The next month passed in a blur of classes and Harry came down one weekend after his third week at the Academy to find Sara, Drew and Alex in the middle of a heated argument.
"Quodpot is a complete aberration to Quidditch." Drew was saying. "You Americans. If it doesn't explode you wont watch it."
"What's Quodpot?" Harry asked.
"Barbaric!" Drew insisted.
"It's the American version of Quidditch." Sara explained. "There are 11 players on a side. They throw the Quod, from player to player, to get it into the 'pot' at the end of the pitch before it explodes. Any player in possession of the Quod when it explodes is disqualified. The pot is a cauldron containing a solution which prevents it from exploding. If you get it in your team is awarded a point and a new Quod is brought out."
"I get it," Harry nodded. "Its like an exploding version of Hot Potato."
Sara gave him a look of horror while Drew and Alex burst out laughing.
"Harry my man. You sure know how to take the wind out of someone's sails." Alex laughed.
"So Harry, you ever played?" Drew asked.
"Quodpot?" Harry asked.
"Quidditch."
"No but a friend of mine explained the rules to me over the summer. He's a bit mad about it apparently."
"Harry, Harry, Harry," Alex shock his head sadly. "Knowing the rules and playing the game are two very different things. We'll ask Tia if you can borrow her broom. Her dad got her a broom for Christmas last year bur she doesn't fly much."
They found Tia two floors down from the dorm in the school music rooms. She was helping a group of older students with an enchanting project.
"They are trying to create a magical version of a CD player. Tia's pretty good on the violin and they need someone to play the notes." Alex said. "They can get the recording down, it's just getting it to play back right that's the hard part."
"It's the crystal!" Ben, a seventh year in Alex's enchanting class said angrily. "The sounds are being echoed around the crystal so anything more than one note gets distorted!"
"Maybe if we lock the notes in place." Jake suggested. "And have something else activate them in the order we want. Like the old muggle style music boxes."
"But if we do that…"
Harry had to admit he wasn't understanding any of this but since Tia didn't seem to be busy they went over to ask for her broom.
"Sure you can borrow it, Harry." She said. "My dad works for the Nimbus Corporation and can't believe other people don't love Quidditch as much as he does." She rolled her eyes.
"Tia!" Ben called. "Another set of scales anytime you're ready."
"I'll see you guys at dinner. Oh and Sara my grandmother sent me copies of those spells you wanted to look at. They're on my desk." Tia said and picked up her violin.
The boys went to get their own brooms and Harry went with Sara was to grab the broom out of Tia's room. Only Sara could enter because boys weren't allowed in the room of a girl under fifteen years. She came out with the broom and a few sheets of paper. "What are those?" Harry asked.
"Some of Tia's ancestors were druids and pretty good at ritual. These came out of her family Grimore."
"She has a Grimore?" he asked as they picked up Sara's broom and went down to meet the boys at the pitch.
"Her family does." Sara said. "Most families do. Even the muggle borns are encouraged to start a spell book. Tia's is only a few generations old though so it doesn't have the same protections on it as some of the older ones do. It doesn't mind someone coping from it."
"What do you mean 'it doesn't mind'?"
"Family Grimore as apposed to personal spell books are tied to the family magics. So the more generations there have been the more powerful they get. It takes a while but sometimes they get a sort of semi sentience. There are rumours that the Emrys family Grimore can even talk. There's no way to tell for sure though because it wont even show itself to anyone not of the family."
"Why not?" Harry asked, thinking of his book warning Hermione away from it.
"The books are personal. What's in it can be shared like history or spells, but the books themselves? They're family."
"Yeah," Harry nodded to himself. "Family."
The Quidditch pitch looked out over the river. The stands were a part of the school itself and the other end dropped off sharply down to the water. The three hoops for the goals were hanging suspended in mid air on each end of the pitch.
Drew and Alex were digging around in the storage shed and dragged out the Quidditch balls. "Come on Harry. Lets see what position you can play." Alex called out.
Sara and Harry wandered over to meet them and Alex handed Harry a beater bat. "Right you hop up on your broom and I'll let the bludger out."
"You most certainly will not!" Sara insisted in proper outrage. "You will test him to see if he can fly, then we'll pull out the quaffle." The boys grumbled a bit but put the bat back in the case.
"Right," Drew started. "You do know how to fly don't you?"
"Oh, now is a fine time to be asking!" Sara huffed in indignation handing the broom to Harry.
"I can fly." Harry said. "Ron showed me." With that he called the broom to his hand and swung himself on to it before taking off to the other side of the pitch.
Drew and Sara watched with astonishment. "Fly, he says?" Alex just ginned. "Nice."
The others soon joined him in the air and brought the quaffle with them. With Drew playing keeper the others taught Harry a few simple chaser moves. Harry was really enjoying himself and loved zipping through the air to catch the ball.
After a while Drew suggested they try Harry with the snitch. Sara flew down and unhooked the snitch from it's case. No sooner had the snitch whizzed into the air than Harry was off after it and 30 seconds after being released Harry had it in his hand.
"And we have a winner!" Alex laughed.
"Geez Harry." Drew stared in awe. "You definitely have to try out for the seeker position. I've never seen anyone catch the snitch that fast."
Harry ginned happily, the little gold ball in his fist tugging as it tried to get away.
The four of them spent some time chasing after the snitch and though Harry wasn't able to get a repeat of his initial catch, he was credited with more catches then any of the others.
After a few hours of playing around in the air, they were joined by a few other students, from different houses, looking for a quick game. Because of the uneven players on the teams Harry, after a few changes and whining third year named Karla, ended up with the Keeper position, with Sara, Drew and an energetic fifth year named Jenny as Chasers. Alex and a huge fourth year named Jim, who had scared the wits out of Harry in their shared defence class, were Beaters.
Harry sent his time watching the action when it was down the other end of the pitch and kept his eyes fixed firmly on the quaffle when it came close to his hoops. He chafed at having to stay in one spot. He wasn't the best Keeper, often failing to notice the other players getting in to position and so being drawn away from a hoop only to have the ball being tossed to another play and shot in. But he was doing alright. Their team was up by twenty points when Harry spotted the snitch hovering midway up the field. He tried to signal Karla but she was looking in entirely the wrong direction.
No sooner had he gotten her attention than the snitch had disappeared again. He spotted it three more times before the other teams seeker also spotted it and made a dive for it. Karla, seeing her opponent go into a dive, made to follow, but wasn't watching the other players and narrowly avoided being knocked off her broom by the other teams chasers.
The bludgers, which had been careening around the pitch, came to a stop the minute the snitch was caught. The players flew down to see who had it and a cheer went up from the other team as they saw their Seeker raise the snitch.
Harry drifted over to Sara, Alex and Drew. "So?" Alex asked. "What did you think of your first Quidditch game?"
"It was awesome." Harry enthused. "I would have been better if we'd won though." He added.
The others laughed. "Well maybe next time." Sara said.
"We would have won if you have been Seeker." Drew said. "Karla is a fairly decent Chaser but she's a terrible Keeper and there wasn't anyone else."
"With a bit of training you'd be alright." Alex said. "You just have to learn to keep an eye on the whole team not just who has the ball."
"It's too bad the Under 15s already have a really good Seeker." Sara commented. "We don't usually have students younger than that so there's no need for another team."
"Wilson will be 16 next year so you should try out then." Alex mentioned.
"You'll need a good broom." Drew said. "Maybe a Comet 260 or a Cleansweep 7."
The boys started to argue over the best broom as they made their way back to the Dinning Room for lunch.
Harry was in his runes class, listening to Professor Markov talk about the use of runes to anchor a spell. He usually found it to be fascinating but he just couldn't seen to concentrate.
It was Halloween today.
He had always hated Halloween because every year without fail, the Dursleys would lock him in his cupboard for the entire day. Even Dudley never got to go Trick or Treating. The Dursleys would buy him a mountain of candy instead but Dudley still whined.
Halloween always made him sad. He have never known why exactly. He'd always put it down to being with the Dursleys. Now though he wondered if maybe he remembered his parents.
"Just like intent is important in casting an active spell, the choice of rune to anchor the spell will enhance the purpose and the effectiveness of it. Who can give me an example of this? Mr Potter?"
Harry jumped. "Um… Sorry?"
"Please pay attention Mr Potter and give the class an example of using a rune to anchor and enhance a spell."
"Er… I guess if you were doing a scrying spell to find someone, you might use ansuz, for insight."
"Very good, Mr Potter, you were paying attention. Keeping with the scrying spell how might changing the rune change the spell?"
A third year raised her hand. "In the old days sailers and travellers would use a scrying spell with raidho to tell the best routes."
"Very good Ms Martinez. It is also possible to combine two, sometimes three runes into that same spell but that will be covered later in the year."
After classes Harry sat in his room staring at the picture of his parents in his Grimore. This was the only picture he had of them. He picked up his fathers book on animagi. He loved reading this book because he could feel his fathers personality in the writing. He had gotten to know his fathers friends Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot. Their jokes and pranks reminded him of Ron's twin brothers.
There was a knock on his door and Misha stuck her head in.
"Hey. Drew said you were pretty out of it in Defence today." She said softly as she came over and sat next to him on the bed. "I know what this day is for you."
Harry nodded. "I know they died years ago, but this is the first year that I've really known what happened. The first time I've seen their pictures. I wish that I had known them. My dad wrote this book. That and the Grimore are all I have of them."
"You know in the old days on Halloween, sometimes people would have Necromancers try and get in touch with dead relatives. But it's been outlawed even in cases like that because it was found to be damaging to the spirits. Maybe you could write to someone. You know they went to Hogwarts right. Maybe you could write to their teachers or something. You could try to find their friends."
Harry nodded slowly. "I know my fathers friends. Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot. But I don't know their real names."
"Well you could try with just their nicknames. A really intelligent post owl can do that even without a address. It's what make them special." She was interrupted by a tapping at his window. Hedwig sat outside on the sill. Misha smiled. "And it looks to me as if you have a particularly intelligent owl. Try it Harry. Worst case scenario, you'll get no answer."
Harry smiled, suddenly hopeful. "Yeah that's a good idea." He leapt up of the bed. "What should I write?"
"Nothing right now." Harry turned to look at her in confusion. "We'll miss the Halloween feast!" She said, appalled that he would forget. "It's the best feast of the year. Better than Christmas! Come on!" She jumped up from the bed and dragged him from the room.
Yay! One of my wonderful reviewers has sent me the original of this story. Before I picked it up it was Harry Potter and the Acceptance by CWR. I started it ages ago never intending to post it and completely forgot what I had written and what they had.
I need some advise. Do you think I should have Hedwig find Wormtail with Ron or not? Freeing Sirius now would change the plan I had outlined but do you think he should get out now or later?
As for my mistakes, I am finally yielding to demand. If someone or several someone's would like to beta my story I would be very grateful. It would mean whoever does it would get to read new chapters before anyone else and all mistakes could be directed at them and no longer blamed on me.
Also my description of Quodpot comes from wikipedia.