DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER
"She did WHAT?" Hermione screeched, dropping her half-eaten yorkshire pudding.
"She decided to forego any form of punishment in favour of conscripting me as the new seeker of the House Quidditch team," Harry rephrased nonchalantly, helping himself to some roast potatoes.
"Has she gone mental? What about the first-year rule?" Hermione asked incredulously.
Harry sighed. Such was the troublesome outcome of McGonagall's outlandish proposal that he wished he'd never pulled off either stunt. His best friend had always chewed him out for things like this, though uncommon as they are. The gratitude he felt for Hermione for her constant concern was ever present, do not get him wrong, but it was nonetheless somewhat exasperating explaining that everything would and had worked out. "She said she was willing to bend it a little. The professor evidently wants the Quidditch cup in her office this year,"
"There were reasons for implementing that rule in the first place. In fact, I find that already lax as it is!" She said. "Look, I'm glad she's not punishing you. I know you're excited about this game. But I can't believe that our pragmatic, stoic, hardline rule-abiding teacher is willing to put your welfare on the line for, what, a dusty old trophy?"
"Hermione, relax. I'm not going off to war or something," he reassured. "I'm not going to die. Fred and George and Madam Pomfrey will see to that. Besides, I could always count on you to sort out my mess,"
Hermione gave him a playful punch. "Prat. I wonder why I even help you out at all," she said playfully, referring to their History of Magic essay and astronomy.
"Because that's what friends are for? Besides, I helped you out as well, though admittedly not as much," Harry replied. Truthfully, between the two of them, Harry knew that he could not compete with his best friend's intelligence. She was, in his opinion, the smartest person in the world. And he was perfectly fine with that.
"Enjoying your last meal, Potter?" A drawling voice said. Harry and Hermione peered out from the corner of their eyes and resisted the urge to roll them. Apparently, Draco Malfoy had come to satisfy his daily quota of sneering. Though, this time neither Crabbe nor Goyle were present. Something that was uncanny, as Malfoy had always depended on the other two as a deterrent. In their stead was Pansy Parkinson, who did not exactly command their level of fear.
"Come to see me off, have you? Didn't know you cared, Malfoy. I'm touched," Harry replied sarcastically. Malfoy looked like he wanted to sneer back at Harry, before a rude interruption made him switch targets.
"A little cocky, aren't you? Showing up without your two boyfriends," Ron snarled from down the table.
Malfoy smirked, closing the distance between him and the redhead. "Jealous, are you? Don't worry, Weaselby. Surely you'd have had plenty of people lining up to be your mate given your wealth, wouldn't you? Oh wait…"
Ron seethed. "Don't you dare bring that into this!"
Malfoy's smirk grew wider. "I seem to have tripped a nerve," he sneered, "What's the matter Weasley? Upset that your parents can't afford you new knickers? Or that they don't love you enough to buy you some?"
Ron was visibly grinding his teeth. "Love cannot be measured by money, Malfoy,"
"But surely, if your family loves you so much, your two brothers would have sent you money? I've heard one of them is a goblin's lapdog now, snogging cursed corpses in Egypt. Interesting career, but does it pay well to do something unbecoming of even blood traitors like him? Though I daresay that you would suit that job more, given your obvious lack of skill,"
"Well, he didn't bribe the minister to get his job unlike your father!" Ron growled
Malfoy feigned a look of shock. "What do you mean 'bribe', Weasel? We donate generously towards the wellbeing of the wizarding world. You wouldn't understand, of course. What with your father's lousy calling and his constant campaigning for scum to roam amongst us,"
By now, quite a number of people were watching the two exchange insults. Parkinson, on the other hand, rolled her eyes and turned to face Harry and Hermione with a grimace.
"What Draco originally intended to say was that he is immensely grateful you chose to save him, Potter. I too am in your debt for saving my fiancé," Harry and Hermione shared a wide-eyed glance of surprise. "even though we may have… opposing viewpoints. Which is why we want to know what is it we could do to repay the life debt,"
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Life debt?" He looked to Hermione for answers, whose face showed recognition of the term.
"It's an old pureblood wizarding concept. It's basically saying 'I owe you one', however the indebted would have to do anything until both parties agree that the debt has been fully paid. It is, in essence, a very old, very small, almost forgotten and insignificant bylaw from an ancient era," She recited. "Most simply do not choose to recognise or resort to these 'magic enforced' life debts. Those who do, which are usually the 'nobler' families, would have enormous leverage over the other. Of course, that's if both parties agree to such old, ridiculous policies based on a very backwards view on 'honour' and 'justice'" she added, with a scandalized look at Parkinson, who returned it with a withering glare.
Harry took a moment to process the whole situation. So Malfoy owed him favours. He shuddered at the thought of being forced to do literally anything just as a 'thank you'. Too many terrible, terrible memories surfaced from the thought. He was determined not to be like those sorry excuses of the human race, also known as the Dursleys. The bullying experienced from the family of three were just a few in a long list.
Bullying… "Leave my friends and I alone," He said with finality, "Don't disturb or hurt us in any way. You don't mess with us, we don't mess with you and your 'debt' is settled. Deal?"
Pansy nodded, sending one last glare at Hermione, before marching off to try and pry Malfoy from Ron. Harry, attempting to block out the various insults being exchanged just a few metres away, proceeded to voice his incredulity to Hermione. "'Fiancé'? They're married?,"
"It appears to be," Hermione mumbled, spectating as Pansy and Draco shared a last few muttered words with Ron, before leaving. "I've read that some old, noble families may choose to betrothe their children to other noble families, some at a very young age. Sort of like royal families,"
Harry rolled his eyes. "That has got to be the biggest insult to the Windsors ever, comparing the Malfoys to them,"
Hermione smiled. "I concur. Prince Andrew could be a child molester, for all we know, and I bet he's still better than Malfoy,"
"I very much doubt a member of the Royal Family would have a crush on children. If anything, they'd have a crush on each other," Harry commented dryly. "But I still see your point. Oh for heaven's sake, what does he want now?" He added as Ron wandered over to them.
"Harry, mate," the Redhead asked, "Do you want to be my second?"
Harry looked at him feeling extremely confused. "A what?"
"Oh you know, my second. My duelling partner, backup. Malfoy challenged me to a duel at midnight. I need you to back me up," Ron replied
Harry and Hermione exchanged a quick bewildered glance. Had Ron no functioning brain cells whatsoever?
"Ron, as much as I hate the goose-stepping ponce, I do not think that your private spat is of any concern to me. I have no intention of being your 'backup' in a duel, let alone partake in one at midnight. What for? Just to make yourself a little less butt-hurt? I have no intention of blatantly breaking the rules, and most likely getting caught, just to see the ponce cry, so you should find someone else," Harry said, cramming the last bit of food on his plate before leaving with Hermione for the cosy armchairs of the common room. Indiscernible muttering broke out as people from the four house tables, and the staff table, noticed the two leaving together once more. Little did they know that soon, an ongoing pool between two twins would expand to encompass most of the school.
As they neared the common room entrance, Harry couldn't help but voice his thoughts. "Do you think he'll actually sneak out at midnight?"
To which Hermione responded, "I don't know and frankly I don't care. We'll find out tomorrow,"
That night would see the loss of 100 points from Gryffindor and Ron Weasley getting the attention he wanted. The ponce, according to Ron, had chickened out and he got caught by Filch and Professor Snape. Obviously, nobody believed his word, opting instead to shun him. Overnight, Ron had gone from 'that loud guy' to being the scum of Gryffindor. Needless to say, everyone was pretty mad at him.
The Gryffindors hated him for single-handedly losing 100 points in one night. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were torn between being joyful and downright disgusted at the redhead's foolishness. The Slytherins, well, cheered...naturally. Their hegemony over the house cup was now undisputed.
Everyone knew that no matter how many points the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs scored, they would not be able to dethrone Slytherin. And with the upcoming Quidditch match between the seasoned Slytherin team and the limping Gryffindors, whose team was lacking in decent players, notably a seeker, for years, it seemed the gap would only grow in the snakes' favour.
But word got out of an interesting development that raised the hopes and the spirits of the house of lions to new heights. Oliver Wood, the captain and veteran keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, had found someone to fill in the empty role of seeker. That someone was none other than Harry James Potter.
The amount of unwanted attention he received was at an all-time high due to the whole 'boy-who-lived' thing, but now that he was the Gryffindor seeker, peace and quiet became a rarity. So much so that he and Hermione sought refuge in the lair of Madam Pince, who was none too happy about hordes of rowdy students barging into her library.
"Why can't they just take the hints already?" Harry muttered in disbelief as the librarian quite literally threw more and more people out.
"I dunno," Hermione replied. "Wizards don't exactly possess an abundance of common sense," she added, smirking at him.
Harry cracked a smile. "Ouch, you wound me with your words. Jokes aside, I'd have to say that's rather accurate from what I've experienced. Though it still shocks me that people can actually reach that level of ignorance and stupidity. I'm just glad Madam Pince deals with most of them," He noticed a small crowd of people already gathering outside the library. Harry sighed. Madam Pince may be an excellent barrier against people like Ron Weasley, but there was no escaping them outside of library, save for maybe Hagrid's hut, the grounds and the common room
In the weeks leading up to the first match, people swarmed Harry, trying to bask in reflected glory, wish him the best, or taunt him by promising to have a mattress ready to catch him. Some in the first category took to targeting Hermione to become Harry's friend, however they thought the result may be. Ron Weasley had become a stellar example of this.
At first, his tactics were the usual, sneering and muttering, criticising her every aspect and action. All while trying to lecture Harry to death about various things (I.E criticising Hermione, blabbering about quidditch, Ron's interests and dreams, boasting, etc.) After realising this was not working, he tried to be friendly with Hermione, who shut down every pretentious offer he made, while persistently and aggressively trying to cozy up to Harry.
On a much lighter note, having herbology, charms and astronomy with the Hufflepuffs meant frequent interaction between the house of lions and the house of badgers. Harry and Hermione managed to find friends amongst the badgers, notably Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Ernie Macmillan, all of whom thankfully saw past the image of the 'boy-who-lived' orchestrated by the ministry and countless fiction writers. They managed to see the real Harry, got to know him, and became friendly with him, much to Harry's relief.
He was also relieved that this small group of 'puffs were unlike the various other students who had taken to looking down on Hermione. The five friends, along with Neville Longbottom had decided to form a small study group soon after, and a hierarchy formed with Harry, Hermione, Neville and Susan in the center circle. Susan was, at first, rather shy, but after getting to know both Harry and Hermione better, she gradually opened up, revealing a rather bubbly, caring and outgoing personality. Harry had to admit it reminded him of Hermione when they first became acquainted, minus 80% of the bullying of course.
Their small unofficial study group had gotten 10 points each once their heads of house found out, stunning them. Apparently, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs doing the Ravenclaws' favourite pastime was worth lots of points. Ron, upon learning of this group's existence, tried to worm himself in one day. For reasons unknown, he did not register that the primary purpose of a study group was to study, and he ended up disrupting an entire session with his grumbling and insistence on playing chess.
Unfortunately, the month of October, 1991 was coming to a close and the month of November was just on the horizon. The first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, was just a few weeks away. Tensions between the two rival houses were at their breaking points. The Slytherin had taken to tormenting and jeering at Harry whenever he was in the vicinity of them. And several insensitive pretentious Gryffindors were using this as an excuse to 'escort' Harry.
Naturally, Ronald Weasley was one of them. Their presence alone heightened tensions, and only escalated when the 'escorts' started confrontations with random Slytherins, and in Ron's case anyone who was not a Gryffindor. Mercifully, the staff members issued punishments accordingly, although Snape tried accusing Harry of being a gang leader, something that Ron tried to take pride in and spun a tale about Harry being the ringleader and him being the second-in-command. Thankfully, the tale he spun was quite ridiculous, and the professors quickly discerned from other students that this was false.
Ron was nevertheless persistent. Harry could only groan and brace, knowing that sooner or later, something bad would happen. And he was right, as things soon came to ahead on Halloween.
They were having Charms lessons in the morning. Professor Flitwick had paired the class up and instructed them to perform the levitation charm, the same charm Harry had used to save Malfoy, on a feather. The professor had split Harry and Hermione up, placing Harry with Seamus Finnigan and Hermione with Ron, hoping that the two best students would be able to help the two worst students. Which turned out to be a fiasco.
"Wingahdum Lev'osa!" Seamus chanted for the umpteenth time, promptly blowing up their feather. Harry groaned. He hoped Hermione was having it better, as he looked over.
Unfortunately, things did not seem to be going any better over at Hermione's table either.
"OK, first, please stop flicking your wand repeatedly like that, you're going to pluck someone's eye out," Hermione warned. Harry felt a mild surge of anger and annoyance as he saw Ron roll his eyes. "It's pronounced as Wing-gar-dium Levi-oh-sa. Stretch out the 'gar' a bit,"
"If you're so clever, Miss I-know-everything-and-love-showing-off, why don't you do it, then?" Ron retorted. Hermione huffed, giving the rude redhead a scowl, before rolling up her sleeves.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" She incanted. Sure enough, the feather levitated off the table. Hermione raised her wand further, resulting in the feather floating higher and higher, reaching the ceiling, before gradually bringing it back down.
That garnered ten points to Gryffindor. Professor Flitwick awarded another ten points just a few minutes later, when Harry successfully levitated his feather on the first try as well. He and Hermione shared a smile at each other. But while professor Flitwick was complimenting both of them, Harry noticed Ron and Seamus scowling at Hermione.
Once Charms was over, the two took positions on either side of Harry as they were heading back to the great hall for lunch. Hermione had opted to stay behind a little to ask Professor Flitwick something. Harry hoped she would hurry up. He didn't want to spend another minute listening to the two trolls.
"'It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-oh-sa'!" Ron mocked, "She's a nightmare, honestly! That ugly buck-toothed bossy hag! No wonder she has no friends! She deserves that! Don't you agree mate?" He added, nodding to Seamus and Harry.
"Ron-"
"Yeah, even Harry agrees! About time mate. We've been trying to tell you that the whole time! Glad you've come around,"
Harry grabbed Ron by the collar. "Listen here, Weasley-" he started, anger surging through him. Before he could continue, a brown-haired blur bolted past him and out of sight. Harry felt his heart shatter. Hermione had heard them, and had assumed the worst.
"Hermione," he muttered, before dashing after her. Forget Ron. Forget Seamus. He needed to find her.
A task which was easier said than done, as she seemed to have disappeared into thin air. He spent the rest of the lunch break looking for her, searching every corner of the castle. His search was put on hold, as soon enough lunch was over. He reluctantly conceded, heading back to class. He did not pay the professors any attention though. The only things going through his mind were finding Hermione and exacting retribution on the redheaded prat.
It was only during the feast later that evening that he finally got a lead. And from the most unlikeliest of sources. He had asked (read: begged) everbody, when they had sat down for the Halloween feast, if they had seen his best friend. And it was Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil who answered him.
"She's been crying in the loo since this morning," Parvati said, a look of pity on her and Lavender's faces.
"We tried to get her to come out for the feast, but she refused to listen," Lavender added. He asked the girls which bathroom and thanked them, before rushing out of the great hall. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, ignoring the protests of his stomach, which was demanding he turn back and eat something. He neared the bathrooms the two gossipers had directed him to, and sure enough there were faint sobs coming from the girl's bathroom.
He knocked on the bathroom door. "Hermione?" He asked "Are you in there?"
"Who's there?" Hermione's voice called back in panic. "This is a girl's bathroom!"
"Hermione, it's me, Harry," Harry replied.
"...go away"
"What?" Harry asked bewilderedly.
The door flung open, revealing a very dishevelled Hermione. "GO AWAY!" She spat harshly. "Don't pretend I didn't hear you! You…you and that DAMN Weasley talking behind my-" She didn't get to finish, for Harry had wrapped her in a gentle, comforting hug. She struggled a little. "Let me-"
"Shh" Harry interrupted. His green eyes met her chocolate brown ones. The fire and angst in her eyes slowly dissipated.
"W-wh-what are you doing?" She stuttered, her eyes misty as tears began rolling down her cheeks again "Why do you-"
"You're my best friend," Harry replied. "How can I not care?"
"But I thought-"
"Hermione, Ron is an idiot and a prat. I never agreed with him about you. I couldn't care any less about his opinions," Harry interrupted. "My opinion of you has not changed. There is nothing wrong with buck teeth, and you certainly aren't a hag. But more importantly, you DO actually have friends. You have Me. You have Susan. You have Parvati, Lavender, Ernie, Neville and everyone else. Don't listen to some jealous delusional bully. You're my most precious person, Hermione. I will always be with you. To the very end,"
He saw tear after tear roll down her face as he said that. Suddenly, she threw her arms around him, returning the hug. They stayed like this for a while, Harry and Hermione hugging each other as Hermione cried into his shoulder. When she finally calmed down, she slowly detached from him.
"Are you feeling better?" Harry asked, his voice full of care and concern
"Y-yes," she said, a tinge of red on her cheeks. "S-sorry...for cry-"
"Nah, it's fine," Harry reassured, applying a quick drying charm. "Come on then, 'Mione," he said, giving a small smile. Hermione blushed at the nickname and the smile. "Let's get going. I think the feast may still be ongoing,"
They took each other's hand and set off. Harry kept glancing back at Hermione to make sure she was feeling okay while making jibes and jokes about a certain redhead. Hermione gave a few small, watery chuckles, even joining in on the joking.
The floor suddenly shook. Harry and Hermione stopped. They gave each other a worried glance, before raising their wands. The source of the loud thuds and the shaking seemed to be getting closer. They edged forward warily. Then, out of the corner in front of them lumbered a huge mass of grey. The stench coming off of it was incomprehensible. The creature was easily 20 feet tall, carrying what looked like a massive club, a dumb, stupid expression on it's face.
The two best friends froze, their hands shaking as they lowered their wands. The troll looked at them, before giving an almighty roar.
"RUN!" Harry yelled, dragging Hermione as they ran as fast as they could away from it. The troll gave another roar, pursuing the two down the corridor.
"What the heck is a troll doing in the castle?" Hermione screamed as they rounded a corner.
"I don't know, and I certainly don't care!" Harry yelled back. They could hear the troll gaining on them. They rounded another corner, sighing in relief as they heard the telltale "Crunch!" of the troll smacking itself into the wall. Harry risked a look. The troll appeared disoriented, before letting out another roar and continuing its pursuit. Harry cursed.
"Over here!" Harry yelled, running up a stairwell. He was halfway up it when he heard Hermione yelp. He spun around and his heart dropped like a stone. She had her foot trapped in a trick step and had fallen.
"HERMIONE!" Harry yelled. The troll stepped onto the landing. It saw Hermione on the stairs, looking absolutely terrified, before raising its club. Harry's eyes widened, his heart stopped. It was going to kill her. Cursing, he brandished his wand at the troll.
"FLIPENDO!" He bellowed. An angry red streak of light soared from his wand and impacted the troll's club, which was raised straight up. The club flew backwards violently, dragging with it the owner. Harry watched with relief as the troll proceeded to tumble down the stairs, roaring in agony, before landing with a sickening "crunch!" at the foot of the steps.
Just as he helped Hermione out of the trick step, Harry heard loud footsteps headed towards them. Moments later, Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell and Professor Snape arrived at the stairwell.
"Good heaven's!" Professor McGonagall gasped, examining the damaged and dented stairs and the huge club lodged into the wall on the landing below. She let out another gasp as all three professors looked over the railing and saw the troll's body. Professor Quirrell descended the steps to get a closer look at the now unconscious troll. Professor McGonagall rounded on the two first years.
"Well? Explain yourselves!" She demanded.
"He was looking for me, Professor," Hermione mumbled. "I was using the bathroom. Harry got worried when he realised I was not at the feast and went looking for me. We were headed back when we ran into the troll. We tried to run, but I got trapped in the trick step. Harry knocked the troll back before it could swing its club at me, and it fell down the steps,"
Professor McGonagall looked both relieved and grave. "In that case, Mr. Potter you did a very brave thing, helping your friend. For that, take 10 points to Gryffindor. And for eliminating the troll, take another 10 points" she said. "Might I ask which spell you used?" She added.
"The knockback jinx. Flipendo," Harry replied.
Professor McGonagall looked slightly surprised. "Flipendo? But-well, I guess it could, but-" she shook her head. "Mr. Potter, would you and Miss Granger head back up to the common room? The food from the feast should have already been sent up," Professor McGonagall told them, before she and professor Snape went to inspect the troll's body.
"Come on, Harry," Hermione said, grabbing Harry's hand and setting off, before realising Harry was not moving. "Harry?" She asked curiously. "Har- huh?" She said as Harry hugged her again.
"I-I th-thought I was going t-to lose you," he sobbed. Hermione's eyes widened, before returning the hug, patting her best friend on the back.
"Hey, look at me," Harry pulled away a little and met her eyes. "It's alright. I'm here, alive and well thanks to you. And as you've said, I'm with you to the end," she smiled as she saw Harry calm down a little. "Now come on. As much as I enjoy our hugs-" she looked away to hide her blush, not realising Harry was doing the same, "-we really need to get back," Harry nodded.
"Albus, we need to talk,"
The old headmaster looked up from the report of that night's events. He gave the potions master a questioning glance. "What about, Severus?"
The potions master sighed. Never had he ever imagined that he would be having this discussion, but he had seen things that had left him no choice. "It's about Mr. Potter," he said, before taking a step closer.
"To be more specific, his current living conditions," he added in an icy tone.
It had been two weeks since the troll incident. Despite not revealing what had happened to anyone, word got out about that night's events. Ron had once again tried to spin the tale and cozy up to Harry. Harry was having none of it. He berated Ron in front of everyone in the common room one night. Which unfortunately meant inadvertently revealing the real details of the incident. But Harry did not care at that moment.
The next day Ron woke up to find his tongue enlarged, his hair turned to seaweed and several ridiculous markings drawn across his face in some sort of water resistant ink. The Weasley twins were accused of orchestrating the prank, which they denied. Nobody noticed Harry and Hermione smirking the entire time.
Too soon, the day of the Quidditch match had arrived. The morning had dawned rather early and bright. Excitement filled the air as everyone looked forward to a good match.
Everyone except Harry.
"You've got to eat something," Hermione wheedled.
"I'm not hungry," Harry replied. He felt terrible. In just a few hours, he'd be walking out onto the pitch. He just did not feel like eating anything.
"You can't play on an empty stomach," Hermione pleaded.
"I'm not eating anything," Harry insisted.
Hermione sighed. She picked up a fresh piece of toast, spread some butter on it, before jabbing it against Harry's cheek. Harry looked at her confused and a little annoyed.
"I'm not going to stop until you open your mouth and eat," she said. A few snickers could be heard around the table. Harry sighed, before taking the piece and biting off a portion of it.
Hermione smiled. "Now that wasn't too difficult, was it?" Harry grunted. Hermione piled a bit more food on his plate. "I'm going to grab a seat before they're all taken," she said, before planting a kiss on his cheek.
Harry dropped the piece of toast, his eyes going wide. He slowly turned to look at Hermione, feeling the spot where she had kissed him. His brain seemed to have a complete shutdown. All rational thought left him as he stared at his best friend, replaying the moment she had kissed his cheek.
Hermione giggled at the stunned expression on Harry's face. "Good luck, Harry," she said, before leaving the great hall, ignoring the smirks and glares of those who witnessed the exchange. It took a few full minutes for Harry's brain to reboot. When it did however, he felt no nervousness, no reluctance towards the match. Instead, all he felt was determination and pure joy
"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Gryffindor's Angelina Johnson" Lee Jordan, who was doing the commentary, commented as the match began. "What a brilliant chaser, that girl is! Not to mention rather attractive-"
"JORDAN!"
"Sorry, Professor McGonagall. Anyway, the Quaffle is passed to Spinnet-"
Harry, meanwhile, was scouring the pitch, searching furtively for a tiny glint of gold. He needed to find the snitch to end the match and score 150 points. Unfortunately, it appeared to be hiding for the time being. He felt bored after a few minutes, the snitch still nowhere in sight. The Slytherin seeker, Terence Higgs, had also yet to locate it. Soon, Gryffindor had scored 2 goals, bringing the score to 20-0, with Wood blocking every Slytherin attempt at a goal.
It was then, he noticed a glint on the edge of his peripheral vision. His eyes widened. The snitch was over at the Gryffindor goalposts. He tilted his broom and sped towards it, Hoping to catch up to Higgs, who was closer to the tiny golden ball but had yet to see it. Harry sped past him. Higgs noticed, and tried to follow but wasn't fast enough. Harry was faster. He could clearly see the little golden ball, wings fluttering, darting around in front of him.
WHAM! Harry held onto his broom for dear life as Marcus Flint knocked into him. He finally regained control. He turned to see Katie Bell, one of the chasers, take the free shot at the Slytherin goalposts. But the snitch was nowhere to be seen. He cursed his bad luck, before continuing to circle the pitch. Unable to spot the snitch, he kept flying, dodging countless bludgers sent his way by the Slytherin beaters.
Just as he dodged another bludger flying at him, it happened. His broom gave a sudden lurch. Then another. And another. It began to rise, rocking back and forth in an attempt to throw Harry off. It rolled over, and Harry was left dangling, holding on with only one hand.
Back in the stands, Hermione looked on horrified as the broom continued to try and shake Harry off. She grabbed Hagrid's binoculars from him and began searching wildly around. She looked to the teacher's stand and felt her jaw drop. There was Professor Snape, gazing intently at Harry, muttering something under his breath.
"He's jinxing the broom," Hermione gasped. Her worry was replaced by anger as she continued to stare at Snape. She looked up at Harry, who was just managing to hang on. She cursed, handing Hagrid back his binoculars, before making her way hastily towards the teacher's stand. She was not going to sit by and watch someone murder her Harry.
She crawled behind the teacher's seats, before taking aim at the spot underneath Professor Snape. She muttered the incantation and blue flames shot out from the tip of her wand. She made her escape. The yelps of the teachers told her she had done her job, she looked up at Harry and let out a "Yes!" as she saw him clamber back onto his broom and sped off.
Harry did not know what was happening. One moment his broom was trying to kill him, and the next moment he was able to regain control. He was not complaining though. He spotted the snitch again near the ground and dove off after it before his broom regressed. He felt the wind whistling in his ears as he sped towards the ground like a bullet. He levelled off just a foot from the ground, his arm outstretched. He took his other hand off the broom and reached forward to cup the golden sphere.
He crashed onto the pitch, rolling and skidding a good distance, before coming to a stop. He lay there, his entire body aching as he raised and waves his right hand, a tiny golden ball visible in it.
Almost instantly the stands erupted in cheers. Lee Jordan was shouting the result of the match repeatedly. His six teammates landed around him and proceeded to drag him up. And enveloped him in a group hug. They released him eventually, but immediately retreated a small distance away from him, looking at something, Harry raised an eyebrow as Fred and George smirked. He did not notice a certain bushy-haired Harry-seeking missile headed towards him.
"Harry!" Hermione's yell was his only warning before she collided with him, wrapping her arms around him. He blushed as Fred and George catcalled. The hug ended pretty quickly however (much to Harry's disappointment), and Hermione proceeded to check him over for any injury, chastising him for his recklessness at the end. Harry was still a little dazed, memories of past hugs and the kiss that morning replaying in his mind.
That afternoon, it was impossible to get any peace and quiet. The Weasley twins decided to throw one of the biggest parties Harry's ever been to, one that lasted from the afternoon to well into the night. It was a little agonizing, having everyone congratulate and try to cozy up to him, oblivious to his trying to get some peace and quiet. So much so that Harry and Hermione decided to once again take refuge in the library. During which, Hermione briefed Harry about Snape jinxing his broom. And it just so happened that Hagrid was walking past.
"Nonsense!" Hagrid said "Why would Snape want to jinx yer broom, Harry?"
"I saw Snape staring at Harry while muttering a jinx, Hagrid," Hermione said, "I know a jinx when I see one,"
"And I'm telling yeh, yeh're wrong!" Hagrid replied. "After all, Dumbledore trusts 'im,"
"And we're supposed to trust the headmaster's judgement?" Harry asked skeptically.
"If yeh can't trust Dumbledore, who can we trust?" Hagrid replied. "After all, 'e trusts Snape well enough ter help guard the stone-" Hagrid's eyes widened as he realised he had again let slip something he was not supposed to. Harry and Hermione shared a curious glance.
"What 'stone', Hagrid?" Hermione pressed.
"Shouldn'ta said tha'," he muttered. "Look, jus' ferget I said anythin'. What tha' stone is is strictly between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicholas Flamel-"
"A-ha! So there's someone named 'Nicholas Flamel' involved, eh?" Harry shot back. Hagrid grunted and proceeded to leave the two alone, not wanting to accidentally reveal anything else.
It was then Harry recalled something. "Hang on, when Hagrid and I went to Gringott's he retrieved a small object from a high security vault under Dumbledore's orders. That same vault was later broken into," he began. Hermione's eyes widened.
"And during the start-of-term feast, Professor Dumbledore said the Third floor corridor was out of bounds to all students," she recounted.
"What if whatever that Hagrid had retrieved, whatever that the perpetrators of the break-in were after, was instead transferred to Hogwarts and guarded inside the third floor?" Harry continued.
"And what if that object is this 'stone'?" Hermione concluded. With a nod, they both set off, scouring the library for anything on this 'stone' and 'Nicholas Flamel'
Meanwhile, an old man disillusioned himself in front of the table Harry and Hermione were sitting at just moments ago. He sighed in relief as he saw phase one of his improvised plan succeed. He just hoped that he did not have to make any more changes to his plans. After all, he needed Harry Potter to be honed. Honed into the ultimate weapon against the dark lord. The weapon needed to raise his influence and crush the dark forces that were regrouping. The ultimate weapon he needed to to achieve the greater good.
He just hoped that there were no more complications and the rest of his 'brilliant' plan played out accordingly. If not, he was going to have to replan everything again, something that gave him a massive headache. Little did he know that fate did not agree with his manipulations, and would make him do so, over and over again.
A/N: So, somebody mentioned that "Taking the piss" was not exactly common vocabulary for an eleven year-old. Let me clarify, I realised it was not the best choice of words, even though I was writing that specific part in third person. You know, NOT from Harry's POV. I agree that "taking the mickey sounded better and I did try to change it. Key word is " try". I had problems accessing the document again, probably because I have a rather terrible phone. Anyway, I'm sorry the story hasn't diverged a lot from Canon yet, but it will in later chapters so please have a bit of patience and bear with it a little longer.
Anyway, please Review, favourite and follow this story. Suggestions and constructive criticism would be welcome, but please don't be too harsh. I'm still human and have feelings. Seeya later!