Unspoken The Irish National Quidditch team, a harry potter fanfic

Unspoken
by Teddylonglong

Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.

After curfew the same evening, Harry telepathically contacted Archie and informed him about his agreement with Mr. Murphey.

'Harry, do you want to come over to discuss it with Perenelle and me? Together, we'll be able to work it out.'

'Can we discuss this right away?'

'Yes.'

Harry grinned and summoned three phials of his fresh-and-go potion from the shelf behind his bed, just in case they would need them, before he simply popped in front of the Flamels' house and rang the doorbell.

The Flamels were as friendly as always and patiently discussed Mr. Murphey's wishes with him. To his relief, Perenelle promised to develop a charm, which they could cast at the main part of the broom once it was finished.

"It's important to add it to the wood before completing the broom, as otherwise, the charm could be cancelled by a simple Finite Incantatem."

Nicholas nodded. "After this process step, you can give the brooms to the shop, so that they can make the position brooms as usual. The brooms already have the correct colour and are equipped with the charm."

Harry nodded in understanding. "That's cool. Thank you very much, Perenelle and Nicholas."

"Shall we head to the office?" Nicholas offered. "I will show you how to make a couple of trees to gain wood in the correct colour."

Harry stared at the old wizard in surprise. "Will the wood itself be green then, sir?"

"Yes, my boy. Come. If we go now, we'll manage to plant one or two before midnight." Turning to his wife, he added, "Sorry, Perenelle, we'll be back in a while. Please don't wait for me but go to bed."

To Harry's relief, Nicholas was able to plant the first new tree before midnight, so that it would be fully grown by morning. "Well, tomorrow, you can use the wood from that tree for the first let's say five brooms. Let me show you how to magically plant them now."

"Nicholas, could we perhaps slide back in time for an hour, before we plant the rest?" Harry asked, before Nicholas could even begin with his explanation.

"All right," he agreed and transformed into his Animagus from, so that Harry could easily slide them back.

Transforming back, Nicholas patiently showed him the spell, and Harry happily planted four more trees that would provide the same, green wood.

"How do we know that it's the correct green?"

Nicholas smirked. "The colour was in the incantation. We added 'Hibernica viridi' to it, which means Irish green. I am certain that it is the correct colour."

"Ah, all right, thanks, Nicholas."

'Turn invisible,' Nicholas suddenly thought to him, and Harry observed in bewilderment how the two of them arrived to plant the first tree.

'Shall we slide back?'

'No, let's just wait it out. The sooner we can return home.'

'True,' Harry thought, knowing that they had not spent much time before sliding back.

Shortly after midnight, they both returned to their respective homes, and Harry was surprised that they had proceeded so quickly.

On Sunday, Harry and Connie spent most of the day in Archie's lab busying themselves making the skeleton of the first eight brooms.

"The colour is really very pretty." Connie smiled. "Mr. Murphey will like them."

"Let's hope so. We should stop now though and make the remaining eight next Sunday. Perhaps, Perenelle will have made the charm by then, so that we can finish the whole lot and give it to the Marauders."

'I really like the colour,' Harry thought and decided to make a spare broom, which he would complete to a Seeker broom and keep for himself.

By Halloween, the sixteen brooms for the Irish National team were done. Considering that Mr. Murphey was a special customer, Harry decided to send him an owl and ask if he wished to pick up the brooms at the shop or if it would be possible for Paws and Turtle to deliver the brooms themselves and maybe receive the opportunity to watch their team practice.

"That would be so cool." Harry grinned in anticipation.

"Absolutely," Connie agreed, smiling.

However, Mr. Murphey's response exceeded Harry's expectations by far.

'Dear Unspeakable Paws,
thank you very much for your fast work and your offer to come by and deliver the brooms personally. I believe that our team would be most happy if they had the opportunity of getting to know the two of you.
I suggest our Christmas special team practice, which will take place at 10 a.m. on 28 December in Thomond Park Stadium in Limerick.
I am not aware if you are flyers yourselves, however, if so, I can offer one of you to participate in our team practice on that day.
Moreover, as we have the whole rugby stadium at our disposal, feel free to bring up to twenty family members or friends to watch. Do not expect us to reveal any secrets of our team though. I believe that you will understand this, especially now with the world cup scheduled for next summer.
Best regards
Eoin Murphy
Captain of the Irish National Quidditch team'

'Twenty people,' Harry mused, silently counting, 'Connie, Mum, Remus, Rebecca, Artemis, Severus, James, Sirius, Salazar, Hermione, Draco, Neville, Luna, Minerva, Madam Hooch and Madam Pomfrey. Archie and Croaker perhaps? Perhaps Frank. I don't think that Lily or Alice will want to come. They'll probably watch the kids. That's about it.'

After relaying the invitation to everyone he had thought of, he diligently penned a response to Mr. Murphey.

'Dear Mr. Murphey,
thank you so much for the invitation, which we happily accept. While Turtle does not like flying except for flights on our double broom together with me, I play Seeker. I shall bring my own Seeker broom and will be happy to get the opportunity of flying with your team.
Best regards
Unspeakable Paws
Developer of Paws & Turtle Broomsticks'

Harry had always been looking forward to return home for Christmas; however, during this year, he just could not wait for Christmas to come and pass, as he was looking forward to being able to play Seeker together with the players of the Irish National team. It remained the main topic over Christmas, whenever the little trio of Niamh, Aidan and Julia, who were now two and a half years old and used to entertain everyone during their waking hours, was asleep.

Everyone, whom he had invited, had accepted the invitation, and shortly before 10 o'clock on December 28, the non-family guests arrived through the fireplace, so that they could all travel together using one Portkey that Artemis had provided in form of a green plush broomstick.

When the travel ended, they found themselves in a very large muggle sports stadium. 'A rugby stadium,' Harry recalled what Mr. Murphey had told him, 'whatever rugby might be.' Harry noticed in surprise that at least two hundred people were already occupying parts of the spectator seats and nodded in relief upon noticing that Rebecca and Artemis ushered their group into the adjacent seats. To his relief, the weather in Limerick was bright in contrary to London, where it had snowed a lot that very morning.

'That's much better for catching the Snitch,' he thought in amusement, wondering if he would have a chance to beat the national team's Seeker. 'That would be totally cool,' he thought, grinning, as he strode over to where Mr. Murphey was heading towards them.

"Lucy come; let go of the Portkey, we'll still need that to return home later on."

'You should know that all stuffed animals belong to me,' she replied, quietly, as she grudgingly left her newly found toy and hurried after him.

"Unspeakable Paws," Murphey greeted Harry, just when music began to play from the large muggle speakers around the stadium.

"Hello Mr. Murphey," Harry replied and pulled the shrunken box of brooms out of his robe pocket. "Here are your brooms."

"Fantastic." Murphey reached out for the small box in apparent eagerness. "Please follow me to meet my teams."

"Excuse me, sir, is that a special Irish Quidditch song?" Harry enquired, noticing that most of the spectators were singing along to the music.

Murphey let out a small chuckle. "No, dear. That's a special Irish song. It is called 'The Fields of Athenry'. This stadium is home to the Munster Rugby team, and they use to play it before any of their matches. As we normally use their stadium for our practice, we've made it our Quidditch song as well."

"That's a brilliant idea. Perhaps, other teams could have their own songs as well," Harry said, more to himself than the captain.

"There's just one problem." Murphey pointed out that they found themselves in a muggle stadium. "A normal magical Quidditch pitch does not have the electrical equipment we have here."

He then introduced Harry to the team and announced that Harry was going to play Seeker for the starting team today, while the starting team would play against the second team. "In the revanche, Unspeakable Paws will be the Seeker of the second team then."

"Sorry Lucy, I can't take you on my broom with me today. Please return to Mum and Connie and wait with them."

=That's totally unfair.=

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I'll take you flying afterwards."

Harry sighed in relief, when Lucy obediently made her way over to where his family was sitting.

"Your dog flies?" one of the team members asked, while everyone stared at Lucy's retreating form in apparent bewilderment.

Harry nodded. "She is used to flying together with me, but as I wouldn't want anyone who does not know my abilities as a Seeker to believe that it was her to have caught the Snitch…" He shrugged, as he slowly trailed off.

He thoroughly enjoyed the music, which lasted until the teams began to take into the air. Mr. Murphey as the captain remained on the ground to referee the game, accompanied by the Seeker of the starting team.

The players seemed to have much fun with their new brooms, and Mr. Murphey allowed them to play around for a few minutes, before he officially started the practice match and released the balls.

Harry immediately proceeded upwards and concentrated on the Snitch ignoring the game under him. He once saw a golden glow and just began to dive for it, when he realised that it had solely been a sunray. However, a few minutes later, he spotted the Snitch. He went into a deep dive and pulled up just a few metres before the ground only to grab the struggling winged ball out of the air in the twenty-fifth minute. He triumphantly held up his hand, feeling absolutely accomplished.

'Well done, Harry.'

'Thanks, Connie,' he replied, feeling very happy.

"Unspeakable Paws caught the Snitch," Murphey announced. "The starting team wins 200 – 40."

Everyone descended to the ground, and Harry was immediately surrounded by the players, who were all very friendly.

"Unspeakable Paws, are you ready for a re-match?"

Harry grinned at Mr. Murphey, even if his face was covered by his robes. "Of course, sir."

This time, it only took Harry 18 minutes to catch the Snitch, much to his delight.

They played three more matches; however, Harry always managed to catch the Snitch.

"Do you have any device in your robes that allows you to find the Snitch?"

Harry looked around only to find the reserve Seeker glare at him. He let out a deep sigh and pulled off his robes. "This is still not my real form, as I am not allowed to give myself away," he replied, "and no, I don't have any such device in my robes." He popped himself over to where his family was sitting, pressing his Unspeakable robes into Connie's hand, before he quietly returned to where the teams were waiting.

To his relief, he still managed to catch the Snitch five more times, before Mr. Murphey ended the team practice.

"Paws, would you be willing to join our team as our starting Seeker?"

Harry stared at Mr. Murphey in shock. "I'd like that, but you already have two Seekers, and I don't have much time for practice."

One of the Seekers stepped in front of him. "Paws, I am Brian, the starting Seeker, and I'll gladly let you play. Luke and I will simply be your reserve Seekers. The main point is that we win, no matter who plays."

The discussion lasted a while, but in the end, Harry, Mr. Murphey and the two Seekers agreed that they should play in the team practice as usual; however, only during the matches and the occasional team practice, Harry was going to take the position. He refused any payment whatsoever, stating that he felt honoured and was happy to be able to support the Irish National team.

Mr. Murphey arranged with him to meet at the Paws and Turtle Brooms shop at ten o'clock the following morning to finalise a contract.

In the contract, they finalised that Harry should practise with the team once a month, on a Sunday morning, and other than that play in all international matches, in which the Irish National team was going to participate.

"As it is a twelve-month contract for the time being, it includes the Quidditch World Cup, which is going to take place in Britain next summer," Murphey informed him. "In the Quidditch Trillenium Stadium in Dartmoor, which I believe is just being built for this purpose. Your Unspeakable colleagues might be able to tell you more about it."

Harry nodded, resolving to ask Croaker about it, when a sudden thought crossed his mind. 'Croaker, this is Paws. Would you mind me play Seeker on the Irish National team?'

'Oh Merlin. Congratulation Paws. No, I don't mind, even if you play against England. Good luck.'

'Thanks Croaker.' Harry smiled in relief.

"As part of our team, we expect you to travel with our team. For your family and friends, you will receive free tickets for twenty persons for the complete duration of the world cup, provided that they won't mind having seats within the Irish fans."

Harry chuckled. "Considering that I am playing for the Irish National team, my family members will surely support Ireland during this world cup. Thank you so very much for giving me this opportunity. I look forward to playing for Ireland."

Murphey sighed. "There is one point I'd like to ask you to consider. The Irish players wear green robes in all our matches with the player's name embroidered in silver on the back. Do you really wish to have Paws as your name or perhaps your real family name?"

Harry remained pensive for a moment. "I am not sure, sir," he then admitted. "If you're willing to swear me an oath to keep my secret, I will gladly inform you about my identity, but I still believe that it would be better to play as Paws."

Murphey swiftly sowre his oath, looking at him in expectation that made Harry chuckle again. He took off his necklace, stating, "I am Harry Potter. As long as I am still a student at Hogwarts, I better use my Unspeakable name for endeavours such as the Quidditch world cup."

Murphy laughed out aloud. "Indeed. How are you going to sign your contract if you're a minor though? Does your magical guardian agree for you to play on the team?"

Harry grinned, before he put his necklace back on. "They agree, but in fact, I have been of age ever since I cast a magical marriage spell at my wife at the age of five. Only people who know Unspeakable Paws are aware of this though. Harry Potter has just only finished his third Hogwarts year without any remarkable achievements."

This time, Murphey laughed so loud that Remus came over to make sure that everything was all right.

"Paws, you are a very interesting person. Now, you need to inform me by the beginning of March how many friends and family you're going to bring. Each of our players has their own tent with space for ten people; however, if you bring more people, you can always buy an additional tent for the duration of the world cup."

"Twenty please then," Harry spontaneously decided. "Will everyone be able to travel by Portkey?"

Murphey smirked. "Perhaps, I shall ask you for a favour here, considering that you belong to the British Unspeakables. Your colleagues will be able to make Portkeys I suppose?"

Harry stared at the captain in surprise. "I can make Portkeys as well, but I need to know some kind of address or such."

"Yes, I'll have to check that. I shall contact you, when I know more. Would you be willing to help us out with Portkeys then?"

Harry nodded. "Sure."

By the time the two wizards separated in the early afternoon, Harry felt famished. He was also incredibly excited at the thought of playing in the Quidditch World cup.

"What if you have to play against England?" James glared at him.

"Then I'll play and hopefully win against them," Harry said, matter-of-factly.

"Don't you feel ashamed playing against your own country?"

"No, not at all, considering that England did not offer me a position on their team. Ireland did."

Sirius let out a snort. "Knowing Harry and his Seeker abilities, Ireland is probably going to win the world cup."

"Ah, I can't wait for the world cup to begin," Harry sighed, before he took off his necklace and left the shop to pop home.

At the welcoming feast, Harry sat between Hermione and Luna at the Ravenclaw table knowing that his friends were slightly anxious considering that the older girls were back at Hogwarts after their suspension. He noticed that some of the girls kept glaring at the three of them and silently informed Professor Flitwick about it.

Before the end of the feast, Flitwick came over to his house table. "I ask everyone who is back from their three-month suspension to behave themselves, as you are still on probation and will be expelled if anything else happens. You have been stripped of all privileges such as being a prefect or a member of the Quidditch team. If you wish to have any such privileges in the future, you shall have to earn them."

"Thank Merlin," Hermione whispered to Harry. "We've finally managed to set up a good team."

Harry nodded, reassuringly, knowing that it had been difficult to replace the bitches by adequate players before Christmas.

"Thanks for your support," Hermione whispered. "I wouldn't have been able to do that without your help."

'Don't even mention it. You're doing well, and if any of the bitches tells you otherwise, don't believe them but inform the professor,' Harry instructed her, silently.

Hermione nodded, unobtrusively.

During the following months, Harry developed a broom for the special position of the referee. Compared to the normal broom, it had an enhanced hover charm and was equipped with an automatic scoring panel as well as an integrated replay function. He swiftly made two of the new brooms for the Irish team, which he took with him, when he joined the team for their practice at the beginning of May.

"They are not out yet, as I've only made one prototype and these two for you," Harry told Mr. Murphey, as he explained the features of the new broom.

The older wizard thanked him profusely. "What do I owe you?" he then asked, bluntly.

"Nothing sir. These are gifts from my wife and me for the team."

Murphey looked at Connie, who was standing next to Harry gently cuddling with Lucy. "Thank you, Paws and Turtle."

Connie smiled. "You are very welcome, sir."

"I don't mind your doggy flying with you in our practice. You will understand that it's not possible in the matches though."

"Of course, sir." Harry nodded. "Thank you very much, sir."

"Unspeakable Turtle, why don't you join our reserve Seeker and myself, even if I will move more than usual today to try out my new broom." Murphey smirked, and Connie happily followed him, while Harry took into the air together with the team.

Connie observed the match feeling very proud of Harry and at the same time sorry for the reserve Seeker who had to watch instead of playing himself. After Harry had caught the Snitch for the third time, she addressed Mr. Murphey.

"Why don't you just use three Seekers for the practice? I don't think Paws would mind playing against two opponent Seekers."

Mr. Murphey and the reserve Seeker exchanged a look. "May I?"

Murphey shrugged. "Unspeakable Turtle, are you sure?"

'Harry, would you mind playing against both Seekers at the same time?'

'No.'

"I just asked Paws, and he's all right with it."

'As neither of them is faster than Harry, they won't even be faster together,' she thought, reasonably, as she watched the following practice matches in amusement.

When Harry caught the Snitch for the tenth time that day, Murphey ended the practice.

To Harry's amusement, the other national teams did not ask for special brooms during the first few months of the new year.

"They probably didn't get to know about the Irish brooms," Sirius quipped, grinning broadly.

"Perhaps, we should offer the British team a deal." James shrugged. "What do you think?"

Harry cleared his throat. "Err, just so you know, Dad, there is no British team in the world cup. Wales, Scotland and England each have their own teams."

"Are you sure?" James stared at him in apparent disbelief.

Harry chuckled. "I am sure. We, that is Ireland, are in Group A, and Wales, Scotland, England and the Faroe Islands are in the same group. We'll have to play each of them first. If we manage to get into the first place, we'll be in the semi-final."

"Will we be able to watch each of the matches?"

"Yes. I can bring up to 20 people for the whole duration of the tournament, which is about two weeks I think. I'm going to make you a Portkey, which you can use to come and go as you please. I'll have to make the Portkey so that it'll take you right into our tent though, as people mustn't know that we have our own Portkeys. Everyone else has to take a Portkey to the official arrival spot, which is much farer away from the stadium than our tents. Oh well, the Unspeakables among you can simply pop of course."

Due to the occurrences in Ravenclaw at the beginning of the school year, when Flitwick had deducted lots of points from the bitches, Harry had not expected Ravenclaw to be able to win the house cup let alone the Quidditch cup. While he had caught the Snitch in every game he played for both houses, Slytherin had by far the better players and was able to win the Quidditch cup and in addition the house cup.

Salazar seemed outright happy about his house's achievement and he did not fail to commend the students profoundly, when he gathered everyone for a short house meeting after the leaving feast. He especially thanked the parting seventh-years, who had assumed roles of prefects and Quidditch captain during their Hogwarts years and handed the four of them a small booklet, explaining that it was a copy of his own diary from the founding of Hogwarts.

'Totally cool,' Harry thought, wondering if the man would allow him and Connie to read it.

On the one hand, Harry felt sad to see Marcus and Martin, his former Quidditch captains, finish Hogwarts. On the other hand, however, he knew that he would remain in close contact with both of them.

The Marauders' broom shop was flourishing, and just with Remus working in the shop full time, while James also worked as an Unspeakable and Sirius as an Auror, they were unable to fill the demand for the new species that Paws and Turtle developed. Thus, they had hired both students out of their seventh Hogwarts year.

"Harry, you're almost as meddling as Dumbledore," Remus told him in obvious amusement. "Are you going to reveal yourself to Marcus and Martin by the way?"

"Of course." Harry grinned, "if they swear me the necessary oath."

Needless to say that the two young wizards eagerly swore their oaths only to stare at him in bewilderment, when he pulled off his robes revealing his true form.

"Very eloquent as our former head of house would say." Harry chuckled. "You can deem yourselves lucky that you just entered the business on time to fill the last two spots on our seats for the Quidditch world cup, which is going to commence in three weeks' time. I hope you don't mind sitting with the Irish fans."

"World cup?" Martin mouthed, staring at the ticket in his hand in apparent disbelief.

"With the Irish fans?" Marcus quirked an eyebrow.

"Yes…" Harry grinned at his two former captains' bewildered expressions.

"Harry, you never cease to surprise," Marcus groaned. "Err, boss?"

Remus smirked. "Yes, Mr. Flint?"

"Will we be allowed to take holidays to watch the world cup?"

"After just three weeks of working here?" Remus smirked. "I think not. But you will need to take turns with us going on a business trip to the world cup site. You never know when one or the other team might suddenly need a replacement broom. We will ready ourselves to assist with that, although we naturally support the Irish team, considering that they are riding our brooms and that Unspeakable Paws is their Seeker."

"Paws what?" Marcus stared from Remus to Harry in apparent bewilderment.

"Very eloquent." Harry grinned.

"Let me get this right." Martin stared at him in obvious shock. "You are playing Seeker on the Irish National team?"

"Yes. Not Harry though. Unspeakable Paws is their Seeker. An important difference."

Martin and Marcus nodded in apparent understanding. "Congrats, Harry," they replied, simultaneously.

"Well, enough of that chit-chat." Sirius suddenly approached the group. "If you wish to partake in the business trips to the world cup site, you must intensely follow our training schedule, as you will need the necessary background knowledge and competence to efficiently assist. Did you, for example, know that Paws and Turtle Brooms is one of the main sponsors of the world cup?"

Harry grinned, as he left the shop to head to the Unspeakables' office to indulge in his own preparations.