Harry Potter Z: And the Sorcerer's Stone
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1 and if anyone charges you to read this you have my permission to feed them to Fluffy!
Chapter 4: Remedial Flying Lessons
Dear Gohan,
Please make sure mum let's Hedwig rest before sending her back, especially if she's going to send more homework. Everyone tells me that the owls can handle it, but the packet I'm sending back is pretty big and it is an awful long trip. I'm not sure I can finish all the work mum's sent with me by Christmas break even if she doesn't send more. But you know mom, she probably won't be able to resist. We haven't gotten too much homework yet, but I'm told that we'll be getting a lot more soon.
We started classes the day after we got here. A couple of them are pretty normal. Astronomy is pretty much what you'd expect, but we only have it once a week at midnight so we can see the stars and planets. We have to memorize their names and cart their positions. I'm going to have to look some of them up though, because I think wizards might have their own names for some of the stars.
History is pretty normal too, but it's taught by a ghost. The castle is haunted by dozens of ghosts. I still can't figure out how that can happen. I know when I died I was taken straight to King Yamma there didn't seem like there was a way to get back. My friend Ron says that only wizards can become ghosts, but most don't. I think they might be more like a magical echo or shadow that a wizard can leave behind when they die instead of being their real spirit. I think I'll have to ask Piccolo when we have a break; I'll bet he knows. I bet the headmaster Dumbledore knows too, but I don't think I want to tell him about being dead before.
Unfortunately history is taught by the most boring ghost in the castle. He was a teacher here when he was alive, but I think he might have bored himself to death. We have his class two times a week after lunch. Don't tell mum, but he makes history so boring that I fell asleep the first day of his class.
The first class we had was transfiguration. The woman who teaches it, Professor McGonagall reminds me of mum. She's very strict and teaches a lot like mum does. She even wears her hair the same way mum does. But mum can't turn you into a toad if you don't pay attention. She hasn't done that, but she turned a desk into a pig the first day we were here. It doesn't look like we'll be turning things into animals for a while though. We started off trying to turn a match into a needle. None of us could do it. I turned my second match into metal. I accidentally lit the first one with my ki while I was trying to transfigure it. A girl named Hermione Granger was the only other person who could get their match to change. Hers changed to the right shape, but was still wood.
Hermione is probably the best student in our year. She says she's memorized all the textbooks before she came. She's the first person in her family to be magical too, so she was worried that she'd be behind everyone else. It doesn't look like she needed to worry. Apparently even the kids that grew up with magical parents don't learn much magic before school. Ron says that it's against the law to use magic on your own until you turn seventeen, and even then you have to be sure that people that don't know about magic don't catch you. So, most parents don't teach their kids much magic until they're in school. Ron says his parents never taught him or his brothers anything. Only his mum taught his sister a few cleaning charms.
I'm glad I'm not behind everyone else, but I don't think that Hermione is going to change. She seems determined to be the best in the class and she's really competitive. When she saw me doing the science homework mom sent with me she seemed to take it personally. When she asked me why I was doing it I told her that mum wasn't really sure about being able to make a living with magic and wanted to make sure I wasn't too far behind if I wanted to go to a University and I figured that knowing about science might help us understand advanced magical theory. We had a long discussion on that and eventually she decided that she wanted to study science too. She got really upset though, when she found out I knew more math than she did. She is going to try to get her parents to get her some books to help her catch up. I promised to help her with math if she'd practice magic with me. That seemed to satisfy her, but I hope I don't end up getting more than I bargained for.
I never realized how annoying it was to be famous. Not even the teachers are completely unaffected. The charms professor, Professor Flitwick fell off the stack of books he standing on when he called out my name. He's so short that he has to stand on a stack of books to see over his desk. But some of the students are driving me crazy. Everywhere I've gone this week I hear people whispering about me and see them climbing over each other to stare at me. I tried to avoid some of them once by taking a side hallway. That was a mistake! This place is like a moving maze.
The stairways move. Some of them go different places on different days. And some of them have trick steps that disappear if you step on them. There are all sorts of hidden doors. Then there are doors that won't open unless you ask them nicely or tickle them. There are even parts of the wall that look like doors, but aren't! I'm still having trouble getting around. I tried to use the teleportation technique I learned while we were training with Piccolo, but it doesn't work in the castle. I think that means that I was doing is what wizards call apparating, because the book I read about the school says that it's got protections that keep people from apparating in the school.
So, I'm still having trouble finding my way to classes on time. The other day Ron and I were lost and Mr. Filch, he's the grounds keeper, found us while we were trying to open a locked door. Apparently it was the door to the off limits portion of the castle and he threatened to lock us in the dungeons. He wouldn't believe that we were lost despite the fact that it was only our second day at school.
I don't know why they keep him at the school. He seems to hate the students. He and his cat, Mrs. Norris, seem to spend all their time trying to get the students in trouble. I'm not kidding about his cat either. I don't know if he used some magic on her or just trained her, but she's constantly prowling the school and as soon as she sees a student she runs back to get Mr. Filch. And Filch seems to know all sorts of secret passages, because he can suddenly come out of nowhere to try and catch you. Ron wants to give the cat a good kick.
Anyway, we were saved from going to the dungeons by Professor Quirrell, he's the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I was really looking forward to his class, but it's been pretty pitiful. Professor Quirrell seems to be afraid of everything he's trying to teach about. His classroom was filled with garlic supposedly to keep vampires away. Apparently he ran into some over the summer and he's scared that they're after him. He's always wearing a turban that he claims was a gift from an African prince for dealing with some zombies, but when someone asked him what he'd done he wouldn't say. Ron's brothers Fred and George said that he keeps garlic in it. Professor Quirrell does always smell of garlic, but I can't tell if it's because he keeps some with him, or because of all the time he spends in his classroom.
I haven't found a place where I can train yet, but I'm hoping to be able to find somewhere this weekend. I'm going to go exploring. You better keep training too. Don't let mum keep you studying all day. If I come back and find that you've lost your fighting edge, I'm going to pound it back into you.
Your Brother,
Harry
Harry signed his letter with a flourish and then began to gently blow on the page waiting for the ink to dry. It was kind of cool to use quills, but now he realized why the rest of the world switched to pens and pencils. He'd written a similar letter to his mum, though it definitely didn't mention anything bad about his professors or anything suggesting he might have gotten in trouble. He made sure to assure her that he wasn't having any trouble understanding the classes. Professor McGonagall had offered to teach him a charm that would translate English for him, but he didn't need it.
Harry slipped the letters in the large envelope that had his first week of homework in it and took it with him as he and Ron went down to breakfast. Ron didn't get up very early, so the great hall was mostly full by the time they got there. Since Harry could sense the large group of people every time they went there, so they never got lost going to meals. Though after watching the two of them eat a couple of their roommates suggested that they had a sixth sense that led them to wherever there was food. That hadn't stopped them from following Ron and Harry at meal times.
Once they arrived in the great hall, Harry and Ron quickly took seats and began to fill their plates. Most of the table was quick to ignore the human vacuums as they ate. After several days the novelty of how much food they could consume had worn off and while no one could complain about Harry's table manners, the same could not be said for Ron.
Harry was in the middle of his second plate of food when the great hall filled with the sound of flapping wings as owls bearing mail filled the hall. The same thing had happened every morning, so Harry didn't even look up. His owl Hedwig had visited a couple of mornings, but he'd never gotten any mail. The only people he knew of that might write to him were his family, and since he had the only owl, they wouldn't be able to until he got to the owlery today and sent her back with his homework.
So Harry was a little surprised when he nearly speared an unfolded note that had ended up on his plate. Looking up he saw Hedwig standing regally between the marmalade and sugar bowls.
"Who's it from?" Ron asked around a mouthful of food.
"Hagrid," Harry replied as he began to read the missive. "He knows we don't have classes this afternoon, and he's inviting me over to have a cup of tea with him."
Ron grunted and turned back to his food while Harry quickly began to take out his writing supplies from his bag. Once again he found himself missing modern writing implements. After writing a formal sounding acceptance letter he folded it and handed it to Hedwig, who had been helping herself to the food on his plate.
"Take this to Hagrid," Harry instructed. "Then take this packet to mum." Harry tied a large envelope filled thick with papers to Hedwig's leg. "And make sure to rest before you come back," Harry rubbed the owls head affectionately before letting her take off.
It was Friday, the last day of classes and their first potions class and their first and only class with Slytherin. According to Ron his brothers had told him that the potions teacher, Professor Snape was the head of Slytherin house and strongly favored them. Harry also remembered his first night and the fact that Professor Snape had not made any attempt to hide his dislike for him. If the potions professor was already partial, things didn't bode well for Harry.
Ron seemed to pick up on his mood and kept quiet as they descended into the castle's dungeons. Once underground the castle was darker, colder and slightly damp. The foreboding atmosphere didn't help sooth Harry's nerves. And the potions classroom with its jars full of strange creatures floating inside them only made it worse. Then as the students arrived the class seemed to naturally divide itself, with Slytherins on one side of the room and the Gryffindors on the other. It felt like a bad omen to Harry.
It was worse than Harry feared. Professor Snape burst through the door without warning and without a word stalked up to his desk, his robe billowing out behind him like a cape. His black, greasy hair was combed back against his head and underneath it his face was twisted in a sneer. His robes twisted and flared around him as he stepped behind his desk, and the sneer never left his face when without preamble he began to call roll.
Snape's voice was terse as he called out name after name without comment until he came to Potter, Harry. Snape's sneer twisted even tighter on his face and his voice became quieter.
"Ah, Yes Harry Potter, our new…celebrity."
Snape continued with roll call ignoring Malfoy and his toughs' snickering. Harry tried to do the same. When the roll was done, Professor Snape looked up at the class and for the first time Harry got a good look into his eyes. They seemed to burn cold with anger.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," Professor Snape spoke in barely more than a whisper. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." Professor Snape's face turned wistful for a moment as he discussed his art, but his scowl returned immediately.
Professor Snape's speech seemed to do its job. The class was on the edge of their seats. Hermione seemed especially determined.
"Potter!" Professor Snape growled out without warning. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Harry saw Hermione's hand fly up as he searched his memory. "I don't know sir." Harry replied.
"Tut, tut—fame clearly isn't everything." Snape leered. "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Hermione raised her hand even higher, looking as if she was about to be lifted out of her seat by it.
Harry only needed a moment to think about this one. He'd been especially interested in potions that healed serious injuries or in this case cured poisons. "The stomach of a goat sir," Harry replied confidently.
Hermione sagged back into her seat and looked disappointed.
Professor Snape also looked disappointed for a brief moment. "All right then Potter, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"Nothing sir," Harry replied immediately. "They're both aconite."
Snape looked even more incensed at this answer. He stared at Harry as if he were trying to use to bore a hole into Harry's eyes. That was when Harry noticed the strange presence in his mind. He tried to push it out, but seemed to ignore him and began to sift through his memories.
Harry had never encountered anyone that could read minds without touching someone. But no one was touching him now, so he couldn't move to stop the attack and he didn't seem to be able to push the presence out of his mind, so he decided to try something different.
Pain, Harry remembered pain. Harry remembered how badly he hurt after he'd been fighting with Nappa. His right shoulder and his stomach had throbbed and the sharp pains he had in his leg when he moved. The bald saiyan had withstood most of the Z Sentai's attacks with impunity. He'd already killed most of them and had just killed Mr. Piccolo. Harry didn't remember what happened next very well. He felt strange sensation of the power that flowed through him forming an attack that had burned his hands and made the scratches on his arms sting before he'd thrown it. The next thing he remembered was seeing the flash of light from Napa's counter attack, then the incredible burning that had consumed his body with unimaginable pain. He focused on that pain he'd experienced as his body was vaporized, reliving the pain in excruciating detail for as long as he could. The intruder couldn't take it and left his mind.
Harry had to shake his head to clear the remembered pain. When he looked up he was just able to see Snape pushing himself up off of his desk, looking like he'd just stumbled and had been using it to hold himself up. The class had become deathly quiet.
Once he was standing up again Snape resumed his glare. This time Harry returned it unabashedly. He had another painful memory ready if he felt a presence in his mind, but if it had been Professor Snape who had attacked Harry, he didn't try again.
Harry saw a strange look cross Professor Snape's face before he looked away. "A point will be taken from Gryffindor house for Mr. Potter's disrespect to a teacher." Snape then went on to split everyone up into pairs and started them working on a simple potion to cure boils.
Professor Snape didn't teach like the other professors Harry had classes with. Most of them spent a great deal of time lecturing about what they were going to do before hand and explaining how and why they did it. Once he had everyone in pairs he pointed his want at the large chalkboard at the front of the class and the instructions for the potion appeared. Then he began to stalk around the classroom breathing down people's necks as they weighed their nettles and crushed their snake fangs.
Now Harry wasn't unfamiliar with tough instructors. Mr. Piccolo after all had abducted him and his brother Gohan when Harry when they were only four years old and left them alone in different places in the monster-filled wilderness of Yanzabit Heights. It had taken them three weeks to find each other. And they had to survive in that dangerous place for six months before Piccolo had returned and began their fighting training.
Piccolo favored negative reinforcement, much like Professor Snape seemed to. The reward for doing well was generally not having to climb back up the cliff he knocked them off of before they could get dinner or go to sleep that night. Piccolo also didn't appreciate explaining anything more than once, and getting him to repeat something was generally an unpleasant experience. But Snape didn't seem to want to give anything away. His criticism was the only time he told anyone how to do something. But it was difficult to figure out if you were grinding your snake fang fine enough, just by being told that someone on the other side of the room wasn't. And knowing that Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs perfectly, didn't tell him if he'd done it well or how to do it better. Draco Malfoy it seemed was the only person Professor Snape praised, and he was also the only one to avoid Professor Snape's harsh tongue.
But despite being used to extremely harsh training, Harry got the impression that Snape didn't like him. He seemed to hang over Harry's shoulder longer than most and he seemed more derogatory. Then while Snape was praising Malfoy once again, Neville Longbottom's potion started emitting a nasty smelling pail green smoke and melted through the cauldron onto the floor where it melted through the sneakers of anyone that wasn't fast enough to avoid it.
Snape vanished the potion before it got very far, but he was too late to save Neville who had been splattered by the explosion and was now covered in painful boils that were bursting all over his body. After enduring a tongue lashing for adding the porcupine quills before taking the potion off the fire he was sent to the nurse's office.
Then Professor Snape turned on Harry and yelled at him for not warning his classmate. Harry instantly started to feel bad for not paying closer attention and letting Neville down. He and Gohan had depended on each other for life and death those months in the wilderness and they had trained extensively to work as a team after that. And as soon as he'd gotten to this now school, he forgotten everything he'd ever learned and someone had gotten hurt because of it.
Harry was about to apologize when Professor Snape accused him of letting that happen to Neville so he would look smarter and took away another point from Gryffindor. Harry was furious at the accusation. He would probably have crushed part of the table if Ron hadn't have kicked him and told him not to push his luck. As it was he left marks in the table where his fingers were gripping it.
A very long hour later, Harry left the classroom calmer and certain that Snape hated him. If the snide comments and the looks he kept getting weren't evidence enough that he was being singled out. Then there was the fact that he was the only person to lose points in the class. Two points! In the first week!
Harry had lived a unique and in some ways sheltered life. He'd never met anyone that had hated him that wasn't also trying to kill him and most if not all life on the planet. So he didn't know how to deal with it. Snape wasn't trying to destroy him or anyone else, so Harry couldn't just blast him. He didn't know what to do and he'd already sent Hedwig off, so it would probably be weeks before he could send a letter home and get an answer back. It made him angry and when the bell rang Harry stormed out of the class.
Ron had to run to catch up. "Harry, don't worry about it," Ron called as he caught up to his agitated friend. "Snape's always taking points away from Fred and George. It'll be all right. Do you think it would be ok if I went with you to see Hagrid?"
The mention of Hagrid gave Harry something to take his mind off of the vengeful professor as well as a solution to his problem. So with his burden lifted Harry managed to enjoy his lunch and study for a couple of hours before he and Ron left to see Hagrid.
Hagrid lived just outside the castle in a small wooden house by the edge of the Forbidden Forest. To get to the door they had to step around a pair of huge boots and a large crossbow that had been left up against the wall. Harry's knock was answered by loud barking and cries of "Back Fang…Back Fang," before Hagrid called out for them to wait.
When the door opened Hagrid was holding back a large black boarhound. "Come in. Make yourselves at home," Hagrid reached out with one of his arms, gesturing expansively at his one room home. However in doing so he let go of Fang who took the opportunity to jump on top of Ron and lick his face and ears. Fang it seemed was like Hagrid. He only looked scary.
Hagrid's house had a cooking fire, with pots and pans, as well as a few hams and pheasants hanging from the ceiling on one side and a large bed covered by a patchwork quilt on the other.
"Uh, this is Ron." Harry introduced Hagrid to the boy he was pulling his pet off of.
"Ah, another Weasley," Hagrid smiled down at the redheaded boy. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest." Hagrid said as he prepared tea and set a plate full of rock cakes on the table.
Harry found the tea to be different than he was used to, but not unpleasant and the rock cakes were misshapen and crunchy, but they tasted all right. Ron however seemed aghast when he saw that Harry could eat them. The two boys spoke rapidly, telling Hagrid all about everything they'd done and seen and how strange and exciting it was. They were pleased when Hagrid had shared their opinion of not only Filch, but his cat. Hagrid insisted that Filch had convinced his cat to spy on him any time he entered the castle. The cat wouldn't stop following him, so Hagrid wanted to giver her the boot. So Ron no longer wanted to kick the cat, but to see Hagrid do it.
Once they were on the subject of people they disliked Harry told Hagrid about his problem with Snape and his class.
"Don' you worry bou' tha'," Hagrid replied. "Snape don' much like anybody. If he'd a been nice to ya' then I'd be worried."
"But it's not like that," Harry tried to explain. "I think he hates me or has something against me personally."
"Now wha' would make ya think that?" Hagrid asked, not quite meeting Harry's eyes.
"I'm the only person he took points from, and one of them was for something he caused."
"Now wha' could Snape do tha would make him take a point from ya'?" Hagrid seemed a little more confidant and sounded like he was only indulging Harry.
"Just as class was starting he was asking me a bunch of hard questions and wouldn't let anyone else answer them. He was getting mad that I could answer some of them and I felt another presence in my mind looking through my memories." What little of Hagrid's face that Harry could see went white and even Ron was stunned silent. "I tried to push whoever it was in my head out, but I couldn't, so I remembered when I di…the most painful thing I can remember and finally they left. But when I looked up Snape looked like he'd just stumbled and glared at me. So I glared back and he took a point. I'm sure he was trying to read my mind somehow."
"That's right Snape almost fell down right in front of everyone." Ron chimed in.
"I'm sure tha' must a' been a coincidence," Hagrid replied not meeting either of their eyes. "How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot…great with animals."
Ron started telling Hagrid about his brother getting a job in Romania working with dragons. It was interesting and Harry would have liked to know more about it, but he'd heard it all on the train ride to school. So Harry was left to brood over what Hagrid had told him. He was sure now that it had been Snape that had entered his mind. And he was very sure that not only did Snape hate him, but Hagrid knew why. But maybe they were right, if Harry could see how Snape treated everyone else for no good reason, why should he care what the jerk thought?
Harry was just about to rejoin the conversation when he saw a cutting from the newspaper on the table:
GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST
Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown.
Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied two days prior.
"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.
Ron had told him about the break in, but he never mentioned the day. "Gringotts was broken into on my birthday?!" Harry exclaimed and double checked the article. 'The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied two days prior,' the article had said. "But it was emptied they day we were there. You don't think they…?"
Hagrid just grunted and interrupted Harry by offering him another rock cake. He let Hagrid change the subject. But he was now certain of something else. Whoever had robbed Gringotts was after whatever was in that bag Hagrid had taken from Gringotts.
Snape wasn't the only one who held a grudge against Harry. Malfoy had taken a week to get used to the school or maybe it was to get over the scare Harry had given him on the train. Now he seemed to think he was invincible. Malfoy swaggered around the school like a junkyard dog trying to put everyone in their place. Which was obviously somewhere beneath him
But Draco couldn't read minds, so unlike with Snape, Harry didn't have any way to fight back and the boy's constant attempts to push around, bully and otherwise annoy the other students upset Harry. It reminded him of Frieza and Garlic Jr. and all the others he'd fought who seemed to think that they were better than everyone else and that consequentially it was their right to oppress them. But though he thought like those monsters, Malfoy didn't grievously harm anyone nor did he risk doing anything where he could get caught by a teacher, so Harry didn't know how to deal with him. And as time went on his attitude began to remind him of Cell, the monster that killed the only father he'd ever known. So Harry couldn't tell if he hated Malfoy of if he was just furious at being powerless to stop his viciousness.
Fortunately first year Gryffindors only had potions class with Slytherin and Harry had been too busy dealing with Snape to worry about nuisances like Draco. So Harry really only had to deal with him when they crossed paths in the halls. But that was soon to change.
When the time came to tutor Hermione with her math Harry found her with her noise glued to a book. Quidditch Through the Ages seemed more like something Ron would read, not that Harry had ever really seen him read anything. When Harry asked her about it she pointed him to a notice on the wall. Flying lessons would begin Thursday and they would be having them with the Slytherins.
And while he was disappointed to have to have another lesson around Malfoy, it did look like it might be the perfect chance to put the arrogant ponce in his place. Malfoy had been spending the a lot of time gloating about how well he could fly and telling anyone that would listen tall tales about his flying exploits that always seemed to end with him barely escaping muggles in helicopters. And with the way Malfoy whined about first years not being able to have a broom and not being able to get on the Quidditch teams, Harry figured that showing him up while flying would hit him where it hurt the most.
Though the opportunity to try and end Malfoy's constant yapping appealed to Harry, it was overshadowed by his excitement about flying. Harry wanted to learn how witches and wizards flew, though he was preparing himself for possible disappointment. Needing to use brooms seemed awful limiting. But Harry loved flying and was excited to learn anything new about it.
And he didn't seem to be the only one. Once the notice was put up it seemed that flying was the only thing the first years talked about. The way Dean told it, you'd think he's spent half of his life on a broom flying around trees in the forests were he lived. Even Ron got into the act; repeatedly retelling the story about the time he'd almost hit a muggle hang-glider while riding on his brother, Charlie's old broom.
Though, not everyone was a confident as Harry when it came to flying. Hermione kept her face between the pages of Quidditch Through the Ages even skipping her math and science tutoring with Harry. And everywhere she went she offered anyone who would listen tips she'd gathered from her reading. Though it didn't take very long until only Neville Longbottom would listen too her.
Unlike most of the other students that grew up with magical parents, Neville had never flown. His Gran wouldn't let him. He was so accident-prone on the ground she didn't want to risk letting him in the air. And apparently Neville didn't want to risk it either.
Thursday afternoon arrived and all of the Gryffindor first years exited the castle for their flying lessons. The class was to take place on the far side of the castle from the forbidden forest. The air was clear and there was a nice breeze that sent ripples through the glass and tussled the young Gryffindors' hair. Perfect flying weather as far as Harry was concerned.
Madam Hooch and the Slyterins waited for them as they arrived. There were two rows of ten brooms lying on the ground. The Slytherins were standing next to the brooms on one side, leaving the other side for the Gryffindors.
Harry wondered if they hadn't come out early to get the best brooms. He'd heard Fred and George complain about the old school brooms, how some veered to one side or the other or started to vibrate if you rode them too fast. Harry hoped he didn't get one of those. He figured he could handle something that veered or had trouble with the steering. That might be fun, but he didn't want to be slowed down by a broom.
As they got closer Harry saw that the brooms were very old fashioned with thick twigs instead of narrow bristles.
"All right!" Madam Hooch called. She was a graceful woman with short curly gray hair and golden eyes above her straight nose. "Everyone beside a broom." She called out.
With a little bit of shuffling everyone got into position. Harry looked down at his broom and noticed that not only was it old fashioned, it was old. The wood looked worn and a little rough with age and there were several twigs sticking up at odd angles in the tail.
"Hold your right hand over your broom and say up." Madam Hooch called out.
"Up," twenty voices called out.
Harry was a little surprised when the broom leapt up making a slapping sound as it hit his palm. When Harry gripped the shaft of the broom he felt a slight rush of magical energy wash over him.
After a moment he looked up to see most of the rest of the class still trying to coax, cajole, convince or command their brooms to lift off the ground with varying results. Malfoy and a couple of others managed to get their broom in the air on what appeared to be their second or third tries. Justin's broom launched it self so high and fast it hit him in the face. Hermione's just rolled over and Neville's broom appeared to be completely ignoring him. Harry wondered if confidence wasn't an important part of this task, because there was a definite quaver in the way Neville said "up," and Hermione didn't look her normal self-assured self either.
Several minutes of controlled chaos later everyone finally had their brooms in their hands. Though Harry had caught a pug-faced Slytherin girl picking hers up while Madam Hooch wasn't looking.
Madam Hooch then demonstrated how to properly grip and mount the broom so you wouldn't fall off. Harry had enjoyed watching their flight instructor sigh wearily when Malfoy had the audacity to complain that he'd been doing it his way for years. Then Harry almost burst out laughing when she replied that Malfoy had been doing it wrong for years and forced him to do it right.
Once Madam Hooch was satisfied with the way everyone was holding their brooms she explained their next task. When she blew her whistle everyone was going to kick off the ground rise a few feet and hover there while they practiced keeping their brooms under control and then when she blew her whistle again they were going to lean forward to bring the broom back down.
"On three," Madam Hooch called. "Three, two…" Neville kicked off the ground prematurely and shot into the air. Harry didn't pay any attention to the instructor's shouts as he watched the hapless boy rocket into the air. Neville's face turned white as he reached the top of his arc and his inertia caused him to continue to rise slightly off his broom. Shocked by the sudden weightless feeling the boy loosened his grip and proceeded to slide off of his broom.
Harry saw Madam Hooch reaching for her wand, but she wasn't going to make it in time! Hoping everyone's eyes would still be on Neville, Harry took off. And faster than the untrained eye could see Harry approached the falling boy, jumped six feet into the air and caught him. Then landing in a crouch with Neville in his arms Harry sent clumps of grass and dirt into the air as he skidded to a stop.
When Harry looked up everyone was staring at him in shock, except for Hermoine who had an inquisitive look on her face. Ignoring them Harry set Neville back on his feet.
"Are you all right?" Harry asked Neville when he saw the boy wince and grip his wrist. The same wrist Harry realized that had hit him in the face when he'd caught Neville.
The injured boy just shook his head.
"Madam Hooch, I think Neville hurt his wrist." Harry called out trying to sound calm and hoping no one had seen Neville's arm smack him in the face as he caught him. It would be pretty hard to explain why Harry wasn't hurt when Neville broke his wrist on Harry's face.
Harry's words seemed to break the flight instructor out of her stupor. She lowered her wand and jogged toward the two boys. After a couple moments of examining Neville's wrist to determine it was likely broken.
"None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing!" Madam Hooch yelled at the rest of the class. "You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say Quidditch."
Harry walked back toward the group keeping his head down hoping to avoid any difficult questions as Madam Hooch guided the now quietly sobbing Neville back toward the castle. Harry was trying to casually walk past Hermione when he heard Malfoy start to laugh.
"Did you see his face, the great lump?" The other Slytherins laughed at Malfoy's comment.
"Shut up Malfoy," one of the Grffindor girls, Parvarti Patil snapped.
"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" Pansy Parkinson, the Slytherin girl Harry had seen picking up her broom drawled. "Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."
"Look!" Malfoy's voice cut Parvarti's response short. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him." Malfoy bent over and picked up Neville's remember-all. It was a crystal ball the size of a large marble. Harry remembered how excited Neville was to get it in the mail this morning. Neville had squeezed it when he showed it to them and true to form the smoke in the ball turned red indicating Neville had forgotten something. Harry had been about to suggest that he was forgetting to send his gran a thank you note when Malfoy had stalked over and swiped the remember-all out of Neville's hand. Then the punk had gotten away with saying he was just looking when Professor McGonagall had arrived to prevent the altercation that had been about to erupt.
Knowing that he now had eyes on him Harry made sure to hold back his speed as he stalked toward Malfoy. Plastering an obviously fake smile on his face Harry reached out his hand. "Thank you for finding it Malfoy. Why don't you hand it to me so I can give it back to him?"
"Why should I Potter?" Draco spat. Maybe if he looked at the now red ball in his hand he'd remember that he'd forgotten exactly how scary Harry could be.
"Give it to me now," Harry's voice was barely more than a whisper.
Draco recognized the cold, gravelly tone in Harry's voice. He'd heard it before, on the train when Harry had given him the same cold nearly expressionless stare. And he radiated that same aura of killing intent as he did on that train.
Malfoy stepped back without even noticing what he'd done. He was about to hand over Neville's remember all when his eyes suddenly lost the cornered look in them and he smirked. "I don't think so," Malfoy said as he leapt on his broom and shot up into the air. "Maybe I'll leave it somewhere for him to find. How about up a tree?" With that Malfoy backed toward a tree to illustrate his point.
Harry could see that Malfoy's bragging about his flying abilities were not totally unfounded. He handled his broom easily. Malfoy was pretty good. But not good enough, Harry smirked to himself.
"What are you going to do now Potter?" This time the voice came from one of the Slytherins on the ground. Harry saw it was the dark skinned boy he'd met in the bookstore. He now knew the boy's name was Blaise Zabini. "You gonna try to magic yourself to fly?"
Harry stopped and stood up straight. He had been bending his knees to leap into the air. But stopped when he heard what Blaise had said, remembering he didn't want to show everyone his abilities. Angry he reached out with his hand and a broom slapped into his palm. Without wasting a moment he mounted it and was in the air. He didn't notice the three other brooms that had leapt from their places in the grass fell back to the ground.
Once on the broom Harry shot into the air, leaving the distractions on the ground behind. He barely heard Hermione's shouts begging him to come back down before he got hurt or in trouble. Harry had half expected to have to fight the broom or at worse fly like he normally did while holding the broom in such a way it looked like he was flying. But the moment he got on the broom his instincts took over. It was like he'd always known how to fly on a broom and was just now getting back on after not having the opportunity to fly one in a long time. The broom responded to the movements he made on it just like he thought it should and he could feel some of his power combining with the broom's.
After only a couple of seconds to move around and get used to the broom Harry turned to face Malfoy. "There's no one here to protect you now Malfoy. Give me back the remember-all or you'll be eating dirt."
"I don't think so Potter!" Malfoy smirked, though he didn't look near as confident as he had been when he'd been alone in the air. "We're in the air now. And up here I'm king."
Harry smirked. He finally had a way he could fight back and he was going to show the arrogant ponce that he couldn't push everyone around. Leaning forward Harry shot straight toward Malfoy, who lazily floated over Harry.
After that the dogfight began in earnest with mostly Harry trying to ram into Malfoy or get in his way to make him fall of his broom. Malfoy tried to cut off Harry a couple times, but Harry seemed more than content to collide with him so Draco had to give up and spent most of his time avoiding Harry.
Back on the ground the other students watched the aerial battle intently. "Oh no," Hermione whimpered as she watched the combatants fly higher and higher into the sky. Their game flying game of tag had only gone on for a couple of minutes, but they had already gone flown above the castle's highest towers. "He's letting Malfoy lure him up too high!"
The Slytherins all snickered, imagining the disappointment of a hero crashing in a bloody heap on the castle lawn.
"Fame won't get him out of this," one of the Slytherins commented
"That'll teach him not to act tough," another one said snidely.
"No," a calm voice interrupted the Slytherin mocking. Hermione looked toward the sound of the voice, surprised to see that it was the jerk Ronald Weasley who had spoken. The prat didn't even have the decency to look away from the fight when he continued speaking. "See the way he's always flying at Malfoy from below and how he gets in Malfoy's way every time he tries to go lower. Harry is the one forcing Malfoy up."
"But Harry's never been on a broom before and Malfoy has been flying for years!" Hermione screamed.
"Maybe," Ronald's voice stayed just as calm as before, only now Hermione thought she could detect a bit of awe in his voice as well. "But Malfoy doesn't fly half as well as Harry does."
Up in the air Harry was enjoying himself. After only a few passes he'd started to get the hang of steering and started being more daring that Malfoy seemed to be willing to try. Though in all fairness Harry didn't have to worry about hurting himself if he fell, Malfoy did. Harry would fly in one direction and then use his body to jerk the broom into an odd angle and suddenly fly off in another direction. It was actually easier to do when flying without a broom, but something about added difficulty made it more fun and gave him a few ideas for things to try with normal flying.
Malfoy, however was beginning to panic. He'd let Potter take him too high. And judging by the knowing smirk on the dark haired boy's face he'd known what he was doing all along. "You're crazy," Malfoy screamed after Harry had blocked him from descending again.
Harry just smirked and looked down. "It's an awful long fall, you reckon you'll land on your feet?"
"Stay away from me!" Malfoy screamed again and then threw the remember-all in one direction and dived in the other.
Harry pulled back and launched himself straight up into the air for a moment and let the broom stop. Unlike Neville, Harry closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his momentum carrying him slightly up off his broom and the feeling of weightlessness for that moment he was stationary in the air. It had been one of his favorite things to do ever since he learned how to fly.
He turned over facing down as he felt the pull of gravity slowly increase his speed as he fell. Then he powered up the broom to as fast as he could make it go and dove toward the falling glass ball.
Harry had always loved the feeling of free fall. As much as he loved the freedom of flying there was just something about the feeling of the wind whip by you as you moved without doing anything that he always got when he fell. He'd often flown up and allowed himself to fall, pulling up at the last moment. And the broom just added to that feeling. He knew he was going to love dives on it.
Malfoy hadn't paid attention to where he'd thrown the remember-all or what Harry had done as he dived toward the ground as fast as he could. Pulling up as he got level with some of the trees he finally looked around.
The Gryffindors on the field watched in terror as Harry dived at breakneck speeds straight for the ground. The Slytherins seemed to be eager to see Potter plant himself into the ground. He was going to catch the glass ball before it hit the ground, but it would be difficult if not impossible to stop before he ploughed into the ground.
Harry reached out and grabbed the remember-all in one hand and with the other he yanked up on the broomstick as hard as he could. Knowing that it wouldn't be enough Harry used his legs to jerk the broom into an up right position and poured on the throttle for all it was worth as soon as he managed to get the broom pointing up.
The grass blew in a large wave emanating from where the back of Harry's broom nearly touched the ground along with a small dust cloud. Grinning widely Harry stepped off the broom gently onto the grass as the class stared at him in awe. Harry couldn't help but laugh as he tossed the remember-all into the air and grabbed it as it fell. He'd beaten Malfoy! He'd finally had the opportunity to fight back against the little tyrant and he'd won!
"HARRY POTTER!"
Harry looked back toward the entrance of the school and his spirits shrunk. Professor McGonagall was running toward them. She seemed to be apoplectic with anger and was having trouble completing sentences. "…Never, in all my years…How could you…You could have broken your neck!"
"I would have been…" Harry began to mutter.
"Not another word from you Mr. Potter." McGonagall interrupted. "You will follow me."
"But it's not his fault." Parvarti called out in Harry's defense.
"Be quiet Ms. Patil," McGonagall replied calmly now.
"But Malfoy…"
"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."
Harry lowered his head and followed Professor McGonagall. It seemed that despite everything Malfoy was going to have the last laugh. He'd only been at school for two weeks and now he was going to be expelled. What would Mr. Piccolo say after everything he'd done to get him here? What would his mum say?!
Now that thought scared him. Even if his mother wasn't happy with Harry learning magic, she would never accept him being expelled, even if he'd been saving the world. And he definitely hadn't been doing that. He wouldn't be leaving the house for months! And he'd have to catch up with Gohan in addition to whatever punishment mum gave him.
Gohan! Since Harry was only adopted, unlike Gohan, Harry didn't have their father's Saiyan blood running through his veins. And Magic was Harry's only chance to become his brother's equal again. And because he'd forgotten that he'd put everything at risk. What was Malfoy really? Just an insignificant bully.
Harry was so caught up in his recriminations that he barely noticed as they walked through the castle's front doors and instead of heading toward Professor McGonagall's office they headed toward the third floor.
"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"
Wood? Harry thought. Were they going to cane him? A part of him hoped she would. Unless there was some magic to it he'd be getting off Scott free! Unless they told his mum, but if they let him stay even that wouldn't be so bad…
Harry's emotional rollercoaster ride was cut short when Wood stepped out of Professor Flitwicks's classroom. Wood was a burly fifth year boy with broad shoulders.
"Follow me you two." McGonagall ordered, already walking away.
Wood just looked at Harry curiously before following Professor McGonagall. Despite his size it didn't seem that Wood had been summoned to cane Harry. But what was going to happen? Harry thought confusedly as he followed the other two.
He didn't have to wait long as Professor McGonagall waved them into an empty classroom just down the hall. Empty that is except for the poltergeist Peeves, who left after making as much noise as he could. Harry didn't pay the pest much attention, as he tried to determine how best to proceed. Whether he should speak up in his defense or wait to get a better idea of what was happening. He couldn't afford to be kicked out of school; not if he didn't know if he'd be able to continue to learn magic if he was.
Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind the departing nuisance and turned back to face the two boys. 'Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood…I've found you a Seeker."
Wood's curious expression seemed to melt off of his face and was replaced with on of sheer delight. "Are you serious, Professor?"
"Absolutely," Professor McGonagall said, quavering excitedly. She reminded Harry of how his mother looked when she started talking about how Harry and Gohan were going to graduate from college and get great jobs and take care of their mother one day. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it." Professor McGonagall said airily. "Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?
"Yes ma'am," Harry blurted out reflexively. The Predatory look in Professor McGonagall's eyes unnerved him. She obviously wanted him for something and it made him worry that he might very well be getting into something over his head. But it looked like he was going to be able to stay.
"He flew circles around Mr. Malfoy using stunt moves I've never even seen before. Then he caught something smaller than a gobstone after a huge full speed vertical dive which he stopped by throwing his broom into a vertical hover inches off the ground."
"That's incredible! I don't think even Charlie Weasley ever tried that!" Wood shook his head back and forth between Harry and McGonnagal not sure which one to gawk at. Harry was starting to get annoyed waiting to find out what was going on and being talked about like he wasn't even there.
"I don't even think James Potter could have done it," McGonagall answered.
Wood's expression began to resemble Professor McGonagall's as he turned to face Harry. "Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?"
"No, sir, But I've heard a lot about it. So I'm really looking forward to seeing a game." Harry was starting to miss being talked about like he wasn't there.
"Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall said as if it explained everything.
"He's just about the right build for a Seeker, too," Wood walking around Harry and staring at him. "A little bulky, but still pretty light and speedy…we'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor…a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."
"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule." Her face became all business again. "Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks..."
Professor McGonagall tried to give Harry a stern look, but her lips kept twitching. "I want to hear you're training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you." Then she suddenly smiled. "Your father would have been proud. He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."
With that Professor McGonagall left a dumb struck Harry behind with a very eager captain.
Harry was still overwhelmed by the whole thing when he told Ron about it at diner time. He'd been railroaded into joining the quidditch team. They'd never even asked him once. But for the chance to understand a little bit more about his birth father he'd do it. He just hoped that his mum didn't find out.
Ron however couldn't understand why they should need to ask. Who would say no? "But first years never…" Ron was so excited he was having trouble speaking in full sentences. "Blimey Harry, you must be the youngest house player in about…"
"A century according to Wood" Harry replied before putting another bite of steak and Kidney pie into his mouth. "I start training next week, but don't tell anybody, Wood wants it kept a secret."
Ron was speechless and just sat there with a bite of food halfway between his plate and mouth. He was still like that nearly a minute later when his brother's Fred and George arrived in the great hall and rushed over to give their own congratulations to Harry.
"Wood told us, we're on the team too," George said softly.
"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year," Fred said excitedly. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was grinning like a madman when he told us."
"Looked like he was about to conquer the world, he did," George piped in.
"Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."
"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."
Harry was still getting used to the way Fred and George spoke back and forth like that, but they had given him an idea.
The two had barely left when Malfoy came swaggering up flanked by his mindless goons Crabbe and Goyle. "So Potter, having your last meal?" Malfoy asked. "When are they sending you back to wherever it is you came from?"
"What? Are you being expelled Malfoy?" Harry asked innocently.
"What? Why would I be expelled?" Malfoy asked a little too loudly.
"Well Professor McGonagall did see both of us in the air today." Harry said absently before going back to his dinner, pointedly ignoring the pail boy.
At first Malfoy was scared that he'd been caught, but that quickly turned to anger. "Potter if you've gotten me in trouble it will be the last thing you ever do." Crabbe and Goyle recognized their cue to look menacing and started to scowl and massage their knuckles.
"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your stooges with you." Harry stared at Malfoy stonily
Malfoy leaned back for a second before he regained his composure "I'd take you on anytime on my own. Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only—no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"
"Of course he has," Ron finally put down the bite of food he'd been holding in front of his face for the last few minutes and joined the conversation, preventing Harry from speaking "I'm his second, who's yours?"
Malfoy jerked back for a second then looked over at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up. "Crabbe," he decided. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."
"Wait a second," Harry said firmly as Malfoy was turning to leave. "I'm not fighting in the trophy room so you can try and get me in trouble when it gets torn up."
"What's the matter Potter?" Malfoy taunted. "Scared to fight me one on one? You going to back out on our duel now that it's already been decided?"
"Of course he's not," Ron interjected. "We'll be there, make sure you're not late."
"Good," Malfoy said and stalked off too fast for Harry to say anything else without alerting the teachers who were sitting at the staff table.
Harry couldn't believe it. That was the second time he'd been railroaded into something today. "Why did you accept that for me? You know he's up to something?"
"Oh don't worry," Ron replied, finally getting back to his dinner. "Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other. I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway."
Harry was about to tell his friend off. He could after all do far more in a fight than shoot sparks at his opponent, even if he wasn't allowed to touch him.
"Excuse me." Harry looked up to see that it was Hermione that had interrupted him.
"Can't anyone let us eat in peace?" Ron mumbled under his breath.
Harry looked at Hermione embarrassedly. "What is it Hermione?"
"Harry, I couldn't help but overhear…"
"Bet you could have," Ron muttered again
Hermione ignored him this time and kept speaking to Harry. "…And you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."
"Don't worry I'm not going to duel Malfoy." Harry answered back. He decided he was going to put a stop to this. He'd never agreed to anything.
"But…" Ron began, but stopped when Harry kicked him lightly under the table.
"Hmmpf," Hermione crossed her arms and stormed off.
Sometimes Harry just didn't understand that girl. For that matter sometimes he couldn't understand Ron either. No matter how much he insisted that he wasn't going to duel Malfoy Ron just kept insisting that he wasn't going to let Harry go alone. Then he kept interrupting Harry's homework with useless tips like if he curses you be sure to dodge, because I don't remember how you're supposed to block them.
With Ron watching him like a hawk, Harry didn't dare turn himself invisible to sneak out like he wanted. He had spent several hours in the past couple of weeks exploring the castle looking for a place to train, but he had never snuck around at night. But tonight the twins had given him the idea to look for a way out of the castle and he didn't think it would be good to be caught doing that during the day.
So, Harry decided to go to bed early planning to get up early to explore the castle. Ron thought it was a good idea to be sure he was rested for the duel and promised to wake him up in time. Giving up Harry didn't correct him. He just sighed and shook his head before he stripped himself down for bed.
And just as Harry Ron shook him awake at a quarter to 11. "Harry…Harry, hurry up and get dressed or we'll be late."
"I'm not going," Harry rolled over to face away from Ron. He didn't realize he wasn't speaking English
"Come on mate," Ron shook him. "We don't want to be late."
"It'll be a boring fight anyway," Harry mumbled, still in his native tongue while he pulled his pillow over his head.
"Speak English Harry," Ron yanked Harry's pillow away from his sleeping friend.
That woke him up. "What did you have to go and wake me up for?" Harry asked testily and in English this time.
"I'm you second," Ron said proudly. "It's my job to make sure you get to your duel on time."
Harry's hand flashed out so fast that Ron couldn't see it and took the pillow back. "I told you I'm not going to duel Malfoy." Harry put his pillow back under his head and turned away from Ron again.
"But we agreed…"
"No you agreed Ron." Harry said without turning his head.
"I can't believe you're scared of Malfoy," Ron rasped out.
Harry sighed angrily as he turned to face his friend. "Look Ron, Malfoy is just trying to get us expelled."
"Well I'm not going to let him call me a coward." Ron declared. "I'm going." And with that Ron stomped out of their dorm room.
"Wait Ron," Harry rasped as loud as he dared, but Ron didn't listen.
Harry jumped out of bed to follow Ron grabbing some clothes and trying to dress as he went. He caught up in the common room and was about to try and stop him when he sensed that they weren't alone in the darkened room. A moment later a lamp flickered on revealing Hermione sitting in one of the over stuffed chairs. She wore a fuzzy pink robe below her scowl.
"You go back to bed!" Ron yelled at the perceived intruder.
Hermione didn't seem to be phased by the outburst. "I almost told your brother, Percy, he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."
"And you!" Hermione turned to berate Harry now. "Did you really expect me to believe a lie like that? And what are you doing down here without a…shirt?" Hermione swallowed hard, she'd never seen a boy with muscles like Harry's. He looked like one of those old Greek statues…only stronger. She didn't think boys could look like that until they got older.
"I wasn't lying! Like I keep trying to tell Ron here, I have no intention of fighting Mal…." Harry was distracted from his rant when he noticed that Ron was no longer standing next to him.
Growling to himself Harry marched out the portrait hole after Ron. When he got into the corridor he found Ron waiting for him.
"Put your Robe on," Ron ordered.
Harry threw his robe over his head and was about to continue trying to dissuade Ron from his poorly thought out course of action, but Hermione beat him to it. Without Harry's muscles in front of her to distract her she'd come out of her trance and followed them out of the common room.
"Don't you care about Gryffindor? Do you only care about yourselves? I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."
"Go away," Ron was vehement.
"All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so…" Hermione stopped suddenly. The fat lady's portrait was empty.
"Now what am I going to do?" Hermione asked when she realized that with the fat lady gone she couldn't get back in.
"Not our problem," Ron said almost gleefully. "Let's go Harry." And with that he walked off.
"Ron wait," Harry whispered loudly as he followed the stalking boy. He was about to try again to dissuade his friend when Hermione's presence stopped him one more time.
"I'm coming with you," she said as she caught up to them.
"No you are not," Ron was determined.
"Do you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up." Harry didn't think that she'd run into Filch yet if she thought that plan was going to work.
"You've got some nerve…" Ron was incensed.
"Quiet," Harry whispered harshly. "I heard something."
Everyone stood rigid and listened for the noise Harry heard. It was some kind of snuffling sound.
"Is it Mrs. Norris?" Ron's voice quavered.
"No," Harry answered, "cats aren't that loud." Harry sensed someone around the corner, but he didn't know who. Normally his friends had such drastically different power levels that it was pretty easy to figure out which one was which just by the feel of their energy. But with everyone in the castle's energy being so low and not quite having gotten used to the strange energy everything magical seemed to have, Harry could only recognize the energy of a couple of people he was around a lot or who had particularly distinct energies like Dumbledore, or Quirrell. And whoever was around the corner wasn't either of them.
Taking a quick look around the corner, hopefully too fast for anyone to see, Harry saw that it was a student sleeping on the cold floor. Waving his hand for his friends to follow he crept toward the sleeping boy.
Neville jerked awake as they got closer. "Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."
"Keep your voice down, Neville." Hermione whispered. "The password's 'Pig snout' but it won't help you now; the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere."
"How's your arm?" Harry asked.
"Fine," Neville flexed his wrist to show them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."
"Good," Harry smiled, before his eyebrows suddenly shot up and he reached into his pocket. "Oh and here, you dropped this." Harry said quietly as he handed Neville back his remember all.
"Thank you," Neville replied earnestly. "I was worried I'd already lost it after only having it for a day."
"It was nothing," Harry smiled and waived his hand dismissively. "Now we need to find a place we can hide until the Fat Lady gets back."
Hermione was shocked that Harry didn't brag or say anything about Malfoy, but Ron was more concerned about other things. "We don't have time! These two can find some place on their own. We need to get going or we'll be late." Ron tugged on Harry's arm.
"No, Ron." Harry jerked his arm free. "I told you I'm not walking into Malfoy's trap."
"I can't believe you're scared of Malofy," Ron shot back.
"Ron, Malfoy has nothing to do with it," Harry replied. "I haven't learned enough that I can afford to be expelled."
"Harry's right you'll all be expelled," Hermione interjected.
"Well you can stay and hide like a coward, but I'm going. No one is going to say that a Ron Weasley was afraid!" And with that Ron stormed off.
Seeing that Ron felt strongly about it, Harry knew that he wasn't going to be able to change his mind. So he sighed resignedly and followed his friend. Without hesitating Hermione followed as well.
"Don't leave me!" Neville cried as he scrambled after them, "I don't want to stay here alone; the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."
Ron just scowled at them, quieting Neville, and continued. The four of them moved quickly through the castle making far too much more noise that Harry was comfortable with until he rasped at them to move quietly.
Without the noise of the hurrying students the normally bright and cheerful castle took on a much more eerie feel. The halls were dark, only faintly illuminated by the starlight through the upper windows. Harry did his best to sense anyone coming, but the castle radiated magic and Harry was scared that it might interfere with his ability to detect anyone coming, especially something as weak as a cat. And the moving shadows in the corners or at the feet of the statues and suits of armor were nearly making him jump expecting to see a pair of glowing green eyes looking back at him from the shadows.
Eventually the crept up a flight of stairs onto the third floor and crept into the trophy room. The room was filled with glass cabinets filled with Trophies, plaques and miniature statues that seemed alive in the twinkling starlight. Malfoy wasn't there.
Harry leaned against one of the display cabinets and closed his eyes to better help him reach out with his senses while everyone else looked nervously at the doors on either side of the room. After several minutes Ron looked at his watch one last time and was about to speak up when Harry whispered, "Somebody's coming."
Everyone twisted their heads to point their ears toward the far doors, each visibly leaning as if to get as close to the sound as possible. After several long seconds they finally began to hear something that eventually resolved itself into the sound of muttering. And it didn't sound like Malfoy.
"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."
It was Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris. Instantly everyone rushed out of the room as quietly as they could manage. They had barely gotten out of the room when they heard Filch enter it. "They're in here somewhere, probably hiding." The caretaker muttered
Careful not to make a sound Harry tilted his head to indicate the direction everyone could go. They stalked as quickly as they dared down a corridor filled with suits of armor. Harry could sense Filches energy getting closer as they moved when suddenly Neville gave a frightened yelp and tripped knocking Ron and himself into a suit of armor. If Filch didn't know where they were before, the loud banging from the suit of armor hitting the floor could have led the whole castle to them.
"Run." Harry yelled as he took off. The rest weren't far behind. Keeping track of where Filches energy was he led them through several twists and turns trying to be sure to keep some walls between them and Filch they ran through a tapestry into one of the castles many secret passages.
Neville bent over wheezing as they all came to a stop on the other side of the hidden tunnel. "I think we lost him," Harry said as he looked around, spotting the charms classroom.
"I…told…you," Hermione gasped out, one of her arms wrapped around her gripping a stitch in her ribs, "I…told…you,"
"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower as quickly as possible." Ron said.
"Malfoy tricked you," Hermione turned to Harry. "You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you. Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off."
Harry wanted to tell her that he'd been saying that it was a trap the entire time, but now wasn't the time for recriminations or the argument that would probably be started if he told her that. "Let's go."
But they didn't make it far. They couldn't have gone twelve steps before something flew through one of the classroom doors.
Peeves was still halfway inside the door when he spotted them and started laughing. No one dared say anything.
"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty." Peeves said in a singsong voice.
Neville whimpered while everyone else stared at the poltergeist silently. "Only if you give us away, please Peeves," Hermione did her best to look her cutest as she pleaded. It was a wasted effort.
"Should tell Filch, I should," Peeves tried to sound saintly, but his eyes gave him away. "It's for your own good, you know."
Finally Ron couldn't take it and rushed at Peeves to try and slug him. It was the wrong thing to do.
Peeves dodged and bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"
The four students ran for it, ducking under Peeves they were stopped at the end of the corridor by a locked door.
"This is it!" Ron moaned defeated, as rattled the door knob. "We're done for! This is the end!"
They could hear Filches footsteps echoing through the secret passage they'd used. Any second now he'd come out the passage they'd used and be able to see them.
"Oh move over," Hermione said disgustedly. Grabbing Ron's wand out of his pocket she tapped it against the lock and incanted "Alohomora." The door instantly clicked and silently swung opened on its own. Without wasting a moment they all rushed in closing the door behind them as quietly as they could.
Ron and Hermione put their ears to the door. They could hear Filch talking to Peeves. Neville however, Harry was pretty sure was looking at the same thing he was, because he could hear the boy whimper.
Standing right in front of them was the biggest dog Harry had ever seen. As it stood up it filled the entire corridor. Which Harry now realized must be the forbidden corridor, and this monstrosity must be the cause of the painful death Dumbledore had mentioned. The beast was not only large, but had three heads, each with bared yellow fangs in their drool dripping mouths. Above them six crazed eyes were rolling in its heads. Harry could tell that they had surprised it, but it was getting over it and was starting to growl.
Excited, Harry chuckled and began channeling more of his ki, strengthening him and causing his robes to flap around in an unseen breeze for a moment. He had never seen a dog like this one and fighting it promised to be the most fun he'd had in weeks.
The dog began to step toward him and Harry grinned and leaned forward into a light on his toes fighting stance. This is probably what allowed Ron and Neville to be able to pull him out off his feet and out the door.
"I'll never call you a coward again," Ron said as Hermione shut the door and incanted something, presumably to lock it. "You're crazy! I can't believe you're scared of Malfoy and willing to fight a monster like that!"
Ignoring Ron, Harry reached out with his senses to find Filch. He'd apparently left when he couldn't find them and was now moving down another corridor, presumably looking for them. "This way," Harry whispered and led them down the opposite way from Filch and Dumbledore who Harry could sense rapidly approaching from the same direction.
They took off at a run and didn't stop until they got to they got to the Fat Lady's portrait. "Where on earth have you all been?" The Fat Lady, now back in her portrait asked. Her eyes flashed back and fort between Harry and the three sweating and panting students.
"Hell's very own kennel," Harry replied before giving the password: "Pig Snout." The Fat Lady didn't look satisfied with Harry's answer when she swung open letting them in.
No one spoke for several moments once they all got inside. Harry noticed that the dog had somehow managed to slobber drool all over his robes. He took them off and began to wipe himself off with some of the dryer portions.
Neville's face seemed to fade from a flushed red to white and Ron seemed to be getting angry as his breathing got back under control. "What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?"
Hermione's bad temper came back as her breathing came under control. "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"Do you mean the trap-door?" Harry asked uncertainly.
Hermione looked shocked for a moment before answering. "Yes, it was obviously guarding something." Hermione crossed her arms.
Harry just grinned back at her. "Very good, Hermione I'm impressed. Most people would have been too scared of the dog to take a good look at its surroundings." Harry was now done wiping himself off and was now holding his robe crumpled in one of his fist
Blushing Hermione turned away from Harry's naked chest and did her best to sound imperious. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed—or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."
Ron stared after her, his mouth open. "No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you." None of the boys saw how flushed she was as she climbed the staircase to the girl's dorms.