Year 1 – The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 3 – Monsters and Broomsticks

Chapter Summary: Harry learns to fly, fights more with Finnigan, and discovers something mysterious at Hogwarts.

Author: Khodexus

Rated T: For occasional graphic concepts and atmosphere. No cussing, no adult situations, almost no violence (yet).

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights for the worlds or characters in Harry Potter. Those rights are owned by Scholastic Publishing Inc and J.K. Rowling. I do own the rights to my original characters depicted here, in as far as they differ from the worlds created by J.K. Rowling.

Harry used his free time over the weekend to catch up on some of his assigned reading. Draco wanted to slack off at first, but was convinced to join Harry, and they soon were actually having fun comparing notes and trying out some simple spells from Charms class. Draco even spent some time coaching Harry on potions recipes from their first year potions book. Greg and Vince joined in when they found them working so animatedly, but then an hour or so later Harry realized the pair had left at some point while he and Draco were still studying.

"When did Crabbe and Goyle leave?" asked Harry.

Draco glanced around the room before shrugging, "Dunno. When we were discussing Transfiguration?" he offered.

When Harry got up on Monday, the four of them found a notice pinned to the bulletin board in the Slytherin common room.

Notice to First Years

Broomstick flying lessons will begin on Thursday.

Gryffindors and Slytherins will meet instructor, Madam Hooch,

at the training yard at 3:30pm for lessons together.

"Typical." Harry groaned when he finished reading the notice. "Just what I always wanted; to make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Finnigan."

"Don't worry about Finnigan." Draco insisted. "I know his sort, I bet he's all talk. I'll coach you if you like, I've been flying since I was little, and I can give you plenty of tips."

"The way he tells it, he's been flying around the countryside all his life too." Harry added with a shrug.

"Malfoy, have you seen this?" they both turned to regard the boy who'd spoken. He was a Slytherin a year ahead of them, who Harry had learned was named Maximus Cuffe. His father, apparently, was chief editor for the Wizard Newspaper, "The Daily Prophet", a fact he spoke of frequently and loudly.

"Seen what?" Draco moved to where both he and Maximus could see the article on the page of the newspaper he held open for him. Harry shifted around to the boy's other side so he could see as well.

"Gringotts Break-In?" Draco read aloud.

"What kind of moron would break into a goblin bank?" Vincent asked no one in particular.

"Gringotts is supposed to be impenetrable, isn't it?" Gregory added.

"Or nearly that." Maximus confirmed, "Look at the date." He continued, turning back to Draco, "Isn't that?"

"Yeah, I was there that day." Draco agreed. "July thirty-first."

"Yeah I saw you there." Maximus confirmed, "Thought it was interesting that it was the same day we were both there."

Harry scanned down more of the article while the other two boys discussed it. "It says the vault had been emptied earlier that day." He interjected, "I wonder if it happened after I was there, with Hagrid."

"You were at Gringotts that day?" Maximus seemed quite interested.

"Well yeah, I went to Diagon Alley to get my things for Hogwarts. I met Draco there, remember?"

"Yeah, had to get my robes fitted." Draco agreed. "Too bad we missed all the commotion; it might have been fun to see."

"Absolutely! Imagine if I could have been there, and gotten pictures, and written up a piece for the Prophet?" Maximus said excitedly.

It wasn't until they were at breakfast that something rather startling occurred to Harry. He leaned in to whisper with Draco so he wouldn't be overheard. "Draco… did I tell you, Hagrid removed something from a vault when I was at Gringotts with him? There was only one tiny package in the vault, so I guess that qualifies as being 'emptied earlier that day' don't you think?"

"Certainly." Draco frowned for a moment then asked, "Do you think it was something valuable?"

"Must have been, the way he was going on, keeping it all secret. He mentioned 'Hogwarts business, for Dumbledore'. Think it was the same vault that article in the Prophet mentioned?"

"It's possible. Must be something really valuable, but also really small. I'm sure that narrows down what it could be, but I'm not thinking of anything off the top of my head."

"Me neither." Harry sat thoughtfully for a moment.

"What're you whispering about?" Vincent Crabbe asked from across the table.

"It's nothing important." Draco lied easily. "If it were, we'd have included you, of course."

"Oh, right then." Vincent shrugged, and went back to his meal, but Harry and Draco didn't discuss the matter any further.

When Thursday morning came, Harry was nervous. He'd been thinking about his flying lessons all week, and they'd come up frequently in conversation. In the evenings, Draco had tried to give him some tips in the Slytherin house common room, but there wasn't much practical knowledge to be gained from books and discussion. Draco had even written to his father, asking about the possibility of getting the rules against 1st years having broomsticks relaxed for Harry and him, so he could let him try it out before the 'big day'.

At breakfast on Thursday, Harry, Draco, Greg, and Vince entered the great hall just in time for the morning mail. The Malfoy's eagle owl swooped in to deliver a letter to Draco just as he was entering the double doors, and he tucked the envelope under his arm as he moved into the room. They'd been about to head down the center aisle along the Slytherin table, when the blonde boy's attention was caught by something to their right. The three of them followed Draco as he turned and strolled along the Gryffindor table to where Neville Longbottom sat with a glass ball filled with swirling grey smoke.

"…if it turns red – oh." As Neville spoke, the smoke in the ball began to glow bright red. "…you've forgotten something…"

"Draco!" Harry gasped as his friend snatched the bauble from Longbottom's fingers.

"What's going on here?" McGonagall had come up out of nowhere, visibly startling them.

"Malfoy's got my remembrall, Professor." Longbottom mumbled.

"I was just looking." Draco replied swiftly, dropping the object back on the table and turning away as if he couldn't care less.

Harry gave Neville an apologetic look, and found Seamus Finnigan glaring at him from a few seats down.

"Just open the letter." Harry growled, once they found seats at the Slytherin table. Draco had been expecting a response back from his father, and Harry hoped this might be it.

"Nosey McGonagall always around when you don't want her." Draco muttered.

"I wouldn't cross that one." Harry added after a moment. "Best leave things like that alone."

"You may be right at that." He finally opened the letter, and scanned the contents. After a moment, he frowned, "Father says I need to be patient." He said glumly, "Rather than thinking about brooms. Said he'd write a letter of inquiry though, so that's something; an improvement, at least. I think the rule is ridiculous."

"Doesn't help us today though." Harry thought aloud. "There's no more time for anything like that before our first lessons."

Three-thirty came, and with it Harry and the other Slytherins arrived at the appointed field. The castle stood between them and the forbidden forest, but they could still make out the trees even from this distance. When they arrived, there were twenty broomsticks lined up in two rows, and Draco immediately began analyzing them, commenting on the inferior workmanship of the brooms, and how battered they were, wondering if the charms that allowed them to fly might have worn off by now.

Harry had half a mind to ask him to shut up, but he kept silent, as they waited for the Gryffindors to arrive. Seamus was – of course – one of the first of them down the hill and across the lawns. He smirked at Harry, who sighed and tried to prepare himself for his inevitable humiliation. Madam Hooch arrived shortly after the last of the Griffindors, her grey hair standing out even from a distance. Her yellow eyes, however, were quite startling.

She paused for only the slightest breath before saying, "Well, what are you all waiting for? Everyone, stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

"Try this one." Draco whispered as he pulled Harry into the line, next to a relatively smooth handled broom, with a single stumpy twig angling off to one side near the tip.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom, and say 'UP!'" Madam Hooch instructed them from one end of the lines.

There was a bit of shouting and calling as all of them followed the instructions at once. Harry's broom rose to meet his hand with a nearly audible smack, and he noted absently that it was one of the only brooms which had. Even Draco and Seamus, who were purportedly quite experienced, had to call a few times before their brooms obeyed.

Once everyone had their brooms in hand, Madam Hooch showed them how to properly mount the broom without sliding off one end. Then she moved along the line, giving them pointers and correcting their grips. "You're holding this wrong." She said to Draco. "Shift your hands here, and here." She helped him adjust his grip.

"I've always held it this way…" Draco insisted sourly.

"Then you've always been doing it wrong." She admonished, before moving on to correct Seamus' posture as well.

Finally she moved back to the end, and continued, "Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly."

Several people nodded, before she resumed, "On my whistle – three – two –"

The whistle had only just reached Madam Hooch's lips when Neville kicked up a bit prematurely, rising into the air in an upward spiral, his face ashen with fear as he looked down wildly at his classmates.

"Come back, boy!" Hooch cried, but Neville was out of control, he span around, once, twice… then lost his grip, sliding off the shaft of wood and falling swiftly to the ground with a painful sounding thud.

Everyone crowded closer, though Madam Hooch got to him first, gingerly checking him for injuries. "Oww!" Neville cried when she probed his arm.

"Broken wrist, come on boy – it's all right, up you get." She helped him to his feet then turned to address the rest of them.

"None of you is to move, while I take this boy to the hospital wing. You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear." And she was off, leading Neville away.

As soon as she was out of ear shot, Draco and Seamus simultaneously burst into laughter, while Greg and Vince also started to laugh, but both Draco and Seamus stopped abruptly, glaring at one another, and the others died down awkwardly.

"Shut up Malfoy." One of the Gryffindor girls growled at him, ignoring the fact that Seamus had been laughing too.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" This time it was a Slytherin girl Harry hadn't talked to much yet, named Pansy Parkinson. "Never thought you'd like fat little cry-babies, Parvati."

Whatever Parvati might have said in response was cut off by Draco, who moved forward to snatch something from the ground near where Neville had fallen. "Look!" he said, "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."

Harry moved next to him, and saw it was the Remembrall Draco had snatched earlier at breakfast. "Give that here, Draco." He said holding out his hand, and was only a little surprised when his friend complied.

"What do you want it for?" he asked, after tossing it to him.

"You're going to leave it somewhere nasty, aren't you?" shouted the Weasley boy, Ron, as he pushed his way closer while scowling at Harry.

"None of your business." Harry tucked the object into his robes, and glared right back.

"That's not a bad idea." Draco crowed, "Maybe up a tree?" he suggested.

Ron dove at Harry, but Greg and Vince got between them in an instant, surprisingly quick for boys their size. "Lay off." Seamus came forward in a flash, with his friend Dean Thomas right behind. In a moment almost everyone was shouting at each other, but Harry and Blaise Zabini dragged the other Slythering boys away, and several of the Gryffindor girls followed suit with Ron, Seamus, and Dean, pulling the throng apart before anyone could start a real fight.

Tempers had cooled only a little by the time Madam Hooch returned, finding them still grumbling. Draco and Harry stood as far away from Seamus and Ron as they could while still staying with the other Slytherins. "All right, everyone stayed on the ground then?"

There were nods all around, and a "Yes ma'am." From Hermione Granger.

"Good, now let's try again, shall we?" It was the same as before, but this time, when Madam Hooch blew the whistle, about half of them rose into the air, including Harry. Suddenly his worries seemed to fly away with him on the breeze. The broom shifted with his weight, and he did a few dips and swerves just for the sake of it as he realized something monumental. This was easy. He'd been worried for nothing.

"You're a natural, Potter." Hooch confirmed what he'd just been thinking, "But stay with the class." He'd been half tempted to race off into the sky, but Madam Hooch's hawk-like eyes missed nothing, apparently. He reigned himself in, and let Hooch teach the lesson.

By the time they were done, it was obvious that Harry was the best flyer of all of them, even better than Finnigan, Draco, or Ron Weasley. He was laughing with Draco as they came back to the ground, and Harry reluctantly released his broomstick. It was hard to stop, now that he'd found something magic that he was actually good at.

"Might I have a word with you, Mr. Potter?" Hooch said, after gathering up the brooms. "Can you carry a few of these for me?" They divided the brooms among them, and Harry waved Draco and the others to go on ahead while he walked alongside the short, wiry woman. "Harry, you've never flown a broom before, have you?"

"No ma'am." Harry shook his head.

"I thought not. But one wouldn't know that watching you fly. I've never seen a first year so naturally at home in the air before." She complimented him again as they walked. "I was truly impressed, and I've been flying, and teaching students to fly, for quite a long time. How would you like to try out for Quidditch?"

"But ma'am, I thought first years aren't allowed to try out for quidditch." He reminded her.

"Normally no, but I could ask on your behalf for an exception. It would be a great chance for you to fly more, and own your own broom, even though you're a first year, all you have to do is say yes. I can't guarantee you'll get on the Slytherin team, of course, but you'll be able to try out like everyone else."

"Yes!" Harry agreed, his face lighting up. "If I can do it, I will. Though… I don't know much about Quidditch yet."

"If you can learn it as fast as you learned the broom, you'll have no trouble at all, I promise." She gave him a smile, and quieted for a moment, leaving him to think over all that had just happened. Everything seemed to have turned around, in the blink of an eye, from the moment his feet had left the ground.

"Tryouts for Slytherin are at the quidditch pitch this evening, in about an hour." She continued, "Six O'clock. Can you make it?"

"Yeah, I don't have Transfiguration until seven." Harry agreed.

"I'll see you then, I'll have everything ready, and I'll bring a broom you can borrow. If you get on the team, you'll need to make arrangements to get a broom for long term use. But I'm sure that won't be a problem, the school has quite a few extra brooms, and not just these training brooms either."

Harry thought about what he had time to do in the next hour, if he wanted to make it out to the quidditch pitch for tryouts. He went to his rooms to put the remembrall away safely, already planning out how he'd return it to Neville discreetly. Then he went in search of Draco.

"She really said that? You get to try out for Quidditch?" Draco was amazed and Harry thought he sounded just a little jealous when Harry shared the news.

"Yeah, and while I already know I love flying, I think I'd feel more comfortable if you came to watch, at the very least. You can give me tips for anything I don't know yet." Harry hoped Draco wouldn't let this be cause for any bad feelings between them, but Draco seemed almost as excited as he felt, without any of Harry's nervousness.

"Well, why don't I explain the rules of Quidditch on the way over, then you can ask me any questions you might have before the tryouts start. What position are you going to try out for?"

"I have no idea." Harry admitted. So Draco started to explain about the various positions

By the time they arrived, Harry's head was buzzing with the strangeness of it all, and while Malfoy knew the rules quite well, Harry wasn't sure how much he'd remember just from their conversation alone. They were early, but not the first one's there. Another Slytherin boy, 4 years older than them, was out on the field between the tall raised stands with a wooden box at his feet.

"See those rings high up in the air on either end of the field?" Draco asked, pointing them out. Harry saw three on each side, of varying heights. "Those are the goal posts. The chasers try to get the quaffle…"

"Quaffle's the… red ball?" Harry wanted to be certain he was remembering right.

"Yeah, not one of the dangerous ones." Draco continued, as they found a place to sit. "The chasers try to get the quaffle into the hoops, each time they do, they earn ten points for their team."

"And the snitch is worth a hundred fifty? That seems a bit imbalanced…" Harry commented.

"Wait till you see the snitch, or try to catch it. Then you'll understand why it's worth so much."

"I know, the keeper tries to catch the snitch,"

"No, that's the seeker. The keeper guards the goals."

"Oh, right. So when the seeker catches the snitch the game ends. It seems really strange, and weird. How do you keep sense of it, it sounds like…"

"You lot here to watch?" it was the older boy who'd arrived before them on the field. He wore a uniform consisting of green, black, and silver robes, as well as some padding in places, no doubt to protect him during play.

"Harry's going to try out!" Draco informed him, self-importantly.

"Harry, as in Harry Potter?" He smiled, recognizing him, "Marcus Flint, I'm Slytherin Captain this year." He added, saving Harry from having to remember his name. Harry shook the hand Marcus extended toward him. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid first years aren't allowed to try out for the quidditch team, even if they're 'Harry Potter'."

"Madam Hooch is getting permission for him." Draco replied.

"That's right." Harry decided he needed to speak up for himself a bit. "Madam Hooch said I could try out. You can ask her when she gets here; she said she'd loan me a broom."

That shocked Marcus, "Did she really? I'll be a pixie, that'd make you the youngest Hogwarts quidditch player in… at least a century."

"Who is?" More people were beginning to arrive, just in time to hear the tail end of their conversation. The voice belonged to a very tall boy, who looked even older than Marcus.

"Harry Potter. Madam Hooch said he could try out, how 'bout that?"

"She said that, Marcus?"

"That's what Potter and Malfoy say; Madam Hooch will be here soon to tell us herself."

"Tell us what? They're not gonna cancel quidditch or something, are they?"

"What are you doing here, Harriet?" Marcus scowled at the newest arrival, a girl about his own age already dressed in quidditch robes not too dissimilar from Marcus' robes.

"Gonna try out of course. I was on the team two years ago. Just because I took a year off doesn't mean I can't try out again."

Marcus frowned, but refrained from saying more on the subject. "Oh, look there's Madam Hooch." He said, drawing their attention to the silver haired figure coming their way from the castle.

Harriet turned to Harry, "Hello Potter, so what was that about then?"

It was Draco who answered, of course; seeming to delight in any opportunity to surprise his classmates. "Harry's been given permission by Hooch to try out for the team." He beamed brightly.

"I'm sure you'll be brilliant. What position you plan to try out for?"

"I don't know yet." Harry said, his voice a little dry, as he was feeling a bit nervous again.

"Oh, well you look like you've got a good build for Seeker. That's what I'm trying out for." She winked at him, "But if you do, I won't go easy on you just 'cause you're a first year."

"You won't have to, Harry'll show you up, you'll see." Draco interjected, but she just laughed, and walked away to listen in on the conversation Madam Hooch was having with Marcus.

"Draco?" Harry asked, realizing something amiss. "I don't have a uniform…"

"Oh, right." Draco looked around, "Maybe they'll let you change before trying out, there's bound to be extra uniforms in the lockers, they're just over there, I think." He pointed at some buildings set a little ways away from the pitch, and Harry nodded, hoping Draco had it right.

"All right everyone." Madam Hooch called a moment later, moving forward with Marcus so that everyone could see and hear her. "I'll be monitoring your try outs, but don't let me slow you down, go ahead and get started. Harry, come with me a moment, I'll get you that broom I promised, and you can change into some quidditch robes for the tryouts."

"See? Told you." Draco smiled, and found a place to wait until Harry got back.

"So, any questions about the rules or anything like that?" Madam Hooch asked, while walking with Harry toward the building Draco had pointed out.

"No ma'am. I've heard a little already, and it sounds really confusing, if I hear any more before I see what's going on, I think my head might explode."

She laughed, "And we wouldn't want that, would we? Fair enough, I'm sure it'll all make sense once you've had a chance to give it a try yourself."

They moved inside the building, and the teacher found a small box in a side room with a pile of mismatched uniforms in it. Some of them had the house colors of the four houses, while others looked plain, or perhaps just washed out. Harry guessed they were practice uniforms, not meant for any particular house. "Got a Slytherin robe here might just fit you; why don't you try it on? I'll be right back with that broom." She handed him a robe, and pointed him in the direction of some privacy stalls where he could change.

On their way back out, she handed him a smooth broom with a black handle, and a collection of straight pale straws, along with silver footrests, only slightly tarnished. "It's an older model." Madam Hooch explained, "A Cleansweep Four; handles fine, though she's starting to slow down just a little. Still, she's a sight faster than that training broom you were using earlier. If you make the team, I'll let you sign her out for the year, just take good care of her."

"It sounds fantastic." Harry assured her, already admiring the broomstick. It may not have been new, but it still felt better in his hands than just about anything he could remember.

"Madam Hooch, what position should I try out for?" Harry asked as they walked back across the field.

"Well, you're small, and quick, and you seemed pretty agile in the air. You could do well as a chaser, or even a seeker." The teacher responded.

"Harriet said I had a good build for seeker." Harry confirmed.

"She's right. If you make reserve seeker with her as your starter, I'm sure you'll learn a lot more from her than I could teach you. I was a chaser myself when I was on the Slytherin team."

When they arrived back at the quidditch pitch, many of the other Slytherins were already in the air, and there were a few students in the stands surrounding the pitch as well. Harry hadn't realized they were going to have an audience.

He mounted his broom like he'd been born to it, and shot up in the air to join them, wondering just what the tryouts would entail. As he got closer he heard Marcus Flint explaining, "We'll have reserves, as usual, so if you don't make a starter position you can still be on the team. Potter! What position you trying out for?"

"Oh, Madam Hooch said I should try out for seeker." He called back, hovering level with the other players in a small circle around Flint.

"Oi, is that… Potter?" someone called from the stands.

"It is!" two familiar voices answered simultaneously from the same direction.

"Alright, the rest of you know what to do, I'll take a moment to explain the seeker position to Potter." Flint either didn't hear or ignored the comments from the stands. Everyone split up, flying to different ends of the pitch, as Marcus Flint flew closer to Harry. "How much do you know the rules for the game, Harry?"

"I don't really. Malfoy explained some of it to me, but it was kinda confusing."

"Well, seeker is pretty simple, we'll do some tryouts for that first, so just watch the others and remember; all you have to do is catch the snitch – at the right time, of course."

"Right time?" Harry blinked.

"Well yeah. If we're winning, you can hold off a bit on the snitch – so long as the other team doesn't get it first. But if we're losing by a lot, you might want to wait on it – till we catch up enough that we'll win when you catch it. Make sense?"

"Yeah… I mean… not really."

"Cause it's worth a lot of points." Marcus continued, "But it ends the game – so if we're really behind catching it could lose the game for us."

"I guess… It doesn't sound too hard." Marcus gave Harry a thumbs-up, then flew down toward the ground.

"Alright, seekers first. We've got three going for seeker." He shouted back up at them. Harry realized two other students had come to hover close to him. "We're going to start off with practice snitches, everyone but the seekers come get some."

The other Slytherins came down to where Flint had landed next to the brown box he'd had earlier. He opened the box, and started handing out small objects, rather smaller than the remembrall Harry had taken from Draco earlier. "We're going to toss them around, and see if you can grab them out of the air." Marcus told them all, most likely for Harry's benefit.

They all rose into the air, and started flying around the pitch at different heights and speeds. "Ready? I'll go first, there's only three of you, so we'll do all of you at once." Marcus continued.

Harry nodded. He understood he was meant to catch the small balls, or try to anyways. He wondered if he'd be any good at it.

"Alright, here goes." Marcus tossed his ball high in the air. Harriet was off first, streaking upwards towards the ball, with Harry and the other seeker, Terrence, close behind. Harriet reached the ball first, and grabbed for it. Her hand passed right over it, at the very top of its arc, but even though she tried to shift her weight to correct her error, it started to fall before she could get it.

Harry pitched downward suspecting that Terrence would be doing the same, and was almost a little surprised when he felt his palm slap the little brown ball as his fist closed around it.

"Potter's got it!" Marcus shouted. "Okay, you! Throw yours next."

Harry dropped the ball in his hand, and turned in time to see another student toss a ball across the field. Again they were off, but this time Harry was in the lead. He corrected his descent in order to come in line with the ball, seeing Harriet move alongside him. He reached out to grab the brown wooden ball at the same time she did, and their hands collided. Terrence was right there below them, and caught the ball as it was knocked into his hand by Harry and Harriet's fumble.

"Higgs caught it! Now you throw!" It continued like that for several minutes, the three of them racing around catching balls. Marcus shouted at them; sometimes proclaiming a catch but other times egging them on. It was almost as if he wanted them to fight over it more, but the three of them seemed happy to simply compete, without trying to slow each other down. Harry caught a few more of the balls than either of the other two, he was proud to note.

"Now let's try some dodging. Let's get a few of you to fly some checks at them – but remember; they're on our team, so try not to hit them, or knock them off their brooms, just see how well they dodge."

Flint flew lower, back towards the ground, and next thing Harry knew the larger boys were flying towards him and the others. They scattered, and Harry spent the next several minutes learning that he was pretty darn good at dodging even the swiftest of the other students as they tried to bump into him on their brooms.

"Here comes the snitch!" Marcus called again, "We're going to release it, then start tryouts for the chasers, you three keep an eye out for it, and we'll see which of you catches it first."

Harry thought he could do that, as he watched the tiny golden ball take flight, and zoom into the air. He lost sight of it quickly enough, but stayed alert, as Marcus started explaining to the chasers how they'd be trying out.

"You're pretty good." Terrence called to him after a moment, flying a bit closer.

"Thanks." Harry gave him a smile.

"I'm a good seeker, but I think you'll be better than me, once you have a bit more practice."

"Shouldn't you be looking for the snitch?" Harriet joined in their conversation.

"Not yet, really." Higgs shrugged, then said, "I'm going to join the chasers, I think Harry deserves to be a seeker, and that way you can both get on the team."

"I don't need charity." Harriet scowled at him, but he simply shrugged again.

"Good luck!" he called as he moved down to do as he'd said, and join in the tryouts for the chasers, first going to Flint to inform him of his decision.

Harry enjoyed watching the others, and was starting to get an idea for how the game was actually meant to be played, when a flicker of light caught his attention and he glanced around to spot the snitch. Harriet was looking the other way, and Harry wasn't certain he'd actually seen it, but another blur of movement told him something was definitely there.

He took a firm grip on his broom and set off after it. Harriet noticed his movement, and too late realized what had drawn his attention. The flying golden ball tried to dodge, and Harry kept after it. It was a few moments of chasing through the air before Harriet caught up to him. The snitch dodged left, then right, then down, and Harry stayed with it, following it close to the stands on one side, where he narrowly dodged one of the other boys who smacked a bludger out of the air just above Harry.

Harriet pulled back somewhere along the line and Harry was able to get right in line with the snitch, and snatch it out of the air with his right hand. "Harry's got the snitch!" the boy who'd hit the bludger cried out over the field, as Harry grinned and held the golden ball up for all to see.

"Well done, Potter!" Hooch shouted from below, and Flint gave him an encouraging grin.

"Good job, Potter." Flint called, "I'll be with you in a moment."

Harry waited, clutching the snitch, and hovering in place, keeping out of the way as some of the chasers practiced flying in formation while the others tried to divert them, or get in their way. After a moment, Flint disengaged from the others and flew to where Harry and Harriet were waiting.

"Looks like we've got our new seeker, Potter. Congratulations!" He told him.

"Thanks!" Harry beamed back, "Though I only caught the snitch because Harriet had to dodge somebody. If I wasn't so small, I would have had to go around the long way too."

"That's part of being a seeker though." Harriet told him. "Lots of seekers are small."

"Yeah, so don't worry about that. We've got the chasers sorted out, and I'm just about settled on our beaters, so we just need to finalize our keeper and we'll be good to go. Next week we're meeting a bit earlier in order to get in a good first practice." Marcus informed him.

"Next Thursday?" Harry asked for clarification.

"We'll practice every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday – unless something comes up. If you want, you can let the snitch go, and you can practice catching it again while we finish up."

"That's okay, I don't know if I have time to manage it again."

"That's right, first years have a class Thursday evening, transfiguration, isn't it?" Harriet asked.

"Yeah, so maybe I should start getting ready to head out." Harry agreed.

"That's fine. I'll see you at practice on Monday – I'll get in touch with you between now and then, to make sure you know what's expected of you."

"Sounds good." Harry nodded, and handed Harriet the snitch, before taking his broom down to the ground near Madam Hooch. "You were brilliant!" Draco told him, looking as if he'd enjoyed watching nearly as much as Harry had enjoyed flying.

Harry returned the borrowed quidditch robes, and started back to his room with Draco to grab their text books for their transfiguration class and stow the broom Hooch had lent him. He was so excited and happy for a change, that he almost didn't spot the two figures coming down from the stands. That by itself wasn't unusual, but the pair of them were identical in height, and sported bright red hair. He knew of only two people in the school who fit that description.

Before he could divert to speak with them, they'd headed off. He didn't think he had time to intercept them unless he wanted to be late for transfiguration, so he put it out of his mind and tried to get himself mentally prepared for his next class.

By the next day, the news that Harry was going to be on the Slytherin quidditch team was all over the school. Harry had his suspicions on who might have been spreading the word around, but he was too happy to really care, even if it did mean Seamus was even nastier to him. He taunted Harry and his friends during breakfast, and whenever they passed him in the halls. He and his friend, Dean Thomas, even managed to get Crabbe and Goyle in trouble by provoking them into a fight with their wands just as McGonagall came round a corner.

Everyone was riled up, and the Slytherins were excited to have Harry on the team, while nearly everyone else was just bemoaning how much better the Slytherin team might be. Harry learned that Slytherin had been dominating quidditch for a number of years in a row already.

Things got quieter over the weekend, but that also gave them a bit more time to get into trouble. Crabbe and Goyle – once again left to their own devices while Harry and Draco studied – ended up rushing into the Slytherin common room one evening, when most the students were already in bed, shouting about a monster in the school. It took Harry and Draco (who'd been going over quidditch rules and tactics) nearly three minutes to calm them down long enough to explain the story.

"It was Dean Thomas." Crabbe began, "He wanted to fight, so told us to meet him up in the third floor corridor – the one that's out of bounds. Well, Greg found this locked door, and he has this box of match sticks which can be used to open locks, so he goes and opens it. Next thing you know Mrs. Norris was yowling at us, and we rush into the room to hide."

"That was a mistake." Gregory Goyle added. "That's where the monster was!"

"What sort of monster?" Harry had to ask, wondering whether to laugh or act sympathetic. He didn't believe they'd actually have a monster behind some door at the school.

"It was huge!" Goyle cried.

"A big, three-headed… bear, I think!" Vincent Crabbe added.

"Show us." Draco instructed, getting to his feet.

"You mental?" Goyle asked, his mouth gaping with shock.

"Maybe you are." Draco countered. "Who ever heard of a three-headed bear? If you're even telling the truth."

"You think that's a good idea?" Harry was curious, but even if it did sound absurd, there was a reason they'd been warned away from the third floor corridor, and a probably a good reason the door had been locked.

"Where are you four going?" Harry turned to see a second year student, Hestia Carrow – along with her twin sister, Flora – looking at them. "It's after curfew, I don't know where they were, but they only barely made it back." Harry didn't think the twins had overheard their conversation, but it would have been obvious to anyone that they were making ready to go somewhere.

"They just want to show us something, we'll be right back." Draco told them. "And you're not going to go snitching on us, if you know what's good for you." He added, and Harry blinked, a bit shocked at the venom with which he'd said the words.

"They're right though… If we go out, we're just asking for trouble, it's a miracle Crabbe and Goyle didn't get caught, I don't know about you, but I don't want to push our luck." Harry interjected swiftly.

Draco sighed, and sat back down, Crabbe and Goyle looked relieved that he wasn't going to drag them back out to show him. The Carrows shot Draco a dark look, and a more grateful one at Harry, before getting to their feet and leaving the common room.

"What was that about anyways?" Harry wondered aloud.

Draco shrugged, "Just making sure they know not to mess with us." He supplied, though that answer hardly satisfied Harry. Still he decided to leave it at that, as he didn't want to get into an argument with his best friend.

"So… what do you think it's guarding?" Draco asked after a moment.

"Guarding?" Harry blinked, and Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other, but couldn't come up with an answer.

"It makes sense. That's why the corridor's forbidden. It must be guarding something really important." Draco continued.

Harry remembered something he'd thought about the other day. "Hagrid told me, when we were at Gringotts, that the only place safer than Gringotts was Hogwarts. Maybe whatever he took out of that vault is here, being guarded by that thing?"

"Could be!" Draco was smiling, now they had a mystery, and Draco lit up at the prospect of figuring out this new puzzle.

"We'll just have to look into it, see what we can find out." Harry promised him.

Author's Comments: I've been working on this one for quite some time, and I hope the effort it starting to pay off. In particular, Seru Crescent and Illusor Maeneld have encouraged me to work on this when I wasn't sure if it was worth the effort.

So please, let me know what you think.

EDIT: More edits, mostly minor, but a couple places where I altered dialogue significantly.

Once again the copyrights for the Harry Potter worlds belong to J.K. Rowling. All original characters depicted here and this story are copyrighted to me.