The Whomping Willow's Victim
As Morgan had promised, the new recruits for the Gryffindor Quidditch team were announced via poster in the common room the following week, featuring both James and Joseph Bender, one of the better Keepers from the tryouts. Several students that James had never seen before approached him in the corridors to congratulate him, and he secretly suspected that Frank or some other member of the team had let slip his show in the tryouts. Almost overnight, a new hope seemed to spark in the Gryffindors regarding the coming season, and they began to talk in earnest about the first match against Ravenclaw; Ravenclaw had won the Quidditch Cup for three years running, and even Hufflepuff and Slytherin felt a need for a change of power.
It did nothing to ease James' excitement that his first game would be against Ravenclaw, and Morgan certainly seemed to feel the need for intense training sessions. In just one week, James had attended four different practices on the Quidditch pitch, one of them devoted entirely to theory-based tactics. When Morgan caught Raul yawning jokingly at the mention of strategies, she had him complete thirty laps around the field before returning to the board—all without a broom.
"Legs bent, shoulders in!" Morgan yelled at James and the other Chasers as they ripped by with the Quaffle during a late-week practice. "Come on, you can go faster than that! Be thankful that I'm not making you chase the Snitch!"
"Would she really do that?" James called to Frank over the roar of the wind whipping through his ears.
"Don't bet against it!" he yelled back, leaning back and tossing the ball to King, who in turn threw it at James when they reached the goalposts. Catching it briefly before letting go, James sent it sailing towards the left hoop, but Joseph blocked it without much effort. Annoyed, James sat back on his Airwake.
"We're going too fast to fake a shot!" he complained to the others.
"Then get closer!" Morgan called to him from her nearby-hovering broomstick, apparently having overheard. "We have a good chance of throwing the Keeper off by getting close, especially with your broom! I want you to use your speed to our advantage."
"Hold on: this can wait," King announced, putting the discussion to a stop and pointing at the ground below, where a group of emerald-clad students were walking onto the pitch with their brooms over their shoulders. "Our spectators have returned."
Immediately stopping their work, the Gryffindor team dropped to the ground to confront the Slytherins, who stopped in the middle of the field and waited for them to approach. In the front of the Quidditch team, Vanity stood with her hands on her hips, smiling cheerily while Malfoy wore a much smugger look beside her. Noting their confidence, James narrowed his eyes suspiciously as Morgan stalked up to them with her fists clenched.
"Can I do something for you, or are you hoping to aid us?" Morgan asked scathingly. "If you haven't noticed, we're rather busy."
"So sorry, darling, but you have to leave," Vanity told her, her beam unwavering. "We're going to practice."
"Are you?" Morgan responded, and her eyebrow raised. "I thought that's what we were doing," she said, gesturing towards her team.
"I would clear off if I was you," Malfoy drawled with a slight smile. "You might regret it otherwise."
"Exactly on whose authority are we supposed to leave?" Morgan demanded, crossing her arms. "I'm a prefect just like you, and Vanity and I are both Quidditch Captains. You can't kick us off of the pitch."
"I'm well aware of your accomplishments, but Professor Slughorn just signed a note that I think you should read," Malfoy replied lazily, producing a slip of parchment from his robes. Next to him, the other Slytherins smirked as he began to read aloud. "The Slytherin Quidditch team hereby has permission to use the pitch outside of official match times. Any other person or organization may not keep them from practicing."
"That's rubbish!" Frank exclaimed as the other Gryffindors buzzed with outrage. "He can't favor his own House just to keep us from practicing!"
"Our game's in a little over a week!" James added as Malfoy pocketed the note with a self-satisfied smile. "You can't just take the pitch!"
"Well, if you object, I could always report you to the staff," Malfoy told him smoothly. "What'll it be? Either hand the field over or spend the next few weeks in detention."
To James' right, Michael and Raul looked like they wanted to take their bats to Malfoy's head, but King held his hand out in front of them warningly. Glaring at Malfoy and Vanity, Morgan gritted her teeth.
"You can't get away with this for long," she told them. "I'm going to speak to our Head of House about this."
"Ah, but that's just the problem," Malfoy started knowingly, rubbing his chin in a mock gesture of concentration. "Your Head of House is the last person you want to contact. I checked with Argus Filch earlier this year," he explained, glancing briefly at Vanity, "and nepotism within the Quidditch league is strictly forbidden. If you can prove it, there are serious repercussions, some of which include academic and personal inspection, suspension, and expulsion . . ."
Paling as the Slytherins snickered, Morgan clenched her broom handle until her knuckles turned white. After a moment, she spun around and marched out of the pitch, the rest of the team following loyally behind her.
"Don't worry," she told them through gritted teeth. "We'll find a way around it."
"The question is how soon," Frank spoke up, throwing one last scathing look over his shoulder at the laughing Slytherins.
"I bet that they have a list of our practice times," James guessed. "They'll just show up whenever we have something scheduled."
"We'll just change our practices until I can talk sense into Professor Slughorn," Morgan said. "He was probably just talked into it by Malfoy without considering what it would mean for the rest of the teams. I'll let you know when things can go back to normal."
On the way back to the castle, James silently fumed at Malfoy's sly plan. Obviously, he had spent a lot of time thinking of how to hurt the Gryffindors as much as possible before their first game, and James felt a pang of guilt for the others walking beside him. Probably fueled by his hatred for James after their run-in last year, Malfoy had devised a way to make the entire Gryffindor team suffer in the most critical of moments. Convincing the Hogwarts staff to review an order given by one of the Heads of Houses could take weeks, and by then the Gryffindors' first match would be long over.
Looking up, James eyed the dark castle in the distance and considered mounting his broom to make the journey go by faster, but he decided against to remain with the rest of the team. As he continued to stare ahead, he spotted the large form of Hagrid, the Hogwarts Gameskeeper, emerge from his faraway hut and take a few steps out onto the grounds, pausing as if squinting at something. Suddenly jumping into motion again, the oversized wizard rushed back into his hut only to fly back into view seconds later with his loyal boarhound, Fang, dashing quickly behind him. Waving his arms frantically, Hagrid pounded off until he and Fang vanished behind the castle.
"What was that about?" Frank asked, having also seen the spectacle, and he started to jog in the direction Hagrid where had disappeared.
The rest of the team followed him curiously, and they eventually arrived at where Hagrid had stood outside of his hut just a minute before. Now they could all see him a short distance away, standing in the midst of a large group of students gathered around a gigantic, thrashing tree. Observing its swishy branches and obvious anger, James guessed that the students must be surrounding the Whomping Willow. When he got closer, however, James was surprised to find Sirius, Remus, and Peter standing near the back of the crowd, struggling to peer over the many heads in front of them. Running up beside them with the rest of the Quidditch team, he finally drew their attention, and they spun around to face the new arrivals.
"James! Frank! You're here!" Sirius exclaimed, pointing through the excited crowd. "The Willow's got someone!"
Briefly glancing at the concerned faces of his other roommates, James stood on his tiptoes to look over the heads of the watching students. As Sirius had said, the Whomping Willow was clutching an unfamiliar Hufflepuff in its long branches, suspending him high above the earth as it shook him back and forth.
"I know him!" Peter announced, staring up at the trapped figure with fear in his eyes. "His name is Davey Gudgeon; he's a year behind us. He once found my scarab beetle when it ran away during Charms."
As James continued to watch, the Willow shook Gudgeon violently and turned him upside down, drawing a few screams from the crowd. An agonizingly short distance away from the tree's victim, Hagrid swatted his bulky arms at the Willow's branches in an attempt to get close enough to rescue the student, Fang barking threateningly from farther back.
"Back off, yeh bloody shrub!" Hagrid yelled, but the Whomping Willow only raised its prisoner higher and slashed at Hagrid again, who took the blow with surprising immobility.
"He'll be killed before Hagrid can get to him!" Alice cried out, standing nearby with Lily at her side. Surprised, James also spotted Regulus a short distance away, staring unblinkingly up at the Whomping Willow with his thin eyebrows narrowed.
"He's as good as dead," Regulus commented to no particular person. He spoke softly, and James realized that it was the first time he had heard him speak.
More screams called James back to the immediate situation, and he looked up as the Whomping Willow started to tighten its grip on Gudgeon, who was now unconscious. Whacking at the tree's pelting appendages in earnest, Hagrid bellowed a string of curses at the Willow as it lifted its captive higher and contracted the branches around him.
"We have to do something!" Remus cried out, deathly white and the closest to absolute panic that James had ever seen him. Mind racing, James looked around until his eyes rested on the Airwake still clutched in his fist. An idea quickly formed in his mind, and he mounted his broom.
"I'm going up," he announced, and everyone standing nearby turned to stare at him.
"You can't!" Lily protested, more as a rebuke than as an exclamation of concern. "You'll just get yourself killed!"
"I have an idea that might work," James continued, ignoring her and turning to the Quidditch team. "Can one of you help me?"
"I will," Frank immediately volunteered before the others, who were still surprised by James' sudden outburst, could react. "What's the plan?"
"Just follow me and send whatever spells you can at the Whomping Willow," James told him. "We need to give Hagrid enough time to rescue Gudgeon."
Out of the corner of his eye, James saw Regulus regarding him carefully, but he ignored him as he launched into the air with Frank just behind him. Zooming up over the Whomping Willow, he pulled out his wand and started blasting every spell that he could think of at the lashing branches while Frank did the same to his right. Overwhelmed, the Willow's branches curled inward defensively before shooting forward in an attempt to snatch the riders off of their brooms. Rolling to avoid the attack, James straightened and aimed another hex at the tree before looking at where it held its prisoner in its clutches. Alarmed, he realized that the Willow had not loosened its hold—if anything, it had squeezed Gudgeon still tighter. Realizing that he had to act quickly to save Gudgeon's life, James pointed his wand at the cocoon-like formation surrounding his small body.
"Relashio!" he cried, and the bonds around Gudgeon immediately slackened.
Writhing in fury, the Whomping Willow sent another volley of branches shooting at James, who quickly shot away. Glancing downwards, he spotted Frank pelting the tree's limbs just above Hagrid's massive form, and with a final roar of determination, the large man broke loose and charged through the flailing branches. Within moments, he reached Gudgeon's side and pried him free, quickly turning around to race back out of harm's way with the boy cradled protectively in his arms. In a final burst of rage, the Whomping Willow reached for Hagrid and grasped at his legs, but it only managed to trip him as he barreled through and collapsed on the grass. Settling to the ground, James hopped off of his broomstick and watched as the crowd of spectators surged forward and surrounded Hagrid.
"Get off, get off!" Hagrid cried, getting onto his hands and knees. Immediately quieting, the crowd stilled and watched apprehensively as the Gameskeeper bent down to put his ear against Gudgeon's chest, his tangled beard pressing against the boy's stomach. After a moment, Hagrid scooped Gudgeon up once again and jumped to his feet.
"Move aside! Get out of the way!" he commanded, hurrying to the castle through the rapidly parting students. With him in the lead, the others dashed towards the double doors of the castle while James ran forward to join his roommates.
Falling into step beside them, he asked, "What happened?"
"Gudgeon was trying to touch the trunk when it grabbed him," Sirius answered. "We didn't come until after the Willow had already gotten him."
Nodding understandingly, James glanced at Peter to observe his reaction, and he saw that his eyes had grown twice as large as their normal size. Next to him, Remus had started shaking, and James was surprised to see that he looked even more frightened than Peter. Even the Gryffindor Quidditch team appeared to have forgotten about their encounter with the Slytherins in light of the recent events, and they all hurried worriedly after Hagrid.
When the small group entered the castle, Hagrid bustled straight ahead until turning into the hospital wing, a few curious students joining the crowd as it passed by. Spotting Hagrid, Madam Pomfrey rushed from the back of the room to help lay Gudgeon down on the nearest open bed, followed quickly by Professor McGonagall, who had just been speaking with the matron further inside.
"'E's 'urt pretty badly, Poppy," Hagrid told Madam Pomfrey when the boy fell limply into place. "The Whomping Willow grabbed 'im."
Oblivious to the dozens of spectators gathered around her, Madam Pomfrey took in a sharp breath at the sight of Gudgeon's bruised face and rushed to a cabinet full of supplies. "I'll have to start work immediately," she announced, grabbing a bottle of some mysterious substance and running back to the bedside.
"Is he going to be all right?" a concerned girl near the front asked.
"This is the worst I've seen," she replied shortly before bending over her charge. To the left, Professor McGonagall looked sharply at Hagrid, and he did not wait for her to open her mouth before answering her unspoken question.
"'E must 'ave tried to touch the trunk," he explained. Closing her eyes, McGonagall pressed her lips together tightly, looking much more dangerous than when she was yelling. Finally, she turned an icy stare at the students gathered around the room.
"Whether he decided to act on his own or was prompted by others," she began slowly, giving a piercing glare at a few downcast first-years near the front, "I expect you all to learn from this. Any rules that we provide are strictly for your safety as well as others', and that especially goes for the more temperamental objects around the school grounds. I would never have thought it necessary to explain such an obvious fact."
"Neither would I," Madam Pomfrey added, eyes narrowed from concentration as she straightened and shook her finger at the students. "I've had quite enough of this nonsense. The next person who comes into this room because of the Whomping Willow will have to report to their Head of House."
"They'll have to do a great deal more than that," McGonagall agreed, crossing her arms. "I'm going upstairs to demand that Albus put a stop to this outrage at once. After reviewing the situation with you, Poppy, it's time that I did something about this." Turning around, she stalked out of the hospital wing while Hagrid followed behind.
"Go on, get out of here!" Madam Pomfrey told everyone still standing around the bedside, shooing them away. "He needs privacy."
A few of the students turned away grudgingly, but most of the group hurried curiously after Professor McGonagall and Hagrid just before the former paused in front of the central staircase.
"Thank you for bringing him in," McGonagall told Hagrid tightly, and he scratched the back of his ruddy neck uncomfortably.
"Only glad tha' I could help," he said. "It wasn't me who got 'im down, though—you 'ave James an' Frank to thank for tha'. I wasn't goin' to reach 'im in time."
Resting her hand on the railing, Professor McGonagall turned to look at the Quidditch team standing nearby. Catching her eye, Morgan nodded; surprised, McGonagall gave James and Frank a small smile. "I cannot thank you enough, but in the future, I don't want you going anywhere near that tree. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Professor," they replied in unison, and McGonagall turned and quickly ascended the staircase.
Smiling at James and Frank as well, Hagrid headed out towards the grounds, and the other students slowly trickled away towards their separate destinations. To the right, Regulus gave James one last scrutinizing look, glanced briefly at Sirius, and turned away to disappear in the crowd of departing students.
After Lily and Alice had both left as well, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and the rest of the Quidditch team began trudging in the direction of their common room. King gave the password to the Fat Lady when they reached the top of Gryffindor Tower, remarkably collected despite the commotion, and James halted only a few paces inside the common room as the others passed by.
"Great flying," Michael praised on the way to the inner staircase, and Raul gave both James and Frank a pat on the back before disappearing. Although they did not say anything, Morgan and Joseph each nodded in their direction respectfully before heading off. Once everyone but Frank and his roommates had left, James turned to look at the others.
"That was something else, wasn't it?" Frank asked, giving a small laugh.
"Yeah, quick thinking, James!" Sirius agreed, flashing his white teeth.
"I can't believe that you saved him!" Peter echoed. Noticing Remus' silence, James turned to face him and saw his features were still a deathly white.
"Is something wrong?" James questioned.
Staring at the ground, Remus dug his toes into one of the many soft carpets blanketing the wooden floor. "You both might have gotten hurt," he answered quietly.
"Well, we didn't," James pointed out, twirling his broomstick's handle. "If it wasn't for us, Gudgeon might have ended up a lot worse, too!"
Still downcast, Remus just shook his head again and turned away. "I'm going to get ready for bed."
As he vanished up the stairs, the others watched him silently for a few moments. With a sheepish shrug, Frank turned and smiled at the others. "Not a bad idea, actually. I'll see you all later."
Voicing their goodbyes, James and his remaining roommates turned towards where Remus had disappeared and climbed up the winding flight of stairs leading to their room. Hoisting his Airwake up after him, James opened the door to their dormitory and stepped inside to find Remus on his four-poster, still wearing his collared shirt over the pajama bottoms that he had just changed into. At the sound of the door, Remus jumped and stared wide-eyed at the others as they entered the room.
"We decided to join you," James told him, placing his Airwake against the wall and pulling off his robes.
The red now returned to his face, Remus flashed a quick, almost pained smile before reaching above his head and pulling the curtains of his four-poster so that they hid him from view. A few scuffling noises sounded from behind the curtains, and James shared a questioning look with Sirius as the latter pulled off his robes as well and changed into his nightwear. After a few moments, Remus pulled open the curtains again and quickly stuffed his button-down away, now fully dressed in his pajamas. Without a word, he quickly slid under the protection of his comforter, and Sirius threw James one last raised eyebrow before turning away and climbing into his own four-poster.
Confronted with thoughts of his own, James lay awake on his mattress for a while, unable to rest after the excitement of the day. However, his exhaustion from Quidditch practice finally caught up with him, and he fell into a sleep plagued with strange dreams full of angry trees chasing after him and his roommates.