As a note: This marks my third holiday season on FF .netAnd I have discovered that the holidays are, by far, the worse time of the year for me. Everything slows down, espessially my writing. So please be paitent.
Oh, and I'm glad at least three out of five people understood the explanation… that's about the ratio of Hogwarts students as well. I sort've…well, I made up a lot of the Maho-Kiso stuff, to go with magic. The basic information I got from this Chinese astrology book and my Encarta Encyclopedia CD ROM. Besides, the electricity-to-magic comparison will come in handy later on…(Hint hint)
Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter or the characters of Digimon Frontier. I'm just weird.
Chapter 19: Gryffindor Versus Slytherin
Another Wednesday morning found Kouichi and Draco en route to the hospital wing. Both had a large, purple, scale-like rash covering their hands and arms from a blotched potion that had boiled over. Malfoy was not particularly happy about this.
"You really are pathetic in Potions, aren't you, Kimura?" he muttered, gazing in distaste at his hands, which were held out in front of him.
"If you know that, why do you keep working with me?" Kouichi asked quietly. He held his out as well, trying not spread it any farther, though his elbows were starting to wear out.
"Because it's easier than getting Crabbe or Goyle to get it right." Malfoy sniffed. "At least you can follow instructions when they're given."
Kouichi was silent a moment, then spoke up again. "Listen, Malfoy…I've got an offer for you."
Draco raised an eyebrow. "What kind of offer?"
"Obviously, I'm no good in Potions." Kouichi raised his hands in example, the edge of the rash was now starting to sprout out like feathers. "And I've noticed that you could be doing better in Charms…"
"I'm doing just fine!" Malfoy snapped. It was a flat-out lie, Charms had always been his worst subject, much to his and his father's chagrin.
"The point is…" Kouichi sighed. "We both need help. You're good in Potions, and even my old teacher said I was better at spell-casting than most people."
Draco frowned. "What are you getting at?"
"A trade." Kouichi smiled just a bit, looking very shy. "You help me in Potions, I tutor you in Charms. We both come out the better for it. What've we got to loose?"
Draco's frown lightened just a little, but his pale eyebrows were still almost touching in scrutiny. It was rather unlike a Slytherin to just offer their services out of the blue…But, then again, Kimura was getting something out of it as well. And if it meant preventing more visits to the hospital wing…
Kouichi smiled just a bit. "Deal?"
"…Deal."
The weeks went by very quickly, and before anyone had really come to terms with it, September was over and an unusually cold October had begun. With a furry of weekend training session, biting cold weather and falling leaves, the first Quidditch match of the season had finally arrived.
As per tradition, it was the intense rivalry of Slytherin against Gryffindor for this opening match. The tension between the two raised exponentially in the days counting down to the game. It was particularly annoying to Kouji, seeing as, because of the 'Dark Magic' rumor, Malfoy and his flunkies had taken to 'escorting' Kouichi from class to class…mostly by grabbing his arms and all but dragging him down the hallways.
After what seamed like an eternity of trip jinxes, hallway fights and ambushes, the day had finally arrived.
Harry adjusted the strap on his wrist guards, glancing out at the Gryffindor team. Takuya and Andrew were leaning against the wall by the door, the transfer tapping his bat in the other palm with barely-contained excitement. Katie was helping Ginny pull her hair back for the game, in a rather trickily-charmed pony tail that kept it out of her face, stayed nice even when windblown, and wouldn't strangle her as she flew. Ron was right beside him, checking twigs of his broom, while Lance Mitchell was sitting in the corner, trying to calm himself.
There was the slight buzz of the magical amplifier coming on across the stadium. "Good afternoon, Hogwarts!" a female voice buzzed. It was Camilla (or 'Cam') Jordan, Lee Jordan's younger sister, taking over her alumni brother's commentary. "And welcome to the first Quidditch match of the season…the long-awaited Gryffindor versus Slytherin!"
The crowd cheered loudly. "May I present to you…lead by Captain-Seeker Harry Potter and Chaser Katie Bell…The Gryffindor House Team!"
Harry had to grin a bit. Cam was really going all out, determined to take her brother's place in glory, and she could be pretty energetic for a third year. The red-robed team mounted their brooms and, with a signal from Harry, shot off into the pitch, looping around and coming to a stop in the center.
The Gryffindor fans, wrapped up in their red and gold scarves against the unusually cold weather, cheered loudly. The Slytherins booed. Takuya grinned and waved twice, first toward Tomoki and Kouji in the Gryffindor stands, then to Izumi in the Ravenclaw.
"And now…" Cam continued, drawing attention again. "The opponents and long-time rivals…lead by Captain-Chaser Romulus Montague and Seeker Draco Malfoy…The Slytherin House Team!"
The green-robed team zipped out on their gleaming Nimbus 2001s, coming to a stop to complete the circle the Gryffindors had started. Harry and Malfoy, positioned exactly across from one another, exchanged poisonous glares, as did the other pairs of opposites. Well, except for Takuya, who looked almost playful as he grinned openly between Crabbe and Goyle with an odd glint in his eyes.
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry noticed that Kouichi wasn't sitting with the Slytherin fans. He was in the Ravenclaw stands, next to Orimoto, clapping with the Slytherins but keeping a pleasant smile towards Takuya. He also wasn't wearing a one of the standard-issue Slytherin scarves either…he wore an old, tattered brown one that looked home-knit, like the ones Mrs. Weasley made for Christmas.
Madam Hooch flew out on the field, blowing her whistle for silence. She came to a stop in the middle of the circle, waiting for the crowds to quiet down before she spoke.
"I want a good, clean game, you lot." she said, as brisk as she had the very first Slytherin-Gryffindor game Harry had entered, though the prospects of the order being obeyed were slim to none. "I'm keeping an eye on all of you, and I expect that any hospital wing visits will be from normal injuries. Understand?"
The group nodded, both sides looking slightly annoyed. "Captains shake hands."
Harry nudged his broom forward, facing off with Montague. For a moment they glared at each other, then both offered their hands reluctantly and tried their best to break the other's fingers.
"Players to their positions!" Madam Hooch called, holding the Quaffle in her hands and placing her whistle between her lips. She glanced both ways with those piercing, gold eyes of hers, then let out a blast on the whistle and tossed the ball into the air.
"And they're off!" Cam exclaimed excitedly. "Slytherin Chaser Warrington grabs the Quaffle off the bat, heavily pursed by Gryffindor Chaser Ginny Weasley…who, if you will remember, filled in for now-Captain Potter as Seeker many a game last year and preformed marvelously, perhaps beyond the standards of all four of her brothers…Oh, sa-WEET move there, snatched it right out from under Warrington's big nose!"
Harry grinned, glancing at Ginny from his place high above the field. The redhead had an excited, feisty look in her eyes, like she was ready to take on every major Quidditch team in the world.
"And Miss Weasley's taken off across the field as fast as that Comet can carry 'er! And expert dodge past a Bludger, sent her way by Slytherin Beater Goyle…nice try, yeh big ape, but not nice enough! Here comes Slytherin Keeper Bletchley, looks like it might be a difficult shot for Weasley…No, Mitchell! Weasley drops the ball straight down to new Gryffindor Chaser Lance Mitchell, who makes for the goal and…SCORE!"
The Gryffindor fans cheered wildly as Takuya made a loop-the-loop to turn around, zooming back with a whoop to high-five Ginny in congratulations, and knock away a Bludger that was only a few feet from connecting with Lance's head.
"That makes the score 10-to-nil, Gryffindor, as Bletchley passes the ball off to Chaser Pucey." Cam continued, on the edge of her seat herself. "He grabs on and is across the field as fast as that Nimbus can carry him. Mitchell's on his tail, but it looks like this one's going to come down to the Gryffindor Keeper Ron Weasley…Miss Ginny's elder brother, who's spectacular performance secured the Cup for Gryffindor last season… Pucey fires the Quaffle, Wesley dives…A block! Oh, but here comes Warrington under Pucey, and…barely missing a fowl there, if Pucey hadn't pulled out of the Keeper's range…Watch out, Ron!"
Ron was watching out, but it was hard to do. Warrington was coming straight at him, ball in hand and a devilish look on his face. Ron held his ground as long as he could, waiting for the Quaffle to be thrown, but five inches from a collision he had no other choice. He sloth-rolled out of the way, and…
"Score for Slytherin!" Cam yelled, no less elated than her brother would have been. "Nice try there, Ron. That makes it tied at ten…"
Harry tried to block out the commentary a bit more, gazing down at the field, searching for any glint of gold. There was a bit of distraction, the noise, the game, all the colors of the scarves…
"Oh, that's gonna leave a mark! Montague drops the Quaffle after being hit up the head with a Bludger, sent his way by new Gryffindor Transfer Takuya Kanbara…my, he looks like he's having fun, doesn't he?"
A flash of light…There! No, wait…It was only the sun reflecting off Takuya's goggles, which he had insisted on wearing 'for good luck'.
The Gryffindor Seeker furled his brow in concentration, scanning the pitch as best he could. Malfoy was flying laps around the stadium in his search, but if you were moving too fast it was easy to mess up…
A glint of gold amongst the Ravenclaw stands! Harry focused on it instantly, the Golden Snitch, hovering just below the blue-and-silver bedecked fans.
He yanked his Firebolt around and went into a dive, moving to follow it as it swerved away. Malfoy noticed him and followed suit, spotting the Snitch a few moments later, once he had caught up.
Harry dove forward, eyes locked on the Snitch, trying to avoid collision with the other players as he did. Malfoy was on his tail, trying to gain speed, biting his lip. They were only inches from the Snitch, one of them was bound to grab it any second now…
Something black and undefined suddenly crossed into his field of vision. Harry realized it was heading right for him five seconds before it would have knocked him off his broom and rolled out of the way at the last moment. He heard Malfoy yelp behind him as the Slytherin Seeker yanked his broom up.
"What the heck is that?!" Cam exclaimed, and the crowd mirrored her shock. Even the players nearly fell off their brooms as the odd, dark shape soared around and around the field. "Okay, what kind of freaky spell did somebody put on that cloak?! I like a good prank as much as the next bloke, but this is ridiculous!…AND WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!"
A collective gasp rose from the crowd, many jumping to their feet, and the game stopped in its tracks. With a few flickers, almost like a broken television set, the black cloak had vanished, revealing…a bird.
At least that's what it looked like, a large pink bird, at least as 4 feet tall and bright pink, its flapping wings moving more like arms, tipped with dark red claws. The fathers on its head were tipped with blue, framing large blue eyes and a thick, red beak. Its large, clawed yellow feet hung beneath it, dangling in the wind.
"It's that…?" Tomoki wondered out loud, but didn't finish as Kouji quickly covered his mouth. Izumi let out a gasp and covered her mouth. Kouichi went rigid next to her, a look of shocked recognition in his eyes. Junpei began choking on the food he'd been eating.
"No…Way…" Takuya whispered, open-mouthed.
The bird let out a loud shriek that sounded almost like words, sending a spiraling green energy out of its beak and into the side of the Hufflepuff stands, leaving a small, smoking hole. Then it soared back upwards, almost right at Harry, before dissolving into the black cloak and vanishing once again.
For a split moment, Harry remember the large, black shape moving slowly down Privet Drive, vanishing just as he tried to get a better look, and nearly fell off his broom with the shock.
Then he noticed the Snitch hovering just below where the creature had been, and, as though in instinct, shot forward and snatched it out of the air.
It took the Gryffindor team ten minutes to realize they'd won.
Takuya came out of the Gryffindor locker rooms, changed back into his normal robes and looking very perturbed. As he expected, the other five were waiting for him just outside the stadium, all with very concerned looks on their faces.
"Tell me you guys saw that." he mumbled off the bat.
"If you mean a Biyomon appearing in the middle of the game…yeah, we all saw it." Kouji nodded, his stern gaze of concentration almost clashing with his brother's worried face beside him.
"But…We couldn't have seen that, right guys?" Tomoki piped up. "I mean… Digimon can't be in the Real World, we know that!"
"How else to you explain it?" Junpei asked. "I mean, there's no kind of creature around here that looks like that. Sure, we've seen some weirder things, but…"
"…But this just feels wrong." Izumi finished, frowning.
For a moment, they were all silent. Then Tomoki said something in a very, very, quiet voice. "…I wonder what Bokomon and Naemon are doing right now."
That evening, alone in the Common Room, Ron and Hermione listened patiently to Harry's description of the black shape down Privet drive. Both wore looks of confusion and concentration as he finished, looking rather perturbed.
"Why didn't you tell anyone about this earlier, Harry?" Hermione asked as soon as he was done. "Someone at the Order, or one of us…"
"I didn't really think about it." Harry shrugged. "After it happened, I just…Forgot about it. I didn't think it was important."
"You think…" Ron, then redid his thoughts. "You think it was another one of…those things? Like the one on the field today?"
"It seams like it, doesn't it?" Hermione had a look of deep thought on her face. "I've never heard of anything like it. I wonder if someone's experimenting with illegal breeding…"
Harry frowned and gazed out the window at the moon. He had an odd feeling about this. He just wasn't sure what it was…
TBC…
I couldn't find Montague's first name, so I made one up.
Cam Jordan is not cannon. Once again, I created her and Gryffindor Chaser Lance Mitchell to fill in missing gaps. But I really like Cam…
