Chapter 5 : The Seeker And The Sound
If Albus had to compare the first week of his second year to the first week of the year prior, he would have had no trouble at all deciding which was better. James had once told him that the further you got along at Hogwarts, the better it was, and for the second time in a few weeks, Albus was forced to agree.
It had been a beautiful sight to wake up to on the morning that their classes were to start, helping himself to porridge and pumpkin juice, and by the time he received his schedule, he was already elated. It was nearly identical to his previous schedule, the only frustrating bits being that Potions class was still only held on Friday afternoons, and that it was with the Gryffindors.
The teachers aided in his new found love of the school, providing him with class work that, though hard, could hardly be called unenjoyable. Professor Bellinger was teaching them transfiguration that was no longer refined to just similar objects. On the very first day, Albus was given a balloon and an incantation. By the end of the lesson, he was supposed to be able to present a shiny new red bicycle. He failed, but Professor Bellinger was quick to point out that no one had succeeded, and that he had been one of the few to make his balloon turn a different color.
Of all the classes that had improved however, Albus was pleased to say that Neville had reworked his system over the summer. Gone were the days where Albus dreaded entering the humid greenhouse to plant an abnormally smelly creature, or wear gloves to prevent himself from being coated in acid. The majority of their classes consisted of the professor simply giving demonstrations to the class, some more fun to watch than others. Though, as his friends were quick to point out, Albus frequently watched other things in class.
"You're doing it again" Scorpius hissed.
"Huh?"
Albus snapped his eyes away and forced himself to look at Professor Longbottom. He was holding up a small green plant that appeared to be snoring. "When it wakes up" he said, "it will be able to secrete venom that not only sedates its prey, but also makes it just a bit tastier as well."
The class laughed, giving Albus enough time to ask Scorpius "Doing what?"
"Staring" he hissed back. "At them". He jerked his head to the left, where Eckley was passing a note to Mirra.
"I wasn't staring" Albus hissed back.
"You were mate" Morrison whispered from beside Scorpius. "I saw it too."
"I glanced in their direction for a sec-"
"Boys?"
Albus stared straight and saw that Neville was now staring at he and Scorpius. He had raised his voice when talking to his friends.
"Sorry Professor Longbottom" he said.
Neville continued staring for a second before picking up another plant, this one light blue with what looked like two mouths. "The Relaxing Rosebush is a most unique plant, in that it is lazier than even some of my seventh year students."
The class laughed again. "As you can see, it has both a mouth for chewing, as well as a separate mouth for swallowing..."
Albus looked down and saw a small slip of paper. He glanced up and saw Scorpius looking at the teacher. He nodded curtly, indicating that the note was from him. Albus surreptitiously unfolded it and held it up against his bag.
You've been staring over there all day. And every day in this class. What is with you?
Albus pulled a quill out from his bag and turned the note over.
It's nothing. I just don't like Eckley. It's his hair. It pisses me off.
Feeling he had given a satisfactory answer, he folded the note back up and passed it along to Scorpius, who read it, smirked, and passed it to Morrison. The bell rang soon after, and Albus, packing up his bag, threw one more glance to his right.
"So you really don't like Eckley huh?" Scorpius asked him as they walked up the hill leading them back up to the castle. They had History of Magic next, and then lunch. Albus already had fresh parchment ready for hangman with Morrison.
"Yeah..." he replied curiously.
Scorpius exchanged a quick smirk with Morrison. "Well, we were waiting for your support on it, and now we've got it. Me and Morrison have got a little prank planned."
"A prank?"
"Okay, so a few days ago, we were talking to Rose" Morrison quickly explained as they entered the doors to the Great Hall. "And she mentioned that Eckley is trying out for the Gryffindor team. And their tryouts are tomorrow, right before yours."
Albus gulped; he had momentarily forgotten that his tryouts were tomorrow. He had asked specifically for them to be on the first Friday back, and Atticus, as a favor, had put them there. He figured that if he embarrassed himself, his classmates would have the whole weekend to forget about it before seeing him in class.
"Okay, so...what's the prank?"
"Morrison reckons he can perform a Hurling Hex" Scorpius said. "It's a hex that makes your broom throw you off of it. The really advanced ones can be set when to kick in, but he figures that even a weak one can get him to at least lose the tryout. I mean, can you imagine? He goes to hit a Bludger or make a shot or whatever, and he just goes flying?"
"Isn't that...kind of dangerous?" Albus asked him, though he had to admit, he was intrigued.
"Pfft, he probably can't even get off the ground anyway. And the pitch is soft. And you don't fly too high during tryouts anyway" Scorpius explained eagerly.
"Why are you asking me like you need my permission?" Albus asked.
Scorpius shrugged. "Good point. We just thought we'd let you know in case you wanted to see it. I know I'll be spectating."
They entered their History of Magic class seconds later. Albus yawned, pulled out a quill and some ink, and began drawing spaces for letters.
The rest of the day proved entirely uneventful, and the next morning, Albus woke up sure that he was going to throw up. This could be one chance to live up to his name. Everyone in his family-his brother, his father, his grandfather, almost all of the Weasley's-they all had proven to be great Quidditch players. Now if only he could join them...
The morning classes passed by in a blur, and the next thing Albus knew, he was walking down the chilly tunnels to the dungeons for his first Potions class of the year. He met the rest of the class at the door, waiting for Professor Darvy to let them in.
"Hey!" Mirra said as he approached the crowd of people. "Looking forward to Potions? Favorite class right?" she asked.
"Mhm" he replied.
Albus still didn't feel entirely comfortable around her. When they would get together in the library, or even talk in class, he would usually try and stay out of the conversation and let Scorpius and Morrison handle it. As they had not been arguing with her the year before, they were much happier to have her part of the "group" again. But Albus had talked to her only a few times, and on these rare occasions, she seemed inclined not to mention anything that had happened. Indeed, with each passing day, his theory that her memory had been wiped seemed to grow increasingly more accurate.
"So Rose told me that you're trying out for Quidditch today" she said. "Your practice is right after Gryffindor's?"
"Yup" he answered, silently praying for the door to swing open.
"Well me and Rose were going to stick around to watch it" she smiled. "I hope you do okay-"
The door opened, revealing their Potions Professor. He looked exhausted. His long blonde hair was not the sleek and shiny hair that it once was, but frizzy and unkempt. Even the slightly maniacal look in his blue eyes seemed tired.
"Come in, come in" he said, motioning for them to follow.
The students exchanged excited looks with one another; Professor Darvy always had the most unique lessons.
They took their seats, Albus in the front, in between Scorpius and, though he pretended not to notice, Mirra. Behind them sat Morrison, Rose, and much to Morrison's apparent dismay, Eckley. He seemed to have abandoned Donovan Hornsbrook, his best friend, in favor of sitting near Rose and Mirra.
"Good afternoon class" Professor Darvy said as he stood near the black board.
"Good afternoon" they chorused back.
"How was everyone's summer?" he asked.
There was a murmur of "good's" throughout the students. One student raised their hand. "How was your summer Professor Darvy?"
"Oh, it had its moments" he shrugged. "I traveled for a bit, read some good books, really just did anything to take my mind off of my absurdly low paychecks."
The class sniggered as he clapped his hands together. They fell silent at once. This was the moment they had been waiting for.
Professor Darvy waved his wand and random letters appeared on the board. In the far corner of it all, there was a box with A = E, X = Z written inside of it.
"More important than knowledge of spells, raw power, or even proper tutelage, a wizard needs logic above all else. Instructions are on the board" he said. "They may appear as random letters now, but there is a pattern to the words. When you recognize the pattern, you will know what ingredients to use and what directions to follow. You have until the end of the lesson. Good luck!"
There was a small murmur in the class as students began frantically asking each other "Can you do this?"
"I could probably figure this out," Scorpius said, "but I don't feel like deciphering anything right now."
"I haven't got the slightest idea what that means" Morrison said, scratching his chin with his quill.
"It's quite easy" Eckley said pompously. "I should have this thing cracked in a bit."
Albus could tell that he had deliberately said it loud enough to get Mirra to hear him, but she didn't seem to pay the comment any mind.
"Then get cracking!" Bartleby Bing, a fellow Slytherin in Albus' year snapped at him, to hearty laughs from most of the class.
"Want to help me with this?" Mirra asked him.
Albus almost threw up. "Erm...yeah sure" he said.
"Any idea what this means?" she said, moving her chair closer to his.
Albus scanned the board, and after a minute or two, figured it out completely. "The first word is 'lacewing'" he said.
She leaned in closer. "Whisper it" she said. "I don't want anyone stealing your work."
"As opposed to you?" he grinned, which felt odd. He hadn't grinned near her in a while.
"That's different" she said, grinning back. "I'm your partner. How did you figure that out?"
Albus shrugged. "Every vowel is actually the vowel that comes after it, same with consonants."
She looked at the board and pondered it. "Then shouldn't Y be Z?"
"Y is counted as a vowel" he answered her. "So A is E, E is I, I is O, O is U, and U is Y. Meaning B is C and so forth. Z would be B. It skips over the vowels, see?" I'm guessing the second word is 'flies' because it's five letters and I already know the first letter is F, because it says D."
She gaped at him. "How did you figure that out?"
"Well...I figured what each letter had in common. A and E were vowels, and they were in succession, so I applied the same thing to X and Z".
He shrugged again. He didn't feel like explaining it. He didn't find logic problems like that hard at all. Now transfiguration...that was tough.
"Wow" she whispered softly. "You're really good at that stuff."
Albus felt himself go inexplicably red. For some strange reason, Mirra's compliment seemed different to him than they used to be last year. "How about I crack this thing, and as I'm writing it, you get the ingredients and make the potion?" he asked. "We'll get it done in half the time."
"Okay!" she smiled. "I'll go and get the flies..."
She walked to the cupboard filled with ingredients, while jealous students looked up, disappointed that someone else was making progress.
"Now was that really that hard?" Scorpius said.
"Was what hard?" Albus asked, going even redder.
"Talking to her. You guys used to be good friends, and you were ignoring her. Don't pretend."
"I can't help it" Albus admitted shamefully. "It's like nothing ever happened. It's weird."
Scorpius shrugged. "It will get better. You guys just need to have a quick chat about it, and it will all be good. She's coming" he added.
Albus turned quickly and went back to working.
"Got the lacewing flies" she said, smiling. What's next?"
He finished deciphering it in about twenty minutes, giving Mirra plenty of time to make the potions, which ended up being a basic concoction designed specifically for someone with a bad cough. They took their vials up to Professor Darvy, who had his feet up at his desk and was reading a magazine. He peered up at them as they approached. "Done already?" he asked.
"Yup, both of us" Mirra said.
The Professor took their vials, opened them, dipped his finger in each and tasted them. He smacked his lips and made an atrocious face. "Yup, that's right. Take twenty points to both Gryffindor and Slytherin. Don't help the others" he added darkly.
Albus spent the rest of the class period talking to Mirra about her summer with her grandparents, careful not to mention her actual parents, and was just starting to enjoy himself when the bell rang. Quite suddenly, the urge to throw up returned.
The class left in a bustle, most of them severely disgruntled. Apart from Albus and Mirra, no one else had managed to solve the puzzle and complete the potion. He even heard Rose indignantly say to Mirra "You couldn't have told me!" through the crowd.
"Okay, you ready?" Scorpius smirked at him as they walked back to the common room. "Gryffindor tryouts are in about half an hour. This is going to be hilarious!"
"You know this probably won't work right?" Albus told him. "You're not going to be allowed to watch. I got in trouble last year for 'spying' on James when he was trying out."
"Well we're not going to be obvious about it or anything" Morrison said. "We're going to be watching from under the bleachers, on ground level. Where no one looks.
"And how do you plan on jinxing the broom?"
Morrison and Scorpius exchanged a sneaky glance. "I'm going to distract them by coming onto the field and making a big scene about how I thought Slytherin tryouts were first. Morrison's going to whisper the spell and aim it perfectly. Then, we'll admit defeat, retreat back to the 'Common Room', but secretly hide under the stands" Scorpius told him confidently.
Albus groaned. He knew this was going to backfire.
They waited in the common room for about twenty minutes, Albus skimming through his Potions book while Scorpius and Morrison discussed numerous possibilities, everything from Eckley flying into the Black Lake to going through a window. By the time the Gryffindor tryouts were approaching, Albus had to admit he was curious as to what was going to happen. With a sigh, he followed them to the Quidditch Pitch.
The crowd of Gryffindors seemed to comprise of at least five students from every year. He could see James standing casually, supported by his broomstick, deep in conversation with the other two Chasers on the team. Off in the distance of the Pitch, surrounded by a few older students, Albus saw Eckley standing nervously, clutching a school broom.
He saw Mirra and Rose waiting in the stands with some other Gryffindor girls. "I'm going to pick us out a seat under the stands" Albus told them.
"Okay, pick us good ones" Morrison said as he and Scorpius walked towards the center of the field.
Albus began walking towards the stands opposite where Mirra and Rose were sitting, but made a slight detour to where his brother was.
"Hey" he said as he approached.
James turned and looked at him. "What's up?" he asked. "How's your first week?"
"Not bad" Albus told him. "Hey...what do you think about Charles Eckley?" he asked.
James gave him a quizzical look before shrugging. "Meh, he's a prat. Donnie's not bad though." One of his teammates nodded in agreement. "You might want to head out of here though, you know what happened last time."
"Yeah" Albus said, nodding his head. He saw a small group of people form in the center where Scorpius and Morrison were. In the distance, he heard Scorpius yell "Professor Darvy told me tryouts were now! You're wrong!"
Albus snuck past the group and hid under the the bleachers farthest from were Mirra and Rose were sitting. On close inspection, he saw Morrison hastily stuff his wand in his robes.
"Whatever!" he heard Scorpius yell as he and Morrison walked towards the end of the pitch. Once most of the heads had turned away, they both ran to the bleachers and hid with Albus.
"Did you jinx it?" Albus asked Morrison.
He smiled. "I think so."
They waited in silence, watching as numerous students tried out. There weren't that many open spots on the team, and the group that was aiming for Seeker (which included Eckley) seemed to be the biggest. After about forty five minutes, James had apparently gotten tired of scoring on all of the Keepers, none of whom seemed to able to save more than one shot apiece. Finally, it was the Seeker's turn.
Eckley was called up first. Albus could tell he was nervous, but from the view that they had, slightly marred by the bars of the stands and being a considerable distance away, he had to admit he was pulling off his confident swagger quite well. He strode to the center of the Pitch, his broom slung over his shoulder, and waited for the whistle to be called. At that time, Albus knew that a Snitch would be released, and that he would be timed on how fast he could catch it.
There were a few moments of silence before the whistle blew, and in a matter of seconds, Eckley was soaring higher...and higher.
Albus saw the back of the broomstick buck, even from ground level. The movement was so sharp it was as if there were springs in the back of his broom. Albus heard a yell, noise from the crowd of people watching, and a sickening thud that told him that Eckley wasn't going to get back up.
He turned his head to his friends and saw them staring in horror. He knew that whatever it was they had said, they had not been expecting him to actually get hurt. He saw Mirra and Rose run down the stands and into the crowd that had encircled him. Albus, without thinking, rose from his hiding place and ran towards the crowd as well.
"He lost control of his broom-"
"No way, it was a Hurling Hex, I saw it-"
Albus pushed through the crowd and straight to the center, where Eckley was moaning on the floor. He was on his back, and every time he wanted to turn it seemed like he would yell in pain. Two burly Gryffindors picked him up and another one conjured a stretcher for him.
"We'll take him up" Rose said. Albus watched as she and Mirra walked the floating stretcher off of the pitch.
"Was it a Hurling Hex?" one of the Chasers asked James. He didn't speak for a moment; he was eyeing Albus very intently. He knew what he was thinking-Albus had mentioned him minutes before it had happened, and he was in some way responsible. This was it-
"No, he definitely lost control of his broom" James said, turning his eyes away from Albus. "I could see it from this angle. He pushed forward and tried accelerating, but must've thought he was going too fast and came to a stop. I've seen it happen before."
"Think he's going to be okay?" a Gryffindor girl asked.
James shrugged, but went back to eyeing Albus.
Ten minutes later, Albus was fuming in the boys dormitory. "Was it really that funny?" he shot at Scorpius.
Both Scorpius and Morrison were sitting on their beds. Thankfully, it was only them in the room; Dante and Bartleby had left seconds prior.
"Is he okay?" Morrison asked.
"Do they know it was us?" Scorpius asked nervously.
Albus sat down on his own bed. "No, they think he just fell off from his own mistake. And I don't know how he is" he added.
"We weren't trying to hurt him or anything!" Morrison said. "And you agreed with it!"
"I know I did" Albus admitted. But quite suddenly, he forgot what had made him agree with it in the first place. Eckley was pompous, sure... but he must have done something to have ticked him off...
"Right, well I'm going down to tryouts" he said, slinging his new broomstick over his shoulder.
Ten minutes later Albus was waiting outside on the Quidditch pitch, staring around at the other tryouts. The crowd in the stands had significantly thinned, but Albus saw that coming. Of the many things that he had learned the previous year, the most prominent was that Slytherins weren't nearly as popular as any of the other houses.
"What are you trying for?" Atticus asked him as he pulled a quill out of his pocket and put it near his clipboard. Albus could tell that he was trying to be professional during his first year as captain.
"Seeker" he replied.
Atticus leaned in a bit. "Do you want to go first? Just get it over with?" he asked.
He thought about it. "Yeah" he said. "Thanks."
"Okay we're going to have Seeker tryouts first. So...we'll have Albus up first. Come on over here Al..."
He walked to the center of the pitch and mounted his broomstick. He could see the two Slytherin Beaters bring over the heavy chest that had the Snitch inside of it.
"Okay, when I blow my whistle, I'm going to let the Snitch go. Take as long as you want to catch it, but keep in mind that if someone beats your time, you don't get the spot. We're going to release a Bludger too" he added. He bent down low, so that only Albus could hear him. "Good luck Al." He blew the whistle, and Albus was off.
His broomstick did most of the work, he had to admit. He soared through the skies, seeing the glimmer of the Snitch off near the center hoop at the end of the pitch. He accelerated, ripping through the sky, feeling the wind blow through his hair. More than once, he narrowly missed the Bludger that was tailing him. Down below, he heard shouts from the crowd. One person even yelled "He's as good as his brother!"
He smiled and continued his pursuit. The Snitch was now floating lower, and its golden glimmer was harder to see. Deciding there was no point in waiting, he accelerated more, entering a steep dive that made the wind whip against his face.
He snatched the Snitch to general applause from the crowd below, and descended with his hand in the air. He thought, for a moment, that he saw his brother grinning near the edge of the pitch, but the crowd swarmed around him and when they dispersed, he was gone.
"Excellent flying Al -"
"I didn't know you could fly!"
"Just under three minutes" Atticus said, grinning. "Sharp flying Potter. Why don't you go sit in the stands and keep an eye on the competition."
Albus grinned back and handed him the Snitch. All thoughts of Eckley and his injury gone, he practically floated over to the stands.
Twenty minutes and three tryouts later, Albus was Slytherin's official seeker. He stayed around for the rest of tryouts however, in order to get a better look at his teammates. Thompson, the Keeper from last year, was staying, and Atticus was still a Chaser, but the other two spots were filled by two fifth years, Connie Orik and Damian Peesley. They received a new set of Beaters as well, a seventh year named Osmund Hall and a sixth year named Patrick Parcher, who Albus knew was a friend of Atticus'. Albus sized up his team as Atticus told them about the practice schedule, and felt discomfort. Not only was he younger than the other players by at least two years each, but they all (even Connie) had at least a foot on him in terms of size. Secretly, he wished that he could have a Morrison-esque growth spurt right then and there.
He walked back to the castle with his teammates for dinner, and after making a quick stop at his dormitory to drop off his broom, entered the Great Hall and made for the Slytherin table to tell his friends of his triumph.
"Albus! Hey Al!" someone called. It was Mirra. She was sitting next to Rose at the Gryffindor table, waving towards him, motioning to come and see her.
"Did you make it?" she asked when he approached her.
"You weren't watching?" he asked, slightly disappointed. Hadn't she said earlier that her and Rose were going to stick around?
"Sorry, we were in the hospital wing with Charlie" she said.
"Oh" he said, hoping he came off as unconcerned. "How is he by the way?" he asked in what he hoped was a genuinely sincere voice. Leave it to Eckley to hog all of the attention.
"His back was broken" she said through gritted teeth. "He's okay now though, Madam Clearwater fixed him right up."
"That sucks" he said without thinking.
She frowned slightly.
"I mean-about his back being broken and everything. And missing tryouts and all. It's great that he's better though! Oh, and yeah, I made it. Seeker" he finished proudly.
"That's great!" she said. "But don't expect me to root for you when we play-"
The rest of her sentence was drowned out by a chorus of booing from the Gryffindor table. Apparently they had just now noticed that there was a Slytherin near their table.
"I better go before they stone me" Albus said, and she laughed.
He walked over to his own table and away from the shouts of the Gryffindors, finally settling himself in a seat between his two best friends.
"We already heard Mr. Seeker" Scorpius said, thumping him on the back.
"Nice job Al" Morrison told him. "Atticus already told us."
Albus shrugged. For some strange reason, he wasn't nearly as excited about being on the Slytherin team than he had been half an hour ago.
As he lay in bed a few hours later, he reflected on his day. It had been so strange-and eventful. He wondered what Rose and Mirra had said to Eckley in the hospital wing, and if James was going to rat his friends out. He was Seeker now, too. The first Friday of the year had proven to be more than he could handle. His eyelids felt heavy. He was exhausted. He rolled over. What he needed now was a good night's sleep...
BANG!
A noise like a thousand gunshots being fired at once went off. He heard a crash and saw Bartleby lying on the floor; he had evidently fallen out of his bed. The other students had awoken as well.
"What was that?" Morrison asked.
"It was so loud-"
"People are gathering in the Common Room" Scorpius said. "I can hear them."
They moved through the dark and into the common room, where the fire provided them with light. The entirety of Slytherin house had gathered. Apparently, everyone had heard the noise. Atticus was trying to get everyone to quiet down, but failing miserably.
"It sounded like it came from near the lake" someone said. "Probably the Forest."
"But then it must've been really loud" someone else said. "We're under the lake."
"Everybody stay here!" Atticus hissed. "Lumos."
His wand tip ignited and he vanished through the door, leaving the other students to talk even louder. When he returned ten minutes later, he looked as though he had been around the entire school.
"Okay quiet, quiet. Be quiet! Everyone shut up for a sec!" he snapped, and the crowd turned silent. "I just got done talking to Professor Bellinger, and she told me that we were supposed to be kept in our Common Room by our Head of House."
"Where's Professor Darvy?" someone asked through the darkness.
"I don't know" Atticus said shortly. "Probably still sleeping, nutter like him. They don't know what the sound was, but it came from the Forest. They're still investigating. Everyone needs to get back to bed. They'll know what it was in the morning."
There were moans from the group of people, but everyone reluctantly returned to their dormitories nevertheless.
Albus crawled back into bed more awake than he had been at the Quidditch tryouts. That was, without a shadow of a doubt, the loudest noise he had ever heard. The other boys were chatting about it fiercely, but he simply rolled over. Great, he thought. One more thing for him to think about.