Chapter 29: Chapter 29
"Alright so then if you have the chance then you go for between the legs." Harry said as he was instructing Astoria on what to do if she ever got in a fight. "However don't make it obvious, only go for that part if you think you can get away with it." Harry added, Astoria was paying close attention while the others sat off to the side. Luna leaned against a tree, staring dreamily into space while Astoria's two friends, Scott and Jean, were paying close attention to what Harry was saying. Tracy looked amused while Daphne looked irritated.
"Potter, must you insist on corrupting my sister?" Daphne asked with a small glare. Harry paused his teaching and looked to Daphne with an offended expression, a fake one but still an offended one.
"Excuse me, I am not corrupting your sister, I am molding her into the toughest girl of her year thank you very much." Harry replied.
"That does not explain why you are teaching her muggle fighting."
"I am actually glad you asked, there are a few reasons for it. One, she could lose her wand, she does not want to be helpless if she losses her wand. Astoria, do you want to be helpless if you lose you wand?"
"Nope." Astoria said as she shook her head.
"The second reason is rather simple, she is a pureblood girl so nobody would expect it and it will catch her enemies off guard."
"She doesn't have enemies." Daphne pointed out.
"It is never too early to start, I have had enemies since before I could even speak English. Now who in a fight to the death would you expect to be more likely to throw a punch? Harry Potter or first year Ravenclaw Astoria Greengrass? Hint, there is a right answer. Third reason, I am bored."
"What do you know about muggle fighting anyway?" Tracy asked.
"Well there is my natural skill in it plus all that I have learnt over the years." Harry replied, while he was in no way a master at martial arts or any form of physical combat he did know a bit about fighting.
Years of being a punching bag for Dudley, Vernon, and Dudley's friends had taught Harry quite a lot about punching. Years of abuse from Vernon let Harry know where to strike for the most pain and gave him a sort of creativity as it had taught Harry to always see the potential of pain from getting attacked by something like a belt or even something as innocent looking as a book. In the chamber of secrets Harry had also discovered some books from Godric Gryffindor himself who happened to be rather adept at physical and magical combat if the books were any indication.
Harry suspected that any decently skilled and experienced martial artist would more than likely challenge if not beat him but thankfully he was fighting wizards, most of whom thought that hand to hand combat was beneath them and something for filthy muggles.
"Do you think I can beat anyone up now?" Astoria asked.
"Astoria," Daphne sighed. "you will not go out and beat people up."
"She's right," Harry nodded, Daphne looked pleased until Harry continued. "you need to let them be aggressive and make the first move or at least look like it so you don't get in trouble."
"Potter?"
"Yeah… ow!"
"That's what you deserve, now pass my book back."
Harry arrived at the quidditch pitch, Angelina was now the new Gryffindor quidditch captain, technically she was the captain last year as well but they didn't really have quidditch last year due to the bloody tournament. While Harry did not really have to be here he did come if for no other reason than supporting the team and making things easier for them. After all Angelina and the chasers had done for him he was not about to skip out on an opportunity to help repay them. Say what you want about Harry but he is appreciative of his friends.
"What's up guys?" Harry asked as he walked up to the three girls. "Where are the twins?" Harry asked when he noticed that the two red headed pranksters were not here.
"They will be here soon," Katie said before she frowned. "did you say something to them?" She asked with Angelina and Alicia looking interested in his answer.
"I have said several stuff to them, can you perhaps be specific?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"They have been more… subdued than before." Angelina answered. "They're still their usual selves but more… I want to say mature but… just less showy and flashy."
"They are just different, I don't think we would have noticed if we didn't know them so well." Alicia added.
"Ah well, during the summer I had a conversation with the twins." Harry admitted. "I may or may not…"
"May or may not?" Katie interrupted.
"Fine," Harry rolled his eyes. "I may… I did call them out on their behaviour during the tournament and their behaviour in general. Like how their pranking could be viewed as bullying and how they want to be taken seriously but do not act serious at all. I don't really feel bad about saying it, if they grow up they grow up and if they don't then they don't." Harry shrugged.
"Oh they're coming." Alicia said as the twins walked up to them.
"Hey, sorry we're late." Fred said.
"Yeah, McGonagall wanted to ask us about something that happened to some fourth year girls, they got pranked and she thought we did it." George added.
"Yeah, took us a while to convince her that it wasn't actually us." Fred added.
"Hmm." Harry said, not willing to point out that he was the one responsible, in his defence he did it for Luna. He could not quite work out why anyone would be willing to bully the girl, strange yes but not harmful, in fact she was surprisingly innocent and genuinely nice. Though he supposed that it was simply idiots lashing out against those they could not understand.
"Alright," Angelina said as they saw people arriving for the try outs. "time to get to work." She said to the team as the quidditch hopefuls, including Ron and Ginny, lined up. "Everyone gather around, quiet down. I said quiet." Angelina paused and waited until everyone was silent. "That's good, now listen up, for those who don't know, I am Angelina Johnson, quidditch captain and chaser. With me are fellow chasers Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet, then we also have beaters Fred and George Weasley plus none other than Harry Potter as our own seeker." Angelina said, pointing to each person as she mentioned their names. "The only position we definitely need right now is keeper, however that doesn't mean that reserve positions are not available as sometimes some of us might not be able to make practises or matches so if you are going for a chaser, seeker or beater position then you won't make the main team but could make the reserve team. Any questions so far?" Angelina asked.
"Excuse me." Ginny raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"Can someone go for more than one position?" She asked.
"No, you can go for one position but if you make the team and we think you have potential in another position then we will consider it. Are there anymore questions?" Angelina looked around and once she was suitably satisfied that nobody had questions she continued. "Alright, we are going to start with some basic drills." Angelina said as she gestured to Harry. "Potter over here will be in charge of the drills, you all will be flying around with him while the rest of us watch. Once we work out who can and cannot properly fly on a broom then we can start testing out for positions. Harry?"
"Way ahead of you." Harry said as he climbed on his broom and hovered. "Alright everyone get on your brooms, we are going to start with some laps around the pitch." Harry said. The hopefuls got on their brooms and rose to the air, Harry could already see which ones where more comfortable and experienced based on the way they held their brooms and how comfortable they were in the air. "Come on." Harry said before he began doing some basic flying drills, by the end of the drills a few hopefuls were sent away as it was clear that they really were not great flyers or even at a level that could be considered decent.
"Alright chaser and keeper hopefuls go over there to hoops, beater hopefuls over there and seeker hopefuls over there." Angelina said as she pointed to different spots on the field.
Most hopefuls went to the chaser and keeper spot while only a few went to the beater spot though none went to the seeker spot, Harry didn't really mind but was sort of hoping that at least one person would have gone for the position so that the responsibility did not fall entirely on him but apparently it did. Though he supposed that after the tryouts he could see if any of the team members had seeking skills and train them up.
"Now George, Fred, you two go deal with the beater hopefuls. Harry, could you help me and the girls out with the chasers and keepers?" Angelina asked.
"Sure." Harry nodded and followed the girls towards the chasers and keepers.
Half an hour later the Gryffindor quidditch team stood together under a privacy charm a short distance away from the hopefuls and began discussing who would make the team. After a few discussions they had settled on their beaters and their chasers which included Ginny, Harry mentioned speaking to the reserve chasers and seeing if any of them were willing to be a backup seeker in case he could not compete, something Angelina agreed with.
And then their conversation reached the point where they discussed who would be their keeper.
"It looks to me that Ryan Jefferson and Geoffrey David have potential but admittedly Ron Weasley has the most." Angelina said, as he glanced at Harry and the twins and awaited their reactions.
"Well," Fred said. "we're not too surprised."
"Yeah," George nodded. "Ron played quidditch with us all the time and he is nearly always keeper."
"Harry?" Alicia said. "What is your opinion?"
"Meh," Harry shrugged. "as long as he doesn't bother anyone and actually does his job I could not care less." Harry said, while he was tempted to object to Ron's placement he knew that that would just make him sound childish, besides winning meant a lot to Angelina and the others so he could put with the prat for their sakes. Also if Harry was being honest with himself then he did not think Ron would last long, he might have the necessary abilities but any chance of success would be ruined by his temper, personality and attitude.
"David might be a good player but he doesn't seem as experienced," Alicia said. "though he was better than Jefferson, maybe we could have him as a reserve."
"Yeah, I agree with that." Harry nodded.
"Okay, so let's go over the choices one more time and make sure we're all happy with them." Angelina said and they did. Ten minutes later the chosen were announced and everyone headed back to the Gryffindor common room apart from the actual quidditch team that wanted to stay and practise. Harry was looking forward to the next game, quidditch was one of his true joys, though he supposed he liked the actual flying better than the game but still.
"Here you go." Luna smiled as she put a crown made of white flowers onto tiger-Harry's head while Harry just kept his eyes closed and pretended not to notice.
The two were currently sat outside under the shade of a tree and enjoying the beautiful weather, Harry was in his animagus form, admittedly he loved being in it. It gave him an increased sense of power and just made him feel more free, sometimes he couldn't help but think how he felt more natural in his tiger form then he would have in his own skin a year ago. Luna was with him as the girl had apparently decided that she liked to spend time with him or Astoria whenever she could.
Not that Harry minded, he found her blunt honesty refreshing when compared to others and the girl was either an incredible actor or didn't have a single mean bone in her body, Harry really couldn't tell. Luna had sat down and leaned against him as he lay in the shade, using him like a pillow. She sat still, humming quietly and simply enjoying the weather and Harry's company. Thanks to her humming Harry had actually fallen asleep for a few hours, when he woke she was still leaning against him and still humming.
"Do you like your flower crown?" Luna asked Harry. Harry let out a grunt which Luna took to be a 'yes' as evidenced by the smile she gave him. "That's nice." She said as she stood up. "I think we have to get back to the castle now. Can I have a ride back?" She asked. Harry let out a small noise before he stood up, Luna smiled and climbed on top of him, wrapping her arms around his neck so she would not fall off. Harry began moving to the castle at a pace that he felt would not be fast enough to throw Luna off.
Harry knew that the castle was getting more tense, that was why he preferred to spend his days outside. Umbridge had began shooting out educational decree after educational decree, her lack of subtly in trying to take over the whole school almost bother Harry as much as the fact that she was trying to take over the whole school. Harry was not particularly worried at the moment, if Umbridge got too out of hand then he would deal with her, simple as.
Soon they reached the castle and Harry transformed back into a human, though he still had Luna on his back so it looked like he was giving her a piggy back.
"Here you go Luna." Harry said as he bended his knees so she could get off.
"Thank you Harry." She smiled. "I hope you like your crown."
"I do." Harry said as he took it off his head and looked at it.
"If you don't like it then I can take it back for you."
"Actually I do like it, Dobby." Harry called. "Dobby," Harry said when the elf arrived. "Miss Lovegood has given me this nice gift, I want you to take it back to my room in my godfather's house, make sure it doesn't get damaged."
"Yes master." Dobby nodded before taking the crown away.
"Would you like anything in return?" Harry asked Luna.
"Not really, hmm… can I have some pudding?" Luna asked, looking as serious as Harry had ever seen her.
"Sure." Harry chuckled. "I'll have Dobby make some for you for tomorrow."
"Thank you Harry." She smiled, looking like Christmas had come early.
Narcissa walked towards the room where Draco was supposed to go, today was to be the third day of Draco's punishments at the hand of Apophis. Yesterday the man had spent ten minutes putting Draco under the cruciatus, right before hitting him with stinging hexes in the mouth several times, clearly showing that he did not like Draco speaking of things he shouldn't. Most of Narcissa's blame was placed on Draco himself and Lucius, Lucius insisted on being involved in raising Draco. If Narcissa had raised him then she was sure that he would have at least knew when to keep his mouth shut and this could have also been avoided if Draco just listened to her.
Narcissa had the feeling that Apophis was only starting light in his punishments, she felt that only the knowledge that Draco was to return to school plus the fact that he was the son of one of the dark lord's followers had kept him from getting really…'enthusiastic' with his punishments. Yes she wanted Draco to be disciplined but this was going too far, an arrogant brat he might be, he was still her brat.
Narcissa knocked on the door, after several moments of quiet the door opened, she entered only to find Apophis sitting in a chair at the opposite side of the room and looking at her. Narcissa believed that if she could see his face then he was probably supporting a look that would ask why she was here without her son. Narcissa, like all the others, did not know much about this mysterious person.
Apophis was never seen with his hood off, she had no idea what he looked like, he showed up when he wished and left when he wished. The only person he seemed to address as an equal was the dark lord, he treated the rest like they were not fit to even remember.
The dark lord claimed that Apophis was his heir and created by magic using his own blood and that of Potter's, Narcissa was not entirely sure if she believed that but she considered the fact that it could be true as the dark lord did know magic that that most did not. There was also his ability to withstand spells, Potter had managed to strike him with a bone breaker to the chest but Apophis remained unaffected according to Lucius. She had seen the man take two unforgivables and get up and still fight, she was very curious as to how he did this but knew that now was not the time to question him on that.
"Where is your son?" Apophis asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Draco is not here." Narcissa said as she closed the door. "I have come to talk to you alone."
"And why should I talk to you?" Apophis asked in a bland voice.
"I… I wish to make you an offer." Narcissa said as she locked the door and put privacy charms around the room, she looked to Apophis, she could not see his face but his body language showed that he was uncaring. For Narcissa it was clear that he did not see her as a threat, while she felt a bit insulted at that she understood why. She was in a room with the dark lord's heir, the man with the ability to shrug off spells as deadly as unforgivables, she was not entirely comfortable with doing what she planned to do but it was for her son.
"What offer?" Apophis asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice.
"Please, spare my son." Narcissa said as she walked up to him. "I know that he has made a mistake, I believe he has been punished enough. I..if you stop punishing him, I will be…" Narcissa stopped in front of him, she leaned down and spoke in a seductive voice. "thankful, extremely thankful." She said. Apophis did not immediately react, something which worried Narcissa. Apophis eventually stood up, Narcissa's heart rate increased when he walked past her.
"I was wondering when or if it would come to this." Apophis said as he clicked his fingers, a piece of paper appeared in his hand. Narcissa wondered how he did that, was it a house elf? A small wandless charm? "Read this." He said as he tossed the paper to her. "If you accept then I accept your offer." He said as he turned back to her. Narcissa read the paper and her eyes widened as she was filled with disbelief and confusion, she repeatedly glanced from the paper to Apophis as if she was not sure that he fully realised what he gave her.
"But… but this…"
"This is what you will agree to," Apophis cut her off. "if you do not then you will excuse me so I can go and find your son. I have found a lovely new spell that will make him be convinced that his skin is on fire." Narcissa was silent for several minutes, several minute where she mentally went over the benefits and costs of accepting, several minutes too late for Apophis as he turned and began to make his way to the door.
"Wait!" Narcissa said quickly, causing Apophis to stop. "I… I will do it, I will make the vow."
"Good." Apophis said as he turned back to her.
"I'll do it but I do not understand why you want me to swear to this, un… unless… unless you…"
"Hurry up and do it before I lose my patience." Apophis said in a warning tone.
"Very well." Narcissa sighed, glancing back at the paper one more time.
"Good, after we are done I shall accept your offer." Apophis said.
"W… what?" Narcissa blinked.
"You wished to show me how thankful you would be if I spared your son the pain, I will accept your thanks after you make the vow." Apophis said. Narcissa gulped but nodded, she knew it could come to this, still she was at least glad that Draco would be spared and something would go her way.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone