Hello, everyone! Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord" story. Enjoy!

* Review response:
The Sinful, hope, this will give you something to let you give your verdict.
Dark Dragen, Serpent Lord is Lord Slytherin, as you can guess. But that particular plot line will not be touched for some time (a lot of time, actually)
Still Not Dead Yet, hehehe *cough* sorry, hehehe!
Highvalour, was that so hard to guess... Well, he's just biased lazy - and not particularly clever - jealous brat without manners. I will dislike him for as long as he remains like that. Of course, he has some redeeming characteristics, but they don't out-weight his 'bad' ones.
m-f42, Ron there has animosity towards Harry just because Harry refused to be his friend. Ron will grow out of it eventually (2nd year), but for now he'll be bashed from time to time.

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form.

"human speech"
'human thoughts'
"spells / parseltongue"

Special thanks to NARUHAREM FOREVA for beta-reading this story.

chapter 4: Of flying and quidditch

While Ronald was busy by first consuming his dinner, and then by his detention with Filch the caretaker, Harry was trying to successfully cast a charm he had found in the forth year books: the attentions disruptor charm. And while this charm was not as good as notice-me-not charm, nor it was as long lasting, it required – if it was cast successfully – a lot of mental concentration to find the object under it. And mental concentration, from Harry's observations on his redheaded dormmate, was something that the youngest male Weasley lacked. Unless it was about food...

It took Harry almost three hours to cast the charm correctly with himself keyed into it – he did want to fight it every time he wanted to access his things or go to sleep... The green-eyed wizard smiled evilly than: it was time for the payback. As Neville, Dean and Seamus were down in the common room, Harry didn't need to hide what he was doing – there was no one who could see him and tell others – so he approached Ron's bed and cast the charm over it too, this time keying no one in, so that he could play an innocent bystander and fellow victim of the prank: without recasting, the charm would last for about three days. Once the charm was in place, Harry quickly returned to his own bed...

That night four boys had a good laugh at the misfortune of certain redhead that couldn't find his own bed...

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The second week for Harry went much better than the first one. Mostly because he was getting familiar with the castle and wasn't getting lost as often. And before potions of Friday he had earned his house enough points to cover what Snape – err... professor Snape – has taken from him the previous week. This week the potions master had skipped the ...questioning of his students altogether and gave them the lesson's task outright. And as his glare had little effect on Harry, who once again was doing the actual brewing, the potions double period went alright for the green-eyed wizard...

On Wednesday that week Harry visited Hagrid at his hut on the castle grounds near the Forbidden forest. The gigantic man was very friendly – though his cooking was inedible for normal humans at very least – and knew a lot about animals and the forest... But when the green-eyed wizard was leaving, he saw a newspaper – the Daily prophet – with a caption that caught his attention: "Failed robbery of the Gringotts bank" While Hagrid was busy putting cups away from the table, Harry's eyes quickly scanned the printed text. The robbery failed because the vault they were after was emptied earlier that day – the same day Hagrid had brought him here – while the robbers somehow managed to get away unnoticed. While it was worrisome that someone could sneak past goblin defenses, right now Harry payed it little mind, though he did note that whatever the robbers were after was now in Hogwarts...

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On Monday evening of third week into the school year a note appeared on the information board in the Griffindor common room, saying that there will be a flying lesson on Thursday that week. It immediately started a competition among pureblood and half-blood first year for the most ridiculous story about they talents on the broom. And in Griffindor, Ron Weasley was a definite champion in that... Oh well, the lesson would show whether he had any real talent on the broom or not...

But the green-eyed wizard was more interested in what the Archives of the ministry would say to him about his name – he did as professor McGonnagal suggested and sent a request there to look his registered name up. It already was more than a week, but having an idea about – from his uncle's tirades about useless bureaucrats – how the ministries work, it was unlikely that he would receive a response any time soon...

On Wednesday Neville's grandmother sent him a remembrall – a small glass ball that became filled with red mist if it sensed that the one who held it was forgetting something – and this made the chubby boy a target for jokes from several Slytherin students, mostly Nott. But after Harry politely pointed out that making such jokes was below their social standing, the offenders shut up and didn't bother Longbottom scion anymore, for which Neville was most thankful.

Thursday finally came and the weather was quite good for flying, even if a bit cool and breezy. At least, the sky was clear and the autumn sun was shining... After the Charms lesson with Ravenclaws was finished, the Griffindors hurried to the school grounds for the flying lesson. But Slytherin students were already there, standing in front of the school brooms in a row with a gap between boys and girls. So Griffindors had no other option but to stand behind the other line of the brooms. Almost as soon as both houses were ready for the lesson, madam Hooch, that held some resemblance to a gray hawk appeared.

"Welcome to your flying lesson." The woman said, while her yellow eyes scanned the first years in front of her. Everyone was standing by a broomstick, so there was no problem yet. "Stick out your lead hand over the broom and say 'Up!'" She instructed. Immediately air was filled with students' shouting. Harry managed to make his broomstick fly into his hand on his first try, while most others had less luck: Hermione's was twitching on the ground, Neville's wasn't moving at all and Blaise's struck the dark-skinned boy on his face, which made several Griffindors laugh... Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. "Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle. Three. Two. One..." But before she could whistle, Neville's broom started rising into the air on its own, boy's nervousness being the most likely reason for that.

"A-ah!" The boy cried out, definitely preferring to be standing on the solid ground right now, but he just couldn't make his broomstick to start descending, and it kept rising.

"Come back, boy!" Madam Hooch shouted but Longbottom still had no luck in regaining control over the broom. Then Harry noticed something: Neville's grip on the handle of the broomstick was slipping... Without much thinking, Harry pushed off the ground and sped towards where Neville was with a speed that the broom that would fail even at sweeping the floor shouldn't be able to achieve... So when the chubby boy slipped off his broom and started falling, Harry was there to catch him. And he did catch his falling classmate, but there another problem appeared while – thanks to the chores Dursley had him do – Harry had the strength to catch Neville, but his broomstick wasn't powerful enough to keep the extra weight in the air and he too started heading downwards at an alarming speed.

At this point the green-eyed wizard did the most foolish and heroic thing in his life: when they were but nine feet off the ground, he threw the broomstick away and positioned himself and Neville to get the minimal damage from the fall – another useful thing he had learned while in Dursley's care. The landing was still very rough, and the horizontal speed that was still there didn't help at all... Neville got his right wrist broken and some skin torn on the same hand. Harry got it much worse, as the rough ground tore skin from his back, along with a heavy damage to his clothes.

"No one is to move while I take these two to the hospital wing." Madam Hooch said sternly. "Leave your brooms where they are or you'll be expelled faster than you can say 'Quidditch'!" While Neville could walk on his own easily, she had to levitate Harry, to prevent further damage to his body...

The hospital wing was a very clean place, located on the first floor of the east wing of the castle, which smelled, well, like a hospital. It was ran by Madam Pomfrey, an over-protective of her patients medi-witch, who immediately started applying treatments to the boys' wounds, while muttering about unsafe flying lessons under her breath... At the same time madam Hooch was finishing magically repairing Harry's clothes.

"First, Mr. Potter..." Madam Hooch said once the green-eyed wizard was no longer constantly scowling from pain. "...I will award forty point to Griffindor for saving your classmate, but I would strongly advise you against doing it like this again." Harry nodded weakly. "Also, seeing the way you handled your broom, I can't help but think that flying is in your blood. I will speak with Minerva about the possibility of allowing you to try for the quidditch team. Merlin knows, she's in a need for a good flier. But you are not to speak about this, understand." Harry nodded. "And you too, Mr. Longbottom. We don't need any rumors of that kind flying around the castle." Neville nodded. "Very well. I'll take my leave now. I still have a class to teach. Have a quick ...and painless recovery, you two." And the witch left, leaving two first years to the Madam Pomfrey's tender mercies...

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Harry was released from the hospital wing next morning with barely enough time to eat breakfast and run up to the Griffindor tower to get his things for the day's lessons. And the extra attention he got for his stunt – both positive attention and negative one - the latter one from those who thought he was just showing off – wasn't very helpful for the young Griffindor. Professor Snape was especially vindictive towards Harry that Friday morning and took about twenty points from him for some stupid reasons like breathing too loud.

The transfiguration went much better than potions, as not only professor McGonnagal wasn't looking for an excuse to make his life miserable like Snape did – the transfiguration professor was actually proud of what he did yesterday – but also the transfiguration was becoming easier for the green-eyed wizard, which had him earning back some points he had lost earlier this day... Finally the bell rang and the students started packing their things back into their bags.

"Mr. Potter, please stay." Professor McGonnagal said, making the green-eyed wizard head towards her table instead of the door out of the classroom.

"Yes, professor?" He asked.

"Rolanda came to me yesterday and spoke to me about your talents on the broom and said that I should see whether it is possible to have you try out for quidditch this year." Harry tried to make the best imitation of shock he could, but he was sure the professor McGonnagal saw through his act. "In turn, I asked Mr. Wood, the Griffindor quidditch team captain, and he said, and I quote 'If this boy is as good with catching little balls as he is with catching his classmates, I see no problem with him being on the team'. Apparently, he saw you catching Mr. Longbottom from the classroom's window." Professor McGonnagal said. "As such, I asked the headmaster for permission for you to be on a team and he has agreed, under the condition that you are accepted through tryouts... Unfortunately, the headmaster was adamant that you won't be allowed to have your own broomstick this year. He said that bending too much rules for you will be seen as a sign of favoritism, which will be bad not only for you and headmaster, but the school itself." Harry nodded.

"I understand, professor." After a small pause, he continued. "Professor, is there a rule saying that a student can't own more than one broom? In case I'm selected for the team, I could buy one and transfer my ownership of it to someone on the team until the end of the year." Professor McGonnagal nodded. This was a great idea, no matter how Slytherin-ish it sounded.

"No, there is no such rule, Mr. Potter." She said. "Now, I know you have another lesson right now, so I suggest you hurry up if you don't want to be late." Harry nodded and hurried out of the transfiguration classroom.

Later that day, after the forth lesson finished, Harry was approached by a burly fifth year student, Oliver Wood, in the Griffindor common room.

"Potter, professor McGonnagal asked me to see if you fit for the seeker position on our quidditch team. So I want you to be at the stadium tomorrow by eight in the morning for the try outs." Oliver said. "And don't expect me to go easy on you just because you are a first year. And if you do become our seeker, I advise you to keep up with your studies, as professor McGonnagal said that if you start failing your studies because of quidditch, she would ban you from it till the third year, and I would hate to lose another seeker of the team." Harry nodded. While Wood seemed to be a quidditch fanatic, he also understood that you needed to do well in classes to play.

"I have to become seeker first." The green-eyed wizard said. "But I'll be there."

"Very well." Oliver said. "Have a good evening." And with that he headed to an empty corner of the common room to do his homework or something like that...

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Being an early riser, Harry had no problems with getting to the quidditch stadium with some time to spare. And as it was, there were only three other students trying out for the seeker position, and another five who wanted to be a chaser. Oliver Wood appeared in front of them at eight sharp, already dressed in the Griffindor quidditch uniform and with a broom on his back. He led the nine students trying out into the lockers and had them change into the uniform as well. After that Wood gave a quick intro into the world of quidditch, along with what he expected from the members of his team. Once he finished, he gave each a school broom, to be sure that no one had an advantage over another in a form of a better broom, and led them out onto the stadium, where the rest of the team – the Weasley twins and two girls, named Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson – were standing.

"Alright, maggots. Those who want to try out for chaser, please follow the ladies here..." Oliver nodded towards Alicia and Angelina. "...To that end of the stadium. I will join you there after a moment." He said, while gesturing to the far end of the stadium. "Seeker wannabes. I will now release fifteen snitches. You have two hours to catch as many as you can, while twins will try to prevent from catching any by playing as the beaters of an opposing team. If we will have a draw, this will be repeated with the winners of the previous round. Is that clear?" Wood barked. After getting a positive answer from the four seeker wannabes, he released two large black balls called bludgers, and – once the Weasley twins were in the air and ready for their task – fifteen tiny winged golden balls called snitches were released too. "Start!" Wood barked, starting the two hour timer...

The next two hours were a brutal fight for survival, as Weasley twins weren't going easy on the four seeker wannabes by any means. Two of them didn't even 'live' till the end of the two hours. Thankfully for him, Harry was good enough on the broom not to end in the hospital after just the try outs... And with eight snitches he had caught, he was sure of his victory – he got more than a half of them! Still the game seemed to be quite violent and was more of an excuse for him to fly...

Exactly two hours after the seeker part of the try outs started, Wood approached them and asked to show the snitches they had caught. With his eight against three of his last remaining opponent, Harry was a sure victor.

"Congratulations, Potter." Oliver said. The other boy who tried out for the seeker position, some third year whose name Harry didn't remember right now, scowled at the younger boy, but admitted his defeat. "I have heard from professor McGonnagal that you will have problems with the broom. Is that right?"

"Headmaster bent only the rule about no first years on the teams for me." The green-eyed wizard admitted. "But there is no rule against owning more than one broom, so I need to buy a broom and transfer my ownership of it to someone on the team till the end of the year." Oliver nodded.

"Still, what broom are you thinking of. You know, as a seeker, you will need a good one, Cleansweeper seven or Nimbus-2000..." The older boy said.

"Sorry, but I don't have that much money. I have asked for a broom catalog yesterday, and the best one I can get would be a Cleansweeper four or Comet-270 for new ones or Cleansweeper six if I were to get a second-hand one." Harry replied. He knew that his vault had about two thousands galleons, but for all he knew, those were his money for the entire seven years of schooling, so he couldn't spend that much at this point... Wood shook his head.

"The difference between five latest Cleansweepers is in their top speed, and as a keeper, I don't need it that much. I will give you my sixth and use your forth, as long as you bring us the victory." Harry nodded. "Now, Harry, you can go. The first training session will be tomorrow at seven. Don't be late."

That's all, folks!
The fifth chapter will be published in a week.
Leave me a review.