Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Quidditch
[Page 193 - Quidditch]
"Finally we are going to listen to some nice, non-life threatening, fun stuff." James sighed in relief, not noticing Harry's friends' grimaces. "I mean, how could Quidditch be dangerous? Yeah, maybe you might get hit by a Bludger once or twice but nothing serious, right?" He looked around, his hope vanishing as he took in people's expressions. "...Right?"
"James, Quidditch is played on brooms without anything to protect them should they fall, and did I ever mention Harry did exactly that because of the dementors in his third year?" Remus asked rhetorically and sympathetically patted his rapidly paling friend's back. "I know, I know. It gave me a heart attack, watching him tumble from the sky, but Dumbledore managed to slow him down in time." For some reason, that didn't seem to reassure him at all.
"Please tell me there won't be any dementors attacking my son in this." Lily pleaded and Sirius was quick to answer her. "There won't be any dementors attacking Harry. Yet." He added, only realizing his mistake when she started tugging handful of hair in agitation.
"I just know I'm going to have grey hairs before we even go through half of this blasted book."
"Same here."
[Page 195 - "He's just made that rule up," Harry muttered angrily as Snape limped away. "Wonder what's wrong with his leg?"]
"Why is Snape limping?" Lavender wondered, cocking her head.
"Shouldn't you say, 'why was Snape limping'? It did happen in the past, after all." Parvati commented, protesting when her friend swatted at her. "Who cares? I'm trying to solve this mystery here!"
"Yeah, right." Parvati scoffed, batting away the other girl's hand. "Like you of all people can solve it. Forgive me if I have hard time believing it."
"Hey! Watch what you are saying or you'll regret it." Lavender threatened. The other snorted at that, giving her a look. "Like you can beat me. You can barely master a spell during the DA class-"
She cut off quickly, painfully aware that she made Umbridge aware of their secret meetings and might have doomed her fellow classmates in the process as well. Gulping, she risked a slight glance at the DADA professor who, as suspected, was looking very giddy with anticipation.
"Excuse me, Miss. Patil?" She asked sweetly, her pink clipboard ready to record everything she said, word-by-word. "Care to elaborate?"
"Pardon?" Parvati, deciding playing dumb was the safest option, reasked, plastering an expression that displayed genuine curiosity. Judging from the winces and nervous fidgeting of the DA members, she wasn't as successful as she wished.
"The 'DA class', Miss. Patil." She prompted, her smile becoming more victorious victorious by every passing seconds. "Could you please explain?"
"Oh, that?" She gave a nervous laugh which might have been convincing if her voice hadn't been an octave higher than usual. It would have helped if she stopped stammering and constantly wringing her hands. "It's just, uh, nothing really. Just a, um-"
"It's our study group." Harry piped in as it was clear the Ravenclaw won't be fairing any longer. Mustering up every lying and acting skills he used in the Dursleys', Harry squared his shoulders and met the woman's sharp gaze. As annoying as she was, she wasn't stupid and he couldn't let her punish his friends without at least trying to stop it. "It's actually an initial for...Data Analyse. We go over the information we've read in DADA and analyse it so we can perfect our knowledge on the spells."
Tense silence followed for the next few minutes as Umbridge squinted at him suspiciously from the High Table, trying to find any hint of lying. Harry, in return, met her gaze squarely and didn't waver, almost daring her to say something. But truthfully, he was sweating inside, praying to every gods he knew that she would just let the matter drop. To his utmost relief, Umbridge sniffed and broke their gaze, apparently buying the story. For now, at least.
He could see the members of DA visibly slumping, letting out relieved breaths. But their good mood instantly vanished when the DADA Professor called out again. "That is still punishable, Mr. Potter, as it was stated in Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four, all student organizations are henceforth disbanded and everyone associated to that organization without approval of the High Inquisitor, which is myself, will be expelled."
Harry's stomach dropped, dread filling him in. He couldn't trick his way out of this one and it seemed that the best solution was to take as much blame as he could on himself so the others won't be punished as harshly. Just as he opened his mouth, Hermione - who, along with Ron, would've figured out what he was going to do - beat him to it.
"But Professor Umbridge," Hermione quickened her speech as the said woman tried to silence her. "In it, you specified the student organization as 'a regular meeting of three or more students', which DA isn't. See, when the 'members' of DA meet, it's just a student with good grades teaching another student. It's like one-to-one mentoring, so there were only two students meeting each time and those meetings weren't even regular. We had to find a free time for both student so we only had three 'meetings' until now. So you can't punish us and besides, we are using our free time to study more. Shouldn't that be a thing to be complimented?"
Stumped, Umbridge spluttered angrily as she tried to find a fault in her logic. Hermione, like Harry did before, looked at her straight in her eyes, practically radiating determination and defiance.
"Well, you can't argue with that, Dolores." Professor McGonagall cut in smoothly, her gaze cold as she looked down at her colleague. "They are studying when they could have been goofing around instead. I think that's an act to be encouraged, not get punished for."
"I agree." Professor Sprout voiced her opinion as well, smiling frostily as Umbridge's face turned red from anger. "You wouldn't expel them for trying to get good grades, would you?"
"No, of course not." Umbridge smiled back, but it was clear it was forced from how it was strained and twisted that it looked more like a grimace. Then, she turned to address Harry and Hermione, her eyes looking like they were on fire from the pure hate it held. "Well, then. You won't be expelled but since you did break the rule, I will take hundred points each for Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, Ms. Brown and Ms. Patil."
Harry winced as he could literally hear the gems in the Gryffindor hourglass clanking against each other as they made their way up, disappearing. Just great. Three hundred points lost in a day. That must be a record. But he supposed it was much better than getting expelled. Much better.
"What were you thinking?" Hermione hissed like a cat as soon as Umbridge turned her attention back to the book. "Don't you dare play dumb with me, Harry. I know you. You were trying to take all the blame so we won't get expelled for it. When would you stop trying to play hero and ask for help when you need it?"
"Sorry." Harry murmured, hiding a wince. "I know, I know, I shouldn't have tried to do that but can you blame me for trying to stop her from expelling everyone? You know she would have happily done it in a heartbeat if she got a chance. Nice save, by the way. Didn't know you could lie that well."
"I'm not all goody two shoes, as you should know by now." Hermione huffed, rolling her eyes. "Don't you remember the time me lying to the professors after the whole troll incident? Anyways, you really should stop trying to do things alone. We won't hestiate for even a second to help you, unless of course it's something really insane and suicidal. Friends are for that kind of things, helping each other and sometimes knocking some sense into you. You probably go into habit of doing by yourself because of the Dursleys-"
She stopped, looking shocked that she said that aloud. Harry could vaguely sense that he had tensed as soon as she said his relatives' name and forced himself to relax, if only to not make Hermione more guilty than she already was. She looked like she was ready to cry or apologize over and over or possibly both. With a sigh, he ran his hand through his hair, feeling his messy locks, and tried to reassure her and the others around who was listening in, though they were polite enough to look away. Or that might just be because they were trying not to irritate him more so he won't explode on them. "Look, Hermione, I appreciate you concern, but I just-" He stopped, wringing his hands nervously. "I guess you are right about that. In the Dursleys, I had to do things on my own and now-I can't just change overnight. You know that. I'll try, that much I can promise you, but this habit-it will take a long time to change."
"Well, we'll be besides you all the time and we'll be damned if we let you down." Ron piped in with a grin, the others quickly nodding to show their agreements. "Enough with the sensitive stuff for now. What you guys did back there, that was bloody awesome! I didn't know you guys had it in you."
"We agree." Fred scooted over, his trademark cheshire cat grin on his face. "That was absolutely amazing. Remind me just why we didn't include you guys in our prank earlier?"
"I have no idea." George muttered, looking star-struck. "I mean, seriously? I feel so idiotic that I hadn't noticed these great potentials when they were right next to me."
"Tell me about it." Fred sighed morosely, squinting at the two very uncomfortable Gryffindors. "But I suppose since they are so talented, we can shape them up into good pranksters even if we train them starting now." He sighed, looking like a person who just lost everything. "Why didn't we notice you two earlier? You could've been the greatest pranksters ever lived! Well, except for us and the Marauders, of course, but still. Such a big loss."
"Wait, don't we get to have a say about this?" Hermione exclaimed, flabbergasted.
"No."
"For some reason I knew you would say that." Harry scowled half-heartedly at them who just smiled back cheekily.
"Honestly, you guys were great! Granted, the professors helped, but you still stumped Umbridge back there. Way to show her, eh?" Neville grinned, looking amused.
"By the way, you have lots of praises waiting." Ginny announced and Harry turned to see that, indeed, the members of DA were all waving - discreetly, of course. It won't be good to let Umbridge notice them - at their direction, giving them thumbs-ups and grins. Heck, even Slytherins were looking impressed and two of them - Harry vaguely recalled the older girl was Daphne Greengrass and the younger girl Astoria - went as far as giving him a curt nod and a smile. Just as he registered that Slytherins had acknowledged him that wasn't hatred, Sirius tackled him from behind, his hand ruffling his hair so that his already messy locks went wild.
"Oh, I'm so proud of you, Harry! You just lied fluently and flawlessly! I knew you were a prankster at heart, I never doubted it! See, Remmy? I told you he was a troublemaker, didn't I? I told you!"
"Alright, Sirius. Let the poor boy breathe." Remus said and Harry scowled as he realized he sounded way too amused when his life was squeezed out of him by his own godfather. Wasn't godfathers supposed to not let their godsons get hurt and not the other way around? Still, Sirius - who was still grinning widely - let go of him and Harry had few seconds to get his bearings back only to get tackled again by his father.
"IknewitIknewitIknewitIknewit! I knew you were just like me and I told your mother but she never listened, always saying you weren't as insane as me and all those things but I knew you were just like me the moment you were born, I knew it!" He crowed triumphantly, looking delightened. Harry could swear that he was literally vibrating and he was losing the feelings of his torso from how his upper part of his body was squashed against his father's chest. Fortunately, his mother spared him from suffocating as she smacked the back of her husband's head, rolling her eyes exasperatedly. "James, that's enough. We heard you loud and clear the first time you said, 'I knew it'."
"Thank you." Harry sighed in relief as he nursed his arms to stop the tingling sensation he was having. "Geez, I didn't know lying was a thing for celebration."
"Not to most people." Lily said, amused as she watched James, Sirius and the Weasley twins doing their victory dance, oblivious of the weird stares they were getting. "I, for one, don't like it but I guess I can let this one slide."
"We've gotten off track very quickly, hadn't we?" Luna blinked, looking puzzled. "I didn't know talking about why Professor Snape was limping would end up with Harry and Hermione getting cheered because they lied to their professor. Is that a normal occurence?"
"Um, no. Now that I think about it, why aren't anyone wondering about that, anyways?" Harry frowned, cocking his head like a confused puppy.
"Because we know you'll figure that out eventually, duh." Ernie replied off-handedly, not taking his gaze off the book. Harry blinked.
[Page 196 - One of his legs was bloody and mangled..."How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?"]
Students gasped in horror as they realized the same thing as the book-Harry.
"Snape was trying to go past that three-headed dog!" Terry exclaimed loudly, his eyes as wide as saucers. "He was the one who let the troll in! To steal whatever the the Cerberus was guarding."
"Now don't get too hasty." Lisa frowned as she concentrated and Terry could almost hear the gears in her head spinning hundred miles an hour. "We don't know for sure if he was there for bad intention. The only solid fact is that he went to that room and got bitten. You can't just conclude he went there to steal that package and if he really wanted to be succesful, shouldn't he have prepared better? I mean, he obviously knew that the Cerberus was guarding it, so why wouldn't he at least have a spell ready to defend himself against it? And why didn't he attack, anyways? I'm sure he knows dozens of useful offensive spells. Maybe he was sent by the Headmaster to check the room?"
"But why would Professor Dumbledore need the room checked? Isn't a giant, three-headed dog enough security?" Terry countered but Lisa shook her head.
"But that package, whatever it might be, would have to be very important for Professor Dumbledore to set Hagrid to retrieve it and place it in Hogwarts which, mind you, is the safest place in the world. And don't forget that failed attempt of robbing Gringotts. Someone tried to steal that package and probably would try again. Which is why the Headmaster is making sure nobody tried going into the room while the troll acted as a diversion!"
"But it could be Snape who planned the whole thing so he could steal it."
"Maybe, but-"
"Hem hem."
The two Ravenclaws startled and blushed furiously as they realized they had everyone's sole attention. Now they knew what Harry felt like everyday and it wasn't as nice as they imagined it would be.
"Great deductions, Mr. Boot and Ms. Turpin." Professor McGonagall praised lightly, a shadow of smile visible on her lips, though no one knew for sure whether it was from fondness of the two students or amusement of their reactions. Other professors smiled at them as well, Professor Flitwick more so than the others.
"Thank you." They squeaked, covering their flaming hot faces.
"They're not Ravenclaws for nothing." Ron whispered to Harry and Hermione, who had to agree. They were getting really close to the truth without every clues. If only they thought it through like them, they wouldn't have encountered half of the troubles they got themselves into during their first year. Granted, they couldn't exactly keep a cool head with all the life-threatening situations and adrenalin but still.
[Page 197 - "Harry, you need your strength," said Seamus Finnigan. "Seekers are always the ones who get nobbled by the other team."]
"Gee, Seamus, what a great way to encourage an already frightened kid." Dean rolled his eyes, sarcasm clear in his tone. "Really? You know that won't help him calm down a bit. Heck, it will only freak him out even more."
Seamus sniffed, pointedly ignoring his friend in favor of observing Harry. He had been very rude to the Gryffindor lately, and he had a very good reason. Or at least, he thought so. When he started saying You-Know-Who was back and the Headmaster fully supported it without a second thought, he followed his mother's and majority of public's opinion, branding him as an attention-seeking liar. It seemed reasonable, at the time, but now after hearing his life he wasn't so sure. Thinking back, he didn't want to believe him because he was scared. He heard the tales of what You-Know-Who did to wizards and witches who weren't a pure-blood and he was downright terrified that it might happen to him and his family. He guessed it was kind of cowardly and foolish since denying something because he didn't want to believe it didn't make it stop being the truth. That is, if he was being truthful and not insane or anything.
"Ack!"
Just then, Harry let out a rather unmanly yelp as his father - who was dead and now just...not. Wow, that was a whole new level of weird - squashed him, crowing about how he knew he would make him proud and even if he didn't win, he'll still be proud though he knew there was no way he'll lose after listening to how easily he rode a broom. Really, it seemed that Potter's father was the one who wasn't entirely sane, not the other way around. At the moment, Harry looked like an average teenager, surrounded by his friends and family, laughing and joking without a care for the world. Now that he thought about it, he didn't think he've seen him this carefree since...ever. It seemed like there was always something that troubled him now that he thought back. This year had been tougher than last four years since everyone except for few had been avoiding him or downright antagonizing him, himself included.
But the bloody book was making him doubt judgment and he had no idea how he should act. He felt completely lost, struggling between supporting his mother's presumption and believing Harry, like some of them were doing. He didn't know what he should think. Should he trust Harry's statement and prepare for the possible war against Voldemort or should he listen to the Ministry and about their declaration about how Dumbledore was losing his touch and Harry was just a power hungry boy, willing to do anything to get attention?
"I swear, if you two don't let go of me right now, I will turn your hair into green and silver and charm your clothes to say, 'Slytherins are the best!'."
Seamus couldn't stop his lips turning upwards as Harry threatened his father and his godfather, who were the most immature adults he'd ever met, to let go of him. The duo stopped smothering the exasperated teen so quickly that they almost tripped on themselves, grinning sheepishly though no trace of apology could be seen for squeezing the life out of the raven-haired teen. He would deal with those ominous thoughts. Right now, he was going to enjoy the surprisingly humorous bickerings of Harry and his friends.
[Page 199 - Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle. Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air. They were off.]
James and Sirius gave a loud cheer.
"Yeah, go Harry!"
"Would you please cheer without blowing my eardrums in the process?" Remus winced, rubbing his right ear which was yelled straight at by Sirius. Thanks to the wolf side of him, he had much better sight and hearing than normal human, which unfortunately meant it could be easily damaged by his loud and obnoxious friend. The said dog-animagi gave a grin, not apologetic in the slightest. "What? We are hearing about Harry's first Quidditch game. This is a moment that deserves to be recorded! Why don't people write about this stuff and not about those boring things about goblins?"
"Sirius, you always say it's a moment worthy to be in historical record if it has anything to do with Harry."
"Can you blame me? It's Harry!"
"You do realize you just sounded like a fangirl with extreme obession."
"I wasn't fangirling. I was fangodfather-ing!"
"...Right. I'm just going to ignore the sheer idiocity and ridiculousness of that statement."
Harry rolled his eyes at their antics, half-exasperated and half-amused. Sometimes, they were way more childish than actual kids. but he had to admit they were really fun to listen to. He guessed Hermione, Ron and himself sounded like that when they were arguing. Huh, so that was why people seemed so amused while they were mock-insulting each other. He started when his father started yelling advices and orders - "No, no, don't let them take the Quaffle!" "Great move! Now just shoot! Come on, the distance can't be that long, score! YES!" - at the book and shook his head ruefully. It seemed Oliver Wood's obession for Quidditch had a competitor which he didn't think it was possible. He shuddered as he thought what kind of training his father must have had thought of when he was the Quidditch Captain. He really pitied the poor souls who had the unfortunate luck of being in the Gryffindor Quidditch team during that time.
The Gryffindors cheered along with their book-selves, excited despite the fact that this all happened years ago and they already knew the outcome. Slytherins were scowling moodily as they thought back to getting beaten.
"Oh, come one, don't be like that." Harry grinned cheekily. "Where are your good sportsmanship?"
"Shut up, Potter." Draco scowled, glaring darkly at the Gryffindor. Thus, the start of the verbal fight. But it was different from their ususal banter as they found themselves actually enjoying their exchange of sarcastic insults. It certainly helped that they weren't on each other's throat, ready to kill each other at sight. Harry's lip twitched upward in a smirk while Draco's eyebrow rose up, a bit impressed that the Gryffindor could keep up with his sarcasm. Not many could do that before they either exploded from anger or turned into bright red from embarrassment. Well, Harry Potter was always full of surprises.
It took them several minutes to register that people were watching back and forth between them like a tennis match, some looking amused and some less so. They stopped, Harry grinning sheepishly while Draco leaned back with a smirk. Lily shook her head, exasperated.
"I don't even know what to say anymore."
"Yeah. I mean, it sounded you two were trying to tear each other apart by antagonizing each other yet you two didn't seem to mind a bit." Ron scrunched his face, confused beyond hope. "What the hell? How is that even possible?"
"Not everyone lacks that many brain cells as you do, Weasley." Draco retorted, idly picking his fingernail. He smirked as his words caused the reaction he was hoping for. Ron spluttered angrily, his ears slowly becoming pink. Harry shot him a look that clearly said, 'stop trying to rile him up', but the blond boy chose to ignore him. Mentally rolling his eyes at his - enemy's? friend's? - behavior, Harry tried to calm his friend. "Woah, Ron, slow down. It's not really a big deal. We were just having a...friendly verbal sparring, yeah, that's it. Nothing to get upset about."
"How can you use the word 'friendly' when you are describing Malfoy?" Ron exclaimed, horrified. Harry facepalmed.
[Page 203 - Harry's broom had given a wild jerk and Harry swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand.]
A strangled scream escaped Lily's mouth as she stared at the book, frozen in her seat, scared out of her mind for fear of her son's safety. James was in no better condition. Blood had drained out of his face while he listened, horrified, to yet another life-threatening situation his son once again found himself in. The Potters were now getting what people meant by Harry being a trouble magnet. It seemed that he couldn't live normal - well, as normal as it could be for a wizard - and peaceful life for a single month! They just knew they were going to have grey hairs all over before they were even forty.
Wordlessly, Remus, who apparently was the only one with operating brain, handed out some Calming Draughts for them which they took gratefully. He knew by firsthand that that wasn't the last time Harry nearly got killed during Quidditch games - he could swear his heart had stopped for a minute when he saw Harry tumbling towards the ground with dementors at his tail - but that didn't make hearing his near-death experience any easier. In fact, it made the whole thing even worse. Well, at least he wasn't watching it, so that was something but knowing his luck, they would probably end up watching a movie or something. Wow, his life sucked. He briefly wondered if he had to worry for his mental state that he was considering watching his honorary godson's life was worse than getting bitten by a werewolf.
"How come nobody told me anything about this?" Ginny exclaimed, wincing and flinching everytime the book-broom gave a jerk, threatening to shake Harry off.
"Do you want a honest answer or an answer that's not so truthful but that won't give you a heart attack?" Ron asked, wincing sympathetically when the youngest Weasley gave a groan and slumped forward, burying her head into her arms. Sirius, who was whimpering for the past minutes, grimaced and answered instead. "I know I'm seriously going to regret this but, the honest answer, please?"
"Well, that wasn't the most dangerous stunt we pulled that year, so it really isn't an understatement that whole incident hadn't even occurred to us at the end of the semester." Ron scratched his head ruefully as people stared at him open-mouthed while Sirius returned to his whimpering and Ginny buried her head again as if to block the world out. "I know, I also wonder how our life had turned into this mess."
"Do you have the answer?"
"Uh, my best guess would be that it's because we are friend of Harry." Ron shrugged and let out a rather unmanly yelp as Harry smacked him. "What? It's true!"
"At least your life isn't boring." Luna commented, blinking owlishly. "I believe if you were to sell this as a story, it will be very popular."
"Do I need to feel proud that people enjoys reading my life or annoyed that they seemed to find me struggling entertaining?"
[Page 204 - "I knew it," Hermione gasped. "Snape...He's doing something - jinxing the broom."]
"WHAT?!"
Three fourth of the student population yelled in shock, eyes widening as they glanced fearfully at Snape. He merely sneered at them, making it clear that he would hex them without hestiation. That quickly made them turn away, but it didn't stop them from whispering to each other about the new found information. James and Sirius were the most loud and agressive ones.
"How dare he!" James fumed, looking downright murderous. "How dare he to even think about harming my son! I swear, if Harry got even a single scratch because of him, I will kill him!"
"Severus wouldn't have intentionally hurt Harry." Lily shook his, frowning. Snape twitched, honestly surprised. After all those years, and she still defended him, believing in him. He mentally cringed when he imagined what her reaction would be if she learned how he was treating her son. Old friend or not, she was still a mother at heart and add the infamous Evans temper and no one - even the Dark Lord himself - would survive her wrath.
"But didn't you just hear that? He was jinxing Harry's broom!" Sirius waved his arms around as emphasis, deep growl rumbling in his chest as he glared darkly at the Potions Master. It was times like this when Harry could see why some believed he was capable of murder. He looked absolutely livid, his eyes glinting in near insanity from the sheer fury, his fist clenched so tight that he feared his fingernails would break the skin and draw out blood. He knew Sirius was protective of him, especially after losing his best friends by a betrayal of another best friend, but apparently he didn't know the extend of it. To think that he was actually considering killing someone just because he feared Harry got injured because of that person... Harry knew he shouldn't feel happy but he just couldn't help it. Harry felt good because he had someone by him that actually gave a damn about him for the first time in his life. Oh, Hermione and Ron cared for him, there was no doubt about that, but they were hardly an adult figure that he could look up to. Now he finally knew what it felt like to have a family that will support him, no matter what.
"Don't you realize? He tried to kill Harry!" Harry was startled out of his thoughts as his godfather yelled, looking frustrated. Apparently, the downside of having adults looking out for him was that they could be very paranoid and unreasonable sometimes. He could use the word 'paranoid' but to be fair, he did have the worst luck. So he supposed the saying 'better be safe than sorry' suited him and he couldn't exactly complain about them being cautious.
"Why don't you just ask them?" Charlie gestured to the three Gryffindors, looking exasperated. He, too, was anxious to hear that someone tried to kill Harry but he knew arguing with each other wasn't going to solve anything. Besides, if they just asked they would get some answers and discover who's responsible. That was when they should plan revenge but for now, he was content with having a cool head and diffusing the tension.
"Well, then, did Snape actually try to kill you?" James asked, his fingers itching towards to his wand, ready to hex him into oblivion. Sirius would have done the same but he didn't have his wand at the moment so he settled for glaring daggers at the Potions Master. Even Remus, who was probably the most calm-headed person of the group, was growling menancingly, his eyes flashing amber and baring his teeth. Harry could see the wolf side of usually gentle man and now he knew why most wizards were so afraid of werewolves. Their other side was vicious, unforgiving and absolutely merciless when he felt slightest hint of threat of danger to him or his pack. Though Harry knew their anger wasn't directed to him, he had to suppress a flinch at their heated glares. He almost felt bad for everyone who hadn't treated him nicely as he was sure his family - and his friends, of course - would tear into them ruthlessly.
"It wasn't him." Harry quickly assured them, his lips twitching when he caught Snape relaxing so slightly that it was almost unnoticable. Unfortunately for him, the raven-haired teen did notice and he wasn't going to let him live it down for a while. Who knew the moody Potions Master was scared of his family? Well, his family consisted of a woman with fiery hair that matched her temper perfectly, three men who were the biggest troublemakers ever lived, one of them being a werewolf and two an animagus, a twin pranksters who never seemed to run out of prank ideas, the brightest witch of her age, the whole Weasley family with their infamous temper, shy Gryffindor who was not so shy when he was angry, and an odd Ravenclaw who might look harmless but had her own sort of ideas that the other people won't understand until it hit them, so he supposed it was a fair game. After all, even he would be scared out of his mind if they came for him.
"Then who was it?" Neville frowned, lowering his hand. He was gnawing on his nails as he recalled that particular event. It really wasn't a pleasant one and he was a bit annoyed that he didn't notice someone was jinxing Harry's broom. Granted, he was covering his eyes and whimpering - and could you blame him? Harry was inches away from falling to death and the only thing that prevented that was an out of control broom that was doing its best to throw its rider off - but still. It seemed that he was the only one missing all the details. Hell, the other three knew about the trapdoor the Cerberus was guarding while he had no clue. But he supposed it didn't matter as he wouldn't have went to their adventures either way.
The Golden Trio exchanged looks, then opened their mouth simultaneously to reply. "Not telling."
"Somehow, I already guessed that." Neville muttered, rolling his eyes. "Not spoiling the book and all that stuff, yeah?"
[Page 204 - Hermione had fought her way across to the stand where Snape stood...she didn't even stop to say sorry as she knocked Professor Quirrell headfirst into the row in front]
Hermione gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth. "Oh! So that's why the broom stopped! I was wondering about that for quite a while."
"I second that." Ron agreed, shivering as his imagination conjured up an image of first year Harry falling, much like he had in their third year. "Merlin knows what would have happened if you didn't barrel into him."
"But couldn't you have hit him harder? Then his dreadful turban would have been knocked over and everyone could have seen Voldemort's face stuck at his back. We wouldn't have got into ninety percent of troubles we had!" Harry said wistfully then suddenly snickered. "Can you imagine people's faces when they see Voldemort's face staring right at them?"
Ron snorted. "I think Quirrell's face would be more amusing when that happens. Heck, even You-Know-Who's face would be funny. Just think, he was resting quite peacefully," Harry barked out a laugh as he imagined Voldemort snoring away inside the turban while Quirrell nervously teached the class, stammering everytime the Dark Lord at his back snored or twitched. Huh, so maybe that was why that man stuttered so much. "and out of no where, light shines on his face and the whole crowd are watching him with wide eyes. He'll be completely bewildered and flustered. Man, you really should have pushed Quirrell harder, Hermione."
"Well I'm sorry that I was so busy trying to save Harry that the thought of pushing my DADA Professor never crossed my mind." Hermione said sarcastically, but she, too, was grinning, amusement glinting in her eyes. "Besides, I think Quirrell would have set up some kind of charm to prevent such thing from happening. I mean, it is rather risky to have only a mere cotton to hide Voldemort's presence, don't you think?"
This time, Harry burst into laughter that had some people fear for his sanity. "Oh my gods, do you think he used a sticking charm for that?" Ron followed his lead, doubling over in his laughter. "Merlin, the only thing that stopped You-Know-Who getting found out was a bloody sticking charm. Who would have guessed?"
"You boys are insane." Hermione shook her head, but giggled along with them, not noticing the weird looks the others were sending them. Harry grinned cockily, his eyes shining brightly. "Can you blame us? I mean, Voldemort used a sticking charm to hide. How ungraceful is that?" Harry then blinked, shocked. "Hey! You didn't flinch!"
"Oh, you mean when you said You-Know-Who's name?" Ron asked, arcing his eyebrow. "You do realize you two were throwing his name around like candy, right? You guys said his name, like, dozens of times during the last few minutes and it is very exhausting to flinch every time I hear it."
"That's great! Now we just have to work in on saying his name and you won't have that ridiculous fear of yours. I mean, really? Why are you even scared of the name, 'Voldemort', anyways? That literally means 'flight of death' in french while his followers are Death Eaters. Honestly, his servants eat death while the leader is scared of death. Hey, then does that make Death Eaters braver than Voldemort?" Harry cocked his head to the side, musing. "Huh, I'm definitely using that to rile him up the next time I see him."
"Really, Harry? You are thinking about how to anger one of the most powerful wizard who, if I might add, is actively trying to kill you?"
"What? He gets distracted easily when I talk and that way I can stall for time. How did you think I survived?"
"Seriously? You survived the encounters with one of the most feared Dark Lord by talking to him?"
"That and shooting some spells. He and his black robe loving servants can be rather wand-happy, you know."
"You are mental, Harry."
"Well, what does that say to you two who always hang out with me, then?"
Lily stared at the three bickering Gryffindors warily, not sure what to think about their conversation. "Um, do I have to be worried that they seemed to be making fun of Voldemort?"
"What was their conversation about?" Remus frowned in worry, as well as Sirius and James. Their concern deepened when Lily answered them. "It started off with something about pushing their DADA Professor, his turban, Voldemort and ended with how Harry might be insane. Is that normal?"
"It's not normal for most people but normal for them." Neville assured them but it didn't do much to make them relax. In fact, it only agitated them even further. "Don't take anything they say too seriously. Most of the time it's an inside joke and they don't really mean any insults they throw at each other. Trust me, it we'll do you better if you just pretend you didn't hear their conversation. I swear, people will get heart attacks just by listening to them."
"Agreed." Sirius muttered, staring at the empty vials that once contained Calming Draught with longing. "What kind of kid meets a bloody Basilisk when he's in a school that's supposed to be the safest place on Earth?"
"Right." James said weakly, shaking his head. Oh, why did he drink all those blessed potions? He should have saved some for situation like this. He just came back from dead for Merlin's sake and now he didn't think he could survive listening to his son's life. How come listening to his own son's school life was as deadly as getting cursed by Voldemort? "I think I'm good with ignoring part."
[Page 205 - Bright blue flames shot from her wand on to the hem of Snape's robes]
Hermione, her face doing a great imitation of a tomato, ducked down to hide behind Harry, using him as a human shield to block everyone's gaze on her. Unfortunately for her, it didn't work.
"You did what?!" Fred's mouth was hanging open as he openly gawked at the Gryffindor, staring at her as if she said she was one of the Marauders. George continued as Fred was currently incapable of forming a sentence, his mouth opening and closing like a fish but with no comprehensible word coming out. "You, the two goody shoes who never - and I mean never - disobeys professors and a shining example of a perfect student, set a fire on professor's robe?" His voice steadily rose during his speech and at the end, his voice was an octave higher than usual, his wide eyes showing exactly how much trouble he was having in believing that Hermione Granger, the model student who held utmost respect for the authorities - except for Umbridge and Fudge - had deliberately tried that trick on her professor.
"I was trying to save Harry!" Hermione defended, once again hiding herself behind Harry's back with a squeak when Snape glared at her darkly. The said professor scowled as he thought back to that particular event. He had been desperately trying to buy Potter time for Lily's sake and when he had to spare few seconds for that trick the Gryffindor had used, he had been half-expecting to find the Gryffindor Seeker as a mere body on the Quidditch pitch. Thankfully, Quirrell had also lost his focus that time and Potter had been saved, but that incident had resulted in three annoying Gryffindors who couldn't keep their noses out of other people's buisness on his tail for the rest of the year. Needless to say, Snape had been livid and it took all his will power to not to strangle the first years or scare them so much that they wouldn't even think of coming within five miles near him. At least those three had fairly good reasoning but it didn't make him feel any less irritated.
"I know it was a wrong thing to do, but can you honestly blame me? Harry was going to get killed for god's sake and I didn't have time to think clearly-"
"No, no, no. You are getting us all wrong. We are not trying to lecture you, Hermione, we are trying to compliment you!"
"-and I didn't have time to get help so I - wait. You are not going to lecture me?" Hermione stopped, looking at the widely grinning twins uncertainly. Clearly, she thought people would bombard her with scoldings about how wrong it was to set a fire on her professor. Especially since that professor was innocent and in fact, was trying to save Harry not the other way around.
"Who do you think we are? We think it was awesome! Wonderful! Absolutely fantastic! Fabulous! I don't know what were we thinking not including you in our pranks earlier. We would have caused so much chaos!" George crowed gleefully, looking like a kid about to open his christmas presents. Next to him, Fred looked like he was barely holding himself from crying. "Oh, why didn't we add you to out prank plan earlier? We could have caused so much trouble! You are going to be the best prankster ever! - Besides us and the Marauders, of course, but still the best!"
Hermione groaned and let her head fall on her hands. Harry patted her sympathetically as he knew, first-hand, just how annoying the chaos-loving twins could be when they started sprouting things about how much 'potential' they had and how it was their 'destiny' to become a prankster.
[Page 205 - he hit the pitch on all fours - coughed - and something gold fell into his hand]
"You nearly swallowed the Snitch?" James raised an eyebrow, looking disbelieving, amused and impressed at the same time. Harry smiled ruefully as he recalled his own disbelief when he spat the enchanced golden ball on his palm, bring victory to his team. "Yeah, I know it's hard to believe but I still caught the Snitch. Well, kinda since I caught it with my mouth but still, we won."
Sirius let out a bark of laughter, all trace of agitation gone as the book announced Harry landing on solid ground in one piece. Even Remus chuckled, his eyes crinkling in mirth as he listened to book-Harry being showered with praise and applaud, his tense muscles relaxing. "Well, that was certainly an interesting game. I don't think anyone can forget that particular Quidditch game. I know I won't."
Lily only managed a soft groan, one hand on her chest in effort to calm her frantically beating heart. Finally, her son was on the ground where he belonged, not in the air, hundreds of feet above the ground, doing terrifyingly dangerous stunts that she swore would give her handful of gray hairs. She really wasn't looking forward to listening to another match of Quidditch. That sport was dangerous and it should have been banned years ago. Why on Earth was it allowed for the students - who were kids, mind you, who didn't even finish their education yet. Not adults who were capable of saving themselves if they fell from the sky - to participate, anyways? It was held in the air with nothing to save you if you happen to fall with only some charmed twigs to keep you afloat. There were Bludgers for god's sake and its whole purpose was to knock down as many players as possible. How deadly was that? So maybe she was being a bit - okay, a lot - biased but could you blame her? Her son had almost plummeted to his death because of this blasted sport and she was more than ready to strangle whoever invented Quidditch if just to blow off some steam.
"I really don't like Quidditch. Really, I hate it."
"Oh, don't be like that, Lils. I'm sure the whole life-threatening thing was a one-time occurrence." James looked around for confirmation only to find none. "...Maybe not. You know, I think I might agree on your opinion, Lily. Quidditch can be dangerous."
"Excuse me but did I hear that right or is my ear deceiving me? Did I just hear James Potter saying something against Quidditch? Quick, hide, people, run for your lives! The end of the world is coming!"
"Oh, shut it, Sirius, I know you agree with me. You were practically sobbing in fear when that crazed broom was trying to throw off Harry."
"I did not! Stop talking about yourself, James. You were the one who was crying, not me."
"Alright, boys. Let's just say Harry is not to go near a broom by himself and just leave it at that."
"What?! But Mom-"
"No, Harry. From now on, you are forbidden to go flying alone without any adults with you. My heart had way more stress than it is capable of handling and I would like to avoid any arguments if I can help it."
"...Are all mothers this scary when they aren't even yelling?"
"Trust me, mate, you haven't seen half of it."
[Page 207 - "You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel-" "Aha! So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"]
"How Slytherin of you, Potter." Draco drawled, expecting him to be outraged and shout that he was in no way like Slytherin but he was throughly surprised when instead of being angry, Harry only threw a cocky grin in his direction. "Why, thank you, Draco. How nice of you to compliment me. Forgive me for being surprised but it is not everyday occurrence that you say something nice about me, you know."
"Wait, you think being compared to Slytherin is a compliment?" Draco narrowed his eyes in confusion, honestly having no idea what made the raven-haired teen to say something like that.
"Well, Slytherins is your House, isn't it?" Harry blinked innocently, tilting his head to the side as he gazed at him. "You snakes are very proud of being a Slytherin and since you so generously included my humble presence amongst you, of course I think it's a compliment. Why wouldn't I? Or are you saying being a Slytherin is a bad thing?" At this, Harry gave a mock-gasp, mentally basking in triumph when the blonde turned into light shade of pink.
"Got beaten by a Gryffindor, Malfoy?" Theodore smirked, entertaining himself by watching the blonde Slytherin attempt to get back at the emerald-eyed teen who was lazily waving which seemed to infuriate him even more.
"Shut up, Nott." Draco said without any real heat, his lips turning upwards in reluctant amusement and tiny amount of respect. "I didn't expect Potter to be such a Slytherin. Who knew?"
"I don't know about you but I've already forseen it since the Sorting Hat considered putting him into our House." Blaise answered his hypothetical question with sarcasm, ignoring Draco rolling his eyes at him. "Shame on you, Draco. How could you lose a verbal match against a Gryffindor? Oh, what would your father say?"
Blaise noticed his slip up as soon as those words left his mouth and Theodore glared disapprovingly at him but it was already late. Draco's eyes turned stormy as his lips set into thin line. Draco loved his family like no one else and he avoided disappointing them if he could help it. But since Voldemort's return, Malfoys were being pressured to give their son to the Dark Lord's service. The Malfoy senior was doing his best to prevent Draco getting the Dark Mark but he only succeeded in delaying the inevitable and angering the Dark Lord. He knew his father, as hard as he was trying to hide it, was secretly hoping he would choose to take the Dark Mark willingly. As painful it was to let the Dark Lord claim his son, it was better than seeing his family getting brutually tortured and killed in front of his very own eyes. So Draco knew he had to make a choice, and fast, lest his whole family suffer at the hands of Lord Voldemort and he was getting constantly stressed out because of that.
"I'm sorry, Draco. I didn't say that intentionally. It just slipped out."
"Yeah, I know. Don't worry about it." Draco waved him off but he still looked exhausted from his turmoil of emotions. But he quirked the corner of his mouth for the sake of his friends and changed the subject. "So Nicolas Flamel is somehow related to that little package the giant dog is guarding, huh? Do you have any idea who that might be?"
"Nope."
"No idea."
"Nicolas Flamel is a famous alchemist and only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone which can turn any metal into pure gold and create the Elixir of Life, which can mkae the drinker immortal." Daphne recalled, arcing an eyebrow perfectly when they turned to stare at her. "What? Granger isn't the only one to read books, you know. I, for one, read them to gain new knowledge which you sorely lack of."
Astoria let out a snort of amusement while the other three Slytherins ignored the not so subtle jibe at their lack of reading in favor of focusing on the new piece of information she had provided. "So that package must be the Philosopher's Stone!" Blaise exclaimed, looking intrigued. "Huh, that explains why it needs so much protections and why Dumbledore moved it to Hogwarts. Now I understand why that thief robbed Gringotts, heck, I also want it though I'm not as mad to actually attempt theft under the nose of the goblins."
"Could've fooled me." Theodore smirked as the dark skinned teen glowered at him. He ignored him altogether after a moment, which annoyed the other teen even more, and deliberated on another thought. "Wonder what Potter and his lackeys would do if they find about that."
"Probably charge head-first into danger without any self-preservation to save the bloody Stone from whoever tried, and no doubt will try again, to steal it." Draco groaned, scowling darkly. "Sure, they are bunch of mindless Gryffindors but don't they have any common sense at all or do they really have a death wish? Really, from the sheer amount of time they intentionally placed them into danger I think they actually enjoy life-threatening situations."
"If I hadn't known better, I would have thought you are worried about their well-being." Theodore teased, amused.
"Shut up, Nott. I just want to save myself from the horrible details about their tales that I'm sure is coming up."
"Nah, they couldn't have had so many incidents every year."
"Didn't you hear about that rumor about Potter battling a Basilisk in his second year? Apparently, he did it all alone without any adults near to help and nearly got killed for it."
"Don't forget about Sirius Black's escape in his third year. He broke into Hogwarts, didn't he? Knowing their luck, I'm pretty sure those three had an encounter with him."
"Not to mention the Tri-Wizard Champion during his fourth year. That year's got to be filled with surprises as there's the three tasks and the death of Cedric Diggory."
"...Right. Well, at least we get to hear what really did happen at the last task."
"Yeah, and hear all the gruesome observations he made. Potter is very descriptive in the book."
"...Damn. This is going to be a long year."
Hello, dear readers! Thank you so much about all of you who've read, reviewed, followed and favorited my story! I can't express how much I appreciate it. I couldn't upload this chapter as soon as I hoped to due to my computer going nuts but I made it longer than my usual updates for you lot. Hope it was up to your satisfaction but if not, don't be afraid to call out my mistakes so I can make it better.
As you might have already noticed, I added a reference on top of every reaction to make it easier to understand, thanks to Sturmundsterne's suggestion. I honestly have no idea why I hadn't thought of that before and I'm feeling rather silly.
So the Golden Trio are getting suspicious of Snape and the story is picking up. Do you want me to write a chapter where Harry and his family are having a mini Quidditch match during their break or another reading the chapter? Tell me what you want and I'll post that one up as soon as I can.
That's it for today, folks, and please read and review!