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Chapter 14

First Quidditch Match

Year 1 - Quidditch Pitch/Hogwarts Castle - Earth

As the school-year entered into it's first week of November, the weather turned ice-cold. The mountains around the castle became a light snowy gray and the lake turned a chilled steel. Every morning, the ground was covered in frost. Hagrid could be seen from the upstairs window defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch field, bundled up in a long mole-skin overcoat, rabbit fur cloves, and enormous beaverskin boots.

Harry had decided, while he was on break one chilly afternoon (accompanied by his friends), to go straight over to the half-giant's hut and tell him all about their encounter with the three-headed dog. And upon doing so, Hagrid suddenly dropped the teapot that he was holding after hearing this startling revelation. Luckily though, Harry swiftly used the Force to keep the teapot from clanging onto the wooden floor; thus preventing it's contents from spilling out everywhere.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" asked Hagrid, seemingly looking taken aback by the news.

"Fluffy?" repeated Harry with a hint of curiously.

"That thing has a name?" Parvati asked in utter surprise.

"Yeah - he's mine - bought him off a Greek chap I met in the pub las' year - I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-" Hagrid suddenly trailed off before finishing his sentence.

"Yes?" asked Harry most eagerly. "Guard the what?"

Hagrid immediately shook his head. "I shouldn't have said that," he voiced after cursing himself for being so careless. "No more questions. Don't ask me anymore, the lot of ya. Besides, just what in the name of Merlin's Beard were you four all doing in the third floor corridor anyways? You kids know that's forbidden, that is!"

Potter immediately explained to Hagrid the reason for how and why both he and the others had ended up in the third-floor corridor; that Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had shut the door on them. But that also, before anyone of them could make a move for the handle to try and open the door, Filch was suddenly heard coming towards them from a long distance off, which in turn sent them all bolting down the corridor and into the secret chamber where they encountered Fluffy.

"You four are lucky you're not dead," said Hagrid with a much relieved yet stern tone of voice. "No more going up there. Any of you."

Before the half-giant could say anything else, Harry pleaded with him to allow them go up there again at some point, as the little boy had successfully been able to mentally connect with Fluffy, and it was relatively safe to be there with the three-headed dog, hence thereafter. He also told Hagrid that he'd promised to come around to see the dog again and bring him something to eat since Fluffy seemed a bit hungry, adding that if Hagrid himself were right there with him, it'd be even safer.

The half-giant promptly let out a rather heavy sigh. "All right! I'll speak to the Headmaster about it," he conceded at last. "Though, I'm pretty sure he won't allow it, Harry."

"Thanks, Hagrid," said Harry gratefully. "But also, I wanted to check and see whether or not there's really a trap door in there as well - which I'm fairly certain of - or if my eyes were merely playing tricks on me that night while Neville, Parvati, Ron, and I were all in there."

"I'm pretty sure that there is, Harry," Ron remarked to his friend. "There has to be. I mean, why else would a three-headed dog be kept locked-up in an empty chamber on the third-floor of the castle if there simply wasn't anything of importance that needed to be guarded like that?"

Hagrid immediately turned to face the children directly. "Now you listen to me, all four of you," he demanded rather sharply, while giving each of them a seriously stern look. "You're meddling in things that ought not to be meddled in. It's very dangerous. What that dog is guarding is strictly between Professor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel."

"Nicholas Flamel?" Harry repeated the name in confusion.

"Who's Nicholas Flamel?" asked Neville curiously.

Hagrid instantly looked furious with himself. "I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that," he angrily chided to himself in low grumble.

The Quidditch season had finally begun. On the coming Saturday, Harry would be playing in his first-ever match after weeks of training: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. And if Gryffindor won the match, of which Potter dearly hoped that they did (provided that he catch the Golden Snitch before the Slytherin team Seeker did), then their House would move up into second place in the House Championship.

Ron had been right about Fred and George. Because as it turned out, the twins would sometimes be heard talking about Harry being a Seeker for the Gryffindor team by anyone within earshot of their conversions, and would occasionally stop to answer whatever questions the students might ask them regarding it. Soon, the whole school knew that Potter was the team Seeker, even though Oliver Wood had very much hoped to keep their "secret weapon" a, well, secret. But unfortunately for the Quidditch team captain, that was not to be.

During the last-minute Quidditch practice which Harry had to do on top of all his after-class homework, Ron, Neville, and Parvati had each offered to help with checking his answers to make sure that he'd gotten them right, which luckily, he did. But even though he was very grateful that they offered to help, the little boy knew that doing so would essentially double (or perhaps even triple) their own workloads, and Potter didn't wish to burden them anymore than they most likely already were with even more homework.

While the four students sat together one afternoon around a study table inside the school library, Harry quietly got up from his seat to go find and ask Madam Irma Pince (who was the Hogwarts head librarian) if there were any books pertaining to Quidditch in the library that she knew of, since it was getting ever closer to the scheduled date of the very first game to commence between the Houses of Gryffindor and Slytherin.

"Hmm. I might have just the book for you," said Madame Pince bluntly. "Wait here a moment, and I'll go see if it's still on the shelves where I left it."

The little boy nodded his head respectfully in reply, and the school librarian then turned on the spot and quietly strode through the many rows of book shelves (continuously shifting her gaze back and forth while passing by the shelves on either side of her), before stopping and motioning directly to her right; walking down a rather lengthy and narrow path in-between two massive book shelves, until finally managing to locate the exact book that she was searching for.

"Ah, here we are," Pince expressed upon her return to the location where Harry continued to stand patiently waiting. "This book should be particularly helpful to you, Mr. Potter."

Harry politely excepted the book from her and carefully read the printed title on the cover:

"Quidditch Through the Ages - by Kennilworthy Whisp."

The young Padawan Learner immediately looked up at Madame Pince and smiled with upmost delight. "Thank you!" he exclaimed softly. "This will really come in handy."

Pince smiled down at him in return. "I thought you might find it so." She then gave Harry a stern look. "Now, do take care to be very gentle with it, Mr. Potter. I simply will not have any of the students being careless with and ruining my books. Is that clear?"

Potter respectfully nodded his head at once in response, noting just how serious her tone of voice was.

As the librarian then turned and walked off, Harry returned to his seat at the study table with his friends; immediately (and carefully) flipping open the book to chapter one, which began on page three, and started reading it. Two hours later, after having read through several chapters, he gently closed the book and placed it inside his bag, as it was roughly five minutes or so before the next set of classes.

Madame Pince had been right, though; the book in question had most definitely been a very interesting read at that, and Harry had learned that there were approximately seven-hundred different ways to commit a foul in Quidditch, and that each and every one of them had in fact happened during a World Cup match in the year 1473. He also discovered, while reading the book, that the Seekers were usually the smallest and fastest players within the sport, and that most serious Quidditch accidents seemed to happen to them, which in turn made the little boy feel a bit uneasy to say the least.

On the day before the first Quidditch match, Harry, Ron, Neville, and Parvati all went out into the freezing cold of the school courtyard during break; with Parvati conjuring up a spell that produced a bright blue flame which she had learned about while doing her after-class Charms homework. She in turn used it to light a big pile of twigs, sticks, and other assorted kindling that the four students had gathered from around the castle grounds in order to keep themselves warm, though not before Harry had used the Force to gather up several large stones and rocks, and positioned them into a campfire-like formation.

While the four friends sat around the makeshift fire-pit on a couple of benches that Harry had positioned on opposite sides of the pit by using the Force, getting warm, Professor Snape for some reason had the presence of mind to cross the yard, thus interrupting their quiet time. Harry couldn't help but notice at once that he was limping.

"What's that you've got there, Potter?" the Professor inquired rather snarkily, glancing at the book which Harry was currently reading.

It was Quidditch Through the Ages. Harry gently closed the hardbound copy and showed it to him.

"Library books are not to be taken outside of the school," said Snape. "Give it to me now. Five points from Gryffindor." He turned to leave once the book was firmly in his grasp. "Oh. And another ten points will be taken from Gryffindor for starting a fire in the courtyard, as well. They are not allowed on the castle grounds." Snape immediately took out his wand, and if a swift wave of it, the blue flames promptly dissipated, leaving only a few charred remnants of kindling behind. He then limped away as the four students scowled at him behind his back for being so unbelievably rude.

"He just made those rules up," muttered Neville angrily as they all sourly watched Snape leave, with the little boy promptly noticing a small blood-trail that was being left in the wake of the Potions master's heavy shuffling. Though, he might actually have been all too right about that, because Snape's lips almost immediately curled-up somewhat into a rather callous smile without anyone so much as noticing it while limping away in pain.

"I wonder what's wrong with his leg?" Harry queried as he starred curiously at the Professor's right leg.

"Dunno," said Parvati with a shrug, as she wasn't really at all interested to find out.

"Well, I for one hope that it's REALLY hurting him," added Ron quite rather bitterly.

The Common Room in the Gryffindor Tower was very noisy that evening. Harry, Ron, Neville, and Parvati all sat together beside a window doing their homework, though Harry himself felt quite restless. He desperately wanted Quidditch Through the Ages back in order to completely take his mind off his nerves about the upcoming match tomorrow, as he wasn't quite (yet just a tiny bit more than halfway) finished reading it.

Finally deciding to get up after several tense minutes, Harry told his friends that he was going to find Snape and ask the Professor for his book back.

"Are you mad, Harry?" declared Ron in disbelief. "The only thing Snape will give you is detention simply for trying to ask him to let you have that book."

Ignoring the redhead's comment, the young Padawan Learner made his way down to the staffroom and knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He knocked on the door a second time, then a third, and was just about to knock on the door one last time, when he heard a very sharp and very loud voice coming from the other side of the closed door.

"GO AWAY! WHOEVER IT IS, GET OUT! NOW" came the very irate and quite rather angrily sounding voice of Professor Snape. "I'M WARNING YOU! OUT! OUT! OR IT'LL BE FIFTY POINTS FROM YOUR HOUSE, AS WELL AS DETENTION FOR A WEEK! NOW OUT"

Completely scoffing at the very notion that Professor Snape claimed that he could just randomly take away House points without even knowing who it was behind the door, let alone not knowing of what House they were in (or whether it was even a student or not), Harry turned and went back up the stairs. As he was nearing the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower, however, a thought suddenly occurred to him: 'Snape's office - down in the dungeons.'

Without even so much as thinking of what he was doing, Harry turned and leapt over the banister of the Grand Staircase; seemingly free-falling through the air down towards the ground floor (which was coming up fast), as the little boy quickly dodged, somersaulted, and flipped either off or out of the way of the lower staircase banisters as the stairs themselves proceeded to randomly change positions. At the very last second, Potter used the Force to break his fall in order to keep himself from becoming one gigantic red stain on the castle's stone flooring, before softly landing on his feet.

Meanwhile, back in the Common Room of the Gryffindor Tower, as all of the students (excluding Ron, Neville, and Parvati) quietly made their way up to the dormitories for the night, Harry all of a sudden came through the portrait entrance of the Fat Lady, looking mightily out of breath.

"There you are," said Neville; his voice sounding relieved that Potter had made it back to the Common Room just as it was getting to curfew.

"Did you get it?" Ron asked as Harry collapsed onto the sofa next to him. "What's wrong?"

After the Padawan Learner took a few drawn-out moments to catch his breath, Potter then told his friends what had happened.

~~ FLASHBACK ~~

As the little boy made his way down into the dungeons, he kept all of his senses (primarily his eyes and ears) on high alert, just in case someone happened to be approaching his current location from either direction. Upon walking towards the door, which Potter guessed was the entrance into Snape's office, the young Padawan Learner glanced behind his shoulder momentarily to be certain that no one was coming. He then waved his hand slightly, and the door's locking mechanism unbolted with a gentle click, before slowly opening the door up and quietly stepping into the rather gloomy and dimly-lit chamber beyond; immediately closing and re-locking the door behind him.

Not seeing the book anywhere out in the open within his line of sight, Harry steadily moved about the room while using the Force to try and help him locate the book as quickly as possible. All of a sudden, Potter heard the faint but very distinct sound of rather lengthy footsteps approaching, and the little boy guessed that was most likely Snape himself, slowly hobbling ever closer and closer in his direction.

Seconds later, the lock on the office door slowly clicked and the heavy wooden door gradually swung open with a set of loud creaking and clanging noises.

"I know you're in here!" declared Snape sharply, while steadily limping into the room. "Come out where I can see you!"

A very faint blur of something or someone abruptly shot past the Professor; effectively knocking him completely off his feet and sending the greasy-haired Potions master tumbling head-over-heels onto the cold, hard stone floor of the castle dungeons.

**CRACK!**

"POTTER‼" roared Snape loudly in both fiery rage and agonizing pain: the exact instant his face (and more importantly, his nose) came into direct contact with the ground, as he was more than certain that Harry was undoubtedly the one whom he suspected of breaking into his private office.

Harry didn't bother to look behind him to see whether or not Snape was following, and he had just barely heard the Potions master scream his name in what sounded like an absolutely livid tone of voice, as the young Padawan Learner was almost all the way out of the dungeons. Then finally, after doing an insane Force Jump towards the Gryffindor Tower: once again dodging, somersaulting, and flipping off the banisters of the moving stairs, Harry successfully managed to land on the seventh floor of the castle, squarely on his feet, before making his way (rather breathlessly) up to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

~~ FLASHBACK ENDS ~~

"Blimey!" exclaimed Ron in low whisper, so as not to draw any unwanted attention from the other students. "Are you absolutely sure?"

Harry nodded solemnly in response with total conviction as to what he had seen, even if it was merely just a split-second glance. "Positive. I saw the condition that his leg was in the moment I rushed by him. It looked to be in pretty bad shape, too." Suddenly, a rather alarming thought instantly crept into his mind. "You know what this means, don't you? He tried to get past Fluffy at Halloween! That's where he was headed off to when we all saw him - he's after whatever it is that Fluffy is guarding!"

"You may be right, Harry!" Ron agreed straightaway. "And I'll bet you he was the one who let that troll into Hogwarts, as well, so as to distract everyone!"

"I'm sold," voiced Neville quite rather amiably.

Parvati, however, wasn't as so easily quick to be convinced as the boys were of this matter. "Now, hang on!" she protested almost immediately. "We don't even know if Snape was going up to the third floor corridor or not that night. We don't have any proof. Besides, he wouldn't dare try and steal anything that Dumbledore himself was keeping safe and locked away inside the castle."

Ron looked at her. "That greasy-haired git has a very noticeable limp on his right leg," he immediately pointed out.

"And don't forget the blood-trail that he was leaving behind in the snow outside in the courtyard," added Neville.

"Plus, I noticed what looked to be something of a sizable bite-mark on Snape's leg as I was passing by him, too," stated Harry.

Ron looked directly at Parvati with an absolute sense of conviction. "Face it, Parvati. That greasy-haired Potions git is trying to steal something that's been placed under heavy guard inside Hogwarts - something that must be extremely important or extremely valuable… or both, even. Seriously, what more proof do we need?"

Harry went to bed that night with his mind still reeling with the same unanswered questions over and over again: 'Just what was it exactly that Fluffy was so ferociously guarding within (or more specifically - beneath) the chamber on the third floor corridor? And why was Professor Snape apparently after… whatever it was?'

A few feet away, Neville was snoring rather loudly, yet Potter couldn't sleep. The young Padawan immediately sat upright in bed, and positioned himself so that his legs were crossed, before closing his eyes and concentrating on clearing his mind of any and all thoughts and/or distractions as Master Yoda had taught him. And after just a few minutes of deep meditation, Harry was at last sound asleep underneath the covers in his bed.

The next morning saw the atmosphere outside turned very bright and very cold. Harry awoke to the delicious smell of fried sausages wafting throughout the castle. And yet, despite this, he didn't feel all that particularly hungry when heading down to the Great Hall, accompanied by Ron, Neville, Parvati, as well as the wrest of the Gryffindor students; all of whom were chattering in anxious excitement over the upcoming Quidditch match.

"You've got to eat something, Harry," said Ron, after several minutes of the four friends sitting down together at their table, with Harry not even bothering to get himself any food from the dishes at the center of the table to eat, as the little boy was once again concerned with the Quidditch match that was roughly just over an hour away.

"I'm not hungry, Ron," muttered Harry in a somber tone.

"Harry, you need your strength today," remarked Seamus, looking over at Potter. "Seekers are always the ones who get clobbered by the other team."

"Thanks, Seamus," said Potter, now feeling even worse than he had a moment ago, while watching Seamus pile ketchup onto his sausages.

A few moments later, the four friends heard a very familiar sound and they all turned their heads just as Hedwig flew into the Great Hall carrying a long thin package in her talons, and as she released her grip on the large parcel, Potter immediately stood-up from where he was seated: catching the package as it fell, before immediately sitting back down at the table. Upon examining the odd-shaped bundle, the Padawan noticed a letter that was attached to it. He gently removed it from the wrapping, careful not to tear or rip open the package, as he sensed that the letter was somehow a bit more important than the parcel itself.

Tearing open the letter almost at once, Harry softly read it aloud so that only Ron, Neville, and Parvati could hear what he was saying as he read it:

'DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE.'

'It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand broomstick. But I don't want everybody knowing about it until the start of the Quidditch match today. Best you wait until it's time for you to get ready for the match, Potter. Oliver Wood will meet-up with you and your new teammates outside the stadium at eleven o'clock sharp. Be ready by then, and make sure to wear a scarf, too. It's going to get awfully cold out on the field.'

'Professor M. McGonagall.'

"Oh, man! Come on! You've gotta be kidding me!" Ron moaned rather enviously after Harry finished reading the letter. "A Nimbus Two Thousand?! I've never even touched one!"

By eleven o'clock, the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Many students had binoculars, because even though the seats might have been raised up high into the air, it was still difficult to see what was going on sometimes. Ron, Neville, and Parvati all joined Seamus and Dean Thomas the West Ham fan up in the top row.

Harry, Ron, Neville, and Parvati had all immediately left the Great Hall after finishing their breakfasts just under two hours prior, and went straight up to the Common Room to unwrap Harry's new broomstick while they still had enough time to do so, before Potter needed to get himself ready for the match.

"Wow!" exclaimed Ron, as they removed the paper from under the broom after tearing it open; immediately tossing it aside and placing the broom on the sofa in front of them.

Even Harry, who knew only so much about the different types of broomsticks (thanks in part to Sirius) thought it looked wonderful. Neville and Parvati both gaped in complete awe and wonder at the mere sight of it, as well. Sleek and shiny, with a mahogany handle, it had a long tail of neat straight twigs, and Nimbus Two Thousand written in gold near the top.

As each of the team players were changing into their scarlet Quidditch robes (Slytherin team was playing in green), and putting on their protective gear, Wood suddenly cleared his throat for everyone to be silent.

"Alright, men," he declared sharply.

"And women, Wood," the Gryffindor Chaser, Angelina Johnson, chimed in.

"Yes, and women. Thank you, Johnson," Wood agreed. "This is it. This is the best Quidditch team that Gryffindor has had in years. We're going to win. I just know it."

The Gryffindor team captain glanced around at everyone present before nodding his head.

"Right. It's time. Good luck, all of you."

Upon trailing just behind Wood as the team exited the locker room, Harry felt himself quiver and hoped that his knees wouldn't give out on him, as they approached the main gate that lead onto the playing field where countless spectators could be heard cheering quite rather loudly from high up in the stands. And as everyone halted in front of the gate, waiting for it to open, Wood glanced to his right down at the young Padawan Learner.

"Nervous, Harry?" he inquired gently.

The little boy nodded at once. "A little. Yeah."

"That's alright. I felt the same way before my first game," Wood reassured him softly.

Harry immediately looked up at the older boy. "What happened?" he asked a bit uneasily.

"I, uh, I don't really remember, honestly," replied Wood, trying to gather his thoughts on the subject, but couldn't. "I took a Bludger to the head two minutes in. Woke up in the hospital a week later."

As Wood glanced down at him again, Harry's stomach felt like it had immediately dropped into his feet as he gulped, seemingly feeling way more nervous than he was just a moment ago.

The gate promptly opened and a bright ray of sunlight shown through into the space, momentarily blinding the team players, who then mounted their broomsticks and took off; soaring into the wide open area of the Quidditch pitch.

Down below him, Harry could hear the excited cheers and shouts coming from all of the Hogwarts students, although the largest majority of whom could clearly be heard over everyone else in the crowded stands chanting: "Go, go, Gryffindor! Go, go, Gryffindor! Go, go, Gryffindor!" as they waved red and yellow striped flags about.

Madam Hooch, who stood in the exact center of the field with her broom in her hand, was refereeing. "Now, I want a nice clean game… from all of you!" she voiced sternly, before turning to release the latch on the chest which held the Quaffle, the two Bludgers, and the Golden Snitch inside it.

A moment later, the two Bludgers shot out of the chest and into the air as soon as the chains that restrained them were released, which were then followed shortly thereafter by the Golden Snitch.

"Remember, the Snitch is worth one-hundred and fifty points," came the voice of Lee Jordan who was acting as commentator, "the first team Seeker to catch the Snitch ends the game."

Madam Hooch then took the Quaffle out of the chest and tossed it straight up into the air, with both teams instantly going for the ball all at once.

"The Quaffle is released… and the game begins!" shouted Jordan over the loud speaker.

Sometime later, while well into match, Ron, Neville, and Parvati all felt a sudden lurch forward as though they were being gently shoved up against the railing of the stadium ring.

"Budge up there, move along," came a loud voice, and a very familiar one to be sure, of which all three children instantly recognized.

"Hagrid!" exclaimed Parvati as she turned to look up with delight at the half-giant.

The three students immediately squeezed together in order to give Hagrid enough space to join them.

"Bin watchin' from me hut," said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, "but it just isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"

"Nope," answered Ron, shaking his head. "Harry hasn't had much to do yet."

"Kept outta trouble, though, that's somethin'," remarked Hagrid upon raising his binoculars and peering skyward at the speck that was Harry gliding back and forth over the field.

High up above the crowded stadium, the young Padawan Learner was soaring over the game below him, squinting his eyes and scanning about the field for some sign, any sign, of the Snitch. This was all part of both his and Wood's game plan.

"Keep out of the way until you catch sight of the Snitch," Wood had advised him shortly before the start of the match. "We don't want you getting attacked before you have to be."

As the Quidditch match progressed, all of the Chasers (from both Gryffindor and Slytherin) continuously dove, ducked, and dodged numerous Bludgers that were sent at them by the opposing team Beaters, while also attempting to score points for their own House team by way of tossing the Quaffle through one of the three hoops: each one different in height from the next. And after roughly a whole two hours, with both teams having scored a considerable number of points each (as well as both Keepers having been taken out of the match by the opposing team Beaters), the Golden Snitch finally appeared on the playing field once more, thus signaling the homestretch of the game.

Harry immediately caught sight of the little winged golden ball and took off after it, dodging both Slytherin team players who tried unsuccessfully to knock him off his broom (among other things), and several Bludgers as well. While flying back and forth around the field, trying numerous times to catch the Snitch (knowing it would be completely wrong to simply use the Force to snatch the ball out of the air in this instance; opting to do it the old-fashioned way instead), the young Padawan Learner momentarily caught a glimpse of what looked to be a darkly hooded and robed figure standing in the crowded spectator ring of the Quidditch pitch.

Suddenly, without any warning at all, Potter's broomstick began to lurch and shake wildly out of control. For a split second, the little boy thought he was going to fall off, as he didn't know what was happening, nor why it was even happening for that matter. All he knew was that he had to figure out some way to keep his broom from bucking him off, and fast.

"What's going on with Harry's broomstick?" Hagrid inquired, while staring directly up at Harry through his binoculars.

"Here, Hagrid," said Parvati eagerly, "let me borrow those for a moment. I think I see something just over there, in the stands." She pointed to the stands opposite where they all stood. "Please?"

The half-giant graciously obliged the little girl's request and handed the binoculars off to her. "Dunno what Harry thinks he's doing up there," Hagrid then mumbled after handing them over to Parvati for her to look through. "If I didn' know better, I'd say that he'd lost control of his broom … but he can't have …."

As soon as the binocular's were in her grasp, Parvati instantly scanned the crowded seats opposite them. Then she spotted what she had promptly eyed just a moment ago. "Snape?"

"What?" asked Ron who had overheard her. "What is it? What'd you see?"

Parvati immediately turned to look at him. "It's Snape. It looked like he was saying…something…although I couldn't tell what, exactly," she stated quietly. "I think he might be jinxing Harry's broomstick."

"Jinxing the broom?!" exclaimed Ron in shock. "What'll we do?!"

Upon hearing that, Parvati's expression immediately turned to one of absolute confusion and worry. "I don't know, Ron. I really don't know."

Meanwhile, as Harry desperately tried to gain control of his broomstick as it jerked and twitched this way and that, he started to notice that both he and his broom were rising up higher and higher into the sky, moving slowly away from the game.

No one seemed to notice that Potter's broomstick was behaving rather strangely, as Lee Jordan was still commentating for the game - until that is, Jordan momentarily glanced upward and saw what was happening with Harry's broom.

"Oh, no," he voiced in an extraordinarily confused manner.

Suddenly, people all over the stands began pointing up at Harry once they had caught sight of him. The little boy's broomstick had immediately started to roll over and over multiple times, with Potter just barely managing to keep his grip on the handle; which was ever so slowly loosening with each passing moment. And as the young Padawan was steadily ascending towards the lower atmosphere, he promptly began to hear a rather strange voice calling to him: one that he, for a brief instant, couldn't recognize.

"Let go, Harry. Use the Force," it advised him in a soft yet direct tone. "Let it's will guide you."

Harry immediately came to the realization that the voice that was speaking to him just now belonged to non-other than the Force Ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn, of whom both Harry and Josh, along with everyone else who were present on the barroom floor of the Leaky Cauldron, had seen appear at the inn many months ago.

Upon hearing Qui-Gon's words, Potter allowed the broom to carry him up into the sky just a bit further, before then closing his eyes and letting go of the broom's handle altogether. And as he did so, the little boy fell completely off his broomstick; dropping out of the sky and descending down towards the Quidditch pitch.

With his eyes closed shut, Harry could quite literally "see" the Snitch as it zigzagged way below him. He could also "see" the Slytherin Seeker, Marcus Flint, trying rather quite desperately to snatch it out of the air. For a few brief moments, everything (and everyone) below seemed to be moving at an incredibly slow pace as the young Padawan Learner rapidly dove headfirst towards the tiny winged golden ball: using the Force to alter his trajectory so that he could lead his target by a margin of only a couple inches. He was gradually approaching the Snitch's current altitude, when all of sudden-

**WHOOSH!**

The little golden ball fluttered directly at Harry with such tremendous speed, agility, and precision that the little boy had roughly but a split-second to react; instantaneously shifting his body so as to avoid colliding head-on with it, while at the same time, just barely managing to reach out and grab ahold of it as the little winged ball streaked past him in a faint blur of glinting gold.

Recognizing almost at once that he was rapidly approaching the ground, do in part to all of the alarmed shouting and screaming that going on right below him, Harry reached out with his free hand and used the Force to call his broomstick to him. All of a sudden, the Padawan immediately felt himself abruptly stop in mid-fall before coming into contact with the grassy field just beneath him, not realizing that the mysteriously dark hooded and robed figure, which he had spotted earlier had in fact reached out and used the Force to halt his rapid descent. A moment or two later, the broomstick shot down outta the sky and flew towards Potter, who immediately did a single back-flip and landed on the seat of his broom - hoping that whatever strange thing which had caused it to go absolutely crazy had finally subsided.

Upon holding up his hand, with the Snitch firmly in his palm, Harry promptly heard Lee Jordan's voice ring out loud and clear all around the Quidditch pitch.

"Harry Potter has caught the Snitch!" he declared happily.

High above, Madam Hooch could be heard sounding her whistle as she casually glided over the field, thus signalling the end of the match.

"Gryffindor wins!" she proudly announced, and all of the students in Gryffindor House instantly exploded with ecstatic cheers while both clapping their hands together and jumping off their feet upon hearing the resulting outcome of the game.

"Go, go, Gryffindor! Go, go, Gryffindor! Go, go, Gryffindor! Go, go, Gryffindor! Go, go, Gryffindor!"

Harry immediately dismounted his broom and ran towards the entrance of the Gryffindor locker room, sensing that the darkly hooded figure still somewhere nearby. And upon entering the locker room, the young Padawan Learner briefly searched the area for any sign of this mysterious person, but found nothing.

All of a sudden, the little boy heard a very strange and quite unfamiliar voice coming from directly behind him.

"Congratulations on your win, kid," it stated bluntly, and Harry could instantly tell that it was the voice of a female.

Spinning round on his heels, Potter expected to come face-to-face with the cloaked individual, only to see the billowing end of a dark hooded robe as it went around a corner and was gone.

"Hey, wait! Stop!" shouted Harry as he promptly took off after… whomever that was just now. "Who are you?!" But upon immediately rounding the corner himself, Potter found that there was absolutely no one there at all. He was alone in the corridor of the Gryffindor's Quidditch locker room once more.