Clay Pinions
By Lochar
Disclaimer: Did you pay for this? No? That means this is either fanfiction or you stole it. Either way, I'm not making any money off of it.
Epilogue of First Year
Harry opened his eyes and groaned, then held up a hand to block the bright light shining against him.
"Ugh… what hit me?" He sat up, looking around. He had been lying on a grassy hill in front of the lake on the Hogwarts' grounds.
"I don't know Harry, but you've been asleep for hours. I've been bored out of my bloody mind waiting on you to wake up. Even throwing water on you didn't help." A female voice said from behind him.
Harry turned enough to see who had spoken. "Elly?" He asked of the red-haired girl.
She ignored the question. "Finally you wake up. So, how are you doing?"
"Alright, don't answer." He muttered. "I'm tired and sore." Harry let out a long yawn and carefully stretched to avoid hurting himself.
The girl shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know why… Hey, you wanna go flying? I love to fly." A strange look came over her face. "But I don't get to often. I have to steal a broom to go flying."
"Sure, why not. Out on the pitch, I guess?" Harry stood up.
The girl bounced a bit. "Yeah, c'mon!" She grabbed Harry's hand, dragging him away from the lake and towards the Quidditch pitch. Behind them, a fog rolled forward over the lake, covering it in mist.
-
Flying was always exhilarating, no matter when it was, or whether or not he was flying with someone. Looking across the pitch to the girl doing dives and rolls, he grinned. But it's more fun to have someone to show off to. Grinning wider and catching her eye, Harry dove sharply down towards the ground, pulling back up at the last minute to just barely graze the grass.
Harry rose again into the air and she flew over to him. "Hey, Harry!" She smiled at him and he looked at her.
"Hmm?"
Her smile took on a sadder note. "I think we're done. Catch!" She threw something at him, and Harry grabbed it, seeing it was a Snitch. "Congrats on the win."
Harry looked up at her, confused, but everything was quickly fading away. "Elly?" He asked her one more time, but any answer was lost.
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Harry slowly opened his eyes and then squinted. There was bright light coming from the nearby open window. For some reason, his arm was straight out in the air, and he could feel something squirming in it.
His eyes getting used to the light and focusing on his hand, he saw he was holding a Snitch. "Huh? But it was a dream?"
Coming from outside the window, he could faintly hear Lee Jordan's commentary. "The game is over? But the Ravenclaw Seeker doesn't have the Snitch! Gryffindor has just jumped 150 points, as if their Seeker had caught the Snitch, but Seeker Potter is still in the Hospital Wing!"
Harry saw his wand sitting on the bedside table and grinned. He remembered a charm Hermione had shown them, one that made your voice really, really loud.
Getting up out of bed, he grabbed his wand and moved to the window. He held his wand against his throat and muttered the spell, "Sonorus." He then shouted as loud as he could out the window, causing his voice to carry all the way to the Quidditch Pitch. "But does it count if I have the Snitch anyways?"
Lee's startled voice could be heard echoing back. "Potter? Do you have the Snitch? And what are you doing awake?"
Harry grinned, though no one could see him do so. "Of course I'm awake! I'm not going to miss a match! So how much do we win by? You haven't announced it!"
Lee's voice echoed again over the field and into the Hospital Wing. "Quite right. Gryffindor wins the match after a four and a half hour game at 400 to 240!"
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It was three days and over a hundred different spells cast on the Snitch before the Gryffindor win was finally accepted. After everyone had finished checking it, Harry had even looked at it to see if he had somehow summoned it with his Chi. He had been relieved to find he hadn't.
The Quidditch Cup had been awarded to Professor McGonagall, who had smiled just slightly at Harry. He accepted that with a large smile of his own.
Professor Dumbledore had taken him aside that evening, and discussed with him what had happened.
FLASHBACK:
"So, Harry. You managed to stop Quirrell from gaining the stone for his Master." Dumbledore smiled down at him.
"Yeah, but I felt it break while I was fighting. What's going to happen to Mr. Flamel now?"
"Nicholas and I had a talk about it. It was decided it was for the best to completely destroy the Stone, to remove the temptation of stealing it again." Harry made to interrupt, but the Headmaster kept talking. "He does not fear death, Harry. He has told me that he and his wife both have been feeling the years weighing against them and they decided it was time to move on. He still has enough elixir to set his affairs in order, then he will finally rest."
"But, he'll die. Why would he want to die after living for that long?" Harry argued.
"My boy, to the organized mind, Death is but the next great adventure. And I think that Nicholas has had all the adventure there is to be had in this life."
Harry nodded. He might not agree with the idea, but he wasn't the alchemist. It did bring to mind Harry's next question though. "Sir, about Voldemort. Why did he lose his body when I was a baby? I mean, I can't have been the only baby he tried to kill."
Dumbledore didn't answer for a moment. "Some answers are too hard to understand at a young age such as yours, Harry. Although, I believe it was your mother's love that protected you that night, as much as it possibly could."
END FLASHBACK
Now, Harry was sitting in the Great Hall for the Leaving Feast. What was strange, according to the older students, was that there were no House banners hanging from the walls. Normally whichever house had the most points at the end of the year won the House Cup.
Shrugging it off, Harry continued with dinner until Professor Dumbledore stood up. "I know everyone is wondering what happened to the House Cup this year, but I assure it will still be passed out."
Murmurs were heard across all the tables.
"But first, a few announcements before I get to that." There were more than a few groans at this. "Firstly. Our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is no longer with us and we will again have to find a new Professor before the beginning of the next school year."
There were a few lighthearted laughs at this, but Harry scowled remembering the last few minutes of Quirrell.
"Secondly, as you all may or may not have realized, Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup, which grants them half of the points they had at the end of their last match. So, Gryffindor has an additional 200 points."
Almost half of the Slytherin table stood up in protest as they had had the lead in front of Gryffindor by 180 points. Harry was happy to see that the Potions professor didn't seem any happier about the results.
"So, with the addition of those points, that would make Gryffindor the winner of the House Cup as well." Dumbledore clapped his hands and banners unfurled themselves, displaying the Gryffindor lion and colors. "Now, I will allow you to finish all the food you can, before leaving our halls for a summer in which you will have fun and come back to us, ready for new knowledge."
Dumbledore sat down amidst cheers from three-quarters of the school.
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The train ride back to Platform Nine and Three Quarters was quiet; thanks mainly to the fact that Hermione had spotted Malfoy coming down the hall and placed a locking charm on their door. Harry quickly did the same, doubling the lock on the door.
The three quietly chatted, with Harry and Hermione making sure to exchange phone numbers and addresses so they could call each other without using an owl.
When Ron asked about it, Harry explained it the easiest way he could. "I don't know if my uncle will allow me to owl anyone, as he really, really dislikes magic. I can't see him letting me send Hedwig out all that often. This way, I can at least be able to talk to one of my friends."
Ron nodded slowly, and talk went back to mundane things again.
The train ride ended much too quickly for the three of them, and soon they were off the train and back into the Muggle side of the station.
Harry saw Ron pulled away by his brothers and mother, barely getting a wave in goodbye. It looked like she was scolding him. Probably for his part in the whole mess with Quirrell.
He said his goodbyes to Hermione, and found his uncle waiting for him at the entrance to Platform Nine.
"'Bout time you got here, boy." Vernon said gruffly. "A few more minutes and I might have left you. C'mon. Dudley's waiting in the car, and I'd rather not leave him out there alone for long." He glared at the cage with Hedwig in it. "Don't think we're going to let you have her flying about where people can see. I don't want the neighborhood thinking we're freaks as well."
Harry nodded. "May I at least let her out at night, so she can hunt? That way I don't have to find feed for her."
Vernon nodded tersely as they walked out of the station. "If it's not back in its cage by morning, it'd better not come back until the next day, got it?"
"Yes sir." Harry nodded.
Dudley grinned at him as he got into the car, and both boys spoke in very low tones about their school year as they made the trip back to Number four.
Hooray for endings. And YES. There will be a sequel. Hmm, look at that. The Prologue to it is already in my beta's hands and the whole year 2 is outlined already.