It was 5 in the morning when Hermione was returning from Owlery after sending a few things to her parents that she had bought from Hogsmeade, for them, when she saw a worn-out Professor Lupin, trying to ward off the dementors with a spell, she recognized as Patronus, even though all Lupin could conjure was miserable mist.
"Expecto Patronum!" She tried to produce the patronus to help the professor, which unfortunately was as miserable as the professor's. She cursed herself for not perfecting the charm. Suddenly she remembered what she and Harry had discussed about the charm they had developed on their first date.
'We can always test them on dementors!' Harry had said, which meant it may work on Dementors as they were dark creatures. Rapidly waving her wand in the shape of 3/4th of Infinity and following it with a stab she loudly called out "Pilum Lucidus!"
A Bright silvery javelin was launched from her wand at astonishing speed and pierced one of the dementors in its chest. The dementor screeched in agony and continued to do so until the light javelin fizzled out. Unfortunately, the dementors now recognized her as a bigger threat than Lupin and advanced on her. Hermione felt cold and she started to hear a loud hissing sound which made all the hair on her skin stand. She knew she was facing one of her worst memories. The loud hiss were followed by a pair of big yellow eyes, she saw in a compact mirror and then darkness.
Lupin got the moment he needed to calm himself enough to bring out the patronus memory. Determination filled his amber eyes as he intoned "Expecto Patronum!", and a large silvery wolf jumped out of it and started running through the dementors. The dementors started to screech and run away from the site. Lupin immediately held Hermione, stabilizing her and took her to the Hospital wing, all while offering chocolates to her.
"Eat them, Miss Granger, they will help."
Hermione nodded gratefully as she accepted the chocolate and ate them, "Thank You, professor. For helping me. It was awful."
Lupin shook his head "It's me who needs to thank you, Miss Granger. While I am sure, I would have tackled the dementors, you were a great help. Take 50 points for Ravenclaw. And I am sure Professor Flitwick would be delighted to hear more about the charm you used."
Hermione ducked her head, blushing for the praise she received.
"Thank you, professor. And it was just a modification of the 'Lumos' charm, me and Harry developed. I remembered him saying that it may be effective against dark creatures, so I used it. Fortunately, it worked when it was needed."
"Well, then you should be proud of yourself. Although I would suggest caution, spell modification may be dangerous sometimes." Lupin smiled at the most brilliant witch of her generation.
It was then, a worried Harry barged into the Hospital wing.
"Hermione, are you alright? I heard students talking about you having an encounter with dementors. I was worried about you. I will make Fudge pay for his idiocy; I promise. And I will also teach you the Patronus charm and-"
Hermione knew just one way to shut him up and did so by placing her lips on his "I am alright Harry. Professor Lupin helped me."
Harry whirled around to see Lupin looking at both of them with a smile on his face. Harry had a grateful look on his face while Hermione had gone red when she realized, she had nearly snogged Harry in front of a professor.
"Professor, thank you for looking out for Hermione. I am in your debt. If you ever want-"
Lupin cut him off "Mr. Potter, there is no need for that. I am a professor and looking after my students is part of the job description."
Harry accepted his words with a nod "Still thank you, professor". Remus replied with a nod of his own.
Madam Pomfrey cleared Hermione from the Hospital wing and she left with Harry leaving Lupin behind with Madame Pomfrey.
"They remind me so much of James and Lily", Madam Pomfrey said to Remus.
"That they do, Poppy" Remus agreed "He looks like the perfect mixture of James and Lily, though his eyes completely resemble Lily's."
Pomfrey disagreed "His eyes shape comes from his father", to which Remus shrugged.
--X--
[28th September 1993]
Hermione was with her parents, waiting for the match between the French and English national quidditch teams to start so she could cheer for her boyfriend. Dan and Emma Granger were in awe of the magical world, though they also felt many things were quite backwards. Then again, who won't get lazy with the power to alter reality with a wave of their wand? Joining them in the 'Potter' stand were Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis who were being chaperoned by Mrs. Davis, Blaise Zabini who was accompanied by his infamous mother Lady Bianca 'The Black Widow' Zabini, Padma Patil who was accompanied by Lord and Lady Patil and her sister Parvati Patil and Parvati's friend Lavender Brown. Sue Li was also present with Lord Xing Li and Lady Samantha Li. finally, Rufus the tall blonde gentleman who had delivered the 2-way mirror at Granger's was also present as their escort and bodyguard. Other than Hermione and her parents, no one in the stand knew Harry was going to be part of the English Quidditch team. They had thought, he had just managed to get the tickets and had invited his acquaintances and friends to come with him, so they were still waiting for Harry's arrival. Tracey had even asked Hermione about it, but she had just impishly replied that they would get to see him soon.
And the match started as the commentators started announcing the teams.
"Welcome Witches and Wizards, I am your host Ludovic Bagman, and I am here to announce the 45th game of Quidditch World Cup 1993-1994, which is to be played between France and England. Both teams had played 4 matches in the tournament with France scoring 2 wins and 2 losses while England only have 4 losses in their scorecard. Now, I present you the French National Quidditch team!"
The crowd went wild as Bagman introduced the players.
"Leading the French is, jersey no. 2- chaser Mathilde Mallard who is followed by two other chasers no. 3- Josephine Marat and no. 4- Hildegarde Lafarge. Bringing up the middle are the beaters no. 5-Alain Lacroix and no. 6- Nion Saucet along with seeker, jersey no. 7- Cybele Peltier. Finally at the rear is, jersey no. 1, the Keeper and the skipper of the French quidditch team, Bastin Janvier."
The crowd cheered and clapped loudly for the players as Bagman continued, "Now the English team. In lead is captain and chaser, jersey no.2- Edric Vosper along with chaser, jersey no.3 Avery Hawksworth. Following them are Beaters jersey no. 5- Dawn Withey and no.6- Indira Choudhary. Behind them are Keeper, jersey no.1 Denison Frisby and Jersey no. 4- Blythe Parkin, which is quite odd, seeing seekers usually wear the number 7. And finally, the newest addition to the English Quidditch team, Jersey no.7- chaser, Heracles Serpens-Potter, the youngest ever professional quidditch player ever, with debuting at a very young age of 13 years, 1 month 28 days. This is quite a surprise from the English quidditch team, a very risky gambit. Mr. Potter had the best records seen in domestic quidditch where he had scored 216 goals in just 8 matches with an average of 27 goals per match. In fact, a few days ago Mr. Potter had scored 58 goals in a single quidditch game, playing for Slytherin against Gryffindor, shattering the record of most goals scored by a chaser in single match, which interestingly enough belonged to the late Lord James Charlus Potter, against Slytherin while playing as Gryffindor. It was also the performance that brought young Mr. Potter to the attention of the English team. Though would it be worth it? It will be answered after seeing how Mr. Potter would perform in the first match!"
'WHISTLE!'
"And with that whistle, the 45th game of the 422nd Quidditch World Cup starts. The released quaffle is caught by Potter, who does a completely unnecessary spin on the broom, WAIT WHAT? Potter had nailed the quaffle through the right goalpost as the French Keeper, Janvier, remains still and confused. He didn't understand what had happened, and the referee blew the whistle awarding 10 points to England. Ladies and Gentlemen! Behold Mr. Heracles Serpens-Potter, who had not only scored the first goal of the match but also made two records that would be rather hard to break. The Longest goal along with the fastest goal scored in the match, now lies under the Belt of chaser, HERACLES SERPENS-POTTER!" Bagman shouts as the English supporters forget their doubts about Harry's age and start cheering wildly.
Hermione had ignored onslaughts of questions from other occupants of the stand and was focused on cheering on Harry. Her heart seemed to beat faster as Harry blew a kiss directly to her from the broom and she scoffed when Bagman called Harry's participation a risky move. She shouted 'You show them, Harry' at the top of her lungs as Harry scored quite a terrific goal in just a few seconds at the start of his career. She had nearly gone to heaven when Harry directed a brilliant smile at her. All while other occupants of the room, including Doctor Grangers looked at her in shock.
"Back-to-back goals by Harry Potter, as he nails the left goal post again after being passed by Hawksworth-"
"Oh! Potter dodges the bludger and put the quaffle through the goalpost. The French skipper, Janvier, is disappointed in both himself and the beaters."
"Vosper scores, a brilliant pass by Potter-"
"Potter ploughs towards the ground and feinted, resulting in Mallard slamming into the ground. Potter does a vertical sloth roll and nails the quaffle over the keeper's head. What a maneuver. His teammates called it 'THE POTTER PLOUGH', and what an accurate name it is-"
"Potter feinted Marat, passes the quaffle to Hawksworth, who passes it back to Potter and Potter scores. The quaffle did an outswing, completely fooling the keeper, who is getting frustrated as English scores-"
"Ouch! That had to hurt. Lacroix nailed the bludger directly to Potter's chest, nearly throwing him off the broom-"
In the Stands, Hermione cried as she saw Harry getting hit badly. She prayed to Merlin that he would be alright, and her prayers were answered as Harry refused medics and continued into the game.
"The English team had become much more aggressive after Potter took the hit. Indira Choudhary, one of the best beaters in the world, took it upon herself to make sure no bludger reaches Potter and had deflected the troublesome ball towards French chasers aggressively. And he takes advantage of obstacle-free traffic and nails one more goal, baffling Janvier-"
"Ladies and gentlemen, Heracles Serpens-Potter, had scored 15 goals, breaking the past most goals scored in a debut match that belonged to Cristan Tyke, who had 14 goals in 1st match, and it doesn't look like he will slow down as he nails his 16th-"
"THE POTTER PLOUGH again and this time chaser Hildegarde Lafarge becomes the victim. It's certainly new to watch a chaser pull seeker-like manoeuvres. The French chasers would probably like to avoid following a ploughing Potter in hopes of getting the quaffle. It is for sure, that even after being a young debut player, Potter had already marked the game to his own name, no matter who the winner would be, even if the chances of France winning were very low. England is in the lead with 210-60 and what's that? Potter scores another-"
The game went on for another 1 and a half hours, but neither the players nor the spectators were any less excited. Hermione had screamed herself hoarse after cheering for Harry's every goal and manoeuvre.
"Bloody Hell! Potter scores his 26th goal of the day, bringing the scores to 380-140 in favour of England. Oh! Peltier and Parkin race towards the same direction. Parkin had a bit of lead and that worked as an advantage as he snatched the snitch out of the air and England won, completely trouncing France by the score of 530-140. It is the first win for England in the World Cup, while France faces its 3rd loss. What a great day it had been for the English team and the fans. The Keeper was terrific in stopping the goals, the chasers did their job perfectly, the beaters performed aggressively, and the seeker caught the snitch. But the young man, who had his name written all over the match is none other than Heracles Serpens-Potter! The MVP!"
Harry did interesting and funny maneuvers to entertain to crowd before bowing to them. He then flew close to the Potter stand and blew a kiss to Hermione who acted like catching it and putting it to her heart, with a big smile on her face. He bowed to the Granger parents and nodded to other occupants of the stands, before flying off.
--X--
"Bloody hell, Hermione!" Tracey exclaimed and soon was reprimanded by her mother for her crass language, the other students of Hogwarts present in the stand had similar thoughts to Tracey.
Hermione just gave them a big grin "It was Harry's idea to surprise you all. I think we succeeded."
"Forget about us, the whole wizarding Britain will know by tomorrow. Potter is going to face a major change in his life-"
They all discussed various things before they all portkeyed off. Parents and guardians to their homes and students to Hogsmeade, where carriages were waiting for them.
--X--
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Ludovic Bagman and now I present you, the MVP of the 45th match of the 422nd World Cup, played between England and France- Harry Serpens Potter!"
The reporters and others in attendance began to clap and cheer as Harry made his way to the assigned seat, waving a bit at the audience with a confident smile on his face. Extending his hand, he gave Ludo Bagman a firm handshake and took the chair, nodding in greetings towards the audience.
"So, what do we call you? Heracles seems to be a mouthful?" Ludo Bagman started with a humorous question.
Harry smirked "What do you expect from someone named after God of Strength? I guess Harry will work?"
"It does," Bagman smiled "So Harry, you are currently 13 years 1 month and 28 days old, tell me what you think about being the youngest ever player to play Professional Quidditch?"
"A moment of great pride is what I would say. Quidditch is overrun by younger players nowadays with the average age being 26. 10 years ago, the average age of players was 33. The best seeker in the world, Viktor Krum from Bulgaria, is also only 17. Of course, I am only 13 but nowadays, Quidditch depends more on physical athletics than it used to ten years ago when Quidditch was a game of luck and skill. I won't be surprised if, in the next 10 years, most of the quidditch players are under the age of 25."
"Quite a controversial answer that was Mr. Potter! The next question would be, what do you think of the world records you have set in the debut match of your career?" Bagman asked.
"Again, the answer would be pride. I feel great pride in what I was able toaccomplish on the broom. I also feel great joy in giving the English quidditch lovers more things to brag about in the world of quidditch", Harry answered with a laugh.
Bagman boomed over with laughter as he said "Oh believe me Harry it is. I am one of those Quidditch lovers, who will be bragging about these records set by a player of the English Quidditch team, which was once the team I used to play for. The next question is, what did you think of the broom you used?"
Harry hummed "I like other players in the English team, am using the Nimbus - Phoenix, a professional broom that hasn't been introduced in the trading market. While, not as fast and accelerating as the state-of-art Firebolt, I used for the Hogwarts Quidditch cup, it is much easier to manoeuvre than the Firebolt, thus making it a more idle broom for chasers. Though Firebolt would still be more idle broom for seekers. Viktor Krum also uses the Firebolt, and so does the Bulgarian and Irish teams."
"Harry, there are some of the most respected journalists from the newspapers all over the world present in the audience and they would like to ask you some questions."
Harry nodded and greeted them with a smile that became cold as he met eyes with Reeta Skeeter of Daily Prophet. The woman gulped, remembering the encounter with Harry, when she had tried to get a personal interview. Harry had let her lead him to a private space and then blasted her with killing intent. Reeta's stomach wasn't strong enough, and she ended up being miserable. Harry had then warned her that it would be much worse if she had ever crossed him or his allies. After that, he had extended an olive branch by asking her to be his private representative, which meant she would be entitled to 1 interview a month and he might have juicy stories from Hogwarts for her. This paired with fear to cross a beast like Heracles Serpens-Potter, had made Reeta accept his offer and she had come out of the situation without complete loss.
The interview lasted for another hour, in which Harry had been asked various questions from the newspapers all over the world.
--X--
Harry and Hermione were happy that they were not present in the great hall for breakfast on the 29th as Tracey Davis explained the aftermath of reading the daily prophet, which read-
"England 'Ploughs' the France in the 45th match of the 422nd Quidditch World Cup. Potter scored 260 points. Made and Broke World Records!" by Reeta Skeeter.
Under the headlines, there was a moving image of Harry flying with a quaffle under his arms with a big grin on his face.
Harry and Hermione decided it would be better to forgo the classes for the day and so they spent their time on a sweet date which ended with lots of snogging.
--X--