Harry rose above the quidditch pitch, stopping at a height of around 30 meters - well above the goalposts. Draco did likewise a short distance away. Meanwhile, Flint blew his whistle and one of the chaser teams launched an offensive. All of them were bigger, and none were shy about throwing an elbow or kicking at anybody that got too close, so Harry was glad that his duty didn't involve going near them. Speaking of duty, Draco was already scanning the surroundings for the telltale golden glimmer of the snitch.

"Tell me when you spot it, OK?"

The blond boy scoffed, and called back "I'll let you know when I catch it." He then spun about on his broom and sped away, stopping just above the center of the field, and went back to searching for the snitch. Harry dodged a bludger that was headed straight for his face, and paused to consider his options. Draco was better when it came to tactics, and had more experience with quidditch than Harry. Chances were that if there was something Harry should be doing, Draco was already doing it. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to stick close to the other boy. If Draco saw the snitch first, it would come down to who was faster. Harry knew that he had more innate talent on a broom, so he stood a fair chance to win if it boiled down to speed and agility. He slowly drifted towards Draco. The latter turned his broom to face Harry.

"Are you trying to tail me?"

"Maybe. You're pretty good at spotting the snitch, so I think I'll let you do the hard work for me."

Draco squinted his eyes at him. Suddenly, the widened.

"Wait… I think I see it!" Draco shot down at full speed, and Harry followed. It seemed a bit odd that Draco would announce spotting the snitch, so he didn't fully commit to the dive. He was grateful for his own foresight when Draco pulled away mere meters from the ground and Harry came close to eating grass. He followed the other boy back upwards.

"What was that for?"

Draco spun around to face Harry and smirked. "It's called a Wronski feint - it's useful for dislodging annoying tails."

"Didn't seem to do you much good."

"It's difficult to pull off, and I may have oversold spotting the snitch." Draco rose sharply, and Harry followed. He heard cheering from the near goal baskets as Draco's chasers scored, and cursed inwardly. Suddenly, he had an idea. He veered sharply to the left, and pushed his broom as fast as it would go. He heard Draco shout and take off after him. Soon, Harry was a few meters away from the stands. For a split-second, he could make out Theo's gaping face. Immediatly, he pulled upwards as hard as he could on his broom handle, and reversed directions. He spotted Malfoy's upside-down figure moving towards him, and rolled his broomstick until he was right side up once again. He heard a muffled thud behind him, followed by shouting from several different voices. Harry used Draco's momentary incapacitation to fly towards the center of the field. He narrowly missed a couple of chasers headed the opposite way - his ignorance of his surroundings was rewarded with a kick to his broom that sent him spinning for a moment. He quickly righted himself, and started looking around the pitch. He didn't think his heart could beat any faster, but his pulse seemed to double when he spotted a flash of gold soaring above him. Harry launched himself towards the sky, and cursed as he realized that he was flying towards the sun and couldn't see anything. He heard a similar exclamation below him, and realized that Draco had recovered. He veered away, and started flying on a horizontal plane, knowing that the snitch would have to come down eventually.

His intuition turned out to be true when the golden orb shot down towards the ground ten meters to his right. Harry careened in that direction, and dived sharply towards the ground. He spotted Draco moving closer out of the corner of his eye. The blond boy had a grimace on his face, and bumped into Harry, nearly throwing him off course. Harry responded with an elbow to Draco's side. The blond boy doubled over for a second, and Harry tried to will some extra speed out of his broom. The snitch was less than a meter from his outstretched hand, but the ground was quickly approaching. It was now or never. He had to make a choice. He saw Draco bail out of the dive, and he did his best to level out his own broom. Unfortunately, it was too late to do anything other than mitigation. He half-crashed and half-rolled across the grass. A searing pain shot up his right forearm, and he immediately knew he had broken it. At the same time, he felt something hard and smooth in his left hand, and realized that he had caught the snitch. His mind was hazy with pain, but also brimming with an odd sense of satisfaction.

Harry's thoughts were pierced by Flint's whistle, and he spotted a pair of boots land where he was lying. Flint grabbed Harry underneath his left armpit, and hoisted him to his feet. Harry raised the arm bearing the snitch, and a chorus of cheers erupted from the crowd.

"That's what I like to see," Flint proclaimed, clapping Harry on the back. "You follow that snitch wherever it goes, even if it's to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey can heal broken bones, but nobody can save a match once it's lost. Where does it hurt - can you walk alright?"

Harry nodded. "I think my right arm is broken."

The captain shrugged. "It happens to all of us sooner or later. Maybe sooner for you, but you really went all out. It paid off for you though, the seeker position is yours."

Harry raised his eyebrows, and Flint grinned jovially. "That's right, I pick you. Get yourself to the infirmary now. I still have to sort out a backup seeker and a second beater."

Harry nodded his thanks, and walked off towards the stands. He heard the whistle blow, and the stands fell quiet with anticipation once more, punctuated by dull cracks as beater bats struck bludgers. When he reached the edge of the pitch, Theo was already waiting for him. The lanky boy was practically bouncing with excitement.

"That was awesome! What did Flint say to you?"

"He told me I'm the new seeker," Harry replied with a grin. He was still reeling with pain, but Theo's excitement was contagious.

"Let me walk you to the infirmary. Tell me, where did you learn that inverted break-away?"

Harry spent the rest of the evening recovering in the hospital ward. According to Madam Pomfrey, he was lucky in that he had only suffered a clean break in one of the bones of his forearm. Harry tried not to think of what an unlucky quidditch incident meant, and did his best to swallow the potion she fed him. It was without a doubt the most dreadful thing he had ever tasted.

The first year Slytherins came to visit him. Some - like Vincent, Greggory, and the girls - stuck around for a few minutes. Draco on the other hand stayed for nearly half an hour, and filled Harry in on what had happened after he had left. Apparently, the tryouts had gone on for another two hours. The beaters were all returning starters from the previous year, along with two of the chasers. The third chaser had been on the reserve team the previous year, but had found a way to put on twenty pounds of muscle over the summer. Draco insisted he had performed dark rituals, but Harry was hesitant to believe him. The keeper was brand new to the quidditch team - only a second-year student - and probably the weakest link. Even so, he seemed capable enough judging by the saves he had made throughout the scrimmages.

Draco had secured the reserve seeker spot. Harry wasn't surprised, but he didn't have to feign excitement for his friend. It would be nice to have somebody he knew at the practices with him. The blond boy seemed miffed to not be a starter, but Harry didn't sense any outright resentment directed at himself. Draco left after giving his rundown of the tryouts, and Harry took a much-needed nap. He was shaken awake by Madam Pomfrey, who took a long look at his forearm - complete with incantations and prodding - before clearing him to leave.

After returning to his room, he spent an hour trying to make a dent in his transfiguration essay. Just as he felt like he was on a roll, a knock at the door broke the silence. With a weary sigh, Harry got up and pulled it open. To his surprise, it was Flint.

"Hey Harry, I just wanted to check how you are doing."

"Wow, thanks. I feel good. Whatever Madam Pomfrey gave me to drink seems to have worked."

Flint made a face. "Skelegro. Damn, that stuff tastes like rot. I'm glad to hear you're ok. Another thing - me and a couple of the guys are having a season kick-off outing at Hogsmead tonight. There's going to be butterbeer and girls. You coming?"

"Um… that sounds awesome, but I'm probably not allowed to go… you know, since I'm a first year."

"Oh man, that's right. No Hogsmead until third year. Tell you what, I'll bring back a bottle for you."

"Thanks, but you don't have to do that."

"Even better… I'll drink one in your honor. See you at the first practice then - 6:00AM Tuesday morning. Oh, and look into getting a new broom. As seeker, you get an exemption from the firstie broom ban." Flint started walking backwards.

"I'll do that. Have a good night."

Flint thumped his chest with his fist, and then pointed at Harry before spinning on his heels and walking away. Harry closed the door and shook his head. That entire interaction had felt positively strange. He started to ask himself what he had signed up for, but then decided to spare his sanity and go back to his transfiguration homework. He made it halfway through the assignment before calling it a night.

When Harry woke up the next morning, he couldn't help smiling. First, his arm felt completely normal, apart from the slightest numbness where the break had been. It was truly incredible what magic could do. Second, the day's agenda consisted of charms with the 'puffs, DADA with Gryffindor, and potions with Ravenclaw - his three favorite classes. Professor Flitwick had them working on more advanced use of the levitation charm. He had set up hoops around the classroom, and they were to guide a quaffle through each of the hoops. It turned out to be quite tricky. Levitating a feather was one thing, but a ball was much heavier. On top of that, Harry had to focus on moving it in three different planes rather than just up and down as with the feather.

By the end of the class, he was able to complete the full circuit through the hoops, one of only two students to do so. Oddly enough, the other student was one of the Hufflepuffs. Just as Harry was about to step out of the door, the tiny professor spoke up.

"Harry, could I have a word with you for a moment?"

"Of course, professor." Harry sidestepped, clearing the way so that his classmates could leave, and then turned to face Flitwick.

"Have you been practicing your spell work on your own? You have come quite far over the past two weeks."

"I did loads of training with professor Jones last week, but none with the levitation charm specifically."

"I suppose your gains in stamina and focus have carried over. Nonetheless, your control over the levitation charm is quite promising. I was impressed by your performance against this past Friday. Knowledge of charms is very useful in a duel, you know."

Harry nodded. He could see how levitating an object in front of a curse would be a practical way to protect himself - although there would only be a split second window to do so.

"I know sir. We only had enough time to prepare a couple of spells. I focused mainly on learning the disarming charm."

Professor Flitwick waved his hand. "Yes, and a fine job you did. If Hestia succeeds in reestablishing the dueling club, you can always come to me for help with charms. I was the national dueling champion for a couple of years after I graduated from Hogwarts, not to mention captain of the team while I still attended."

"Thank you, sir. That would be terrific."

Harry just barely made it to DADA before the bell rang. Shortly after, professor Jones announced that the topic of the day would be the disarming charm. Harry already knew the spell quite well, as did Draco. During the practice portion of the class, Jones had them go around the room helping their classmates. The Slytherins seemed to be doing alright. It was one of the generic spells taught taught by most tutors, so the professor had them pair off and take turns disarming each other. The Gryffindor's had a tougher time - less than half of them had ever been tutored. Hermione knew the theory pat, but she had issues with putting enough power into the spell. Boris was one of the few that had prior lessons, so he helped her out. Meanwhile, Harry focused on helping Neville - who was repeatedly blasting his partner off her feet, sometimes with her wand and sometimes without. By the end of the class, he had managed to help the other boy wrest some control over the spell.

In potions, Snape had them depart from their usual curriculum and focus on preparing the ingredients that some of the older students would need for a potion alter that day. To Harry, it felt like the man was just using them as free labor. Nonetheless, he did as he was told. At least a couple of the Ravenclaws seemed to be having a good time, entertaining each other with random trivia about the various ingredients. Harry still couldn't believe Hermione hadn't been sent to that house.

After the end of the class, Snape launched into a tirade and told him to stay behind for detention. Theo seemed puzzled by what Harry might have done to earn one - the ingredient preparation had been tedious, but also fairly easy. After all, Snape wouldn't have left it to first years if it wasn't. Harry knew that the detention was just cover for another occlumency lesson, so he made up something on the fly to placate the other boy. As soon as the other students were gone, Snape eased up a bit.

"Did you pick Draco for the duel, or was it Jones?"

"The professor did, what did you think?"

The potions master sneered. "I thought it was incredibly boring to watch. Regardless, you did better than I would have expected you to. Or maybe Draco did worse."

Harry frowned, but didn't respond. After a brief pause, Snape resumed speaking. "As you have probably guessed, the reason I asked you to stay behind was for your occlumency lesson. Seeing as how you are a duelist now, I think I'll add another dimension to it." He flicked his wand subtly, and Harry felt a sharp stinging on his left arm. He was raising his own wand when the professor cast the legilimency spell. As before, nothing happened, and Harry cast a disarming jinx at the professor. The man wordlessly batted it into the floor.

"That's reassuring. Your immunity to legilimency remains intact even when in pain or while casting. Regardless, you have no control over these defenses, and there is so much more to the mind arts than fending off a legilimency attack. Tell me, how are your meditative exercises coming along?"

Harry rubbed his arm as he reflected on the past week. "To tell you the truth sir, I haven't been keeping up. Between preparing for the duel and getting ready for quidditch tryouts, I haven't had the time."

"Do you really think you will have more time in the future - perhaps when you have to play matches and attend weekly practices? How about if the dueling club is approved? Will that lighten your schedule?" The professor crossed his arms. "You have to prioritize what is important to you, and do a better job of managing your time. The mind arts are not for the faint of heart. I'll give you a week to think it over - until then, get out of my sight."

Snape turned around and walked back to his desk. Harry stood there for half a minute, but the man was pointedly ignoring him, so he left the room. Harry thought about what the professor had said, and found himself agreeing. He didn't want any more legilimency outbursts like the one with Draco, so it was important to him that he continue his training with Snape. At the same time, it was pointless to do so if he didn't have the time for the exercises he was assigned. He had to be better with his time.

Harry pulled his pillow over his head. He just wanted the knocking to stop. He had spent the previous evening finishing his charms essay with Hermione, along with explaining to her how he had broken his arm and why he wasn't an idiot by staying on the team after such an injury. A minute later, and the knocking - now muffled by the pillow - showed no signs of stopping. Harry got up and swung open the door. He was met by an angry Draco.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Harry shook his head, trying to dispel the grogginess. "Umm… it's not even first bell yet. Why are you knocking on my door?"

"Quidditch practice, you dimwit! It's 5:45AM - we're going to be late. You're the starting seeker, so I shouldn't have to remind you."

Harry felt his heart skip a beat. He couldn't believe he had forgotten about it. After a minute of hurriedly tossing on clothing, he joined Draco, who was already half-running down the corridor.

"Did you oversleep your alarm or something?"

"Alarm? I thought electronics don't work in Hogwarts?"

"You do realize there are magical devices that can wake people up, right? I can't believe you don't own one. How have you been getting along for the past two weeks?"

"Theo usually wakes me up. Either that, or I get up with the 7:30 bell and am at class by eight. I've never had to get up so early before."

Draco shook his head. "I can't believe what I'm hearing. I know what you're getting for Christmas. Until then, I'll make sure you wake up in time for practice."

They eventually made it to the broom shed, and then to the quidditch pitch. Flint and the rest of the team were already circling above. As Harry and Draco neared the center of the pitch, the captain blew his whistle and descended towards them. He landed a couple of meters away, and the rest of the team followed suit, forming a semicircle around him.

"So, you two decided to show up. You're in luck - first practice of the season has me in a good mood. I'll let your lateness slide just this once and introduce you to the team." Flint gestured at each of the boys in turn. "We've got Adrian as one of our chasers, Cassius as our second, and myself as the third. There's also Peregrine and Lucian as our beaters. Miles is the keeper, and you, Harry, are our seeker. As far as backups, we have Nathan, Graham, and Draco." The boys grinned as Flint called them off one by one. "You may be wondering why we need three backups. Well, this year I'm going to be trying some more 'aggressive' plays, so some of you might be crippled or killed in the line of duty. I'm just joking. Or am I?" Some of the team members paled at that, but Lucian and Peregrine just seemed to get more excited.

"Now that the formalities are out of the way, let's run some drills. Miles, you're going to be protecting those goal posts over there. Nathan and Graham are going to be helping you out as defending chasers. Meanwhile, me, Adrian, and Cassius are going to be attacking. Got it?" The boys all nodded.

"Lucian… Peregrine… your jobs are to knock anybody and everybody you can off their brooms, starting with the attacking chasers." Perigrine smacked his beater's bat into his off-hand. "Harry, Draco, the two of you will have fifteen minutes to catch the snitch after I free it. If neither of you manages it, you get to run two laps around the pitch and try again." Harry nodded and took to the skies. Soon after, Flint released the snitch and the bludgers.

For the next ten minutes, Harry tried his hardest to find the snitch. He didn't particularly want to run laps - and neither did Draco - so they decided to work together, each of them covering half of the pitch. Ten minutes in, he sighted it near one of the stands, and alerted the other seeker to its presence. They raced for it, but Harry was better positioned and got to it first without a problem. Meanwhile, Flint and the two starters besides him were doing their best to score. It was clear that they made a good chaser team, but the two beaters were even better at what they did. When Harry shouted at Flint that they had caught the snitch, the older boy looked relieved to call a pause. He instructed the seekers to try again - this time without a time limit. However, he did instruct one of the beaters to harass them with a bludger.

This went on for around an hour. By the time Flint called an end to the practice, Harry was sporting a few bruises - courtesy of Peregrine. After a quick shower, Harry headed to the kitchen for some breakfast before their first class of the day. Most of the Slytherins were already there, and Draco took satisfaction in describing the practice to Theo, complete with a description of Peregrine as a shaved gorilla. Tracy interrupted Draco's monologue to proclaim that it was extremely unfair that there weren't any girls on the team. Draco pointed out that none had tried out. Pansy said that she agreed with him, and Draco promptly switched sides to say that Tracy had a point.

Meanwhile, Harry noticed that Hermione, Neville and Boris were all sitting together at the Gryffindor table. He was glad that they got along with each other. Hopefully being part of a group would deter other Gryffindors from picking on any one of them.

As Dumbledore read the letter before him, he found himself mildly surprised. It was very unlike Lucius to agree with him on anything - ever. In this case, the Malfoy patriarch was firmly in support of reinstating the dueling club. Albus found himself wondering if the man simply wanted a better recruitment pool should Tom make a return, but quickly tossed aside the idea as just another manifestation of his own cynicism. It was more likely that Lucius was merely fond of his own days in the dueling club, and wanted the same for his son. Perhaps the boy had even written to his father begging him to vote in support. Regardless of motivations, the vote to reinstate the club had passed eight to four. Normally Dumbledore liked to have unanimous agreement when it came to school matters. His own vote, the thirteenth, was reserved for tie-breaking, and he did not like using it since it always made six people angry at him. Nonetheless, he recognized that dueling was very polarizing for most people, and as such was happy he got eight people to agree.

He placed aside the letter. "Fawkes, could you fetch Hestia please?"

The phoenix flapped its wings, and vanished in a small burst of fire. Moments later, the fireplace ignited and the DADA professor stepped out through the green flames. "You called, headmaster?"

"Call me Albus, please. I have received reply from the board of governors. They have voted to reinstate the dueling club. Congratulations."

"That's fantastic! I will begin preparing right away. Thank you for your support!"

Albus smiled at the woman, really a girl to one as old as he was. "Of course. Would you like to remind me how you envision organizing the club?"

Hestia smiled back, and began rattling off her plans. "I will host evening practices twice a week, and small tournament every other Sunday. There will be three ranked ladders, one for first and second years, another for third and fourth years, and a fifth for fifth through seventh year students. I have woven dueling-related material into my class lesson plans, while also covering the ministry mandated material of course."

The headmaster nodded in agreement. "It seems like I made a good decision in appointing you to your post, your plans are quite extensive. Have you thought about asking another professor to assist you with the practices?"

"Yes, I have. I was thinking about asking Severus. Well… I actually asked him already, but he didn't take me seriously the first time around. I imagine having official approval to start the club will make him come around."

"Severus is skilled in dueling. However, he is also quite busy. In addition to teaching potions, he must prepare medicines for the infirmary, conduct research, and work on a handful of other projects. Might I recommend Filius? He is even more experienced then Severus when it comes to dueling. In fact, he was the national dueling champion in his youth."

As Dumbledore finished speaking, he noticed that Hestia seemed a bit crestfallen. This worried him. Every now and then, a woman would show interest in Severus, and he would proceed to turn her down - typically directly and in a manner that bred resentment. Sometimes, it was one of the seventh-year students. In those cases, he entirely supported Severus' actions, albeit he wished he could let them down with a bit more tact. In this case it was a professor. While it wasn't as taboo, a professor dating another professor would create all kinds of drama within the staff if the relationship was to fall apart. Albus would probably have to ask one of them to resign, and it would have to be Hestia since Snape would be far more difficult - if not impossible - to replace. He would have to keep a close eye on the two and see if his suspicions were correct.

"Um yes… of course. Filius sounds like he would be a great choice. I will talk to him first thing tomorrow. Thank you again for making this possible!" Hestia bowed, and Albus tipped his head down in recognition of her gratitude. The DADA professor turned about, and disappeared back through the floo. Dumbledore sank back into his chair with a sigh. He wondered how much extra work he had created for himself by facilitating the reinstatement of the dueling club.