The next day, not much came out of the incident with the troll with all sorts of rumors being started about how the troll entered Hogwarts. During class, all the professors brushed aside any questions they were asked which only fueled the rumor mill further. The curiosity around the troll carried on for a whole week, just in time for my first ever Quidditch game.

The morning of the game I woke up early just as usual, feeling absolutely giddy. I exercised longer than I did normally to calm myself down, but I was still very animated when I met up with Hermione and Neville for breakfast. They were taken aback by my demeanor, as I was generally, a very calm and collected person. I annoyed Hermione incessantly, throughout the meal as I couldn't get my right leg to stop shaking from excited anticipation. Before Hermione resorted to violence, I excused myself to walk around Hogwarts.

About 15 minutes before the game, I met up with my teammates with my new Nimbus 2000. I had one of the elves buy it for me when I got selected for the team. My teammates didn't know about it, as I used my Nimbus 1000 during our practises. It was a pleasant surprise for them, to see me walk in with the well-known broom.

"Nervous?" Oliver asked, when we were all lined up in front the gates that would lead us to the pitch.

"Excited, actually, I can't wait to start playing" I answered energetically.

He laughed off my eagerness and told me to make sure it didn't cause any slip-ups during the actual game. I waved off his worries just as the gates opened up to lets us onto the field. We mounted our brooms and flew out to meet the Slytherin team in the middle of the pitch.

As we waited for Madam Hooch to start the game, I activated the spell I had been working on for the past couple of weeks. It was a wandless spell I had developed based on games I played in my old life that involved magic. In many of them, there was always a spell that acted as a sort of radar system for the character to detect any danger coming. I had come to call it the "Magic Perception" spell.

It was designed to emit my magic outward so I essentially had an invisible membrane of magic surrounding me. And when anything entered the membrane, I would instantly be aware of it. Essentially, I had the ability to see 360 degrees around me, up to a distance of 5m. It did take a lot of my magic to activate so it was useless in an actual duel but for Quidditch, it was the perfect spell to use. No matter if it was a Bludger or another player, nothing would be able to blindside me.

As soon as Hooch blew the whistle to start the game, I took off, joining the attacking formation we discussed beforehand.

"What is this? - Harry Potter is playing a floating Seeker! An unusual strategy from Gryffindor… quite a gamble to take with a rookie Seeker" commented Lee Jordan, the announcer for the game.

As he commented on my inexperience, Katie Bell had gotten the Quaffle and was racing for the Slytherin goal post. Angeline Johnson and Alicia Spinnet were on her left and right flank, respectively, while I had taken position right behind Katie. The three girls were weaving in and out of each other passing the Quaffle between themselves.

Just as the Slytherin defense had begun to tighten around our formation, Angelina broke through with a burst of speed towards the goal post. Katie had the Quaffle at this point so they didn't bother with Angelina and let her through. A mistake on their part as when they closed in further, Katie took the time to toss the Quaffle up and behind her. Just as the it came close to me, I made a sharp turn to use the back end of my broom to hit it past my team and the Slytherin defense, straight to a waiting Angelina. The Slytherin Keeper was caught in a 1-on-1 situation, allowing Angelina to easily get a goal.

"Gryffindor scores! What an amazing play by Gryffindor, that was some superb teamwork. And with that goal, Gryffindor takes the lead 10-0!" yelled out Lee Jordan.

We continued attacking Slytherin with our unique play style resulting in us taking a decisive lead of 70-20. They did try to stop me from joining the attack formations with Bludgers repeatedly hit my way but I was always able to dodge them every time, even ones coming from behind me.

Meanwhile the Slytherin Seeker was left floating on the outskirts of the game as he waited to spot the Snitch. A couple of times, he flew after me when he thought I was making a play for the snitch. But each time he was left a spectator, as I used my broom to guide the incoming Quaffle in the direction I wanted. I would give him a small smirk every time he fell for it.

That was the trickiest part about playing a team with a floating Seeker. The opposing team's Seeker never knew when a play for the Snitch was being made or it was just another play for the Quaffle.

It was a gamble for the team with Floating Seeker, as well. There was a chance the Seeker would miss the Snitch when they were busy executing one of the attacking plays, allowing the team's Seeker more time to catch the Snitch. But I had a lot of confidence in my abilities and so did Oliver.

Just as we scored our eighth goal, I felt some resistance from my broom. I instantly knew Quirrell had started his attempt at cursing my broom. I, immediately, called out a predetermined signal we had agreed on as a team. It was so the rest of the attackers knew I was leaving the formation.

As soon as I removed myself from the formation, my broom started resisting me more and more. I was going to start panicking when I felt my wand vibrate. It was hidden in it's wand holder under my right sleeve but it still was able to act in my time of need.

Because my magic membrane was still activated, I was able to get a good sense of what my wand did but I was still left stunned. My wand had absorbed the curse…my wand, essentially ate a curse. If it was understated how confounded I was about my wand, believe you me, I was now completely astonished. The power and abilities of my wand were like nothing else. Even the fabled Elder Wand was not this powerful.

Realizing where I was, I quickly collected myself. I did risk looking towards Quirrell's direction and caught him looking at Snape, perplexed. He must have assumed that Snape had somehow stopped his curse. Phew, at least I won't have to worry about Voldemort thinking twice about how powerful I might actually be. That was a lucky break.

Just as I got myself back in the game, I spotted the Snitch behind Slytherin goal post. I flew after it in a burst of speed. It took a few seconds for the Slytherin Seeker to realize I was chasing the Snitch and not going for the Quaffle that was in play. Those few seconds were enough to create a wide gap between him and I.

The route we took after the Snitch was the same as canon but the execution was completely different. I was flying circles around him, making sure to keep ahead of him as we chased after the Snitch.

When it dove straight down toward the ground, we followed. I adjusted my position on the broom so I was lying on it, just as I did when I saved Hermione from her fall at the beginning of the year. The change in position reduced the air resistance affecting me, allowing for the gap between the other Seeker and I to widen further.

I was able to grab onto the Snitch with just about 20m left before I hit the ground. As soon as I got it in my hands, I pulled up hard on my broom to level myself off. And just as I did, I heard the announcer.

"Harry Potter has caught the Snitch! Gryffindor wins! They take the first match of the year with a commanding 230-20 win over the reigning champions." Jordon yelled out.

The entire Gryffindor dorm was in a jubilant mood after the game. We stayed in the common room till late, celebrating the win. Oliver and myself had been singled out during the party, courtesy of the Weasley twins. Oliver for the smart attack strategies and formations he had come up with, and myself, for the best rookie performance ever seen in Gryffindor.

After the first Quidditch game, things had calmed down quite a bit. Between classes, Quidditch matches/practises and my personal adventures during the weekends, time passed by in a blink. It was soon time for students to go back home, for the winter holidays.

As much I had come to love Hogwarts, I had missed the complete freedom I had at Potter Manor. To be able to do anything I wanted, without worrying about other people seeing me. I almost never used to use my wand for basic spells, being as proficient as I was in wandless magic. So, it was a habit I had to force my self out of when I first got to Hogwarts.

Before we left for the train, I told Tipsy to be ready for me when I got to the Hogwarts platform at London. I didn't know if Dumbledore would have someone waiting at the platform, to keep an eye out for whoever came to pick me up. To keep him guessing, I decided to have Tipsy take me away from the compartment rather than getting off the train. And as soon as we landed in Potter Manor, I felt completely at ease. Voldemort's presence at Hogwarts was a constant pressure on me, so I never felt relaxed at any point.

I was feeling so carefree now, I had Sebas fetch me some newspapers from the normal world. I never usually kept up with the current events of the normal world as I was always preoccupied with the wizarding world and learning more about it.

I wasn't interested in reading about a world I had already known and lived through. Previously, when I had the elves bring me books to learn from, they were on Math, Physics, Chemistry... Books that would ensure my basic education level would not fall behind of my age. I ignored books that were focused on world histories or geographies.

When Sebas came back and handed me the papers, I came to regret my decision to ignore the normal world. The front page of one of the papers read:

"Howard and Maria Stark Die in Car Accident. Leaving Son, Tony Stark as Richest Teenager in History."