"Everyone has five minutes to get ready," Wood called out. "We're lining up in five minutes."
Harry took a deep breath. All his practice with magic wouldn't help him here. Now, he was a rookie. Harry wasn't used to being a rookie.
"Just keep it simple," Wood told him. "You got seven years to learn how to integrate yourself into the game. This game, I just want you to catch the snitch."
"How did you do your first match?"
"I don't remember. Took a bludger to the face in the first five minutes and blacked out for the rest of the match."
"Sorry I asked," Harry muttered.
As the team lined up in the tunnel, Harry could hear the twins's friend Lee Jordan announcing the players in Orowood Blue. With no fans from Orowood in the stands, there was very little clapping. But to the shock of the team, they were met by a thunderous cheer as they mounted their brooms and took to the air for a lap around the stadium.
Friendlies didn't traditionally draw large crowds, with only the real Quidditch fans showing up. At Slytherin's friendly earlier, the Slytherin stands were only half full with a smattering of fans elsewhere.
But the stands around the pitch were almost entirely full. Two massive Gryffindor flags; one at each Gryffindor tower, fluttered in the breeze and a ten foot poster with Harry's face on it hung down from the front row.
"-OLIVER WOOD!' Lee Jordan was saying "CHASER TRIO ANGELINA JOHNSON, ALICIA SPINNET, AND KATIE BELL!" Cheers went up as the Chasers flew in formation through the hoops. "BEATERS FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY!"
"I bribed him to say my name first," Harry heard George say.
"I payed him more," Fred said.
"AND FINALLY, YOU KNOW HIM, YOU LOVE HIM, IT'S THE YOUNGEST SENSATION IN A CENTURY, HAAAAAARY POTTER!"
Harry rose up high in the middle of the field and waved to the crowd. Gryffindor started a chant. "POTT-ER" stomp, stomp, "POTT-ER" stomp, stomp.
Harry grinned and pumped a fist into the air. He could get used to this. He pointed to where Hermione was sitting in the stands. Looking over to where Orowood Blue was warming up, half the team was glaring at him.
A giant clock of smoke over the north part of the field proclaimed 19:13 before the game started. Angelina, Katie, and Alicia started taking shots on Wood. Fred and George passed and bludger back and forth.
"Don't worry about doing much during warmups," Wood had told him in the locker room. "Just put your broom through its paces," he said, pointing to the Nimbus 2000 Sirius had bought him. "Get a feel for the weather. Most of all, use the time to make sure your head is straight."
The sun was halfway to the horizon on the west side. A soft wind was blowing north as demonstrated by the flags, but nothing significant enough to impact the same. He took several laps around Gryffindor's half of the pitch, pushing his broom to its limit. Looking at the opposing Seeker, Harry saw he had the newest Cleansweep model. Almost as fast as the Nimbus, but significantly less agile.
Harry reviewed Wood's words as he watched Orowood Blue. "The only reason they lost to Orowood White in the school championship is because their Beaters lost control of the game. They aren't aggressive, so I need you, Fred and George, to take advantage. They're good, but I think we're better."
With five minutes left Wood called the team together as Orowood Blue finished up their warm-ups. "Alright guys, we got an advantage we didn't think we'd have. Keep the crowd excited and they'll keep the other team uncomfortable. Fred, George, I want you directing the bludgers from the very beginning. Keep their scoring opportunities down. Girls, you know what to do, Harry, focus on finding the snitch. Remember guys." This part seemed directed specifically at Harry. "Lose and all the cheering goes away."
Madam Hooch blew her whistle to call the teams to position. Harry took his place at the top, across from the opposing Seeker. With a whistle and a toss of the quaffle, the match began.
"AND THEY'RE OFF. BELL THE FIRST TO THE QUAFFLE, PASS TO SPINNET, WAY CLEARED BY WEASLEY, ONLY DURAM TO BEAT, BALL TO JOHNSON, SCORE FOR GRYFFINDOR!" From somewhere in the cheering stands came the tremendous sound of a lion roaring. 10-0 Gryffindor.
One of Orowood's Chasers grabbed the quaffle and passed it off. Angelina looked like she might pick it until Orowood's Seeker, Cai Kaminski, blocked her.
Harry stopped watching the game so closely, using Lee Jordan's announcing to keep track of events. While Kaminski was distracted helping his Chasers, Harry had an opportunity. "BELLINGHAM HAS IT NOW, DODGES A BLUDGER, SHOOTS, FINGERTIP SAVE BY WOOD! WHAT A PHENOMENAL PL- NO IT'S RECOVERED BY BAX, SECOND SHOT, SCORE FOR OROWOOD BLUE. RELAXATION BY GRYFFINDOR ALLOWS FOR ANOTHER TRY." 10-10.
By this time Kaminski was also looking for the snitch again and Harry had to dodge a bludger. He lead it on a chase, veering away sharply just outside the scoring area. The bludger targeted Orowood's Keeper, forcing him to dive and giving Katie a clear shot. "WHAT A PLAY BY POTTER! BELL'S SCORE ONCE AGAIN GIVES YOUR HOMETOWN GRYYFINDOR'S THE LEAD!" From the stands came renewed cries of "POTT-ER, POTT-ER." 20-10 Gryyfindor.
From there, Harry was able to settle into a rhythm. Orowood Blue's Beaters hadn't improved much in the off-season and the twins were able to give Harry mostly free rein. With the pressure of regular bludgers on his Chasers, Kaminski had to spend half his time helping them out. At one point, he even batted one of Alicia's passes to an Orowood Chaser with his broomsticks.
"A REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE BY KAMINSKI, WHO'S FATHER WAS A CHASER ON THE POLISH NATIONAL TEAM BEFORE MARRYING AND MOVING TO WALES."
While Kaminski was able to keep the game close, he also gave Harry a huge advantage in finding the snitch. Only problem, that was proving difficult.
His first opportunity came thirty minutes into the game when Gryffindor led 70-50. He spotted a golden glitter by the opposing hoops, but Alicia was in the scoring area. According to the rules, only one player from the attacking team may be in the scoring area during an attempt on the hoops. Harry had to wait for Alicia to score before diving after the snitch, and those precious seconds gave Kaminski time to catch up.
"80-50 GRYFFINDOR! BUT WHAT'S THIS, THERE'S A RACE TO THE SNITCH!"
Both Keepers dove towards the low flying snitch, Harry with a slight lead. Kaminski got slightly on top of Harry and started trying to drive him into the ground. Harry had to steady his broom and move slightly to the side to avoid crashing, which game to snitch time to escape.
"AND A DIRTY MOVE BY KAMINSKI RESULTS IN A PENALTY BUT SAVES THE SNITCH!" Boos rang down from the stands.
"What's your problem!" Harry yelled as Hooch blew her whistle for the penalty. "Try going for the snitch next time!" With Hooch watching him, Kaminski didn't answer.
Katie flew over. "Don't worry about it Harry. He's going to do more like that."
Fred joined them. "We'll take care of that," he promised.
Angelina made the penalty and play resumed. Fred and George sent coordinated bludgers at Kaminski, who got tagged hard on the shoulder. Orowood's captain called for a timeout to let his Seeker recover. In Quidditch, unlimited timeouts are available, at the cost of three penalty shots each time.
Orowood's captain, Bax, flew over to argue with Hooch. Harry went in closer to listen.
"That was not dangerous play," Hooch was telling him firmly. "Neither bludger was aimed at the head."
"I just want to make sure my guys are safe," Bax was saying.
"I am perfectly capable of doing my job," Hooch said as she flew away to supervise the penalties.
Orowood's Keeper saved Alicia's shot, and Katie hit the ring leaving only Angelina to score. 90-50 Gryffindor.
That would be Harry's last sighting for a while. At one point, Kaminski took off as if he'd seen it, but it was a feint that almost led to Harry colliding with one of the Hufflepuff stands.
From the staff section, Dumbledore watched Harry closely. Like dueling, Quidditch seemed unnecessarily dangerous to him in his old age, but he knew the adrenaline and competition would always bring in more students who wished to play. Harry was but the latest.
Almost ninety minutes in, the score was 210-150 Gryffindor, but the match was even enough that the snitch could decide it.
Harry had found himself being increasingly targeted as the match wore on. At one point, one of Orowood's Beaters ignored Katie as she lined up a clear shot to smack the bludger towards Harry instead. George intervened and redirected the bludger towards a waiting Fred instead.
Despite the twins's best efforts and Harry's dodging, eventually a bludger did connect with his left shin. Harry gritted his teeth and signaled to Wood that no timeout was needed. "AND POTTER WAS FINALLY TAGGED, IT'S BEEN COMING FOR AWHILE. BUT HE SHRUGS HIS FIRST HIT OFF AND KEEPINGS FLYING, WHAT A ROOKIE!"
Not long afterwards, Harry found the snitch again, flying high above the pitch. "AND BELLINGHAM NARROWLY SCORES BRINGING THE GAME TO 230-160 GRYFFINDOR. KAMINSKI IS GAINING ALTITUDE QUICKLY, HE SEES SOMETHING. AND IT'S HARRY POTTER IN PURSUIT OF THE SNITCH, LOOKING TO SEAL THE GAME FOR GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor fans rose to their feet as Harry speeded after the golden snitch.
Kaminski was fast, but not fast enough to gain ground. Unfortunately for Harry however, he was able to guess one of the snitch's turns correctly, shaving off the corner. Remembering Kaminski's actions earlier, Harry swung around as the snitch cut right, smacking Kaminski's face with the back of his broomstick. When the snitch again cut right suddenly, the superior agility of the Nimbus 2000 gave Harry the edge he needed to grab the snitch between three fingertips. "DOES HE HAVE IT, YES HE DOES! GRYFFINDOR DEFEATS OROWOOD BLUE 380-160!"
The crowd resumed their chant of "POTT-ER, POTT-ER," as Harry took his victory lap. He saluted to Dumbledore in the staff stands and Sirius in the guest seats, and stopped long enough to give Hermione the golden snitch. Then he got in line to shake hands with the Orowood players.
Kaminski and Bax couldn't hide their anger, but they said "good game," all the same. After the handshakes were over the Gryffindor players flew over and clapped to their fans. Somebody set off the lion roaring again. Harry pumped his fist and enjoyed the moment. "Fuck them," he said, knowing the crowd was too loud for anyone else to hear.
Line Break
Defense was far more bearable now that Duran McSniddle was the professor, but Harry still struggled to find a reason to pay attention. He'd already skipped Herbology that day and so needed to make an appearance. Harry reminded himself not the skip the classes he knew less about.
Hermione was to his right taking meticulous notes while Ron was to his left passing a note to Seamus.
"Potter," Professor McSniddle said. "Can you perhaps tell the class the defensive uses for a smokescreen spell?"
Harry thought back to Voldemort doing just that. Two Hitwizards had died in his smoke. "It obscures your movements and allows for an escape."
McSniddle nodded. "Particularly effective when outnumbered. Inhibits communication between opponents." McSniddle always used 'opponent' instead of 'enemy.'
Harry's early starts were starting to catch up to him. He still had his dueling lesson with McGonagall afterwards too.
Hermione was on Harry's left side as the pair was walking out of the classroom. "It seems to me like a smokescreen in close quarters would inhibit you as much as it would the other people," Hermione was saying.
"I'm just telling you what happened," Harry said.
"Hello Potter," a half familiar voice said from Harry's right. Both Harry and Hermione turned to see Daphne Greengrass.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "What do you want, Greengrass?"
"Do I have to want something? I find myself walking next to a celebrity and say hi." A smile flickered on her lips and Harry realized she was teasing him. Harry wasn't used to being teased.
"Do you want an autograph?" Harry asked. "A lightning bolt drawn on your shoulder?" Some second year had asked him for that once.
"I'd never wash it again." That same half hidden smile was still faintly visible.
"You should start charging for that Harry," Hermione said.
"I'm sure I could afford his price," Daphne said before heading down a side corridor that presumably led to the dungeons. Harry and Hermione started up a flight of stairs.
"Ignore her Harry."
"I don't even know what that was about." It was the longest conversation he had ever had with Daphne Greengrass.
Line Break
"Remember, stay polite. The quarrels of Hogwarts aren't aired at galas."
"I remember," Harry said for the sixth time.
Sirius nodded. "And don't forget."
John Abbott threw a high profile auction every year, with the funds going towards the campaigns of members of the New World and Commerce Parties (in Dumbledore's coalition), as well as creature rights groups throughout the country. Sirius had gone for years, but this was the first time he'd made Harry come along.
"You have the invite, I don't care if you find it boring," he'd said. "This is part of being a Potter."
Harry was in black dress robes with crimson trim and the griffin crest of his House over his breast. Sirius's was a similar style, but all black with the crest of his own House.
"This thing keeps wanting to trip me up," Harry said.
"Well don't trip. You'll embarrass yourself." After Sirius was sure everything was in order, he ushered Harry into the fireplace. "Sunset Grove," he called out, and in a whoosh of flames they were there.
Sunset Grove was the vacation home of House Abbott, in Portugal. In front of Harry and Sirius was the sunset the place was named after, the bottom of the sun just touching the Atlantic. A row of portable Floo stations had been set up on the manicured lawn in front of the two story vacation house. On either side of the lawn were the items to be auctioned; books, artifacts, coveted season tickets for several teams. To the north were the thickets of crystal trees. The rare trees had slender white trunks and translucent leaves that acted as crystals did, bending the light into a hundred beams of color.
Harry recognized Lord Abbott's niece Hannah and her best friend Susan Bones. Harry was on nice enough terms with them, if rather formal. Most people were adults he had never met.
Harry and Sirius hadn't made it far when they were first spotted. "Ahh, there they are. The old rogue and then kid wonder." A man Sirius's age was walking towards them. One hand was on the ass of a very attractive younger brunette with dress robes more revealing than most. "Where's your date Sirius? Last year, where was that model of yours from again? Spain?"
Sirius cleared his throat. "France. And I need to be around for Harry this time. This is his first event like this. Harry, this is a friend of mine, John Abbott."
Lord Abbott laughed. "By Merlin, you're going respectable on me. But where are my manners. Harry, Sirius, this is Sarah Roofus. Sarah, this is an old buddy, Sirius, and his godson Harry Potter."
"I know both of your names," Sarah said as she shook hands with Harry and Sirius. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Listen, I have to greet guests right now," John said. "Let's say you and I meet up for drinks later."
"We can't break tradition."
"Oh of course not. We're purebloods, we mustn't ever break tradition. Since you don't have a date, feel free to bring Harry to the usual spot. I'll have spiced butterbeer for him."
"See you then John." Lord Abbott turned around to greet more guests, hand still firmly on Sarah's ass.
"John's well known for being a bit of a playboy," Sirius said. "But his heart's in the right place."
"I've seen some of the dates you've brought back," Harry said evenly.
Sirius coughed. "Well like I said, let's keep our judgements spare."
Sirius sent Harry over to grab food as he went to mingle. A buffet table was set up in front of the cliffs that dropped off onto the beach below. Harry was grabbing chicken wings when blonde hair came into view on his left. "Hello Potter."
Daphne was wearing flowing dress robes in the emerald green of her House, with hair done up in elaborate braids. "Greengrass. Come back for your autograph?"
Daphne reached for the stuffed peppers. "You still haven't set your price."
"Well I'm in a moral conundrum. My agent says they're worth fifty galleons but I'm not sure if I can charge that in good conscience."
Daphne and Harry left the buffet to walk along the green where guests were mingling. "I haven't seen you at this event before."
"This is my first time," he admitted. "You been here before?"
Daphne nodded. "This is my third year."
"What can I expect?"
"The silent auction will last at least another hour," she said. "Then another while until the announcements. After that people start really focusing on getting drunk and my mother takes me back to Hogwarts."
"Can your mom take me back too?" Harry joked as he bit into a wing.
"Not your type of event?" Daphne ate her peppers much more delicately than Harry did his wings.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing."
"Forging connections for House Potter," Daphne said. "Securing alliances and negotiating votes."
Harry made a face. "Why aren't you doing that for your family then?"
"That's what I bring my father for," she said primly.
"Then what do you do?"
Daphne pressed a rune on the underside of her plate. It flew off to be washed. She then linked her left arm with Harry's right. "I'll show you."
She took Harry into the groves of crystal trees. In the dying light of the sun they turned the air into a kaleidoscope. Harry could see a half dozen different colors reflecting off of Daphne. "I walk here," she said. "There's no other place I know like it."
"It's beautiful," he agreed.
Harry and Daphne walked in mostly silence until the sun had set and the lights from the forest faded.
Sirius was talking with Cyprus Greengrass as the pair exited the forest. "I can't make that decision for him. I don't have the legal authority to anyway."
"Of course not," Cyprus said smoothly. "He can make his own choice when he's older."
"Daphne's already prepared for the possibility isn't she?" Sirius had been watching her from the very beginning, smiling and laughing at the right moments, leaning against Harry's shoulder whenever appropriate.
"I've mentioned it before," Cyprus said. "Her initiative is her own."
"How much do you know about Quirrell?" Sirius asked in a change of subject.
Nobody else was close enough to hear the conversation. "Are you asking if I managed to acquire the official report? If so, yes I did."
"Are you sure you want your daughter around Harry?" Sirius asked.
Cyprus took a sip of his wine. "You should be very proud of your godson. He will be a great wizard one day."
"He already is to me."
Sirius always picked one item to put down a massively over inflated price on, knowing where the proceeds would go. This year he picked up a translated copy of Curses of the Blessed Isles by some ancient Japanese sorceress. Book in hand, he took Harry over to his meeting with John Abbott.
Sirius and John always met for a drink and talk after the auction at the same spot. One of the crystal trees at the edge of the groves had been felled by lightning, creating a natural bench. John and his date were already sitting down when Harry and Sirius arrived, with a floating lamp for light.
Sirius had limited his drinks for Harry's sake, but John was already tipsy. "There they are," he slurred. "My old buddy with Dumbledore's genius." His date giggled and took another drink of her wine. John held up a glass. "Spiced butterbeer," he told Harry. "Used to love the shit when I was a kid."
Harry took the glass before John could drop it and took a sip. It was very good.
"What's Dumbledore like?" Sarah asked. "I went to Ireland University of Magic but I've always wanted to know." She giggled again. "He always seems nice. I want to shake his hand." Her tone suddenly got very serious with her last sentence.
"We'll see what we can do about that," Sirius said. He bent down to whisper to Harry. "She won't remember in the morning."
"I remembered a story I've been meaning to tell you," John said. "It was during my vacation to Norway."
"Is this story appropriate for Harry?" He looked down at Harry. "Actually, it might be time to get you back to Hogwarts."
"I can make it back myself," Harry said.
"Albus said he'll be at Hogwarts tonight. Just Floo back."
"I know," Harry said. "You can focus on getting drunk now."
John raised his glass. "Sorry to see you go. Sirius, take a drink now!"
Harry walked back to the Floo. As far as he could tell, his classmates had already all left. Daphne, Susan, Hannah, and Ernie were all nowhere in sight.
He grabbed a handful of Floo powder and said "Hogwarts Headmaster's Office."
Line Break
Harry didn't remember what his dream was as he awoke abruptly, but it must have been about Voldemort. Nothing else made him so angry. He rolled over and punched his pillow to release some of his aggression.
Harry reached under his pillow for his wand and cast a tempus charm. There were ten minutes until curfew ended. He rubbed his jaw and grabbed twenty pound dumbbells to work out some more anger. He laid with his back on the floor and started doing presses.
Every time Harry's arms went up, he thought of a way to kill Voldemort. He stopped at twenty-five.
Not as interesting a chapter guys, sorry. With Quirrell gone, I'm going to speedrun the rest of the first year. I just plan to hit the highlights.
Next chapter, Harry's first school match, and then on past Christmas.