Chapter 4 - Quidditch and Dogs
Hermione, Seamus and Neville were the last to come out to the field for our flying lesson. While we were waiting for everyone Dean and Harry had been teaching me and Ron to play football, a muggle sports game, like we had done yesterday out of boredom on a Sunday night. It was a pretty fun game. Minutes after the last people appeared Madam Hooch came out she instructed us to stand at the side of a broom. I was stood between Harry and Hermione.
"Now place your hand over your broom and say up." Madam Hooch then said.
"Up." I said at the same time as Harry after we put our hands over our brooms. They both came up to us immediately.
"Wow." I heard Harry mutter next to me. Hermione's eye's bugged at the both of us for being able to do it. On the second try Malfoy did it as well.
"With emphasis!" Madam Hooch shouted. Eventually everyone got their brooms up after Ron's broom hit him in the face causing me and Harry to laugh.
"Shut up Harry. Ash." Ron muttered to us.
"Well done. Now I want you to mount your brooms, levitate for a few seconds then come back down to earth." Madam Hooch then instructed. That went without and hitch's except for Neville. "Neville Longbottom get back down here." Madam Hooch ordered.
"I can't! Help! Down, down!" Neville tried to order but his broom just flew further into the air before it just took off.
"Neville!" I shouted trying to warn him about the wall he was heading for but it was too late. He hit the wall propelling his broom backwards and straight for us so everyone had to dive onto the floor. His broom then flew further in the air before it did a 360 spin causing him to fall off his broom and straight to earth. Breaking his wrist in the process. Madam Hooch rushed straight to him.
"I am taking Mr Longbottom to the Hospital Wing. Everyone's feet will stay firmly on the ground or you will be expelled faster than you can say Quidditch." Madam Hooch warned before walking off with Neville.
"Maybe if that idiot had had his rememberall he would have remembered to fall on his fat arse." Malfoy laughed. I looked up at him to see he had Neville's rememberall that he got from his gran this morning.
"Give it here, Malfoy." Harry ordered.
"Why don't you make me, Potter?" Malfoy sneered before mounting his broom. "I might leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find." He then started flying upwards. "Like the roof. What's the matter, Potter, scared to come and get it?"
"Don't Harry. You'll get yourself expelled." Hermione warned him but like a complete pillock, he ignored her and started to fly towards Malfoy.
"I'm gonna kill him." I muttered before mounting my broom and chasing them both.
"Ash!" Hermione called behind me.
"Give me it back or I'll knock you off your broom." Harry warned Malfoy as I caught up with them.
"Really. Well, why don't you go get it?" Malfoy laughed throwing the rememberall as far as he could.
"Dick head." I muttered before I came up with a little plan. Malfoy was quite a few yards away but I could easily hit him. I pulled out my wand and muttered "Accio football." I ordered before Dean's football landed in my hands. "Duro." I said tapping the football making it harder. "Oi Malfoy!" I yelled then when he was looking at me I launched the ball at his face. He had no time to react so he fell off his broom and straight to earth. Harry then appeared behind me smiling at me.
"Nice throw." He said.
"Thanks. Nice save." I replied.
"Thanks." Then we both descended to earth after I did a few tricks in the air. Everyone was cheering for me and Harry, well except the Slytherin's, it felt great. Until McGonagall appeared.
"HARRY POTTER! AURORA HYDE!" Professor McGonagall shouted. You could see both shock and anger on her face. The cheering stopped immediately and all you could hear was some Slytherin's snickering and the groaning of Malfoy. "Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, take Mr. Malfoy here to the Hospital Wing. You two, follow me." McGonagall then started walking off so me and Harry followed her sending Malfoy glares.
"Sorry." Harry whispered into my ear as we were walking.
"It isn't your fault, it's Malfoy's and I intend to make that known. Anyway, it was fun while it lasted." I said smiling. Harry chuckled then threw his arm around my shoulders. For the rest of the walk we were silent. When McGonagall stopped at Professor Quirrel's room we exchanged a confused look as he pulled his arm away from me.
"Professor Quirrel. I was wondering if I can borrow Wood for a minute." McGonagall asked.
"Of c-course." Quirrel stuttered back. I swear the stutter on that man is as annoying as hell.
"Professor?" Oliver Wood asked as he came out of the room.
"Wood, I have found you your Seeker and Chaser. Meet Harry Potter and Aurora-Shaw Hyde. They were showing off amazing skill while Madam Hooch was escorting a student to the Hospital Wing. Potter here caught a small ball from outside of my office window..." Professor McGonagall explained before I cut her off to make sure we were in no trouble.
"Draco Malfoy threw the ball. It's a rememberall belonging to Neville Longbottom, the boy that Madam Hooch took to the Hospital Wing." I said quickly.
"Yes well then Miss Hyde here obtained a muggle football before throwing it a good few yards to hit Mr. Malfoy making him fall off of his broom. He's now in the hospital wing." McGonagall went on to explain.
"Bloody deserved it." I muttered so only Harry could hear.
"How exactly did you get the ball, Aurora?" McGonagall asked.
"I summoned it. We were playing football this morning. Then I used the Duro spell to make it hard enough for him to fall off his broom." I said with a small smile on my face. I heard Oliver chuckle.
"I've heard about Ash. Her cousin is Katie Bell, she says that Ash is an even better Chaser than she is. Maybe even better than her mum." Oliver smiled.
"Well there you go." McGonagall smiled.
"I think we'll take them. It saves having try-outs and they've had plenty of recommendation. Harry, Ash, welcome to the team." Oliver finished.
"Oh my God! This is brilliant! I thought we were gonna be expelled!" I squealed in happiness. I was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team with Harry as a first year. I squealed again making Harry and Oliver laugh.
"We'll start your training this Saturday. Be at the Quidditch pitch at 10am sharp." Oliver ordered. Me and Harry just nodded. Oliver chuckled before going back to the lesson.
"You two will be the youngest seeker and chaser in over a century. And you were right Miss Hyde, I have every right to expel you. But I would like to win the Quidditch cup this year. Now, off to the common room, both of you." Professor McGonagall ordered. We again nodded before we sprinted off to the common room.
"We're on the team!" I shouted as soon as we got in the room. I started jumping around and squealing in happiness. "WE'RE ON THE QUIDDITCH TEAM!" I turned around and hugged Harry as hard as possible.
"Calm down Ash!" Harry smiled then he just started laughing.
"I'm gonna write to my mum. She was a chaser at Hogwarts same as my dad. This is amazing! Great! Bloody brilliant!" I continued to shout as I ran up to my dorm to grab some paper and a quill. I was sat back downstairs on the sofa writing minutes.
Dear Mum and Dad,
OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! I'm sorry for swearing but you will never guess what has happened. It's amazing! Incredible! And you two are the first people to know! Okay, I'll start at the beginning. Me and Harry had our first flying lesson today and one of the boys lost control of their brooms and ended up in the hospital wing so while Madam Hooch took him DRACO MALFOY (who is as bad as his dad!) stole the boys rememberall and started showing off so Harry went and got it off of him (BY FLYING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE - he was bloody brilliant)! And Malfoy just plain annoyed me so I magiced up a hard ball and threw it at Malfoy knocking him off his broom (while I was flying), it was brilliant! He's in the hospital wing. McGonagall saw both of us and dragged us to see Oliver Wood (the Gryffindor captain) and told him everything and apparently Katie has told Wood how I'm a better Chaser than her and probably you, mum! And this all happened a few minutes ago! Oh, I didn't actually say but Wood put both of us on the team! I'm the youngest Chaser in over a century and Harry is the youngest Seeker! I can't believe it! I am ecstatic! Harry's just laughing next to me because we are the only ones in the common room, we got sent here. He say's hi. I really must take after my mum! I love you guys!
Lots of Love. Ash.
"Did you tell them I said hi?" Harry asked me.
"Yes Harry James Potter, I did." I replied.
"So your full name is Aurora-Shaw Lily Hyde?" He asked.
"Yup." I replied as Ron and Hermione walked into the common room.
"Have you two been expelled?" Hermione asked looking upset as I saw Katie, Fred and George came running into the common room.
"No we've been made..." I started saying before Fred cut me off.
"Congrats you two, Woods just told us." Fred said smiling.
"We can't wait to see how good you both are." George finished.
"I know Ash is brilliant!" Katie smiled.
"Katie! Oh my God! This is amazing! It's partially thanks to you too." I said running to hug her
"What's happened?" Ron asked.
"Well these two have been made Seeker and Chaser. The two youngest in a century." Fred smiled.
"That's bloody brilliant." Ron smiled.
"I know what Harry did but what did you do Ash?" George asked.
"I threw a ball that knocked Malfoy off his broom. He shouldn't have been trying to show off." I said blissfully happy.
"You'll have to keep at it. Our first game is against Slytherin and they're a dirty playing lot." Katie warned.
"But don't worry, we'll keep the bludgers away from you both." George said to both of us.
"We'll see you later. Potions with Snape. We might just have to tell him." Fred smiled evilly making us all laugh as they went to their dorms to get their books.
"First year chaser and seeker." Hermione said shaking her head.
"But I've never played Quidditch before. What if I mess up and embarrass myself in front of everyone?" Harry said sighing.
"You won't. Follow me." Hermione said before pointedly walking out of the dorm. The three of us had to chase after her. Minutes later we were standing next to a big trophy case. It had 'Shawna Bell' and 'Sirius Black' as Chaser's, my mum and godfather even if I do hate his guts and 'James Potter' as Seeker.
"Wow Harry, you never told me your father was a Seeker too!" said Ron impressed.
"I didn't know." Harry whispered.
"See Harry, it's in our blood. That's my mum and my godfather." I whispered in his ear. He turned to smile at me gratefully even if he looked a bit teary.
We left the trophy room a short while after and began the climb to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione was chattering on about all the other stuff she'd found out about Harry in her books while Ron rolled his eyes.
"It's spooky," he whispered. "She knows more about you, than you do."
"Who doesn't?" Harry replied.
"Ahhh!" I cried gripping the side of the staircase which had, without warning begun to move. "What's happening?"
"The staircases change, remember!" said Hermione in a know-it-all voice.
The stairs grinded to a halt in front of a door. I jumped off feeling slightly sick and Ron pushed past me to the door.
"Let's go this way, before the staircase moves again." he muttered. He pushed open the door and we piled through. It was almost pitch black down this corridor and there were even cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and suits of armour. Everywhere was silent and it was a little spooky.
"Does anybody feel like we shouldn't be here?" I whispered.
"We're not supposed to be here. This is the third floor. It's forbidden!" said Hermione rather loudly. A torch lighted its self-making us all jump.
"Let's go." We turned but stood stock still when a loud meow pierced the silence.
"It's Flich's cat!" I cried. "Run!"
We hurtled along the long corridor, running for our lives. It seemed to be a dead end up ahead but I was mistaken. "Quick, let's hide through that door!" Harry and Ron slammed into the door, trying to yank it open.
"It's locked!" Harry cried.
"That's it we're done for!" moaned Ron.
"Oh! Move over!" snapped Hermione, pushing them both out of the way. "Alohomora!" The door unlocked with a click. "Get in!"
We piled in, shutting the door behind us. I straightened up and instantly stood stock still. Sweet. Merlin. I fumbled for Harry behind me and began to tug on his robes. I couldn't believe it. For a moment, I was sure I'd walked into a nightmare- this was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far today. While Hermione and Harry had their ears glued to the door me and Ron were just frozen staring at what was in front of us.
"He thinks this door is locked." Harry whispered.
"It was locked." Hermione whispered back.
"And for good reason." I said faintly. We were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads, three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.
"AHHHHH!" We legged it all the way back to Gryffindor tower, not stopping once. We scrambled into the common room and all collapsed on top of each other, trembling, onto the sofa. It was a while before any of us said anything.
"What do they think they're doing? Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" Ron shouted. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does." Hermione untangled herself from the pile and brushed herself down. She glared at Ron. "You don't use your eyes do you? Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"The floor?" I suggested weakly, but they were both to busy bickering to hear me.
"I wasn't looking at its feet! I was a bit preoccupied with its heads. Or maybe you didn't notice... there were three!" Ron continued yelling.
"It was standing on a trap door. It wasn't there by accident. It's guarding something." Hermione said glaring at Ron.
"Guarding something?" said Harry sitting up on his elbows as I rolled off him.
"That's right. Now, if you three don't mind, I'm going to bed before any of you come up with another clever idea to get killed or worse... expelled."
We stared as she flounced away up the staircase and into the dormitories. Ron got up shaking his head.
"She needs to sort out her priorities." Ron sighed.
"Well considering I've been put on a Quidditch team I'd rather die than be expelled and they are my priorities." I said smiling lightly. "I'm gonna go get changed then walk up to the Owlery. See you at dinner."
"See you later, Ash." Harry sighed as I got up and walked to the dorm to see Hermione changed and reading on her bed. I stopped for a minute.
"WHO THE HELL WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO PUT A THREE HEADED DOG IN A BLOODY SCHOOL? THEY'RE ARE GOD DAMN CHILDREN HERE FOR GODS SAKE!" I yelled then immediately calmed down and got changed and walked out.