up. "Hey, do you think Leone might have hidden the Myrrh Cage around here?"
Ron looked thoughtful. "You know, it's just possible. I mean, sure, the Aurors would have checked around, but they wouldn't have been looking for anything in particular... why, you think we should take a look?"
"It wouldn't hurt to try," Harry shrugged, and Ron sighed.
"Fine. I guess we can kiss goodbye to our night of exploration. Come on then - where first?" he asked sarcastically. "Not as though there's many places to look."
Harry frowned. "She might have buried it a few inches down; she could have put it just outside the clearing, or stuffed it in a drey or nest or something..."
Now it was Ron's turn to frown. "Maybe, but what if she's already been back here and taken it?"
Harry shrugged. "If no-one had found it up until now, why find a new place?"
Ron acquiesced with this point, so for the next few minutes there were no words spoken. Instead, the pair searched in the long grass, peered up low branches, dug up an inch of soil that looked as though it had recently been replaced (it hadn't), and then finally found something.
"Harry! Over here!"
Harry twisted around, trying to wipe some rabbit droppings off his robe in disgust, before his eyes narrowed. "What's that?"
Ron snorted irritably. "I didn't know you were blind, mate." He held the object up so the other boy could see. "It's a chain. Looks a bit like silver." he commented, grinning. "I don't think we're going to find the Cage anywhere around here, mate - this is the only thing that Leone must have dropped, and we have to get back to school, anyway."
Harry sighed. "Fine, you win. We'll head back."
Ron shoved the silver-like chain into his pocket and followed Harry's transformation into his own Animagus form. His own change was slower and jerkier than Harry's, but it ended up well enough, and the pair followed their barely-old scent back out of the Forest.
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Draco Malfoy bowed low into the grass, eyes lowered in reverence. His master, Lord Voldemort frowned at him with ruby, serpentine eyes. "Are you certain that you will be able to take a responsibility of such magnitude upon yourself?" he hissed, gesturing to the boy with one long, stark-white finger.
Malfoy smirked. "I'm certain, my Lord." he promised, not just to his master but to himself - Harry Potter would be dead before his next birthday, and it served the little idiot right for trusting him. Even if his father was a traitor to the Death Eaters, Draco Malfoy wouldn't be; too much power could be gained from absolute loyalty to be wasted.
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Nothing much happened the next day: there was Herbology (Neville showed some of his old clumsiness and ended up being nipped by a Noxious Scurburret, a relative of the Venomous Tentacula), Potions (Snape quietly informed Harry that the Canusabeo had been sent off to St Mungo's for official tests), and Divination (where after class, Levina was only too happy to shove a huge pile of books in Harry's arms and tell him to be done with them by the weekend).
There was barely enough time for homework before Hermione and Ron bid goodbye to go to Animagus lessons - Harry wasn't able to practice his other forms, as the other students would then easily find out he had more than one - and this left time for the Boy-Who-Lived to finish off his homework and begin the arduous task of scanning 'High-Energy Rituals' into the rod.
Wednesday was of even less importance, and so it continued until Saturday the second of March. Harry had finally managed to convince himself that things were becoming normal, and it certainly seemed that way.
Revision had suddenly increased and students were more and more stressed thanks to the exams which came in just over four months, and Voldemort, Leone and her daemon, and Dark Wizard activity had seemed to drop off the face of the Earth. Ron was slightly more pessimistic when Harry pointed this out ("We're due," he had said mournfully), but Harry was determined to enjoy it while it lasted.
He had progressed quite well in staff-fighting, memorised large chunks of Techno-Magic from the laptop, and was now impatiently waiting for September, when he would finally make his own sword - quite different from just a few months ago, when he had been dreading the day.
Levina had been, admittedly, acting rather oddly; she had even gone so far as to cancel one of their midnight meetings with barely any warning, which was certainly strange; but after all, she had told Harry that she had been busy lately. In the run-up to exams, she would of course have much more work to mark - but all the same, Harry couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else.
This Saturday, however, the meeting hadn't been cancelled, and so Harry found himself creeping down the school corridors again, wishing (for the thousandth time) he had the Marauders Map with him. "Tonur amast carnaena," he whispered, tapping the wall with his wand to show the door. As it appeared, he pushed it open and slipped inside.
He and Levina sparred for a while, but his heart wasn't in it, and after a solid whack on his shoulder from a hit he should have easily blocked, Levina called it a night.
"Something wrong?" she asked outright. "I left my right side completely open, and you didn't even notice."
Harry scowled at her, and thrust his quarter-staff back into her open hand. "I'd fed up with being lied to and having important information kept from me, that's what's wrong," he snapped. "I've been waiting, just like you and Ajax tell me to, and what happens? No-one bloody well explains anything, that's what!"
Levina looked at his bared teeth for a moment, before sighing. "I suppose we have been a little unfair."
"A little?!" Harry exploded, eyes widened and bulging, "A little?! You just expect me to defeat the Five or the Dark or whatever their new name is, and you can't be arsed to tell me anything about myself, let alone them!"
She held up her hands to ward the boy's rage off. "Fine! What do you want to know?"
"What's up with that dragon around Gryffindor Tower," Harry said immediately, counting on his fingers. "Why I lost my memory at the Race. What was up with the feather Diana Genevieve took from Monty - the magpie I made Ajax from. Why symbols keep appearing on the back of my Y'Laagrondd pendant. What was with the dragon that saved me from the daemon in the first place. What's Techno-Magic. Where and why were you sealed away. Why do I have two gifts, when there's supposed to be a limit of one. Why can I change into magical animals." He stopped at number nine and thought for a moment. "That's about it," he muttered, still flushed with anger.
Levina gave another heartfelt sigh, and motioned to one of the benches along a wall. "Sit down," she said.
Harry did so while she put the staffs away and came back to sit beside him. He felt a little calmer now, but he still wasn't exactly the happiest boy in Hogwarts.
Levina cleared her throat and began. "I'm not going to tell you everything," she warned, "There's a lot that you have to find out for yourself, or be told by others, but I'll tell you what I can - I'll tell you the right answers, and then you can work out whether you asked me the right questions.
"The dragon around Gryffindor Tower was the same one that protected you from the daemon. I honestly don't know why it went that close to the Tower, but I know it hurt the daemon not by chance but because it was trying to protect you. The memory loss at the Race? That's connected to it. I can't say much about those, but I can say some more about the other questions.
"The feather Diana took. That's quite simple; the Dark had already suspected you were the Phoenix; they already knew that 'the Magpie' was your Familiar rather than someone's nick-name - maybe a Seer found out, maybe it was research, I don't know. But there was a way to test whether you were the Phoenix.
"They went to a place where they knew there would be both you and a Phoenix; the Quidditch match - and put one Heck of a complicated spell on the magpie. It's called the 'Carnun am s'pennon elé gail', or 'Enchantment of the foretold names linked'. Basically, if two or more people or objects that are named in the same prophecy are within a certain range, they'll be attracted to each other. So, the Magpie and the Phoenix went to each other; the magpie was so dumb he couldn't resist going all the way over to you - Diana probably masked it with an illusion so as not to create a scene - and you, being smarter, could mostly resist; all you did was take a feather."
Harry was frowning in thought. "But why did Diana take a feather?"
Levina shrugged. "Probably so that if the Magpie was made from the DNA of the magpie at the game, she would have a sample of the DNA, just in case she could use some kind of spell to hurt the Magpie through the feather, She won't be able to," Levina added hastily, seeing Harry's worried face, "Ajax is white, isn't he? The Familiar spell changed the DNA that was used in the feather you used."
Harry relaxed. "Well, that's one mystery solved. What about my pendant?"
Levina reached a hand out for it, so he unclipped it and gave it to her. She studied the back for a second. "These are Atlantean runes," she noted. "They say 'Verae Tupris am', which translates roughly to 'Blessed Majesty of'."
"Of what?" Harry encouraged. Levina raised an eyebrow.
"How should I know? You said these were appearing, so it obviously hasn't finished. Before you ask, no, I have no idea why they're appearing. However, I have a fairly good idea of what it's going to say by the time it's finished."
Harry perked up. "What?"
"Well, as I said, I'm not certain - but Y'Laagrondd was the Empress of the Dragons. In myth, the dragons had their own land called Mirimin. You know how Japan is also called, the Land of the Rising Sun? Well, Mirimin was called the Great Kingdom, which meant that Y'Laagrondd was the 'Blessed Majesty of the Great Kingdom' - the 'Verae Tupris am s'Manso Turalla' in Atlantean."
"Y'Laagrondd is Bulgarian, not Atlantean," Harry argued. "I don't see why Atlantean runes would be on the back of a modern Y'Laagrondd pendant."
Levina let out a laugh. "Modern? See the material this pendant is made out of?"
"Marble?"
She released another laugh. "It's not marble! It's alaerin. Formed from pure magic, made solid. The only place that was made was in Atlantis; I'd say it was more likely that it washed up from Atlantis years - maybe millennia - ago, and found it's way to you. Unless someone from Atlantis escaped with it when the islands sank, of course."
Harry opened and shut his mouth in shock. "But - well, it's still a Bulgarian religion. And besides, why would an Atlantean have a Bulgarian Goddess pendant?"
Levina rolled her eyes, and passed the necklace back. "Although some of the gods and goddesses were made by the Bulgarians, most of them came from the Atlantean pantheons. Y'Laagrondd was one of them. It's like all the myths and religious ideas are adopted - how many religions do you think have the story of a baby in a basket, sent down a river in reeds? I mean, the Romans just stole the entire Greek pantheon and changed their names! No, this necklace came from Atlantis - probably one of the priestesses of Y'Laagrondd, seeing how well made it is.
"Anyway, on to your next question. Techno-Magic. Again, I can't really say much; Techno-Magic containers and names take the best form available to them, depending on the technology that's common at the time, and will be least noticeable. If you'd been a Techno-Mage millennia ago, you'd have had a stone tablet rather than a laptop, and a different title. Why did you think the rod went in so easily? The laptop's used to changing shape.
"I developed Techno-Magic, along with Merlin, several magic-users, scientists and researchers. I was the main creator though, having more experience and expertise. At first, the power and knowledge of it was small, giving control over only magic and machines. Now, as technology increases, so does the power of Techno-Magic." She looked at him pointedly. "The laptop promised that you'd know the whole story when you became a full Techno-Mage. I suggest if you want to learn everything, you'd best hurry up and do so.
"I was sealed away because I knew the city was going to fall, and no-one else would be able to survive thousands of years to wait for the Phoenix. I was sealed away in Atlantis so that, when the Phoenix was ready, I could train him in the basic knowledge he would need.
"The number of gifts is because of genetics, and your power. You need to have a power level over certain numbers if you want to have a specific gift, and you have to have the gene. The Past-Reader gift only needs the power of a Magician, so you got that easily enough. The Annumagus ability only came through when the block had been taken down, and you had the power of a Sorcerer.
"As for why you can turn into magical animals - I don't know. Maybe it's because you're the Phoenix, maybe you're just the first person to do so. I really have no idea. And by the way, we've far overstayed our usual time."
And with that, she rose and left through a door she had conjured to her quarters.
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By the end of their meeting, Harry really had more questions than he had started out with; and the answers he had got were hardly satisfactory. If there was one thing he had learned, however, it was patience; Levina had hinted more than once - and Ajax had come right out and told him - that all the answers he wanted would be given soon enough.
It was quite a drag for the next few days, however; until Monday evening, of course, when all these thoughts were swept from Harry's mind, thanks to Quidditch.
It was Harry's first time on the Magecraft broom, and he felt the difference the moment he clasped its handle. The Gryffindor team stood waiting in front of the gate that marked the entrance to the pitch, glancing round at each other nervously, or reassuring and encouraging the newer members, for whom it was only their second match.
As the commentator for the match - Lee Jordan - finished announcing the Ravenclaws and moved on to the Gryffindors, the team swung themselves onto their brooms just in time for the gate to shoot open -
And they were off.
Harry lagged behind, knowing that it was customary for the Seeker to enter last; but once the others were out of the tunnel by several metres and his name was announced, Harry moved. The broom moved with the smooth, liquid fluidity of mercury, generating an irresistible slipstream which spun a small whirlwind of fresh leaves as it passed.
It easily outstripped the Gryffindor team, and Harry took particular notice of the Ravenclaw team eyeing Magecraft enviously, and more than a few gasps and murmurs of awe from the crowds, as well as several scowls from the Slytherin seats.
With ease and expert control, Harry relaxed his triceps, nudging the handle to the right and slowing at the same time, bringing the broom to a 180 degee turn and into a flowing, effortless standstill, hands tightening on the glossy grip.
Above the excited whispering - everyone knew just what this broom was worth - someone cheered out "Go Harry!", which the boy recognised as the voice of Daniel Creevey.
Harry snapped back to reality, just as McGonagall stopped Lee ranting enthusiastically about the speed of the Magecraft, and Madam Hooch signalled that the balls were about to be released.
"Keep your eye on the Snitch, Harry!" Angelina roared as she noticed him looking over to his opposing Seeker - Cho Chang, who glared ferociously at him, one oh-so-delicate lip twitching in anger and distaste.
Harry had a feeling that she didn't much like him. Possibly.
Harry nodded his assent to the team captain, and fixed his eyes back on the box of balls that the referee was about to release. The whistle was blown, a sharp, ringing shrill that pierced through the still air, and the restraints were released; the ball were flying free.
Harry fixed his eyes on the Snitch as it shot off, but its speed meant he lost it just a minute later; it didn't much matter, for Chang had lost it too, and it would surely show up in a little while.
He tested his broom instead, slashing lazily through the air, high and low, as he searched for the little golden ball. He was sure he caught sight of it at two points, but the first time it moved off immediately afterwards, and the second time it was too close to Chang to make him risk drawing attention to it.
Just ten minutes into the game, amid cheers and groans as the Quaffle was punched through the hoops, Chang attempted to lead Harry into a Wronski Feint - Harry wasn't fooled for a second however, because just as Cho went barrelling off up towards the Hufflepuff seats, Harry spotted the real Snitch - straight below him, hovering just above the ground.
There was no time for thinking; the little ball was already slowly starting to rise, and he knew that in just a few seconds it would be gone completely. 'Right,' Harry decided, forcing the handle straight down, which lifted the tail end and meant he was hurtling towards the grass, 'I'm about a hundred and fifty feet up right now. Let's see whether this thing's speed was exaggerated.'
And with that, he fell.
There was one chance. To pull up just before he hit the ground and fly horizontally just above the ground, leaning back enough to snatch the Snitch just before he changed direction - as long as he didn't fall off, or the Snitch didn't dart away.
If he didn't pull up in time, not only would he not catch the Snitch, but he would probably hit the hard, hard, ground at (who knows what speed?), shatter his multi-million Galleon broom into an irreparable mess, and likely as not turn himself into a sloppy, meaty mush that would have to be scooped up before being dripped into a coffin.
'I'm an idiot', Harry thought calmly, before he jerked the handle up, feeling the strain in his arm muscles as he tugged it to right itself. As it snapped back, he released his grip on it, and snapped his arm out and to the right as it could go, nearly directly behind his back.
He felt it!
The tiny ball felt him, though, and reacted like a panicked animal, attempting to escape. Just as Harry's fingers brushed the side of it, the golden sphere fluttered its wings wildly, springing forwards and upwards.
Harry, still moving forwards at a break-neck speed, not even holding the handle any longer, desperately tried to reach further and snag it -
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chang sweeping across the sky, a triumphant look of victory on her face as she dashed nearer, arm out to catch his quarry -
The crowd had noticed what had happened in his death-defying plunge, were either silent or screaming -
The rush of roaring wind in his ears -
His mouth raw by the slapping, stinging dry air -
The world awhirl with colours that rushed forwards, too blurred to see the grass that he passed -
And, pinched between his thumb and forefinger, he held a wing - the wing that he had seized as it beat backwards to gain momentum - a wing still frantically beating and attached to the struggling, rebellious Snitch.
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Another celebration, that night - the second in less than a month celebrating a Gryffindor victory at Quidditch, the first over Slytherin, and the second a defeat for Ravenclaw.
Harry again managed to refrain from eating any of the party food, restricting himself to a celebratory meal of fruits, vegetables and some tender lamb. Ron wrinkled his nose up when he saw what Harry was eating, and held up a slice of thick, chocolate fudge cake for Harry to admire.
"Now this," he announced with the air of an expert on such matters (for he was, after all) "is real food."
Harry rolled his eyes with amusement. "I doubt that's particularly healthy," he noted mirthfully, before spearing a piece of lamb and chewing on it thoughtfully while the music went on around them.
The twins didn't get drunk this time; instead, they were busy attempting to spike the punch with some suspiciously transparent mixture that probably turned everyone into walruses, or something equally bizarre. Hermione had fortunately managed to thwart them at every turn so far, and was keeping an eye on them.
She was so obsessed with protecting the punch, however, that she neglected to realise that the fruit-cake contained more than a few strangely coloured raisins - after the first three people had to go to the infirmary for hiccupping rainbow-coloured bubbles the size of kittens, Professor McGonagall finally got involved, and the students were ushered off to bed.
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Things passed as normally as they could do for a time; Harry trained in staff-fighting with Levina, Captains O'Keifer and Marcella continued teaching Basic Auror Training Lessons (Harry was easily on top in the lessons, especially when it came to gathering into teams and fighting, where he excelled in both attack and defence; although a few unlucky incidents succeeded in showing him the importance of different places to take cover).
Snape regularly slipped him titbits of information about the Canusabeo - it was apparently standing up all the tests Mungo's could throw at it, and they were likely to release information about it within a few months - and Levina did the same, but giving him updates on the unicorn, rather than a potion.
Over the next few weeks, there were four more Quidditch matches; Hufflepuff versus Slytherin, Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw, and finally Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff. The winners were Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor respectively, and the next match would be the final of the year - Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw on the second of June.
Thanks to Slytherin's defeat by both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor a while back, and Hufflepuff just recently, the serpent-house was still smarting, and the other houses were only too happy to mock them in the corridors.
There were no attacks, by either Leone or her daemon, by Voldemort and the Death Eaters, or by the Dark, and though Harry tried not to slip into a sense of security, he couldn't help it - it was the first of May, and Summer was on them. Unfortunately, exams were too - it was a month and ten days until their first exam occurred (eleven days for Harry, as the first exam was Languages, which he had already done).
Because of this, nearly every spare moment of the fifth-years' timetables were filled by poring over books, quizzing each other, or writing ten thousand word essays on the uses of porcupine quills in Strengthening Serums.
The trios' hours, were however, mostly spent scanning books into the rods and 'reading' them; 'Popular Enchanting', 'Popular Magic', 'Remedial Runes', 'Dragons' Social Organisation'. This left them with much more time than the other students; and of course they remembered it far better as well, being less stressed out and having to carry a tonne of books around with them (which Hermione actually did anyway, but still...).
So, as the other students spent their time in the dorm-rooms or the library, a few risking the wrath of Madame Pince by taking the books outside (more than a few students received detention for a speck of mud on book covers), the trio found themselves wandering down towards Hogsmeade, looking for something interesting to do.
"It's not like we have much to be worried about," Hermione mused as they tracked down the beaten path towards the village. "Our exams will go fine, thanks to the rod, You-Know-Who and that daemon haven't turned up in ages - I'm sure Leone's given up on Harry - and our only trouble is boredom!"
Harry shrugged. "I dunno... I have this feeling. You know how everything seems to be going all right, and then something really bad happens?"
"Only every year," Ron scoffed.
"Well, I think something's going to happen," Harry said seriously, pushing Ron's comment aside. "I mean, everyone knows Voldemort's back, so why's he being so quiet? It's not as if he needs to keep his return a secret any longer."
Hermione frowned. "You mean you think he's just - I don't know - preparing? Planning something?"
Harry nodded. "Exactly. Then there's Leone and her daemon; well, frankly she's nuts. I mean, she tried to sacrifice me... I don't think she's just going to give up any time soon. More likely that she's lying low, waiting for everyone to forget about her, before coming back again."
"Don't you think that's a bit paranoid?" Ron asked, worried, as Harry kicked a torn-up tulip to path side.
Harry shrugged again. "Maybe, but it's how I feel. I know it's daft to think that everyone's out to get - but well, we know they are, don't we? And I screwed up getting rid of Leone and her daemon. I mean," he said, rolling his eyes in disgust, "what kind of idiot would have the spell right in front of him, and still mess up?"
Ron mock-punched him. "You're not an idiot, mate. A nutty, half-baked fruitcake, but not an idiot."
"Thanks Ron. That's so nice of you."
And that was when something huge leapt from behind the bushes, jaws wide, aiming for Harry's throat.
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