The Difference One Choice Makes
17th January 1993
"I don't know how many more of Lockhart's lessons I can take" said the short black haired Dylan Davies to the wavy blonde-haired Matthew Clearwater and short black-haired, dark-skinned Talbot Desford as they walked into the Common Room following the end of their lessons for the day.
The last lesson they had had was another boring DADA lesson where Professor Lockhart had read a passage from Year with the Yeti with Talbot Desford acting out the part of a yeti.
"How can Professor Lockhart still be teaching here?" said Talbot Desford.
"You did make a somewhat convincing yeti Desford" said Jennifer teasingly as she walked past the boys with Melissa Karasu who giggled at the scowl on Talbot Desford's face.
Upon entering the Common Room, Jennifer and Melissa saw a small crowd of students gathering near the notice board.
Making their way over Jennifer managed to catch sight of what was drawing their fellow Ravenclaws attention.
Duelling Club
Starting this Saturday in the Great Hall after lunch
Continuing every Saturday until the end of the year
All students welcome
"Duelling club, sounds fun" said Melissa.
Knowing that Melissa's older Sister Tulip had been on the international Duelling Circuit for the last two years since she graduated from Hogwarts, Jennifer knew that Melissa was genuinely excited about Duelling having been taught some of the basics by her older Sister.
"I hope it's Professor Flitwick who teaches us, since he was a three-time International Duelling Champion before he started teaching" said Matthew Clearwater.
"Who else could they possibly get other than a former Duelling Champion?" said Dylan Davies.
"Who do you think?" said Rose Snape sarcastically as she and Lisa Turpin read the notice.
"I hope he's not anywhere near this Duelling Club" said Matthew Clearwater.
"Your Dad not having anything to do with this Snape… my Dad said he used to be good at Duelling back in school" said Jennifer.
"Yeah well your Dad would know all about that wouldn't he?" said Rose sarcastically.
"Well if Professor Lockhart is involved with this Duelling Club… I hope that whichever other teachers who are involved teach him a lesson" said Talbot Desford.
"Here's hoping" said Matthew Clearwater.
20th January 1993
Euphemia and Lacey followed the other Gryffindor's into the Great Hall which had been cleared of tables which had been replaced by a large dark blue and gold patterned platform stretching nearly the entire length of the hall.
Thankfully the two Girls were able to find some room to stand at the front up alongside the platform next to Harry and Neville.
Soon enough the Great Hall was packed full with every student from Hogwarts and the three visiting schools, most of whom were making excited noises and comments about what was about to happen.
Most of the excited noises and comments died moments later as a familiar figure stepped up onto the platform with a proud look on his face.
"Gather round, gather round… can everybody see me, can you all hear me?" said Professor Lockhart dressed in sky blue and magenta robes walking along the platform.
He paused for a moment.
"Excellent… now Professor Dumbledore granted me permission to start this little Duelling Club, to train you all up, in case you ever need to defend yourself, as I myself have done on countless occasions… for more details see my published works" said Professor Lockhart.
He removed his sky blue outer robe and tossed it to some of the older girls in the crowd who caught it and giggled amongst themselves.
"Now… let me introduce my assistant… Professor Snape" said Professor Lockhart gesturing his arm to the opposite end of the platform.
Professor Snape slowly walked up onto the platform with a murderous look on his face which went unnoticed by Professor Lockhart.
"He has agreed to help me with a short demonstration, but I don't want any of you youngsters to worry… you'll still have your Potions Master when I'm through with him… observe" said Professor Lockhart drawing his wand with a confident look on his face.
Professor Snape drew his wand and stood in position opposite Professor Lockhart.
"Now… one… two… three" said Professor Lockhart clearly.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" shouted Professor Snape which made a sparkly red light shot out of his wand towards Professor Lockhart.
Barely a second later, the spell slammed into Professor Lockhart's chest with much more force than was necessary for a Disarming Charm so that it blasted Professor Lockhart backwards down the platform before he landed in a heap on the edge shouting out in pain.
Laughter erupted from around the Great Hall
"Do you think he's alright?" said Hermione sounding concerned.
"Who cares" said Ron amusedly.
Professor Lockhart got back to his feet and brushed himself off.
"An excellent idea to show them that Professor Snape… but if you don't mind me saying, it was pretty obvious… er what you were about to do, I had wanted to stop you but it would have only been too easy" said Professor Lockhart dusting himself off and composing himself.
"Perhaps then, it would be prudent to first teach the students how to block unfriendly spells, Professor" said Professor Snape with a hint of snide in his voice taking a dig at Professor Lockhart's lack of proper teaching skills.
Professor Lockhart felt embarrassed by his older Colleagues words.
"An excellent suggestion Professor Snape… pair up everyone" said Professor Lockhart sounding embarrassed.
The two stepped off the platform and vanished it for the first part of the club.
"Disarming charms only" said Professor Lockhart as Harry and Neville paired up.
Looking around the hall he saw that everyone had gotten into pairs, nearly all of which were just friends pairing up.
"Begin" said Professor Lockhart.
As he said that, shouts of "Expelliarmus" rang out around the hall with mixed results ranging from wands flying from people's hands to people ending up on the floor as a result of the spells.
After a few minutes, Professor Snape set off a bang with his wand.
"Some of you were good, but most of you could do so much better… so let's split up these pairs, each of you are to find new partners, and choose wisely or I will choose for you" said Professor Snape sternly.
As some of the students moved to form new pairs with their other Housemates Professor Snape let off another bang with his wand.
"Students outside of your Houses… and age groups if you dare" said Professor Snape with a slightly sinister voice as if he was challenging the students to pair up with partners who are older than them.
Harry moved away from Neville and soon found a partner in Jennifer with the two happy to partner with each other despite Professor Snape's hint that each student try and give themselves more of a challenge.
Said Professor stopped next to them for a few moments as if to make some comment about how they should pair up with other people instead but eventually, he just moved away from them without another word.
"Dad laughed when I told him that Professor Snape teased the two of us to get some sort of revenge on him and Uncle James" said Jennifer amusedly.
Harry chuckled.
"My Dad laughed when he heard about it as well, said that even after apologised to Professor Snape it did little to bury the hatchet between the two" said Harry as they watched Professor Snape separate Lucan Malfoy and Theodore Nott before pairing each Boy up with a different partner.
For the next several minutes he and Jennifer traded Disarming Charms between each other with each managing to disarm the other multiple times without edging each other in terms of total successful Disarming Charms.
14th February 1993
"What… on earth… is this?" said Edward in slight shock and disgust as he walked into the Great Hall for breakfast with Cassiopeia, Myranda Vaisey and Darren Petrie who looked equally shocked and slightly disgusted at the sight before them.
Heart-shaped confetti rained down from the ceiling of the Great Hall in addition to the pink flowers lining the walls, window arches and five tables making the Great Hall look like a little girls tea party.
All of the Staff with the exception of the gleaming, lurid pink robed Professor Lockhart seemed to share in the four students disgust at the sight of the Great Hall while the reactions among the students were mixed.
Some, especially the girls and some of the younger boys found the sight of the Great Hall exciting and were talking excitedly amongst themselves about their plans for the day, while others were shocked, embarrassed and disgusted at the sight.
As the four sat down at the Slytherin table Professor Lockhart made his way over to the podium in front of the staff table.
"Happy Valentines Day everyone… owing to this very special holiday, I thought the Great Hall could do with a little… holiday decorating" said Professor Lockhart proudly flashing his toothy smile which had some of the girls giggling around her Hall.
Suddenly several dwarves dressed as the ugliest cupids Cassiopeia had ever seen complete with golden wings and harps moved out from the side of the staff table to stand in lines on either side of Professor Lockhart.
"My little cupids here… will be hand delivering valentines to you very special people after lunch today, but for now they will be taking your valentines" said Professor Lockhart.
At the clap of his hands, the dwarf cupids dispersed to collect valentines from the students so they could deliver them later.
"And for those of you who have more… practical minds… might I suggest asking Professor Flitwick how to perform an Entrancing Enchantment… or maybe ask Professor Snape if he might brew a love potion for you to catch the eyes of those lucky witches and wizards" said Professor Lockhart.
Upon hearing that Professor Flitwick buried his face in his hands in embarrassment while Professor Snape looked like he would force poison down the throat of any student who dared even so much as whisper the words "love potion" in his presence.
Later that afternoon…
"Before we start… I would like to thank the forty-six students who sent me valentines cards" said Professor Lockhart as the Second Year Gryffindor/Slytherin DADA class took their seats in his classroom which like the Great Hall had been decorated in a similar manner with pink flowers around the walls and window arches.
Hermione turned a shade of pink as she and Janet Spinnet took their seats.
"You sent him one didn't you?" whispered Janet to Hermione.
Hermione did not answer and turned even more pink causing Janet to giggle.
Fortunately, Hermione was spared more embarrassment as Professor Lockhart brought the attention of the class back onto him.
"As it is Valentines Day, I think we'll do something a little different today, you have then next forty minutes to write a poem about one of my many achievements… after the time is up your poems will be read to the rest of the class, with the best poet receiving a prize" said Professor Lockhart proudly ignoring the groans that could be heard around the classroom.
"A poem" said Ron in disgust.
"Your time starts now" said Professor Lockhart before he sat down at his desk and made himself busy autographing the pile of fan mail on his desk.
16th February 1993
"So… Cousin Cassie finally twisted your arm and made you ask me out did she?" said Myranda Vaisey teasingly as she took Edward's arm with a tight grip.
Thanks to slightly chilly weather, she was dressed in jeans and a thick green jumper with her long dark brown hair styled in some sort of braid.
Edward who was dressed in jeans and a grey zip-up hoodie sighed.
"You could say that" said Edward as they walked through the village entrance to Hogsmeade deciding against heading to the shops which would be busy.
Myranda placed her free hand over her heart with a near convincing look of mock hurt on her face.
"And here was me thinking that you might eventually give into Andrea Farley's advances leaving me to look elsewhere for some male companionship, perhaps that cute little brother of yours" said Myranda sarcastically.
"Andrea and I are just friends" said Edward dryly completely ignoring her comment about Harry.
Myranda smirked.
"Just what I wanted to hear" said Myranda.
"And why is that?" said Edward with a hint of curiousness in his voice.
Myranda trailed her hand down his arm before lacing her fingers through his.
"All in good time, we have the entire day to spend together Eddy" said Myranda in a slightly teasing voice squeezing his hand.
"Don't call me that" said Edward as Myranda pulled him down the street.
One hour later…
"Come on, there's a free booth" said Myranda pulling Edward with her towards one of the empty booths in the corner of the Three Broomsticks.
Though it was usually busy on Hogsmeade weekends, the Three Broomsticks was quieter than Edward expected it to be with only a few tables being used by students.
Seconds after they sat down next to each other in the booth, the 44-year-old curly dark blonde haired Barmaid and Landlady Madam Rosmerta who was famed around Hogsmeade for her good looks and mulled mead made her way over to them to take their orders.
"Two butterbeer's please Madam Rosmerta" said Edward politely.
"Right away Mr Potter" said Rosmerta before leaving their table walking back over to the bar.
Due to the lack of customers in the pub, Madam Rosmerta was back with their drinks quicker than usual.
Edward chuckled as Myranda took a swig of her butterbeer leaving her with a foam moustache.
"You've got a…" said Edward with a hint of amusement.
Myranda smirked and licked the foam off of her face.
"So have you Eddy" said Myranda teasingly making reference to Edward's own foam moustache.
Edward went to wipe it off with his sleeve.
"Let me" said Myranda taking his arm.
She leaned closer to him and wiped the foam moustache away with a single finger causing them both to blush slightly.
As she wiped her finger on the sleeve of his hoodie, Edward placed his finger under her chin.
"Kiss me Randa" said Edward feeling like he had just smashed a brick wall inside of his head.
Myranda smiled coyly at him.
"You first Eddy" said Myranda teasingly.
Edward smirked.
"Ladies first" said Edward cheekily.
"Alright then" said Myranda cheekily.
She moved her hand around to his back and pushed him forwards so their lips pressed together for a few moments.
"Looks like I win" said Myranda teasingly.
"You pushed me… so you lose" said Edward.
"I did no such thing" said Myranda with mock hurt in her voice.
"You made the first move, so you lose" said Edward teasingly.
Myranda rolled her eyes and pulled him into her.
"Stop complaining Eddy, and do something productive for once" said Myranda softly before pulling him into her for another kiss.
Breaking apart after several seconds Myranda tightened her grip on his hoodie.
"Me and Cassie have one very important thing in common… just about every boy who admires our beauty is too scared to ask us out, like you most of them tend to need a helping hand, though sometimes there are exceptions" said Myranda teasingly.
"Darren asked you to the Yule Ball, as did I" said Edward.
"I did say there were exceptions" said Myranda.
She squeezed his hand.
"I wanted to say yes when you asked me, really I did, I'd even thought about asking Cassie if we could swap partners when she told me she was going with you… but I'd promised Darren that I would go with him, and we've been friends since we were kids, it wouldn't have been fair on him" said Myranda softly.
Edward shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe there will be other balls" said Edward.
Myranda smirked at him.
"Is that a promise to be my date at the next Yule Ball, whenever that might be" said Myranda cheekily.
Edward smirked and pulled her into his side.
"We'll cross that bridge when it comes to that" said Edward wrapping looping his arm around her waist before kissing her.
19th February 1993
"Can I help you Boys?" said Professor Mcgonagall sternly as she finished marking a students homework scroll, placing it to one side before looking up at the four Boys in front of her desk.
Harry, Neville, Ron and Josh Sloper had come straight to her following their latest joke of a DADA lesson.
"Professor… can we drop Defence Against the Dark Arts… just for this year?" said Harry in a hopeful voice.
Professor Mcgonagall straightened up, holding her quill sideways in both hands.
"No… why?" said Professor Mcgonagall already suspecting what their answers would be.
"Because that fool Lockhart is useless" said Josh.
"Professor Lockhart please Mr Sloper" said Professor Mcgonagall sternly.
Josh sighed as Ron groaned.
"We don't learn anything in his lessons… except not to let Cornish Pixies loose in a classroom" said Ron.
"He hasn't taught us any spells… or about any dark creatures" said Neville.
"The homework he just set us is a joke as well… asking us to read his autobiography Magical Me and write a review about it" said Harry.
As the four Boys started piling on the complaints one after the other Professor Mcgonagall held her hand up to silence them.
"I understand your frustrations Boys, and I shall pass them onto the Headmaster to see if he can do something about this… but Professor Lockhart is still your Defence teacher, and you have to do his homework" said Professor Mcgonagall sternly though the rational voice in her head wanted to tell them to forget about the useless homework they had been set.
Professor Mcgonagall went back to marking her student's homework.
"Now off you go" said Professor Mcgonagall.
"Curse you Dumbledore for hiring that fool" thought Professor Mcgonagall in frustration as the four Boys left her classroom.
18th May 1993
"And here we have it ladies and gentlemen… the final Quidditch match of the season, its Gryffindor against Castelobruxo, Gryffindor could win the trophy if they win the match with 230 points or more, any less and the title goes to Mahoutokoro or Castelobruxo if they can win by at least 300 points!" shouted Lee Jordan to deafening roars and cheers around the stadium for the most anticipated Quidditch match of the school year which would decide who would win the title.
Every match Gryffindor had played this year had brought them to this last one. Victories against Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and a high scoring draw against Ilvermorny had made up for the loss given to them by Mahoutokoro and now they were only one win away from winning the Quidditch Trophy for Gryffindor.
Wood flew over to Harry.
"Remember Potter… don't go for the Snitch until we have 80 points on the scoreboard, if you see the other Seeker going for the Snitch before we get the points we need then, do everything you can to stop her from catching it" said Wood.
Harry nodded to him feeling the nerves coursing through his body.
"We do this right and this trophy is ours" said Wood clapping his hand on Harry's shoulder.
He flew away from Harry into the centre of the pitch to shake hands with the Captain of the Castelobruxo team.
Forty minutes later…
"It looks like Olivera's spotted the Snitch… Potter needs to act fast!" shouted Lee Jordan to cheers from the crowd.
Harry quickly spotted the short brown haired Castelobruxo Seeker Maria Olivera chasing after the Snitch near one of the towers and took off after her.
He got up alongside her and pushed her arm away in the nick of time before she could grab the Snitch.
She turned to look at him, flashing him a cheeky smile before shoulder barging him.
"Gryffindor only have seventy points to Castelobruxo's ninety… if Gryffindor want to win then they need one more goal before Potter catches the Snitch, better make it fast Gryffindor!" shouted Lee.
Harry spent the next minute or so doing everything he could to prevent the other Seeker from getting the Snitch knowing that he could not keep this up forever and would have to try and catch it himself at some point.
"And Bell soars off down the pitch with the Quaffle, will this be the chance that Gryffindor need, can they get ten points and give Potter a chance to win it by catching the Snitch?!" shouted Lee.
"Come on, come on" thought Harry in his head willing for Gryffindor to get one more goal as he fought to stop the Castelobruxo Seeker which was getting more difficult the longer it went on.
"AND JOHNSON FIRES THE QUAFFLE PAST SANTOS BRINGING THE SCORE UP TO EIGHTY TO NINETY… IF POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH THE TROPHY GOES TO GRYFFINDOR, COME ON POTTER!" shouted Lee as cheers rang out from the Gryffindor's.
Professor Mcgonagall who normally might have told Lee to remain neutral as he was meant to act as a commentator, had joined him in cheering Harry on wanting to see her House triumph.
"GO HARRY!" cheered Hermione clapping her hands on the front of the Gryffindor stands.
"CATCH IT HARRY!" cheered Neville who was stood next to Hermione.
"GO ON SON!" shouted James from his place in one of the towers with Narcissa, Sirius, Amelia, Ted Tonks and Nymphadora.
Harry pushed Olivera's hand away before lurching forwards on his broom and grasping at the Snitch only just managing to hold onto it.
He pulled away from the other Seeker and held his hand holding the Snitch up for everyone to see with the resulting noise being deafening.
"POTTER'S CAUGHT THE SNITCH, GRYFFINDOR WIN, THE TROPHY IS OURS!" shouted Lee as he jumped up and hugged an equally happy Professor Mcgonagall.
As Harry reached the centre of the pitch he was mobbed by his teammates receiving tight hugs with kisses on his cheek from Angelina, Alicia and Katie while Wood, Fred and George gave him one-armed hugs each.
Once they had finished celebrating amongst themselves and received their trophy from Dumbledore as well as a handshake and congratulations each from the Minister For Magic Cornelius Fudge, the Gryffindor's flew down onto the pitch where the other Gryffindor's came charging out of stands to celebrate with them.
Harry felt himself get hoisted up onto the shoulders of Fred and George as they celebrated in the centre of the pitch.
"PARTY IN THE GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM PERCY SAID!" shouted George to more deafening cheers as the large group of Gryffindor's started to lead their Quidditch Heroes towards the stadium exit ready to get the party started back in their Common Room.
"I DID NOT SAY THAT GEORGE!" shouted the 17-year-old Sixth Year Prefect Percy Weasley who despite being a stickler for the rules was celebrating along with his fellow Gryffindor's.
"OH LIGHTEN UP A BIT PERCE, IT'S NOT EVERYDAY WE WIN SOMETHING LIKE THIS!" shouted RON.
Roaring chants of "GO, GO, GRYFFINDOR!" were like thunder from the Gryffindor's as they left the stadium in droves.
Later that night…
Applause and cheers were thundering around the Common Room with almost every student forming a circle around the Gryffindor Quidditch Team who were still dressed in their Quidditch robes and were bunched together with Wood holding the arm length trophy in both hands above his head.
A small golden Quaffle sat on top of the main trophy body while a Golden Snitch and two Bludgers were engraved onto the Quaffle along with the word "GRYFFINDOR".
As they celebrated their trophy as a team the wavy dark blonde-haired, camera obsessed Muggleborn Colin Creevey stepped out of the crowd with his Muggle Polaroid camera in his hands.
"Picture guys?" said Colin hopefully.
"Go for it" said Angelina as she and the others got close together for the photo.
Colin took the picture before Professor Mcgonagall took the finished photo from it. After animating it for him making the occupants move on their own she handed it back to him.
"Five points to Gryffindor for a good photo" said Professor Mcgonagall.
"Thank you Professor" said Colin excitedly as he looked down at the moving photograph in his hands.
"Come on Professor" said Katie beckoning Professor Mcgonagall to come and join them for another photo.
"Come and have a picture with the greatest Quidditch Team to ever grace Hogwarts" said Fred to cheers and raised glasses and bottles of pumpkin juice and butterbeer around the Common Room.
Professor Mcgonagall walked over to them standing next to Wood with the two holding the trophy between them.
After Colin had taken the picture, Professor Mcgonagall animated and enlarged it before sticking it to the Common Room wall where everyone could see it.
George took a sip of the butterbeer given to him by Lee.
Raising the bottle he cleared his throat.
"To Oliver Wood, the best Captain I ever played for" said George proudly.
The crowd raised their drinks and cheered before Wood raised his own bottle of butterbeer.
"To Fred and George Weasley… best Beater's outside of the England Squad" boasted Wood to more laughs and cheers.
Once the laughs and cheers had died down, Fred took a large swig of his butterbeer.
"To our excellent and beautiful trio of Chasers… you three could score 500 points against those slimy second rate snakes even if you had blindfolds on" boasted Fred to even more cheers and laughter around the Common Room.
"And let's not forget our extremely talented Seeker, the youngest ever to play for a school team in his first year, who caught a Snitch after just five minutes… who accomplished things even the great Charlie Weasley could not do… Harrison Potter" said Angelina once the cheers for herself and her fellow Chasers had died down.
As Harry felt himself get hoisted up onto Fred and George's shoulders the other Gryffindor's cheered.
"And with this team next year" bellowed Fred.
"The Quidditch Cup will be ours" bellowed George as the noise of the cheering became deafening with only chants of "GO, GO, GRYFFINDOR!" being audible above the cheers.