(A/N) Hello all my readers, sorry for the delay I just got lazy and a little sidetracked what with preparing for college and all. Anyway I will actually try updating more, the way I plan to do this is spend my time in between classes working on the story…unless I need to get homework don't. Sadly school is more important. Also I know that in order to have balance the other elementals have to be on their Quidditch team, however thanks for taking the time to review and point that out (you know who you are). However since I am lacking in creativity atm I decided that they will join in second year so rest easy. Now on with the story.
Beta read by wizardmon92
(Disclaimer…same as before)
Out of all the things that Harry was expecting, becoming seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. He had mentally prepared himself for anything and everything that could happen to him, and was completely blindsided when Professor McGonagall told the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, Oliver Wood, that he was to be the new seeker. Sitting down at lunch Harry still found himself a little bit shocked at the development. While he continued to eat his meal, he was relaying to Ron and Kyuubi what had happened after Professor McGonagall had taken him away from the class.
"I still can't believe you were made seeker. I mean first years never get to play Quidditch." Ron said emphasizing the word never.
"I still can't believe you agreed to play the stupid came." Kyuubi mumbled. Ron looked like Draco had confessed his love to him.
"What do you mean stupid? It's the greatest game ever made." Ron nearly yelled, shocked at Kyuubi's words.
"A bunch of people flying around on long shafts of wood playing with four balls is not my idea of fun…more like a perverted wizard's sick joke." Kyuubi replied.
Harry's face hardened for a second before he asked Kyuubi, "How long have you been hanging around Tal?"
At the Castle of Elements
Tal was reading a book in the castle library when he sneezed. Rubbing his nose he mutters, "Hope I'm not getting a cold."
Back at Hogwarts
Ron and Kyuubi continued to argue about the appropriateness of Quidditch while Harry chose to talk to Fred and George. After congratulating Harry on his new position as seeker, they were quickly stopped by Kyuubi who asked what position they played.
Fred and George looked at each other before answering together, "We're beaters."
Kyuubi turned his gaze back to Ron and said, "I feel I have made my point clear now."
As the twins walked off, and Ron tried his best to defend the honor of Quidditch; Draco Malfoy walked up, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. "Enjoying your last meal Potter? So when do we get to see you get shipped off to the muggles?" he asked.
Always the badass when you have dumb and dumber around, I see." Harry said coolly. Growling at being called dumb the two bodyguards cracked their knuckles in hopes of looking intimidating.
"I can take you on all by myself Potter. Anytime, anywhere," Draco replied. "Tonight if you want."
Harry was familiar in fighting; his years of practice under the senior elementals and Sol'Lez weren't spent needlessly. Keeping a calm face he asked "What are your terms?"
"Wizard's duel, wands only, no contact. What's wrong? Never hear of a wizard's duel before?" Draco said with a sneer.
Before Harry could reply, or Kyuubi could protest, Ron spoke up. "Of course he has! I'm his second, who's yours?"
Looking at both of his guards Draco responded, "Crabbe will be my second. Meet us in the trophy room at midnight, got it?"
Not waiting for an answer Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle walked off. Harry and Kyuubi looked at each other before focusing a glare at Ron.
"What's the matter?" Ron asked in confusion.
"I've heard of many duels and know the rules to all of them, but I have never heard of a wizard's duel." Harry said.
"Not to mention that in all the duels that we know of, physical combat is the basis of all of them." Kyuubi added.
"Also, what's a second?" Harry asked.
"A second is the person that will take over if you die," Ron said rather casually, catching notice of Harry and Kyuubi's look he quickly added, "But death only happens in proper duels, you know with real wizards. The worst damage that you and Malfoy could do is throw sparks at each other. Neither of you know any real magic, besides I bet Malfoy didn't expect you to accept."
"That's because I didn't. If I recall correctly it was you that accepted for me." Harry said while continuing to glare at Ron.
"And what if I'm unable to cast any sparks?" Harry asked.
"Then disregard the rules and beat the crap out of him." Ron said dismissively.
"Excuse me?"
Hearing a feminine voice interrupt their conversation, the three looked to see who interrupted them; it was Hermione Granger.
"Can't we ever get anything done without your constant nagging?" Ron asked Hermione.
Hermione brushed off Ron's comment before speaking to Harry.
"I couldn't help but over hear what you and Malfoy were saying-"
"I bet you couldn't." Ron muttered.
"No kidding." Kyuubi added.
"-and you mustn't go walking around the school after hours, think about all the points you could cost Gryffindor if you get caught, and you're bound to be. It's really selfish of you."
Harry who was starting to get tired of Hermione always trying to dictate his actions stood up and said, "And it's really none of your business."
Walking out of the great hall with Kyuubi in tow, Ron stood up, sneered at Hermione and said, "Good-bye."
Later
As Harry lay in bed listening to Dean and Seamus falling to sleep, he thought back to the day's events. Everything from the classes, to Ron's 'secret' techniques to dueling, which consisted of, "If a spell comes at you, dodge it". Then he thought about what Hermione said. He had to agree, there was a good chance of getting caught, but Harry didn't care. All Harry wanted to do was knock Draco Malfoy senseless. Harry was quickly brought back to his senses when he heard Ron mutter, "Half-past eleven, let's go."
Quickly putting on their robes, Ron, Harry, and Kyuubi made their way silently down the stairs to the common room. Casting a quick glance around the room to make sure everything was clear they headed towards the portrait. Right when they were about to reach the portrait hole they were stopped by a voice saying, "I can't believe you're actually going, Harry."
/Why didn't you tell me she was in the common room/ Harry asked Kyuubi through their mental link.
/I thought she was asleep, she wasn't moving and was breathing evenly./ Was Kyuubi's reply.
/Next time warn me/ Harry said, coming back to his senses just in time to hear Hermione threaten to get Ron's brother Percy. Grabbing Ron's shoulder Harry said, "Come on." Before exiting the common room.
Not wanting to give up so easily she followed them out and in a whisper that sounded like a hiss from a snake, "Don't you even care about your own house? Unlike you idiots I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup. All you seem to do is loose all the points I get from Professor McGonagall.
"If you're so scared then go away. Wouldn't want you to contribute to the loss of house points." Ron said sarcastically.
"Besides, with Kyuubi we will know when someone is coming before they even know we are out of bed." Harry said gesturing to the nontile standing beside him.
"Fine! But don't say I didn't warn you." She replied, just as she turned around to walk back into Gryffindor Tower the portrait swung closed and the Fat Lady was missing. Locking the group out of the tower.
"Now what am I going to do?" Hermione asked in a panicky voice.
"Not our problem," Ron said while glancing at his watch. "We better hurry up or we'll be late."
As Ron, Harry, and Kyuubi started to walk off Hermione quickly rushed to join them. "I'm coming with you."
"The hell you are." Ron nearly yelled.
"If what you say is true then I'll be safest with you guys since you have your little teacher sensor with you," Hermione said while looking at a growling Kyuubi. "Besides I'm not going to stand outside the tower waiting to be caught."
Before Ron could reply Harry quickly interrupted, "She's right, her being with us it the only way for us to keep from loosing any points."
Successfully stopping the impending argument, the group headed to the trophy room, Kyuubi guiding them away from any threats of being caught. Walking up the third floor, and entering the trophy room the group saw that Draco and Crabbe, weren't in the room, but someone they didn't expect was.
"Hey Harry, figured you'd come here." The shadowed figure said.
"Sasuke? What are you doing here?" Harry asked shocked at seeing Sasuke instead of Draco and Crabbe.
"Isn't it obvious? Malfoy did this to trick you, he even went and told Filch that there would be students here." Sasuke replied
Before anyone could ask or say anything else, Kyuubi interrupted them, "Harry, Sasuke is right I can smell that stupid cat already."
Not wanting to get caught the group of Gryffindors, and Sasuke snuck out the back door and into a hallway full of suits of armor. As the walked as quietly as possible, they heard Filch's voice in the room they had just left. Sneaky a quick glance behind him, Ron wasn't paying attention to the path in front of him and tripped into a suit of armor causing a loud crashing sound all throughout the hallway.
"RUN!" Harry shouted as they booked it down the hallway, into the gallery, and continuing to go through the corridor. No one having any idea where they were going. Rushing through a tapestry they ran through a secret passage and passed their charms classroom, which they knew was quite far from the trophy room. Stopping to catch their breath, Harry quietly said, "I think we lost them."
Meanwhile, Hermione was letting off a number of "I told you so" and Ron was saying how they needed to get back to Gryffindor Tower. Soon Hermione was saying how she knew Draco would trick him and Harry just ignored her. Turning to Sasuke he said, "Thanks for the heads up."
Sasuke nodded before replying, "What are friends for?"
As the group made their way down the corridor they were stopped when a classroom door handle rattled and Peeves the Poltergeist blocked their path. Seeing the group he let out a squeal of delight.
"Peeves be quiet, please we don't want to get caught." Hermione said trying to plead with the poltergeist.
"Walking around after hours, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. That's very naughty, you'll get caughty." Peeves said while cackling.
The request of not getting caught when on for a few moments before, Ron grew impatient and tried to take a swipe at Peeves, causing the poltergeist to yell, and give away their position. Refusing to get caught the group rushed through the corridor and ran into a locked door at the end.
"It's all over we're going to get caught!" Ron said, his face going white.
Pulling out his wand, Sasuke tapped the lock and said, "Alohomora!"
With a click the lock opened and the group ran into the room, shutting the door and stepping away from the door. As they listened carefully, they heard Filch and Peeves talk before Filch yelled at Peeves and the poltergeist left, their location not being said.
"Filch thinks the door is locked we should be safe." Harry whispered.
"Says you!" Sasuke said as he looked at something that was standing behind Harry.
Turning around, Harry saw the only thing scarier than Marla after a bad wake up call from Tal. Harry quickly realized, that they weren't in a room at all instead they were in a corridor, the forbidden corridor that was on the third floor. Looking at what lay before him, he knew why it was forbidden. Laying on the ground was a three headed dog that, if standing, could easily fill up the space of the entire corridor. The group started to back away quietly when their worst fear came to pass, the beast was waking up.
Quietly to Harry, Sasuke muttered, "Right now I'm wishing we were back home."
Harry could only silently agree.
Back at the Castle of Element
The senior elementals, and Sol'Lez were in the main hall as Tal sung as loudly as possible "99 bottles of beer on the wall". The three other occupants of the castle were massaging their temples as the fire elemental started singing the song for the eighth time that day.
As Tal continued to sing, Razure muttered to Marla and Sol'Lez, "I wish we were with the children at that school."
Marla and Sol'Lez silently agreed as Tal continued to sing.
Back at Hogwarts
As the group tired to open the door their faces paled to find it was jammed. Trying their hardest to open the door as fast as humanly possible, they pale even more to see the beast focusing on them. Quickly Ron, said, "Kyuubi try talking to it."
"WHAT?" The nontile yelled
"You're like a dog…kind of try to keep it from eating us!" Ron urged
"And what in all the seven hells do you want me to say in case you haven't noticed, I've been speaking English ever since you've met me!" Kyuubi growled at Ron as the three headed dog started advancing towards them.
"WILL YOU PLEASE BARK OR WOOF AT THE THING!" Ron yelled as he tried to break open the door.
"Ugg I can't believe I'm doing this...bark bark, woof woof." Kyuubi said hardly putting any effort into his barks and woofs.
The beast looked at Kyuubi for a second before growling and barking back. "Great I think we just pissed it off." Sasuke said.
Setting itself to pounce, the beast lunged into the air right when the door opened. Pouring out of the room, the four children turned around and closed the door, getting thrown to the ground when the dog's center head crashed into the door. Rushing back to Gryffindor Tower the four stopped in front of the Fat Lady and turned to Sasuke.
"Well, it's been fun but I think we should go to bed." Hermione said, in a sarcastic tone when she mentioned the word 'fun'.
"Yeah, I'll see you guys and gal later." Sasuke said before turning invisible, compliments of his bond with Ballmut.
Hermione and Ron looked at the spot where Sasuke had been standing with their jaws hanging, when Harry said the password and entered the common room, Kyuubi following behind. Snapping out of their daze, Ron and Hermione followed.
"Jeez what was the headmaster thinking putting something like that in this school?" Ron said as he followed Harry to the center of the room where a table with a load of newspapers and magazines were laying. Plopping down on one of the chairs he let out a sigh, the others also took a seat.
"I swear don't you notice anything? That thing was standing on a trapdoor, it's obviously guarding something." Hermione lectured.
"And I think I know what." Harry said as he picked up an issue of the Daily Prophet. The headline read "Gringotts Break-In Latest".
"What's that got to do with anything?" Ron asked.
"Kyuubi doesn't that vault look familiar?" Harry asked his familiar. Kyuubi studied the picture before answering.
"Yeah, that the vault that Hagrid stopped at, I'm positive."
"Exactly! I bet that whatever Hagrid got out of that vault is what that beast is hiding!" Harry said.
Standing up Hermione sent the boys, and fox a glare before saying, "Well I hope you three are happy! We could have been killed, or worse expelled! Now I'm off to bed."
Ron stared at her with disbelief before saying, "Can you believe her? Honestly, it's like she blames us for her actions!"
However, Harry wasn't paying attention. His mind was focused on what could be guarded by the beast in the forbidden corridor. Making a note to investigate later, Harry walked to the first year boys dormitory before landing on his bed and passing out.
(A/N) Ok now for the closing Authors Note, still in need for one more beta reader. Also I was thinking about making a Yahoo group for this series, but I'm curious as to whether or not anyone would consider that a good idea or bad idea. Anyways, next chapter THE DREADED MOUNTAIN TROLL, and for a little bit of sadistic fun, SOMEONE DIES! Any guesses who?