Author's Note: This chapter is finally complete. Let me know if there are any errors while viewing it.


Chapter 12

Third Floor Corridor

Year 1 - Hogwarts Castle - Earth

As Malfoy struggled to keep Harry from taking the Rememberall out of his grasp, while also trying to maneuver his broomstick in such a way as to try and knock Potter off him, the broomstick in question suddenly began to descend below the treeline of the Forbidden Forest. The two rivals sped through the woods; dodging and ducking numerous obstacles along the way in their path, while also trying to knock each other off the broomstick.

Suddenly, as they were passing by a stand of trees on their right, Harry thought that he momentarily saw the flash of a red light, as well as heard what sounded like the mechanical and electrical noises of a droid of some kind.

**PEW! … PEW! PEW! … PEW! … PEW!**

Several red bolts of light instantly streaked past Draco's head without warning, and the blonde-haired little boy gasped in absolute shock and confusion, having no idea of what was going on. And as Harry glanced over his shoulder momentarily, he promptly caught a glimpse of an odd-looking probe droid racing towards the two boys in hot pursuit.

Pulling up on the broomstick, Malfoy went into an abrupt ninety-degree vertical climb out of the forest, hoping to get Potter off his broom, as well as put some distance between him and whatever it was that was behind him, but Harry grabbed onto the lower end of the broomstick in time, as he could sense what the blonde was about to do shortly before he did it. And upon making another almost immediate ninety-degree turn, followed-up with a quick barrel-roll, Draco flew back towards the castle with Harry still gripping onto the bottom end of the broom's handle rather tightly with both of his hands.

Upon them both coming up onto the grounds where the first-year Gryffindor and Slytherin students were all still standing and watching them, Harry promptly let go of Draco's broom with just one hand, while still gripping onto the lower end of the broomstick tightly with the other, and reached out with the Force: summoning his own broomstick to fly towards him. And right before Malfoy was just about to make another attempt to knock his rival off, Harry pushed off the broom with his hand and leapt into the air, before doing a forward somersault and landing on his own broom just as it streaked directly over Draco's head.

Harry then did a sharp one-hundred and eighty degree about-face on his broom, thus turning to confront his rival directly while also blocking Malfoy's path and causing the blonde to stop dead in mid-air, albeit with a very stunned expression on his face.

"Give the Rememberall here, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom!" Potter demanded sharply.

Draco merely grinned rather cruelly at him. "Is that so?" the blonde replied in a cocky tone of voice.

Shooting forward like a javelin, Harry bolted at his rival on his own broom with insane speed; narrowly missing Draco by an inch, who in turn just barely dodged out of the way in time. Potter then made another quick sharp turn around and held his broom steady with a firm grip.

"Have it your way, then," said Malfoy, and with a lightning fast maneuver of his broom, the blonde spun around and flung his arm out like a baseball pitcher: throwing the Rememberall clear across the castle grounds.

Harry immediately bolted after the small glass ball in a heartbeat: chasing the Rememberall as it soared through the air. But as he did so, a bright bolt of red light zipped past him, which was followed by what sounded like an explosion of some kind, as well as the unmistakable voice of Malfoy crying out in shock and surprise, while down below on the ground, all of the students were screaming in confusion and terror. And upon briefly glancing behind him, Harry saw that the probe droid was back and that it had shot Draco's broom; literally blowing it to pieces and sending Malfoy flying.

As the Rememberall continued spinning through the air towards one of the many towers, Potter immediately summoned Force Speed and caught up to the tiny glass ball only mere seconds before it was about to crash through a glass window: promptly snatching it right out of the air in a quick forward somersault-like maneuver, before immediately turning right around and racing back towards Malfoy with inhuman speed: instantly catching the little boy in mid-fall only a split-second or two before Draco would have made direct contact with the ground below.

**PEW! … PEW! PEW! PEW! … PEW! … PEW! PEW!**

Both the Gryffindor and Slytherin students all immediately ran screaming towards the safety of the castle as the probe droid continued to fire it's blaster in their general direction, while Harry dismounted his broom after releasing his grip on Malfoy, who in turn landed face-down on the grassy terrain with a soft thud.

**PEW! … PEW! … PEW! … PEW!**

Draco immediately got to his feet and ran screaming as the probe droid kept-up with it's continuous onslaught. Harry, meanwhile, had reached out with the Force and summoned all the other broomsticks towards him, before flinging them at the probe droid like blunt spears as the droid either dodged or simply blasted them to pieces one after another.

"HARRY POTTER!" came a sudden and familiar voice.

The little boy turned his head to see Professor McGonagall coming towards him from a distance. "Professor, please, stay back!" he shouted, while continuing to dodge the hailstorm of blaster fire.

**PEW! … PEW! … PEW! … PEW! … PEW! … PEW!**

As the blaster fire continued on, Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it directly at where he believed one of the droid's weak-points was located.

"Flipendo Tria!" the little boy yelled half-loudly.

Suddenly, the wind began to blow rather quite strong and hard as a cyclonic gust of air promptly emanated out from the tip of Potter's wand and motioned towards the probe droid, which in turn got itself caught-up in the path of the miniature twister's eye. And as the probe droid kept on spinning round and round within the tiny windstorm, it began firing random blaster shots in every direction, trying unsuccessfully to pinpoint the source of the phenomenon.

Thrusting his hand out in front of him, Harry used a powerful Force Push to send both the miniature twister and the probe droid out towards the lake area near the castle grounds. And as the cyclone slowly made contact with the lake-water, it began to siphon the dark liquid up into it's funnel, thus causing the probe droid to instantly malfunction and short-circuit it's internal sensors and components upon getting wet.

**BOOM!**

All of a sudden, the probe droid exploded into a million tiny fragments, while the miniature tornado seemingly dissipated before finally vanishing altogether.

Harry instantly turned around to see whether anyone was hurt or not, only to find McGonagall standing alone with a somewhat shocked and confused look on her face.

"Professor, are you alright?" the little boy asked.

McGonagall nodded her head in response after a brief moment. "Yes, Potter, I'm fine," she asserted quietly. "Now, please, follow me."

Potter let his head slump down to his shoulders almost at once; he was absolutely sure that the Professor had witnessed (at least partially) what had transpired between him and Malfoy while they were on their broomsticks, and he was certain that McGonagall was going to expel him for that.

As the Professor made her way back to the castle with Harry walking a bit numbly in her wake, up the front steps, up the marble staircase inside, marching swiftly through hallways and corridors throughout, while wrenching open doors in her path, she didn't say anything to him the whole time. Maybe she was taking him straight to Dumbledore.

Continuously walking through corridor after corridor, McGonagall finally stopped just outside a classroom door. She momentarily turned to face Harry. "Wait here, Potter," she firmly instructed him.

Harry nodded to the Professor obediently, but with still a nervous look about him.

Minerva then turned around and opened the door to the classroom; immediately poking her head inside.

"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment, please?" she asked the dwarfish Professor, who was in turn standing atop a very tall pile of books.

"Oh - Oh, yes, of course," replied the tiny Professor graciously.

Not a moment later, a tall burly fifth-year student walked casually out of Flitwick's class looking rather confused. McGonagall then led the two boys through the corridor and into an adjacent classroom, where Peeves was busy scribbling rude words on a blackboard.

"Out, Peeves! NOW!" the Professor barked sharply, thus causing both of the boys to jolt back slightly.

Peeves, appearing rather irked by Minerva's harsh command, threw the chalk into a nearby bin, which clanged loudly, and he swooped out of the room grumbling and cursing in a low whisper. And once he was into the corridor, the Professor promptly slammed the door shut behind him, before turning to face the two boys directly.

"Potter, this is Oliver Wood," said Minerva, and Harry nodded in greeting to him, who in turn nodded back, with the Professor then fixing her gaze on the fifth-year: her eyes bright with what seemed to be a twinge of excitement. "Wood - I've found you a Seeker."

The older boy's expression immediately changed from one of total puzzlement to overwhelming delight.

"Are you serious, Professor?" he asked with sheer anticipation that the answer which he was hoping for was most certainly going to be "yes."

"Absolutely, Wood," said McGonagall crisply. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it before in all my years." She then looked down at Harry. "Tell me, was that you're first time on a broomstick, Potter?"

Harry nodded at once, silently. He pretended to not have the slightest clue as to what was going on, even though he'd learned all about what a Seeker was from Sirius while at the Jedi Temple, as well as hearing about it constantly from the other first-year students who came from wizarding families. And he was most relieved to discover that it appeared he wasn't going to get expelled from Hogwarts after all. Because, if he had gotten expelled from school, it would have most certainly been a rather devastating blow for his godfather to learn that he'd been kicked out.

Professor McGonagall then told Wood all about what she had just witnessed a moment ago; of seeing the little boy flying directly towards her window and subsequently catching the Rememberall with one hand in mid-air before coming to an abrupt halt while in flight.

Upon hearing what Minerva had told him just now about Harry's remarkable flying skills, Wood suddenly looked as though all his dreams had come true at once.

"You ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" he asked the little boy excitedly.

Harry immediately shook his head, even though he'd heard all about the sport from practically every one of the first-year students (excluding many of the half-bloods and all of the Muggle-borns) at the school.

"Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall explained.

The older boy began to walk around Harry, looking him over from head to foot. "He's just the right build for a Seeker, too," Wood stated. "Light - speedy - we'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor - a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."

"I'll speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first year rule," replied McGonagall. "Heaven knows, we need a much better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks…"

That evening, while everyone was eating dinner in the Great Hall, Potter told his closest friends (Ron, Parvati, and Neville) all about what had transpired between him, the fifth-year student, Oliver Wood, and Professor McGonagall. He'd hoped to speak directly with Dumbledore about the incident concerning the probe droid, or at the very least, hoped that Minerva would mention it to the Headmaster as soon as possible, but the little boy unfortunately never got the chance to say anything to the Head of Gryffindor House, as she had immediately turned on her heal and hurried at once out the door of the empty classroom, right after her conversation had ended with the two boys.

"You're joking," exclaimed Ron, who had a piece of steak and kidney pie halfway up to his mouth, but had decidedly lowered his fork back onto his plate the moment he'd heard what Harry had told him. "Seeker? Are you serious?"

Harry nodded abruptly in response to his friend's question, given that his mouth was full of food.

Neville leaned in closer towards them. "But, Harry, you ought to know that first-years never make the House team."

"You must be the youngest Quidditch player in a century," Parvati added.

"According to McGonagall," Harry immediately noted after swallowing the food in his mouth.

"So when does training for the Quidditch team start?" asked Neville eagerly.

"Next week," answered Harry. "Only, promise not to tell anyone. Wood wants to keep it a secret."

Ron immediately scoffed. "Fat chance of that being kept a secret for very long, Harry," he remarked half-snobbishly. "I mean, you can count on me not to spill the beans. But if I know Fred and George, they've already-"

Just at that very moment, the redhead's two older twin siblings came into the hall, who instantly hurried over the minute they spotted Harry sitting with their little brother, as well as Neville, and Parvati.

"Well done, Harry," said George in a low voice. "Wood's just told us. We're on the team, too - Beaters."

"Our job is to make sure you don't get bloodied up too bad," added Fred. "Can't make any promises, of course. Rough game, Quidditch is."

Harry promptly cocked his head slightly at the older Weasley's last part of his comment, as it closely mimicked Master Yoda's peculiar form of speech.

"Brutal. But no one's died in years," George immediately chimed in again. "Someone will vanish on occasion, but they'll inevitably turn up within a month or two."

"Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school," Fred claimed with anticipation.

"I'll bet it's that same one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week," George surmised at once. "See ya."

As the Weasley twins both hurried out of the Great Hall and disappeared, Harry promptly let both his head and eyes fall ever so slightly with dread upon hearing what the older boys had just now told him.

"Oh, go on, Harry," said Ron, who immediately noticed his friend's downbeat expression and tried to cheer him up. "Quidditch is great. Best game there is-"

"But I've never even played Quidditch, Ron," Harry interrupted. "What if I make a fool of myself? Especially in front of Malfoy?"

"Harry, I told you before, you won't make a fool of yourself," the redhead insisted. "Look at what you did just this afternoon. You'll be great, I promise."

Potter, unfortunately, didn't feel any amount of encouragement from his friend's supposedly uplifting statement. And after the students had all returned to their Common Rooms for the night, instead of going straight off to bed, Harry stayed up for awhile; sitting with his knees bent almost all the way up to his chest, as he was partially huddled-up in the windowsill of the boy's dormitory, with Hedwig quietly perched nearby.

A few days later, Wood had approached Harry and asked him to come down to the Quidditch pitch that was situated on the school grounds at around three-fifteen that afternoon. When the young Padawan Learner had arrived at the entrance to the gigantic stadium, the wooden double-doors to the field opened wide to reveal the fifth-year student, just beyond the opposite end of a long archway, who in turn was patiently waiting for the little boy to show up.

Upon reaching the other end of the archway, Wood then gestured towards a large wooden chest that was on the ground near to where he was standing, and together the two boys picked up the crate; steadily carrying it across the green toward the pitch's exact center. Once they reached the middle circle and slowly placed the chest down on the ground, Oliver turned to face Harry.

"Right," said Wood. "Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play." He then began to explain to Harry all the ins and outs of how the game was played; what types of players there were per team, what kinds of balls there were in the game and what each type was for, how to score points, how to win the game, etc. "You with me so far?" he asked Potter after running through what was essentially a crash course with him.

Harry instantly nodded understandably in reply to the fifth-year's question.

Over the next several hours, Wood and Potter both practiced their respective rolls (as Keeper and Seeker) for the upcoming game that was set to take place only but one month away in November.

As the sun began to set down towards the horizon, both Harry and Oliver casually strode back to the castle, with the fifth-year student looking rather exhilarated and even a bit zealous after having just witnessed for himself what potential the little boy strolling along beside him had, as well as what the young Jedi Padawan was capable of doing, while on a broomstick.

"That Quidditch Cup'll have our name on it this year for sure," Wood exclaimed happily. "I wouldn't be surprised at all if you turn out better than Charlie Weasley, and he could have played for England had he not gone off chasing dragons."

Perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with Quidditch practice three evenings a week on top of all his homework that he had been assigned, but Harry could hardly believe it when he realized that he'd already been at Hogwarts for approximately two whole months now. And even though it was becoming colder and colder outside on the school grounds practically with each passing day, the castle itself was relatively warm and cozy inside. Plus, the school felt just as much like home to the young Padawan Learner as the Jedi Temple itself had back on Coruscant, although with the amount of studying Potter had to do for his classes, he found it harder to have time (let alone make time, for that matter) to further his Jedi training.

On one fateful evening merely a day or so before Halloween, while Harry, Ron, Neville, and Parvati were all quietly walking back towards the Gryffindor Common Room after having finished with their classes, the four friends quite unexpectedly bumped into Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle along one of the staircases.

"Well, well," said Draco rather bitterly, "I should have expected that I'd run into you, Potter. What's this I hear about you being on the Gryffindor Quidditch team this year?"

"That's right, I am on the Quidditch team for Gryffindor," replied Harry, seeming a bit irritated with Draco's particularly sour tone of voice. "Though, it's really no concern of yours, given that you yourself are not on the Slytherin's team yet."

Draco's face immediately turned red and he balled-up his fist in rage, when all of a sudden the staircase began to move, and all seven children had to grab ahold of the railing to prevent any one of them from falling off; thus effectively sending them tumbling down to the lower floors to their death. A moment later, though, the staircase immediately stopped at an upper floor from where it had just been positioned at a moment earlier.

"What just happened?" asked Goyle in confusion.

"The staircase changed it's position," Harry answered, before looking down at Ron who was standing a few steps behind him. "Remember, Percy said that the staircases like to change from time to time when he first lead us to the Gryffindor Common Room."

Ron immediately nodded in reply. "Let's go up this way," he suggested, pointing towards the upper floor that was now directly ahead of them, "before the staircase moves again."

The children immediately climbed up the remaining stairs to an archway that lead directly to a wooden door. Harry grabbed hold of the handle before slowly pushing it open, just enough to briefly peer inside, and then softly planted one foot through the doorway to take an even closer look at what was on the opposite end; it was merely a rather long and narrow corridor that extended out for quite a bit on either side of the door, which thankfully appeared to be empty.

"Come on, in here," said Harry quietly, gesturing with a nod to the others to follow him into the deserted passageway.

Ron, Neville, and Parvati had all barely made it through the doorway into the long hall, when all of a sudden-

**SLAM!**

The door instantly shut closed behind them with a very loud rattling noise. Harry was about to go for the handle, as he could faintly make out the hysterical laughter of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle just on the other side, when a very familiar (and very unwelcome) voice range-out from a great distance away clear on the far end of the long corridor.

"Who's there!?" it called sharply. "Who is it!? I know you're in here!"

It was non-other than Argus Filch, who was grimy patrolling the school corridors, as he'd always done each and every night.

"Psst! This way!" whispered Harry, and the four of them quickly (but very quietly) made their way down the opposite end of the hall, away from Filch's voice, until they came to another large wooden doorway.

Ron instantly reached for the handle the moment he heard Filch's voice steadily coming ever closer. "Oh, no! It's locked!" he exclaimed in a panicked tone. "That's it. We're done for."

"I've got this," Harry stated, and upon reaching out with the Force, he waved his hand slightly, thereby unlocking the door.

"Where are you?" called Filch, who must have heard the latch unbolt on the door. "You'll be out of this school the moment I find you!"

"Quick! Get inside! Hurry!" whispered Harry just as he opened the door up as slowly and as quietly as he could.

All four children immediately slipped through the cracked doorway, which was slightly more than wide enough for them all to get through, before Potter then shut the door tightly behind him again.

"Ah, Harry!" Ron suddenly whimpered slightly in a barely audible tone of voice. "I think I know why Dumbledore said no one is allowed on the third floor!"

The young Padawan Learner immediately turned around to see what it was that had gotten his friend in such a distressed state. He then noticed that both Neville and Parvati were shaking a bit uncontrollably, as well. And upon glancing past the three others in the room, Potter suddenly realized as well as understood why they were completely scared out of their minds; because lying on the floor, just a few feet away from them, was a monstrously gigantic dog with three enormous heads. And although it luckily appeared to be sleeping soundly, it most certainly wouldn't stay that way for much longer.