HARRY POTTER & THE SECRET ENEMY

Harry Potter and all associated characters and situations are the property of J.K. Rowling. I make no claim to ownership.

CHAPTER 17: Team-Building Exercises (Pt. 1)

4 September 1992

By 3:00 p.m. on Friday, Harry was out on the Quidditch pitch ready for tryouts. In his hand was a Nimbus 2000, exactly like the one Jim had received the year before. James and Lily had bought it as his birthday present but had not been able to see him open it before the party turned into a bloodbath, so they had it delivered to Longbottom Manor the next day with a note of apology. Harry had managed to squeeze in as much flying practice as possible before the end of summer, but he didn't really have anyone to actually practice Quidditch with, so he was hoping "Potter talent" would be enough. James had been a legendary Chaser, so hopefully he'd have inherited that (and as little else as possible).

The Slytherin returning team members were Marcus Flint and Adrian Pucey as Chasers, Peregrine Derrick and Lucian Bole as Beaters, and Miles Bletchley as Keeper. Graham Montague, the other Chaser from the year before, was a returning Third Year, but he'd quietly let Marcus know over the Summer that he'd only play again if no one who tried out was any good. The boy was feeling the pressure to follow in his brother Rodney's footsteps (the former prefect had graduated with six NEWTs and was off to Italy for a Double Mastery in Potions and Transfiguration), and he felt that he needed to get his grades up rather than spend twelve or more hours a week on Quidditch. Marcus, who was likewise feeling the pressure of his own upcoming NEWTs, was in no position to complain. Consequently, there were two open spots on the Slytherin team: Chaser and Seeker. Harry and Draco were trying out for both spots, as was Cassius Warrington, a Fourth Year. Unlike the Malfoys, the Warringtons were never accused of being actual Death Eaters, but like the Bletchleys and Harpers, they definitely had Pureblood sympathies. A few other Snakes would be trying out, but those three were clearly the ones to beat.

As Marcus explained how the tryouts for the open positions would work, Harry noticed that Bletchley was giving him an ugly look. Finally, at the end of his speech, Marcus asked if there were any questions, and he was surprised when his veteran Third Year Keeper raised his hand.

"Yeah, Bletchley?"

"When you're picking the newbies, will you take things like House loyalty into account?"

Marcus gave him an angry glare. "What the hell is that supposed to mean, Bletchley?"

"It means, Captain, that I don't know if I'm happy being on a team with someone who thinks I'm 'a bigoted lackey of a failed Dark Lord,'" replied the Pureblood as he glanced over at Harry. Both Draco and Warrington grumbled, as did a few of the older students.

Harry yawned in apparent boredom. "If you're referring to me with that crack, Bletchley, then I must say I'm surprised. I wasn't aware that your family had ever even followed Voldemort." Everyone flinched at the name and the group went quiet.

"You shouldn't say that name, Potter," said Warrington in a dangerous voice.

Harry looked back at him levelly. "Why not, Warrington? I'm not afraid of dead men. And anyway, I can't imagine why saying that name should offend anyone here. After all," he spared a glance towards Draco, "it's not as though any of our parents willingly served the man, right?"

Draco scowled. He'd been raised to believe in the Dark Lord's Pureblood philosophy ... as well as to believe that one day the Dark Lord would return. However, he also knew that denying such beliefs was the only thing that had kept his father out of Azkaban, a fact that left him unable to respond to Harry's comments.

"Enough," said Marcus. "I don't give a damn about what anyone's parents did, whether twelve years ago or earlier this morning. I want the best damned team I can get because I want to go out with another Quidditch Cup under my belt. If you want to refight the last war, do it somewhere else! Got it!"

Everyone grumbled an agreement, and at his command, they took to the air for the tryouts. By the end of the first hour, it was clear to everyone that, blood traitor or no, Harry Potter was an exceptionally talented Quidditch player. By the end of the second hour, both Draco and Warrington were visibly frustrated as it seemed almost certain that Harry would make the team, and it was now a contest between the two of them for whichever spot Harry didn't want. Of the two, Draco was a much better Seeker, but Warrington edged him slightly as a Chaser. At the end of tryouts, Marcus pulled Harry aside.

"Alright, Potter. Time for you to decide. You've got your pick of Seeker or Chaser."

Harry nodded. Humility was not a prized attribute among Slytherins, and he didn't waste Flint's time by pretending that he wasn't the best candidate for either of the two slots. "Who do you see taking the other slot?"

Flint exhaled. "Malfoy's a better Seeker than Warrington is a Chaser. Gotta say, though, I'm a bit worried about the possible complications of Malfoy on the team."

"How so?" asked Harry.

The other boy looked around to make certain they were not being observed. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone until after I've announced the new team members, but Lucius Malfoy donated a set of new brooms to the team. Nimbus 2001s."

Harry whistled. "Conditional on his son making the team?"

"That's just it. He made it very clear that it was not conditional on Draco making the team. He said he'd be pleased if Draco made it on, but only if I was 100% sure he was the absolute best person for the spot. In fact, he said he'd rather Draco not make the team at all rather than make it and embarrass the family by not being qualified and getting on just because of his name. It was like ... like if I didn't think Draco was essential to the team, then he was actually bribing me to keep Draco off!" Marcus thought for a minute. "Oh, and he also said not to tell anybody any of that, so don't go blabbing."

Harry brow furrowed at the new information, and he turned to look at Draco who was standing across the field with Warrington and Bletchley. "And even if Draco does make it on through merit, everyone else will just assume it was due to his father's gift," he thought to himself. "What is Lucius Malfoy's game?"

"So anyway, it all comes down to you, Potter. What position do you want?"

Harry turned back to Flint with a thoughtful expression on his face.

5 September 1992

Bright and early on Saturday morning, the Slytherin team was en route to the pitch when they crossed paths with the Gryffindors who were doing the same. Immediately, the Lions' high-strung captain, Oliver Wood, threw a tantrum.

"But, I booked the pitch! I BOOKED IT!" he said with steam practically coming out of his ears. Naturally, Marcus knew perfectly well that Oliver had booked the pitch with Madame Hooch for this morning. That was why he went behind her back to Snape for a note that gave him priority.

"Sorry, Wood. We need the practice time. We've got a new Seeker, a new Chaser and ... a set of seven shiny new Nimbus 2001s to break in." The Gryffindors instantly started grumbling at that news, particularly Jim.

"Yeah, well, at least no one on our team had to buy their way on," he said contemptuously.

"Says the only Gryffindor whose father bought him a Nimbus 2000 last year," replied Harry with a laugh. "Why don't you just get Daddy to buy a set of Nimbuses for the whole Gryffindor team if you have such ... broom envy." The other Slytherins snickered rudely at that.

"That's disgusting," said Jim. "And typical. There's never been a Slytherin with any class and there never will be."

Harry laughed at his twin. Behind Jim, Harry noticed that both George and Fred both frowned at his brother's blanket insult of the entire Slytherin House. He turned to his teammates. "Flint? Malfoy? A word, please?"

The three stepped away while the Gryffindors and the other Slytherins postured towards each other. Then, after barely half a minute, they came back.

"How about this compromise, Wood?" said Flint with a somewhat malicious smile. "Instead of fighting over who gets the pitch, why don't we share it? We'll have a pick-up game. See how our two Seekers compare to one other." With that, he put his arm around Harry's shoulder like the boy was a beloved sibling.

"You're the Slytherin Seeker?!" exclaimed Jim.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how I stack up against you in the air ... Little Brother." Harry gave his best Slytherin sneer.

"You're on!"

"Potter!" snapped Oliver Wood. "That's not your call!"

"Come on, Wood!" said Flint with a smile. "This way, we both get a practice in this morning. What's the harm? Unless you don't think you're ready for us, of course."

Oliver snarled at his rival. "We're always ready for the likes of you, Flint!"

And to be honest, it looked like the Gryffindors were indeed ready for their rivals. The pick-up game lasted most of the morning, and the Gryffindors dominated almost from the start. While Flint and Pucey had developed considerable teamwork since the year before, Draco was clearly not Chaser material and was completely unable to help them set up plays, let alone play any sort of competent defense against the well-oiled machine of Spinnet, Johnson and Bell. Miles Bletchley had definitely improved as Keeper, but he wasn't nearly as skilled as the obsessive and far more experienced Oliver Wood. Bole and Derrick, likewise, were not quite a match for the Weasley Twins and their uncanny ability to set one another up for well-timed Bludger attacks.

But the biggest problem for the Snakes seemed to be with the Seeker position. Jim struggled not to laugh at his older brother's inattention, as Harry spent nearly all his time watching the game below instead of looking for the Snitch. True, whenever Jim spotted it, Harry reacted quickly enough, but spotting the Snitch first was a huge advantage, and Harry's lack of attention allowed Jim to claim the Snitch in three out of four matches, with Harry's one win mainly a matter of lucky positioning rather than superior skill. When the teams finally broke for lunch, it was a subdued Slytherin team that headed towards the locker rooms. Cassius Warrington and some of his Pureblood friends were waiting for them at the door with smug expressions.

"What do you want, Warrington?" snarled Flint.

Warrington looked down his nose at the Captain. "To see if you'd come to your senses and realized the mistake you've made. It should be obvious that the blood traitor has no business being on the team."

Harry just shook his head. "It was only a pick-up game, Warrington," he said mildly.

"That doesn't matter. It was obvious that you're no match for your brother." He turned to Flint. "Malfoy should be Seeker, I should be Chaser, and the blood traitor should be off scrubbing toilets or fraternizing with Mudbloods or something."

Flint's face hardened as he debated whether to punch Warrington's lights out, when a rather tired Draco finally spoke up. "Warrington, I am the Seeker. Potter's the Chaser. We just swapped positions for this morning."

"What?!" Warrington's face went from person to person in confusion. "But why would you do that? Why would you sacrifice a chance to use your best players against the Gryffindors?"

"Because we're Slytherins, Warrington," said Harry as if speaking to a small child. "And real Slytherins know when a victory matters and when it's meaningless and can be sacrificed for a greater purpose." Harry moved around Warrington to enter the locker room.

"I don't follow," said Warrington in confusion.

"Of course not," said Harry as he passed inside. "I said real Slytherins."

An hour later, after a shower and a quick lunch, it was a much more upbeat Slytherin team that congregated in the Seventh Year prefect's office. There, while partaking of butterbeer and snacks that had been smuggled into the dungeons, they took turns over the next four hours sticking their heads into Harry's penseive and taking careful notes as they reviewed Potter's remarkably vivid memories of every single play the Gryffindors made.

6 September 1992

8:00 a.m.

The next morning as Harry was heading to Sunday breakfast, he saw a new and fairly large posting on the Slytherin bulletin board. It was the results of Lockhart's quiz. Harry was pleased to see that he had made the list of students who had scored high enough to avoid mandatory early morning P.E., but he was intrigued by his appointment to "Research Team Protector." Apparently, each of the teams had snazzy code names, including Team Recall, Team Backdoor, Team Counterstrike, Team Chameleon, and, most interestingly, Team Mysterioso, among a few others others. Marcus was also on Team Protector, while Blaise was on Team Recall, Draco was on Team Counterstrike and, to his surprise, Ginny was on Team Mysterioso, the only Slytherin First Year to make the cut. There were several other older Slytherins named who were not a part of his circle, most notably Warrington, who was on Team Backdoor. Harry was less pleased to see that the "organizational meeting" for Team Protector was later that afternoon at 4 p.m., as he'd planned to spend the afternoon flying.

1:00 p.m.

"TBD"

At one o'clock, Hermione Granger entered the DADA class room to find that it was empty. Her name had been listed among the Gryffindors who would serve on Lockhart's research teams, but she was somewhat perturbed to see that next to her name the sheet simply said "TBD – see Lockhart at 1:00 p.m. today." She was a bit nervous to see that she was the only "TBD" among the Gryffindors and even more so now that she realized she was the only one among the entire student body. At that point, the door to Lockhart's office opened up and the man entered with his usual flair.

"Ah, Miss Granger. Thank you for joining me. Please take a seat." She dutifully did so. "Now, I suppose you're wondering why you're here alone. Be not afraid! As it turns out, you not only have the highest grade of any DADA student below Fifth Year, you also demonstrated some specialized knowledge that I believe makes you eligible to participate in not one but two of my research projects. I asked you to come here today to determine which one you would like to join." Hermione smiled and relaxed at that, as Lockhart continued. "Actually, to be honest, I asked you here to see if I could persuade you to participate in both of them. I know that doing so might represent a significant time investment for you, and I cannot give you extra points for participating in both projects as that would be unfair, I think, to your fellow students. Nevertheless, the two projects I have in mind might actually have some relationship to one another, and I think it might be beneficial to have someone on both teams who can look for common ground. Naturally, you would only have to submit one paper at the end of the year and would have your pick of which of the two projects you wished to write about."

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise. She was accustomed to being an overachiever but seldom had teachers willing to push her to this degree. "Well, Professor Lockhart, before I decide, I'd like to know a bit more about the projects, if that's okay."

"Certainly, Miss Granger. But first, answer me this question: How did you know my favorite color was lilac?"

She blinked in surprise. "Well ... it was in one of your books."

"Yes, but where specifically?"

Mildly confused by the question, Hermione closed her eyes and tried to remember. "I believe it was Visiting with Vampires, Chapter 19. You mentioned it was your favorite color when you were complementing the gown worn by Elizabeth Bathory, the Vampire Queen of Hungary."

"Indeed. And, just between us, my favorite color is actually emerald green. I just thought it prudent to exercise some politesse in that situation lest my bloodless corpse be found floating in the Danube. Next question: How did you know when my birthday was?"

"Gadding with Ghouls, Chapter 12. The hotel concierge in Monte Carlo wished you a happy birthday."

"Ah, yes. Good old Armand. But – the actual date wasn't mentioned in that chapter, was it?"

"No, sir, but the date was mentioned in Chapter 13, the events of which took place one day later."

Lockhart laughed. "Excellent, Miss Granger, excellent. As I suspected, you have an eidetic memory or something close to it. Which is why I would like for you to consider becoming a member of Research Team Recall. Team Recall is devoted to the study of memory charms, both how to better defend against them and how to more easily recover from them. Naturally, someone with your particular gifts would be a great boon to such research."

At that, Hermione found herself mildly shocked. Like Harry, she'd thought the personal questions about Lockhart were a sign of his vanity. It had not occurred to her that the answers to those questions were buried in Lockhart's books as trivia and that only someone with an exceptional memory might have recalled them. Her estimation of the Professor suddenly rose several notches.

"Thank you, sir. And the other project?"

Lockhart hesitated. "Miss Granger, before I get into that, I must ask: Do you consider Miss Luna Lovegood to be a friend? Or, if not a friend exactly, then at least someone towards whom you feel protective?"

"Well, sir... to be honest, I haven't known Miss Lovegood for very long ... but yes, I do consider her a friend, and I suppose I am a bit protective of her." She paused and frowned. "Does this have something to do with ... nargles, sir?"

He smiled. "Very astute, Miss Granger. Out of the entire student body, only eight students gave any meaningful response to the question about nargles and wrackspurts, seven of whom gave a vague description followed by some variation on 'they're things that Luna Lovegood believes in.' The eighth student was Miss Lovegood herself, who provided three feet of parchment about the creatures, including fairly detailed drawings. She also wrote very approvingly of the 'orderly and disciplined' nature of your own nargles and wrackspurts which is another reason why I decided to approach you about this team."

"Professor Lockhart," Hermione began somewhat uncertainly, "are you saying that nargles and wrackspurts are ... real?"

He shrugged. "Honestly, Miss Granger? I don't know. That's why I asked the question." He rose from his desk and went over to a cabinet from which he withdrew what looked like a fairly old and battered Care of Magical Creatures text book. From the cover, she saw that the title was Beasts of the Magical World, Grade 5 by Edwina Farnsby.

"After I accepted my position here at Hogwarts, I decided to dig some old textbooks and class notes that had been put up in storage at Gringotts and refamiliarize myself with the curriculum as it was taught during my school days. It took a while to get them – my family has a history of ... protectiveness when it comes to our vaults, and I had to pass through a number of powerful and somewhat experimental wards in the process. As I was reviewing my old CoMC books looking for information about various creatures that might be relevant, I came across several entries on nargles, wrackspurts and certain other types of mind-affecting creatures that apparently are completely undetectable by magical or mundane means save for a rare few wizards and witches with the innate power to see them. But what was most intriguing about these entries is that I had absolutely no recollection of studying these creatures before even though there were notes written in the margin in my own hand!"

"Intrigued by that, as I normally have a very good memory, I began researching for these creatures elsewhere but could find no references to them from any other source. Not in any of Scamander's books nor in Lima's. Not even in the Encyclopedia Magica. I even wrote to Edwina Farnsby herself to ask about the creatures that she had previously written about and got a Howler in reply from the old witch telling me off for wasting her time with such nonsense! After that, I finally tracked down a second copy of Magical Beasts of the World, Grade 5 that was published in the same year as the one from my vault, and do you know what I found?"

Hermione shook her head.

"The pages that had been devoted to nargles and wrackspurts in my copy of the book had been replaced in the other by completely different content detailing the various uses of flubberworm mucous!" Lockhart shook his head. "It's a remarkable mystery, Miss Granger, one for which I can only divine two possible solutions. One is that someone somewhere is playing an incredibly elaborate practical joke on me, one which involves Luna Lovegood and which apparently required the perpetrators to infiltrate my Gringotts vault!"

"And the other solution, Professor?" Hermione said in bafflement.

He sighed. "That wrackspurts and nargles do exist, and someone has gone to extraordinary lengths to make the entire world forget about them," he said simply.

Hermione simply stared at her professor, flabbergasted at the idea of a conspiracy so bizarre that it made the existence of Blibbering Humdingers seem tame in comparison.

The next chapter will be uploaded on Friday, October 23, 2015. "Team-Building Exercises (Pt. 2)," in which Harry and Draco each make unexpected alliances, while the students of Hogwarts are introduced to ping pong and Patronuses.

AN 1: In the "next time" blurb for the previous chapter, I said that Draco finds himself in unfamiliar territory. After posting that, I realized that this chapter was much longer than I had intended. The Draco scene I was alluding to will appear at the start of the next chapter.