Chapter 20: Theodore Nott
Harry flinched at the words, but nothing happened. Theodore said them again, still nothing. Harry was about to hit the boy, run out the door. But then Theodore grabbed him and pulled him to the desk at the other side of the room. Harry found he was surprisingly strong for his spindly frame. He yelled, but found himself silent.
Theodore forcefully sat him down on a chair and then sat on a chair facing him, staring him in the eyes. Harry saw something he hadn't been expecting, an internal battle was obviously happening as they sat there. Harry watched, for some reason he wasn't scared, if he was going to be killed he would be dead by now.
It was almost ten minutes before Theodore spoke. "I couldn't do it." Harry was certain he was referring to the death curse. Theodore may have been facing Harry, their eyes meeting directly but it was obvious that Theodore was seeing something totally different. His grey green eyes were glossed over, like he was totally lost in thought. "You know, I thought I could do it? I thought I could make myself hate you? Maybe just maybe I could make myself hate you just enough to do it. Then I could be put in Azkaban, or given the kiss. And then I wouldn't have to deal with this anymore." Theodore stood up, took his own wand and slammed it into the desk. It shattered in an explosion of multicolored sparks which quickly disappeared. Harry stared. He couldn't imagine why anyone would want to destroy his own wand. Theodore sat down, and then produced Harry's wand from his robes.
"Maybe I can do it with this? I feel power from this wand, power that I never felt from my own. Well, my sister's. She was killed you know, killed when she refused to join the Dark Lord. She went to Durmtrang. They gave me her wand saying that it was a legacy. That if she wasn't going to be the one to follow the family line she might as well not exist. That was last year. She was two years older than me." He absentmindedly pointed Harry's wand at him as he said this. "Now I wonder if I can do it. Bringing back Harry Potter's wand would be quite the prize…" He then pointed Harry's wand at him directly, Harry tried to get up but found he couldn't move. "Avada Kedavra!" he yelled more forcefully this time. Harry flinched, but again nothing happened. There was no green light, no sound of splitting air. "It figures…" He said. He then put Harry's wand down on the desk.
Harry was intrigued to say the least. Obviously Theodore had been sent to kill him. And obviously for some reason he hadn't been able to do it. Harry wouldn't have talked or moved had he been able to. He wanted Theodore to continue, wanted to hear what the obviously distressed boy had to say.
Theodore paced the room, stared at the walls, the ceiling, the floor, anything but Harry. He then went and picked up Harry's wand. He stared at it for a while and for a second Harry was worried he was going to smash it on the desk as he had done his own. But he waved it and said "finite incantatem" and Harry found he could move again, and speak as well. Theodore then handed Harry back his wand and then stood there, staring at him meekly. "Go ahead," he said, "do whatever you wan to me. Kill me, torture me, get your revenge on me for the things my dad has done to you." Harry was surprised at his conviction. There was a self hatred in his voice that made Harry's past self hatred seem trivial. Here was a boy that obviously thought he deserved whatever came to him. But Harry couldn't kill Theodore anymore than Theodore could kill him. He simply didn't hate the boy, he pitied him. It was obvious that he was pushed into it, obvious that he was not at all ok with what was happening. So he walked over to him.
Theodore flinched, obviously not expecting compassion, "Remember who killed your godfather! Remember what group represented that!" Harry was impressed, that had almost got him, almost made him hate the boy he was standing in front of. Had he not been working with his emotions for as long as he had it would have. But Harry saw this for what it was; an attempt to get him to do what Theodore was afraid to do. He wanted Harry to kill him. It was as simple as that.
"Theodore, you do not represent those people…"
Theodore brandished his arm, Harry stared. The dark mark was clearly visible right where it was supposed to be between his wrist and elbow. Harry had not expected a student to be allowed the dark mark. It was a wonder that he was allowed back into school at all bearing it. Harry then realized that he had not even really been aware that Theodore was at school until the quidditch game. He wondered whether it was just him being unnoticeable or if he was under some form of magic. Even so, regardless of why, it was clear that even with the mark, Theodore hardly represented the death eaters. Harry already knew one who bore the dark mark and did not represent Voldemort. While Harry still didn't particularly like the guy, he had proven himself plenty. Harry had simply refused to see that in previous years.
"Theo…"
It was then that the door bust open and a shocked voice yelled, "Harry get…" Harry looked over at the door as the voice abruptly stopped. There in the doorway, wand raised was George, with a profound look of confusion on his face. "What is going on here?" He asked.
Harry had to imagine it was an unexpected sight. Harry holding his wand casually while talking to a student who was obviously unarmed but who had the dark mark clearly visible on his forearm. Harry knew George wasn't stupid nor was he imperceptive. He would easily see that Harry had control of the situation. And that Theodore was not at all happy with what was going on.
"Theodore!" Blaise' voice followed George and he stared incredulously at the boy Harry was speaking with. Blaise looked hurt. Theodore quickly pulled his robe down covering the dark mark. The damage seemed to have been done however as Blaise rushed out of the room, Harry barely caught a nearly silent sob as he ran down the corridor towards the dungeon. Theodore seemed to pale more, and that was a feat as he was already so pale that Harry was certain he was white as snow.
George relaxed his wand hand and got an uncharacteristically guilty look on his face. Harry wasn't certain that guilt was even an emotion the Weasley twins had. He was obviously greatly mistaken. "This is all my fault. If only I had paid more attention!" Then he turned his wand on Theodore, a determination in his eyes and a beat red face. "You!" He said.
Harry jumped between them. Harry saw what was about to happened bright as day. George was going to do something that he was going to regret, and Theodore was going to jump right into it. Salvation and damnation, the only thing between the two was a small sixteen year old boy.
"Get out of my way!" George said, his face still beet red, determined rage still like fire in his eyes. Harry noticed something though, Georges eyes were not his own. There was something else there.
"Yes let him." Theodore said, Harry didn't know what but something was happening here that he alone seemed to be immune to. Or was he? He felt strange, he didn't know why he was so adamant about protecting someone who had tried to kill him and bore the dark mark. But he was willing to sacrifice his life or him. The fact that it would make George's attempt to protect him a moot point disappeared from his head. A bomb was about to go off. And it would have if Leon, Tonks and Wesley had not chosen that moment to enter the room.
Leon quickly subdued George while Tonks grabbed Theodore. Wesley grabbed Harry, although Harry proved too much for him and he broke his grasp, pointing his wand at Tonks and shouting "Avada Ked..." He never finished his statement. Wesley had hit him with a quick silencio, and Fred, who had just appeared hit him with a square expelliarmus.
It wasn't until Dumbledore entered the room in a flash of flame with Fawkes on his shoulder that the chaos stopped. Increasingly more dangerous spells were being cast and it looked for a moment that it would be the end for all of them. The headmaster spoke calmly and collectedly just as he always did. "Theodore, please come with me. I have some things to discuss with you." Dumbledore had in his own was issued a command and one did not go against his commands readily. Theodore complied and in a flash of fire they were gone.
Harry felt dazed. He wasn't quite sure what he had been thinking. He knew exactly what had just happened but there appeared to be no reason behind it. It simply was. Leon had a grave expression on his now chiseled, usually soft features. Harry was certain he knew what was going on. Tonks looked equally grave. George looked lost and even guiltier than he had before. He was looking at his hands, his wand forgotten on the floor. Harry then remembered what he had almost done. He had nearly cast the killing curse at Tonks, probably his favorite order member. He was certain that had Wesley and Fred not intervened that it would have worked. He was sure of it.
"I…" Harry and George said simultaneously.
Fred put his hand on George's shoulders. Wesley put a hand on Harry's; he then said, "What was this?"
Leon shuddered, "It is something that I prefer not to explain. I believe that the headmaster has it under control and I have no doubt that he will tell you when he thinks you are ready. I will not tell you before that in this case. But I will tell you that this is exactly what you have been training for. It is a dark time, very dark…" He then walked off towards the Dungeons, mumbling something to himself.
Harry knew that something very powerful and magical was up…
A basilisk bit at him followed by a werewolf's claw slash and a dragon's breath. Then staring at him from the mist was Devon. "Harry, you must find me, my disaster has just begun. I hold the key that you are looking for. It is the only thing I have ever seen. Getting me to realize it is the final truth."
Dennis then appeared next to him. "The key to that lies with me. Nothing is as it seems, but as it is." Dennis then disappeared.
Devon seemed to look into Harry's eyes despite his own eye's emptiness. "Do not turn to Hermione. She has her own part to play. This is a time of peril, the puzzle is being put together, the spell part of the foundation. The Heir's are nearing their completion. You will remember this, and you will remember that it has happened before but not anything else. Remember the song? That is for Hermione, tell her. Remember the moon? That is for Ron, tell him. The rest is for those who have picked each other. The spell that affected you is strong. It awakened something that cannot be put to sleep. Do take care. Gryffindor's main strength was also his biggest flaw. Take heed; do not follow the path of that man. He too, has lost himself… Take heed… Remember, find me. Make me remember the key, my only sight. Remember…"
With that Harry found himself waking in his bed, the only thing showing that the previous night was not a dream was the bruise forming on his arm where Theodore had grabbed him.
George wasn't taking any chances, since that day he had been following Harry around like a hawk. Harry was glad of it in a way, although now it actually felt like he had a bodyguard instead of just that he theoretically did. George never disallowed him to do something or even told him that he needed to be careful, but his silent presence was enough and Harry was as of yet not accustomed to a constant presence like that.
Harry, George and Blaise were down since the next day and everyone noticed. It wasn't long before the entire feel of the DA members was one of either morose curiosity or simply down right depression at the state of things. People really got that they were in danger, and they thought that was why they were depressed. Harry and George both knew why they were depressed because it was for the same reason. They were both scared of what they were capable of.
The next Saturday it all cumulated in what seemed to be a very morose event. Technically it was a Hoggsmeade day, but of course given the recent events it was cancelled to all but teachers and prefects. Ron and Hermione had offered to stay, but Harry had told them to go have fun. Hermione had grudgingly agreed only after Ron had told her that Harry obviously needed time alone. Despite not hanging out as much together, Ron seemed to understand Harry better than anyone else.
Of course Harry wasn't intending to be alone. He had had enough of that the previous year. No now he wanted to talk, with the one person who he was certain could explain what was going on, Theodore Nott.
Finding Theodore turned out to be much easier than Harry anticipated. The first reason was because they had the Marauder's Map and that had yet to lead them astray. The second reason was because George wanted to talk to him just as much as Harry did. They both had many unanswered questions. The reason George was integral to finding them was that he was in a secret passageway that Harry had no idea how to get into. It was on the map at least, but there was no clue as far as Harry could tell as to how one was supposed to open the passageway. All he knew was that both Blaise and Theodore were in there, obviously talking about something. Harry still had no idea how to open the passage. George had only said that it was made by older students for older students and required a certain amount of maturity to open. All Harry knew was that George faced towards a corner, fiddled with his robes a bit, and the door opened. George than fiddled with his robes again and then turned around and entered the passageway as if nothing had happened. Harry thought no further on this, he didn't want to know what the passages purpose was, only wanted to find the students inside of it.
Harry heard Blaise speaking first, around a corner from where he and George were standing, "But why? I thought we both agreed…"
Theodore sounded sad, "I couldn't…you…you were sent away but I was…I was…I couldn't do anything about it. They put the world on my shoulders, telling me things that I never wanted to know. They promised me a death of old age as my punishment for not joining. They said that despite what the Dark Lord believed that there were worse things than death and they were going to do all off them to me. Then they used it…if only they had use cruciatus. I could have handled that. But the curse they used on me still plagues me…it was a curse of nightmares. I saw them killing you…killing Harry…killing everybody. I couldn't handle it. I wasn't strong enough."
Harry listened silently from where they were standing. George remained silent too. The door to the passage closed slowly and rather silently as well. If Blaise or Theodore noticed their presence…they didn't mention it at all.
"I know…but still. I thought I had someone who understood me, someone who was like me. But you don't see me with a Dark M ark on my arm. I don't even know you anymore…" Blaise voice was harsh, probably more harsh than Harry thought Theodore deserved. He didn't know what had happened but he knew what nightmares of death were like. Could he honestly say that he would have done differently had he been threatened with them? That and that was the past, Harry knew better than anyone what it was like to hold grudges. He still held that grudges needed to be a thing of the past, especially for him. Theodore was heard crying.
Harry looked at George, and then motioned towards the door. George nodded and then walked up to the door, fiddled with his robes again and it opened. They both then left the room silently.
When they got back to their dorm, Harry realized that he was incredibly tired, despite his dream he was not at all rested and he figured he could use some sleep. Pity I don't have dreamless sleep potion. He thought before he nodded off, although that afternoon he hadn't needed it. He slept sounder than he had in weeks. In fact he wasn't woken until he heard a bustling from the stairway and the laughter of three boys he knew quite well.
Ron, Seamus and Wesley wandered into the room laughing. Following them was a smiling Neville and a nervously smiling Dean. "You mean there is only ONE ball?" Ron asked incredulously, although he was still laughing. Harry found this unsettling.
"Yeah, although I think it can get a bit more chaotic than Quidditch even with the extra balls." Wesley said.
"With only four people on a team and one ball?" Seamus exclaimed, "That I would love to see."
Wesley thought for a second. "Well, if we could get a hold of a standard mana television then we could watch a game. One of my old school games should be scheduled for today."
Dean stared at him, "But how could a television even work here let alone get a signal from the states."
George stepped out of his bed totally naked and said, "Because it's a mana television. Me and Fred were looking into them for expanding our jokes."
Dean covered his eyes nervously, "Please, put some pants on!" George rolled his eyes at Dean's squeamishness at his nudity. Seamus quickly gave him a once over. Harry had seen George in nearly every sort of dress, so he didn't think twice about it until Dean pointed it out.
"Oh would you stop it!" Harry said annoyed, "It's not like it's anything we haven't seen before. You'd think you were first years with the way you're acting!"
Ron was the first to respond, "Look who's bloody cranky this morning." As harsh as the words were, Ron's tone made it obvious that it was a joke. Harry didn't particularly care however. He was still incredibly tired and depressed from the events of the previous day. George didn't look all that happy either. His expression was incredibly sarcastic and it seemed he was rolling his eyes in annoyance as oppose to good fun. Harry wouldn't have been surprised had he remained naked merely to get the others to go away. It was very obvious that neither one of them was in the mood for much of anything.
George may have been too nice to yell at them to go away but Harry certainly wasn't. "Why don't you all get out of here!" Harry said with an obvious growl in his voice. The clamor stopped instantly, and there was silence.
"Um… Well…the thing is that…" Ron obviously had no idea how to respond to that. Harry knew that he must sound like he did last year but he didn't care. He was in a horrible mood and nothing was going to change that.
"Wesley was telling us about a game they play in America called 'Deflector Ball' and it sounds rather interesting." Seamus sounded guarded, and Harry figured he should after all it was obvious that he wanted to be left alone. Dean was shifting his feet from side to side actively looking away from George, Neville and Wesley just looked nervous.
George looked at them as if they were idiots, "Since you are obviously not going to go away may I suggest that you idiots think for a second? If you want a television that badly there is an easy way to get it!"
Harry squinted in their direction, wanting them all to leave and yet certain that they had intended to drag him off into whatever their little plan was to cheer him up. Unfortunately his friends were quite persistent if not annoying, and the chances of blowing them off after they resisted his initial outburst was slim to none. One of the more negative aspects of Gryffindors, they never get the subtle, or even blatant hints that you want them to leave you alone. Harry rethought that for a moment… No…it's more like they just don't care. He recognized that not so great trait in himself and it succeeded only in annoying him more.
Seamus slapped himself in the head, "WHAT were we thinking? DUH! The room of requirement!"
Wesley looked at him, "I have heard the DA members mention that room. What is it?" He asked.
Seamus responded, "It's a room that is well…whatever you want it to be."
Harry had not expected that to be the differing statement. But as soon as Seamus said that Harry remembered what it has given Ernie and himself and he thought, Not exactly, and snickered silently to himself.
Seamus and Ron caught it but didn't say anything. Harry only knew they caught it because of their residual mental links from their psionics classes. They didn't show it at all. That was one thing that the psionics classes were doing for the three boys. Harry, Ron and Seamus used to wear their emotions on their foreheads. Now they hid them well and usually put up some facade emotion to protect what they really felt, at least when they needed to.
"Huh? Whatever you want it to be? You mean even changing size?" Wesley sounded quite intrigued at that notion.
"Yep." Ron said with a smile.
"Wow... That must have taken some charms and transfiguration mastery. This school is amazing. We didn't have nearly as much magical effects at N.Y.M.A. In fact I don't think that anyone would ever notice any difference between it and any other muggle academy." Wesley mused on that thought before saying. "Of course that's half of the point."
Seamus looked at them all before saying excitedly, "So let's go watch this 'Deflector Ball' then and see just how chaotic it is." He challenged Wesley with his eyes as if to say, "nothing could possibly be better and quidditch." Wesley returned it evenly with a playful smirk returning the challenge evenly. Harry was finding it more and more difficult to keep his unhappy demeanor with his friend's antics. That along with Seamus sending him happy emotions and Wesley's general trust was severely affecting him. He wanted to be annoyed but his dorm mate's sinister plan to sheer him up was having the desired effect. Ands there was nothing he could do about it. George seemed to be having even more difficulty than Harry keeping up the negative air, and had now started actively teasing Seamus and Dean, albeit for different reasons, with his nakedness. His frown becoming a smirk and then smile long before Harry's did. Dean was getting more and more annoyed with it all and Seamus was having a harder and harder time not looking.
"OH-KAY! George, get some clothes on before you give poor Dean an aneurism." Wesley said, but not without a gleam of amusement in his eyes. George only responded by turning his attentions at Wesley. Who just laughed and made threats of shrinking charms. George pouted at him but put his clothing on. Harry was rather amused by the whole thing.
After the shenanigans and cheering up, the group got themselves together and headed towards the room of requirement to watch this "Deflector Ball" that Wesley spoke so highly of.
Harry was surprised when they entered the room and what the room had given them was a standard couch and an old fashioned muggle television. Wesley started messing with it but Harry was still expecting something a bit grander.
"Got it!" Wesley said and then the entire room changed. Harry was deeply impressed by this "mana television" as he had been expecting something similar if not the same as a muggle T.V. Instead this seemed to be like something out of Star Trek. It changed the entire room into what looked very much like a stadium. The room appeared to be at least ten times larger than it was and they were standing in what appeared to be a walkway between rows of blue seats, each row about half a seat higher than the previous row in what was obviously a standard fashion. In the center of the room was a cube. That was all Harry could describe it as. The far side of the cube was white, the sides to the left and top of the cube were blue and the sides to the bottom and right of it were grey.
"Good the game hasn't started yet." Wesley said then he turned to the rest of the group. "If I have timed this correctly and I might not have since I don't quite know what the time difference is then the game should be starting in about half an hour, which is fine because I think that I should explain the rules to you or the game won't make all that much sense. Also, we can have an audience or not. Do any of you care whether we watch it alone?"
"I say alone, why bother with simulated people?" Dean said.
"Well they wouldn't be simulated they would be the actual audience in the stadium, except for the people where we sit of course. But I do think that it is easier to see and hear the game without the extra people as people can get extra rowdy." With that Wesley walked down the walkway to the edge of the center cube.
"While the game is held in this cube what we are watching is not the actual game. These walls are charmed to show us what is going on inside of the cube but the players in the game cannot see or hear what is going on in the audience. This is mainly so that no one can cheat but also serves to stop distractions fro disrupting the game. Now every so often the visualization will turn, it won't zoom in or out or slow down the game it will simply slowly turn to give us a different view of what is going on as the game is played in three dimensions." He turned around to face the curious group.
"The game itself is played between two teams of four players. There is one ball which is manipulated by and manipulates the players in question." Ron scoffed at this. "Well…now I am getting ahead of myself. It is a simple game really. Each team has a team color much like most professional sports, however in the case of deflector ball the color's are very important as they are not just to show each team member apart form the other team, the colors also determine scoring and the game rules.
"Before I get into the actual game play I should point out that there are strong anti gravity charms over the entire field, so to the player's there is no real down or up."
Seamus gawked at this, "You mean there is no gravity in there?"
Ron stared at him, "Gravity?" He asked confused.
Wesley looked at him oddly, Harry explained. "A muggle scientific term. It means the force that makes things fall."
Ron thought for a second, "You mean that nothing will fall in there…but without brooms how do they move around?"
Wesley smiled at this. "That is the main point of the game. And it is where the ball comes in. The ball starts out white. While it is white it can be intercepted by any player in the grid. The grid is the field by the way, and I have no idea why it is called that. Now this is where the color starts being important. Upon being intercepted by a player the ball becomes the player's team's color. At that point if it comes in contact with a member of the other team a blasting charm sends that team member flying in the direction that the ball hit them from. The ball is sent the opposite direction by a similar blasting charm and changes to the color of that team." He waited for a second before continuing. "You will notice that one set of walls is blue and the other is grey. That is because our school team color is blue. The other wall will be charmed to become the color of the visiting team. The last pair of opposite walls is always white. When the ball hits any wall it becomes the color of that wall, meaning that the ball is constantly shifting colors and thus shifting which team can touch it without being blasted away."
Seamus looked puzzled, "Ok, so it seems rather chaotic. How does scoring work?"
"Well that is the really interesting part. There aren't points like there are on most other sports. Instead the goal of the game is to launch the opposing team members into the white wall. Doing that turns their uniform white and makes them work differently from the other players yet again. A white player is always deflected from the ball, but the ball does not change color when this happens. White players also cannot be returned to becoming colored nor does touching any wall effect them in any way. Your team loses if all four of its members become white. Touching one of the colored walls has no effect on any player."
Harry considered this for a second. "You said that the point of the game is to make the opposing team members touch the white walls right?" he asked.
"Yep."
"Then what about pushing them into the wall?" He asked.
"Well, that is the kinda complicated part. Because it is legal to use your body to push someone into a wall so long as you are deflected off of the ball first. Pushing someone into a wall in any other case is a penalty. In fact in most cases touching a player on the other team is a penalty."
Ron spoke up next. "Well, if there is no score then how are penalties punished"
"Actually I think they are punished a bit harsher than they are in quidditch. A person's first penalty causes them to become 'penalized' which makes them white and work like a white player for the remainder of the game. However their uniform has black stripes to keep them separate from the other white players. Even a white player can be penalized, in which case their uniform just gets black stripes. If that player commits another penalty at all they are irrevocably removed from play. This also means you instantly lose if your entire team commits a penalty as they are all considered white."
"This sounds like a really interesting game." Neville said, "Is that it?"
Wesley thought for a while, "Well, without getting into specific strategies, situational rules and penalties, yeah."
Neville looked around and asked. "Hmm…now where should I sit?"
"I recommend sitting farther back since you can see more of the Grid then and this game gets pretty fast paced and even those of us who have been watching for years sometimes lose track of what's going on." Wesley then sat down near the back of the room. Harry decided to take Wesley's advice and sit near him. Neville took a seat by himself on another side of the Grid. Dean followed Neville but sat a few rows closer. Seamus followed Harry and Wesley and sat next to them. Harry was a tad annoyed. He had wanted to talk to Wesley in private. Ron on the other hand totally ignored Wesley's note and went down to sit in the first row.
"Ok the game is about to start." Wesley said. Harry watched as the players apparated into the grid. "The ones in blue are our school team, the tall one with blond hair is the captain Johnston. This would be his last year. We were kinda friends at home, one off the few people who actually trusted me enough to stay around." Harry frowned at the implied loneliness and Seamus just looked at Wesley oddly.
"The shorter stockier one is Kelsey, he is the point guard and his main job is to make sure that the ball stays blue. Off the field he is a major ass however he's so good that everyone tolerates him anyway. The girl is Lanx and she is the best damn attacker you'll ever see. She can attack them like a mother, both on and off the field. I don't know who the last guy is, probably a transfer student or maybe a freshman.
"The other team, in red is actually better in general then ours. Their captain isn't as tactical but their attacker ain't bad and their point guard makes Kelsey look like a fat bozo." Harry could tell that Wesley was really into this, he was talking about the team and positions similarly to how Ron talked about Quidditch.
As the ball was thrown Wesley quieted down and Harry soon saw why. The game started so fast that he very soon had no idea what was going on. The ball was moving at increasingly higher speeds as it deflected off of player after player in an ever increasing myriad of shifting colors. Despite the apparent chaos it didn't take all that long for Harry's seeker reflexes to pick up on the specifics of the current match and as he watched he saw that it was a lot less chaotic than is originally had seen.
The players were deflecting the ball even when it was the opposite color towards those opponents who seemed off balance at the time. In fact it seemed that the fact that one was magically blasted away from the ball was a more useful strategy for hitting an opponent with it than actually catching and throwing the ball at him as the ball moved at a much greater pace.
Of course the game continued without much variation for the first ten minutes or so until one of the red players was hit into the far white wall by a quick kick of the ball from Lanx. Harry then noticed the true strategy of the game. Also he noticed that the team closer to losing had a distinct advantage over the team that had more colored players. The white players could not only catch and save their teammates but also block and maneuver the ball with no real of retaliation. With the help of the white player the red team very quickly managed to knock both Kelsey and the younger player that Wesley didn't recognize into the white wall.
After that the game got really heated. The colored players dodged around the white players trying to maneuver the ball. He also noticed that quite often the players would use their own teammates to change direction mid jump, and the team nature of the sport made an even bigger impact on him. The game HAD to be won as a team, without teamwork there was no way a team would win. He compared that to Quidditch where it seemed that the chasers could be made nearly irrelevant unless one team had much better chasers than the other (the Quidditch world cup came to mind). The chasers are more fun to watch but its Seeker's that ultimately won most games. In this game it seemed like the players positions meant little more than their starting placement on the field and general place in the strategy. It seemed like the player's who got turned white first played a much greater roll in the strategy then any position did.
The game continued like that until there was only one colored player on each side. At this point the game came down to mostly evasive maneuver's on the part of the colored player. Unfortunately Johnston was a tad too tall and the other colored player managed to get shot from the ball, connect with him while he was mid jump and both of them went splattering into the white wall. They both turned white nearly simultaneously and it was only by a special charm that they even knew who won.
"Damn! Oh well…" Wesley said. He looked more amused than depressed though. "That was an ok game but there wasn't any major strategy there. That was mostly just a chaotic mess." Harry wasn't so sure of that but as this was the only game he had ever seen he didn't have much to compare it too.
After this they all decided to walk back to their dorms.
That evening Harry quietly woke up Wesley. Wesley silently motioned Harry onto his bed and then closed the curtains around them. "The bed has an imperturbable charm on it. So what's up?" He asked.
"Why were you there to break up me and Theodore's fight?" Harry asked, curious as to why Wesley had not been at breakfast.
He blushed nervously, "I was talking with Dumbledore about something when it happened. I was just in the right place at the right time I suppose."
Harry thought about this for a minute. It was obvious that he was not telling the whole truth but he had no idea what that was. So he just went to sleep, and waited for the next thing. Unsure what that would be.
Afterthoughts
Well, actually there is something wrong with my account or the story or something and so nothing aside of a single anonymous review has been updated on it since February 5th. I e-mailed about it but I haven't gotten a response yet. If you are a moderator and you happen to see this could you see what's going on? I would greatly appreciate it, as I would like to be able to constinue writing my fic.
The end all of this is that if you reviewed since the 5th, I haven't seen the review. I'm sorry, if you want to review the fic and have me actually get it so I can respond, it would be better to e-mail me, my e-mail is on my profile for those of you who wish to contact me.
Atleast until the story is working correctly again. I hope no one thoughtI was ignoring them and I will try and post a new chapter soon, but ifI don't it is more liley becuase of my account being screwy than me not finishing it. And again if anyone readingg this is a moderator. I would love it if you could do something about this, you can e-mail me at the same address for details and or to tell me it's fixed. Thanks.
Also I made a Yahoo Group that is for this story. Only the first chaptere is up at the moment. The link on my profile that claims to be my homepage is actually the yahoo group. So if your interested go check it out but its pretty bleak right now.
