Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).
Chapter 11: The New Gryffindor Quidditch Team
Harry found himself standing in a room. Unconscious on the floor were Ron, Hermione, Neville, Dean, Justin, Ernie, Seamus, Padma (he could tell it wasn't Parvati because she wasn't wearing much makeup), Blaise, Fred, George, Wesley, Malfoy, Cho and to his surprise, Cedric Diggory. Harry couldn't make out anything else. He knew that he was in a room of some sort but other than that it was all blurry as if this was a memory. But it couldn't be it didn't happen. This must be a dream… The thought chilled him to the bone. This was different then the other dreams he had had.
The fact that the only thing clear about the dream was the people scared him more. All his other dreams had been about places or things. He had been clear where he was in every single one of them even the previous year when he had seen the department of mysteries and not known what it was it was. It was obvious to him where he was in the dreams once he was there.
Here there was nothing descript at all except for the bodies before him. He heard the sounds of movement behind him. He turned around quickly and found something that horrified him. Walking towards him were those same people that he had just saw unconscious. They were dead looking and their eyes were shinning with crimson sparkles which were just as beautiful as they were horrifying.
He heard a voice that he recognized instantly as Tom Riddle's. It wasn't Voldemort, but the voice of teenage Riddle form the diary his second year. "Here is what you wished for that day the day you went against me!" It said. "I know what you want what you dream of also what frightens you. Friends are not a luxury dark lords have. They are weak and foolish. You know this just as I do, you must know this they do nothing but get in your way. Yes the dark lord is friendless…"
He then heard a voice he had not expected but it was a shining light in the darkness. Dennis Creevy's voice said. "He's right you know that you have always known that. Why do you think you keep your friends here? Why do you think you are so horrified by the thought of them as mindless zombies?" He turned away from the slowly approaching corpses towards where the voice was coming from. There he saw Dennis and Devon Witter, the boy who had talked to him about snakes.
"It's interesting what happens here." Devon said with a smile. "You will not remember any of this when you wake up. It will be as if you were unconscious…" His smile ceased. "So why then are we taking the forms of your friends? It is quite simple…" Harry wasn't sure what was going on this could be a trick but something inside him told him that it wasn't.
"Harry you are quire confused, eh? Let's just say that we are here to guide you to where you need to be. These people that you saw are all a part of this because you make them a part of it." He then produced a small anchor from his hand and walked forward placing it in Harry's palm. "This is the first clue to them the first clue to what must be completed."
Dennis then walked over to him and said. "Pay attention to this boy. He has more insight then you could imagine."
"This boy too," Devon said. "You are one piece of the puzzle, you will know in time why we have told you this and you will know in time why you must now forget about it." He then disappeared leaving the image of Dennis as the only one left.
"That is for Hermione, you will not know why when you awaken but you will give it to her. This will all make sense later. The four have their reasons for making this as they are. Do not inform anyone about this when you ever come to remember it. Not even the headmaster himself. He has his own puzzle to solve, his own part to play." With that the image disappeared and then Harry felt an odd sensation like someone was dousing him with lukewarm clean fresh water…
Seamus, Hermione and Ron staring down at him were the first things he saw when he woke up. The last thing he remembered was rushing at Saren and then a flood of conflicting emotions. The three had concerned looks on their faces. Harry could just make out Saren's sitting figure a few feet away from him with a stern expression on his face.
"Harry? Are you ok?" Ron's voice was agitated.
Harry felt better but there was something slightly off, in any case it wasn't anything he was worried about, "I think so…What happened."
"When we got back form the pensieve you flipped. You rushed professor Saren looking like he was the devil or something. He then used something called "legillimens" on you then you stood there for a sec and just…fell." Seamus was looking nervous as he said this. As if he was waiting for Harry to explode again. Harry didn't feel angry really just really confused. Wouldn't he have realized if Saren had done legillimency on him? He always knew exactly what that felt like with Snape?
"That's essentially what happened at least from what we could tell." Hermione spoke up after Seamus finished. Her face looked incredibly concerned. "Are you sure you ok Harry? The events we saw in the Pensive must have hit really close to home."
Harry wasn't sure what he thought about them. He remembered the events he had seen and he vaguely remembered being angry about them but the anger was fleeting like it was being directed from something else. It was his anger so at least he knew it wasn't sent to him by Voldemort. But he couldn't really find in his memory where the feeling had come from it was there and then it was mysteriously gone the next second leaving him quite disoriented in its wake.
"I hope you are ok Harry, I wouldn't want to take you to the infirmary after our first lesson." Saren also looked concerned, but also as tad happy as well.
"So was that true?" Harry asked.
"Yes it was." Professor Saren said. "All of it." His voice got stern as he said this. Harry wasn't exactly sure why.
Hermione of course seemed to get it immediately, "So that Vampire Draught was about you then?" She asked slightly shaken by the thought. Seamus' eyes grew big and Ron stiffened a bit.
"Well no, but it was effective though. I was queasy for a few minutes after I tested it." He grimaced at that. "But yes I am a Dhampyr." Ron stiffened more and began to shake at this thought, Seamus started shaking and Hermione continued as she was before. Harry wasn't sure exactly what this meant but he wasn't really scared of the man at all.
"I see you are scared of me now. Oh well, it was bound to happen. I would prefer it if you didn't tell anyone about me the last thing I or Dumbledore needs right now is a full blown panic." He had a serious expression that really got the point across. Harry thought it would be a good idea to just change to subject so he asked the first question that came to mind.
"Why did you use legillimens on me when I rushed at you?" Harry didn't understand this it probably would have been safer to stun him with stupefy or maybe use the full body bind. Legillimens seemed a bad choice then.
Saren smiled slightly, "It was a calculated risk on my part. You reacted almost instantly with pure anger your emotions were in complete control of your actions. So I used legillimens targeting happy memories in the hope that they would combat your anger without repressing it. That was when you fell unconscious I wasn't exactly sure why but you seemed ok and your mind seemed ok to me so I decided to wait. Only time would tell if it worked."
"Wow…I never would have thought of that." Hermione was in awe of her new professor.
"So, how old are you anyway?" Ron asked tactlessly as usual. However, Saren didn't seem to care.
"I turned thirty seven last month." He continued smiling as he said this.
"Wow, you don't look a day over twenty." Seamus said as he now stared mystified at the young looking instructor.
"It comes with the lineage. So on with the point of this endeavor. I assume you need some clarification on the events you just saw? You're outburst spoke wonders about it but please know that that was not my only experience at Hogwarts nor of Severus and your father." Harry nodded along with the Ron and Hermione, Seamus was still staring at Saren mystified, Harry wasn't sure but he thought he noticed a blush as well. He shook his head slightly; this was going to take some getting used to.
"James and Sirius found out about me when they followed me to the potion master where I was getting a supply of blood. Back then I wasn't aware that I could process food normally with a bit of mental training. Interesting what you learn when your actually allowed to try things but anyway after that they gave me hell, at least until that event. James botch of the obliviate spell combined with the force of his intent permanently blinded me damaging my eyes magically." Ron looked slightly spooked at what was going on, Hermione was thinking and Seamus' nervous expression had been replaced with one of intrigue.
"You d…d…don't drink blood now right?" Ron asked shakily.
"Not normally, there would be no reason to, unlike full vampire's it is not required for my existence and I don't get a rush or anything from it or anything. I suppose it's more like a good wine or something. I don't know how to explain it without making you sound like a delicacy. But I do not drink blood in the classic vampiric manner." Saren looked stern as he said this, as Harry expected this did not alleviate Ron's fear in the slightest.
"I see that did nothing to alleviate your fear, not that I would expect it too. But think about it this way. Hagrid is a half giant right? So if he wanted to or simply could not control himself he could easily break bones and crush students without even trying just by interacting with them, but he doesn't because he can control that aspect of himself, maybe not as well as one might hope," there was a slight smirk on his face as he said this, "but the fact that the five of us are standing here today is proof that he does."
"So what you're saying is that you control your urges?" Hermione asked.
"Not really because Dhampyr's don't really HAVE urges for blood, as I said earlier. We simply get hungry and blood is simply one of the things that can act as sustenance so of course when hunger kicks in as it does for everyone blood is one of the things that triggers it. But it's not like that is any different then lets say being hungry and seeing a steak or a chicken or any other food. Blood has no special relevance as a food in our eyes, it is just another source." Saren's smile had faltered after that.
Harry wasn't sure what to believe, that man did seem honest and hadn't done anything as of yet that would imply that he had any intention of hurting them. He couldn't help it how he was born and Harry had to admit that the so called "half humans" that he had met had been some of the nicest people he knew.
"As expected this news is going to take some getting used to and it is getting late. So I will have someone escort you back to Gryffindor tower." Saren said as he stood up and headed towards the door.
"We know the way thank you." Harry said reflexively not liking having to be escorted everywhere. He already had two, apparently unreliable, bodyguards, something he was actually rather happy about. He didn't want to be led around the castle like a little child. Saren laughed.
"I knew you'd say something like that, don't worry I don't think your likely to get hurt or attacked or anything especially together but if you have an adult with you then you won't be stopped by the nightly patrols. I don't distrust your abilities but it would be a waste to send you out there and get you in trouble or something for being out of your dorms at this hour." This made sense to Harry, and Harry was glad that Saren unlike so many other teachers seemed to understand his need for independence. Funnily enough the other teachers that seemed to understand this were Hagrid and Snape. Oh Snape tried to get Harry in trouble for breaking rules but not once had he made a big deal about Harry's shenanigans other than to make snide comments about it and or give him detention.
"I have one more question for you." Seamus asked, "Why do ya wear that blind fold?"
Saren's smile flattened out at this. "Because my eye's are apparently incredibly gruesome to look at, at least that's how they have been described to me and if the descriptions are at all accurate than I would have to agree. So I wear this to not upset people. Sunglasses were a pain and made people think I was hiding something. The blindfold just makes people notice and think I'm weird. I prefer weird over distrusted any day."
"Oh…" Seamus said.
Strangely to Harry anyway it was Hermione who said the next thing. "I am curious what do they look like after all I have never heard of the combinations of two blinding curses and obl'v'ate before."
"Hmm…I have no problem showing you but I can't say that you will be ready for what you see." He said warily.
That had the exact opposite effect on Harry and his friends then would generally be intended by such a comment. It was obvious to Harry that Seamus, Hermione and Ron were all more curious simply by the looks on their faces. He, needless to say, concurred with this curiosity.
"With all do respect professor." Hermione said, "I think that we have seen enough with simply our time at Hogwarts to warrant such a thing, the three of us at the very least anyway." She continued motioning towards Ron, Harry herself as she said this. Seamus definitely noticed being left out and seemed to stiffen at that comment.
"You definitely have a point. And I can se that when I really think about it you all should be able to take it anyway." He then removed his blindfold, just like that, no hesitation at all.
What was behind it made Harry almost wish they had never asked. He didn't remember what his mind had assumed they would look like but it wasn't at all like what they did. Saren was right about them being incredibly gruesome. The edges of the eyes looked like they had been burned like someone had put a hot poker in them and they had scared over however the skin that had been used was very red and crusty looking like the inside of his eyes were coated with one big scab. Inside the holes were small shriveled up things that must have been irises at one point but now looked more like little dark crimson raisins or prunes covered in scabbed blood. The scabbed skin didn't just stop at his eyes though it also snaked out of his eye sockets onto his face a little bit around where his eyes would be.
No one spoke and Hermione let out a gasp. Seamus grabbed his stomach and started to turn slightly green in the face. At this point Saren quickly put the blindfold back one. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have shown you that…"
"No…its ok I'll live." Seamus said his face slowly returning to normal.
"That looks painful…" Ron said.
"It isn't, however it was when it happened, but I figured it would be best to skip over that part of the memory." Saren had a concerned expression on his face.
"I'm glad I don't think I could stand that if it caused that." Ron said sounding relieved.
Hermione remained uncharacteristically silent. Harry wasn't sure what to say either. Was there anything to say now?
"I know this is shocking to you but it happened almost thirty years ago and for those of us involved it is old news. Don't worry about me I have lived with this for this long and I'll continue to live with it until the day I die." He then smiled and called, "Remus, you ready to take these four back to their dorm?" Remus stepped into the room with a blank expression on his face and nodded. "I'll be heading to sleep now then good night." Saren then got up and left the room.
"Come on I'll escort you back to your dorm… You know he really isn't a bad guy…" Remus started.
"Yeah we know. We have experience with so called 'half breeds' remember." Harry smiled up at his friend as he said this. Remus surprised him by not smiling back.
"Of course you do, but I must implore you all the importance of this though. He is an unlikely ally who is taking a giant risk being here to teach you all. Yes he was brought here as an instructor for a class that ahs existed before. But beyond that he was brought here specifically to teach you three, something he volunteered for when even the headmaster had misgivings about his safety." Remus then stopped and looked at the four of them. "Think carefully before you tell anyone about this. Not that I expect you to go blabbing about, I know you can keep secrets. But this cannot be allowed to get out. He doesn't deserve that…" With that he continued walking silently towards the common room with four silent and glum faces following him.
When they got there Remus left them and wished them good night, he still had the common room was essentially empty, there were two seventh years studying by the fire but that was all. Harry, Ron and Seamus said good night to Hermione and then headed up towards their dorm. When they got there they were surprised to find Wesley and Neville waiting there excitedly.
"Where have you been?" Neville asked a gleam of curiosity on his face.
"Yeah, Neville was telling me about your late night shenanigans. About the only thing that seemed out of place to him was Seamus not sound asleep in his bed." Wesley then smiled mischievously. "So what's up then? Where did you go?"
Harry wasn't sure how much to tell them, he wanted to tell them the truth but he also didn't want it to get around the school and while he didn't think that either of them would do that he still wasn't used to putting complete trust in people other than Ron and Hermione. Seamus and Ron also remained silent apparently waiting for a prompt from him. The fact that Saren had told them the others in his dorm were invited was not lost on him either. And yet for some reason he couldn't tell them right now. He guessed that it was probably do to the revelation he had just had about his parents past.
"Sorry, but I'm too tired to talk about it right now." As he said this his body decided to yawn confirming his words to be true. Harry then found himself incredibly exhausted much more so then he had felt moments earlier. Wesley and Neville must have seen this because they as well as Seamus and Ron, who looked equally tired as he felt, moved off to their own beds. He didn't even bother to take of his robes simply dropped onto his bed and fell quickly to sleep.
The next morning was spent rushing to get ready much like the previous mornings had been. But it was not a crazed rush to get to breakfast as the previous mornings had been. This was an excited rush to get ready for the quidditch tryouts that very morning. And so Harry found himself walking towards the quidditch pitch alongside his dorm mates, minus Dean, and Hermione.
The say was incredibly sunny and rather nice, the perfect day to get out broomsticks and fly about. Harry also needed to try out the new broomstick his friends had gotten him. He figured it would fly the same as his old one but he couldn't be sure until he tried it out. Out on the pitch he could see Ginny clearly standing next to McGonagall looking over different people in Gryffindor robes of various sizes. A boy in Slytherin robes was there too but Harry could tell form the body language and fact that he was waving at them that it was Blaise. He walked up to the Gryffindors merrily, he didn't get as bad a greeting as could have been expected but it wasn't exactly perfect either.
"Hey Harry guess who the new spokesperson for quidditch is?" With how excited Blaise was there could only be one answer. Of course he didn't give them time to answer so it didn't matter. "Me! Never thought McGonagall would ever let a Slytherin do it but apparently she was happy I asked about it." He was really excited and any negative thought towards him seemed to wash away down the river of happiness.
"Congratulations." Harry said to his excited friend. "I hope you do well."
"Yeah if there is going to be a Slytherin announcing things I'm glad it's you." Ron said, it didn't exactly sound like a compliment more like a snide remark but Blaise didn't seem to notice or care.
"Good going but do try to be non-biased like Lee was…" Seamus comment trailed off with a knowing smile. Blaise simply laughed.
"Oh don't worry I will not follow in Jordan's footsteps. He is irreplaceable." He then smiled before walking off towards the castle waving bye to the group of Gryffindors.
"Hmm…this will be different certainly…" Hermione said as Blaise disappeared, "I certainly hope he isn't as biased as Lee was or we could have a war on our hands. In any case it seems like it would be a good idea to start the tryouts. I'll meet you guys afterwards." And with that she, Neville and Wesley headed off towards the stands chatting. Wesley has told them earlier than quiddtich wasn't his cup of tea. Said he enjoyed watching it but the one time he played it he had been the target of too many bludgers for him to really enjoy himself. He hadn't explained any further than that and everyone had decided to leave the matter alone. Harry hadn't really expected Neville to try out so when he walked off towards the stands no one took notice.
Upon reaching the pitch Harry noticed that the number of students trying out was fairly small. There seemed to be many more people there to simply watch the tryouts than to actually go out for the team. He looked for any snoopers from other houses in the stands. Seeing none he walked up to where Ginny and McGonagall were standing.
"Hello Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley. Ginny has agreed to be captain if she makes the team so all you have to do is make sure it is up to par this year." She smiled as she said this and then briskly walked off towards the castle.
Harry and Ron walked over to where Ginny was standing looking over the people in line who wanted to try out for the team. Seamus pulled a broomstick out of his robe and went to stand with the students trying out. Some of them edged away from him slowly but Dennis walked over to him and started chatting with him, his eyes daring others to say a word despite his youthful smile.
"It's about time you showed up." Ginny said in mock annoyance smiling all the same. "I was wondering when our remaining two players were going to show up." Harry noticed Sloper and Kirke off on the other side of the pitch flying about hitting bludgers with two red heads who looked similar to a certain two bodyguards that seemed to be less and less reliable to Harry. Not that that bothered him any.
"I see your taking your new job as Captain quite seriously." Ron said.
"Of course although I am not captain yet I still have to make the team again after all it would hardly be fair to assign myself a slot over a better player." She said seriously before going and standing with the people who were trying out.
"Ok so we are mainly holding tryouts for chaser but if people want to try out for the other positions we might as well do that too." Harry said to the rather small group of students in front of him. Everyone nodded. "Ok so all of you trying out for Chaser stay where you are. Anyone who is interested in trying out for beater go and talk to Fred and George, just tell them that I sent you." Harry smiled. A couple of the larger students in the group headed over in that direction.
"Ok now anyone who wants to try out for Keeper go over and wait under the goalposts." Harry pointed over too where they should go, but no one went earning a relieved sigh from Ron.
"Well then that leaves Seeker, anyone who is interested in being seeker form a line next to the line for chaser. Oh and while you're at it, form a line for Chaser as well so we can get this practice started." The Gryffindors quickly formed two lines. The line for chaser was significantly longer than the one for seeker and both Seamus and Dennis were in that longer line. Harry wasn't sure what he thought about the seeker tryouts but he was going to try out for it like everyone else. He figured he should after all it was only fair. Fairness…he wouldn't have thought that way last year. He realized that he must have really grown up. He smiled at that thought, it felt good.
"Ok now me and Ron are going to hold the chaser tryouts and then Ron and Ginny will hold the Seeker tryouts because I will be trying out again too." He smiled at Ron as he said this Ron looked slightly surprised but not as surprised as he could have. "So let's get started."
The tryouts for Chaser started with the person flying around the pitch to test their flying maneuverability. After that they all shot at Ron who was still the only Keeper to see how they were at getting points. After the individual tryouts they were going to split up into groups and then pass the ball around. But that comes later. For the most part there wasn't anyone who did horribly on the tryout. There was a younger boy, a second year if Harry remembered correctly who was so nervous he almost fell of his broom stick but did ok after he got over it. Although he was a horrible shot, Harry thought this was likely also due to nervousness but he couldn't be sure. And a girl who had to be rushed to the hospital wing when a random bludger from the other side of the pitch where the beaters were practicing knocked her off her broomstick where she was just shy of lading straight on her head. After that and an apology form Fred and George the beaters were more careful.
It wasn't until Dennis tried out that Harry had found a sure in. The first thing that stood out before anything else was his broomstick. As he was getting ready to start his training he produced a Firebolt form his robes. Harry was curious as to how he had gotten his hands on it but didn't ask. But even that had not prepared Harry for what he saw. Dennis was apparently a natural at flying possibly even better then himself. During his tryout he had seemed to deflect off the stands and the ground instead of merely turning. He also was flying incredibly fast. Harry had never seen himself fly on a Firebolt but if he had to guess he thought that Dennis was flying a bit faster than he usually did. It seemed only slightly slower then the people at the world cup the summer before his fourth year and he could barely make out what was going on there without using the slow motion feature on his omnoculars. After that incredible display of flying he proved himself an incredibly capable shooter as well. The first important advantage he had there was of course his speed, it was obvious to Harry form how frantic he looked that Ron was having trouble even seeing where he was shooting from. When Dennis then managed to put six shots out of the ten he made into the hoops. Two of them had missed and Ron had miraculously saved two of them despite Dennis obvious skill. Harry was sure that Dennis had a future in quidditch, he was a natural at the sport is he ever saw one. Ron and Ginny agreed, as did everyone else trying out. Harry saw there was going to be no problems with it at all. Dennis Creevy was definitely on the team.
No one else after him even came close. Ginny had done well in the shooting but her flying could use a little work. She said she didn't have much time to practice over the summer despite Ron's letters. They were moving around to much but still she had done well considering. Seamus had also somewhat surprised Harry as he had never seen him really fly. He was nothing spectacular but he was a good steady flyer who seemed to have a knack for quick reversals and turns as long as they weren't too sudden.
During the passing and later interception practice Dennis had again shown his knack. If he had a weakness on the field it was that he wasn't to strong and so couldn't pass very far, shooting Harry noticed worked for him because he had the momentum of his speed on his side something that was not always there when passing. But he was great at interceptions and in fact seemed to have a knack for diving between two passing chasers and grabbing the Quaffle form above or below, another point for the boy. Seamus seemed a great passer with his strong arms and Ginny wasn't half bad either, of course neither was anyone else.
By the end the only person who he was sure about was Dennis. He and Ron stood aside to talk about it but the talk didn't take that long. In the end Ron and Harry had decided one Ginny and Seamus as the main team and everyone else present as back ups. After all no one had done horribly and there were only four remaining people anyway. One of them, a fourth year boy Harry hardly knew was not happy at all that Seamus was chosen over him and stormed off the field but the rest stayed and congratulated the three who had made the main team. Harry had to admit though that their choices had not been totally based on skill. They had chosen Ginny so that neither of them had to Captain, a job that both of them seemed happier and happier to be without. Harry was really surprised how much Ron seemed to be happy not to be captain. He hadn't believed him when he had told him before. But it became more and more clear to him that he was content where he was something that he had never seen in Ron before. Seamus had been a choice mainly because he was a decent player and because Harry didn't want him to feel left out. After all he was going through and was likely to go through he deserved something to show for. Ron and Ginny (whom they had asked to join them after deciding she was in) had agreed.
Next came the seeker tryouts. They included a boy and a girl both of whom were younger than Harry. Harry was not sure how Ron and Ginny were going to decide who was on the team since he was trying out but in the end that didn't matter. He was just going to do his best and if someone beat him…then they deserved the position more than he did anyway. It made him have less reason to be angry that way, and he knew from experience that he did not like himself while he was angry.
The seeker tryout was a lot shorter and simpler then the chaser one. A practice snitch was released (Harry had leant his snitches specifically for the tryouts). The person in question would then chase around the snitch for a maximum of thirty minutes after which they would go on to the next person in line. The first to go was the girl and she had done reasonably well. She had gotten rather close to catching the snitch three times and the last time she would have succeeded if not for a random bludger almost hitting her. This time one of the twins had given a "heads up" before collecting the loose bludger. Harry had done reasonably well as well. He had managed to catch the snitch within the last minute of his allotted time and it was not without incident as he had done a forward roll off of his broomstick in order to do so and had cracked his elbow in the process. It wasn't broken however and other than being slightly sore he was not worse than any other time he had caught it. The other boy had done about as well as the girl. He too almost got the snitch a few times but failed. This time there was no bludger interference but he was close enough that Harry thought he would have eventually gotten it. Harry also noticed that he had a slightly unfair advantage in having a better broom. The girl had an old worn Shooting Star and the boy had a Comet 260. Compared to his Firebolt they were pretty low end brooms. But then again, compared to a Firebolt most brooms were.
Ginny and Ron had quickly decided to keep Harry as seeker, but as with the chasers the two runner ups were kept as backup. Ginny had said that they were more likely to be needed then the chasers. Harry wasn't exactly thrilled to hear that but he had to agree. He has missed too many matches already do to injury and he was sure that he would miss another, as unhappy as that thought made him.
So that was that, Fred and George had ultimately decided that Kirke and Sloper would still be on the team but that the two newcomers would make great backup and now they had a complete backup team to scrimmage against during practice. A few of the runner ups seemed slightly disappointed but they didn't make a big deal of it so Harry wasn't really worried. After all that was to be expected.
After the tryouts were over, Harry, Ron and Ginny met with the all the people to work out the practice schedule. After that was done Harry decided to ask Dennis why he hadn't tried out for Seeker as with his speed eh might even have given Harry a run for his money.
"I was wondering why didn't you try out for seeker? You are certainly fast enough on a broom." Harry asked him as they walked towards the stands where he Ron and Seamus were going to meet Wesley, Hermione and Neville to head off to lunch.
"I may fly fast but I can't keep the snitch in my sights. My eyes just aren't fast enough. I can keep the quaffle ok but it's bigger and doesn't dart around as much. I have tried to follow the snitch and I always got lost. I could probably work and get it eventually but I would rather play chaser anyway. From what I can see the Seeker spends a lot of the game searching around or watching as oppose to really playing." Harry couldn't deny this statement. Finding the snitch wasn't exactly easy, neither was catching it. But he did notice that he spent a lot more time sitting around searching the sky then the other players. In fact there had been times when he had only moved to dodge a bludger for almost ten minutes on clearer days where the entire pitch could be seen.
Dennis ran off towards the castle after saying that, waving bye to the older Gryffindors as he disappeared into the distance. Hermione, Wesley and Neville were waiting patiently by the stairs onto the stands smiling.
"Wow that was cool! Who would have guessed that Dennis Creevy could fly that fast?" Neville was practically beaming. "We are a sure in this year for the house cup."
"Well I wouldn't say we're a sure in, we definitely have an advantage. Our team is completely new and looks to be very different from our old one. So unless they change their strategies greatly we will know what to expect and they won't." Hermione's quick analysis was met with smiles instead of annoyance. She was right and the fact that she was smiling and seemed somewhat excited rather than simply thoughtful added rather than subtracted from the general mood of the group.
That mood lasted exactly until they got into the great hall where they ran into Dean and a few Gryffindor seventh years that didn't seem happy at all. Next to them looking slightly worried was the boy who had stormed off after Seamus was picked over him.
"I can't believe you chose him to be on the team. You are aware how that makes out house look right!" One of the seventh years said. Dean was staring at the group with disdain. But he didn't seem to have the malice of the rest of the group in front of them. While that didn't help the current situation much, at least it was something.
"Yeah we don't want to be represented by HIM!" Another one said while pointing at Seamus accusingly.
Seamus started to walk away when Dean finally spoke. "What running now! The Seamus I remember wouldn't run he'd fight. Or are you too queer now to even stand up for yourself!"
Harry wasn't sure but he noticed a hint of sadness and challenge in Dean's words as mean as they sounded. It was almost as if Dean was trying to get him to act like his old self again instead of putting him down. It was definitely a challenge but it didn't seem as malicious as the other's. Harry thought Dean must really miss him.
Seamus turned towards the group and then looked at the people he was with. Not one of them had moved. Harry, Hermione, Neville, Wesley, and even Ron were standing behind him. Everyone in the great hall was watching. Harry was sure it was about to come down to a brawl when they all heard a familiar voice from the doorway.
"I see that Gryffindor house is, as usual, itching for a fight." Professor Snape's tone was his general "you are about to be punished severely" tone. Harry turned around to see him standing in the doorway next to professor McGonagall who looked just as displeased as professor Snape if not more so.
"I cannot believe you, preparing to fight among your own housemates. All of you report to my office after lunch! Now off to your table! All of you!" McGonagall had a no nonsense expression on her face and Snape had his vindictive smirk. However it was obvious that he would have preferred to hand out the punishment it didn't matter as much. Everyone knew that McGonagall was harder on her own housemates than anyone else and that short of Snape and Filch, she gave out the worst punishments of any professor in the school.
Harry wasn't looking forward to the punishment they were going to get but he was sure it was worth it. Seamus needed friends now more then ever and he needed them too. No one was going to mess with anyone he considered a friend and get away with it.
There were two noticeable groups walking towards McGonagall's office the one surrounding Seamus and the one surrounding Dean. They kept looking at each other. Dean's group had menacing expressions except Dean who looked tired more than anything. Seamus looked somewhat uptight but also somewhat relieved. If he hadn't gotten it before he got it now, the people behind him were behind him no matter what.
McGonagall looked sterner then Harry had ever seen her. Sterner even then when he and Ron had flown Arthur's flying car or when He Ron and Hermione had told her about the Philosophers Stone. It seemed so odd too. Those seemed to be much worse in the grand scale of thing then this little childish fighting but it obviously was very important to her.
"Now what in the world would make you all want to fight like that? And in the great hall at that!" She basically yelled at them all.
"Well…" Hermione started before she was promptly cut off by one of the seventh years that were along side Dean.
"…they were bragging about getting put on the Quidditch team and…"
"We were doing no such thing!" Ron cut him off. Then there was a yelling match where everyone cut everyone else off before they could finish.
"Quiet, only once before in all my years teaching here have I seen students as unruly as you all." She said in the most admonishing tone Harry had ever heard her use, which was saying a lot.
"Ms. Granger you were saying." She said, Hermione had not taken part in the yelling match, Harry had not either actually. It was almost totally Ron on their side.
"Well Seamus had been put on the Quidditch team and someone complained about it in the great hall. For what I should think would be obvious reasons." McGonagall nodded at that and Hermione looked at the group around Dean accusatively before continuing. "They then just stopped us as we were entering the Great hall and said some rubbish about not wanting Seamus representing their house. You basically came in at that moment professor."
"Ok, Ms Granger, Mr. Potter, Mr. Finnigan, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Tinderspoon I am still ashamed at you for not going to a teacher and so I will be removing one point from Gryffindor for each of you and will contact you about your punishment later. You may go."
The last thing Harry saw before he left the room was McGonagall glare at the other students before she waved her wand and the door shut in his face. He was relieved, he thought they were relatively lucky in their relative lack of punishment as even though it was not their fault they had been a part of an interhouse fight. Something he was certain was one of the worst things one can be in form McGonagall's point of view, especially in house Gryffindor.
They all started heading back towards their dorm, any excitement from the morning lost about what had possibly happened. Yes Snape and McGonagall had stepped in before anything really happened but had they not there would have likely been a fight in the middle of the great hall.
"Thank you." Seamus said to them as they walked back towards their dormitory.
"No problem, I said I would be behind you all the way and I meant it!" Wesley said as he patted Seamus on the back reassuringly.
The rest of the group simply nodded in response to that. Seamus smiled and the rest of the trip was taken in silence. Harry knew this was just the beginning and he was not looking forward to what was in the near future because if his experience at Hogwarts told him anything, then this was simply the beginning. It was a famous muggle writer who wrote "It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times." And that's how Hogwarts was for him, the best of times and the worst of times. Only time would tell what times were coming up and what they would lead too.
"It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times."-Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
