Chapter Eight: First

It was the beginning of November, and it was just about time for the first Quidditch match of the school year, with Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Ron, Hermione, and Riley were heading down to the stands to get a good seat when Fred and George, who were dressed in their Quidditch robes walked over to them.

"What's going on?" asked Ron.

Instead of answering, Fred and George each seized one of Riley's arms, and started dragging him away.

"Hey, guys?" Riley called, confused. "Guys?"

Ron and Hermione only stared at him, completely lost to as what was going on. Riley found himself being dragged towards the locker rooms of the Quidditch team, and Harry stood nearby with both his and Riley's brooms in his hands.

"Catch." he said, tossing one of the brooms forward.

Riley, who was released from the Weasley twins' grasp at last, caught the broom in his hands. It was his Silver Arrow broom.

"I'm playing?" he asked.

"Only twice a year, Cross." Fred told him. "Don't make me regret it."

The rest of the team knew that he meant that in a joking manner. Riley quickly got changed into his Quidditch robes, his helmet, and padding, then sat with the team for Oliver's speech. His heart sunk however, he would be playing while Tony wouldn't have, and that made him feel bad. He didn't want his best friend to be left out.

"...Now, Cross, I want you to guard me and Harry, Fred will cover the Chasers." Oliver spoke, breaking him from his train of thought. "Don't cover Harry too much, and try not to whack the Snitch."

"Right." Riley nodded.

"Everyone else understand the plan? Just 'cause there's a new Keeper and Seeker doesn't mean we should worry."

Riley's face brightened up hearing that. So Tony was playing after all. He picked up his bat, and broom, then followed after his team to the doors that led to the field.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm hoping Colin can take a few snapshots of the match." said Riley. "I can buy a few pictures off of him and show them to my brothers."

"Knowing him, Riley, he will." said Harry.

The stadium was full of cheering people, but the Slytherin House was cheering the loudest. Their team were in the lead with 80 points, while Gryffindor had just 30. The new Nimbus 2001s that Mr. Malfoy had bought served their purpose well, earning them a great lead over the Gryffindor team. Tony was yet the only one who did not fly with a Nimbus 2001, and used his Moontrimmer, which still helped him do a great job at protecting his goal posts.

Riley swerved around the field, swinging his bat at Bludgers that dared to cross his path. He watched as one of the Gryffindor Chasers flew towards the Slytherin goals, a Quaffle under her arm, aiming to score another one for their team, but Tony had intercepted the throw. He flew fast and caught the ball again, knocking it towards a dark-haired Chaser on his team. The boy flew back towards the opposite team's goals and threw the ball up a little and punched it towards one of the rings. It missed, and Angelina Johnson, one of the Gryffindor Chasers, caught it. She flew back towards the Slytherin goals, but the Quaffle was knocked out from under her arm by another Chaser. A second Slytherin Chaser caught it and sped back towards the Gryffindor goals, and threw it through the hoop, scoring a goal.

"Another goal for Slytherin!" shouted Lee. "They lead Gryffindor 90 to 30!"

Riley watched as the Slytherin team put a burst of speed on their brooms as they sped through the air, nearly hitting Harry. He was becoming increasingly annoyed at their showing off. A whooshing sound alerted him to the sound of a Bludger whizzing towards him, and he knocked it away with his bat. Below him, Riley heard Draco shouting at Harry.

"Alright there, Scarhead?" he taunted.

Harry merely glared at him, and both he and Riley caught sight of a Bludger flying towards the former. Riley dove forward to knock the Bludger away, but it had already swerved away from Harry after narrowly missing him. Oliver, who was floating nearby a goalpost watched as it swerved out of sight for a moment, then looked back at Harry.

"Watch yourself, Harry!" he called.

Riley squinted a little and noticed that the bludger that almost hit Harry was coming back. And Oliver was in it's line of fire. He flew towards his teammate, with his bat at the ready, just as Harry yelled for Oliver to watch out. Before the Bludger could hit the Keeper, Riley had struck it to the side with a second to spare.

"Out of the park!" he exclaimed.

To his and Oliver's surprise though, the Bludger changed trajectory, and zoomed towards Harry. Harry dodged the assault, and the Bludger raced after him.

"What gives?!" asked Riley. "I thought you guys said Bludgers didn't target just one person!"

"We'll find out after the game!" Oliver told him. "Keep it away from Harry!"

Riley saluted him, and started speeding after the Bludger on his broom. He had been so focused on trying to stop the Bludger, that he almost crashed into the wall, and pulled up before crashing.

"Next time Fred and George decide to teach me anything, they need to give me a crash course on rogue bludgers!" the Gryffindor Beater barked, angrily.

He sped up a little more on his broom and finally managed to catch up enough to intercept and knock the Bludger away from Harry.

"Training for the ballet, you two?" asked Draco.

He floated nearby them, on the verge of laughter. Harry and Riley didn't focus on his taunting though, because behind his head was the Golden Snitch. Behind them, the rogue Bludger was speeding towards Harry once again, and Riley knocked it away, protecting his teammate. Harry took off after the Snitch, with Draco following behind him, leaving Riley to deal with the Bludger the best he could. Riley chased after the Bludger behind the two Seekers, trying to keep it from hitting Harry. Riley managed to knock it away from the two boys for a moment. He watched as Harry and Draco disappeared outside of the rings underground, and caught sight of the rogue Bludger rocketing after them again.

"Oh, come on!" Riley shouted, annoyed.

He flew over the rafters, watching the two Seekers, and keeping an eye on the Bludger. Draco's broom got caught on a beam and tumbled into the air back into the field, and bounced around a few times, ending his tumble in a very painful way. Draco landed on his groin and fell on his back, gasping in pain. Riley resumed focus on keeping the bludger out of Harry's way so that he could score, and gave chase. He was too late to stop it from breaking his friend's arm, but knocked it further away so Harry could grab the Snitch with his good hand. Harry fell off his broom to the ground, tightly gripping the Snitch in his hand, as Lee announced Gryffindor's victory, but the war was not over yet. The Bludger was still taking chase after him, stubbornly refusing to give up it's assault as it attempted to strike the ground where Harry's head was, but missed as it dodged out of the way. Riley landed his broom beside Harry, and gripped his bat tightly.

"Stay back!" he threatened, furiously. "I mean it!"

The Bludger tried to strike the ground again, and Riley knocked it away.

"What is your problem?!" he screamed at it. "The match is over!"

The Bludger went after Harry again, but did not make it as it suddenly shattered to pieces. Hermione, who had her wand pointed at where the ball was, raced toward her friends with Ron, George, Hagrid, and the rest of the Gryffindor team after them. Tony landed his broom beside Riley, and helped Harry into a sitting position.

"Nice catch, boyo." he complimented.

"Thanks." said Harry. "You were great out there."

He looked at Hermione and the rest of his friends as they hurried to his side.

"Thank you." he said.

"Are you okay?" asked Hermione.

"No. I think my arm is broken."

Riley moved to help Harry to his feet, but felt someone shoving him aside. He sat that Prof. Lockhart was kneeling down on the student's opposite side.

"Not to worry, Harry." he reassured the Seeker. "I will fix that arm of yours straightaway."

Harry looked up at him in horror.

"No. Not you." he groaned.

"Boy doesn't know what he's saying." Prof. Lockhart said, looking around at the audience.

"I'm pretty sure he does!" Tony exclaimed, glaring at his professor. "He needs the Hospital Wing! Last spell I've seen you cast didn't help a bit! I'm taking my friend to the Hospital Wing so he can get the proper treatment!"

"Tony, back off." Hermione scolded him.

Prof. Lockhart smiled at her in appreciation, and pulled back the sleeve to Harry's broken arm.

"This won't hurt a bit." he reassured his student.

Ron, Hagrid, Riley, and Tony looked at one another, worried more than ever, as the DADA teacher took out his wand.

"Brackium Emendo!" Prof. Lockhart called.

The tip of his wand lit up with a bright white light, then everyone's gaze fell on Harry's arm again. Strange enough, Harry's arm appeared limp and fleshy. Prof. Lockhart picked it up, and everyone watched as the arm flopped around like a limp fish.

"Yes, well, that can sometimes happen." he stammered, nervously. "Um, but the point is..."

He paused to bend Harry's arm back.

"...you can no longer feel any pain, and, very clearly, the bones are not broken." he finished.

"'Broken'?!" Hagrid barked, outraged. "There's no bones left!"

Harry watched as his arm flopped forward once again.

"Much more flexible though." Prof. Lockhart pointed out.

Many of the students and teachers were far from amused. Tony looked as if he wanted to kill Lockhart, and from how Ron looked, he would join him. Riley, on the other hand, appeared calm.

"Hermione, what's the punishment for smacking a teacher silly with a broomstick?" he asked, quietly.

Hermione didn't think much of where he was going with this.

"Probably expulsion." she answered.

"I'll take it." Riley declared, suddenly.

Hermione, Ron, and Tony watched as Riley started marching toward Prof. Lockhart with his broom, only to have it taken away by Hagrid. Hagrid held the broom up out of reach, looking down at the boy.

"No, you don't." said the half-giant. "It's not worth it."

Several minutes later, in the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey received word as to what happened to Harry, and went to get a remedy to help him. When she returned, the nurse ordered a groaning Draco to vacate the Wing saying he was just fine, and pushed past the crowd of Gryffindors surrounding Harry's bed.

"Should have been brought straight to me." Madam Pomfrey complained, as she reached Harry's bedside. "I can mend bones in a heartbeat, but growing them back,..."

"You will be able to, won't you?" asked Hermione.

"Oh, I'll be able to, certainly. But it'll be painful."

The nurse of the infirmary poured some liquid into a glass cup from a bottle.

"You're in for a rough night, Potter." she said. "Regrowing bones is a nasty business."

Harry took the glass from her, and took a sip. He spat it back out in less than a second, spraying the contents all over his friends. Tony had taken the worst of it though. He groaned in disgust, and reached up to slowly wipe the spittle off of his face.

"What do you expect, pumpkin juice?!" asked Madam Pomfrey.

Harry grimaced, shaking his head, and saw that Tony was glaring at him.

"Sorry." the former apologized.

That evening, Riley sat in the Gryffindor common room, finishing up his homework, when he saw Ginny walking down the stairs in her pajamas. He looked up at her and smiled.

"Evening, Ginny." he greeted.

Ginny ignored him, and headed for the exit.

"Okay then." Riley muttered, shrugging.

He went back to his homework, and heard more footsteps coming down. Looking up, he saw that it was Colin, who was dressed in his school clothes still. He held his camera in his hands.

"Colin, it's the middle of the night." said Riley.

"I just thought I'd visit the hospital wing and see how Harry is doing." Colin told him.

"He's resting, Colin. We'll see him in the morning."

"Can I at least go and take a look around the school?"

Riley was about to tell him "no", but he remembered that he and his friends used to sneak around where he didn't belong either.

"Just don't let Filch or the professors catch you." he told him. "And stay away from the dungeons. That's Slytherin territory, they're not all as nice as Tony is."

Colin nodded and took off out the exit. Riley waited for him to leave, then faced forward again.

"Must be a First Year thing after all." he muttered to himself.

The following morning, Riley was sent to retrieve Harry, while Ron and Hermione went on ahead to the girls' bathroom to work on the Polyjuice Potion. Along the way, he met up with Tony, who accompanied him to get Harry.

"You really think his arm might be all fixed up now?" asked Riley.

"I hope so." replied Tony. "The way his arm was after Lockhart 'fixed' it, made me want to hurl."

He watched as his best friend stifled a yawn, and looked at him.

"Late night?" he asked.

"Ginny and Colin left the Tower last night." the Gryffindor boy replied. "I wanted to make sure they got back alright. Crashed some time after Ginny came back."

"Colin didn't come back?"

"Don't know."

Tony stared ahead as they walked, concerned. The two arrived at the Hospital Wing at last, and they saw Harry standing at someone's bedside.

"Feeling alright now, Harry?" asked Tony.

Harry turned to face them, and revealed to his friends who was laying on the bed. It was Colin, and he was frozen stiff in a position that looked like he was taking a picture. Riley and Tony rushed to his side, horrified by the sight.

"What happened?!" demanded Riley.

"According to Prof. Dumbledore, he's been Petrified." responded Harry.

"Then what Malfoy said before,..."

Tony felt his hands clench into fists, and a chill went up and down his spine. Muggleborns really were being targeted then. Harry waited until they had joined up with Hermione and Ron to explain what he overheard in the Hospital Wing last night.

"'Again'?" repeated Hermione. "You mean the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?"

"Of course." said Ron. "Don't you see? Lucius Malfoy must have opened it when he was at school here, and now he's taught Draco how to do it."

"I don't know about that. I've been keeping a good eye on the little snot. Snores like a freight train."

"...Does he really?"

Hermione cleared her throat loudly to get their attention.

"We'll have to wait for the Polyjuice Potion to know for sure, boys." she told them. "It's nice to have an inside man helping us."

Then it just occurred to the boys what they were doing as they watched Hermione continue working on the Polyjuice Potion.

"Enlighten me. Why are we brewing this potion in broad daylight in the middle of a girl's lavatory?" asked Ron. "Don't you think we'll get caught?"

"As long as we don't smoke, we'll be fine." Riley responded, smiling wryly.

Hermione chuckled softly, as she reached for another ingredient for the potion.

"No. No one ever comes in here." she answered.

"Why?" asked Ron.

"Moaning Myrtle."

"Who?"

Just then, a semi-transparent girl around their age appeared behind Ron from inside a stall. She was dressed in Hogwarts robes, and had dark hair in two pigtails, and wore a pair of round glasses. All but Ron had spotted her, and appeared to look nervous.

"Moaning Myrtle." Hermione repeated, looking at the ghost girl.

"Who's Moaning Myrtle?" asked Ron.

"I'm Moaning Myrtle!" the ghost wailed, glaring at him.

Ron jumped a little, surprised, while Tony waved nervously at her.

"Hello." he greeted.

Moaning Myrtle ignored him, and flew over them into the air.

"I wouldn't expect you to know me." she spat, facing them. "Who would ever talk about ugly, miserable, moping Moaning Myrtle?"

The five students watched as she flew back down, sobbing, and sailed into the stall she came out of, then dove into the toilet, making a splash as she exited.

"I just said 'hello'." said Tony.

"I wasn't even being mean." said Riley.

"She's a little sensitive." explained Hermione.

"A little?!"

Expect a little more Lockhart-bashing in the next chapter than you saw in the movie.

Disclaimer: I own just the Cross family, and the Gabriels. I don't own the Harry Potter series (books, movies, you get it), or any of the DC comics, books, the Walkman player, any artists or songs that appear in this story. If I did, I'd be richer than Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, the Malfoys, you get it. 'kay? Cool. Catch you later.