WTF Annabeth

Chapter 25

Percy

The problem with quidditch as Annabeth saw it was a numerical mismatch was possible between the positions. In theory there were three chasers per side capable of scoring and defending against the other team's chasers. Each had two beaters whose job it was to protect the chasers and seeker, so one chaser at least was always left uncovered against the opposition team's attack on them. Mean while Harry's position, seeker, did absolutely nothing until the snitch was sighted and was generally wasted by hovering above the fray until then.

After much discussion, and Oliver telling him that until the snitch was sighted he could do as he wished, Harry was determined to play his position differently. Annabeth had found the strategy in the history of quidditch book, but it had not been used in centuries as it required a great mismatch in speed and acceleration. Harry was convinced he could make it work, especially with developments in flight maneuvers over the last hundred years.

Team Slytherin had been trying to intimidate our team all week but had not cracked them. Team Gryffindor nonchalantly ignored their insults. Our intimidation began when the teams marched out. Upon seeing Annabeth, known by all to have put a Slytherin in the hospital earlier in the year, the Slytherin team began staring at each other with worry. Of course a few moments before the teams were called to the center by Madame Hooch, who was refereeing, Annabeth left to join us in the Gryffindor stands along with the rest of our house and many parents, including Ron's.

It was about then that Dumbledore, Selina and Lemur came in and all male eyes went towards her, including those of the Slytherin team. It was a cold day and she was wearing a thick red wool riding cape, but still glowed with her Aphrodite radiance. If anything she looked even more beautiful than at the dance. The female eyes were all on Rue for some reason. I mean, he did clean up well and looked, well, very handsome. I'm not the judge of that sort of thing, but clearly the women were all about him the way the guys were about Selina. Oh. She had given him the mark to distract. That made sense. Good move.

Selina gave Dumbledore a kiss on the cheek and thanked him for walking Lemur and her to the stands. Someone from the Prophet must have been there as this was one of the front page photos the next day. Those photos, along with the misleading gossipy captions were the start of Rue's personal war on the Daily Prophet. Fortunately no photos appeared of Selina hugging Annabeth or the Prophet would have two "American Harlots" to insult and another life long boyfriend enemy to deal with. Of course if Rue hated them, I hated them too.

The game finally started and opened pretty much as expected. Both seekers went high above the stadium to better see the snitch when it appeared, and the chasers struggled to control the quaffle as they were beset by both the bludgers, which the beaters were trying fiercely to deflect, and the other teams chasers and beaters. Then Rue did what was called a "Yeager loop", named according to Ron after the great American wizard and quidditch player from the 40's and 50's Chuck Yeager, who began playing when he was based in England during World War II. Yeager was the first to break the sound barrier in a jet, a jet which had the window latched shut with a broom handle from a Firebolt 3000.

As he reached the top of the loop upside down, he flipped over and screamed toward the ground at incredible speed, trading altitude for velocity. This was the first clue for the crowd of just how talented, and insanely fast, Harry was on a broom. During his training sessions for quidditch his skills had improved exponentially.

The Slytherin team was unaware of this and only knew the crowd was oohing and ahhing over something. Their ignorance lasted only a split second as one of the Slytherin chasers drew back to attempt to score on Oliver only to be blinded and spun by the wind off a flash of burgundy uniform as Harry whizzed by. The shot went wild and Woods easily caught it and tossed it to Alicia Bennett, one of our chasers who caught it at speed and charged the Slytherin without opposition as half their team was going the wrong way and the other half were stopped trying to see what went by so damned fast.

Selina seemed to be purring and looking at the sky.

For the next several minutes Harry conducted a symposium on advanced flying at speeds none could recall seeing. He couldn't score as seeker, but he could constantly get in the way of any attempts by Slytherin to do so and seemed to not care whether the snitch ever showed up or not. He also cleared the pathway for our chasers as when he tore through the Slytherin defense they just got the hell out of the way rather than risk being ran over. The score was soon 60 to nothing and Dean Jordan, who was calling the game over the PA was practically melting with biased praise to the point we could hear McGonagall over the PA telling him to tone it down.

Once the score was nicely in Gryffindor's favor Harry returned to a point high above the stadium. Slytherin was in disarray and once unified front could no longer conjure an effective offensive or defensive formation and their captain was shouting out contradictory orders every few seconds in desperation. Gryffidor was moving through them at will and scoring every time they got the quaffle. Harry, instead of going off to occupy his own area, positioned himself just below and just in front of Terrence Higgs, the Slytherin seeker. That way he had a full view of everywhere below him and Higg's view was blocked. Almost immediately Harry spotted the snitch and dove again at alarming speed to intercept it.

No doubt Harry would have ended the game in a shut out, but Marcus Flint, an ancestrally challenged bastard who was the Slytherin captain, illegally blocked him, probably by accident as he certainly didn't get in front of the missile that was Harry on purpose, and Griffyndor was awarded a penalty shot that brought the score to 70/zip. The snitch disappeared though and as Harry returned to his high position, his broom started to buck him. It shook him about the sky for a moment or two then finally threw him off. He was hanging in the air by one hand still on the broom when both the crowd and the Weasley twins noticed.

"That broom's been jinxed" Hagrid announced, which was obvious to all without him telling us. He may have also announced that water is wet and fire is hot, but I missed that part. Both Hermione and Annabeth scanned the faculty box and saw both Snape and Quirrell appearing to mumble a spell while staring at Harry. Selina was freaking out.

"Does this happen a lot?" Selina asked.

"No, its very illegal, if they get caught Slytherin would have to forfeit." Ron said.

"Forfeit? What about Rue?" She cried.

"Don't worry, Fred and George are there ready to catch him."

It was true, Fred and George had shown loyalty to their teammate by gathering on either side just beneath him, but Slythrin showed no honor and began to score easily without them assisting their team.

We heard Harry shout to them though.

"Go away, keep playing, I've got this!" Then he said something else that we couldn't hear and seemed to just walk up the air and again get on his broom. Moments later Fred and George were back in the game and Harry had control. Annabeth and Hermione were no where to be found, but I looked over at the faculty area and Snape seemed to be putting out a fire on his robe while Quirrell was grabbing his lower back in agony. The girls returned a moment later with grins that could make a cat disappear.

The score was 70 to 30 as Slytherin had scored three times during the confusion and was looking to score again when Harry dove to the ground, again at insane speeds compared to the rest and traveled a foot or so off the ground throwing a rooster tail of sand in the air as he did, then he stood on his broom and reached out. This slowed the broom which was good as at once, he fell forward into a judo roll and after three or four flips in the sand was first on his knees, then his feet.

It looked as though he was trying to throw up, but instead spit the snitch out into his hand and held it aloft for all to see. The crowd, led by Dean Thomas on the PA and a certain enthralling cheerleader in the stands with her unicorn, went wild.

In the noise, as the final score of 220 to 30 was announced I asked Hermione and Annabeth what they had done.

"Well we were not certain which was casting the jinx, both were doing something, so I lit Professor Snape's robe on fire. It was a harmless illusion though, I just wanted to break his attention, not hurt him or anyone else." Hermione grinned.

"I stabbed Quirrell in the ass." Annabeth replied.

What the fuck Annabeth? Ron asked, shocked that anyone would do that.

"It worked didn't it? Besides, I was invisible."

"Just because you can get away with it doesn't make it a good..." Ron began to say, but Annabeth was just grinning and staring with a curious confused look at him. He gave up on teaching moral concepts given the circumstances.

While I was giggling about my significant other's assaultive behavior, Harry jumped back on his broom and began a victory lap with the rest of his team. He had to turn the snitch over to Hooch so it could be tested to make sure it wasn't rigged somehow, but he didn't seem to mind. When the Gryffindor team came by us Harry slowed to a stop and threw his arms around Selina. They kissed, that was the other photo that ran in the Prophet, and I heard Selina whisper.

"I was so scared... you were so... brave and fearless,, and fast!"

"Quite dashing too Harry, and uh, are you taller? Did Selina put a mark on you?" Hermione asked as all the girls stared and cheered for him.

"No, he's been blessed. For being the best boyfriend ever!"

Seamus mumbled. "Lucky bastard."

Gryffindor Tower was filled with celebration that afternoon and evening, and not just by Gryffindor. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff all stopped by to celebrate with us. Whenever Slytherin got beat at anything it was grounds for the rest of the houses to celebrate, no matter who did the beating. It's safe to say Slytherin was not a popular house due to their arrogance, and for apparently winning the Quidditch Cup for the last seven years or so. Even Hagrid, McGonagall and Dumbledore stopped in, and McGonagall even seemed a bit tipsy, or at the very least elated. She bragged to the others how she had spotted Harry's talent and knew he was going to be the greatest quidditch player in centuries.

Harry and I got to talk for a few minutes and I was about to go over the plan with him, but we kept getting interrupted by his admirers. At one point, while Selina and Annabeth were with us, Ron brought over his parents who were there for the match.

"Hey guys, this is my mother, father and sister. And this is Selina, Annabeth, Percy and Harry. Harry they are all big fans of yours."

We looked up and jumped to our feet as we immediately recognized his mother as the woman that had helped us get on the train.

"Its great to meet you at last! Ron and his brothers have helped us out so much to fit in here. You have raised truly great sons!" Annabeth exclaimed as she shook both parent's hands.

"And thank you Mrs Weasley, and you... uh, I know your name, let me remember, Ron told me..., Ginny? Is that right? You waving to me on the train as it pulled out, well, that brought me a lot of comfort on a very nervous day and I knew I was among good people. Thank you for that Ginny." Harry added.

Ginny just stared at him and said "Oummmphh!"

Mrs Weasley said "Oh we are proud of all of them, but no need to thank me. I just try to"

"No, well yes for raising such awesome friends for us but also for helping us get on the platform. I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't helped. Missed the train probably."

"Oh! Well you're very welcome. So Ronald tells us you're from America? Is it much different there?"

"Very, but with Ron, George and Fred's help we're slowly getting the hang of it. Did you enjoy the match today?" I asked.

"That was the most amazing flying I have seen since the last World Cup! Maybe before! And that was Harry's first match? Simply incredible! Harry, I knew your father, he would be proud of you. And your mother too of course. I suppose Dumbledore has told you, but you have her eyes."

"Uh." Harry gulped.

"Your parents were the bravest witch and wizard I have ever known, but seeing what you did on that broom today... well I may have to amend that." Mrs Weasley said.

Now Harry's eyes were getting glassy. I knew his parents memory and that they died were tough on him emotionally. Fortunately Selina recognized this and changed the subject.

"Ouuummph" the little red headed girl said again, her eyes still wide and staring at Harry.

"So Ginny, are you going to be in Gryffindor next year too?" Selina asked.

"I... hope so."

"That would be so awesome! See we have Hermione, and Annabeth and me, so we need a forth to help keep these guys in line." She smiled, and as usual her smile lit up the room.

"You're so pretty..."

"Ginny!" Molly said.

"You are too. You are a brave, powerful, amazing woman just waiting to grow up. I see great things for you Ginny Weasley." Selina smiled.

"Thanks. Your boyfriend is hot too!" She smiled.

"Ginny!" Mr Weasley said.

"He is, isn't he? I think I did okay." Selina giggled.

"Ginny is a big fan of yours Harry." Ron said. "Since she learned to talk and found out about you and, uh, he who won't be named, she has wanted to meet you."

"Awww, that's sweet. Since I grew up overseas with these guys, you probably knew who I was before I did. Care to fill in the details for me sometime Ginny?" Harry smiled, and then did something very un-Harry like. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug. He released her, took her hands and looked into her eyes before continuing.

"Selina is right, we need you here. Study your school stuff really good, you're going to need that too, and listen to your mom and dad, work on spells and flying when you can. You're going to be awesome!" He added.

"I want to be like Harry Potter when I grow up." She whispered. Even though Ginny was just a year or two younger than us, well, we seemed older I guess from the questing and such. She seemed like a young, delicate child.

"Aim higher. I want to be like Percy Jackson when I grow up." Harry smiled.

"And I want to be like Annabeth Chase, only, you know, a guy." I said.

"I just want to be Selina." Annabeth giggled.

"Oh? I thought you were happy with second place." Selina said with a serious look, then they both broke out laughing.

"Ronald tells us you have invited him to America during the winter break, that's really good timing as Molly and I are going off to visit our oldest, Bill. Can you stop by the Burrow for a day or so before you depart? We won't leave until a few days later and I work in muggle artifacts and relations. You have real experience with that. " Mr Weasley said.

"We would be honored." Annabeth replied. "And don't worry, between our camp director and Percy's mother there is plenty of adult supervision where we are going." Annabeth said.

"Oh... Are you the girl Ronald was saying is only twelve? We thought you were a seventh year friend. Truthfully I found his story to be a bit fantastic."

"Yep, that's me. I'm twelve. I'm under a curse that made me grow this body, but it brought Percy and I together so its a fair trade."

"That's some curse." Ginny said.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Annabeth smiled. With that quip the Weasleys said their good byes and left.

"Miss Beauregard, Mr Potter, it will be dark soon. You should probably take Mr Lemur to the green before then." Dumbledore said.

"Oh, good idea, let me get my wrap, are you going with me Rue?"

"Of course, and it's on the boys side, I'll get it, you wait here." Harry smiled. He had politely taken her cape when we arrived.

As soon as he was up the stairs Dumbledore turned to us and asked,

"Is everyone ready?"

We all nodded, including Selina.

Play time was over. It was time to take out Quirrell.