The First Year

by Sopphires

Caly is an ordianary kid, right? That's what she thinks. She soon discovers she is anything but and is whisked away to Hogwarts. There she makes friends with a certain family. The dark lord may have fallen but the wizarding world is far from safe.

15. Exams and the Quidditch Cup Final

Exams and the Quidditch Cup Final

By the time the end of May came the school was buzzing. There were high expectations for this years Quidditch cup final that would take place the first weekend of June, this was the week of the exams. The Easter holidays had been spent starting to revise everything. Caly didn't doubt she would do badly because she couldn't produce so much as a spark. However she figured the good marks she would get in Potions and Herbology might make up for it as long as she revised hard for the written part and did well in that. It was slightly frightening, knowing that she would have to pass these exams to move onto the next year.

However the prospect of the Quidditch final just after that brightened the clouds. Better still Gryffindor were in the final! Al had pulled off a spectacular catch that saw him catch the snitch before a single pass had been made. It was the fastest catch in Hogwarts history and made him even more of a hero. Gryffindor actually went into the final against Ravenclaw in the lead on 350 just 10 points ahead of Ravenclaw. Gryffindor had warmed right back up to their Quidditch captain after she had shown she could put aside her feelings for the sake of the team. Her, Olive and Fred still didn't speak properly but they flew together seamlessly.

Caly and her friends were the only first years really stressed out. They had several things on their minds; firstly the exams. Scor and Rose were taking them really seriously and were in competition with each other. Then there was the Quidditch final, whenever Maise could take a break from her crazy revision schedule she would order practice. Maise was in her 5th year meaning she was taking her O.W.L.s- Ordinary Wizarding Levels or OWLs. They were very important, and Caly realised they were the wizarding equivalent to GCSE's except you took them a year earlier. This stress didn't fall directly on her but she had to keep her friends calm, eating and sleeping. She had to keep them under control.

The last pressure was the one that was really causing them to crack. Scor had not heard from his mother since Easter. He had sent her a letter saying he was staying and he never got a reply. He had sent many letters and even a Howler but he got no response. The fact she wasn't writing wasn't so big a surprise because she had been writing less and less since the beginning of March. The thing that really got the four of them was the possibility that she was the one that had been kidnapped by the letter sender. Caly didn't like to admit that she was almost certainly the one that had been kidnapped because she fitted the criteria perfectly and she wasn't noticed like if it were a Weasley/Potter. They were trying to work out whether telling the authorities that they thought she was missing would get her killed if they didn't mention the letters.

In the end they didn't have to. Astoria Malfoy's neighbour, who was a muggle, complained to the council that the house smelt of rotting. When the policemen went inside they found the food was rotting. The Magical Law Enforcement squad got there shortly after and had obliviated the policemen who saw the moving pictures. It seemed she hadn't been in the house for a month, there was no way of knowing whether she had been taken by force or had gone willingly. Scor had been pulled out of lessons for a few days after this. It confirmed their opinions that she had indeed been kidnapped and was being held hostage. Unfortunately knowing this didn't help in the slightest. Rose reckoned there would come a time when the attacker would call for her to give it over in exchange for Mrs Malfoy's life. Caly had to agree that that sounded likely so now all they could do was wait.

When the week of the exams dawned Caly was severely depressed by the excellent weather. The blue cloudless sky mocked her as she lined up outside Professor Hardingly's classroom for their Transfiguration practical exam. Caly avoided professor Hardingly as though he were a leper ever since she had found him in the classroom with Professor Overy. She avoided Overy, too, but Hadingly really gave her the creeps. It was like he could see into her mind and to an extent she knew he can but even when he wasn't it still felt like that. She was always uncomfortable in his presence.

She didn't bother practicing the movements and the words like the rest of the class was doing because she knew she was going to fail. There was absolutely no way she was going to do well. It just couldn't happen. So it was with a heavy heart that she entered the transfiguration class and drew her wand, standing before the professor expectantly. He placed a matchstick in front of her and smiled in a kind way. This surprised her. She had never seen him smile at anyone other than Rose. But then again she had always tried to refrain from looking into his face after the incident.

"I am asking most of my students to transfigure quills into goblets but I think it would better if you tried this." She looked at the matchstick on her desk and she knew she need to turn it into a needle. Caly was surprised to find her face wasn't burning with embarrassment instead she understood he was trying to be kind. "Have faith in your ability." He sat down and smiled again. "Whenever you are ready." Caly took a deep breath and tried to feel the way she had the two other times she had done magic. She said the incantation and did the wand movement and for a moment nothing happened then the matchstick turned silver and pointy. She picked it up and realised it was still made of wood but felt proud by her achievements. Professor Hardingly was smiling at her and actually applauded her quietly.

"Excellent. Excellent. See all you need is a bit of faith." She pocketed her wand and left thoughtfully.

The other exams were all pretty good. The written papers were all quite simple if you'd done the revision, which she had. The only one she had trouble with was History of Magic because she kept confusing all the names and dates of the goblin revolutions and rebellions. She was pretty sure that she had written the last question the wrong way round and had been describing the revolution instead of the rebellion except that she was sure that she had added a couple of the rebellion goblins in because they were all so similar. They were all something the something, the last something was usually quite unflattering like the bloodthirsty or the beheader or the axe wheeling maniac as she had wrote for one of them. That was definitely wrong but she had always wanted to write something random like that in an exam and that had been the perfect opportunity.

In her two other practical magic exams she took Professor Hardingly's words to heart with great results. In Charms Professor Flitwick asked her to levitate a book and move it in circles. She hadn't been able to life the book very high and the circles were incredibly small but it was definitely progress and little Professor Flitwick nearly fell of his stack of books with surprise but applauded her when the book fell after a minute. The Defence Against the Dark Arts exam went similarly well. The practical part was split in two. The first part was deal with a hinkypunk and the second disarm Professor Longbottom. The hinkypunk part was easy for Caly because she was as good with animals as she was with plants and the disarming also went well because she did shoot a jet of red light at his wand, however weak, and the wand dropped out of his hand and onto the floor. Again it was nowhere near as good as Al's would be but it was so much better than ever.

On Friday when she had completed her last exam, the theory of Charms paper, she decided to see Professor Hardingly and thank her for what he said in her exam because it had really helped. Ever since she had been slowly improving and she owed it to him. She still wasn't entirely comfortable in his presence like she was in Professors Longbottom's or Sprout's or Slughorn's but she did think she owed him a thank you. She definitely owed him a thank you. Of course she hadn't got her results yet, they wouldn't get them till the last week of term but she knew she had done much better than she would've.

When she reached his office door she heard a muffled voices that were rising in dynamic. "I will not!" A man cried. "I will not!""You may not have a choice." she recognised both voices, the first she couldn't place but the second was Professor Hardingly's.
"I didn't have one either."
"But you and he, you and he."
"Calm down man. Everything will be fine. Don't worry but if it happens don't say I didn't warn you." The door flew open and a man stormed out. He didn't notice Caly but when Professor Hardingly looked out he saw her.

"Oh, hello Miss Hautly. Is there anything I can do for you?" He wasn't smiling like he had done on Monday but then it seemed he had just had a row with someone.

"Er…yeah I wanted to thank you for what you said in my exam it really helped with my magic, so thanks."

"What? Wait a second." he retreated into his office leaving Caly slightly puzzled. A few second later he reappeared holding a cup of tea smiling brightly. "Sorry, kettle boiled. It's my pleasure, Miss Hautly. It is my job after all, I wouldn't be a very good teacher if I didn't help my pupils."

"No." she said. She was very confused. "Er, Professor can I ask you something?"
"Fire away."
"Why did you change your tie?" he froze then slammed the door in Caly's face. Utterly perplexed Caly turned to walk back to Gryffindor tower. What the hell was up with the Professor? Maybe he had that weird mental illness that meant you flipped personalities or something like that? Was that another secret she had to keep because the more she thought about the conversation the more she thought she knew who the man was. She was pretty sure that it was the Arithmancy Professor. What was going on with the Professors? Honestly, she thought they were probably as bad as the students. Only yesterday there had been some massive catfight in the Gryffindor common room between six or seven girls because James was snogging them all at the same time, well not literally at the same time but he was cheating on them with each other. It was really weird because James may only be 12 but he was the biggest playboy in the school. It really irritated Al.

When she came back she found Rose reading and Scor and Al playing wizard chess. After observing the game she realised Al need the help the most. Scor was close to checkmate and was crushing Al with his 'superior intellect'. She squatted next to Al and examined the board trying to find the move that would even the playing field. She spotted it at once. One of Al's knights was just sitting unused at the side of the board and he hadn't noticed it could take Scor's queen. Al still had his queen but Scor would still have more men so that made it about even, if played well. She muttered the move in Al's ear and sat back to enjoy the effects. For a couple of minutes it seemed to hang in the balance but a couple of swift moves and it was all over. Al shrugged because Maise had stood and ordered the team to bed. Bidding her goodnight they all left for bed.

She glanced around the common room for someone to talk with and saw James with the Scarmanders. She walked over and plopped herself down next to him. They got on really well because they had a habit of going to Slughorn's dinner parties together, the only downside was that it encouraged Slughorn's insane theory. As she neared him she noticed that he looked pretty depressed, there were several cuts on his cheeks, his lip was split and he had black eyes.

"James." he jumped when he heard her and his hand flew to his wand. He relaxed visibly when he realised it was only her. "What happened to you?"

"The cuts were from some Mindy Fawcett, she's in my year and she was my first girlfriend and the bruises are from the older brothers of most of my other girlfriends.""Does it hurt?"
"Yes."
"Why haven't you gone to Madam Pomfrey."
"I can't Neville found out and banned me as punishment." Caly didn't really like what James did, but on the other hand she was James' friend and she felt sorry for him.
"Well I could help you."
"What?"
"I could brew some cures for you."
"Would you?" James sat up all excited.
"Yeah. I need to get some things from upstairs but Slughorn gave me a private dungeon, so yeah."
"Alright." he said jumping to his feet then wincing "I'll get the map."

She hurried up to her dormitory. Careful not to wake Rose she extracted her lighter and knife, she kept the key with the one for her guitar case around her neck. She hurried back down and met James at the bottom of the stairs in the common room, it was quite late and curfew was in half an hour so they would need the map to avoid getting into trouble and get back without getting lost.

The journey down to dungeon 10 was uneventful. They didn't meet a soul, living or departed and they got there in just five minutes thanks to James' map. When they were inside she lit the lamps and told James he could sit on the cabinet. She then asked him what hurt the most. When James replied his ribs she flicked through the many potions books until she found the right method. She immediately made the obvious corrections and several more as she went along. The process had become instinctive to her now. It took her 20 minutes and the moment James drunk it he said he felt better. The other potion for cuts and bruises she'd already made and took about 10. James looked a hell of a lot better when they'd finished and was almost back to his old self. They made it back to the empty common room without being caught though it had been close; they'd nearly run into Peeves, Filch and Professor Longbottom.

The next day saw her friends on the edge, Al could barely eat and the little Rose was eating wasn't much better. Scor was doing alright because he was playing reserve. James and Caly had to stand over them to make sure they ate but the little colour they had gained vanished when Professor Longbottom came over and informed them that their family was here. Caly really thought Al was going to faint. She followed the three of them down to the changing rooms and wished them luck and turned towards the Gryffindor stands but James grabbed her arm and marched her off to another stand that was for visitors.
"Where are you taking me?"
"You are coming to sit with my family. They have some of the best seats." Resigned to being pulled along by James she followed him without resistance.

"James!" James was nearly knocked backwards into Caly when a little girl with red hair threw herself at him.
"Hey Lils." He ruffled her hair. "Hey mum, dad I brought Al and Rosie's best friend Caly." Mr Potter looked over and smiled at her.
"Oh hello again."
"Hey."

"Caly this is my incredibly large family. You've met my dad, so there's my mum and my little sister, Lily. Then Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione and Hugo, they're Rose's family, Uncle Bill, Aunt Fleur and Louis, they feel obliged to support Raven claw 'cause that's where Vic and Dom are, then Uncle George and Aunt Angelina, Roxie and Fred's parents, Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey and Lucy are supporting both because Molly is in Hufflepuff and my grandparents. My Uncle Charlie couldn't be here because he works in Romania." She smiled at them and waved. Soon after Vic, Dom and Molly turned up and they took their seats ready to start.

"HELLO HOGWARTS AND WELCOME TO THE 2016 QUIDDITCH FINAL. THE COMPETITORS GRYFFINDOR AND RAVENCLAW. THE ODDS ARE EVEN AS GRYFFINDOR HAVE WON MORE TIMES THAN ANY OTHER HOUSE." Lot's of cheering from the red and gold mass. "BUT RAVENCLAW FLATTENED GRYFFINDOR IN THEIR PREVIOUS MATCH THIS SEASON." Cheering from the blue and bronze supporters. "SO THE RAVENCLAW TEAM CAPTAIN AND SEEKER CORNER, CHASERS GOLDSTEIN, TIREL AND HART, TWIN BEATERS DOEN AND DOEN AND KEEPER DOART. SUBS KEEPER HOWN, BEATER STUART, CHASER DOART AND SEEKER CORNER. THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM CAPTAIN AND CHASER JORDAN, CHASERS WEASLEY AND MADON, BEATERS WEASLEY AND WEASLEY, KEEPER WOOD AND SEEKER POTTER. SUBS KEEPER WOOD, BEATER CREEVY, SEEKER MADON AND CHASER MALFOY." Caly was the only one in the box she was in that cheered Scor's name. She watched as the Daniel and Maise shook hands, Madam Hooch took out the quaffle threw it in the air and

"What did I miss?" All their heads turned to see a young man with blue hair but a Gryffindor scarf around his neck enter the stands.

"Teddy!" Vic flung herself at him and they began saying an entirely non-verbal hello. Bill coughed pointedly whilst all the kids cracked up.

"Oh hello all." Teddy didn't look in the least bit fazed. He glanced around and then spotted Caly. "Who are you?"
"I'm Caly, I'm Al and Rose's friend."
"I'm Teddy, honorary member of this family."
"Speaking of Al and Rose we ought to be watching the game." said Mrs Potter. They all turned back at once and listened to Nick's commentary.

"SO IT'S 30-0 TO GRYFFINDOR BECAUSE WOOD HAS PULLED OFF SOME AWSOME SAVES, THEY CLEARLY TAKE AFTER THEIR FATHER. NOW MADON PASSES TO WEASLEY TO JORDAN TO MADON TO WEASLEY BACK TO-NO INTERCEPTED BY TIREL. SO TIREL TO HART TO GOLDSTEIN WHO SHOOTS AND. WHAT A SAVE! BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT! SO GRYFFINDOR BACK IN POSSESION, OHHH MADON TAKES A BLUDGER FROM AARON DOEN. SHE'S DROPPED THE QUAFFLE SO GOLDSTEIN TO TIREL, WEASLEY INTERCEPTS TO JORDAN TO WEASLEY TO JORDAN TO WEASLEY AND I THINK SOMETHING'S HAPPENED TO MADON BECAUSE SHE IS OUT OF IT."

Caly squinted down at the pitch and saw that Olive was just hanging there in mid air.

"What's happened to her?" she asked James who shrugged.

"Mum." he turned around "Aunt Angelina what's happened to her?" Ginny and Angelina glanced at each, both had been professional chasers, in fact they had both played together at the Harpies. However they had never seen anything like this.

"I'm not sure, James." Mrs Potter looked very worried and Lily looked very upset.

"OH MY GOD SOMEONE BETTER GET HER OFF THAT BROOM!" Their attention was once more averted to Olive whose broom was starting to burn. Caly froze, she felt like ice was going through her body, those flames weren't leaving any ash, it was all consuming like the letter. She could see both Al and Rose, frozen and she knew, even from this distance they were thinking the same thing. No one could move, even the Ravenclaw players seemed shocked into inactivity. Then there was a shout from below. The voice of an 11 year old ripped through the air.

"AGUMENTI!" Scor was standing there pointing his wand at her broom. A jet of water shot from the end and hit the flames, they died but he hadn't been fast enough. Olive was falling and Scor was still the only person who could think. He ran forwards and shouted the only other spell that came to mind.

"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" Everyone watched as Scorpius levitated her body down to the ground. The moment it touched the ground he heaved it over the shelter and left her with Jay, Colin and her sister then he mounted his broom and kicked off.

Suddenly the game began again. Everyone seemed to be able to breath think and move. The staff rushed down to look at Olive. Nick was shouting praises at Scor but Caly doubted he heard because he was playing at such speed with Roxie and Maise. Caly turned to James who looked stunned.
"Do you reckon someone's got it in for the Madon's?" James cocked his head thinking about it.
"It would seem so." he said in a worried tone. "But the teachers will have noticed I mean it's too big of a coincidence, right?" Caly shrugged about to answer when James' dad interrupted.
"What do you mean by 'someone's got it in for the Madon's' and 'it's too big a coincidence." Caly turned and pushed back the hair that had come free from her plait.
"Well you know Al made that spectacular catch in the first match, he only did it because someone shoved Nikki off her broom."
"Yeah but we know it was MacDougal or Finch-Fletchly, I can't remember which."
"Actually I don't know which either."
"Hey Molly." James called. "Which of your beaters knocked Nikki off her broom." Molly furrowed her brow.
"I don't know."
"Oh c'mon Molly, you're friends with MacDougal, you must know if he got three months worth of detention."
"No one got three months worth of detention, not in Hufflepuff." Caly and James looked at each other confused.

"But Olive said that the beater had been given three months detention." James' dad coughed as if to remind them that they were supposed to be explaining the 'coincidence'.

"Yeah, that's weird. You just heard our conversation, but Nikki fell a long way at quite a high speed, she could've died and Olive definitely nearly died if Scor hadn't have kept his head." Harry Potter nodded and said nothing, he just watched his son, two nieces and nephew play Quidditch.

The game went on for hours. She was beginning to get tired from standing up every time Gryffindor scored, which was often and she was loosing her voice from all the screaming. Lunch had been eaten up in the stands and she kept a sharp eye on Al, Scor and Rose to make sure they weren't tiring. Nick was nearly hoarse for talking non-stop for hours but due to the charm his hoarse voice still echoed around the stadium.

"SO IT'S 590-470 TO GRYFFINDOR AND THIS IS DEFINITLY TURNING OUT TO BE ONE OF THE LONGEST GAMES WE'VE HAD IN A WHILE. SO MALFOY PASSES TO WEASLEY TO JORDAN WHO PASSES TO MALFOY WHO DOES AN EXCELLENT BACK PASS TO WEASLEY. BOY I NEVER KNEW HE COULD FLY. OH, WHAT A DODGE. I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO GET HIT THEN BUT HE'S STILL GOT THE QUAFFLE AND HE SHOOTS AND SCORES! ANOTHER GOAL FOR MR MALFOY, WHO PROBABLY HOLDS THE TITLE OF LEAST POPULAR GRYFFINDOR PLAYER EVER NO LONGER AFTER THIS PERFORMANCE. AND ANOTHER GOOD PASS TO-IS THAT THE SNITCH!"

Al had gone into a spectacular dive. The entire school rose as one, all previous tiredness forgotten. The school screamed one of the seekers on. Al had the lead but Daniel had more experience, also with the strongish winds Daniel was staying on course better. Al was flying so low he was practically touching the grass. Then a bludger came flying from above and smashed down on his back. Al's yell of pain rose above the cheering causing everyone to quieten. James had buried his head in head in his hands, unable to watch. Daniel and Al were level as the bludger, with Rose chasing after it, came back for more. This time Al saw it. He threw himself off his broom right arm extended as it smashed into it. He flopped onto the ground. Caly knew his back and arm were both broken. There was moment when everyone watched Al, then he raised his left arm and everyone saw the glint of gold.

Gryffindors went wild. The block of crimson and gold erupted in cheering and shouting. Nick was shouting the score at the top of his voice; 750-470. Gryffindor had won. She saw Fred, Maise, Roxie and Kay had were all hugging in mid air. Scor and Rose had collided and were hugging each other tightly. She heard someone chuckle behind her. She turned and saw Mr Potter laughing at the expression on Rose's father's face as he watched Scor and Rose descend to the ground where Al lay.

"James! James! We won!" she was shouting at the top of her voice. "It's okay you can look now!" He looked over and grinned weakly.

"Oh my god Al." he moaned and he was off down the stairs, quickly followed by Caly and the rest of the family. They ran across the pitch, past the sad Ravenclaw's to where Al lay. He was surrounded by the Quidditch team. Scor was kneeling next to him white faced and shaken. All the happiness had drained from the surroundings as they stood and looked at Al. Maise and Roxie's tears had changed from one's of joy to worry. Lily and Lucy buried their heads in their mothers chests, scared. James collapsed down on his other side as Caly asked the question they were all thinking.

"Can wizards cure paraplegia?" There was a tense pause then.

"Of course we can." It was Madam Pomfrey bustling over looking very agitated. "Quidditch" she muttered "I've already got one unconscious girl and her sister also took a nasty fall, different game, of course, but it still remains. Far too dangerous." They all waited then. "He'll be fine once I get him up to the castle."
"But he needs to lift the cup, him and Malfoy." Maise said chokingly. It was then they noticed Professor McGonagall holding the cup, approaching them.
"Maise." Scor said gently but deadly serious at the same time. "You're the captain, you lift the cup, we're you're team. It's yours. We just need to get Al up to the castle." But Maise shook her head.

"We wouldn't have won this cup without you. Al made that catch because you were the only one who believed he could make it. You told him to go faster so he did. The second, I should have played both of you, we could've won if I had. This game you saved Olive's life and you proved to be a better chaser and Al made the most amazing catch. I should have put you both on the first team to start with." Scor shook his head.

"Could've, should've, would've it's your victory Maise. You're the one who rallied us all back together when we fell apart after Ravenclaw. You lift the trophy. We're a team we wouldn't have won without any of us but the one who represents the team is the captain."

"Scor.." a croaked voice came from the floor.
"Al! You're awake!"
"I got it! The snitch! We won!"

"I know, but you're really badly hurt, you've broken you're back and arm."
"Oh that's why it hurts."
"Yes."
"Why am I awake then?"
"Because I want you and Scor to lift the trophy."
"But you're the captain it's your moment in the sun."

"I'm the captain and my decision is final. You two lift the cup." Scor put an arm around Al and hauled him to his feet. He then had to hold him up because he had no feeling in his legs. He transferred the snitch to his broken hand and together they lifted the Quidditch cup into the air. Everyone in the stands went wild. Maise and Roxie were in tears of joy again, Fred, Kay, Jay and Colin were basking in the attention and Rose held up the other side of Al whilst he and Scor showed Gryffindor the Quidditch cup once more.