章 24: Boils and Quidditch
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Harry had learnt a long time ago that the more you enjoyed life, the faster time rushed by. The school year was rapidly coming to an end. Everyone had learnt the basic principles of potions in Albus Dumbledore's lessons, and there were only two brews left to make. Flitwick had taught almost all the first-year students how to use the simplest spells: Lumos, Spangifire, Diffindo, Incendio - the fire version, Vingardium Leviosa, Reparo and Colloportus. There were exceptions, of course: a couple of Slytherins Harry knew - Crabbe and Goyle had only mastered Lumos, Granger had learnt everything and had already moved on to second year spells, and Potter himself couldn't - or rather, didn't want to - learn how to use Incendio.
Flitwick's lessons had become rather boring, as studying theory for a whole lesson was a less than average pleasure, but there was no choice, as the practice was almost all learnt and repeated, there was only one spell left - Alohomora, the study of which the half-goblin decided to postpone until the end of the year.
Two days before spring arrived, Harry was faced with a dilemma. On the one hand, in a month's time, the Easter holidays would begin, at which Moody would visit him, and on the other hand, exams were approaching, at which the first final assessment of knowledge would be made. Potter didn't know what to prioritise, he didn't want to fail the exams and at the same time he wanted to learn as many spells as possible so as not to disappoint Mad-Eye and continue with the classes that hadn't started yet.
After a bit of thought, Harry decided that he didn't have to pass his exams with an "Excellent", he could safely get grades such as "Above Average" or "Satisfactory", and a "Weak" in History of Magic and Astronomy would suit him just fine. The Easter holidays are closer, they're only a month away, and exams are in three. He should be able to prepare in two months of free time.
Justin was having an even harder time - he still had Quidditch practice, where he, as the newest member of the team, was being hounded the hardest. The date of the Quidditch finals had changed to the end of March. Hufflepuff's position in the standings was dire, but there was still a chance for first place.
In order for the Badger Faculty team to win the Quidditch Championship, several conditions had to be met. One: Ravenclaw must lose to Slytherin, and Hufflepuff itself must beat Gryffindor. Then Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw would each have six points and the head-to-head meetings between the teams would not matter as each team had won and lost to the other team(1). And secondly, Hufflepuff must beat Gryffindor by an incredibly huge margin, this is necessary in order for the Badgers to have a greater goal difference than the other teams. However, it would be difficult to do this because Ravenclaw had an incredibly huge advantage: two defeats, each with a difference of over three hundred points.
Therefore, it was very important for the Eagles to lose to the snakes by a landslide, but at the same time manage not to overdo it, because if Slytherin beat Ravenclaw by too much, then it would be the silver-green faculty that would become the champions.
Basically, Slytherin has to score exactly that many goals so that it's not enough to become champions, but still enough to keep Ravenclaw from becoming champions.... and I'd like to see Malfoy catch the Snitch..... And, of course, Hufflepuff should beat Gryffindor.... by about five hundred points.
In Harry's opinion, the odds were virtually nonexistent, they were only theoretical, but Justin was determined, he had already bet five galleons that Hufflepuff would be the champion. The odds on this outcome were simply prohibitive, so Finch-Fletchley would make a small fortune if he succeeded.
The first of March was Ron Weasley's birthday. On this day he called his friends, including Harry, to play chess. Potter decided that it would be rude to go without a present, and after a bit of thought, he approached the Room-Wish and "asked for advice" from it. The Room could indeed read a person's wishes.
After this mental appeal it turned into a small room, and in the centre of it stood a table on which were: a slingshot, two broomsticks, several books of varying interest ranging from the history of Quidditch teams and players to the definition of animagi and twelve fail-safe ways to enchant wizards, on the edge lay the collectible chocolate frog cards of Cornelius Agrippa and Ptolemy, and not far from them was a discount coupon to Zonko's and a wand.
As Harry realised, these were all things that the room thought would make great birthday presents for Ron. After hesitating for a bit, he opted for a book with the title 'The History of the Cannon Peddle' as he didn't know why Ron would want the other items. Immediately after choosing his present, he headed for the Gryffindor sitting room, but was stopped at the very entrance by a loud exclamation:
- What, are you going to that halfwit's birthday party?
Harry turned around; standing beside the portrait of the Complete Lady, leaning against the wall, was Draco Malfoy himself. Potter knew that Draco was the last person Ron would invite to his birthday party, so he was quite surprised to see him like this.
- Malfoy, what are you doing here?
- Me? Just waiting, I know you were invited and I was wondering if you'd take my advice.
- What advice?
- Don't you remember? Don't play dumb, Potter. The advice I gave you the first time we met. Remember.
- I don't give a damn about you or your advice!" Harry interrupted him.
He was furious. He thought Malfoy had changed, and it turned out he'd been pretending all along.
- You know, I think you should watch your language better or you'll have to lock the door in the classrooms again," Malfoy smirked and looked at Harry mockingly.
- Shut your mouth! - Potter shouted, he pulled out his wand and pointed it at Malfoy.
- Are you threatening me with your wand, Potter? - Draco didn't even move. He looked at Harry with a sense of superiority. - 'You and I both know you're not going to attack...'
- Furunculus!
A purple flash hit Malfoy's forehead directly, and the man began to develop horrible boils. Draco screamed and grabbed his wand. A second Furunculus launched by Potter hit Malfoy in the stomach, but he didn't drop his wand and went on the attack himself.
- Dantisimus!
The spell went over Harry. He searched in his head for a spell that could knock out the wand, and not finding one, just jumped at Malfoy and started punching him in the face with great speed and fury. Draco tried to fight back, but he didn't succeed: he bit Potter's nose once, but that didn't stop Harry from hitting Malfoy harder and harder. This is how they were caught by Professor McGonagall, who was on her way to the faculty lounge to make an important announcement.
Malfoy and Potter lost fifty points each and were sent to their deans for detention. Draco, however, had to visit the Hospital Wing first, where he stayed for the rest of the day. And Harry, instead of his usual fear and guilt towards the faculty, felt triumph and a strange joy. Firstly, he had won, his nose hardly hurt at all, and he had no other wounds. Secondly, he could finally dare to fight back. And thirdly, he hadn't been wearing gloves at the time of the fight, and had no negative feelings about touching Malfoy's face with his fist.
He was greeted like a hero in the Gryffindor common room, with first-years, second-years and even a few upperclassmen applauding Potter, and Ron informing him that it was the best birthday present he had ever received in his entire life. Harry felt incredibly happy that day, he had managed to regret many times that the magic hat hadn't allocated him to Gryffindor. Weasley was thrilled with his present, he said he had a lot of textbooks to read, but this book would be the first one he would familiarise himself with.
He had organised a small chess tournament which, apart from Potter, included Ron's other friends, Neville, Seamus, Dean and Karl. Harry was eliminated in the first round of the tournament, he fell to the birthday boy himself, lost the first game and with great difficulty managed to draw the second. However, this result was never repeated, in all the following games Weasley knew nothing but victory. And at night they headed for the Forbidden Corridor; the idea to make this trek had been suggested by Dean, and it was immediately supported by Ron and Seamus.
But to the group's deepest disappointment, the trek was not successful; they came across a locked door that none of them could open. They had tried it in many ways: Dean communicated with it as if it were a living person, Seamus attempted to pick the lock, and Carl found nothing better to do but crash into it with all his might. Just during this attempt, Mr Filch's cat, Mrs Norris, found them. Ron Weasley kicked the cat with all his might, and the unsuccessful opening of the door was quickly forgotten. They were soon chased by Filch himself, however, and barely managed to hide in the Gryffindor drawing room. Not daring to go back to the Puffenduys, Harry went to sleep on the spare bed in Ron, Dean and Seamus' room.
The next day Potter slept through two History of Magic lessons again, and was not upset about it. He headed to Potions as if nothing had happened, where he was immediately stared at by three pairs of curious eyes from his roommates. There were no questions, however, as there was a much more interesting topic of discussion, namely the new Potions teacher. Dumbledore had some important things to do, and he didn't have time to check all the students' work and prepare for lessons: it was difficult to combine the position of dean, teacher and headmaster, so he had finally found a temporary replacement.
The new professor was a ghost, his name was Dirk, but he didn't give his last name and asked to be called Dirk the Third. Justin and Hermione had managed to dig up something about him - it turned out he was some kind of king and had lived over five hundred years ago. Harry wasn't too thrilled with this information, but the other students began to almost idolise the new teacher and constantly asked him for advice.
Dirk the Third, especially in comparison to Dumbledore, was an abominable teacher, who reminded him a lot of Bins and mumbled some theoretical data under his nose. But unlike the Professor of History of Magic, he sometimes had glimpses, sometimes Dirk was close to some topic and he started gesticulating and giving some examples from life. But the rest of the time it was almost impossible to listen to him. So, because of the change of teacher, Harry quickly became disenchanted with Potions, and he stopped listening to anything in this class.
* * *
Quidditch was not good for friendships. Harry had realised this when Justin had fought with Tonks over betting on the sport. The week before the finals, the whole school was abuzz with excitement, because Slytherin might finally lose the cup for the first time in years. Second year student Zhou Chang was literally being carried around by the Claw students and tried to eliminate - stun - by the Slytherin students.
The small conflict, which turned into a magical mini-war among the students at Hogwarts, started at breakfast. Slytherin's team captain, Marcus Flint, had thought of nothing better than to launch Harry's familiar Furunculus at Zhou Chang in the middle of the meal. The Serpent Faculty, who had always been friends with only one faculty, Ravenclaw, had managed to ruin their relationship with them literally overnight. The students couldn't stand such an attitude, right at breakfast they took their wands and rushed at the Slytherins. Then, as luck would have it, there was no battle. Just then, Dumbledore was having breakfast in the Great Hall, and with a flick of his wand, he was able to calm the conflict that had erupted.
The bubble burst a little later. On the same day, there were many skirmishes involving all four faculties. Ravenclaw and Slytherin fought mostly, but the other two faculties couldn't stay away either. Gryffindor, who had always had a nasty relationship with the snake faculty and had no chance of winning the Quidditch Championship, sided with the eagles and together with them successfully defended themselves against the attacks of the silver-green. Hufflepuff, on the other hand, surprisingly sided with Slytherin. The Badgers had always had a great relationship with the Lions, yet Hufflepuff still had a chance at the championship, and yet the Black and Yellows hadn't won any trophies at all in the last hundred years, and they hadn't even had a draw in Quidditch in the last couple of seasons.
So the Hufflepuff students wanted Ravenclaw and Gryffindor to lose by as large a score as possible. And somehow that wish had turned into a battle of wands.
Initially, Justin and Harry had not planned to get involved in this feud. However, under Tonks' influence, Potter changed his mind and participated in several battles together with her. It was hard to call them battles, but still, if you tried hard enough, you could. Harry used only two spells: Protego and Furunculus. And more often than not, one after the other: cast a spell and close behind a shield. The tactic was simple.
Potter attributed the fact that he had never been hit to Tonks' presence. Nymphadora was like a fury, she was quick to cast spells and could fight more than five Ravenclaw students at once. In all the skirmishes Tonks and Potter had been involved in, Hufflepuff and Slytherin had won.
And Harry loved those fights. He, unlike most, didn't fight for Quidditch, he judiciously assessed Hufflepuff's chances of being champion as minimal. He just 'liked' fighting on wands. He hadn't had the opportunity to play wargames as a child, and now he enjoyed every moment of the battle. He had no negative feelings towards anyone, he was just following Tonks and was excited for the opportunity to apply what he had learnt. He, roughly speaking, didn't care who he was fighting with or for.
But all 'good things' come to an end at some point. On the day of the final matches, a truce was called between the faculties. The first match was the one in which Hufflepuff played against Gryffindor. Justin was telling everyone who was listening to him that he was going to go out on the pitch and show his class, but he was actually very nervous and afraid of embarrassing himself. The match ended with a score of 500:170 in favour of Hufflepuff, which seriously increased the Black and Yellow's chances of becoming champions. The Ravenclaw now needed to lose by a margin of more than three hundred and fifty points, but less than four hundred.
In the game against Gryffindor, Hufflepuff dominated almost every aspect of the game, except that the bludgers flew exclusively at the Black and Yellows. Finch-Fletchley and O'Flaherty completely lost their battle with Fred and George Weasley. Each of the Badgers' backrowers only took a couple of shots on balls for the game. Except that O'Flaherty sent all the bludgers into the milk, and Justin sometimes hit, just one of those hits in the beginning knocked Gryffindor catcher Ron Weasley out for the rest of the game.
A couple of hours later the Ravenclaw vs Slytherin game took place. Harry, like most of the Puffenduys, took a seat in the snake faculty stand. He had a gut feeling that Ravenclaw was about to falter, Zhou Chang was about to lose the snitch, and Malfoy was about to have his best game of the season. Potter was sure of his feelings, he remembered that such feelings were called intuition, and it was almost never wrong. Another question: -Will Slytherin's advantage be enough to make Hufflepuff the champion?
Well, yes. Intuition is never wrong. The final score on the scoreboard is 230-0 in favour of Ravenclaw. The Slytherin hunters didn't take a single shot at the opposing team's rings the entire game.
- Minus five galleons," Justin said glumly as he walked back out of the stadium.
- An expected result, really," Potter replied.
- Yeah, well... Do you want to fly tomorrow? The Quidditch Championships are over and Madam Trick will be free, I asked her if she could follow us.
- Why do we even need a chaperone? Can't we fly ourselves?
- It's a new rule for freshers. We need an escort. So what do you say? Try out your new broom.
- Come on, I don't mind," Harry agreed after a moment's thought.
* * *
After transfiguration, dual defence against the dark arts and herbalogy, Potter and Finch-Fletchley headed for the Quidditch pitch in the company of Madam Trick.
- Not a bad Ravenclaw victory celebration yesterday, wouldn't you agree? - Justin asked snidely and a bit casually.
- What do you mean? - Harry didn't understand. - I didn't see anything yesterday.
- Neither did I. But they had about four hundred sapphires in the faculty clock in the evening, and three hundred and fifty-three in the morning. The conclusions are obvious.
- I see," Potter smiled. - Well, they're leading in points, they can afford it, not like us.
- Yeah, they do. Do you think we'll be able to... - he suddenly stopped and looked at the pitch. - Oppa, look, who's there?
Harry followed Justin's gaze and found Zhou Chang flying next to the rings all alone.
- I can see it. So? Is everything cancelled?
- No, of course not," Justin smirked, just like Malfoy. - I'll bet you five galleons that I'll knock her off my broomstick with a bludger.- If I hear something like that again, you'll forget what Quidditch is forever," said Madam Trick, who had been watching their conversation.
- I'm sorry, I was just kidding," Finch-Fletchley bowed his head obediently.
They walked the rest of the way without speaking.
When they arrived at the pitch, Justin immediately got on his broom without a command, pushed himself off the ground and took off, for which he received a reprimand from Madam Trick and lost five points. Potter, on the other hand, spent a long time looking for a suitable place to take off, but finally, just like Finch-Fletchley, soared above the ground.
The differences between the school broom and the Nimbus 2000 were significant. In flying lessons, brooms worked simply: if you turned left, you flew to the left side, and if you pointed it to the right, you flew to the right side. And "Nimbus 2000" as if to read thoughts, on the slightest movement he clearly reacted as it was necessary to Potter, he could even accelerate, if you touch it in a certain place. All in all, it was a miracle, not a broom.
Harry suddenly realised that he hadn't had time to thank Justin for the gift.
- Thank you so much for the broom! - he shouted loudly.
Justin was hovering about ten metres below Harry. He looked up at him in surprise, blushed a little, turned away and rambled something that sounded like "You're welcome."
- 'Hello Harry,' came a voice from behind Potter.
Harry turned around, a couple of metres away from him, Zhou Chang was flying a new Purgatorio.
- Mm-hm, yeah, hi Zhou.
- Do you like flying?
- Yes, of course I do... Hmmm. - for some reason, Potter was having a hard time talking to Chang. - I just want to make the faculty team next year. And I've been practising a bit.
- And what position will you be playing?
- Well... I'm not sure, of course. Seeker would be good.
- That's a good choice, Harry," Chang smiled warmly. - Maybe next year you'll take the Snitch from under my nose.
- I don't think so. I'm a long way from you anyway. I've been to matches and I've seen you play really well.
- Thank you. The other Puffends don't praise me much. You should have seen the way they looked at me when I caught the snatch. They were ready to kill me. And all because I took away their eventual championship.
- Not all students in our department are like that. There are good people among them," Harry said, not mentioning the fact that during the final match he wished Zhou would fall down, break something and not be able to play in the match. - I, for example, never despise a person because of any actions that were not directed against me.
- Yeah?" Chang smiled. - Did you know that we met recently?
- Where?
- A small corridor near the Great Hall. You launched a Furunculus spell at me.
- Hmmm... - Potter turned pale and began to quickly recall the events of the past week. As hard as he tried, he couldn't remember attacking Zhou. - So? Did it hit?
- No, you didn't, and I couldn't answer, there was a senior girl nearby, she threw a stunner at me.
- Erm. I'm sorry. Yes... Well, not for not hitting it, but for trying, but it wasn't about Quidditch. I was just having fun. If I'd known it was you, I wouldn't have attacked... Here.
- Okay, I believe you.
Potter and Chang stared at each other in silence for a while. Harry wanted to say something, something that would characterise him for the better.
- Harry you came here to fly or talk! - Justin shouted loudly.
Harry and Zhou flinched and turned around. It turned out that Finch-Fletchley had flown up to them unnoticed.
- Hi, my name is Justin," he addressed Chang. - Would you like to practice with us?
- Why not? I'm Zhou.
- Yes, we know, the Quidditch heroine who's the reason we didn't become champions this year. But it doesn't matter. I've got Madame Trick's permission to use the Mad Ball, so here's the challenge - I'll take turns aiming the bludger at you, and you have to dodge. Whoever fails first, loses, agreed?
- Deal," Zhou smiled just like Mad-Eye.
- No, Justin, what are you- - Potter tried to object, but Finch-Fletchley pretended not to hear him.
- Well, that's good. I bet Harry wins. - he said and flew off without waiting for an answer.
Potter had held up pretty well in the test... At least for someone who was on a broom for the second time. He almost got hit by the first three bludgers. However, he understood the system and quickly learnt to dodge the frantic balls. For all their great speed, they were terrible at manoeuvring, so all he had to do was make a last-minute change in broom speed and swerve to the side.
Experience was more important than talent, however, and one bludger flew a little faster than the previous ones, and Harry simply didn't have time to dodge it. The ball hit him in the shoulder, and Potter barely managed to keep from falling off his broom.
- Are you alright, Harry? - Zhou flew over to him quickly.
- Yes," Potter said, gripping the shaft of his broom with a dead grip. - What's Trick?
Chang turned around sharply and sighed in relief.
- 'It's gone... She's sleeping... It's getting evening, by the way, we've been here for quite a while, of course she fell asleep.... I was only planning to fly for half an hour.
- That was a good flight," Harry said, watching Justin's unsuccessful attempts to catch the bludger. - My shoulder hurts, though.
- It always does. If you really become a Seeker, you'll get used to it. - Zhou suddenly stared at the point to the left of Harry's face. - 'Look, why don't we meet up again sometime? Fly? I could train you.
- Sure. When can you do it?
- Tomorrow. I haven't started studying for my exams because of Quidditch, but I'll stay at school over the Easter holidays and study. I've got some free time before then.
- Then it's a deal. Tomorrow afternoon, okay?
- Yes, it's a deal. I'm off. Marietta's probably waiting for me.
Harry grinned stupidly at Chang as she flew away. In his mind he was already in tomorrow afternoon's Quidditch pitch. Potter was rudely interrupted by Justin. Finch-Fletchley had managed a bludger after all, and quietly flew over to Harry and slapped him with all his might.
- How about a deal? I'll leave your smile uncommented on and you tell me what you talked about. And hurry up, we've got to wake up Madame Trick.
1) Badgers> snakes, snakes> eagles, eagles> badgers.
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