Chapter 4- Quidditch Practice
"Hermione!" Damien yelled in Hermione's eat the next morning.
Hermione shot up in her bed and looked around the room. A few seconds later, her eyes finally focused and she saw Damien sitting next to her on her bed. "Damien? What are you doing here?" she asked. Then she looked at the alarm and saw that it was only five o'clock in the morning. "It's only five!!! I am going back to bed." Hermione tried to pull the covers over her head, but found that he had a tight grasp on them. "What?" she whined.
"I am here in a mission."
"Huh?" Hermione said.
"I want to ask you a favor."
"Okay…"
"Come to Quidditch practice and watch me?" he made it a question.
"Why?"
"I want you to."
"Fine, just give me a few minutes to get ready." Hermione said crawling out of bed and heading towards the bathroom.
"I will wait in the Common Room."
"Yeah, yeah…" Hermione replied through the closed bathroom door.
Ten minutes later, Hermione was dressed and ready. "Alright, let's go." she said as she came out.
Damien offered his arm to her which she gladly accepted and they were off.
When they arrived at the Quidditch Pitch, Harry, Ron and the rest of the team were already in the air. "Oy! Hermione!" Ron said as he and Harry headed to the ground. "What are you doing here?"
"And since when do you come to our practice. You haven't came since second year!" Harry finished.
"Damien asked me to come, and I haven't got anything else to do right now. So, I thought, 'Why not?' And here I am." Hermione replied simply.
"You never come when we ask." Ron said.
"Yeah well, maybe you don't ask nice enough." Hermione said before heading towards the stands.
Ron rolled his eyes and they turned their attention to their new beater. "Let's get started." Harry said and the three of them took off. Harry on his Firebolt, Damien on his Nimbus 2001, and Ron on a used Nimbus 2000 Harry had gotten his for Christmas 6th year.
Soon, they were flying through the air training their new beater. Damien turned out to be a pretty good beater. In fact, he was almost as good as the Weasley Twins.
About halfway through their practice, they were interrupted by the appearance of seven green figures walking onto the pitch. "Not again!" Harry said in an irritated voice.
"What?" Damien asked.
"It's the Slytherin Quidditch team. They come here and interrupt our practice every year." Ron said, coming up next to them.
"Well, let's go down there." Harry said as he began heading towards the Slytherins.
Damien hesitated for a moment, but joined Harry and Ron. A few seconds after he touched the ground, the rest of the team landed behind him and Hermione had made her way to them from the stands.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked Theodore Nott, who had never been on the team before.
"I am the Slytherin team's new and improved Seeker." He replied with an air of superiority.
"Please! Who is going to be your captain now that Malfoy is gone?" Ron asked.
"For your information, we don't have a captain. We are all equal." Nott replied, but the Gryffindor's could tell that Nott had pretty much taken over the team.
"Who is your new guy?" One of the chasers asked.
"I am Damien Mathis." Damien replied, head held high. 'This is so weird! I can't believe that Nott thinks that he can replace me! And he took me bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle.
"I see you are still hanging out with Mudbloods, Potter." Crabbe said with a brutish, low laugh. The rest of the Slytherin team joined in.
Hermione's face turned bright red. Harry and Ron were about to chanrge at the Slytherin's, but Damien beat them to it. He drew his wand and pointed it at Crabbe. "Don't you ever talk to her like that again!" he said, voice low and menacing.
Crabbe began shaking slightly.
"Do you understand what I am saying? I mean it! If you call Ms. Granger one more name, I will personally kill you." he finished his threat, but never broke eye contact until the other boy nodded. "No go away. This is our practice time, not yours."
Nott looked like he was going to argue, but when Damien pointed his wand at him, he closed his mouth. "Let's go team." A few of the Slytherin's hesitated, but eventually followed.
When all of the green uniforms disappeared, the Gryffindor's turned to Damien. "That was blood brilliant!"
"Yeah, those Slytherin's listened to you without question. They have never listened to a Gryffindor like that before!" Harry finished.
"Yeah, well. I guess I just have a commanding personality."
"I guess. Well, let's get back in the air!" Harry said, taking off once again.
The others followed, but Hermione had Damien stay behind.
"What's up?"
"I just wanted to thank you."
"For what?"
"Well, even though I can take care of myself, it is nice to have somebody defend me without beating on someone. Harry and Ron always stand up for me, but they are just standing up for their sister. It is just different with you. So, thanks." Hermione said, blushing deeply.
Damien blushed and looked away. "No problem." he said before taking off and joining the rest of the team. 'I can't believe this. No girl had ever made me blush before. What is going on?' he thought as he hit a bludger away from the Keeper. 'Man, I am pretty good at this. Why wasn't I a Beater before?' he wondered as he tried to get his mind off of Hermione.
When practice was finally over, the team showered and joined Hermione. "Good practice guys." Hermione told them as they approached the castle.
"Thanks."
"What are we going to do now?" Hermione asked noone in particular.
"I think that we should show Damien here the ropes." Harry said.
"Great idea, Harry." Hermione said, and they were off on a tour of the castle.
'This is going to be boring.' he thought. 'I already know everything about this castle. Oh well, here I go. Draco Malfoy and the Dream Team.'
Harry, Ron, and Hermione led Damien to the Room of Requirement, the Hogsmeade passages, and the kitchens. Damien was amazed. 'How do they know where all of these places are?' he wondered as they entered the kitchen. 'I mean, I have never been to any of these places! Wicked!'
As soon as they entered the kitchen, Damien saw dozens of House Elves rush towards them. "Wow! I didn't know that there were this many house elves here!" Damien said.
"Yeah, Hermione here has been trying to free them since our fourth year!" Ron said, nudging Hermione.
"Very funny, Ron." Hermione replied sarcastically. "I just want them to be able to do what they want.
"But have you ever asked them what they want." Damien asked.
"Well, no…but they don't know what they want! I mean they…" Hermione tried to explain but was cut off by a high screech.
"Dobby." Harry, Ron, and Hermione all said before turning to see the house elf running towards them.
"Dobby?" Damien asked, following their gaze. "That's where Dobby went." Damien whispered.
"What did you say, Damien?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing."
"Hey, Damien, this is Dobby. He is in looove with THE HARRY POTTER!!" Ron joked
"Shut it, Ron." Harry said, punching his friend in the arm.
"Let's just get some food and get out of here!" Hermione said.
With that, they ordered and were out of there in no time. They went back to the Head Common Room to talk and hang out. Harry and Ron played three games of wizards chess and Ron won every time. "Gee, Har, you'd think that you would get better after seven years."
"Ha ha ha."
"Hey, Damien. You ever play chess?" Ron asked, hoping for some competition.
"Sure. I've played a few times." Damien replied.
"Want to play?"
"Sure." Damien got up and walked over to Ron. "Do I go first or do you?" he asked when he sat down.
'This is going to be sooo easy.' Ron thought leaning back in his chair. "White is first…"
One hour later, Damien had won six games and Ron had won zero.
"a couple times?" Hermione asked Damien after his sixth win.
"Well, maybe I was on a chess team or two when I was younger." he replied innocently.
Hermione laughed. "Well guys, I am going to turn in. See you tomorrow." Hermione said before leaving to go to her room.
"Goodnight." the boys said as they watched her walk to her room.
"She is so pretty." Ron said quietly as she disappeared through her door.
"What did you say?" Damien asked.
"Huh?" Ron replied, not knowing that he had said that out loud.
"You said, 'she is so pretty.'"
"No I didn't."
"Yeah, you did, Mate." Harry said. "do you like Hermione?"
"What? No!" Ron replied, face and ears turning bright pink.
"LIAR!! You have a crush on HERMIONE!!" Harry yelled, standing up and pointing.
"SHHHHH! She'll hear you!" Ron hissed.
Harry and Damien laughed, but inside Damien was pissed. 'nobody can like my girl! I will not allow the Weasel to be my competition!'
"How long?" Harry asked, practically bubbling with curiosity.
Ron was bright red and staring at the ground with a sort of determination that Damien had never seen. "Can we please talk about something else?" Ron asked.
"Come on, Ronniekins, how long have you liked Hermione?" Harry joked.
Ron mumbled something under his breath causing Harry to laugh harder than he was before.
"What was that?"
"Since third year." Ron said, voice barely louder than a whisper.
"When third year?" Harry asked, trying to pinpoint an exact time.
"Well, when she punched Malfoy in the face." Ron said, face brightening a lot when he mentioned the memory. Damien's eyes widened. That was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life and they were sitting here laughing about it.
Harry laughed. "Did her aggressive behavior towards that git turn you on?"
'That would turn me on.' Damien thought.
Ron laughed too. "Very funny. He was a git, wasn't he?"
"No he wasn't." Damien mumbled. "Okay, maybe he was a little but…"
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, snapping Damien out of his trance.
"Huh?"
"You were talking to yourself." Harry replied.
"I was?"
"Yep."
"Oh. It was nothing." Damien said quickly, hoping that they would leave it at that and luckily they did.
They spent the rest of the night making fun of Ron and playing chess and exploding snap. After a few hours, the boys decided to turn in for the night.
"Goodnight, Damien. See ya tomorrow." Harry and Ron said before leaving to go back to the Gryffindor tower.
"Yeah, bye."