Unknown – A: To keep you guys on your toes (big grin) B: In the book Hagrid is moving the philosophers stone and actually gives away that he's doing it. Its also, not a major give away because 'Zippo' already knows what's going on! 'Shakes head and sighs' A: read the book, and B: its not Zippo its Zeppo.
Chapter 9
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Seeking fame…or not
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"Never… in all my time at Hogwarts…"
"Ah, hell…" said Xander under his breath.
"How dare you - might have broken his neck -"
Well at least he wasn't caught on the broom, thank God for small mercies. Xander didn't really care, but shot Draco a nasty look, the blonde-haired boy almost seemed to wilt under his gaze. Fortunately, by that time, Madam Hooch had made her way back.
"It wasn't his fault, Professor --"
"Be quiet, Miss Patil."
"But Malfoy -" Ron pointed at the crumpled form lying on the ground and actually growled, Xander's eyebrows went heavenly in surprise.
"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."
"How come he gets Mr and I don't…"
The look Xander received wasn't a pretty one. Xander sighed and stashed his wand away as McGonagall led them, seemingly towards Flitwick's classroom as per the book. It seemed that no matter what he tried to do, some events were trying to force themselves back into alignment. They moved quickly and quietly up the front steps, up the marble staircase inside, with the teacher grabbing the door handle and pulling it open. Ron looked nervous and scared as they walked through. Xander kept his face as passive as possible; it wouldn't do to have a smirk on his face as she poked her head into the classroom.
"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"
"Wood?" squeaked Flitwick.
Xander almost snorted in humour as the burly fifth-year boy came out with a curious look on his face. She barked orders at them and they followed suit, eventually pulling the three of them into an empty classroom, ordering Peeves out as she did so. When the ghost had vanished through the wall, she whirled around and looked Xander in the eye; Xander, to his credit, didn't flinch.
"Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood - I've found you a Seeker."
Wood's face split into a grin.
"Are you serious, Professor?"
"Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall crisply. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. His wand movement definitely needs improving but he caught the Rememberall from a fifty-foot dive, it might not be in the air but that sort of coordination…"
"It was nothing…"
"Nothing Potter," McGonagall said with a slight smirk. "We'll see what skill you've got on a broom and if you live up to expectations…"
"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" Wood was bouncing so much he looked as though he were going to wet himself.
Xander shook his head, while it was a lie, it wasn't technically a lie… He hadn't 'seen' a match before.
"Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall explained.
"He's just the build for a Seeker, too," said Wood, now walking around Xander and staring at him. "Light, speedy… We'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor, a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."
Ron stood there with his mouth open, "Mr. Weasley, close your mouth." Ron's mouth snapped shut.
"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule. 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 peered sternly over her glasses at Harry. "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," she said. "He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."
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Xander spoke with Ron afterwards, who told him that the twins were Beaters. At lunchtime, he grabbed Ron, found them and dragged them over to the table. There, he grilled the twins about everything to do with Quidditch, including tactics and what to expect from the others. The Slytherins, it turned out, were dirty players; that didn't really surprise him but he had more of a head start than'Potter' did. As soon as they finished lunch, he went to the library and grabbed books on the game, looking up other teams and their playing, including something called the Wronski Feint and thePlumpton Pass, which was supposedly accidental, according to the book. Xander snorted and carried on reading.
"Interesting…"
Xander smiled. The match was going to be a good one. Xander drew out a quill from his bag and a piece of parchment and started writing.
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Fortunately, this time around, Malfoy had been suitably scared enough of Xander… or in his mind, Harry, to not bother making the challenge. Xander had gotten up around ten o'clock, quietly slipped down the stairs to the Common Room and opened the door, gave Neville a poke and let the forgetful boy in. Neville thanked him profusely.
"How'd you know I was here?" Neville said.
Xander smiled. "When I hadn't heard you come back to bed I got worried, if you weren't here I was going to get Percy."
"Thanks again…"
Xander was wide-awake; that was the problem with having the hyena spirit tied to his soul, he didn't need much sleep. In fact, he could probably go with a couple of hour's sleep and be fine for the rest of the day. Instead of sleeping, he closed his eyes and meditated, taking in the day's events and running them through his mind; they practically paralleled Harry's timeline, with the exception of the 'broom' incident and the wizards' Dual, which had not happened this time.
That day, Xander found Percy and had a quiet word with him about Hagrid.
"Hagrids got a dragons egg."
"He what!?"
"Percy, I need you to chill," Xander said in a calm tone. "What I need is your help on this one."
"How so?" Percy asked, his demeanor changing drastically.
"We're going to need to get rid of that egg quickly and quietly," explained Xander. "Do you know anyone who can help us?"
"Actually I do…" Percy scratched his chin. "When will we need to remove it?"
"I'll give you the heads up…"
As Xander started to move off, Percy touched his shoulder. "Thank you for telling me."
Breakfast was certainly interesting enough; he'd spoken to the Professor and told her that he'd sent off a letter to Gilderoy Lockhart, who had replied the same hour giving him detailed information on where to acquire a broom. The contacts turned out to be legitimate but expensive; however, with the fortune he had in Gringotts, Xander really didn't find a problem and voiced this. He said in his letter to the broom manufacturer that he required a fast broom that looked good and handled well, a custom-designed one if he could. He promised that if the broom worked as he wished, he would buy a whole set for the Gryffindor team and, with the Headmaster's permission, do a photo shoot.
They also replied that day and said they would fulfill all of his requests. It would take a few days but until then they would send a Nimbus Two-Thousand for him to use until then. The Nimbus arrived at breakfast the next day, much to the chagrin of the Slytherin table.
"A Nimbus Two-Thousand!" Ron moaned enviously. "I've never even touched one."
Xander grinned, "We'll go out and practice in a while." Xander turned to the bushy haired witch next to him. "Wanna fly?"
She looked pale and shook her head negatively…
"Meh, your choice."
At seven o'clock that evening, Xander went outside to the grounds and met Wood, where they talked and chatted about what each ball did. He was given a brief demonstration of each, including the Snitch. Xander asked Wood about football and suggested that maybe they could get a couple of teams together…
Wood agreed after a moments thought, as there were quite a few Muggleborns at Hogwarts, and it would be good for team spirit.
"Okay, lad, I'll think on it," Wood said as Xander got on the broom and kicked off. Harry's memories came to the fore as he shot up into the air, both minds in agreement, there was nothing like it. When Xander landed, Wood stood stock-still and shook his head in disbelief. "Sure you ain't done this before?"
Xander grinned, "Nope…"
"That Quidditch Cup'll have our name on it this year for sure," said Wood happily, as they trudged back up to the castle. "I wouldn't be surprised if you turn out better than Charlie Weasley, and he could have played for England if he hadn't gone off chasing dragons."
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"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."
Xander grinned as he imagined that; bringing up Harry's memories as he practiced levitating his feather, earning ten points for Gryffindor as he did so. Hermione got another ten as she brought her feather into the air. Xander had sat next to her this time and let Ron sit next to Seamus whose feather had exploded like a bomb. "You should join the military Seamus, that could come in really useful, who'd expect a feather?"
The group burst into laughter, even Seamus who flipped Xander the finger. Xander took Ron through the motion and saying the words clearly, Hermione beaming at him as he did so. By the end of the lesson, with Xander's help, Ron was able to lift the feather.
As the three of them sat at dinner that evening, Xander looked up at the bats that fluttered all over the place and pondered: in his timeline they'd created a device that could call them, he wondered if they could create a similar one here. He asked the twins, who both shrugged and said they'd look into it.
He hoped by the fourth year to have one at least for the TriWizard tournament.
"What is it with you and bats?"
Xander grinned at Ron. "At least they aren't spiders…" Ron couldn't agree more as he suppressed a shiver. Xander grinned and began the countdown.
Five…four…three…two…
Right on cue, Professor Quirrell came running into the Great Hall and bellowed out at the top of his lungs…
"Troll -- in the dungeons -- thought you ought to know," before passing out cold on the floor with fright. However, Xander knew better…